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Little known by the general public, Moroccan-born Amidou can nevertheless boast an onstage and on screen career spanning almost five decades. Appearing in French films most of the time, he also worked in Morocco, in Tunisia and in American action movies like William Friedkin's 'The Sorcerer' and 'Rules of Engagement', John Frankenheimer's 'Ronin' and Tony Scott's 'Spy Game'. Good-looking and charming, Amidou can easily become frightening and threatening. He is as convincing in the role of a friendly blue collar in 'Smic Smac Smoc' as in that of a dim-witted henchman in 'Fleur d'Oseille'. To be fair, he appeared more often as a dropout or a thug than as positive figure, but this is due to the fact that he started his career in the nineteen sixties, when French cinema was not yet ready to show a North African as just another citizen. Had Amidou debuted later he would have landed more rewarding roles like those now interpreted by Roschdy Zem or Sami Bouajila. Born in 1942 in Rabat, Amidou Ben Messaoud was the son of a justice of the peace and the nephew of the owner of several movie theaters, which gave him the opportunity to see lots of films. On the other hand, the young boy discovered at school that, although he was a bad pupil, he could captivate an audience when, during French lessons, he told and mimicked fables by La Fontaine. Later on, he studied drama at the Conservatoire de Paris and was immediately hired by Jean-Louis Barrault in 1961. Noticed by Jean Genet while he was rehearsing for a bit part, he was given the role of Said instead. At the same time, Claude Lelouch gave him his first part in 'Le Propre de l'Homme' Amidou would then appear in nine other films directed by Lelouch, who also gave him his only starring role in a French movie entitled 'La Vie, l'Amour, la Mort', a pamphlet against the death penalty. Kept busy by the big screen, Amidou was less active in the theatre but played a one man show in the late 1990s ('Le Piston') and held the lead in Mehdi Charef's '1962' in 2005. He also occasionally appeared on TV. Lately Amidou has been honored twice - and quite deservedly so. He was indeed awarded two best actor prizes, one at the Cairo International Festival, for Leila Triquie's 'Poursuite' (2005) and the other at the Tangiers Film Festival for 'Ici et Là' by Rachid Boutounès (2005)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Before Arlette-Leonie Bathiat went to the movies she was a secretary and had posed several times as a model for different painters and photographers. In 1920 she debuted on stage at a theatre. She only began to work in movies after 1930. After World War II she was condemned to prison for having been the lover of a German official during the ocupation of France. In 1963 she had an accident which left her almost blind. Her most important movies were filmed and directed by Marcel Carné ("Hotel du Nord (1938)" or "Enfants du Paradis, Les (1945)").- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Cantinflas, born Mario Moreno as the son of a Mexican postal employee, was a prolific and productive Mexican comedian/producer/writer/singer who also knew a fair bit about agriculture and medicine. He was married to Valentina Ivanova from 1936 until her death. He appeared in more than 55 films, including (as Passepartout) Around the World in 80 Days (1956).- With classic patrician features and an independent, non-conformist personality, Capucine began her film debut in 1949 at the age of 21 with an appearance in the film Rendezvous in July (1949). She attended school in France and received a BA degree in foreign languages. Married for six months in her early twenties, she never remarried. In 1957, she was discovered by director Charles K. Feldman while working as a high-fashion model for Givenchy in Paris and was brought to Hollywood to study acting under Gregory Ratoff. She was put under contract by Columbia studios in 1958 and had her first leading part in the movie Song Without End (1960). She made six more major movies in the early to mid 1960s, two of which (The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964)) starred William Holden, with whom she had a two-year affair. Moving from Hollywood to a penthouse apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1962, she continued making movies, mostly in Europe, until her suicide in 1990.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Charo was born on 15 January 1951 in Murcia, Spain. She is an actress, known for Thumbelina (1994), The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) and Tiger by the Tail (1970). She was previously married to Kjell Rasten and Xavier Cugat.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Producer
The beat goes on ... and on ... and as strong as ever for this superstar entertainer who has well surpassed the half-century mark while improbably transforming herself from an artificial, glossy "flashionplate" singer into a serious, Oscar-worthy, dramatic actress ... and back again! With more ups and downs than the 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average, Cher managed to rise like a phoenix from the ashes each time she was down, somehow re-inventing herself with every decade and finding herself on top all over again. As a singer Cher is the only performer to have earned "top 10" hit singles in four consecutive decades; as an actress, she and Barbra Streisand are the only two Best Actress Oscar winners to have a #1 hit song on the Billboard charts. At age 77, Cher has yet to decide to get completely off her fabulous roller coaster ride, although she has threatened to on occasion.
The daughter of Arkansas-born Georgia Holt (the former Jackie Jean Crouch) and truck driver John Sarkisian, Cher was born in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946. She has a half-sister, Georganne LaPiere. Cher is of Armenian heritage on her father's side, and of English and German, with more distant Irish, Dutch, and French, heritage on her mother's side. Cher's parents divorced when she was an infant and her mother went on to marry six more times. Her mother, who aspired to be an actress and model, paid for Cher's acting classes. Cher had undiagnosed dyslexia, which acutely affected her studies; frustrated, she quit high school at 16 to pursue her dream. At that time, she had a brief relationship with actor Warren Beatty.
Meeting the quite older (by 11 years) Sonny Bono in November 1962 changed the 16-year-old's life forever. Bono was working for record producer Phil Spectorat Gold Star Studios in Hollywood at the time and managed to persuade Spector to hire Cher as a session singer. As such, she went on to record backup on such Spector classics as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Be My Baby". The couple's relationship eventually shifted from soulmates to lovers and she and Sonny married on October 27, 1964.
At first Cher sang solo with Sonny behind the scenes writing, arranging and producing her songs. When the records went nowhere, Sonny decided they needed to perform as a team so they put out two songs in 1964 under the recording names of Caesar and Cleo ("The Letter" and "Baby Don't Go"). Again, no success. The changing of their names, however, made a difference and in 1965, they officially took on the music world as Sonny & Cher and earned instant rewards.
The now 19-year-old Cher and 30-year-old Sonny became huge hits following the release of their first album, "Look at Us" (summer, 1965), which contained the hit single "I Got You Babe". With the song catapulting to #1, they decided to re-release their earlier single "Baby Don't Go", and it also raced up the charts to #8. An assembly line of mild hits dotted the airwaves over the next year or two, culminating in the huge smash hit "The Beat Goes On" (#6, 1967). Between 1965 and 1972 Sonny & Cher charted a total of six "Top 10" hits.
The kooky couple became icons of the mid-'60s "flower power" scene, wearing garish garb and outlandish hairdos and makeup. However, they found a way to make it trendy and were embraced around the world. TV musical variety and teen pop showcases relished their contrasting styles -- the short, excitable, mustachioed, nasal-toned simpleton and the taller, exotic, unflappable fashion maven. They found a successful formula with their repartee, which became a central factor in their live concert shows, even more than their singing. With all this going on, Sonny still endeavored to promote Cher as a solo success. Other than such hits with "All I Really Want to Do" (#16) and "Bang, Bang" (#2), she struggled to find a separate identity. Sonny even arranged film projects for her but Good Times (1967), an offbeat fantasy starring the couple and directed by future powerhouse William Friedkin, and Cher's serious solo effort Chastity (1969) both flickered out and died a quick death.
By the end of the 1960s, Sonny & Cher's career had stumbled as they witnessed the American pop culture experience a drastic evolutionary change. The couple maintained their stage act and all the while Sonny continued to polish it up in a shrewd gamble for TV acceptance. While Sonny on stage played the ineffectual object of Cher's stinging barbs on stage, he was actually the highly motivated mastermind off stage and, amazingly enough, his foresight and chutzpah really paid off. Although the couple had lost favor with the new 70s generation, Sonny encouraged TV talent scouts to catch their live act.
The network powers-that-be saw potential in the duo as they made a number of guest TV appearances in specials and on variety and talk shows and in what was essentially "auditioning" for their own TV vehicle. The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971) was given the green light as a summer replacement series and was an instant sensation when it earned its own time spot that fall season. The show received numerous Emmy Award nominations during its run and the couple became stars all over again. Their lively, off-the-wall comedy sketch routines, her outré Bob Mackie fashions and their harmless, edgy banter were the highlights of the hour-long program. Audiences took strongly to the couple who appeared to have a deep-down sturdy relationship. Their daughter Chaz Bono occasionally added to the couple's loving glow on the show. Cher's TV success also generated renewed interest in her as a solo recording artist and she came up with three #1 hits during this time ("Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady").
Behind the scenes, though, it was a different story. A now-confident Cher yearned to be free of husband Sonny's Svengali-like control over her life and career. The marriage split at the seams in 1974 and they publicly announced their separation. The show, which had earned Cher a Golden Globe Award, took a fast tumble as the separation and divorce grew more acrimonious. Eventually they both tried to launch their own solo variety shows, but both failed to even come close to their success as a duo. Audiences weren't interested in Cher without Sonny, and vice versa.
In late June of 1975, only four days after the couple's divorce, Cher married rock musician Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. That marriage imploded rather quickly amid reports of out-of-control drug use on his part. They were divorced by 1979 with only one bright outcome -- son Elijah Allman.
In 1976 Sonny and Cher attempted to "make up" again, this time to the tune of a second The Sonny and Cher Show (1976). Audiences, however, did not accept the "friendly" divorced couple after so much tabloid nastiness. After the initial curiosity factor wore off, the show was canceled amid poor ratings. Moreover, the musical variety show format was on its way out as well. Once again, another decade was looking to end badly for Cher.
Cher found a mild success with the "top 10" disco hit "Take Me Home" in 1979, but not much else. Not one to be counted out, however, the ever resourceful singer decided to lay back and focus on acting instead. At age 36, Cher made her Broadway debut in 1982 in what was essentially her first live acting role with "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean". Centering around a reunion of girlfriends from an old James Dean fan club, her performance was critically lauded. This earned her the right to transfer her stage triumph to film alongside Karen Black and Sandy Dennis. Cher earned critical raves for Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), her first film role since 1969.
With film #2 came a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for her portrayal of a lesbian toiling in a nuclear parts factory in Silkwood (1983), starring Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell. This in turn was followed by her star turn in Mask (1985) as the blunt, footloose mother of a son afflicted with a rare disease (played beautifully by Eric Stoltz). Once again Cher received high praise and copped a win from the Cannes Film Festival for her poignant performance.
Fully accepted by this time as an actress of high-caliber, she integrated well into the Hollywood community. Proving that she could hold up a film outright, she was handed three hit vehicles to star in: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Suspect (1987), and Moonstruck (1987), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Along with all this newfound Hollywood celebrity came interest in her as a singer and recording artist again. "If I Could Turn Back Time (#3) and the Peter Cetera duet "After All" (#6) placed her back on the Billboard charts.
During the 1990s Cher continued to veer back and forth among films, TV specials and expensively mounted concerts. In January of 1998, tragedy struck when Cher's ex-husband Sonny Bono, who had forsaken an entertainment career for California politics and became a popular Republican congressman in the process, was killed in a freak skiing accident. That same year the duo received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contribution to television. In the meantime an astounding career adrenaline rush came in the form of a monstrous, disco-flavored hit single ("Believe"). The song became a #1 hit and the same-titled album the biggest hit of her career. "Believe" reached #1 in 23 different countries.
Having little to prove anymore to anyone, Cher decided to embark on a "Farewell Tour" in the early part of the millennium and, after much stretching, her show finally closed in 2005 in Los Angeles. It didn't take long, however, for Cher to return from this self-imposed exile. In 2008, she finalized a deal with Las Vegas' Caesars Palace for the next three years to play the Colosseum, and has since returned live on numerous "farewell" tour extravaganzas. Never say never. Cher returned films with her co-starring role opposite Christina Aguilera in Burlesque (2010), but has since only provided a glitzy cameo in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). After keeping a low romantic profile for some time, she nearly out-cougared Madonna by embarking on a romance with four-decades-younger Def Jam executive Alexander "A.E." Edwards, father of rapper Amber Rose's second son. The couple celebrated their one-year anniversary in 2023, right before the release of Cher's first holiday album, simply titled Christmas.
In other facets of her life, Cher has been involved with many humanitarian groups and charity efforts over the years, particularly her work as National Chairperson and Honorary Spokesperson of the Children's Craniofacial Association, which was inspired by her work in Mask (1985).- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
First known as a rapper who became one of the more prominent voices in hip-hop's new millennium renaissance, Common later transitioned into acting. He was born in Chicago, and is the son of educator Dr. Mahalia Ann Hines and Lonnie Lynn, an ABA basketball player turned youth counselor.
On October 6, 1992, Common released his first LP, "Can I Borrow A Dollar?" under the Common Sense moniker. Tracks like "Charm's Alarm" and "Breaker 1-9" established him as a lyricist with wit, street-smarts, and love for extended similes, while tracks like "Heidi Hoe" would touch on the misogyny that would surface sparingly on future work.
In 1994 he released "Resurrection", notable for the smooth 'Large Professor' produced title cut as well as "I Used To Love H.E.R.", an ode to hip-hop. This album further increased his underground reputation while giving the hip-hop nation a new solid conscientious voice in a year that was excellent for underground artists (Nas, Jeru the Damaja, Digable Planet, et al.)
After a name change brought on by a lawsuit, Common reemerged in 1997 with "One Day It'll All Make Sense". With guests ranging from Erykah Badu to Canibus to De La Soul and production help from mainstays No I.D. and Dug Infinite, the album had a distinctly underground flair. His big mainstream breakthrough album was yet to come.
After an appearance on The Roots smash 1999 album, "Things Fall Apart," Common moved to MCA Records. He soon was in the studio collaborating with the Okayplayer collective and with help from the forward-thinking production troupe Questlove (aka Questlove), J Dilla, James Poyser, et al), he released his fourth album, "Like Water For Chocolate" in the spring of 2000. With its varied sonic plateau (Afrobeat, funk, and old-school soul) it was much different from previous outings. On the strength of tracks like the 'DJ Premier' produced banger "The 6th Sense", the album was a success, becoming a worthy addition to "The Next Movement".
In 2003 he released "Electric Circus". The album, a hip-hop/funk/soul/rock/psychedelia hybrid, polarized hip-hop fans like no other album has in recent memory. Common has also chosen to redefine himself, swearing off the alcohol, marijuana, and fornication that he had once indulged in.
