Style

Career

Hamburger is a frequent guest on the internet talk show ''Tom Green's House Tonight''. In 2006, Hamburger started doing his own show called ''Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger'' on ''The Channel'' at Tomgreen.com. Guests on his show have included Tim and Eric, Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, Buzz Osborne of The Melvins, and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.

Hamburger also appeared in a series of three video advertisements promoting the release of the 2006 album by Drag City stablemate, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, ''The Letting Go''.

In 2007, Hamburger opened for Tenacious D during their ''Pick of Destiny'' Tour. In the movie ''The Pick of Destiny'', he made a brief cameo appearance before Tenacious D came on stage to perform. He has already performed at Madison Square Garden, a show that the ''New York Times'' referred to as likely "the greatest night of his career." However, his performance was poorly received elsewhere, with booing and heckling ensuing in countries such as Ireland and England.

The Australian punk band Frenzal Rhomb have used Hamburger to open their sets and appear in their video clips for their songs "Punisher" and "Ballchef", and Frenzal Rhomb members Jay and the Doctor have called him live on air on their radio show on the network Triple J to report on current events in America such as award ceremonies.

In 2007, Hamburger appeared in the music video for "Conspiracy of the Gods" by the band Trans Am.

In September 2007 and 2010, he appeared at the Global ComedyFest in Vancouver, Canada. In 2010, he appeared at Just For Laughs in Montreal, and later that summer, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe resulting in rave reviews in The Scotsman and The Guardian.

In spring of 2008, Drag City released an album of country and western originals and covers recorded by Neil Hamburger in a "celebrity vocals" style. During the sessions, Hamburger was backed by musicians including Prairie Prince of The Tubes and Todd Rundgren's band, David Gleason, Atom Ellis of Dieselhed and The New Cars, Rachel Haden from that dog.

He also recorded a record doing guest lead vocals with Australian band The Hard-Ons while in Sydney in January, 2008.

In August 2010, Hamburger appeared on the Alternative Stage at the Reading Music Festival in the UK, where his entire set was booed and derided by the capacity crowd, with chants of "You're shit and you know you are!". As the set progressed bottles and other projectiles were hurled at Hamburger, before he completed his set. The stage's host, Andrew O'Neill came on after the set, simply asking "Didn't you all enjoy hating that?"

In December 2010, Special Entertainment released an iPhone App called ''Shaky Advice from Neil Hamburger'' that functions much like a Magic 8 Ball, with 30 video clips of Hamburger giving comical advice.

The Neil Hamburger character plays the role of Osric in the 2012 film, ''Hamlet A.D.D.'', a live action and animated version of William Shakespeare's ''Hamlet''.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Appearances

Filmography

DVDs

Movie Appearances

TV Show Appearances

See also

References

External links

Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress. She was a child actor in the 1990s, starring in movies such as ''All I Want for Christmas'' (1991), ''Patriot Games'' (1992), ''Hocus Pocus'' (1993), ''Now and Then'' (1995), and ''Alaska'' (1996). She came to prominence in 1999 after earning worldwide attention and praise for her performance in ''American Beauty''. She then starred in the well received film ''Ghost World'' (2001), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Early life

Due to their own experience with acting, Birch's parents were reticent to encourage her in the profession, but were persuaded to show her photograph to agents by a babysitter who noticed her imitating commercials. She landed several parts in the late '80s, including advertisements for Burger King, California Raisins, Quaker Oats, and Vlasic Pickles. Her first acting job followed.

Career

Early career, 1988–1995

Birch's ability to portray herself as a young tomboy landed her several parts during the period of 1991–1995, including the role of Dani in ''Hocus Pocus'' (1993). She won leading roles in such films as ''All I Want for Christmas'' (1991) and ''Monkey Trouble'' (1994). She appeared in two Harrison Ford films, ''Patriot Games'' (1992) and its sequel, ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), where she played Sally Ryan, the daughter of Ford's character Jack Ryan.

Birch's performance in the 1995 film ''Now and Then'' teamed her with Gaby Hoffmann, Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Melanie Griffith.

Worldwide recognition, 1996–2001

After guest-starring appearances in ''The Outer Limits'', ''Promised Land'', and ''Touched by an Angel'', Birch took a break from acting. In 1999, she returned in the made-for-TV movie ''Night Ride Home'' and also took a small uncredited role in the Natalie Portman film ''Anywhere but Here''. She was initially cast in the role of Tammy Metzler in the dark-comedy ''Election'', but ended up leaving after only the third day of filming due to disagreements with director/writer Alexander Payne.

Later in 1999, Birch won critical praise playing the role of Jane Burnham in ''American Beauty'' and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. The movie itself went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. As Birch was 16 at the time she made the film, and thus classified as a minor in the United States, her parents had to approve her brief topless scene in the movie. They and child labor representatives were on the set for the shooting of the scene.

After leading roles in ''The Smokers'' (2000), ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (2000), and ''The Hole'' (2001), Birch landed the leading role in ''Ghost World'' (2001), alongside Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, and Brad Renfro. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.

2002–2011

Birch has indicated that she aspires to become a director and has recently begun directing short video sketches for a sketch comedy troupe called The Doomed Planet.

In 2009, she starred alongside Brittany Murphy in the horror film ''Deadline'' and appeared in ''Winter of Frozen Dreams''. In January 2010, Birch played Sidney Bloom in the Lifetime movie, ''The Pregnancy Pact''.

Birch was cast and scheduled to make her American stage debut in the off Broadway revival of ''Dracula'', but was fired for reasons apparently involving her father's interference four days before the show's first performance.

Filmography

References

External links

Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American vegetarians Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Actors from Los Angeles, California Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Young Artist Award winners