| Name | QVC |
|---|---|
| Logofile | QVC.svg |
| Logosize | 200px |
| Logoalt | QVC Logo |
| Launch | 1986 |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV)1080i (HDTV) |
| Network | QVC |
| Owner | Liberty Media |
| Founder | Joseph Segel |
| Slogan | Quality, Value, Convenience |
| Country | USA |
| Broadcast area | Worldwide |
| Headquarters | West Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Web | http://www.qvc.com |
| Sat serv 1 | DirecTV |
| Sat chan 1 | Channel 275 |
| Sat serv 2 | Dish Network |
| Sat chan 2 | Channel 137 |
| Cable serv 1 | Available on many cable systems |
| Cable chan 1 | Check local listings for channels |
| Adsl serv 1 | Sky Angel |
| Adsl chan 1 | Channel 333 |
| Online serv 1 | QVC |
| Online chan 1 | Watch live (US only) |
QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – from September 30 – QVC Italy to 160 million consumers. The name is an initialism—standing for Quality, Value, Convenience.
Initially broadcast live from 7:30 PM ET until midnight each weekday and all day Saturdays and Sundays, the channel extended its live programming to 24 hours in January 1987. QVC acquired its top competitor, the Cable Value Network (CVN), in 1989. The $380 million deal contributed to a loss of $17 million during the next fiscal quarter, and then to difficulties in the couple of years that followed.
On February 2, 1995, Comcast purchased a majority shareholding in QVC, Inc., taking control of the corporation. QVC kicked off the "Quest for America's Best: 50 in 50 Tour," a 50-week nationwide product search. QVC.com was founded in 1996.
In July 2003, Comcast sold its majority share to Liberty Media.
In May 2009, QVC became the first multimedia retailer to offer a native high-definition service.
On September 23, 2007, QVC U.S. rebranded itself, changing its logo on-air and online. The rebranding was accompanied by an advertising campaign with the tagline "iQdoU?" ("I shop QVC, do you?") that had preceded the rebrand with billboards in major U.S. cities.The iQdoU? campaign also included a "teaser" website found at iQdoU.com.
On September 30, 2010, at 11pm, QVC is due to start broadcasting in Italy, both on satellite and digital terrestrial television.
QVC U.S. also operates a series of retail stores across the country, including one at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Its outlet stores are located in Lancaster, Pa.; Frazer, Pennsylvania; Prices Corner, Del.; Rehoboth Beach, Del.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C. (opening in April 2010).
QVC is broadcasts live in the United States 24/7, apart from the Christmas show which is pre recorded to more than 98 million households, and ranks as the number two television network in terms of revenue (#1 in home shopping networks), with sales in 2009 giving a net revenue of $7.4 billion.
QVC UK broadcasts live 17 hours a day (although the channel runs 24 hours a day), 364 days a year. In 2009, QVC UK shipped more than 13.5 million units and handled more than 14,500 phone calls.
QVC Germany broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 363.5 days a year (off-air Christmas Eve (no program after noon) and Christmas Day), with 33.8 million households reached. QVC has a second channel in Germany: QVC Plus.
QVC Japan broadcasts live 24 hours a day (as of June 2004—previously running for 15 hours—making it the first broadcaster in Japan to run a 24-hour live service), to 7.5 million homes.
Also in March 2004, the integrity of the company was brought into question when the Federal Trade Commission charged QVC with making "deceptive claims" about weight loss products and the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the company.
Embedded below is a list of QVC's current hosts in the United States, along with their signature shows:
http://www.multichannel.com/article/263755-QVC_HD_Now_100_High_Def.php
Category:Shopping networks Category:American television networks Category:Companies based in Pennsylvania Category:Television channels and stations established in 1986 Category:English-language television stations in the United States Category:Clothing retailers of the United States Category:Retail companies of the United States
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| Name | Mike Rowe |
|---|---|
| Birth date | March 18, 1962 |
| Birth place | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation | Television hostNarrator |
| Website | http://www.mikeroweWORKS.com}} |
Michael Gregory "Mike" Rowe () (born March 18, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American media personality best known as the host of the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs. He can also be heard as narrator on a variety of series and has appeared in recurring commercials for Ford Motor Company.
Rowe sang professionally with the Baltimore Opera. He says about this job:
I joined the opera to get my union card and meet girls. I was a saloon singer, so I went down to the Baltimore Opera and learned an aria and auditioned. I figured I'd do one show and quit. But the girls were everywhere and the truth is, the music was really decent.
