Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical regions of Crişana, Maramureş, and Romanian part of Banat.

Transylvania is often associated with ''Dracula'' (Bram Stoker's novel and its film adaptations), and the horror genre in general, while the region is also known for the scenic beauty of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history.

Etymology

In Romanian, the region is known as ''Ardeal'' () or ''Transilvania'' (); in Hungarian as ''Erdély''; in ; and in Turkish as ''Transilvanya''; see also other denominations.

Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ''ultra silvam'', meaning "beyond the forest" (''ultra'' (+accusative) meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative case of ''sylva'' (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods". Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form ''Ultrasylvania'', later ''Transylvania'', was a direct translation from the Hungarian form ''Erdő-elve'' (rather than the Hungarian being derived from the Latin). That also was used as an alternative name in Ukrainian Залісся (''Zalissya''). The German name ''Siebenbürgen'' means "seven fortresses", after the seven (ethnic German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region. The order in which they were settled in Transylvania being as follows : — Mediasch, 1142 ; Muhlenbach, 1150 ; Hermannstadt, the capital, 1160 ; Klausenburg, 1178; Schässburg, 1178 ; Reussmarkt, 1198 ; Broos, 1200. To these seven were subsequently added two others, Bistritz, 1206 ; and Kronstadt, 1208. This is also the origin of the region's name in many other languages, such as the Polish ''Siedmiogród'' and the Ukrainian Семигород (''Semyhorod'').

The Hungarian form ''Erdély'' was first mentioned in the 12th century Gesta Hungarorum as "Erdeuleu". ''Erdel'', the Turkish equivalent originates from this form, too.

The first known written occurrence of the Romanian name ''Ardeal'' appeared in a document in 1432 as ''Ardeliu''.

History

Brief survey

Transylvania has been dominated by several different peoples and countries throughout its history. It was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia (82 BC–106 AD). In 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory, systematically exploiting its resources. After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of various tribes, bringing it under the control of the Carpi (Dacian tribe), Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians. It is a subject of dispute whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population survived in Transylvania through the Dark Ages (becoming the ancestors of modern Romanians) or the first Vlachs appeared in the area in the 13th century after a northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula. There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest (see Origin of the Romanians).

The Hungarians conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century. According to Gesta Hungarorum, Transylvania was ruled by Vlach voivode Gelou after the Hungarians arrived. The Kingdom of Hungary firmly established control over Transylvania in 1003, when king Stephen I, according to legend, defeated the prince named ''Gyula''. Between 1003 and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary, led by a voivode appointed by the King of Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Janos Szapolyai which, in 1571, was transformed into the Principality of Transylvania ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian-speaking princes. However, ethnic groups that lived in this principality also included numerous Romanians and Germans. For most of this period, Transylvania, maintaining its internal autonomy, was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.

The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs acknowledged Principality of Transylvania as one of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, but the territory of principality was administratively separated from Habsburg Hungary and subjected to the direct rule of the emperor's governors. In 1699 the Turks legally conceded their loss of Transylvania in the Treaty of Karlowitz; however, some anti-Habsburg elements within the principality only submitted to the emperor in the 1711 Peace of Sathmar. After the Ausgleich of 1867 the Principality of Transylvania was abolished and its territory was absorbed into Transleithania or the Hungarian part of the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Following defeat in World War I, Austria-Hungary disintegrated. The ethnic Romanian majority in Transylvania elected representatives, who then proclaimed Union with Romania on December 1, 1918. The ''Proclamation of Union'' of Alba Iulia was adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons from Transylvania. In 1920, the Treaty of Trianon established a new border between Romania and Hungary, leaving the whole of Transylvania within the Romanian state. Hungary protested against the new border, as over 1,600,000 Hungarian people (who were a minority in Transylvania in comparison with 2,800,000 Romanians) were living on the Romanian side of the border, mainly in Székely Land of Eastern Transylvania, and along the newly created border, which was drawn through some areas with a Hungarian majority. In August 1940, in the midst of World War II, Hungary gained about 40% of Transylvania by the Vienna Award, with the aid of Germany and Italy. That territory was assigned back to Romania in 1945 and this was confirmed in the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties.

Ancient history

In its ancient history, the territory of Transylvania belonged to a variety of empires and states, including the Celts, Scythians, the Kingdom of Dacia and the Roman Empire.

The Kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC when, Rubobostes, a Dacian king from the territory of present-day Transylvania, undertook control of the Carpathian basin by defeating the Celts who previously held power in the region.

Dacia reached its maximum extent under the rule of Burebista. The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center of the ancient Kingdom of Dacia, where several important fortified cities were built; among them was the capital Sarmizegetusa, located near the current Romanian town of Hunedoara.

In 101-102 and 105-106 AD, Roman armies under the Emperor Trajan fought a series of military campaigns to subjugate the wealthy Dacian Kingdom. By 106, under Trajan they succeeded in subduing the southern and central regions of Dacia. After the conquest, the Romans seized an enormous amount of wealth (the Dacian Wars were commemorated on Trajan's Column in Rome) and immediately started to exploit the Dacian gold and salt mines located in today's territory of Transylvania. Roman influence was broadened by the construction of modern roads and some existing major cities such as Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Dierna (today Orşova) became Roman colonies. The new province was divided under Hadrian: ''Dacia Superior'', corresponding roughly to Transylvania and ''Dacia Inferior'', similar to the region of South Romania (Walachia). During Antoninus Pius (138-161) the same territory was included in the provinces ''Dacia Porolissensis'' (capital at Porolissum) and ''Dacia Apulensis'' (capital at Apulum, today Alba-Iulia city in Romania). The Romans built new mines, roads and forts in the province. Colonists from other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land, founding the cities of ''Apulum'' (now Alba Iulia), ''Napoca'' (now Cluj-Napoca), Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Aquae. During the Roman administration, Christianity entered in the current territory of Transylvania from neighboring Roman provinces where, according to the tradition of the Romanian Orthodox Church, St. Andrew preached.

The Migration period

Due to increasing pressure from the Visigoths, the Romans abandoned the province during the reign of the Emperor Aurelian in 271. Its subsequent history is controversial. The theory of Daco-Romanian continuity asserts that as across much of Europe, a period of chaos and conquests followed after the collapse of Roman rule. Archeological research shows however that many of the Roman cities continued to exist with additional fortifications. It is also asserted that Christianity survived as a result of the large number of artifacts discovered. The theory refers with emphasis to a donarium from Biertan (4th century) having the inscription "''Ego Zenovius votvm posui''" (I, Zenovie, offered this). The Migration theory denies that any significant Romanized population continued to exist in the former province after its occupation by the Visigoths. It is asserted that the rare and isolated Latin inscriptions may be attributed to slaves captured by the Goths in the territory of the Roman Empire and even these disappear within a few decades. The Goths themselves were Christians, so Christian artifacts do not prove the continuity of a Romanized population.

The territory fell under the control of the Visigoths and Carpians until they were, in their turn, displaced and subdued by the Huns after 376. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, the Huns were succeeded by the Gepids, who were defeated by the Eurasian Avars who ruled the region until around 800 AD. During the Avar rule, after the 6th century, the region was influenced by massive Slavic immigration.

It is subject of controversy whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population survived in Transylvania through the Dark Ages (becoming the ancestors of modern Romanians) or the first Vlachs appeared in the area in the 13th century after a northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula. There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest (see Origin of the Romanians).

At the beginning of the 9th century, Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire. After a brief period of Bulgarian rule the territory was partially under Byzantine control.

There were also periods when autonomous political entities arose under the control of the Byzantine and the Bulgarian Empire.

Hungarian rule

The Hungarians (Magyars) conquered the area at the end of the 9th century and firmly established their control over it in 1003, when king Stephen I, according to legend, defeated the native prince entitled or named ''Gyula''.

According to the theory of Daco-Romanian continuity, Hungary took possession of Transylvania in the 11th century, a territory that probably had a mixed but basically Romanian population. According to Hungarian historiography, the population of Transylvania at the time of the Hungarian conquest in 895-96 consisted of Slavs and probably some Eurasian Avars. In this view, Romanians did not live in Transylvania in that period and appeared there only in the 12th century. After the occupation the Hungarian crown encouraged immigration in order to counter invasion. Most important was the settlement of the Székelys and the Germans, who came in the 12th century. As a political entity, (Southern) Transylvania is mentioned from the 12th century as a county (Alba) of the Kingdom of Hungary (''M. princeps ultrasilvanus - comes Bellegratae''). Transylvania's seven counties were brought under the voivode's (count of Alba Iulia) rule in 1263. Although Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, it retained wide autonomous privileges and status and after 1526 became a fully autonomous principality under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.

Since medieval times, the population of the region has been a mixture of ethnic Romanians (historically known as Vlachs), Hungarians, the ethnic Hungarian Székely people, Germans (known as Saxons), Bulgarians (see Şchei, Şcheii Braşovului, Banat Bulgarians), Armenians (especially in Gherla (Armenopolis), Gheorgheni and Târnăveni), Jews and Roma (known as Gypsies or "tatars" - ''Tatern'' in Transylvanian Saxon or ''tătăraşi'' in Romanian). Between 1003 and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship of the Kingdom of Hungary, led by a voivode appointed by the Hungarian King. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom which, in 1571, was transformed into the Principality of Transylvania (1571–1711) ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian princes. For most of this period, Transylvania, maintaining its internal autonomy, was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.

The early 11th century was marked by the conflict between King Stephen I of Hungary and his uncle Gyula, the ruler of Transylvania. The Hungarian ruler was successful in these wars, and Transylvania was incorporated into the Christian Kingdom of Hungary. The Transylvanian Christian bishopric and the comitatus system were organised. By the early 11th century the ethnic Hungarian Székely were established in southeastern Transylvania as a border population of ready warriors, and in the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called Saxons. Romanians maintained control over a few autonomous regions called 'terrae': Făgăraş, Amlas, Haţeg, Maramureş, Lapus. However, the autonomy was taken by the end of Árpád dynasty in 1301.

In 1241–1242, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Transylvania was among the territories devastated by the Golden Horde. A large portion of the population perished. This was followed by a second Mongol invasion in 1285, led by Nogai Khan. To escape the deprecations, Wallachian (Romanian) settlers moved into the mountainous districts of the Carpathians. The rulers of the Kingdom of Hungary established programs of colonization in eastern and southern Hungary. Saxon Germans, Székelys, Slavs, and Wallachians settled in the peripheral areas which had suffered so greatly from the Mongol invasion.

Following this devastation, Transylvania was reorganized according to a class system of Estates, which established privileged groups (''universitates'') with power and influence in economic and political life, as well as along ethnic lines. The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus. The other Estates were Saxons, Székelys and Romanians (or Vlachs - ''Universitas Valachorum''), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (''Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et Olachis''). The general assembly (''congregatio generalis'') of the four Estates had few genuine legislative powers in Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country.

After the Decree of Turda (1366), which openly called for action "''to expel or to exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians''" in Transylvania, the only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility was through conversion to Roman Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, being integrated in the Hungarian nobility, but the most of them declined, thus losing their status and privileges.

In some regions in the north (Maramureş) and south (Ţara Haţegului, Făgăraş, Banat) where Romanians formed a majority of the population, the Orthodox Romanian ruling class of ''nobilis kenezius'' (classed as lesser and middle nobility in the Kingdom as a whole) enjoyed a period of prosperity at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century, reflected in the reconstruction and decoration of some Orthodox churches. A Romanian archbishop is mentioned in 1377 in Transylvania; other Orthodox hierarchs were established in St. Michael's monastery at Feleac, near Cluj and Peri. Nevertheless, because of the gradual loss of a nobility of their own, Romanians were no longer able to keep their ''Universitas Valachorum''.

A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John Hunyadi/János Hunyadi/Iancu de Hunedoara, a native of Transylvania, born in a family of Romanian origins. (According to the usage of Hungarian noblemen of the time, John (also Iancu or János) took his family name after his landed estate.) He was one of the greatest military figures of the time, being Hungarian general, voivode of Transylvania and then governor of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1446 to 1452. He was a Transylvanian noble of Romanian origin some sources indicating him as the son of Voicu or Vajk, a Romanian boyar from Wallachia. Hungarian historians claim that his mother was Erzsébet Morzsinay the daughter of a Hungarian noble family. His fame was built in the effective wars of defence against the Turkish attacks, waged from 1439. With his private mercenary army John rapidly rose to the heights of power. His military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire brought him the status of Transylvanian governor in 1446 and papal recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. Continuing his military activity, he won an important victory at Belgrade in 1456, which halted the Ottomans' advance for several decades, but died shortly afterwards during an epidemic.

After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political system was based on ''Unio Trium Nationum'' (''The Union of the Three Nations''). According to the Union, which was explicitly directed against serfs and other peasants, society was ruled by three privileged Estates of the nobility (mostly ethnic Hungarians), the Székelys, also an ethnic Hungarian people who primarily served as warriors, and the ethnic German, Saxon burghers.

The only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility in Hungarian Transylvania was through conversion to Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, becoming integrated into the Hungarian nobility. These circumstances marked the beginning of a conflict between ethnic Hungarian Catholics and ethnic Romanian Orthodox (and ethnic Romanian Greek Catholics also) in the territory of Transylvania which in some regions remains unresolved to this day.

Principality of Transylvania

The 16th century in Southeastern Europe was marked by the struggle between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the Catholic Habsburg Empire. After the Hungarian defeat at Mohács, Hungary was divided between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires.

Transylvania became an Ottoman vassal state, where native princes, who paid the Turks tribute, ruled with considerable autonomy. Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries. It is this period of independence and Turkish influence that contributed to Transylvania being seen as exotic in the eyes of Victorians such as Bram Stoker, whose novel ''Dracula'' was published in 1897.

Because Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic religious authority, Protestant preaching such as Lutheranism and Calvinism were able to flourish in the region. In 1568 the Edict of Turda proclaimed four religious expressions in Transylvania - Latin Rite or Eastern Rite Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism and Unitarianism (Unitarian Church of Transylvania), while Eastern Orthodoxy, which was the confession of almost the entire ethnic Romanian part of the population, was proclaimed as "tolerated" (''tolerata'').

The Báthory, a Hungarian noble family, began to rule Transylvania as princes under the Ottomans in 1571, and briefly under Habsburg suzerainty until 1600. The latter period of their rule saw a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanian Báthorys, the emerging Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Romanian voivoideship (province) of Wallachia. This included almost a year period of Romanian rule after the conquest of the territory by Wallachian voivod Michael the Brave. There are some late interpretations stating: as he subsequently extended his rule over Moldavia, Michael the Brave unified all the territories where Romanians lived, rebuilding the mainland of the ancient Kingdom of Dacia, although in Michael's time, the concept of the Romanian nation and the desire for unification did not exist, and the absence of any national element in Michael's politics, holding that Michael's lack of desire to join the principalities' administrations proved his actions were not motivated by any such concept. Moreover, the princes of Transylvania never developed a Romanian national identity, the majority not being of Daco-Roman descent.

