Spanish-American celebrities
Celebrities with Spanish ancestry.
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- Actress and drama teacher, born Elena Arizmendi in Córdoba, Spain. Arrived with her parents in the U.S. during the Spanish Civil War. In 1951, as Elaine Aiken, she became a protege of legendary method acting coach Lee Strasberg and three years later joined the Actor's Studio. Though she initially appeared in support of Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins in Paramount's The Lonely Man (1957), her subsequent acting career proved desultory. However, she became a respected acting teacher at the Strasberg Theater Institute in her own right (1977-84) and was co-founder (with Lily Lodge) and director of the Manhattan-based Actors Conservatory in 1987. She has notably worked with name actors, including Harvey Keitel, Shelley Winters and Alec Baldwin.
- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
Danny Burstein was born on 16 June 1964 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and cinematographer, known for Blackhat (2015), Transamerica (2005) and Deception (2008). He was previously married to Rebecca Luker and Laura Debra Toma.- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Lynda Jean Cordova Carter is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World USA 1972 and finished in the top 15 at the Miss World 1972 pageant. Carter is best known as the star of the live-action television series Wonder Woman, in the role of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman. The role was based on the DC comic book fictional superhero character of the same name, and aired on ABC and later on CBS from 1975 to 1979.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ana Cristina is an American singer/actress/songwriter. Born in Miami, she is a first-generation Cuban-American of Spanish, Italian, and English ancestry. She became the first Hispanic person to perform "The Star- Spangled Banner" at the 2005 Presidential Inauguration. She performed at the White House for Hispanic Heritage Month before the President of the United States and the Crown Prince of Spain in 2006. That year she recorded the theme song for the World Cup Germany for the Univision TV Network, "You Can Change the World," and its bilingual counterpart, "El Mundo Puedes Cambiar". She was a former Miss South Florida USA 2011.
Ana Cristina has released records for Sony Music, after being signed at 15. She is fluent in English and Spanish and writes her songs using guitar and piano. She was interested in theatre and acting her whole life and has studied at many Florida institutes. After moving to Los Angeles, she studied at Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica.
Ana has two sisters, Marisa and Aileen, who are 13 and 10 years her senior. She enjoys staying fit by doing yoga, hiking and cycling. Her hobbies include dancing, cooking, watching movies, swimming, traveling, and anything to do with water. In 2010 She graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor's Degree in Broadcast Journalism. She resides in Los Angeles and has a cavalier King Charles spaniel mix named Hope.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Montreal-native Katherine Cleland is a trained lawyer. Since childhood, she equally took to performing through pair's figure skating, theatre and then film and television. Katherine first stepped onto stage at age 14, when she got her feet wet in comedic theatre and musical performances. No stranger to performing, Katherine came from a competitive figure skating background, in pairs ice dancing, where she reached Skate Canada's Senior Level tests, and competed in provincial and American competitions throughout the ages of 9 to 15. She went on to complete academic studies in law at 18, and was sworn-in to the Quebec Bar at age 22, having pursued two law degrees, as well as all of her schooling, in French. Discovering her passion for the entertainment industry at a young age, she completed her legal articling at Canada's most prestigious Intellectual Property firm, Robic, LLP. She has a background in not only Intellectual Property law and Entertainment law, but also film and television production to feed her thirst for industry knowledge.
She gained vast field exposure in the entertainment industry, landing roles in television, film, video games, voice work, interviewing and theatre (performing at National Theater School, Theatre LaChapelle). Highlights include guest-staring roles on CTV's series The Listener, Saving Hope and Played; performing opposite Mischa Barton in the feature thriller 'Apartment 1303 3D'; and playing one of the principal characters in the 70's disco-era flick 'Discopathe' (American Cinemateque's Beyond Fest (Los Angeles); Les Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois and Comic-Con to name a few nods) that made the festival rounds across Europe, the States and South America. Propelling her career into the entertainment industry, she equally acted during that time as a legal consultant to production companies. Owing to her know-how in Media law, she went on to subsequently act as a Content and Development Producer for Bell Media for their factual television shows. Amongst others, she has interviewed and featured in her shows the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, as well as the Mayor of Montreal, Quebec, Denis Coderre, on several occasions.
A bilingual Montrealer, Katherine has worked on Canadian, American and European productions in both the Toronto and Quebec markets. When not immersing herself in all things entertainment and production related, she gets a kick out of maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle through running, tennis and group training, giving back to her elementary school and high school as the youngest member of the Corporation; and learning passed down family traditions in her Italian grandmother's cherished kitchen.- Actor
- Writer
Kenny Delmar was born on 5 September 1910 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for It's a Joke, Son! (1947), King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). He was married to Alice Cochran (artist/painter). He died on 14 July 1984 in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Emilio Estevez was born on May 12, 1962, in New York City. He is the eldest son of actor Martin Sheen, who at the time was just breaking into the business. His mother, Janet Sheen (née Templeton), was a former New York art student who had met Emilio's father right after he had moved to Manhattan. Martin and Janet had three other children, Charlie Sheen, Renée Estevez, and Ramon Estevez, all of whom became actors. His father is of half Spanish and half Irish descent, and his mother, whose family is from Kentucky, has English and Scottish ancestry.
He lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side until his family relocated to Malibu in 1968. Before graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1980, Estevez had already had a small role as a messenger boy in Apocalypse Now (1979), that was ultimately cut from the film.
Though his father had opted to use the stage name "Sheen" over his more ethnic birth name "Estevez," Emilio chose to retain the family name, hoping to avoid riding his father's coattails. He also thought the double "E" set of initials was "pretty."
He appeared in a few TV movies, the first of which was 17 Going on Nowhere (1980), before making his big-screen debut opposite Matt Dillon in 1982's Tex (1982). A part in The Outsiders (1983) followed, and Estevez made his first big splash as the punk rocker Otto in the cult classic Repo Man (1984).
Originally cast as Bender (The Criminal) in the seminal John Hughes flick The Breakfast Club (1985), Estevez took the part of Andrew (The Athlete) instead after Hughes could find no one else to fill the role. Another ensemble film, St. Elmo's Fire (1985) came next. Then Estevez made his screen-writing debut with That Was Then... This Is Now (1985), a film in which he also starred.
He then starred in the Stephen King thriller and cult hit Maximum Overdrive (1986), . The ambitious young actor added directing to his palette with Wisdom (1986) in 1986. Estevez went on to write, direct and star in the film Men at Work , Men at Work (1990) alongside his brother Charlie Sheen in 1989 . Originally written as an environmental comedy that follows two slacker garbage men who find a dead politician in a trash barrel,''Men at Work'' went on to be a moderate success and enjoys a "cult" status.
Estevez jumped back into making studio films with hits like Stakeout (1987) and Young Guns (1988), as well as their subsequent sequels.
In 1992, Emilio took on one of his most iconic and famous roles as Coach Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks (1992). The enormously popular Disney film spawned two sequels and an NHL hockey team of the same name, but Estevez was interested in making more dramatic films.
In 1995, he agreed to make a brief appearance in D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) in exchange for Disney helping him finance and distribute another effort as actor-director, The War at Home (1996). Though smiled on by critics, The War at Home (1996) received a very limited distribution by Disney and thus went largely unseen. The War at Home, filmed in Austin, Texas, is an exploration of the effects of PTSD on a Vietnam veteran who has returned to his Texas family's home in 1972. The film co-stars Oscar winner, Kathy Bates, Estevez ' s father Martin Sheen and Kimberly Williams . The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1996 as an Official Selection. Estevez continued to work in films, both behind and in front of the camera, including a fourth effort as director and star, Rated X (2000), which co-starred brother Charlie Sheen and was a selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000.
In 2006, Emilio made the motion picture Bobby. Bobby (2006), a "day in the life" film. Robert F. Kennedy Estevez wrote, directed, and acted in the picture, which, follows 22 characters in the Ambassador Hotel on June 4th, 1968 on the day Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated following his win in the California primary. The film remains one of the starriest ensemble cast ever assembled with Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Laurence Fishburne, Harry Belafonte, Lindsay Lohan, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen and many others in the cast. Distributed by The Weinstein Company, "Bobby" went on to be nominated for two Golden Globes, Best Original Song and Best Picture (Drama), as well as a Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble nomination in 2006. He won a Hollywood Film Best Ensemble Award and received a 7-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival following his nomination for the prestigious Golden Lion for directing the film . The film had its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival where it was an Official Selection.
In 2009 Estevez filmed a new project which he wrote, produced and directed called, The Way, in Spain starring his father, Martin Sheen, in a story about a man who decides to make the Camino de Santiago after the death of his son in the French Pyrénées. It was released in the United States on October 7, 2011, following the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010.
In 2019, Estevez released another feature film, The Public, starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Taylor Shilling, Michael K. Williams and Estevez himself, which he also wrote, directed and produced. The movie was shot entirely inside the downtown Cincinnati Public Library during the winter of 2017. Once again, The Public enjoyed it's world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018. The film was released in 2019 by Greenwich Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
In 2021, Emilio returns as Coach Gordon Bombay in the new Disney + series, The Mighty Ducks: Gamechangers.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Being the son of Martin Sheen and brother of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, it is no small wonder that Ramon Estevez has also ventured into the world of acting, both in front of and behind the camera. His first acting job was a small role in In the Custody of Strangers (1982) starring his father, brother Emilio, Ed Lauter and Jane Alexander. Since Cadence (1990), however, Ramon has only taken a handful of roles, such as Shadow Conspiracy (1997) with brother Charlie and Donald Sutherland, and a guest appearance with Martin and Rob Lowe on The West Wing (1999).
Ramon runs the production company Estevez Sheen Productions for his father Martin. He has also written songs for Diamond Rio and appeared in the latter's music video "It's All in Your Head" (1996). He is sometime billed as 'Ramon Sheen'.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Jennifer Lynn "Jenni" Farley was born on February 27, 1985 in East Greenbush, New York. She is best known as JWoww on Jersey Shore and its spin-off series Snooki & JWoww. Before "Jersey Shore", she attended Columbia High School and New York Institute of Technology. She then worked as a nanny or with small children. She has two children, Meilani and Greyson Mathews.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Gregory Thomas Garcia was born on 4 April 1970 in Arlington County, Virginia, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for My Name Is Earl (2005), Sprung (2022) and The Guest Book (2017). He has been married to Kim Garcia since 3 May 1997. They have three children.Creator of “My Name is Earl”- Composer
- Music Department
- Director
One of the most prolific and iconic guitarists of the second half of the 20th Century, Jerome John Garcia was born in San Francisco, California, USA on August 1st 1942. Garcia, whose mother was a registered nurse and whose father, Jose, was a small time jazz musician, had a troubled childhood. At the age of 4, he lost the middle finger of his right hand in a woodcutting accident with older brother, Tiff, who cut it off by mistake and, a year later, tragedy struck again when he watched his father drown in a river during a fishing accident. Jerry spent a lot of his youth with his grandparents as well as suffering from bouts of asthma that at times left him bedridden. He was a well read teenager and showed a talent for Art which would become a lifelong interest for him. He listened to a lot of jazz and country music on the radio and then fell in love with the sounds of rock and roll when it began to cause a stir in the mid-1950s. In 1957, at the age of 15, he got his first guitar and began to learn the basics so he could play along with the rock and roll hits of the time, his then favorite guitarist was Chuck Berry. After high school, he drifted for a while and, after getting into a few scrapes, he went and joined the army, but it didn't suit him and, after collecting 8 AWOLs and a number of other courts-martial, he was discharged. Whilst in the army, he began playing acoustic guitar and learning the craft of finger picking and folk style guitar. Upon leaving the army in 1960, he returned home and carried on with his art studies by taking lessons at college. During this period, he got into the then growing beat and coffeehouse scene which introduced him to many other like minded artistic drop outs including a young poet named Robert Hunter, who would later become his songwriter partner. He studied and practiced guitar nearly ever waking hour and, a year or so later, he picked up 5-string Banjo and began to learn the art of Bluegrass music. Between 1960 and 1964, Garcia played in many different folk and bluegrass acts in which he played Banjo or Acoustic Guitar. He was by now a very serious musician and spending a lot of his time playing and practicing with whoever was around at that time. He could also play a little fiddle, bass and mandolin and sometimes all within the same gig.
In 1965, he formed an electric blues-rock band called the "Warlocks", with himself as the lead guitarist. A few months later, they changed their name to the "Grateful Dead". The original line-up was Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan (Pigpen) and Bill Kreutzmann. They soon gained a reputation for playing long improvised jazz inspired folk-rock music and became one of the most popular live bands around. Garcia became the main songwriter within the group as his partnership with 'Robert Hunter (V)_ matured over time and he led them through many musical changes throughout their long career. Over the next 30 years, the Dead went through many musical and personal changes but they grew in popularity and became the most popular live band in history, playing in some of the most legendary concerts of all time including Monterey Pop (1967), Woodstock (1969) and Watkins Glen (1973).
They averaged around 80 concerts a year and had an incredible loyal fan base known as Deadheads. Despite being well known for their live shows, they were also a sublime band in the studio which is often overlooked because of their lack of hit singles; in fact, their only hit single was "Touch of Grey" from the "In the Dark" album in 1987, a full 22 years after they formed! The band recorded 13 studio albums - Grateful Dead (1967), the semi-live Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), Workingmans Dead (1970), American Beauty (1970), Wake of the Flood (1973), From the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975), Terrapin Station (1977), Shakedown Steet (1978), Go to Heaven (1980), In the Dark (1987) and Built to Last (1989). Their albums and original songs ranged from straight ahead rock and pop influences to blues, folk, jazz, country, electronic and progressive experimentation. They also released many live albums, most notably Live Dead (1969), Europe72 (1972), Reckoning and Deadset (1981) and Without A Net (1990). Garcia had a deep interest in film going back to his childhood. He briefly studied film making at college in the early 60s. His first work of note in feature films came in 1970 when he worked on the soundtrack for the movie Zabriskie Point (1970), where he performed the improvised instrumental guitar piece known in the movie as "Love Scene". In 1974, he began a film project that lasted a number of years. Mixing animation and real concert footage The Grateful Dead (1977) was co-directed by Garcia. Other concert and semi concert videos followed with Dead Ahead (1981) and So Far (1987). He also performed a small part in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), where he provided the brief Banjo playing in a few short scenes.
