Robert Herjavec (born September 14, 1963) is a Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality.
Herjavec was born in Varaždin, Croatia and emigrated with his family to Canada at the age of eight, eventually settling in the Toronto neighbourhood of Rexdale. He attended New College at the University of Toronto, and began his business career with IBM mainframe sales. In 1990 he founded BRAK Systems, which soon became Canada's top provider of Internet security software. BRAK Systems was sold to AT&T in 2000 for $100 million, and Herjavec took a position there as VP of Internet Security. He subsequently became VP of Sales at RAMP Networks, which was later sold to Nokia for $225 million. In 2003, Herjavec founded The Herjavec Group, a security software company, of which he is presently the CEO.
Herjavec starred in the CBC Television series Dragons' Den from season 1 to 6. He was also selected by Mark Burnett to appear on Shark Tank, the U.S. version of Dragons' Den.
Jeffrey Lee "Jeff" Probst (born November 4, 1961) is an American game show host, executive producer and a reporter. He is best known as the Emmy Award winning host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor.
Probst was born in Wichita, Kansas, but grew up primarily in Bellevue, Washington. After graduating from Newport High School in 1979, he attended Seattle Pacific University and worked at Boeing Motion Picture/Television studio as a producer and narrator of marketing videos.
In addition to Survivor, Probst previously hosted the FX network's original half-hour show dedicated to answering viewer letters, Backchat, along with Sound FX, a series of afternoon shows surrounding parenting, relationship and medicine (1996). Probst also hosted the VH1 series Rock & Roll Jeopardy! from 1998 to 2001, and was a correspondent for the syndicated program Access Hollywood. He also wrote and directed the Lionsgate released film, Finder's Fee. People magazine named Probst one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2001. He often contributes to Jeopardy! by giving Survivor related clues from the show's venues, has twice appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy!, first in 2001 and again in 2003, and made several cameo appearances during the April 1, 2010 episode.
Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American business magnate. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks,Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet. He is also a "shark" investor on the television series Shark Tank. In 2011, Cuban wrote an e-book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, in which he chronicles his life experiences in business and sports.
Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, in a Jewish working-class family. His last name was shortened from "Chabenisky" when his Russian grandparents landed on Ellis Island. Cuban's father Norton was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes. While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartender, disco dancing instructor, and party promoter. He paid for college by collecting and selling stamps, and once gained about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.
Latifah was born, and primarily raised, in East Orange, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Rita (née Bray), a teacher at Irvington High School (her daughter's alma mater), and Lancelot Owens, Sr., a police officer, her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Latifah was raised in the Baptist church and attended Catholic school in Newark, New Jersey. Her stage name, Latifah (لطيفة laţīfa), meaning "delicate" and "very kind" in Arabic, she found in an Islamic book of names when she was eight. Always a tall girl, the 5'10" Latifah was a power forward on her high school basketball team. She performed the number "Home" from the musical The Wiz in a high school play. She is of African American and Native American ancestry.
Kevin O'Leary may refer to: