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- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Roberts is an Academy Award nominee for his role in Runaway Train, and a three-time Golden Globe nominee for Runaway Train, Star 80, and King of the Gypsies.
In addition, Roberts received acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival for his role in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and It's My Party. He also starred in La Cucaracha, which won Best Film at the Austin Film Festival, and for which Roberts won Best Actor at the New York Independent Film Festival that same year. Other notable performances include his roles in The Dark Knight, Final Analysis, and Paul Thoman Anderson's Inherent Vice for Warner Bros., Millennium Films' Lovelace and The Expendables for Lionsgate.
On television, Roberts' memorable recurring roles include USA's Suits, CSI and Code Black for CBS, NBC's Heroes, and Crash for Starz. He has appeared in guest star roles on ABC's Greys Anatomy, NBC's Will & Grace, Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, CBS' Hawaii Five-O, HBO's Entourage, and so much more.
Upcoming, Roberts plays Matt Dillon's doctor in Head Full of Honey, a Warner Bros. Germany production that is directed by Til Schweiger. Emily Mortimer and Nick Nolte also star. He also has a supporting role in the independent Hard Luck Love Song directed by Justin Corsbie. Roberts will play "Skip," a grizzled doorman whom offers advice to characters played by Michael Dorman and Sophia Bush. The film also stars Dermott Mulroney, and American rapper, RZA. Finally, Roberts is set to recur as DEA boss "Erick Sheldon" in La Reina del Sur for Telemundo Global Studio and Netflix.
Roberts was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, and grew up in and around the Atlanta area. He began his career in theatre in New York City where he won the Theatre World Award for his role on Broadway in Burn This.
He resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 26 years and brood of felines.
Roberts is represented by Sovereign Talent Group, Cultivate Entertainment, and Miles Anthony Associates in the UK.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Lacey Nicole Chabert was born in Purvis, Mississippi, to Julie (Johnson) and Tony Chabert, a representative for an oil company. She is of Cajun (French), Italian, English, and Scottish ancestry. Chabert started in drama and music performances in and around her hometown in Mississippi from an early age, and was a finalist on Star Search (1983) in 1991. She gained her break in a cough syrup commercial, before successfully auditioning for the Broadway production of Les Miserables, where she played young Cosette for two years. Since then, she has been on a few television series, notably Party of Five (1994), a number of telemovies like Gypsy (1993), and her big-screen debut, Lost in Space (1998). Known for her natural acting skills and charming personality, her cotton candy voice has seen her record many advertising jingles, plus play parts in animated films and TV shows like Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys (1998). A more than capable violinist, she enjoys various activities, especially shoe shopping, and she is particularly fond of Cajun cooking. As a result of her promising career, her family, including two sisters and a brother, have moved from Mississippi to California.- Music Department
- Actor
- Writer
Fereydun Robert Armisen is an American actor, comedian, and writer. After having begun his career as a musician for groups such as Trenchmouth and the Blue Man Group, he would get his big break as a comedy actor when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) in 2002, having remained with the show until 2013. This lead to Armisen collaborating with fellow SNL alum Bill Hader and Seth Meyers on the television series Documentary Now! (2015) for IFC, and would also collaborate with Carrie Brownstein on Portlandia (2011) for the same network. He is also known for his roles in various films and shows such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006), and Easy A (2010), alongside voice roles in The Looney Tunes Show (2011), The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), and Final Space (2018), among others.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). For several movie fans, he is probably best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (due to his contribution for the voice of the role, as the man in the Darth Vader suit was David Prowse, whose voice was dubbed because of his British West Country accent). In his brilliant course of memorable performances, among others, he has also appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) three times and played Mufasa both in The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019), while he returned too as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Actress
- Director
Theater, film and television actress, Geneva Carr, was born in Jackson, Mississippi and lived in Michigan and the Carolinas before moving to Atlanta, where she graduated high school. Following graduation from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in French, she moved to Paris. There, she earned an MBA from the prestigious ESCP Europe Paris campus.
While working for a French bank on Wall Street, Geneva turned in her resignation after seeing an off Broadway play that awakened her true calling. She spent the next few years bartending and playing hostess in Manhattan hot spots, such as Pastis and The Waverly Inn, working full-time while booking voice overs, commercials, short films and doing lots and lots of innovative off and off-off Broadway theater productions.
Just before landing the role of Marissa Morgan on CBS's hit series, Bull (2016), she was nominated for the Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Play" for her headlining role as Margery in the critically acclaimed Broadway production of "Hand to God." Carr lives in New York City with her Burmese cat, Eartha Kitty, and Eartha's half brother, Hoffman. Geneva is fluent in French and speaks conversational American Sign Language. She loves entertaining friends at home, very dry champagne and very dark chocolate.- Actress
- Producer
Hallelujah for Sela. Everyone's favorite "Sister" was born Sela Ann Ward, on July 11, 1956, in Meridian, Mississippi. Sela's parents were Annie Kate (Boswell) and Granberry Holland Ward, Jr., an electrical engineer; the three younger children in the family are Jenna (1957), Berry (1959) and Brock (1961). "Sela" is a Hebrew word that means "rock, boulder, cliff". Sela graduated from the University of Alabama in 1977, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art and advertising; Sela was also a cheerleader for the Crimson Tide football team, a Homecoming Queen and a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Sela moved to New York to work for an advertising agency.
Responding to a friend's suggestion that she was tall (5' 7") and pretty enough to try modeling, Sela began a highly successful career with the Wilhelmina Agency. Sela's first gig was in the Pepsi advertising department, and her first commercial was for Maybelline. After appearing in 20 national television commercials, Sela moved to Los Angeles and got her first television role in Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983); she dated tall co-star Richard Dean Anderson for three years (which is much longer than the television series lasted). Sela's movie break came by appearing with Burt Reynolds in the film The Man Who Loved Women (1983), and by now her acting career was established.
But perhaps Sela is best known for starring in the television series Sisters (1991), which ran for six seasons. The series was a big hit with women, and if the males in the audience stuck around after the steamy (literally) opening sauna sequence, they too would discover a series with fascinating writing and story plots, with Sela as Teddy Reed -- in the fashion industry she began her first company, which she wanted to call Teddy Wear. In 1992 and 1994, Sela got the Golden Globe Award nomination for best lead actress in a drama series; in 1994, she won an Emmy Award and, in 1996, the Screen Actors Guild Award.