Rowe claims that QVC fired him three times.
Rowe has hosted Your New Home for WJZ in Baltimore, Worst Case Scenarios for TBS, On-Air TV for American Airlines, The Most for The History Channel, No Relation for FX, New York Expeditions for PBS, Channel 999 instructional guide for the now defunct PrimeStar satellite television service, and the CD-ROM music trivia game Radio Active (as "Bobby Arpeggio") for now-defunct software publisher Sanctuary Woods.
From 2001 to 2005 Rowe hosted Evening Magazine on KPIX-TV in San Francisco. During this time, he appeared in a news segment called "Somebody's Gotta Do It", profiling a number of unpleasant professions; this concept later grew into Dirty Jobs. Rowe's first work with Discovery included a trip to the Valley of the Golden Mummies to host Egypt Week Live!, where he explored ancient tombs live on air with Dr. Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist.
On Dirty Jobs, Rowe frequently mocks his seeming omnipresence on Discovery Channel; when a segment on firefighting and salvage was unable to be completed in a single day, he assured his firefighter host that he would "send over the MythBusters ... maybe the American Chopper boys ... [to finish the job]".
.]]
Rowe was originally tapped to be the on-air host of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, a show about crab fishing in the Bering Sea, and shot footage aboard several crab boats in addition to narrating the series. When Dirty Jobs was picked up by Discovery, he was told to choose which show he wanted to appear in on-screen. Rowe claims he was told by Discovery that the shows would air back-to-back on the same night: "We can't have you telling us stories about six dead fishermen on camera and making a fart joke with your arm in a cow's ass". Rowe chose to host Dirty Jobs role and narrate Deadliest Catch; the footage of him on the boats was not used in the series, although he did appear on a season finale of Deadliest Catch, interviewing the boat captains. Rowe hosted a related show about life on the Bering Sea, a 2007 miniseries, After the Catch.
Other narration work by Rowe includes Mystery Diagnosis, Drydock: A Cruise Ship Reborn, Southern Steel, Powertool Drag Racing, Scavengers Rock (Animal Planet), and the opening of Ghost Hunters, a Syfy series from the producers of American Chopper. Additionally, Rowe has done voiceover work for the reality television show The Ultimate Fighter and the NASCAR pre-race show on ESPN.
On December 21, 2009, Rowe became the announcer on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.
Rowe appeared on an episode of Sesame Street (Season 39) in a segment called "Dirtiest Jobs With Mike Rowe", which aired on October 13, 2008. Rowe visits Sesame Street to find the dirtiest job, which happens to belong to Oscar. Rowe must do all the things Oscar does. His tasks include finding and counting stinky cheese, sorting trash, and giving his pet pig, Spot, a mud bath. To Oscar's chagrin, Rowe does not want to stop, as he is having too much fun.
Rowe was the keynote speaker at the 82nd Annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October 2009.
Rowe is also known for voiceover work. He can be heard on the Staten Island Ferry as he voiced the pre-recorded safety announcements.
Mike Rowe spoke to over 70,000 scouts, leaders, and visitors at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree in Fort AP Hill, Virginia. Rowe, an Eagle Scout, spoke to the crowd about the importance of being physically and mentally clean, but emphasized the need for all scouts to get dirty.
In 1999, Rowe was the radio spokesperson for Al Edwards Oatmeal, a short lived product sold exclusively in the Tidewater region of Virginia.
Beginning in March 2007, he was featured in several Ford Motor Company F-Series truck commercials, presented in a style similar to Dirty Jobs, including one for Ford Sync. In the summer of 2009, he appeared in advertisements for Ford and Lincoln-Mercury vehicles that used the tagline: "Why Ford. Why Now."
In 2008, Rowe became the spokesperson for W. W. Grainger, a Chicago-based Fortune 500 industrial supply company.
In 2010, Rowe appeared in television spots for Motorola iDEN combined radios/mobile phones, explaining that the phones were used "by real people, for real work" as they were used for Dirty Jobs-type applications.
In 2010, Rowe became the official spokesperson for Lee Premium Select Jeans.
On July 26, 2010, Rowe became the spokesperson for Caterpillar. Rowe will work with dealers and customers "to get a real world perspective on their jobs". These interactions will be featured at Cat dealers as well as on the Caterpillar website.
