1.
Dave McCary
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Dave McCary is an American filmmaker and a co-founder of the sketch comedy group, Good Neighbor. He currently works as a segment director for Saturday Night Live, McCary attended the University of Southern California with his childhood friend, Kyle Mooney. It was there that McCary met future Good Neighbor members Nick Rutherford, in 2007, McCary came together with Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, and Nick Rutherford to form the sketch comedy group, Good Neighbor. The group received personal acknowledgements from Steven Spielberg and comedian Louis C. K, prior to landing on SNL, Good Neighbor had just finished filming a Comedy Central pilot, The Good Neighbor Show, that was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay via their company Gary Sanchez. SNL reportedly had to work with Comedy Central to get out of their contract so they could join the long-running sketch show. Miley Sex Tape Beer Pong Ice Cream Mr. Senior Dancing I know Inside SoCal Super Champions
Dave McCary
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Dave McCary
2.
Andy Samberg
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Andrew David Andy Samberg is an American actor, filmmaker, musician and comedian. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and he occasionally goes by the stage name Young Sandwich. He currently stars in the police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2014. Samberg was born in Berkeley, California, as David A. J. Samberg and his mother, Marjorie Margi, is an elementary school teacher, and his father, Joe, is a photographer. He has two sisters, Johanna and Darrow and he is Jewish, his maternal grandfather, industrial psychologist and philanthropist Alfred J. Marrow, served as the executive chair of the American Jewish Congress. Samberg has described himself as not particularly religious and he is a third cousin of U. S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, as their grandfathers were first cousins. Samberg discovered Saturday Night Live as a child, while sneaking past his parents to watch professional wrestling on television and he was obsessed with the show and his devotion to comedy was frustrating to teachers who felt he was distracted from his schoolwork. Samberg graduated from Berkeley High School in 1996, where he interested in creative writing and has stated that were the ones that I put all my effort into. Thats what I cared about and thats what I ended up doing and he attended college at University of California, Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated in 2000. Samberg majored in film, including the music video for James Kochalkas song Monkey vs. Robot as Monkey. He became a YouTube and internet star and made his own comedy videos with his two friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, when YouTube was created in 2005, the streaming of their videos became much more widespread over the internet. Samberg became a player on SNL in part because of the work he had done on their sketch comedy website TheLonelyIsland. com. Prior to joining its cast, Samberg was a member of the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, the trio began writing for Saturday Night Live in 2005 and released their debut album, Incredibad in 2009. Samberg appeared in theatrical films, commercials, music videos and hosted special events. In 2012, Samberg delivered the Class Day speech at Harvard University, and U. S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as having an unkempt appearance, Is it just me or does Bernie Sanders always seem like his flight is delayed. Samberg starred in Sleater-Kinneys No Cities to Love video along with celebrities such as Fred Armisen, Ellen Page. On May 16,2016, Samberg and the Lonely Island performed their 2009 hit Im on a Boat with classroom instruments on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Andy Samberg
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Samberg in May 2010
3.
Jorma Taccone
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Jorma Christopher Jorm Taccone is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, record producer, and musician. Taccone is one third of the comedy troupe The Lonely Island along with childhood friends Andy Samberg. In 2010, he co-wrote and directed the SNL spin-off film MacGruber, Taccone directed his second feature with Akiva Schaffer, the musical comedy Popstar, Never Stop Never Stopping, which he also co-wrote and co-starred with Schaffer and Samberg. The film was released on June 3,2016 to positive reviews, Taccone was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Sue Ellen and Tony Taccone, who is the artistic director of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. His father is of half Italian and half Puerto Rican descent and he is a graduate of UCLA Film School. Jormas brother, Asa Taccone, is a member of the band Electric Guest and he is married to Marielle Heller, with whom he has a child, and lives in New York City. In Fall 2005, Samberg, Taccone, and Schaffer joined the staff of NBCs late night variety show Saturday Night Live, as a director, Taccone is responsible for the SNL shorts MacGruber, Business Meeting, Sloths, Giraffes, and others. He also directed a MacGruber Pepsi commercial spot for the 43rd Super Bowl which aired February 1,2009, in 2007, Taccone co-starred in Paramounts Hot Rod. Taccone is also one of the actors in the music video Jizz in My Pants. He also plays Guy #2 in We Like Sportz, reprising the role from Just 2 Guyz, Taccone played the lead role of Brett in The Lonely Islands The ’Bu, the groups record-breaking contribution to Channel 101, where he played a ninja who did not belong. The ’Bu, a parody of The OC, also starred Sarah Chalke as Melissa, in the groups first Channel 101 show, ITV Buzz Countdown, Taccone played Chris Hoffman, a fictional VJ on a parody of MTVs Total Request Live. Taccone appeared as Cha-Ka in Universals 2009 film Land of the Lost, the film also starred Will Ferrell. In August 2009, he directed his first film, an adaptation of the Saturday Night Live sketch