The Calvinist magnate of Bihar county Stephen Bocskai managed to obtain, through the Treaty of Vienna (June 23, 1606), religious liberty and political autonomy for the region, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all "unrighteous" judgments, as well as his own recognition as independent sovereign prince of an enlarged Transylvania. Under Bocskai's successors, most notably Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczi, Transylvania passed through a golden age for many religious movements and for the arts and culture. It became one of the few European States where Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans and Unitarians lived in peace, although Orthodox Romanians continued to be denied equal recognition.

This golden age and relative independence of Transylvania ended with the reign of George II Rákóczi. The prince, coveting the Polish crown, allied with Sweden and invaded Poland in spite of the Turkish Porte clearly prohibiting any military action. Rákóczi's defeat in Poland, combined with the subsequent invasions of Transylvania by the Turks and their Crimean Tatar allies, the ensuing loss of territory (most importantly, the loss of the most important Transylvanian stronghold, Oradea) and diminishing manpower led to the complete subordination of Transylvania, which became a powerless vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

Habsburg rule

The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The Habsburgs, however, recognized the Hungarian sovereignty over Transylvania, while the Transylvanians recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I (1687), and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire, separated in all but name from Habsburg controlled Hungary Within the Habsburg-controlled Kingdom of Hungary there was a separate administrative Hungary and Transylvania.

The revolutionary year 1848 was marked by a great struggle between the Hungarians, the Romanians and the Habsburg Empire. The Hungarians promised for Romanians the abolition of serfdom for their support against Austria. The Romanians rejected the offer and instead rose against the Hungarian national state. Warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops, under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish born general Józef Bem in Transylvania. He carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania, and Avram Iancu managed to retreat to the harsh terrain of the Apuseni Mountains, mounting a guerrilla campaign on Bem's forces. After the intervention by the armies of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Bem's army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Timişoara (Temesvár, Hun.) on 9 August 1849.

Having quashed the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary, ruled Transylvania directly through a military governor and granted citizenship to the Romanians.

The 300-year long special separate status came was terminated by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which established the dual monarchy and reincorporated Transylvania into Hungary. On 20 June 1867, the Diet was dissolved by royal decree, and an ordinance abrogated the legislative acts of the Cluj-Napoca provincial assembly. The department of the interior inherited the responsibilities of the Transylvanian Gubernium, and the government reserved the right to name Transylvania's royal magistrates as well as the Saxon bailiff of the Universitas Saxorum. Hungarian legislation also came to supersede the Austrian code of civil procedure, penal law, commercial law, and regulations for bills of exchange.

The new unity of Austria-Hungary created a process of Magyarization affecting Transylvania's Romanians and German Saxons. After the Ausgleich of 1867, when an autonomous government for the Kingdom of Hungary was formed within Austria-Hungary, the importance of Transylvania as a core territory was once again illustrated when Hungarian leaders successfully demanded and secured Transylvania's return to the Hungarian Kingdom. By the 1890s, the Hungarians government began implementing vigurous Magyarization policies in an attempt to integrate the territories of the Hungarian Kingdom. Those Magyarization policies were primarily directed at Transylvania. In an important sense, Transylvania was the historical breeding ground of Hungarian romantic nationalism. Its Magyar-led anti-Habsburg struggles preceded the popular nationalism that emerged among the Pannonian Magyars in the early 19th century. Even after the revolution of 1848 and the 1867 Ausgleich separating Austria from Hungary, Transylvanian aristocrats continued to exert a high degree of power since Hungary adopted what some historians call an official nationalism.

Although Romanians formed the majority of Transylvania's population (59%), they had not been awarded legal status as a nation. In 1892 the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania sent a Memorandum to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph, asking for equal ethnic rights with the Hungarians, and demanding an end to persecutions and Magyarization attempts. Franz Josef forwarded the memorandum to Budapest, and the authors were tried for "homeland betrayal" in May 1894, being sentenced to long prison terms.

;Clickable Map of the Grand Duchy of Transylvania

Union with Romania

Following defeat in World War I, Austria-Hungary began to disintegrate. The ethnic Romanian majority elected representatives, who then proclaimed Union with the Kingdom of Romania on December 1, 1918. The ''Proclamation of Union'' of Alba Iulia was adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons from Transylvania. In 1920, the Allies confirmed the union in the Treaty of Trianon. Hungary protested as over 1,600,000 Hungarian people were living in the area in question, mainly in Székely Land of Eastern Transylvania, and along the newly created border, which was partially drawn through areas with compact Hungarian population. In August 1940, in the midst of World War II, Hungary regained about 40% of Transylvania by the Vienna Award, with the aid of Germany and Italy. The territory, however, was returned to Romania in 1945; this was confirmed in the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties.

As Austria-Hungary disintegrated at the end of World War I, the nationalities living there proclaimed their independence from the empire. The 1228-member National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary, headed by leaders of Transylvania's Romanian National Party and Social Democratic Party, passed a resolution calling for unification of all Romanians in a single state on 1 December in Alba Iulia. This was approved by the National Council of the Germans from Transylvania and the Council of the Danube Swabians from the Banat, on 15 December in Mediaş. In response, the Hungarian General Assembly of Cluj reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary on December 22, 1918. (''See also: Union of Transylvania with Romania'') The Treaty of Versailles placed Transylvania under the sovereignty of Romania, an ally of the Triple Entente, and the Treaty of St. Germain (1919) and the Treaty of Trianon (signed in June 1920) further elaborated the status of Transylvania and defined the new border between the states of Hungary and Romania. King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania were crowned at Alba Iulia in 1922 as King and Queen of all Romania.

One of the new administration's objectives was to enforce the Romanianization of Transylvania in a social-political fashion, after centuries of Hungarian rule. The goal was to create a Romanian middle and upper class that would be promoted to assume the role of the former Hungarian ruling elites. The Hungarian language was expunged from administration, a field that it solely occupied before, and all place-names were Romanianized. About 197,000 Transylvanian Hungarians fled to Hungary between 1918 and 1922, and a further group of 169,000 emigrated over the remainder of the interwar period. In 1930, Romanians formed the majority of the Transylvanian population (58.2%, up from 53.8% in 1910), while Magyars (26.7%, down from 31.6% in 1910), Germans (9.8%, down from 10,7% in 1910) and Jews (3.2% in 1930, counted as Magyars in 1910) were minority groups. The expropriation of the estates of Magyar magnates, the distribution of the lands to the Romanian peasants, and the policy of cultural Romanianization that followed were major causes of friction between Hungary and Romania.

World War II and Communist Romania

In August 1940, the second Vienna Award granted the Northern Transylvania to Hungary. After the Treaty of Paris (1947), at the end of World War II, the territory was returned to Romania. The post-World War II borders with Hungary, agreed on at the Treaty of Paris, were identical with those set out in 1920.

After World War II and especially after the fall of Communism, almost all of the German-speaking population left Transylvania, as most of them settling in Germany.

Recent history (1989 to present)

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, some ethnic Hungarians began advocating greater autonomy for the Székely Region (the counties of Harghita and Covasna and part of Mureş County) where ethnic Hungarians outnumber ethnic Romanians. There have been tensions in Transylvania between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians who wanted autonomy in the 1990s. The Hungarians said they were the target of attacks by Romanian politicians and news organizations. Autonomy advocates claimed the attacks were an attempt to forcibly assimilate the Hungarian minority of 1.43 million people, or 6.6% of the Romanian population (according to the census of 2002). Some ethnic Romanians chided the autonomy advocates because of their refusal to integrate and in some cases for their inability to speak Romanian.

In 1996 Romania and Hungary signed a Basic Treaty on Understanding, Cooperation, and Good-Neighborliness, aiming to protect and develop the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of the Hungarian minority in Romania and the Romanian minority in Hungary receiving good feedback from US and EU members in the context of NATO enlargement. In 2003, the Székely National Council was founded - a local Hungarian group with autonomy as its stated goal. Unlike the Kosovars, Székely pro-autonomy organizations seek autonomy within Romania rather than complete independence, leaving foreign policy and national defense in the hands of the government in Bucharest.

Ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania have traditionally voted for the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, a centrist organization with a long record of cooperating with Romanian parties, both in government and in opposition. The more radical Hungarian Civic Party positions itself as an alternative and has advocated more vocally for the autonomy of the Székely region. The ethnic-Hungarian politician, László Tőkés, one of the party's leaders, holds that Romanian and Hungarian authorities should reach an agreement regarding the status of the Hungarian community and the Székely Land.

However, relations between Romania and Hungary have improved significantly in the 2000s. The governments of Hungary and Romania held their second annual joint session in 2006. The main objective is convergence of Hungarian and Romanian National Development Plans. In particular they are keen to increase co-operation aimed at improving their absorption capacity of EU funds and to ensure development in line with EU standards. The two countries are also working closely on policies to promote the welfare of ethnic Romanians living in Hungary and ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

Geography and ethnography

The Transylvanian plateau, 300 to 500 metres (1,000-1,600 feet) high, is drained by the Mureş, Someş, Criş, and Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. This core of historical Transylvania roughly corresponds with nine counties of modern Romania. Other areas to the west and north, which also united with Romania in 1918 (inside the border established by peace treaties in 1919-20), are since that time widely considered part of Transylvania.

Transylvania proper:

* Amlaş

* Ţara Bârsei (Burzenland)

* Chioar

* Făgăraş

* Haţeg

* Kalotaszeg (Ţara Călatei)

* Mărginimea Sibiului

* The Transylvanian Plain (Câmpia Transilvaniei/Mezőség)

* Székely Land

* Ţara Moţilor

* Ţara Năsăudului (Nösnerland)

* Ţinutul Pădurenilor

Banat

Crişana

* Ţara Zarandului

Maramureş

* Ţara Lǎpuşului

* Ţara Oaşului

''See also Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary''. In common reference, the Western border of Transylvania has come to be identified with the present Romanian-Hungarian border, settled in the Treaty of Trianon, although geographically the two are not identical.

Administrative divisions

The area of the historical Voivodeship is 21,292 sq mi/55,146 km².

The region granted to Romania in 1920 covered 23 counties including nearly 102,200 km² (102,787–103,093 in Hungarian sources and 102,200 in contemporary Romanian documents) now due to the several administrative reorganisations Transylvania covers 16 present-day counties (Romanian: ''judeţ'') which include nearly 99,837 km² of central and northwest Romania. The 16 counties are:

Alba

Arad

Bihor

Bistriţa-Năsăud

Braşov

Caraş-Severin

Cluj

Covasna

Harghita

Hunedoara

Maramureş

Mureş

Sălaj

Satu Mare

Sibiu

Timiş

The most populous cities (as of 2002 census):

Cluj-Napoca (317,953)

Timişoara (317,660)

Braşov (284,596)

Oradea (206,614)

Arad (172,827)

Sibiu (154,892)

Târgu Mureş (150,041)

Baia Mare (137,921)

Satu Mare (115,142)

Population

Historical population

Official censuses with information on Transylvania's population have been conducted since the 18th century. On May 1, 1784 the Emperor Joseph II calls for the first official census of the Habsburg Empire, including Transylvania. The data were published in 1787, and this census shows only the overall population (1,440,986 inhabitants). Fényes Elek, a 19th century Hungarian statistician, estimated in 1842 that in the population of Transylvania for the years 1830-1840 the majority were 62.3% Romanians and 23.3% Hungarians.

The first official census in Transylvania that made a distinction between nationalities (distinction made on the basis of mother tongue) was performed by Austro-Hungarian authorities in 1869, distributed among the ethnic groups as follows: Romanians 59.0%, Hungarians 24.9%, Germans 11.9%.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Hungarian population of Transylvania increased from 24.9% in 1869 to 31.6%, as indicated in the 1910 Hungarian census. At the same time, the percentage of Romanian population decreased from 59.0% to 53.8% and the percentage of German population decreased from 11.9% to 10.7%, for a total population of 5,262,495. Magyarization policies greatly contributed to this shift.

The percentage of Romanian majority has significantly increased since the union of Transylvania with Romania after World War I in 1918. Indeed, the proportion of Hungarians in Transylvania is in steep decline as more of the region's inhabitants move into urban areas, where the pressure to assimilate and Romanianize is greater.

The expropriation of the estates of Magyar magnates, the distribution of the lands to the Romanian peasants, and the policy of cultural Romanianization that followed the Treaty of Trianon were major causes of friction between Hungary and Romania. Other factors include the emigration of non-Romanian peoples, assimilation and internal migration within Romania (estimates show that between 1945 and 1977, some 630,000 people moved from the Old Kingdom to Transylvania, and 280,000 from Transylvania to the Old Kingdom, most notably to Bucharest).

Current population

The 2002 Romanian census classified Transylvania as the entire region of Romania west of the Carpathians. This region has a population of 7,221,733, with a large Romanian majority (75.9%). There are also sizeable Hungarian (19.6%), Roma (3.3%), German (0.7%) and Serb (0.1%) communities. The ethnic Hungarian population of Transylvania, largely composed of Székely, form a majority in the counties of Covasna and Harghita.

Economy

Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt and sulfur.

There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production and fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource.

IT, electronics and automotive industries are important in urban and university centers like Cluj-Napoca (Nokia), Timişoara (Alcatel-Lucent, Flextronics and Continental AG), Braşov, Sibiu, Oradea and Arad.

Native brands include: Roman of Braşov (trucks and buses), Azomureş of Târgu Mureș (fertilizers), Terapia of Cluj-Napoca (pharmaceuticals), Banca Transilvania of Cluj-Napoca (finance), Romgaz and Transgaz of Mediaş (natural gas), Jidvei of Alba county (alcoholic beverages), Timişoreana of Timişoara (alcoholic beverages) and others.

Transylvania accounts for around 35% of Romania's GDP, and has a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $11,500, around 10% higher than the Romanian average.

Tourist attractions

Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle

The medieval cities of Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu (European Capital Of Culture in 2007), Târgu Mureş and Sighişoara (UNESCO World Heritage Site and supposed birthplace of Vlad Dracula)

The city of Braşov and the nearby Poiana Braşov ski resort

The city of Hunedoara with the 14th century Hunyadi Castle

The citadel and the Art Nouveau city centre of Oradea

The Densus Church, the oldest church in Romania in which services are still officiated

The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăştie Mountains, including Sarmizegetusa (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

The Maramureş region including:

* The Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa (the only of that kind in the world)

* The Wooden Churches (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

* The cities of Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmaţiei.

* The villages on the Iza, Mara, and Viseu Valleys.

The Saxon fortified churches (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Romanian traditions and folk culture, ASTRA National Museum Complex, Sibiu

Hungarian traditions and folk culture

The cafe culture, street theatre and cosmopolitan society of Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara

The Apuseni Mountains:

* Ţara Moţilor

The Bears Cave, one of the most beautiful caves in Europe

Scarisoara Ice Cave, that has a gigantic and astonishing underground glacier, actually the third largest glacier cave in the world

The Rodna Mountains.