Mike Rowe has contributed video content to The Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute's trade-worker recruiting campaign GoBuildAlabama.com, culminating in an Iron Bowl-themed commercial broadcast on local CBS affiliates during Thanksgiving weekend 2010.
Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Ford Motor Company Category:American television personalities Category:American voice actors Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:Towson University alumni Category:Eagle Scouts Category:San Francisco, California television personalities
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| Background | solo_singer |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Paula Julie Abdul |
| Born | June 19, 1962 |
| Origin | San Fernando, California, United States |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, choreographer, dancer, television personality, actress |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Genre | Pop, R&B; |
| Label | Virgin (1987–1996) Mercury (1997) Concord (2008) Filament (2009–present) |
| Url |
In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B; hits in the late-1980s and early-1990s. Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her for fifth among the female solo performers who have reached #1 there. She won a Grammy for "Best Music Video - Short Form" for "Opposites Attract" and twice won the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography".
After her initial period of success, she suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life, until she found renewed fame and success in the 2000s as a judge on the television series, American Idol, for eight years, before departing from the show. Abdul has since moved on to another television series, CBS's Live to Dance, and she is working on a new album.
An avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a show business career by Gene Kelly in the classic film Singin' in the Rain as well as Debbie Allen, Fred Astaire, and Bob Fosse.
Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet, Jazz, and Tap. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student. At 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School.
Abdul studied broadcasting at the California State University at Northridge. During her freshman year, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls. Within three months, she became head choreographer. Six months later, she left the university to focus on her choreography and dancing career.
Abdul promoted the album through the "Under My Spell Tour", which was named by an MTV contest for fans. This tour was nearly cancelled due to an accident during rehearsals. The tour began on schedule and ran from October 1991 to the summer of 1992. In 1991, Abdul embraced advertising and starred in a popular Diet Coke commercial in which she danced with a digital image of her idol, a young Gene Kelly.
The second single was called, "Crazy Cool" and peaked at #13 on the dance charts. "Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up" served as the third single from the album. To date Head Over Heels has sold 3 million copies worldwide.
Overcoming her personal problems, Abdul took a break from the music industry. She served as the choreographer for several film and theater productions, including the 1998 musical Reefer Madness and the cheerleading scenes in the 1999 film American Beauty (she had previously also choreographed the 1991 film The Doors). Abdul also co-produced a 2001 pilot episode of Skirts, a dramatic series that would have aired on MTV about a high-school cheerleading squad; Abdul was also set to appear as the head coach. The pilot never aired.
In 2000, Abdul’s CD was released by Virgin Records (with whom Abdul was already no longer affiliated). It featured all of her hit singles and other noteworthy tracks. The song "Bend Time Back 'Round" had previously been heard only on the 1992 soundtrack for the hit television series Beverly Hills, 90210.
Abdul accepted a second assignment as reporter for Entertainment Tonight.
On March 28, 2006 Fox announced that Abdul had signed to stay on American Idol as a judge for at least three more years. Later that year, fellow American Idol judge Simon Cowell invited her to be a guest judge at some of the early auditions for the third series of his similar UK talent show The X Factor. Abdul was present at the initial audition of the eventual winner, Leona Lewis.
The week of May 14 to May 18, 2007 (the week before the season 6 finale), Abdul broke her nose when she tried to "avoid tripping over her pet chihuahua". She was present at the May 22 performance and the May 23 finale.
Abdul's American Idol wardrobe often includes a number of necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings that she designs, and she often gives show contestants custom-designed jewelry. In 2007, Paula Abdul Jewelry launched its nationwide consumer debut on QVC, with the tagline "fashion jewelry designed with heart and soul". Paula's first QVC appearance resulted in 15 sellouts of her first jewelry collection involving more than 34,000 pieces. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on July 18, 2009, Paula's manager David Sonenberg told the newspaper that, "Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on ‘Idol’." This came about as a result of stalled negotiations between Paula and the show. On August 4, 2009, after numerous contract negotiations, Abdul confirmed that she would not be returning to Idol for its ninth season. The Times cited reports Abdul had been earning as much as $5 million per season and that she was reportedly seeking as much as $20 million to return.
On August 18, 2009, it was reported that Abdul was negotiating to return to Idol after not taking part in season nine of Dancing with the Stars. Two days later, Abdul's manager said that there were not any talks with Fox, but they were not ruling anything out.
Abdul claimed her departure from Idol was not about money, but that she had to stand on principle.
On September 9, 2009 Ellen DeGeneres was confirmed as Abdul's successor for Idol.
Bravo announced a reality television series following Abdul through her day-to-day life, called Hey Paula. The series was produced by Scott Sternberg Productions and debuted on June 28, 2007. Abdul's behavior as depicted on the show has been described as 'erratic' by comedian Rosie O'Donnell and decried by numerous fans and critics.
In January 2008, Abdul returned to the music charts for the first time in nearly thirteen years with the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow", which is the first track on the album Randy Jackson's Music Club Vol 1. The song debuted on On Air with Ryan Seacrest. The song was a modest comeback hit for Abdul, peaking at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Paula's MTV show "RAH!" premiered in January 2009. The 90-minute special featured five collegiate cheerleading squads, which competed in a series of challenges in order to be crowned the winner by Abdul. A snippet of Abdul's latest single "Boombox", a cover of a Kylie Minogue song, also premiered on the show. On May 5, 2009, Abdul debuted her new song "I'm Just Here for the Music" (originally an unreleased song from Kylie Minogue's ninth album Body Language) on the Ryan Seacrest Radio KIIS-FM show. On May 6, 2009, Abdul performed her new song on the American Idol results show. On May 8, 2009, Abdul released "I'm Just Here For The Music" to the US iTunes Store. The album was supposed to be released in July 2009, however it has remained unreleased for unknown reasons.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it has been confirmed that Abdul will be brought on board for the American version of the U.K.'s hit talent show, X Factor, as a judge alongside Simon Cowell. Cowell will also produce the show. It will air during the Summer and Fall on Fox, when American Idol is not on. On May 26, 2010 she appeared on the finale of American Idol season 9.
Abdul will serve as lead judge, executive producer, creative partner, mentor and coach on CBS' new dancing competition, Live to Dance (formerly Got to Dance) set to debut on January 4, 2011. In 2009, she also appeared on a television series as a guest judge on Drop Dead Diva. She will return to the second season of the series in 2010.
Paula Abdul has launched and co-founded AuditionBooth.com, a site that allows aspiring talents to connect with casting directors, producers, and managers.
According to sources, including the introduction on the new CBS show Live to Dance, Abdul has sold about 60 million records worldwide to date.
In April 2005, Abdul revealed that she suffers from a rare neurological disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (CRPS) that causes chronic pain.
Paula practices Judaism and is proud of her heritage. She once stated, "My father is a Syrian Jew whose family immigrated to Brazil. My mother is Canadian with Jewish roots. My dream is to come to Israel for a real holiday." In November 2006, Israeli Tourist Minister Isaac Herzog invited her to Israel, Abdul responding with a hug, adding, "I will come; you have helped me make a dream come true."
On Valentine's Day 2006, Abdul appeared on Dr. Phil as part of a prime time special on love and relationships. She was set up on two dates and Phil McGraw gave her advice.
Paula is also a dog lover who is currently raising awareness about National Guide Dog Month in May 2009 and she is teaming up with Dick Van Patten to help people with blindness to have more independence through the help of guide dogs.
In mid July 2007, Abdul announced that she had begun dating J.T. Torregiani, a restaurant owner 12 years her junior. She told Access Hollywood: "He is a good guy. Things are looking upwards. It's looking good right now. I wasn't even looking for someone and that's what usually happens." Paula and JT broke up in June 2008, citing their hectic work schedules.
On April 4, 2006, Abdul filed a report at a Hollywood police station claiming she had been a victim of battery at a private party at about 1 a.m. April 2, according to L.A.P.D. spokesman police Lt. Paul Vernon. "According to Abdul, the man at the party argued with her, grabbed her by the arm and threw her against a wall", Vernon said. "She said she had sustained a concussion and spinal injuries".
In a March 2007 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Abdul joked that her scrutinized behavior was caused by her being "abducted by aliens".
In several interviews given in the late 2000s, Paula claimed to have been left in debilitating pain after a 1992 car accident and a 1993 plane crash that required 15 spinal surgeries and which left her dependent on pain medication for years.
In May 2009, Ladies' Home Journal posted an article on its Web site that said Abdul told them she attended the La Costa Resort and Spa the previous year to recover from physical dependence on prescription pain medications. The medications, prescribed due to injuries and her RSD diagnosis, included a pain patch, nerve medication, and a muscle relaxant. According to the article, Abdul said the medications made her "get weird" at times and that she suffered from physical withdrawal symptoms during her recovery.
;Studio Albums
As choreographer {| border="2" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year !! Film !! Notes |- | 1983 || Private School || |- | 1986 || A Smoky Mountain Christmas |- | rowspan="3"|1987 || The Tracey Ullman Show || Won 1989 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography" |- |Can't Buy Me Love || |- |The Running Man |- | rowspan="3"|1988 || Action Jackson || |- |Big || |- |Coming To America |- | rowspan="3"|1989 || She's Out of Control || |- |Dance To Win || |- |The Karate Kid, Part III |- | 1990 || 17th American Music Awards || Won 1990 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography" |- | 1991 || The Doors || Val Kilmer's choreographer |- | 1996 || Jerry Maguire || |- | 1999 || American Beauty || |- | 2001 || Black Knight || |- | 2002 || The Master of Disguise || |- |} "Roses" Music Video Outkast- herself
Category:1962 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:American cheerleaders Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American film actors Category:American Idol participants Category:American Jews Category:American music journalists Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American people of Syrian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Category:Concord Records artists Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Idol series judges Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish singers Category:Musicians from California Category:People from the San Fernando Valley Category:20th-century Sephardi Jews Category:21st-century Sephardi Jews Category:The X Factor judges Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Van Nuys High School alumni Category:Living people Category:The X Factor (UK)
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Although it is not necessarily acknowledged as much as her ties to The Kootenay School of Writing, she was integrally involved in Vancouver's art scene. Robertson is an honorary board member of Artspeak Gallery. She has written on and reviewed exhibitions and pieces by Kelly Wood, Robert Garcet, Liz Magor, Allyson Clay, Kathy Slade, and Hadley+Maxwell, among others. She has also written on architecture and sites in British Columbia, such as New Brighton Park and Value Village. Robertson contributed the "Beneath the Pavilions" column to Mix from 1997-1999.
She co-edited the poetry journal Raddle Moon with Susan Clark in Vancouver, and has worked as an arts journalist, a book seller, a copy editor, an astrologer, a guest lecturer, and an essayist. She has written on the work of Robin Blaser, Denise Riley, Dionne Brand, Peter Culley, Ted Berrigan, John Clare, Lorine Niedecker, Pauline Reage, Michele Bernstein and Albertine Sarrazin.
In 2006, she was a judge of the Griffin Poetry Prize and Holloway poet-in-residence at UC Berkeley. Currently she is writer-in-residence at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
She intentionally alters her writing style for each book-length work, although tends to not to stray too far from the form of the sentence and the issue of civic referentiality. Robertson refers to pronouns and self-referentiality as masques or puppets.
Many poets and writers have influenced Robertson. She has mentioned Djuna Barnes, Mina Loy, the French feminists, Marguerite Duras, Nicole Brossard, Erin Mouré, Gail Scott, Lyn Hejinian, Susan Howe, bpNichol, Steve McCaffery, and Charles Bernstein.
In preparation for its completion, she researched pastoral poetry, meteorological prose, and Anglo-centric subjectivity, guided by authors like Wordsworth, Reverend Blomefield, Luke Howard, Thomas Forster, Aikin, Aratus, John Constable, and William Cobbett.
Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian feminists Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian women writers
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| Caption | Roberts in 2002 |
|---|---|
| Birth date | October 28, 1967 |
| Birth name | Julia Fiona Roberts |
| Birth place | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | Lyle Lovett (m. 1993–1995; divorced) Daniel Moder (m. 2002–present; 3 children) |
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias in 1990 and Pretty Woman in 1991, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Erin Brockovich. Her films My Best Friend's Wedding, Mystic Pizza, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, The Pelican Brief, Ocean's Eleven and Twelve have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts. Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films, formerly Shoelace Productions, whose name is "Moder" (her husband's last name) spelled backwards, as well as a reference to the sacred Om symbol in Hinduism, which Roberts practices. Her brother Eric Roberts, sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and niece Emma Roberts, are also actors.
Roberts was born in Atlanta, Georgia at Crawford Long Hospital (now Emory University Hospital Midtown), the daughter of Betty Lou (née Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts. Her parents were Baptist and Catholic, and she was raised Catholic. Her older brother, Eric Roberts (from whom she was once estranged, but reconciled with in 2004), and sister, Lisa Roberts Gillan, and niece Emma Roberts are also actors. Roberts' parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia, off Juniper Street in Midtown. While her mother was pregnant with Julia, she and her husband ran an acting school for children in Decatur, Georgia. The children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King attended the school. As a thank-you for their service, Mrs. King paid the hospital bill when Roberts' mother gave birth to Julia. She´s of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Swedish descent (Her maternal great-grandmother Eleanor Johnson was from Sweden).
Roberts' mother filed for divorce in 1971, with the divorce being finalized early in 1972. The family moved to Smyrna, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) in 1972, where Roberts attended Fitzhugh Lee Elementary School, Griffin Middle School, and Campbell High School. Her mother re-married to Michael Motes and had another daughter, Nancy Motes, who was born in 1976. Roberts' father died of cancer when she was ten.
In school, Roberts played clarinet in the band. She wanted to be a veterinarian as a child. After graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School, she headed to New York to join her brother and sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and pursue a career in acting. Once there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting classes. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she discovered that a "Julie Roberts" was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Her niece Emma Roberts, whom Julia used to take to movie sets when she was a young girl, has joined her father and aunts in the acting business.
In 1993, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. She also starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. In 1995, she appeared in season 2 of Friends (episode 13 "The One After the Superbowl"). She was offered the role of Lucy Eleanor Moderatz in the 1995 While You Were Sleeping but also turned it down.
In 2001, Roberts received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. While presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year, she made a gaffe, saying she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the Scottish actor. Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004). Later in 2001, she starred in the road gangster comedy The Mexican giving her a chance to work with longtime friend Brad Pitt. In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band.
Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. New York Times' critic Ben Brantly described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Brantley also criticized the production of "Greenberg's slender, elegant play," writing that “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello." Roberts starred with Clive Owen in the comedy-thriller Duplicity for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, she appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, with Bradley Cooper, and starred in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love.
Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts.
In 1998, Roberts began dating Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt, and he was her escort for the March 25, 2001 Academy Awards ceremony at which she won her Oscar. Three months later, in June 2001, Roberts and Bratt announced that they were no longer a couple. "It's come to a kind and tenderhearted end," she said of their relationship.
Roberts met her current husband, cameraman Daniel Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2001. At the time, Moder was married to Vera Steimberg Moder. He filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalized, he and Roberts wed on July 4, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Together, they have three children, twins Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus "Finn" Walter Moder (born November 28, 2004) and Henry Daniel Moder (born June 18, 2007).
}}
Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American film actors Category:American female models Category:American Hindus Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Best Drama Actress Golden Globe Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Category:Converts from Roman Catholicism Category:Converts to Hinduism Category:Georgia State University alumni Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni
Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Cobb County, Georgia Category:People from Taos County, New Mexico
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| Name | Charlie Brooker |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Charlton Brooker |
| Birth date | March 03, 1971 |
| Birth place | Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Television | Screen BurnTVGoHomeNathan BarleyCharlie Brooker's ScreenwipeDead SetNewswipe with Charlie BrookerYou Have Been WatchingCharlie Brooker's Gameswipe |
| Occupation | Broadcaster, writer, columnist, comedian |
| Spouse | Konnie Huq (2010–present) |
| Years active | (1998–present) |
Brooker attended the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster) — studying for a BA in Media Studies — he did not graduate. he noted how increasingly difficult he found it to reconcile his role in mainstream media and TV production with his writing as a scabrous critic or to objectively criticise those he increasingly works and socialises with. Long time covering contributor Grace Dent took over the column from him permanently.
From the autumn of 2005, he wrote a regular series of columns in The Guardian supplement "G2" on Fridays called "Supposing", in which he free-associated on a set of vague what-if themes. Since late October 2006 this column has been expanded into a full-page section on Mondays, including samples from TVGoHome and Ignopedia, an occasional series of pseudo-articles on topics mostly suggested by readers. The key theme behind Ignopedia was that, while Wikipedia is written and edited by thousands of users, Ignopedia would be written by a single sub-par person with little or no awareness of the facts.
On 24 October 2004, he wrote a column on George W. Bush and the forthcoming 2004 US Presidential Election which concluded:
The Guardian withdrew the article from its website and published and endorsed an apology by Brooker. He has since commented about the remark in the column stating: }}
Brooker left the "Screen Burn" column in 2010 but continues to contribute other articles to The Guardian on a regular basis.
In 2000, Brooker was one of the writers of the Channel 4 show The Eleven O'Clock Show and a co-host (with Gia Milinovich) on BBC Knowledge's The Kit, a low-budget programme dedicated to gadgets and technology (1999–2000). In 2001, he was one of several writers on Channel 4's controversial Brass Eye special on the subject of paedophilia.
