The Michael Howard Studios is an acting studio for the performing arts located in Manhattan, New York; the studio was founded in 1953 by actor/director Michael Howard.

A protégé of both Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Howard established his Studio in 1953 grounded in the work of Konstantin Stanislavski. Over the years, the studio incorporated many schools of thought and techniques from around the world.

The Studio attributes its existence to the Group Theatre. In 1931, Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Strasberg founded the Group Theatre in New York, beginning a watershed period in American Theater. The Group Theatre brought together Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Frances Farmer, Clifford Odets, Irwin Shaw, and John Garfield (among many others). Their creative commune introduced America to the revolutionary teachings of Stanislavski, and it set in motion new schools of thought that would dominate acting for the rest of the century. The Group Theatre closed its doors in 1941, and its visionary members set out in new directions.

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, PC, QC, (born Michael Hecht, 7 July 1941) is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He had previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment (1990–92), Secretary of State for the Environment (1992–93) and Home Secretary (1993–97).

Howard was born in Gorseinon, South Wales. He joined the Young Conservatives at 15 and studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1964 he was called to the Bar and became a Queen's Counsel in 1982. He became a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1983 General Election, representing the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe. This quickly led to promotion and Howard became Minister for Local Government in 1987. Under Prime Minister John Major (1990–1997), he held several cabinet positions including Secretary of State for Employment (1990–1992) and Home Secretary (1993–1997).

Patsy Rodenburg, OBE (born 1953) is a British voice coach and theatre director. She is the Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre.

Rodenburg trained in Voice Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and initially worked as an actress before moving into teaching. She has been voice coach at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama since 1981. She worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company for nine years from 1981, and with the Royal National Theatre from 1990, where she founded their Voice Department.

In 2006 she directed a production of King Lear at the Electric Lodge theatre in Los Angeles. She has authored several books on the subject of voice coaching.

Rodenburg was appointed OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005.

In March 2012 Rodenburg was Kirsty Young's guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her choices of music were: Mahler Symphony No.5; Sandy Denny - Who Knows Where the Time Goes?; Beethoven Symphony No. 7; Johann Sebastian Bach — Concerto in E Major for Violin; Daniel Evans — Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim; Jean Sibelius - Violin Concerto; Kathleen Ferrier — The Keel Row; Johann Sebastian Bach - Prelude to Cello Suite No.1 in G. Her choice of book was an anthology of poetry and her luxury a supply of "builder's tea".

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, television host, author, actor and photographer best known for his radio show which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. The son of a former recording and radio engineer, Stern wished to pursue a career in radio at the age of five. While at Boston University he worked at the campus station WTBU before a brief stint at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts.

He developed his on-air personality when he landed positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, WCCC in Hartford and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers at WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern then moved to WNBC in New York City in 1982 to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. He re-emerged on WXRK that year, and became one of the most popular radio personalities during his 20-year tenure at the station. Stern's show is the most-fined radio program, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines to station licensees for allegedly indecent material that totaled $2.5 million. Stern has won Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award eight times, and is one of the highest-paid figures in radio.

Howard Benson (born in Havertown, Pennsylvania) is a two-time Grammy-nominated music producer and aerospace engineer.

Howard Benson has a degree in materials engineering from Drexel University and studied composition at the Philadelphia College for Performing Arts. Later he worked for Garrett AiResearch, where he worked on aircraft such as the C-5s and F-18s. At that time he regularly played with his band in small Hollywood clubs and when his band finally went into the studio with a producer, he knew that that was what he wanted to do.

His breakthrough came with the production of two albums for hardcore punk band T.S.O.L. (Revenge (1986) and Hit And Run (1987)), but the first really big record he produced was Bang Tango's Psycho Café in 1989.

In 2000 he produced P.O.D.'s Satellite at Bay 7 studios and since then he has recorded numerous albums there. After the recording of an album he usually brings everything to his home studio, Sparky Dark Studios, where he does the arrangements, adds harmonies and his own keyboard parts. His personnel consists of main engineer Mike Plotnikoff, who had worked at Little Mountain Sound Studios before, Pro Tools engineer Paul Decarli, Guitar tech Mark Van Gool, who had worked for Dave Navarro before and second engineer Hatsukazu "Hatch" Inagaki.