During the series' run, Sela married Howard Sherman (May 23, 1992 - present). They had two children: Austin Ward (May 13, 1994), Anabella Raye (May 30, 1998). Still very much a pretty woman, Sela appeared in Runaway Bride (1999) as Pretty Bar Woman. In 2000, Sela won her second Emmy Award, this time for her work in Once and Again (1999).- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. In 1953, he attended the senior prom with the current girl he was courting, Regis Wilson. After graduating from high school in Memphis, Elvis took odd jobs working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver for Crown Electric Company. He began singing locally as "The Hillbilly Cat", then signed with a local recording company, and then with RCA in 1955.
Elvis did much to establish early rock and roll music. He began his career as a performer of rockabilly, an up-tempo fusion of country music and rhythm and blues, with a strong backbeat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing 'black' and 'white' sounds, made him popular - and controversial - as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Jailhouse Rock" and "Hound Dog" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop music. Teenage girls became hysterical over his blatantly sexual gyrations, particularly the one that got him nicknamed "Elvis the Pelvis" (television cameras were not permitted to film below his waist).
In 1956, following his six television appearances on The Dorsey Brothers' "Stage Show", Elvis was cast in his first acting role, in a supporting part in Love Me Tender (1956), the first of 33 movies he starred in.
In 1958, Elvis was drafted into the military, and relocated to Bad Nauheim, Germany. There he met 14-year old army damsel Priscilla Ann Wagner (Priscilla Presley), whom he would eventually marry after an eight-year courtship, and by whom he had his only child, Lisa Marie Presley. Elvis' military service and the "British Invasion" of the 1960s reduced his concerts, though not his movie/recording income.
Through the 1960s, Elvis settled in Hollywood, where he starred in the majority of his thirty-three movies, mainly musicals, acting alongside some of the most well known actors in Hollywood. Critics panned most of his films, but they did very well at the box office, earning upwards of $150 million total. His last fiction film, Change of Habit (1969), deals with several social issues; romance within the clergy, an autistic child, almost unheard of in 1969, rape, and mob violence. It has recently received critical acclaim.
Elvis made a comeback in the 1970s with live concert appearances starting in early 1970 in Las Vegas with over 57 sold-out shows. He toured throughout the United States, appearing on-stage in over 500 live appearances, many of them sold out shows. His marriage ended in divorce, and the stress of constantly traveling as well as his increasing weight gain and dependence upon stimulants and depressants took their toll.
Elvis Presley died at age 42 on August 16, 1977 at his mansion in Graceland, near Memphis, shocking his fans worldwide. At the time of his death, he had sold more than 600 million singles and albums. Since his death, Graceland has become a shrine for millions of followers worldwide. Elvis impersonators and purported sightings have become stock subjects for humorists. To date, Elvis Presley is the only performer to have been inducted into three separate music 'Halls of Fame'. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales, and remains one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Laura Bailey is an award-winning Los Angeles-based voice actor known for her roles in animation and video games, as well as the massively popular hit show and media brand, Critical Role.
Critical Role has become one of the most popular storytelling and world building independent media companies in the world, and Laura plays a pivotal role within the company as a co-founder, primary cast member for the flagship show and executive producer of The Legend of Vox Machina animated series which will air exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Laura got her start in video games nearly 20 years ago and has since gone on to become one of the most prolific voice actors in the industry today, having worked on hundreds of titles. Some of Laura's notable roles include Abby in The Last of Us: Part II, Kait Diaz in the Gears of War franchise, Spartan Vale in the Halo franchise, Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft, Fetch in the Infamous series, Supergirl in Injustice 2, Eltariel in Middle Earth: Shadow of War, The Boss in Saints Row 3 and 4, Catwoman in Batman: The Telltale Series, and Fiona in Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands, among others.
Laura also lends her talents to several animated series, including Marvel's Avenger Assemble as Black Widow, Marvel's Spider-Man as Gwen Stacy, Constantine: City of Demons as The Night Nurse, as well as roles in Rick and Morty, Pickle and Peanut, Guardians of the Galaxy, RWBY, The PowerPuff Girls, and others. Laura is also known for her work with popular anime studio Funimation, where she had roles in major titles including the Dragon Ball Z franchise as Trunks, Fruits Basket as Tohru Honda, Kureyon Shin-chan as Shin-Chan, Fullmetal Alchemist as Lust, Soul Eater as Maka Albarn and Yu Yu Hakusho as Keiko Yukimura.
Laura won her first BAFTA in 2021, being named Best Performer in a Leading Role at the BAFTA Games Awards. She is also the Best Performance recipient of the 2020 The Game Awards for her role as Abby in The Last of Us: Part II. Other accolades include winning five BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Awards (including two Voice Actress of the Year wins and Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Video Game), two BTVA Anime Dub Television/OVA Voice Acting Awards, two BTVA Video Game Voice Acting Awards, two BTVA Anime Dub Movie/Special Voice Acting Awards and a NAVGTR Award.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
The amazingly gifted and versatile, Ms. Diane Ladd, received immense praise for her dramatic efforts throughout the course of her electric and unique seventy-year career. Her timeless offbeat charm and beauty reminiscent of a lamented Hollywood Golden Era actress gleam in the most understated roles and continue to make her a sought-after unconventional performer.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
The early film career of Stella Stevens could be said to mirror that of Marilyn Monroe. She began by playing a succession of sensuous, blond glamour girls, from naïve virgins and funny coquettes to precocious or briny-tongued floozies. Her early maturity on screen may have reflected her own turbulent private life: she was married at 15, had a child (Andrew Stevens) at 16 and was divorced a year later. At 21, having a child to support and no money, she posed for a celebrated Playboy centerfold. She was Playmate of the Month for January 1960 which did her subsequent movie career no harm whatever. She was voted by Playboy as one of the 100 Sexiest Women of the 20th century and became one of the most photographed stars of the 1960s.
The voluptuous, blue-eyed Stella was born Estelle Caro Eggleston to one of the oldest families in Yazoo City, Mississippi. A myth which had her hailing from the quaintly named area of Hot Coffee was purely an invention by Hollywood publicists. Her father, Thomas Ellet Eggleston, was an insurance salesman, her mother, Estelle (nee Caro), a nurse. The family moved to Memphis when she was four.
During her early childhood, Stella was nicknamed "Bootsie". Precocious and impatient to grow up, she took to watching movies at every opportunity. It became her main passion. Graduating from high school in 1955, she spent two years attending Memphis State University where she was 'discovered' during a production of Bus Stop in the role of aspiring nightclub singer Chérie (famously played by Marilyn in the film version). Borrowing some money, Stella made her way to the bright lights of Los Angeles and was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1959. She made only three films for the studio during a six months spell before her contract was dropped, her debut being a bit part in Frank Tashlin's saccharine comedy-drama Say One for Me (1959).