Also in 2003 he appeared in a TV sitcom episode. With only a couple minor roles between 2003 and 2004, in January of 2007 he made his big screen debut.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
With over 17 million records sold worldwide, Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum recording artist Coolio is an artist known around the world as a musical and cooking master of extraordinary reinvention. Growing up during the time of tremendous change in Compton, Calif., Coolio fed on struggle and used it as a launching pad of continual reinvention that led to selling over 17 million records globally and a long list of concerts to adoring fans in Africa, Israel, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Turkey, the United States and throughout Europe. He gave back to the community by serving as the spokesman for the Asthma and Allergies Foundation. Coolio initially took over the world rap scene through the "Gangsta's Paradise" release, which won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Rap Performance, Solo. "Gangsta's Paradise" would also be featured on the "Dangerous Minds" soundtrack and movie. "Gangsta's Paradise," also featuring LV on vocals, was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Song of the Year and it sold over six million copies and was Billboard Magazine's number one single in 1995. The world recognition led to his music being featured Coolio for several major motion pictures including: Space Jam, Clueless, The Big Payback, Panther, New Jersey Drive, The Jerk Boys, Eddie, Half Baked and many more. He also composed the theme song for the popular kids TV series Kenan and Kel on Nickelodeon. The awards for his hard-hitting style are many. Coolio has won an American Music award, three MTV awards, two Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and a World Music award. He has received six Grammy award nominations (1994, 1995 and 1996), two Billboard Music awards (1994 and 1996), two ASCAP awards (1996, 1997), three MTV video awards (1996 and 1997), four American Online awards (1996) and was the Playboy Music Poll winner in 1997. Coolio successfully made the transition from performer to actor during the 90s. He co-stared in the motion picture Retirement with Bill Cobb, Peter Falk, Charlie Murphy and Rip Torn. The film featured music from Coolio's "Return of the Gangsta" album. Coolio has also starred in several HBO films and series as well as making cameos in Bateman Dare Devil. His television accomplishments have included the reality TV show on the Oxygen network, "Coolio's Rules," and the ghetto funk cooking web series, "Cooking with Coolio," which logged over four million hits on the web. Television appearances included programs like Celebrity Cook Off and Celebrity Chopped. His musical collaborations continued with "From the Bottom to the Top." Coolio changed his style and opened up to working with many European and International disc jockeys such as Benny Benassi, Ives la rock, and Paul Oakenfold just to name a few. He also got the aide of his son A.I., who was a featured artist on the album. The first single is collaboration with Coolio and the Oscar-winning "Ennio Morricone," one of the most famous soundtrack composers of the last 50 years. Coolio's Album "El Cool Magnigico" was released in Europe on Jan 15, 2003. Featured artists on that album included hip-hop performer Miss Toi, country legend Kenny Rogers, Krazye Bone from Bone thugs n Harmony, B-real of Cypress Hill and Daz Dillinger. Associated Press stated that, "Coolio returns to Hip-Hop with El Cool Magnifico, and every track on the disc is a winner." The New York Post praised the album and wrote, "El Cool Magnifico is excellent from top to bottom". The album sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide. No stranger to the world of cartoons, Coolio recorded the single and music video "Dexter" (what's his name) for "Dexter's Laboratory: Home Boy Genius - The Hip-Hop Experiment." This was a creative and fun album featuring big name hip-hop artists such as De La Soul and Will I Am. "The Hip-Hop Experiment" album features original songs inspired by Dexter's Laboratory, the top rated, Emmy nominated Cartoon Network series. An ingenious chameleon, Coolio launched his book, "Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price," in 2009, which would become a New York Times bestseller. This move expanded his audience base from the stage to kitchens across the globe. Branding himself as the "ghetto gourmet," Coolio used his creativity and the inspiration of his mother to refine old-school recipes into accessible, fresh options. Coolio's interest in cooking started as a youngster. After a failed grilled cheese, his mother chose to make him pay her back for the charred mess by helping out in the kitchen. Rather than hate every minute of cleaning and scrubbing, Coolio fell in love with cooking. Later in life, when his mother passed, the love of cooking turned into an obsession with rediscovering and reinventing all her old recipes. He interviewed aunts, friends and relatives until he found her lost secrets. Then, Coolio took the lessons of his elders and morphed the recipes into healthier options that remained affordable. The secret ingredient of Coolio's recipes is his unconventional approach to culinary instruction. His style is brash and in your face for which he doesn't apologize. "People learn better when they're entertained. Cooking isn't just for the starched-stiff elite. Everyone should know how to cook something," said the ghetto gourmet. Performing and touring worldwide as a musical artist, Coolio is also working on a new cookbook with his best friend and band mate, hip hop jazz saxophonist Jarez. The recipes will continue on the theme of insane deliciousness that anyone can recreate. The recipes are designed to be accessible with easy to assemble ingredients that everyone will recognize. From the tang of balsamic vinegar to the freshness of chopped peppers, the new cookbook is something that everyone needs in their kitchen.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Originally born Harris Glen Milstead just after the end of WWII, Baltimore's most outrageous resident eventually became the international icon of bad taste cinema, as the always shocking and highly entertaining transvestite performer, Divine.
Milstead met maverick film director & good friend, John Waters, at high school in Baltimore, and the two combined to star in and direct several ultra low budget, taboo breaking cult films of the early 1970s. Their first efforts included Roman Candles (1967), Eat Your Makeup (1968) and Mondo Trasho (1969)....however, their most infamous work together was the amazing Pink Flamingos (1972), in which Divine starred as "Babs Johnson", the "filthiest person alive" living in a pink trailer with her egg-eating grandmother, chicken-loving son and voyeuristic daughter.
Divine also starred as career criminal Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble (1974), as bored housewife Francine Fishpaw in Polyester (1981), as outlaw gal Rosie Velez in Lust in the Dust (1984) and in Waters' loving (but still slightly bizarre) salute to teen dance TV shows as Ricki Lake's mother in the superb Hairspray (1988).
Milstead's health deteriorated due to to his obese frame, and he passed away in his sleep from a combination of heart attack and apnea in 1988.- Actress
- Producer
- Composer
Eve was born on 10 November 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Barbershop (2002), xXx (2002) and Whip It (2009). She has been married to Maximillion Cooper since 14 June 2014. They have one child.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Swinging teen idol Fabiano Anthony Forte, better known to his fans as Fabian, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1943, to a police officer. His father took ill and died when Fabian was young and the boy was forced to find work to help pay the family bills. With no experience but looks to die for, he was "discovered" one day by record promoters and artificially groomed for rock 'n' roll stardom. Given singing lessons and a complete visual makeover (including black pompadour and sexy V-neck sweaters), Fabian was marketed with a rebel image and snarling baritone unlike the other clean-cut heartthrobs of his heyday, Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell. After a couple of false starts, including one of his earliest singles entitled "Shivers", Fabian zoomed to stardom on the strength of Dick Clark's American American Bandstand (1952), later winning the Silver Award as "The Most Promising Male Vocalist of 1958".
