1.
Crash (1996 film)
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Crash is a 1996 British-Canadian psychological thriller film written and directed by David Cronenberg based on J. G. Ballards 1973 novel of the same name. It tells the story of a group of people who take pleasure from car crashes. The film stars James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas, Holly Hunter, the film generated considerable controversy upon its release and opened to mixed and highly divergent reactions from critics. While some praised the film for its premise and originality, others criticized its combination of graphic sexuality. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize, Film producer James Ballard and his wife, Catherine, are in an open marriage. The couple engage in various infidelities but, between them, have unenthusiastic sex and their arousal is heightened by discussing the intimate details of their extramarital sex. While driving home from work one night, Ballards car collides head-on with another. While trapped in the wreckage, the driver, Dr. Helen Remington, wife of the dead passenger. While recovering, Ballard meets Remington again, as well as a man named Vaughan, while leaving the hospital, Remington and Ballard begin an affair, one primarily fueled by their shared experience of the car crash. When Transport Ministry officials break up the event, Ballard flees with Remington, Ballard becomes one of Vaughans followers who fetishize car crashes, obsessively watching car safety test videos and photographing traffic collisions. Ballard drives Vaughans Lincoln convertible around the city while Vaughan picks up and uses street prostitutes and, later, the films sexual couplings in cars are not restricted to heterosexual experiences. While watching videos of car crashes, Remington becomes extremely aroused, later, Vaughan and Ballard eventually turn towards each other and have sex while, also later, Gabrielle and Remington have sex with each other. The films climax begins with Vaughans death and ends with Ballard being involved in another car crash. Their fetish for car crashes has, ironically enough, had a bonding effect on the Ballards marriage. James Spader as James Ballard Deborah Kara Unger as Catherine Ballard Elias Koteas as Vaughan Holly Hunter as Dr, the film was extremely controversial, as was the book, because of its vivid depictions of graphic sexual acts instigated by violence. In the United States, the film was released in both NC-17 and R versions, the ratings controversy has now subsided and the film is readily available on DVD. In Australia, a cut version rated R18+ was given a limited release due to controversy, it was later released uncut on VHS in early 1997. The American NC-17 version was branded with the tagline The most controversial film in years, the movie was denounced by the Municipality of Naples and the environmental association Legambiente, but it was eventually distributed
2.
Paul Haggis
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Paul Edward Haggis is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners, Million Dollar Baby and Crash, Paul Edward Haggis was born in London, Ontario, the son of Mary Yvonne and Ted Haggis. He was raised as a Catholic, but considered himself an atheist in early adulthood, the Gallery Theatre in London was owned by his parents, and Haggis gained experience in the field through work at the theatre. Haggis attended St. Thomas More Elementary School, and after being inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard, after viewing Michelangelo Antonionis 1966 film Blowup, he traveled to England with the intent of becoming a fashion photographer. Haggis later returned to Canada to pursue studies in cinematography at Fanshawe College, in 1975, Haggis moved to Los Angeles, California, to begin a career in writing in the entertainment industry. Haggis began to work as a writer for television programs, including The Love Boat, One Day at a Time, Diffrent Strokes, with The Facts of Life, Haggis also gained his first credit as producer. During the 1980s and 1990s, Haggis wrote for series including The Tracey Ullman Show, FM, Due South, L. A. Law. He helped to create the television series Walker, Texas Ranger, Family Law, Haggis served as executive producer of the series Michael Hayes and Family Law. Haggis had read two stories written by Jerry Boyd, a trainer who wrote under the name of F. X. Haggis later acquired the rights to the stories, and developed them into the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby, clint Eastwood portrayed the lead character in the film. Eastwood also directed the film, and used the written by Haggis. Million Dollar Baby received four Academy Awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture, after Million Dollar Baby, Haggis worked on the 2004 film Crash. Haggis came up with the story for the film on his own, and then wrote and directed the film, Crash was his first experience as director of a major feature film. Critical reception of Crash was positive, and Roger Ebert called it the best film of 2005, Crash received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, in addition to four other Academy Award nominations. Haggis received two Academy Awards for the film, Best Picture, and Best Writing for his work on the screenplay, with Million Dollar Baby and then Crash, Haggis became the first individual to have written Best Picture Oscar-winners in two consecutive years. Haggis lives in Santa Monica, California and he has three daughters from his first marriage to Diana Gettas and one son from his second marriage to Deborah Rennard. Haggis founded the non-profit organization Artists for Peace and Justice to assist impoverished youth in Haiti, in an interview with Dan Rather Haggis mentions that he is an atheist. After maintaining active membership in the Church of Scientology for 35 years, Haggis wrote to Thomas Davis, the Churchs spokesman, and requested that he denounce these statements, when Davis remained silent, Haggis responded that Silence is consent, Tommy
3.
