Jimmy Smits
Smits at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1955-07-09) July 9, 1955 (age 56) Brooklyn, New York, United States
Spouse	Barbara Smits (1981–1987)
Partner	Wanda De Jesus (1986–present)

Jimmy Smits (born July 9, 1955) is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman and then President Matthew Vincente Santos on The West Wing. He is also notable for his portrayal of Bail Organa in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and Miguel Prado in Dexter. In the fall of 2010, he starred in NBC's short-lived series Outlaw, about a U.S. Supreme Court justice who leaves the bench to return to practicing law.

Early life[link]

Smits was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Cornelius Smits, was a Surinamese immigrant of Dutch descent who managed a screen-printing factory. His mother, Emilina, was a Puerto Rican who worked as a nurse.^[1] Smits was raised in a strict devout Roman Catholic family.^[2][3] "Jimmy" is actually the name on his birth certificate, rather than "Jim" or "James."^[4] He has two sisters, Yvonne and Diana. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood and spent time in Puerto Rico during his childhood.^[5][6] Smits earned a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1980 and an MFA from Cornell University in 1982. Though born in New York, Smits has deep Puerto Rican roots and frequently visits the island. In 2001, he was arrested for his participation in protests against U.S. Navy bombing practices on the Puerto Rican offshore island of Vieques.^[7]

Career[link]

Smits at the 39th Annual Emmy Awards in 1987

A notable early role played by Smits was that of Eddie Rivera in the series premiere of Miami Vice. In the episode, he was Sonny Crockett's original partner, only to be shortly killed off in a sting gone wrong. He played Victor Sifuentes in the first five seasons of the long-running legal drama L.A. Law.

Smits played a Conky Repairman on Pee-wee's Playhouse as one of the show's memorable characters. He also starred in the multigenerational story of a Chicano family in My Family/Mi Familia in 1995.

A new audience became aware of Smits for his appearance as Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan who appears in the film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and becomes Princess Leia's adoptive father in the film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He reappears as Bail Organa in the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

In 1999, he received the HOLA Award for Excellence (later renamed the HOLA Rita Moreno Award for Excellence) from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).

Smits was to have hosted the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards broadcast on 9/11, but it was called off because of the terrorist attacks that day. He instead hosted a non-televised press conference to announce the winners.

Smits played the role of Congressman Matt Santos of Houston, Texas in the final two seasons of the American television drama The West Wing, joining fellow L.A. Law alumnus John Spencer. Smits's character eventually ran for the US Presidency in the series.

For the third season of Dexter, Smits played the role of Miguel Prado, an assistant district attorney who befriends Dexter.^[8] Smits was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role. Additionally, he portrayed the character, Alex Vega, in the CBS TV series Cane, which aired from September 25, 2007 to December 18, 2007 and was subsequently cancelled by the network due to the 2007 Screen Writer's Guild strike.

Stage performances[link]

In the mid-1980s Smits acted in numerous performances at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York. His roles at the Hangar included "Max" in the 1982 production of Cabaret and "Paul" in Loose Ends the same year. Smits has participated in the Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival, playing the role of Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night in 2002, and Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing in 2004. From November 2009 to February 2010 he appeared opposite Christine Lahti, Annie Potts, and Ken Stott in the critically lauded Broadway play, God of Carnage, replacing Jeff Daniels.

Personal life[link]

Smits was married to Barbara Smits from 1981 until their divorce in 1987. They have two children, Taina (born in 1973) and Joaquin (born in 1983). Since 1986, Smits has been in a relationship with actress Wanda De Jesus. They live in Los Angeles, where Smits is a fixture in his local Jai alai league. Smits helped found the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts^[9] to advance the presence of Latinos in the media, telecommunications and entertainment industries. Smits is also an advocate for diagnostic colorectal screening and has appeared in a public service commercial. Most recently, Smits filmed a PSA for Detroit Non-Profit Cass Community Social Services. Smits will act as the Honorary Chair of their 6th Annual "Catch the Fireworks With Cass" event that takes place during the notable fireworks display in Detroit.^[10]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Puerto Rico portal

• List of notable Puerto Ricans

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jimmy Smits

• Jimmy Smits at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.hispanic-today.com/smits_article.html

Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres, Los Angeles, October 4, 2011
Birth name	Ellen Lee DeGeneres
Born	(1958-01-26) January 26, 1958 (age 54) Metairie, Louisiana, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, books
Nationality	American
Years active	1981 – present
Influences	Steve Martin,[1] Woody Allen,[1] Bob Newhart,[1] Johnny Carson
Spouse	Portia de Rossi (2008–present)
Domestic partner(s)	Anne Heche (1997–2000) Alexandra Hedison (2001–2004)
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series 1997 Ellen Outstanding Talk Show 2004 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2005 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2006 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2007 The Ellen DeGeneres Show Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment 2010 The Ellen Degeneres Show 2011 The Ellen Degeneres Show Outstanding Special Class Writing 2005 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2006 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2007 The Ellen DeGeneres Show Outstanding Talk Show Host 2005 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2006 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2007 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2008 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Female Stand-Up Comic 1991 Funniest Female Performer in a TV Special 1994 46th Primetime Emmy Awards 2000 Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning
Saturn Award
Best Supporting Actress (film) 2003 Finding Nemo
Teen Choice Awards
Best Comedian 2011

Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( /dɨˈdʒɛnərəs/; born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice performance won a Saturn Award. She was a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming out process. She has won thirteen Emmys and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.