Her role won her a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer. That same year, she was picked up by Paramount and made her first breakthrough on the screen as the vampish Apassionata von Climax in the film version of the hit Broadway musical Li'l Abner (1959), based on Al Capp's comic strip.
She alternated motion pictures with television appearances, displaying a perhaps unexpectedly wide range as an actress in both dramatic and comedic roles. She stood out in films like Too Late Blues (1961) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both under greatly contrasting directorial styles.
Above all, she saw herself not as a sex icon but as a comedienne. She once said "I want to be remembered for whatever made people laugh the most." Unafraid to do physical comedy in the manner of Lucille Ball she was also often lauded for her comic timing in films like The Silencers (1966) (a James Bond-style spoof, co-starring a sleepy-eyed Dean Martin) and Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968). In the 1970s, her best role was as a warmhearted prostitute in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970). Writer and critic Roger Ebert wrote of her performance "There are few enough actresses who can be funny and feminine at the same time, but she is certainly one of them." Conversely, in the classic disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure (1972), she played a former hooker with a heart closer to tin.
Like many film careers, hers too experienced a fair share of hiccups along the way, often due to typecasting: duds like Slaughter (1972), Stand Up and Be Counted (1972), Las Vegas Lady (1975), The Manitou (1978), and others. However, Stella proved resourceful enough to diversify and go behind the camera, both as producer and director of a feature-length documentary, The American Heroine (1979). She co-authored a novel entitled 'Razzle, Dazzle' (published in 1999), about the rise and fall of a glamorous rock star. She unveiled her own range of women's and men's fragrances, called 'Sexy'.
During the 1980s and 1990s, she concentrated primarily on television and enjoyed lengthy tenures on the glossy soaps Flamingo Road (1980) and Santa Barbara (1984), in addition to many guest appearances in shows as diverse as Police Story (1973), Hotel (1983), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). In 1976, she briefly forsook the glamour of Beverly Hills and set up home on a 27-acre ranch on the edge of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State and then proceeded to operate an art gallery and bakery in a nearby town.
By 1983, she had returned to her Beverly Hills home where she lived with her partner (rock guitarist Bob Kulick), until the home was sold in 2016. Afflicted by Alzheimer's disease, Stella Stevens spent her remaining years in an assisted living home in California and passed away in Los Angeles on February 17 2023 at the age of 84.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress. Her acclaimed album Live was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated in 2016 at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. In 2017, the album Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
McRaney holds the distinction of being the last guest star to meet "Matt Dillon" in a gunfight on Gunsmoke (1955) - in the episode, Hard Labor (1975), first broadcast on February 24, 1975 (he lost). In fact, in the early portion of Gerald McRaney's career he almost always played the villain; but, since his first series, Simon & Simon (1981), hit it big, he's played mostly good guys. The character of passionate but irresponsible "Rick Simon" gave McRaney the opportunity to play a dramatic role with a comedic edge. A second hit series, Major Dad (1989), showcased his talent for comedy. McRaney met and fell in love with fellow southerner Delta Burke when she guest-starred on Simon & Simon (1981). He later appeared on her series, Designing Women (1986), as her ex-husband, although it is an unwritten rule that actors with current series don't do guest roles; they were married not long after.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Taylor Spreitler was born on October 23, 1993. She is a model as well as a popular actress. After portraying Mia McCormick in Days of Our Lives (1965) her popularity increased after appearing on the NBC soap. From January 2009 till 2010 she did various types of movies and commercial modeling. She was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in the United States. She began acting in 2005, and she lives in Los Angeles where she moved in with her parents. Taylor started her career as a model, booking her first commercial audition for a role in a national campaign for Motrin. Early on, Taylor did some small roles and a few commercials, such as for JIF. In 2009, she was signed for a 3-year contract as the McCormick character, although her last episode aired in 2010. She also played a unique role within Lennox Scanlon in Melissa & Joey (2010) for ABC.- Music Artist
- Producer
- Actress
Audrey Faith McGraw known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer, actress and record producer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill's first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (1995), were major successes and placed a combined three number ones on Billboard's country charts. She then achieved mainstream and crossover success with her next two albums, Faith (1998) and Breathe (1999). Faith spawned her first international success in early 1998, "This Kiss", while Breathe became one of the best-selling country albums of all time, led by the huge crossover success of the songs "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me". It had massive sales worldwide and earned Hill three Grammy Awards.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Mary Elizabeth Ellis is an American actress. She is best known for her role as The Waitress on the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Ellis also starred in the NBC sitcom Perfect Couples and the Fox sitcom The Grinder. She also appeared as Nick's ex-girlfriend Caroline in the sitcom New Girl. From 2017 to 2019, she starred as Lisa Palmer on the Netflix horror-comedy Santa Clarita Diet.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Cynthia Geary was born on 21 March 1965 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Northern Exposure (1990), 8 Seconds (1994) and The Awakening (1995). She was previously married to Robert Coron.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi & raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. As a child, Britney attended dance classes, and she was great at gymnastics, winning many competitions and the like. But, most of all, Britney loved to sing. At age 8, Britney tried out for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989), but was turned down due to her young age. This directed her to an off-Broadway show, "Ruthless", for a 2-year run as the title character. At age 11, she again tried for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) and, this time, made it as a mouseketeer alongside many stars of today (Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of *NSYNC and Ryan Gosling). Her big break, however, came when she was signed as a Jive Recording Artist in the late 90s. With the release of her debut album, "...Baby One More Time" in early 1999, Britney became an international success, selling 13 million copies of "Baby" and 9 million (as of July 2001) of her sophomore album, "Oops!...I Did It Again", released in May of 2000.- Michael Conner Humphreys is an American actor best known for playing young Forrest Gump in the 1994 film of the same name, a performance for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award. Humphreys was born in the small town of Independence, Mississippi. In 1993, when he was eight years old, he attended an open casting call in Memphis, Tennessee for "a young Tom Hanks with light eyes and a quirky disposition." The casting team, particularly taken by his thick Southern accent, selected Humphreys to play the role of young Forrest Gump in the movie adaptation of Winston Groom's 1986 novel. As part of his preparation to play the character as an adult, Tom Hanks worked to emulate Humphreys's speech and mannerisms.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
American leading man of the 1940s and 1950s, Dana Andrews was born Carver Dana Andrews on New Years Day 1909 on a farmstead outside Collins, Covington County, Mississippi. One of thirteen children, including fellow actor Steve Forrest, he was a son of Annis (Speed) and Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister.
