Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor, performance artist, filmmaker. He became known among younger audiences as Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, a role for which LaBeouf received a Young Artist Award nomination in 2001 and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2003, he made his film debut in The Christmas Path. In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate and directed a short film titled Maniac, starring American rappers Cage and Kid Cudi. In 2007, LaBeouf starred in Surf's Up; the same year he was cast in Michael Bay's science fiction film Transformers as Sam Witwicky, the main protagonist of the series. Transformers was a box office success and one of the highest-grossing films of 2007. LaBeouf appeared in its sequels Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, both box office successes. In 2008, he played Henry "Mutt Williams" Jones III in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; some of his other most notable roles are in films such as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Company You Keep, Fury, American Honey, Borg vs McEnroe.
Since 2014, LaBeouf has pursued a variety of public performance art projects with LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner. LaBeouf was born in California, as the only child of Shayna and Jeffrey Craig LaBeouf, his mother is a ballerina turned visual artist and clothing jewelry designer. His father is a Vietnam War veteran. LaBeouf's mother is Jewish, his father, of Cajun French descent, is Christian. LaBeouf has described himself as Jewish, has stated that he was raised around "both sides". One of the camps he attended was Christian, his first name is derived from the Hebrew shai Yah, meaning "gift of God". LaBeouf has described his parents as "hippies", his father as "tough as nails and a different breed of man", his upbringing as similar to a "hippy lifestyle", stating that his parents were "pretty weird people, but they loved me and I loved them." During his childhood, he accompanied his father to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. LaBeouf has said he was subjected to verbal and mental abuse by his father, who once pointed a gun at his son during a Vietnam War flashback.
LaBeouf has stated that his father was "on drugs" during his childhood, was placed in drug rehabilitation for heroin addiction, while LaBeouf's mother was "trying to hold down the fort."His parents divorced owing to financial problems, LaBeouf had what he has described as a "good childhood", growing up poor in Echo Park with his mother, who worked selling fabrics and brooches. LaBeouf's uncle was going to adopt him at one stage because his parents could not afford to have him anymore and "they had too much pride to go on welfare or food stamps." As a way of dealing with his parents' divorce, he would perform for his family, mimicking his father. LaBeouf financially supports both of his parents, he attended 32nd Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles and Alexander Hamilton High School, although he received most of his education from tutors. In an interview, LaBeouf said that, looking back on his childhood, he feels grateful and considers some of those memories scars. Prior to acting, LaBeouf practiced comedy around his neighborhood as an "escape" from a hostile environment.
At age 10, he began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, describing his appeal as having "disgustingly dirty" material and a "50-year-old mouth on the 10-year-old kid." He subsequently found an agent through the Yellow Pages and was taken on after pretending to be his own manager. LaBeouf has said that he became an actor because his family was broke, not because he wanted to pursue an acting career, having gotten the idea from a child actor he met who had things he wanted. In the early 2000s, LaBeouf became known among young audiences after playing Louis Stevens on the Disney Channel weekly program Even Stevens, a role that earned him a Daytime Emmy Award, he has said. In the next several years, he appeared in the well-received film adaptation Holes. In 2005, he co-starred in Constantine, playing the role of Chas Kramer, with Keanu Reeves in the starring role; the same year he provided the voice of Asbel in the Disney-produced English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. LaBeouf made his directorial debut with the short film Let's Love Hate with Lorenzo Eduardo.
He has played real-life people, including golfer Francis Ouimet and the younger version of Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. LaBeouf starred in Disturbia, a thriller released on April 13, 2007, as a teenager under house arrest who suspects that his neighbor is a serial killer, which he considered a "character-driven" role, he received positive reviews for the role, with The Buffalo News saying, he "is able to pull off anger and intelligence". First hosting Saturday Night Live on April 14, 2007 he would return a year to host the May 10, 2008 episode, he next played Sam Witwicky, who becomes involved in the Autobot-Decepticon war on Earth, in Transformers. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull he was Indiana Jones' greaser son Mutt Williams, his performance was met with mixed reviews with Todd Gilchrist of IGN commenting "one can't quite help but wonder what Spielberg saw in the young actor that inspired him to cast LaBeouf". LaBeouf told t
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul and blues, jazz. Winehouse's debut album, was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize, her follow-up album, Back to Black, led to five 2008 Grammy Awards, tying the record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, made her the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Winehouse won three Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters and Authors: in 2004, Best Contemporary Song for "Stronger Than Me", she won the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female Artist, having been nominated for Best British Album, with Back to Black. Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27, her album Back to Black posthumously became, for a time, the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century.
It is listed as one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Amy Winehouse was born in Chase Farm Hospital, in north London, to Jewish parents, her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and a taxi driver. Winehouse's ancestors were Russian Polish Jewish immigrants to London. Amy had an older brother and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse as a child attended a Jewish Sunday school. After she rose to fame, during an interview she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to allow her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect". Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott, she and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz.
Her father, Mitch sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends. In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance, she attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Winehouse was expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and for piercing her nose. Sylvia Young has denied this—"She changed schools at 15... I've heard. I'd never have expelled Amy" --, she appeared in an episode of The Fast Show, 1997, with other children from the Sylvia Young School and attended the Mount School, Mill Hill.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music a year later. Soon after, she began working for a living, including, at one time, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network, in addition to singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Amy's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person. Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, she was kept as a recording industry secret although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club, her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him.
Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield, the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in Winehouse had started to build to include representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist, an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent. Winehouse's debut album, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song; the album received positive reviews with compliments o
Universal City, California
Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, United States. 415 acres within and around the surrounding area is the property of Universal Pictures, one of the six major film studios in the United States: about 70 percent of the studio's property is inside this unincorporated area, while the remaining 30 percent is within the Los Angeles city limits. Located within the area of Universal City is the Universal Studios Hollywood film studio and theme park, as well as the Universal CityWalk shopping and entertainment center. Within the Los Angeles city limits lies 10 Universal City Plaza, a 36-floor office building for Universal and NBC; the Metro Red Line underground station of the same name is located opposite the 10 Universal Plaza. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department station is located at Universal CityWalk, the community houses the only government-funded fire station located on private property; the Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51 is of special significance to Universal, as "Station 51" was the fictional setting of the Universal and Jack Webb television series Emergency!.
However, the current Station 51 was not used for external shots, or used as a model for the interior shots seen on the show. Universal City's ZIP code is 91608, the community is inside area code 818. Carl Laemmle opened the Second Universal City on March 15, 1915, on the 230-acre Taylor Ranch property. At the launch event, in what is now the North Hollywood area, a crowd of men and women eagerly awaited the display of the film stages, daredevil stunt pilots and silent film idols, as well as the movie cameras Laemmle had brought along. "See how slapstick comedies are made. See your favorite screen stars do their work. See how we make the people laugh or cry or sit on the edge of their chairs the world over!" Stated a poster touting Universal's opening. "C'mon out! Aw, c'mon!"Laemmle, a German immigrant, was Universal Pictures' founder who opened his first nickelodeon in Chicago in 1906. He moved to New York City, where he soon joined half a dozen small motion picture companies to create the movie company he called Universal Pictures.
In 1912, Laemmle operated three small studios - Bison and Oak Crest Ranch. After a court battle with New York Motion Picture Company, control of the Bison lot was returned to the New York Motion Picture Company; the court allowed Carl Laemmle to retain use of the name "Bison" as "Bison 101" for his westerns, which were filmed on the Oak Crest property in the San Fernando Valley. The Oak Crest Ranch is; the Providencia Land and Water company, called "Oak Crest Ranch" in the trade papers, became the first Universal City location. In 1913, Laemmle consolidated the Nestor studio and Oak Crest ranch property, his first Universal City was too small, so he ordered a search for a new and larger property in the valley, a location with more space. Laemmle leased Providencia ranchland in the San Fernando Valley in 1912. If it was a city, it was a haphazard one: with the help of nearly 300 movie hands and actors, Laemmle erected makeshift buildings, set up cameras and began churning out hundreds of one- and two-reel silent westerns.
Other studio chiefs called the place "Laemmle's Folly", mocking that the property was so far out of town and that Laemmle could film scenery for free anywhere he wanted. Laemmle worried that he had made a huge mistake, though Universal was a success because the public could observe movies being made. In the meantime, Laemmle added a zoo to the Oak Crest Ranch –, open to visitors to generate free advertising by word of mouth; the Rotarians of Los Angeles were one of the groups permitted to visit the Oak Crest - Universal City. The Oak Crest ranch being too small for his larger Universal City, Laemmle bought the Lankershim Land and Water property, the 230-acre Taylor Ranch for $165,000, calling it his "New Universal City". In 1914, operations at The Oak Ranch were moved to the Taylor ranch; the Universal ranch zoo was moved to the Back Ranch of the Lankershim property. The new Universal City was opened for Universal staff in 1914. Laemmle went on an eight-day whistle-stop tour from Chicago to Los Angeles the week before Universal City's grand public opening.
His promoters sold the grand lie that Laemmle had persuaded the Secretary of the Navy to send a battleship up the Los Angeles River to fire a salvo on opening day. Easterners, would believe anything they heard about California. After World War I, Laemmle brought more kin over from war-torn Europe, increasing the payroll to 70, his cheerful nepotism was immortalized in humorist Ogden Nash's couplet: Uncle Carl Laemmle has a large faemmle. Carl Laemmle was responsible for creating the "star system" rather than just using anonymous actors in films. Laemmle was forced to end studio tours in the 1920s, when talkies came along and "quiet on the set" became an absolute, he sold his sprawling entertainment empire in 1936. Before his death in 1939, at age 72, he helped bring more than 200 German-Jewish refugees to Los Angeles. A nephew, founded the local Laemmle Theatres chain. Universal City did not welcome tourists again until July 15, 1964, with the opening of the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and its included Studio Tour.
The next few decades saw the arrival of hotel
Dreamgirls (film)
Dreamgirls is a 2006 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes; the story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit, Michigan girl group known as the Dreams and their manipulative record executive. The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. Produced by Laurence Mark, the film's screenplay was adapted by director Condon from the original Broadway book by Tom Eyen. In addition to the original Kreiger/Eyen compositions, four new songs, composed by Krieger with various lyricists, were added for this film.
Dreamgirls features the acting debut of a former American Idol contestant and singer. The film debuted in four special road show engagements starting on December 15, 2006, before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006. With a production cost of $80 million, Dreamgirls is one of the most expensive films to feature an all African-American starring cast in American cinema history. Upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Hudson and Murphy; the film earned $155 million at the international box office. Dreamgirls received a number of accolades, including three awards at the 64th Golden Globe Awards ceremony, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, two Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards. In 1962 Detroit, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", which consists of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre.
Curtis presents himself as The Dreamettes' new manager and arranges for the girls to become backup singers for chitlin' circuit R&B star Jimmy "Thunder" Early. Curtis soon starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, out of his Detroit car dealership, appoints Effie's brother C. C as his head songwriter; when their first single fails after a white pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, C. C. and their producer Wayne turn to payola to make "Jimmy Early & The Dreamettes" mainstream pop stars. Offstage, Effie becomes infatuated with Curtis while the married Jimmy begins an affair with Lorrell. Jimmy's manager, Marty Madison, grows weary of Curtis' plans to make his client more pop-friendly and walks out; when Jimmy bombs in front of an all-white Miami Beach supper club audience, Curtis sends Jimmy out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. Feeling that Effie's plus-sized figure and distinctive voice will not attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer and higher-voiced Deena lead singer and renames the group "The Dreams".
With the aid of new songs and a new image, Curtis and C. C. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. By 1965, Effie begins acting out when Curtis' affections turn towards Deena. Curtis drops Effie from the group, hiring his secretary Michelle Morris to take her place beginning with their 1966 New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams." Despite Effie's defiance and desperate appeal to Curtis, he, C. C. and The Dreams forge ahead to stardom. By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. Struggling to restart her career in music, she hires Marty as her manager and begins performing at a local club. Meanwhile, with Deena Jones & the Dreams superstars and Rainbow having moved to Los Angeles and now the biggest pop business in the country, Curtis attempts to produce a film about Cleopatra starring an unwilling Deena, now his wife; the following year, who has descended into drug addiction due to Curtis' preoccupation with Deena, along with the rejection of the charity single he recorded, has a breakdown during Rainbow Records' tenth-anniversary television special.
Curtis promptly drops him from the label and Lorrell ends their affair. Sometime C. C. who feels Curtis is undermining the artistic merit of his songs by making them into disco music, quits the label, only for everyone to learn that Jimmy has been found dead from a heroin overdose. Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C. C. travels to Detroit and reconciles with Effie, for whom C. C. produces a comeback single. Just as the record begins gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song; the plan falls apart, when Deena, angry over how Curtis controls her career, finds evidence of his schemes and contacts Effie, who arrives in Los Angeles with C. C. Marty, a lawyer. Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie revealing to Deena that Curtis is Magic's father, while Curtis agrees to give Effie's record national distribution in order to avoid being reported to the FBI. Having been inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him to make it on her own.
By 1975, The Dreams give a final farewell performance at the Detroit Theater and invite Effie onstage for the final song. As the concert ends, Curtis notices realizes she is his daughter. Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor, Jr.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack, but rose to prominence at 19, as the lead actress of the television series Dark Angel, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, her big screen breakthrough came in Honey. She soon established herself as a Hollywood actress, has starred in numerous box office hits throughout her career, including Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Good Luck Chuck, The Eye, Valentine's Day, Little Fockers, Mechanic: Resurrection, she is a frequent collaborator of director Robert Rodriguez, having starred in Sin City, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, Machete Kills, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Alba co-founded The Honest Company, a consumer goods company that sells baby and household products. Magazines including Men's Health, Vanity Fair and FHM have included her on their lists of the world's most beautiful women.
Alba was born in California, to Catherine Louisa and Mark David Alba. Her mother has Danish, German and French ancestry, while her paternal grandparents, who were born in California, were both the children of Mexican immigrants, she has Joshua. Her third cousin, once removed, is writer Gustavo Arellano, her father's Air Force career took the family to Biloxi and Del Rio, before settling back in Claremont, when she was nine years old. Alba has described her family as being a "very conservative family – a traditional, Latin American family" and herself as liberal. Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies. During childhood, she suffered from collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia four to five times a year, as well as a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst, she has had asthma since she was a child. Alba became isolated from other children at school, because she was in the hospital so due to her illnesses that no one knew her well enough to befriend her, she has said that her family's frequent moving contributed to her isolation from her peers.
Alba graduated from Claremont High School at age 16, she subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company. Alba expressed an interest in acting from the age of five. In 1992, the 11-year-old Alba persuaded her mother to take her to an acting competition in Beverly Hills, where the grand prize was free acting classes. Alba won the grand prize, took her first acting lessons. An agent signed Alba nine months later, her first appearance on film was a small role in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere as Gail. She was hired for two weeks but her role turned into a two-month job when one of the prominent actresses dropped out. Alba appeared in two national television commercials for J. C. Penney as a child, she was featured in several independent films. She branched out into television in 1994 with a recurring role as the vain Jessica in three episodes of the Nickelodeon comedy series The Secret World of Alex Mack, she performed the role of Maya in the first two seasons of the television series Flipper. Under the tutelage of her lifeguard mother, Alba learned to swim before she could walk, she was a PADI-certified scuba diver, skills which were put to use on the show, filmed in Australia.
In 1998, she appeared as Melissa Hauer in a first-season episode of the Steven Bochco crime-drama Brooklyn South, as Leanne in two episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, as Layla in an episode of Love Boat: The Next Wave. In 1999, she appeared in the Randy Quaid comedy feature P. U. N. K. S.. After Alba graduated from high school, she studied acting with William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, at the Atlantic Theater Company, developed by Macy and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and film director, David Mamet. Alba rose to greater prominence in Hollywood in 1999 after appearing as a member of a snobby high school clique tormenting an insecure copy editor in the romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, opposite Drew Barrymore, as the female lead in the little-seen comedy horror film Idle Hands, alongside Devon Sawa, her big break came when James Cameron picked Alba from a pool of over one thousand candidates for the role of the genetically engineered super-soldier, Max Guevara, on the FOX sci-fi television series Dark Angel.
