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Rupert Friend
Biography
Rupert William Anthony Friend (born October 1981) is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in The Libertine (2004) and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), winning him awards for best newcomer. He portrayed George Wickham in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), Albert, Prince Consort in The Young Victoria (2009), psychologist Oliver Baumer in Starred Up (2013), CIA operative Peter Quinn in the political thriller series Homeland (2012–2017), Vasily Stalin in The Death of Stalin (2017), Theo van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate (2018), and Ernest Donovan in the series Strange Angel (2018–2019).
In the early 2020s, Friend began collaborating with director Wes Anderson, starting with a cameo in The French Dispatch (2021), followed by roles in Asteroid City (2023) and the Netflix short films The Swan and The Rat Catcher. In 2022, he starred as disgraced British politician James Whitehouse in Anatomy of a Scandal and featured in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi as the Grand Inquisitor.
Friend is the director, screenwriter or producer of two award-winning short films: The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2008) and Steve (2010). He wrote lyrics for the Kairos 4Tet 2013 album Everything We Hold.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Rupert Friend, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Nicholas Hamilton
Biography
Nicholas has worked constantly throughout his teens. He plays Henry Bowers in horror remake "IT", based on the acclaimed Stephen King novel and also appears in "The Dark Tower", starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba. Other feature credits include Captain Fantastic, from director Matt Ross, opposite Viggo Mortensen, which had outings at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals and received a Nomination for Best Ensemble in a Feature Film at 2017's SAG Awards; and Strangerland from director Kim Farrant, opposite Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving and Joseph Fiennes.
Nicholas first came to industry attention with the lead role in the short film Time for which he received a Best Male Actor Award at the 2013 Tropfest Short Film Festival.
Other credits to date include guest leads in Wanted and Mako Mermaids and the short films Letter to Annabelle, Jack Rabbit, The Boy Who Stole the Belltower and Gifted.
He is represented by WME, 3 Arts, and Catherine Poulton in Australia.
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Shigeko Kubota
Biography
Shigeko Kubota was a Japanese video artist, sculptor and avant-garde performance artist, who mostly lived in New York City. She was one of the first artists to adopt the portable video camera Sony Portapak in 1967. Kubota is known for constructing sculptural installations with a strong DIY aesthetic, which include sculptures with embedded monitors playing her original videos. She was a key member and influence on Fluxus, the international group of avant-garde artists centered on George Maciunas, having been involved with the group since witnessing John Cage perform in Tokyo in 1962 and subsequently moving to New York in 1964. She was closely associated with George Brecht, Jackson Mac Low, John Cage, Joe Jones, Nam June Paik, and Ay-O, other members of Fluxus. Kubota was deemed "Vice Chairman" of the Fluxus Organization by Maciunas.
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Nancy Becker
Biography
s an American professional wrestler working under the ring name of Annie Social. She has worked for the promotions Juggalo Championship Wrestling, Women Superstars Underground, IWA Mid-South and Women's Extreme Wrestling among others. Becker broke into the wrestling business in 2002. A promoter for Women's Extreme Wrestling found her at a bar she worked at in Center City (Philadelphia) and asked her if she wanted to oil wrestle. She started training in Pro Wrestling at PWU's Animal House with Trent Acid, Gary Wolfe and Mike Kehner.
GLOOW aka DWOW
Joined the promotion as Casey and later changed her name to Annie Social.
Naked Women's Wrestling League
Social debuted in the Naked Women's Wrestling League in 2006, at their Naked Revolution pay-per-view. In 2008, she was challenged by adult film actress Trina Michaels.