In November 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named her a Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

DeGeneres was raised in Metairie, Louisiana, the daughter of Elizabeth Jane DeGeneres (née Pfeffer), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, an insurance agent.^[3][4] She has one brother, Vance DeGeneres, who is a producer and musician. She is of French, English, German and Irish descent. DeGeneres was raised as a Christian Scientist until the age of thirteen. In 1973, DeGeneres's parents filed for separation and were divorced the following year. Shortly after, Betty Jane remarried Roy Gruessendorf, who worked as a salesman. Betty Jane and Ellen moved with Gruessendorf from the New Orleans area to Atlanta, Texas. Vance stayed with their birth father.

DeGeneres graduated from Atlanta High School in May 1976, after completing her first years of high school at Grace King High School in Metairie, Louisiana. She moved back to New Orleans to attend the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communication studies. After one semester, she left school to do clerical work in a law firm with her cousin Laura Gillen. She also held a job selling clothes at the chain store the Merry-Go-Round at the Lakeside Shopping Center.^{[citation needed]} Other working experiences included J.C. Penney,^[5] being a waitress at TGI Friday's and another restaurant, a house painter, a hostess, and a bartender. She relates much of her childhood and career experiences in her comedic work.

Ancestry[link]

On a February 9, 2011, episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres told her studio audience via a letter from the New England Genealogical Society that she is Kate Middleton's 15th cousin via their shared common ancestor Thomas Fairfax.^[6]

Stand-up comedy[link]

DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy at small clubs and coffee houses. By 1981 she was the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans. DeGeneres cites Woody Allen and Steve Martin as her main influences at this time.^[1] In the early 1980s she began to tour nationally, being named Showtime's Funniest Person in America in 1982.^[7] In 1986 she appeared for the first time on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who likened her to Bob Newhart.^[1] When Carson invited her over for an onscreen chat after her performance, she became the first comedienne in the show's history to be treated this way.^[7]

Film career[link]

Early screen work[link]

Ellen DeGeneres at the Emmy Awards, 1997

Television and film work in the late 1980s and early 1990s included roles on television in Open House and in the film Coneheads. In 1992, producers Neal Marlens and Carol Black cast DeGeneres in their sitcom Laurie Hill, in the role of Nurse Nancy MacIntyre. The series was canceled after only four episodes, but Marlens and Black were so impressed with DeGeneres' performance that they soon cast her in their next ABC pilot, These Friends of Mine, which they co-created with David S. Rosenthal.

[edit] Ellen's Energy Adventure

DeGeneres starred in a series of films for a show named Ellen's Energy Adventure, which is part of the Universe of Energy attraction and pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot. The film also featured Bill Nye, Alex Trebek, Michael Richards, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The show revolved around DeGeneres's falling asleep and finding herself in an energy-themed version of Jeopardy!, playing against an old rival, portrayed by Curtis, and Albert Einstein. The next film had DeGeneres hosting an educational look at energy, co-hosted with Nye. The ride first opened on September 15, 1996, as Ellen's Energy Crisis, but was quickly renamed to the more positive-sounding Ellen's Energy Adventure.

Television career[link]

[edit] Ellen (1994–1998)

At the Governor's Ball after the 46th Annual Emmy Awards telecast, Sept. 1994

DeGeneres's comedy material became the basis of the successful 1994–1998 sitcom Ellen, named These Friends of Mine during its first season. The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres's style of observational humor; it was often referred to as a "female Seinfeld."^[8]

Ellen reached its height of popularity in February 1997, when DeGeneres made her homosexuality public on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Subsequently her character on the sitcom came out of the closet in April to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey, revealing that she is gay.^[9] The coming-out episode, titled "The Puppy Episode", was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show. Later episodes of the series did not match its popularity, and after declining ratings, the show was canceled. DeGeneres returned to the stand-up comedy circuit, and later re-established herself as a successful talk show host.

[edit] The Ellen Show

DeGeneres returned to series television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show.

[edit] The Ellen DeGeneres Show

DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003. Amid a crop of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing at the beginning of that season, such as those of Sharon Osbourne and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show has won 25 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres is known for her dancing and singing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gives away free prizes and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors.

DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign.

In May 2006, DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at the Tulane University commencement in New Orleans. Following George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she came out in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said. Ellen then went on to make another commencement speech at Tulane in 2009.^[10]

The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride.

In May 2007, DeGeneres was placed on bed rest due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well.

On May 1, 2009, DeGeneres celebrated her 1000th episode, featuring celebrity guests such as Oprah, Justin Timberlake, and Paris Hilton, among others.

[edit] American Idol

On September 9, 2009, it was confirmed that DeGeneres would replace Paula Abdul as a judge of the ninth season of American Idol. Her role started after the contestant auditions, at the beginning of "Hollywood Week".^[11][12] It is reported that DeGeneres also signed a contract to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons.^[13] She made her American Idol debut on February 9, 2010.

On July 29, 2010, DeGeneres and Fox executives announced that the comedienne would be departing from the series after one season. In a statement, DeGeneres said that the series "didn't feel like the right fit for me".^[14]

Award shows[link]

2001 Emmy Awards[link]

DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001, when she hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a lavish ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening, which included the line: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

In August 2005, DeGeneres hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held on September 18, 2005. This was three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, making it the second time she hosted the Emmys following a national tragedy. She also hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and in 1997.

Ellen DeGeneres in 2004

79th Academy Awards[link]

On September 7, 2006, DeGeneres was selected to host the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007.^[15] This makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person to have hosted the event. During the Awards show, DeGeneres said, "What a wonderful night, such diversity in the room, in a year when there's been so many negative things said about people's race, religion, and sexual orientation. And I want to put this out there: If there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars, or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that."^[16] Reviews of her hosting gig were positive, with one saying, "DeGeneres rocked, as she never forgot that she wasn't just there to entertain the Oscar nominees but also to tickle the audience at home."^[17] Regis Philbin said in an interview that "the only complaint was there's not enough Ellen."

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award as host of the Academy Awards broadcast.^[18]

2007 Writers Guild strike[link]

DeGeneres, like many actors who are also writers, is a member of both the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Thus, although DeGeneres verbally supported the 2007 WGA strike, she did not support it when she crossed the picket line the day after the strike began.^[19][20] Her representatives said she was competing with other first-run syndicated shows during the competitive November sweeps period, and that she could not break her contracts or risk her show's losing its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers.^[21] The WGA condemned her while the AFTRA defended her.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Other ventures[link]

Ellen at Tulane University in 2009

Voice acting[link]

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the summer 2003 hit animated Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The film's director, Andrew Stanton, claimed that he chose Ellen because she "changed the subject five times before one sentence had finished" on her show.^[26] For her performance as Dory, DeGeneres won the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Best Supporting Actress"; "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie" from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards; and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association for "Outstanding Voice Acting". She was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the "Best Supporting Actress" category. She also provided the voice of the dog in the prologue of the Eddie Murphy feature film Dr. Dolittle. Her win of the Saturn Award marked the first and only time the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films has given the acting award for a voice performance.

Commercial spokeswoman[link]

In November 2004, DeGeneres appeared, dancing, in an ad campaign for American Express. Her most recent American Express commercial, a two-minute black-and-white spot in which she works with animals, debuted in November 2006 and was created by Ogilvy and Mather. In 2007, the commercial won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.

DeGeneres began working with Cover Girl Cosmetics in September 2008, for which she has been criticized, as her animal-friendly values clash with Procter and Gamble's (the maker of Cover Girl Cosmetics) animal testing.^[27] Her face is the focus of new Cover Girl advertisements starting in January 2009. The beauty campaign will be DeGeneres's first.^[28]

On December 3, 2011, DeGeneres headlined the third annual “Change Begins Within” gala for the David Lynch Foundation held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.^[29][30]

In Spring 2012, DeGeneres becomes the spokesperson for J.C. Penney in a tour and advertising campaign.^[5]

Eleveneleven[link]

On May 26, 2010, Ellen announced on her show that she was starting her own record label entitled "eleveneleven". Ellen explained her choice of name, claiming that she often sees the number 11:11 when looking at her clocks, that she found Greyson on the 11th, and that the singer's soccer jersey has the number 11.^[31] She mentioned that she had been looking for videos of performances on YouTube to start her label. The acts thus far signed to the label are Greyson Chance, Tom Andrews, and Jessica Simpson.^[32]

Personal life[link]

DeGeneres with Anne Heche at the 1997 Emmy Awards.

DeGeneres was in a relationship (1997–2000) with actress Anne Heche.^[33] From 2001 to 2004, DeGeneres and actress/director/photographer Alexandra Hedison were in a relationship. They appeared on the cover of The Advocate after their separation had already been announced to the media.^[34]

Since 2004, DeGeneres has had a relationship with Portia de Rossi. After the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California, DeGeneres announced on a May 2008 show that she and de Rossi were engaged,^[35][36] and gave de Rossi a three-carat pink diamond ring.^[37] They were married on August 16, 2008, at their home, with nineteen guests including their mothers.^[37] The passage of Proposition 8 cast doubt on the legal status of their marriage, but a subsequent California Supreme Court judgment validated it because it occurred before November 4, 2008.^[38][39]

DeGeneres and de Rossi live in Beverly Hills, with three dogs and four cats,^[40] and both are vegan.^[41] DeGeneres served as campaign ambassador to Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-A-Turkey Project in 2010, asking people to start "a new tradition by adopting a turkey instead of eating one" at Thanksgiving.^[42]

On August 6, 2010, de Rossi filed a petition to legally change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres^[43] The petition was granted on September 23, 2010.^[44]

In her book Love, Ellen, DeGeneres's mother Betty DeGeneres describes being initially shocked when her daughter came out as a lesbian, but has become one of her strongest supporters, an active member of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project.

In 2007, Forbes estimated DeGeneres's net worth at US$65 million.^[45]

She is a fan of the National Football League, and has shown particular support for the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers.^[46] In 2011, she attended a Saints practice dressed as Packers Hall of Famer Don Hutson.^[47]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Awards and honors[link]

Daytime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Talk Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011
• Outstanding Talk Show Host, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Outstanding Special Class Writing, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006, 2007

Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, Ellen: "The Puppy Episode" – 1997

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

• 2012 ^[48]

People's Choice Awards

• Favorite Funny Female Star – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Favorite Talk Show Host – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
• Favorite Yes I Chose This Star – 2008

Kids' Choice Awards

• Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie – 2004

Tulane University President's Medal

• 2009^[49]

Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards

• 2000 Lucy Award, actor, If These Walls Could Talk 2, in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.^[50]

Bibliography[link]

• DeGeneres, Ellen (1995). My Point...And I Do Have One. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-09955-8. 
• DeGeneres, Ellen (2003). The Funny Thing Is.... New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-4761-2. 
• DeGeneres, Ellen (2011). Seriously...I'm Kidding. New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-58502-5. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ellen DeGeneres

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ellen DeGeneres

Wikinews has related news: Portia de Rossi talks about Ellen DeGeneres, sexuality Award show producers try Emmy Idol

• The Ellen DeGeneres Show's official website
• Ellen DeGeneres at the Internet Movie Database
• Ellen DeGeneres at People.com

Tom Daschle
United States Senator from South Dakota
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	James Abdnor
Succeeded by	John Thune
Senate Minority Leader
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Deputy	Harry Reid
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Harry Reid
In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Deputy	Harry Reid
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Trent Lott
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2001
Deputy	Wendell H. Ford Harry Reid
Preceded by	Bob Dole
Succeeded by	Trent Lott
Senate Majority Leader
In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Deputy	Harry Reid
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Bill Frist
In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Deputy	Harry Reid
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Trent Lott
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's At-large district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	Tim Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's 1st district
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	Larry Pressler
Succeeded by	District abolished
Personal details
Born	Thomas Andrew Daschle (1947-12-09) December 9, 1947 (age 64) Aberdeen, South Dakota
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Linda Hall
Alma mater	South Dakota State University (B.A.)
Religion	Roman Catholicism[note 1]

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle (born December 9, 1947) is a former U.S. Senator from South Dakota and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

A South Dakota native, Daschle obtained his university degree there, and served in the United States Air Force. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978 and served four terms. In 1986, he was elected to the Senate, becoming minority leader in 1994. Defeated for re-election in 2004, he took a position as a policy advisor with a lobbying firm, and also became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He co-authored a book advocating universal health care.

Daschle was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, and was offered the position of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services after the 2008 election. He was President Obama's nominee to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Cabinet,^[2] but withdrew his name on February 3, 2009, amid a growing controversy over his failure to accurately report and pay income taxes.^[3] He is currently working for the global law firm DLA Piper.^[4]

Family background[link]

Daschle was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the son of Elizabeth B. (née Meier) and Sebastian C. Daschle, both of German descent. His paternal grandparents were Volga Germans.^[5] Daschle grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family as the eldest of four brothers.^[6] He became the first person in his family to graduate from college when he earned a B.A. in political science from South Dakota State University in 1969. While attending South Dakota State University, Daschle became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. From 1969 to 1972, Daschle served in the United States Air Force as an intelligence officer with the Strategic Air Command.^[7]

In the mid-1970s Daschle was an aide to then Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota.

Daschle has been married to Linda Hall, Miss Kansas for 1976, since 1984, one year after his marriage to his first wife, Laurie, ended in divorce.^[8] Hall was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Clinton administration; she is now a Washington lobbyist. Her lobbying clients have included American Airlines, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, Senate lobbying records show.^[9][10][11] Daschle has three children from his first marriage: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay. His son, Nathan, is Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association.^[12]

Career in the House of Representatives[link]

In 1978, Daschle was elected to the United States House of Representatives, winning the race by a margin of 139 votes,^[13] following a recount, out of more than 129,000 votes cast. Daschle served four terms in the House of Representatives and quickly became a part of the Democratic leadership.