From 1959-1960, Fabian recorded a number of "Top 10" hits, including "Tiger", "Hound Dog Man" and what would be his signature song, "Turn Me Loose". He was able to parlay his pop success into an acting career in the early 60s, coasting for awhile on his single name alone. Trained in acting by Sanford Meisner, some of his more notable film achievements include Hound-Dog Man (1959) (his movie debut), North to Alaska (1960) with John Wayne, High Time (1960) with Bing Crosby and the all-star war epic The Longest Day (1962). Most of his other films, however, were geared toward the young, finding himself entrapped in cheap-jack beach or biker films. The invasion of The Beatles in the mid-60s left Fabian and many of his contemporaries by the musical wayside. He continued to hang on and billed himself as Fabian Forte for a time in low-budget films, including A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970) in which he played the notorious criminal "Pretty Boy Floyd". He also made frequent appearances on the traveling nostalgia revue circuit, courtesy of Dick Clark. In the 1990s, Fabian evolved into a minor TV, film and music producer. Married to his third wife Andrea Patrick, a one-time "Miss Pennsylvania" AND "Miss West Virginia" since 1998, he has two children from his first wife: Christian Forte, a screenwriter, and Julie Forte, an animator, born in 1969 and 1970, respectively.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Fabio was born on 15 March 1959 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is an actor, known for Bubble Boy (2001), Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) and Dumbbells (2014).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
The apocryphal biography of Fernand Contandin tells the invention of his artistic name Fernandel by his sister-in-law ("Voici le Fernand d'elles"). At the beginning of the thirties he became a typical actor of the comedy genre: popular, common, likable and with a concealed grain of drama. Marc Allégret was the director of his first successful film La meilleure bobonne (1931). He tried to work as director twice during World War II but was unsuccessful.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kajol Devgn is a well-known Bollywood actress known for her exceptional performances on screen. She attended St. Joseph's Convent School in Panchgani and was actively involved in extra-curricular activities such as dancing. In her early teens, Kajol was supposed to make her debut as an actress in a movie directed by her mother, Tanuja, but the project was cancelled. She eventually made her acting debut at the age of sixteen with the film Bekhudi (1992), while still in school. Later, she quit school to pursue a full-time career in the film industry.
She made her debut with Rahul Rawail's Bekhudi (1992) in 1992. Her film career flourished with commercial successes like Baazigar (1993), Yeh Dillagi (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), which established her as a leading star in the 1990s. She was appreciated critically for her role in Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997) and as an avenger in Dushman (1998). Another blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) won her multiple awards, after which she took a break. She returned to the industry after a brief period with the romantic thriller Fanaa (2006).
She was cast in My Name Is Khan (2010) in 2010 opposite Shah Rukh Khan - it was widely appreciated by critics worldwide. Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan became the first Indian actors to be invited by NASDAQ to open the NYSE American to promote My Name Is Khan (2010). She was also appreciated for her performance in Dilwale (2015) - it also featured other renowned stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, and Kriti Sanon. She was also cast in the period film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020) in 2020.
She also appeared in the social drama Tribhanga (2021), her first collaboration with Netflix.
She holds a managerial position at Devgn Entertainment and Software Ltd., And as the supervisor, she launched the filmmaking-related portal Cineexplore in 2000. Devgn established another company, Ajay Devgn Films, in 2009.
She appeared with Ajay Devgn, and her mother Tanuja as the supervisor in Zee TV's 2008 reality show Rock-N-Roll Family. She was named a part-time public broadcaster Prasar Bharati member in 2016.
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis honored her with the Swabhimani Mumbaikar Awards. She was also included on Forbes India's "Celebrity 100", a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities, in 2012, 2013, and 2017.
She has won 23 awards, including 6 Filmfare Awards, 5 Screen Awards, 4 Zee Cine Awards, 1 Stardust Award and 1 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award, and one Bollywood Movie Award till the year 2021. She was also honored with the Rajiv Gandhi Award for her contribution to Indian cinema in 2002. Kajol was listed in the Box Office India's "Top Actresses" for five consecutive years (1995-1999), topping the list in 1998.
In 2001 and 2006, she was featured in Rediff annual "Top Bollywood Actresses" listing. And in 2007, she received Karamveer Puraskar, presented by the Mumbai Pradesh Young Congress, for her social work in helping educate unprivileged children.
During the shooting of Gundaraj in 1994, Kajol and Ajay Devgn started dating. They eventually tied the knot on 24th February 1999 in a traditional Maharashtrian wedding ceremony held at Devgn's residence.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
2022 is shaping up to be another breakout year for Leon! Leon is starring in the action movie "A Day to Die" opposite Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo in theaters March 2022. Leon can be seen in the Show:me Drama "City on A Hill". In 2020 Leon starred in Hallmark's #1 movie of the year, "Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas"! In 2019 Leon starred in the move "Her Only Choice", an International Press Academy nominee for Best Movie Made for TV, streaming on Netflix. Leon also co-starred and executive produced the award-winning, international TV series "40 & Single". Leon is one of the stars of the provocative series "A Luv Tale" and "Games Peoples Play" both premiered in 2021 as well as re-occurring role on CBS' "Blue Bloods." Leon has played a wide variety of memorable roles from his debut in Madonna's most famous video "Like a Prayer," to the lead role of Disney's blockbuster hit "Cool Runnings". He was the hero in New Line's urban sports drama "Above the Rim," the ruthless villain in Tri-Star's action hit "Cliffhanger," and is his most love-hate role, Russell in 20th Fox hit "Waiting to Exhale". He starred in the NAACP Best Picture Award winning "Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored," and HBO's first original series "OZ". Leon continued to shine in musical roles such as Robert Townsend's "The Five Heartbeats" (voted the #1 African American film by AOL), the Emmy Winning mini-series "The Temptations," as lead singer, David Ruffin and the NBC authorized biography of "Little Richard" both earning him NAACP Best Actor nominations. AOL named Leon as one of sexiest black actors of all :mes. Other credits include BAFTA Winner Leila Djansi's films, "And Then There Was You", and "Where Children Play,"as well as , "Cover" directed by Bill Duke. Leon's band, "Leon & The Peoples" released the band's second album, "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" on Spectra Music label with two top 20 Billboard singles and rave reviews. The groups music can be heard on all music streaming platforms and make sure to catch them live as they perform their reggae soul sound around the country! Leon works behind the scenes as well, producing music videos as well as films with his New York based production company Motion Mob Films. He is extremely proud of his PSA "We Will Thrive" and his band's "World's Gonna Come Around" music video which is an example of Leon's activism thru art.- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Arguably the most beautiful artiste to ever grace the Indian screen, Madhubala rose from humble beginnings to become the most captivating star India has ever produced. Madhubala was born Mumtaz Jehan Begum on Valentine's Day 1933, in a poor, conservative family of Pathan Muslims in Delhi, a part of a prolific brood of sisters, and entered the world of films at the tender age of eight. After about five years of playing child roles, Madhubala got her first break in a lead role in Neel Kamal (1947), produced anddirected by her mentor, veteran filmmaker Kidar Sharma. At the age of 14, she played a romantic lead against another fledgling star, Raj Kapoor, and Madhubala had finally arrived on the Indian screen. Over the next two years she had blossomed into a truly rapturous beauty (which earned her the sobriquet of the Venus Of the Indian Screen) and with the movie Mahal (1949), literally overnight, she was a superstar.