Andrews studied business administration at Sam Houston State Teachers College in Texas, but took a bookkeeping job with Gulf Oil in 1929, aged 20, prior to graduating. In 1931, he hitchhiked to California, hoping to get work as an actor. He drove a school bus, dug ditches, picked oranges, worked as a stock boy, and pumped gas while trying without luck to break into the movies. His employer at a Van Nuys gas station believed in him and agreed to invest in him, asking to be repaid if and when Andrews made it as an actor. Andrews studied opera and also entered the Pasadena Community Playhouse, the famed theatre company and drama school. He appeared in scores of plays there in the 1930s, becoming a favorite of the company. He played opposite future star Robert Preston in a play about composers Gilbert and Sullivan, and soon thereafter was offered a contract by Samuel Goldwyn.
It was two years before Goldwyn and 20th Century-Fox (to whom Goldwyn had sold half of Andrews' contract) put him in a film, but the roles, though secondary, were mostly in top-quality pictures such as The Westerner (1940) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1942). A starring role in the hit Laura (1944), followed by one in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), made him a star, but no later film quite lived up to the quality of these. During his career, he had worked with with such directors as Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, William Wyler, William A. Wellman, Jean Renoir, and Elia Kazan.
Andrews slipped into a steady stream of unremarkable films in which he gave sturdy performances, until age and other interests resulted in fewer appearances. In addition, his increasing alcoholism caused him to lose the confidence of some producers. Andrews took steps to curb his addiction and in his later years was an outspoken member of the National Council on Alcoholism, who decried public refusal to face the problem. He was probably the first actor to do a public service announcement about alcoholism (in 1972 for the U.S. Department of Transportation), and did public speaking tours. Andrews was one of the first to speak out against the degradation of the acting profession, particularly actresses doing nude scenes just to get a role.
Andrews was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1963, serving until 1965. He retired from films in the 1960s and made, he said, more money from real estate than he ever did in movies. Yet he and his second wife, actress Mary Todd, lived quietly in a modest home in Studio City, California. Andrews suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later years and spent his final days in a nursing facility. He died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia in 1992, aged 83.- Actor
- Producer
M.C. Gainey was born on 18 January 1948 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Club Dread (2004), Wild Hogs (2007) and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005). He has been married to Kim since 2 May 2002.- Anne Whitfield was born August 27, 1938 in Oxford, Mississippi, USA. She was an actress, known for White Christmas (1954), numerous TV shows and commercials, and a long radio career beginning in 1945 when she was seven. Her TV appearances include One Step Beyond, 3 Perry Masons, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, 77 Sunset Strip, Dobie Gillis, 2 Cheyennes, and a Bonanza. When she left Hollywood in 1976, she went back to college, got a degree in Mass Communications, and began a new career as a water quality educator at the state Department of Ecology. Now retired, Annie is a climate activist and a proud but worried grandmother of seven.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ray Walston started his acting career as a spear carrier with a local stock company. When the family moved to Houston, Texas, Walston's father wanted to teach him the oil business, but Walston instead joined a traveling repertory company (selling tickets as well as acting). He went on to associate with Margo Jones at the Houston Civic Theater for six years, then spent three seasons with the Cleveland Playhouse before arriving in New York in 1945. He has won a Tony Award for his performance as the Devil in Broadway's "Damn Yankees", two Emmy Awards for Picket Fences (1992), and become a household name playing the extraterrestrial "Uncle Martin" on My Favorite Martian (1963). Ray Walston died at age 86 of lupus on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California.- Raised in Plano, Texas, Candice continued her childhood dream of becoming an actress by attending Southern Methodist University in Dallas where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A in Theatre. It was here that she was scouted by The Young and the Restless for a CBS Soap Star Contest and flew out to Los Angeles to briefly join the cast. Candice finished her college education at SMU and moved to Los Angeles shortly after.
- James Michael Tyler was born in Mississippi. The youngest of five children, he was raised by a retired United States Air Force captain father and a homemaker mother. At age 11, he moved to Anderson, South Carolina to live with his sister.
A Tigers fan, he enrolled at Clemson University and majored in Geology. While getting his B.S., Tyler joined the Clemson Players and found a love of theatre and started acting. He went on to receive an MFA in Acting from the University of Georgia.
After a brief stint selling cars in Olympia, WA, he moved to Los Angeles, CA. Upon arriving in Hollywood, he worked in both the service and entertainment industries. He was a bar-back at the Palace, sold keyboards at Guitar Center, and was a barista at the Bourgeois Pig. He also worked his way up as an extra and production assistant. Ultimately, Tyler gained acclaim playing the role of Gunther in "Friends".
When not acting, Tyler liked to play Rocket League on PS4 and record music in his home studio.
He was a founding member, along with Keith King, of the collaborative improvisational band "Red Felt Pig".
Tyler preferred to be called by his middle name, Michael.
He lived in Hollywood with his wife Jenn and their leopard gecko, Rodni. - At the age of 10, Allie and her mother left their native Mississippi to pursue Allie's inherent dream of becoming an actor. After arriving in Los Angeles, she began auditioning and soon found herself on the Showtime pilot "Weeds" as a guest star, little did she know she would later become a series regular. In the five seasons she spent on the show, the series was nominated for five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes, all including Best Comedy. Allie and the cast were also nominated for the distinguished Best Cast Ensemble at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards in both 2007 and 2009.
In 2011, her ABC series "Suburgatory" debuted to enthusiastic viewers and critics alike, making it the highest rated series in six years for the network's time slot. Created by Emily Kapnek, (producer and writer of "Parks and Recreation") the show is a satirical exploration of the suburbs through the eyes of Manhattan natives Tessa and George (Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto), a disillusioned teenage girl and her single father. As Tessa sinks deeper into the obscure little neighborhood, she meets Lisa Shay (Grant), her "explosively soft" neighbor. As they develop their friendship, they realize you don't have to be an outsider to feel displaced. The show also stars Cheryl Hines with "Saturday Night Live" alums Chris Parnell and Ana Gasteyer as Grant's parents. The series became a staple in TV's Wednesday night line up, becoming both a fan favorite and critic's pick, and ended its run in 2014.
From New York's Tribeca Film Festival to France's Festival de Cannes, Grant's "Struck by Lightning" (written by and starring Chris Colfer, alongside Alison Janney, Christina Hendricks, and Dermot Mulroney) caused quite the stir amongst distributors, and reunited Allie with her first director, Brian Dannelly. The movie was released in January of 2013 and was soon met with a cult following.
