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Steven Robert Weber (born March 4, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.

Early life[link]

Weber was born in Briarwood, Queens, New York; his mother was a nightclub singer and his father was a nightclub performer and manager of Borscht Belt comedians.^[1] Weber graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts (1979) and the State University of New York at Purchase.

Career[link]

Weber started appearing in TV commercials while still in the third grade. After leaving college he became a member of the Mirror Repertory Company and appeared opposite legendary actress Geraldine Page in several productions before winning a role as Julianne Moore's ill-tempered and ill-fated boyfriend on the CBS daytime drama As The World Turns in 1985–1986. He appeared in several motion pictures and TV mini-series, such as The Flamingo Kid, Hamburger Hill, and the acclaimed The Kennedys of Massachusetts (as the young John F. Kennedy).

His most well-known role is as Brian Hackett, a skirt-chasing airplane pilot on the sitcom Wings. He also performed in the television mini-series version of Stephen King's The Shining, playing the alcoholic, murderous Jack Torrance. Several years later, Weber starred in his own short-lived half-hour comedy Cursed, joined the cast of ABC's Once and Again as the tortured artist Sam Blue, and starred the next year in the acclaimed show The D.A. once again for ABC. Weber also had a lead role in the 90's hit movie Single White Female.

Weber first appeared on Broadway in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing and in 2001-2002 took over for Matthew Broderick as Leo Bloom in the Broadway production of The Producers. In 2005, he appeared alongside Kevin Spacey in London at the Old Vic's production of National Anthems. Weber also wrote and produced 2003's Clubland, a Showtime movie in which he and Alan Alda played father and son talent agents in 1950s New York City (for which Alda was nominated for an Emmy). He recently appeared in another Stephen King adaptation, You Know They Got a Hell of a Band from the Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series. In 1998, he played the voice of Charlie B. Barkin in An All Dogs Christmas Carol.

In 2006, he rejoined former Wings co-star Tony Shalhoub in a guest role on Monk. The same year, Weber played the role of network boss Jack Rudolph in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

In 2008 Weber starred in Alliance Group Entertainment's feature film Farm House, where he played Samael, a mysterious vineyard owner. Weber also guest starred on the drama series Brothers and Sisters as Graham Finch, a business specialist. He also guest-starred on Psych as Jack Spencer, Shawn Spencer's uncle and brother to Henry Spencer, Shawn's father. He also starred on Desperate Housewives in 2008. Weber appeared as a recurring guest on the 2008-09 season of the CBS crime drama, Without a Trace.

He was recently part of the cast of the now cancelled ABC show Happy Town and had a major role in the TV movie A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! in which he played the villain Hugh J. Magnate, Jr.

Personal life[link]

Weber met his first wife Finn Carter on the set of As The World Turns while she was playing Sierra Esteban Montgomery. On July 9, 1995, he married his second wife, interior decorator and former Los Angeles Bureau chief for MTV, Juliette Hohnen. Weber and Hohnen are the parents of two sons: Jack Alexander Hohnen-Weber (born January 5, 2001) and Alfie James (born February 25, 2003).

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

• Pudd'nhead Wilson (1984)
• The Flamingo Kid (1984)
• The Revelations of Becka Paulsen (1985)
• Walls of Glass (1985)
• Hamburger Hill (1987)
• Kojak: Fatal Flaw (1989)
• When We Were Young (1989)
• Angels (1990)
• The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990)
• In the Line of Duty: A Cop for the Killing (1990)
• Deception: A Mother's Secret (1991)
• Single White Female (1992)
• In the Company of Darkness (1993)
• The Temp (1993)
• Betrayed by Love (1994)
• Benders (1994)
• Just Looking (1995)
• Take Out the Beast (1995)
• Jeffrey (1995)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
• Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
• I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
• Sour Grapes (1998)
• Thanks of a Grateful Nation (a.k.a. The Gulf War) (1998)
• Break Up (1998)
• An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) (voice)
• At First Sight (1999)
• Love Letters (1999)
• Late Last Night (1999)
• Timecode (2000)
• Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes (2000)
• Common Ground (2000)
• Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) (voice)
• Club Land (2001)
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2004)
• Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)
• Sexual Life (2005)
• Inside Out (2005)
• The Amateurs (2005)
• Desperation (2006)
• Choose Connor (a.k.a. The Politician) (2007)
• More of Me (2007)
• Farm House (2008)
• My One and Only (2009)
• Son of Mourning (2010)
• A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! (2011)
• The Movie (2012)

