Name | Univision |
---|---|
Logo | |
Type | Broadcast Television Network |
Country | Production: Doral, Florida| |
Language | Spanish |
Available | throughout the United States |
Slogan | ''Todos estamos con Univision''("We all are with Univision")''Estás en Casa'' ("You are at Home"; used in Puerto Rico)''Siempre Contigo'' ("Always With You") |
Broadcast area | United StatesPuerto Rico |
Owner | Univision Communications, Inc. 95% and Grupo Televisa 5% |
Key people | Cesar Conde, President, Univision Networks |
Launch date | September 30, 1962 |
Picture format | 480i (SD)720p/1080i (HD) |
Former names | Spanish International Network (1962–1986) |
Website | univision.com |
Footnotes | }} |
sister names | Telefutura Galavision |
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terr serv 1 | Available throughout the U.S. |
terr chan 1 | see List of Univision affiliates |
sat serv 1 | DirecTV (US) |
sat chan 1 | 402 Univision East (SD/HD)403 Univision West1402 Univision On Demand |
sat serv 2 | Dish Network (US) |
sat chan 2 | 270 Univision East HD 828 Univision West |
cable serv 1 | Available on most cable systems |
cable chan 1 | Check local listings |
3gmobile serv 1 | }} |
Univision () is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, (CEO as of June 29, 2011) COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva in April 2010. In recent years the network has reached parity with the U.S.'s five major English language television networks, and is often a strong fifth, outranking The CW, with some fourth-place weekly placings during the summer months due to the network's consistent schedule of new telenovelas all 52 weeks of the year.
Univision is headquartered in New York City, after years of being in Los Angeles, and has its major studios, production facilities, and operations in Doral, Florida, a suburb of Miami. In 2009, another television studio was announced, Univision Studios, to be built in Doral. Univision is available on cable and satellite in most of the country, with local stations in over 50 markets with large Hispanic and Latino populations and a national cable network feed distributed in markets without either the availability or the demand for a locally-based station. Most of these stations air full local news and other local programming in addition to network shows, and in major markets such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, Univision owned-and-operated station (O&O;) newscasts are equally competitive with their English-language counterparts ratings-wise.
Univision was acquired on March 29, 2007 by a consortium led by Haim Saban's Saban Capital Group (who had previously owned the entity Saban Entertainment), TPG Capital, L.P., Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $13.7 billion or $36.25 per share plus $1.4 billion in acquired debt. The buyout left the company with a debt level of twelve times its annual cash flow, which was twice the norm in buyouts done over the previous two years.
The new owners turned the station around, and in 1962 signed on KMEX-TV, channel 34 in Los Angeles and in 1968 signed on WXTV channel 41 in Paterson, New Jersey, serving the New York metropolitan area. This was the beginning of the Spanish International Network, the first non-English-language television network in the United States.
Over the next 20 years, SIN would acquire other high-rated Spanish language television stations throughout the Western United States, and then expand the market to WLTV in Florida, KDTV in San Francisco, and WSNS-TV in Chicago. In the mid-1970s the network also began to distribute their national signal via satellite, first as a 'super-station'-type feed of KWEX-TV San Antonio, then as a general feed allowing cable television operators to carry the network at little cost on their systems.
The new group changed the network's name to Univision. Univision's new CEO, Joaquin Blaya, was to sign the contracts for two programs that would change the network. Blaya signed Cristina Saralegui, who became a famous talk show host, and Mario Kreutzberger, better known as Don Francisco, who brought from Chile his famous program ''Sábado Gigante''. Also, the network began production of its first morning television show. The program was ''Mundo Latino'', anchored by Lucy Pereda and Frank Moro, who were both Cuban. Moro left for Mexico to continue his career as a soap opera actor and the network brought in Jorge Ramos.
In 1988, the network began to produce television shows with a national audience in mind. The first production was titled ''TV Mujer'' (Woman TV), a magazine-styled show aimed at Hispanic women in the United States. At first anchored by Lucy Pereda and Gabriel Traversari, the program was a mix of cooking and entertainment segments.
Pereda was replaced shortly after finishing her first year by Mexican-American Lauri Flores, who hailed from KXLN-TV in Houston, Texas, where she was director of programming, promotions, special events, and public information as well as producer and host of the local community affairs show ''Entre Nos''. During Ms. Flores' time as host of ''TV Mujer'', the show remained the number one daytime show on Spanish-language television, outperforming its time period competition by 33 percent. Telemundo's ''Dia a Dia'', launched before the arrival of ''TV Mujer'', saw its ratings diminishing.
A model from ''Sábado Gigante'', Jackie Nespral became the add-on host in TV Mujer's last year, hired to sit in while Flores was on maternity leave. Nespral became a formal host during the show's final season. ''TV Mujer'' begat a series of other programs, namely ''Hola, America'' and ''Al Mediodia'', which never got the ratings of the original concept and were cancelled.
In 1993, having purchased Univision from Hallmark a few months earlier, Jerry Perenchio appointed Miguel Banojian to turn around the operations of KMEX-34 in Los Angeles, the company's flagship station, which generated a big portion of the company's revenue. Banojian was then a 25-year-old executive from Univision's New York City headquarters, where he helmed WXTV's (channel 41) newscasts. His outstanding results in Los Angeles positioned KMEX as the first Spanish language television station ever to outperform the English language networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, and overcame what had been Telemundo's competitive edge against Univision.
In June 2002 it was announced that Univision would acquire Dallas, Texas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., a multiple-station operation specializing in Spanish Radio stations like WADO New York, KLVE Los Angeles, KGSX San Antonio, and KESS Dallas. The approval was long and hard. The acquired group was renamed Univision Radio. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univision_Radio) The negotiations to merge the two companies followed years of on again/off again negotiations in which each company would make a run at the other, as well as occasional stabs at other groups (HBC once attempted to broker a deal to merge with Spanish Broadcasting System, and HBC once tried to acquire Telemundo outright before Sony and Liberty actually pulled off a deal).
In late 2004, a feud began between Perenchio and the head of Televisa, Emilio Azcárraga Jean. The dispute was about Univision's continual editing of Televisa's programming, and failure to pay for transmission of Televisa-produced sports and specials. The feud intensified to the point where Televisa's most famous stars have been banned from appearing on any Univision-produced shows and specials. In addition, Televisa has filed a lawsuit against Univision for breach of contract. In recent years, Univision also lost several key on-air personalities to Telemundo, including long time weekend news anchor Maria Antonieta Collins, tabloid news anchor María Celeste Arrarás, and sports announcer Andrés Cantor.
Univision previously overtook the now-defunct English-language networks UPN and the WB, now the CW Television Network, as the fifth-most popular network overall, and in the 18-to-34-year-old and 18-to-49-year-old demographics it sometimes ranks higher than that. More advertising on TV is targeted toward those age groups than toward any other part of the viewing audience.
In the first week of September 2010 the network reached a milestone with a first-place ranking in the 18-49 demographic among all networks, English and Spanish, assisted by a primetime Mexico/Ecuador match and the finale of a popular telenovela, along with the English networks having traditionally weak programming that time of year.
On April 7, 2005, Univision held a three-hour tribute concert for singer Selena, entitled ''Selena ¡VIVE!''. The concert would earn a 35.9 Nielsen household rating, not only being the highest rated show of the night, but also being the highest-rated and most-watched Spanish-language program in American television history. On February 9, 2006, Univision Communications confirmed that it was putting itself up for sale. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, stated that his company was considering buying Univision, but backed off that position. Other expected bidders announced were Time Warner, CBS, Disney, Grupo Televisa of Mexico (under a partnership, due to foreign ownership laws in the U.S.), Bill Gates, and several private equity firms. Tribune Company was rumored to be interested in buying TeleFutura, a subsidiary network of Univision.
On June 27, 2006, Univision announced that it accepted a $12.7 billion bid from a group of private equity investors led by TPG Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The investor group also included Madison Dearborn, Providence Equity, and children's television mogul Haim Saban. On March 27, 2007, federal regulators approved the sale. According to the Los Angeles Times, the deal was closed and the ownership change was made official on that same day.
However, Univision's shareholders filed two class-action lawsuits against the company and its board members to stop the buyout. One lawsuit claims that the board members structured the deal to only benefit the company's insiders and not the average stockholders. The other lawsuit was filed on behalf of a shareholder identified as L A Murphy, who claims that the board put its own personal interests and the interests of the winning bidder ahead of shareholders, and also failed to adequately evaluate the company's worth. In the meantime, more lawsuits were filed: one against Univision's records division for heavy-handed tactics, and the other by a winner of a ''¡Despierta América!'' $30,000 makeover contest who alleged that Univision broke its own contest rules. A long-awaited trial, it's expected to start in April 2008, at a Los Angeles court.
Univision continues to gain broadcast penetration and has done so since 2004, with stations in Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Minneapolis and Nashville, among many others.
On June 25, 2007, with the finale of ''La Fea Más Bella'', Univision led all U.S. television broadcasting networks, including English-language ones, with a 3.0 rating out of 9 share, which also made the show the second most watched of the week. Later that year, Univision hosted the first Spanish-language presidential debate in the United States at the University of Miami.
On April 5, 2008, Univision introduced a new Saturday morning cartoon block, ''Planeta U'', which features "educational and informative" programming such as ''Dora the Explorer'', ''Go, Diego, Go!'', ''Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'', ''Inspector Gadget's Field Trip'', and ''Beakman's World'', all dubbed in Spanish. The following month, Univision Music Group was sold to Universal Music Group and combined with the latter's Latin music label to become Universal Music Latin Entertainment.
In 2009, the network sponsored a countdown in Times Square, similar to the New Year's Eve event. On the night of June 12, at 11:59 PM (23:59) EDT, the Jumbotron-size screen ticked off the last 60 seconds of full-power analog TV in the Eastern time zone, culminating in the message "BIENVENIDOS A LA ERA DIGITAL" ("welcome to the digital era"). This was aired live by the network during ''Ultima Hora: Una Nueva Era''. The ball was lighted in white but was not dropped, remaining at the bottom where the lighted "2009" sign also remained, despite the four-month delay from February 17.
In October, 2010, Televisa agreed to take a 5% stake in Univision, which it can grow in the future, and to extend and expand the companies' long-term program license agreement. The new program license agreement will include Internet and mobile rights and cover key Mexican football (soccer) rights. The agreement will run through at least 2020, but more likely 2025 or later, compared with the previous deal's 2017 expiration.
==Programming== The majority of Univision's programming consists of series produced and broadcast by Mexican broadcast network Televisa and Venezuelan broadcast network Venevision, however much of Univision's telenovelas are produced by Televisa. The network's signature program, the Saturday night variety show ''Sabado Gigante'', hosted by Don Francisco, has aired on Univision since 1989; as such, Univision is one of only three American television networks that airs a first-run program during Saturday primetime (Fox and CBS are the only others). Situation comedies and variety shows largely make up Univision's weekend lineup.
Univision does produce a moderate amount of original programming including ''Sabado Gigante'', the talk shows ''El Show de Cristina'' and ''Casos de Familia'', the daily morning music video program ''Tu Desayuno Alegre'', the reality competition series ''Nuestra Belleza Latina'', and national news programming including the flagship Noticiero Univision newscast, ''Primer Impacto'' and the morning news program ''Despierta America''; Univision also operates its own television production firm launched in 2009, called Univision Studios, which produces original content for the network. The network's weekend daytime schedule features a morning children's program block called ''Planeta U'', consisting of Spanish-dubbed versions of American children's programs that comply with the FCC's E/I guidelines; and also typically airs telenovelas that appeal to teen or pre-teen audiences on early Saturday afternoons. The network also airs some films, generally in weekend timeslots; but unlike Telefutura and Telemundo, Univision does not air Spanish-dubbed English-language films. While Univision largely programs its affiliates schedules in a sense since the network's affiliates air the large majority of its programming, some Univision affiliates do produce locally-produced programs such as local evening newscasts and public-affairs programs; many affiliates that do produce newscasts generally air them only on Monday through Friday evenings and with only a few exceptions, do not carry weekend newscasts.
In 2004 Univision had a list of words it edited from programming to comply with United States federal regulators. The words affected had no negative connotations in some Spanish-speaking countries, but had obscene connotations in other countries. In June 2005 Grupo Televisa filed a lawsuit against Univision in a U.S. federal court accusing the network of several actions, including "unauthorized editing" of Televisa programming.
Category:Spanish-language television networks in the United States Category:Television channels and stations established in 1961 Category:Texas Pacific Group companies
de:Univision es:Univision fr:Univision nl:Univision ja:ユニビジョン pt:Univisión ru:UnivisionThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
birth name | Thomas Jeffrey Hanks |
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birth date | July 09, 1956 |
birth place | Concord, California, U.S. |
years active | 1979–present |
occupation | Actor, producer, director, voice over artist, writer, speaker |
spouse | Samantha Lewes(m. 1978–1987; divorced)Rita Wilson (m. 1988–present) |
children | Colin, Elizabeth, Chester, Truman }} |
In addition to having a family history of Catholicism and Mormonism, Hanks was a "Bible-toting evangelical teenager" for several years. In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his high school years. Hanks acted in school plays, including ''South Pacific'', while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to California State University, Sacramento. Hanks told ''The New York Times'': "Acting classes looked like the best place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant. I spent a lot of time going to plays. I wouldn't take dates with me. I'd just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat, and read the program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Henrik Ibsen, and all that, and now look at me, acting is my job. I wouldn't have it any other way."
During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling's suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival. His internship stretched into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design, and stage management, all of which caused Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'', one of the few times he played a villain.
''Bosom Buddies'' and a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of ''Happy Days'' ("A Case of Revenge," where he played a disgruntled former classmate of The Fonz) prompted director Ron Howard to contact Hanks. Howard was working on ''Splash'' (1984), a romantic comedy fantasy about a mermaid who falls in love with a human. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character's wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks got the lead role and a career boost from ''Splash'', which went on to become a box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He also had a sizable hit with the sex comedy ''Bachelor Party'', also in 1984.
In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on ''Family Ties'' as Elyse Keaton's alcoholic brother, Ned Donnelly.
With ''Nothing in Common'' (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told ''Rolling Stone''. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, ''The Money Pit'', where the story is really about a guy and his house."
After a few more flops and a moderate success with ''Dragnet'', Hanks succeeded with the film ''Big'' (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by ''Punchline'', in which he and Sally Field co-starred as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: ''The 'Burbs'' (1989), ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' (1990), and ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie ''Turner & Hooch'' brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of ''Disney Adventures'', Hanks said, "I saw ''Turner & Hooch'' the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
In ''Philadelphia'', he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for ''People'', Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for ''Philadelphia'''s success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''Philadelphia''. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay.
Hanks followed ''Philadelphia'' with the 1994 summer hit ''Forrest Gump''. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for ''Gump'', I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in ''Forrest Gump'', becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)
Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie ''Apollo 13''--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster ''Toy Story'' as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama ''From the Earth to the Moon''. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.
Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For ''Saving Private Ryan'' he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his ''Sleepless in Seattle'' co-star Meg Ryan for ''You've Got Mail'', a remake of 1940's ''The Shop Around the Corner''.
In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel ''The Green Mile''. He also returned as the voice of Woody in ''Toy Story 2.'' The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's ''Cast Away''. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series ''Band of Brothers''. He also appeared in the September 11 television special ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' and the documentary ''Rescued From the Closet''.
Next he teamed up with ''American Beauty'' director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel ''Road to Perdition'', in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy ''Catch Me if You Can'', based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.
In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' ''The Ladykillers'', another Spielberg film, ''The Terminal'', and ''The Polar Express'', a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a ''USA Weekend'' interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: "[Since] ''A League of Their Own'', it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film ''The Da Vinci Code'', based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary ''The War''. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by ''Forbes'' magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in ''The Simpsons Movie'', in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film ''Starter for Ten'', a comedy based on working class students attempting to win ''University Challenge''.
In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film ''Charlie Wilson's War'' (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007, and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2008's ''The Great Buck Howard'', Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.
Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of ''Angels & Demons'', based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007, announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'', impersonating himself for the ''Celebrity Jeopardy'' sketch.
Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film ''Where The Wild Things Are'', based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.
In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, ''Toy Story 3'', after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.
In 2011, he directed and starred opposite Julia Roberts in the title role in the romantic comedy ''Larry Crowne''. The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings.
Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's ''Toy Story 3''.
In 1988, Hanks married actress Rita Wilson. The two first met on the set of Hanks's television show ''Bosom Buddies'' but later developed a romantic interest while working on the film ''Volunteers''. They have two sons: Chester, or "Chet" (who has a small part as a student in ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' and released a rap single in 2011), and Truman.
Hanks became a grandfather when his son Colin and daughter-in-law Samantha gave birth to granddaughter Olivia Jane Hanks on February 1, 2011.
Regarding his religious views, Hanks has said, "I must say that when I go to church – and I do go to church – I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'Why people are as they are' and 'Why bad things happen to good people,' and 'Why good things happen to bad people'... The mystery is what I think it is, almost, the grand unifying theory of mankind."
A proponent of environmentalism, Hanks is an investor in electric vehicles and owns both a Toyota RAV4 EV and the first production AC Propulsion eBox. Hanks was a lessee of an EV1 before it was recalled, as chronicled in the documentary ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' He is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series.
Hanks was extremely outspoken about his opposition to Proposition 8, an amendment to the California constitution that defined marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. Hanks and others who were in opposition to the proposition raised over US$44 million in contrast to the supporters' $39 million, but Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.
While premiering a TV series in January 2009, Hanks called supporters of Proposition 8 "un-American" and attacked the LDS (Mormon) church members, who were major proponents of the bill, for their views on marriage and their role in supporting the bill. About a week later, Hanks apologized for the remark, saying that nothing is more American than voting one's conscience.
In 2006, the Space Foundation awarded Hanks the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.
In June 2006 Hanks was inducted as an honorary member of the United States Army Rangers Hall of Fame for his accurate portrayal of a Captain in the movie ''Saving Private Ryan''; Hanks, who was unable to attend the induction ceremony, was the first actor to receive such an honor. In addition to his role in ''Saving Private Ryan'', Hanks was cited for serving as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award-winning miniseries, ''Band of Brothers''.
Hanks is one of several celebrities who frequently participates in planned comedy bits on Conan O'Brien's talk shows, including ''Late Night'', ''The Tonight Show'', and ''Conan'' while a guest. On one visit, Hanks asked Conan to join his run for president on the "Bad Haircut Party" ticket, with confetti and balloons and a hand held sign with the slogan "You'd be stupid to vote for us". On another episode, O'Brien, noting that Hanks was missing Christmas on his promotional tour, brought the season to him, including a gift (the skeleton of Hooch), and a mass of snow burying them both. On yet another episode, Conan gave Hanks a painting he had commissioned reflecting two of his interests: Astronauts landing on the beach at Normandy. On March 10, 2008, Hanks was on hand at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct sixties band The Dave Clark Five. Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks is named for him.
+ List of film credits | |||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | Notes |
1980 | ''He Knows You're Alone'' | Elliot | |
1982 | ''Mazes and Monsters'' | Robbie Wheeling | Made for television |
1984 | Allen Bauer | ||
1984 | Rick Gassko | ||
1985 | '''' | Richard Harlan Drew | |
1985 | Lawrence Whatley Bourne III | ||
1986 | '''' | Walter Fielding, Jr. | |
1986 | ''Nothing in Common'' | David Basner | |
1986 | David Bradley | ||
1987 | Pep Streebeck | ||
1988 | ''Big'' | Adult Josh Baskin | |
1988 | Steven Gold | ||
1989 | ''Turner & Hooch'' | Detective Scott Turner | |
1989 | '''' | Ray Peterson | |
1990 | ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' | Joe Banks | |
1990 | '''' | Sherman McCoy | |
1992 | '''' | Jimmy Dugan | |
1992 | Older Mike | (uncredited) | |
1993 | ''Sleepless in Seattle'' | Sam Baldwin | |
1993 | Andrew Beckett | ||
1994 | |||
1995 | Jim Lovell | ||
1995 | ''Toy Story'' | (voice) | |
1996 | ''That Thing You Do!'' | Mr. White | (writer and director) |
1998 | ''Saving Private Ryan'' | Captain John H. Miller | |
1998 | ''You've Got Mail'' | Joe Fox | |
1999 | ''Toy Story 2'' | Woody | (voice) |
1999 | '''' | Paul Edgecomb | |
2000 | ''Cast Away'' | Chuck Noland | |
2002 | ''Road to Perdition'' | Michael Sullivan, Sr. | |
2002 | ''Catch Me If You Can'' | FBI Agent Carl Hanratty | |
2004 | '''' | Viktor Navorski | |
2004 | '''' | Professor G.H. Dorr | |
2004 | Mailbox Elvis | (cameo) | |
2004 | '''' | ||
2006 | '''' | ||
2006 | Woody Car | (voice) | |
2007 | '''' | Himself | (voice) |
2007 | ''Charlie Wilson's War'' | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | |
2008 | '''' | Mr. Gable | |
2008 | (producer) | ||
2009 | Professor Robert Langdon | ||
2009 | '''' | Various historical figures | (voice) |
2009 | (producer) | ||
2010 | ''Toy Story 3'' | Woody | |Nominated—IGN Movie Award for Best Ensemble Cast|Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie|Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor}} |
2011 | ''Larry Crowne'' | Larry Crowne | (director, producer, writer) |
2011 | ''Hawaiian Vacation'' | Woody | (voice) |
2011 | Thomas Schell Jr. | ||
2012 | Dr. Henry Goose | filming |
