James Urbaniak
Urbaniak at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011.
Born	James Christian Urbaniak (1963-09-17) September 17, 1963 (age 48) Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present

James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American actor. Urbaniak was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Julie and their twins, son Severn Jerzy and daughter Esme Maeve.^[1]

One of his first noteworthy roles was in the avant-garde playwright/director Richard Foreman's The Universe, for which Urbaniak won an Obie. He has also been acclaimed for his acting in the films Henry Fool and American Splendor, in the latter of which he played legendary illustrator R. Crumb. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his role in Thom Pain (based on nothing).^[2] He provides the voice for main character Dr. Thaddeus Venture on The Venture Bros. as well as the Doctor's brother Jonas Venture Junior and the super-villain Phantom Limb.

In one of his lesser-known roles, Urbaniak played a pizza guy in the famous "Whassup?" television commercials for Budweiser. He also portrayed the moderator in "Human Centipede Anonymous", a Funny or Die short depicting three men who grapple with their past as a human centipede.^[3]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• James Urbaniak at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a United States film actor or actress born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Rebecca Black
Rebecca Black in November 2011
Background information
Birth name	Rebecca Renee Black
Born	(1997-06-21) June 21, 1997 (age 15) Irvine, California, U.S.[1]
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2011–present
Labels	RB Records
Website	www.rebeccablackonline.com

Rebecca Renee Black^[2] (born June 21, 1997) is an American pop singer and dancer who gained extensive media attention with the 2011 single "Friday". Her mother paid $4,000 to have the single and an accompanying music video put out as a vanity release^[3] through the record label ARK Music Factory.^[4] The song was co-written and produced by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson of Ark Music Factory. After the video went viral on YouTube and other social media sites, "Friday" was derided by many music critics and viewers, who dubbed it "the worst song ever."^[5][6][7] The music video received around 167 million views, causing Black to gain international attention as a "viral star", before being removed from the site on June 16. Black re-uploaded it in her own channel three months later.

Biography[link]

Personal life[link]

Rebecca Black was born on June 21, 1997,^[8] in Irvine, California.^[1] She is the daughter of John Jeffery Black and Georgina Marquez Kelly, both veterinarians.^[4][9] She is of Mexican, Spanish, Italian, English, and Polish descent.^[10][11] An honor student, Black studied dance, auditioned for school shows, attended music summer camps, and began singing publicly in 2008 after joining the patriotic group Celebration USA.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 Black left public school in favor of homeschooling, both in response to constant verbal bullying at school and in order to focus more of her time on her career.^[12] Black later said that her main reason for the move to homeschooling was more for career reasons rather than the bullying.^[13]

Career[link]

Ark Music Factory and "Friday" (2010–2011)[link]

In late 2010, a classmate of Black and music-video client of ARK Music Factory, a Los Angeles label, told her about the company.^[14] Black's mother paid $4,000 for Ark Music to produce the music video while the Blacks retained ownership of both the master and the video.^[4][15] The single, "Friday", written entirely by Ark, was released on YouTube and iTunes. The song's video was uploaded to YouTube on February 10, 2011, and received approximately 1,000 views in the first month. The video went viral on March 11, 2011, acquiring millions of views on YouTube in a matter of days, becoming the most-talked-about topic on social networking site Twitter,^[16] and garnering mostly negative media coverage.^[17] As of June 14, 2011, the video had received more than 3,190,000 "dislikes" on YouTube compared to more than 451,000 "likes".^[18] As of March 22, 2011, first-week sales of her digital single were estimated to be around 40,000 by Billboard.^[19] On March 22, 2011, Black appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, during which she performed the single and discussed the negative reaction to it.^[20] The song has peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 and the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 58 and 33, respectively.^[21][22] In the UK, the song debuted at number 61 on the UK Singles Chart.^[23]

Black teamed up with Funny or Die on April Fool's Day (the site was renamed Friday or Die) for a series of videos, including one which addresses the controversy about the driving kids in her music video, stating "We so excited about safety."^[24]

She has stated that she is a fan of Justin Bieber, and expressed interest in performing a duet with him.^[25]

