Will Ferrell

He was born in Irvine’ California on July 16’ 1968. His career first started at the University of South California where he graduated with a degree in Sports Information. After his graduation’ he started working as a sportscaster on a weekly cable show’ but then later found his interests in acting and stand-up comedy. He then enrolled in some acting classes. In only one short year of training’ he was invited to join The Groundlings. The Groundlings are a small comedy improve group. Working with The Groundlings quickly lead to his discovery by the world famous comedy show’ Saturday Night Live or SNL. From then on’ he was an unknown comedian making his way to the top. After a few years of working with SNL’ he was offered to be a main character in the movie A Night At The Roxbury.

In 1995 Will became a feature cast member at Saturday Night Live during the show’s rapid recasting. He was declared quite possibly the worst cast member ever during his first season. However’ his talents of impersonations and range of characters shot him forward to making him arguably the greatest SNL cast member ever. While Ferrell has portrayed many unforgettable characters; among his most popular recurring personas include: his send-up of President George W. Bush’ musical middle school teacher Marty Culp with wife Bobbi (played by Ana Gasteyer)’ Professor Klarvin the overly amorous "lover" and husband to Virginia (played by Rachel Dratch)’ and Spartan Spirit cheerleader Craig. Among his many impressions are Attorney General Janet Reno’ who ended her tenure with the Clinton administration by doing the twist with Will live on "Saturday Night;" Alex Trebek; "Inside the Actors Studio" host James Lipton; lounge singer Robert Goulet and the late great Chicago Cubs sportscaster’ Harry Caray. Ferrell’s latest films are the new Kevin Smith film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and the Ben Stiller comedy "Zoolander." In 1998’ Ferrell brought his swinging SNL character to the big screen in "A Night at the Roxbury" which he co-wrote with fellow cast member Chris Kattan and Steve Koren. He has also appeared in SNL Studios features "The Ladies’ Man" and "Superstar." In 1997’ Ferrell made his feature film debut as "Mustaffa" in the hit comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." He returned in the blockbuster sequel "The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes grew up on the streets of the South Bronx in New York City, where he very early decided that the theater was to be his career. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts (popularized in Fame (1980)). But dreams of the musical theater (and maybe a few commercials) faded when his mother moved to Orlando, Florida before he could graduate from high school.

But after graduation from a Florida high school he appeared in local dinner theaters and regional productions. An agent saw him in a competition and got him his first movie role with Goldie Hawn in Wildcats (1986). Athletic roles such as that gave way to tough guy roles as in New Jack City (1991), and to the action hero in Passenger 57 (1992).

Wesley feels that at least with the Hollywood heavyweights he must be doing something right – Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper and Sean Connery all had veto power over casting and all approved his role.

Wes Bentley

Birth Name : Wesley Cook Bentley
Date of birth (location) : 4 September 1978, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA

Arkansas native Wes Bentley solidified his reputation as a rising star with a galvanizing performance as Ricky Fitts, the drug-dealing videographer who romances his neighbor’s daughter, in the highly-acclaimed “American Beauty” (1999). While in person the young actor tries to downplay his looks, on screen, the combination of his dark hair, piercing blue eyes and handsome features clearly sets him as a future leading man.

Born in Jonesboro and raised in Little Rock, this self-called “pretty boy” participated in sports in an effort to counteract the teasing and abuse he faced from his classmates over his countenance. Simultaneously, Bentley also acted in school plays and local competitions in what he described to Erik Himmelsbach in Time Out New York, September 9-16, 1999) was an effort “that was my need to prove to people that I was better than what they thought of me, or what I THOUGHT they thought of me.” At his mother’s suggestion, he applied for and was accepted by Juilliard where he was cast in stage productions.

Roles in independent films like “Three Below Zero” (1998) soon followed, as did a small part in “Beloved” (also 1998). While waiting on line at an open call for the musical “Rent”, Bentley was spotted by a casting agent who asked him to read for a movie. After seven callbacks, he landed the job, although he declines to identify which film it was, merely stating “I don’t know WHERE the movie is now.” (Vanity Fair, October 1999).

Wayne Brady

Wayne Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American comedian and television personality , best known for his role on ABC’s television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? The show featured such memorable castmates as Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops and Colin Mochrie. In the show, he astounded viewers with his dead on impressions of various singers and the sense of humor he brought to the show. He has since gone on to form his own ABC variety show, which failed, and a daytime talkshow called The Wayne Brady Show, which won four Daytime Emmy Awards. These other series focused on Brady’s own skills and likable personality.

In 2004, Brady joined the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn.

Brady was born in Orlando, Florida. He began to perform the central Florida comedy circuit. He moved from Florida to Las Vegas, Nevada and then eventually on to Los Angeles, California in 1996, where he developed his acting skills. Brady is married and has a child.

Warren Beatty

NAME: Warren Beatty
BORN: 30/03/1937
BIRTH PLACE: Virginia, USA

BIOGRAPHY

The younger brother of actress Shirley MacLaine, Beatty was groomed for stardom early. After studying with acting coach Stella Adler, he was cast in prominent supporting roles in TV dramas, winning the part of Milton Armitage on the TV sitcom, ‘Dobie Gillis’.

His film debut came with ‘Splendour in the Grass’ in 1961, but for a number of years he was often written off as a would-be Brando.

In 1965 Beatty put much of his own money into a quirky crime drama, ‘Mickey One’. The film was a critical success but failed to secure top bookings.

Beatty took on his first film as producer and star, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Critics were hostile at first, but soon it became the most significant film of 1967.

In 1975, Beatty wrote his first screenplay, and the result was ‘Shampoo’, a hilarious satire on the late 1960s.

Beatty debuted as director for 1978’s ‘Heaven Can Wait’, which was successful enough to encourage future Hollywood bankrolling of Beatty’s directorial efforts. In 1981, Beatty produced, directed, co-scripted and acted in ‘Reds’, a spectacular recounting of the Russian Revolution. It was a pet project of Beatty’s that he’d been trying to finance since the 1970s. Beatty won an Oscar as Best Director.

In 1998 he again expressed his left-wing politics through highly successful and much acclaimed political satire ‘Bulworth’.

Beatty’s long and well-documented history of high-profile romances with such actresses as Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Diane Keaton, and Madonna came to an end with his 1992 marriage to ‘Bugsy’ co-star Annette Bening, with whom he later starred in 1994’s ‘Love Affair’.

Walter Matthau

NAME: Walter Matthau
BORN: 01/10/1920
BIRTH PLACE: New York
DIED: 01/07/2000

Walter Matuschanskayasky was born to Russian Jewish immigrants. He lived with his father until the age of three’ before moving to the Lower East Side to be with his mother and older brother.

Walter started out selling soft drinks and playing bit parts at a Yiddish theatre at age 11. He was paid 50 cents for each of his early onstage appearances.

After graduating’ he took Government related jobs that included time as forester’ a gym instructor for the Works Progress Administration and a boxing coach for policemen.

During World War II’ he served in the Army Air Corps and returned home a sergeant’ with six battle stars.

His fame came with 1966’s ‘The Fortune Cookie’’ which won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar’ and marked his first collaboration with Jack Lemmon. However’ while making it he suffered a serious heart attack and underwent heart bypass surgery.

It was his Oscar-nominated leading turn as ‘Oscar’ to Lemmon’s ‘Felix’ in ‘The Odd Couple’ that firmly established him as a comedic leading man. Continuing their collaboration’ Lemmon directed Matthau to a second Academy Award as Best Actor in ‘Kotch’.

The 80s were not great for Walter. Fed up with the kind of scripts he was getting’ he turned to the small screen. He returned to leading feature roles as the long-suffering Mr. Wilson in 1993’s ‘Dennis’’ and appeared with Lemmon again to score a major hit with ‘Grumpy Old Men’ and its sequel’ ‘Grumpier Old Men’.

1997 saw his twelfth acting collaboration with Lemmon in ‘Out to Sea’’ and the following year they worked together on ‘The Odd Couple II’.

He was perfect as the irritable father of Diane Keaton’ Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow in ‘Hanging Up’’ but a case of pneumonia forced him to leave the production early and later that year he died from a heart attack.

Yul Brynner

During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied, “Ordinary mortals need but one birthday.” At any rate, it appears that Brynner’s mother was part Russian, his father part Swiss, and that he lived in Russia until his mother moved the family to Manchuria and then Paris in the early ‘30s. He worked as a trapeze artist with the touring Cirque D’Hiver, then joined a repertory theater company in Paris in 1934. Brynner’s fluency in Russian and French enabled him to build up a following with the Czarist expatriates in Paris, and his talents as a singer/guitarist increased his popularity. And when Michael Chekhov hired Brynner for his American theater company, he added a third language—English—to his repertoire.