Television[link]

• As the World Turns (1985–1986)
• Crime Story (1987)
• Tales from the Crypt (1991)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)
• Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (1995, 1997) (voice)
• Wings (1990–1997)
• All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996)
• The Outer Limits (1997)
• Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) (voice)
• The Shining (1997)
• The Simpsons (1998) (voice) "King of the Hill"
• Hercules (1998) (voice)
• The New Batman Adventures (1998) (voice)
• Stark Raving Mad (1999)
• Cursed (a.k.a. The Weber Show) (2000–2001)
• The Legend of Tarzan (2001) (voice)
• Baby Blues (2000–2002) (voice)
• Once and Again (2000–2002)
• The Lyon's Den (2003)
• I'm with Her (2003)
• Fillmore! (2003) (voice)
• The D.A. (2004)
• Higglytown Heroes (2004)
• American Dad! (2005) (voice)
• Masters of Horror (2005)
• Will & Grace (2005–2006)
• Stephen King's Desperation (2006)
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006)
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007)
• Monk (2007)
• Side Order of Life (2007)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2007)
• Brothers & Sisters (2007–2008)
• Psych (2008)
• Without a Trace (2008)
• Desperate Housewives (2008)
• Party Down (2009)
• Penguins of Madagascar (2009)
• Happy Town (2010)
• In Plain Sight (2010)
• Falling Skies (2011)
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)
• Hot in Cleveland (2012)

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steven Weber at the Internet Movie Database
• Steven Weber at the Internet Broadway Database
• Steven Weber at Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Steven Weber's Huffington Post Blog

Steven Weber is the name of:

• Steven Weber (actor) (born 1961), American actor
• Steven Weber (professor), professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studying open source

See also[link]

• Stephen Webber (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Annie Duke
Annie Duke at the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Nickname(s)	Annie Legend, The Duke, The Duchess of Poker
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Born	(1965-09-13) September 13, 1965 (age 46)
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	38
Highest ITM Main Event finish	10th, 2000
World Poker Tour
Title(s)	None
Final table(s)	None
Money finish(es)	4
Information accurate as of 07-21-2010.

Annie Duke (born Anne LaBarr Lederer;^[1] September 13, 1965) is a professional poker player and author who won a bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event and was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the Winner-Take-All prize of $2,000,000. In 2010, she won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, earning a cash prize of $500,000 in addition to the title.

Personal life[link]

Duke was born Anne LaBarr Lederer in Concord, New Hampshire, the daughter of Rhoda S. (née Spagenberg) and Richard Lederer, a writer and linguist who taught at St. Paul's School.^[1][2] Her brother, Howard Lederer, is also a professional poker player. Her sister, Katy Lederer, is an author and poet who wrote a book about the Lederer family, titled Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers. She has four children: Maud (1995), Leo (1998), Lucy (2000), and Nell (2002).^[2] Duke is Jewish on her father's side.^[3]

Annie attended Columbia University where she double-majored in English and psychology. Subsequent to her undergraduate years, Duke was awarded an NSF Fellowship to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to study psycholinguistics, a field within cognitive psychology. Although originally intending to continue her studies, she decided to leave school in 1992, after five years of graduate school and one month before defending her Ph.D. work.^[2] She married Ben Duke, a close friend from the same university, and moved to his home in Columbus, Montana. It was at this time that, with the support of her brother, she began playing poker in nearby Billings, Montana.