Despite being consumed with 30 years with the "Grateful Dead", Jerry also found time to have a whole musical career away from the dead. He began playing in jam sessions and doing session work with other artists in the late 60s. He began playing pedal steel guitar and formed the country-rock group the "New Riders of the Purple Sage" with John Dawson in 1969. He released his first of 5 solo albums - Garcia (1972) in which he played every instrument except drums. Compliments of Garcia (1974), Reflections (1976), Cats Under the Stars (1978) and Run for the Roses (1982). His band, The Jerry Garcia Band, was formed in the early 70s and it gave him a chance to perform many other songs and styles of music outside of the Dead. The band went through many personal changes and name changes during its time but it allowed him to play any type of music he liked, and he did. He covered jazz, blues, Motown, R&B, gospel, pop, reggae, swing, ballads, Dylan covers and was equally at home playing any of them. In 1973, he formed a bluegrass band called "Old and In the Way" in which he played Banjo, it was a short-lived group but the record that was later released went on to become the biggest selling bluegrass album of all time.
The Dead and the scene they came out of was legendary for drug taking and Jerry was no exception and, by mid 70s, he had gotten into hard drugs, including cocaine and heroin. By the mid 1980s, it had slowed down his creative process and he was by now a very heavy user and suffering many health problem which all came to a head in 1986, when he went into a coma and nearly died, spending some considerable time in hospital recovering. But it didn't stop him from his continued musical quest and, after his recovery, he returned to touring and recording with the Dead and his own versions of the Jerry Garcia Band. In 1990, he reconnected with old friend and former "Old and In the Way" band mate David Grisman. Grisman was by now a musical giant and one of the greatest Mandolin players of all time. They formed an easy going relaxed acoustic double act which involved a few gigs and many hours worth of sessions at Grisman's home recording studio. Garcia/Grisman was released in 1990 then followed Not for Kids Only (1992) and, since then, 4 more studio albums of the recordings have been released - Shady Grove, The Pizza Tapes (with Tony Rice), So What and Been All Around This World as well as the movie Grateful Dawg (2000) which pays tribute to the musical friendship they shared. They played all different styles of music and the period probably represents Garcia's best work as an acoustic guitarist.
Garcia continued touring with the Dead, his own band and recording with Grisman and others on session work right up till 1995 when he again tried to tackle his drug addiction and his overall health problems which included breathing troubles caused by years of heavy smoking and his love for junk food and lack of exercise meant he spent the last number of years of his life vastly overweight. He entered the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Marin County, California in an attempt to clean up and get healthy. In the early hours of August 9 1995, he suffered a massive heart attack and died. He was 52 years old.
As well as all his Grateful Dead and solo Band work, he also clocked up a lot of studio time with other recording artists and he played on over 50 studio albums by other artists including the likes of the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Tom Fogerty, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby and Bob Dylan and many more.
Often given the clichéd title by the media of being the smiling easy going hippie who never sold out or let us forget the 60s and what it stood for. It should be remembered that Garcia was a talented and dedicated musician capable of playing not only guitar but piano, bass, banjo and pedal steel guitar all to a very high standard as well as being an underrated songwriter. It will be his guitar playing that he will be most remembered for as he was a brilliant guitarist capable of playing any genre or style of music in any setting with anybody and either electric or acoustic. He was a rare genius.- Actress
- Soundtrack
JoAnna Garcia Swisher was born in Tampa, Florida. She began performing at the age of ten, when she auditioned for a local theater production and landed the lead. She continued to act in high school where she was discovered by Nickelodeon and commuted from Florida to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to star for two seasons in the television series, Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990). After graduating from high school, she spent a year attending Florida State University, but dropped out to move to Hollywood where she worked extensively in television and then in popular movies.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Salma Hayek was born on September 2, 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her mother is of Mexican/Spanish ancestry. After having seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) in a local movie theater, she decided she wanted to become an actress. At age 12, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, Louisiana. After attending Mexico City's prestigious university Universidad Iberoamericana, she felt ready to pursue acting seriously.
She soon landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a hugely successful soap opera which earned her the star status in her native Mexico. However, anxious to make films and to explore her talent as well as passion, she left both Teresa (1989) and Mexico in 1991. Heartbroken fans spread rumors that she was having a secret affair with Mexico's president and left to escape his wife's wrath. She made her way to Los Angeles. She approached Hollywood with naive enthusiasm and quickly learned that Latina actresses were typecast as the mistress maid or local prostitute. By late 1992, she had landed only small roles. She appeared on Street Justice (1991), The Sinbad Show (1993), Nurses (1991), and as a sexy maid on Dream On (1990). She also had only one line in My Crazy Life (1993). Feeling under-appreciated by Anglo filmmakers, she vented her frustrations on Paul Rodriguez's late-night Spanish-language talk show.
Robert Rodriguez and his wife Elizabeth Avellan happened to be watching and were immediately smitten with her. He soon gave her big break -- to star opposite Antonio Banderas in the cult classic Desperado (1995), bringing her into Hollywood prominence. The moviegoers were as dazzled with her as he had been. Afterwards, she was cast again by Rodriguez to star in the cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Her first star billing came later that year with Fools Rush In (1997) opposite Matthew Perry. It was a modest hit and her star continued to rise in both commercial and films such as Breaking Up (1997) with an unknown Russell Crowe, 54 (1998), Dogma (1999) and In the Time of the Butterflies (2001), the small artistic film which won her an ALMA award as best actress and the summer blockbuster Wild Wild West (1999). Her production company Ventanarosa produced the Mexican feature film El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1999), which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and selected as Mexico's official Oscar entry for best foreign film.
The new millennium started out quietly as she prepared to produce and star in her dream role of Frida Kahlo, the legendary Mexican painter whom she had been admiring her entire life and whose story she wanted to bring to the big screen ever since she arrived in Hollywood. Frida (2002) was full of passion and enthusiasm, with performances from her and Alfred Molina as Kahlo's cheating husband Diego Rivera. It also featured an entourage of stars such as Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Edward Norton and Valeria Golino.
It was a box office hit and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best actress for Hayek. It won awards for make-up and score by Elliot Goldenthal. Later that year, she expanded her horizons, directing The Maldonado Miracle (2003), which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2003, she starred in the finale of Rodriguez's Desperado trilogy Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), again opposite Banderas. She also starred in After the Sunset (2004) opposite Pierce Brosnan, and Ask the Dust (2006) opposite Colin Farrell. She then starred in Bandidas (2006), which also featured Penélope Cruz, and Lonely Hearts (2006) opposite Jared Leto.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly Irish descent, met Eduardo in 1916 and were married the following year. Rita, herself, studied as a dancer in order to follow in her family's footsteps. She joined her family on stage when she was eight years old when her family was filmed in a movie called La Fiesta (1926). It was her first film appearance, albeit an uncredited one. Sotted by Fox studio head Winfield R. Sheehan, she signed her first studio contract, and make her film debut at age sixteen, in Dante's Inferno (1935), followed by Cruz Diablo (1934). She continued to play small bit parts in several films under the name of "Rita Cansino". Fox dropped her after five small roles, but expert, exploitative promotion by her first husband Edward Judson soon brought Rita a new contract at Columbia Pictures, where studio head Harry Cohn changed her surname to Hayworth and approved raising her hairline by electrolysis. She played the second female lead, Judy McPherson, in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). After thirteen minor roles, Columbia lent her to Warner Bros. for her first big success, The Strawberry Blonde (1941); her splendid dancing with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) made her a star. This was the film that exuded the warmth and seductive vitality that was to make her famous. Her natural, raw beauty was showcased later that year in Blood and Sand (1941), filmed in Technicolor.
Rita was probably the second most popular actress after Betty Grable. In You'll Never Get Rich (1941) with Fred Astaire, was probably the film that moviegoers felt close to Rita. Her dancing, for which she had studied all her life, was astounding. After the hit Gilda (1946) (her dancing had made the film and it had made her), her career was on the skids. Although she was still making movies, they never approached her earlier success. The drought began between The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Champagne Safari (1954). Then after Salome (1953), she was not seen again until Pal Joey (1957). Part of the reasons for the downward spiral was television, but also Rita had been replaced by a new star at Columbia, Kim Novak.
Rita, herself, said, "Men fell in love with Gilda, but they wake up with me". In person, Rita was shy, quiet and unassuming; only when the cameras rolled did she turn on the explosive sexual charisma that in Gilda (1946) made her a superstar. To Rita, though, domestic bliss was a more important, if elusive, goal, and in 1949 she interrupted her career for marriage - unfortunately an unhappy one almost from the start - to the playboy Prince Aly Khan. Her films after her divorce from Khan include perhaps her best straight acting performances, Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) and They Came to Cordura (1959).
After a few, rather forgettable films in the 1960s, her career was essentially over. Her final film was The Wrath of God (1972). Her career was really never the same after Gilda (1946). Perhaps Gene Ringgold said it best when he remarked, "Rita Hayworth is not an actress of great depth. She was a dancer, a glamorous personality, and a sex symbol. These qualities are such that they can carry her no further professionally." Perhaps he was right but Hayworth fans would vehemently disagree with him.
Beginning in 1960 (age 42), early onset of Alzheimer's disease (undiagnosed until 1980) limited Rita's ability. The last few roles in her 60-film career were increasingly small. With 20 years of symptoms, Rita was cared for by her daughter, Yasmin Khan, until Rita's death at age 68 on May 14, 1987, in New York City.- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler was born in Madrid, Spain, to Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and Spanish-Filipino socialite Isabel Preysler. In 1979, his parents' marriage was annulled. He was eight years old when he moved to the U.S., and at the age of 15, secretly began writing music. He studied business administration at the University of Miami for a year before he dropped out to pursue a musical career. Five years later, on September 25, 1995, he released his first album at 18 years of age. His second album, which was recorded in Spanish, was released on January 29, 1997.
Iglesias has made 10 albums. "Insomniac" was released 2008 and he did the official song for UEFA Europa League 2008, "Can You Hear Me", which he sang at the soccer league's finale. After "Insomniac" he made "Greatest Hits" and went on tour in 2009. His album "Euphoria" was his first bilingual album, featuring Spanish and English songs. His latest album "Sex and Love" was also bilingual.
Iglesias has sold over 137 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling Latin artists ever. He has more number-one songs on Billboard's charts, more than any other single male artist.
Iglesias has recorded advertisements or provided songs for major brands, including Salsa Doritos (2002), PepsiCo (2003), Viceroy (2004), Tommy Hilfiger (2005), Azzaro (2009) Atlantico (2011-present), Soap opera theme songs (2013, 2014), Coty (2014), and Kia Soul (2014-2015). He also had guest acting roles on Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Two and a Half Men, and How I Met Your Mother.
Iglesias has supported many charities, including City of Hope, Red Cross, Music for Relief, Habitat For Humanity, Help for Heroes, Live Earth, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Music for Relief, Special Olympics, The Salvation Army, Alex's Lemonade, and Hunger Relief.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Luis Manzano was born on 21 April 1981 in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. He is an actor, known for In My Life (2009), All About Love (2006) and Pilipinas Got Talent (2010). He has been married to Jessy Mendiola since 27 February 2021.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Legendary actor Ricardo Montalban was the epitome of Latin elegance, charm and grace on film and television and in the late 1940s and early 1950s reinvigorated the Rudolph Valentino / Ramon Novarro "Latin Lover" style in Hollywood without achieving top screen stardom. Moreover, unlike most minority actors of his time, he fought to upscale the Latin (particularly, Mexican) image in Hollywood. His noted militancy may have cost him a number of roles along the way, but he gained respect and a solid reputation as a mover and shaker within the acting community while providing wider-range opportunities for Spanish-speaking actors via Los Angeles theater.
He was born in Mexico City on November 25, 1920, the youngest of four children to Castilian Spanish immigrants, Ricarda Merino and Jenaro Montalbán. His father was a dry goods store owner. Montalbán moved to Los Angeles as a teen and lived with his much older brother Carlos Montalbán, who was then pursuing show business as both an actor and dancer. Ricardo attended Fairfax High School in Hollywood and was noticed in a student play but passed on a screen test that was offered. Instead, he traveled with his brother to New York, where he earned a bit part in the Tallulah Bankhead stage vehicle "Her Cardboard Lover" in 1940, and won subsequent roles in the plays "Our Betters" and "Private Affair".
Returning to Mexico to care for his extremely ill mother, his dark good looks and magnetic style helped propel him into the Spanish-language film industry. After nearly a dozen or so films, he was on the verge of stardom in Mexico when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took an interest in him and he relocated back to Los Angeles. Making his Hollywood leading debut as a robust bullfighter and twin brother of MGM star Esther Williams in the "B"-level musical Fiesta (1947), he attracted immediate attention. His second film with Williams, On an Island with You (1948), led to a contract with the studio, where he routinely ignited "Latin Lover" sparks opposite such prime female stars as Cyd Charisse, Shelley Winters, Anne Bancroft, Pier Angeli, Laraine Day and (once again) Esther Williams, this time in Neptune's Daughter (1949) (one of his MGM extravaganzas opposite gorgeous Lana Turner was actually called Latin Lovers (1953)). His strongest Hispanic competition in films at the time was Argentine-born fellow MGM player Fernando Lamas, who wound up eventually marrying Esther Williams after divorcing another MGM beauty, Arlene Dahl.
