The Greek Acts of Philip (Acta Philippi) is an unorthodox episodic apocryphal mid-to late fourth-century narrative, originally in fifteen separate acta, that gives an accounting of the miraculous acts performed by the Apostle Philip, with overtones of the heroic romance.

Some of these episodes are identifiable as belonging to more closely related "cycles". Two episodes recounting events of Philip's commission (3 and 8) have survived in both shorter and longer versions. There is no commission narrative in the surviving texts: Philip's authority rests on the prayers and benediction of Peter and John and is explicitly bolstered by a divine epiphany, in which the voice of Jesus urges "Hurry Philip! Behold, my angel is with you, do not neglect your task" and "Jesus is secretly walking with him".(ch. 3).

The Acts of Philip is most completely represented by a text discovered in 1974 by François Bovon and Bertrand Bouvier in the library of Xenophontos monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. The manuscript dates from the fourteenth century but its language identifies it as a copy of a fourth century original. Many of the narratives in the manuscript were already known from other sources, but some were hitherto unknown. The narrative claims that Jesus sent out a group of followers to spread his message. The followers were Philip, Bartholomew, and— a leading figure in the second half of the text— a woman named Mariamne, who is identified in the text as Philip's sister, and who Bovon at first suggested may be identical to Mary Magdalene. However, following the Discovery Channel's popularized speculations in The Lost Tomb of Jesus, Bovon publicly distanced himself from its claims, withdrawing his published assertion (Bovon 2002) that the Mariamne of the Talpiot tomb discussed in The Lost Tomb of Jesus is the same person, writing in an open letter to the Society of Biblical Literature:

Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer. One of the highest profile composers writing "classical" music today, he is often said to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. His music is also often controversially described as minimalist, along with the work of the other "major minimalists" La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

He has lately distanced himself from the "minimalist" label, describing himself instead as a composer of "music with repetitive structures." Though his early mature music shares much with what is normally called "minimalist", he has since evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as a "Classicist", pointing out that he is trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied such composers as Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Nadia Boulanger.

Glass is a prolific composer: he has written works for the musical group which he founded, the Philip Glass Ensemble (with which he still performs on keyboards), as well as operas, musical theatre works, ten symphonies, eleven concertos, solo works, chamber music including string quartets and instrumental sonatas, and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.

Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is a New Zealand born Australian actor, film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, an Empire Award for Best Actor and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and ten further nominations for Best Actor. Crowe appeared as the tobacco firm whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand in the 1999 film The Insider, for which he received five awards as Best Actor and seven nominations in the same category. In 2001, Crowe's portrayal of mathematician and Nobel Prize winner John F. Nash in the biopic A Beautiful Mind brought him numerous awards, including an BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor category Motion Picture Drama and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Philip Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor who has thrice won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He is perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.

Quast was born in 1957 in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia, but currently lives in Great Britain. He is married and has three children. Quast also teaches at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia.

Quast played the part of Javert in Les Misérables in Great Britain and Australia, as well as in Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, on the Les Misérables Complete Symphonic Recording, and in Hey, Mr. Producer, a concert in honour of Sir Cameron Mackintosh. He has won the most Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in a Musical, having won thrice for:

Quast co-starred in the musical version of The Secret Garden opposite another famous Australian actor, Anthony Warlow. Though mainly a baritone, Quast has played some roles written for tenors, namely George (see above), Candide, and Neville in The Secret Garden. Although he is known for his serious roles, he has also performed comedic parts, such as his 2004 appearance as the pompous Miles Gloriosus in a limited run revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Royal National Theatre.

The Grid are an English electronic dance group, consisting of Richard Norris and David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell), with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster", "Floatation", and "Cybernetic" (with Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera).

The Grid formed in 1988 and had their first success with debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK hit singles and four albums, and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached #14 in the UK Albums Chart. The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", featuring elaborate banjo lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching #3 in the UK and Australia and selling a total of one million copies.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus period in order pursue individual music interests. Norris formed the Droyds, which went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey, and wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold (published in 2007): Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond, and also wrote music scores for films.^{[citation needed]} Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine.