This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2010)

Jerry Trainor
Trainor at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in 2012
Born	Gerald William Trainor (1977-01-21) January 21, 1977 (age 35) San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, voice actor
Years active	2000–present

Gerald William "Jerry" Trainor (born January 21, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor, widely known for playing Spencer Shay on iCarly. He is also known as Crazy Steve on Drake & Josh and the title character, Dudley Puppy, on T.U.F.F. Puppy. Trainor also appears on the web series Hungry Girl TV.^[1]

Early life and career[link]

Trainor was born and raised in San Diego, California, the son of William "Bill" Trainor and Madelyn (née McNenly) Trainor.^[2] Trainor studied improv at the Groundlings school in Los Angeles.^[3] Trainor also studied theatre at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

His first television role was in Nickelodeon programming block and series 6 to 8 Frozen Zone as popular person Justin. Some of his other television credits include Law & Order, Angel, and Malcolm in the Middle. His first recurring TV role was as Brian "the A.V. guy" on Crossing Jordan. He also has had a number of small roles in films such as the science fiction horror film Donnie Darko and the cheerleader comedy Bring It On Again. He also had a recurring role on the Nickelodeon TV show Drake & Josh and currently stars in the Nickelodeon show iCarly. He also completed the 2008 music-themed comedy Wreckless Epic, in which he stars.

Trainor was formerly in a World of Warcraft video series called Project Lore. He played the healer Goggins who is a Draenei shaman. He was replaced by Jeff Cannata when he left the show on February 7, 2009.

Trainor stars in the animated series T.U.F.F. Puppy as the voice of Dudley Puppy.

Trainor starred alongside "iCarly" costar Jennette McCurdy in the Nickelodeon television movie Best Player. He played Quincy Johnson, a video game enthusiast whose main competition in a video gaming contest is McCurdy's character.

He was nominated for a 2012 Kids Choice Award for "Favorite TV Sidekick"

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jerry Trainor at the Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Trainor on Twitter
• Jerry Trainor at Nick.com

Jennette McCurdy
McCurdy at the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards
Background information
Birth name	Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy
Born	(1992-06-26) June 26, 1992 (age 20)
Origin	Garden Grove, California, U.S.
Genres	Country, country pop
Occupations	Actress, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2000–present (actress) 2008–present (singer)
Labels	Your Tyme, Capitol Records Nashville
Website	jennettemccurdy.com

Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy^[1] (born June 26, 1992)^[1] is an American film and television actress and country pop singer-songwriter. She is best known for her role as Sam Puckett on the Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly. She has also appeared in a number of notable television series, including Victorious, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP, Malcolm in the Middle, and Lincoln Heights.

Early life[link]

McCurdy was born in Long Beach, California, raised in Garden Grove, California,^[2] and has three older brothers: Marcus, Scott, and Dustin. She gained interest in acting after watching Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope right after her mother recovered from breast cancer.^[3]

Career[link]

Acting[link]

McCurdy started her acting career in 2000 at the age of eight on MADtv.^[4] Since then she appeared in several television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Malcolm in the Middle, Lincoln Heights, Will & Grace, Penguins of Madagascar, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP, Law and Order SVU, Medium, Judging Amy, The Inside, Karen Sisco, Over There and Close to Home. In 2003, she had the chance to act with her inspiration, Harrison Ford in the movie Hollywood Homicide. In 2005, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Television Series – Guest Starring Young Actress for her performance in Strong Medicine as Hailey Campos. She has also appeared in several commercials such as one for Sprint and another commercial for crossing the road safely.

Since 2007, she has a starring role in the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly opposite Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor, as one of Carly Shay's best friends Sam Puckett. In 2008 she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on iCarly, and for her performance as Dory Sorenson in the TV movie The Last Day of Summer. She was nominated for a 2009 Teen Choice Award, in the Favorite TV Sidekick category for her work on iCarly. She also was cast to the role of Bertha in Fred: The Movie, a movie based on a YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn.