Zach Braff

Zach Braff stars as fresh-faced medical intern John “J.D.” Dorian’ who is embarking on his career at a hospital full of unpredictable staffers and patients. Braff’s love of acting dates back to his childhood in South Orange’ New Jersey’ where he watched his father’ an attorney’ work in community theater for fun. At age 11’ he attended the renowned children’s acting camp’ StageDoor Manor’ and was scouted by a talent manager who got him started professionally. Braff’s first role came at 14 in a television pilot produced by Bruce Paltrow (“St. Elsewhere”)’ where he co-starred opposite the producer’s daughter’ Gwyneth Paltrow. He went on to appear in the films “Getting to Know You” (opposite Heather Matarazzo and Bebe Neuwirth)’ and Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery’” where he played the son of Allen’s and Diane Keaton’s characters. He recently co-starred in “The Broken Hearts Club’” winner of a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film. Braff has also appeared in theater in New York’ working opposite Alec Baldwin’ Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in “Macbeth” at New York’s Public Theatre and as Romeo in Shakespeare-on-the-Sound’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Displaying a chameleon-like ability to transform himself into a wide range of characters’ Braff has played a blond’ gay drug addict’ a nerdy introvert and a Scottish warrior’ among other roles. A graduate of Northwestern University’s film school’ Braff studied theater acting while writing and directing his own short films’ including “Lionel on a Sun Day’” which won numerous awards during the 1998 festival season. He has also directed a number of commercials and public-service announcements in both New York and Los Angeles. When he’s not busy with his acting career’ Braff continues to work on his screenplay and looks forward to his next opportunity to act in theater.

Victor Mature

Victor Mature (born in Louisville, Kentucky; 1915-1999) was an American film actor. He was most commonly associated with the term “beefcake” due to his muscular physique and stolid onscreen manner.

His first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman in One Million B.C. (1940), after which he joined 20th Century Fox to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. However, with the US entry into World War II, Mature entered military service.

After the war, Mature was cast by John Ford in My Darling Clementine, playing Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fonda’s Wyatt Earp. For the next decade, Mature settled into playing hard-boiled characters in a range of genres such as westerns and Biblical films, such as The Robe (with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons) and the popular sequel to The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Susan Hayward). Both films deal with the fate of the robe worn by Jesus before the crucifixion. Victor also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. Demille’s Bible epic, Samson and Delilah.

Additional films by Victor Mature include The Egyptian (1954) and Chief Crazy Horse (1955).

Toto

Toto was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (b. June 21, 1954, Los Angeles; keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (b. October 21, 1957, Los Angeles; guitar, vocals), Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Toteaux, March 29, 1947, Vinton, LA; vocals), Steve Porcaro (b. September 2, 1957, Connecticut; keyboards), David Hungate (b. Texas; bass), and Jeff Porcaro (b. April 1, 1954, Hartford, CT; d. August 5, 1992, Hidden Hills, CA; drums). Paich was the son of arranger Marty Paich; the Porcaros were the sons of percussionist Joe Porcaro. The bandmembers had met in high school and at studio sessions in the 1970s, when they became some of the busiest session musicians in the music business. Paich, Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Silk Degrees, the multi-million-selling 1976 album that combined pop, rock, and disco elements into a slick combination which heavily influenced mainstream pop music.

Toto released its self-titled debut album in October 1978, and it hit the Top Ten, sold two-million copies, and spawned the gold Top Ten single “Hold the Line.” The gold-selling Hydra (October 1979) and Turn Back (January 1981) were less successful, but Toto IV (April 1982) was a multi-platinum Top Ten hit, featuring the number-one hit “Africa” and the Top Tens “Rosanna” (about Lukather’s girlfriend, movie star Rosanna Arquette) and “I Won’t Hold You Back.” At the 1982 Grammys, “Rosanna” won awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocal; and Toto IV won awards for Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording, and Best Producer (the group). In 1984, a third Porcaro brother, Mike (b. May 29, 1955), joined the group on bass, replacing Hungate. Then lead singer Kimball quit and was replaced by Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen (b. May 15, 1951, Wyoming, MI).

Toto’s fifth album, Isolation (November 1984), went gold, but was a commercial disappointment. Frederiksen was replaced by Joseph Williams (b. Santa Monica), the son of the conductor/composer John Williams, for Fahrenheit (August 1986). Steve Porcaro quit in 1988, prior to the release of The Seventh One. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, then left, as Lukather became the group’s lead singer. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992, but was featured on the group’s next album, Kingdom of Desire. By this time, Toto was far more popular in Japan and Europe than at home. The group added British drummer Simon Phillips. Tambu, released in Europe in the late fall of 1995, appeared in the U.S. in June 1996. For 1999’s Mindfields, Bobby Kimball returned to the lineup after a 15-year absence. The group members continued to do session work during the band’s tenure, contributing significantly to the sound of mainstream pop/rock in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

Terry Kinney

Some actors have such defining traits that they seem to have “leading man” written all over them, while others, like Terry Kinney, succeed with an uncanny ability to drastically alter their appearance at the drop of a hat. Though his chameleon-like skills have helped the actor land numerous roles on the stage and screen, it’s his talent that ultimately formed the backbone of his enduring career. After graduating from high school, the Lincoln, IL, native attended Illinois State University. It was there that he befriended aspiring actor Jeff Perry, who invited Kinney to Chicago to watch his best friend perform in a stage production of Grease. Perry’s friend was an ambitious young actor named Gary Sinise, and the three soon began planning to open their own regional theater.

Though it was founded in 1974, the Steppenwolf Theater wouldn’t quite get off the ground until two years later—when Kinney and Perry graduated from I.S.U. The venture was largely unprofitable at first, so its founders supported themselves and their dream through a series of odd jobs before the theater moved from a Highland Park church basement to the old St. Nicholas Theater building in the early ‘80s. The change of scenery proved to be just what the theater needed to flourish, and it was soon drawing good crowds. In the years that followed, the company moved once again—this time to a permanent location in Chicago—and Kinney served as Steppenwolf’s artistic co-director alongside Sinise. During this profitable period, Kinney and his co-founders were nominated for numerous theatrical awards, while their productions made headway on Broadway. Kinney, of course, had aspirations beyond regional theater, and, in 1986, made his film debut with a small part in the romantic comedy Seven Minutes in Heaven. The remainder of the ‘80s found the actor landing bit parts in No Mercy (1986) and Sinise’s Miles From Home (1988), in addition to a brief stint on television with thirtysomething. It wasn’t until the following decade, however, that his film career truly began to blossom.

Following an appearance in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Kinney drew favorable reviews for his top-billed turn in Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers, and his billing remained high with The Firm (1993), Fly Away Home (1996), and Sleepers (1998). In 1997, Kinney landed an extended gig on the acclaimed HBO prison drama Oz. Cast as Cell Block Five Unit Manager Tim McManus, Kinney’s hardened performance lent the show both dimension and a certain foundation. Kinney frequently balanced his role on this series with a number of feature performances, including such films as The Young Girl and the Monsoon (1999, his second lead), Luminous Motion (1998), and The House of Mirth (2000). Although the bulk of his work in Save the Last Dance (2001) ended up on the cutting room floor, audiences could still get a good look at Kinney in such features as The Laramie Project (2001) and the 2004 soccer drama The Game of Their Lives.

Peter Horton

Peter is a multi-talented actor, being both an accomplished actor and musician. Capable of playing the classical piano, he is also a musical composer. Born in Bellevue, Washington, his father was in the shipping business. While in school, he pursued his musical talent and got his degree in music composition from the University of California.

His career aspiration of becoming a music conductor eventually yielded to a fascination with acting. After studying acting under Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, Horton landed his first major role, playing a teenage basketball player accused of being gay in an episode of the late seventies television series The White Shadow.

In 1981, he married Hollywood starlet Michelle Pfeiffer. As her career took off in film, so did his in television. The marriage only lasted a few years and in 1988, they were divorced.

In 1991, he was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. It seems Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern would agree. She began dating him soon after his divorce with Michelle.

He has appeared in a number mediocre feature films, but seems intent on making a name for himself as a director. His first feature film directorial effort was the 1995 film The Cure, which tells the story of a friendship between two young boys, one of whom is dying of AIDS.

Pedro Martinez

Pedro Jaime Martinez (born October 25, 1971 in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic) is a baseball pitcher who plays for the New York Mets. He has won three Cy Young Awards and has been considered one of the top pitchers in baseball since the late 1990s. Martinez is unusual for a power pitcher as he is 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) and 170 pounds (77 kg), small by modern-day standards. Martinez’s pitches include a tailing fastball, an outstanding changeup , and a hard curveball.

