Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Hugh Laurie
Caption	Hugh Laurie at the Actors' Guild Question and Answer, 2009
Birth name	James Hugh Calum Laurie
Birth date	June 11, 1959
Birth place	Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer, musician, director
Years active	1981–present
Spouse

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (; born 11 June 1959), better known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director. He first became known as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has been starring as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he has received two Golden Globe awards and several Emmy nominations. As of August 2010, he is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television.

Early life and education

Laurie was born in Oxford, England. The youngest of four children, Laurie has a brother (six years older) and two sisters. He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw). His father, Ran Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Laurie was raised in the Scottish Presbyterian church, though he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in archaeology and social anthropology. While at Cambridge, he was a member of the Hermes club and the prestigious Hawks' Club. coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by . Laurie is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever, he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown". Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurie's success on the show extends to the financial: in August 2010, TV Guide identified him as the highest-paid actor in a drama, saying he's paid over $400,000 per episode.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. On 26 July 2010, it was announced Laurie would be releasing a blues album, following signing a contract with Warner Bros. The album is due to be recorded next autumn.

Album appearances

Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire aged 73 in 1989; Laurie was 30 at the time. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world". Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing.

Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson.

Laurie stated on BBC Radio 2 in an interview with Steve Wright in January 2006 that he was living in an apartment in West Hollywood while in the United States working on House. Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt, in fact, bored).

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his home in Los Angeles and one at his home in Hampstead. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the [British] flag".

Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role on House:

;Emmy Awards

2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

;Golden Globe Awards 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

2010 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

;Satellite Awards

2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

;Screen Actors Guild Awards

2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

;Television Critics Association

2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama

2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama

2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

;Teen Choice Award

2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama

2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star

2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star

2010 – Winner - Favorite TV Drama Actor

2011 - Winner - Favorite TV Drama Actor

2011 - Winner - Favorite TV Doctor

Filmography

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1981 | | various characters | also writer |- | 1983 | Alfresco | various characters | also writer |- | 1983 | | Max Belhavenvarious characters | |- | 1984 | | Lord Monty | episode: "Bambi" |- | 1985 | Plenty | Michael | |- | 1985 | Mrs. Capper's Birthday | Bobby | |- | 1985 | Happy Families | Jim | |- | 1986 | Blackadder II | Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters)Prince Ludwig the Indestructible | |- | 1987 | Filthy Rich & Catflap | N'Bend | |- | 1987 | Blackadder the Third | George, Prince of Wales, The Prince Regent | |- | 1988 | Blackadder's Christmas Carol | Prince GeorgeLord Pigmot (future) | |- | 1989–1995 | A Bit of Fry & Laurie | various characters | also writer |- | 1989 | Blackadder Goes Forth | Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh | |- | 1989 | Strapless | Colin | |- | 1989 | | Waiter | |- | 1990–1993 | Jeeves and Wooster | Bertie Wooster | |- | 1992 | Peter's Friends | Roger Charleston | |- | 1993 | All or Nothing at All | Leo Hopkins | television film |- | 1993–1995 | | Squire Trelawney | voice |- | 1994 | A Pin for the Butterfly | Uncle | television film |- | 1995 | Sense and Sensibility | Mr. Palmer | |- | 1996 | Tracey Takes On... | Timothy Bugge | season 1 |- | 1996 | 101 Dalmatians | Jasper | |- | 1997 | Spiceworld | Poirot | |- | 1997 | | Police Officer Oliver Steady | |- | 1997 | | Tarquin | voice |- | 1998 | Friends | Gentleman on the Plane | episode: "The One with Ross's Wedding" |- | 1998 | | Harrap, a Barrister | |- | 1998 | | Pierre, The King's Advisor | |- | 1998 | Cousin Bette | Baron Hector Hulot | |- | 1999 | | Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius | |- | 1999 | Stuart Little | Mr. Fredrick Little | |- | 2000 | Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) | Dr. Lawyer | episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder" |- | 2000 | Maybe Baby | Sam Bell | |- | 2001 | Chica de Río | Raymond Woods | alternate title: Girl from Rio |- | 2001 | | Vincente Minnelli |- | 2001 | Family Guy | Bar patron | voiceepisode: "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" |- | 2001 | Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter | Narrator | voice |- | 2002 | Stuart Little 2 | Mr. Frederick Little | |- | 2002 | Spooks | Jools Siviter | |- | 2003 | The Young Visiters | Lord Bernard Clark | |- | 2003 | Fortysomething | Paul Slippery | |- | 2003 | ''' | Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) | episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit" |- | 2004–present | House | Dr. Gregory House | lead actoralso directed episode: Lockdown |- | 2004 | Fire Engine Fred | | |- | 2004 | Flight of the Phoenix | Ian | |- | 2005 | Valiant | Wing Commander Gutsy | voice |- | 2005 | | Doctor #5 | |- | 2005 | | Mr. Frederick Little | voice |- | 2006, 2008 | Saturday Night Live | Hostvarious characters | season 32, episode 4season 34, episode 11 |- | 2008 | Street Kings | Captain Biggs | |- | 2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. | voice |- | 2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space | Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. | voice |- | 2009 | Family Guy | Gregory House/himself | voiceepisode: "Business Guy" |- | 2010 | The Simpsons | Roger | voiceepisode: "Treehouse of Horror XXI" |- | 2010 | Fry and Laurie Reunited | | |- | 2011 | | David Walling | lead actor | |}

Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1

* (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (Nov 2000); New Ed (Oct 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1

The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (Mar 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X

* (PB) (Washington Square Press (Nov 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X

Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4

The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6

* (PB) (Penguin Books (28 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6

References

External links

Hugh Laurie interview with the Guardian

Hugh Laurie Interview with the Daily Telegraph

Hugh Laurie interview with Time Out

Hugh "Laurie 'snubbed' after US success" - BBC News

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Category:Anglo-Scots Category:English atheists Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:English musicians Category:English novelists Category:English screenwriters Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Members of Leander Club Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Old Dragons Category:Old Etonians Category:People from Oxford Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Caption	Braff at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
Birthname	Zachary Israel Braff
Birthdate	April 06, 1975
Birthplace	South Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Yearsactive	1993–present
Website

Zachary Israel "Zach" Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director. Braff first became known in 2001 for his role as Dr. John Dorian on the television series Scrubs. In 2004, Braff made his directorial debut with Garden State, a coming of age film. Braff returned to his home state of New Jersey to shoot the film, which was produced on a budget of $2.5 million. The film made over $35 million at the box office and was praised by critics. Braff wrote the film, starred in it, and compiled the soundtrack record, for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album in 2005.

Braff made his film debut in 1993 with a supporting role in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery. He is also known for starring in the films The Last Kiss and The Ex, and for his voice work on Chicken Little.

Early life

Braff was born in South Orange, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. His parents, Hal Braff, a trial attorney and sociology professor, and Anne Brodzinsky, a clinical psychologist, divorced and re-married others during Braff's childhood. One of his siblings, Joshua, is an author. Braff has wanted to be a filmmaker since his early childhood and has described it as his "life dream." Braff was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at age 10.

As a teen, Braff attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York. He graduated from Columbia High School, in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he worked in the school's television station along with fellow classmate and singer/actress Lauryn Hill. Braff graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science; there, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

Career

Braff began his career as a make up artist behind the scenes during Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Macbeth (as Malcolm) at New York City's Public Theater, and also appeared in Woody Allen's 1993 film Manhattan Murder Mystery. Braff was briefly on the Disney program The Baby-sitters Club in an episode titled "Dawn Saves the Trees." He, along with many Scrubs cast members, also has a small role playing himself in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

Scrubs

Braff played John "J.D." Dorian on Scrubs beginning with the show's debut in 2001. The role was Braff's first major role in a television show. Braff was nominated for three Golden Globes and an Emmy for his work on the show. Braff directed several episodes of Scrubs, including its one-hundredth, "My Way Home".

For the show's ninth season, Braff was a cast member for the first six episodes and also served as one of the executive producers.

Garden State

In addition to directing several episodes of Scrubs, Braff wrote, directed, produced, and starred in 2004's Garden State, which was filmed in his home state of New Jersey, in various towns such as South Orange, Maplewood and Tenafly. Producers were initially reluctant to finance the film, which Braff wrote in six months.

In February 2005, he won a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for a Motion Picture for the Garden State soundtrack, and Cottonelle commercials, in which he portrayed a puppy.

Other work

In 2005, Braff was featured on Punk'd when he was tricked into chasing a supposed vandal who appeared to be spray-painting his brand new Porsche. He then proceeded to hurl expletives at the young boy until Ashton Kutcher, the show's host, showed up. The episode aired March 20, 2005. Braff has also made a couple of guest appearances on the show Arrested Development as Phillip Litt, a parody of Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis.

Braff has directed several music videos: Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot," Joshua Radin's "Closer" and "I'd Rather Be With You," Cary Brothers' "Ride," and Lazlo Bane's "Superman," the theme song from Scrubs. His music production has resulted in newfound success for some of the artists featured on his film soundtracks, such as The Shins, who were prominently featured on the Garden State soundtrack and the Scrubs soundtrack, resulting in the expression the "Zach Braff effect."

Braff was in talks to star in the film Fletch Won and had signed on to play the role eventually played by Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks, but dropped out of both roles to work on Open Hearts, which he adapted from a Danish film and will direct. He has also co-written a film version of Andrew Henry's Meadow, a children's book, with his brother, and was scheduled to direct one of the segments for the film New York, I Love You.

In July 2009, he signed on as an executive producer for the documentary Heart of Stone to "help spread the word about it."

The Last Kiss

Braff starred in the romantic drama The Last Kiss, which opened on September 15, 2006. Braff, who tweaked several parts of Paul Haggis' script for the film, wanted the script to be as "real as possible" and "really courageous" regarding its subject matter. As with Garden State, Braff was involved with the film's soundtrack, serving as executive producer. and was considered a commercial disappointment; and which was released on May 11, 2007 and also starred Amanda Peet, Charles Grodin and Jason Bateman. Braff said on his blog that "the movie didn't do as well as he expected."

The High Cost of Living

Braff will star in an upcoming Canadian indie film with Quebec actress Isabelle Blais. The film was shot in Montreal and principal photography wrapped on March 9, 2010. Braff stated he enjoyed filming in the country in which The Last Kiss was also shot.

Mermaid Oyster Bar

In 2009, Zach Braff opened up the restaurant Mermaid Oyster Bar in New York City with chef and high school friend, Laurence Edelman. It was rated "Best new seafood restaurant" by Time Out New York magazine, in April 2010.

Future projects

Braff's next directorial project is the upcoming, 2011 film Open Hearts, a remake of a 2002 Danish film named "Elsker dig for evigt", meaning "Love you forever", directed by Susanne Bier. The film will focus on a woman, shocked by her fiance's paralysis in a car crash. She ends up having an affair with her husband's doctor, whose wife caused the original accident. The original film starred Mads Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Paprika Steen. The cast for Braff's remake have not been revealed yet. It was first revealed that Zach Braff was planning to remake Open Hearts in 2006, at the same time Braff's film The Last Kiss was being released. The film will be produced by Paramount Pictures.

In July 2009, Braff announced via Facebook that he is working on the script of a film to be called Swingles, which he will direct and star in alongside Cameron Diaz.

Personal life

Braff has reportedly dated fellow actors Mandy Moore, and Shiri Appleby.

In November 2008, Braff earned his pilot's license flying a Cirrus SR20.

Braff's brother is author Joshua Braff; his stepsister is Jessica Kirson, a New York stand-up comedian.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film credits |- ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1993 | Manhattan Murder Mystery | Nick Lipton | |- | 1999 | Getting to Know You | Wesley | |- | 2000 | Endsville | Dean | |- | 2000 | Blue Moon | Fred | |- | 2000 | | Benji | |- | 2002 | It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | John "J.D." Dorian | TV film |- | 2004 | Garden State | Andrew Largeman | |- | 2005 | Chicken Little | Chicken Little | Voice only |- | 2006 | The Last Kiss | Michael | |- | 2006 | The Pursuit of Happyness | Worker in Homeless Shelter | Uncredited |- | 2007 | The Ex | Tom Reilly | |- | 2010 | The High Cost of Living | Henry | |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television credits |- ! Year ! Show ! Role ! Notes |- | 1993 | The Baby-Sitters Club | David Cummings | 1 episode |- | 1994 | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Tony / Tammy | 1 episode |- | 2001–2010 | Scrubs | John "J.D." Dorian | Main character (175 episodes) |- | 2002 | Clone High | Paul Revere / X-Stream Mike | 2 episodes (voice only) |- | 2005–2006 | Arrested Development | Phillip Litt | 2 episodes |- | 2009 | | John "J.D." Dorian | 1 webisode |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film and television director ! Year ! Film ! Notes |- | 1997 | Lionel on a Sunday | Short film. Also writer |- | 2004 | Garden State | Also writer |- | 2004–2009 | Scrubs | 7 episodes |- | 2008 | Night Life | TV film |}

References

External links

Category:1975 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:American bloggers Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American Jews Category:American screenwriters Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:English-language film directors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American writers Category:Living people Category:New Jersey Democrats Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:People from Essex County, New Jersey Category:People from South Orange, New Jersey

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Susan Lucci
Caption	Lucci at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards
Birth date	December 23, 1946
Birth place	Scarsdale, New York, U.S.
Birth name	Susan Victoria Lucci
Website	http://www.susanlucci.com/
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1969–present
Spouse	Helmut Huber

Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. Midway into her career, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year.