In response to the YouTube video of "Friday", Black began to receive death threats in late February 2011, specifically by phone and email.^[26] These threats are being investigated by the Anaheim Police Department.^[27]

In March 2011, Ryan Seacrest reportedly helped sign Rebecca to manager Debra Baum's DB Entertainment.^[28]

MTV selected Rebecca to host its first online awards show, the O Music Awards Fan Army Party in April 2011.^[29] As an homage to "Friday", Black appears in the music video for Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)",^[30] in which Black plays alongside Perry as the hostess of a party Perry attends. "Friday" was also performed on the second season of Glee in the episode, "Prom Queen", which originally aired May 10, 2011. When asked about why the song was covered on Glee, show creator Ryan Murphy replied, "The show pays tribute to pop culture and, love it or hate it, that song is pop culture."^[31]

RB Records and upcoming album (2011–present)[link]

After the fallout with Ark Music Factory, Black announced she would start an independent record label named RB Records. Black released a self-produced single titled "My Moment" on July 18 by her own label RB Records, with an accompanying music video, publishing it to her YouTube channel; the video as of November 27 has received, approximately, 590,000 "dislikes" against 340,000 "likes."^[32] In the "My Moment" music video, director Morgan Lawley features real life video of Black's life from both before and after her fame.^[33]

Black is planning to release her official debut album around 2012, which she said will include "a bunch of different kinds of stuff."^[34] It is being recorded at a studio belonging to music producer Charlton Pettus.^[35] In an interview with The Sun, Black said that the songs will be "appropriate and clean".

Black appears as herself in the music video of Katy Perry's single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". She appears as the host of a party in the house next door to that of "Kathy Beth Terry". At the end of the video Perry attempts to blame the excesses of the party (which had subsequently moved to her own house) on Black, only for her parents (Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson) to disbelieve her.^[36] Later on, Perry (in character as Kathy Beth Terry) and Black hosted a livestream on Tinychat.com after weeks of Black being mentioned on Terry's Twitter.^[37] Perry, who performs Friday routinely on stage as part of California Dreams Tour, also brought Black on stage to perform the song as a duet during her show at the Nokia Theater on August 5, 2011.^[38]

On August 10, 2011, Black was featured in an ABC Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets special entitled Underage and Famous: Inside Child Stars' Lives.^[39]

On Friday, September 16, Black re-uploaded "Friday" on YouTube.^[40] In late September 2011, she was brought to Australia by Telstra to promote the launch of their 4G service.^[41]

On October 25, Black announced she started filming her upcoming music video which she first identified as 'POI' and later identified as "Person of Interest".^[42] Black said, "The basis of it is that it's a love song but it's not a love song. It's about almost teenage crushes — when you're not in love yet but you really like a guy — which I'm really excited about because I don't think there are too many out like that. It's very much a dance type song. It will make you get up and dance and sing along in your car."^[43] A teaser of the official music video was posted on November 3, 2011.^[44] Black released another teaser including a snippet of the song on November 10, 2011 on her YouTube channel. The single and its accompanying music video were released on November 15, 2011.^[45]

On December 20, 2011, "Friday" was revealed as the #1 video of the year by YouTube and Black hosted a short video called "YouTube Rewind".^[46]

Zeitgeist sorted billions of Google searches to capture the year's 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011. Rebecca Black #1 Most Searched Google. The searches for the teen singer topped even those of pop icon Lady Gaga and Adele.^[47]

On May 8, 2012, Black released her fourth official single, "Sing It".^[48] The music video premiered on Black's YouTube the same day.

Philanthropy[link]

Black features NOH8 Campaign a silent protest photo project against California Proposition 8. It features photographs portraying people in front of a white backdrop wearing white t-shirts, their mouths taped shut and "NOH8" painted on their cheek.

Rebecca has pledged to donate profits from the sales of her song "Friday" towards her school, El Rancho Charter, and shortly after the 2011 Japan Earthquake, to emergency relief in the country.^[49]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

• In April 2011, the MTV O Music Awards, one of the annual awards established by MTV to honor the art, creativity, personality and technology of music into the digital space nominated "Which Seat Can I Take?" for "Favorite Animated GIF" that included footage by Rebecca Black featuring 50 Cent and Bert.^[55]
• Black was named "Choice Web Star" at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards in August 2011.^[56]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official YouTube Channel
• Rebecca Black at the Internet Movie Database

Wil Wheaton
Wheaton in May 2011.
Born	Richard William Wheaton III (1972-07-29) July 29, 1972 (age 39) Burbank, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Anne Prince (m. 1999)
Children	Two stepsons, one adopted[1]
Website
wilwheaton.typepad.com

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers. As a writer, he is best known for his blogs Wil Wheaton Dot Net and WWdN: In Exile.

Early life[link]

Wheaton was born in Burbank, California, to Debbie (née O’Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton, Jr., a medical specialist.^[2][3] He has a brother, Jeremy, and a sister, Amy. Both appeared uncredited in the episode "When the Bough Breaks" of Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[4]

Career[link]

[edit] Star Trek and early career

Wheaton made his acting debut in the 1981 TV film A Long Way Home, and his first cinema role was as Martin Brisby in the 1982 animated film The Secret of NIMH, the movie adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. He had a minor role in the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter. He first gained widespread attention in 1986 as Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me, the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Body. In 1991, he played Joey Trotta in the film Toy Soldiers.

From 1987 to 1990, he appeared in the role of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation throughout its first four seasons.

Although his Star Trek character, and by extension Wheaton himself, was disliked by a vocal group of Trekkies during TNG's first run, he commented about his critics in an interview for WebTalk Radio:

Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who've e-mailed me at my web site and people who I've talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in the last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character.^[5]

After leaving Star Trek, Wheaton moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work for NewTek, where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000, doing product testing and quality control.^[6][7] He later used his public profile to serve as a technology evangelist for the product.^[8] Wheaton said this was a period of growth in his life, and living out of Los Angeles helped him deal with anger issues. He came back to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, then re-entered the acting world.^[9][10]

Wheaton's popularity among Star Trek fandom is covered in a number of web comics. ArcaneTimes of March 25, 2005 offers a sympathetic position.^[11] Something Positive presents a range of opinions as part of the storyline Mike's Kid.^[12] Abstruse Goose tries to distinguish between the character and the actor.^[13]

He was a contestant on a 2001 episode of The Weakest Link featuring Star Trek actors as contestants to win money for a charity each had chosen.

[edit] Post-Star Trek

In the late 1990s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the award-winning The Good Things, in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker;^[14] it was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in Jane White Is Sick & Twisted.

He has worked as a voice actor in many original series, video games and anime, which started as young Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH when he was 10 years old. His most noteworthy credits include the roles of Aqualad in the cartoon Teen Titans, the voice of radio journalist Richard Burns in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,^[15] Kyle in the Nickelodeon cartoon, Kyle + Rosemary, Himself and various other characters on both Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the episode "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", Yakumo in Kurokami: The Animation, Menma in Naruto, Hans in Slayers Evolution-R and Aaron Terzieff in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.

Wheaton has performed improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions.

Wheaton at San Diego Comic Con 2010

He appeared as himself in a skit on nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot's album Final Boss attempting to be a rapper, whose rhymes only involved shellfish. He later collaborated with Frontalot on "Your Friend Wil", a track from the album Zero Day on the subject of Wheaton's Law. Wheaton and Frontalot have both appeared at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

From September 2006 to September 2007, he hosted a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and veteran host Hahn Choi.

Wheaton's more recent acting work includes guest appearances on the November 23, 2007 episode of the TV series Numb3rs, and the October 22, 2008 episode of the series Criminal Minds. He has also appeared in Internet presentations, including a cameo in a comedy sketch ("Lock Out") for LoadingReadyRun ^[16] (and a reprise of the same the following year in CommodoreHustle 4), and the May 30, 2008 episode of the Internet series Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.

Wheaton appears in seasons three, four and five of the web series "The Guild" as Fawkes, the leader for a rival guild known as Axis of Anarchy.^[17] He also appears in seasons two, three and four of the TV series Leverage, as rival computer hacker Colin "Chaos" Mason, antagonist to Leverage team hacker Alec Hardison.