Martinez throws from a low three-quarter position that hides the ball very well from batters, who have remarked on the difficulty of picking up Martinez’s delivery. Throughout his career, his arm angle has dropped increasingly lower; he presently throws from the “low 3/4” slot. Earlier in his career, his fastball was consistently clocked in the 95 mph (153 km/h) range, but in recent years, his fastball has slowed. In many games, his fastball now tops out in the 88-89 mph (142-144 km/h) range, although he is still occasionally able to throw a mid-90s fastball. As the speed of his fastball has slowed, he has come to rely more on his changeup as his “out” pitch.

Contents

1 Early years
2 Best years
3 Memorable games
4 Quotes
5 Facts

Early years

Martinez’s career started with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 as a relief pitcher. Before the 1994 season, he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Delino DeShields, and became one of the top starters in baseball. In 1997 he posted a 17-8 record for the Expos, and led the league in half a dozen pitching categories, including a 1.90 ERA, 305 strikeouts and 13 complete games pitched, and won the National League Cy Young Award. Pedro Martinez was also the first righthanded pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts with an ERA under 2.00 since Walter Johnson in 1912.

The 13 complete games were tied for the second-highest single-season total in all of baseball since Martinez’s own career began (Curt Schilling had 15 in 1998; Chuck Finley and Jack McDowell also reached 13 in a year). However, this 1997 total is by far the highest in Martinez’s career, as he has only compiled as many as 5 complete games in any other season on two other occasions.

Best years

Martinez was traded to the Boston Red Sox in November 1997 for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr., and was soon signed to a six-year, $75,000,000 contract by the Sox, at the time the largest ever awarded to a pitcher. In 1999 he enjoyed one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time, finishing 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts, winning his second Cy Young Award (this time in the American League), and coming in second in the Most Valuable Player ballot. The MVP vote was controversial as Martinez received the most first-place votes, but was totally omitted from the ballot of two sportswriters who believed pitchers were not sufficiently all-around players to be considered. Martinez was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April, May, June, and September of 1999, an unprecedented feat for a single season.

In the 1999 playoffs against the Cleveland Indians, though hampered by an injury, Martinez dominated the final game of the series. Entering the game in relief with an 8-8 score, Martinez pitched six no-hit innings for the win. In the American League Championship Series, he pitched seven shutout innings to beat the New York Yankees in Game 3, handing them their only loss of the postseason.

Martinez’s strikeouts and win count were slightly down in 2000, but he posted an exceptional 1.74 ERA, the AL’s lowest since 1978, winning his third Cy Young award with his ERA about a third of the park-adjusted league ERA (4.97). No other single season by a starting pitcher has had such a gigantic differential. He also set a record in the lesser known sabermetric statistic of Weighted Runs allowed per 9 innings pitched (Wtd. RA/9). Martinez posted a remarkably low 1.55 Wtd. RA/9.

In 2000, Pedro Martinez’s WHIP was 0.74, breaking a 77-year-old record set by Walter Johnson. The American League slugged just .259 against him. Martinez became the only starting pitcher to have more than twice as many strikeouts in a season (284) than hits allowed (128).

In 1999 and 2000 Martinez allowed 288 hits, 597 strikeouts, 69 walks and a 1.90 ERA in 430 innings. Some statisticians believe that under the circumstances-with lefty-friendly Fenway Park as his home field, in a league with a DH, during the highest offensive period in baseball history-this performance represents the peak for any pitcher in baseball history.

Though he pitched well while healthy, carrying a sub-2.00 ERA to the midpoint of the season, Martinez was injured for much of 2001 with a rotator cuff injury as the Red Sox slumped to a poor finish. He rebounded in 2002 to lead the league with a 2.26 ERA and 237 strikeouts, going 20-4. However, that season’s American League Cy Young award went to Barry Zito of the Oakland A’s. despite a higher ERA, fewer strikeouts, and a lower winning percentage. Martinez became the first pitcher in history to lead his respective league in ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage, but not win the Cy Young Award.

After the 2004 season, Martinez became a free agent and signed a 4 year, $53 million contract with the New York Mets.

Memorable games

Martinez has come about as close to throwing a perfect game as possible without actually getting credit for it. On June 3, 1995, while pitching for Montreal, he retired the first 27 Padres hitters he faced to accumulate nine innings of perfect pitching. However, the score was still tied 0-0 at that point and the game went into extra innings, and Martinez surrendered a double to the 28th batter. According to Major League Baseball rules, that meant that Martinez accomplished neither a perfect game nor a no-hitter.

Martinez also came close to the feat on September 10, 1999, when he beat the New York Yankees 3-1. He faced just 28 batters while striking out 17 and walking none; only a solo home run by Chili Davis separated Martinez from a no-hitter. Martinez had previously thrown a 1-hitter against the Reds in 1997.

Martinez was also on the mound for Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS versus the Yankees. He was left in by manager Grady Little in the 8th inning and proceeded to allow the Yankees to tie the score, and his team eventually lost.

Quotes

Don Zimmer being thrown to the ground by pitcher Pedro Martinez during Game 3 of the ALCS

Martinez is a very controversial pitcher, both on and off the field. He refuses to yield the inside part of the plate, and has a high numbers of batters hit as a result. His career rate for hitting batters is historically high. When asked about the Red Sox – Yankees rivalry, he responded: “I’m starting to hate talking about the Yankees. The questions are so stupid. They’re wasting my time. It’s getting kind of old … I don’t believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass, pardon me the word.” In Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, Martinez threatened to hit Yankee catcher Jorge Posada in the head, angering 72-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer. Zimmer ran towards Martinez during a bench-clearing incident and Martinez, grabbing Zimmer’s head, violently threw the coach to the ground. After a Red Sox loss to the Yankees late in the 2004 season, Martinez remarked in a press conference, “They beat me. They’re that good right now. They’re that hot. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy”. The New York media publicized the quote heavily, and whenever Martinez pitched at Yankee Stadium in the 2004 American League Championship Series, fans chanted “Who’s Your Daddy?”

Facts

Martinez’s brother Ramon Martinez was also a Major League pitcher and the brothers have twice been teammates, with the Dodgers (1992-93) and Red Sox (1999-2000). Their younger brother, Jesus, also pitched in the Dodgers farm system for several years.

Martinez’s first cousin, Denny Bautista, is a Major League pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.
Pedro pulled out of the 2005 All Star Game because of short rest, pitching Sunday July 10th. This was not the first time Martinez had pulled out of an All-Star Game.

Pedro Martinez also skipped his last start in 2002, after the Red Sox had been eliminated from the postseason; some have suggested that this hurt him in the Cy Young voting that year, when he finished second to Oakland’s Barry Zito.

Pedro has a friend from the Dominican Republic named Nelson who is only 2 feet tall, and was believed to be the Red Sox good luck charm during the 2004 season.

Paul Holmes

Paul Holmes is president and CEO of The Holmes Group, which provides knowledge and insight for public relations professionals, and also serves as editor of The Holmes Report, a weekly e-mail newsletter of opinion and analysis for the public relations industry.

Holmes has spent 15 years writing about the public relations industry. He was news editor of PR Week in the U.K., launch editor of PR Week in the U.S., and an editor at Adweek and Adweek’s Marketing Week before launching Inside PR in 1990. For the past five years he was editor of Inside PR and Reputation Management magazine, before leaving to start his own consulting and knowledge management business at the end of 2000.

Holmes is a frequent speaker on public relations topics including trends in corporate reputation management, crisis communications, public relations ethics, agency management, and recruiting and retaining top talent. He has served as a consultant to seven of the top 10 public relations agencies in the world. He also spent 10 years as chairman of the judges for the Creativity in Public Relations Awards and currently manages the SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Awards for The Holmes Group.

Holmes was raised and educated in northern England, and worked on newspapers in Lancashire and South London before focusing on the public relations field.

Lee Marvin

NAME: Lee Marvin

BORN: 19/02/1924

BIRTH PLACE: New York, USA

DIED: 29/08/1987

Lee Marvin quit high school to join the Marine Corps during World War II, and was wounded in battle in the South Pacific. Recovery was slow, and he then served as a plumber’s apprentice.

Marvin made his Broadway debut in a production of ‘Billy Budd’ in 1951, landing his first film role the same year, in ‘You’re in the Navy Now’. The film’s director, Henry Hathaway, hired him again for ‘The Diplomatic Courier’ in 1942

In 1952, Marvin landed the lead role in ‘Eight Iron Men’, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred in Fritz Lang’s ‘The Big Heat’ in 1953.

He became known as a screen villain in films such as ‘Bad Day at Black Rock’, and appeared opposite Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One’, in 1954.

After some notable B-movies, such as ‘I Died a Thousand Times’, Marvin moved to television, starring in the police series ‘M Squad’.

He returned to film in the 1961 John Wayne film, ‘The Comancheros’, and starred with him again in the John Ford classic, ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’.

After branching into comedy with Kramer’s 1965 ‘Ship of Fools’, he won an Oscar for his performance in Western pastiche, ‘Cat Ballou’.

1967 proved his year for stardom, with the release of ‘The Dirty Dozen’, one of the year’s biggest hits. ‘Point Blank’ was similarly massive, as was the Clint Eastwood musical comedy, ‘Paint Your Wagon’. At that point, ‘Paint Your Wagon’ was one of the most expensive movies ever made.

Starring with Paul Newman in 1972’s ‘Pocket Money’, Marvin constantly considered retirement, and even turned down the lead in ‘Deliverance’. After bad reviews for 1976 films, he shrunk from public view.

A high-profile alimony case, brought by his long-term girlfriend, for share of earnings did little for his reputation.

Marvin reprised his Major Reisman role in ‘The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission’, but died of a heart attack on 29th August 1987.

Larry Miller

LARRY MILLER has had a long and successful career as a stand-up comedian and has also developed a strong career as an actor in such films as Runaway Bride, Ten Things I Hate About You, The Nutty Professor, Corrina, Corrina, Dream Lover, The Favor, Frozen Assets, Undercover Blues, LA Story, Necessary Roughness and Pretty Woman.

Of his many television credits, Miller has had recurring roles on some of television’s most successful series: Law & Order, Mad About You and as the doorman with the attitude on Seinfeld. He appeared as a series regular on HBO’s DOA as well as guest starring on the hit comedy 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Miller’s love for stand-up comedy continues with regular guest appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Show With David Letterman and two of his own critically acclaimed specials for HBO.

Larry Miller

LARRY MILLER has had a long and successful career as a stand-up comedian and has also developed a strong career as an actor in such films as Runaway Bride, Ten Things I Hate About You, The Nutty Professor, Corrina, Corrina, Dream Lover, The Favor, Frozen Assets, Undercover Blues, LA Story, Necessary Roughness and Pretty Woman.

Of his many television credits, Miller has had recurring roles on some of television’s most successful series: Law & Order, Mad About You and as the doorman with the attitude on Seinfeld. He appeared as a series regular on HBO’s DOA as well as guest starring on the hit comedy 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Miller’s love for stand-up comedy continues with regular guest appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Show With David Letterman and two of his own critically acclaimed specials for HBO.

John McDaniel

JOHN MCDANIEL was born Janaury, 1834, in Pulaski County, Ky., and is the fifth of the nine children of John and Unia Elizabeth (Littlejohn) McDaniel, natives of Kentucky, and of Scotch and Irish descent. John, our subject, was reared to the plow, and in 1852 came to this county, lived with an uncle and worked by the month for several years. About 1858, he lived in Missouri and Kansas, and afterward was employed to drive a cattle team across the plains. From Salt Lake he assisted in driving one thousand head of cattle to California, where he engaged in farming by the month, but soon afterward returned to his present location. April 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the regiment marching immediately to join the Army of the Cumberland, which took part at the battles of Franklin, Cumberland Gap, the Atlanta campaign and the march through Georgia.

While in the hospital, his regiment was captured, by the enemy, and he was thereafter assigned to the heavy artillery, in which he remained for ten months, and was discharged April, 1865. Janaury 11, 1866, he married Mary A., daughter of James and Ellen Martin, which union was cemented by six children—James H., William Franklin, John E., Clinton H., Kelle B. and Ella J. Mr. McDaniel is owner of eighty acres, being a good farm and comfortable home. He is a member of the G. A. R., and of the Baptist Church, also an active Republican.

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Jerry Hall

Born on July 2, 1956, in Gonzalez, Texas, Jerry Faye, one of five daughters, including her twin, Terry Jaye, moved with her family to Mesquite, a nearby working-class town, when she was two. She had a turbulent early life, often facing the wrath of her late alcoholic truck driver father. Aged 16, Jerry left home to pursue a modelling career in Paris, carrying nothing but a suitcase full of Frederick’s Of Hollywood knockoffs fashioned by her mum. With waist-long blonde hair and standing nearly 6ft tall, Jerry was soon making thousands of dollars a week as a fashion model, snagging a rock star fiancé, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, along the way. The cover girl, then the face of Yves Saint Laurent Opium perfume and Revlon cosmetics, starred in two of the group’s early music videos, and posed for the sleeve of their 1975 album Sirens. Aged 20, she was still with the art rock singer when she met the man with whom she would spend the next two decades, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger. In 1979 she left Bryan for the 36-year-old music icon, whose marriage to first wife Bianca was coming to an end.

Five years into their famous relationship, the couple had their first daughter, Elizabeth Scarlett, and welcomed a son, James Leroy Augustin, in 1985, the same year she released her autobiography, Tall Tales. Her modelling career on the back burner, over the next decade she landed small roles in films such as 1989’s Batman and 1994’s Princess Caraboo. The famous pair were together for more than a decade when they finally tied the knot on November 21, 1990, and a third child, Georgia May Ayeesha soon followed. Though rumours of a split buzzed throughout the marriage, it was two years after the 1997 birth of baby number four, Gabriel Luke Beauregard, that model Luciana Morad’s announcement she was pregnant with Mick’s child drove Jerry to file for divorce. The mess got messier when the model-actress’ partner of 22 years claimed their Hindu beach wedding in Bali wasn’t valid under English law. The marriage was annulled by a High Court judge in 1999. Jerry and the kids live in the £5 million family mansion in London’s Richmond Hill; Mick recently bought a flat next door. A science-lover with an IQ of 146 Jerry’s also enrolled in an Open University course in humanities. In the early 2000s she was noted for her theatrical performance as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate.

Gil Bellows

Gil Bellows worked steadily in film throughout the mid-’90s before he achieved TV fame on the whimsical Fox comedy Ally McBeal. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bellows left Canada to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Southern California. He then headed East, appearing in New York theater as well as on TV’s Law & Order. Though he made his film debut in Frank Darabont’s acclaimed prison drama The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and co-starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in Miami Rhapsody (1995), Bellows followed more in the direction of his first starring film, Love and a .45 (1994), appearing primarily in independent features. After a supporting role in The Substance of Fire (1996), Bellows starred in the British-Canadian adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant (1997) and the Canadian romantic comedy Dinner at Fred’s (opposite indie queen Parker Posey), as well as the French supernatural romance Un Amour de Sorcière (1997). It was TV producer/writer David E. Kelley’s innovative Ally McBeal, though, that made Bellows a well-known presence after the series debuted in 1997. As Ally/Calista Flockhart’s ex-love-turned-law colleague, Bellows’ Billy was a bastion of relative normalcy (at least until the third season) among the eccentric staff populating the series’ fictional Boston law firm and stoking Ally’s neuroses. Though Billy was supposed to last only one season, Bellows stayed for three, leaving in 2000. Bellows is married to actress Rya Kihlstedt and has one daughter.

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Gerard Depardieu

Despite his unorthodox visage, Gérard Depardieu has made a profound mark on the acting world, and has earned recognition as one of Europe’s most prolific actors. Perhaps a contributor to his consistently intense performances, Depardieu’s childhood was one of extreme poverty. At 12 years old, he dropped out of school and hitchhiked across Europe on an informal tour funded primarily by the profits of stolen cars and assorted black-market products. Depardieu would likely have continued in his juvenile delinquency were it not for a friend who was attending drama school in Paris. Intrigued, Depardieu enrolled at the Theatre National Populaire, where he studied his trade alongside future co-stars Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou. In 1965, the young actor made his debut in a French short film by the name of Le Beatnik et le Minet, and began making regular appearances on French television shows.By the mid-’70s, Depardieu had co-starred in 11 French films, though he wouldn’t enjoy widespread success until his role of a nihilistic but lovable petty criminal in director Bertrand Blier’s Going Places (1974). Not long afterward, Depardieu could be found holding his own against acclaimed French actress Isabelle Adjani in Barocco and portraying a passionate Communist organizer in 1900 (both 1976). In 1978, Depardieu re-teamed with Blier for the Oscar-winning Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, and he went on to win France’s prestigious César award for his performance as a resistance fighter in The Last Metro (1980). After his portrayal of a 16th century peasant in The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), Depardieu could be found playing the title role in Danton, and he stepped behind the camera as co-director for 1984’s Le Tartuffe.The 1990s were equally successful for Depardieu, particularly in the case of director Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1990 version of Cyrano de Bergerac, for which Depardieu earned an Oscar nomination. He made his foray into American film in 1990’s Green Card opposite Andie MacDowell .