Women Superstars Uncensored (2007)
She debuted in Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) on December 22, 2007 in a losing match against Alexa Thatcher. Later in the night she wrestled against Alere Little Feather but their match went to a No Contest. In early 2008 she teamed with Roxie Cotton forming the Beatdown Betties, accompanied to the ring by Rick Cataldo. On October 11, 2008 they took part in a Tag Team Tournament to declare the first WSU Tag Team Champions. In the first round they defeated the team of Melissa Coates and Trixxie Lynn. They also defeated the team of Miss April and Malia Hosaka. In the final round they defeated Amy Lee and Missy Sampson to became the first ever WSU Tag Team Champions. She debuted as part of the first Show where she was able to score an easy pinfall over the Canadian Mary Lollipop. As part of the second show she was able to defeat Amber, a former wrestler for WSU. In the third show she was able to score two win against Mia Yim and Autumn Breeze. On January 9, 2010 Annie Social defeated Sumie Sakai in a match that also saw involved the D-Factor. She had her first title match against Sara Del Rey for the JAPW Women's Championship at Notorious Thunder on May 22, 2010 due to her undefeated streak. However she suffered her first loss and wasn't able to win the title.
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Bertrand Roche
Biography
Bertrand Roche, better known by his nicknames Zébulon or Zeb, is a French mountaineer, high-mountain guide, and paraglider pilot born on March 4, 1973. A major figure in free flight and Himalayan mountaineering, he made a name for himself at a very young age through ascents and high-altitude paragliding flights that have left their mark on mountaineering history.
From a deeply mountainous background, Bertrand grew up alongside his father, Jean-Noël "Pap's" Roche, a renowned mountaineer and paraglider pilot, with whom he discovered mountaineering, ski touring, and paragliding at a very young age. At 11, he had already reached the summit of Mont Blanc, then quickly followed up with other major climbs, demonstrating an early adventurous spirit always on the move, hence his nickname, Zébulon.
As a teenager, he undertook numerous expeditions: ski touring across the Alps, exploring great walls like the Nose on El Capitan, and his first major trips to the Himalayas. In 1990, at just 17, he climbed Everest with his father, becoming one of the youngest mountaineers to reach the summit of the world, making a lasting impression with this family ascent, which received extensive media coverage. A few years later, he also distinguished himself in competition, winning a national title in ski mountaineering and joining the French paragliding team, which allowed him to participate in major international competitions in the sport.
Passionate about free flight, Bertrand simultaneously developed a career as a mountain professional: he became a high-mountain guide, a state-certified paragliding instructor, and a versatile pilot (paraglider, microlight, helicopter, airplane). He specializes in expeditions combining technical ascents and tandem paragliding descents, linking high-altitude flights over major peaks: Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Denali/McKinley, Elbrus, Vinson, Everest, and Kosciuszko, completing the "Seven Summits" project with his then-partner, also using paragliding as a starting point.
Over the years, Zeb has achieved several firsts and records, notably the first tandem paragliding takeoff from the summit of Everest with Claire Bernier in 2001, after having already completed a historic flight from the South Col with his father. He also remains the only Frenchman to have climbed Everest from both sides, Nepalese and Tibetan, confirming his reputation as a specialist in challenging high-altitude expeditions.
In the 2010s, he joined an adventure team for a major paragliding brand, continuing his expeditions and technical flights on prestigious peaks such as Ama Dablam, where he achieved a particularly remarkable tandem high-altitude takeoff. In parallel, he developed guiding activities, courses, and seminars through his company Antipodes, offering adventure trips and mountain and flying experiences around the world.
With his partner, the guide and climbing champion Liv Sansoz, they embark on high-level mountaineering and flying projects, sharing a common vision of adventure and pushing their limits. In July 2024, they successfully climbed K2 without oxygen before taking off from the summit in a tandem paraglider, achieving the first ever tandem flight from this peak and thus entering the history of mountaineering and free flight.
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Ere Kokkonen
Biography
Erkki Olavi "Ere" Kokkonen (7 July 1938 – 16 October 2008), born in Savonlinna, was a Finnish film director and screenwriter.
He worked closely with Spede Pasanen all the way from the 1960s until Spede's death, as a director, writer and also an actor. Kokkonen's feature film debut was Millipilleri (1966), co-directed with Spede Pasanen and Jukka Virtanen.
In later decades, when Turhapuro films were made less frequently, Kokkonen scripted and directed the Vääpeli Körmy series of films His career as a director also includes filming of Arto Paasilinna's books, including The Ten Graters and A Charming Mass Suicide.