On December 1, 2011, she signed into United Talent Agency's cast of actors and performers for film, TV, music and other areas, to a deal starring her in a pilot vehicle. She was previously with Creative Artists Agency and Larry Galper.^[5]

Music[link]

McCurdy at the 62nd Annual Mother Goose Parade in San Diego County, California in November 2008

In June 2008, McCurdy announced on her official web site that she was working on her debut album. The first single, "So Close" was released on March 10, 2009.^[6] The second single, "Homeless Heart", was released on May 19.^[7] The song was released in honor of McCurdy's recently deceased friend Cody Waters, who died at the age of 9 from brain cancer, and 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Cody Waters Foundation.^[8] She met Cody Waters through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In mid-2009, McCurdy signed with country music label Capitol Records Nashville.^[9]

On April 16, 2010, samples of select songs from McCurdy's upcoming debut country album were released online. The song clips were released in order for fans to vote for which one they believed should be McCurdy's first single.^[10] "Not That Far Away" received the most votes, and was released to country radio on May 24, 2010 and iTunes shortly after on June 1.^{[citation needed]}

Capitol Nashville released an EP on August 17, 2010 which included "Not That Far Away" and four new songs, "Stronger", "Put Your Arms Around Someone", and "Break Your Heart". The iTunes version included "Me with You" as an bonus track. "Stronger" was later included on Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 35, released on August 31, 2010.^[11]

McCurdy's second single, "Generation Love", was released as a digital download on March 22, 2011,^[12] followed by its release to radio April 25, 2011.^[13] Capitol Nashville released McCurdy's self-named extended play on February 8, 2012^[14] at clothing retailer Justice.^[15] The album will be released to iTunes at a later date.^[15]

Philanthropy[link]

In addition to supporting the Cody Waters Foundation, McCurdy was active in campaigns such as stopping child soldiers (she has been involved with the Invisible Children Inc. group)^[16] and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. McCurdy did a PSA for Safe Kids USA which is aired on Nickelodeon and TeenNick.

McCurdy currently serves as a StarPower Ambassador for Starlight Children’s Foundation, encouraging other young people to commit their time, energy and resources to help other kids and working with Starlight to brighten the lives of seriously ill children.^[17]

Personal life[link]

McCurdy composed an article titled, "Off-Camera, My Mom's Fight With Cancer", that was published in the Wall Street Journal on June 11, 2011. It describes in detail, her mother Debra's on-going battle with cancer and how her family is coping with the situation. The article also features tips from McCurdy on living with such a situation.^[18]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Filmography[link]

Film

Television

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jennette McCurdy

• Official website
• Jennette McCurdy at the Internet Movie Database

Nathan Kress
Kress in March 2011
Born	Nathan Karl Kress (1992-11-18) November 18, 1992 (age 19) Glendale, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, model
Years active	1998–present

Nathan Karl Kress (born November 18, 1992) is an American actor. He is also a professional child model and actor since the age of three, he is best known for his role as Freddie Benson on the Nickelodeon television series iCarly.

Early life[link]

Nathan Kress was born on November 18, 1992, in Glendale, California.^[1][2][3] He has two older brothers, Andrew (born October 23, 1987) and Kevin (born May 30, 1990) who are not involved in show business.^[4][5][6][7]

Kress began his professional career at the age of three when he displayed a natural talent for memorizing and re-enacting the shows he saw on television, prompting his mother to take him to an open "cattle call" showcase where he was quickly signed with a talent agent.^[6][7][8] Over the next three years, Kress modeled for various print advertisements, as well as performing in numerous commercials and voice-over roles; the most notable of which was his dual role as the voices of "Easy" and "Tough Pup" in the 1998 feature film Babe: Pig in the City.^{[3][7][8][9][10]} At the age of six, he decided to take a break from acting and return to regular school, where he led a relatively "normal" life for the next five years until deciding to return to acting professionally at the age of eleven.^[7][8][9]

Career[link]

At the age of eleven, Kress was cast in the lead role as "The Emperor" in a school production of The Emperor's New Clothes.^[7] The role rekindled his interest in performing, and at the end of his fifth grade school year, he asked his parents if he could be home-schooled so he could return to acting.^[7][9] A friend from school put him in touch with an agent, and after attending a summer acting "boot camp", Kress was soon going on professional auditions once again.^[7][8][9]