Though the bulk of his success still stemmed from French films (All the Mornings of the World [1991], Germinal [1993], A Pure Formality [1994], and Colonel Chabert [1994], to name a few) Depardieu nonetheless achieved moderate recognition in the American film market. Despite the failures of Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) and Steve Miner’s English remake of My Father the Hero, Depardieu was praised for his performances in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1996), Nick Cassavetes’ She’s So Lovely (1997), and Randall Wallace’s The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), with Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, and Leonardo DiCaprio.Despite two nearly fatal accidents—he was involved in both a plane collision and a motorcycle accident—and significant heart problems (he went through a coronary bypass procedure in 2000), Depardieu maintained his prowess in film. In addition to critically acclaimed performances in The Closet (2001), CQ (2001), City of Ghosts (2002), and Nathalie… (2003), Depardieu began work with internationally recognized French director Alain Chabat for RRRrrr! in 2004.

Gene Autry

Gene Autry was more than a musician. His music, coupled with his careers in movies and on radio and television, made him a part of the mythos that has made up the American identity for the past hundred years—John Wayne with a little bit of Sam Houston and Davy Crockett all rolled into one, with a great singing voice and an ear for music added on. He defined country music for two generations of listeners, cowboy songs for much of the 20th century, and American music for much of the world. He was country music’s first genuine “multimedia” star, the best-known country & western singer on records, in movies, on radio, and on television from the early ‘30s until the mid-’50s. His 300 songs cut between 1929 and 1964 include nine gold record awards and one platinum record; his 93 movies saved one big chunk of the movie industry, delighted millions, and made millionaires of several producers (as well as Autry himself); his radio and television shows were even more popular and successful; and a number of his songs outside of the country & western field have become American pop culture touchstones.

The biggest selling country & western singer of the middle of the 20th century was born Orvon Gene Autry on September 29, 1907, in the tiny Texas town of Tioga, the son of Delbert and Elnora Ozmont Autry. He was first taught to sing at age five by his grandfather, William T. Autry, a Baptist preacher and descendant of some of the earliest settlers in Texas, contemporaries of the Houstons and the Crocketts (an Autry had died at the Alamo). The boy’s interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who taught him hymns and folk songs and read psalms to him at night. Autry got his first guitar at age 12, bought from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog for eight dollars (saved from his work as a hired hand on his uncle’s farm baling and stacking hay). By the time he was 15, he had played anyplace there was to perform in Tioga, including school plays and the local cafe, but made most of his living working for the railroad as an apprentice at $35 a month. Later on, as a proper telegraph operator, he was making $150 a month, which those days was a comfortable income in that part of Texas.

Curtis Martin

The Jets’ 1999 team MVP and 3-time Pro Bowler (1995-96, 1998), Martin has established himself as 1 of the elite RB in the NFL, has rushed for the 7th most yards in NFL history over the 1st 5 years of his career (6,550) and has 8,064 yards from scrimmage (6,550 rushing and 1,514 yards receiving) and 50 TD, became just the 4th player in NFL annals to rush for more than 1,000 yards in each of his 1st 5 seasons, joining Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson (7), Tony Dorsett (5) and certain Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (10) in the ultra exclusive fraternity, entering the 2000 season Martin has missed just 4 out of 80 regular season games, established a Jets team-record for most rushing yards in a season in 1999 when he racked up 1,464 yards on 367 carries (4.0 avg.) and 5 TD, also had 45 receptions for 259 yards, is 2nd on the team’s career 100-yard rushing games list with 14 century days in just 2 years, when Martin carries the ball 20-or-more times in a game the Jets are 18-6 and have posted a 10-4 record when he reaches the 100-yard mark in a game, in his 2 seasons with the Jets has combined (rushing and receiving) for 3,375 yards and 14 TD, has 28 100-yard career rushing games to his credit, has started 75 out of the 76 regular season games he has played in’selected after junior season by NE in 3rd round (74th overall) of the 1995 draft, was tendered an offer sheet as a RFA on 3/20/98 by the Jets. NE declined to match offer sheet on 3/25/98?

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Bill Brochtrup

Bill Brochtrup got his big career break when he was cast for two episodes on NYPD Blue during the show’s second season. Brochtrup’s portrayal of the extremely efficient police administrative aide endeared him to viewers, as well as the show’s producers. When NYPD Blue co-creator Steven Bochco next hired Brochtrup to reprise the role of John Irvin in the sitcom, Public Morals, it created the rare occasion for the same character to appear both in a drama and a comedy, and on different networks. Following Public Morals, Brochtrup went on to star in the ABC series Total Security, with James Belushi. Soon after the conclusion of that series, Brochtrup returned to NYPD Blue. Since making his professional debut a decade ago in the television series Hot Pursuit, Brochtrup has worked continuously in theater, film and television. He has guest-starred on series such as Dharma & Greg, Picket Fences and Murder, She Wrote. His feature film credits include Ravenous, Not Again, the critically acclaimed mockumentary Man of the Year, and the futuristic Space Marines.

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Adam Ferrara

A proven favorite in comedy clubs, festivals and sitcoms, Adam Ferrara has earned a name for himself as one of today’s leading comedic talents. Adam’s charismatic charm enhances a stand-up act that blends witty characterizations and hilarious observations. His popularity as a stand-up has been validated with two American Comedy Awards” nominations for the Stand-Up Comic Audience Award.

Adam was born in Queens and raised on Long Island, NY. He was known as the Aclass clown” at Walt Whitman High School and was bestowed with that Ahonor” in his yearbook. Although Adam received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Marist College, he admits, “I can’t even balance my own checkbook”. So on July 13th 1988, he took to the stage at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island and performed for the first time. His appearance was a huge success – thanks to his mother who had invited the entire neighborhood. That appearance resulted in another gig the following night and Adam’s first agent.

Adam is a national touring headliner playing the famed Improvs as well as Catch a Rising Star, Caroline’s in NYC, The Laugh Factory, and The Punchlines. He is also a regular performer at the world renowned Just for Laughs: The Montreal Comedy Festival. This past July, Adam appeared at the Festival again and performed at three different shows including the prestigious closing night Gala with host Louie Anderson.

His stellar list of stand-up television appearances over the years include multiple appearances on Comedy Central, A&E, MTV/VH-1, NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC. Most recently, Adam appeared on “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” and “The Late Show with David Letterman”.

Adam has also had success on television in numerous roles including the recurring role of Pete on NBC’s “Caroline in the City”. He was a series regular on UPN’s “Social Studies”, and most recently has been cast in the role of Tommy in “The Job” with Denis Leary for Dreamworks on ABC. Adam has completed taping his second half-hour special for Comedy Central as well.

Adam recently performed his one-man show “I DO” in Los Angeles and at the Toyota Comedy Festival in New York City.

Norman Wisdom

Sir Norman Wisdom (born February 4, 1915, other dates reported) is an English comedian, singer and actor.

He created an accident prone “gump” or fool character called Norman Pitkin, who appeared in several films, most notably, The Early Bird, His famous cry as Pitkin was, “Mr Grimsdale! Mr Grimsdale!”

UK chart singles – Don’t Laugh At Me (Cause I’m A Fool) (1954): The Wisdom Of A Fool (1957).

He is a supporter and a former board member of Brighton and Hove Albion F.C..

He was knighted in 1999.

Norman Wisdom is a well known and loved cult film icon in Albania, being the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha (the archetypal Wisdom plot—the common working man getting the better of his bosses—was considered ideologically sound by Hoxha). In 1995, he visited the country where he was, to his surprise, greeted by many appreciative fans and the then president of Albania, Sali Berisha. He has announced that he intends to retire on his 90th birthday.

Meryl Streep

Born June 22, 1949 in Summit, NJ, Streep’s interest in acting began while she attended Bernards High School, prior to which she had taken operatic voice lessons. Beginning with Daisy Mae in Lil’ Abner, Streep appeared in several school productions, but also found time to be a good student, a cheerleader, and the Homecoming Queen. Upon graduation, she studied drama at Vassar, Dartmouth, and Yale, where she appeared in between 30 and 40 productions with the Yale Repertory Theater.

Like her longtime acting cohort Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep is known for her ability to disappear inside her characters, transforming herself physically to meet the demands of her roles. A luminous blonde with nearly translucent pale skin, intelligent blue eyes, and a lovely facial bone structure, Streep possesses a fragile, fleeting beauty that allows her to be as earthy and plain as she can be glamorous and radiant.