MacGruber and was featured as part of the male vocals on Lightspeed Champions album Life Is Sweet. As of SNLs 36th season, Jorma is no longer cited in the end credits, though he is listed on the NBC website as a writer. According to his bands website, thelonelyisland. com, however and it was later confirmed that Jorma had left Saturday Night Live, though he worked on some shorts in the 36th season. Taccone acted in season 5 of MyDamnChannels Wainy Days and is the Director of the AT&T Wireless Its Not Complicated television advertising campaign and he also had a recurring role on the HBO show Girls, as the character Booth Jonathan. In 2015 Taccone appeared in the highly popular kickstarter short movie Kung Fury, in his role as Adolf Hitler he travels forward in time in the pursuit of becoming the ultimate Kung Fu master in order to take over the world. Unfortunately for Hitler, in Terminator-esque fashion the true master, Kung Fury
Jorma Taccone
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Taccone in 2007
4.
Akiva Schaffer
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Akiva D. Kiv Schaffer is an American film director, comedian, producer, writer, and actor. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island, Schaffer was born in Berkeley, California. He majored in film at University of California, Santa Cruz, Schaffer directed, co-wrote, and edited the majority of the SNL Digital Shorts. He also sang in The Creep with Samberg and Taccone, as well as Diaper Money and part of the call, Schaffer has also contributed to several other Channel 101 productions as part of The Lonely Island. Schaffer has directed four music videos for the band We Are Scientists, hot Rod only earned 14 million dollars back of its 25 million dollar production budget during its entire theatrical run. Schaffer was on hiatus from Saturday Night Live from January until March to do work on The Adventurers Handbook starring Jonah Hill, Jason Segel. Hill and writing partner, Max Winkler, wrote the script, Schaffer was credited as an executive producer on the film MacGruber. The film was co-written and directed by Jorma Taccone, other songs include Jack Sparrow on The Lonely Islands second album, Turtleneck & Chain. After co-writing the MTV Movie Awards for two years with his Lonely Island collaborators, Schaffer returned in 2009 to help co-produce the show which was hosted by Andy Samberg and his second feature film directorial project, The Watch, was released on July 27,2012. The Watch earned US$67.9 million during its theatrical run, Schaffer is married to comedy writer and actress Liz Cackowski, with whom he has two children. In 2007, Schaffer won an Emmy for his participation in the production of Dick in a Box and he was nominated for an Emmy for the song Motherlover. He was featured in Peoples Sexiest Bachelor with Andy Samberg, as Sexiest Best Friends and he has also won two Writers Guild of America Award and a Peabody Award for his work on Saturday Night Live. The Lonely Island was nominated in 2009 for a Peoples Choice Award, the Lonely Island Akiva Schaffer at the Internet Movie Database
Akiva Schaffer
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Schaffer at the premiere of Hot Rod, July 26, 2007
5.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
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Phil Lord and Christopher Robert Miller are American film and television writers, producers, directors, actors and animators. Lord and Miller met at Dartmouth College and their films have all received critical and commercial success. Miller is from the Seattle area, where his father runs a lumber mill, Lord and Miller both grew up making short films with an affinity for animation. They met freshman year of college at Dartmouth and quickly bonded after an incident where Chris set fire to Phil’s then-girlfriend’s hair, on campus, the two had separate columns in the school newspaper. Lord was a member of Amarna, an undergraduate society while Miller was a brother at Alpha Chi Alpha. During his time in college, Christopher met his girlfriend, now wife, during their time at Dartmouth, the school paper published a profile on Miller, which caught the attention of then chairman of Disney Michael Eisner. According to Lord, Eisner brought the profile to the attention of his fellow Disney executives who then offered to set up a meeting with Miller, Miller agreed to the meeting as long as he could bring Lord. After three months, the two moved to Los Angeles and after one meeting were offered a development deal for Disney Television Animation. Though nothing they pitched made it to air, they produced the pilot to Clone High, after they wrote and produced on a series of sitcoms, MTV informed the duo that they were interested in purchasing a 13-episode season of Clone High. Although the show was met with acclaim, MTV canceled the series after hunger strike protests occurred in India over the portrayal of Gandhi as a motor-mouthed partier. In 2003, the two were tapped to write a screenplay for what would become their first feature film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. After a year working on the script, they were fired for story issues and replaced with new writers, Lord and Miller were then re-hired in 2006. The two completely redid the script, this time with the input of their crew. The new draft had the protagonist as an inventor who wanted to prove himself to his town. The two were almost fired again after Amy Pascal, head of Sony, criticized the film for a lack of story. Although the film succeeded on the front in the animatic stage. The pairs experience on Cloudy taught them two valuable lessons, the power of collaboration and the importance of emotion in a story. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was released in 2009 to critical, the studio agreed and the two directed their first live-action R-rated film, once again released to critical and popular acclaim which led to the production of a sequel titled 22 Jump Street
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
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Miller (left) and Lord at the 2015
WonderCon
6.