In 2015, Allie played a starring role in what is considered "one of the most shocking moments in television" that year, as fans said goodbye to their beloved Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) in "Grey's Anatomy."
Later that year, she began guest starring on "The Goldbergs" as the fierce and overtly loving Evy Silver, who bares a striking resemblance both physically and in essence to Mrs. Goldberg (Wendi Mclendon-Covey), and becomes quickly entangled in the series' celebrated love triangle between Geoff Schwartz (Sam Lerner) and Erica Goldberg (Hayley Orranatia). Now with the series' hit spin off "Schooled," Allie continues Evy's journey, alongside the William Penn High School Staff (AJ Michalka, Tim Meadows & Brian Callen), as she navigates her way through the absurdities and chaos of adulthood.
Allie's work also expands into the theater, her first love, including the Los Angeles run of "How I Learned to Drive", and the production of her original piece "Who Sings to the Sparrow," inspired by the Elie Wiesel memoir "Night", which she also directed and starred.
Now twenty-six and living in New York City, Allie's most recent series "All Night," is currently streaming on Hulu. The anthology series examines a group of high school seniors throughout the course of one night; as they navigate their way through their grad night celebration party, we witness their emotional personal journeys of discoveries and transformation. Starring alongside Kate Flannery ("The Office"), Ty Doran ("American Crime"), and Tequan Richmond ("Ray").
Allie is currently writing and developing her own television series set in Mississippi in which she will also produce, direct and star in. - Actress
- Music Department
- Writer
Jamie Lynn Spears was born on April 4, 1991 in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana to Lynne Spears & Jamie Spears. Her family also includes her older brother, Bryan Spears, and her older sister, Britney Spears. Jamie Lynn has always been a performer, like her sister Britney. She loved gymnastics, dance, acting, and singing growing up. Jamie Lynn's first on-screen role was in her sister's movie, Crossroads (2002). She is the proud mother of Maddie Briann Aldridge, who was born on June 19, 2008. Her daughter's father, Casey Aldridge is her ex-fiancé. Jamie Lynn Spears now resides in Louisiana, with her husband Jamie Watson and her daughter, where she is pursuing a country music singing career.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jim Henson never thought that he would make a name of himself in puppetry; it was merely a way of getting himself on television. The vehicle that achieved it was Sam and Friends (1955), a late-night puppet show that was on after the 11:00 news in Washington DC. It proved to be very popular and inspired Jim to continue using puppets for his work. He made many commercials, developing the signature humor that Henson Productions is known for. A key reason for the success of his puppets is that Jim realized he didn't need to hide puppeteers behind a structure when they were in front of a camera. All he had to do was instruct the camera operators to focus on the puppets and keep the puppeteers out of the frame. This allowed the puppets to dominate the image and make them more lifelike. This work on puppets and television would lead to separate projects that had different goals. The first one was his work on the The Jimmy Dean Show (1963) with the character Rowlf the Dog, the oldest clearly identified character that Henson Productions still uses. This show provided an income that allowed Jim to work on a pet project. That project was Time Piece (1965), a surrealistic short about time which was nominated for best live-action short Oscar. Henson shot to prominence when he was approached to use his muppets for the revolutionary educational show Sesame Street (1969). The show was a smash hit and his characters have become staples on public television. Unforetunately, this also led to Henson being typecast as only an entertainer for children. He sought to disprove that by being part of the initial crew of Saturday Night Live (1975), but his style and that of the creative staff simply didn't jibe. It was this circumstance that encouraged him to develop a variety show format that had the kind of sophisticated humor that "Sesame Street (1969)" didn't work with. No American broadcaster was interested, but British producer Lew Grade was. This led to The Muppet Show (1976). It initially struggled both in the ratings and in the search for guest stars, but in the second season it became a smash hit and would eventually become the most widely watched series in television history. Hungry for a new challenge, Henson made The Muppet Movie (1979), defying the popular industry opinion that his characters would never work in a movie. The film became a hit and spawned a series of features which included the moody fantasy The Dark Crystal (1982), which was a drastic and bold departure from the amiable tone of his previous work. The most successful TV work in the 1980s was Fraggle Rock (1983), a fantasy series specifically designed to appeal to as many cultural groups as possible. During this time he also established the Creature Shop, a puppet studio that became renowned for being as brilliant with puppetry as ILM was at special effects. When he died all too soon in 1990, he was indisputably one of the geniuses of puppetry. More importantly, he was a man who achieved his phenomenal success while still retaining his social conscience and artistic integrity as his work in promoting environmentalism and his brilliant The Storyteller (1987) series respectively attest to.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Anna Grace Barlow was born in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. Anna Grace is an actor and producer, known for The Big Leap (2021), Grey's Anatomy (2005) and Big Sky (2020). Anna Grace has been married to Andrew Colicchio since 9 February 2024. Anna Grace was previously married to Taylor Boldt.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born on February 17, 1937 in Biloxi, Mississippi, Mary Ann Mobley is one of the few Miss Americas to have true success as an actress or television personality (the others are Barnaby Jones (1973) beauty Lee Meriwether, television hostess Phyllis George, Consumer advocate/game show panelist Bess Myerson and Eraser (1996) heroine Vanessa Williams). After serving as Miss America 1959, Mobley soon became a sought-after guest star in episodic television of the 1960s, appearing on many hit series of that era - Perry Mason (1957), Mission: Impossible (1966), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), The Virginian (1962), to name a few. Her most important contribution to 1960s popular culture, though, was appearing opposite Elvis Presley in two films - Harum Scarum (1965) and Girl Happy (1965). Her success in film led to a 1965 Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer, an award she shared with Mia Farrow and Celia Milius. She also starred in a number of other B-movies of the 1960s, such as Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) and For Singles Only (1968).
Her television and film output decreased in the 1970s as she raised her daughter, Clancy Collins White, with her husband, Gary Collins. During that decade, her television appearances were mostly guest roles on series such as the iconic series Love, American Style (1969), Fantasy Island (1977), The Love Boat (1977) and the game show Match Game (1973), on which she was a frequent panelist alongside such other famous wiseacres as Betty White, Brett Somers, Patti Deutsch and Charles Nelson Reilly. She and Collins also appeared a number of times performing death-defying high-wire acts and other athletic, outrageous stunts on the annual television event Circus of the Stars (1977).