In 2005, Kress made his first television appearance since returning to acting in a comedy sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where he played a young Simon Cowell of American Idol, and would continue to appear in various comedy sketches on the show a total of 5 times over the next year.^[3][11] Kress continued to land steady work over the next two years, appearing in guest-starring roles on dramatic series such as House M.D., Standoff, and Without a Trace as well as the Disney Channel comedy series The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody.^{[3][6][11][12]} Kress also appeared in several short films including Pickled, Magnus, Inc., and Bag, for which he was awarded a 168 Film Festival Jury Award for his portrayal of a small-fry drug dealer with a conscience.^[7][11][13] In addition to live-action roles, Kress continued to work as a voice-actor, lending his voice to various characters in the animated feature film Chicken Little and on the Nickelodeon animated series Shuriken School.^[11]

In 2006, Kress landed a small role on the popular Nickelodeon comedy series Drake & Josh.^{[3][6][7][8][14]} He played the role of Toplin, a "geeky" kid at a birthday party with a crush on Drake and Josh's younger sister Megan Parker (played by Miranda Cosgrove) in the episode Battle of Panthatar.^[6][8][11] Kress did not know it at the time, but this small role would lead to an opportunity that would catapult him to stardom.^{[6][7][8][15]} While filming his scenes for Drake & Josh, television show creator and executive producer Dan Schneider took an interest in him and called him over to talk with him and to introduce him to some network executives.^[3][7][8] At the time, Schneider was developing a new series for Nickelodeon, and was on the lookout for someone to play one of the lead roles in the untitled project, which would later become known as iCarly.^[7][8][14]

The role of Toplin was similar to a character named "Freddie" that Schneider was looking to cast on iCarly.^[6][7][8] Schneider had been so impressed with Kress' performance that he remembered him, and about 6 months after filming his small role on Drake and Josh, Kress was called in to audition for the role of "Freddie" shortly after his fourteenth birthday.^[6][7][8] After several rounds of auditions, Kress was invited back for a screen test with Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy and a couple of days later he was notified that he had landed the role of "Freddie".^[7][8][14] Although iCarly would not premiere until the fall of 2007, the decision was made to cut Kress' scenes with Miranda Cosgrove out of the Drake and Josh episode that had started it all, in order to avoid any potential confusion among the young Nickelodeon viewing audience.^[6][8]

On September 8, 2007, iCarly debuted on Nickelodeon and quickly became a fan favorite.^[16][17] On the show, Kress, given the role by his cousin, Jelani Wilkinson, plays Fredward "Freddie" Benson, the technical producer for the fictional web-show iCarly, which stars his character's two best friends, Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove) and Samantha "Sam" Puckett (Jennette McCurdy).^[7][8][18] His character has a crush on the main character Carly, and a feuding, bitter-sweet, love/hate relationship with Carly's best friend and web-show co-star, Sam.^[7][8][15] The show became Nickelodeon's most-watched show aimed at tweens, and catapulted Kress to international fame among adolescents.^{[3][8][15][19][20][21]} Kress' performance on the show has been characterized by one reviewer for Variety as "sweetly nerdy".^[16]

In 2008, Kress starred in the Nickelodeon television movie Gym Teacher: The Movie.^{[2][7][11][20]} In the movie, Kress played "Roland", a decidedly uncoordinated student who transfers to a new school and must be whipped into shape by his ambitious gym teacher, Dave Stewie (Christopher Meloni).^[2][7][20] Later that same year, he starred as Freddie Benson in the television movie iCarly: iGo to Japan, Nickelodeon's first television film adaptation of the popular iCarly television series.^[14][19][22] Throughout 2009, Kress continued to play the role of Freddie on iCarly, but was unable to take on other projects due to Nickelodeon's decision to film both seasons two and three of the show back-to-back without the usual hiatus between filming seasons, in order to make up for the time lost during the 2008 writers strike.^{[8][14][15][23]}

In March 2010, Kress guest-starred in the popular CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in season 10: epissode 15 titled "Neverland".^{[3][11][12][24]} Kress played Mason Ward, one of two best friends of a fourteen-year-old victim with traces of blood of an inmate under his fingernails.^[24] Kress told Fanlala.com of his CSI role "It was a great opportunity to try my hand at something different. I had done scenes in dramas in the past, but other than a few semi-serious scenes on iCarly, it had been a long time since I've had the opportunity to do anything other than comedy."^[24] Later that same year, Kress returned to comedic roles, guest-starring as Prince Gabriel on the Nickelodeon comedy series True Jackson, VP, and as the voice of Ronald on the Nickelodeon animated series The Penguins of Madagascar.^[11]

As of 2011, Kress continues to appear in the role of Freddie Benson on the fourth season of iCarly, and in January 2011, Miranda Cosgrove began telling news sources that she was looking forward to returning to Hollywood to begin filming the fifth season of the show.^[25][26][27] On January 27, 2011 Cosgrove told Cleveland Live News "We're getting ready to start the next season, right after the (Dancing Crazy) tour. I would be willing to do the show as long as people like it and as long as it works."^[25] On January 28, 2011, Reuters news agency also reported that Cosgrove was preparing to begin filming season 5,^[26] and on February 3, 2011 Cosgrove told The Middletown Press, when speaking of the show and her co-stars, Kress and Jennette McCurdy “I’ve known them since I was little. I can’t wait to get back. I’m really comfortable doing (iCarly). It’s like my home away from home.”, leading many to conclude that Kress and McCurdy would also be returning for a 5th season.^[27]

Personal life[link]

As of February 2011^[update], Kress was currently finishing up his senior year of high school and hoped to one day attend college at UCLA, which is also his father's alma mater.^[6][15] While filming iCarly, Kress is tutored on the set along with his co-stars Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy, and is home-schooled on the weekends or when on hiatus from shooting.^[7][8] Kress is a fan of the Lord of the Rings films, and his hobbies include football, tennis, air-soft, and video games, as well as an avid interest in photography.^[6][8][19]

Kress is a devout Christian and has said that he feels a responsibility to be a role model to his younger fans.^[7][8][14] Kress wears a purity ring as a symbol of his vow to remain abstinent until marriage.^{[citation needed]}

Activism[link]

When he is not busy with school and work, Kress devotes his time to various charitable and environmental causes including The Big Green Help, which helps raise awareness of easy ways for kids to be more green, The Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions, and The Starlight Children's Foundation which is set to improving the quality of life for children with life-threatening and chronic medical conditions.^{[3][28][29][30]} In the summer of 2003, before returning to his acting career, Kress and his family traveled to Lithuania with the Christian missionary organization, YWAM (Youth With A Mission), where he helped to build houses for the needy.^[7]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nathan Kress

• Nathan Kress at the Internet Movie Database
• Nathan Kress on Myspace
• Nathan Kress on Twitter

Willie Garson
at Paley Center for Media
Born	Willie Garson Paszamant (1964-02-20) February 20, 1964 (age 48) Highland Park, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present

Willie Garson (born Willie Garson Paszamant^[1] on February 20, 1964) is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 50 movies, usually playing minor roles. He is known for playing Stanford Blatch on the HBO series Sex and the City and in the related films Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2, and for his current role as Mozzie, in the USA Network series White Collar.

Early life[link]

Garson was born in Highland Park, New Jersey. Garson attended Camp Wekeela in Hartford, Maine as a child for 11 years.^[2] He received a theater degree from Wesleyan University and also attended Yale Drama School.

Career[link]

Television[link]

Garson had a recurring role as Henry Coffield on NYPD Blue and as Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City. His other TV appearances include Mr. Belvedere, My Two Dads, Quantum Leap (once as a hack writer, and once as Lee Harvey Oswald), Monk, Boy Meets World, Ally McBeal, Party of Five, Star Trek: Voyager (in the episode Thirty Days), Special Unit 2, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Friends, The X-Files (twice and as two different characters), Cheers (as a waiter in the episode Cape Cad), Yes, Dear, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Pushing Daisies, Stargate SG-1 (3 episodes), Wizards of Waverly Place, CSI: Miami, Mental, Spin City, and Taken. He made a cameo in the end credits of Jackass Number Two, with the full context of the cameo being explained in Jackass 2.5. He co-starred in the 2007 HBO series John from Cincinnati.

Since 2009, he has portrayed Mozzie in the USA Network series White Collar.

Film[link]

Garson has also appeared in three movies from the Farrelly brothers—Kingpin, There's Something About Mary, and Fever Pitch. His other film credits include Groundhog Day, Just Like Heaven, The Rock, Being John Malkovich, Freaky Friday, Labor Pains, and Out Cold.