Kyle Mooney
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Kyle James Kozub Mooney is an American actor, comedian, writer, and co-founder of the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor. His man-on-the-street interviews have featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Mooney has been a writer and performer at Upright Citizens Brigade since 2007. He also co-starred as Rory on the HBO comedy series Hello Ladies, Mooney will also star in the upcoming film Brigsby Bear, which he co-wrote. Mooney was born in San Diego, California, to parents Linda, Linda is a former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter and Brian is an environmental consultant and planner. Mooney has two brothers, Sean and Ryan Mooney, he is the youngest of the three and his Marshall Middle School class chose him as the most likely to become a T. V. star. He graduated from Scripps Ranch High School in 2003 where he won Best Actor as Prospero in Shakespeares The Tempest and was hailed as class clown. Mooney is a self described collector and owns a VHS collection which he started working on as a child, Mooney currently has a giant bookshelf as well as a two smaller bookshelves that are packed with VHS tapes. There, he performed improv and sketch comedy with collegiate group Commedus Interruptus, after a six-week audition process in 2003, the three new members added to Commedus were Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, and Nick Rutherford. In 2007, Mooney, Bennett, and Rutherford came together to form the comedy group Good Neighbor, along with Mooneys friend, director. In 2014, Good Neighbor was featured on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, Bennett and McCary joined Mooney on SNL in 2013, and Rutherford was hired as a writer the following year. On September 28,2013, Kyle Mooney made his debut on Saturday Night Live as a featured player along with Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Mike OBrien, Brooks Wheelan, and Noël Wells. Out of all of the new cast members announced, only Mooney, at the start of the forty-first season, Mooney and Bennett were upgraded to repertory status. Mooney has brought some of his YouTube characters to SNL, including his person-on-the-street interviews, the 420 weed smoking guy, Chris Fitzpatrick, Todd from Inside SoCal, and Bruce Chandling. Characters / Impressions, Pope Francis Rand Paul Lincoln Chafee Pat McCrory Kyle Mooney at the Internet Movie Database Kyle Mooneys channel on YouTube
Kyle Mooney
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Mooney in 2009
Kyle Mooney
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Mooney in 2012
7.
Claire Danes
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Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Danes gained recognition with her role as Angela Chase in the acclaimed 1994 teen drama series My So-Called Life. The role won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and she made her film debut the same year in Little Women. From 1998 to 2000, Danes attended Yale University before dropping out to return to acting and she appeared in an Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues in 2000, and made her Broadway debut playing Eliza Doolittle in the 2007 revival of Pygmalion. She is married to actor Hugh Dancy, with whom she has one child, Danes was born in Manhattan, New York, the daughter of a sculptor and printmaking artist, Carla Danes, and a photographer, Christopher Danes. She has a brother, Asa, who is a lawyer. Danes parents met when they were studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, during Danes childhood her father worked as a general contractor for 20 years, working on residential buildings in a company he ran called Overall Construction in New York. He also worked as a photographer and computer consultant and he is the son of Gibson Andrew Danes, a former dean of the Yale School of Art and Architecture from 1958 to 1968. Danes is named after her grandmother, Claire Danes, who died in 1953. The family lived in a loft on Crosby Street. 3 and PS11 for elementary school and Professional Performing Arts School for junior high school, Danes attended the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in New York City. She attended The Dalton School for one year of school before moving with her parents to Santa Monica. Danes said they moved two days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Danes graduated from the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1997. In 1998, Danes went to Yale University, director Oliver Stone wrote a letter of recommendation. After studying for two years as a major, she dropped out to focus on her film career. Danes started studying dance when she was six years old, Danes took dance classes from Ellen Robbins at Dance Theater Workshop and acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute at the age of ten. She appeared in theater and video productions in New York City, although she continued to dance, Danes said that her focus shifted to acting by the time she was nine years old
Claire Danes
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Danes at the 2015
PaleyFest
Claire Danes
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Danes in Toronto, for a
MuchOnDemand promotion of
Stardust, 2007
Claire Danes
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Danes at the
2012 Time 100
8.
Mark Hamill
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Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice actor, producer and writer. He is known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series and his other works include Corvette Summer and The Big Red One, among other television shows and movies. Hamill has also appeared on stage in several productions, primarily during the 1980s. He currently recurs in the The CW television series The Flash as James Jesse / Trickster, Hamill is a prolific voice actor who has voiced characters in many animated television shows, movies, and video games since the 1970s. He is known for his role as DC Comics the Joker, commencing with Batman. Hamill was born in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne and he is one of seven children, having two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and his fathers changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children changing schools often. In his elementary years, he went to Walsingham Academy and Poe Middle School, at age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School, his family moved to Virginia, by his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and was a member of the Drama Club at Nile C. Kinnick High School, from which he graduated in 1969 and he later enrolled at Los Angeles City College, majoring in drama. Hamill was raised as a Roman Catholic, and described his father as a Nixon Republican, Hamills early career included a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital, and a starring role on the short-lived sitcom The Texas Wheelers. He portrayed the oldest son, David, in the episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He also had guest appearances on The Bill Cosby Show, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and he appeared in multiple television films such as The City, and Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall where auditions were taking place for George Lucass Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend and he suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role, Hamill did and won the role. Released in May 1977, Star Wars was an unexpected success and had a huge effect on the film industry. Hamill also appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978 and later starred in the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back, during the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious automobile accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. The injuries required surgery on his face which made him look different during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back
Mark Hamill
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Hamill at the 2015
San Diego Comic-Con International
Mark Hamill
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Hamill in
Amsterdam in 1980
Mark Hamill
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Hamill in 2011
Mark Hamill
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Hamill at a signing for The Black Pearl at Jim Hanley's Universe in
Manhattan, October 1996
9.
Greg Kinnear
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Gregory Buck Greg Kinnear is an American actor and television personality. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets, Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, to Suzanne, a homemaker, and Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat who worked for the US State Department. He has two brothers, James and Steven and he grew up a Foreign Service brat, having moved around frequently, from Beirut to Athens. While a student at the American Community Schools in Athens, Kinnear first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear. Returning to the United States for an education, he attended the University of Arizona. While there, he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, Kinnear hosted a short-lived game show, College Mad House, which was spun off from the kids show Fun House. He became the creator, co-executive producer and host of Best of the Worst, the show was canceled thanks to Rooster Teeths Burnie Burns. In 1991, Kinnear became the first host of Talk Soup, which he hosted until 1995, after his film debut, Blankman, Kinnear won the part of David Larrabee in Sydney Pollacks 1995 remake of Billy Wilders 1954 classic Sabrina. He played the role in the 1996 comedy Dear God. In 1997, he was cast in James L. Brooks comedy-drama, As Good as It Gets and he also starred in, A Smile Like Yours with Lauren Holly, as part of a couple trying to have a baby. His next film was the popular Youve Got Mail, as Kathleens significant other, other films are Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Loser, The Gift and Someone Like You. Kinnear starred in Auto Focus about the life and murder of actor Bob Crane in 2002, in 2005, he starred in the black comedy The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and voiced Phineas T. Ratchet in the computer-animated film Robots. He also appeared in Fast Food Nation, playing a fast food executive who discovers secrets about his company, in 2008, he starred in Flash of Genius, a docudrama about Robert Kearns who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. His portrayal of then-Major Bruce P. Crandall in 2002s We Were Soldiers brought public attention to Crandalls heroism during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, in Baby Mama Kinnear played Rob, a local smoothie shop owner and the romantic interest of Kate. In 2010, he starred as the father of Miley Cyrus character in The Last Song. In 2011, Kinnear starred in the miniseries The Kennedys playing the role as John F. Kennedy. It was originally planned to air on the History Channel, however and it was subsequently picked up by ReelzChannel and then first aired on April 3,2011. Kinnear played a famous novelist in the Josh Boones directorial debut film, Stuck in Love, Kinnear married British glamour model Helen Labdon on May 1,1999
Greg Kinnear
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Kinnear at the
2012 Toronto International Film Festival
Greg Kinnear
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Kinnear in 2006
10.
Matt Walsh (comedian)
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He also previously starred in short-lived comedy programs such as Dog Bites Man on Comedy Central and Players on Spike TV. He also starred in the 2014 disaster movie Into the Storm, Walsh was born in Chicago, the fourth of seven children of Dick and Audrey Walsh. He graduated from Hinsdale South High School in 1982, while in high school he played on the football team as a backup tight end. He attended Northern Illinois University, where he graduated with a degree in Psychology, in 1991, he met comedian Matt Besser, with whom he began performing stand-up comedy. Before the show, the UCB comedy foursome had already been doing shows at their theatre in New York. To date, they have founded four successful Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theaters located in New York at UCB Chelsea and The East Village UCB, Walsh also wrote and starred in the cult indie-comedy Martin & Orloff, which had a limited theatrical run in 2002 and 2003. Walsh has the distinction of having appeared in several Todd Phillips comedy films, in 2010, Walsh created the improvised comedy series Players for Spike TV. Walsh stars in the series alongside his Upright Citizens Brigade partner Ian Roberts, the show aired for one season, concluding on August 14,2010. The podcast has featured appearances by comedians such as Horatio Sanz, Ian Roberts, Joseph Nunez. In 2010, Walsh had recurring roles on the NBC comedy series Outsourced, in 2012, he began co-starring as Mike McLintock in the HBO series Veep, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2016. During that year, Walsh portrayed J. R. R. Tolkien in The Dead Authors Podcast, walshs directed his first feature film High Road, an indie-comedy he co-wrote with Josh Weiner. The film was released on March 6,2012 and he is currently in post-production for his second directed film, A Better You, which he co-wrote with Brian Huskey, who stars in the film. In the movie Into the Storm, Walsh stars as Pete Moore and he will be appearing in the MyCareer mode in the upcoming basketball simulation game, NBA 2K17. Walsh lives in Valley Village, California, with his wife Morgan and they have three children, Jude, Emmet, and Celia, and a dog named Roger. Walsh confirmed on the May 20th,2016 episode of the Dan Patrick Show that along with the Bears he is also a fan of the Chicago White Sox. Matt Walsh at the Internet Movie Database Audio interview on The Sound of Young America, MP3 Link Interviewed by Josh Fulton on Improv Resource Center
Matt Walsh (comedian)
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Walsh at the New York PaleyFest 2014 for the TV show "
Veep "
11.
Michaela Watkins
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Michaela Suzanne Watkins is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived ABC sitcom Trophy Wife, as well as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2009. She has also recurred on television such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened and Transparent. Watkins was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of former Latin teacher mother Myrna Watkins and she has two sisters, Rebecca Kent and Sarah Fitts. She was raised in the suburb of DeWitt, in a Jewish family, after her parents divorce, Watkins mother obtained a marketing degree and relocated the family to Boston when Watkins was 15. She attended Moses DeWitt Elementary School and Wellesley High School in Wellesley, michaela graduated from Boston University, where she studied theater and acting. Watkins auditioned for a part in a British farce at a community theater when she was 15, joan Rivers was one of her inspirations to go into show business. After theater school, Watkins lived and worked in New York City for a year and she moved with a friend to Portland, Oregon. She lived there from 1996–2000 and appeared onstage with Portland Center Stage and she traveled around the country doing regional theater, then decided to move to Los Angeles. She was active in Los Angeles Theatre for many years, taking on roles with Circle X Theatre and 2100 Square Feet, Watkins said the appeal of sketch work is that she can write her own material. In November 2008, Watkins joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, Watkins said that she was the oldest woman they ever hired. Watkins has since surpassed by Leslie Jones, who was 47 when she joined SNL. Watkins made her first major appearance on the show as Arianna Huffington on the November 22nd Weekend Update. Watkins remained on SNL as a featured player throughout the rest of the 2008-2009 season, Angie Tempura, A geeky, iced coffee-drinking computer nerd who snarks on celebrities and movies and is the creator of the snarky website Bitch Pleeze. Though she insults celebrities, Angie was revealed to have a crush on Zac Efron and she has appeared with recurring roles in the comedy programs as Lucy opposite Hamish Linklater in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened, New Girl, Anger Management. As well as making guest appearances on such as Hung, Childrens Hospital, Kroll Show, Key & Peele, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Watkins most recently starred alongside Malin Åkerman, Bradley Whitford, and Marcia Gay Harden in the short-lived, the series aired for one season from September 2013 to May 2014. In 2015, it was announced that Watkins will star in the Hulu series produced by Jason Reitman called Casual, Watkins co-created the short-lived 2014 USA Network comedy series Benched. The series starred Eliza Coupe and Jay Harrington and premiered on October 28,2014, Watkins and Jones were also executive producers on the show
Michaela Watkins
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Watkins performing at the "Improv in Iraq Tour" in 2010
12.
Sony Pictures Classics
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Sony Pictures Classics is a film production and distribution studio division of Sony Pictures founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produces and acquires specialty films such as documentaries, independent and art films in the United States, as of 2015, Barker and Bernard are co-presidents of the division. Sony Pictures Classics was founded on January 1,1992, by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, the model of the company is to produce, acquire and/or distribute independent films from the United States and internationally. Sony Pictures Classics has a history of making investments for small films. It has a history of not overspending and its largest commercial success of the 2010s is Woody Allens Midnight in Paris, which grossed over $56 million in the U. S. becoming Allens highest-grossing film ever in the United States. Leviathan Love Is Strange The Lunchbox Magic in the Moonlight Mr
Sony Pictures Classics
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Sony Pictures Classics
13.
Sundance Film Festival
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The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Park City, Utah. With 46,660 attendees in 2016, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29,2017. Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen, John Earle, the 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. The festival also highlighted the work of filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr. Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart. The festival also made a profit for the first time, in 1980, Catania left the festival to pursue a production career in Hollywood. Several factors helped propel the growth of Utah/US Film Festival, first was the involvement of actor and Utah resident Robert Redford, who became the festivals inaugural chairman. By having Redfords name associated with the festival, it received great attention, secondly, the country was hungry for more venues that would celebrate American-made films as the only other festival doing so at the time was the USA Film Festival in Dallas. Response in Hollywood was unprecedented as major studios did all they could to contribute their resources, in 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. It was called the US Film and Video Festival, in 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc. by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991 the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redfords character The Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy. The majority of the screenings, including the festivals premieres. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28,2013, Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27,2014 at the O2 arena. The Sundance London 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16,2015, Sundance London will return to London in 2016 from June 10–12 at Picturehouse Cinema in Londons West End
Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance Film Festival
14.
Tim Heidecker
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Timothy Richard Heidecker is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. He is one half of the team of Tim & Eric. Heidecker and Wareheim are noted for creating the television shows Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. and Tim & Erics Bedtime Stories. Heidecker has also acted in films, including Bridesmaids, Tim and Erics Billion Dollar Movie. He currently co-hosts the parodic film review web series On Cinema and stars in the comedy series Decker, Heidecker was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He attended Allentown Central Catholic High School and Temple University, Tim plays Tom, the protagonist of the show. He continually brings his ideas to the Mayor, who ends up thwarting them in most cases, the duos next show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. premiered on February 11,2007 on Adult Swim. The eleven-minute show features live action, sketch, animation, emotions, phone calls, love, Heidecker starred in Tim and Erics Billion Dollar Movie. Heidecker also had a role in the 2011 film Bridesmaids. In July 2012, Heidecker starred in an episode of Workaholics, in August 2012, he guest starred in Dinosaur Jr. s music video Watch the Corners. In the same year, Heidecker made a appearance on the independent movie reviewing site. Heidecker appeared in an episode of the RedLetterMedia series, Half in The Bag, the episode is titled, Season Finale, Step Up Revolution. Within the short comedy, Heidecker plays a VCR repair man named Tim. Shortly after his introduction into the scene, he flies through the ceiling, Heidecker starred in a series of films for Absolut Vodkas website with Wareheim and Zach Galifianakis. In March 2010, Heidecker and Wareheim directed a series of Old Spice commercials starring actor Terry Crews, using characters and skits from Awesome Show, Heidecker and Wareheim created an online-only show called Tim and Eric Nite Live. Originally broadcast on the website SuperDeluxe, since 2012 Heidecker has been hosting a parodic web series and podcast called On Cinema, where he and special guest discuss films from past and present. In 2013 an On Cinema Film Guide app was released, featuring the voices of Heidecker, Heidecker, Wareheim, Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, and Reggie Watts announced on the podcast Comedy Bang. Bang. that they were starting a comedy YouTube channel called Jash, the duos most recent show, Tim and Erics Bedtime Stories premiered on Adult Swim on September 18,2014
Tim Heidecker
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performing live in Los Angeles, 2012
15.
Salt Lake City
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Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city lies at the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximately 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front and it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and numerous other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City—the word great was dropped from the name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Today, however, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the banking center of the United States. Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. The land was treated by the United States as public domain, the first U. S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845, the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The first permanent settlements in the date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24,1847. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, This is the right place, Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon trains arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement, four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block that would later be called Temple Square, construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on 6 April 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece, in fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849, the United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the capital in 1858
Salt Lake City
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Clockwise from top: The skyline in July 2011,
Utah State Capitol,
TRAX,
Union Pacific Depot, the
Block U, the
City and County Building, and the
Salt Lake Temple.
Salt Lake City
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Map showing Salt Lake as
Mexican territory in 1838. Source:
Britannica 7th Ed.
Salt Lake City
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Part of Main Street 1890
Salt Lake City
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Men lounging outside saloon & Chinese laundry, 1910
16.
San Diego Comic-Con
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San Diego Comic-Con International is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International, San Diego and it is a four-day event held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors. Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon, held in Los Angeles, and the Alternative Press Expo and it is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards. In 2010, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees, the convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, and Greg Bear. Detroit, Michigan-born, comics fan Shel Dorf, had, in the mid-1960s, mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions. When he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a convention on March 21,1970. Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971. Following the initial gathering, Dorfs first three-day San Diego comics convention, other locations in the conventions early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. I was quietly walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it really was, the convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members,16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, and 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic Con International is an organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as the Alternative Press Expo. The convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995, in September 2010, the convention announced that it would stay in San Diego through 2015. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. According to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, the convention has a regional economic impact of $162.8 million. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, like most comic-book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers. And like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an area, as well as the Artists Alley where comics artists can sign autographs. Despite the name, artists alleys can include writers and even models, academics and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium
San Diego Comic-Con
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Signs outside Hall H
San Diego Comic-Con
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Comic-Con International: San Diego: Creator
San Diego Comic-Con
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Comic Con crowds in 2011 as seen from a helicopter – Panorama.
San Diego Comic-Con
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Comic-Con crowd inside the second floor of the convention center in 2011 awaiting the exhibition hall to open.
17.
Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
Rotten Tomatoes
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60–100%
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
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≤0-59%
18.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
Metacritic
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Metacritic
19.
Deadline.com
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Deadline. com, official name Deadline Hollywood, and previously known as news blog Deadline Hollywood Daily, is an online magazine founded by Nikki Finke in 2006. Owned by Jay Penske since 2009, it is a brand of the Penske Media Corporation, the site is updated several times a day, with the infotainment industry as its focus. Finke began writing her LA Weekly column Deadline Hollywood in June 2002, in 2009, she sold DHD to Mail. com Media for a reported seven-figure payday, under an agreement by which she would hire an additional writer but remain the sites editor. In September 2009, the URL was changed to deadline. com, in November 2013, Finke left Deadline after a year-long disagreement between herself and Penske, who had bought Variety, a competing trade magazine and website. In 2010, Nikki Finke hired Variety reporter Mike Fleming Jr. Finke remained the editor of Deadline Hollywood, official website About Deadline. com at PMC
Deadline.com
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Deadline.com
20.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
IMDb
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Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