With her education finished, Streep headed for the New York stage where she launched her career off-Broadway. She then spent time on Broadway in shows such as Tennessee Williams’ 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, for which she was Tony nominated, before making her television debut in Robert Markowitz’s The Deadliest Season (1977). That year she also made her feature film bow in Fred Zinnmann’s Julia (1977), playing Anna Marie opposite heavyweights Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, and Hal Holbrook. The following year, Streep earned an Emmy for her performance in Marvin J. Chomsky’s miniseries Holocaust. She first worked with DeNiro in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978). Though her role was small, she played it with an energetic sensitivity that earned her the first of many Oscar nominations. She was next seen as Woody Allen’s ruthless lesbian ex-wife in his classic comedy Manhattan (1979), and became better known following her turn as the conflicted Joanna Kramer opposite Dustin Hoffman in the tear-jerking divorce saga Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979).

Leonard Rossiter

On October 21st 1926, in the bustling port of Liverpool, North West England, a second son was born, at home, to John and Elizabeth Rossiter, and a baby brother for John junior. Leonard was raised in the family home above his father’s barber shop in Cretan Road, Wavertree, a suburb of the city of Liverpool. After primary school in Granby St., Toxteth, he attended the city’s Collegiate Grammar School from 1939 to 1945. He excelled at languages and sport, both of which would come in useful in later life. A cheerful, modest, punctual and scholarly pupil, Leonard was made vice captain of the school, and captains of both the football and cricket teams, where he was ” a slow, left-arm bowler – in true Lancashire style”. In one match the school football team beat their opponents 11-0, and it was Leonard who scored all eleven goals. He was also a member of the school’s drama society. Naturally shy, Leonard remembers his adolescence with embarrassment: “I remember all those dances at The Rialto, Liverpool, where I spent every Saturday night between 10.30 and 11. Well, I hated it. The whole evening was geared to that last half-hour. The last waltz, or whatever. Mostly the whatever.” When he started to mix with people from different social classes, he would always hold back if he wasn’t sure how to conduct himself: “I remember getting very hot under the collar at dinner tables… I was always afraid of being laughed at.”
World War Two began shortly before Leonard’s thirteenth birthday, but he still had hopes of studying a French and German degree course at university. His father was now a volunteer ambulance man, helping to ferry the wounded to Liverpool’s hospitals. Tragically, in 1942, John Rossiter was killed performing this duty during an air raid. Leonard now had to re-think his future, especially with regards to supporting his mother. Before then, however, he would reach conscription age, and have to ‘do his bit’ for the war effort. He joined the Education Corps. based in Germany. By now the Germans had surrendered but the Japanese were still fighting. To give him an authority as instructor, he was instantly made a sergeant. Leonard would spend his time there teaching soldiers their ABC, and often had to write their letters home. Many men were less than keen to learn: “Lots of chaps resented it”, Leonard recalls. “Most of them were totally hardened to the idea of never needing to read or write and didn’t see why they should start.”

Sergeant Rossiter was demobbed in 1948 and, despite being offered his dream place at Liverpool University to study languages, turned it down to become the breadwinner for the Rossiter household. Through a school friend he got himself a job with Commercial Union, one of the country’s largest insurance companies. He was a clerk in the claims and accidents department, earning £210 per year. Although frustrated at being tied to a desk all day, he stayed with the firm for six and a half years. Many years later he would joke about his time at the CU: “It really is amazing how many entertainers started life in insurance”, he quipped, “and most of them will still try to sell you some, given half a chance.” One of his colleagues in the same office was the late actor Michael Williams, husband of Dame Judi Dench. Michael remembers: “Len was the most competitive man ever. We used to play football for the office team. Once, he passed me the ball by an open goal. I missed it. Len wouldn’t speak to me for a week. And we sat at opposite desks!”

Helen Mirren

Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff in 1945, Chiswick, London, Helen Mirren is the daughter of an English mother; her father was a Russian aristocrat stranded in London after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Mirren realised she wanted to become an actress from a very early age. She joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark at the age of eighteen playing Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra (1965) at the Old Vic. This led to her joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967. Mirren made her screen debut in the forgettable Herostratus (1968). That same year, she made a more favourable appearance as Hermia in Peter Hall’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968). She next starred opposite James Mason as a teenage seductress in Michael Powell’s Age of Consent (1969). In 1972 she joined Peter Brook’s experimental International Centre of Theatre Research, touring in Africa and America. She appeared on screen in an early raunchy role in Ken Russell’s Savage Messiah (1972), and the Lindsay Anderson musical drama O Lucky Man! (1974). After a short spell in television appearing in the likes of Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills (1979), she returned to the big screen in the controversial Penthouse film Caligula (1979). The 1980s saw Mirren come of age as an actress and earn her first acclaimed role when cast opposite Bob Hoskins in the British gangster film The Long Good Friday (1979).

During the subsequent decade, Mirren continued to work on stage and screen, broadening her appeal with such roles as the seductively evil Morgana in John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), and playing the widow of a British officer who unwittingly falls in love with the man responsible for her husband’s death in Pat O’Connor’s Cal (1984). Her accurate portrayal of strong feminine characters continued in Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast (1986), as Harrison Ford’s loyal wife, and as the adulterous wife of a gangster in Peter Greenaway’s controversial The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989).

The 1990s saw Mirren tackling varying roles, ranging from a fragile wife in the thriller The Comfort of Strangers (1991), to a headstrong widow in Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991). Mirren also began appearing on television as the hard-bitten DCI Jane Tennison in Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect, the ITV series proving immensely popular with viewers. She achieved her biggest international success to date and earned an Oscar nomination for her part in Nicholas Hytner’s The Madness of King George (1994), playing the devoted queen whose husband, George III (Nigel Hawthorne), is suffering from declining mental health. The following year she earned further acclaim for her work in Some Mother’s Son (1996), in which she played the mother of a Belfast hunger striker. She has more recently played a titular teacher in Kevin Williamson’s disappointing Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999) and Georgina Woodhouse in the comedy Greenfingers (2000). She earned her second Oscar nomination for Robert Altman’s acclaimed ensemble comedy Gosford Park (2001). Mirren followed with another choice part as the widow of deceased butcher Michael Caine in the sentimental drama Last Orders (2002).

Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley (born May 1, 1946 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is a British actress and former model who is best known for her portrayal of the chain smoking, boozing, cocaine-sniffing and other drug-taking sexpot Patsy Stone on the British comedy television show Absolutely Fabulous.

Tall, leggy, thin and blonde, she began her acting career as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Her first major role was as Purdey in The New Avengers: a revival of the secret agent series The Avengers.

She has specialised in playing upper-class parts, and her distinctive plummy voice has reinforced this. However, following her rise to fame, she revealed that she had been an unmarried mother during the 1960s when it was socially unacceptable. The first of her two subsequent marriages was to comedy writer, Jeremy Lloyd.

Lumley was awarded an OBE in 1995.

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Ben Kingsley

Born Krishna Bhanji in Snaiton, northern England, in 1943, the boy who would become Ben Kingsley was raised in Salford by his physician father Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji and his fashion model mother Anna Lyna Mary. After being turned down by the prestigious London acting school RADA in 1965, Ben spent two years plying his trade in the English provinces before returning to London in 1967 on being invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Over the next two decades, he would go on to perform at both the Royal Court and the National Theatre. Despite his glittering stage career, however, Ben’s passage into films was a slow one. It took another ten years before he landed a starring role in Gandhi, film on biopic of Indian independence leader Gandhi. As the film roles poured in, the actor still managed to balance a film career with a range of work on TV. Ben lives with his partner Kate Townsend and has three sons by his two previous marriages.

Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton nicknamed ‘Star’ was born on 17th February in 1981, is entitled to many famous introductions. She is the daughter of Ricky and Kathy Hilton, the great grand daughter of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and grand daughter of Barron Hilton and the grand niece of Nicholas Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, the first husband of Elizabeth Taylor. There was nothing extraordinary about her except being the co-heiress to the 300 million dollar, Hilton empire with her sister Nicky till she zoomed to fame in a 5 minute home made sex video with her ex- boyfriend Ricky Solomon who is Shannen Doherty’s ex- husband too. The film was widely circulated on the Internet.

This however was not her only claim to notorious popularity. Apart from her dalliances with hot Hollywood stars like Leonardo Di Caprio, Edward Furlong, and boxer Oscar De La Hoya her name was also associated with the nightclub owner and proclaimed lesbian Ingrid Cesress. Later she was engaged to Hollywod star Jason Shaw with whom she later broke off.

It was after completing her High School and leaving graduate studies midway that Paris as she loves to call herself wanted to do something different. Breaking away from family tradition she opted for modelling profession and walked the ramps for famous designers like Marc Bouwer and Catherine Malndrino. She also did an ad campaign for Iceberg and featured on the centre spreads of magazines like GQ, VHM and Vanity Fair. The tabloid press has always been close on her heels, reporting and blowing out of proportion her professional or personal escapades.

Lately, she also featured in fish out of water reality show titled The Simple Life. The show was broadcast on Fox. She gave a cameo appearance in Ben Stiller’s fashion spoof Zoolander.

She has also been photographed with her sister Nicky for the People Magazine. Nicky, the junior sibling of Paris was born in 1983 and is a known socialite. Besides modelling and acting she has diversified into designing a collection purses for Tokyo brand Samantha Thavasa.

Young “Hilton the Heiress” still has a long way to go whichever way she chooses her career to be.

Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson was born in 1936. An independent, intelligent and exceptionally talented actor, she has achieved considerable success by expertly portraying strong and self-willed women. In 1964, she took part in Peter Brook’s Theatre of Cruelty season organized with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the London Academy of Dramatic Art. This led to her playing Charlotte Corday in Peter Brook’s production of The Marat/Sade in 1965 which was acclaimed both in London and New York. In 1967 she gave a notable performance of Masha in The Three Sisters at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1969, the British film director, Ken Russell, cast her to play Gudrun Brangwen in his adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love (1969). She received the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Throughout the 1970s, she gave sparkling performances in 17 films, including Russell’s The Music Lovers (1971), Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) – for which she was nominated for an Oscar – and the romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), for which she won her second Academy Award.

In the 1980s, although she continued to make films, she also starred in a sequence of West End successes, including Great and Small (1983) and Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude (1984).

In 1992, her stage and film career came to an end when she was elected a Member of Parliament – the first (and almost cetainly she’ll remain the only) MP to have been awarded not just one but two Oscars.

Lee Evans

Lee Evans is a British stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Avonmouth, Bristol in 1964. He won the Perrier Comedy Award in 1993.

Evans appeared in a number of films, including Mousehunt , There’s Something About Mary, The Medallion, and Freezeframe . Evans also appears regularly on stage, including an appearance as “Clov” in the West End play Endgame. In autumn of 2004 Evans performed as Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks’ musical The Producers and will tour once again in 2005.

Judi Dench

Born in York, England, on December 9, 1934, Dench made her stage debut as a snail in a junior school production. After attending art school, she studied acting at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. In 1957, she made her professional stage debut as Ophelia in the Old Vic’s Liverpool production of Hamlet. A prolific stage career followed, with seasons spent performing with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

Dench broke into film in 1964 with a supporting role in The Third Secret. The following year, she won her first BAFTA, a Most Promising Newcomer honor for her work in Four in the Morning. Although she continued to work in film, Dench earned most of her recognition for her stage work, occasionally bringing her stage roles to the screen in adaptations like A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968) and Macbeth (1978). In the mid-1980s Dench began to make her name with international film audiences. In 1986, her turn as a meddlesome romance author in A Room with a View, earned her a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA. Two years later, she won the same award for her work in another period drama, A Handful of Dust. After her supporting role as Mistress Quickly in Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 adaptation of Henry V, Dench exchanged the past for the present with her thoroughly modern role as M in GoldenEye (1995), the first of the Pierce Brosnan series of James Bond films. She has reprised the character – traditionally a male role – twice since.

In 1997 she earned an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe award for her portrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. The following year, Dench did win the Oscar, garnering Best Supporting Actress honors for her astonishing eight-minute appearance as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love. There would be another Oscar nomination for her role as the tetchy oldster seeking reconciliation in Chocolat (2000). For her role as a talented British writer struggling with Alzheimer’s Disease in Iris (2001), Dench earned her fourth Oscar nomination. After this came The Shipping News, where Dench played the aunt of a troubled Kevin Spacey.

Joan Collins

NAME: Joan Collins
BORN: 23/05/1933
BIRTH PLACE: London, England

Joan Henrietta Collins, the daughter of a theatrical booking agent, studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for 18 months and made her film debut in 1951 as a beauty pageant contestant in ‘Lady Godiva Rides Again’.

She appeared in a handful of other British films before gaining international attention in 1955, as the femme fatale in Howard Hawks’ epic of ancient Egypt, ‘Land of the Pharaohs’.

A year later, Joan ventured to Hollywood and immediately capitalised on her sultry appeal in ‘The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing’, portraying Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, whose involvement with prominent architect Stanford White brought about his shocking murder in early 20th Century NYC.

Joan worked infrequently during her 1963-71 marriage to Anthony Newley, although she starred opposite him in his notorious sex comedy ‘Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?’

During 1967, Joan made several television appearances.

When she returned to films, it was in thrillers and horror sci-fi films like ‘Inn of the Frightened People’, ‘Tales From the Crypt’, ‘Tales That Witness Madness’ and ‘Empire of the Ants’.

Joan returned to the London stage in 1980, with ‘The Last of Mrs Cheney’, before she landed the role of super-bitch Alexis Carrington in the prime-time TV soap ‘Dynasty’.

This role, which she played from 1981-89, opened up a whole new world of opportunity for her and bought her greater worldwide fame and recognition.

Playboy beckoned, featuring her as ‘50 Is Beautiful’.

Joan had already written three books, including a kiss-and-tell autobiography, ‘Past Imperfect’, when she followed in sister Jackie’s footsteps and published her first novel, ‘Prime Time’.

In 1997, she was awarded an OBE.

In 2000, she also appeared in the play ‘Love Letters’, where she met Percy Gibson. Percy, who is 31 years Joan’s junior, became Joan’s husband in 2001.

Halle Berry

Born August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio, Halle is the youngest daughter born to Jerome and Judith Berry, an interracial couple. Halle, and her older sister Heidi, spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood. Her abusive father, Jerome Berry, abandoned his wife and children, and left the family when Halle was four years old.

Halle was raised almost totally by her mother, Judith, a psychiatric nurse. Judith then moved her family to the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford. This rough start to her life did not deter her from excelling in whatever she did. Halle attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result, she was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Throughout high school, Halle participated in a variety of extracurricular activities, holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, member of the honor society, varsity cheerleader, and prom queen.

Halle won Miss Ohio, Miss Teen All-American, and in 1986, was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. She was the first African American to represent the U.S. in the Miss World competition in London. Halle attended Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied broadcast journalism. Halle abandoned her idea of a career in news reporting however, choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a career in entertainment. She first moved to Chicago, then New York City, where she found work as a catalog model.

Halle’s acting career began in television with a role on the short-lived sitcom “Living Dolls”. This was followed by a year-long run on the CBS prime time drama “Knot’s Landing”. Halle’s first big screen break came later that year when she was cast as Samuel L. Jackson’s drug addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever”. More substantial supporting roles followed, including that of a stripper in the action-thriller “The Last Boy Scout”, starring Bruce Willis. This success lead to Halle as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy’s heart in the romantic comedy “Boomerang”.

Halle, now with a few films under her belt, accepted more offbeat roles, making cameos in the rockumentary “CB4” which traced the rise and fall of the titled rap group. She then starred in the live action version of “The Flintstones”, featuring Halle as a Stone Age seductress, a very sexy and successful performance. Halle’s next role was a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict seeking to regain custody of her son in “Losing Isaiah”. The story was set in the midst of a bitter custody battle with adoptive parents, played by Jessica Lange and David Strathairn. Later that year, Halle overcame Hollywood’s racial barriers when she was cast as the first African American to play the Queen of Sheeba in Showtime’s movie “Solomon & Sheeba”. Halle has been introduced as the new Bond Girl, and we are sure to see her in a very sexy role in the near future.

Julie Andrews

Born Julia Elizabeth Wells on October 1st, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, eighteen miles south of London. She was named after her two grandmothers Julia Morris and Elizabeth Wells.

Her father Ted Wells was a woodwork teacher and her mother Barbara Morris Wells gave piano lessons and was a part-time pianist for a dance school ran by her sister, Joan Morris. When Julie was two she appeared in the dance schools pageant as a fairy.

In 1939 Barbara Wells took a job as a pianist for a variety show. Also on the bill was a tenor named Ted Andrews. After a short while they became a double act. With the advent of World War II, Ted and Barbara Wells grew apart and were divorced. Barbara married Ted Andrews.

Julie’s step father began to give her singing lessons in an attempt to get to know her better. To everyone’s surprise Julie had a fully developed larynx, perfect pitch and a large four octave vocal range. Julie soon became part of Ted and Barbara’s act. It was at this time that Julie changed her last name to Andrews simplifying the billing of their act.

At the age of eight Julie began to have singing lessons from Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen, who had once been a renowned concert singer. The two became close friends. It was thanks to Lilian’s training that Julie ended up with perfect diction.

