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Mohamed Majd
Biography
Born in 1940, Mohamed Majd took his first steps on the stage in the late 1950s. After 10 years acting in theaters, he turned to the cinema and acted in the shorts of Abdelmajid R'chich then alongside Anthony Quinn in the historical epic : The Message (1975), Moustapha Akkad. Renowned Moroccan actor at the age of 47, he gained international fame, By Casting Director Ahmed Boulane to play along side with jhon Hurt in a Richard Stroud movie Deadline. and in Philippe de Broca The Thousand and One Nights (1989).
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Claudia Christian
Biography
Claudia Christian is an American actress born on August 10, 1965, in Glendale, California. Her family moved to Connecticut some afterwards. At age five, she was bitten by the acting bug when she played a Native American in a school play. After her family returned to California, she graduated high school at 16, and set out to start her acting career. She worked in a coffee house and then at a clothing store for two years before landing her first acting role on the soap "Dallas" (1978). In her next appearance, she played Kara in the television movie, Calendar Girl Murders (1984) (TV). Her big break came when she landed the part of "Susan Ivanova" on the science-fiction series "Babylon 5" (1994).
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Luenell
Biography
Luenell Campbell (born March 12, 1959), known professionally as Luenell, is an American comedienne and actress. She is the youngest of eight children. In the early 1990s Luenell appeared regularly on Soul Beat TV on the Oakland, California cable station KSBT, along with prominent Bay Area African-American journalist Chauncey Bailey, an interview and talk show host on the program.
Luenell was one of the few actual actors in the 2006 hit mockumentary-styled comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In it, she plays a prostitute of the same name, a hooker with a heart of gold. She has also been seen on the BET comedy series, Comicview, and is featured on the new season of Wild 'N Out. She was in the second episode of the Comedy Central comedic reality show, Reality Bites Back.
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Regina Oliver
Biography
Regina began performing with the Soulciety theater group which put on plays geared to provide positive messages for teens with themes dealing with issues such as substance abuse, poverty, abandonment, and gang violence. These performances not only gave her valuable experience but also a source of great pride knowing that she was making a difference in the lives of young people. Regina broke into television when she booked a guest star role on 13 Reasons Why season 2 and continued to book many commercial and film roles shortly after. Most recently she was cast as the lead in a short film that turned to a feature film ' A Word' About a Dance Director who combats racial inequality in the dance world.
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Musubu Funaki
Biography
船木結 (Funaki Musubu) is a Japanese talent. She is a former idol under Hello! Project as a former 6th generation member of ANGERME and a former member of Country Girls. She initially joined Hello! Project as an Hello Pro Kenshuusei on September 22, 2013 alongside six other girls. She debuted in Country Girls on November 5, 2015 and joined ANGERME as a concurrent member on June 26, 2017. She graduated from Country Girls on December 26, 2019, following the group's suspension of activities. She later graduated from both ANGERME and Hello! Project on December 9, 2020. Soon after, she left UP-FRONT PROMOTION and suspended her activities in the entertainment industry.
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Jim Thurman
Biography
James Frederick Thurman (March 13, 1935 – April 14, 2007) was an American actor, writer, director, cartoonist, and producer. He is best known for the writings of TV gags for the likes of Bob Hope, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett, Bill Cosby, and Dean Martin.
Born in Dallas, Texas but raised in Vicksburg, Michigan, Thurman received a degree from the University of Michigan. He began his career as a copywriter at various advertising agencies in Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Later he moved to Los Angeles with his writing partner Gene Moss, where they formed a boutique advertising agency, "Creative Advertising Stuff".
Moss and Thurman scripted all 156 installments of the 1965 cartoon series Roger Ramjet as well as the puppet comedy series Shrimpenstein, where Thurman voiced the title character for satirical children's television program.
In 1967 Thurman teamed up with Carol Burnett to begin writing gags for The Carol Burnett Show, scripting running gags and writing whole scenes. In 1969, Thurman joined the writing team for Sesame Street, scripting both street and Muppet scenes as well as producing many animated sketches. He also played Digby Dropout's sidekick "Dunce" in The Man from Alphabet, a detective show which appeared in Sesame Street's pilots but was not used in the actual series due to poor testing results.