In 2002, she moved to Portland, Oregon to work for ieLogic, a company that produces software for online real time casino gaming, which eventually came to life as UltimateBet.^[4] She and Ben were divorced in 2004, but she did win a $500 wager made with fellow pro Steve Zolotow, who bet her that her marriage wouldn't last five years.^[5] In 2005 she and her children moved to the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Duke and her then new, Mediterranean-style home — with fiance Joe Reitman — were featured in The New York Times article "At Home With Annie Duke" on January 19, 2006.^[6]

Poker[link]

After leaving her academic work, Duke began playing poker in the legal card rooms in Billings, Montana.^[2]

In early 2004, Duke received considerable publicity for tutoring actor Ben Affleck, who then went on to win the 2004 California State Poker Championship. In the 2004 World Series of Poker, she eliminated her brother, Howard Lederer, from four separate events, including the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she took first place and her brother took third. During this same World Series, she won her first gold bracelet, in an Omaha Hi-Lo tournament. She was one of three women (Kathy Liebert and Cyndy Violette being the other two) to win an open event in that year's WSOP.

Duke is one of many poker players who disagree with the restrictions placed on players during televised tournaments. Although the players pay mandatory fees to enter tournaments, some venues do not allow players to wear sponsorship logos. Duke raised some controversy when she made a statement in a news article regarding this issue: "We [poker players] are not even slaves. We're people paying to pick the cotton."^[7]

In 2006, Duke won the second annual World Series of Rock Paper Scissors (WSORPS). The WSORPS is an annual charity tournament hosted by Phil Gordon at the World Series of Poker. The winner receives free entry into the WSOP Main Event and the proceeds are donated to Gordon's charity Bad Beat on Cancer.

Live poker[link]

Tournaments[link]

As of 2010, her total live tournament winnings exceeded $4,270,000.^[8] Her 38 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,128,951 of those winnings.^[9]

World Series of Poker[link]

As of 2010, Annie holds the women's record for most "in the money" finishes at the WSOP, ranking 32nd overall with 38 cashes.^[10] In September 2004, Duke won $2,000,000 in the inaugural World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, a 10-player, winner-take-all invitational event. At the time, this victory was the most money paid in a single event to a female poker player. That record was broken by Annette Obrestad as a result of her victory in the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

Duke has won one World Series of Poker bracelet, in Omaha HiLo, and more than three million dollars in tournament play. Nowadays she refuses to play in women's only tournaments, saying that "Poker is one of the few sports where a woman can compete on a totally equal footing with a man, so I don't understand why there's a ladies only tournament."^[11]

In the Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker, she finished in 88th place (out of 8,773 entrants) for $51,129 in winnings. She was one of two women left in the field when she was eliminated. (The remaining woman, Sabyl Cohen, later finished in 56th place for $123,699.)

Other notable tournaments[link]

In 2010, Duke won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.^[12] In a field of 64 top-ranked players, Duke defeated in order: Andy Bloch, Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka, Jerry Yang, Dennis Phillips and Erik Seidel.

Online poker[link]

Until December 30, 2010, when she and Phil Hellmuth announced their departure, Duke was an UltimateBet Cardroom Consultant and a member of Team UB.^[13]

Other poker activities[link]

As well as competing, Duke writes and speaks on poker-related subjects, and promotes poker-related organizations. Since 2000, she has been a spokesperson for UltimateBet and has written many articles for the online poker website, mainly on Omaha HiLo. In 2005, Duke penned her autobiography, How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at The World Series of Poker.^[14]

On January 30, 2006, Duke became the first poker personality to appear on The Colbert Report.^[15] During the show, she talked about her book and what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated event. In 2006, The Game Show Network (GSN) premiered a television special titled Annie Duke Takes on the World, which features Duke playing against amateur poker players. Duke has also made appearances on the Ultimate Blackjack Tour playing Elimination Blackjack.

Annie Duke has appeared on NBC's Poker After Dark three times but has not won.

Along with Phil Hellmuth Jr., Duke is a coach on Fox Sports Network’s Best Damn Poker Show, which is sponsored by the poker site UltimateBet.