Don Cheadle
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Donald Frank Don Cheadle Jr. is an American actor, writer, producer, and director. He had a role in Hamburger Hill, before building his career in the 1990s with performances in Devil in a Blue Dress, Rosewood. He started a collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that resulted in the films Out of Sight, Traffic and Oceans Eleven. Other films include Volcano, The Rat Pack, Things Behind the Sun, Swordfish, Crash, Oceans Twelve, Oceans Thirteen, Reign Over Me, Talk to Me, Traitor and The Guard. Cheadle co-wrote, directed and starred in Miles Ahead, based on the life of jazz musician Miles Davis. He plays the superhero Colonel James Rhodey Rhodes / War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has appeared in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers, Age of Ultron and Captain America, Civil War. He stars as Marty Kaan on the Showtime sitcom House of Lies, for which he most recently won a Golden Globe Award in 2013. Cheadle has campaigned to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and co-authored, with John Prendergast, in 2010, Cheadle was named U. N. Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bettye, a teacher and he has a sister, Cindy, and a brother, Colin. His family moved from city to city throughout his childhood, after he graduated from East, Cheadle went on to California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a BFA in Acting. Cheadle first became eligible for his Screen Actors Guild card when he appeared as a burger joint employee in the 1985 comedy Moving Violations. He then appeared in Hamburger Hill in 1987, and played the role of Jack in the April 1,1988 Jung, although his character was supposed to be 16 years old, Cheadle was 23 at the time. Cheadle then played the role of Rocket in the 1988 movie Colors, in 1989, he appeared in a video for Angela Winbushs No.2 hit single Its the Real Thing, performing dance moves in an orange jump suit, working at a car wash. In 1990, he appeared in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air titled Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy, playing Will Smiths friend and Hilarys first love interest, in 1992, he played a supporting role in The Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace. Cheadle subsequently played district attorney John Littleton on three seasons of Picket Fences, following soon thereafter was his performance in the title role of the 1996 HBO TV movie Rebound, The Legend of Earl The Goat Manigault. He also starred in the 1997 film Volcano, directed by Mick Jackson, Cheadles television credits include Emmy-nominated performances in the movies The Rat Pack, A Lesson Before Dying, Things Behind the Sun and in a guest appearance on ER. The last of these four episodes during the shows ninth season, in which he portrayed Paul Nathan. He has made appearances in films including Rosewood, The Family Man, Boogie Nights, an appearance in the film Abby Singer, Out of Sight, Traffic
4.
Sandra Bullock
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Sandra Annette Bullock is a German-American actress, producer, and philanthropist. Her breakthrough role was in the film Demolition Man and she subsequently starred in several successful films including Speed, While You Were Sleeping, The Net, A Time to Kill, Hope Floats, and Practical Magic. Bullock achieved further success in the decades in Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, Crash, The Proposal. Bullocks greatest commercial success is the comedy film Minions, which grossed over US$1 billion at the box office. In 2007, she was one of Hollywoods highest-paid actresses and she was also named Most Beautiful Woman by People magazine in 2015. In addition to her career, Bullock is the founder of the production company Fortis Films. She has produced some of the films in which she starred, including Two Weeks Notice, Miss Congeniality 2, Armed and Fabulous and she was an executive producer of the ABC sitcom, George Lopez, and made several appearances during its run. Bullock was born in Arlington, Virginia and her father, John W. Bullock, was a U. S. Army employee and part-time voice coach, her mother, Helga Mathilde Meyer, was an opera singer and voice teacher. Helga was German, while John is from Birmingham, Alabama and has English, French, German, Bullocks maternal grandfather was a German rocket scientist from Nuremberg. John, who was in charge of the U. S. Armys Military Postal Service in Europe, was stationed in Nuremberg when he met Helga. They married in Germany and moved to Arlington, where John worked with the Army Materiel Command before becoming a contractor for The Pentagon, Bullock has a younger sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, who went on to serve as vice president of Bullocks production company Fortis Films. Until the age of 18, Bullock held American-German dual citizenship and she then held only American citizenship until 2009, when she reapplied for German citizenship. Bullock was raised in Germany for 12 years, and grew up speaking German and she attended the humanistic Waldorf School in Nuremberg. As a child, while her mother went on European opera tours, Bullock usually stayed with her aunt Christl and cousin Susanne, Bullock studied ballet and vocal arts as a child and frequently accompanied her mother, taking small parts in her opera productions. She sang in the childrens choir at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. Bullock has a scar above her eye, caused by falling into a creek when she was a child. She attended Washington-Lee High School, where she was a cheerleader, after graduating in 1982, she attended East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where she received a BFA in Drama in 1987. While at ECU, she performed in theater productions, including Peter Pan
5.
Matt Dillon
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Matthew Raymond Matt Dillon is an American actor and film director. He made his film debut in Over the Edge and established himself as a teen idol by starring in films such as My Bodyguard, Little Darlings, Tex, Rumble Fish The Outsiders. In a 1991 article, famed movie critic Roger Ebert referred to him as the best actor within his age group, along with Sean Penn. In the 2000s, he made his debut with City of Ghosts and went on to star in the films Crash, Factotum, You, Me and Dupree, Nothing but the Truth. Since 2015, he has starred in the FOX television show Wayward Pines, Dillon was born in New Rochelle, New York, the son of Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a bear toy manufacturer. His paternal grandmother was the sister of comic strip artist Alex Raymond, Dillon is the second of six children, he has one sister and four brothers, one of whom, Kevin Dillon, is also an actor. He is of mostly Irish descent, with some Scottish and German ancestry, Dillon was raised in a close-knit Roman Catholic family. He grew up in Mamaroneck, New York, in 1978, Jane Bernstein and a friend were helping director Jonathan Kaplan cast the violent teen drama Over the Edge when they found Dillon cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. Dillon auditioned for a role and made his debut in the film, the film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes, another of Dillons early roles was in the Jean Shepherd PBS special The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. The only available copies of this film are stored at UCLA, one of his next roles was in Liars Moon, where he played Jack Duncan, a poor Texas boy madly in love with a rich bankers daughter. In the early 1980s, Dillon also had prominent roles in three adaptations of S. E. Hinton novels, Tex, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, All three films were shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hintons hometown. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish had Dillon working with Francis Ford Coppola and he followed those up with The Flamingo Kid in 1984. He made his Broadway debut with the play The Boys of Winter in 1985, Dillon did voiceover work in the 1987 documentary film Dear America, Letters Home from Vietnam. In 1989, Dillon won critical acclaim for his performance as an addict in Gus Van Sants Drugstore Cowboy. Also in 1987, Dillon appeared as a policeman in the video to The Pogues, Dillon continued to work in the early 1990s with roles in films like Singles. In 2002, he wrote and directed the film City of Ghosts, starring himself, James Caan, in 2005, he starred in Factotum, a film adaptation of an autobiographical work by Charles Bukowski. Two years later he received praise and earned Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for his role in Crash
6.
Jennifer Esposito
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Jennifer Esposito is an American actress, author, baker, and health advocate. Blue Bloods, and Mistresses among others and she currently appears as a regular cast member on the CBS hit television series NCIS in the role of Special Agent Alexandra Alex Quinn. Esposito was born in Brooklyn, the second of two daughters of Phyllis, a decorator, and Robert Esposito, a computer consultant. She was raised on Staten Island and is a graduate of Moore Catholic High School, Esposito made her first television appearance in Law & Order in 1996. She then joined the cast of Spin City, where she appeared for two seasons and she also appeared in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. One of her notable roles was as Ruby in Spike Lees Summer of Sam in 1999. Esposito has made appearances on the series Law & Order, SVU, Rescue Me. She was a regular cast member on Related and Samantha Who, in 2010, Esposito joined the cast of the CBS drama Blue Bloods playing the role of Detective Jackie Curatola, the partner of Detective Danny Reagan. Rather than work around her schedule, Blue Bloods producers chose to write her character out of the series in 2012. In 2014, she joined the NBC series Taxi Brooklyn, the book made The New York Times Best Sellers list on July 6,2014. She played Dominic Wests sister in the hit Showtime series The Affair for three episodes, in 2015, Esposito became the brand ambassador for Eclair Naturals, a gluten-free, GMO-free, and vegan body and skin care line available in Rite Aid stores across the United States. NCIS leader, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, will lure Quinn back into the field as part of his team where he will take advantage of her wit, quick mind. Upon joining the cast of NCIS as Special Agent Alex Quinn, NCIS executive producer Gary Glasberg said and she embodies everything that we hoped for in the character of Quinn and we cant wait to have her come be a part of our team. Esposito appeared on the September 10,2016 episode of Oprah, where she said her doctor had her hospitalized in a psych ward. She said the hospitalization happened during the time she was an actress on the show Samantha Who, Esposito married American actor Bradley Cooper on December 30,2006. They filed for divorce in May 2007, and it was finalized that November, in 2009, Esposito became engaged to Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis. The couple separated in August 2010, in October 2011, Esposito announced that she had celiac disease on The Late Show with David Letterman. In 2012, she opened a gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, celiac-friendly bakery, Jennifers Way, in May 2014, Esposito announced her engagement to British model Louis Dowler
7.