At the 1980 Democratic National Convention Congressman Daschle received 10 (0.30%)^[14] delegate votes for Vice President of the United States. Although he was not a candidate, Daschle (along with others) received votes against incumbent Walter Mondale, who was renominated easily.

Career in the Senate[link]

In 1986, Daschle was elected to the Senate in a close victory over incumbent Republican James Abdnor, becoming the nation's 1,776th senator. In his first year, he was appointed to the Finance Committee. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell as Democratic Minority Leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the Minority Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in 1998. At various points in his career, he served on the Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics Committees.

When the 107th Congress commenced on January 3, 2001, the Senate was evenly divided—that is, there were 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Outgoing Vice President Al Gore acted in his constitutional capacity as ex officio President of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next two weeks, Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader. Then, upon the commencement of the Bush administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney became President of the Senate, thereby returning Democrats to the minority in that body; Daschle reverted to the position of Senate Minority Leader. However, on June 6, 2001, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced in that he was leaving the Senate Republican caucus to become an independent and to caucus with Democrats;^[15] this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader.

Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned the party to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle once more reverted to being Minority Leader.

Daschle recounted his Senate experiences from 2001 to 2003 in his first book, Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever, published in 2003.^[16]

Anthrax case in 2001[link]

In October 2001, while he was the Senate Majority Leader, Daschle's office received a letter containing anthrax, becoming a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks.^[17] Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed,^[17] as well as several of Sen. Russ Feingold's staffers and Capitol police officers.^[18]

Views on abortion[link]

Daschle has a mixed voting record on abortion-related issues, which led the pro-choice organization NARAL to give him a 50 percent vote rating.^[19] In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on partial-birth abortion,^[20][21] and supported legislation making it a crime to harm a fetus when someone attacks a pregnant woman.^[22] (Investigators into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which included Senator Daschle's Capitol Hill office, suspect that alleged anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins may have chosen to target Daschle over his views on abortion, although Ivins's lawyer disputed this alleged motive.^[23]) In 2003, Daschle's stance on abortion was reportedly criticized by Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Carlson wrote to Senator Daschle as in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching, and that the should no longer identify himself as a Catholic.^[24]

2004 Senate election[link]

In the 2004 Senate election, John Thune defeated Daschle by 4,508 votes, or 50.5%-49.4%.^[25] It was the first time that a Senate party leader had lost a bid for reelection since 1952.^[26] Senate majority Leader Bill Frist visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune.

Throughout the campaign, Thune, along with Frist, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Cheney, frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the war. In a nationally televised debate on NBC's Meet the Press, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the Iraq war.^[27]

When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7% in January and February. By May, his lead was just 2% and summer polls showed a varying number of trends: Daschle or Thune led by nomore than 2%, but some polls showed a tie. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2-5% while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49-49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins.

Post-Senate career[link]

Official Senate portrait by Aaron Shikler

Career and public service[link]

Following his reelection defeat, Daschle took a position with the lobbying arm of the K Street law firm Alston & Bird. Because he was prohibited by law from lobbying for one year after leaving the Senate,^[28] he instead worked as a "special policy adviser" for the firm.^[29][30]

Alston & Bird's health care lobbying clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth.^[9] The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry.^[10] Daschle was recruited by the former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.^[31] Daschle's salary from Alston & Bird for the year 2008 was reportedly $2 million.^[32]

Daschle was also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. In addition, he served as National Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08 (an initiative of ONE.org), along with former Senator Bill Frist. He and former Senators George Mitchell, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker formed the Bipartisan Policy Center, dedicated to finding bipartisan solutions for policy disputes.^[7] Daschle is also a co-chair of BPC's Health Project.

In late September 2005, Daschle caught the attention of the media by reactivating his political action committee, changing its name from DASHPAC to New Leadership for America PAC and procuring a speaking slot at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. He has continued to keep a relatively high profile among Democratic interest groups. These moves were interpreted by the media as an exploration of a potential 2008 Presidential candidacy. On December 2, 2006, announced he would not run for President in 2008.^[33]

In an appearance on Meet the Press on February 12, 2006, former Senator Daschle endorsed a controversial warrantless surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA); Daschle explained that he had been briefed on the program while he was the Democratic leader in the Senate.^[34]

In addition, Senator Daschle is a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.^[35] The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.^[36]

Obama campaign[link]

Daschle speaks during the third night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

On February 21, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Daschle, after ruling out a presidential bid of his own in December 2006, had thrown his support behind Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for the 2008 presidential election, saying that Obama "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."^[37]

Daschle exited the Senate just as Obama entered in 2004 and suggested that Obama take on some of his staffers.^[38] These included Daschle's outgoing chief-of-staff Pete Rouse who helped to create a two year plan in the Senate that would fast-track Obama for the presidential nomination. Daschle himself told Obama in 2006 that "windows of opportunity for running for the presidency close quickly. And that he shouldn't assume, if he passes up this window, that there will be another." ^[38]

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Daschle served as a key advisor to Obama and one of the national co-chairs for Obama's campaign.^[39] On June 3, 2008, Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in Daschle's home state of South Dakota, although that night Obama clinched his party's nomination anyway.

Two days later, sources indicated Daschle "is interested in universal health care and might relish serving as HHS secretary."^[40] In the general election campaign, Daschle continued to consult Obama, campaign for him across swing states, and advise his campaign organization until Obama was ultimately elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008.

Obama administration nomination[link]

Daschle, standing with then-President-elect Barack Obama, speaks to reporters after the announcement of his selection to be Obama's nominee for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. (December 11, 2008)

On November 19, 2008, the press reported that Daschle had accepted Obama's offer to be nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary. His selection was formally announced at a news conference with Obama on December 11, 2008.^[2]

Some organizations objected to Daschle's selection, arguing that his work at Alston & Bird was tantamount to lobbying and therefore his selection violated Obama's promise to keep special interests out of the White House. According to Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, Daschle technically complies with the transition rules against lobbyists but "many power brokers never register as lobbyists, but they are every bit as powerful".^[41] Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition, responded that Daschle's work "does not represent a bar to his service in the transition" since "he was not a lobbyist, and he will recuse himself from any work that presents a conflict of interest".^[41]

When Daschle was officially nominated for his Cabinet position on January 20, 2009,^[42] confirmation by the Senate was required. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a confirmation hearing for Mr. Daschle on January 8, 2009.^[42][43] A second Senate committee, the Finance Committee, also traditionally reviews HHS Secretary nominees; the committee discussed his nomination behind closed doors on February 2, 2009.^[44][45]

Withdrawal[link]

On January 30, 2009, it was reported that Daschle's friendship and business partnership with businessman Leo Hindery could cause problems for Daschle's Senate confirmation. Daschle has been a paid consultant and advisor to Hindery's InterMedia Partners since 2005, during which time he received from Hindery access to a limousine and chauffeur. Daschle reportedly did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. A spokeswoman for Daschle said that he "simply and probably naively" considered the use of the car and driver "a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend".^{[32][44][46][47]} Daschle told the Senate Finance Committee that in June 2008—just as he was letting the press know he would like to be HHS secretary in an Obama administration^[40] -- that "something made him think that the car service might be taxable" and he began seeking to remedy the situation.^[48]

Daschle reportedly also did not pay taxes on an additional $83,333 that he earned as a consultant to InterMedia Partners in 2007; this was discovered by Senator Daschle's accountant in December 2008.^[48] According to ABC News, Daschle also took tax deductions for $14,963 in donations that he made between 2005 and 2007 to charitable organizations that did not meet the requirements for being tax deductible.^[49]

The former Senator paid the three years of owed taxes and interest—an amount totaling $140,167—in January 2009,^{[46][47][48][50]} but still reportedly owed "Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent" of the value of the car service he received, amounting to "thousands of dollars in additional unpaid taxes".^[51]

On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, Daschle withdrew his nomination,^[52] saying that he did not wish to be a "distraction" to the Obama agenda.^[3] He was forced to withdraw because, even though he had a sufficient number of Democratic votes for nomination, he became an untenable political liability for the President.^[52]

Health policy[link]

Daschle co-wrote the 2008 book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.^[53] He and his co-authors point out that "most of the world’s highest-ranking health-care systems employ some kind of 'single-payer' strategy - that is, the government, directly or through insurers, is responsible for paying doctors, hospitals, and other health-care providers". They argue that a single-payer approach is simple, equitable, provides everyone with the same benefits, and saves billions of dollars through economies of scale and simplified administration. They concede that implementing a single-payer system in the United States would be "politically problematic" even though some polls show more satisfaction with the single-payer Medicare system than private insurance,^[54] and that it would be socialized medicine^{[citation needed]}.