Kokkonen worked for both YLE and MTV3, where he served as entertainment director from 1974 to 1984. Kokkonen was the founder of the Comedy Theater Arena in 1995. He was the theatre's artistic director, director and screenwriter for most of the theater's performances. His wife Anna-Maija Kokkonen is the CEO of Arena. With his ex-wife Titta Jokinen, Kokkonen has daughter Kiti Kokkonen who is an actress.
In 1991 Ere Kokkonen founded a film production company, Ere Kokkonen Oy, which is still working.
In 2007 he wrote his memoirs, titled Memories return in Fragments.
Kokkonen died at the age of 70 in 2008 after a prolonged illness.
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Sean Connery
Biography
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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Emil Horváth
Biography
prof. Emil Horváth (* November 12, 1945, Nitra) is a Slovak actor, director and theater teacher. Son of actor Emil Jozef Horváth, husband of actress Viera Richterová.
He graduated in acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 1968. He was a member of the SNP Theater in Martin (1968 - 1976), then the New Stage in Bratislava (1976 - 1983). Since 1983, he has been a member of the Drama of the Slovak National Theater, where he has played a number of characters.
In recent years, she has also directed (Caligula, Theatrical Comedy, Crazy Day, The Fourth Sister). As a director, he is also a guest at the West Theater in Bratislava (You Still Have Me, Darling, Inspector Drake and Perfect Crime), at the Andrej Bagar Theater in Nitra (… and I'm also a loser, Sylvia) and the State Theater Košice (Jožko Púčik and his career). He has starred in many films and television productions (Demeter, How Vinco Caught) and series (American Tragedy, 30 cases of Major Zeman). He co-directed two television films Still Two Farce… (1998) and The Torturous Secret (1999).
He lectures on acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he obtained the title of professor in 2005. Since May 2011, he has been the director of the SND drama.
His son Tomáš is a literary scientist, writer and translator.
In 2005, the President of the Slovak Republic awarded him the Council of Ľudovít Štúr II. class for significant merits in the field of cultural development.
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Pope John Paul II
Biography
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa]; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was elected pope by the second papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, died after 33 days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe.
John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. He upheld the Church's teachings on such matters as the right to life, artificial contraception, the ordination of women, and a celibate clergy, and although he supported the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation. He was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 and canonised 483 people, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests.
John Paul II was the second longest-serving pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX. Born in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since the 16th-century Pope Adrian VI. John Paul II's cause for canonisation commenced one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI, and was beatified on 1 May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday) after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributed one miracle to his intercession, the healing of a French nun called Marie Simon Pierre from Parkinson's disease. A second miracle was approved on 2 July 2013, and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later. John Paul II was canonised on 27 April 2014 (again Divine Mercy Sunday), together with Pope John XXIII. On 11 September 2014, Pope Francis added these two optional memorials to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints. It is traditional to celebrate saints' feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, but that of John Paul II (22 October) is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration. Posthumously, he has been referred to by some Catholics as "St. John Paul the Great", although the title has no official recognition.
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Kalju Orro
Biography
Kalju Orro (born March 27, 1952) is an Estonian stage, film and television actor, acting instructor, lecturer, theatre producer, and pedagogue.
Kalju Orro was born in Tartu, where he attended primary and secondary schools. He is a 1970 graduate of Tartu 17 Vocational School. Afterward, he enrolled in the Vanemuine Drama Studios in Tartu, graduating in 1971. In 1972, he enrolled in the Performing Arts Department of Tallinn State Conservatory (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) under instruction of actor and theatre pedagogue Voldemar Panso, graduating in 1976. Among his graduating classmates were Merle Karusoo, Ago-Endrik Kerge, Urmas Kibuspuu, Lembit Peterson, Aare Laanemets, Jüri Krjukov, Anne Paluver, Külliki Tool, Priit Pedajas, Eero Spriit, and Peeter Volkonski.
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