Festivals and events

Film festivals

ALTER-NATIVE - International Short Film Festival, Târgu-Mureş

Astra Film Festival, Sibiu

Comedy Cluj, Cluj-Napoca

Gay Film Nights, Cluj-Napoca

Transilvania International Film Festival, Cluj-Napoca

Timishort, Timişoara

Music festivals

Festivalul Plai, Timişoara

Golden Stag Festival, Braşov

Gărâna Jazz Festival, Gărâna

Peninsula / Félsziget Festival, Târgu-Mureş - Romania's biggest music festival

Toamna Muzicală Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca

Transilvania International Guitar Festival, Cluj-Napoca

Others

Sighişoara Medieval Festival, Sighişoara

Historical coat of arms of Transylvania

The first heraldic representations of Transylvania date from the 16th century. One of the predominant early symbols of Transylvania was the coat of arms of Sibiu city. In 1596 Levinus Hulsius created a coat of arms for the imperial province of Transylvania, consisting of a shield party per fess, with a rising eagle in the upper field and seven hills with towers on top in the lower field. He published it in his work "Chronologia", issued in Nuremberg the same year. The seal from 1597 of Sigismund Báthory, prince of Transylvania, reproduced the new coat of arms with some slight changes: in the upper field the eagle was flanked by a sun and a moon and in the lower field the hills were replaced by simple towers.

The seal of Michael the Brave from 1600 depicts the territory of the former Dacian kingdom: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania:

The black eagle (Wallachia)

The auroch head (Moldavia)

The seven hills (Transylvania).

Over the hills there were two rampant lions affronts, supporting the trunk of a tree, as a symbol of the reunited Dacian Kingdom.

The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations in Transylvania's coat of arms. It depicted a black turul on a blue background, representing the Hungarian nobility, a Sun and the Moon representing the Székelys, and seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven fortified cities of the Transylvanian Saxons. The red dividing band was originally not part of the coat of arms.

Currently, unlike the counties included in it, the region of Transylvania does not have its own official coat of arms. Nonetheless, the historical coat of arms is currently present in the coat of arms of Romania, alongside the traditional coats of arms of the rest of Romania's historical regions.

Gallery

Transylvania in fiction

Following the publication of Emily Gerard's ''The Land Beyond the Forest'' (1888), Bram Stoker wrote his gothic horror novel ''Dracula'' in 1897, using Transylvania as a setting. With its success, Transylvania became associated in the English-speaking world with vampires. Since then it has been represented in fiction and literature as a land of mystery and magic. For example, in Paulo Coelho's novel ''The Witch of Portobello'', the main character, Sherine Khalil, is described as a Transylvanian orphan with a Romani mother, in an effort to add to the character's exotic mystique. The so-called Transylvanian trilogy of historical novels by Miklos Banffy, ''The Writing on the Wall'', is an extended treatment of the 19th and early 20th century social and political history of the country.

Juliet Marillier's young adult fiction ''Wildwood Dancing'', is set in Transylvania and involves the folk tales and the lifestyle of Transylvanians.

See also

Prehistory of Transylvania

References

Further reading

Patrick Leigh Fermor, ''Between the Woods and the Water'' (New York Review of Books Classics, 2005; ISBN 1-59017-166-7). Fermor travelled across Transylvania in the summer of 1934, and wrote about it in this account first published more than 50 years later, in 1986.

Zoltán Farkas and Judit Sós, Transylvania Guidebook

External links

RTI Radio - Radio Transsylvania International

''Tolerant Transylvania - Why Transylvania will not become another Kosovo'', Katherine Lovatt, in Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 14 27 September 1999.

''The History Of Transylvania And The Transylvanian Saxons'' by Dr. Konrad Gündisch, Oldenburg, Germany

''Historical Literature about Transilvania and Neighbouring Territories'' by Klaus Popa, Germany

''Transylvania, its Products and its People, by Charles Boner, 1865''

Transylvanian Family History Database

Category:Former countries in Europe

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name	Tony Gatlif
birth date	September 10, 1948
birth place	Algiers, French Algeria
birthname	Michel Dahmani
occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter & actor
footnotes	}}

Tony Gatlif (born as Michel Dahmani on 10 September 1948 in Algiers, Algeria) is a French film director of Romani ethnicity who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer.

Biography

Tony Gatlif was born on 10 September 1948 in Algiers. Like many others, he left Algeria in the early 1960s. In elementary school he discovered the cinema. A teacher bought a 16mm projector and showed a movie every week, which served as the basis for a passion in film. “ [I] have seen the films of Vigo, Renoir, from John Ford and Chaplin’s … That is my cinema education.”

as he arrives without anything in France, he goes to the chaotic way of street children who juvenile delinquency and educational institutions. By day, he sneaked into the cinema halls of the ''Grands Boulevards'', in order to be able to sleep in warm places. One evening in 1966, he was courageous enough to seek out his idol, Michel Simon after a theatrical performance in his dressing room. The actor wrote Gatlif a recommendation that helped him attend an acting course in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Five years later, Gatlif acted in an Edward Bond stage play (produced by Claude Régy) near another beginner - Gérard Depardieu. Around the same time, Gatlif wrote his first screenplay La Rage au poing , inspired by his experiences in educational institutions. Eric Le Hung takes over control. During the filming Gatlif decides to change the script to direct. In 1975 he shot his first film La Tête en ruine.

1981 results in Spain, the film Corre Gitano, in the Sinti and Roma from Grenada and Seville are seen. “It is the first film in which I think Rome claim status. It is a film that says: I am Rome. Despite everything, despite the persecutions of contempt. I exist, we exist …”

With the film Les Princes (1983) is discovered Tony Gatlif. Les Princes is a film without passion and without compromise of the Sinti and Roma who have settled in the Paris suburbs. A film that Gatlif as “Brass Knuckles” means, can the show through the filmmaker and his style. 1985 chreibt and turns Gatlif Rue du Départ, the story of Clara (Christine Boisson), a young, wandering in search of her father’s picture. Pleure pas my love (1989) is an answer to all those who accuse him of telling only by outsiders. It is a fairy tale in which Tony Gatlif turns out to be sentimental painter. It follows Gaspard and Robinson (1990), a Sozialkomödie and a friendship story against the background of unemployment.

1992 throws himself into the adventure of Tony Gatlif Latcho Drom, a hymn to the music of Sinti and Roma. With a small team, he sets out on the trail of the Sinti and Roma, on a musical journey that takes him over an entire year of Rajasthan to Andalusia, via Egypt, Romania, Hungary and France. The film is an unexpected success at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard series. Another meeting his next film: the encounter with the work of Mondo (1996), the story of a ten-year child who arrives without a family in Nice determined, and its author, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio.

1997 describes the film Gadjo Dilo the arrival of a young Gadjos (i.e. non-Rom) in a Roma village in Romania, is looking for a missing singer. Touching and refreshing at the same time, the film was in France and abroad, a great audience and critics success. The following year, Tony Gatlif takes the now famous pair of Gadjo Dilo, Romain Duris and Rona Hartner again, this time for the freedom-fighting film Je suis né d’une cigogne.

Vengo (2000) describes the rivalry between two Andalucian families. It enabled Gatlif for the first time with one of the greatest flamenco dancer Antonio Canales cooperate. Swing (2002) was filmed in eastern France, and describes the encounter of Max, a young boy who wants to learn Django Reinhardt’s guitar playing. Exile, again with Romain Duris in a leading role, (2004) Tony Gatlif’s 14th Feature film. Exile is celebrating its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and Gatlif won the prize for best director.

Children

Birth of Tony Gatlif (real name Michel Dahmani), a September 10, 1948 in the Algiers suburb of a family of Andalusian gypsies. He discovered the theater during these passages too short to school because he spends most of his time in the streets. He is illiterate and apprentice thug but the memories of cinema never left. At the age of twelve, and to avoid an arranged marriage, he moved to Algiers. He thus distanced himself from the family and works by exercising the profession of shoeshine. He spends as early childhood until the turn of the sixties. Memories of his youth, Tony Gatlif says: "There were nearly 500 children. We lived on the streets, free. We hated school, his fences, benches. We do not want to be locked up." While the authorities threatened to stop paying child benefit to those who do not send their children to school. Échec.Elles then try to substitute carrot sticks and milk and flour to promise good attendance. Fail again. It is the teacher who finds the solution. He bought a 16 mm projector, entered the school at the cinema club Jean Vigo and weekly planning a film that serves as raw material cours.Voilà my film culture. All my career I'm completely in this teacher, who told me some years ago at the time he supported the FLN. " Around the age of fourteen he landed in France, between Marseille and Paris mop. Without a sub, street child, he met delinquency, juvenile reformatories. (This experience will serve him for writing his first script: The Rage in hand. But Tony Gatlif has a good star. While staying in a house of correction in the Paris region and with the help of a doctor happens to enroll in a theater. In recalling his visits to correctional home plustard he declared: "There, for the first time, the state was interrested in me, because I was a rebel." Grands Boulevards, in the days, he enjoys the cinema to sleep warm. "I remember having slept like a log during the four sessions Breathless."

Year 1960

1966, one evening he decided to visit his idol, Michael Simon, who played in a room of Rene Obaldia and at the end of the show, he slips into the lodge of the great actor "I thought it was film. When the curtain opened on this large light box, with the real Michael Simon, it was a shock when all the fans are gone, Michel Simon, who turned to makeup me and asked me what I wanted. I told him: "I want to make movies. Do you think it possible? He stared a long moment, then with this huge voice: of course it is possible " In the aftermath, the actor wrote him a recommendation to the attention of his manager. Tony Gatlif includes a drama course at Saint-Germain-En-Laye. Not knowing hardly read, he learns his first lyrics phonetically. Five years later he is on stage at the NPT in a play by Edward Bond, directed by Claude Governed, with Hugues Quester. The other beginning of the show called Gérard Depardieu. "When we worked playback, with Gerard, who was to read the worst. So he always managed to get behind me." Alongside the show, Tony Gatlif wrote his first screenplay, Rabies in hand. "Depardieu made ​​fun of my mouth every night." So you're the new writer of the century. You got a role for me? "we must admit that I wrote it on a typewriter as a kid, plastic. It was not serious."

Year 1970

1973, he directed his first short film with Jacques Villeret and Coline Serreau. Then he 'productions without means. Gérard Depardieu while shooting the movie Bertrand Blier's Going Places with Patrick Dewaere Eric Le Hung directed the film from the screenplay by Tony Gatlif 'Rabies in hand'. Scenario inspired by the experience of reformatories of its author. 1975, the temptation to hold a camera is pressed and he made a debut novel The Head of Ruin. 1978, The earth rotates in the stomach reminiscent of the war Algeria experienced by a Blackfoot mother and her four daughters. "At that time, remembers Tony Gatlif, I was fascinated by the story of Andreas Baader and I shot this film about the Algerian revolution in thinking about him."

Year 1980

1981, he toured Spain with the Gypsies of Granada and Seville, Corre Gitano - new film by France- "A film failed, says the director, because I took flamenco spectator, aficionado, so he must live indoors. The first film in which I claim my condition gypsy. It is a film that says, 'I'm Gypsy. Nevertheless, persecution, contempt, I am Gypsy. I exist, we exist. " His first real success with his film 'The Princes' which the subject is on Gypsies settled in the Paris suburbs. Tony Gatlif is an uncompromising look at this community comes to poverty and rejection. This film is a film director punch. An effective direct, elegant, dry and requires the viewer a filmmaker, a leg, an author. A film that marks the meeting of Tony Gatlif with a man who meant a lot to him, Gerard Lebovici. "The first film in which I claim my condition gypsy. It's a film that says, 'I'm Gypsy." Nevertheless, persecution, contempt, I am Gypsy. I exist, we exist. " "About Gerard Lebovici, this guy was the impresario Belmondo, the creator of Media Art. I do not see what we could do together. He pushed so hard to see lr pre-assembly of princes that I showed him. At the end of the projection, he said he would be very unfortunate not to take this film. and there I met another facet of this man. Someone reminded me my teacher. he did see the film to Guy Debord, the Situationists father who wrote slogans like "The Princes do not betray.", which was plastered on the walls of Paris. Lebovici is the first to understood everything there was in this film. " He realizes then that the three films temporarily away from the world of Gypsies. In the process, the producer asked him to make a feature on Jacques Mesrine. Project that n'interresse not the director. Lebovici gives him carte blanche. 1985 he wrote and directed the Street start, the story of a runaway, that of Clara (Christine Boisson), a teenage girl who seeks the wandering image of his father where the director confirms his lack of convenience and sense of rebellion. "This film is a cry, a cry about friendship. I did for Guy Debord and Gerard Lebovici." 1988, it continues with not cry my love is the answer to all those who criticized him for mention only marginals. It is a tale in which Tony Gatlif stands an astonishing painter of feelings. A love story of a young projectionist for an actress.

Personal

Gatlif was born in Algiers to a Kabyle father and a Romani mother. After his childhood there, Gatlif arrived in France in 1960 following the Algerian War of Independence. 1990, he directed Gaspard and Robinson. The plot of this film is based on the wandering of a truck driver and an old woman abandoned. A social comedy based on a story of friendship against a backdrop of unemployment. 1992, Tony Gatlif finds the world of the Gypsies and embarked on a project that keeps him immenssement heart. ''Latcho Drom'' oscillates between the film and documentary. Its purpose is to pelegrina delivered the music of his people whose starting point is India and Rajasthan. With a small team, his quest is a long year and it will cross several countries: Egypt, Romania, Hungary, France and to finish and end the trip in Andalusia in Spain and even Africa North. This long journey is like a trip to the roots of Roma culture in which the director goes through all the variations and all possible instrumentalisations gypsy music. Thousand years of history.

"For me this film is a hymn. In the first sense of the word. A film that recreates a link, through music, for all the Gypsy people." 1994, Tony Gatlif's drama is a sign that even an encounter between a work and its author, Jean-Marie G. Le Clezio who determines his next film, ''Mondo'', the story of a ten year old child with no family who arrived in Nice. 1995 - 1996 Tony Gatlif directed two documentaries for Canal +, respectively, and Arte. "Lucumi", the Rumbero of Cuba for Canal + and "I Muvrini" Corsican polyphony for Arte 1997, Tony Gatlif Troisème devotes a film after The Prince and Latcho Drom on the world of the Gypsies: ''Gadjo dilo''. This latest work will meet with a success with the public and receive all the festivals that are allowed, enthusiasm and rewards. 1999, the movie ''I Am Born of A Stork'' has not been very well received. The subject deals with undocumented immigrants. Tony Gatlif takes risks both in form and substance. A total freedom is present and it is surely the latter that has pertubée a large number of spectators. It was daring to speak a stork who is more of Arab nationality. Some cry engineering, anti-conformism, to a certain poetry to others speak of a speech simplistic and rather silly. "To date, no festival has wanted this film, probably because of the stage of 'Golden Pigeon'

Career

Gatlif struggled for years to break into the film industry, playing in several theatrical productions until directing his first film, ''La Tête en ruine'', in 1975. He followed it with the 1979 ''La Terre au ventre'', a story of the Algerian War of Independence.

Since the 1981 ''Corre, gitano'', Gatlif's work has been focused on the Roma people of Europe, from whom he partially traces his descent.

After making ''Gaspard et Robinson'' in 1990, Gatlif spent 1992 and 1993 shooting ''Latcho Drom'', which was awarded numerous prizes. This feature-length musical film, often mislabelled as a documentary, deals with gypsy culture throughout the world around the theme of their music and dance. For Vincent Ostria, then journalist at the Cahiers du Cinéma, it was "the most genuine film of the year (1993 editor's note)." A year later, Gatlif brought the world of the author J. M. G. Le Clézio (pen-name) to the screen in ''Mondo'' (1994).

His 2004 film ''Exils'', won the Best Director Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. His film ''Transylvania'' also premiered at Cannes in May 2006.

Filmography

Screenwriter

La Rage au poing (1975)

Director and Screenwriter

La Tête en ruine (1975)

La Terre au ventre (1978)

Corre gitano (1981)

Canta gitano (1981)

Les Princes (1982)

Rue du départ (1985)

Pleure pas my love (1989)

Gaspard et Robinson (1990)

Latcho Drom (1993)

Mondo (1995)

Gadjo dilo (1997)

Je suis né d'une cigogne (1998)

Vengo (2000)

Swing (2001)

Exils (2004)

Transylvania (2006)

Korkoro (2009)

Indignados (2012)

References

This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the French Wikipedia, retrieved on July 17, 2005.

External links

Interview (in French)

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:French film directors Category:French actors Category:Algerian emigrants to France Category:French people of Algerian descent Category:Romani film directors Category:French Romani people Category:Pieds-Noirs Category:People from Algiers Category:Kabyle people

de:Tony Gatlif es:Tony Gatlif fr:Tony Gatlif it:Tony Gatlif hu:Tony Gatlif ja:トニー・ガトリフ no:Tony Gatlif pl:Tony Gatlif pt:Tony Gatlif ru:Тони Гатлиф rmy:Tony Gatlif tr:Tony Gatlif uk:Тоні Ґатліф

name	Bugs Bunny
first
last	''The Looney Tunes Show'' (2011-present)
creator	}}

}}}} | nickname = Bugs | species = Rabbit or hare(see below) | gender = Male | significantother = Lola BunnyHoney Bunny | voice = Mel Blanc (1938–1989)(see below) }} Bugs Bunny is an American animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray hare or rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most notably the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of theatrical short films. His popularity there led to his becoming a corporate mascot of the Warner Bros. company. Bugs has appeared in more films than any other cartoon character and is the ninth most portrayed film personality in the world.

According to ''Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare'', Bugs was born on July 27, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York in a warren under Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In reality, he was created by many animators and staff, including Tex Avery, who directed ''A Wild Hare'', Bugs' debut role, and Robert McKimson, who created the definitive "Bugs Bunny" character design. According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs has a Flatbush accent. Bugs has had numerous catchphrases, the most prominent being a casual "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot.

History

Happy Rabbit

thumb|left|550px|A depiction of Bugs Bunny's evolution through the years.A wabbit (named as "Happy wabbit") with some of the personality of Bugs, though looking very different, first appears in the cartoon short ''Porky's Hare Hunt'', released on April 30, 1938. Co-directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton (who was responsible for the initial design of Happy), this short has an almost identical plot to Tex Avery's 1937 cartoon ''Porky's Duck Hunt'', which had introduced Daffy Duck. Porky Pig is again cast as a hunter tracking a silly prey less interested in escape than in driving his pursuer insane. The latter short replaces the little black duck with a small white rabbit. Happy introduces himself with the odd expression "Jiggers, fellers", and Mel Blanc gave Happy a voice and laugh almost like that he would later use for Woody Woodpecker. This cartoon also first uses the famous Groucho Marx line, "Of course you realize, this means war!" This rabbit was so popular with its audience that the Schlesinger staff decided to use it again.

Happy appears again in 1939's ''Prest-O Change-O'', directed by Chuck Jones, where he is the pet rabbit of unseen character Sham-Fu the Magician. Two dogs, fleeing the local dogcatcher, enter his absent master's house. Happy harasses them, but is ultimately bested by the bigger of the two dogs.

His third appearance is in another 1939 cartoon, ''Hare-um Scare-um'', directed by Dalton and Hardaway. This short, the first where he is depicted as a gray bunny instead of a white one, is also notable for Happy's first singing role. Charlie Thorson, lead animator on the short, gave the character a name. He had written "Bugs' Bunny" on the model sheet that he drew for Hardaway. In promotional material for the short, including a surviving 1939 presskit, the name on the model sheet was altered to become the rabbit's own name: "Bugs" Bunny (quotation marks only used at the very beginning). In his later years, Mel Blanc stated that a proposed name was "Happy Rabbit". Oddly, "Happy" was only used in reference to Bugs Hardaway. In the cartoon ''Hare-um Scare-um'', a newspaper headline reads, "Happy Hardaway".

In Chuck Jones' ''Elmer's Candid Camera'' Happy first meets Elmer Fudd. This rabbit looks more like the present-day Bugs, taller and with a similar face. However, this rabbit, speaks with a rural drawl. The early version of Elmer is also different from the present-day one, much fatter and taller, although Arthur Q. Bryan's voice is the same as it would be later. In Robert Clampett's 1940 ''Patient Porky'', a similar rabbit appears to trick the audience into thinking that 750 rabbits have been born.

Bugs Bunny emerges

''A Wild Hare'', directed by Tex Avery and released on July 27, 1940, is the first cartoon where both Elmer Fudd and Bugs are shown in their fully developed forms as hunter and tormentor. In this cartoon Mel Blanc first uses what would become Bugs' standard voice; this cartoon also marks the first time that Bugs uses his catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?" Animation historian Joe Adamson counts ''A Wild Hare'' as the first "official" Bugs Bunny short. The short was a huge success in theaters and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Bugs's second appearance, in Jones' 1941 short ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'', introduces the audience to the name Bugs Bunny, which until then had only been used among the Termite Terrace employees. It was also the first short where he received billing under his now-famous name, but the card, "featuring Bugs Bunny", was just slapped on the end of the completed short's opening titles when ''A Wild Hare'' proved an unexpected success. However, Bugs' voice in this cartoon is noticibly different, and his design was slightly altered as well. For the next several cartoons produced afterwards, Bugs' original design from ''A Wild Hare'' would be re-used.

World War II

By 1942, Bugs had become the number one star of ''Merrie Melodies''. The series had originally been intended only for one-shot characters in shorts after several early attempts to introduce characters (Foxy, Goopy Geer and Piggy) failed under Harman–Ising. (In 1937, under Schlesinger, it had started introducing newer characters.) The 1942 short ''Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid'' shows a slight redesign of Bugs, with less-prominent front teeth and a rounder head. The character was reworked by Robert McKimson, then an animator in Robert Clampett's unit. The redesign at first was only used in the shorts created by Clampett's unit, but in time it would be taken up by the other directors, with Freleng and Frank Tashlin the first. When McKimson was himself promoted to director, he created yet another version, with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth. He used this version until 1949 (as did Art Davis for the one Bugs Bunny cartoon he directed) when he started using the version he had designed for Clampett. Jones would come up with his own slight modification, and the voice had slight variations between the units. Bugs also made cameos in Tex Avery's final Warner Bros. short, ''Crazy Cruise''.

Since Bugs' debut in ''A Wild Hare'', he had appeared only in color ''Merrie Melodie'' cartoons (making him one of the few recurring characters created for that series in the Leon Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color), alongside Elmer predecessor Egghead, Inki, Sniffles, and Elmer himself. While he made a cameo appearance in the 1943 Porky and Daffy cartoon ''Porky Pig's Feat'' this was his only appearance in a black-and-white ''Looney Tune'' cartoon. He did not star in a cartoon in the ''Looney Tunes'' series until that series made its complete conversion to only color cartoons beginning with 1944 releases. ''Buckaroo Bugs'' was Bugs' first cartoon in the ''Looney Tunes'' series, and was also the last Warner Bros. cartoon to credit Leon Schlesinger.

Bugs' popularity soared during World War II because of his free and easy attitude, and began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943. By that time Warner Bros. had become the most profitable cartoon studio in the United States. In company with cartoon studios such as Disney and Famous Studios, Warners put its characters against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and the Japanese. The 1944 short ''Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips'' features Bugs at odds with a group of Japanese soldiers. This cartoon has since been pulled from distribution due to its racial stereotypes of Japanese people. He also faces off against Herman Goering and Hitler in the 1945 short ''Herr Meets Hare'', which introduced his well-known reference to Albuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in the Black Forest of 'Joimany' instead of Las Vegas, Nevada. Bugs also appeared in the 1942 two-minute U.S. war bonds commercial film ''Any Bonds Today'', along with Porky and Elmer.

At the end of the 1943 short ''Super-Rabbit'', Bugs appears wearing a United States Marine Corps dress blue uniform. As a result, the Marine Corps made Bugs an honorary Marine Master Sergeant. From 1943 to 1946, Bugs was the official mascot of Kingman Army Airfield, Kingman, Arizona, where thousands of aerial gunners were trained during World War II. Some notable trainees included Clark Gable and Charles Bronson. Bugs also served as the mascot for 530 Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force, U.S. Air Force, which was attached to the Royal Australian Air Force and operated out of Australia's Northern Territory from 1943 to 1945, flying B-24 Liberator bombers. Bugs riding an air delivered torpedo served as the squadron logo for Marine Torpedo/Bomber Squadron 242 in the Second World War.

In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance in ''Jasper Goes Hunting'', a short produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures. In this cameo (animated by Robert McKimson, with Mel Blanc providing the voice), Bugs pops out of a rabbit hole, saying his usual catchphrase; Bugs then says, "I must be in the wrong picture" and then goes back in the hole.

The post-war era

After World War II Bugs appeared in numerous cartoon shorts in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series, making his last appearance in the theatrical cartoons in 1964 with ''False Hare''. He was directed by Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Arthur Davis and Chuck Jones. The short ''Knighty Knight Bugs'' (1958), in which a medieval Bugs trades blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon (which has a cold), won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1959. Three of Chuck Jones' Bugs Bunny shorts — ''Rabbit Fire'', ''Rabbit Seasoning'', and ''Duck! Rabbit, Duck!'' — comprise what is often referred to as the "Duck Season/Rabbit Season" trilogy. Jones' 1957 classic, ''What's Opera, Doc?'', cast Bugs and Elmer in a parody of Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. It has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, the first cartoon short to receive this honor.

In the fall of 1960, ABC debuted the prime-time television program ''The Bugs Bunny Show''. This show packaged many of the post-1948 Warners shorts with newly animated wraparounds. After two seasons, it was moved from its evening slot to reruns on Saturday mornings. ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' changed format and exact title frequently, but remained on network television for 40 years. The packaging was later completely different, with each short simply presented on its own, title and all, though some clips from the new bridging material were sometimes used as filler.

After the classic cartoon era

After Mel Blanc died in 1989, Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Billy West, and Joe Alaskey became the new voices of Bugs Bunny and many of the other Looney Tunes, each taking turns doing Bugs' voice for various projects over the years.

Bugs has made appearances in animated specials for network television, mostly composed of classic cartoons with bridging material added, including ''How Bugs Bunny Won the West'', and ''The Bugs Bunny Mystery Special''. ''Bugs Bunny's Busting Out All Over'' (1980) contained no vintage clips and featured the first new Bugs Bunny cartoons in 16 years. It opened with "Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Bunny", which features a flashback of Bugs as a child thwarting a young Elmer Fudd, while its third and closing short was "Spaced Out Bunny", with Bugs being kidnapped by Marvin the Martian to be a playmate for Hugo, an Abominable Snowman-like character. (A new Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short filled out the half hour.) Compilation films included the independently produced ''Bugs Bunny: Superstar'', using the vintage shorts then owned by United Artists; as well as Warner Bros. efforts ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie'', ''The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'', ''Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island'', ''Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales'' and ''Daffy Duck's Quackbusters''. He also made guest appearances in episodes of the 1990s television program ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny, and would later make occasional guest cameos on spinoffs ''Taz-Mania'' and ''Animaniacs''.

Bugs has had several comic book series over the years. Western Publishing had the license for all the Warner Brothers cartoons, and produced Bugs Bunny comics first for Dell Comics, then later for their own Gold Key Comics. Dell published 58 issues and several specials from 1952 to 1962. Gold Key continued for another 133 issues. DC Comics, the sister/subsidiary company of Warner Bros., has published several comics titles since 1994 that Bugs has appeared in. Notable among these was the 2000 four-issue miniseries ''Superman & Bugs Bunny'', written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Joe Staton. This depicted a crossover between DC's superheroes and the Warner cartoon characters.

Like SpongeBob SquarePants for Nickelodeon and Mickey Mouse for Disney, Bugs has served as the mascot for Warner Bros. and its various divisions. He and Mickey are the first cartoon characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the 1988 animated/live action movie ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', Bugs was shown as one of the inhabitants of Toontown. However, since the film was being produced by Disney, Warner Bros. would only allow the use of their biggest star if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey Mouse. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when onscreen. For the same reasons, Bugs never calls Mickey by his name, only referring to him as "Doc," while Mickey calls him "Bugs."

Bugs made an appearance in the 1990 drug prevention special ''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.'' This special is notable for being the first time that somebody other than Mel Blanc voiced Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. (In this special, both characters were voiced by Jeff Bergman.) Bugs was also featured in ''The Earth Day Special'' showing his displeasure on how man started mistreating the environment.

Bugs returned to the silver screen in ''Box Office Bunny'' in 1990 (1991 in the U.S.). This was the first Bugs Bunny cartoon short since 1964 to be released in theaters, and it was created for the Bugs Bunny 50th anniversary celebration. It was followed by ''(Blooper) Bunny,'' a short that was shelved from theaters, but later premiered on Cartoon Network in 1997 and has since gained a cult following among animation fans for its edgy humor.