A key element of the single-payer plan that Daschle and his co-authors propose in the book is a new "Federal Health Board" that would establish the framework and fill in the details. The board would somehow be simultaneously "insulated from political pressure" and "accountable to elected officials and the American people". The board would "promote 'high-value' medical care by recommending coverage of those drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence".^[55] This proposal has been criticized by conservatives and libertarians who argue that such a board will lead to rationing of health care,^[56][57] and by progressives who believe the board will, as one writer put it, "get defanged by lobbyists immediately".^[58]

One of Daschle's co-authors, Jeanne Lambrew, had been slated before his withdrawal to serve as his deputy in the White House Office of Health Reform.^[57]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Alston + Bird - Biography of Sen. Daschle
• Booknotes interview with Daschle on Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America, November 30, 2003.

v t e United States Senators from South Dakota Class 2 Pettigrew Gamble Sterling McMaster Bulow H. Bushfield V. Bushfield Mundt Abourezk Pressler T. Johnson Class 3 Moody Kyle Kittredge Crawford E. Johnson Norbeck Hitchcock Pyle Gurney Case Bottum McGovern Abdnor Daschle Thune

v t e United States Senate Majority Leaders Lodge • Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid

v t e United States Senate Minority Leaders Underwood • Robinson • McNary • Austin • McNary • White • Barkley • Wherry • Bridges • Johnson • Knowland • Dirksen • Scott • Baker • Byrd • Dole • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Frist • Daschle • Reid • McConnell

v t e Democratic Party Leaders in the United States Senate Underwood • Robinson • Barkley • Lucas • McFarland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Mitchell • Daschle • Reid

Andrew von Oeyen (born November 12, 1979) is an American classical pianist.

Education[link]

He began piano lessons at age five in Los Angeles and made his solo orchestral debut at age ten. At age 16, he made his debut with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1998, after graduating from high school at Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, California, he moved to New York City to study at the Juilliard School and Columbia University, where his teachers were Herbert Stessin and Jerome Lowenthal. He also worked privately with Alfred Brendel and Leon Fleisher.

Career[link]

Von Oeyen has performed extensively in recital and orchestral appearances around the world. He has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Utah Symphony, Chicago's Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Slovenian and Slovak Philharmonics, among others.

Von Oeyen has appeared in recital at Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Symphony Hall, Boston, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Bolshoi Zal in St. Petersburg, Dublin's National Concert Hall, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Sala São Paulo, Teatro Olimpico in Rome, in Bucharest, Vietnam, Macau, and in all the major concert halls of Japan and South Korea. He regularly appears at festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Saratoga, Mainly Mozart, Grand Teton, Grant Park, Spoleto Festival USA, Gilmore, Festival del Sole (Napa Valley) and "Piano en Valois" (France). He has also toured extensively with violinist Sarah Chang throughout Europe, the United States and Asia.

On July 4, 2009, von Oeyen performed at the U.S. Capitol with the National Symphony Orchestra in "A Capitol Fourth," reaching millions worldwide in the PBS live telecast.

He won the Bronislaw Kaper Award from the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1996, the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 1999, and also took First Prize in the Leni Fe Bland Foundation National Piano Competition in 2001.

Andrew von Oeyen lives in New York and Paris.

Discography[link]

• Liszt Piano Music, Label: Delos International/Naxos B004GX91XO

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Delacoma, Wynne, "Villaume conducts memorable Grant Park debut", Chicago Sun-Times, July 11, 2005. Accessed 19 December 2007.
• Johnson, Lawrence B., "DSO's surprise pianist is a genuine Rach star", Detroit News, May 24, 2008. Accessed 12 November 2008.
• Lee Hyo-won, "Sarah Chang Aims to Cast Off Prodigy Label", Korea Times, 12 July 2009. Accessed 9 April 2010.
• Page, Tim "Andrew von Oeyen, Keenly Attuned to Liszt's Grand Design", Washington Post, May 7, 2007. Accessed 18 December 2007.
• PBS, A Capitol Fourth in High Definition

External links[link]

• Andrew von Oeyen official web site

Michael Feinstein
Michael Feinstein in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Michael Jay Feinstein
Born	(1956-09-07) September 7, 1956 (age 55) Columbus, Ohio
Genres	The Great American Songbook
Occupations	singer, pianist, music archivist
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Nonesuch/Elektra Records, Concord Records
Website	http://www.michaelfeinstein.com

Michael Jay Feinstein^[1] (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an interpreter of, and an anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. Feinstein is also a multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist.^[2] He currently serves as Artistic Director for The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.^[3]

Early life[link]

Feinstein was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Florence Mazie (née Cohen), an amateur tap dancer, and Edward Feinstein, a sales executive for the Sara Lee Corporation and a former amateur singer.^[1] At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he wasn't reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear. As his mother saw no problem with her son's method, she took him out of lessons and allowed him to enjoy music his own way.

Career[link]

After graduating from high school, Feinstein worked in local piano bars for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, in 1977 he was introduced to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalogue his extensive collection of phonograph records. The assignment led to six years of researching, cataloguing and preserving the unpublished sheet music and rare recordings in Gershwin's home, thus securing the legacy of not just Ira but also that of his composer brother George Gershwin, who had died four decades earlier. Feinstein's extended tenure enabled him to also get to know Gershwin's next-door neighbor, singer Rosemary Clooney, with whom Feinstein formed an intensely close friendship lasting until Clooney's death. Feinstein served as musical consultant for the 1983 Broadway show My One and Only, a musical pastiche of Gershwin tunes.