The series ran for two seasons until 2002 and earned Alba critical acclaim, a Golden Globe nomination, the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress, Saturn Award for Best Actress. Her role is considered a symbol of female empowerment. Writing for the University of Melbourne, Bronwen Auty considered Max to be the "archetypal modern feminist hero —a young woman empowered to use her body to achieve goals", citing Max's refusal to use firearms and instead using martial arts and knowledge as weapons as contributing to this status. In 2004, Max was ranked at number 17 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends", her role in Dark Angel led to significant parts in films, she had her big screen breakthrough in 2003, when she starred as an aspiring dancer-choreographer in Honey. Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus was: "An attractive Jessica Alba and energetic dance numbers provide some lift to this corny and formulaic movie". Budgeted at US18 million, the film made US$62.2 million. Alba next played exotic dancer Nancy Callahan, as part of a long ensemble cast, in the neo-noir crime anthology film Sin City, written and directed by
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman is an American stand-up comedian, actress and writer. Her comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics, such as racism, sexism and religion, sometimes having her comic character endorse them in a satirical or deadpan fashion. For her work on television, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards. Silverman was a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, starred in and produced The Sarah Silverman Program, which ran from 2007 to 2010 on Comedy Central, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, she released an autobiography The Bedwetter in 2010. She appeared in other television programs, such as Mr. Show and VIP, starred in films, including Who's the Caboose?, School of Rock, Wreck-It Ralph, A Million Ways to Die in the West. In 2015, she starred in the drama I Smile Back, for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. During the 2016 election, she became politically active.
Since 2017, she has hosted the Hulu web television late-night talk show, I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman. Silverman was born in New Hampshire, to Beth Ann and Donald Silverman, she was raised in New Hampshire. Beth had been George McGovern's personal campaign photographer and would found the theater company New Thalian Players, while Donald has training as a social worker and ran the clothing store Crazy Sophie's Outlet. Silverman's parents divorced and remarried others. Silverman is the youngest of five siblings, her sisters are Reform rabbi Susan Silverman, screenwriter Jodyne Silverman, actress Laura Silverman. Born into a Jewish family, she considers herself non-religious, she was in attendance when women lit menorahs at the Western Wall for the first time, in December 2014. Her ancestors were from Russia; the first time Silverman performed stand-up comedy was in Boston at age 17. She described her performance as "awful". After graduating from The Derryfield School in Manchester, she attended New York University for a year but did not graduate.
Instead, she performed stand-up comedy in Greenwich Village. After beginning her stand-up career in 1992, Silverman was part of the 1993–94 season of Saturday Night Live for 18 weeks as a writer and featured player, she was fired after one season. Only one of the sketches she wrote survived to dress rehearsal and none aired, although she did appear on the show as a cast member in skits in smaller supporting roles. Bob Odenkirk, a former SNL writer, explained, "I could see how it wouldn't work at SNL because she's got her own voice, she's much Sarah Silverman all the time, she can play a character but she doesn't disappear into the character—she makes the character her." She has stated. She said that when she was fired it hurt her confidence for a year, but after that nothing could hurt her and that she attributes her time to SNL as being a key reason why she has been so tough in her career, she was grateful that her SNL time was short because it didn't end up defining her. She parodied the situation when she appeared on The Larry Sanders Show episode "The New Writer", playing Sanders' new staff writer, whose jokes are not used because of the chauvinism and bias of the male chief comedy writer, who favors the jokes of his male co-writers.
She appeared in three episodes of Larry Sanders during its final two seasons. She starred in the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show and had the leading role for the 1997 independent film Who's the Caboose?, about a pair of New York comedians going to Los Angeles during pilot season to try to get a part in a television series. Silverman and Seder made a six-episode television series sequel entitled Pilot Season in which Silverman stars as the same character and Seder again directed, she made her network standup comedy debut on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 3, 1997. Silverman made several TV program guest appearances, including on Star Trek: Voyager in the two-part-time travel episode "Future's End", she had small parts in the films There's Something About Mary, Say It Isn't So, School of Rock, The Way of the Gun, Overnight Delivery, Heartbreakers, School for Scoundrels, Rent, playing a mixture of comic and serious roles. In 2005, Silverman released a concert film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, based on her one-woman show of the same name.