In the 1980s, she starred as stepmother "Maggie McKinney" in the final season of Diff'rent Strokes (1978), appeared in a recurring role as alcoholism counselor "Dr. Beth Everdene" on the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest (1981) and continued to pop-up as a guest star on series like Hotel (1983) and Matt Houston (1982) and game shows like The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) and Body Language (1983). She also acted as her husband's frequent guest co-host on his successful talk shows Hour Magazine (1980) and The Home Show (1988), as well as on installments of the Miss America Pageant. In the 1990s, she made guest appearances on the sitcoms Designing Women (1986), Hearts Afire (1992), Hardball (1994) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). She and Collins were also hosts of an oft-run late 1990s television infomercial for "SelectComfort", a specialty bed product. Also during the 1990s, she toured in the popular play, "Love Letters", with her husband, and performed a cabaret act at the Cinegrill in Hollywood.
Mary Ann and other "Match Game"/"Hollywood Squares" regulars of the 1970s and 1980s (such as Charo, Nipsey Russell, Paul Lynde and Jo Anne Worley) were riotously spoofed on Saturday Night Live (1975) in a 2002 game show sketch called "Super Buzzers" with Tina Fey playing Mary Ann. Mary Ann and her husband soon got a chance to demonstrate their own good humor, appearing as themselves in a satiric infomercial parody on the Showtime series Dead Like Me (2003) in 2003 (the fake infomercial was for a no-effort body-toning contraption - which spontaneously combusts!).- Finn Carter was born on March 9, 1960 in the Mississippi Delta. Her mother, Margaret W. Carter, and her father, Hodding Carter III (best known for his position as the spokesperson for the State Department in President Carter's administration), were attending a play at the Greenville Little Theatre when her mother went into labor. The newspaper announcement of her birth foresaw stage-lights for the second child of Hodding and Peggy. Finn attended Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts for high school and then went on to Skidmore College followed by Tulane University. In 1983, Finn moved to New York City and was soon after offered a three-year contract on the soap opera, As the World Turns (1956). She kept her first love alive, the theatre, by becoming a member of the, now defunct, Circle Repertory Company. Finn met her first husband, Steven Weber, on the set of As the World Turns (1956). When Steven was cast on the sit-com Wings (1990) in 1990, the couple split their time between N.Y.C. and L.A. until their divorce. Finn remarried in 1997 and has two beautiful girls (born in 1997 and 2000) and one step-daughter as the result of that union. Finn also has two sisters who both live in Mississippi and one brother who lives in Maine.
- Beah Richards left her native Vicksburg, Mississippi, for New York City in 1950. She would not acquire a significant role on stage until 1955,when she appeared in the off-Broadway show "Take a Giant Step" convincingly portraying an 84-year-old grandmother without using theatrical makeup. In 1962 she appeared in writer James Baldwin's "The Amen Corner" directed by noted actor/director/activist Frank Silvera, who told Richards "Don't act, just be." She credited Silvera with helping her further develop the subtlety and quiet dignity that distinguished all of her performances.
A prolific actress, poet and playwright, her first authored play was "All's Well That Ends" that delved into the issues of racial segregation. Always ahead of her time, she defined herself as "Black" when the term "Negro" was the preferred ethnic/racial label of Black Americans. Richards would bring her salutary satisfaction with being "Black" and her immense acting talents to the role of the peacemaking mother in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Additionally, she appeared in "Purlie Victorious" by Ossie Davis and "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman.
In 1988, she won an Emmy Award for her performance in Frank's Place (1987). Although stricken with emphysema, she delivered a tour-de-force performance on the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997) in 2000; she received her second Emmy Award for this performance three days before her death in her native Vicksburg. - Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Brandy Norwood is an African-American singer-songwriter and actress from McComb, Mississippi. She is known for her roles in Moesha, Osmosis Jones and Cinderella. She has released many R&B albums and singles since the 1990s. She is known as "The Vocal Bible". She gave birth to a daughter named Sy'rai Iman Smith in June 2002.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
LeAnn started singing at age 3, and has sold over 20 million records since. She was born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. By age 7, LeAnn made her stage debut in a Dallas musical production of "A Christmas Carol". Later, she would sing "The Star Spangled Banner" to open Dallas Cowboys football games. By age 11, LeAnn recorded her first album on an independent label only available in local stores in Dallas: "All That" which featured her signature song "Blue". This got the attention of Curb Records. In 1996, 14-year-old LeAnn recorded a major-label album. In 1997, LeAnn released "You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs" which debuted on 3 Billboard Magazine charts at the same time: Pop, Country, and Contemporary Christian (that had never been achieved before by a country singer). That year, LeAnn released "How Do I Live" which would set a record by staying #1 on Billboard Magazine's "Hot 100" chart for 69 weeks. LeAnn starred in the TV-movie Holiday in Your Heart (1997), based on a book which she had co-authored. Capping a great year for the 15-year-old LeAnn, she won an American Music Award, 2 Grammy awards, 3 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 4 Billboard Music Awards. In 1998, LeAnn won a Lone Star Film & Television Special Award for Rising Star Actress. In 1999, LeAnn released a namesake CD, offering her interpretations of 11 Country standards, including "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces" (originally recorded by Patsy Cline in 1960). LeAnn made a cameo in Coyote Ugly (2000) (the low budget movie that raked in big bucks) and she also recorded 4 Diane Warren songs, including "Can't Fight the Moonlight", for the movie soundtrack. An amazing career and, since she is only 18, I am sure there will have to be mini-bio updates in the future.- Israel Broussard is an American actor. He was born Isaiah Israel Broussard on August 22, 1994 in Gulfport, Mississippi to Angela (Clapp) and Lawrence Clayton Adams. His biological father passed away when he was four, and he was raised in Saucier, Mississippi by his mother and stepfather, Gil Broussard, who adopted him and his older sister, Aubrey.
Broussard began acting after playing the role of Percy in Biloxi Little Theater's production of "The Miracle Worker" in 2006. He was "discovered" by Hollywood scouts at an event in January 2008, and signed with Abrams Artists Agency. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting as a career. Broussard had supporting roles in Flipped (2010) and The Chaperone (2011), before being cast in the lead role in Sofia Coppola's crime film The Bling Ring (2013). He followed this with roles in Perfect High (2015), H8RZ (2015), Jack of the Red Hearts (2015), and Good Kids (2016).