Early life

Susan Lucci was born in Scarsdale, New York, to parents Jeanette and Victor Lucci. Her father is Italian, and her mother is Swedish. She attended Garden City High School in Garden City, New York, graduating in 1964. She then attended Marymount College at Fordham University and graduated with a BA degree in drama in 1968.

Career

Daytime television

Lucci is best known for playing Erica Kane on the ABC television soap opera All My Children, on which she has appeared since the show's inception on January 5, 1970. She is the only original cast member remaining on the series.

Lucci was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her work on All My Children almost every year since 1978. When Lucci did not win the award after several consecutive nominations, her image in the media began to be lampooned, as she became notoriously synonymous with never winning an Emmy. NBC's Saturday Night Live exploited this by asking her to host an episode, where her monologue parodied the cast, crew, and even stagehands carrying Emmys of their own in her presence. In addition, she appeared in a 1989 television commercial for the sugar substitute Sweet One, intended to portray her as the opposite of her villainess character, yet throwing one of Erica Kane's characteristic tantrums, shouting "11 years without an Emmy! What does a person have to do around here to get an Emmy?"

After 18 failed nominations, she finally won in 1999. When presenter Shemar Moore announced Lucci's name, the audience erupted in a standing ovation, lasting several minutes. As the sobbing actress took to the stage, cameras caught All My Children co-stars Kelly Ripa and Marcy Walker weeping openly, along with long-time supporter, actress and television host Rosie O'Donnell. Actor Ingo Rademacher was seen bowing in the aisles and talk show host Oprah Winfrey rushing the stage cheering from the wings.

Primetime television and film

Lucci has appeared in a number of television shows and television films. In 1990, she began a series of guest spots on the nighttime soap opera Dallas. She hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live in October of that year; in one skit, she appeared as Erica Kane competing on a game show.

In 1995, Lucci appeared in the Lifetime television film Ebbie. This film was an updated version of A Christmas Carol. Lucci played a Scrooge-like department store owner visited by Marley and the three ghosts on Christmas.

Dancing with the Stars

Lucci competed in Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars with dance partner Tony Dovolani. Lucci said that Dancing had asked her to appear before, but she had turned it down, in part, because of the travel it would require (Dancing tapes in Los Angeles, while All My Children taped in New York). She changed her mind, though, in part because of the experience of fellow All My Children star Cameron Mathison, who finished fifth in season 5. She was voted off the show on November 5, 2008, finishing sixth in the competition.

Performances

{|class="wikitable" |rowspan="2" bgcolor="CCCCCC" align="Center"|Week # |rowspan="2" bgcolor="CCCCCC" align="Center"|Dance/Song |colspan="3" bgcolor="CCCCCC" align="Center"|Judges' score |rowspan="2" bgcolor="CCCCCC" align="Center"|Result |- |- |bgcolor="CCCCCC" width="10%" align="center"|Inaba |bgcolor="CCCCCC" width="10%" align="center"|Goodman |bgcolor="CCCCCC" width="10%" align="center"|Tonioli |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|1A |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Cha-Cha-Cha/ "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|5 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|5 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|5 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Safe |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|1B |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Quickstep/ "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Safe |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|2 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Rumba/ "Waiting on the World to Change" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Safe |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|3 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Jive/ "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Safe |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|4 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Tango/ "La Bohemia" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Safe |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|5 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Hustle/ "Upside Down" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Bottom 2 |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|6 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Mambo/ "Si Señor!..." |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Bottom 2 |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Paso Doble/"The Ride" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|8 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Eliminated |- |- |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Cha Cha/ "Mercy" |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|6 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|7 |align="center" bgcolor="FAF6F6"|Eliminated |- |- |}

Personal life

Lucci's father, Victor, was a first-generation American. Lucci has been married since September 13, 1969 to Austrian businessman Helmut Huber. They are the parents of soap opera actress Liza Huber (who played Gwen Hotchkiss on the daytime serial Passions until that series' cancellation by NBC in September 2007) and Andreas Huber, an aspiring professional golfer. She became a grandmother when her daughter, Liza, gave birth on December 23, 2006 — Lucci's 60th birthday. The baby was named Royce Alexander. Liza gave birth to Lucci's second grandchild, Brendan, on August 16, 2008. Lucci is a registered Republican.

Awards

Won

Daytime Emmy Awards: 1999, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children

Gracie Allen Awards: (2005) Outstanding Female Lead in a Daytime Drama for All My Children

Women in Film Lucy Awards: (1994) Lucy Award

Soap Opera Digest Awards

* (2003) SOAPnet Diamond Award - For Glittering Excellence in Daytime Television

* (1993) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Lead Actress for All My Children

* (1988) Soap Opera Digest Award Editor's Choice

People's Choice Awards: (1992) People’s Choice Award

Crystal Apple Awards: (1994) Crystal Apple Award

American Academy of Achievement Awards: (1991)

Made in NY Awards: (2005) MINY

Nominated

Daytime Emmy Awards

Nominations: (1978, 1981–1993, 1995–1999, 2001–2002) Daytime Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children. Lucci holds the record for repeat nominations in one category, having been nominated a total of 21 times for this award but only won once.

Other awards

(2005) Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Couple for All My Children

*Shared with Walt Willey

(1992) Soap Opera Digest Award 'Best Love Story: Daytime or Prime Time

*Shared with Walt Willey

(1989) Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Super Couple: Daytime for All My Children

*Shared with Larkin Malloy

(1986) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Contribution by an Actor/Actress to the Form of Continuing Drama who is currently on a Daytime Serial for All My Children

TV/Guest roles

All My Children (Erica Kane: 1970–Present)

Hot in Cleveland (Herself: 2010)

That's So Raven (Ms. Romano: 2005)

Hope and Faith (Jacqueline Karr: 2004)

Blood on Her Hands (Isabelle Collins: 1998)

Seduced and Betrayed (Victoria Landers: 1995)

Ebbie (Elizabeth 'Ebbie' Scrooge: 1995)

French Silk (Claire Laurent: 1994)

Between Love and Hate (Vivian Conrad: 1993)

Double Edge (Maggie Dutton/Carmen Moore: 1992)

The Woman Who Sinned (Victoria Robeson: 1991)

Dallas (Hillary Taylor/Faux Sheila Foley: 1990-1991)

The Bride in Black (Rose D'Amore-Malloy: 1990)

Lady Mobster (Laurel Castle: 1988)

Haunted by Her Past (aka Secret Passions) (Karen Beckett: 1987)

(Darya Romanoff: 1986)

Mafia Princess (Antoinette Giancana: 1986)

The Fall Guy (Veronica Remy: 1984)

Invitation to Hell (Jessica Jones: 1984)

Fantasy Island (Gina Edwards: 1983)

The Love Boat (Paula: 1982)

References

Further reading

Siegel, Barbara, and Scott Siegel. 1986. Susan Lucci. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312779631.

On July 28, 2010 HarperCollins publishers announced that they will be publishing Susan Lucci's autobiography. The book was acquired by Lisa Sharkey, Senior Vice President and Director of Creative Development for HarperCollins from Mel Berger of William Morris Endeavor, and is scheduled to be published in April 2011.

External links

Susan's Official Website

Susan Lucci at TV.com

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:American actors of Swedish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American soap opera actors Category:Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) participants Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Fordham University alumni Category:New York Republicans Category:People from Garden City, New York Category:People from Scarsdale, New York Category:Soap Opera Digest Award winners

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Steve Carell
Caption	Carell at the Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on January 23, 2010
Birth date	August 16, 1962
Birthname	Steven John Carell
Birth place	Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Yearsactive	1991, 1996–present
Spouse	Nancy Carell (1995–present; 2 children)
Occupation	ActorComedianVoice artistProducerScreenwriterDirector

Steven John "Steve" Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, director and writer. Carell became famous for his roles in the television series The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Office. He has also starred in several Hollywood films including , The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart, Date Night and Dinner for Schmucks; and voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge, Horton Hears a Who!, and Despicable Me. Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine. He received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series for his lead role of Michael Scott for the American television series The Office during 2006.

Early life

Carell, the youngest of four sons, was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, and was raised in nearby Acton, by his parents, Harriet T. (née Koch), a psychiatric nurse, and Edwin A. Carell, an electrical engineer. His maternal uncle, Stanley Koch, worked with Allen B. DuMont to create cathode ray tubes. Carell's paternal grandfather was Italian; He was educated at The Fenn School and Middlesex School. Carell played the fife, performing with other members of his family, and later joined a reenacting group portraying the 10th (North Lincoln) Regiment of Foot. Carell attributed this to his interest in history, in which he earned his degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1984. He originally aspired to become a radio broadcaster, deejaying at WDUB in Granville.

Early career

Before opting for a career as a performer, Carell claims that he worked as a mail carrier in Littleton, Massachusetts. He later recounted that he quit after a few months because his boss told him he was not very good as a mail carrier; he needed to be more efficient. He planned on attending law school, but was unable to write an explanation on his application form as to why he wanted to be a lawyer. Early in his performing career, Carell acted on the stage in a touring children's theater company and later in the comedy musical, Knat Scatt Private Eye. He also acted in a television commercial for Brown's Chicken in 1989. After that, Carell performed with Chicago troupe The Second City in 1991, where Stephen Colbert was his understudy for a time. That same year, he obtained his first film work in a minor role as Tesio in Curly Sue.

During the spring of 1996, he was a cast member of The Dana Carvey Show, a primetime sketch comedy program on ABC. Along with fellow cast member Stephen Colbert, Carell provided the voice of Gary, half of The Ambiguously Gay Duo, the Robert Smigel-produced animated short which continued on Saturday Night Live later that year. While the program lasted only seven episodes, The Dana Carvey Show has since been credited with forging Carell's career. During this time, he also played a supporting character for several series including Come to Papa and the short-lived 1997 Tim Curry situation comedy Over the Top. He has made numerous guest appearances, including on an episode of Just Shoot Me titled "Funny Girl." Carell's other early screen credits includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus's short-lived situation comedy Watching Ellie (2002–2003) and Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda. He has also made fun of himself for auditioning for Saturday Night Live but losing the job to Will Ferrell. Carell was a correspondent for The Daily Show from 1999 until 2005, with a number of regular segments including "Even Stephven" with Stephen Colbert and "Produce Pete."

The Office

During 2005, Carell signed a deal with NBC to star in an American version of the BBC British TV show The Office, a so-called "mockumentary" about life at a mid-sized paper supply company. He plays Michael Scott, the idiosyncratic regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Inc, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Although the first season of the adaptation suffered mediocre ratings, NBC renewed it for another season due to the anticipated success of Carell's movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and the series subsequently became a ratings success. Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association award during 2006 for his Office role. He also received Emmy nominations during 2006 and 2007 for his work in the series.

Carell earned approximately $175,000 per episode of the third season of The Office, twice his salary for the previous two seasons. Carell was allowed "flex time" during filming to work on theatrical films. Carell worked on Evan Almighty during a production hiatus during the second season of The Office.

Production ended during the middle of the fourth season of The Office because of Carell's and others' refusal to cross the picket line of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. Carell, a WGA member, has written two episodes of The Office: "Casino Night" and "Survivor Man". Both episodes were praised, and Carell won a Writer's Guild of America award for "Casino Night".

On April 29, 2010, Carell stated he would be leaving the show when his contract expires at the conclusion of the 2010-2011 season.

Film career

Two important roles helped Carell get the attention of audiences: Bruce Almighty, in which Carell plays Evan Baxter (an arrogant rival to Jim Carrey's character), and , in which Carell plays another news personality, slow-witted weatherman Brick Tamland. Years later he would reprise the role of Evan Baxter in Evan Almighty, a film in which his character from Bruce Almighty has an experience similar to the biblical story of Noah's Ark.

Carell's first starring role was in the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he developed and co-wrote. The film made $109 million in domestic box office and established Carell as a leading man. It also earned Carell an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance and a WGA Award nomination, along with co-writer Judd Apatow, for Best Original Screenplay.

Carell acted as "Uncle Arthur", imitating the camp mannerisms of Paul Lynde's original character for the 2005 remake of Bewitched with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. He also voiced a starring role for the 2006 computer-animated film Over the Hedge as Hammy the Squirrel. He also voiced for the 2008 animated film Horton Hears a Who! as the mayor of Whoville, Ned McDodd. He starred in Little Miss Sunshine during 2006, as Uncle Frank. His work in the films , The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Bewitched established Carell as a member of Hollywood's so-called "Frat Pack" group. (This set of actors includes Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson).

Carell acted as the title character of Evan Almighty, a sequel to Bruce Almighty, reprising his role as Evan Baxter, now a U.S. Congressman. Although, ostensibly, God tasks Baxter with building an ark, Baxter also learns that life can generate positive returns with people offering Acts of Random Kindness. During October 2006, Carell began acting for the film Dan in Real Life, co-starring Dane Cook and Juliette Binoche. Filming ended December 22, 2006, and the film was released on October 26, 2007.