By the mid-1980s, Feinstein was a nationally known cabaret singer-pianist famed for being a dedicated proponent of the Great American Songbook. In 1986, he recorded his first CD, Pure Gershwin (1987), a collection of music by George and Ira Gershwin. He followed this in quick succession with Live at the Algonquin (1986); Remember: Michael Feinstein Sings Irving Berlin (1987); Isn't It Romantic (1988), a collection of standards and his first album backed by an orchestra; and Over There (1989), featuring the music of America and Europe during the First World War. Feinstein recorded his only children's album, Pure Imagination, in 1992.

By 1988, Feinstein was starring on Broadway in a series of in-concert shows: Michael Feinstein in Concert (April through June 1988), Michael Feinstein in Concert: "Isn't It Romantic" (October through November 1988), and Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice (October 1990). He returned to Broadway in 2010, in a concert special duo with Dame Edna titled All About Me (March through April 2010).^[4]

In the early 1990s, Feinstein embarked on an ambitious songbook project wherein he performed an album featuring the music of a featured composer, often accompanied by the composer. These included collaborations with Burton Lane (two volumes: 1990, 1992), Jule Styne (1991), Jerry Herman (Michael Feinstein Sings the Jerry Herman Songbook, 1993), Hugh Martin (1995), Jimmy Webb (Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, 2003) and Jay Livingston/Ray Evans (2002). He has also recorded three albums of standards with Maynard Ferguson: Forever (1993), Such Sweet Sorrow (1995), and Big City Rhythms (1999).

In the late 1990s, Feinstein recorded two more albums of Gershwin music: Nice Work If You Can Get It: Songs by the Gershwins (1996) and Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin (1998). Feinstein's albums in the 21st century have included Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway (2000), Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (2001), Hopeless Romantics (2005, featuring George Shearing), and The Sinatra Project (2008).

Michael Feinstein and Marvin Hamlisch performing a duet of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" in 2009.

In 2000, the Library of Congress appointed Feinstein to its newly formed National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to safeguarding America’s musical heritage.^[5]

In 2008, the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative ^[6] located its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana. The Initiative's two-fold mission includes the preservation, research, and exhibition of the physical artifacts, both published and non-published, of the Great American Songbook and educating today's youth about the music's relevance to their lives. The Initiative houses an archive and reference library; plans exist for a free-standing museum. The organization also holds an annual Great American Songbook Vocal Academy and Competition that invites high school students from around the country to compete in regional competitions. Finalists gather at the Initiative's headquarters for a vocal "boot camp" and final competition. The winner receives scholarship money and the opportunity to perform with Michael at his cabaret in New York.

In 2009 Feinstein became the artistic director of The Center for the Performing Arts.^[7] located in Carmel, Indiana. Construction of the $170-million, three-theater venue was completed in January, 2011. The Center is home to an annual international arts festival, diverse live programming, and the Michael Feinstein Initiative.

In 2009, Feinstein teamed up with Cheyenne Jackson to create a nightclub act titled "The Power of Two". The show was hailed by the New York Times as "passionate," "impeccably harmonized" and "groundbreaking".^[8] Variety acclaimed it as "dazzlingly entertaining".^[9] Their act became one of the most critically acclaimed shows of 2009,^[10][11][12] and the duo created a studio album from the material, The Power of Two.

In 2010, PBS aired Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, a three-part television documentary that depicts the history of the American popular song up to 1960, as well as Feinstein's own life and career.^[13]

Feinstein is the owner of the Manhattan nightclub Feinstein's at the Regency, a showcase for cabaret performers.^[14] He performs there for a sold-out Christmas holiday stint each year, and at other times as well. Feinstein was also a part owner of the now-closed Speakeasy Supper Club in Chicago.^[15] In 2008, he opened his own London venue, Feinstein's at the Shaw.^[16]

Other media appearances[link]

Feinstein was a judge at the 2007 Miss America Pageant. In addition to doing more than 150 live performances per year, he has also appeared on a number of television series, documentaries, and talk shows. He also appeared on the children's show Xuxa in 1993.

Future projects[link]

As of June 2011, Feinstein has written the score for two new stage musicals, The Night They Saved Macy’s Parade and The Gold Room. He is working with MGM to turn The Thomas Crown Affair into a Broadway musical. He is also scoring his second movie, The Big Valley.^[2]

Personal life[link]

In October 2008, Feinstein married his longtime partner Terrence Flannery.^[17] The ceremony was performed by famed family court and television judge Judith Sheindlin, also known as Judge Judy.^[18] Feinstein and Flannery have homes in New York, Los Angeles and Indiana.

Discography[link]

For Feinstein's discography see Michael Feinstein discography.

References[link]

• Feinstein, Michael (1995). Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm and Rhyme. Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6093-7. http://books.google.com/?id=muQHAQAAMAAJ. 

Notes[link]