In 1972, Thurman teamed up with Bob Newhart to begin writing gags for The Bob Newhart Show, scripting both therapy and regular scenes. One year later in 1973 Thurman did the voice of Christopher Clumsy for a Cliff Roberts-produced cartoon about shapes as well as Jake the Snake in 1988 (also for Sesame Street). In 1977 Jim worked as a consultant for Warner Cable's innovation Qube system in Columbus, Ohio. He was on the creative team for the interactive "Columbus Alive" news magazine program. In 1982, Thurman teamed up with Paul Fierlinger to create, write, and voice Teeny Little Super Guy for Sesame Street.
He also wrote sketches for Jim Henson's The Muppet Show in the fourth season. Thurman subsequently worked on most of CTW's other series, as a staff writer and cartoon voiceover on The Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and as head writer/senior producer for Square One TV; on the later series, he provided the voice of Mr. Glitch and the off-screen announcer for Mathman, scripted the Mathnet segments, and Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade. Thurman co-created the Math Talk package with Dave Connell, as senior producer. Thurman also wrote for Muppet Babies. In recent years Jim continued to write, do voice work, and also wrote a weekly column for his local paper, the Berkshire Record. Thurman also wrote and voiced several animated sexual education specials for Buzzco Associates, Inc. He has also done voice work for home video releases such as the Richard Scarry Learning videos and the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Video series. In 1994-95, Thurman voiced the worm and wrote a few Dr. Seuss stories in Playtoons series. In 2006, he wrote wraparound material and voiced Bob for the Old School Volume 1 DVD. Also in 2006, he wrote Books by You. In 2007, he last voiced SingStar POP Bundle on April 3 (so you can use your microphone).
He died in Sheffield, Massachusetts after a brief illness on April 14, 2007, one month after his 72nd birthday.
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Jesus Banuelos
Biography
Jesus Bañuelos Jr was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA who retired from the Albuquerque Police Department as a Peace/Police Officer. He was a Professional Boxer with an extensive Amateur Boxing Career. He later became an Actor & is a member of S.A.G/A.F.T.R.A (Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Bañuelos is known for Better Call Saul as a Capo (2020) MacGruber as a Dying Farmer (2021) Shrapnel as Officer Sandoval (2023) "The Curse" TV series as Father Manny (2023) Good Side Of a Bad Man as Officer Garcia (2023) Burque Tales as Agent J (2021) Stampede as El Bandido Ramon (2022) The Shock Room as a Special Guest as Sleeping Biker (2021) Pozole (2019) How the West Won as a Lead Role of Petronilo (2018)
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Lorin Maazel
Biography
Lorin Varencove Maazel ( March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age.
Maazel was born to American parents of Russian Jewish origin in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. His grandfather Isaac Maazel (1873-1925), born in Poltava, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, for two decades was the first violinist in the Metropolitan Opera; he and his wife Esther Glazer (1879-1921), originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, came to America in 1900 after the birth of their eldest son Marvin (1899-1988), who later became a pianist and composer.
Maazel was brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in the city of Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel (1903–2009), was a singer, teacher of voice and piano, and an actor (he co-starred in George A. Romero's 1978 horror movie Martin); and his mother, Marion "Marie" Shulman Maazel (1894–1992), founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. His grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty years.
Maazel was a child prodigy and had perfect pitch. He had his first conducting lesson at age seven with Vladimir Bakaleinikov, making his debut at age eight, conducting the University of Idaho Orchestra in Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in Los Angeles in 1938. In the same year, he conducted the National High School Orchestra at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. The following year, he conducted 11 concerts by the same orchestra at the New York World’s Fair. At the age of eleven, he guest-conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra on the radio. At twelve he toured the United States to conduct major orchestras. He made his violin debut at the age of fifteen. He attended the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh as a child, followed by Peabody High School and the University of Pittsburgh. Maazel studied briefly with Pierre Monteux in 1945.