Julie was ten when World War II ended, and she was allowed for the first time to make unbilled appearances on stage with her parents. During the school holidays Julie spent most of her summer touring England with Ted and Barbara as part of their act.

Julie made her radio debut in 1946 singing a duet with Ted Andrews on a BBC variety show called “Monday Night at eight”.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock was born on July 26th, 1966, in Arlington, Virginia. Sandra is a veteran superstar actress. She is the eldest daughter of her father John, a voice coach and Pentagon official, and mother Helga, an opera singer. Sandra and her sister, Gesine, lived a number of their childhood years in Nuremberg, Germany. She and her sister spent endless hours listening to their mother perform. Sandra not only developed a deep appreciation for opera, and also learned to speak fluent German. It was an exciting time in her young life, and perhaps it was seeing her mother up on stage that influenced her to become a performer herself. When Sandra was eight, she had her first taste of a stage performance when she played the role of a gypsy child in a play with her mother. Her mother Helga says that by the time Sandra was in sixth grade, she had already set her mind on acting.

Sandra’s family moved back to the United States when she was around ten years old. Sandra was an ugly duckling, and was teased mercilessly by her schoolmates. Instead of becoming resentful however, she vowed she would never treat anyone the way she had been treated, and her generous and kind qualities manifest themselves in both her personal and professional lives.

Sandra went on to become a cheerleader at Washington Lee High, being voted “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day” by her senior class. After high school graduation, she continued her education, at East Carolina University, where she majored in Drama. During this time, she helped support herself by entering and winning dance contests, a passion that has stayed with her. Sandra dances at every possible opportunity, and it has been said that if she ever gave up acting, she could easily take up dance as a second professional career. After graduation from East Carolina, it was off to New York with her life savings, dog and meager possessions to seek her career.

Sandra bartender and waitressed between auditions and acting classes. Her persistence finally paid off when she got the lead in the off-Broadway play “No Time Flat”. Sandra received glowing reviews for her work in the off-Broadway play, and this led to the TV movie “The Bionic Showdown”, opposite Lindsay Wagner. The only worthwhile things that came from this work, was the professional experience and an Actors Guild union card. Sandra moved to Los Angeles where she got the role of a spunky cop in the Sylvester Stallone sci-fi action film, “Demolition Man”. This was a role that drew the attention of director Jan De Bont, who cast her in the hit movie “Speed”, practically making her an overnight success.

The two mega hits, “The Net” and “While You Were Sleeping” followed, sending Sandra on a skyrocket ride to A-list status and a hefty increase in her paycheck. The success of these films made it possible for her to start her own cinema production company, Fortis Films. Sandra appointed her sister Gesine, a graduate law student as executive vice-president, and her father John, as her business advisor.

Kate Hudson

Born Kate Garry Hudson, on April 19, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. The daughter of actress-producer Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, a 1970s television comedian, Kate Hudson was raised by her mother and Hawn?s longtime companion, actor Kurt Russell, after her parents divorced when she was 18 months old. No stranger to the show business life, Hudson decided to embark on an acting career of her own, landing an agent and a guest spot on the TV drama Party of Five in 1996. Upon her acceptance to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Hudson convinced Hawn and Russell to let her defer a year in order to concentrate on finding her first film role.

She made her big-screen debut as an ambitious young starlet stranded in a tiny California town in Desert Blue (1998). Her next two films, while critically panned, made it into wider release: 200 Cigarettes (1999) (in which she played an earnest but accident-prone ditz) and Gossip (2000)- (which cast her as a rich, virginal college student). Perhaps Hudson’s biggest break was landing the role of rock groupie (or “Band Aide”) Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000). The part was originally intended for Sarah Polley; when Polley backed out to pursue another project, director Cameron Crowe considered scrapping the film altogether. Hudson, who had been cast in a smaller role (as William’s stewardess sister), begged for a chance to read for Penny. Crowe was impressed, Hudson got the part, and the show went on. An immensely watchable young actress, Kate Hudson is one of a rare breed that stands out due to her onscreen presence, and sheer star quality that makes her more than just another Hollywood actress. She possesses a smile that lights up the screen whenever she’s up there, and you literally can’t take your eyes off her.

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Rahul Khanna

Son of ex-model Gitanjali Taleyarkhan and matinee idol Vinod Khanna, Rahul Khanna has been in the limelight since he was seventeen. He has been into video jockeying, acting, and modeling ever since. A wonderful anchor, Khanna is charismatic and good looking. Rahul was hired as the first VJ for MTV Asia’s relaunch following the much publicized split from Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV Network. He spent four years with the channel. As a VJ for MTV Asia, Rahul Khanna reached the zenith of popularity. He hosted a variety of programmes, like MTV’s Most Wanted, Hollywood Screening Room, MTV Hanging Out, MTV Fresh, MTV India Hitlist. His perfect ease in front of the camera and gorgeous looks made Khanna an instant hit.

He has done a course from Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and film & video at The School of Visual Arts. He has hosted two television shows, Saturday Live and Bombay Glitter, on New York’s ITV Asianet.

He has now moved on from MTV into the world of films where his brother and father are already well established stars. A gifted cartoonist, Khanna has his hands full with Bollywood projects.

It was on MTV that Canadian director Deepa Mehta saw Khanna and cast him as the romantic lead in Earth, the second instalment in her Indian trilogy and the follow-up to her critically acclaimed, award winning and controversial movie, Fire. Earth premiered as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1998. The film received a 10 minute standing ovation, and Khanna was named one of “the best and brightest new talents” of the Festival by the movie critics of the Toronto Star. He also won the Filmfare award for most promising male debut in 1999.

Rahul has also been seen on the New York stage. He made his theatrical debut starring in the New York production of the hit West-End play, East is East. Directed by Scott Elliott (A Map of the World), Rahul’s performance as Tariq, the rebellious son of a Pakistani father and British mother, won him acclaim from audiences and critics, alike.

Since then Rahul has starred in various films featured in small and big roles such as Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood Hollywood, Spike Lee’s 3 AM, Kevin Kline starrer The Emperor’s Club and has upcoming projects such as Vikram Bhatt’s blockbuster multi-starrer Elaan.

Jennifer Aniston

Though she would spend most of her youth in New York, Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, CA, into a prominent acting family. Well connected from the beginning—her father is veteran Days of Our Lives star John Aniston; her godfather is none other than Telly Savalas—Aniston did not discover her own penchant for acting until attending the Rudolf Steiner School drama club at age 11.

Aniston proved to be a talented painter during her stay at the Rudolf Steiner School (one of her pieces was displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), but acting became her primary focus after graduating from New York’s prestigious High School for the Performing Arts in 1987, and she held roles in off-Broadway productions such as +For Dear Life and +Dancing on Checker’s Grave.

Though Friends launched Aniston’s career as a sitcom actress, her television debut was in 1989, when she starred in the ‘90s short-lived series Molloy. Before long, Aniston’s television resume had grown to include appearances in The Edge, a role in the ultimately unsuccessful attempt at adapting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off into sitcom format, and a part in an episode of Quantum Leap. In 1991, she landed a recurring role on Herman’s Head, while 1993 led her to a small part on The Ben Stiller Show.

By 1994, it looked like Aniston was destined for a life of obscure parts in doomed television sitcoms. Despite being asked to audition for the role of Monica Gellar in a pilot for a sitcom at that point titled “Friends Like These” (a role that would eventually be filled by Courteney Cox Arquette), Aniston insisted on trying out for the part of Rachel Green, a spoiled suburbanite-turned-spunky coffee-house waitress. The rest, as they say, is history—“Friends Like These” would become the mega-hit Friends.

Friends quickly inspired an obsessive following, as did Aniston’s signature hairstyle. Just as “The Rachel” fell out of popularity in the salons, Aniston began scoring roles in a series of romantic comedies—namely, She’s the One (1996), Picture Perfect (1997), ‘Til There Was You (1997), and The Object of My Affection(1998)—and met fellow actor Brad Pitt. “Gwen and Brad” quickly turned to “Jen and Brad,” and the two young stars took their places among Hollywood’s elite power couples after their marriage in 2000.

Needless to say, Aniston had gained an astounding amount of notoriety since her fledgling film debut in 1993’s Leprechaun, and starred in director Stephen Herek’s Rock Star in 2000 after a relatively well-received supporting role in 1999’s Office Space. Though Rock Star was far from a massive success, Aniston’s talent for dramatic roles was finally given a proper outlet, and she went on to land the lead part in 2002’s The Good Girl. In 2003, Aniston starred alongside Jim Carrey in the romantic comedy Bruce Almighty, and Friends began what was rumored to be its final season.