Brendan Fraser
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Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American actor. He also starred in dramatic roles, such as Gods and Monsters, The Quiet American, Crash. Fraser was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Canadians Carol Mary and his mother was a sales counselor, and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. His ancestry includes Czech, French Canadian, German, Irish and his maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He has three brothers, Kevin, Regan, and Sean. Frasers family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California, Seattle, Washington, Ottawa, Ontario, the Netherlands and he attended Upper Canada College, a private boarding school in Toronto, Ontario. While on vacation in London, he attended his first professional theatre show in the West End and he graduated from Seattles Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He began acting at a small acting college in New York City and he planned on attending graduate school in Texas, but stopped in Hollywood, California on the way and decided to stay there to work in film. Fraser made a appearance in the reenactment of Americas Most Wanted. After his film debut Encino Man, he starred with Matt Damon, in 1994, he played Steve Nebraska in The Scout and Montgomery Monty Kessler in With Honors. He went on to supporting roles, such as Philip Ridleys The Passion of Darkly Noon. He went on to appear in comedy films, such as Blast from the Past, Bedazzled. He also starred in two based on Jay Ward creations, George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right. He also starred in Gods and Monsters, which was based on the life of James Whale who directed Frankenstein and his biggest commercial success came with the adventure fantasy film, The Mummy and its sequel The Mummy Returns, both of which were hugely successful at the box office. He lent his voice for the animated film Big Bug Man. In 2004, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Crash and he has also made guest appearances on the television shows, Scrubs, King of the Hill and The Simpsons. In March 2006, he was inducted into Canadas Walk of Fame, however, as of 2014, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six-year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy
8.
Terrence Howard
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Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor and singer. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Hollands Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow. Howard has had prominent roles in other movies including Winnie, Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Get Rich or Die Tryin, Idlewild, August Rush, The Brave One. Howard played James Rhodes in Iron Man and reprised the role in the game adaptation. However, he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the future films and he currently stars as the lead character Lucious Lyon in the television series Empire. His debut album, Shine Through It, was released in September 2008, Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 11,1969 to Tyrone and Anita Howard. The great-grandson of stage actress Minnie Gentry, he was raised in Cleveland, Ohio by father Tyrone Howard, the killing resulted in Tyrone Howard spending 11 months in jail for manslaughter. Howards parents divorced upon his fathers release, Howard first entered the entertainment world when he portrayed Jackie Jackson in The Jacksons, An American Dream, an ABC miniseries. Three years later, he made his big break in 1995s Mr. Hollands Opus. Howard made an appearance on the TV series Family Matters, Howard has stated that he looks for characters that teach him about himself when choosing his film roles. Howard has also worked as a producer, receiving such a credit for the film Pride. In 2008, Howard hosted the PBS series Independent Lens, Howard was the highest-paid cast member of the 2008 film Iron Man. He did not appear in either of the follow-up sequels because it was reported that he would have had to take a 50 to 80 percent pay cut and was replaced by actor Don Cheadle. Howard released his debut adult alternative album, Shine Through It and he described the album as urban country and either wrote or co-wrote all the tracks on the album. During rehearsals he allegedly attacked and seriously injured musical composer Tex Allen, in October 2008, Allen filed a $5 million lawsuit against Howard. In October 2008, Howard made a guest appearance in the short film For All Mankind directed by Daniel L. Clifton, filmed on location in Conshohocken, in 2009, he starred in the movie Fighting. It was reported on July 30,2010, that Howard had joined the cast of the new Law & Order, Los Angeles installment of the Law & Order franchise and he alternated shows with Alfred Molina, who portrayed Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales. The series was cancelled after one season, in 2011, Howard played Nelson Mandela in Winnie Mandela alongside Jennifer Hudson
9.
