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Jon Favreau

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Jonathan Edward Favreau (born June 2, 1981) is an American political commentator, podcaster, and the former director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama. Favreau attended the College of the Holy Cross, where he took part in and/or directed numerous community and civic programs. He also accumulated numerous scholastic honors before graduating as valedictorian. After graduation, he went to work for the John Kerry presidential campaign in 2004, working to collect talk radio news for the campaign and was promoted to the role of Deputy Speechwriter. Favreau first met Barack Obama, then a state Senator from Illinois, while working on the Kerry campaign. In 2005, Obama's communications director Robert Gibbs recommended Favreau to Obama as a speechwriter.[8] Favreau was hired as Obama's speechwriter shortly after Obama's election to the United States Senate. Obama and Favreau grew close, and Obama referred to him as his "mind reader." He went on the campaign trail with Obama during his successful presidential election campaign. In 2009, he was named to the White House staff as Director of Speechwriting. In January 2017, he co-founded liberal media company Crooked Media with fellow former Obama staffers Tommy Vietor and Jon Lovett, and began co-hosting the political podcast Pod Save America with Vietor, Lovett and Dan Pfeiffer.
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Sean Connery

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Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 - October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer who won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award. Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again), between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000). Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a 2011 EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He received a lifetime achievement award in the United States with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama. On October 31, 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90.
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Gene Lockhart

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Edwin Eugene Lockhart (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957) was a Canadian-American character actor, singer, and playwright. He also wrote the lyrics to a number of popular songs. He became a United States citizen in 1939. Born in London, Ontario, the son of John Coats Lockhart and Ellen Mary (née Delaney) Lockhart, he made his professional debut at the age of six when he appeared with the Kilties Band of Canada. He later appeared in sketches with Beatrice Lillie. Lockhart is mostly remembered for his film work. He made his film debut in the 1922 version of Smilin' Through, as the Rector, but did not make his sound debut until 1934 in the film By Your Leave, where he played the playboy Skeets. Lockhart subsequently appeared in more than 300 motion pictures. He often played villains, including a role as the treacherous informant Regis in Algiers, the American remake of Pepe le Moko, which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also played the suspicious Georges de la Trémouille, the Dauphin's chief counselor, in the famous 1948 film Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman. He had a great succession of "good guy" supporting roles including Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938) and the judge in Miracle on 34th Street (1947).
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Kazushige Nojima

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Kazushige Nojima (野島 一成, Nojima Kazushige; born January 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for writing several installments of Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise—namely Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs Advent Children and Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X and X-2—in addition to the Kingdom Hearts series,[1] the Glory of Heracles series, and the story to the Subspace Emissary mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nojima also wrote the original lyrics of "Liberi Fatali" for Final Fantasy VIII and both "Suteki da Ne" and the "Hymn of the Fayth" for Final Fantasy X, as well as "No Promises to Keep" for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. He is also the founder of Stellavista Ltd. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kazushige Nojima, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Rudy Vallee

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Rudy Vallee started his career as a saxophone player and singer and later became a band leader. In the 1920s and early 30s he had a hit radio program, The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour (where he was hated by his cast and crew due to his explosive ego-driven personality). In the early 1930's he was ranked with the likes of Bing Crosby and the tragic Russ Columbo in the Hit Parade. A huge hit on radio in 1933 with his program, initially known as 'The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour,' Vallee was considered a slave driver by his staff. He was known to instigate fist fights with virtually anyone who got on his nerves. During the run of his show he slugged photographers, threw sheet music in the faces of pianists' heads and if provoked, would sock hecklers in the nose. While audiences loved him, he was hated by most of his staff. As a very popular star in night clubs and on records, as well as in movies, he helped other singers like Alice Faye - who was for a while his band singer - and Frances Langford to start their careers. In his early movies he often played the romantic lead, but he switched later to stuffy and comic parts. He also appeared on Broadway. The mid-60's Broadway hit "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" was filmed in 1967 with him in his original Broadway role.
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Yu Chengen

Biography

Yu Chengen (余承恩) is a Chinese actor and performer born on September 21, 1998, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. He is a ballet major at the Central Academy of Drama and a trainee under Easyplus Entertainment, showcasing a foundation in both acting and dance. Yu gained public attention as a contestant on the Chinese survival show Produce Camp 2019, and later solidified his presence in the entertainment industry with roles in popular dramas such as Go Go Squid!, Twisted Fate of Love, Love Like the Galaxy, and Coroner’s Diary.
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Bob Markell

Biography

Robert Joseph Markell (April 12, 1924 - January 25, 2020) was an artist, engineer, and award-winning television producer and art director of television series, movies and mini-series. Robert Markell was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 12, 1924. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1944 and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts in 1965 from Northeastern University. After college, Markell worked for the Grumman Aircraft Company in 1944-1946 as a civil engineer and architect in Boston until 1948. In 1948, he became a student at the Art Students League in New York City. Markell began his film career as a scenic designer at CBS-TV, where he worked from 1949 to 1959. During that time, he also had the opportunities to take on art director roles, one of which landed him an Emmy. From 1959 to 1960, he was the associate producer for Playhouse 90. He moved on to produce the classic TV courtroom drama The Defenders during the years 1961–65, winning two Emmy awards. Between 1967 and 1969, he produced the popular television show NYPD, starring Jack Warden, Robert Hooks and Frank Converse. NYPD featured one of the earliest performances by Al Pacino, who guest starred as a bigoted southerner. In 1973, he became the executive producer of dramatic programs for CBS-TV. Markell received Emmy awards in 1954, 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1976, and the Screen Producers Guild Award in 1962 and 1963. "We were free to do anything we wanted, to say anything we wanted. And we weren't afraid of being fired or anything like that. We kind of knew our limits so we weren't that extravagant. The Golden Age of Television was an age where everybody was learning. There were no experts, so there was nobody to tell us what to do." -Bob Markell
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James Horan

Biography

James Horan is an American actor and voice artist, born on December 14, 1954, in Louisville, Kentucky. He began his career in theater while studying at Centre College, later earning a master's degree in acting from the University of Iowa. Horan gained early recognition in soap operas, with roles on “Guiding Light,” “General Hospital,” “All My Children,” and “Loving.” He is widely recognized for his guest appearances on four different Star Trek series, including a recurring role as “Future Guy” on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Outside of television, Horan has performed supporting roles in films such as “Flags of Our Fathers” and “The Changeling,” working with Clint Eastwood. As a prolific voice artist, he has contributed to over eighty video games, notably voicing Skull Face in “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” and Wheeljack in “Transformers: Prime.” He remains active in theater and is married to Stefania Bronzoni, whom he met at a Star Trek convention in Italy in 2004.
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Dharmendra

Biography

Dharmendra Singh Deol known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Legendary Hindi film star who has appeared in more than 200 Hindi-language films. In 1997 he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema. He is regarded as the Undisputed "Action King" of Hindi cinema having starred in numerous action blockbusters and is greatly considered a Living legend. He is father of notable actors Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Esha Deol. He was the Main lead of the all-time Blockbuster film, Sholay and also went on to star in numerous successful Bollywood films cutting across four remarkable decades. Dharmendra has thus established himself as one of the most prominent figures of the Hindi film industry
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Richard Gilliland

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Richard Gilliland (born January 23, 1950) is an American television and movie actor. Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He appeared onscreen in the 1970s. Notable appearances include Thirtysomething, Party of Five, Little Women, and a recurring role on Designing Women (where he met his wife Jean Smart, who starred as Charlene in that series). The couple has one son, Connor. Richard recently played Ellis Kapp on The Unit and Captain Stan Cotter on 24 while his wife Jean Smart played the First Lady Martha Logan in season 5. (He was in episode 2:00am to 3:00am). Gilliland is best friends with actor Joe Mantegna. Gilliland is also very active in the theatre. Recent credits include Balancing Act, with Yeardley Smith and I Remember You, with Tony Danza; both at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre. He studied at the Goodman School of Drama, Playwright's Kitchen Ensemble and spent four seasons at summer stock. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Gilliland, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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