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Stephen Sondheim

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Stephen Joshua Sondheim (/ˈsɒndhaɪm/; March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborators Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes beyond the genre's traditional subjects while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life. Sondheim's interest in musical theatre began at a young age, and Oscar Hammerstein II mentored him. He started his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). He transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theatre, with his best-known works including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). Sondheim's numerous awards and nominations include eight Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. He also was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993 and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. A theatre is named after him both on Broadway and in London's West End. Film adaptations of his works include West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), A Little Night Music (1977), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street(2007), Into the Woods (2014), and West Side Story (2021). Description above from the Wikipedia article Stephen Sondheim, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Matt Krol

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Matthew Krol is a voice actor, producer, and showrunner with over a decade of experience in television and a love for the Oxford Comma. He is the Executive Producer, Narrator, and Co-Owner of the animated YouTube Channels "Extra History" and "Extra Credits", that cover History, Literature, Mythology and Video Game Design. Across both channels, he has voiced over 850 episodes and the channels currently sit at a combined billion+ views. He also keeps busy co-hosting his eight-year-running podcast erroneously titled: “The Only* Podcast About Movies” and DM’s a Curse of Strahd Dungeons and Dragons Campaign he just won’t shut up about.
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Margaret Morgan

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Margaret Morgan is an Australian screenwriter and novelist. She studied and practiced law and later science, having graduated in both at Macquarie University. After practising in criminal law, Margaret Morgan became a professional writer, working as a screenwriter and script editor in television for many well-regarded Australian drama series (including Water Rats, A Country Practice and GP). Her speculative fiction novel, The Second Cure, is published by Penguin Random House Australia and was shortlisted for a number of major literary awards.
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Rupam Islam

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Rupam Islam (born January 25, 1974) is an Indian singer, songwriter, music composer, writer, and humanist. He is the lead vocalist of the popular Bengali Rock Band Fossils. He gained popularity mainly through his solo albums and his works as a member of Fossils. He has worked as a playback singer, music director, and lyricist in numerous Bengali films and has also lent his voice for Hindi and Telugu films. He has sung for various Bengali television soaps, web series, and advertisements. In 2010, he won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for his work in the Bengali film Mahanagar@Kolkata. He is a member of the Bangla Sangeet Academy.
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Lee Tae-hwan

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Lee Tae Hwan is a South Korean actor and singer. Born on February 21, 1995, he launched his career as one of the five members of 5urprise, a unique acting group consisting of five actors who began their careers as actors and then branched into singing. In 2013 at the age of 18, Lee Tae Hwan made his acting debut along with the other members of 5urprise in the mobile drama series “After School: Lucky or Not.” He has since appeared in a number of popular television dramas, including “Splendid Politics” (2015), “Please Come Back, Mister” (2016), “W” (2016), “Father, I’ll Take Care of You” (2016-2017) and “My Golden Life” (2017-2018). More recently, he has also made a name for himself in the world of variety and reality TV, featuring in “Living Together in Empty Room” (2017) and “Urban Cops” (2019).
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Zachary Karem

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Zachary Karem is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, published author, journalist, and producer. Most recently, his sci-fi short film Anemoia took home the Emmy for Best Long Form Entertainment at the 2025 NY Emmy Awards, alongside over a dozen international accolades for best direction and screenplay. The project is in development as a feature-length motion picture. With a background rooted in boots-on-the-ground journalism, Zachary has produced documentaries across global conflict zones, including Ukraine, Syria, and Lebanon. He is the Executive Producer for the acclaimed news podcast Just Ask The Question and lends his industry expertise as a Primetime Emmy Judge. Beyond the lens, Zachary is a published author of satire and literary fiction (The Satirist, TAEM) and an avid drone pilot. In his personal life, he is admired as a fantastic partner and an incredible cat dad-yes, all of his friends speak in hyperbole. His latest short story, "The Appointment," is forthcoming in a new anthology novel.
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Vittorio Nino Novarese

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vittorio Nino Novarese (May 15, 1907 in Rome, Italy – October 17, 1983 in Los Angeles, United States) was an Italian costume designer who found great success in Hollywood after decamping there in 1949. In his first year there he scored an Oscar nomination for his work on the film Prince of Foxes, winning the Academy Award 14 years later for the grandiose epic Cleopatra. He was also nominated twice in 1965 for both The Agony and the Ecstasy and The Greatest Story Ever Told, and won a second Oscar in 1970 for Cromwell. Novarese was trained as a militarist, but contrary to what one might think from the name, this only gave him the classical training to know how soldiers of different ranks were dressed and armed throughout history. His daughter is the actress Letícia Román who starred with John Saxon in The Girl Who Knew Too Much and with Elvis Presley in G.I. Blues.
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Mário Luz

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Graduated in Performing Arts in 2012 in Brasília, Federal District, and completed a postgraduate degree in Art in Education in 2020 in São Paulo, SP. With over 15 years of experience, he has worked in theater, film and voiceover in three different places: Brasília, São Paulo, and Bahia. Altogether, he has acted in 25 plays, many sponsored by the Federal District Culture Support Fund and toured some of these all over Brazil. Has participated in four national and international festivals and received the award for Best Actor in a Children's Play. In cinema, he acted in 7 short films, 2 feature films, 1 episode of a TV series, 1 music video and 4 TV/Internet commercials, participating in some competitive exhibitions, mainly at the Brasília Film Festival. As a professional voice actor, he was a radio announcer for Rio de Contas FM and a voice actor for the first season of the series The Next Step, in addition to other works, by the Bravo! studio.
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Nasiba Zeynalova