In 1996, Bugs and other Looney Tunes characters appeared in the live-action/animated film, ''Space Jam.'' In the film, the Looney Tunes are in danger of being enslaved by a group of aliens. Due to the aliens' small stature, the Looney Tunes challenge the aliens to a basketball game, but the aliens (known as the Nerdlucks) steal the talent of the best NBA players such as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing and become hulking, talented players known as the Monstars. Because of this, Bugs (voiced by Billy West) calls upon the help of the greatest basketball player in the world, Michael Jordan, who is initially reluctant to help due to his having retired from the NBA to play baseball for the MLB. The film also introduced the character of Lola Bunny. The film received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics, but was a box office success grossing over $230 million worldwide. The success of ''Space Jam'' led to the development of another live-action/animated film, ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'', released in 2003 and directed by Joe Dante. Unlike ''Space Jam'', ''Back in Action'' was a box-office bomb, but received more positive reviews from film critics. The film marked the first time Joe Alaskey provided Bugs' voice.

In 1997, Bugs appeared on a U.S. postage stamp, the first cartoon to be so honored, beating the iconic Mickey Mouse. The stamp is number seven on the list of the ten most popular U.S. stamps, as calculated by the number of stamps purchased but not used. The introduction of Bugs onto a stamp was controversial at the time, as it was seen as a step toward the 'commercialization' of stamp art. The postal service rejected many designs, and went with a postal-themed drawing. Avery Dennison printed the Bugs Bunny stamp sheet, which featured "a special ten-stamp design and was the first self-adhesive souvenir sheet issued by the U.S. Postal Service."

A younger version of Bugs is the main character of ''Baby Looney Tunes,'' which debuted on Cartoon Network in 2002. In the action comedy ''Loonatics Unleashed'', his definite descendant Ace Bunny is the leader of the Loonatics team and seems to have inherited his ancestor's Brooklyn accent and comic wit. Strangely, Bugs was one of the few Looney Tunes characters who never appeared in the 2003 Duck Dodgers series.

Bugs has appeared in numerous video games, including the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' series, ''Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout'', ''Bugs Bunny: Rabbit Rampage'' and the similar ''Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble'', ''Looney Tunes B-Ball'', ''Space Jam'', ''Looney Tunes Racing'', ''Looney Tunes: Space Race'', ''Bugs Bunny Lost in Time'', and its sequel, ''Bugs Bunny and Taz Time Busters'', and ''Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal''.

''The Looney Tunes Show''

Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang returned to television in 2011 in a brand new Cartoon Network series titled ''The Looney Tunes Show'', with Jeff Bergman returning to voice both Bugs and Daffy Duck. This series will also feature the characters singing original songs as well. A large difference between Bugs and Daffy's friendship in the show is that, whereas Bugs would hardly mind Daffy's flaws in the original cartoons, in the show Bugs is often and openly annoyed at Daffy's antics, sometimes to the point of aggression when Daffy becomes too obnoxious. He also dated Lola Bunny once, but found her to be "crazy" and a bit too talkative. Though later on as the series progressed they did rekindle their relationship. Unlike the original cartoons, Bugs lives in a regular home, which he shares with Daffy. However, in one episode, his old home (a hole in the ground) was seen. Bugs' income comes from having invented the carrot peeler.

Return to film

On August 13, 2010, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they were planning a live-action/CG-animated combo feature film based on the Looney Tunes character.

Personality and catchphrases

– it's actually a big put-on. Let's face it Doc. I've read the script and I al­ready know how it turns out. |Bob Clampett on Bugs Bunny, written in first person.}}

Bugs Bunny is characterized as being laid-back and clever. His attitude has caused him to be picked on with almost every antagonist he comes across, including Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Willoughby the Dog, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle, Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, the Crusher, Gremlin , Big Bad Wolf (Looney Tunes), Count Blood Count and a host of others. Bugs almost always wins these conflicts, a plot pattern which recurs in ''Looney Tunes'' films directed by Chuck Jones. Concerned that viewers would lose sympathy for an aggressive protagonist who always won, Jones arranged for Bugs to be bullied, cheated, or threatened by the antagonists while minding his own business, justifying his subsequent antics as retaliation or self-defense. He's also been known to break the fourth wall by "communicating" with the audience, either by explaining the situation (e.g. "Be with you in a minute, folks!"), describing someone to the audience (e.g. "Feisty, ain't they?"), clueing in on the story (e.g. "That happens to him all during the picture, folks."), explaining that one of his antagonists' actions have pushed him to the breaking point ("Of course you know, this means war."), etc.

Bugs will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid conflict, but when an antagonist pushes him too far, Bugs may address the audience and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means ''war!''" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating. This line was taken from Groucho Marx and others in the 1933 film ''Duck Soup'' and was also used in the 1935 Marx film ''A Night at the Opera''. Bugs would pay homage to Groucho in other ways, such as occasionally adopting his stooped walk or leering eyebrow-raising (in ''Hair-Raising Hare'', for example) or sometimes with a direct impersonation (as in ''Slick Hare'').

Other directors, such as Friz Freleng, characterized Bugs as altruistic. When Bugs meets other successful characters (such as Cecil Turtle in ''Tortoise Beats Hare'', or, in World War II, the Gremlin of ''Falling Hare''), his overconfidence becomes a disadvantage. Most of Bugs' antagonists are extremely dim-witted, and Bugs is easily able to outwit and torment them, though on occasion they will manage to get the best of Bugs. Daffy Duck, who is arguably more intelligent but less clever, is unaffected by Bugs' usual schemes, which usually results in the two trying to outsmart the other with Bugs always triumphing in the end. However, there are only three antagonists that successfully defeated Bugs in the end of the cartoon, such as the Gremlin from Falling Hare, the unnamed mouse from Rhapsody Rabbit, and the fly from Baton Bunny.

During the 1940s, Bugs starts off immature and wild, but starting in the 1950s his personality matured and his attitude was more refined. Though often shown as highly mischievous and violent, Bugs is never actually malicious, and only acts as such in self-defense against his aggressors; the only two cartoons where Bugs ever served as an antagonist were Buckaroo Bugs and Duck Amuck; the latter cartoon depicts him as far more sadistic than usual, as he becomes the cartoonist and abuses his newfound divine powers to torture Daffy.

Bugs Bunny's nonchalant carrot-chewing standing position, as explained by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Bob Clampett, originated in a scene in the film ''It Happened One Night'', in which Clark Gable's character leans against a fence, eating carrots rapidly and talking with his mouth full to Claudette Colbert's character. This scene was well known while the film was popular, and viewers at the time likely recognized Bugs Bunny's behavior as satire.

The carrot-chewing scenes are generally followed by Bugs Bunny's most well-known catchphrase, "What's up, Doc?", which was written by director Tex Avery for his first Bugs Bunny short, 1940s ''A Wild Hare''. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in his native Texas and that he did not think much of the phrase. When the short was first screened in theaters, the "What's up, Doc?" scene generated a tremendously positive audience reaction. As a result, the scene became a recurring element in subsequent films and cartoons. The phrase was sometimes modified for a situation. For example, Bugs says "What's up, dogs?" to the antagonists in ''A Hare Grows in Manhattan'', "What's up, Duke?" to the knight in ''Knight-mare Hare'' and "What's up, prune-face?" to the aged Elmer in ''The Old Grey Hare''. He might also greet Daffy with "What's up, Duck?" He used one variation, "What's all the hub-bub, bub?" only once, in ''Falling Hare.'' Another variation is used in ''Looney Tunes: Back In Action'' when he greets a lightsaber-wielding Marvin the Martian saying "What's up, Darth?"

Several Chuck Jones shorts in the late 1940s and 1950s depict Bugs travelling via cross-country (and, in some cases, intercontinental) tunnel-digging, ending up in places as varied as Mexico (''Bully for Bugs'', 1953), the Himalayas (''The Abominable Snow Rabbit'', 1960) and Antarctica (''Frigid Hare'', 1949) all because he "shoulda taken that left toin at Albukoikee." He first utters that phrase in ''Herr Meets Hare'' (1945), when he emerges in the Black Forest, a cartoon seldom seen today due to its blatantly topical subject matter. When Hermann Göring says to Bugs, "There is no Las Vegas in 'Chermany'" and takes a potshot at Bugs, Bugs dives into his hole and says, "Joimany! Yipe!", as Bugs realizes he's behind enemy lines. The confused response to his "left toin" comment also followed a pattern. For example, when he tunnels into Scotland in 1948's ''My Bunny Lies over the Sea'', while thinking he's heading for the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California, it provides another chance for an ethnic stereotype: "Therrre's no La Brrrea Tarrr Pits in Scotland!" (to which Bugs responds, "Uh...what's up, Mac-doc?"). A couple of late-1950s shorts of this ilk also featured Daffy Duck travelling with Bugs ("Since when is Pismo Beach inside a cave?!").

Bugs Bunny has some similarities to figures from mythology and folklore, such as Br'er Rabbit, Nanabozho, or Anansi, and might be seen as a modern trickster (for example, he repeatedly uses cross-dressing mischievously). Unlike most cartoon characters, however, Bugs Bunny is rarely defeated in his own games of trickery. One exception to this is the short ''Hare Brush'', in which Elmer Fudd ultimately carries the day at the end; however, critics note that in this short, Elmer and Bugs assume each other's personalities—through mental illness and hypnosis, respectively—and it is only by becoming Bugs that Elmer can win. However, Bugs was beaten at his own game. In the short ''Duck Amuck'' he torments Daffy Duck as the unseen animator, ending with his line, "Ain't I a stinker?" Bugs feels the same wrath of an unseen animator in the short ''Rabbit Rampage'' where he is in turn tormented by Elmer Fudd. At the end of the clip Elmer gleefully exclaims, 'Well, I finally got even with that scwewy wabbit!"

Although it was usually Porky Pig who brought the WB cartoons to a close with his stuttering, "That's all, folks!", Bugs would occasionally appear, bursting through a drum just as Porky did, but munching a carrot and saying in his Bronx-Brooklyn accent, "And dat's de end!"

The name "Bugs" or "Bugsy" as an old-fashioned nickname means "crazy" (or "loopy"). Several famous people from the first half of the twentieth century had that nickname, like famous gangster, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, who disliked the nickname. It is now out of fashion as a nickname, but survives in 1950s–1960s expressions like "you're bugging me", as in "you're driving me crazy".

Bugs wears white gloves, which he is rarely seen without, although he may remove one and use it for slapping an opponent to predicate a duel. Another glove-less example is the episode ''Long-Haired Hare'', where Bugs pretends to be the famed conductor Leopold Stokowski and instructs opera star "Giovanni Jones" to sing and to hold a high note. As Giovanni Jones is turning red with the strain, Bugs slips his left hand out of its glove, leaving the glove hovering in the air in order to command Jones to continue to hold the high note. Bugs then nips down to the mail drop to order, and then to receive, a pair of ear defenders. Bugs puts on the ear defenders and then zips back into the amphitheater and reinserts his hand into his glove as singer Jones is writhing on the stage, still holding that same high note.

Bugs Bunny is also a master of disguise: he can wear any disguise that he wants to confuse his enemies: in ''Bowery Bugs'' he uses diverse disguises: fakir, gentleman, woman, baker and finally policeman. This ability of disguise makes Bugs famous because we can recognize him while at the same time realizing that his enemies are stumped. Bugs has a certain preference for the female disguise: Taz, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam were fooled by this sexy bunny (woman) and in ''Hare Trimmed'', Sam discovers the real face of "Granny" (Bugs's disguise) in the church where they attempt to get married. For all the gullible victims of all these disguises, however, for some reason, Daffy Duck and Cecil Turtle are among those who are never fooled.

Bugs Bunny may also have some mystical potential. In ''Knight-mare Hare'' he was able to return to his bunny form (after being transformed into a donkey) by removing his donkey form as if it were a suit. Merlin of Monroe (the wizard) was unable to do the same thing. Later Bugs Bunny defeated the Count Blood Count in a magical spell duel. However, the story was a dream and Bugs Bunny's victory over Count Blood Count was a result of his intellect, not innate magical power.

Rabbit or hare?

The animators throughout Bugs' history have treated the terms rabbit and hare as synonymous. Taxonomically, they are not synonymous, being somewhat similar but observably different types of lagomorphs. Hares have much longer ears than rabbits, so Bugs might seem to be of the hare family, yet rabbits live in burrows, as Bugs is seen to do. Many more of the cartoon titles include the word "hare" rather than "rabbit," as "hare" lends itself easily to puns ("hair," "air," etc.) although Elmer Fudd has always referred to Bugs as a "wabbit".

Within the cartoons, although the term "hare" comes up sometimes, again typically as a pun—for example, Bugs drinking "hare tonic" to "stop falling hare" or being doused with "hare restorer" to bring him back from invisibility—Bugs as well as his antagonists most often refer to the character as a "rabbit." The word "bunny" is of no help in answering this question, as it is a synonym for both young hares and young rabbits.

In Nike commercials with Michael Jordan, Bugs had been referred to as "''Hare'' Jordan."

Openings and closings of shorts

In the opening of many of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, the ''Merrie Melodies'' and ''Looney Tunes'' irises contain Bugs Bunny's head after the Warner Bros. shield (generally from 1944 and 1949 onward). Others have Bugs Bunny relaxing on top of the Warner Bros. shield: He chews on his carrot, looks angrily at the camera and pulls down the next logo (''Merrie Melodies'' or ''Looney Tunes'') like a window shade (generally on cartoons between 1945 until early 1949). Then he lifts it back up, to now be seen lying on his own name, which then fades into the title of the specific short. In some other cases, the title card sometimes fades to him, already on his name and chewing his carrot then fade to the name of the short. At the finish of ''Hare Tonic'' and ''Baseball Bugs'', Bugs breaks out of a drum (like ''Porky Pig'') and says, "And that's the end". Also, at the end of ''Box Office Bunny'', right after Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd run out through the Looney Tunes "That's All Folks!" sequence, Bugs later comes in through the rings and says, "And that's all, folks!". He did the ending for the last time at the end of ''Space Jam'' but this time saying "Well, that's all, folks!".

Voice actors

The following are the many voice actors who have voiced the character Bugs Bunny over the last seventy-one years:

;Mel Blanc :Mel Blanc voiced the character for 49 years, from Bugs' debut in ''A Wild Hare'' (1940) until Blanc's death in 1989. Blanc described the voice as a combination of Bronx and Brooklyn accents; however, Tex Avery claimed that he asked Blanc to give the character not a New York accent ''per se'', but a voice like that of actor Frank McHugh, who frequently appeared in supporting roles in the 1930s and whose voice might be described as New York Irish. In Bugs' second cartoon ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'', Blanc created a completely new voice for Bugs, which sounded like a Jimmy Stewart impression, but the directors decided the previous voice was better. Though his best-known character was the carrot-chomping rabbit, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such as celery, were tried, but none of them ''sounded'' like a carrot. So for the sake of expedience, he would munch and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon rather than swallowing them, and continue with the dialogue. One often-repeated story, possibly originating from ''Bugs Bunny: Superstar'', is that Blanc was allergic to carrots and ''had'' to spit them out to minimize any allergic reaction — but his autobiography makes no such claim. In fact, in a 1984 interview with Tim Lawson, co-author of ''The Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots.