He appeared in "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" (2009), the fifth episode of the third season of the situation comedy The Big Bang Theory, playing a fictionally antagonistic version of himself, as the focus of Sheldon Cooper's ire for not having attended a Star Trek convention at which his appearance was scheduled.^[18] He later appeared on the show in episodes "The Wheaton Recurrence", which involves a bout at a bowling alley,^[19] and "The 21-Second Excitation" at a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Wheaton returned in Season Five of The Big Bang Theory in the episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction".^[20] In it Leonard gets invited to Wheaton's house-party and Sheldon is angry because of this. However, his conflict with Wheaton is brought to an end when Sheldon turns up to the party and Wil gives him a signed Wesley Crusher action figure which Brent Spiner opens, causing Sheldon to put Spiner on his list of "Mortal Enemies". He also makes an appearance in the episode "The Stag Convergence" as a guest to Howard's bachelor party.^[21]

Wheaton has done the reading for the audio CD of Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham, which was released on December 8, 2009.^[22] as well as the audio CD of Ready Player One written by Ernest Cline.

Wil is one of the three headline acts of the w00tstock shows, appearing in nearly all of them when his filming schedule has allowed.

Starting in the July 23, 2010 episode, Wheaton has appeared in a recurring, guest-starring role on Eureka, playing Dr. Isaac Parrish, the head of the Non-Lethal Weapons Lab at Global Dynamics and a thorn in Fargo's side.^[23]

Writing[link]

Wheaton runs his own weblog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net.

Between 2001 and fall 2004, he operated a message board, known as "The Soapbox" or "Paracosm", as part of the blog site. Two collections of writings taken from postings to the message board have been published, titled Boxer Shorts (ISBN 1-932461-00-0) and Boxer Shorts Redux (ISBN 1-932461-03-5).

He contributes regularly to the Los Angeles-based Metroblogging site. In June 2005, he became that month's featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire.^[24] He had a monthly column, entitled "Wil Save," in the Dungeons & Dragons-based magazine Dungeon; in May 2005, he ceased writing it. From January 2005 to October 2006, he wrote a column for The Onion AV Club about early video games, called "Games of Our Lives." On December 12, 2008, he returned to his role as Geek in Review editor,^{[clarification needed]} with his editorials being published every second Wednesday of the month.

Wil Wheaton (left) meets Tim O'Reilly at the 2003 booksigning of Dancing Barefoot at Powell's in Portland, Oregon.

In spring 2003, he founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a memoir entitled Dancing Barefoot. Monolith Press was "founded on the idea that publication should not be limited by opportunity."^[25] Most of the entries are extended versions of his blog entries. Dancing Barefoot sold out three printings in four months.

In winter 2003 Wheaton signed to publisher Tim O'Reilly with a three-book contract. O'Reilly acquired Dancing Barefoot, and published his extended memoirs, Just a Geek, in summer of 2004. He has since written about his bitterness regarding how the book was marketed, believing it was pitched as a Star Trek book when he intended it as more of a personal memoir.^[26]

In February 2009, Wheaton released Sunken Treasure: Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler. As a chapbook, it contains several small extracts of various different projects, including two short stories from Ficlets, an ACME comedy sketch, and a Criminal Minds production diary. Instead of using traditional publishing, Wheaton decided to self-publish using Lulu Publishing, something he has continued to do with all his publications since. Since publishing with Lulu, he has made all of his books available as both paperbacks and digital downloadable files.

Later that same year, Wheaton released Memories of the Future: Volume 1, a humorous critique of the first thirteen episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Memories features a review of each episode, as well as an account of Wheaton's own experiences with and memories of that episode.

Closing up 2009, Wheaton published "Happiest Days of Our Lives", and his son, Ryan, contributed by writing the afterword.

Wheaton has also recorded several of his non-self-published books as downloadable audiobooks. These include Just a Geek, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and his Criminal minds diary from Sunken Treasure. He also released excerpts of Memories of The Future: Vol 1 as free podcasts.