+ List of television credits | |||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | Notes |
1980 | '''' | Rick Martin | TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother" |
1980–1982 | ''Bosom Buddies'' | Kip Wilson | |
1982 | Gordon | ||
1982 | ''Mazes and Monsters'' | Robbie Wheeling | |
1982 | ''Happy Days'' | Dr. Dwayne Twitchell | TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge" |
1983 | ''Family Ties'' | Ned | Elyse Keaton's brother |
1994 | ''Vault of Horror I'' | Director | |
1998 | Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer) | Miniseries | |
2001 | Producer, director, writer | Miniseries | |
2002 | '''' | Interviewee | |
2006–2011 | ''Big Love'' | Executive producer | TV series |
2008 | Executive producer | Miniseries | |
2010 | '''' | Executive producer/Narrator | Miniseries |
2011 | ''Saturday Night Live'' | Guest cast member |
+ List of accolades and awards won | ||
! Organization | ! Year | ! Award |
Hollywood Women's Press Club | 1988 | Golden Apple Award |
Hasty Pudding Theatricals | 1995 | |
American Film Institute | 2002 | AFI Life Achievement Award |
Hollywood Film Festival | 2002 | Actor of the Year |
2004 | Britannia Award for Excellence in Film | |
2004 | Bambi for Film – International | |
Film Society of Lincoln Center | 2009 | Gala Tribute |
Category:1956 births Category:Actors from California Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Actor Empire Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:California Democrats Category:California State University, Sacramento alumni Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Concord, California Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Saturn Award winners Category:Space advocacy
af:Tom Hanks ar:توم هانكس an:Tom Hanks az:Tom Henks bn:টম হ্যাঙ্কস be:Том Хэнкс be-x-old:Том Гэнкс bg:Том Ханкс bs:Tom Hanks ca:Tom Hanks cs:Tom Hanks co:Tom Hanks cy:Tom Hanks da:Tom Hanks de:Tom Hanks et:Tom Hanks el:Τομ Χανκς es:Tom Hanks eo:Tom Hanks eu:Tom Hanks fa:تام هنکس fr:Tom Hanks ga:Tom Hanks gv:Tom Hanks gl:Tom Hanks ko:톰 행크스 hy:Թոմ Հենքս hi:टॉम हैंक्स hr:Tom Hanks io:Tom Hanks id:Tom Hanks is:Tom Hanks it:Tom Hanks he:טום הנקס jv:Tom Hanks kn:ಟಾಮ್ ಹ್ಯಾಂಕ್ಸ್ ka:ტომ ჰენქსი sw:Tom Hanks la:Thomas Hanks lv:Toms Henkss lb:Tom Hanks lt:Tom Hanks hu:Tom Hanks mk:Том Хенкс ml:ടോം ഹാങ്ക്സ് mr:टॉम हँक्स arz:توم هانكس ms:Tom Hanks mn:Том Хэнкс nl:Tom Hanks ne:टम ह्याङ्क्स ja:トム・ハンクス no:Tom Hanks nn:Tom Hanks oc:Tom Hanks pl:Tom Hanks pt:Tom Hanks ro:Tom Hanks ru:Хэнкс, Том sq:Tom Hanks simple:Tom Hanks sk:Tom Hanks sl:Tom Hanks sr:Том Хенкс sh:Tom Hanks fi:Tom Hanks sv:Tom Hanks tl:Tom Hanks ta:டொம் ஹாங்க்ஸ் th:ทอม แฮงส์ tr:Tom Hanks uk:Том Генкс vi:Tom Hanks yo:Tom Hanks zh:汤姆·汉克斯This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Jackie Guerrido |
---|---|
birth date | September 24, 1970 |
birth place | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
nationality | Puerto Rican |
occupation | Weather forecaster and journalist |
spouse | Don Omar (2008-2011) |
footnotes | On November 21, 2010 and Guerrido came in 2nd place in "''Mira Quien Baila!''" a television reality show. }} |
Guerrido was offered a position on WSKQ's morning show, ''El Vacilon de la Mañana'' ("Good times in the morning"), by a producer who heard her doing a voice-over. She soon received an offer from WRMA (106.7) in Miami, which she accepted.
Guerrido settled down in Miami and she joined the HBC Radio Company, after working at "Romance" for a year. There she was given the opportunity to co-host a radio program with the duties of broadcasting news and traffic conditions. Eventually, she was given her own music show at WRTO (98.3). She also landed a job in television as a traffic reporter for WSCV, Miami's Telemundo affiliate, working for both the radio and television at the same time.
For several years, Guerrido presented the weather on ''Despierta America'' ("Wake Up America"), which is one of the most popular television programs among the Hispanic community in the United States. She currently does the weather for Univision's afternoon newsmagazine show ''Primer Impacto'' ("First Impact") with Barbara Bermudo. She studied journalism at the University of Florida.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
birth date | January 07, 1964 |
---|---|
birth place | Long Beach, California, US |
birth name | Nicolas Kim Coppola |
occupation | Actor, producer, director |
years active | 1980–present |
spouse | |
parents | |
relatives | Marc Coppola (brother)Christopher Coppola (brother) }} |
Other Cage roles included appearances in the acclaimed 1987 romantic-comedy ''Moonstruck'', also starring Cher; The Coen Brothers cult-classic comedy ''Raising Arizona''; David Lynch's 1990 offbeat film ''Wild at Heart''; a lead role in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama ''Bringing Out the Dead''; and Ridley Scott's 2003 quirky drama ''Matchstick Men'', in which he played an agoraphobic, mysophobic, obsessive-compulsive con artist with a tic disorder.
Cage has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, winning once for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in ''Leaving Las Vegas''. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in ''Adaptation.'' Despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared to his mainstream action/adventure roles. The suspense thriller ''8mm'' (1999) was not a box office success, but is now considered a cult film. He took the lead role in the 2001 film ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'' and learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. In 2005, two offbeat films he headlined, ''Lord of War'' and ''The Weather Man'', failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his acting in those roles. Poor reviews for ''The Wicker Man'' resulted in low box office sales. The much criticized ''Ghost Rider'' (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he made his directorial debut in ''Sonny'' and he starred in ''Next'', which shares the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with ''The Family Man'' (2000).
Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. In his second-highest grossing film to date, ''National Treasure'', he plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Other action hits include ''The Rock'', in which Cage plays a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in hopes of neutralizing a terrorist threat, ''Face/Off'', a John Woo film where he plays both a hero and a villain, and ''World Trade Center'', director Oliver Stone's film regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer ''Werewolf Women of the S.S.'' from the B-movie double feature ''Grindhouse''.
Cage made his directorial debut with ''Sonny'', a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theatres. Cage's producing career includes ''Shadow of the Vampire'', the first film from Saturn Films.
In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On ''The Dresden Files'' for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer. Cage said: "I feel I've made a lot of movies already and I want to start exploring other opportunities that I can apply myself to, whether it's writing or other interests that I may develop."
In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a ''Ring of Honor'' wrestling show in New York City researching his role for ''The Wrestler''. The role was ultimately played by Mickey Rourke, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance. ''Wrestler'' Director Darren Aronofsky, in an interview with slashfilm.com, said of Cage's decision to leave the film that: "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."
In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film ''Bangkok Dangerous''. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinct South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in science fiction thriller ''Knowing'', directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week, and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mainly negative reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend. Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film ''Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'', directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well-received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Cage received lauds for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the ''Chicago Tribune'' writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest." This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in ''Ghost Rider''. In 2010, Cage starred in the period piece ''Season of the Witch'', playing a 14th-century knight transporting a girl accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery, and ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'', in which he played the sorcerer. He will star in ''National Treasure 3'', which has a possible release date as early as 2011. He will again take the role of Benjamin Gates, a cryptologist-turned-treasure hunter.