;Jeff Bergman :Jeff Bergman was the first to voice Bugs Bunny (and several other Looney Tunes characters) after Mel Blanc died in 1989. He got the job by impressing Warner Bros. higher-ups with a tape of himself re-creating the voices of several of Blanc's characters, including Bugs. He had rigged the tape player so that he could use a switch to instantly toggle back and forth between the original recording of Blanc and Bergman's recording of the same lines. Upon doing this, it was almost impossible for the producers to tell which voice was Blanc's and which voice was Bergman; thus his vocal ability was established and his career launched. Bergman first voiced Bugs during the 1990 Academy Awards, the television special ''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue'', and the first season of ''Tiny Toon Adventures''. Bergman also voiced Bugs in the animated short films ''Box Office Bunny'' (1990), ''(Blooper) Bunny'' (1991), and ''Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers'' (1992). In 2011, Bergman returned to voice Bugs after an almost 20-year absence for Cartoon Network's new series, ''The Looney Tunes Show''.

;Greg Burson :Greg Burson first voiced Bugs Bunny in later episodes of ''Tiny Toon Adventures''. He was then given the responsibility of voicing Bugs in ''Carrotblanca'' (1995), a well-received 8-minute ''Looney Tunes'' short originally shown in cinemas alongside ''The Amazing Panda Adventure'' (US) and ''The Pebble and the Penguin'' (non-US); it has since been released on video packaged with older ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons and was even included in the special edition DVD release of ''Casablanca'', of which it is both a parody and an homage. Burson next voiced Bugs in the short ''From Hare to Eternity'' (1996); the short is notable for being dedicated to the memory of the then-just deceased Friz Freleng, and for being the final ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon that Chuck Jones directed. He voiced Bugs in the "Animaniacs" episodes called "Video Revue," "Warner's 65th Anniversary," and "Back in Style." Burson also provided Bugs' voice in ''The Bugs and Daffy Show'', which ran on Cartoon Network during the 1990s. He died in 2008.

;Billy West :Billy West has been in television since the late 1980s. His first role was for the 1988 revived version of Bob Clampett's ''Beany and Cecil''. West's breakthrough role then came almost immediately, as the voice of Stimpy and later Ren in John Kricfalusi's ''Ren & Stimpy''. West has since been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters, including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history. Perhaps West's most notable film work came in the 1996 film ''Space Jam''. Starring alongside Michael Jordan, West provided the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. West would go on to reprise the roles of Bugs in subsequent ''Looney Tunes'' productions, including his cameos on ''Histeria!'', also he made a cameo appearance on ''Kid vs. Kat'' in "Class Act", the Kids' WB! promotional spots, and the 2006 Christmas-themed special ''Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas'' and the DVD compilations "Reality Check" and "Stranger Than Fiction", along with several ''Looney Tunes''-centric CDs and video games.

;Joe Alaskey :Joe Alaskey, like Jeff Bergman, is well-known for his ability to successfully impersonate many ''Looney Tunes'' characters. In fact, Alaskey voiced Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn in the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', as original voice actor Mel Blanc had found it too hard on his vocal cords (which makes Sam and Foghorn two of the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone else during his lifetime). Alaskey's first performance as Bugs Bunny came in the 2003 film ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'', although he had tested performing the role in a few earlier projects, such as ''Tweety's High-Flying Adventure''. While still best known for providing the voice of Daffy Duck, Alaskey has also gone on to do Bugs' voice in several subsequent productions, including ''Daffy Duck for President'' (which was released on ''The Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2'' and dedicated to the deceased Chuck Jones) and several recent video games and Looney Tunes cartoons, including ''Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas'' (2004).

;Samuel Vincent :Samuel Vincent served as the voice of Bugs in the Cartoon Network TV series ''Baby Looney Tunes''.

;Noel Blanc :Noel Blanc, Mel Blanc's son, voiced Bugs for the ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' special ''It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special''. The elder Blanc claimed in his later years that Noel substituted for Mel in various cartoon studios, including doing Bugs at Warner Bros., while he was recovering from a near-fatal car wreck. Noel can also be seen doing Bugs' voice with his father in the documentary on the making of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''.

Legacy and influence

In 2002, ''TV Guide'' compiled a list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time as part of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Bugs Bunny was given the honor of number 1. In a CNN broadcast on July 31, 2002, a ''TV Guide'' editor talked about the group that created the list. The editor also explained why Bugs pulled top billing: "His stock...has never gone down...Bugs is the best example...of the smart-aleck American comic. He not only is a great cartoon character, he's a great comedian. He was written well. He was drawn beautifully. He has thrilled and made many generations laugh. He is tops." Additionally, in ''Animal Planet'''s ''50 Greatest Movie Animals'' (2004), Bugs was named #3, behind Mickey Mouse and Toto. In 2005 Bugs Bunny was voted the 10th greatest cartoon in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons behind ''The Simpsons'', ''Tom and Jerry'', ''South Park'', ''Toy Story'', ''Family Guy'', ''Shrek'', ''The Lion King'', ''Spirited Away'' and ''The Incredibles''. According to Time Warner, Bugs Bunny became the current official mascot for Six Flags theme parks beginning with their 45th anniversary. During an interview for ''Inside the Actors Studio'', comedian Dave Chappelle cited him as one of his earliest influences, praising voice actor Mel Blanc.

Awards

Academy Awards

''Knighty Knight Bugs'' (1958)

Academy Award nominations

''A Wild Hare'' (1940)

''Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt'' (1941)

See also

''Looney Tunes''

''Merrie Melodies''

''List of Bugs Bunny cartoons''

''List of Looney Tunes feature-length films''

''The Golden Age of American animation''

References

Bibliography

External links

Warner Bros. Studios

Category:Corporate mascots Category:DC Comics titles Category:Dell Comics titles Category:Fictional anthropomorphic characters Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Fictional hares and rabbits Category:Gold Key Comics titles Category:Honorary United States Marines Category:Looney Tunes characters Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1940

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name	Adam Sandler
birth name	Adam Richard Sandler
birth date	September 09, 1966Brooklyn, New York, United States
occupation	Actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer
years active	1987–present
nationality	American
influences	Mel Brooks, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield
spouse	Jacqueline "Jackie" Titone (2003–present)
children	2
website	}}

Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician and film producer. After becoming a ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office. He is best known for his comedic roles, such as in the films ''Billy Madison'' (1995), ''Happy Gilmore'' (1996), ''The Waterboy'' (1998), ''Big Daddy'' (1999), and ''Mr. Deeds'' (2002), though he has ventured into more dramatic territory. In 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison, a film and television production company that has produced numerous films and developed the 2007 television series ''Rules of Engagement''.

Early life

Adam Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents, Stanley, an electrical engineer, and Judy Sandler, a nursery school teacher. When he was five, his family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he attended Manchester Central High School. He found he was a natural comic, and nurtured his talent while at New York University by performing regularly in clubs and on campuses. Sandler graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1988.

Later in his career, he would draw on his earliest experiences for material for his comedy, music and movies. The song "Lunchlady Land" from his debut album ''They're All Gonna Laugh at You!'' is dedicated to Emalee, the lunchlady at Hayden Dining Hall at New York University.'''

Career

Acting career

In the mid to late 1980s, Sandler played Theo Huxtable's friend, Smitty, on ''The Cosby Show'' (1987–1988). He was a performer for the MTV game show ''Remote Control'', on which he made appearances as the characters "Trivia Delinquent" or "Stud Boy". Early in his career, Sandler performed in comedy clubs, taking the stage at his brother's urging when he was seventeen. He was discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who caught Sandler's act in Los Angeles. Miller recommended him to ''Saturday Night Live'' producer Lorne Michaels. Sandler was hired as a writer for ''SNL'' in 1990 and became a featured player the following year, making a name for himself by performing amusing original songs on the show, including "The Chanukah Song". Sandler told Conan O'Brien on ''The Tonight Show'' that NBC fired him and Chris Farley from the show in 1995.

In 1994 he co-starred in ''Airheads'' with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi. He starred in ''Billy Madison'' (1995) as a grown, though uneducated, man repeating grades 1–12 to earn back his father's respect, along with the right to inherit his father's multi-million-dollar hotel empire. In ''At the Movies'', Siskel and Ebert gave the film a very bad review, and said of Sandler "...Not an attractive screen presence, he might have a career as a villain or a fall guy or the butt of a joke, but as the protagonist his problem is he creates the fingernails on the blackboard" with Siskel adding "...you don't have a good motivation for the character's behavior". He followed this film with other financially successful comedies such as ''Bulletproof'' (1996), ''Happy Gilmore'' (1996) and ''The Wedding Singer'' (1998). He was initially cast in the bachelor-party-themed comedy/thriller ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), but had to back out due to his involvement in ''The Waterboy'' (1998), one of his first hits.

Although his earlier films did not receive critical praise, his more recent films, beginning with ''Punch-Drunk Love'' (2002), have received more positive reviews - although they lack even the meagre humour of his earlier films. Roger Ebert, in his review of ''Punch-Drunk Love'', concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts and characters with no development. Sandler has moved outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious parts such as the aforementioned ''Punch-Drunk Love'' (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe), ''Spanglish'' (2004) and ''Reign Over Me'' (2007). He played a loving father figure in ''Big Daddy'' (1999). During filming, he met Jacqueline Samantha Titone—his future wife and mother of his two daughters -— who was cast as the waitress from The Blarney Stone Bar.

At one point, Sandler was considered for the part that went to Jamie Foxx in ''Collateral'' (2004). He also was one of the finalists along with Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005). He returned to more dramatic fare with Mike Binder's ''Reign Over Me'' (2007), a drama about a man who loses his entire family in 9/11 and rekindles a friendship with his old college roommate (played by Don Cheadle). He starred in the film ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' (2007) alongside Kevin James, as a New York City fireman pretending to be gay to keep up an insurance scam so that his best friend's children can have benefits. Sandler headlined ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'' (2008), a comedy about a Mossad agent who fakes his own death and moves to the United States to become a hair stylist. The film was written by Sandler, ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' writer-director Judd Apatow (who was an old roommate of Sandler's when both were starting out), and ''Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog'' creator Robert Smigel, and was directed by ''Happy Gilmore'' director Dennis Dugan.

"Like Will Ferrell, Sandler has layers of tenderness under layers of irony under layers of tenderness—plus a floating anger like Jupiter’s great red spot," wrote David Edelstein of ''New York'' magazine in a review of ''You Don't Mess with the Z''. "Some performers become stars because we can read them instantly, others—like Sandler—because we never tire of trying to get a fix on them."

Sandler starred in ''Bedtime Stories'' (2008), a fantasy film directed by ''Bringing Down the House'' director Adam Shankman, about a stressed hotel maintenance worker whose bedtime stories he reads to his niece and nephew begin to come true. This marked Sandler's first family film and first film under the Walt Disney banner. Keri Russell and English comedian Russell Brand co-starred.

In 2009, Sandler starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature ''Funny People''. He played a very successful stand up comedian who finds out he has a terminal illness and he takes a young inexperienced comic, played by Seth Rogen, under his wing. Filming began in October 2008 and finished in January 2009. The film was released on July 31, 2009. At one point, Sandler was in talks to star in Quentin Tarantino's World War II film ''Inglourious Basterds'', which he confirmed, but he did not appear in it due to a scheduling conflict with ''Funny People''. Following the release of ''Funny People'', it, along with ''Punch-Drunk Love'' were cited in the June 2010 announcement that Sandler was one of 135 people (including 20 actors) invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sandler appeared in ''Grown Ups'', teaming up with Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade (all of whom have worked with Sandler before) for a film about five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on the July 4 weekend. Other costars include Salma Hayek (playing Sandler's wife), Maria Bello (playing James' wife), and fellow ''SNL'' alumna Maya Rudolph (playing Rock's wife), Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, and Norm Macdonald. Sandler and ''Dickie Roberts'' scribe Fred Wolf wrote the script and Dennis Dugan directed the film.

Sandler starred in the 2011 film ''Just Go with It'', with Jennifer Aniston, a romantic comedy written by Allan Loeb and Tim Dowling and directed by Dennis Dugan. He played a plastic surgeon who asks his office manager, played by Aniston, to pose as his wife, in order to prove his honesty to his much younger girlfriend, played by Brooklyn Decker. Sandler also provided the voice of a capuchin monkey in Kevin James' ''Zookeeper'', released on July 8, 2011. He filmed ''That's My Boy'' with Andy Samberg, which tells the story of a man, played by Sandler, who fathered a son, played by Samberg, with his teacher in high school. Then years later, visits his son on the eve of his wedding where he clashes with the bride (played by Leighton Meester).

Happy Madison Productions

Sandler formed his film production company, Happy Madison Productions, in 1999, first producing fellow ''SNL'' alumnus Rob Schneider's film ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''. Happy Madison has produced all of Sandler's subsequent films to date with the exceptions ''Punch Drunk Love'' and ''Spanglish''. ''Reign Over Me'' and ''Funny People'' were produced by Happy Madison but under the subsidiary label "Madison 23".

Sandler is known for consistently working with a core group of friends and associates through Happy Madison, frequently casting fellow ''SNL'' performers in various roles in his films. Sandler and Happy Madison produced ''SNL'' contemporary Rob Schneider's vehicles ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'' (1999), ''The Animal'' (2001), ''The Hot Chick'' (2002), and ''Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' (2005), and ''The Benchwarmers'' (2006), with Sandler making cameo appearances in the middle three. Meanwhile, Schneider has appeared in cameo roles in Sandler films ''The Waterboy'', ''Little Nicky'', ''Mr. Deeds'', ''Click'', ''The Longest Yard'', ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'', and ''Bedtime Stories''. Schneider had larger roles in Sandler films ''Big Daddy'', ''50 First Dates'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'', and ''Grown Ups''.

Happy Madison produced David Spade's ''Joe Dirt'', ''Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star'', and ''The Benchwarmers'', which also featured Rob Schneider. Spade additionally made a cameo appearance in ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' and had a prominent supporting role in ''Grown Ups''. Sandler cameoed as a special audience member in an episode of ''The Showbiz Show with David Spade''. ''SNL'' contemporary Kevin Nealon has appeared in ten Happy Madison productions or Sandler films, including ''Happy Gilmore'', ''The Wedding Singer'', ''Little Nicky'', ''Joe Dirt'', ''Eight Crazy Nights'', ''Anger Management'', ''Grandma's Boy'', ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'', ''Just Go With It'' and the Dana Carvey vehicle, ''The Master of Disguise''.

Happy Madison also produced ''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'', the first starring vehicle for Kevin James. James had costarred with Sandler in ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' and ''Grown Ups'' and made a cameo appearance in ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan''. Happy Madison also produced James' second starring vehicle ''Zookeeper''.

He appeared as the featured guest on the final episode of John McEnroe's eponymous CNBC talk show, airing in late 2004. McEnroe appeared as himself in three of Sandler's films (''Mr. Deeds'', ''Anger Management'', and ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'').

