- published: 14 Dec 2011
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Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director, film producer, and music video director. He is known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist. He was also a producer on the Fox drama series, Prison Break.
Ratner was born in Miami Beach, Florida. His mother, Marcia (Presman), was the daughter of Eastern European Jews who lived in Cuba before moving to Florida in the 1960s. His father was Ronald Ratner, the son of a wealthy Miami businessman. Ratner's parents married when he was in his senior year of high school, and his father died in 2006. Ratner told Aventura Business Monthly in a May, 2011, cover story interview that he "really didn't know" his biological father, and that he considers Alvin Malnik, who opened the famous Forge restaurant in Miami Beach, to be his dad, "the one who raised" him.
Ratner attended high school in Israel and graduated in 1986 from Miami Beach Senior High School. He is a 1990 graduate of New York University. In 2010, he cited the 1980 boxing film Raging Bull as his inspiration to enter the world of film.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
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.
Actors: Frank Pesce (actor), Elijah Wood (actor), Jared Leto (actor), Method Man (actor), Mike Tyson (actor), Ben Stiller (actor), Joe Pantoliano (actor), Scott Caan (actor), Steven C. Beer (actor), Robert Downey Jr. (actor), James Toback (actor), Brett Ratner (actor), Sticky Fingaz (actor), Brooke Shields (actress), Claudia Schiffer (actress),
Plot: Set in New York City, Black and White features several losely related stories centering on a pair of documentary filmmakers, Sam and her husband Terry, in following a group of caucasian teens, Raven, Charlie, Will, Marty, Wren and others who try to fit in with Harlem's black hip-hop crowd who include gangster rapper Rich Bower and his music partner Cigar in landing a recording gig, as well as college basketball player Dean who is conflicted on taking a fall on a game for shady gambler Mark Clear who has hidden agenda for Dean and Rich.
Keywords: actor-shares-first-name-with-character, african-american, assassin, baseball-hat, basketball-player, billiards, bisexual, boxing, boyfriend-girlfriend-relationship, cell-phone