It has been often said that her beauty overshadowed her acting talents, which to an extent is true; however this was more due to poor judgement than lack of talent. Being encumbered by a large family to support, and forever living under the domination of an imperious father who, she made several poor choices in movies which seriously undermined her credibility as a serious performer, to the extent of being labelled "box-office poison". However, her more or less dismal repertoire in the 50s was marked by spots of true brilliance - movies like Tarana (1951), Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955) and of course her swansong Mughal-E-Azam (1960) showcased her remarkable talents as a serious artiste across several genres and revealed what this ethereal beauty was truly capable of.
Sadly, she was plagued by a persistent heart disease that confined her to a bed for almost nine torturous years, and eventually claimed her life on February 23 1969, nine days after her 36th birthday. In this short life, she had made over 70 movies, and to this day remains one of the most enduring legends of Indian cinema.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops re-inventing herself, Madonna has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide. Her film career, however, is another story. Her performances have consistently drawn scathing or laughable reviews from film critics, and the films have usually had tepid, if any, success at the box office. Born Madonna Louise Ciccone in August 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York in 1978 and studied with renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey, joined up with the Patrick Hernandez Revue, formed a pop/dance band called Breakfast Club and began working with then-boyfriend Stephen Bray on recording several disco-oriented songs. New York producer/D.J. Mark Kamins passed her demo tapes to Sire Records in early 1982 and the rest is history. The 1980s was Madonna's boom decade, and she dominated the music charts with a succession of multimillion-selling albums, and her musical and fashion influence on young women was felt around the globe. Madonna first appeared on screen in two low-budget films marketed to an adolescent audience: A Certain Sacrifice (1979) and Vision Quest (1985). However, she scored a minor cult hit with Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) starring alongside spunky Rosanna Arquette. Madonna's next effort with then husband Sean Penn, Shanghai Surprise (1986), was savaged by critics, although the resilient star managed to somewhat improve her standing with her next two films, the offbeat Who's That Girl (1987) (although she did receive decidedly mixed reviews, they weren't as negative as those of her previous effort) and the quirky Damon Runyon-inspired Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989). The big-budget and star-filled Dick Tracy (1990) had her playing bad girl "Breathless Mahoney" flirting with Warren Beatty, but the epic failed to catch fire at the box office. Taking an earthier role, Madonna was much more entertaining alongside Tom Hanks and Geena Davis in A League of Their Own (1992), a story about female baseball players during W.W.II. However, she again drew the wrath of critics with the sexy whodunit Body of Evidence (1992). Several other minor screen roles followed, then Madonna starred as Eva Perón in Evita (1996), a fairly well received screen adaptation of the hugely successful Broadway musical, for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Actress. The Material Girl stayed away from the movie cameras for several years, returning to co-star in the lukewarm romantic comedy The Next Best Thing (2000), followed by the painful Swept Away (2002). If those films weren't bad enough, she was woefully miscast as a vampish fencing instructor in the James Bond adventure Die Another Day (2002). After finally admitting that her acting days were over, Madonna began a directing career in 2008 with the barely remembered Filth and Wisdom (2008) and a year later she reunited with Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) director Alek Keshishian to develop a script about the relationship between the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor that led to his abdication in 1936: the result, a movie named W.E. (2011), starring James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough as the infernal but still royal couple, was released in 2011 to lukewarm critics but it gathered one Oscar nomination for costumes and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Masterpiece".- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Maïwenn (sometimes credited as Maïwenn Besco or her birth name Maïwenn Le Besco, born 17 April 1976) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter.
Maïwenn Le Besco was born in Les Lilas, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, a suburban area east of Paris. Maïwenn is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French, and Algerian descent. Her Algerian ancestry comes from her maternal grandfather. Maïwenn's mother, Catherine Belkhodja, introduced her to the entertainment industry at a young age, an experience later chronicled by Maïwenn in her one-woman shows Le Pois Chiche (The Chickpea) and I'm an Actress.
Maïwenn starred in several films as a child, then teen, actress--notably as the child version of the lead role played by Isabelle Adjani in the hit film One Deadly Summer (1983).
Following her marriage to director Luc Besson and the birth of their daughter in 1993, Maïwenn interrupted her career for several years. During this period, she only appeared in a supporting part in Besson's Léon: The Professional (1994), in which she was credited as Ouin-Ouin. She also directed the film's making-of. Perhaps Maïwenn's most internationally-seen film role was her appearance as the alien Diva Bazina in Besson's The Fifth Element (1997).
After her breakup with Besson, Maïwenn returned to France. She performed as a standup comedian in an autobiographical one-woman-show, and reentered the movie business after several filmmakers saw her comedy routine in Paris. She appeared in several notable movies, including the horror film High Tension (2003), in which she starred opposite Cécile de France. By the time the film came out in 2003, she had decided she wanted to try directing. In 2006, she directed her first feature film, the semi-autobiographical Pardonnez-moi (2006). According to Maïwenn, after Besson learned she planned to use her own money to produce the film, he told her "You need to immediately stop what you're doing. You're crazy. Nobody puts their own money into a movie." After seeing the film he apologized, saying she was right on this occasion. Her second film was All About Actresses (2009), in which she appears as herself making a documentary. She achieved international recognition when her third film, the social drama Polisse (2011), won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. All three films feature Maïwenn with a camera, stemming from a childhood fascination and her interest in the mise en abyme, the story within a story. Her 2015 film My King (2015) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, with Emmanuelle Bercot winning the Best Actress award.
Maïwenn met film director Luc Besson when she was 12 and they began dating when she was 15. In January 1993, at age 16, she gave birth to their daughter Shanna. On the DVD extras for the 1994 film Léon: The Professional, Maïwenn said the film is based on her relationship with Besson. She was 20 at the beginning of filming (early 1996) for The Fifth Element, during which Besson left her for the film's star, Milla Jovovich.
In 2004, Maïwenn had a son, Diego, with Jean-Yves Le Fur, her second ex-husband who is a real estate developer.- Actor
- Production Designer
- Soundtrack
Born in Japan, Makoto Iwamatsu was living there with his grandparents while his parents studied art in the United States, when Japan and the U.S. went to war in 1941. His parents remained in the U.S., working for the Office of War Information, and, at the cessation of the conflict, were granted U.S. residency by Congress. "Mako", as he became known, joined his parents in New York and studied architecture.
He entered the U.S. Army in the early 1950s and acted in shows for military personnel, discovering a talent and love for the theatre. He abandoned his plans to become an architect and instead enrolled at the famed Pasadena Community Playhouse. Following his studies there, he appeared in many stage productions and on television. In 1966, he won an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his first film role, as the coolie "Po-Han" in The Sand Pebbles (1966). He worked steadily in feature films since.
He appeared on Broadway in the leading role in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and co-founded and served as artistic director for the highly-acclaimed East-West Players theatre company in Los Angeles.
Following a long battle with cancer, Mako passed away on July 21, 2006, at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife, Shizuko Hoshi (who co-starred in episodes of M*A*S*H (1972)) as well, and his children and grandchildren.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Mo'Nique received a standing ovation when she stepped on stage for the first time in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, giving her confidence to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian. After numerous stand-up performances, she took a leap forward with one of the starring roles in The Parkers (1999).
Mo'Nique's huge international breakthrough came with her performance in the independent feature film Precious (2009), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and over 30 other major awards for best acting including the most important ones like the Golden Globe, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award, the Independent Spirit Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the National Society of Film Critics Award, the BAFTA Film Award and Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Prize.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rain was born in Seoul, South Korea on June 25, 1982 as Jung Jihoon. He was extremely shy in elementary school; in interviews he's stated that he barely spoke. He caught the desire to become a dancer at a school talent show in sixth grade; when nobody from his school stepped forward to dance, he gave it a try, imitating the moves he saw on TV. The applause was extremely gratifying, and he decided right then to become a professional dancer. To learn, he sought out older street dancers who sometimes helped him--and other times bullied and beat him up. Rain and his younger sister Hana enjoyed a comfortable life until the Korean recession of 1997, when his father's mill and bakery businesses failed. Bankrupt, his father left for Brazil to pursue economic opportunities, leaving Rain's mother to try to support the family as a food vendor.
Rain got a start in the entertainment business as part of a 6-member boy band, Fanclub. Revealing abuses in the Korean entertainment industry, Rain described the Fanclub members as "caged animals" locked in the rehearsal room for up to 10 hours without food. After Fanclub released only two CDs, the company promoting them failed and Rain was back to square one. During his junior year of high school, he lived with some of his dance-group members, subsisting mostly on cups of ramen noodles. He auditioned 18 times for entertainment companies but was told that, although he was talented, he was too ugly to become a star. He was told that he should have plastic surgery to create "double eyelids", a common Korean practice to obtain more western-looking eyes. Finally, in 2000 he was accepted by JYP Entertainment as a trainee. CEO Park Jin Young, who put Rain through a grueling 3-4-hour audition, described him as "desperate" and "like a tiger who was about to starve to death" (2008 Discovery Channel documentary "Hip Korea"). JYP stipulated that Rain had to attend college, so after studying "ferociously," Rain got accepted to Kyunghee University and became a music major. He spent three years as a trainee and back-up dancer for JYP, who has stated that he was particularly critical of Rain in order to push him to be the best and keep him from getting a "swelled head."
During Rain's time as a trainee, his family lived in poverty and his mother became increasingly ill with diabetes as she lacked money for insulin or medical care. Rain drove himself hard to prove that he was ready to make his debut, but he didn't achieve success in time to save her life; she died of complications from diabetes a year before his debut. This had a huge impact on him; he has said in interviews that he regrets having had conflict with her over skipping school to go to dance practice, and that he believes she is in heaven where she can see him. He says that a major motivation in his life is to make her proud and he visits her grave before embarking on each new project. Another motivation he has mentioned is remembering what being hungry was like. He is a self-professed workaholic, and after acting alongside him in Speed Racer, John Goodman called him "the hardest working man in show business."- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
Dr. Rajkumar was born in 1929 in Gajanur and brought up in a poor family. He only studied up to 3rd standard before he dropped out of school. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a traveling actor who performed in various villages. He joined the Gubbi Veeranna drama company to play drama. There he met people like T.R. Narasimharaju, Nandamuri Balakrishna and G.V. Iyer, who co-starred with him in his first film, Bedara Kannappa (1954).
His three sons--Shivarajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar--are all Kannada film actors. His other films have included Havina Hede (1981), Dashavtara (1960), Yarivanu? (1984), Kamana Billu (1983) and he had the lead role in Odahuttidavaru (1969). His last film was Shabdavedi (2000). After this movie he declared that he was about to act in another film, "Bhakta Ambareesha", but he suffered a mild heart attack, and decided to retire from acting altogether.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Retta was born in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Parks and Recreation (2009), Fracture (2007) and The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017).- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Romina was born in Coral Gables, Florida and although not large in stature, this actress, producer, writer, poet and singer is casting a broad shadow across Hollywood.
Romina's love of acting began at age 13 when she took her first drama class while attending Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. She has appeared in films such as "Wild Child", "The Insomniac", "Stealing Roses", "Pretty Rosebud", "Unknowns", "You", "Joshua Tree", "Why Am I Doing This?", etc. She is a series regular on the web series "BYRDwatch" and has also co-starred on various television shows like "J.O.N.A.S.", "90210", and "Saving Grace".
She has written award winning poetry and is a published author with "The Freedom of My Eyes", and a children's novel, "Ika Zingly & the Peaklet Cave." She has also studied classical voice in Spoleto, Italy and her accomplished lyric soprano voice can range over opera, standards and contemporary music.
Romina is not only enveloped in the world of film, but she is also involved in the technology community being the creator of Xachi Pet, a robot pet soon to be on the market that connects wirelessly with mobile devices. It's being released through Taptic Toys, Inc, a robot company she co-founded. This venture has also lead her to become the spokesperson for Double, a telepresence robot created by Double Robotics.
All this regardless of the fact that she has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Romina has found ways to overcome and cope with her ADD to allow her to pursue her dreams. She regularly addresses ways in which people with ADD can lead a productive and fulfilling life through her public speaking engagements as a motivational speaker.
Romina credits her looks to her Cuban-American heritage. She comes from a talented family, the only child of actor and fine arts painter Manuel Espinosa, who has appeared in a variety of films like "Warrior" and multiple TV series like "Miami Vice."- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rufus was born on 19 December 1942 in Riom, Puy-de-Dôme, France. He is an actor, known for Amélie (2001), Delicatessen (1991) and The City of Lost Children (1995).- Producer
- Actor
- Music Department
RuPaul Andre Charles is an American actor, model, singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. As executive producer and host of the reality competition TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul has received fourteen Primetime Emmy Awards - the most wins for outstanding host of a reality or competition program and for any Black artist in history.
In 2022, RuPaul received a Tony Award as a producer of Best Musical A Strange Loop.
RuPaul is the most commercially successful drag queen of all time, and in 2017 was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
RuPaul was born and raised in San Diego, CA and later moved to Atlanta, GA to study performing arts. After settling in New York City, RuPaul became a popular fixture on the nightclub scene before achieving international fame with the release of the 1993 song "Supermodel (You Better Work)."
In 1995, RuPaul became the first spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, raising millions of dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund and becoming the first man to land a major cosmetics campaign.
In 1996, RuPaul landed a TV talk show on VH1, The RuPaul Show, taping more than 100 episodes with co-host Michelle Visage, while simultaneously co-hosting a morning drive radio show with Visage on WKTU.
As a recording artist, RuPaul has co-written and co-produced eighteen studio albums to date, including Foxy Lady (1996), Champion (2009), Glamazon (2011), Born Naked (2014), American (2017), and Black Butta (2023).
RuPaul's Drag Race has produced sixteen seasons to date and has inspired several international spin-off series, including RuPaul's Drag Race: UK and RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. RuPaul was also featured as a host on the series Skin Wars: Fresh Paint, Good Work, Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul, Lingo, Celebrity Lingo, and was the guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 8th, 2020.
As an actor, RuPaul has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows, both in and out of drag, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), the Comedy Central series Broad City (2017), Netflix originals Girlboss (2017) and Grace and Frankie (2019), and as the voice of Queen Chante in The Simpsons (2018). In 2020, RuPaul teamed up with Michael Patrick King (Sex in the City, 2 Broke Girls) to produce the Netflix original comedy series AJ & The Queen, in which RuPaul also starred.
As an author, RuPaul has published four books: the #1 New York Times bestseller The House of Hidden Meanings (Harper Collins, 2024), GuRu (Harper Collins, 2018), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (Harper Collins, 2010), and Lettin' It All Hang Out (Hyperion Books, 1995).
On March 16, 2018, Jane Fonda presented RuPaul with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6652 Hollywood Blvd.
RuPaul lives in New York, California, and Wyomin.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Sabu Dastagir (or Selar Shaik Sabu, depending on your resource) was born on January 27, 1924, in the little town of Mysore, India, which is nestled in the jungles of Karapur. The son of an elephant driver (mahout) in service for the Maharajah of his town, the young stable boy learned responsibility early in life when, at age 9, his father died and Sabu immediately became the ward of the royal elephant stables. As with many Hollywood success stories, good timing, and dumb luck allowed the impoverished youth a chance for a better life. By sheer chance the timid 12-year-old orphan was discovered by a British location crew while searching for a youth to play the title role (an elephant driver!) in their upcoming feature Elephant Boy (1937). Quite taken aback by his earnest looks, engaging naturalness and adaptability to wild animals and their natural habitat, the studio handed the boy a film career on a sterling silver platter and was placed under exclusive contract by the mogul Alexander Korda himself.
Sabu and his older brother (as guardian) were whisked away to England to complete the picture and became subsequent wards of the British government. They were given excellent schooling in the process and Sabu quickly learned the English language in preparation for his upcoming films. Elephant Boy (1937) was an unqualified hit and the young actor was promptly placed front and center once again in the film The Drum (1938) surrounded by an impressive British cast that included Raymond Massey and Valerie Hobson. With the parallel success of the Tarzan jungle movies in America, Hollywood starting taking a keen look at this refreshingly new boy talent when he first arrived in the U.S. for a publicity tour of the film. Again, his second film was given rave reviews, proving that Sabu would not be just a one-hit wonder.
His third film for Korda is considered one of the great true classics. In the Arabian fantasy-adventure The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Sabu plays Abu the Thief and is not only surrounded by superb actors -- notably June Duprez, John Justin, Rex Ingram (as the genie) and Conrad Veidt (as the evil Grand Vizier) -- but exceptional writing and incredible special effects. Sabu's name began stirring international ears. His last pairing with Korda was the excellent adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's classic book The Jungle Book (1942) playing Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, who must adapt to the ways of mankind after being returned to his mother. The movie was directed by Alexander's brother Zoltan Korda.
Following this triumph, Sabu officially became the exotic commodity of Universal Pictures and he settled in America. Although initially rewarding monetarily, it proved to be undoing. Unfortunately (and too often typical), a haphazard assembly-line of empty-minded features were developed that hardly compared to the quality pictures in England under Korda. Saddled alongside the unexceptional Maria Montez and Jon Hall, his vehicles Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944) were, for the most part, drivel but certainly did fit the bill as colorful, mindless entertainment.
Almost 20 years old by the time he became a citizen of the U.S. in 1944, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and earned WWII distinction in combat missions (Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, among others) as a tail gunner. By the time Sabu returned to Universal and filming, the charm of his youth had worn off and the boyish stereotype impossible to escape.
Post-war audiences developed new tastes, but Sabu had no choice but to trudge on with retreads of his former glory. Films such as Tangier (1946) again opposite Ms. Montez, Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948) and Song of India (1949) opposite lovely princess Gail Russell did little to advance his career. While filming the last-mentioned movie, Sabu met and married actress Marilyn Cooper who temporarily filled in for an ailing Ms. Russell on the set. The couple went on to have two children.
Sabu actually fared better back in England during the late 40s, starring in the crime drama The End of the River (1947) and appearing fourth-billed as a native general in the exquisitely photographed Black Narcissus (1947). Daring in subject matter, the film had Deborah Kerr heading up a group of Anglican nuns who battle crude traditions, unexpected passions and stark raving madness while setting up a Himalayan order. By the mid-50s Sabu's career was rapidly approaching extinction, seeking work wherever he could find it - in low-budget Europe productions, public appearances, etc. An attempt to conjure up a TV series for himself failed. His life was further aggravated by unpleasant civil and paternity suits brought about against him. His last two pictures were supporting roles in Rampage (1963), which starred Robert Mitchum, and A Tiger Walks (1964), a thoroughly routine Disney picture which was released posthumously.
Sabu died unexpectedly at age 39 of a heart attack on December 2, 1963, at his home in Southern California and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. Son Paul Sabu developed into an accomplished songwriter and even formed a rock band called Sabu; daughter Jasmine Sabu, who died in 2001, was a noted horse trainer whose skill was utilized occasionally for films. Although he went the way of too many of our former stars, Sabu continues to enchant and excite newer generations with his unmatched athletic skills and magnetic charm in those early adventure fantasies of yesteryear.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Sinbad was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan to two parents, Louise and the Baptist Rev. Dr. Donald Beckley Adkins and was then known as David Adkins. He is primarily known as an actor and somewhat a writer and proved his comedic acting style in House Guest (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), First Kid (1996) and Good Burger (1997). He has been married to Meredith Adkins since 2002 with two children. He was previously married to Meredith Fuller.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Sting was born Gordon Matthew Sumner on 2 October, 1951 in Wallsend, North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, the eldest of four children of Audrey (Cowell), a hairdresser, and Ernest Matthew Sumner, an engineer and milkman. He received his name from a striped sweater he wore which looked like a bee. He grew up in the turmoil of the ship-building industry and wanted to become a musician very early. He played cruise ships, backing strippers in cabarets, and developed a love for the bass guitar. Having played in jazz/rock bands like "Last Exit" and other various groups, including a dixieland jazz group, he settled down with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers for a decade-long tenure with the smashing rock trio, The Police.
In 1984, he went on to record solo albums, and holds a reputation as one of the most literate songwriters and talented musicians in the world. He has also delved into acting, having starred in such films as Quadrophenia (1979), Radio On (1979), Plenty (1985), Julia and Julia (1987) (aka Julia and Julia), Dune (1984), Bring on the Night (1985) (a documentary about the formation of his Blue Turtles jazz group), most recently, Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets (1995), where he plays a bisexual, conniving butler.
He received an honorary Doctorate of Music degree from Northumbria University in October 1992, and from Berklee College of Music in May 1994. He plays guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, harmonica, saxophone and pan-flute, and he gave a name to his bass (Brian).
Sting is married to film producer Trudie Styler, and has six children with Trudie and ex-wife, actress Frances Tomelty. Sting owns a Jacobian castle in Wiltshire, which he calls "Lake House", where he records his albums, as well as a place in London, an apartment in New York, a place on the beach in Malibu, California, and a Renaissance Florentine Villa called "Palagio" in Figline Valdarno, Tuscany, Italy. Along with his wife Trudie and a Brazilian Indian, he started the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to help save rainforests.- Actress
- Music Department
Tabu is an Indian actress. She has mainly acted in Hindi films, though she has also starred in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali-language films, as well as one American film. She has won the National Film Award for Best Actress twice, and holds the record for the most wins of Filmfare's Critics Award for Best Female Performer, with four. With few exceptions, she is best known for acting in artistic, low-budget films that go on to garner more critical appreciation than substantial box-office figures. Her appearances in commercially successful films were few, and her parts in these films were small, such as Border (1997), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Biwi No. 1 (1999) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999). Her most notable performances include Maachis (1996), Virasat (1997), Hu Tu Tu (1999), Astitva (2000), Chandni Bar (2001), Maqbool (2003) and Cheeni Kum (2007). Her leading role in Mira Nair's American film The Namesake (2006) also drew major praise.