Together with Brass Eye's Chris Morris, Brooker co-wrote the sitcom Nathan Barley, based on a character from one of TVGoHome's fictional programmes. The show was broadcast in 2005 and focused on the lives of a group of London media 'trendies'. The same year, he was also on the writing team of the Channel 4 sketch show Spoons, produced by Zeppotron.
In 2006, Brooker began writing and presenting his signature television series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on BBC Four, a TV review programme in a similar style to his Screen Burn columns in The Guardian. After an initial pilot series of three editions in April of that year, the programme returned in the autumn for a second run of four episodes plus Christmas and Review of the Year specials in December 2006. A third series followed in February 2007 with a fourth broadcast in September 2007, followed by a Review of the Year in December 2007. The fifth series started in November 2008 and was followed by another Review of the Year special. This series was also the first to be given a primetime repeat on terrestrial television (BBC 2), in January 2009.
Screenwipe's format mostly consists of two elements. The first is the playing of clips from other television shows – both mainstream and obscure – interspersed with shots of Brooker, sitting in his living room, delivering witty critiques on them. The second is where Brooker explains, again with a slice of barbed humour, the way in which a particular area of the television industry operates. Also occasionally present are animations by David Firth and guest contributions, which have included the poetry of Tim Key, and segments in which a guest explains their fascination with a certain television show or genre.
Brooker has regularly experimented with Screenwipe, with some editions focusing on a specific theme. These themes have included American television, TV news, advertising and children's programmes. (The last of these involved a segment where Brooker joined the cast of Toonattik for one week, playing the character of "Angry News Guy".) Probably the most radical departure from the norm came with an episode focused on scriptwriting, which saw several of British television's most prominent writers interviewed by Brooker.
As per the development of his career with The Guardian, a similar show called Newswipe, focusing on current affairs reportage by the international news media, began on BBC4 on 25 March 2009. A second series began on 19 January 2010. He has also written and presented the one off special Gameswipe which focused on video games and aired on BBC4 on 29 September 2009.
Brooker has appeared on three episodes and one webisode of the popular BBC current affairs news quiz Have I Got News for You. He appeared on an episode of the Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2009, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and in December 2006 reviewed two games written by the presenters of VideoGaiden, on their show. He also made a brief appearance in the third and final instalment of the documentary series Games Britannia, discussing the rise and popularity of computer games.
Brooker wrote for the BBC Three sketch show Rush Hour.
In 2009, Brooker began hosting You Have Been Watching, a panel comedy tv quiz on Channel 4 which discusses television. It is in its second series.
On 6 May 2010, Brooker was a co-host of the Channel 4 alternative election night, along with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne. The telethon was interspersed with contributions from Brooker, some live in the studio but mostly pre-recorded. Notably, an "Election Special" of You Have Been Watching and two smaller segments in an almost identical style to Screenwipe (the only noticeable difference being that Brooker was sat in a different room). Brooker described the experience of live television as being so nerve-wracking he "did a piss" during the broadcast. A spin-off series, 10 O'Clock Live, is due to start in January 2011 with the same four hosts.
Brooker's "2010 Wipe", a review of 2010 in the style of Screenwipe/Newswipe/Gameswipe, was broadcast on BBC2 on 27 December 2010.
Brooker wrote Dead Set, a five part zombie horror thriller for E4 set in the Big Brother house. The show was broadcast in October 2008 to coincide with Halloween and was repeated on Channel 4 in January 2009 to coincide with Celebrity Big Brother, and again for Halloween later that year. It was produced by Zeppotron, which also produced Screenwipe.
Brooker told MediaGuardian.co.uk it comprised a "mixture of known and less well known faces" and "Dead Set is very different to anything I've done before, and I hope the end result will surprise, entertain and appall people in equal measure." He added that he has long been a fan of horror films and that his new series "could not be described as a comedy". "I couldn't really describe what it is but it will probably surprise people," Brooker said, adding that he plans to "continue as normal" with his print journalism.
Jaime Winstone starred as a runner on the TV programme, and Big Brother presenter Davina McCall guest starred as herself. Dead Set received a BAFTA nomination for Best Drama Serial.
Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century writers Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of the University of Westminster Category:British critics Category:English atheists Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English satirists Category:English television presenters Category:English television producers Category:English television writers Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:The Guardian journalists
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