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.