In 2017, Broussard starred with Jessica Rothe in the horror comedy Happy Death Day (2017), a role he reprised in Happy Death Day 2U (2019). - Originally from Gulfport, Mississippi, Symba realized at a very early age that she wanted to be an actress - and her first break came after winning the "Miss Teen All-American" pageant in Miami. A New York-based modeling agent spotted her there and asked her to move to the Big Apple. Later, in 1991, her "big break" came after winning $100,000 as the Spokesmodel Winner on Star Search (1983). Although she loved New York, finally she could afford to move to Hollywood to further pursue her long-held dream of becoming a working actress. She made her acting debut on the comedy series Blossom (1990) and followed up with guest appearances on over 50 television shows such as Veronica's Closet (1997), Friends (1994), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), CSI: Miami (2002), CSI: NY (2004), Dexter (2006), Mr. Sunshine (2011), Better with You (2010), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008), Life (2007), The West Wing (1999), Will & Grace (1998), That's So Raven (2003), The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), Days of Our Lives (1965), and Girlfriends (2000), among many others. She has also booked Lead and Supporting roles in several films, such as L.A. Confidential (1997), All About Steve (2009) (in which, by sheer coincidence, she booked a scene with her ex-boyfriend, Thomas Haden Church - which was later cut before the film was released), First Finish, Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), and Abandoned Minds. And she has Hosted many shows, as well - from Co-Hosting the poker pilot Final Table Challenge, with John Daly, to The Bikini Open and The Geraldo Rivera Show (1987) - to numerous live and Internet events.
Booking many national and regional commercials, throughout the years, has helped allow Symba to remain focused on her craft. For 7 years, she also starred in the eye-catching and comical "Remarkable Mouth" TV commercials in which she lip-syncs to incredibly fast montages promoting radio stations. During her stint as The Remarkable Mouth, she filmed almost sixty spots for around the United States, as well as for several countries around the globe, including Lithuania, Portugal, Australia, and Brazil - often in different languages. A few of these spots can now be seen on YouTube. Symba also made personal appearances all over the country meeting fans of these award-winning commercials.
Symba writes, directs, and produces, as well. She mainly writes screenplays - but has also written spec pilots for TV, created commercial campaigns, and written for the thereat, too. Her smash hit play, the outrageous comedy "Lana's Pupil, (Every Woman's Guide to Golddigging)", had audiences rolling - and asking for more.
Aside from the entertainment business, she is working on getting a design patent for an invention that she hopes will revolutionize an entire industry.
Symba has never been married and has no children. She resides in Los Angeles, California, (2011). - Producer
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Oprah Gail Winfrey , often known simply as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century, was once the world's only black billionaire, and the greatest black philanthropist in U.S. history. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Jen Richards was born in Natchez, Mississippi, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Her Story (2015), The Acolyte (2024) and Mrs. Fletcher (2019).- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Gary and his wife Glenda moved to Los Angeles in 1977 for Gary to pursue a writing career. He went on an open call as an actor, got the part, and now two hundred parts later Gary is still acting. Gary and Glenda now have a home in Mississippi and an apartment in Los Angeles, and Gary works both the southern and L.A. markets.
In the last few years Gary has devoted much of his time to writing and has successfully sold two pilot scripts to CBS, two screenplays and had his first full length Equity play, "As the Crow Flies", receive its world premier. The production was both a creative and financial success and received many positive reviews. Currently he has a project in development at Warner Horizon.
In 2008 Gary can be seen in "In the Electric Mist" with Tommie Lee Jones, "Deal" with Burt Reynolds, "Good Intentions" with Elaine Hendrix, "Major Movie Star" with Jessica Simpson, and "My Mom's New Boyfriend" with Meg Ryan and Antonio Banderas.
Gary has worked as an actor for some of the most distinguished film directors of our time in a number of motion pictures, including "JFK" (Oliver Stone), "Silkwood" (Mike Nichols), "Nadine" (Robert Benton), "Honkytonk Man" (Clint Eastwood), and "The Border" (Tony Richardson). Other feature credits include "The X-Files," "Doubletake," and "The Astronaut's Wife".
On television, Grubbs made a name for himself by portraying attorneys in two of the highest rated programs in television history, "The Burning Bed" and "Fatal Vision". He has also starred in numerous movies-of-the-week and miniseries, including "Canal Street Brothel", "For One Night", "Foxfire", and many others. Gary's recent series and episodic work includes appearances on "ER", "Angel", "NCIS", "K-ville", "Will & Grace" and "The O.C."
Gary and Glenda have a daughter Molly who is employed at Team One Advertising in Los Angeles, and their son Logan is a grad student at The University of Southern Mississippi.- Manager
- Executive
- Actress
Jeanne Nicole Griffin was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and moved to Frankfurt, Germany when she was two with her parents, Jeanne and Eugene Griffin. After six years abroad, the family moved back to the US, to Virginia for a year, before settling in Wilmington, NC. Her father worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, and her mother is a nurse. At 10 years old, Nikki began modeling and spent 3 consecutive summers working in NYC, represented by Wilhelmina (Wee Willys) and then Ford Kids. She stopped growing at 15 years old and never reached the ideal model height, but began traveling to London to assist other aspiring models. Upon graduating from New Hanover High School, Nikki went to college in North Carolina, but never enjoyed it. In 2000, she got a role in the Freddie Prinze, Jr-Jessica Biel film, Summer Catch, and despite her scene being cut from the movie, she still got her SAG card. So, realizing she needed to move to Los Angeles to fully pursue an acting career, in 2001, Nikki packed up her car and drove out to Hollywood. Her first big break happened when Nikki won her first lead role, as the love interest of the Duke cousins. She followed that with an arc as drug-dealing party-girl from the right side of the tracks, Jess Sathers, on the hit show, The OC, and with a memorable role in the third installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Tokyo Drift. 2012 brought an exciting opportunity to explore editorial writing, and she had several articles published in Geek Magazine, as well as on-line, at Marvel.com.
Most recently, leaning into her years of experience- both in front of and behind the camera- Nikki has stepped into the role of talent manager at the management group that first launched her own acting career. She looks forward to working with established actors to provide support, as well as discovering new talent, and says this move feels "very full-circle."- Tate Ellington was born on 17 April 1979 in Madison, Mississippi, USA. He is an actor, known for Remember Me (2010), Sinister 2 (2015) and The Endless (2017). He has been married to Chrissy Fiorilli since 19 May 2012.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
John Dye was born on 31 January 1963 in Amory, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Tour of Duty (1987), Touched by an Angel (1994) and Jack's Place (1992). He died on 10 January 2011 in San Francisco, California, USA.- African American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early 1950s, a time in which few black people were given an opportunity to act in major studio films. Fortunately Moore's roles began improving as Hollywood developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959 she received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Imitation of Life (1959), a glossy updating of a once controversial Fannie Hurst novel about racism. Within the next decade Hollywood underwent several sociological upheavals, and Juanita was one of the beneficiaries. She became a fixture in black-oriented films of the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in such films as Uptight (1968), Thomasine & Bushrod (1974) and Abby (1974). She also appeared in Walt Disney Pictures' The Kid (2000), and was in a total of more than 50 films. Moore retired in 2001 and passed away New Year's Day 2014 . She was 99.