Carell played Maxwell Smart for a movie remake of Get Smart, which began filming February 3, 2007 and was filmed in Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Moscow, Russia. The movie was successful, grossing over $200 million worldwide. During 2007, Carell was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Carell filmed a movie during late 2008 opposite Tina Fey, entitled Date Night. It was released on April 9, 2010 in the US. He voiced Gru who is the main character in the Universal CGI movie Despicable Me along with Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, and Julie Andrews. Which was very successful and will likely be reprising the role for the upcoming sequel. He has several other projects in the works, including a remake of the 1967 Peter Sellers film The Bobo. He is currently doing voiceover work in commercials for Wrigley's Extra gum.

Carell has launched a television division of his Carousel Prods., which has contracted a three-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios, the studio behind his NBC comedy series. Thom Hinkle and Campbell Smith of North South Prods., former producers on Carell's alma mater, Comedy Central's The Daily Show, have been hired to manage Carousel's TV operations.

Personal life

Carell is married to Saturday Night Live alumna Nancy Carell, whom he met when she was a student in an improvisation class he was teaching at Second City. They have two children, Elisabeth Anne "Annie" (born May 25, 2001) and John "Johnny" (born June 2004). In addition to working with him as a fellow correspondent on The Daily Show, Nancy also acted with him on The Office as his realtor and short-lived girlfriend Carol Stills, and also cameoed as a sex therapist in The 40 Year Old Virgin.

The Carells have a home in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He recently helped to preserve some of the town's history by purchasing the 155-year-old Marshfield Hills General Store, an antique country store well-known for its candy counter.

Filmography

Film

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1991 | Curly Sue | Tesio | as Steven Carell |- | 2003 | Bruce Almighty | Evan Baxter | |- |rowspan="3"| 2004 | | Brick Tamland | Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team shared with Will Ferrell, David Koechner and Paul RuddNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance shared with Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Fred Armisen |- | Sleepover | Officer Sherman | |- | | Brick Tamland | |- |rowspan="3"| 2005 | Melinda and Melinda | Walt Wagner | |- | Bewitched | Uncle Arthur | |- | The 40-Year-Old Virgin | Andy Stitzer | MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best PerformanceNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team shared with Romany Malco, Seth Rogen and Paul RuddNominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay shared with Judd Apatow |- |rowspan="2"| 2006 | Over the Hedge | Hammy | Voice |- | Little Miss Sunshine | Frank Ginsburg | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastChlotrudis Award for Best CastPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best EnsembleNominated — Gotham Award for Best Ensemble CastNominated — Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor |- |rowspan="4"| 2007 | Evan Almighty | Evan Baxter | Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: ScreamNominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: ComedyNominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Hissy Fit |- | Stories USA | Mark | |- | Knocked Up | Himself | |- | Dan in Real Life | Dan Burns | |- |rowspan="2"| 2008 | Horton Hears a Who! | Ned McDodd: Mayor of WhoVille | Voice |- | Get Smart | Maxwell Smart | Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance |- |rowspan="3"| 2010 | Date Night | Phil Foster | |- | Despicable Me | Gru | Voice |- | Dinner for Schmucks | Barry Speck | |- |rowspan="2"| 2011 | Crazy, Stupid, Love | Cal | post production |- |}

Television

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |1996 | The Dana Carvey Show | Various characters | Sketch comedy |- | 1997 | Over the Top | Yorgo Galfanikos | 12 episodes; only 3 aired. |- | 1998 | Just Shoot Me | Insurance Agent |- |1999–2004 | The Daily Show | Correspondent |- | 2005–2011 | The Office | Michael Scott | Writer, episodes "Casino Night" and "Survivor Man"; Director, episode "Broke" and "Secretary's Day"Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006)Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2007, 2008)Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Comedy (2007, 2008)TV Land Future Classic AwardTelevision Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2006)Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy Series shared with ensemble writers (2007)Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy for episode "Casino Night"Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)Nominated — Prism Award for Best Performance in a Comedy Series (2007)Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006, 2007)Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2007, 2008, 2009)Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2009)Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Comedy (2006)Nominated — Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2009)Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy Series shared with ensemble writers (2008, 2009) |- | rowspan="2"|2010 | 2010 Kids' Choice Awards | rowspan="2"| Himself | Covered by slime |- | Todos Contra Juan | Argentinian TV sitcom - Season 2/Series finale |}

Other Awards

Carell won the Spike TV 2008 "Guys Choice", Funniest M.F. Award.

Salary

The Office (Season 3) - $175,000 an episode (renegotiated in 2006). In an Entertainment Weekly interview, he commented on his salary, saying "You don't want people to think you're a pampered jerk. Salaries can be ridiculous. On the other hand, a lot of people are making a lot of money off of these shows."

The Office (Seasons 1, 2) - $76,000 an episode

Evan Almighty - $5,000,000

The 40-Year-Old Virgin - $500,000

References

External links

in 2007

Dateline NBC's interview with Carell

Carell's antique country store in Marshfield, MA

USA Today article on real-life CEO lessons

Category:1962 births Category:Actors from Massachusetts Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Denison University alumni Category:Living people Category:The Office (U.S. TV series) Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Category:Second City alumni Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Sarah Jessica Parker
Caption	Parker at the 2009 premiere of Wonderful World
Birthdate	March 25, 1965
Birthplace	Nelsonville, Ohio, U.S.
Spouse	Matthew Broderick (1997–present)
Yearsactive	1974–present
Occupation	Actress, producer

Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer. She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City (1998–2004), for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards. She played the same role in the 2008 feature film based on the show, , and its sequel, Sex and the City 2, which opened on May 26, 2010.

Parker has also appeared in many other films, including Footloose (1984), L.A. Story (1991), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), Mars Attacks! (1996), The Family Stone (2005), Failure to Launch (2006), Smart People (2008), and Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009).

Early life

Sarah Jessica Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, the daughter of Barbara Parker (née Keck), a nursery school operator and teacher, and Stephen Parker, an entrepreneur and journalist. Parker's mother was of English and German descent; through her mother, Parker is descended from Esther Elwell, one of the accused during the Salem witch trials. Parker's father, a native of Brooklyn, was of Eastern European Jewish background; his family's original surname was "Bar-Kahn" ("son of Kohen").

As a young girl, Parker trained in singing and ballet, and was soon cast in the Broadway revival of William Archibald's The Innocents. Her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and then to Dobbs Ferry, New York, near New York City, so that she could get specialized training. There, her mother and stepfather helped Parker develop her career as a child actress. In 1977, the family moved to the newly-opened planned community on Roosevelt Island, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, and later to Manhattan. The family later moved to Englewood, New Jersey, where Parker attended Dwight Morrow High School.

Parker attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, the School of American Ballet in New York City, Dwight Morrow High School in New Jersey, and the Professional Children's School, Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, California.

Early acting career

Parker and four siblings appeared in a production of The Sound of Music at the outdoor Municipal Theatre (Muny) in St. Louis, Missouri. She was selected for a role in the new 1977–81 Broadway musical Annie: first in the small role of "July" and then succeeding Andrea McArdle and Shelley Bruce in the lead role of the Depression-era orphan, beginning March 1979. Parker held the role for a year.

In 1982, Parker was cast as the co-lead of the CBS sitcom Square Pegs. The show lasted just one season, but Parker's performance, as a shy teen who showed hidden depths, was critically well-received. In the three years that followed, she was cast in four films: the most significant being Footloose in 1984 and 1984's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, co-starring Helen Hunt. In 1986, Parker appeared in the cult classic Flight of the Navigator, a Disney science fiction film.

By the early 1990s, Parker's career was gaining momentum. In 1991, she appeared in a supporting role in the romantic comedy L.A. Story; both the movie and her performance garnered positive reviews. After five nominations, in 2004, Parker won an Emmy Award for her lead role. Parker said in 2006 that she "will never do a television show again".

After Sex and the City ended in 2004, rumors of a film version circulated. It was revealed that a script had been completed for such a project. At the time, Parker said such a film would likely never be made. Two years later, preparations were resumed, and the film was released on May 30, 2008.

Later work

In addition to work in film and television, Parker has gained respect as a stage actor, having appeared in well-reviewed lead roles in the off-Broadway play Sylvia, alongside future husband Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and the Tony Award-nominated Once Upon a Mattress.

In December 2005, Parker appeared in her first film in several years, The Family Stone; she received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress — Comedy for the role. Her next film, the romantic comedy Failure to Launch, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, was released on March 10, 2006, and opened at #1 in the North American box office, grossing slightly over $24 million on its opening weekend, despite mediocre reviews. Parker's work as a producer continued with the independent film Spinning Into Butter (which she also starred in), based on the Rebecca Gilman play.

On July 20, U.S. cable network Bravo announced it had picked up a reality show produced by Parker under the working title American Artist. As a self-described "art enthusiast", Parker will feature artists of any age over 17, with each show having 13 finalists. Parker's inspiration comes from her mother-in-law, whose artwork became noticed only after she died.

Parker participated in the United States version of the hit U.K. television series Who Do You Think You Are? for NBC, in which celebrities were helped to trace their family trees. The executive producer was Lisa Kudrow, and the series featured Parker, husband Matthew Broderick, Kudrow and others.

Fashion industry

In 2000, Parker hosted the MTV Movie Awards, appearing in fourteen different outfits during the show.

She has also become the face of many of the world's biggest fashion brands through her work in a variety of advertising campaigns. In August 2003, Parker signed a lucrative deal with Garnier to appear in TV and print advertising promoting their Nutrisse hair products. In 2004, she fronted an international campaign by Gap, but her contract was terminated in spring 2005 in favor of British soul singer Joss Stone.

Parker released her own perfume in 2005, called "Lovely". in partnership with discount clothing chain Steve & Barry's. The line, featuring clothing items and accessories under $20, launched on June 7, 2007, exclusively at Steve and Barry's.

In July 2007, following the success of "Lovely," Parker released her second fragrance "Covet." In 2007, Parker was a guest on Project Runway for the second challenge. In 2008, Covet Pure Bloom was released as continuous series of Covet. In February 2009, as part of the "Lovely" collection, Parker launched a series of three new fragrances called "Dawn", "Endless" and "Twilight".

Personal life

Parker was romantically involved with actor Robert Downey, Jr. from 1984 until 1991. They met on the set of Firstborn. Downey had a drug problem, which affected their relationship. Parker has said, "I believed I was the person holding him together." and Parker in 2009.]] On May 19, 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick, to whom she was introduced by one of her brothers at the Naked Angels theater company, where they both performed. The couple married in a civil ceremony in an historic synagogue on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The couple's son, James Wilkie Broderick, was born on October 28, 2002. He was named after Broderick's father, the actor James Joseph Broderick, and writer Wilkie Collins.

Parker and Broderick's surrogate mother delivered their twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, on June 22, 2009. Their middle names of "Elwell" and "Hodge" are from Parker's mother's family.

As of 2009, she lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughters. They also spend considerable time at their second home near Kilcar, a village in County Donegal, Ireland, where Broderick spent summers as a child.

Parker is a prominent member of the Hollywood's Women's Political Committee. She is UNICEF's Representative for the Performing Arts; in 2006, she traveled to Liberia as a UNICEF celebrity ambassador. She said, "It's a place that gets little or no attention, so we're going to try and bring some attention to it". She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States. Parker appeared in the premiere episode of the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? on March 5, 2010, where she discovered she had ancestors in the California Gold Rush of 1849-50 and in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Awards

Golden Globes

1999: Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2000: Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2001: Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2002: Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2003: Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2004: Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2005: Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Musical or Comedy - Sex and the City

2005: Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy - The Family Stone

Emmy Awards

1999: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2000: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2001: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2001: Winner: Outstanding Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2002: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2002: Nominee: Outstanding Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2003: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2003: Nominee: Outstanding Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2004: Winner: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2004: Nominee: Outstanding Comedy Series - Sex and the City

Screen Actors Guild Awards

2000: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2001: Winner: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2001: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2002: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2002: Winner: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2003: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2004: Winner: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2005: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

2005: Nominee: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

Razzie Award

2009: Nominee: Worst Actress - "Did You Hear About the Morgans?"

Bambi Award 2010: Surprise-Award for her life and style.

Maxim Magazine Award 2007: Number 1 Unsexiest Woman Alive

Filmography

Producer

References

External links

Biography at Sex and the City's website

Harper's BAZAAR interview

Sarah Jessica Parker's Perfumes

Category:Actors from Ohio Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:American people of English descent Category:American actors of German descent Category:People from Athens County, Ohio Category:University of Cincinnati alumni Category:UNICEF people Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Caption	Gervais at the 2007 BAFTAs
Birth name	Ricky Dene Gervais
Birth date	June 25, 1961
Birth place	Reading, England
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, music, books, radio, podcast
Nationality	British
Genre	Observational comedy, Improvisational comedy, Cringe humor
Subject	British culture, American culture, everyday life, self-deprecation, obesity, body image, race relations, relationships, current events, religion
Influences	Garry Shandling, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Louis C.K., Woody Allen
Active	1983–present
Domesticpartner	Jane Fallon(1982–present)
Notable work	David Brent in The OfficeAndy Millman in ExtrasHimself in The Ricky Gervais ShowDr. Bertram Pincus in Ghost TownDr. McPhee in Night at the Museum
Website	http://www.rickygervais.com/}}

Ricky Dene Gervais (; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician and writer. Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. Besides writing and directing the shows, Gervais played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. Gervais has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky Gervais Show.

