Trending
Popular people
Yutaka Sado
Biography
Yutaka Sado (佐渡 裕, Sado Yutaka, born 13 May 1961 in Kyoto) is a Japanese conductor.
While still in school, Sado obtained a position in the Kansai Nikikai, a Japanese school of opera, where he had the opportunity to work with the New Japan Philharmonic and the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, learning operatic repertoire. In 1987, he traveled to the United States to attend the Tanglewood Music Festival, where he studied with Seiji Ozawa. Later he won the Davidoff Special Prize for a competition in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He returned to Japan as an assistant to Ozawa and made his debut with the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo with a Haydn symphony series. He later studied with Charles Dutoit, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Leonard Bernstein, with whom he toured the Soviet Union and Germany.
Sado won first prize and became the third Japanese winner (after Seiji Ozawa in 1959 and Yoko Matsuo in 1982) at the 39th annual International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon, France in 1989. In 1990, he became a regular participant in the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, along with Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas. Sado also serves as artistic director and artistic advisor of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center and principal conductor of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra which he helped establish in 2005. Sado also is chief conductor of the Siena Wind Orchestra in Japan.
Outside Japan, Sado was principal conductor of the Orchestre Lamoureux from 1993 to 2011. He recorded with the Orchestre Lamoureux for such labels as Erato. In October 1995, Sado was named the winner of the first Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Music Competition. In 2011, he conducted Beethoven's 9th symphony, with 10,000 Japanese people, for the victims of the 2011 Japanese earthquake. In November 2013, the Tonkünstler Orchestra announced the appointment of Sado as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2015–2016 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. Sado is scheduled to conclude his tenure with the Tonkünstler Orchestra at the close of the 2024-2025 season.
Source: Article "Yutaka Sado" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more
Ken Blackwell
Biography
John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician, author, and conservative activist who served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–80), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–99), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007). He was the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio in 2006, the first African-American major-party candidate for governor of Ohio. He is currently a Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment with The Family Research Council. He currently sits as Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the Council For National Policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Read more
Ziggy Marley
Biography
David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley (born 17 October 1968) is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is the son of reggae icon Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He led the family band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers until 2002, with whom he released eight studio albums. After the disbandment, Ziggy launched a successful solo career by having released eight solo studio albums on his own record company, Tuff Gong Worldwide. Ziggy continues his father’s heritage to record and self-release all of his music. Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner and a Daytime Emmy Award recipient.
Read more
Challen Cates
Biography
Challen Michelle Cates (born January 26, 1966) is an American independent film producer and actress best known for portraying Mrs. Knight on the TV series, Big Time Rush. As of 2007, she has been the executive producer of two American independent films A Fare To Remember (1998) and The A-List (2001). In addition to producing, she's also playing the main character in both movies. In 2003, she also played the lead female role in the independent movie They Would Love You In France.
Since the beginning of 2000, she has also appeared in minor roles in several television series Cybill, Roseanne, Diagnosis: Murder, Monk, CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives and others. In 2007, she had a part in the TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning. She has a supporting role in the Nickelodeon original series Big Time Rush. Cates has also appeared in 4 Big Time Rush movies such as Big Time Audition, Big Time Concert, Big Time Christmas, and Big Time Beach Party. In Big Time Rush, Cates was only referred to as Mrs. Knight or "Momma Knight" but in Big Time Moms it was revealed that her first named was Jennifer, or Jen.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Read more
Farley Mowat
Biography
Farley McGill Mowat, OC (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian north, such as People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). The latter, an account of his experiences with wolves in the Arctic, was made into a film of the same name released in 1983. For his body of work as a writer he won the annual Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970.
Read more
Gabriel Weisz Carrington
Biography
Gabriel Weisz Carrington is a poet, playwright, theatre researcher and comparative literature researcher. He collaborated with Leonora Carrington in a few creative endeavours; a joint project with the Dark Book, building sets for theatre, cinema and assisting Leonora with a few sculptures. He is the first-born son of Leonora.
He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, an M.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Dramatic Literature and Theater, all from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He completed a Doctoral Program in Representation Studies at Columbia and New York Universities. Member of the National System of Researchers. Professor and researcher for more than thirty years at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Obtained the Fulbright scholarship for researchers in 2003, that same year he received the Gabino Barreda medal for his master's and doctoral studies. Member of institutions such as the Association of Linguistics and Philology of Latin America, the Mexican Association of Theatrical Research and the Association of Professors and Researchers of the Universidad Iberoamericana. His research interests include ethnology, of which he has been interested in shamanism, political science, post-structuralism and comparative literature.
Read more
Kaali Venkat
Biography
Kaali Venkat is a Tamil actor who mainly plays supporting roles in films. The first film Venkat acted was also by Vijay Prabhakaran, Thasaiyinai Thee Sudinum. The film failed to release but Venkat decided to keep his character name in it, Kaali, as his screen name after everything on the set was calling him by that name. He then acted in various short films made for the Kalaignar TV show Naalaya Iyakkunar and won the Best Actor in a Series Award in Season 3 of the show. After a series of small roles in various feature films, he first gained attention with his role in the action drama Thadaiyara Thaakka. The short films fetched him small roles in bigger projects like Kalakalappu and Udhayam NH4. He played a substantial role in mystery thriller Thegidi, which went on to become a sleeper hit and Venkat stated that he was flooded with friend requests on Facebook post the film's release.
Read more
Vaishnavi Chaitanya
Biography
Vaishnavi Chaitanya (born January 4, 2001) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu cinema alongside Tamil films. She initially gained recognition through digital series, notably starring in the YouTube web series *The Software DevLOVEper* (2020). She began appearing in feature films with supporting roles in titles such as *Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo* (2020) and her Tamil debut *Valimai* (2022).
