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Rick Copp

Biography

Rick Copp was two years out of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts when he was tapped at 24 years old to become a staff writer on the enormously popular NBC sitcom The Golden Girls in 1988. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for a boy from Bar Harbor, Maine, who grew up dreaming of living underneath the famous Hollywood sign, a dream that became a reality soon after his arrival in Los Angeles. He spent the next fifteen years writing for a wide variety of feature films, television series and animated shows, even occasionally acting in some episodes. In 2001, Rick decided to fulfill another goal and write a mystery novel. He had been playing around with a character named Jarrod Jarvis, a former child star on a hit '80s sitcom called Go to Your Room! who had his very own catch phrase, "Baby, don't even go there!" Jarrod's unbridled curiosity led him to investigate a series of sordid Hollywood murder mysteries in between acting auditions. The first book The Actor's Guide to Murder (Kensington, Nov 2003) was very well received and was followed by two sequels The Actor's Guide to Adultery (Kensington, Nov 2004) and The Actor's Guide to Greed (Kensington, Nov 2005), which was nominated for a LAMBDA Literary Award for Best Mystery. He wrote a stand alone book called Fingerprints & Facelifts (Kensington, July 2007), an homage to his favorite TV series as a child, Charlie's Angels. A crack team of female private investigators known as the LA Dolls, who had a very successful detective business in the late '80s were long retired and living separate lives, but were forced to reunite when someone from their past began targeting their children. Lifetime Television optioned the book for a TV movie and hired Rick to adapt his own novel as a teleplay. Another childhood obsession of Rick's was collecting comic books and he was able to realize yet another dream by writing a graphic novel Celebrity Zombie Killers (Ape Entertainment, March 2010), best described as "a twisted, hilarious mash-up of MTV's The Hills meets 28 Days Later." In 2010, when Rick's sister won an award for her cooking column in their hometown's local paper, he saw an opportunity. He writes mysteries. She writes recipes. Combine the two for a new book series. And the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery series was born. The brother and sister writing team have collaborated under the pen name Lee Hollis on eleven books to date with three more on the way as well as three holiday anthologies. Rick has also created two more new series as Lee Hollis including the first Desert Flowers Mystery, Poppy Harmon Investigates (Kensington, 2018) and the first Maya and Sandra Mystery, Murder at the PTA (Kensington, 2019). He is also the co-creator, producer and star of the hit web series Where the Bears Are (2012-2018), which has been a phenomenal online hit over the past seven years with over 40 million views.
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Julian Gaertner

Biography

Internationally award winning German born actor Julian Gaertner (易宇航) is best known for his television and film appearances in Asia and Europe. Is passionate not only about Langauges and martial arts but also comedy. Gaertner has distinguished himself as a multitalented actor, bringing both superior martial arts and language expertise to films including the TaiChi movie The Way We Dance, Hollywood movies such as Ghost in the Shell or Asian Cinema Chasing the Dragon ( 追龙)on the side of Any Lau and Donnie Yen. A multi-linguist, Gaertner speaks fluently in Mandarin, Cantonese, German, and English, and has been embraced by the Hong Kong entertainment community.
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Riccardo Cocciante

Biography

Riccardo Cocciante (born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the United States as Richard Cocciante, is an Italian and French singer and songwriter. Cocciante was born on 20 February 1946 in Saigon, French Indochina (now Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam), to an Italian father from Rocca di Mezzo, L'Aquila, and a French mother. At the age of 11, he moved to Rome, Italy, where he attended the Lycée français Chateaubriand. He has also lived in France, the United States, and Ireland. Cocciante has been married to Catherine Boutet since 1983. They have one child together. An R&B enthusiast, Cocciante began his musical career as an organ player, and in the late 1960s began performing as a singer at L'Approdo, a Roman club for foreign students. After forming the band GL6 with Marco Luberti and Paolo Casella, in 1971 he started his professional career with the French name Richard Cocciante and recorded three English language songs for the soundtrack of the Carlo Lizzani's film Roma Bene. In 1972, he released his first album, titled MU in Italy and Atlantì in France. After the fair commercial results of his 1973 album Poesia, Cocciante had his breakout one year later with "Bella senz'anima", which turned became a major hit, but was also controversial, being considered sexist and was censored on Italian television. In 1976, he got another number one spot on the Italian hit parade with "Margherita", his signature song. The same year, he covered the Beatles song "Michelle", featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, for the musical documentary All This and World War II, and he released his sole English album in the US, with the single "When Love Has Gone Away" peaking at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1980, Cocciante began a decade-long collaboration with the lyricist Mogol, who had just stopped his professional association with Lucio Battisti; their first hit was "Cervo a primavera". In 1983, Cocciante was the first Italian artist to be signed to Virgin Records, andreleased his album "Sincerità", produced and arranged by the American composer James Newton Howard. Following several more hits, notably the 1985 duet with Mina "Questione di feeling", in 1987 he moved to Florida, and except for a live album he took a long artistic break. Cocciante made his comeback in 1991, winning the 41st edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Se stiamo insieme", and getting a significant success with both the single and the following album Cocciante. In 1994, he recorded an English-language version of his hit song "Pour elle" as a duet with Francesca Bellenis, under the title "I'd Fly", and included it in his album Un Uomo Felice; a Spanish version "Por ella" and an Italian version "Per lei" were also recorded. In 1996, Cocciante was chosen as the singer for the Italian versions of the songs in the Toy Story movie, singing "Un amico in me", "Che strane cose" and "Io non volerò più". In 1997, his friend Plácido Domingo invited him to sing at Domingo's annual Christmas in Vienna concert, together with Sarah Brightman and Helmut Lotti. ... Source: Article "Riccardo Cocciante" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
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Anthony Gaudette

Biography

Anthony Gaudette is an actor and director, known for Code Name: Dynastud (2018), Clown Shank (2014) and Staring Down a Barrel (2019). He's a classically trained actor with over 10 years experience. Born and raised in New Hampshire, Anthony has been involved heavily in a wide array of works in the film and commercial industry. He is best known for lead performances in indie films Code Name Dynastud, Love Without Loss and The Second Life. The first of which earned him a best actor nomination at the Shawna Shea Film festival. Anthony obtained a bachelors degree in film/media studies at Plymouth State University. During this time, he completed two years acting training under teacher Morgan Murphy who heavily utilized the Meisner style of acting. Anthony is drawn to playing emotionally driven characters with complex backgrounds. Reflection and empathy play the biggest parts in his preparation.
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Mel Rodriguez

Biography

Melvin Dimas Rodríguez (born June 12, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for starring as Nurse Patsy de la Serda on the HBO comedy Getting On, as Todd Rodriguez on the Fox comedy The Last Man on Earth, and as Ernie Gomes on the Showtime drama On Becoming a God in Central Florida. He had a recurring role as Marco Pasternak on AMC's Better Call Saul and co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcoms Running Wilde and Enlisted. In 2021, Rodriguez starred in the first season of the crime television series CSI: Vegas. Rodriguez's film roles include Officer Morales in Panic Room (2002), Officer Martinez in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and the voice of Colt Bronco in Onward (2020).
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Martin Horsey

Biography

Martin Horsey had a diverse and accomplished career in the entertainment industry, showcasing his talents as an actor, playwright, producer, screenwriter, and songwriter. He began his acting journey at a young age, captivating audiences on the London stage. However, his portrayal of the iconic character “Artful Dodger” in the original production of Oliver! Brought him widespread recognition and acclaim. Throughout his career, Horsey appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, leaving a lasting impression with his performances. His versatility extended beyond acting as he ventured into songwriting and production work. With a monthly listenership of 12,890 on Spotify, his songs like “Consider Yourself” and “I’d Do Anything” from Oliver! Resonated with audiences. He wrote and produced both TV shows and films, achieving much notoriety (if not his accolades) for such works as Alias in 2001 or offering up an above-the-title billing performance atop Centurion AD: Demons Within, released in 2017. Tragically, Martin Horsey passed away on October 9, 2016, in Ventura, California, leaving behind a legacy of artistic contributions.
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Rami Sebei

Biography

Rami Sebei (Arabic: رامي سبعي) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn. Prior to joining WWE, Sebei wrestled for Ring of Honor under the ring name El Generico, using the character of a luchador from Mexico with the catchphrase "Olé!" He wrestled while masked from his debut in 2002 until 2013. Upon signing with WWE, he began wrestling without a mask and became a one-time world champion in the company by winning the NXT Championship. Sebei achieved much success in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) as a two-time PWG World Champion and five-time World Tag Team Champion. He is the only person to have won both of PWG's annual tournaments, the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament in 2010 and the Battle of Los Angeles in 2011. He has also held the ROH World Television Championship and the ROH World Tag Team Championship as part of a team with Kevin Steen, with whom he later earned the 2010 Feud of the Year award from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He is also a two-time IWS World Heavyweight Champion for the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS). Having wrestled internationally, he won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in Germany and DDT Pro-Wrestling's KO-D Openweight Championship in Japan.
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Ewan McGregor

Biography

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born March 31, 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and charity. While studying drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, McGregor began his career with a leading role in the British series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). He gained international recognition for starring as drug addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting (1996) and as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005). His career progressed with starring roles in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), action film Black Hawk Down (2001), fantasy film Big Fish (2003), and thriller Angels and Demons (2009). He gained praise for his performances in the thriller The Ghost Writer (2010) and romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011). McGregor made his directorial debut with the crime film American Pastoral (2016), in which he also starred. For his dual role as brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of the anthology series Fargo (2017), he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. He voiced Lumière in Beauty and the Beast (2017), and played the title role in Christopher Robin (2018), Dan Torrance in Doctor Sleep (2019), and Black Mask in Birds of Prey (2020). He reprised his role as Kenobi in the 2022 miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of fashion designer Halston in the miniseries Halston (2021). McGregor has also starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–2007) and Othello (2007–2008). He has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004.
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Garry Nation

Biography

Garry Nation is an actor who has arrived only recently to film. Having played numerous roles onstage, often portraying biblical characters, Garry made his film debut as Rabbi Meir in Indescribable (ThornCrown Project, 2013). Soon after he was cast in the title role in Polycarp (Henline Productions, 2015), for which he won the award for Best Actor at the International Christian Film Festival. Having played a rabbi and an ancient Church Father, Garry is a minister in real life as well. The multi-talented actor is also a musician, speaker, educator, and writer. He is also a scholar, holding the Ph.D. from a major Protestant seminary. An Oklahoma native, Garry lives in Texas with his wife Linda. They have three grown children and a growing number of grandchildren.
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Tengiz Abuladze

Biography

Tengiz Abuladze (Georgian: თენგიზ აბულაძე; 31 January 1924 – 6 March 1994) was a Georgian film director, screenwriter, theatre teacher and People's Artist of the USSR. He is regarded as one of the best Soviet directors. Abuladze studied theatre direction (1943–1946) at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre Institute, Tbilisi, Georgia, and filmmaking at the VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinematography) in Moscow. He graduated from VGIK in 1952 and in 1953 he joined Gruziya-film (Georgia Film Studios) as a director. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1980. His first film, Magdana's Donkey (1956), which he directed with Rezo Chkheidze, won the "Best Fiction Short" award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. He is most famous for his film trilogy: The Plea (The Supplication) (1968), The Wishing Tree (1977), and Repentance (1984, released 1987), which won him the Lenin Prize (1988) and the first Nika Award for Best Picture. Repentance won the Special Jury Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. In 1987 he was a member of the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. Abuladze came to prominence in the Soviet Union under perestroika when his banned film Repentance, a blistering expose of the Stalinist terror, was released in 1986. Repentance revolves around the death of an old tyrant, Varlam Aravidze, and the refusal of a woman, Ketevan Barateli, to leave his corpse in peace. She repeatedly disinters the corpse and at the trial disinters also the forbidden secrets of the past. Aravidze is universalized as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin, but most obviously as Stalin's fellow Georgian Lavrentiy Beria.
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