Although Montalban was the epitome of the "Latin lover" type, it actually damaged his cinematic career, pigeonholing him and hurting his momentum. He was seldom able to extricate himself from the usual portrayals of bandidos and gigolos, although he did manage to find an interesting film from time to time, such as his turn as a Mexican undercover policeman in the gritty Border Incident (1949), Mystery Street (1950), the classic war film Battleground (1949) and the hard-edged boxing drama Right Cross (1950). Occasionally, he was handed ethnic roles outside the Latino realm, such as his villainous Blackfoot Indian chief in Across the Wide Missouri (1951) starring Clark Gable, his heroic, bare-chested rebel warrior in the steamy Italian sword-and-sandals costumer The Queen of Babylon (1954) alongside Rhonda Fleming and his Japanese Kabuki actor in the Oscar-winning feature Sayonara (1957). It was during the filming of Across the Wide Missouri (1951) that he suffered a serious injury to his spine after he slipped and fell off a running horse, which resulted in a permanent limp.
Well established by this time, Montalban returned to the stage in 1954 with varied roles in such fare as "Can-Can", "The Inspector General", "South Pacific" and "Accent on Youth", before making his Broadway debut as Chico in the original musical "Seventh Heaven" (1955) with Gloria DeHaven, Kurt Kasznar and Bea Arthur. He then earned a Tony Award nomination as the only non-African-American actor in the tropical-themed musical "Jamaica" (1957) co-starring Lena Horne. He also toured as the title role in "Don Juan in Hell" in the 1960s, returning to Broadway with it in 1973 with Agnes Moorehead, Paul Henreid and Edward Mulhare, and touring once again with the show in 1991.
His strong work ethic and reservoir of talent enabled him to continue on television long after his exotic beefcake status in films had waned. He had married Loretta Young's half-sister Georgiana Young in 1944, and appeared on his sister-in-law's television series (The New Loretta Young Show (1962)) several times. He also showed up in a number of television dramatic anthologies (Playhouse 90 (1956) and Colgate Theatre (1958)) and made guest appearances on the popular series of the day, such as Death Valley Days (1952), Bonanza (1959), Burke's Law (1963), Dr. Kildare (1961), The Defenders (1961) and, more notably, a first-season episode of Star Trek (1966) in which he memorably portrayed galaxy arch-villain Khan Noonien Singh. He resurrected this character memorably in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
Over the years, he continued to appear occasionally on the big screen, typically playing continental smoothies, in such films as Love Is a Ball (1963), Madame X (1966) and Sweet Charity (1969), but it was television that finally made him a household name. Montalban captivated audiences as the urbane, white-suited concierge of mystery Mr. Roarke in the Aaron Spelling series Fantasy Island (1977). He stayed with the series for six seasons, buoyed by his popular "odd couple" teaming with the late Hervé Villechaize, who played Mr. Roarke's diminutive sidekick, and fellow greeter, Tattoo. While it may have seemed a somewhat lightweight and undemanding role for the talented Montalban, it nevertheless became his signature character. The series faltered after Villechaize, who had become erratic and difficult on the set, was fired from the series in 1983. Corpulent Britisher Christopher Hewett, as Lawrence, replaced the Tattoo character but to little avail and the series was canceled one season later. The troubled Villechaize committed suicide on September 4, 1993.
An Emmy Award winner for his role in the miniseries How the West Was Won (1976) and a noteworthy villain in the Dynasty (1981) spin-off series The Colbys (1985), Montalban was also famous for a series of television commercials in which he returned somewhat to his "Latin lover" persona, primarily in a series of slick commercials for Chrysler's Cordoba automobile, pitching the elegant auto with its "rich, Corinthian leather" (it later came to light that this phrase had been conjured up as a marketing tool, and that there was no such product from Corinth or anywhere else!). As for film and television work in his later years, he good-naturedly spoofed his Hollywood image in a number of featured roles, including a hilarious send-up of himself in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). Two of his final, larger-scaled film roles were as the grandfather in the two "Spy Kids" sequels: Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) and Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003). His deep, soothing, confident tones could also be heard in animated features and television series.
Frustrated at Hollywood's portrayal of Mexicans, he helped to found, and gave great support, attention and distinction to, the image-building "Nosotros" organization, a Los Angeles theatre-based company designed for Latinos working in the industry. Nosotros and the Montalban foundation eventually bought the historic Doolittle Theater in Hollywood and renamed the theatre in his honor in 2004. It became the first major theater facility (1200 seats) in the United States to carry the name of a Latino performing artist. In 1980, along with Bob Thomas, he published his memoir, entitled "Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds".
A class act who was beloved in the industry for his gentle and caring nature, the long-term effects of his spinal injury eventually confined him to a wheelchair in his later years. He died in his Los Angeles home of complications from old age on January 14, 2009 at age 88. His wife having died on November 29, 2007, he was survived by their two daughters and two sons: Laura, Anita, Victor and Mark.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Frankie was born in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, to Denise, a nurse, and Francisco Muniz III, a restaurateur. His father is of Puerto Rican heritage and his mother is of Irish and Italian descent. Frankie was home-schooled since Grade Six. He started his acting career performing the role of Tiny Tim in "A Christmas Carol" for three years. Nominations for his performances include "The Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award", as well as "The Young Artist of Hollywood Award". Frankie is quite a good golfer and has been playing since his grandfather taught him at the age of five. Frankie was raised in Knightdale, North Carolina. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.- Director
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- Producer
Kenny Ortega was born on 18 April 1950 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008), Michael Jackson's 'This Is It': Auditions - Searching for the World's Best Dancers (2010) and Descendants 3 (2019).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Charlie Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estévez on September 3, 1965, in New York City. His father, actor Martin Sheen (born Ramon Antonio Gerard Estevez), was at the time just breaking into the business, with performances on Broadway. His mother, Janet Sheen (née Templeton), was a former New York art student who had met Charlie's father right after he had moved to Manhattan. Martin and Janet had three other children, Emilio Estevez, Renée Estevez, and Ramon Estevez, all of whom became actors. His father is of half Spanish and half Irish descent, and his mother, whose family is from Kentucky, has English and Scottish ancestry.
At a young age, Charlie took an interest in his father's acting career. When he was nine, he was given a small part in his dad's movie The Execution of Private Slovik (1974). In 1977, he was in the Philippines where his dad suffered a near-fatal heart attack on the set of Apocalypse Now (1979).
While at Santa Monica High School, Charlie had two major interests: acting and baseball. Along with his friends, which included Rob Lowe and Sean Penn, he produced and starred in several amateur Super-8 films. On the Vikings baseball team, he was a star shortstop and pitcher. His lifetime record as a pitcher was 40-15. His interest and skill in baseball would later influence some of his movie roles. Unfortunately, his success on the baseball field did not translate to success in the classroom, as he struggled to keep his grades up. Just a few weeks before his scheduled graduation date, Charlie was expelled due to poor attendance and bad grades.
After high school, Charlie aggressively pursued many acting roles. His first major role was as a high school student in the teen war film Red Dawn (1984). He followed this up with relatively small roles in TV movies and low-profile releases. His big break came in 1986 when he starred in Oliver Stone's Oscar winning epic Platoon (1986). He drew rave reviews for his portrayal of a young soldier who is caught in the center of a moral crisis in Vietnam.
The success of Platoon (1986) prompted Oliver Stone to cast Charlie in his next movie Wall Street (1987) alongside his father and veteran actor Martin Sheen. The movie with its "Greed is Good" theme became an instant hit with viewers.
Shortly after, Stone approached Charlie about the starring role in his next movie, Born on the Fourth of July (1989). When Tom Cruise eventually got the part, Sheen ended up hearing the news from his brother Emilio Estevez and not even getting as much as a call from Stone. This led to a fallout, and the two have not worked together since.
The fallout with Stone, however, did nothing to hurt Charlie's career in the late 1980s and early '90s, as he continued to establish himself as one of the top box office draws with a string of hits that included Young Guns (1988), Major League (1989), and Hot Shots! (1991). However, as the mid-'90s neared, his good fortune both personally and professionally, soon came to an end.
Around this time, Charlie, who had already been to drug rehab, was beginning to develop a reputation as a hard-partying, womanizer. In 1995, the same year he was briefly married to model Donna Peele, he was called to testify at the trial of Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. At the trial, while under oath he admitted to spending nearly $50,000 on 27 of Fleiss' $2,500-a-night prostitutes.
His downward spiral continued the following year when his ex-girlfriend Brittany Ashland filed charges claiming that he physically abused her. He was later charged with misdemeanor battery to which he pleaded no contest and was given a year's suspended sentence, two years' probation and a $2,800 fine. He finally hit rock bottom in May 1998 when he was hospitalized in Thousand Oaks, California, following a near-fatal drug overdose. Later that month, he was ordered back to the drug rehab center, which he had previously left after one day.
During this stretch, Charlie's film career began to suffer as well. He starred in a series of box office flops that included The Arrival (1996) and Shadow Conspiracy (1997). However as the 1990s came to end, so did Charlie's string of bad luck.
In 2000, Charlie, now clean and sober, was chosen to replace Michael J. Fox on the ABC hit sitcom Spin City (1996). Though his stint lasted only two seasons, Charlie's performance caught the eye of CBS executives who in 2003 were looking for an established star to help carry their Monday night lineup of sitcoms that included Everybody Loves Raymond (1996). The sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003) starred Charlie as a swinging, irresponsible womanizer whose life changes when his nephew suddenly appears on his doorstep. The show became a huge hit, breathing much needed life into Charlie's fading career.
Charlie's personal life also appeared to be improving. In 2002, he married actress Denise Richards, whom he first met while shooting the movie Good Advice (2001). In March 2004, they had a daughter, Sam, and it was announced shortly after that Denise was pregnant with the couple's second child. By all reports, the couple seemed to be very happy together. However, like all of Charlie's previous relationships, the stability did not last long. In March of 2005, Denise, who was six-months pregnant, filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. She gave birth to a second daughter, Lola, in June of that same year. Their divorce became final in late 2006.- Actor
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Multiple Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Martin Sheen is one of America's most celebrated, colorful, and accomplished actors. Moving flawlessly between artistic mediums, Sheen's acting range is striking.
Sheen was born Ramón Antonio Gerard Estevez in Dayton, Ohio, to Mary-Ann (Phelan), an Irish immigrant (from Borrisokane, County Tipperary), and Francisco Estevez, a Spanish-born factory worker and machinery inspector (from Parderrubias, Galicia). On the big screen, Sheen has appeared in more than 65 feature films including a star turn as Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's landmark film Apocalypse Now (1979), which brought Sheen worldwide recognition. The film also starred Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall. Other notable credits include Wall Street (1987) (with son Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas), Academy Award-winning film Gandhi (1982) (with Sir Ben Kingsley), Catch Me If You Can (2002) (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks), The American President (1995) (with Michael Douglas and Annette Bening) and a Golden Globe nominated breakthrough performance as Timmy Cleary in The Subject Was Roses (1968), a role he originated on Broadway and for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor.
In 2006, the actor played ill-fated cop Oliver Queenan in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning film The Departed (2006) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin.
The same year, Sheen joined another all-star ensemble cast for the highly acclaimed feature Bobby (2006), written and directed by his son, Emilio Estevez. Bobby was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a SAG Award; and starred Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Elijah Wood, Demi Moore and Heather Graham.
For television audiences, Sheen is best recognized for his six-time Emmy nominated performance as President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing (1999). Sheen won six of his eight Golden Globe nominations as well as an ALMA Award; and two individual SAG Awards; for the White House series. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor TV Series Drama in 2001.
Of his ten Primetime Emmy nominations, Sheen won for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series on the long-running sitcom Murphy Brown (1988) (starring Candice Bergen) in 1994. In addition, he has garnered a Daytime Emmy Award for directing and another for performance.
In 2006, Sheen was again nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; this time for the CBS hit comedy Two and a Half Men (2003), starring his son Charlie Sheen.
In addition to series television, Sheen has appeared in several important made-for-television movies and mini-series including playing President John F. Kennedy in the television mini-series Kennedy (1983) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.- Actress
- Producer
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A new reigning 1960s international sex symbol took to the cinematic throne as soon as Raquel Welch emerged from the sea in her purposely depleted, furry prehistoric bikini. Tantalizingly wet with her garb clinging to all the right amazonian places, One Million Years B.C. (1966), if nothing else, captured the hearts and libidos of modern men (not to mention their teenage sons) while producing THE most definitive and best-selling pin-up poster of that time.
She was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois, the first of three children of Bolivian-born Armando Carlos Tejada, an aerospace engineer, and his wife, Josephine Sarah (Hall). The family moved to San Diego, California (her father was transferred) when Raquel was only two. Taking dance lessons as a youngster, she grew up to be quite a knockout and nailed a number of teen beauty titles ("Miss Photogenic," "Miss La Jolla," "Miss Contour," "Miss Fairest of the Fair" and "Miss San Diego").
With her sights set on theater arts, she studied at San Diego State College on a scholarship starting in 1958 and married her first husband, high school sweetheart James Welch, the following year. They had two children: Damon Welch (born 1959), who later became an actor/production assistant, and actress Tahnee Welch (born 1961). Tahnee went on to take advantage of her own stunning looks as an actress, most notably with her prime role in Cocoon (1985).