In 2007 he created a comic book with his son Weston, called ''Voodoo Child'', which was published by Virgin Comics.
Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for ''Juxtapoz'' magazine and purchased the painting ''Death On The Boards''.
In the 1995 edition of the Academy Awards, Cage was awarded Best Actor for his performance in ''Leaving Las Vegas''.
In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony.
Despite such praise, Cage has his detractors. Cage has been criticized for choosing to star in big-budget action-adventure movies rather than smaller character-driven dramas, the type of film that initially garnered him praise. In 1999, one-time friend Sean Penn expressed that sentiment to the ''New York Times'', declaring Cage "no longer an actor."
Cage has been married three times. His first wife was actress Patricia Arquette (married on April 8, 1995, divorce finalized on May 18, 2001). Cage later married singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. Cage is an Elvis fan and used the star as the base of his performance in ''Wild at Heart''. Presley and Cage married on August 10, 2002 and filed for divorce on November 25, 2002 which was finalized on May 16, 2004. The divorce proceeding was longer than the marriage.
Cage met his third and current wife Alice Kim, a former waitress who previously worked at the plush Los Angeles restaurant Kabuki, at the Los Angeles-based Korean nightclub, Le Privé. She bore their son, Kal-El, (named after Superman's birth name) on October 3, 2005. Cage was once considered for the role of Superman in a film to be directed by Tim Burton. Alice had a minor role in the 2007 film ''Next'', which Cage produced. They were married at a private ranch in Northern California on July 30, 2004.
He once owned the medieval castle of Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany, which he bought in 2006 and sold in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.
In August 2007, Cage purchased a home in Middletown, Rhode Island. The , brick-and-stone country manor occupies , has 12 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms, and ocean views and borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary. The estate is called the "Grey Craig". The sale ranked among the state’s most expensive residential purchases, eclipsed by the 2007 $17.15 million sale of the Miramar mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport. Also in 2007, the actor purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England.
Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7 million island in the Bahamas, up for sale.
On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleges that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004. Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud. The lawsuit states that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses'." Cage is also facing separate lawsuits from East West Bank and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multimillion dollar loans.
Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences", Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."
In his filing Levin says that in 2007 Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." One of those exotic items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus for which Nicolas Cage paid $276,000 in an auction after winning a bidding contest against Leonardo DiCaprio.
According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. The home is known as "The LaLaurie house" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie. The house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009 along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of his financial problems.
His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 had been owned by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones. The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million. Another home in Nevada also faces foreclosure auction.
Nicolas Cage remains one of Hollywood's highest paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to ''Forbes Magazine''.
On April 15, 2011, at 11:30 pm, Cage was arrested in New Orleans in the city's famed French Quarter district for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace, and public intoxication, after a police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm, while appearing to be under the influence. Cage was held in police custody until a bail of US$11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman. He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011. On May 5, 2011, it was announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped.
+ Film credits | |||
! Year | ! Title | ! Role | Notes |
1980 | ''Brubaker'' | Extra | Uncredited |
1981 | ''Best Of Times'' | Nicholas | |
1982 | ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' | Brad's Bud | |
1983 | '''' | man in rumble scene | Uncredited |
1983 | Randy | ||
1983 | ''Rumble Fish'' | Smokey | |
1984 | ''Racing with the Moon'' | Nicky and Bud | |
1984 | '''' | Vincent Dwyer | |
1984 | Sergeant Al Columbato | ||
1986 | '''' | Ned Hanlan | |
1986 | ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' | Charlie Bodell | |
1987 | ''Raising Arizona'' | H. I. McDunnough | |
1987 | ''Moonstruck'' | Ronny Cammareri | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
1988 | Man In Red Sports Car | ||
1989 | ''Vampire's Kiss'' | Peter Leow | |
1990 | ''Tempo di uccidere'' | Enrico Silvestri | |
1990 | ''Fire Birds'' | Jake Preston | aka ''Wings of the Apache'' |
1990 | Sailor | ||
1990 | ''Zandalee'' | Johnny | |
1992 | ''Honeymoon in Vegas'' | Jack Singer | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
1993 | ''Amos & Andrew'' | Amos Odell | |
1993 | Eddie | ||
1994 | '''' | Himself | |
1994 | ''Red Rock West'' | Michael Williams | |
1994 | ''Guarding Tess'' | Doug Chesnic | |
1994 | Charlie Lang | ||
1994 | ''Trapped in Paradise'' | Bill Firpo | |
1995 | Little Junior Brown | ||
1995 | ''Leaving Las Vegas'' | Ben Sanderson | |
1996 | '''' | Dr. Stanley Goodspeed | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Adventure |
1997 | ''Con Air'' | Cameron Poe | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Adventure |
1997 | ''Face/Off'' | Castor Troy/Sean Archer | |
1998 | Seth | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in a Drama or Romance Film | |
1998 | Rick Santoro | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in a Suspense Film | |
1999 | Tom Welles | ||
1999 | ''Bringing Out the Dead'' | Frank Pierce | |
2000 | Randall "Memphis" Raines | Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action Film | |
2000 | '''' | Jack Campbell | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in a Comedy or Romance Film |
2000 | ''Welcome to Hollywood'' | Himself | |
2001 | ''Italian Soldiers'' | Himself | |
2001 | Captain Antonio Corelli | ||
2001 | ''Christmas Carol: The Movie'' | Jacob Marley | Voice |
2002 | ''Windtalkers'' | Sgt. Joe Enders | |
2002 | ''Adaptation.'' | ||
2002 | Acid Yellow | ||
2003 | Roy Waller | ||
2004 | |||
2005 | ''Lord of War'' | Yuri Orlov | |
2005 | '''' | David Spritz | |
2006 | '''' | Zoc | Voice |
2006 | '''' | Edward Malus | |
2006 | ''Too Tough To Die'' | Himself | |
2006 | |||
2007 | |||
2007 | |||
2007 | Cris Johnson | ||
2007 | ''National Treasure: Book of Secrets | ||
2008 | Joe | ||
2009 | Professor Jonathan "John" Koestler | ||
2009 | Speckles the Mole | Voice | |
2009 | Dr. Tenma | Voice | |
2009 | ''Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'' | Terrence McDonagh, The bad Lieutenant | |
2010 | Damon Macready/Big Daddy | ||
2010 | '''' | Balthazar Blake | |
2011 | Behman von Bleiruck | ||
2011 | ''Drive Angry'' | Milton | |
2011 | Kyle | post-production | |
2011 | '''' | Nick Gerard | post-production |
2012 | ''Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance'' | filming | |
2012 | filming | ||
2012 | ''Frank or Francis'' | pre-production | |
2013 | '''' | Crug | Voice, pre-production |
Category:1964 births Category:Actors from California Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American voice actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Coppola family members Category:Living people Category:People from Long Beach, California Category:Science fiction fans Category:Pseudonymous artists
ar:نيكولاس كيج an:Nicolas Cage az:Nikolas Keyc bn:নিকোলাস কেজ bg:Никълъс Кейдж ca:Nicolas Cage cs:Nicolas Cage co:Nicholas Cage cy:Nicolas Cage da:Nicolas Cage de:Nicolas Cage et:Nicolas Cage el:Νίκολας Κέιτζ es:Nicolas Cage eo:Nicolas Cage eu:Nicolas Cage fa:نیکولاس کیج fr:Nicolas Cage gl:Nicolas Cage ko:니콜라스 케이지 hr:Nicolas Cage io:Nicolas Cage id:Nicolas Cage it:Nicolas Cage he:ניקולס קייג' kn:ನಿಕೋಲಸ್ ಕೇಜ್ ka:ნიკოლას კეიჯი la:Nicolaus Cage lv:Nikolass Keidžs lt:Nicolas Cage hu:Nicolas Cage mk:Николас Кејџ ml:നിക്കോളസ് കേജ് arz:نيكولاس كيدچ nl:Nicolas Cage ja:ニコラス・ケイジ no:Nicolas Cage oc:Nicolas Cage pl:Nicolas Cage pt:Nicolas Cage ro:Nicolas Cage ru:Кейдж, Николас sq:Nicolas Cage simple:Nicolas Cage sk:Nicolas Cage sl:Nicolas Cage sr:Николас Кејџ sh:Nicolas Cage fi:Nicolas Cage sv:Nicolas Cage ta:நிக்கோலஸ் கேஜ் te:నికోలస్ కేజ్ th:นิโคลัส เคจ tg:Николас Кейҷ tr:Nicolas Cage uk:Ніколас Кейдж vi:Nicolas Cage yo:Nicolas Cage zh:尼古拉斯·凯奇This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
order | 44th |
---|---|
office | President of the United States |
term start | January 20, 2009 |
vicepresident | Joe Biden |
predecessor | George W. Bush |
birth date | August 04, 1961 |
birth place | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States |
birthname | Barack Hussein Obama II |
nationality | American |
party | Democratic |
spouse | Michelle Obama (m. 1992) |
children | Malia (b.1998) Sasha (b.2001) |
residence | The White House |
alma mater | Occidental CollegeColumbia University (B.A.)Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
profession | Community organizerAttorneyAuthorConstitutional law professorUnited States SenatorPresident of the United States |
religion | Christian, former member of United Church of Christ |
signature | Barack Obama signature.svg |
website | WhiteHouse.gov |
footnotes | }} |
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009, when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the United States, as well as the first born in Hawaii.
His policy decisions have addressed a global financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies, legislation to reform the United States health care industry, foreign policy initiatives and the phasing out of detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He attended the G-20 London summit and later visited U.S. troops in Iraq. On the tour of various European countries following the G-20 summit, he announced in Prague that he intended to negotiate substantial reduction in the world's nuclear arsenals, en route to their eventual extinction. In October 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Cabinet nominations included former Democratic primary opponents Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secretary of State and Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce (although the latter withdrew on January 4, 2009). Obama appointed Eric Holder as his Attorney General, the first African-American appointed to that position. He also nominated Timothy F. Geithner to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. On December 1, Obama announced that he had asked Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense, making Gates the first Defense head to carry over from a president of a different party. He nominated former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which he restored to a Cabinet-level position.
During his transition, he maintained a website Change.gov, on which he wrote blogs to readers and uploaded video addresses by many of the members of his new cabinet. He announced strict rules for federal lobbyists, restricting them from financially contributing to his administration and forcing them to stop lobbying while working for him. The website also allowed individuals to share stories and visions with each other and the transition team in what was called the Citizen's Briefing Book, which was given to Obama shortly after his inauguration. Most of the information from Change.gov was transferred to the official White House website whitehouse.gov just after Obama's inauguration.
In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" and erroneously replaced the phrase "President of the United States" with "President to the United States" before restating the phrase correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars argued the President should take the oath again. On January 21, Roberts readministered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts a second time out of an "abundance of caution".
Obama's first 100 days were highly anticipated ever since he became the presumptive nominee. Several news outlets created web pages dedicated to covering the subject. Commentators weighed in on challenges and priorities within domestic, foreign, economic, and environmental policy. CNN lists a number of economic issues that "Obama and his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days", foremost among which is passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the financial crisis. Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer, expressed hopes that the new president will close Guantanamo Bay detention camp in his first 100 days in office. After aides of the president announced his intention to give a major foreign policy speech in the capital of an Islamic country, there were speculations in Jakarta that he might return to his former home city within the first 100 days.
''The New York Times'' devoted a five-part series, which was spread out over two weeks, to anticipatory analysis of Obama's first hundred days. Each day, the analysis of a political expert was followed by freely edited blog postings from readers. The writers compared Obama's prospects with the situations of Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 16, Jean Edward Smith), John F. Kennedy (January 19, Richard Reeves), Lyndon B. Johnson (January 23, Robert Dallek), Ronald Reagan (January 27, Lou Cannon), and Richard Nixon.
In his first week in office, Obama signed Executive Order 13492 suspending all the ongoing proceedings of Guantanamo military commission and ordering the detention facility to be shut down within the year. He also signed Executive Order 13491 - Ensuring Lawful Interrogations requiring the Army Field Manual to be used as a guide for terror interrogations, banning torture and other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding. Obama also issued an executive order entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel", setting stricter limitations on incoming executive branch employees and placing tighter restrictions on lobbying in the White House. Obama signed two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, ordering the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard. He also ended the Mexico City Policy, which banned federal grants to international groups that provide abortion services or counseling.
In his first week he also established a policy of producing a weekly Saturday morning video address available on whitehouse.gov and YouTube, much like those released during his transition period. The first address had been viewed by 600,000 YouTube viewers by the next afternoon.
The first piece of legislation Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on January 29, which revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. Lilly Ledbetter joined Obama and his wife, Michelle, as he signed the bill, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nullify ''Ledbetter v. Goodyear''. On February 3, he signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP), expanding health care from 7 million children under the plan to 11 million.
| format = Ogg | type = speech }} After much debate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both the House and Senate on February 13, 2009. Originally intended to be a bipartisan bill, the passage of the bill was largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for it in the House, and three moderate Republicans voted for it in the Senate (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania). The bill combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education. The final cost of the bill was $787 billion, and almost $1.2 trillion with debt service included. Obama signed the Act into law on February 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado.
On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and in doing so, called into question some of George W. Bush's signing statements. Obama stated that he too would employ signing statements if he deems upon review that a portion of a bill is unconstitutional, and he has issued several signing statements.
Early in his presidency, Obama signed a law raising the tobacco tax 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes. The tax is to be "used to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children", and "help some [smokers] to quit and persuade young people not to start".
In October 2011, Obama instituted the We Can't Wait program, which involved using executive orders, administrative rulemaking, and recess appointments to institute policies without the support of Congress. The initiative was developed in response to Congress's unwillingness to pass economic legislation proposed by Obama, and conflicts in Congress during the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.
Throughout early February polls showed scattered approval ratings: 62% (CBS News), 64% (USA Today/Gallup), 66% (Gallup), and 76% in an outlier poll (CNN/Opinion Research). Gallup reported the congressional address in late February boosted his approval from a term-low of 59% to 67%.
Throughout autumn 2009, Rasmussen estimated Obama's approval as fluctuating between 45% and 52% and his disapproval between 48% and 54%; as of November 11, Pew Research estimated Obama's approval between 51% and 55% and his disapproval between 33% and 37% since July.
Fox News released the results of two polls on April 8–9, 2010. The first showed a drop in Obama's approval rating to 43%, with 48% disapproving. In that poll, Democrats approved of Obama's performance 80–12%, while independents disapproved 49–38%. The other poll, which concentrated on the economy, showed disapproval of Obama's handling of the economy by a 53–42% margin, with 62% saying they were dissatisfied with the handling of the federal deficit. According to a Gallup Poll released April 10, 2010, President Obama had a 45% approval rating, with 48% disapproving. In a poll from Rasmussen Reports, released April 10, 2010, 47% approved of the President's performance, while 53% disapproved.
At the conclusion of Obama's first week as President, Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, Ron Kirk, and Eric Holder had yet to be confirmed, and there had been no second appointment for Secretary of Commerce. Holder was confirmed by a vote of 75–21 on February 2, and on February 3, Obama announced Senator Judd Gregg as his second nomination for Secretary of Commerce. Daschle withdrew later that day amid controversy over his failure to pay income taxes and potential conflicts of interest related to the speaking fees he accepted from health care interests. Solis was later confirmed by a vote of 80-17 on February 24, and Ron Kirk was confirmed on March 18 by a 92-5 vote in the Senate.
Gregg, who was the leading Republican negotiator and author of the TARP program in the Senate, after publication that he had a multi-million dollar investment in the Bank of America, on February 12, withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Commerce, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with President Obama and his staff over how to conduct the 2010 census and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Former Washington governor Gary Locke was nominated on February 26 as Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary and confirmed on March 24 by voice vote.
On March 2, Obama introduced Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as his second choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also introduced Nancy-Ann DeParle as head of the new White House Office of Health Reform, which he suggested would work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services. At the end of March, Sebelius was the only remaining Cabinet member yet to be confirmed.
Six high-ranking cabinet nominees in the Obama administration had their confirmations delayed or rejected among reports that they did not pay all of their taxes, including Tom Daschle, Obama's original nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Though Geithner was confirmed, and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, thought Daschle would have been confirmed, Daschle withdrew his nomination on February 3. Obama had nominated Nancy Killefer for the position of Chief Performance Officer, but Killefer also withdrew on February 3, citing unspecified problems with District of Columbia unemployment tax. A senior administration official said that Killefer's tax issues dealt with household help. Hilda Solis, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor, faced delayed confirmation hearings due to tax lien concerns pertaining to her husband's auto repair business, but she was later confirmed on February 24. While pundits puzzled over U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk's failure to be confirmed by March 2009, it was reported on March 2 that Kirk owed over $10,000 in back taxes. Kirk agreed to pay them in exchange for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's aid in speeding up the confirmation process; he was later confirmed on March 18. On March 31, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, revealed in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee that her Certified Public Accountant found errors in her tax returns for years 2005-2007. She, along with her husband, paid more than $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest.
As of July 2010, Obama's nominees to the district and circuit courts had been confirmed at a rate of only 43.5 percent, compared to 87.2 percent during Bill Clinton's administration and 91.3 percent for George W. Bush. The Center for American Progress, which compiled the data, commented:
Judicial confirmations slowed to a trickle on the day President Barack Obama took office. Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionary tactics have become the rule. Uncontroversial nominees wait months for a floor vote, and even district court nominees—low-ranking judges whose confirmations have never been controversial in the past—are routinely filibustered into oblivion. Nominations grind to a halt in many cases even after the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously endorsed a nominee.
As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the economy, including a $2–3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. The program includes up to $1 trillion to buy toxic bank assets, an additional $1 trillion to expand a federal consumer loan program, and the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program. The plan also includes $50 billion intended to slow the wave of mortgage foreclosures. The 2011 budget includes a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, proposes several program cancellations, and raises taxes on high income earners to bring down deficits during the economic recovery.
In a July 2009 interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about the sustained increase of the U.S. unemployment rate from May 2007 to October 2009 despite the administration's multi-year economic stimulus package passed five months earlier. He responded "The truth is, we and everyone else, misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there ... the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited." The White House indicates that 2 million jobs were created or saved due to the stimulus package in 2009 and self reporting by recipients of the grants, loans, and contracts portion of the package report that the package saved or created 608,317 jobs in the final three months of 2009.
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1% and averaging 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year. Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries. GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a 1.6% pace, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter. Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9% in 2010.
During November–December 2010, Obama and a lame duck session of the 111th Congress focused on a dispute about the temporary Bush tax cuts, which were due to expire at the end of the year. Obama wanted to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year. Congressional Republicans agreed but also wanted to extend the tax cuts for those making over that amount, and refused to support any bill that did not do so. All the Republicans in the Senate also joined in saying that, until the tax dispute was resolved, they would filibuster to prevent consideration of any other legislation, except for bills to fund the U.S. government. On 7 December, Obama strongly defended a compromise agreement he had reached with the Republican congressional leadership that included a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance, a one-year reduction in the FICA payroll tax, and other measures. On December 10, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a filibuster against the compromise tax proposal, which lasted over eight hours. Obama persuaded many wary Democrats to support the bill, but not all; of the 148 votes against the bill in the House, 112 were cast by Democrats and only 36 by Republicans. The $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which ''The Washington Post'' called "the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade", passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by Obama on December 17, 2010.
Not all recent former lobbyists require waivers; those without waivers write letters of recusal stating issues from which they must refrain because of their previous jobs. ''USA Today'' reported that 21 members of the Obama administration have at some time been registered as federal lobbyists, although most have not within the previous two years. Lobbyists in the administration include William Corr, an anti-tobacco lobbyist, as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Tom Vilsack, who lobbied in 2007, for a national teachers union, as Secretary of Agriculture. Also, the Secretary of Labor nominee, Hilda Solis, formerly served as a board member of American Rights at Work, which lobbied Congress on two bills Solis co-sponsored, and Mark Patterson, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have criticized the administration, claiming that Obama is retreating from his own ethics rules barring lobbyists from working on the issues about which they lobbied during the previous two years by issuing waivers. According to Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, "It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another."
During his first week in office, Obama announced plans to post a video address each week on the site, and on YouTube, informing the public of government actions each week. During his speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Obama stated, "I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."
On January 21, 2009, by executive order, Obama revoked Executive Order 13233, which had limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. Obama issued instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests. In April 2009, the United States Department of Justice released four legal memos from the Bush administration to comply voluntarily with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The memos were written by John Yoo and signed by Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, then Principal Assistant Attorneys General to the Department of Justice, and addressed to John A. Rizzo, general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency. The memos describe in detail controversial interrogation methods the CIA used on prisoners suspected of terrorism. Obama became personally involved in the decision to release the memos, which was opposed by former CIA directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch. Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Obama for not releasing more memos; Cheney claimed that unreleased memos detail successes of CIA interrogations.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires all recipients of the funds provided by the act to publish a plan for using the funds, along with purpose, cost, rationale, net job creation, and contact information about the plan to a website Recovery.gov so that the public can review and comment. Inspectors General from each department or executive agency will then review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public. Any findings of an Inspector General must be relayed immediately to the head of each department and published on Recovery.gov.
On June 16, 2009, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration in order to get information about the visits of coal company executives. Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for CREW, stated "The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration... I don't see how you can keep people from knowing who visits the White House and adhere to a policy of openness and transparency." On June 16, MSNBC reported that its more comprehensive request for visitor logs since Obama's January 20 inauguration had been denied. The administration announced that White House visitor logs will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis, with certain limitations, for visits occurring after September 15, 2009. Beginning on January 29, 2010, the White House did begin to release the names of its visitor records. Since that time, names of visitors (which includes not only tourists, but also names of union leaders, Wall Street executives, lobbyists, party chairs, philanthropists and celebrities), have been released. The names are released in huge batches up to 75,000 names at a time. Names are released 90–120 days after having visited the White House. The complete list of names is available online by accessing the official White House website.