Anna Faris, who appeared in ''The Hot Chick'', became the first female actor to headline a production for Happy Madison with ''The House Bunny'' and will headline another film for Happy Madison in the near future.

Others who frequently appear in Sandler films include Steve Buscemi, Chris Rock, John Turturro, Jon Lovitz, Clint Howard, Norm Macdonald, Nick Swardson, and longtime Sandler pals Allen Covert, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran. In particular Allen Covert plays unique and eccentric characters in Sandler's films. Most notably as a limo driver in ''The Wedding Singer'', Ten Second Tom in ''50 First Dates'', and Nicky's roommate in ''Little Nicky''. Covert starred in his first leading role in ''Grandma's Boy'', also produced by Happy Madison productions.

In June 2007, it was announced that Happy Madison had made a preemptive acquisition for Mitch Albom's screenwriting debut.

In June 2008, it was announced that Sandler will be executive producer for a horror thriller titled ''The Shortcut'' under a nascent genre label for Happy Madison called "Scary Madison".

In October 2009, it was announced that Sandler and Happy Madison will produce the Richard Pryor biopic ''Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?'' for Sony, the company's first major dramatic production. The film was written by Bill Condon, who is set to direct, and Pryor will be played by Marlon Wayans, who is replacing Eddie Murphy.

Personal life

On June 22, 2003, Sandler married actress Jacqueline Samantha Titone, and they are the parents of two daughters, Sadie Madison Sandler (born 2006) and Sunny Madeline Sandler (born 2008). Sandler lives with his family in Los Angeles, but also owns homes in New York City and Florida.

Political and charitable donations

In 2007, Sandler made a $1 million donation to the Boys and Girls Club in his hometown, Manchester, New Hampshire. He donated $2,100 to Republican Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign the same year.

Filmography

Film

+ Films and awards
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1989	''Going Overboard''	Schecky Moskowitz
1992	''Shakes the Clown''	Dink the Clown
1993		Carmine
	''Airheads''	Pip
''Mixed Nuts''	Louie
1995	''Billy Madison''	Billy Madison	Also writerNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
	''Happy Gilmore''	Happy Gilmore
	Archie Moses	Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Actor
	''The Wedding Singer''	Robbie Hart	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Comedy (also for ''The Waterboy'')MTV Movie Award for Best KissNominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (leading role)Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
	Satan (uncredited)	Cameo appearance
''The Waterboy''	Robert "Bobby" Boucher Jr.
		Sonny Koufax	Also executive producer and writerBlockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – ComedyKids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie ActorMTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformancePeople's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Star in a ComedyRazzie Award for Worst ActorNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Male PerformanceNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Cole and Dylan Sprouse)Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst ScreenplayNominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor
''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''	Robert Justin (voice)	Cameo appearance
2000	''Little Nicky''	Nicky	Also executive producer and writerNominated – Razzie Award for Worst ActorNominated – Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay
2001	''The Animal''	Townie	Cameo appearanceExecutive producer
	''Mr. Deeds''	Longfellow Deeds	Also executive producerKids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie ActorNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated – Razzie Award for Worst ActorNominated – Teen Choice Award for Film – Choice Actor, Comedy
''Punch-Drunk Love''	Barry Egan	Gijón Internation Film Festival Award for Best ActorChlotrudis Award for Best ActorNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best KissNominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
''Eight Crazy Nights''	Davey Stone (voice)	Also producer and writerKids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
''A Day with the Meatball''	Himself	Short film
''The Hot Chick''	Mambuza Bongo Guy (uncredited)	Cameo appearanceExecutive producer
	''Anger Management''	Dave Buznik	Also executive producer
''Pauly Shore Is Dead''	Himself	Documentary
''Stupidity''	Himself	Documentary
''The Couch''	Couch Testing Guy	Short film
	''50 First Dates''	Henry Roth	Also executive producerKids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie ActorMTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team (shared with Drew Barrymore)People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Chemistry (shared with Drew Barrymore)Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
	John Clasky
		Paul Crewe	Also executive producerPeople's Choice Award for Favorite Funny Male StarNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated – People's Choice Award for Favorite Leading Man
''Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo''	Javier Sandooski (uncredited)	Cameo appearanceProducer
2006		Michael Newman	Also producerKids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie StarNominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated – People's Choice Award for Favorite Funny Male Star
	''Reign Over Me''	Charlie Fineman
''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry''	Charles "Chuck" Levine
	''You Don't Mess with the Zohan''	Zohan Dvir	Also producer and writer
	Skeeter Bronson	Also producerNominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor
	''Funny People''	George Simmons
''The Shortcut''		Executive producer
2010		Lenny Feder	Also producer and writer
	''Just Go with It''	Dr. Daniel "Danny" Maccabee	Also producerRazzie Award for Worst ActorTeen Choice Award for Favorite Movie Chemistry (shared with Jennifer Aniston)Nominated- Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (shared with Brooklyn Decker and Jennifer Aniston)
	Donald the Capuchin Monkey (voice)	Also producer
''Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star''		Writer and ProducerNominated - Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay
	Jack/Jill Sadelstein	Also producer and writerKids Choice Award for Favorite Movie ActorRazzie Award for Worst ActorRazzie Award for Worst ActressRazzie Award for Worst ScreenplayRazzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (shared with Katie Holmes, Al Pacino, and himself) Razzie Award for Worst Ensemble
		Donny Levine	Also producer
''Hotel Transylvania''	Dracula (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987–1990		Stud Boy	TV game show
1987–1988	''The Cosby Show''	Smitty	Season 4, episode 11 "Dance Mania"Season 4, episode 12 "The Locker Room"Season 4, episode 16 "The Visit"Season 4, episode 23 "The Prom"
	''The Marshall Chronicles''	Usher	Season 1, episode 5 "Brightman SATyricon"
''ABC Afterschool Special''	Drug Dealer	Season 19, episode 2 "Testing Dirty"
1991–1995	''Saturday Night Live''	Various
2001	''Undeclared''	Himself
2003	''Couch''	Couch Testing Guy
2005	''Getaway''	Henry Roth	Season 14, episode 20 "Found"
2007	''The King of Queens''	Jeff "The Beast" Sussman	Season 9, episode 9 "Mild Bunch"

Awards

Discography

Title	Year	Notes
''They're All Gonna Laugh at You!''	1993	2× Platinum
''What the Hell Happened to Me?''	1996	2× Platinum
''What's Your Name?''	1997	Gold
''Stan and Judy's Kid''	1999	Gold
''Shhh...Don't Tell''	2004

References

External links

Official website

Category:1966 births Category:20th-century actors Category:20th-century writers Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Actors from New Hampshire Category:Actors from New York City Category:American comedians Category:American comedy musicians Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American male singers Category:American musicians Category:American singers Category:American screenwriters Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:American voice actors Category:Manchester Central High School alumni Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish comedians Category:New York University alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Manchester, New Hampshire Category:Jewish writers

ar:آدم ساندلر bg:Адам Сандлър cs:Adam Sandler da:Adam Sandler de:Adam Sandler et:Adam Sandler el:Άνταμ Σάντλερ es:Adam Sandler eo:Adam Sandler fa:آدام سندلر fr:Adam Sandler ko:아담 샌들러 hi:एडम सैंडलर hr:Adam Sandler id:Adam Sandler is:Adam Sandler it:Adam Sandler he:אדם סנדלר jv:Adam Richard Sandler kk:Адам Сэндлер lv:Ādams Sendlers lb:Adam Sandler lt:Adam Sandler hu:Adam Sandler ms:Adam Sandler nl:Adam Sandler ja:アダム・サンドラー no:Adam Sandler nn:Adam Sandler pl:Adam Sandler pt:Adam Sandler ro:Adam Sandler ru:Сэндлер, Адам sq:Adam Sandler simple:Adam Sandler sl:Adam Sandler sr:Адам Сандлер sh:Adam Sandler fi:Adam Sandler sv:Adam Sandler ta:ஆடம் சேண்ட்லர் th:อดัม แซนด์เลอร์ tr:Adam Sandler uk:Адам Сендлер vi:Adam Sandler zh:亞當·山德勒

Name	Selena Gomez
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Selena Marie Gomez
Birth date	July 22, 1992
Birth place	Grand Prairie, Texas, U.S.
Genre	Pop, dance, pop rock
Occupation	Actress, singer, Fashion Designer
Instrument	Vocals, piano, guitar, drums
Years active	2002–present
Label	Hollywood
Associated acts	Selena Gomez & the Scene, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift
Website	}}

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series ''Wizards of Waverly Place''. She subsequently ventured into feature films and has starred in the television movies ''Another Cinderella Story'', ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'', and ''Princess Protection Program''. She made her starring theatrical film debut in ''Ramona and Beezus''.

Her career has expanded into the music industry; Gomez is the lead singer and founder of the pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which has released three RIAA Gold certified studio albums, ''Kiss & Tell'', ''A Year Without Rain'', and ''When the Sun Goes Down'', spawned three RIAA Platinum certified singles, "Naturally", "Who Says" and "Love You Like a Love Song" and charted four No. 1 ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Songs. Gomez has also contributed to the soundtracks of ''Tinker Bell'', ''Another Cinderella Story'', ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', and ''Shake It Up'' after signing a record deal with Hollywood Records. In 2008, Gomez was designated a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Personal life

Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of former stage actress Amanda Dawn "Mandy" Teefey (née Cornett) and Ricardo Joel Gomez. Her father is of Mexican ancestry, and her mother is of part Italian descent. Regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez said: "My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except [that we] go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church." Her birth parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised as an only child by her working mother. In 2006, Mandy remarried Brian Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena, who died almost three years after Gomez was born. In a 2009 interview with ''People'', Gomez mentioned that she developed an early interest in acting from watching her mother prepare for and act in theater productions. She earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.

On February 27, 2011, Gomez attended the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party with Canadian singer Justin Bieber, confirming several months of media speculation about a romantic relationship between the pair. The relationship has since continued to garner significant media attention.

Acting career

2002–06: ''Barney & Friends'' and early work

Gomez began her acting career at age seven, playing Gianna on ''Barney & Friends''. She later had minor roles in ''Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over'' and the TV film ''Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire''. Gomez also starred in the television movie ''Brain Zapped''. (Selena Gomez also found out that she wanted to be an actress because in E Special she states that "I would also watch my mom on stage do her lines".)

In 2004, Gomez was discovered by the Disney Channel in a USA-wide scouting. Gomez appeared as a guest star on ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and had a guest appearance – that later turned into a recurring role – on ''Hannah Montana'' from seasons two to three. Gomez previously taped two different pilots that were spin-offs to two previous Disney series. The first one, ''What's Stevie Thinking?'', was the spin-off to ''Lizzie McGuire''. Gomez played Stevie Sanchez, Miranda Sanchez's little sister. The other show was titled ''Arwin!'', the spin-off to ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'', in which she played Alexa. Neither series was picked up.

2007–09: ''Wizards of Waverly Place''

In early 2007 Gomez was cast in the Disney Channel series ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' as one of the three main characters, Alex Russo. The show premiered to an audience of 5.9 million, becoming a hit. Many news outlets began dubbing Gomez the next 'Miley Cyrus' causing some controversy and a reported 'feud'. Gomez clarified that there was no feud and that she was flattered by the comparison, saying: "It's a little overwhelming, but I think really, it's a compliment. She's obviously extremely successful, and I think she's a wonderful performer ... So being compared to her, I was very, very flattered."

In 2008, Gomez appeared in ''Another Cinderella Story'', the direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2004 Hilary Duff film, opposite Drew Seeley. She also had a minor voiceover role as one the Mayor's ninety-six daughters in ''Horton Hears a Who!'' which released in March of that year. In April, Lacey Rose, of ''Forbes'' ranked Gomez as being fifth on their "Eight Hot Kid Stars To Watch" list; and Rose described Gomez as having been "a multitalented teen".

In February 2009, Gomez signed on to star as one of the two female leads in ''Ramona and Beezus'', a film adaption of the children's novel series by Beverly Cleary. Gomez stated that she felt no pressure in taking more adult roles: "I think I’m fully aware of my audience and I’m still just a kid myself. I wouldn’t do a role I don’t feel comfortable doing or that my audience wouldn’t feel comfortable seeing."

In June 2009, Gomez did a guest appearance as herself in one episode of best friend Demi Lovato's Disney Channel television show, ''Sonny with a Chance'', entitled "Battle of The Network Stars". That same month Gomez appeared alongside Lovato in the made-for-television Disney Channel movie, ''Princess Protection Program''. The telecast garnered 8.5 million viewers becoming, at the time, the third most watched Disney Channel Original Movie. One month later, Gomez, along with two cast members of ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' appeared in a television three-way cross-over episode with ''Hannah Montana'' and ''The Suite Life on Deck'', entitled ''Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana''.

On August 28, two months after appearing in ''Princess Protection Program'', Gomez starred in ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'', a made-for-television film based on the show. The film premiered to an audience of 11.4 million viewers becoming cable's No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 and Disney Channel's second most-viewed film premiere after ''High School Musical 2''. In September 2009, ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2010, the film adaptation won the series its second consecutive Emmy for "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.

2010–present: Focus on film

Gomez's first theatrical film ''Ramona & Beezus'' premiered on July 23, 2010 and met with generally positive reviews. In March 2010, ''Variety'' reported that Gomez was set to star as one of the three lead roles in ''Monte Carlo'', alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy. In the film Gomez plays Grace, a girl who’s “mistaken for a socialite while on a trip to Paris.” To prepare for the role Gomez learned how to play polo and also took two weeks of vocal training to learn two different British accents. The same year Gomez confirmed that the fourth season of her hit Disney Channel show, ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', would be its last.

In February 2011, Deadline.com reported that Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment had acquired the novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by Jay Asher with Gomez attached to the lead. That same month TV Guide reported that Gomez would make a cameo in the ''Muppets'' film. Production for the final season of ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' came to a wrap on May 14, 2011. Gomez co-hosted the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 19. She also hosted the 2011 MTV EMAs on November 6, 2011, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she performed her band's new single "Hit The Lights". Near the end of 2011, it was reported Gomez was in talks to star in two upcoming films. Deadline.com announced in October that Gomez would take part in the comedy ''Hot Mess''. In early November, ''Variety'' reported that Gomez was in talks to star in the upcoming film ''Spring Breakers'' alongside James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens. Gomez confirmed to ''MTV'' that she had signed on for the project and that production will begin in early 2012.

In January 2012, Gomez announced that she would put her music career on hold. This was later reaffirmed as Gomez wrote on her Facebook page that she was taking a break from music in order to focus on her acting career, "my band and I are going our separate ways for a while. This year is all about films and acting and I want my band to play music wherever with whoever. We will be back but, it will be a good while." In February 2012, it was announced that Gomez will replace Miley Cyrus in the animated comedy ''Hotel Transylvania'' playing Mavis, the daughter of Dracula who will be voiced by Adam Sandler.

