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René Depestre
Biography
René Depestre (born 29 August 1926, Jacmel, Haiti) is a Haitian poet and former communist activist. He is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. He lived in Cuba as an exile from the Duvalier regime for many years and was a founder of the Casa de las Américas publishing house. He is best known for his poetry.
He did his primary studies with the Breton Brothers of Christian Instruction. His father died in 1936, and René Depestre left his mother, his two brothers and his two sisters to go live with his maternal grandmother. From 1940 to 1944, he completed his secondary studies at the Pétion college in Port-au-Prince. His birthplace is often evoked in his poetry and his novels, in particular Hadriana in All My Dreams (1988).
Étincelles (Sparks), his first collection of poetry, appeared in 1945, prefaced by Edris Saint-Amand. He was only nineteen years old when the work was published. The poems were influenced by the marvelous realism of Alejo Carpentier, who planned a conference on this subject in Haiti in 1942. Depestre created a weekly magazine with three friends: Baker, Alexis, and Gérald Bloncourt: The Hive (1945–46). “One wanted to help the Haitians to become aware of their capacity to renew the historical foundations of their identity” (quote from Le métier à métisser). The Haitian government at the time seized the 1945 edition which was published in honor of André Breton, which led to the insurrection of 1946. Depestre met with all his Haitian intellectual contemporaries, including Jean Price-Mars, Léon Laleau, and René Bélance, who wrote the preface to his second collection, Gerbe de sang, in 1946. He also met with foreign intellectuals. He took part in and directed the revolutionary student movements of January 1946, which led to the overthrow of President Élie Lescot. The Army very quickly seized power, and Depestre was arrested and imprisoned before being exiled. He pursued his studies in letters and political science at the Sorbonne from 1946 - 1950. In Paris, he met French surrealist poets as well as foreign artists, and intellectuals of the négritude (Black) movement who coalesced around Alioune Diop and Présence Africaine.
Depestre took an active part in the decolonization movements in France, and he was expelled from French territory. He left for Prague, from where he was driven out in 1952. He went to Cuba, invited by the writer Nicolás Guillén, where again he was stopped and expelled by the government of Fulgencio Batista. He was denied entry by France and Italy. He left for Austria, then Chile, Argentina and Brazil. He remained in Chile long enough to organize, with Pablo Neruda and Jorge Amado, the Continental Congress of Culture. ...
Source: Article "René Depestre" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Aaron Tveit
Biography
Aaron Kyle Tveit (born October 21, 1983) is an American actor and singer. Tveit originated the lead role of Christian in the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge! on Broadway, a performance for which he won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and received a 2020 Grammy Award nomination. His other work on the Broadway stage includes originating the roles of Gabe in Next to Normal and Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can, as well as performing the roles of Fiyero in Wicked and Link Larkin in Hairspray.
Tveit has also portrayed several musical theatre roles on screen, such as Enjolras in the film adaptation of Les Misérables (2012), as well as Danny Zuko in Fox's Grease: Live (2016). Tveit is also known for his work in television, including the roles of Gareth Ritter on BrainDead, Tripp van der Bilt on Gossip Girl, Mike Warren on Graceland, and Danny Bailey in Schmigadoon!.
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Christine La Monte
Biography
CHRISTINE LA MONTE, producer/director/writer and former film marketing executive at Universal, Disney and Orion, is founder of La Monte Productions where current projects on the festival circuit include two Italian feature documentaries: AI WEIWEI’S TURANDOT, an Italian/US co-production with her producing partner Marta Zaccaron's Incipit Film and La Monte Productions, with Julian Lennon and Marcie Polier serving as Executive Producers and Andy Cohen as producer, the film follows Ai Weiwei as he makes his operatic directorial debut at the Rome Opera House, bringing his activist/artistic vision to Puccini’s Turandot; and VIVA VERDI!, which she is producing/writing with producing partner and director, Yvonne Russo, about Casa Verdi in Milan, the home for retired opera singers built by Giuseppe Verdi in 1896. In post production is FIGLI DEL FIUME / CHILDREN OF THE RIVER, three men in search of meaning find their ancestral roots along Italy’s Po River, and JUSTICE DEFERRED, a feature film in development based on Len Williams’ critically acclaimed legal thriller book is in development. La Monte produced the Palm Springs International Film Festival Audience Award-winning short film, DANDELION DHARMA; the Gary Goldstein scripted play, “Three Grooms & A Bride,” and the syndicated television talk show, "Marilou" starring Marilu Henner. Her directing credits include the Screen Actors Guild’s “A Heart United” with Sharon Lawrence and Jo Beth Williams, and “The Angina Monologues” with Brenda Strong. La Monte spent over 6 years at the public relations/marketing firm, Rogers & Cowan as the Executive Vice President of the Motion Picture Group; as an international strategic marketer, she worked at Italian studio, CineCittá in Rome, and served as Marketing Executive, at TV 3 New Zealand, while living in Auckland. A long-time member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, La Monte is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Alliance of Women Directors. She is a past faculty member of New York's School of Visual Arts where she initiated the Dusty Awards, an annual festival of student short films and awards ceremony. She is on the Advisory Board of LA-based SEEfest, and is a frequent guest speaker/panelist at independent filmmaking events, including USC, UCLA and New York Film Academy; she has been the Chair of the Humanitas Awards jury panel for the past several years. With US/Italian dual citizenship, she divides her time between Los Angeles and Rome.
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Seth Morris
Biography
Seth Morris (born May 21, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and writer known for his recurring roles on programs such as Go On, Happy Endings, The Hotwives of Orlando, The League, Kroll Show, and Childrens Hospital.
Morris started a career in comedy after moving to New York City, performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) as an improviser and sketch comedian. He later moved to Los Angeles and became the first Artistic Director of the theater's Los Angeles division for many years and was a member of the four-man sketch group "The Naked Babies" with comedians Rob Corddry, Brian Huskey, and John Ross Bowie. After stepping down from that position, he started out as the first staff writer hired by Funny or Die.
He wrote and appeared with a recurring role on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital. Morris also recurred as Scotty on the ABC comedy series Happy Endings and as Danny on the NBC comedy series Go On. Other programs Morris appeared in regularly included Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the HBO sketch series Funny or Die Presents, and the MTV prank show Damage Control.
Morris has also made numerous guest appearances on comedy programs such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Parks and Recreation, The League, Reno 911!, Crossballs, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Maron, How I Met Your Mother, Broad City, Big Lake, Human Giant, and Nick Swardson's Pretend Time. He has appeared in films such as The Dictator, Step Brothers, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, and I Love You, Man. In 2012, Morris starred in the comedic web series First Dates with Toby Harris, produced by Yahoo! and Funny or Die.
Morris is a frequent writer and director for the humor website Funny Or Die. He is also known for his regular appearances on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast and television series, most often playing Bob Ducca, the hypochondriac ex-stepfather of host Scott Aukerman. Morris also hosted his own podcast on the Earwolf podcasting network, Affirmation Nation with Bob Ducca, which debuted in 2011, ran for 144 episodes, and stopped airing on February 29, 2012. As of October 1, 2014, Affirmation Nation released its first of a new run of episodes. However, on May 6, 2015, he published the last episode of Affirmation Nation. He wrote for the Comedy Central sketch series Kroll Show. Morris has also costarred in the Hulu series The Hotwives of Orlando.
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Addison Rae
Biography
Addison Rae Easterling (born October 6, 2000) is an American social media personality, actress and singer. In August 2020, she was ranked as the highest-earning TikTok personality by Forbes. In 2021, Addison Rae made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for social media influencers, and made her acting debut in the Netflix original movie “He’s All That”. In 2023, Rae signed a publishing deal with Atlantic Records and released her debut self-titled EP, and made her theatrical debut in the horror movie “Thanksgiving”, playing Gabriella.
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Clayton Moore
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949–1951 and 1954–1957 on the television series of the same name and two related movies from the same producers.
In 1949, Moore's work in the Ghost of Zorro serial drew the attention of George Trendle, co-creator and producer of a popular radio series titled The Lone Ranger. The series' running plot involved the exploits of a mysterious former Texas Ranger, the sole survivor of a six-Ranger posse ambushed by a gang of outlaws, who roamed the West with his Indian companion Tonto to battle evil and help the downtrodden. When Trendle brought the radio program to television, Moore landed the title role. With the "March of the Swiss Soldiers" finale from Rossini's William Tell overture as their theme music, Moore and co-star Jay Silverheels made history as the stars of the first Western written specifically for television. The Lone Ranger soon became the highest-rated program to that point on the fledgling ABC network and its first true hit. It earned an Emmy Award nomination in 1950.
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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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Jack Whitehall
Biography
Jack Whitehall is an English comedian, television presenter, actor and writer. He is best known for his stand up comedy, for starring as JP in the TV series Fresh Meat (2011–2016), and for playing Alfie Wickers in the TV series Bad Education (2012–2014) and the spin-off film The Bad Education Movie (2015), both of which he also co-wrote. He has also starred in Frozen in the role of Gothi the Troll. From 2012 to 2018, Whitehall was a regular panellist on the game show A League of Their Own. In 2017, Whitehall appeared with his father, Michael, in the Netflix comedy documentary series Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father and starred in the television series Decline and Fall. Since 2018, Whitehall has been the host of the BRIT Awards.
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Vignesh Shivan
Biography
Vignesh Shivan is an Indian film director, actor and lyric writer who works in Tamil cinema. He has been regularly associated in projects involving Silambarasan, Dhanush and Anirudh Ravichander, as well as helming independent music videos.
Vignesh Shivan made a short film and after getting Dharan to compose music for it; showed the film to producers, Gemini Film Circuit, and then to his childhood friend, Silambarasan and both parties agreed to collaborate to make it a feature film titled Podaa Podi (2012).
His second film, Naanum Rowdydhaan (2015), like his first film, went through several changes of cast and production studios, before finalising on Vijay Sethupathi and Nayantara as actors and Dhanush as producer. The film, for which he drew inspiration from the lives of his parents, opened to highly positive reviews in October 2015.
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Joel Dorn
Biography
Joel Dorn (April 7, 1942 – December 17, 2007) was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels. He called himself "The Masked Announcer".
Artists he worked with included: Roberta Flack, Max Roach, Bette Midler, The Allman Brothers Band, Peter Allen, Yusef Lateef, Willy DeVille, the Neville Brothers, Herbie Mann, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Mose Allison, Leon Redbone, Jimmy Scott and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Dorn won two Grammy Awards:
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack, 1972 Record of the Year
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack, 1973 Record of the Year
Dorn died from a heart attack in 2007. His son, Adam Dorn, is a musician working under the name Mocean Worker.
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