Biography

Nasiba Zeynalova was born in Baku (then part of the Russian Empire, present-day capital of Azerbaijan), the daughter of merchant and stage actor Jahangir Zeynalov. The family fled to Iran just before the Azeri massacre of March 1918 committed by Bolshevik military units in Baku. Her father died during their trip back home in September 1918, via the Caspian Sea. While in secondary school she attended dance courses. In 1932 she joined Rza Tahmasib's drama club. In 1937 she joined a vagrant theatre troupe and toured several Azerbaijani towns. In 1938 she started working at the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy. She earned a degree at the Baku School of Theatre. In the following years Nasiba Zeynalova acted in 22 films and around 70 plays, as well as in numerous television sketches. She is most remembered for the roles of Fatmanisa in Stepmother, (1958), Sughra in Our Teacher Jabish (1969), Jannat in Mother in Law (1978) and Nasiba in The Kidnapping of Fiance (1985). She was famous mostly for her comedy roles. In 1967, she was named People's Artist of Azerbaijan.
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Massimo Reale

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Massimo Reale nasce a Firenze il 29 giugno 1966 comincia a recitare a soli nove anni con il maestro Dino Parretti che realizza spettacoli per ragazzi con attori giovanissimi. Nel 1986, dopo aver frequentato il gruppo MiM diretto da Orazio Costa Giovangigli si trasferisce a Roma ed entra all’Accademia d’Arte Drammatica “Silvio d’Amico”  che frequenta per due anni.   Nel 1987 prende parte alla sua prima serie televisiva e nel  1989 e comincia a girare “Classe di Ferro” che vincerà il telegatto 1990 come migliore serie tv italiana. Negli anni successivi porta avanti in parallelo l’attività teatrale e quella cinematografica e televisiva prendendo parte  a molte fiction e lavorando accanto ad attori come: Renzo Montagnani (Don Fumino), Nino Manfredi ( Le Ragioni del Cuore), Lino Banfi (Un posto tranquillo 1 e 2), Beppe Fiorello ( Salvo D’acquisto), Paolo Ferrari (Orgoglio), Terence Hill (Don Matteo 7).   Nel 1983 avvia con il regista Walter Pagliaro una lunga collaborazione che porta alla realizzazione di  11 spettacoli accanto ad attori come Micaela Esdra, Lucilla Morlacchi, Roberto Herlitzka, Luca Lazzareschi, Piero di Iorio. Nel 1994 lavora con Luca Zingaretti allo spettacolo “Prigionieri di Guerra” con il quale recita nuovamente nel 2000 nello spettacolo di David Mamet “Perversioni Sessuali a Chicago” insieme a Valentina Cervi. Nel 1995 collabora con Ninni Bruschetta negli spettacoli “I Carabinieri” di Beniamino Joppolo e “Brutus” tratto dal Giulio Cesare di Shakespeare. In ambito cinematografico nel 2001 prende parte al film “Nemmeno in un sogno” di Gianluca Greco  con  Roberto De Francesco e Giuseppe Battiston    e nel 2002 a “4 4 2” di Roan  Johnson con Valerio Mastandrea. Nell’anno 2000 comincia a studiare canto con la Maestra Adriana Giunta  e nel 2003 partecipa, come protagonista maschile, allo spettacolo  sulla grande cantante nera Billie Holyday “Lady Day” di Massimo Romeo Piparo con Amii Stewart. Nello stesso periodo realizza con il fotografo Marco Delogu sei libri nei quali alterna il ruolo di curatore di testi a quello di autore.  Nel 2006 vince il premio per il miglior soggetto per documentario al Festival  “HAIVISTO MAI?”  e nel 2007 lo realizza, cedendolo all’emittente La7, nello stesso anno prende parte alle rappresentazioni tragiche del Teatro Greco di Siracusa recitando nelle “Trachinie” al fianco di Micaela Esdra e Paolo Graziosi con la regia di Walter Pagliaro e in “Eracle” con la regia di Luca De Fusco  recitando con Ugo Pagliai. Nel settembre 2007 Luca De Fusco lo coinvolge nuovamente nella realizzazione di “Elettra” con Lina Sastri per il Teatro Stabile del Veneto.  Alla fine del 2007 fonda, con il drammaturgo Sergio Pierattini, l’Associazione Culturale Valdez Essedi Arte, per la quale produce e interpreta  lo spettacolo “Il caso K” con la regia di Sergio Pierattini e il documentario sul lavoro dell’attore “L’Arte del Comico” nel quale è produttore esecutivo e regista.  Nel 2008 recita al teatro di  Tindari nel “Giulio Cesare” di Shakespeare con Edoardo Siravo, Leandro Amato, Renato Campese con la regia di Maurizio Panici. Nel 2009 recita nell’Elettra di Euripide con Manuela Mandracchia e la regia di Walter Manfrè e ne “Le Troiane” di Euripide con Ivana Monti con la regia di Federico San Lio.
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