Off campus, she became a local TV weather girl in San Diego and eventually quit college. Following the end of her marriage in 1962 (although Raquel and James Welch didn't divorce until 1964), she packed up her two children and moved to Dallas, Texas, where she modeled for Neiman-Marcus and worked as a barmaid for a time.
Regrouping, she returned to California and made the rounds of film/TV auditions. She found work providing minor but sexy set decoration on the small screen (Bewitched (1964), McHale's Navy (1962) and The Virginian (1962)) as well as the large screen (Elvis Presley's Roustabout (1964) and Doris Day's Do Not Disturb (1965)). Caught in the midst of the "beach party" craze, it's not surprising to find out that her first major film role was A Swingin' Summer (1965), which concentrated more on musical guests The Righteous Brothers and Gary Lewis & The Playboys than on Welch's outstanding assets. But 20th Century-Fox certainly took notice and signed her up.
With her very first film under contract (actually, she was on loan out to Britain's Hammer Studios at the time), she took on One Million Years B.C. (1966) (the remake of One Million B.C. (1940), in the role originated by Carole Landis), and the rest is history. Welch remained an international celebrity in her first few years of stardom. In England, she was quite revealing as the deadly sin representing "lust" for the comedy team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their vehicle Bedazzled (1967), and as the title secret agent in the spy spoof Fathom (1967). In Italy, she gained some exposure in primarily mediocre vehicles opposite such heartthrobs as Marcello Mastroianni.
Back in the U.S., however, she caused quite a stir in her groundbreaking sex scenes with black athlete Jim Brown in the "spaghetti western" 100 Rifles (1969), and as the transgender title role in the unfathomable Myra Breckinridge (1970). Adapted from Gore Vidal's novel, she created some unwelcome notoriety by locking horns with septuagenarian diva Mae West on the set. The instant cult movie certainly didn't help Welch's attempt at being taking seriously as an actress.
Box office bombs abounded. Try as she might in such films as Kansas City Bomber (1972) and The Wild Party (1975), which drew some good reviews for her, her sexy typecast gave her little room to breathe. With determination, however, she partly offset this with modest supporting roles in larger ensemble pieces. She showed definite spark and won a Golden Globe for the swashbuckler The Three Musketeers (1973), and appeared in the mystery thriller The Last of Sheila (1973). She planned on making a comeback in Cannery Row (1982), even agreeing to appear topless (which she had never done before), but was suddenly fired during production without notice. She sued MGM for breach of contract and ultimately won a $15 million settlement, but it didn't help her film career and only helped to label her as trouble on a set.
TV movies became a positive milieu for Welch as she developed sound vehicles for herself such as The Legend of Walks Far Woman (1980) and Right to Die (1987), earning a Golden Globe nomination for the latter project. She also found a lucrative avenue pitching beauty products in infomercials and developing exercise videos (such as Jane Fonda).
Welch took advantage of her modest singing and dancing abilities by performing in splashy Las Vegas showroom acts and starring in such plausible stage vehicles as "Woman of the Year" and "Victor/Victoria". She spoofed her own image on occasion, most memorably on Seinfeld (1989). Into the millennium, she co-starred in the Hispanic-oriented TV series American Family (2002) and the short-lived comedies Welcome to the Captain (2008) and Date My Dad (2017), along with the movies Tortilla Soup (2001), Legally Blonde (2001), Forget About It (2006) and How to Be a Latin Lover (2017).
Her three subsequent marriages were to producer/agent Patrick Curtis (who produced her TV special, Raquel (1970)), director André Weinfeld (who directed her in several fitness videos), and pizza parlor owner Richie Palmer, who was 14 years her junior. All these unions ended in divorce.
She died at 2:25 a.m. on February 15, 2023, aged 82, at her Los Angeles home after suffering a cardiac arrest. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York City, New York to musician Shelly Loraine Fidler Kearns and U.S. Army sergeant Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera Monge. Her father is Ecuadorian and her mother, who is American-born, has Welsh, Dutch and German ancestry. Her parents divorced when she was young and she lived with her mother, although they moved around a lot. Her goal almost since birth was to be a singer, and at age 12 she was invited to audition for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989). She won the part and stayed until the show ended. In 1999 she had her breakthrough hit, "Genie in a Bottle." Since then she's made millions of fans, sold millions of records, and won many awards, including a Grammy for Best New Female Artist. She has even made a Latin album and released a Christmas album.
Aguilera is a bilingual singer. She has received many honors including Grammy Nominations and a win for Best New Artist. 2 MTV Video Music Awards, a Radio Music Awards, 2 VH1 Awards, and a Teen Choice Award with 'Lil' Kim', Mya and Pink and the smash hit "Lady Maramalade". She was on The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) with *NSYNC's Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. Her musical influences include Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tall, suave and sophisticated Cesar Romero actually had two claims to fame in Hollywood. To one generation, he was the distinguished Latin lover of numerous musicals and romantic comedies, and the rogue bandit The Cisco Kid in a string of low-budget westerns. However, to a younger generation weaned on television, Romero was better known as the white-faced, green-haired, cackling villain The Joker of the camp 1960s TV series Batman (1966), and as a bumbling corporate villain in a spate of Walt Disney comedies, such as chasing a young Kurt Russell in the fun-packed The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969). Fans and critics alike agreed that Romero was a major talent who proved himself an enduring and versatile star in an overwhelming variety of roles in a career as an actor, dancer and comedian that lasted nearly 60 years.
Cesar Romero was born of Cuban parents in New York City in February 1907. He attended the Collegiate School and Riverdale Country School before working as a ballroom dancer. He first appeared on Broadway in the 1927 production of Lady Do, and then in the stage production of Strictly Dishonorable. His first film role was in The Shadow Laughs (1933), after which he gave strong performances in The Devil Is a Woman (1935) and in the Shirley Temple favorite, Wee Willie Winkie (1937).
Critics and fans generally agree that Romero's best performance was as the Spanish explorer Cortez in Captain from Castile (1947). However, he also shone in the delightful Julia Misbehaves (1948) and several other breezy and lighthearted escapades. In 1953 he starred in the 39-part espionage TV serial Passport to Danger (1954), which earned him a considerable income due to a canny profit-sharing arrangement. Although Romero became quite wealthy and had no need to work, he could not stay away from being in front of the cameras. He continued to appear in a broad variety of film roles, but surprised everyone in Hollywood by taking on the role of "The Joker" in the hugely successful TV series Batman (1966). He refused to shave his trademark mustache for the role, and close observation shows how the white clown makeup went straight on over his much loved mustache! The appearances in Batman were actually only a small part of the enormous amount of work that Romero contributed to television. He guest-starred in dozens of shows, including Rawhide (1959), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Zorro (1957), Fantasy Island (1977) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). However, it was The Joker for which his TV work was best remembered, and Romero often remarked that for many, many years after Batman ended, fans would stop him and ask him to chuckle and giggle away just like he did as The Joker. Romero always obliged, and both he and the fans just loved it!
With a new appeal to a younger fan base, Romero turned up in three highly popular Disney comedies: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) and The Strongest Man in the World (1975) as corrupt but inept villain A.J. Arno. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s Romero remained busy, and even at 78 years of age the ladies still loved his charm, and he was cast as Jane Wyman's love interest in the top-rated prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest (1981), playing Peter Stavros from 1985 to 1987.
Although Romero stopped acting in 1990, he remained busy, regularly hosting classic movie programs on cable television. A talented and much loved Hollywood icon, he passed away on New Year's Day 1994, at the age of 86.- Producer
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George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; by all indications, though, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Living Dead" films was born February 4, 1940 ,in New York City to Ann (Dvorsky) and Jorge Romero. His father was born in Spain and raised in Cuba, and his mother was Lithuanian. He grew up in New York until attending the renowned Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
After graduation he began shooting mostly short films and commercials. He and his friends formed Image Ten Productions in the late 1960s and they all chipped in roughly $10,000 apiece to produce what became one of the most celebrated American horror films of all time: Night of the Living Dead (1968). Shot in black-and-white on a budget of just over $100,000, Romero's vision, combined with a solid script written by him and his "Image" co-founder John A. Russo (along with what was then considered an excess of gore), enabled the film to earn back far more than what it cost; it became a cult classic by the early 1970s and was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress of the United States in 1999. Romero's next films were a little more low-key but less successful, including The Affair (1971), The Crazies (1973), Season of the Witch (1972) (where he met future wife Christine Forrest) and Martin (1977). Though not as acclaimed as "Night of the Living Dead" or some of his later work, these films had his signature social commentary while dealing with issues--usually horror-related--at the microscopic level. Like almost all of his films, they were shot in, or around, Romero's favorite city of Pittsburgh.
In 1978 he returned to the zombie genre with the one film of his that would top the success of "Night of the Living Dead"--Dawn of the Dead (1978). He managed to divorce the franchise from Image Ten, which screwed up the copyright on the original and allowed the film to enter into public domain, with the result that Romero and his original investors were not entitled to any profits from the film's video releases. Shot in the Monroeville (PA) Mall during late-night hours, the film told the tale of four people who escape a zombie outbreak and lock themselves up inside what they think is paradise before the solitude makes them victims of their own, and a biker gang's, greed. Made on a budget of just $1.5 million, the film earned over $40 million worldwide and was named one of the top cult films by Entertainment Weekly magazine in 2003. It also marked Romero's first work with brilliant make-up and effects artist Tom Savini. After 1978, Romero and Savini teamed up many times. The success of "Dawn of the Dead" led to bigger budgets and better casts for the filmmaker. First was Knightriders (1981), where he first worked with an up-and-coming Ed Harris. Then came perhaps his most Hollywood-like film, Creepshow (1982), which marked the first--but not the last--time Romero adapted a work by famed horror novelist Stephen King. With many major stars and big-studio distribution, it was a moderate success and spawned a sequel, which was also written by Romero.
The decline of Romero's career came in the late 1980s. His last widely-released film was the next "Dead" film, Day of the Dead (1985). Derided by critics, it did not take in much at the box office, either. His latest two efforts were The Dark Half (1993) (another Stephen King adaptation) and Bruiser (2000). Even the Romero-penned/Tom Savini-directed remake of Romero's first film, Night of the Living Dead (1990), was a box-office failure. Pigeon-holed solely as a horror director and with his latest films no longer achieving the success of his earlier "Dead" films, Romero has not worked much since, much to the chagrin of his following. In 2005, 19 years after "Day of the Dead", with major-studio distribution he returned to his most famous series and horror sub-genre it created with Land of the Dead (2005), a further exploration of the destruction of modern society by the undead, that received generally positive reviews. He directed two more "Dead" films, Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009).
George died on July 16, 2017, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was 77.- Actor
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Carlos Bernard spent his formative years in Mexico City and Chicago. He attended New Trier High School and majored in Fine Art at Illinois State University. It was after college that Carlos began his acting career - performing at such Chicago theaters as The Second City, Victory Gardens and Pegasus Players. He later made the move to San Francisco to train at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater masters program. While at A.C.T., he appeared in the classic plays Hamlet, As You Like It, The Cherry Orchard, Heartbreak House and Good.
Carlos has starred in various films and television series, including The Lincoln Lawyer, The Orville, Madame Secretary, Supergirl, Castle, CSI Miami and Dallas; however, he is probably best known for his portrayal of Tony Almeida on Fox's Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning series 24 - for which he received two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, two Alma Award nominations and three Imagen Award nominations.
Carlos has written and directed for the stage and screen. He received an LA Weekly Theater Award nomination (Best Director) for his staging of Vaclav Havel's play The Memorandum. His first film Your Father's Daughter, which he wrote and directed, premiered at The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. He has directed episodes of FBI, Law & Order, FBI Most Wanted, Chicago Fire, BULL, Ciminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Magnum P.I. and The Inspectors.
Carlos was selected to participate in the Warner Bros. Directors' Workshop and the Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors Program. He was one of the founding members of the Ashbury Actors Group theater company in Los Angeles.
Carlos is a life long Cubs fan.- Diminutive, brown-haired Dorothy Devore was born Inez Williams in Ft. Worth, TX. She completed her schooling in Los Angeles when her family moved to California. She first acted in amateur revues, which she also produced and for which she contributed the music. While still in her mid-teens she performed in nightclubs and worked as a singer in vaudeville. In 1918 she signed a contract with film producer Al Christie. During the next five years she became a pre-eminent ingénue of light romances and star comedienne in numerous Christie two-reelers, on occasion billing herself as "De Vore".
In 1924 Dorothy took an offer of a seven-year contract with Warner Bros./First National to appear in feature films. Unhappy at being cast opposite canine hero Rin Tin Tin, she eventually bought out her contract. Joining Educational Pictures, she returned to her preferred two-reel format and made a brace of "Dorothy Devore Comedies", with full control over all aspects of production. Unfortunately, she failed to make the transition to sound pictures and left the industry in the early 1930s. - Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Richard Perello is known for Club Dread (2004), Super Troopers (2001) and The Forever Prisoner (2021).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Lisa Loomer was born in 1950. She is a writer and actress, known for Girl, Interrupted (1999), Hearts Afire (1992) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Actor/director/producer Mel Ferrer was born Melchor Gaston Ferrer on August 25, 1917, in Elberon, New Jersey. The son of a Cuban-born surgeon and a Manhattan socialite, he went to prep school and attended Princeton University. From the age of 15 he worked in summer stock. After Princeton he became an editor on a small Vermont newspaper and wrote a children's book, "Tito's Hats." He became a chorus dancer on Broadway in 1938 in two musicals and made his New York debut as an actor two years later. After a bout with polio he started in radio as a disc jockey in Texas and Arkansas and rose to producer-director of top-rated shows for NBC in New York. He made a modest debut as a director at Columbia with the low-budget The Girl of the Limberlost (1945), then returned to acting on Broadway to star in Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit." He was John Ford's assistant on The Fugitive (1947).
Ferrer made his screen acting debut in Lost Boundaries (1949). He is best remembered for the role of the lame puppeteer in Lili (1953) and as Prince Andrei in War and Peace (1956). He directed Claudette Colbert in The Secret Fury (1950) and Audrey Hepburn - his wife at the time - in Green Mansions (1959). Ferrer produced the hit Wait Until Dark (1967), also with Hepburn. In the following year, the couple separated and ultimately divorced. Since 1960 had been producing and acting mainly in Europe.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Beautiful Anita Page was one of the most famous and popular leading ladies during the last years of the silent screen and the first years of the talkie era. She was best known for starring in The Broadway Melody (1929), the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her leading men included John Gilbert, Clark Gable, Buster Keaton, and Robert Montgomery.
Only in her late teens when stardom beckoned, Anita had a huge following that earned her record amounts of fan mail, but she was seldom given lead roles, most often playing second lead, perhaps due to her youthful inexperience as an actress. She was a charming, much-loved screen personality, but by 1932 MGM seemed to lose interest in her career despite impressive work in such films as Night Court (1932) and Skyscraper Souls (1932), and before the year was out her contract was not renewed. She slipped off into "B" stardom in films at Columbia, Universal, and even more minor studios. She retired from the screen in 1936, making a return 25 years later in The Runaway (1961) with Cesar Romero, and she lived quietly out of the limelight for over half a century. In the 1990s, the now widowed star was rediscovered by the media, which enjoyed her light-humored journeys down memory lane about her career, MGM, the silent and early talkie eras, and the stars she knew, earning the actress a devoted cult of young fans and a few brief appearances in ultra-low-budget films of the 1990s.- Maria Alba was born on 19 March 1910 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was an actress, known for Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932), Kiss of Araby (1933) and El código penal (1931). She was married to Richard Jamar Burk. She died on 26 October 1996 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. Often, when her parents were on tour, Joan and her two older sisters, Constance Bennett, who later became an actress, and Barbara were left in the care of close friends. At the age of four, Joan made her first stage appearance. She debuted in films a year later in The Valley of Decision (1916), in which her father was the star and the entire Bennett clan participated. In 1923 she again appeared in a film which starred her father, playing a pageboy in The Eternal City (1923). It would be five more years before Joan appeared again on the screen. In between, she married Jack Marion Fox, who was 26 compared to her young age of 16. The union was anything but happy, in great part because of Fox's heavy drinking. In February of 1928 Joan and Jack had a baby girl they named Adrienne. The new arrival did little to help the marriage, though, and in the summer of 1928 they divorced. Now with a baby to support, Joan did something she had no intention of doing--she turned to acting. She appeared in Power (1928) with Alan Hale and Carole Lombard, a small role but a start. The next year she starred in Bulldog Drummond (1929), sharing top billing with Ronald Colman. Before the year was out she was in three more films--Disraeli (1929), The Mississippi Gambler (1929) and Three Live Ghosts (1929). Not only did audiences like her, but so did the critics. Between 1930 and 1931, Joan appeared in nine more movies. In 1932 she starred opposite Spencer Tracy in She Wanted a Millionaire (1932), but it wasn't one she liked to remember, partly because Tracy couldn't stand the fact that everyone was paying more attention to her than to him. Joan was to remain busy and popular throughout the rest of the 1930s and into the 1940s. By the 1950s Joan was well into her 40s and began to lessen her film appearances. She made only eight pictures, in addition to appearing in two television series. After Desire in the Dust (1960), Joan would be absent from the movie scene for the next ten years, resurfacing in House of Dark Shadows (1970), reprising her role from the Dark Shadows (1966) TV series as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Joan's final screen appearance was in the Italian thriller Suspiria (1977). Her final public performance was in the TV movie Divorce Wars: A Love Story (1982). On December 7, 1990, Joan died of a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York. She was 80 years old.- Barbara Bennett was born on 13 August 1906 in Palisades, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Love Among the Millionaires (1930), The Valley of Decision (1916) and Syncopation (1929). She was married to Laurent Surprenant, Jack Randall and Morton Downey. She died on 8 August 1958 in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Independent, outspoken Constance Bennett, the first of the Bennett sisters to enter films, appeared in New York-produced silents before a chance meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea (1924). She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925; after they divorced, she achieved stardom in talkies from 1929. The hit Common Clay (1930) launched her in a series of loose lady and unwed mother roles, but she really excelled in such sophisticated comedies as The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Ladies in Love (1936), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Her classy blonde looks, husky voice and unerring fashion sense gave her a distinctive style. In the 1940s she made fewer films, working in radio and theatre; shrewd in business, she invested wisely and started businesses marketing women's wear and cosmetics. Loving conflict, she feuded with the press and enjoyed lawsuits. Her last marriage, to a U.S. Air Force colonel, was happy and gave her a key role coordinating shows flown to Europe for occupying troops (1946-48) and the Berlin Airlift (1948-49), winning her military honors. Still young-looking, she died suddenly at age 60 shortly after completing the last of her 57 films.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Richard Bennett was born on 21 May 1870 in Deer Creek, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Damaged Goods (1914) and The Eternal City (1923). He was married to Aimee Raisch Hastings, Adrienne Morrison and Grena Heller. He died on 22 October 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
Richard Cansino was born on 10 August 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Ninja Scroll (1993), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Leo Carrillo was born on 6 August 1881 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Guilty Generation (1931), The Cisco Kid (1950) and Crime, Inc. (1945). He was married to Edith Shakespear Haeselbarth. He died on 10 September 1961 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Imogene Coca is best remembered for playing opposite Sid Caesar in the live 90-minute Your Show of Shows (1950), which ran every Saturday night in regular season on NBC from February 1950 to June 1954. Their repertoire of comedy acts included the very memorable, hilarious, timeless and irreconcilable married couple Charlie and Doris Hickenlooper. Coca, however, did not begin her career in comedy. Her father, who was the conductor at a small Philadelphia opera house, and her mother, who performed in vaudeville, certainly instilled in her a desire to perform, but nurtured that desire with piano lessons, vocal training and dance. "I began as one of those horrible little children who sing with no voice," Coca said of her early training. By the time she was 13, she found herself tap dancing, somersaulting (along with various other acrobatics), dancing ballet and otherwise committed full-time as a serious vaudeville trouper. She left Philadelphia at 15 for New York, where she plied her trade as a dancer. She debuted in the chorus of "When You Smile." For the next 30 years music and dance were her staple. She could be found in the troupes of musical revues and doing her own acts in Manhattan clubs, such as the Rainbow Room, the Silver Slipper and Cafe Society Uptown. Her first husband, Robert Burton (who died in 1955), arranged music for many of her performances. Comedy and pantomime filtered into her routines quite by accident. In the production of "New Faces of 1934" Leonard Sillman, the choreographer for the show, loaned her his coat to keep her warm in what was a very cold theater. To augment what warmth she was getting from the oversized coat, Coca, along with three male dancers in the chorus began jumping up and down and improvising dance steps. Stillman noticed them and immediately recognized the comedic affect. He encouraged them to repeat the routine in the show, coat and all, which they did. Although coolly received by the audience at first, eventually the bit had the audience in stitches. Even the critics laughed, crediting Coca with great comedic talent. To hone her skills in what would become her forte in show business, Coca did the next four summers in the Poconos working with Danny Kaye, Carol Channing and the like.
It wasn't until near the end of WWII that she found much work in her new field and it wasn't until January 1949 that she was paired with Caesar in NBC's The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949), a show that aired only until that summer. In the fall of 1950 "Your Show of Shows" was launched on NBC. Coca won an Emmy the following year for her contributions to the program. She and Ceasar left the show in 1954 to pursue individual routes. They did not, however, match the success they enjoyed in "Your Show of Shows." Coca attempted a solo with The Imogene Coca Show (1954), but it lasted only one season. In 1958 Caesar and she paired again on Sid Caesar Invites You (1958); still, it was not the same. Only in 1967 did some of that same magic again occur when the original cast from "Your Show of Shows" reunited on CBS in _The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967) (TV)_; it won an Emmy for outstanding variety special.
Coca starred in two single-season sitcoms in the 1960s: NBC's 1963-64 Grindl (1963) and CBS' 1966-67 It's About Time (1966). In the 1970s she could be found visiting on Dick Cavett's talk show and making guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Thereafter, she appeared only sporadically on TV and in the movies--her most notable appearance was as Aunt Edna in Vacation (1983) with Chevy Chase. Coca and Caesar re-visited some of their old sketches and put together the 1991 show "Together Again", which they toured throughout the country on stage. In her later years Coca and her second husband, actor King Donovan (who died in 1987), lived in Connecticut and Manhattan, staying close to her roots in vaudeville, theatre and "Your Show of Shows."- Actress
- Writer
Renée Pilar Estevez was born in New York City on April 2, 1967. She is the youngest child and only daughter of Janet Sheen (née Templeton), an artist, and Martin Sheen, an actor. Her three older brothers - Emilio Estevez (b. 1962), Ramon Estevez (b. 1963), and Charlie Sheen (b. 1965) - also act.
Renée's first acting role came about in 1986, starring in an episode of CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984). Her best-known movie is probably the cult favorite Heathers (1988), in which she played the geeky Betty Finn. Renée had an uncredited appearance in the director's cut of Lethal Weapon (1987), as well as roles in two late '80s slasher films - final girl Molly in Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) and first victim Linda in Intruder (1989).
Renée Estevez has guest-starred in multiple TV shows, including Growing Pains (1985), MacGyver (1985), ABC Afterschool Specials (1972), Red Shoe Diaries (1992), JAG (1995), and The Division (2001). She appeared in a regular guest-starring role on The West Wing (1999) as Nancy, an assistant in the Oval Office of President Josiah Bartlet (who is played by her father Martin).
As of 2015, Renée's final on-screen appearance is The Way (2010), which was directed and written by her brother Emilio, and co-starred Emilio and their father, Martin. She also wrote a few episodes of her brother Charlie's show Anger Management (2012).
Renée has been married to Jason Thomas Federico, a chef and golfer, since October 11, 1997. She met him at the California Culinary Academy where she studied pastry and baking science.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Trixie Friganza was born on 29 November 1870 in Grenola, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Free and Easy (1930), If I Had My Way (1940) and Silks and Saddles (1936). She was married to Charles A. Goettler and William J.M. Barry. She died on 27 February 1955 in Flintridge, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Martin Garralaga was born on 10 November 1894 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was an actor, known for What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969), La llama sagrada (1931) and Riding the California Trail (1947). He died on 12 June 1981 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Greg Giraldo was born on 10 December 1965 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Common Law (1996), Z Rock (2008) and Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices (2009). He was married to MaryAnne McAlpin-Giraldo. He died on 29 September 2010 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William Gaxton was born on 2 December 1889 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Best Foot Forward (1943), 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) and It's the Old Army Game (1926). He was married to Madeline Cameron. He died on 2 February 1963 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lita Grey began working for Charles Chaplin at his Hollywood studio when she was 12, doing bit parts in a couple of his movies. Three years later, at 15, she met him again and became pregnant by him by the time she was 16; they married in 1924 when she was still 16 and he was 35. They had two sons before their three-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce. Ms. Grey played clubs in Europe and the US and spent eight years touring with the Radio Keith Orpheum theater circuit before retiring from show business in 1947.- After graduating from high school in 1923, Thomas Sabino Gomez answered a help wanted ad, which resulted in his joining the Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne theater group. Prior to that time he had not considered acting as a career. He continued working as an actor with the Lunts, traveling across country and honing his acting skills. Eventually he began performing in New York's legitimate theater. His film debut occurred in 1942 in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) as, of course, a bad guy. While shooting that film he lived at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. He gained a reputation as a methodical man, who would have his daily newspaper brought to his room, where it was placed on the top of an ever growing stack. When he had time to read, he would have a bellboy come to the room and lift the stack of papers, from which he would withdraw the bottom paper.
Gomez was a strong union man and served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild for more than 40 years. In the late 1940s he purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills, and lived there until his death. While his film career consisted most of supporting roles, on the Broadway stage he was a star, playing lead roles in such productions as "A Man for All Seasons". He was also known as a devotee of gourmet dining, and was well known at most of the best restaurants in Hollywood and New York. He was a heavyset man, weighing over 290 pounds during most of his lifetime. Just prior to his death his doctor had placed him on a diet. At the time of his death his weight was less than 150 pounds. He was survived by a sister who lived in New York. - Myrtle Gonzalez was born on 28 September 1891 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Level (1914), The Little Sheriff (1914) and The Chalice of Courage (1915). She was married to Allen Watt and J. Parks Jones. She died on 22 October 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
First came to notice as a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show, You Bet Your Life (1950). His highly amusing personality won him bit parts in films, and he continued to work as a minor supporting player for years. He is the brother of Jose Gonzales-Gonzales. His most famous role was on John Wayne's movie Rio Bravo (1959).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Camille Guaty, raised in Northern California and New Jersey, studied at Boston University and continued her education at R.A.D.A, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. There she learned the great works of William Shakespeare.
After a ten day trip to meet her new Los Angeles reps, they immediately signed her and sent her out on her first pilot season. Camille was offered a holding deal with WB and booked her first role, on Bob Saget's "Raising Dad," as a feisty best friend to Kat Dennings and Brie Larson. She next landed the lead role in Disney Channel's "Gotta Kick It Up" and hasn't stopped working since.- Tom Hernandez is known for 21 Beacon Street (1959), Your Favorite Story (1953) and The Millionaire (1955).
- Actor
- Producer
- Music Department
Javier Bardem belongs to a family of actors that have been working on films since the early days of Spanish cinema.