Regarded as one of the most talented Indian actresses of her generation, Tabu is known to be selective about her film roles. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2011 by the Government of India for her contributions towards the arts.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Topol was born on 9 September 1935 in Tel Aviv, Palestine [now Israel]. He was an actor and producer, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Flash Gordon (1980) and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He was married to Galia Topol. He died on 8 March 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Twiggy is a top model of the late 1960s, who made skinny an "inny," along with other famous skinny models such as Jean Shrimpton ("The Shrimp"), Veruschka von Lehndorff, and Penelope Tree ("The Tree"). She was born Leslie Hornby on September 19, 1949, in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, one of three daughters of Nell Hornby (née Nellie Lydia Reeman), a factory worker, and Norman Hornby, a master carpenter and joiner. By blending pop art with fashion, the doe-eyed, pouty-lipped gamine with the angelic puss and boyish crop took the industry by storm at age 17 defining the age of "flower power." She originally was nicknamed "Sticks" because of her reed-thin figure, but then switched it to "Twigs" and, finally, "Twiggy." A model for a scant four years, she had never even walked the runways by the time she exploded onto the scene. Educated at the Kilburn High School for Girls, her look and image was an instant globular sensation. She was even imitated by Mattel when they issued a "Twiggy Barbie" in 1967 and by Milton Bradley who created a board game out of her. Lunch boxes, false eye lashes, tights, sweaters, tote bags and paper dolls -- all these bore her famous moniker. In her prime she graced the covers of Vogue and Tatler, and even had her own American publication "Her Mod, Mod Teen World." The "psychedelic '60s" would not have been the same without her.
In 1970, Twiggy was able to parlay her incredible success into a respectable career in film and TV and on the musical theater stage. It was the iconoclastic director Ken Russell who instilled in her the ambition to move away from modeling and study acting, voice and dance. An extra in his movie The Devils (1971), Russell ushered her front-and-center with the jazz-age musical The Boy Friend (1971), his homage to the Busby Berkeley Hollywood musicals. Taking on the role originated on stage by Julie Andrews, Twiggy was awarded a Golden Globe for her efforts.
Her second feature, the thriller W (1974) cast her with future husband Michael Witney, who was nearly two decades her senior. They married in 1977 and later appeared together in There Goes the Bride (1980). She also cameoed in The Blues Brothers (1980) with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Following Witney's untimely death in 1983, she appeared in The Doctor and the Devils (1985) and the comedy Club Paradise (1986) with Robin Williams before meeting her second husband, actor Leigh Lawson, while filming Madame Sousatzka (1988) in which she played a singer.
Though Twiggy has worked from time to time on TV, her exposure has been somewhat limited. She hosted a couple of self-titled shows in England and co-starred in the very short-lived sitcom Princesses (1991) here in America, but not too much else. The singing stage is a different story. She made her West End debut as "Cinderella" in 1974 and played Eliza Doolittle in a legit performance of "Pygmalion" in 1981. In 1983 she reunited with her "Boy Friend" co-star Tommy Tune and together dazzled Broadway audiences as a tapping twosome with "My One and Only," a warm, nostalgic revamping of the Gershwin classic "Funny Face." The charming waif went on to appear in a 1997 London revival of Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit," then played star Gertrude Lawrence alongside Harry Groener's Coward in the song-and-sketch musical "Noel and Gertie" (later retitled "If Love Were All"), which focused on the close "blendship" between the two icons all to the accompaniment of 20 Coward songs.
Back to her modeling ways, Twiggy came out of retirement to be photographed by the likes of John Fwanel and Annie Liebovitz in the 90s and has recently joined the professional elite of judges led by Tyra Banks on the reality show America's Next Top Model (2003), her warmer, more unassuming demeanor filling in for the aggressive, vitriolic Janice Dickinson.- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Vanity was a glamorous Canadian model and lead singer of the all-girl group "Vanity 6." She specialized in playing sultry female characters often in trouble with the law.
Vanity was born Denise Katherine Matthews in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Helga Senyk and James Levia Matthews. She was of African and German descent. Vanity first appeared on screen in the biographical tale of writer Jack London titled Klondike Fever (1979), before venturing into more gritty territory such as the slasher film Terror Train (1980), the very odd chick flick Tanya's Island (1980), a B-grade martial arts film entitled The Last Dragon (1985) and the totally weird Never Too Young to Die (1986).
However, her best two performances were as the naive stripper assisting blackmail victim Roy Scheider in the under-rated thriller 52 Pick-Up (1986) and as a seductive, smart-talking nightclub singer teaming up with cop Carl Weathers to defeat murderous car tycoon Craig T. Nelson in the violent Action Jackson (1988).
Unfortunately, the remainder of Vanity's film work was of the "straight-to-video" variety and she only scored minor roles in several low-budget thrillers such as Neon City (1991) and Da Vinci's War (1993). In late 1995, Vanity turned her back on Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and dedicated her life to the Christian faith.
Vanity, who suffered from sclerosis encapsulating peritonitis, died on February 15, 2016 in Fremont, California.- Actor
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Xzibit was born in Detroit, where he lived until his mother passed away when he was only nine years old. At the age of ten, he began to rap, very personally because of the loss of his mother. At the age of 14, he got into trouble and was removed from his home for two years after his father refused to have him there. Xzibit was released from the state on his own recognizance as an adult at 17. He did a little slangin' to get some money together and jumped into his jeep and headed toward LA, California. In 1992, Xzibit met with producer Broadway, through the group, Madcap. His first songs were "Freestyle Ghetto" on "King Tee IV Life", and after that he got on the Liks' "Coast ][ Coast" on the joints, "Hit and Run". He points to his mother, who was a writer, as his source of creativity. Xzibit's rhymes resonate because he speaks from the heart as an individual, rather than trying to portray a phony hip hop persona. He has lived through many dramatic times in his life, so he raps primarily about his own life experiences, and is not afraid to reveal himself on a track. Xzibit eventually found himself working with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, and helped on Dre's 2001. Through that work he became good friends with Dre, Snoop, Eminem, and others on the Aftermath staff. He is now a father, too.- Actress
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Zendaya (which means "to give thanks" in the language of Shona) is an American actress and singer born in Oakland, California. She began her career appearing as a child model working for Macy's, Mervyns and Old Navy. She was a backup dancer before gaining prominence for her role as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010) which also includes Bella Thorne, Kenton Duty and Roshon Fegan. Zendaya was a contestant on the sixteenth season of the competition series Dancing with the Stars. She went on to produce and star as K.C. Cooper in the Disney Channel sitcom K.C. Undercover (2015) She made her film breakthrough in 2017, starring as Michelle "MJ" Jones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and as Anne Wheeler in the musical drama film The Greatest Showman (2017) alongside actors such as Tom Holland, Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron. Besides acting, singing and dancing she is an ambassador for Convoy of Hope. She has written a book, launched her own clothing line (Daya by Zendaya) and proved herself to be a great role model for young girls all around the world.