Politics[link]

Wheaton described himself as a liberal in 2005.^[27] In September 2006 he criticized George W. Bush's plan to permit torture of unlawful combatants: "Shame on President Bush. Shame on his Republican allies in Congress."^[28]

A column that he wrote for Salon.com in 2005, The Real War on Christmas, attacked commentators like Bill O'Reilly and detailed his arguments with his conservative parents over current political matters.^[27] Wheaton's parents were very offended by the article, and he posted a lengthy apology on his site and an interview in which his parents clarified their political views.^[29]

On August 24, 2007, he gave the keynote for the yearly Penny Arcade Expo, which was subsequently made available online.^[30] He stepped in following a public battle between the formerly-scheduled keynote debate participants, noted anti-games activist Jack Thompson and Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA). Much of Wheaton’s address focused on the debate over violence in video games. He also gave the keynote at PAX East 2010 in Boston, MA.

He supported Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election^[31] and opposed Proposition 8, calling it "nothing but hate and discrimination".^[32]

Games[link]

In 2003, Wheaton mentioned his love for the game of poker on his blog. The following year, he began writing more extensively about his poker-playing experiences, including stories about playing Texas hold 'em tournaments locally and in Las Vegas. Eventually, he worked up to regular play, including a run at the 2005 World Poker Tour Championships. On June 23, 2005, Wheaton accepted an invitation to join Team PokerStars.^[33] He went on to play in that year's World Series of Poker and was the guest speaker for the 2005 B.A.R.G.E Banquet. In June 2007, he announced he would no longer be on Team Pokerstars due to changes in the U.S. legal system that would cause poker sites to have to focus on European and Asian markets^[34] and held a farewell Pokerstars tournament on June 5, 2007, which he titled So Long and Thanks for All the Chips.^[35]

Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player,^[36] and played during the PAX 2010 and PAX 2011 events using the 4th edition rules. Wheaton, along with webcartoonists Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade, and Scott Kurtz of PvP, played in front of a live audience. The game was hosted and recorded by Wizards of the Coast with Chris Perkins as the dungeonmaster.^[37]

Comic book[link]

Wil Wheaton made a guest appearance in the comic book PS 238. He appears as himself, but with the power of telekinesis. A PS 238 teacher, Alloy, is his adoring fan.

Wheaton's debut comic book "The Guild: Fawkes" which he wrote alongside Felicia Day was released on May 2012.

Audiobooks[link]

Wil Wheaton narrates many audiobooks, including Ready Player One by Ernest Cline^[38], "Fuzzy Nation" by John Scalzi^[39] (and other Scalzi works), and "Byways" part of METAtropolis: Cascadia by Tobias Buckell^[40].

Wheaton's law[link]

During his keynote speech at the 2007 PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), Wheaton made a note about sportsmanship when playing games online. It has since become known as Wheaton's rule or law, which states "Don't be a dick!"^[41] This was intended to apply to life in general, not just online gaming.^[42]

A revision of Wheaton's law is an expansion by comics artist and writer Bill Willingham, which states: "Don't be a dick, but it's okay to play one on TV."^[43]

Personal life[link]

Wheaton was roommates with Chris Hardwick for some time.^[9][44] They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.^[9]

Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. They and Prince's two sons from a previous relationship, Nolan and Ryan, live in Arcadia, California.^[45] When Ryan was 19, he asked Wheaton to legally adopt him, which he did.^[46]

Wil Wheaton has been friends with writer and radio-host Lazlow Jones, as revealed in The Lazlow Show in several episodes in both anecdotes from the hosts and in Wil's participation as a guest.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

• Meat Puppet (1980)
• A Long Way Home (1981)
• The Shooting (1982)
• Highway to Heaven (1985)
• St. Elsewhere (1986)
• The Defiant Ones (1986)
• Long Time Gone (1986)
• Family Ties (1987)
• Young Harry Houdini (1987) (ABC)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
• My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? (1989)
• Family Double Dare (1990)
• Monsters (1990)
• The Arsenio Hall Show (1991)
• The Last Prostitute (1991)
• Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991)
• Tales from the Crypt (1993)
• It Was Him or Us (1995)
• Mr. Stitch (1995)
• The Outer Limits: "The Light Brigade" (1996)
• The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
• Diagnosis: Murder (1998)
• The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998)
• The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
• The Invisible Man: Perchance to Dream (2001)
• Twice in a Lifetime Episode 22 "The Choice" (2001)
• Weakest Link (2001) (Star Trek-themed edition)
• Beat the Geeks (2002)
• A&E Biography: "Eclipsed by Death – The Life of River Phoenix" (2002 - narrator)
• Walking the Tracks: The Summer of "Stand by Me" (2002) (Stand by Me documentary)
• Arena (2002) (also as writer)
• Favorite Stars: Then & Now (2003)
• Book of Days (2003)
• The Screen Savers (2003, 2002)
• Call for Help (2004)
• Teen Titans (2004–2005) (voice of Aqualad)
• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2005) (voice)
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005)
• I Love the '80s 3-D (2005)
• I Love Toys (2006)
• Legion of Super Heroes (2006) (voice of Cosmic Boy)
• Ben 10 (2007) (voice)
• Ben 10: Alien Force/Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (voice of Mike Morningstar/Darkstar)
• Numb3rs: "Graphic" (2007) (as Miles Sklar, 1 episode)
• What I Learned From the Movies (2007)
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008) (as Blue Beetle/Ted Kord)
• I Love the New Millennium (2008)
• Criminal Minds (2008) (Episode "Paradise" as Floyd Hansen/Wayne Dryden)
• Kyle + Rosemary (2008) (voice)
• Family Guy (2009 & 2010) (voice) (Episodes "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" and "Partial Terms of Endearment", as himself and a protester)
• Naruto (2009) (voice of Menma)
• Kurokami: The Animation (2009) (voice of Yakumo)
• Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2009) (voice)
• The Big Bang Theory (2009–2012) ("The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary", "The Wheaton Recurrence", "The 21-Second Excitation" , "The Russian Rocket Reaction" and "The Stag Convergence" as himself)
• Leverage (2009-2012) ("The Two Live Crew Job" (2009), "The Ho Ho Ho Job" (2010), and "The Last Dam Job" (2012) as Chaos)
• Slayers Evolution-R (2010) (voice of Hans)
• Naruto Shippuden: The Movie (2010) (voice of Taruho and Shizuku)
• Eureka (2010) (Season 4) (as Dr. Parrish)
• Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2011) (Episode 3: "Ghost of Laplace") (voice of Aaron Terzieff, Additional Voices)

Movies[link]

• The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
• Hambone and Hillie (1983)
• The Last Starfighter (1984) (scenes deleted from film but included as DVD extra)
• The Buddy System (1984)
• Stand by Me (1986)
• The Curse (1987)
• She's Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited cameo)
• Toy Soldiers (1991)
• December (1991)
• The Liars' Club (1993)
• Pie in the Sky (1996)
• Boys' Night Out (1996)
• Mr Stitch (1996)
• Trekkies (1997)
• Flubber (1997)
• Tales of Glamour and Excess (1997)
• Fag Hag (1998)
• Foreign Correspondents (1999)
• The Girls' Room (2000)
• Deep Core (2000)
• Python (2000)
• Speechless... (2001)
• The Good Things (2001)
• Jane White is Sick and Twisted (2002)
• Fish Don't Blink (2002)
• Star Trek Nemesis (2002) (briefly; extended scene deleted but appears as DVD extra in some regions)
• Book of Days (2003)
• Four Fingers of the Dragon (2003)
• Neverland (2003)
• Americanizing Shelley (2007)
• Star Trek (2009) (voices various Romulans)^[47]

Internet video[link]

Video games[link]

• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (2003) (voice)
• EverQuest II (2004) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (2004) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2005) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (2006) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) (voice)
• Fallout New Vegas (2010) (voice of Robobrain)
• DC Universe Online (voice of Robin)

Bibliography[link]

• Dancing Barefoot (ISBN 0-596-00674-8) (2003)
• Just a Geek (ISBN 0-596-00768-X) (2004)
• Stories of Strength (ISBN 1-4116-5503-6) (2005; contributor)
• The Happiest Days of Our Lives (ISBN 0-9741160-2-5) (2007)
• Sunken Treasure (2009)
• Memories of the Future Vol. 1 (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wil Wheaton