He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, two British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010, he was named on the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people. Gervais hosted the 2010 Golden Globe Awards and has been signed by NBC to host the 2011 Globes as well.

Early life

Gervais, along with siblings Larry (born 1945), Marsha (born 1948), and Bob (born 1950), was born and raised in the suburb of Whitley in Reading, Berkshire. Gervais's father, Lawrence Raymond 'Jerry' Gervais (1919–2002), a Franco-Ontarian, emigrated while on foreign duty during the Second World War from London, Ontario, Canada. Jerry met Gervais's mother, Eva Sophia M. (née House; 1925–2000), during a blackout, and they settled in Whitley. She died aged 74 of lung cancer.

During Xfm London's The Ricky Gervais Show and in further newspaper interviews with The Independent, Gervais noted that he believes his birth was unplanned due to the age difference between his youngest sibling and himself. During one interview with The Independent, Gervais tells the author that even his mother admitted his birth was unplanned. He has claimed that his father was "drunk when he filled in the birth certificate", leading to the unusual spelling of his middle name.

Gervais has stated that his upbringing and childhood were stable and trauma-free, with a high level of honesty and openness between his family members. He claims that his family, "much like The Waltons", made fun of each other regularly.

Gervais attended Whitley Park Infants and Junior Schools and received his secondary education at Ashmead Comprehensive School, before moving on to University College London in 1979. He arrived to study biology but changed to philosophy after only two weeks and earned degree in the subject. During his first and second years at UCL he stayed at Canterbury Hall, one of the University of London halls of residence in Bloomsbury. It was also during his time at UCL that he met Jane Fallon, with whom he has been in a relationship since 1982.

Career

Music

In his final year as a student at UCL (University College London), in 1983, Gervais and his friend Bill Macrae formed a pop duo, Seona Dancing. They were signed by London Records, which released two of their singles—"More to Lose" and "Bitter Heart". The singles failed to break the top 40—with "More to Lose" charting at number 117 and "Bitter Heart" peaking at 70 in the UK singles charts.

According to the 20 December 2003 Ricky Gervais Show, Gervais later had a band called the Sacred Hearts, which Ian Camfield described as Gervais's Bon Jovi phase.

Radio

Gervais later worked as an events manager for the University of London Union (ULU), where he continued working until he took a similar job as "head of speech" at Xfm London.

Needing an assistant, Gervais interviewed the first person whose curriculum vitae he saw. The CV belonged to Stephen Merchant. During the interview at a local pub, Merchant agreed to do "all the boring stuff" because of his experience in media studies while Gervais "mess[ed] around". In 1998, Gervais was made redundant when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group.

Gervais was music adviser for the BBC drama This Life, which was being produced by his girlfriend, Jane Fallon. He and Merchant also contributed sketches to BBC Radio 1's The Breezeblock in 1999 and 2000.

After the first series of The Office, Gervais and Merchant returned to Xfm in November 2001 for a Saturday radio show. The show ran intermittently until January 2004 with breaks of 1–3 months between new shows. This was their first time working with Karl Pilkington, who produced the shows and later collaborated with them on their series of podcasts.

Podcast

On 5 December 2005 Guardian Unlimited began offering free weekly podcasts featuring Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington. Throughout January and February 2006, the podcast was consistently ranked the number-one podcast in the world; it appeared in the 2007 Guinness World Record for the world's most-downloaded podcast, having gained an average of 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. The Guardian's Chris Tryhorn explained the "few gripes" he had with Extras, "particularly in the second series". "You can forgive Gervais a certain arrogance after the success of The Office, but..." He remarks on the confused tone of the series, taking in the clash between the broad comedy of characters Barry (Shaun Williamson) and Darren (Stephen Merchant), and the apparent parody of this style with When The Whistle Blows, and "given their total indulgence of Gervais, the BBC is portrayed as interfering, its comedy department run by a rather crudely stereotyped gay couple".

Gervais guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", which aired on 26 March 2006 in the United States, on 23 April 2006 in the United Kingdom, and on 18 July 2006 in Australia. He is the only British comic to write and star in a Simpsons episode. The episode was the highest rated in Sky One's history, arguably because of its extensive promotion, which revolved around the angle that Gervais was the episode's sole writer (and the first guest star on the show to also receive a writing credit for the episode of his appearance). Gervais clarified the extent of his input in a joint interview (with Christopher Guest) for Dazed and Confused magazine (January 2006): "No, all I did was put down a load of observations on an email and they made it look like a Simpsons script. I'm going to get the credit, but I think everyone in the industry knows it was a joint effort". Asked in a separate interview about how his idea for the episode (in which Homer swaps Marge on a game show) came about, Gervais replied:

I've always been fascinated with reality game shows but I think it was my girlfriend's idea. We watch Celebrity Big Brother at the moment, we watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here... we watch all those reality TV shows — The Office came out of those docu-soaps".

Gervais, a longstanding Simpsons fan, presented a segment to mark the show's 20th anniversary on BBC Two's The Culture Show on 16 June 2007.

Gervais has also guest-starred on Alias (appearing in the third-season episode "Façade") as Daniel Ryan, a former Royal Navy bomb-disposal specialist turned rogue Irish Republican Army bomb-maker. He has said about the appearance, "I did an episode of Alias, and I can't watch it. Me being serious. I can't watch it".

Gervais made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live in a Digital Short during which he claims that The Office was adapted from a Japanese program of the same name (with Steve Carell reprising his role as Michael Scott). The sketch re-creates scenes from the American and British pilot episode with Japanese elements (although in an exaggerated way). "It's funny", Gervais laughs at the end, "because it's racist".

In January 2009, Gervais was interviewed by James Lipton for Season 15 of BravoTV's Inside the Actors Studio.

In January 2010, Gervais hosted the 67th Golden Globe Awards, making him the first master of ceremonies since 1995. He stated:

"I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

His performance as host received a mixed response with positive reviews from the New York Daily News and The Associated Press, but also some negative comments from industry bible, The Hollywood Reporter.

Gervais was a guest judge/panelist on Jerry Seinfeld's NBC show The Marriage Ref alongside Larry David and Madonna. On 1 April 2010, Gervais made his first appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.

As of December 2010, he has made 17 guest appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman on the CBS network.

In April 2010 it was announced that Gervais and Stephen Merchant will be writing a new show, called Life's Too Short, which they described as, "A cross between Extras and Curb your Enthusiasm and One Foot in the Grave but with a dwarf. That is out and out funny.” The show will star actor Warwick Davis as himself, as well as Gervais and Merchant.

In June 2010 it was announced that Gervais had been cast in the upcoming Season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm playing himself.

The Office

In August 1999, while on a BBC production course, Stephen Merchant had to make his own short film. He chose to make a docu-soap parody, set in an office. This sketch later formed the basis of the interview episode. With help from Ash Atalla, Merchant passed this tape on to the BBC's Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson at the Edinburgh Fringe, who then passed it on to Head of Comedy Jon Plowman, who eventually commissioned a full-pilot script from Merchant and Gervais. However the BBC at first misunderstood the true concept of the series. They were keen for the series to have a narration akin to many of the docusoaps that were being screened in the UK at this time. They also favoured a laughter track the like of which Gervais and Merchant despised. To top things off the corporation wished to pack the series with established names: John Thomson or Neil Morrissey as David Brent, Reece Shearsmith or Alan Davies as Tim, and as mentioned by Lucy Davis on a DVD extra feature, Nadia Sawalha as Dawn. Gervais and Merchant balked at all the suggestions, and, inspired by Sylvester Stallone's determination not to sell the rights to Rocky without the promise of playing the role himself, Gervais held out to play the role of Brent himself, have total casting control, the narration and laughter track scrapped, and of course he and Merchant would direct every episode themselves.

The first six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July and August 2001 to little fanfare or attention. Word-of-mouth, repeats, and DVDs helped spread the word, building up huge momentum and anticipation for the second series, also comprising six episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC Two ratings, and the show then switched to BBC One in December 2003 for its final two special episodes.

The Office has since been remade for audiences in France, Germany, Quebec, Brazil, and the United States. Gervais and Merchant are producers of the American version, and they also co-wrote the episode "The Convict" for the show's third season. The show is currently airing on Adult Swim on Fridays, and prior to the show's airing, Gervais appears as himself talking about the episode that will air in moments. In one of those segments, Gervais claimed the episode "Training" to be his favourite.

Extras

Extras had its debut on the BBC on 21 July 2005; it received its premiere on HBO in the United States in September 2005. Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the sitcom ran for twelve episodes and starred Gervais as Andy Millman, a background artist. Millman is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than Gervais's The Office character David Brent.

Guest stars on the first series of Extras include Ross Kemp, Les Dennis, Patrick Stewart, Vinnie Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, and Francesca Martinez. A second series began on 14 September 2006 in the UK and featured appearances by Daniel Radcliffe, Dame Diana Rigg, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellen, Chris Martin, Keith Chegwin, Robert Lindsay, Warwick Davis, Ronnie Corbett, Stephen Fry, Richard Briers, Patricia Potter, Sophia Myles, Moira Stuart, David Bowie, Kate Winslet, Robert De Niro, and Jonathan Ross.

at Live 8 in July 2005.]] A Christmas special of Extras aired on 27 December 2007 in the UK and on 16 December 2007 in the US, featuring guest appearances by George Michael, Clive Owen, Gordon Ramsay, Jonathan Ross, and David Tennant.

On 10 June 2006, Gervais and Merchant were seen in a specially filmed promotional sketch for Extras 2 in the middle of BBC One's World Cup football coverage. This time, Gervais did not perform his famous dance. Instead, Merchant did a take-off of the Crouch Dance, recently popularised by England striker Peter Crouch.

Some have suggested that Gervais is influenced by Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show in making Extras, particularly in the format of celebrities making fools of themselves or subverting their public personas, and in the Gervais joke of someone making inappropriate remarks in front of a member of a minority. He has interviewed both Larry David and Garry Shandling, creators of these shows, on Ricky Gervais Meets... .

Extras was awarded the Golden Globe award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy on 14 January 2008.

In February 2007, British ventriloquist Keith Harris refused an invitation to appear on the second series of Extras, claiming that Gervais "wanted me to be a racist bigot" and describing the script as "pure filth". When asked about Harris's refusal on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Gervais claimed that Harris simply "didn't get it". Keith Chegwin, who assumed the role offered to Harris, said "the people who didn't get it probably think Johnny Depp really is a pirate."

The Ricky Gervais Show (HBO / Channel 4 Animated Series)

The Ricky Gervais Show is an animated TV show that debuted on US cable network HBO on 19 February 2010. In the UK, the first season began airing on 23 April 2010 on Channel Four. The show was developed using original podcast recordings from The Ricky Gervais Show starring Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. After receiving a loyal and enthusiastic following in the US, Cable channel HBO recommissioned the show for a second season, due to air in 2011.

The original audio show was broadcast in November 2001 on radio station Xfm, and aired in weekly periods for months at a time throughout 2002, 2003, 2004, and mid-2005. In November 2005, Guardian Unlimited offered the show as a podcast series of 12 shows. Throughout January and February 2006, the podcast was consistently ranked the number one podcast in the world; it appeared in the 2007 Guinness World Record for the world's most downloaded podcast, having gained an average of 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. According to the BBC, by September 2006, the podcasts of the series had been downloaded "nearly 8 million" times.

Stand-up comedy

Gervais made a few attempts at stand-up in the late 1990s, but his first successful show took place at the Cafe Royal, as part of the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Titled Rubbernecker, the show also featured Jimmy Carr, Robin Ince, and Stephen Merchant.

Gervais later toured the UK in 2003 with his stand-up show Animals. The Politics tour followed a year later. Both of these shows were recorded for release on DVD and television broadcast. The third part of the themed live trilogy, Fame, took place in 2007. It started in Glasgow in January and ended in Sheffield in April. Blackpool reported selling out of tickets within 45 minutes of them going on sale. More dates were added. Newsnight Review's panel saw Animals during its Bloomsbury run and covered it in January 2003. They were not favourable, with Private Eye editor Ian Hislop being the most explicit in his criticism. After this, Gervais closed each show by calling Hislop an "ugly little pug-faced cunt". Further coverage on Newsnight Review has been overwhelmingly favourable, with the panelists playing themselves in promos for the second series of Extras. Panel regulars Germaine Greer, Mark Kermode, and Mark Lawson also appeared as themselves reviewing When The Whistle Blows in a series episode. Critic Mark Lawson is a great admirer of Gervais and Merchant, having interviewed them extensively for television, print Front Row, and the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Fame was the subject of some controversy in January 2007, when Gervais told a story, ostensibly about how people will do anything to become famous, to a Scottish audience. The story referred to a question asked of Gervais five years earlier by a reporter: what could someone do to become famous like you? To which he replied, "Go out and kill a prostitute". He followed up with the punchline, "I won't do that bit in Ipswich", referring to the December 2006 murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich. The joke drew criticism from the father of victim Tania Nicol: "These days, they want to make a joke out of anything. I feel he’s just being uncaring, quite honestly". Gervais defended himself: "I do want people to know that that happened five years ago and is not related to anything now. That is the problem with comedy, a joke that is funny today can be a terrible faux pas tomorrow".

He has performed stand-up in the U.S. three times—he performed two warm-up shows at the TriBeCa Performing Arts Center and headlined David Bowie's High Line Festival in May 2007.

Gervais's latest show is entitled Science, with an eleven date tour that commenced in August 2009 at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow. The DVD for this show was released on 15 November 2010. In November 2009, he headlined the sixth annual New York Comedy Festival at Carnegie Hall, New York.

On the This Morning show Gervais revealed that he had already began writing his fifth stand up routine and is titled People.

DVD releases

Books

Flanimals

Gervais released a children's book in 2004, Flanimals (illustrated by his friend Rob Steen), which depicted nonsense animals. After the success of this book, he released its sequel More Flanimals in 2005, with Flanimals of the Deep coming the next year. A new Flanimals book, Day of the Bletching, was released in October 2007. Flanimals: Pop Up is to be published later this year.

There is a wide range of Flanimals merchandise available, including dolls and gift cards. A six-part Flanimals TV series has been commissioned by ITV, although Gervais had previously claimed signing a Hollywood movie deal so that a franchise could be developed. "That way it stands a chance of being the next Dr. Seuss or Mr. Men".

Other books

The Office scripts have been released in book form, with Series 1 issued in 2002, and the remaining episodes following in 2003.

In late 2006, the Extras script book was released, as well as The World of Karl Pilkington presented by Gervais and Merchant. These were essentially transcripts of Xfm/podcast routines performed by the three.

Film

Gervais's film career has included small roles as the voice of a pigeon in 2005's Valiant, as a studio executive in 2006's For Your Consideration, as museum director Dr. McPhee in 2006's Night at the Museum and its sequel , and as "Ferdy the Fence" in the 2007 film Stardust. His role in Night at the Museum has proven to be one of Gervais's most popular roles, with the movie grossing $570 million worldwide.

Gervais starred in Ghost Town, which was released on 19 September 2008, and was in Lowell, Massachusetts during May 2008 filming his next project, The Invention of Lying, starring himself, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Jason Bateman, with appearances by Louis C.K., Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambor, Roz Ryan, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Edward Norton. The comedy, released in 2009, was co-written and co-directed by Gervais and Matt Robinson. The film was released in April 2010.

Other appearances

On 2 July 2005, Gervais appeared at the Live 8 event held in Hyde Park, London, where he performed his famous dance. He produced a series of short films for the cause, linked acts from the studio with Jonathan Ross, and also introduced the group R.E.M..

Gervais also has a role in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, as himself, appearing in his role as a comedian in a comedy club, and as an interviewee on radio station We Know The Truth. For this, a special 3-minute act was written, recorded and fully motion-captured.

Boxing

In 2002, Gervais took part in a charity boxing match against entrepreneur Grant Bovey — known largely by the public due to his relationship with TV personality Anthea Turner. On his Saturday afternoon radio show on Xfm London Gervais and partners Merchant and Pilkington had discussions on both Gervais's attitude towards boxing and training in general, as well as his likelihood of victory against Bovey. Initially, Merchant had questions as to why Gervais was participating in the event, due to his dislike of slight pain and his inexperience with fitness in general.

In the weeks before the event was scheduled to take place both Merchant and Pilkington voiced their doubts as to his fitness due to illness which he had suffered weeks before the event, humorously, by stating that both they and Gervais's family had written up a petition to the BBC stating "Please do not let this man box."

Gervais was trained for the three-round contest by famous boxing trainer brothers Frank and Eugene Maloney, at their Fight Factory gymnasium. It was the second televised charity boxing match, the first being Bob Mortimer against Les Dennis, for Comic Relief. The fight was televised by the BBC, and Gervais came out on top by a split decision verdict. Gervais later said that the experience was the 'most difficult thing' he had ever done. He donated his £5,000 prize money to the training of a Macmillan nurse.

Concert for Diana and Live Earth

On 1 July 2007, Gervais performed at the Concert for Diana in Wembley Stadium, a music event celebrating the life of the late Princess of Wales. Towards the end of the event — after a pre-recorded introduction from Ben Stiller - Gervais appeared along with fellow Office star Mackenzie Crook. They performed Freelove Freeway, a song previously heard in the fourth episode of series one of The Office. Due to a technical problem, Gervais then had to fill time until he was able to re-introduce Elton John to close the show, so he did the David Brent dance again, as well as singing the "Little Fat Man" song as performed by David Bowie in episode two of the second series of Extras.

On 7 July 2007, Gervais appeared at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London. Gervais introduced Rob Reiner appearing in the guise of spoof film director Marty Di Bergi, who in turn introduced Spinal Tap. At the start of the concert, Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, who was acting as compère for part of the event, announced that Gervais would be appearing and performing an 'extended 25-minute set', which ultimately failed to happen. It is unclear whether this was meant as a joke, perhaps referring to the time Gervais had to fill at the Concert for Diana the previous Sunday, or if it was simply cut because of time constraints, but in an off-stage segment later Moyles actually expressed disappointment that it had not occurred. Gervais himself however did reference his appearance at the Diana concert the previous week, saying, 'Now listen, we're running late, so I'm gonna be off this stage in 30 seconds, whether Elton John is fucking ready or not,' making him one of a number of people to swear on live TV at the event.

In July 2007, following Gervais's appearance at the memorial concert for Diana, Princess of Wales, The Guardian ran a column by Daily Mirror television critic Jim Shelley entitled "Call Me Crazy... But Has Ricky Gervais Lost It?" The following week, The Guardian noted that Gervais had responded with "an exhilaratingly foul-mouthed tirade" on his website, concluding with the words, "Yes I am resting on my fucking laurels you cunt!" In this video Gervais mocked Jim Shelley typing the words "Resting on his laurels" as Gervais jokingly lashed out by stating he was resting on his laurels and that he was not going to make another show for television, quipping "What's the point? What is there to beat?".

Personal life

Gervais currently lives in Hampstead, having moved from Bloomsbury, with his girlfriend of 28 years, producer and screenwriter Jane Fallon. He says they chose not to legally marry because "there’s no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no God" or have children because they "didn’t fancy dedicating 16 years of our lives. And there are too many children, of course". In August 2008, they bought a second home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.

Gervais is a fervent supporter of animal rights, and has been a fan of wildlife documentaries since he was a child. He has spoken out against fox hunting and bull fighting, and has even written to Gordon Brown urging him to stop the use of black bear fur as caps for the Foot Guards.

He told Kirsty Young that he is an atheist during a 2007 interview for Desert Island Discs, later stating he lost his faith at age eight, and in June 2008 he became an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. In December 2010, he wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal defending his lack of faith. He is also a close friend of American comedian Jon Stewart and is a frequent guest on his programme, The Daily Show.

His main friends are fellow The Office and Extras co-writer and co-director and podcaster, Stephen Merchant; fellow The Ricky Gervais Show star, Karl Pilkington; Flanimals' illustrator Rob Steen; and comedian and warm-up act, Robin Ince.

Accolades

Gervais has received many awards for his work on The Office, most notably two Golden Globes (one for acting, one for the show itself), as well as numerous British Academy Television Awards and British Comedy Awards, amongst others.

Gervais received an honorary award at the annual Rose d'Or ceremony in Switzerland on 29 April 2006. The award is given to "an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business".

On 16 September 2007, Gervais won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Andy Millman on Extras.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

Interviews

Time Magazine (2008). Renaissance Man: Ricky Gervais by Joel Stein

The Independent, et al. (2005). Ricky Gervais: My life as a superstar Electronic Version Independent News Media: United Kingdom

The Guardian Newspaper, et al. (2005). "Second Coming" Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007: United Kingdom

External links

in 2004

Ricky Gervais at the Oxonian Society video

Behind the scenes of The Office on BBC

Ricky Gervais's video interview on Big Think

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:20th-century writers Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of University College London Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:British people of French-Canadian descent Category:English atheists Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English film actors Category:English film directors Category:English people of Canadian descent Category:English people of French descent Category:English podcasters Category:English radio DJs Category:English radio personalities Category:English screenwriters Category:English television actors Category:English television directors Category:English television producers Category:English television writers Category:English voice actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:The Office (U.S. TV series) Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Katherine Heigl
Caption	Heigl at the premiere of 27 Dresses, January 2008
Birth name	Katherine Marie Heigl
Birth date	November 24, 1978
Birth place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Actress,Producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	1 child

Katherine Marie Heigl (; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and her starring role in the movies Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, and The Ugly Truth.

Heigl started her career as a child model with Wilhelmina Models before she turned her attention to acting. She made her debut in the coming-of-age film That Night. Heigl co-starred as Isabel Evans in the television series Roswell and movies including My Father the Hero before landing her break-out role in Grey's Anatomy. Heigl has established herself as a cover model appearing on numerous publications including Maxim, Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan.

Heigl married Josh Kelley in Park City, Utah, on December 23, 2007.

Early life and family

Heigl was born in Washington, D.C., at Columbia Hospital for Women, the daughter of Nancy (née Engelhardt) – a personnel manager – and Paul Heigl, a financial executive and accountant. Heigl has German and Irish ancestry, and was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is the youngest of four children (her siblings are Meg, Jason(deceased), and Holt). Heigl lived in Virginia and then Denver before her family settled in Connecticut, when they moved into a large, old Victorian-style farmhouse in the wealthy town of New Canaan, where she spent most of her childhood.

In 1986, her older brother Jason died of injuries suffered in a car accident, after being thrown from the back of a pickup truck while out for lunch with some of his high school classmates. Following his death, the family decided to donate his organs. Heigl was unnerved by this at the time but became a strong proponent of organ donation, working as a spokesperson for Donate Life America. Afterward, their parents converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (prior to that her mother was Lutheran and her father Catholic). Although she is no longer a "strong practicing Mormon", she stated that she hopes to "...find my way back as I get older and a little less selfish".

Career

Early work, 1986–1998

When Heigl was nine, an aunt visiting the family decided to take a number of photographs of her. After returning to her home in New York, her aunt sent the photos to a number of modeling agencies, with the permission of Heigl's parents. Within a few weeks, Heigl was signed with Wilhelmina Models as a child model. Soon after signing with the agency, a client slated Heigl for use in a magazine advertisement where she made her debut. At the time, she was earning $75 an hour posing for Sears and Lord & Taylor catalogs. Heigl appeared in her first national television spot for Cheerios cereal.

She made her acting debut in the 1992 movie That Night. Heigl appeared as Christina Sebastian in Steven Soderbergh's Depression-era drama King of the Hill before being cast in her first leading role in the 1994 comedy My Father the Hero. During this time, Heigl continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her film and modeling work with her academic studies. Heigl dropped out of New Canaan High School after her sophomore year to pursue her career in Hollywood.

In 1995, she starred in the Steven Seagal action thriller . Heigl portrayed a 16-year-old travelling on a train across a mountain pass to visit the grave of her deceased father with uncle Casey Ryback (Seagal), an ex-SEAL counter-terrorist expert. The main plotline has the train hijacked by mercenaries in Colorado, keeping her as a hostage. Much of her work in the film was opposite Morris Chestnut, Sandra Taylor and Everett McGill.

Despite an increased focus on acting, she still modeled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as Seventeen. She took the lead role in Disney's made-for-television film Wish Upon a Star in 1996. Also in 1996, Heigl's parents divorced and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Heigl was frequently featured in photo essays in magazines such as Life, TV Guide, and Teen as well as FHM. She appeared in the FHM and Maxim calendars, FHM's annual "100 Sexiest Women in the World", and was featured in the Girls of Maxim Gallery. In May 2006, Maxim awarded her #12 on their annual Hot 100List as well as voted the 19th "Sexiest Woman in the World" by readers of FHM magazine. While Roswell was in production, Heigl worked on several films, including 100 Girls, an independent 2001 film, and Valentine, a horror film starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards.

Heigl accepted a role in Ground Zero, a television thriller scheduled to be telecast that fall which was based on the bestselling James Mills novel The Seventh Power, in the spring of 2001. She co-starred as a brilliant and politically-concerned college student who helps to build a nuclear device to illustrate the need for a change in national priorities. The device ends up in the hands of a terrorist following betrayal by a fellow student. However, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the film was shelved when its plot was considered inappropriate. It reemerged in 2003 under the title Critical Assembly. After the attacks, Heigl recorded a public service announcement for the American Red Cross in an effort to help raise money for victims.

In 2003, Heigl appeared in three television movies. She returned to the horror genre with Evil Never Dies, a modern-day variation on the Frankenstein story co-starring Thomas Gibson. Love Comes Softly, for Hallmark Entertainment, found Heigl starring as Marty Claridge, a young, pregnant newlywed traveling west. (She reprised the role of Marty in the sequel Love's Enduring Promise the next year.) Heigl played Isabella Linton in MTV's modern revamp of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. In October 2003, Heigl was cast opposite Johnny Knoxville in The Ringer, a Farrelly brothers comedy that was released in December 2005. Heigl starred as Romy in the 2005 television movie , a prequel to the 1997 film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.

Breakthrough, 2005–present

In 2005, Heigl was cast in what would become her most high-profile role to date, as medical intern Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, an ABC medical drama. The show, originally introduced as a mid-season replacement, became a huge ratings success and is still one of the highest-rated television series on broadcast television. The same year, Heigl landed the starring role in the independent film, Side Effects, a romantic comedy about marketing and the pharmaceutical industry, where she was also executive producer. In late 2006, Heigl was nominated for a Golden Globe award in the category Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series, or Motion Picture Made for Television for her work on Grey's Anatomy. Also in 2006, she filmed Knocked Up, a comedy from writer/director Judd Apatow, starring opposite Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Apatow's real life wife, Leslie Mann. Upon its June 2007 theatrical release, the film received largely positive reviews from critics, and proved to be a box office success. Despite her run of success, she also starred in the box office bomb Zyzzyx Road which despite being filmed in 2004, was not released until 2006. It has been cited as the lowest grossing film of all time. She has been on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list twice as of 2007.

On September 16, 2007, Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzie Stevens. In her acceptance speech she acknowledged that even her mother did not believe she would win, and when her name was called, she had to be censored vocally by the telecast's producers, due to her saying "Shit!" when she reacted to the win. Earlier, she had corrected telecast announcer Rebecca Riedy, who had been given an incorrect phonetic spelling of Heigl's name, when she mispronounced her name as Hi-jell before the presentation of the award with Kyle Chandler for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. She starred in the film, 27 Dresses which was released in January 2008, playing alongside James Marsden.

Katherine Heigl was announced the Most Desirable Woman of 2008, according to AskMen.com.

There was some speculation that Heigl might be leaving Grey's Anatomy after the end of the 2008-2009 season. This speculation revolved around her refusal to put her name in for Emmy Award consideration and the time she had devoted to producing a film version of Carolyn Jessop's book Escape. Grey's showrunner Shonda Rhimes said she was not insulted by Heigl's Emmy withdrawal, but also noted that Heigl's character Izzy had less to do during the season because Heigl asked for a light work schedule. However, despite Heigl's reported displeasure with the previous season as well as suggestions that her character had died, Heigl's return for the sixth season of Grey's has been confirmed by ABC.

In 2009, Heigl starred opposite Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth, which opened July 24.

Heigl starred in the Lionsgate comedy-thriller Killers, opposite Ashton Kutcher, which was released June 4, 2010. She next starred in and produced the big-screen drama Life As We Know It. The film revolved around a woman and a man whose respective best friends die in a car accident; following the tragedy, they are left to share in caring for the deceased's orphaned daughter. Everwood creator Greg Berlanti directed the film.

Whether or not Heigl would leave Grey's Anatomy remained to be seen for the bigger part of season six. However, on March 11, 2010, Heigl reportedly did not show up for work when she was supposed to, and she and Shonda Rhimes had apparently come to an agreement to release her from her contract immediately. Therefore, Heigl's last appearance on the January 21 episode of Grey's Anatomy is also her final appearance on the season. Heigl said that her departure was not about advancing her film career but that she wanted to focus more on her family.

Salary

Heigl won greater financial success after Knocked Up (2007). The movie grossed $148,761,765 in the U.S., for which she earned a salary of $300,000 USD. Heigl got higher wages in the film 27 Dresses (2008), for which she received $6 million USD, and for the films Killers (2010) and Life as We Know It (2010), for which she was paid $12 million each. Movie Entertainment called Heigl a complex individual with many contrasts, referring to her as an "ex-model with a strong feminist streak" and an "actress known for her dramatic roles who really wants to do comedy".

In the wake of widespread media attention to accusations of sexism (including articles in New York, The New Yorker, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Guardian, Vanity Fair and People) against director and producer Judd Apatow and his film Knocked Up, Heigl has been tagged as a potentially important and assertive modern proponent of women's rights. In his review for The Guardian, humorist Joe Queenan called Knocked Up "the latest in a new genre of romantic comedies in which an unappealing hero gets together with a gorgeous, successful woman".

Heigl's comments spurred widespread reaction in the media, primarily consisting of personal attacks in which she was called "an ungrateful traitor", "hypocrite", and "assertive, impatient go-getter who quickly tired of waiting for her boyfriend to propose", in some cases debasing her religious beliefs and criticizing her private relationships. Heigl clarified her remarks to People magazine, stating that, "My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously and to remember that it's a broad comedy", adding that, "Although I stand behind my opinion, I'm disheartened that it has become the focus of my experience with the movie".

The Guardian noted that Heigl's comments "provoked quite a backlash, and Heigl was described as ungrateful and a traitor. Some people even suggested she would never work again", remarks which in retrospect were not only proved demonstrably wrong but the publicity and promotion in the wake of her comments may well have propelled Heigl's career.

Following the release of 27 Dresses, the New York Post expressed some disappointment with the mismatch of Heigl's talent with the "chick-flick" triviality of the film, suggesting that Heigl might be more compatible "with female directors such as Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) or Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)...".

Animal welfare projects

Heigl has worked with Best Friends Animal Society on several projects including their Pup My Ride program. The program transports small dogs from high-kill animal shelters to other parts of the US where there is a greater demand for such dogs. Her involvement in this led her to give Best Friends a grant which would fund a year of the program.

Heigl and her mother, Nancy, then started Heigl's Hounds of Hope which operates as part of the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation. The Foundation was created in honor of Katherine's brother, who was killed in a car accident in 1986 at the age of fifteen. Heigl's Hounds of Hope rescues larger dogs with behavior problems from shelters with a high kill rate and rehabilitates them through training and other adjustments to make them suitable for re-homing. They were married on December 23, 2007 in Park City, Utah. During a taping of Live With Regis and Kelly, Heigl stated that she and Kelley chose not to live together before they were married, saying, "I think I just wanted to save something for the actual marriage... I wanted there to be something to make the actual marriage different than the dating or the courtship." Her brother-in-law is Charles Kelley, of the Grammy Award winning country music trio Lady Antebellum.

On September 9, 2009, Heigl's representative confirmed that the couple had started the process of adopting a baby girl from South Korea. Later that month, the couple adopted a baby girl with special needs they named Nancy Leigh (named after Heigl's mother and sister), nicknamed Naleigh. Heigl's sister is also Korean-born and was adopted before Heigl was born.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Film ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 1992 | That Night | Kathryn | |- | 1993 | King of the Hill | Christina Sebastian | |- | 1994 | My Father the Hero | Nicole | Nominated — Young Artist Award — Best Performance by a Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture |- | 1995 | | Sarah Ryback |- | rowspan="2"|1997 |Prince Valiant | Princess Ilene | |- | Stand-ins | Taffy-Rita Hayworth's Stand-in | |- | rowspan="2"|1998 | Bug Buster | Shannon Griffin | |- | Bride of Chucky | Jade | |- | 2000 | 100 Girls | Arlene | |- | 2001 | Valentine | Shelley Fisher | |- | rowspan="2"|2003 | Descendant | Ann Hedgerow/Emily Hedgerow | |- | Critical Assembly | Aizy Hayward | |- | rowspan=2|2005 | Side Effects | Karly Hert | Executive producer |- | The Ringer | Lynn Sheridan | |- | rowspan="2"|2006 | Zyzzyx Road | Marissa | Box Office $30 |- | Caffeine | Laura | |- | 2007 | Knocked Up | Alison Scott | Box Office: $219 million USD Nominated — Empire Award — Best Actress Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — Teen Choice Award — Choice Movie Actress: Comedy |- | 2008 | 27 Dresses | Jane Nichols | Box Office: $159 million |- | 2009 | The Ugly Truth | Abby Richter | Box Office: $205 million Executive producer Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Teen Choice Award — Choice Summer Movie Star: Female |- | rowspan="2"|2010 | Killers | Jen Kornfeldt | Box Office: $92 million |- | Life as We Know It | Holly Berenson | Box office: $88 million to date Executive producer |- | 2011 | Adaline | | |- | 2011 | One for the Money | Stephanie Plum | |- align="center" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Television |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Show ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 1996 | Wish Upon a Star | Alexia Wheaton/Hayley Wheaton | Television movie |- | 1998 | The Tempest | Miranda Prosper | Television movie |- | 1999–2002 | Roswell | Isabel Evans | 61 episodes Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on TelevisionNominated — Teen Choice Award — Choice Television Actress |- | 2001 | The Twilight Zone | Andrea Collins | Episode: "Cradle of Darkness" |- | rowspan="4"|2003 | Vegas Dick | | Television movie |- | Love Comes Softly | Marty Claridge | Television movie CAMIE Award |- | Wuthering Heights | Isabel Linton | Television movie |- | Evil Never Dies | Eve | Television movie |- | 2004 | Love's Enduring Promise | Marty Claridge Davis | Television movie CAMIE Award |- | 2005 | | Romy White | Television movie |- | 2005–2010 | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens | 109 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (2007) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama SeriesNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2007, 2008)Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006, 2008)Nominated — Teen Choice Award — Choice Television Actress |- |}

References

External links

Category:Actors from Connecticut Category:Actors from Washington, D.C. Category:American child actors Category:American female models Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American television actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:American actors of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:1978 births Category:Living people

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Josh Groban
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Joshua Winslow Groban
Born	February 27, 1981Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, drums, percussions, flute
Genre	Classical, pop, vocal, Operatic pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor, record producer
Years active	1997–present
Label	143, Reprise
Url

Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number one best selling artist in the United States.

Groban originally studied acting but as his voice changed, it developed into a "significant instrument". The event that changed Groban's life was when his vocal coach, Seth Riggs, submitted a tape of Josh singing, "All I Ask of You", from The Phantom of the Opera, to Riggs' friend, renowned producer, composer and arranger David Foster. Foster called him to stand in for an ailing Andrea Bocelli to rehearse a duet, "The Prayer," with Celine Dion at the rehearsal for the Grammy Awards in 1998. Groban, being shy, reluctantly agreed. Rosie O'Donnell was so impressed that she immediately invited him to appear on her daytime talk show. His name and career soared with the public recognition he received, after being cast on Ally McBeal by the show's creator David E. Kelley, who asked him to perform "You're Still You" for the show's 2001 season finale. and Jack Groban, a businessman. His father is of Jewish background and a descendant of Russian and Polish immigrants. His mother is Norwegian American, the daughter of immigrants from the eastern Norwegian district of Toten. His parents joined the Episcopal Church after his father's conversion from Judaism to Christianity. Chris, his younger brother, shares the same birthday four years later.

Groban debuted as a singer in seventh grade. His music teacher chose the curly-headed, skinny kid for a solo of "S'wonderful" at the school's Cabaret Night, and Josh sang alone on stage for the very first time. When his mother, Lindy, heard his voice from outside the auditorium, she didn't even recognize the voice, and when she realized it was her son singing, it brought her to tears. David E. Kelley, creator of the television series Ally McBeal, created a character, Malcolm Wyatt, for Groban in the season finale aired in May 2001. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, prompting 8,000 emails from viewers, Under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on classics such as "Gira Con Me Questa Notte" and "Alla Luce Del Sole."

Groban performed "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000–01 La Luna World Tour, and was featured on her "La Luna" concert DVD. He recorded "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). Groban performed in many benefit shows, including: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children," singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001), which was co-hosted by President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

The singer's self-titled debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.

On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and by November, he had his own PBS special, "Josh Groban In Concert" (2002). In December 2002, he performed "To Where You Are" and sang "The Prayer" in a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. He joined The Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie, and others for a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. In 2003, Groban performed at the David Foster concert for World Children's Day, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion and the finale song, "Aren't They All Our Children?" with artists including Yolanda Adams, Nick Carter, Enrique Iglesias, and Celine Dion.

Recent years

in Manchester, NH|right]]

Groban's second album Closer, produced and written by Foster, was released on November 11, 2003. Groban said that he believed that this second album was a better reflection of him, and that his audience would be able to get a better idea of his personality from listening to it. "What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title." as well as on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Larry King Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Jay Leno Show, 20/20, The Today Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Super Bowl XXXVIII, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, the Rockefeller Tree Lighting, and Glee (TV series).

During the first week of September 2006, Groban's single entitled "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" was released exclusively on AOL's First Listen. His third studio album Awake was officially released on November 7, 2006. Groban performed "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" as well as two other tracks from Awake at his recording session for Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios on 26 October 2006. On that album, Groban also collaborated with British musician and songwriter Imogen Heap, on the single "Now or Never". He performed two tracks with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "Lullaby" and "Weeping." Groban's "Awake" world tour visited 71 cities between February and August 2007, and travelled further to Australia and the Philippines with Lani Misalucha as his special guest in October 2007. He performed a duet with Barbra Streisand ("All I Know of Love") and with Mireille Mathieu ("Over the Rainbow"). As to his future, Groban is open to a plethora of possibilities. He said, "I am fortunate enough to have had many really big moments in my career. I think the mistake a lot of people in my position make is to always search for the next big thing. I am looking forward to playing some small theaters. I'm looking forward to writing more. I want to delve further into my acting career and explore some of the film and TV opportunities that I haven't had time for. My outlook is to expect the unexpected. And when the next step comes, I'm prepared to take it."