In the early 1950s, Maazel toured as the conductor with the Gershwin Concert Orchestra. The orchestra consisted of 25 members and a noted array of soloists. The orchestra was organized in cooperation with Ira Gershwin, to give the public a comprehensive Gershwin program. The list of soloists included George Gershwin's friend, Jesús María Sanromá, Carolyn Long and Theodor Uppman.
In 1960, Maazel became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. He was chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1965 to 1971 and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester (RSO) Berlin from 1964 to 1975. ...
Source: Article "Lorin Maazel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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John Pirkis
Biography
John Pirkis was born John Simon Alexander Lyne-Pirkis in Guildford, Surrey, England and grew up in the neighboring market town of Godalming. His father was Dr. Richard Hugh Godfrey Lyne-Pirkis (Born of English Aristocracy; Earls of Liverpool), and his mother (born of Irish Aristocracy; Earls of Carysfort), Ellinor Bessie Maureen (Austin). Their blood runs thick with a healthy blend of Russian, French, German and Scandinavian.
John was privately educated; first at Penthorpe preparatory school in Rudgewick, Sussex, and then Sutton Valence School in Kent, where he won several prizes for his writing and public narrative. He trained as an actor at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Shortly after graduating, he took the unconventional step of joining a circus company, touring Mediaeval Jousting Tournaments around Great Britain and Europe as both the Earl Marshall ( Ring Master ), and various Combative Knights. For thirty years since, John appeared internationally on stage, and on screen. Featuring in many established British TV Dramas, including playing, Freddie Chalk Marshall opposite Hugh Laurie in two seasons of the award winning, Jeeves and Wooster. During those thirty years John resided in London.
He has featured in the Feature Films, National Treasure II and Young Victoria opposite Emily Blunt as her uncle, Duke of Cumberland/Earl of Derby, Swing Kids opposite Robert Sean Leonard, and has completed filming on Stephen Gaghan's Gold with Matthew McConaughy, Bryce Dallas Howard and Corey Stoll.
His theatre credits include Shakespeare, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, Bertolt Brecht, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean-Marie Besset and Nick Ward among others, on London's West End, and throughout Great Britain and Europe. John has also studied with the Meisner Centre in Los Angeles, and studied the Alba Emoting and Feldenkrais techniques at the Université De Montréal.
In 2002 John co-founded the multi-award winning, Theatre 503 in London, the home of cutting edge new writing, and afforded the title, 'Britain's most important little theatre' by Lynn Gardner of The Guardian (UK). For this, John received recognition as one of the top 100 people to have contributed the most to British theatre in the Twenty-first Century by The Stage. In 2010 Theatre 503 hit the headlines when their production of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop starring David Harewood, Lorraine Burroughs and directed by James Dacre won the Olivier for Best Play making Katori the first Black female writer to win this prestigious award. Following its successful transfer to the West End, it opened on Broadway in 2011 starring Samuel L. Jackson (his Broadway debut), Angela Bassett, and directed by Kenny Leon.
In 2011 John moved to Los Angeles, where he met and married the French actress and director, Cecile Delepiere. In 2014 they moved to New York with their two rescue cats, Harley Gingerson and Luther. They continue reside in Los Angeles where John continues his work as both actor and an ambassador for Theatre 503.
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Michelle DeFraites
Biography
Michelle DeFraites is an actress, dancer and singer. Originally from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Michelle was a member of the tween singing group "4 Part Angel" from 2005-2007. They were featured on "Good Morning America," and were guests on "The Montel Williams Show." In 2008, Michelle moved to the Los Angeles area to pursue an acting career. Since that time, she has appeared in television commercials, voice overs, music videos and has done photo shoots for shopping malls across the country. She guest-starred on the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana" and co-starred on "Suite Life On Deck." She is a Disney Movie Surfer and played Karissa in Lifetime's "The Pregnancy Pact".
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