• Wil's Typepad weblog - aka WWdN: In Exile
• Wil's Reddit weblog - Posts about various topics he chooses to join discussions in.
• Wil's website - Wil Wheaton Dot Net
• Wil Wheaton at the Internet Movie Database
• Wil Wheaton at AllRovi
• Wil Wheaton at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Wil Wheaton at the Open Directory Project
• Wil Wheaton at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Michael Biehn
Michael Biehn, 2008
Born	Michael Connell Biehn (1956-07-31) July 31, 1956 (age 55) Anniston, Alabama, US
Other names	Mike, Mick(ey)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Jennifer Blanc

Michael Connell Biehn (born July 31, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in James Cameron's science fiction action films The Terminator as Kyle Reese, Aliens as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, and The Abyss as Lt. Coffey. He has also acted in such films as Tombstone, The Rock, and Planet Terror. On television, Biehn appeared in the cast of the Emmy Award-winning 1980s television series Hill Street Blues and the short lived syndicated show Adventure Inc..

Personal life[link]

Biehn was born in Anniston, Alabama, the son of Marcia (née Connell) and Don Biehn, a lawyer,^[1][2] and grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[3] He has three siblings: Brooks Ann, Jonathon and Steven. Biehn attended high school in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and was a member of the high school drama club. He then attended the drama program at the University of Arizona (where he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity) for two years before heading to Hollywood.

Career[link]

Michael Biehn got his start with a bit part in the film version of Grease in 1978. In 1981, he played a stalker in The Fan; at the time film was shot, he was in his mid-20s, and love interest, Bacall, more than 30 years his senior. After a few more films, Biehn played Kyle Reese, a sergeant sent back in time by John Connor to save his mother, Sarah Connor, in the 1984 film The Terminator. He starred in two other films directed by James Cameron: Aliens (as Corporal Hicks) and The Abyss (as Lieutenant Hiram Coffey), and had a small role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (his briefly reprised role as Reese which was removed from the theatrical release but restored in the special editions and the director's cut).

A picture of Biehn as Kyle Reese in The Terminator was reproduced as the cover-art of the 1987 video game Metal Gear,^[4] which was meant to portray the game's protagonist, Solid Snake.

In an early draft of Alien 3 written by William Gibson, Biehn's character Hicks (who had survived the events of Aliens) was to become the main protagonist, replacing Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).^[5] However, Walter Hill and David Giler penned the final script, which had Hicks killed off in the opening scene. Biehn, upon learning of his character's demise, demanded and received almost as much money for the use of his likeness in one scene as he had been paid for his role in Aliens.^[6]

In the 2000s, Biehn has taken acting roles ranging from big budget films such as The Art of War and Clockstoppers, to video games like Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, and independent movies, such as Havoc. He also starred in three TV series including the CBS drama The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000), the Tribune Entertainment syndicated TV series Adventure Inc.. (2002–2003), and the NBC TV series Hawaii (2004). All three shows were subsequently cancelled due to low ratings. Biehn was considered for a role in James Cameron's new science fiction epic film Avatar (2009), but Cameron felt his appearance in the film coupled with that of Sigourney Weaver's would remind people too much of Aliens.^[7]

Michael Biehn has developed a repertoire for performing combative military roles that have particularly involved the portrayal of a special forces soldier. This militaristic string of characters was first established with his role as Cadet John Alexander in The Lords of Discipline, followed shortly after by his performance as Sergeant Kyle Reese, a resistance movement soldier in the Terminator film series, and also Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens. He has particularly played the role of a US Navy SEAL, which can be seen in his following film credits: Lieutenant Hiram Coffey in The Abyss, Lieutenant James Curran in Navy Seals, and the ill fated Commander Charles Anderson in The Rock.

Biehn, who said he was encouraged by Robert Rodriguez while on the set of Planet Terror to make his own film, has produced, written, directed and starred in The Victim, which was released in 2011.

Filmography[link]