Groban has twice appeared on hit British TV Music Quiz show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks. His first appearance was as a guest on Noel Fielding's team and the second appearance was as the host/quiz master of an episode.

(2010–present)

Groban finished his fifth studio album, entitled Illuminations and the album was released on November 15, 2010. Most of the songs on the album are about "specific situations that I've had where love has existed and ultimately failed," Groban told The New York Times, adding: "And other songs are about the quest, and it just not working out." Groban wrote 11 of the 13 songs on the album. The first single from the album, "Hidden Away," was made available for free download via Facebook on September 8. “For me to sit in a room with a piano in one take with some of Johnny Cash’s musicians — that was totally new for me.” Josh added. “and I think that excitement is on the record.” This song is sung in Brazilian Portuguese and was written by Brazilian artist Carlinhos Brown. The Washington Post said: "Illuminations" isn't a revelation, but it offers a perfectly fine, and often quite lovely, glimpse at a pop-classical crossover artist in the middle of crossing over." Josh plans on making one more record with Rubin.

Film

In a comedy called Crazy, Stupid, Love, an upcoming movie starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell, scheduled for released on April 22, 2011, Groban plays a character named Richard, a caddish lawyer, much of the humor coming simply from the sheer unlikelihood of Groban in that role. Recently, Groban has received recognition for his skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he sings the tweets of controversial rap artist Kanye West.

Notable performances

On April 14, 2007, Groban joined Idina Menzel for a PBS Soundstage taping. The next day, he held his own taping for the same PBS TV series at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall at Jazz in New York City.

In June 2007, Groban recorded a Christmas album in London with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Magdalen College Choir, which he discussed on the DVD from "The Making of Noël". It was released on October 9, 2007 and is titled Noël. The album has been highly successful in the US breaking numerous records for a Christmas album, as well as becoming the best selling album of 2007 in only its tenth week of release, at sales of 3.6 million.

On July 1, 2007, Groban performed with Sarah Brightman at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium; it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries.

On August 23, 2007, Groban performed "You Raise Me Up" on Episode 14 of the talent show Last Choir Standing.

Groban was nominated for the 2008 Juno Award for International Album of the Year for Noël. In collaboration with French legend Charles Aznavour, he recorded Aznavour's signature song La Bohème as a duet in English and French. It is due to be released on Aznavour's next album, titled Duets.

On February 10, 2008, Groban performed at the 2008 Grammy Awards with Andrea Bocelli in a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti.

On May 12 and 13, 2008, Groban performed as Anatoly Sergievsky in "Chess in Concert" at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

On July 15, 2008, Groban performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 79th All-Star Game in New York City at Yankee Stadium.

On August 29, 2008, Groban appeared on the final episode of The Charlotte Church Show for a brief interview. The show ended as Groban performed "The Prayer" with host Charlotte Church.

On September 21, 2008, Groban performed a comical medley of well-known TV theme songs at the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

In December 2008, Groban appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He performed a duet with Only Men Aloud! at the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

On January 18, 2009, Groban performed as part of the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies, performing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in duet with Heather Headley.

On January 20, 2009, Groban performed at the Warner Theatre - Heroes Red, White & Blue Inaugural Ball, Washington, DC

On March 28, 2009, Groban performed a duet of "Bridge over Troubled Water" with Jordin Sparks for the charity event Celebrity Fight Night.

In March 2009, Groban covered the hits of the late Casey Tatum and his brother on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. On September 14, 2009, Groban appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and surprised an audience member. Two days later he made a cameo appearance on Glee.

Groban was also featured in Nelly Furtado's song "Silencio", which was released on September 1, 2009. This song is from Nelly's first full length Spanish album Mi Plan.

At the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, he performed the Star Spangled Banner on Jan. 7, 2010 with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, at the historic Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California.

On November 30, 2010, Groban performed at the New York Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting.

On December 18, 2010, Groban performed at the Carols in the Domain in Sydney, Australia.

On December 21, 2010, Groban returned to BBC Two's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, this time as guest host and ending the show duetting with Michael Ball in a version of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables.

Vocal technique

Various music critics have described Groban's voice in different ways, with some referring to him as a tenor and others as a baritone. In performance, Groban's music goes as low as G2 (as in the song "To Where You Are") and extends up to at least B♭4 (as heard in "You Raise Me Up" or "February Song"). This places his voice lower than the tenor range on the low end, and just short of Tenor C, and therefore above the baritone range, on the high end. There is currently no authoritative system of voice classification in non-classical music. The problem lies in the fact that classical terms are used to describe not merely various vocal ranges, but specific vocal timbres each unique to those respective ranges, and produced by the classical training techniques with which most popular singers are not intimately familiar and which are not universally employed by the few that are. In a 2002 New York Times article, Groban described himself as a "tenor in training".

Charity

Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Adopt-A-Annual Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), Live 8 (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006). He also sang a solo on the recording of We Are The World 25 for Haiti (2010). Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts. Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa. On April 25, 2007, Josh Groban performed with the African Children's Choir on American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" episode. Also on September 2, 2007, Groban donated $150,000 to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education. On February 28, 2008, he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program. In honor of his 27th birthday, his fans set out to raise $27,000 in a project called "Raise 27". They ended up raising a total of $44,227 for the Josh Groban Foundation, to benefit the Noah's Ark children's orphanage called Siyawela in South Africa. Groban has since referred to this donation as "the best birthday present ever". For those who could afford the $1500 ticket, Josh Groban performed at the The Angel Ball on October 21, 2010. Proceeds went to the Gabrielles Angel Foundation for cancer research.

Impact

Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Freddie Mercury and Björk. He cites as vocal influences "anyone who told a story with their songs," including Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.

He was named the #1 Best Selling Artist of All Time on Barnes & Noble in 2007. Groban has sold more than 20 million albums in less than ten years.

In 2002, Groban was listed as "100 Sexiest Newcomer" and in 2008, he became one of People's "100 Most Beautiful People".

Personal Life

Groban dated January Jones from 2003–06. Although maintaining a home in Los Angeles, he recently moved his primary residence to New York to an apartment on a high floor of the Time Warner Center, where he indicates that "dating can be very easy or very tough".

Discography

2001: Josh Groban

2003: Closer

2006: Awake

2007: Noël

2010: Illuminations

References

External links

BroadwayWorld: Idina Menzel & Josh Groban to Star in 'Chess' Musical UK Concert?

Chess in Concert (2008)

Brown, Bob. "A Star in the Making: Who is Josh Groban?." ABCNews. com: 20/20

Category:1981 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American Christians Category:American Episcopalians Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:Christians of Jewish descent Category:American male singers Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni Category:English-language singers Category:Living people Category:American musicians of Norwegian descent Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:American musicians of Russian descent Category:Warner Music Group artists Category:American performers of Christian music

{{ infobox actor | name = Jim Parsons | image = Jim Parsons.png | caption = Parsons in 2008 | birthname = James Joseph Parsons | birthdate = March 24, 1973 | birthplace = Houston, Texas, U.S. | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = 2000–present }} James Joseph "Jim" Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American television and film actor best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, with his performance often cited as a significant reason for the program's success. In August 2009, he won the Television Critics Association award for the highest individual achievements in comedy. In April 2010, he received the National Association of Broadcasters Television Chairman's Award for a significant break-through in one or more specific art discipline. On August 29, 2010, he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on The Big Bang Theory.

Early life

Jim Parsons was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the older of two children. After playing the role of the Kola-Kola bird in a school production of The Elephant's Child when he was six, Parsons was determined to become an actor. He attended Klein Oak High School in Spring, Texas, a northern suburb of Houston. Parsons points to a role in Noises Off his junior year as the first time "I fully connected with the role I was playing and started to truly understand what it meant to be honest on stage". In 1999, Parsons left Houston to attend graduate school at the University of San Diego. Parsons enjoyed school, and told an interviewer that he would have pursued a doctorate in acting if possible. According to him, school "was so safe!...you frequently would surprise yourself by what you were capable of, and you were not surprised by some things." Parsons graduated in 2001 and appeared on the television series Ed.

Additionally, Parsons auditioned for 15–30 television pilots. On the rare occasions when he was cast in the role, the show generally failed to be purchased by a television network. He was nominated for Emmy awards in 2009 and 2010, winning in 2010 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In September 2010, Parsons and his costars Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco signed new contracts, guaranteeing each of them $200,000 per episode for the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory, with substantial raises for each of the next three seasons. The three were also promised a percentage of the show's earnings.

Personal life

Parsons currently lives in Los Angeles. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall. His hobbies include playing the piano and watching sports, especially tennis, baseball, and basketball.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

CBS Biography

Movieline interviews Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons On Learning Lines, Emmy Nods and Cast Ping Pong Deathmatches

Fresh Air Interview: Jim Parsons On The Science Of Sheldon, 'Big Bang'

Category:1973 births Category:Actors from Texas Category:American actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Houston, Texas Category:University of Houston alumni Category:University of San Diego alumni

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Fred Rogers
Caption	Mr. Rogers with the miniature set for his television program
Birth name	Fred McFeely Rogers
Birth date	March 20, 1928
Birth place	Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death date	February 27, 2003
Death place	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death cause	Stomach cancer
Other names	Mister RogersMr. Rogers
Spouse	Sara Joanne Byrd (1952-2003)
Occupation	Educator, minister, songwriter, television host
Years active	1951–2002

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003) was an American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, and television host. Rogers was most famous for creating and hosting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001), that featured his gentle, soft-spoken personality and directness to his audiences. He was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. He testified to the U.S. Supreme Court on time shifting; and he gave a now-famous speech before the U.S. Senate, advocating government funding for children's television rather than the Vietnam War.

Rogers was honored for his life work in children's education. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, a Peabody Award for his career, and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Two resolutions recognizing his work were unanimously passed by U.S. Congress, one of his trademark sweaters was acquired and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, and several buildings and works of art in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory.

Personal life

Fred McFeely Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine Rogers Crozier.

Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946). He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48) in Hanover, New Hampshire, and transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition (1951).

At Rollins, Rogers met Sara Joanne Byrd, an Oakland, Florida, native; and they married on June 9, 1952. They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961), and three grandsons, the third (Ian McFeely Rogers) born twelve days after Rogers' death. In 1963, Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church. During the course of his career, he garnered forty honorary degrees. swam every morning, was a vegetarian, and neither smoked nor drank.

Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. for best children's show, and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC.

During these eight years, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching; and, after his ordination, he was specifically charged to continue his work with Children's Television. He had also done work at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development.

In 1963, Rogers moved to Toronto, where he was contracted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to develop a 15-minute children's television program: Misterogers, which would be his debut in front of the camera. The show was a hit with children but lasted for only three seasons. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the 'tree', and 'castle'—were created by CBC designers. While in Canada, Rogers brought his friend and understudy Ernie Coombs, who would go on to create Mr. Dressup, a very successful and long-running children's show in Canada, and similar in many ways to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers' later program.

In 1966, Rogers acquired the rights to his program from the CBC and moved the show to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he had worked on The Children's Corner. He developed the new show for the Eastern Educational Network. Stations that carried the program were limited but did include educational stations in Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

After returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers attended and participated in activities at the Sixth Presbyterian church in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a More Light congregation which he attended until his death.

Distribution of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began on February 19, 1968. The following year, the show moved to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), and the company established offices in the WQED building in Pittsburgh. Initially, the company served solely as the production arm of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, but now develops and produces an array of children's programming and educational materials.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

's Museum of American History.]]

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood began airing in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes; the last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing in August 2001. At its peak, in 1985, 8% of U.S households tuned in to the show. Rogers found the character's pitching fast food as confusing to children, and called a press conference in which he stated that he did not endorse the company's use of his character or likeness (Rogers did no commercial endorsements of any kind throughout his career, though he acted as a pitchman for several non-profit organizations dedicated to learning over the years). The chain publicly apologized for the faux pas, and pulled the ads. By contrast, Fred Rogers found Eddie Murphy's parody of his show on Saturday Night Live, "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood," amusing and affectionate, which was also initially broadcast at a time of night when his own child audience was not likely see it.

Emmys for programming

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood won four Emmy awards, and Rogers received one for lifetime achievement.

During the 1997 Daytime Emmys, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Rogers. The following is an excerpt from Esquire's coverage of the gala, written by Tom Junod:

Advocacy

in 2002.]]

PBS funding

In 1969, Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in response to significant proposed cuts. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television provided. He passionately argued that alternative television programming like his Neighborhood helped encourage children to become happy and productive citizens, sometimes opposing less positive messages in media and in popular culture. He even recited the lyrics to one of his songs.

The chairman of the subcommittee, John O. Pastore, was not previously familiar with Rogers' work, and was sometimes described as impatient. However, he reported that the testimony had given him goosebumps, and declared, "I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million." The subsequent congressional appropriation, for 1971, increased PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.

VCR

During the controversy surrounding the introduction of the household VCR, Rogers was involved in supporting the manufacturers of VCRs in court. His 1979 testimony in the case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. noted that he did not object to home recording of his television programs, for instance, by families in order to watch together at a later time. This testimony contrasted with the views of others in the television industry who objected to home recording or believed that devices to facilitate it should be taxed or regulated.

The Supreme Court considered the testimony of Rogers in its decision that held that the Betamax video recorder did not infringe copyright. The Court stated that his views were a notable piece of evidence "that many [television] producers are willing to allow private time-shifting to continue" and even quoted his testimony in a footnote:

}}

Death, awards, and memorials

, and opened to the public on November 5, 2009.]]

Rogers was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2002, not long after his retirement. He underwent surgery on January 6, 2003, which was unsuccessful. A few weeks later, he served as grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, with Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby.

Rogers died on February 27, 2003 at his home with his wife by his side, less than a month before he would have turned 75. Rogers is interred at Unity Cemetery in Latrobe.

On New Years Day of 2004, Michael Keaton hosted the PBS TV special "Mr. Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor". It was released on DVD September 28 that year. Keaton was a former stagehand on the show before he quit to become an actor. To mark what would have been his 80th birthday, Rogers' production company sponsored several events to memorialize him, including "Won't You Wear a Sweater Day", during which fans and neighbors were asked to wear their favorite sweaters in celebration.

The television industry honored Rogers with a George Foster Peabody Award "in recognition of 25 years of beautiful days in the neighborhood" in 1987, the same year he was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men of music. Rogers was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999. One of Rogers' iconic sweaters was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, which displays it as a "Treasure of American History". In 2002 Rogers received the PNC Commonwealth Award in Mass Communications.

" by John Laidacker]]

He was furthermore awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002, for his contributions to children's education, justified by President George W. Bush, who said, "Fred Rogers has proven that television can soothe the soul and nurture the spirit and teach the very young". It read, in part, "Through his spirituality and placid nature, Mr. Rogers was able to reach out to our nation's children and encourage each of them to understand the important role they play in their communities and as part of their families", Santorum said. "More importantly, he did not shy away from dealing with difficult issues of death and divorce but rather encouraged children to express their emotions in a healthy, constructive manner, often providing a simple answer to life's hardships."

Following Rogers' death, the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003 unanimously passed Resolution 111 honoring Rogers for "his legendary service to the improvement of the lives of children, his steadfast commitment to demonstrating the power of compassion, and his dedication to spreading kindness through example."

The same year the U.S. Presbyterian Church approved an overture "to observe a memorial time for the Reverend Fred M. Rogers" at its General Assembly. The rationale for the recognition of Rogers reads, "The Reverend Fred Rogers, a member of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh, as host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood since 1968, had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people across the country through his ministry to children and families. Mister Rogers promoted and supported Christian values in the public media with his demonstration of unconditional love. His ability to communicate with children and to help them understand and deal with difficult questions in their lives will be greatly missed."

Several buildings, monuments, and works of art are dedicated to Rogers' memory, including a mural sponsored by the Pittsburgh-based Sprout Fund in 2006, "Interpretations of Oakland," by John Laidacker that featured Mr. Rogers. Saint Vincent College in (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) completed construction of The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media in 2008. The Fred Rogers Memorial Statue on the North Shore near Heinz Field in Pittsburgh was created by Robert Berks and dedicated in 2009.

studios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.]]

The asteroid 26858 Misterrogers is named after Rogers. This naming, by the International Astronomical Union, was announced on May 2, 2003 by the director of the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The science center worked with Rogers' Family Communications, Inc. to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called "The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", which plays at planetariums across the United States.

See also

Colcom Foundation

References

External links

PBS Kids: Official Site

The Fred M. Rogers Center

Family Communications, Inc.

Category:1928 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Actors from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:American Presbyterians Category:American Christians Category:American puppeteers Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:American vegetarians Category:Christian vegetarians Category:Cancer deaths in Pennsylvania Category:Christianity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Dartmouth College alumni Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Deaths from stomach cancer Category:PBS people Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Category:Presbyterian ministers Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Rollins College alumni

Coordinates	3°8′51″N101°41′36″N
Name	Emmy Rossum
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Emmanuelle Grey Rossum
Born	September 12, 1986New York City, New York U.S.
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Pop
Occupation	Actress, singer, songwriter
Years active	1996–present (actress)1993–present (singer)
Label	Geffen Records (2007–present)
Url	Official Website

Emmanuelle Grey "Emmy" Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She first starred in a string of movies including Songcatcher (2000), An American Rhapsody (2001) and Passionada (2002). Her role in Mystic River (2003) garnered her wider fame. She then starred in the blockbuster film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004) for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. She has since starred in Poseidon (2006), (2009) and Dare (2009).

In 2007, Rossum released her debut album, Inside Out. She also released a Christmas EP the same year entitled Carol of the Bells.

Early life

Rossum was born in New York City, New York, the only child of Cheryl, a single mother who worked as a corporate photographer and an investment banker. She was named after her grandfather, whose first name was Emanuel, using the feminine spelling Emmanuelle. Rossum was raised by her mother and has only met her father twice. She is Jewish. She is the niece of Vera Wang, to whom she is related by marriage.

Upon singing "Happy Birthday" in 12 different keys, Rossum was welcomed to join the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus by chorus director Elena Doria at the age of 7. Over the course of five years, she sang onstage with the chorus and had the chance to perform with other opera greats, such as Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. For $5–10 a night, Rossum sang in six different languages, in 20 different operas, including La bohème, Turandot, a Carnegie Hall presentation of La damnation de Faust and A Midsummer Night's Dream. She also worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in Carmen. Rossum joked in interviews that her vocal talent and affinity for music developed because her mother always listened to classical music and operas while she was pregnant with her.

By age 12, Rossum had grown too big for the children's costumes. An increasing interest in pursuing acting led to taking classes with Flo Salant Greenberg of The New Actors Workshop in New York City. She also hired an agent and auditioned for many acting roles.

Career

Acting

1997 was Rossum's television debut with a guest appearance on Law & Order as Alison Martin. In 1999, she had a recurring role as the original Abigail Williams in the long-running daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She also had a guest role as Caroline Beels in Snoops. Rossum was nominated for a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV Movie for her work in the made-for-tv movie Genius. Following that movie, she portrayed a young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000).

Rossum made her big screen debut in 2000's Songcatcher as Deladis Slocumb, an Appalachian orphan. Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. For her role, Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance and also had the opportunity to sing a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack.

Variety magazine named Rossum as "One of the Ten to Watch" in 2000.

In Nola (2003), Rossum played the title character, who was an aspiring songwriter.

In her first major studio film, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Rossum starred as Katie Markum, the ill-fated daughter of small-business owner Jimmy Markum, played by Sean Penn. As Katie, Rossum was said to have "projected an aura of innocence that made her character's tragic death memorable and heartbreaking." Rossum was asked to audition in person for Webber at his home in New York. “When I arrived, he just said, ‘Shall we?’ meaning I was to sing. And I did," Rossum has said of the audition. She also received a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actress, along with a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor and other awards.

In 2006, Rossum appeared in Poseidon - Wolfgang Petersen's high-budget remake of the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure. She played Jennifer Ramsey, the daughter of Kurt Russell's character, Robert Ramsey. As Jennifer, she is described as a 19-year-old heroine because she is not a damsel in distress, and is very proactive and strong in all situations.

Rossum also appeared as Juliet Capulet in a 2006 Williamstown Theatre Festival production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

In early 2009, Rossum appeared in Dragonball Evolution. Rossum described her action role in Dragonball as the hardest thing she's ever done.

Her next big screen venture was the indie Dare which was an official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

In November 2009 Rossum appeared in Broadway's 24 Hour Plays in which actors, writers, and directors collaborate to produce, and perform six one act plays within 24 hours to benefit the Urban Arts Partnership. Rossum appeared in Warren Leight's "Daily Bread", directed by Lucie Tiberghien.

In December 2009, Rossum joined the cast of the Showtime drama series pilot Shameless, based on the hit British series of the same name. The pilot costars William H. Macy, Joan Cusack and Justin Chatwin. In April 2010, Showtime announced that they would be picking up the series for a full season of twelve episodes. Production began in September 2010 and continued through the fall with shooting taking place in Los Angeles and Chicago

Singing and recording

After her role in The Phantom of the Opera, Rossum was offered several deals to record classical albums, but refused, opting to create an album of contemporary, more mainstream music. "I was inspired to cut this album because I'm so frustrated listening to the radio these days," Rossum lamented. "There is so little emotional honesty." and the Lighting of the Great Tree in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rossum describes herself as a lyric soprano, though she admits her voice is still developing.

In the summer of 2008, Rossum announced that she was in the process of writing and recording her second studio album.

She joined Counting Crows, Augustana, and Michael Franti & Spearhead as a "special guest" for select performances of the "Traveling Circus and Medicine Show" tour in the summer of 2009.

In 2010 Rossum sang a song called "Cruel One" on singer Alex Band's debut solo album We've All Been There. On the track she sings with Band, and Chantal Kreviazuk. The song is available on the album's deluxe edition.

Rossum continues to train vocally at ZajacStudio, Inc, a studio run by soprano Joann C. Zajac.

Charity work and Public Service Campaigns

Rossum is a YouthAIDS ambassador. Additionally Rossum is an environmentalist. She has appeared in several Public Service Announcements for the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) Action Fund. She also works with Global Green USA to raise money for environmental protection and awareness of ecological issues. On May 26, 2009, Emmy Rossum attended a march in West Hollywood California protesting the California Supreme Court's ruling to uphold Proposition 8

Personal life

Rossum is a 2001 graduate of the Spence School, a private school in Manhattan. She received her high school diploma at 15 years old via online extension courses offered by Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY).

Rossum has a wheat allergy. She revealed her allergy to MTV News after MTV News gave her a cupcake on-camera to celebrate her 22nd birthday; she was only able to eat the frosting. One of her best friends is actress Leighton Meester, a member of the Gossip Girl cast.

Rossum was married to music executive Justin Siegel for a year and a half before he filed for divorce on September 25, 2009. Rossum began dating Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz after touring with the band in the summer of 2009. They broke up in September 2010.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1996 | Grace & Glorie | Luanne | TV Movie |- | 1998 | Only Love | Lily | TV Movie |- | 1999 | Genius | Claire Addison | TV MovieNominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot - Supporting Young Actress |- | 2000 | The Audrey Hepburn Story | Young Audrey Hepburn | TV Movie |- |rowspan="2"| 2000 | Songcatcher | Deladis Slocumb | Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance |- | It Had to Be You | Young Girl | |- |rowspan="2"| 2001 | An American Rhapsody | Sheila (at age 15) | |- | Happy Now | Nicky Trent / Jenny Thomas | |- | 2002 | Passionada | Vicky Amonte | |- |rowspan="2"| 2003 | Nola | Nola | |- | Mystic River | Katie Markum | |- |rowspan="2"| 2004 | The Day After Tomorrow | Laura Chapman | Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance |- | The Phantom of the Opera | Christine Daae | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young PerformerNational Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young ActressNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough PerformanceNominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 2006 | Poseidon | Jennifer Ramsey | |- |rowspan="2"| 2009 | | Bulma | |- |Dare | Alexa Walker | |- | 2010 | Born to Die | Joanna Fields | |}

Television

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Show ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1997 | Law & Order | Alison Martin | "Ritual" (Season 8, Episode 10) |- | 1998 | A Will of Their Own | Young Sarah | Mini-series |- |rowspan="2"| 1999 | Snoops | Caroline Beels | "Separation Anxiety" (Season 1, Episode 6)"Blood Lines" (Season 1, Episode 11) |- | As the World Turns | Abigail Williams | "Unknown Episodes" |- | 2001 | The Practice | Allison Ellison | "The Candidate" (Season 6, Episode 1) |- | 2010 | Shameless | Fiona Gallagher | |- |}

Awards and nominations

{|class="wikitable" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Award ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Category ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Nominated Work ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Result |- | 2000 || Young Artist Award || Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot - Supporting Young Actress || Genius || |- | 2001 || Independent Spirit Award || Best Debut Performance || Songcatcher || |- | 2004 || National Board of Review || Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress || rowspan="4"| The Phantom of the Opera || |- | rowspan="7"| 2005 || Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films || Best Performance by a Younger Actor || |- | Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards || Best Young Actress || |- | Golden Globes || Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy || |- | MTV Movie Awards || Breakthrough Female || The Day After Tomorrow || |- | Online Film Critics Society Awards || Best Breakthrough Performance || rowspan="3"| The Phantom of the Opera || |- | Satellite Awards || Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical || |- | Young Artist Awards || Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress || |- | 2009|| Savannah Film Festival || Young Hollywood Award || Dare || |}

Discography

;Studio albums

2007: Inside Out

;Other albums

2007: Carol of the Bells (EP)

Endorsements

The Body Shop

Mt Rainier Cafe Latte

AK Plaza

References

External links

Official website

Emmy Rossum on Geffen Records

Category:1986 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:American child actors Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American singers Category:American sopranos Category:American television actors Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish composers and songwriters Category:Living people Category:People from New York City Category:Saturn Award winners Category:New York Democrats Category:YouTube video producers