Chaitanya transitioned to leading roles in mainstream cinema with the romantic drama *Baby* (2023). For her performance, she received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu and the SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut – Telugu. She subsequently starred in the romantic thriller *Love Me* (2024) and the action comedy *Jack* (2025).
Her slate includes leading roles in the romantic drama *Epic – First Semester* (2026), the Telugu feature *Chichora*, and the Tamil productions *Arya 40* and an untitled project directed by Vignesh Karthik.
Read more
Matthew Chapman
Biography
Matthew Chapman is a journalist, screenwriter, and director. His latest film, "The Ledge," which he wrote and directed, stars Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Terence Howard, and Patrick Wilson. It was shot in Louisiana in spring 2010 and was accepted into the main (U.S. Dramatic) competition at Sundance 2011. Bought by IFC, it will have its theatrical release in the U.S. in early summer. The film deals with an intellectual, personal, and ultimately fatal feud between an atheist and an evangelical Christian.
Matthew Chapman's mother Clare was the daughter of the philosophy professor and author Francis Cornford and poet Frances Cornford (née Darwin), and through his maternal grandmother he is a great-great grandson of Charles Darwin. His father, Cecil Chapman, was the son of the noted physicist and astronomer, Sydney Chapman, responsible for early research on the nature of the ozone layer.
Chapman has written widely on the creation-evolution controversy in the US, particularly the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, in which 11 parents successfully sued the school district to prevent them from reading a required statement aloud in ninth-grade science classes whenever evolution was taught.
He has written and directed six films, written numerous screenplays, had articles published in Harper's magazine, and is the author of two books, "Trials Of The Monkey - An Accidental Memoir" and "40 Days and 40 Nights - Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, OxyContin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania" He is married to documentary film producer, Denise Dummont, with whom he has a daughter, Anna Bella Charles Darwin Teixeira Chapman, and a stepson, Diogo Marzo.
Matthew Chapman founded Science Debate 2008 (now simply Science Debate). His co-founders were fellow screenwriter Shawn Lawrence Otto, CEO of the organization, science writer Chris Mooney, marine biologist and science blogger Sheril Kirshenbaum, noted physicist Lawrence Krauss, and philosopher Austin Dacey. The organization was formed to pressure the presidential candidates to hold a debate on science and technology issues. Almost 40,000 people signed onto the website ScienceDebate2008.com in support of the idea, including many Nobel laureates, hundreds of universities, university presidents, dozens of science publications, business leaders and innovators, and practically every major science organization in America. Although the candidates did not agree to the two televised debates proposed by Science Debate 2008, both Obama and McCain did participate in an online written version, providing detailed responses to the "14 Top Science Questions Facing America," a list suggested by the organization's members. Several of the earliest supporters of Science Debate are now in the Obama administration, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, NOAA Director Jane Lubchenco, and Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren. The organization continues to advocate for more discussion of science in public life, is expanding into education, and intends to hold debates in the mid-terms and in 2012 while developing a greater international profile. Debates modeled on the Science Debate initiative either have or will take place in Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Matthew Chapman remains its President.
Matthew Chapman currently lives in New York.
Read more
Tahar Hannache
Biography
Tahar Hannache (in Arabic: طاهر حناش), whose real name is Tahar Ben Kouider Belhannache, is an Algerian actor, director, director of photography and screenwriter, born on November 26, 1898 in Constantine. He is considered the pioneer of Algerian cinema.
Tahar Hannache, at the age of ten or eleven, discovered the films of Charlie Chaplin. Fascinated, his passion for cinema grew and he became a regular at the ciné-bus, and at the new cinema in Constantine, the Nunez, where he dissected and analyzed the films that he had often seen several times.
Later, his father went bankrupt and died shortly after. Deeply affected by this loss, Tahar Hannache, who was called up for French military service, was demobilized in 1920 in France. One day, he visited a legendary Parisian film studio, a director who was looking for Arab faces, noticed him and hired him. Then, Tahar seized all the opportunities that came his way, exercising several cinematographic professions, from director of photography to assistant director, cameraman, and played important roles as an actor.
In 1938, Tahar Hannache created his own production company called Taha Film and signed his first personal production Aux Portes du Sahara.
At the end of the Second World War, his reputation as a talented director of photography grew, but the German occupation of France slowed down film production. He was recalled to the Free French Forces and the Allied Army in Casablanca from 1942 to 1945. During this period, he worked in the audiovisual division of the army. He filmed many military parades, dozens of important news reports and documented historical events. After the end of the war, in 1942, he was issued a filmmaker's card under the number 7951 and became the first Arab and African to be granted a professional filmmaker's card.
In 1952, Tahar Hannache directed Les Plongeurs Du Désert with the poet and actor Himoud Brahimi, which would be considered the first entirely Algerian production. The film was destroyed, and the poet Jean Sénac would say: "Do we know that the film Les Plongeurs Du Désert was boycotted under the pretext that it was entirely financed, directed and played by "natives"".
In 1956, he married at the age of 58, and had four daughters. The same year, French Radio and Television was created in Algeria. Tahar Hannache was integrated, he was in charge of supervising the Algerian team. He opened the door to many important names of the future independent Algerian cinema, and sent some of his team abroad to study in cinema institutes. After independence in 1962, he contributed with others to ensure the continuation of television broadcasting during the transition from RTF to the brand new Algerian Radio and Television, and to ensure the continuity of programs that will never be interrupted. At that time, he was responsible for audiovisual production, a decisive period for the construction of Algerian cinema.
Tahar Hannache, who worked and participated in more than 80 films during his life, died on August 1, 1972, at the hospital of Médéa. He rests in the El Alia cemetery in Algiers.
Read more