As of March 2012, Gomez has been cast in four upcoming films; in which three of them she has been cast as a lead role. She will first appear in ''Hotel Transylvania'', an animated film, voicing the character of Mavis, who was originally supposed to be voiced by Miley Cyrus, however Cyrus dropped out of the film in early 2012 in order to focus on her music career. The film is scheduled to be released on September 21, 2012. Next, Gomez will appear in ''Spring Breakers'', which is currently being filmed on location in Sarasota, Florida. The film is being written and directed by Harmony Korine. Gomez has also been cast as the main role of Hannah Baker in the film adaptation of young-adult fiction novel, ''13 Reasons Why''. The novel was written by Jay Asher. She will also play the lead role in a film called ''Hot Mess'', a comedy film directed by Dave Meyers. On April 7, 2012, Gomez posted a video for fans in which she revealed that she will be filming a new movie called "The Gateway" in Bulgaria.

Music career

2008-2009: Solo career

In 2008, Gomez recorded a cover of "Cruella de Vil"—which included a music video—for the compilation album ''DisneyMania 6''. Gomez recorded three songs for the ''Another Cinderella Story'' soundtrack, which Gomez appears in. Gomez also recorded "Fly to Your Heart" for the 2008 animated film ''Tinker Bell''. In July 2008, before Gomez' sixteenth birthday, she signed a recording deal with Hollywood Records, a music label owned by ''Disney''. In 2009, Gomez recorded "One and the Same" for ''Princess Protection Program'' as a duet with her co-star Lovato. Gomez recorded four songs, one of which was a cover, for the ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' soundtrack, only one single (Magic) from the album was released. In May, of the same year, Gomez was featured, with Forever the Sickest Kids, on a duet version of the non-album song "Whoa Oh!".

2009–2012: Selena Gomez & the Scene and musical hiatus

Formed in 2009, Selena Gomez & the Scene is a teen pop band which consists of Selena Gomez on vocals, Ethan Roberts on guitar, Joey Clement on bass, Greg Garman on drums and Dane Forrest on keyboards. ''Kiss & Tell'' is the band's debut studio album and was released on September 29, 2009 by Hollywood Records. On March 5, 2010, the album was certified Gold by RIAA. The album's single, "Naturally", was certified Platinum by the RIAA on July 15, 2010. The band's second album ''A Year Without Rain'' was released on September 17, 2010. The record debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 4, selling 66,000 copies. On January 19, 2011, the album was certified Gold by RIAA. As of April 2011, the band has sold 1,354,000 albums in the United States.

The band's third album ''When the Sun Goes Down'', previously titled ''Otherside'', released on June 28, 2011. The album debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 78,000 copies its first week and the following week, the album rose to number 3 on the Billboard chart, becoming the band's highest charting album to date. On November 17, 2011, the album was certified platinum. The album's lead single, "Who Says" was certified Platinum by RIAA on June 23, 2011 and has become the band's highest charting song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 to date, peaking at number 21. The second single, "Love You Like a Love Song", was certified Platinum by RIAA on December 2, 2011, and became the act's first 2-million-seller. In February 2012, Gomez announced that the band would be taking a hiatus, so that she could focus on film for the year. She encouraged her band mates to work with other artists during the hiatus.

Other projects

Philanthropy

Gomez was involved in the UR Votes Count campaign which encouraged teenagers to learn more about 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. In October 2008, Gomez participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital "Runway For Life" benefit. Gomez is a spokesperson for Borden Milk; she is featured in the campaign's print and television ads. She is the ambassador of DoSomething.org after being involved with the charity Island Dog, which help dogs in Puerto Rico. She got involved while filming ''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'' in Puerto Rico. Gomez is a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance, and is featured in their TV commercials; which air on the Disney Channel, to raise awareness of being a safe driver. Gomez is also involved with the charity RAISE Hope For Congo, an initiative of the Enough Project, which helps raise awareness about conflict minerals and violence against Congolese women.

In October 2008, Gomez was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, which encouraged children to raise money on Halloween to help children around the world. She said that she was "extremely excited" to "encourage other kids to make a difference in the world."

In August 2009, a 17-year-old Gomez became the youngest UNICEF ambassador ever, passing fellow songstress Hayley Westenra, who was 18 when she was chosen. In her first official field mission, Gomez traveled to Ghana on September 4, 2009 for a week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities including clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare. Gomez explained during an interview with Associated Press that she wanted to use her star power to bring awareness to Ghana: “That’s why I feel very honored to have a voice that kids listen to and take into consideration [...] I had people on my tour asking me where IS Ghana, and they Googled it [...] and because I went there, they now know where Ghana is. So it’s pretty incredible.” Gomez said of her role as ambassador that: "Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes. I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero. I know we can achieve this because every moment, UNICEF is on the ground providing children with the lifesaving assistance needed to ensure zero becomes a reality."

Gomez was named spokesperson for UNICEF's 2009 Trick-or-Treat campaign, for the second year in a row. Gomez, who raised over $700,000 for the charity in 2008, stated that she hopes to be able to raise 1 million dollars in 2009. Gomez participated in a celebrity auction and hosted a live web cast series on Facebook in support of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign. Gomez returned as the UNICEF spokesperson for the 60th anniversary of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign in 2010. In celebration of the 60th anniversary, Gomez and her band, The Scene, held a benefit concert donating all proceeds to the campaign.

In February 2011, Gomez traveled to Chile to witness and meet with the families of UNICEF's supported program, "Programa Puente" which helps families better understand and develops skills to deal effectively with early childhood education, development and other issues related to raising children. From her field trip experience, Gomez said "UNICEF is helping Chilean families get out of poverty, prevent violence within the home and promote education. To witness first hand these families' struggles, and also their hope and perseverance, was truly inspiring." In March 2011, Gomez participated in the UNICEF Tap Project's "Celebrity Tap Pack," limited-edition, custom-made water bottles featuring tap water from the homes of each celebrity advocate, in order to raise funds and increase profile for the clean water and sanitation programs. She is also featured in videos promoting the campaign.

Gomez is involved in Disney's Friends for Change, an organization which promotes "environmently-friendly behavior", and appears in its public service announcements. Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers recorded "Send It On", a charity single with all of its proceeds to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20. Also in 2009, Gomez made a surprise visit to a Los Angeles elementary school as part of the "A Day Made Better" program that was sponsored by OfficeMax. During her visit, Gomez gave the school an award and $1,000 worth of school supplies, and talked to students about the importance of giving back to the community.

Gomez is also the owner of six rescue dogs and describes herself as a "huge animal-lover".

Entrepreneurship and sponsorships

Gomez was part of Sears back-to-school fashion ad campaign. As part of the campaign Gomez was featured in the television commercials. In August 2009, Gomez also hosted the "Sears Arrive Air Band Casting Call" – to select five people for the first-ever "Sears Air Band", which performed at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

In October 2008, Gomez launched her own production company, July Moon Productions, and partnered with XYZ Films to create star vehicles for Gomez. As part of the agreement Gomez will have the opportunity to be able option articles, hire writers and create talent packages to shop to studios. Also, as part of the deal, "XYZ Films will allow Gomez to star in and produce at least two films. ''Variety'' reported that: "In August, XYZ [Films] inked a similar deal with Time Inc. and management-production company the Collective to finance the development of the print media giant's content for the bigscreen [...] As part of the July Moon-XYZ deal, [Selena] Gomez will have the ability to cherry-pick projects from the vast Time Inc. library, which includes Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Life."

In October 2009, Gomez announced her plan to launch her own fashion line, called "Dream Out Loud by Selena Gomez". The clothing line launched in the fall of 2010. The collection consists of and features bohemian dresses, floral tops, jeans, skirts, jackets, scarves and hats, all made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. Gomez said that the line will reflect her own personal style and described the clothing as being "pretty, feminine, and bohemian," and: "With my line, I really want to give the customer options on how they can put their own looks together [...] I want the pieces that can be easy to dress up or down, and the fabrics being eco-friendly and organic is super important [...] Also, the tags will all have some of my inspirational quotes on them. I'm just looking to send a good message." Gomez, who has no background in fashion, teamed up with designers Tony Melillo and Sandra Campos, both who have worked with big-name fashion houses. Gomez said of the partnering: "When I met Tony and Sandra, I was instantly comfortable with them and now they are just like family to me [...] They are so creative and I love how I can just call them up whenever and talk to them about everything, even if it's just about changing a button [...] They've been so cool about everything." The brand will be manufactured by, Melillo and Campos teamed with New York-based Adjmi Apparel and formed by Adjmi CH Brands LLC; which is the holding company for the brand.

It was announced on July 14, 2011, that Gomez had signed a license agreement with Adrenalina, an extreme sports and adventure-themed lifestyle brand, to develop, manufacture, and distribute the actress' fragrance. It is expected to debut in May of 2012. Chairman and C.E.O. of Adrenalina, Ilia Lekach, said, "We are incredibly enthused to be working with Ms. Gomez and will reveal more details pertaining to the fragrance as we get closer to the launch date."

Filmography

Film

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2003	''Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over''	Waterpark Girl	Minor role
2005	''Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire''	Julie	Television movie
2008	''Another Cinderella Story''	Mary Santiago	Main roleDirect-to-video
2008		96 Daughters	Voice
2009	''Princess Protection Program''	Carter Mason
2009	''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie''	Alex Russo
2009	''Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard''	Princess Selenia
2009	''Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds''	Princess Selenia	Voice
2010	''Ramona and Beezus''		Main role
2011		Grace Bennett / Cordelia Winthrop Scott	Main role
2011		Herself	Cameo appearance
2012	''Hotel Transylvania''	Mavis	Voice
2012		Hannah Baker	Main role
2012	''Hot Mess''	TBA	Main role
2013		Faith	Main role, ''finished filming''
2013	''The Getaway''	TBA	Main role

Television

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2002–2003	''Barney & Friends''	Gianna	Recurring role
2006	''Brain Zapped''	Emily Grace Garcia	Unsold pilot
2006	''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''	Gwen
2007–2008	''Hannah Montana''	Mikayla	"I Want You to Want Me... to Go to Florida" (season 2: episode 13)"That's What Friends Are For?" (season 2: episode 18)"(We're So Sorry) Uncle Earl" (season 2: episode 22) (uncredited)
2007–2012	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	Alex Russo	Lead role
2009	''The Suite Life on Deck''	Alex Russo
2009	''Hannah Montana''	Alex Russo	"Super(stitious) Girl" (season 3: episode 19)
2009	''Sonny with a Chance''	Herself
2011	''So Random!''	Herself
2011	''PrankStars''	Herself	"Something to Chew On (Pilot)" (season 1: episode 1)

Music videos

! Year	! Title	! Artist	Notes
2008	"Burnin' Up"	Jonas Brothers	Played Nick Jonas' love interest
2011	"The Dance Routine"	The Midnight Beast	Cameo

Discography

Soundtrack albums

+ List of albums, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"	Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"		! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"
! scope="row"		* Released: August 26, 2008	* Formats: CD, digital download	* Label: Walt Disney Records	116	8	—
scope="row"	''Wizards of Waverly Place''		* Released: August 4, 2009	* Formats: CD, digital download	* Label: Walt Disney Records	24	4	2

Singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"	Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"	! scope="col" style="width:4em;font-size:90%;"
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know"	2008	58	—	—	''Another Cinderella Story#Soundtrack	Another Cinderella Story''
scope="row"	"Magic"	2009	61	86	5	''Wizards of Waverly Place (soundtrack)	Wizards of Waverly Place''
scope="row"	"Shake It Up"	2011	—	—	—	''Shake It Up: Break It Down''

Featured singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
! scope="col" style="width:6em;font-size:90%;"
! scope="row"		—	non-album song
! scope="row"	20	non-album song

Other charted songs

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions	Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
! scope="col" style="width:6em;font-size:90%;"
"One and the Same" (with Demi Lovato)	2009	82	''Disney Channel Playlist''

Other appearances

Song	Year	Album
! scope="row"		''Disneymania 6''
"Fly to Your Heart"
"Everything Is Not What It Seem"		''Disney Channel Playlist''
"Everything Is Not What It Seem"	''Pop It Rock It!''
! scope="row"		''Disneymania 7''
"Winter Wonderland"	''Family Holiday, Vol. 2''

Music videos

Song	Year	Album
"Cruella De Vil"		Unknown
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know"	Unknown
"Fly to Your Heart"	Unknown
"One and the Same"		Unknown
"Send It On"	Unknown

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Award	! Category	! Work	! Outcome
	ALMA Award	Outstanding Female Performance in a Comedy Television Series		rowspan=3
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
	Favorite TV Actress	rowspan=2
	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special – Leading Young Actress	''Another Cinderella Story''
Best Performance in a TV Series – Leading Young Actress	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	rowspan=2
Best Performance in a Voice-over Role
	"Choice Summer- Celebrity Dancer"	''Another Cinderella Story''	rowspan=4
"Choice Summer – TV Star-Female"	''Princess Protection Program''
"Choice Other Stuff – Red Carpet Icon: Female"
Hollywood Style Awards	Style Igenue
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television
Alma Award	Special Achievement Comedy – Television – Actress
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave International TV Star
	Gracie Award	Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Comedy Series
NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
	Favorite TV Actress
Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, or Special – Leading Young Actress	''Princess Protection Program''	rowspan=3
BET Awards	YoungStars Award
American Latino Awards	Favorite American Latino Actor
rowspan="3"	Choice TV Actress: Comedy	rowspan=2
Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon: Female	Herself
Choice Summer: Movie Star- Female	''Ramona and Beezus''	rowspan=2
Imagen Awards	Best Actress – Television	''Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie''
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave TV Star
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program – Series or Special
rowspan=2	Favorite TV Actress
Favorite Female Singer
rowspan=4	Choice Female Hottie	rowspan=2
Choice TV Actress: Comedy	''Wizards of Waverly Place''
Choice Summer: Movie Star- Female		rowspan=2
Choice Summer: Music Star- Female	Herself
Imagen Awards	Best Young Actress – Television
	Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy	rowspan=4
Favorite Movie Actress – Comedy/Musical	''Monte Carlo''
Favorite Female Music Artist
	Biggest Fans
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave TV Star	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	rowspan=2
Nickelodeon Argentina Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite International Singer	''Selena Gomez & the Scene''
	rowspan=2	Favorite TV Actress	''Wizards of Waverly Place''	rowspan=2
Favorite Female Singer	Herself

References

External links

Selena Gomez at Disney.com

Category:1992 births Category:Actors from Texas Category:American bloggers Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American pop singers Category:American rock singers Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:American voice actors Category:American women in business Category:Barney & Friends Category:Child pop musicians Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Grand Prairie, Texas Category:Pop rock singers Category:UNICEF people Category:Young Artist Award winners Category:American rock drummers Category:Female drummers

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