Obama stated during the 2008 Presidential campaign that he would have negotiations for health care reform televised on C-SPAN, citing transparency as being the leverage needed to ensure that people stay involved in the process taking place in Washington. This did not fully happen and Politifact gives President Obama a "Promise Broken" rating on this issue. After White House press secretary Robert Gibbs initially avoided addressing the issue, President Obama himself acknowledged that he met with Democratic leaders behind closed doors to discuss how best to garner enough votes in order to merge the two (House and Senate) passed versions of the health care bill. Doing this violated the letter of the pledge, although Obama maintains that negotiations in several congressional committees were open, televised hearings. Obama also cited an independent ethics watchdog group describe his administration as the most transparent in recent history.
The Obama administration has been characterized as much more aggressive than the Bush and other previous administrations in their response to whistleblowing and leaks to the press. Three people have been prosecuted under the rarely used Espionage Act of 1917. They include Thomas Andrews Drake, a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee who was critical of the NSA's Trailblazer Project, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who allegedly had a conversation about North Korea with James Rosen of Fox News, and Jeffrey Sterling, who allegedly was a source for James Risen's book State of War. Risen has also been subpoenaed to reveal his sources, another rare action by the government.
Obama declared his plan for ending the Iraq War on February 27, 2009, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before an audience of Marines stationed there. According to the president, combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, leaving a contingent of up to 50,000 servicemen and servicewomen to continue training, advisory, and counterterrorism operations until as late as the end of 2011.
Other characteristics of the Obama administration on foreign policy include a tough stance on tax havens, continuing military operation in Pakistan, and avowed focus on diplomacy to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.
On April 1, 2009, Obama and China's President, Hu Jintao, announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship for the 21st century.
In that same month, Obama requested that Congress approve $83.4 billion of supplemental military funding, mostly for the war in Iraq and to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. The request also includes $2.2 billion to increase the size of the US military, $350 million to upgrade security along the US-Mexico border, and $400 million in counterinsurgency aid for Pakistan.
In May 2009, it was reported that Obama plans to expand the military by 20,000 employees.
On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt. The wide ranging speech called for a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States. The speech received both praise and criticism from leaders in the region. In March 2010, Secretary of State Clinton criticized the Israeli government for approving expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem.
On April 8, 2010, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the latest Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a "major" nuclear arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear weapons stockpiles of both countries.
In March 2011, international reaction to Muammar Gaddafi's military crackdown on rebel forces and civilians in Libya culminated in a United Nations resolution to enforce a no fly zone in Libya. Obama authorized U.S. forces to participate in international air attacks on Libyan air defenses using Tomahawk cruise missiles to establish the protective zone.
The case review of detainee files by administration officials and prosecutors was made more difficult than expected as the Bush administration had failed to establish a coherent repository of the evidence and intelligence on each prisoner. By September 2009, prosecutors recommended to the Justice Department which detainees are eligible for trial, and the Justice Department and the Pentagon worked together to determine which of several now-scheduled trials will go forward in military tribunals and which in civilian courts. While 216 international terrorists are already held in maximum security prisons in the U.S., Congress was denying the administration funds to shut down the camp and adapt existing facilities elsewhere, arguing that the decision was "too dangerous to rush". In November, Obama stated that the U.S. would miss the January 2010 date for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison as he had ordered, acknowledging that he "knew this was going to be hard". Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, citing that the delay was due to politics and lack of congressional cooperation. The state of Illinois has offered to sell to the federal government the Thomson Correctional Center, a new but largely unused prison, for the purpose of housing detainees. Federal officials testified at a December 23 hearing that if the state commission approves the sale for that purpose, it could take more than six months to ready the facility.
Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad. CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, and buried at sea several hours later. Within minutes of Obama's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square. Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and from many countries around the world.
In April 2010, the Obama administration took the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them.
''The New York Times'' reported in 2009, that the NSA is intercepting communications of American citizens including a Congressman, although the Justice Department believed that the NSA had corrected its errors. United States Attorney General Eric Holder resumed the wiretapping according to his understanding of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 that Congress passed in July 2008, but without explaining what had occurred.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $54 billion in funds to double domestic renewable energy production, renovate federal buildings making them more energy-efficient, improve the nation's electricity grid, repair public housing, and weatherize modest-income homes.
On February 10, 2009, Obama overturned a Bush administration policy that had opened up a five-year period of offshore drilling for oil and gas near both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been quoted as saying, "To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline".
On May 19, 2009, Obama announced a plan to increase the CAFE national standards for gasoline mileage, by creating a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016, than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon. Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.
On March 30, 2010, Obama partially reinstated Bush administration proposals to open certain offshore areas along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The proposals had earlier been set aside by President Obama after they were challenged in court on environmental grounds.
On May 27, 2010, Obama extended a moratorium on offshore drilling permits after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill which is considered to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Although BP took responsibility for the disaster and its ongoing after effects, Obama began a federal investigation along with forming a bipartisan commission to review the incident and methods to avoid it in the future. Obama visited the Gulf Coast on May 2 and May 28 and expressed his frustration on the June 8 ''NBC Today Show'', by saying "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick." Obama's response to the disaster has drawn confusion and criticism within segments of the media and public.
Obama set up the Augustine panel to review the Constellation program in 2009, and announced in February 2010, that he was cutting the program from the 2011 United States federal budget, describing it as "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation." After the decision drew criticism in the United States, a new "Flexible path to Mars" plan was unveiled at a space conference in April 2010. It included new technology programs, increased R&D; spending, a focus on the International Space Station and contracting out flying crew to space to commercial providers. The new plan also increased NASA's 2011 budget to $19 billion from $18.3 billion in 2010.
In July 2009, Obama appointed Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, to be administrator of NASA.
On June 17, 2009, Obama authorized the extension of some benefits (but not health insurance or pension benefits) to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama has chosen to leave larger changes, such as the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, to Congress.
On October 19, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive to federal prosecutors in states with medical marijuana laws not to investigate or prosecute cases of marijuana use or production done in compliance with those laws.
On December 16, 2009, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, which repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.
On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993, that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces. Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Once the stimulus bill was enacted, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,000 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of the year.
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the ten-year cost to the federal government of the major insurance-related provisions of the bill at approximately $1.0 trillion. In mid-July 2009, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the CBO, testified that the proposals under consideration would significantly increase federal spending and did not include the "fundamental changes" needed to control the rapid growth in health care spending. However after reviewing the final version of the bill introduced after 14 months of debate the CBO estimated that it would reduce federal budget deficits by $143 billion over 10 years and by more than a trillion in the next decade.
After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals. In March 2010, Obama gave several speeches across the country to argue for the passage of health care reform. On March 21, 2010, after Obama announced an executive order reinforcing the current law against spending federal funds for elective abortion services, the House, by a vote of 219 to 212, passed the version of the bill previously passed on December 24, 2009, by a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. The bill, which includes over 200 Republican amendments, was passed without a single Republican vote. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law. Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010, and signed into law on March 30, 2010.
Obama called the elections "humbling" and a "shellacking". He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.
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