WSOP Poker Academy[link]

Annie Duke is a teacher at the WSOP Poker Academy poker school. She appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show and donated a WSOP Academy Experience Package which was auctioned off to benefit the Humane Society.^[16][17]

Other ventures[link]

In addition to poker, Duke is involved with various other ventures. On December 1, 2006, Duke appeared as a member of the Mob on the NBC program, 1 vs. 100.^[18] She correctly answered every question and was the only celebrity who wasn't eliminated. She returned for the next few weeks, answering her questions correctly. She reappeared on the Christmas Day episode on December 25, answering a total of 35 consecutive questions correctly during her time on 1 vs. 100, making her the longest running mob member in the history of the show to that point.^{[citation needed]} Duke returned on February 9, 2007 under special "Last Man Standing" rules where the game continued until only one person remained. She survived to reach the final five of 100 contestants, before she, along with three of the other four mob members including Ken Jennings, were eliminated.^[19]

On March 24, 2008, Duke appeared on the NBC show Deal Or No Deal to support a contestant named Mary Beth Holtzheimer who, after taking a $341,000 deal from the bank with only two cases left, found her case #13 had the $1,000,000. Annie gave Mary Beth an offer earlier that included a dinner with herself, Mary Beth, and her fiance John Salmieri; private lessons; and an invitation to attend an All Ladies Poker league if the bank's offer was accepted, but it was not.

In 2009, she appeared on the reality television show, Celebrity Apprentice.^[20] on which contestants raise money for charities of their choice. Duke raised more money for her charity, Refugees International,^[21] than any other contestant. Of the field of 16 competitors, Duke survived to compete in the finale against her primary rival throughout the show, Joan Rivers. Duke's fund-raising donations were more than triple those of Rivers'. However, total donations were only one of five criteria adjudged in the final task, and Rivers was ranked superior in three out of the five, placing Duke in second place overall.

Bibliography[link]

• Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker (2005) ISBN 1-59463-012-7

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Annie Duke

• Official site
• July 2004 Columbia College article
• Poker Source Online interview
• PokerLizard.com interview
• Hossli.com interview
• July 2009 USA Today Q&A

Jamy Ian Swiss is an American close-up magician who works primarily with cards.

Career as a Magician[link]

Jamy Ian Swiss is world renowned as a sleight of hand performer specializing in close-up card magic.^[1]

He has performed magic throughout the United States for presenters ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the Smithsonian Institution. He has been featured in The New Yorker,^[1][2] Vanity Fair, The Washington Post and New York Press.^[3] He has also appeared in television programs including 48 Hours, the PBS series NOVA, and the PBS documentary The Art of Magic and The Today Show.

He also worked as a comedy writer and chief magic consultant for Penn & Teller on their television program, Sin City Spectacular. He also served as head writer and associate director for The Virtual Magician starring Marco Tempest, which aired in 45 countries; created, produced and performed in the Discovery Channel documentary, Cracking the Con Games; and has consulted on feature films including The Fantasticks. Swiss is also a co-founder of the National Capital Area Skeptics^[4] and the New York City Skeptics.^{[5][citation needed]}

Performances[link]

In 2000, Swiss presented a one-man show The Honest Liar as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. His show of intimate sleight-of-hand magic, Magic: Close-up in Concert, ran for six months at the Rainbow Room in New York City, and has also been presented at the Players Club.

Swiss is currently a co-producer and performer for Monday Night Magic,^[6] New York City's longest running Off-Broadway magic show.^{[citation needed]}

Writing and Lectures[link]

Jamy Ian Swiss is the author of the essay collection Shattering Illusions. He is also a co-author of the companion volume to the PBS documentary The Art of Magic and the Explaining Magic chapter of Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte.

He also contributed to, or consulted on, the following books:

1. Magic for Dummies
2. Penn & Teller’s How to Play with Your Food
3. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

He writes columns for Skeptic magazine and the quarterly magic journal Antimony. He has written for Genii, the Conjurors’ Magazine since 1994.

He has lectured to magicians in 13 countries.^[1] He also created and produces Card Clinic, a seminar on sleight of hand with playing cards.

References[link]

External links[link]

1. Home Page
2. Card Clinic: three days that will change your magic forever
3. Jamy Ian Swiss at the Internet Movie Database
4. Biography of Jamy Ian Swiss at Adobe.com
5. Video of Jamy Ian Swiss from the New Yorker Festival