He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, to actress Pilar Bardem (María del Pilar Bardem Muñoz) and businessman José Carlos Encinas Doussinague. His maternal grandparents were actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and his uncle is screenwriter Juan Antonio Bardem. He got his start in the family business, at age six, when he appeared in his first feature, "El picaro" (1974) (A.K.A. The Scoundrel). During his teenage years, he acted in several TV series, played rugby for the Spanish National Team, and toured the country with an independent theatrical group. Javier's early film role as a sexy stud in the black comedy, Jamón, Jamón (1992) (aka Ham Ham) propelled him to instant popularity and threatened to typecast him as nothing more than a brawny sex symbol. Determined to avert a beefcake image, he refused similar subsequent roles and has gone on to win acclaim for his ability to appear almost unrecognizable from film to film. With over 25 movies and numerous awards under his belt, it is Javier's stirring, passionate performance as the persecuted Cuban writer, Reynaldo Arenas, in Before Night Falls (2000) that will long be remembered as his breakthrough role. He received five Best Actor awards and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal.- Set Decorator
- Art Department
- Art Director
Michael Flowers was born on 1 July 1964 in Tyler, Texas, USA. He is a set decorator and art director, known for Carriers (2009), Transformers (2007) and The Signal (2014).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Diana Gabaldon was born on 11 January 1952 in Williams, Arizona, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for Outlander (2014), Outlander and Outlander: Blood of My Blood. She is married to Doug Watkins. They have three children.- Additional Crew
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Mike is an LGBTQ writer passionate about telling poppy, character-driven stories that are queer and female-focused. He works in various genres, including drama, horror, procedural, and YA.
His credits include TNT's Major Crimes, the upcoming series Crime Farm, and the Syfy holiday horror comedy Letters to Satan Claus. In addition, Mike and writer/director Nicholas Verso have a YA horror project in development with Stampede Ventures.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Anthony Redondo was born on 24 August 1912 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for Mannix (1967), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955) and Lancer (1968). He died on 10 August 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Editorial Department
- Editor
Brandon Cruz was born on 28 May 1962 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He is an actor and editor, known for The Bad News Bears (1976), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and The Lords of Salem (2012). He has been married to Elizabeth Finkelstein since 26 June 1994. They have two children.- Actress
- Producer
- Location Management
Dayna Riesgo was born in San Diego, CA. After attaining a degree in Theater she transferred to the University of California, San Diego to further her education, graduating with a degree in Visual Arts, Media. After relocating to Los Angeles, she spent many years working in TV and film production, performance and photography. Eventually Dayna ran away with the circus and began performing with the avant-garde cirque, Lucent Dossier Experience, eventually becoming their Producer as well, this was 9 exciting years of traveling the globe. This gypsy lifestyle still lives in her as she continues to produce and perform for a variety of projects.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Elizabeth Vargas was born on 6 September 1962 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Life (2017), 20/20 (1978) and Designated Survivor (2016). She was previously married to Marc Cohn.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Evelyn Guerrero was born on 24 February 1949 in East Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Blood In, Blood Out (1993), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and The Next Karate Kid (1994). She was previously married to Pat Morita.- Anna Navarro was born on August 18, 1933 in Winter Park, Orange, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Last Action Hero (1993), Topaz (1969) and The First Deadly Sin (1980). She was married to George Pappas and Thomas F. Foley. She died on December 27, 2006 in Studio City, California, USA.
- Producer
- Director
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David, the youngest of four siblings was born in New York City to Millie and J.B. "David" Rodriguez. He was raised in the South Bronx and Long Island and unlike most young men in his neighborhood, he spent his formative years at the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY. A few years after graduating from N.Y.M.A., David enlisted in the United States Marine Corps following a family tradition of service in the military.
After spending a short time as a corrections and law enforcement officer in South Florida, in 2003, David took the leap into the entertainment business pursuing his life-long dream of becoming a director.
Since 2004, David has worked steadily as a director, producer and writer in film and television. David splits his time between Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX and is a member of the Director's Guild of America.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Joseph Hernandez was born on 14 October 1942 in California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), From Noon Till Three (1976) and Rabbit Test (1978). He was married to Jeanne K. Hernandez. He died on 16 September 1991 in Burbank, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
- Velia Martinez was born on 14 June 1913 in Tampa, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for ¿Qué pasa, U.S.A.? (1977), Corte tropical (1990) and El capitán Malacara (1945). She was married to Ramiro Gómez Kemp. She died on 22 May 1993 in Miami, Florida, USA.
- Monica Ramon is originally from Sabadell, Catalonia Spain, near the city of Barcelona. Monica comes from an artistic family, her Grandfather was a well known Catalan Spanish artist "Lluis Vila Plana". She is Known for Mexican Gangsters (2008) and Polanski Unauthorized (2009) by Damian Chapa Star of Blood in, Blood out (1993). She never plays any role in Nuns with big Guns (2010) as it shows in her credits. Monica went though tragedy such as one of her twin brother was severely injured in a car accident in 1992, in which her brother had come out of a coma and had to learn to speak and walk again and this hard experience made her a very strong person she said.
Monica continued into acting, her first role in the Spanish series Happy End (1997) working alongside well-known Spanish actress Mónica López. Her second role was in the Spanish feature film Primats (1997) and its director Carlos Jove from Barcelona Catalonia. Monica went on to study modeling in Barcelona with Francina Diaz and acting at the Chekov Theatre in Madrid Spain with Angel Gutierrez, as well as two years of Stanislavsky method training, as well as extensive theatre experience.
Since Monica has been in America, she has appeared in several Spanish television series as well as commercials. She has worked alongside actors such as Damian Chapa and Steven Bauer, appearing as well in the indie feature "Snafu"and working in the movie "XII" by Steven Goldenstein. Her starring short film Dirty Girl ( 2008) by Jennifer Clary won "Bronze Remi Award "( WorldFest Houston 2008) . Recently she worked in the movie A beautiful Soul (2016) by Cody Mullins a biopic about James Dean playing the role of "Pier Angeli". - Ref Sanchez was born on 4 July 1920 in Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Get Smart (1965) and Let's Kill Uncle (1966). He died on 30 December 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Most baby-boomers remember actress Elena Verdugo from her pleasant, plain but rather dowdy Emmy-nominated role as "Consuelo Lopez", the altruistic assistant and sometime aide-de-camp to Robert Young's general practitioner for several seasons on the popular Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) dramatic series. However, decades before donning her drab white nurse's hat, she was an alluring 40s Universal player who displayed her best assets in their "B" adventure yarns and horror opuses. One who was probably wise to keep a set of hoop earrings nearby at all times, Elena reliably hauled out a reliable number of gypsies, harem dancers, peasant girls, Indian maidens and senoritas over the years before TV instigated the second stretch of her career.
Elena was born April 20, 1925, in Paso Robles, California, and began putting on dance shoes as a kindergartener. At age 6, she made her movie debut in the western Cavalier of the West (1931) starring Harry Carey, but didn't come back to films until her teen years. She nominally provided exotic footwork for such movies as Down Argentine Way (1940) with Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda, the Tyrone Power starrer Blood and Sand (1941), and the war picture To the Shores of Tripoli (1942), among others. She received her first big break featured as the object of desire of George Sanders's impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in The Moon and Sixpence (1942).
Universal used her consistently in the mid- to late-40s, starting her off as the touching and vulnerable gypsy girl "Ilonka" in the multiple monster bash House of Frankenstein (1944) which featured the holy horror trinity of Dracula, the Werewolf and Frankenstein's Monster. A natural blonde who got plenty of wear out of the dark wigs handed to her for these kinds of roles, her best scenes in the movie were with the doomed lycanthropic "Larry Talbot", played by Lon Chaney Jr.. She went on to appear with Chaney again in The Frozen Ghost (1945). While filming the Abbott and Costello comedy Little Giant (1946), she met and married movie writer Charles R. Marion, who also wrote for the comedy duo's radio show. The couple had one son, Richard Marion, who later became an actor/director in his own right. A real trooper despite her stereotype, Elena forged on in nothing-special "easterns" (i.e., Song of Scheherazade (1947); Thief of Damascus (1952)) and westerns (i.e., El Dorado Pass (1948); The Big Sombrero (1949)) playing whatever ethnic the script called for.
Television became a reality in the early 1950s. She found herself in a major sitcom hit playing a Brooklyn-born secretary for four seasons on Meet Millie (1952), initially replacing Audrey Totter in the lead role on radio. Elena retired for a time after this but eventually returned to perform on the occasional musical stage and on the small screen. After her big success as the nurse/receptionist on the "Welby" series, she slowed down considerably, but she and Young did reunite on The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. (1984), sans the other series' star, James Brolin, a decade later.
Verdugo, who later married psychiatrist Charles Rosey Rosewall after her divorce from writer Marion, has since appeared occasionally at nostalgia-based film/TV conventions. In 1999, she suffered the loss of her only child, actor/director Richard Marion, to a heart attack. He was only 50. She survived her second husband, who died in 2012, by five years, dying at age 92 on May 30, 2017, in Los Angeles.- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Devin Renee DeVasquez (born June 25, 1963 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American model and actress. She was chosen as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in June 1985, after being featured in the October 1981 issue's college pictorial. Her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley Her father was from Madrid, Spain and her mother is of Irish descent.
To help those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, DeVasquez created Devin's Kickass Cajun Seasoning and offered it through her business, DevRonn Enterprises.
DeVasquez won $100,000 on the television talent show, Star Search in 1986 and this win led to her being one of the first Hispanic Playmates featured on the cover of the November 1986 Playboy. DeVasquez went on to an acting career. She played the virgin in House 2. She had a supporting role in the high school film, Can't Buy Me Love. She played Clarissa Carlin in the thriller Society. In 1989 DeVasquez guest starred in "Her Cups Runneth Over", a third season episode of the FOX series, Married...With Children. She appeared in the film, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Busted, and Guns.
DeVasquez authored the book The Naked Truth About A Pinup Model, True Age, Timeless Beauty, My Husband's A Dog, My Wife's A Bitch, and The Day It Snowed In April.
DeVasquez writes for various magazines for Westlake magazine, Splash magazine and Primo magazine for Belgium. She is an active blogger for her website which chronicles her life and travels.
DeVasquez garnered three Emmys as a producer on the Amazon Prime series, The Bay.
Devin dated rock star Prince in 1985 and Sylvester Stallone in 1988 before she married Ronn Moss, who played Ridge Forrester on the CBS series The Bold and the Beautiful on September 25, 2009.- Daisy Fuentes was born on 17 November 1966 in Havana, Cuba. She is an actress, known for Baywatch (1989), Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995) and Curdled (1996). She has been married to Richard Marx since 23 December 2015. She was previously married to Timothy Adams.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Andrew Joseph Perez is an actor, singer, fight choreographer, and true Jack-of-all-trades based in Los Angeles.
He's best known as Miss Salsa Roja in the feature film You Should Meet My Son 2! (2018), for originating the role of Phil in the world-premiere musical The Behavior of Broadus by the Burglars of Hamm and produced in association with Center Theatre Group, and as the guy who you can still occasionally catch on that TV above your treadmill at the gym playing an escaped convict on an episode of Investigation Discovery's Got to Be Part of the Texas Seven (2014).
Perez is the definition of a lifelong learner. He trained as a legitimate pro wrestler while preparing to play Mace in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and not only learned to crack a bullwhip as Pedro in Man of La Mancha at A Noise Within, but to then continue studying and training with bullwhips until he learned to make his own custom whips by hand and perform tricky combinations of cracks clocking over 100 cracks per minute).
He's trained with Lesly Kahn, Daniel Henning, Sam Christensen, The Second City Hollywood, the Society of American Fight Directors, Los Angeles Fight Academy, and is a decorated graduate, Summa Cum Laude with Honors, from Seattle University's Drama program with a minor in Creative Writing, which he's used professionally as a playwright (Playground LA), sketch comedy writer and performer (Mornings and Mondays) and former adult fiction ghost writer (really).
His greatest points of pride, however, come from his advocacy work with the disabled community and with the Movember Foundation. Perez's younger brother was born with significant intellectual and physical disabilities, and growing up in that environment forged Perez to become the advocate he still is. He was recognized by Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamonte, once named the Sacramento Kings' "Player of the Game," and still spends a month each year raising awareness for the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign.
With Movember, Perez has raised nearly $20,000 over the last eight years since his father (who has now fully recovered) was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. If you saw any Movember advertisements in 2016, you saw Perez and his father featured on billboards, magazine ads, and online.
Perez is a director and producer having submitted films in both the 2017 24-Hour Film Race and the 48 Hour Film Project, Los Angeles. You can find his sketch comedy channel on YouTube (Mornings and Mondays). You can get in touch on Twitter (andrewjperez), Facebook (andrewjperez), or on Instagram where he posts an unending stream of whip videos and pictures (andrewjosephperez).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Nick Lopez was born in New York City, New York, USA. He is known for Relationship Goals (2016), Millennial Finances (2014) and Panopticon (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Javier López was born on 17 February 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for A Christmas Carol (1999), Chabelo y Pepito detectives (1974) and La princesa hippie (1969). He was married to Teresita Miranda and Angelita Castagni. He died on 25 March 2023 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Additional Crew
- Manager
- Actor
Mark Christian Subias was born on 30 November 1969 in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. He is a manager and actor, known for End of Days (1999), At First Sight (1999) and Story of a Bad Boy (1999).- Actor
- Writer
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Dan Gilvezan was born in south St. Louis, just a stone's throw (although you really shouldn't throw stones, it's not nice) away from the legendary Anheuser-Busch brewery. The oldest of three children, Gilvezan's penchant for performing became apparent at an early age when he began charging the neighborhood kids a nickel apiece to attend impromptu talent shows in his parent's garage.
Following this auspicious beginning, he performed in many elementary school plays in roles as diverse as Little Boy Blue, Jack Horner and Wee Willie Winkie. "He was really something," one of his teachers once observed, "He not only had his own lines memorized, but everyone else's as well. What a pain in the ass!" By the eighth grade Dan had built an impressive resume, but it was his turn as Harold Hill in a high school production of "The Music Man" that the acting bug truly took hold.
Upon graduating from Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri with a BA in drama, Gilvezan joined the cast of the National Players touring company bringing the classics to grade schools, universities and civic auditoriums nationwide. After completing the tour he further honed his skills performing in regional theater, summer stock, dinner theater and children's theater all along the Atlantic seaboard.
Hoping the world of West Coast show business would welcome him with open arms, Gilvezan moved to Los Angeles and found that finding fame and fortune in Hollywood wasn't going to be as easy as he had imagined. "It was when I saw all these character actors I had watched on TV as a kid, who I had always imagined as living in big mansions in Beverly Hills, standing in line at the unemployment office that the realities of this business truly hit me."
After a time working odd jobs just to keep food on the table, lightening finally struck when he won the role of Spider-Man in the NBC Saturday morning series "Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends." Roles in other animated shows of the 1980s soon followed. He was cast as Bumblebee in the original Transformers television series, jet pilot Slipstream in "GI Joe," Cooler in Hanna Barbera's "Pound Puppies" along with a host of other notable cartoon characters during the 8os and early 90s.
His television appearances are too numerous to mention, but include recurring roles on "Diagnosis Murder," "She-Wolf of London" and the FX series "Baskets."
Expanding into the world of the written word, Dan is the author of "Bumblebee & Me: Life as a G1 Transformer," a memoir of his time working on the seminal series, and the novels, "Drowned in the Grenadine" and "Soul."- Actress
- Script and Continuity Department
Roseanna Christiansen was born on 11 March 1951 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Dallas (1978), CBS Summer Playhouse (1987) and The Perfect Match (1987). She was married to Steven Joseph Rizzo. She died on 14 July 2022 in Antelope Valley Medical Center, Lancaster, California, USA.- Actress
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Chrishell Stause was born on 21 July 1981 in Draffenville, Kentucky, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Selling Sunset (2019), A Rose for Her Grave: The Randy Roth Story (2023) and Dancing with the Stars (2005). She has been married to G Flip since May 2023. She was previously married to Justin Hartley.- Actor
- Director
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He is most often recognized for his integral role in the series "Lost" as Richard Alpert, as well as his turn as Mayor Anthony Garcia opposite Gary Oldman in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight". He reprised his role as the Mayor in the box-office hit "The Dark Knight Rises".
Nestor can be seen starring in Universal's "Bates Motel" (2013-2017) as Sheriff Alex Romero, lover to Vera Farmiga's Norma Bates and nemesis to her son Norman. In the final season Nestor directed his third episode, which introduces Rihanna playing the role of Marion Crane from "Psycho". On the feature side, he will next be seen in the (2017) Sundance world premier of "Crown Heights". He most recently starred with Daniel Radcliffe and Toni Collette in Lion's Gates' release, "Imperium" (2016).
He has demonstrated his versatility through a variety of film roles including his turn as the emotionally tortured hitman Pasquale Acosta in Joe Carnahan's "Smokin' Aces", the socially conscious theater director Moises Kaufman in "The Laramie Project", the idealistic revolutionary Luis Fellove in Andy Garcia's "The Lost City", the pragmatic and ruthless Mayor Picazo in "For Greater Glory", and the womanizing and morally conflicted father in the title role of the Sundance indies, "Jack the Dog" and "Manhood".
Nestor was born in New York City and raised in numerous locales including, Mexico, Venezuela, Florida, Connecticut, the Bahamas and London. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English. It was during his time in college that a first-year drama course led to his interest in performing. Upon graduating he moved to New York and starred in the Off Broadway world premier of the two-hander, "A Silent Thunder". He continued to work in theater, most notably in Stephen Sondheim's premier of "The Doctor is Out" at The Old Globe in San Diego.
Nestor currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Shannon Kenny, and their two sons Rafa and Marco.- Actor
- Producer
Michael has recently finished filming Obliterated for Netflix and was recently a part of Paramount + series The Offer directed by Dexter Fletcher and prior to this wrapped a role in the feature Arthur the King opposite Mark Wahlberg.
He was most recently on our screens as series regular Greg Turner in the award-winning drama series Cruel Summer from creator Bert V. Royal (Easy A).
Other recent screen credits include roles in Netflix's Traitors opposite Michael Stuhlbarg, Amazon's You are Wanted opposite Matthias Schweighofer, the lead role in the SKY action-adventure series Hooten and the Lady, features Angel Has Fallen with Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler, and Luxor opposite Andrea Riseborough.
On stage, Michael's recent work includes All The President's Men?, directed by Nicholas Kent, at The National Theatre. He played the lead role in David Mamet's House Of Games at the Almeida Theatre as well as Harry in the west end production of When Harry Met Sally, opposite Molly Ringwald.
Other notable roles include BBC drama Upstairs Downstairs, Silent Witness, and the BBC comedy Love Soup opposite Tamsin Grieg. As a producer, he co-created and starred in the Fox pilot Played opposite Vanessa Kirby.
Michael was born in the Bronx, New York.- Actress
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- Producer
Pamela Sue Martin attended public schools in Westport, Connecticut and graduated from Staples High School in February 1971. Before she graduated, Pamela was working in a hamburger stand for $1.45 per hour when a friend told her that she was earning $60 per hour modeling in New York. Liking the wages and being of an ambitious nature, Pamela Sue decided to emulate her friend and soon was earning a good living as a teenage model for print ads and television commercials. Although she was completely innocent of dramatic training, experience or even ambitions, when Pamela Sue heard that Columbia Pictures was auditioning girls for a film called To Find a Man (1972), she decided to try. It took the producers three months to make up their minds, but in the end Pamela Sue had the female starring role. Pamela returned to Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut to finish high school. On the basis of her performance in To Find a Man (1972), producer Irwin Allen cast her to co-star with five Academy Award winners in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Then came a starring role in the ABC Movie of the Week The Girls of Huntington House (1973) and a co-starring role with Jan-Michael Vincent in Buster and Billie (1974). She is particularly proud of her portrayal in the production, The Hemingway Play (1976). She has played the character Celia Grey in the television movie, Strong Medicine (1986) and has hosted "Saturday Night Live." Pamela enjoys athletic pursuits, especially scuba diving, tennis and skiing.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Director
Tricia Garcia is known for The Simpsons Movie (2007), Hamster & Gretel (2022) and King of the Hill (1997).- Tina Arning is an American actress best known as "Lola" on Tacoma FD, "Tanya" on Modern Family, and "Angelina" on Everybody Loves Raymond. An award-winning theater actress (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof "Maggie the Cat"), Ms. Arning wrote and produced the short film (in development to become a web series) "40-Something...and Single". A native of Greenwich CT, Ms. Arning earned her bachelor's degree from Boston University, and is a member of MENSA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Temperamental, volatile Spanish-born pianist and conductor whose life and career were varied and often controversial. Born in Valencia, he was a child prodigy, giving piano recitals by the age of seven and supplementing the family income by playing for up to 14 hours daily at a silent cinema theatre. He was an honours graduate from the Conservatoire de Musique in Paris, and, by the age of 24, occupied Franz Liszt's former post as leader of the piano department of the Geneva Conservatory. In 1928, he made his London debut as a concert pianist and the following year played Beethoven's G Major Concerto to great critical and audience acclaim under Leopold Stokowski's direction in Philadelphia. Not content with his triumphs, he branched out into conducting from 1933, eventually fronting the Rochester Philharmonic and conducting his first opera in 1959. Iturbi enjoyed an almost pop star-like status (even converting 1950's bobby-soxers to classical music) and became the only classical artist of his day to win two gold records. In 1946, RCA-Victor paid Iturbi the record sum of $118,029 for six months royalties, primarily for his recording of Chopin's Polonaise in A-Flat (the record went on to sell 2 million copies by 1974).
Iturbi's private life was as hectic as his work schedule. He had married in 1916, but his wife died tragically just 12 years later. From the 1930's, he frequently dated movie stars even before his own involvement with Hollywood. He was a man of contradictions. The story goes, that a producer handed him a cheque for $35,000 in 1933 to appear in his picture, but Iturbi tore it up, declaring, that kissing girls on screen was just so much 'foolishness'.
A speed freak, Iturbi used to ride his motor bike and assorted sports cars with reckless abandon. When they weren't fast enough, he would get aboard his own aircraft, 'El Turia'. By 1946 he had logged 1500 flying hours, frequently travelling across entire continents between recitals. He had several close shaves which earned him the sobriquet 'the flying fool'. Iturbi's fiery temper manifested itself when he walked off the stage during a performance in Cleveland, because audience members were too audible in their consumption of hot dogs and soda pop. Earlier, while conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, he had thrown a chair across the stage in disgust at the disturbance caused by the late arrival of the mayor and his entourage. This earned him yet another nickname, 'Turbulent Iturbi'. There were many other such incidents. He refused to appear with Benny Goodman on the same radio show, ostensibly because he disagreed with the idea of mixing jazz and classical music. Later, he also brashly refused to perform with Rosemary Clooney on television.
Ironically, Iturbi's screen career was spent playing not only classical but also popular music, from boogie-woogie to honky tonk. After being persuaded by producer Boris Pasternak to appear in musicals for MGM, Iturbi's adaptation to the new medium was effortless. Of course, in all of his screen roles he simply played himself. Films like Anchors Aweigh (1945) (in which he conducted a 100-piece band for the opening march) and Three Daring Daughters (1948), did, however, allow him a fair measure of self-expression. His sister Amparo Iturbi (1899-1969), who in earlier years had frequently accompanied him in duo piano recitals, appeared in three of his pictures, including That Midnight Kiss (1949).
From the 1950's until just prior to his death in 1980, Iturbi continued to draw large audiences worldwide. He regularly went on tour (his last from 1976 to 1977), travelling up to 50,000 miles a year between continents. He conducted orchestras from Calgary to Albuquerque and recorded through his own company, Turia Records. In 1975, he gave a famous tour-de-force performance as both conductor and solo pianist at the Lincoln Centre in New York.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Despite remaining on the periphery of character stardom for a number of years, New York-born character actress Shelley Morrison, who enjoyed a long and varied career on film, TV and the stage for decades, finally became a household favorite as the argumentative, razor-tongued maid Rosario Salazar on the enduring hit NBC comedy Will & Grace (1998), which she played from 1999 to 2006.
Spanish-speaking Rachel Mitrani was born in the Bronx on October 26, 1936, the daughter of a Spanish-Jewish clothing manufacturer. She moved with her parents to Southern California when she was 10 years old. Following high school graduation, she studied acting at Los Angeles City College and began her career on the stage. Among her early theatre credits was an appearance in a national road production of "Orpheus Descending" and, as one of L.A.'s pioneering female producers, she mounted the West Coast premiere of "Sweet Bird of Youth." Despite her busy schedule on film and TV, Shelley would remain firmly entrenched in the theater as a performer, producer and director both here and abroad. Morrison was eventually honored with the "Eternity Award" for lifetime achievement at the Twelfth Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival.
Changing her stage name to "Shelley Morrison" in the late 1950's to avoid ethnic typecasting, Shelley broke into TV in 1961, finding bits on such prime-time shows as "Adventures in Paradise," "Outer Limits," "Dr. Kildare," "The Farmer's Daughter," "The Fugitive," "Gunsmoke," "Laredo," and "My Favorite Martian". Finding herself usually cast as a Hispanic or Native American, Shelley's most visible character during this period, and the one people remember with great fondness, was as the adorably shy but spirited Puerto Rican-born Sister Sixto, who had problems mastering English, in the gentle comedy series The Flying Nun (1967) which starred Sally Field as fellow novice Sister Bertrille and Madeleine Sherwood as their Mother Superior.
Handed a Columbia Pictures contract, Shelley found minor parts in such film features as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Castle of Evil (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), Funny Girl (1968), How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968), Three Guns for Texas (1968) and Mackenna's Gold (1969). Into the 1970's she found herself on such popular programs as "The Bold Ones," "The Partridge Family," "Marcus Welby," "The Rookies," "Soap," "Murder, She Wrote," "Sisters," "Columbo," "L.A. Law" and "Home Improvement," while showing up in such films as the romantic dramedy Blume in Love (1973); the Clint Eastwood directed drama Breezy (1973); the comedy spoof Rabbit Test (1978); the Neil Simon comedy drama Max Dugan Returns (1983); and as Rosa the maid in the adventure comedy Troop Beverly Hills (1989) starring Shelley Long.
It was another standout maid portrayal, however, that became Shelley's favorite. In 1999, she joined the cast of the comedy hit Will & Grace (1998) as the peppery Salvadoran housekeeper who shared a caustic love/hate relationship with wealthy boss, Karen Walker, played by Megan Mullally. What was suppose to be a one-episode spot proved so hilarious as the two butted heads and traded wicked barbs, that the Rosario character became a strong, recurring presence during the entire first run of the show.
In later years, Shelley became a two-time breast and lung cancer survivor. Following a fairly steady vocal role as Mrs. Portillo in the animated Spanish-oriented children's series Handy Manny (2006), the actress decided to retire. Asked to return to the "Will & Grace" show when it was resurrected in 2017, she politely declined. After Shelley's death in 2019 from heart failure following a brief illness, the death of "Rosie" was played out and mourned on an episode of the TV show.
Shelley was survived by her writer/assistant director husband Walter Dominguez and their six sons and daughters -- all adopted through a traditional Native American ceremony. Long ago the couple embraced the spiritual Native American traditions of the Lakota Sioux and lived for decades in the same L.A. apartment building that her parents owned when she was a child.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Javier Godino was born in Spain, he has worked in both Spanish and international film and TV productions (from Argentina, Mexico, UK, US, Colombia, Belgium, France...), musicals and theatre plays.
In 2009, he played an important role in Juan José Campanella's film The Secret in Their Eyes (winner of the Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language): the sinister Isidoro Gomez. He played an Argentinian for the first time and shared the lead with Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil. He also starred in Sound of freedom, Advantages of travelling by train, Everybody has a plan, Into the night...
On stage, he was one of the protagonists in Mecano's Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar, 2005. It went on to become Spain's longest running and highest selling musical. Godino's portrayal of the character of Colate received rave reviews.
He has worked with filmmakers like Viggo Mortensen, Ricardo Darín, J. J. Campanella, Hugh Jackman, Ewan Mc Gregor, Jim Caviezel, John Madden, Julian Sands, José Sacristán, Inma Cuesta, Asier Etxeandía, Bill Camp, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Elvira Mínguez, Miguel Ángel Solá, Carla Quevedo, among others.
He has starred in multiple Theatre and Musical plays, for whom he recorded several songs as a lead singer, he also created the band The Wyest. He likes to spend time writing music, screenplays and wants to become a movie director.- Actor
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Sam Marin is an American actor and animator. He voices Benson, Pops, and Muscle Man on Regular Show. Marin and J.G. Quintel became friends when they were in the same class at CalArts. He would help Quintel on his student films, which include The Naive Man from Lolliland and 2 in the AM PM, in which Marin voiced characters, which led to the start of his voice acting career. Marin later graduated from CalArts and got a job at the Walt Disney Animation Studios as an animator, where he worked for three years before Regular Show was greenlit, Marin then left Disney to work for Cartoon Network.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tony Pastor was born on 26 October 1907 in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017), Let's Rock (1958) and Two Blondes and a Redhead (1947). He died on 31 October 1969 in Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Desiree Casado was born on 18 August 1985 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Joe's Apartment (1996), Sesame Street: Friends to the Rescue (2005) and Bed of Roses (1996).- Corinne Camacho was a veteran American television actress and singer-songwriter. After an impressive career in television, spanning nearly four decades, Camacho dedicated the majority of her adult life to being a mother, a life coach, opening hospice centers and writing children's music.
Camacho was born Gloria Angelina Katharina Alletto in New Jersey on October 31, 1941. She studied piano as a child at the Conservatory of Music and Arts, and also in high school. After her family moved to Los Angeles, Camacho started her career as a model in the 1960s, before turning to acting and making her TV debut in 1967. The dark-haired, exotic-looking beauty went on to appear on such television shows as Medical Center (1969), Days of Our Lives (1965), Consenting Adult (1985), Cannon (1971), among others. She had recurring roles on The Rockford Files (1974) and Mannix (1967).
She was married to Drew Michaels and Richard Camacho, and was sometimes credited as Corinne Michaels. She later moved to New Mexico to run a hospice center in the 1990s and became a life coach in Oregon in 2001.
Also a singer, she composed children's music. She released the album "Love Notes & Lullabies" in 2006. She died of cancer at age 68 on September 15, 2010 in Beaverton, Oregon. She is survived by her son, Chris Camacho, her daughter, Gabrielle Yasenchak, and two grandchildren. Camacho's niece is singer and songwriter Zoey Tess. - Actress
- Additional Crew
- Music Department
Blanca Camacho was born in New York City, New York, USA. Blanca is an actor, known for Chicago Fire (2012), Ice Age (2002) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Tom Segura was born on 16 April 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Countdown (2019), Instant Family (2018) and Cutman (2009). He is married to Christina Pazsitzky.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Costume Designer
Lorena Segura York was born in 1980 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA. She is an actress and costume designer, known for Catching Faith (2015), Home Sweet Home (2012) and Bob Steel (2004).- Jack Marin was born on 12 October 1944 in Sharon, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor, known for Mod Squad (1968), 30 for 30 (2009) and 1972 NBA All-Star Game (1972).
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David Kevin Montoya is an Writer, director, producer, author, comic book writer, podcaster, artist and, business entrepreneur. Although he started creating his own comics in the 1990s, he did not really make a name for himself until the launch of his online magazine, The World of Myth. It was during that time that he founded Dark Myth Production Studios, and begin to publish work outside of his magazine. But, it was the monthly serial that feature a dystopian apocalyptic age ruled by a great plague and zombie-like creatures, titled, The End that put him on the map. In that time, and not counting his work in comic books or screenwriting, Montoya wrote about fifty short stories from 2004 to 2012-with genres spreading in multiple areas such as Action-Suspense, horror and, even, Comedy. At the end of 2012, he opened a micro-publishing house solely for his work named after his two children (at the time, a third would come in 2015) Jayden and Zoie-JayZoMon Productions was born. It was under that brand, Montoya released his own anthology of short stories (in the same tune of his mentor's Terry D. Scheerer's book Dreams of Darkness, Dreams of Night) called, It's a Dark Ride. Also, in October of that year Montoya formed the JayZoModcast Podcast Network, where he co-hosted several shows on his own Podcast Network, with his most popular, with sister Rebecca C. Lofgren-Ilich and her husband, Eron Ilich formed the podcast called, Seeing R.E.D, which still receives downloads of past episode even to this day. In 2014, Montoya was drawn into film after a podcast turned into a script titled, The Mongers! It was a bumpy ride with deals broken and conflicting schedules, but in the end, He was about to finish the trailer on his own. He has worked as a producer on several Indy flicks and recently Co-Directed and Co-Produced a short documentary about the making of The Monger's trailer. 2015, was a bittersweet year for him, with the birth of his third child, Lily, but only a month later he would lose the love of his life, Lacie Montoya, from complications of her cesarean done thirty days prior. He tried to shake it off and jump back to podcasting that November, but things were not the same and after episode #115, decided to stop recording new podcasts altogether. It was during that time off, that he became a fan of fitness and became involved in working out daily, ultimately losing over 125 lbs and rebuilding not only his body, but his mind with new literature. It would be that following Summer, that Montoya would believe that he was ready to return, on July 4, 2016, JayZoModcast 2.0 went live! Again, it was completely different than the days of the original version, with new shows and new people-Montoya wanted to take what he knew from the world of publishing and build up, new podcasts. But, it only lasted a month, the team wasn't really interested in a return and was doing the shows as a favor (which came through on-air), and Montoya decided to close everything for good, so he thought. Montoya learned at the end of 2016 that the rights for Dark Myth was available for sale, under his JayZoMon banner, he worked out a deal and once again obtained the rights to the company he founded. The transition would take almost an entire year, but on Christmas Eve of 2017, a brand new issue of The World of Myth Magazine came out, with a strong response! Now, Montoya is once again writing on a monthly basis and there are several print, movie and toy projects in the works!- Actor
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- Producer
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Damian (who's of Mexican, Italian, Irish and Native American descent) grew up as the second eldest of 5 children; 2 brothers and 2 sisters. His father,Rico Chapa, owned a bar across the street, in Columbus, OH, from a go-go bar, owned by someone he knew; Larry Flynt, who'd soon go on to publish Hustler Magazine.
As a teen, Damian sold aluminum siding, and ran a go-go joint when he wast 17, for his Uncle Johnny. Johnny was shot several times, and was considered a "gangster". Chapa's other uncle, Enrique was a 'hired hit man' in Texas.
In his early 20's, Chapa developed a serious alcohol and substance abuse problem due to his difficult childhood. One day, he decided; 'enough was enough', and built up the courage and strength to seek help through meetings. Chapa denied to take the artistic path instead of the troubled path in front of him. Chapa has since been successfully sober for over 25 years.
Damian served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years, traveling the world on 3 different ships Including the U.S.S. Henry B. Wilson Guided missile destroyer.
After serving in the military, Damian decided to follow in the footsteps of his favorite actor, Montgomery Cliff, and began a career in acting.
Chapa who left for New York at a very early age to Brooklyn decided to stay in the Big Apple to follow his dream of acting: He had his first. acting job in New York as a stand-in for Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" music video. This was his first step, and soon shot 2 films. His first starring role was In Blood In, Blood Out (1993), as Miklo Velka (for which he achieved worldwide notice and legions of fans, particularly within the Latino community, As well as having gone on to become the highest-grossing Latin film in history), followed by Undersiege with Tommy Lee Jones and Steven Seagull (1992). Chapa Followed up starring along side Chris Tucker in Money talks and then Playing the lead as Lyle Menendez in Menendez A killing in Beverly Hills with Beverly D'Angelo and Edward James Olmos.
Damian attended the 18th Street Theater in New York for many years, and was coached by master director Robert Easton at one time. Robert Easton said that (at the time) Chapa was one of the best young actors of our time.
Damian has also worked behind the camera. Damian opened a production company, and named it in honor of his eldest brother, Rico ('Rico Films'), who tragically had died of cancer at the age of 30, He later changed the name to New York International Pictures.
In 1995, both Damian Chapa and Leonardo DiCaprio were in the running to do competing James Dean biopics. The James Dean Foundation, who held rights for the project, endorsed Chapa over DiCaprio.
Unfortunately, the project came to a screeching halt, when all its producers were murdered at a street light in Culver City, California, as outlined in the book Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Rod Lurie
In 2011, whilst filming a scene for his film, Brando Unauthorized, Damian was involved in a motorcycle accident, which nearly killed him. He suffered several injuries,including a broken hand and facial bruising. As a result, the production was temporarily delayed, however, after 8 hours he got back on his feet and resumed filming. A clip of the accident can be seen in the film, during the acid trip scene.
Damian subsequently won Best Director and Best Feature awards at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival for his film Brando Unauthorized (2011).
Damian had 4 children. His eldest son - Ricco Chapa - is also an actor, and he gave another son - Luke Chapa - the middle name "Scorsese" after his favorite film director, Martin Scorsese. Damian's youngest son Gabriel Chapa is also starting a very young acting career.
Amongst the actors Damian's,directed are Stacy Keach and Rachel Hunter in 4 films, Robert Wagner and Joe Estevez in 3 films, and Faye Dunaway, David Carradine, Brad Dourif and Gary Busey in 2 films. Robert Davi and Danny Trejo more recent.
Last year Damian's starred in a film he directed; Streets of East LA. The film features, Angus Macfadyen, and Damian Chapa.
Damian's manager is Chuck Binder whose long-time clients have included Sharon Stone and the late David Carradine. Chapa is also represented in Europe by Beatriz Oliete who landed Chapa a role in the New Woody Allen film.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Matt Apodaca has been studying at the UCB Theater since 2012 and is on Harold Night with his team DiCaprio. Prior to Harold Night he was on Mess Hall with the team Cool Jerk. Previously, he has co-hosted The Exorcism of UCB Sunset also hosted his own music themed talk show called I Love Talk and Roll. He has also hosted Inside the Improvisors Studio with his indie team and improv family Garbage. He has appeared in several Pitiful Creatures sketches by Adam McCabe, his own webseries BuzzKill, and most recently a short for Cracked.com called "What Parties Are Like For Socially Awkward People". Matt would like to remind his family that he has a bachelor's degree in English Creative Writing with a minor in Communications from Cal State Long Beach.- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Producer
Kimberly Tomes is known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Death of a Dynasty (2003) and Dog the Bounty Hunter (2003).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Ruthy Otero is known for Call of the Clown Horn (2022), Fratitude (2013) and Berda Mae & Ballulah (2021).- Henry R. Muñoz III (born December 1959) is a nationally respected voice on behalf of the Latino community, an award-winning designer, and a leader at the highest levels of American politics, art, public affairs, and philanthropy.
He has launched multiple national movements including Momento Latino, TheDream.US, and Latino Victory to support the Latinx community through awareness, college funding, and electoral support. He is the co-founder of SOMOS US, a community-centric health care network in NYC that has been at the forefront of battling the COVID-19 pandemic treating largely minorities and under-served communities.
As of May 2021 he is the Owner & Chairman of Funny or Die.
He is the former Chairman of the Board & CEO of Muñoz & Company, one of the largest and oldest minority-owned design practices in the country. Under his leadership, Muñoz & Company pioneered an approach to architecture, urban planning, and design that acknowledges the imprint of the Latino community upon the built environment of the United States. He helped found the effort to create a Latino Museum on the Mall in Washington D.C., as chairman of the Commission to study the Creation of the National Museum of the American Latino.
He has served on the boards of multiple philanthropic and activist organizations, include VIA Metropolitan Transit, the National Park Foundation, Loyola University New Orleans, and the Henry Ford Learning Institute. - Writer
- Art Department
- Actor
Surrealist-turned-catholic painter Dalí worked on various movies as well. While a member of the French surrealist group, he co-wrote Un chien andalou (1929) and L'Age d'Or (1930) with Luis Buñuel. The latter may have marked the beginning of a long-lasting quarrel with the surrealists when Dalí did not agree on Buñuel's anti-clericalism. While Dalí's painting style became increasingly conventional, he worked on projects with Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock, for whom he wrote the dream sequence of Spellbound (1945). Plans on a movie with the Marx Brothers were dropped. The money Dalí earned in Hollywood and elsewhere, along with his racism and his fascination for Europe's fascist dictators, put an end to his relations with the (at that time mostly trotskyist) surrealists, whose leading figure André Breton since nicknamed Dalí "Avida Dollars" (anagram).- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Director