Liam Lynch directed the film, distributed by Roadside Attractions. It received 64% positive ratings based on 84 reviews on the film critics aggregator Web site Rotten Tomatoes, earned $1.3 million at the box office. As part of the film's publicity campaign, she appeared online in Slate as the cover subject of Heeb magazine and in roasts on Comedy Central of Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner. Silverman played a therapist in a skit for a bonus DVD of the album Lullabies to Paralyze by the band Queens of the Stone Age. Silverman appears at the end of the video for American glam
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake is an American actress, model and singer. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family drama series 7th Heaven, for which she achieved recognition; the series is the longest-running series that aired on The WB channel and the longest-running family drama in television history. In 1997, she won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress for her role in Ulee's Gold, she is known for her role as Erin Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Biel has since starred in many films, including The Rules of Attraction, Blade: Trinity, The Illusionist, The A-Team, Total Recall. In 2017, she was the executive producer of and starred in USA Network's limited drama series The Sinner, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
Jessica Claire Biel was born on March 3, 1982, in Ely, Minnesota, to Kimberly, a homemaker and spiritual healer, Jonathan Biel, a business consultant and General Electric worker. Her paternal great-grandfather was the son of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants, which she discovered on the show Who Do You Think You Are?. Her younger brother, Justin and runs the eco-accessory line BARE. Biel's family moved during her childhood, living in Texas and Woodstock, before settling in Boulder, Colorado. While growing up, Biel played soccer and trained as a gymnast. From 2000 to 2002, she attended Tufts University in Massachusetts. Biel trained to be a vocalist. At age nine, she appeared in several musical productions in her hometown, playing lead roles in productions such as The Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast. At age eleven, Biel participated in a competition sponsored by the International Modeling and Talent Association in Los Angeles where she acquired an agent and professional talent manager, she began modeling for print advertisements, appeared in commercials for products such as Dulux Paint and Pringles.
In her film debut, Biel played the character Regrettal, a lead role in the ambitious musical film titled It's a Digital World and directed by Paul Greenberg. At age 14, after auditioning for several television pilots, Biel was cast as Mary Camden, the second oldest child in the family drama 7th Heaven. Biel landed her first feature film role as Peter Fonda's granddaughter in the critically acclaimed drama Ulee's Gold, released in 1997, her performance earned her a Young Artist Award. In spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, she co-starred in I'll Be Home for Christmas with Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the girlfriend of Thomas' character; when she was 17 years old she posed for a risque photo shoot that appeared in the March 2000 issue of Gear. Producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, brought legal action against Gear, she expressed regret for doing it, claiming she had been used and that she had been shown different pictures than what were published. In 2001, Biel played the love interest of Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the baseball-themed film Summer Catch.
In 2002, she starred as promiscuous college student, Lara, in the ensemble film The Rules of Attraction, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel. The movie received mixed reviews, became a box office hit, has since gained a cult following. Biel was cast in her first top-billing role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although the film met with negative reviews, it was a commercial success, scoring the number-one spot in its opening week and going on to earn more than $80 million in the U. S. In 2003, Biel began work on the third installment of Blade: Trinity. Despite negative reviews, Trinity was a box office hit. After finishing it in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action-thriller Stealth. Biel appeared in the 2004 film Cellular, played a supporting role, Ellen, in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown, starred in the indie film London. In 2005, Esquire named her the "Sexiest Woman Alive" in a six-part series, with each month revealing a different body part and clue to the woman's identity.
In 2006 Biel played a turn-of-the-century duchess in the period piece The Illusionist, co-starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. While her casting was met with a mixed response, her performance was praised. James Berardinelli of Reelviews called her the "film's real acting revelation", while Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Handily employing a refined English accent where the others lay on a light Austrian veneer, Biel is stunning enough to fight to the death over." Biel played an Iraq War veteran in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, a drama about soldiers struggling to readjust to society after facing the hardships of war. In Next Biel starred alongside Julianne Moore, she appeared in the summer comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. In late 2007 Biel signed on to play a stripper in Powder Blue, alongside Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotta and Patrick Swayze. In 2007 Stuff magazine's named her No. 1 on their "100 Sexiest Women". At the start of 2008 Biel shot an adaptation of the play by Noël Coward.
Like the play, the film is set in the 1920s and Biel plays young widow Larita, who impulsively marries John Whittaker in France and must face her disapproving in-laws on returning to England. The film premiered in September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival