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- Producer
- Writer
Lance Bass is the quintessential illustration of a highly successful and driven jack-of-all-trades: singer, host, actor, producer, writer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and cosmonaut.
Beyond his fame as a member of the phenomenally successful group *NSYNC, where the group sold an impressive 60 million plus records worldwide, Bass has made himself a household name throughout the globe. With countless career highlights in music spanning the past 20 years, including multiple Grammy® nominations, two diamond RIAA awards, MTV Video Music Awards®, American Music Awards® and People's Choice Awards® to name a just a few, he has expanded his accomplishments into multiple entertainment mediums.
Bass can currently be seen as a daily contributing panelist on The Meredith Vieira Show (2014), which he joined in September of 2015. In 2007, Bass lit up Broadway, starring as "Corny Collins" in the smash hit, "Hairspray", published his revealing memoir, "Out of Sync", and danced his way to the finals on season seven of ABC's hit competition show, Dancing with the Stars (2005). In 2003, he was inducted into the Mississippi Musician's Hall of Fame, making him the youngest person to ever receive this honor. In 2012, he joined Sirius XM and launched a pop culture daily radio show, called "Dirty Pop", with Lance Bass and, during the weekends, hosts their "Pop2k Countdown", where he can still be heard today.
Building on his passion for film and documentaries, Bass has established himself as an acclaimed producer with titles like Kidnapped for Christ, where he was awarded the Audience Award for Documentary Feature during it's Slamdance premiere this past January and Mississippi I Am, which recently won Best Documentary at the Manhattan International Film Festival. This November, he is being recognized for his outstanding achievements at the Mississippi Film Festival with an encore screening of Mississippi I Am. Other producing credits include the Miramax film, On the Line (2001), where he not only served as Executive Producer, but was also the film's star and earned him the coveted Movieguide® Award for excellence in family-oriented programming. In 2005, he executive-produced Randal Kleiser's romantic comedy, Lovewrecked (2005), starring Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. He is also the recipient of the Golden Apple Award® as Male Film Discovery of 2001.
While known for his success in music, including a #1 European dance single, in 2014, called "Walking On Air" and featuring newcomer Bella Blue, Bass has made numerous memorable guest appearances in film, television and as the animated voice in several popular children's cartoons. With his sights focused on hosting, Bass is preparing for his fifth consecutive year as co-host of the American Music Awards' Coca-Cola Red Carpet, has guest-anchored the KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles, filled in for Harvey Levin on TMZ and has become a frequent correspondent with the landmark entertainment show, Entertainment Tonight.
As an entrepreneur, he founded Famous Yard Sale, which was inspired by his memories of weekend yard sales in his hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, where he reinvented the yard sale as a virtual auction marketplace for celebrities to donate their excess belongings and raise money for their favorite charities. This led him to create and executive produce the Lifetime series Celebrity Home Raiders. Currently, he has partnered up with Slavco and Daniel Tuskaloski, and TeliApp to create Sparxx, a social relationship and dating app specifically designed for the LGBT community with the goal of breaking the mold of conventional LGBT dating apps. Sparxx was designed to help men and women and their personally defined sexuality, find meaningful and long lasting relationships.
Philanthropically, Lance remains active in various charitable organizations including serving on the Young Hollywood Board of the Environmental Media Association. He is also the National Youth Spokesperson for World Space Week, consistent with his interest in space travel. A fact that many are unaware of, Bass is a certified cosmonaut after several months of training in the Russian space program where Bass received cosmonaut certification and continued on to Houston's Johnson Space Center to take part in astronaut training. Additionally, Lance is a strong advocate for animals and has been a spokesperson for animal rescues all over the country, including directly working with Lucky Puppy, a dog rescue based in Los Angeles, CA.
Bass currently resides in Los Angeles with his husband Michael Turchin, whom he married in 2014 and was featured as a wedding special on E! in early 2015.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Matthew Maher was born on 5 October 1971 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA. He is an actor, known for Gone Baby Gone (2007), Captain Marvel (2019) and It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Emmy Award Winning Actor, Terrence Terrell was raised in the small town of Cleveland, Mississippi. He displayed an affinity for entertainment at a young age. As a child, he would entertain anyone who would watch and listen. Throughout his teenage years, he was bullied, but coped by turning the negativity into humor. As an adult, Terrell moved out of Mississippi to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a dream of acting and writing.
Terrence Terrell is a well established actor known for his roles in shows like "Criminal Minds", "Modern Family" and "Giants" to name a few. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed books "BLACKY" and "THE SHES"...and the empire keeps growing!- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Tate Taylor was born on 3 June 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Get on Up (2014), The Help (2011) and The Girl on the Train (2016).- Robert Earl Jones was born on 3 February 1910 in Senatobia, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sting (1973), Sleepaway Camp (1983) and Witness (1985). He was married to Ruth Connolly, Jumelle P. Jones and Ruth Williams. He died on 7 September 2006 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
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- Actor
- Producer
Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi and grew up living beside the the Gulf of Mexico. After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi he worked his way to success in the music industry. His hits in the 1970s including "Margaritaville" and "Come Monday". He struck a chord and helped to build a huge fan-base of all ages over the decades. Now married with three kids, Buffett loves fishing, flying and world travel. Buffett is also the author of numerous books including the bestselling "A Pirate Looks At Fifty" and has added movies to his repertoire as co-producer and co-star of an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot (2006).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Simbi Kali was born in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. Simbi is an actress, known for playing Nina on the hit TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), We Were Soldiers (2002) and Detroit: Become Human (2018). Simbi was married to Cress Williams, but the couple have since been divorced having 2 children.- A veteran actress, Lynn, a native of Yazoo City, Mississippi, made her film debut in Shadows (1958) directed by John Cassavetes. She may be best known for her role as "Donna Harris", a licensed practical nurse and girlfriend of Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son (1972), from 1972-77. Hamilton also had a recurring role as "Verdie" on The Waltons (1972), and made numerous appearances on such television sitcoms, soap operas and miniseries, including Dangerous Women (1991), 227 (1985), Generations (1989), Port Charles (1997), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), and The Golden Girls (1985).