Ludacris
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Christopher Brian Chris Bridges, better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American hip hop recording artist and actor from Atlanta, Georgia. Alongside his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, throughout his career, Ludacris has won Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards. Along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers Big Boi and André3000 of OutKast, born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta at age nine, where he began rapping. In 2001, he released Word of Mouf, followed by Chicken-n-Beer in 2003 and he took a more serious approach with his next two albums, Release Therapy, and Theater of the Mind. His next record, Battle of the Sexes, was released in 2010, Ludaversal was released on March 31,2015. As an actor, he has appeared in films including Crash, Gamer, and New Years Eve, but is best known for playing Tej Parker in the The Fast and the Furious film series. Ludacris was born as Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois and he later moved to the Chicago area, where he attended Emerson Middle School in Oak Park, and Oak Park & River Forest High School for one year. He then moved to Centreville, Virginia and attended Centreville High School for one year and he attended Banneker High School in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1995. From 1998 to 1999, he studied management at Georgia State University. His parents were both African-American, and he also has some English and Native American ancestry and he is a distant cousin of late comedian Richard Pryor. Bridges wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta, Bridges served as an intern and then a DJ at Atlantas Hot 97.5 under the name Chris Lova Lova. He was also known for DJing during Freaknik at one point, Ludacris collaborated with Timbaland on the track Phat Rabbit from his album Tims Bio, Life from da Bassment. This song was a hit in many countries, in Ludacris early music career he collaborated with Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri. In 1998, Ludacris began to record his debut album Incognegro and this album was the defining example of Ludacris fast, wild, and comedic flow, a unique style for southern rappers. Timbaland handled part of the production, despite its poor sales, it was never deleted and is still sold today. Ludacris also appeared on Timbalands 1998 debut on Phat Rabbit, a track that would later be used on his re-issue of Incognegro called Back For The First Time, in 2000, Ludacris released his major label debut, Back for the First Time. It was produced with the help of the underground producer Sessy Melia, the album reached as high as #4 on the U. S. Billboard 200, and was a major success. Ludacris made his mark on the industry with such as Southern Hospitality and Whats Your Fantasy, along with his first ever single the Phat Rabbit
10.
Thandie Newton
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Melanie Thandiwe Thandie Newton is an English actress. She also currently portrays DCI Roz Huntley in Series 4 of the BBC One police procedural series Line of Duty, Newton was born in Westminster, London, England, the daughter of Nyasha, a Zimbabwean, and Nick Newton, an English laboratory technician and artist. Her birthplace has been reported to be Zambia in some biographies. The name Thandiwe means beloved in Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa or siSwati, according to Newton, her mother is a Shona princess. Regarding her childhood, Newton remarked at a TED conference, From about the age of 5, I was aware that I didnt fit, I was the black, atheist kid in the all-white, Catholic school run by nuns. Newton was brought up in London and Penzance, Cornwall and studied dance at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, between 1992 and 1995, Newton attended Downing College, Cambridge, where she studied social anthropology. After the film Flirting, Newton played a house slave Yvette in the Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise film Interview with the Vampire. The film also starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover, Newton then starred as Nyah Hall, again opposite Cruise, in Mission, Impossible II. Her next role was in the low-budget film It Was an Accident, written by her husband, between 2003 and 2005, Newton played Makemba Kem Likasu, love interest and later wife of Dr. John Carter on the American television series ER. She reprised the role for the finale in 2009. In 2004, she appeared in The Chronicles of Riddick. Newton won a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for her role in Crash and she played Chris Gardners wife, Linda Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness. Also in 2006, Newton performed on radio in a version of Cinderella. In 2007, Newton co-starred with Eddie Murphy in the comedy Norbit as his love interest, Newton next portrayed U. S. National Security Advisor-turned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in W. Oliver Stones film biography of President George W. Bush. The film was released 17 October 2008, Newton was an introducer at Wembley Stadium on 7 July 2007, for the UK leg of Live Earth. She was due to introduce Al Gore to the concert, but he was delayed, first Daughter Laura Wilson in 2012, a disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich and released 13 November 2009. In July 2011, Newton delivered a TED Talk on Embracing otherness and she discussed finding her otherness as a child growing up in two distinct cultures, and as an actress playing many different selves. In 2012, she starred alongside Tyler Perry in the drama film Good Deeds
11.
Ryan Phillippe
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Matthew Ryan Phillippe is an American actor, director, and writer. In the 2000s, he appeared in films, including Gosford Park, Crash, and war drama Flags of Our Fathers, Breach. In 2010, Phillippe starred as Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Greg Marinovich in The Bang-Bang Club, currently, he stars in the lead role of Bob Lee Swagger in the USA Network thriller drama Shooter. He was married to actress Reese Witherspoon from 1999 to 2007, together, they have a daughter and he also has a daughter from a relationship with actress Alexis Knapp. Phillippe was born in New Castle, Delaware and his mother, Susan, ran a day care center in the familys house, and his father, Richard Phillippe, was a chemist. Phillippe is of part French descent and he attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played basketball and soccer, as well as earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, he was also the yearbook editor in his senior year. Phillippe also attended and graduated from Barbizon Modeling and Talent Agency in Wilmington, Phillippes acting career began after being signed to Cathy Parker Management in Voorhees, New Jersey. Shortly after he made an appearance in the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live and his character Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager on a daytime soap opera. He was cast in the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which co-starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film was a success, and led to Phillippe gaining wider renown and being cast in a few more films, including 54 in 1998 opposite Neve Campbell, Salma Hayek. It was a success among its intended audience, cementing Phillippes ability to play characters that require sex appeal. Phillippe can also be seen in the Marcy Playground music video Comin Up From Behind, subsequently, Phillippe had supporting parts in the films Igby Goes Down and Crash, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. His 2003 film The I Inside premiered on cable and his performance was positively received by film critic Richard Roeper, who thought it was Phillippes best performance to date. Phillippes next role was in the thriller Breach, in which he played FBI investigator Eric ONeill opposite Chris Cooper and he has since commented that he believes Cooper to be the best actor America has to offer. He then starred in Chaos, in which he plays an officer, Five Fingers, a drama set in Morocco, Kimberly Peirces Iraq war film Stop-Loss. Next up for Phillippe was a comedic role as Lt. Dixon Piper in MacGruber. It was released in the US and Canada on May 21,2010, as part of the films promotion, Phillippe made his SNL hosting debut on April 17,2010, along with first-time musical performer Kesha. Two days later, on April 19,2010, Phillippe co-hosted WWE Raw with Jonathan Swift and Charo, Phillippe stars as Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Greg Marinovich
12.
DEJ Productions
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DEJ Productions was an American film studio founded in 1998 by Dean Wilson, Ed Stead and John Antioco. DEJ was a film company which began in 1998, shortly after the introduction of the medium of DVD. The home video industry was undergoing an economic change and DEJ was established to pick-up low-budget films primarily to get exclusive DVD releases for its parent company. The company released a few of its acquired films theatrically, based in Los Angeles, DEJ picked up around three dozen films annually. Its first film acquired was the video distribution of Still Breathing, starring Brendan Fraser. It acquired the rights to the biopics of two murderers in Dahmer and Gacy. DEJ also picked up such as Party Monster and Grand Theft Parsons at festivals including the Sundance Film Festival. In the case of a theatrical release such as 2004s My Date With Drew, in the media industry, this was considered a synergistic business model. One of the partners, Dean Wilson, explained DEJs philosophy on convincing filmmakers of their business model in an interview in 2002. But I think theyre now coming to terms with the theatrical release isnt available for everything. We offer up exposure to people, which, when it comes down to it, is really what they want. Because of some success in the video marketplace with a few of the picked up films. An example was when DEJ picked up the video rights to The Boondock Saints which had failed at the box office but proceeded to make almost $12 million in home video. DEJ began co-financing higher profile films for theatrical release including, Monster, DEJ’s first Oscar winner was Charlize Theron in Monster. DEJ’s increasing notoriety led to involvement in the production side. The first result was that the scaled back the number of productions it was involved with. The second was that the risk increased as the push for quality was raised. As a company looking to grow over time, the objective is to find projects that are bigger and better
13.
Lionsgate Films
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Lionsgate Films is an American film production/distribution studio and a division of Lions Gate Entertainment. It is the largest and most successful film studio in North America. Cinépix was founded in 1962 by John Dunning and Andre Link and was based in Montreal, Cinépix was a leading Canadian independent motion picture company, releasing both English- and French-language films and making ten to 12 modestly budgeted titles annually. Initially a distribution company, Cinépixs first production was the 1969 erotic drama Valérie, the company was also responsible for launching the careers of, among others, David Cronenberg and Ivan Reitman. The company also distributed films like grunge rock documentary Hype, Vincent Gallos Buffalo 66. From 1989 to 1994, Cinépix was partners with Famous Players in C/FP Distribution, by 1997, Cinépix had a New York-based U. S. distribution arm and 56 percent of Ciné-Groupe, an animated film production company. Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation was formed in the summer of 1997 by Frank Giustra, LGE purchased Cinépix and kept its leadership. Cinépix Film Properties was renamed Lions Gate Films on January 12,1998, LGE also purchased the Vancouver-based North Shore Studios, which became Lions Gate Studios. In June 1998, LGE purchased International Movie Group, whose film library included Jean-Claude Van Dammes Kickboxer and its first major box office success was American Psycho in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for the major American studios, including Lolita. In 2000, Giustra left the firm and it was taken over by Jon Feltheimer and they decided to focus on the profits of videos and DVDs and began buying struggling firms that controlled large libraries. The two most notable acquisitions were Trimark Holdings in 2000 and Artisan Entertainment in 2003, the Trimark purchase also included CinemaNow, a broadband streaming website, where Lionsgate could feature its own movies. Lions Gate occasionally co-produces films with major studios, for example, Lions Gate teamed with Miramax Films for the 2004 sequel Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights and with Paramount Pictures for 2002s Narc and 2004s The Prince & Me. Lions Gate was also a silent partner in 20th Century Foxs 2004 sci-fi film The Day After Tomorrow, and also in 2004, for the first time ever, Lions Gate joined forces with independent rival United Artists in producing Hotel Rwanda. On August 1,2005, Lions Gate Entertainment acquired the library of Modern Entertainment. On October 17,2005, Lions Gate Entertainment acquired Redbus Film Distribution for $35 million, following this, Zygi Kamasa, who co-founded Redbus with Simon Franks, became CEO of Lionsgate UK and Europe. Lionsgate cut back its production by four in February 2009. The Lionsgate film The Hunger Games grossed $68.3 million when it premiered at the U. S. box office on March 23,2012 and it was the best opening day ever for a non-sequel and the fifth highest of all time. Of that total, $19.7 million was earned via Thursday midnight screenings, in its first weekend, The Hunger Games grossed $152.5 million, making it Lionsgates highest grossing film after just three days
14.
2004 Toronto International Film Festival
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The 29th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 9 through September 18. The festival screened 328 films of which 253 were features and 75 were shorts, sweet Smell of Success This Sporting Life Withnail and I Astronauts Automne Boats out of Watermelon Rinds The Buffalo Boy Le Cou de la girafe Crying. A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal Keane Kung Fu Hustle Ladies in Lavender The Libertine The Merchant of Venice Millions Noel P. S, official site 2004 Toronto International Film Festival at IMDB
15.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
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Porsche
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F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, and is owned by Volkswagen AG, Porsches current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman,911, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called Dr. Ing. h. c, F. Porsche GmbH in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a Volkswagen. This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time, the Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen,52,000 produced. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that ultimately led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche also developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the stages of the war. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British, Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, during his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsches son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his fathers release in August 1947, the first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry, many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the fathers Dr. Ing. h. c. In 1952, Porsche constructed a plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie, the main road in front of Werk 1. The 356 was road certified in 1948, Porsches company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free Peoples State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital. The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, on 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. The 356, however, had several stages, A, B, and C, while in production
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Carjacking
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Not to be confused with a car jack, a device for lifting up the body of a vehicle. Carjacking is a robbery in which the item taken over is a motor vehicle, the word is a portmanteau of car and hijacking. The term was coined by EJ Mitchell, an editor with The Detroit News, Police departments, security agencies, and auto insurers have published lists of strategies for preventing and responding to carjackings. When stopped in traffic, keeping some distance between the vehicle in front, so one can pull away easily if necessary, there were 16,000 carjackings in 1998. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, several new, unconventional anti-carjacking systems designed to harm the attacker were developed and marketed in South Africa, among these was the now defunct Blaster, a small flame-thrower that could be mounted to the underside of a vehicle. The 1992 Act, codified at 18 U. S. C, §2119, took effect on October 25,1992. S. Throughout 1993, articles about carjackings appeared at the rate of more than one a week in newspapers throughout the country. The November 29,1992, killing of two Osceola County, Florida men by using a stolen 9 mm pistol resulted in the first federal prosecution of a fatal carjacking. According to the survey, over time period men were more often victims than women, blacks more than whites. Some 93 percent of carjackings occurred in urban areas, there were multiple carjackers in 56% of incidents, and the carjacker or carjackers were identified as male in 93% of incidents. A weapon was used in 74% of carjacking victimizations, firearms in 45%, knives in 11%, about 14 murders a year involved car theft, but not all of these were carjackings. There were multiple carjackers in 56% of incidents, and the carjacker or carjackers were identified as male in 93% of incidents, some 68% of carjackings occurred at nighttime hours. Some 98% of completed carjackings and 77% of attempted carjackings were reported to police, about 44% of carjacking incidents occurred in an open area while 24% occurred in parking lots or garages or near commercial places. According to the NCVS, from 1992 and 1996, about 49,000 completed or attempted nonfatal carjackings took place each year in the United States, the carjacking was successful in about half of incidents. Data on fatal carjackings are not available, about 27 homicides by strangers each year involved automobile theft, carjackings were common in Newark, New Jersey, in the 1990s, and a wave of carjackings took place again in 2010. There were 288 carjackings in the city in 2010, and Essex County had 69 in December 2010 alone, after federal, state, and law enforcement agencies formed a task force,42 suspects were charged, and carjackings dropped dramatically. Four defendants were indicted in connection with the crime, the major U. S. city with the highest rates of carjacking is Detroit. In 2008, Detroit had 1,231 carjackings, more than three a day, by 2013, that number had fallen to 701, but this was still the highest known number of carjackings for any major city in the country
18.
Wilshire Boulevard
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Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California. This road was used by Spanish explorers and settlers, calling it El Camino Viejo. The route that ultimately became Wilshire crossed the original pueblo of Los Angeles and five of the original Spanish land grants, Wilshire was pieced together from various streets over several decades. It began in the 1870s as Nevada Avenue in Santa Monica, Nevada and Orange were later renamed as parts of Wilshire. The boulevard was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire, an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, the road first appeared on a map under its present name in 1895. A historic apartment building on the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and S. Kenmore Ave. the Gaylord, aon Center, at one point Los Angeles largest tower, is at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. The Wilshire Boulevard home of J. Paul Getty was used as the filmset for the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, one particularly famous stretch of the boulevard between Fairfax and Highland Avenues is known as the Miracle Mile. Many of Los Angeles largest museums are located there, the area just to the east of that, between Highland Avenue and Wilton Place, is referred to as the Park Mile. Between Westwood and Holmby Hills, several tall glitzy condominium buildings overlook this part of Wilshire and this section is also known as the Wilshire Corridor and Condo Canyon. The Wilshire Corridor, located next to Century City, is one of Los Angeles busiest districts, the Fox and MGM studios are located in a series of skyscrapers, along with many historic Los Angeles hotels. Wilshire Blvd is also the street of Los Angeles Koreatown. Koreatown and Mid Wilshire are among Los Angeless densest districts, the construction of the future Purple Line Extension Section 1 commenced in November 2014. The phase two and three of the Purple Line, when completed, will extend to Westwood/VA Hospital. Phase four to Santa Monica Beach are still in the planning stages, Metro Local Line 20, Metro Rapid Line 720, and Santa Monica Transit Line 2 operate along Wilshire Boulevard. Due to the ridership of line 720, 60-foot NABI articulated buses are used on this route. All of the boulevard is at least four lanes in width, the widest portion is in the business district of central Westwood, where mobs of pedestrians crossing Wilshire at Westwood Boulevard must traverse ten lanes. According to a 1991 study by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, this, the boulevards widest portion is in Westwood and Holmby Hills, where it expands to six, and briefly, eight lanes. The sections of Wilshire Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles are notorious for their giant potholes, Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the MacArthur Park lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street into downtown Los Angeles
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Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
20.
Iranian citizens abroad
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Iranians abroad or Iranian diaspora are Iranian people living outside of Iran and their children born abroad. For the most part, they emigrated after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, according to the Iranian government in 2013,55,686 Iranian students were studying abroad. Out of this number,8,883 students were studying in Malaysia,7,341 in the United States,5,638 in Canada,3,504 in Germany,3,364 in Turkey,3,228 in Britain, and the rest in other countries. According to an estimate by the Iranian Ministry of Education, between 350 and 500 thousand Iranians were studying outside of Iran as of 2014, in Dubai, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion. Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006, the government has proposed setting up a joint investment fund with $5 billion in basic capital and an economic union to serve Iranians living abroad. The stated goal is to attract investment from Iranian expatriates and using their experience in stimulating foreign investments, later, in 2010, it was announced that Iran will start the process by creating a national fund with a basic capital of eight million euros. This fund will later transform into a bank, the currency used in the fund is the euro and investors are supported by the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran. Iran will pay a guaranteed 10 percent interest on foreign investment, the value of each share in the fund is 1,000 euros. The minimum and the maximum investment amounts are 100,000 and 500,000 shares, a number of Iranians have converted to Christianity in the diaspora from the predominant Shia Islam. There also notable groups of Bahai and Jewish Iranians, a significant number of Iranians abroad are irreligious, Agnostic and Atheist. Iranians Abroad - resources and links parstimes. com Iranian Alliances Across Borders Iranian diaspora - press article Seminar for Iranians Abroad Held in Tehran on August 2010
21.
Hispanic
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The term Hispanic broadly refers to the people, nations, and cultures that have a historical link to Spain. It commonly applies to countries once colonized by the Spanish Empire in the Americas and Asia, particularly the countries of Latin America and the Philippines. It could be argued that the term should apply to all Spanish-speaking cultures or countries and it is difficult to label a nation or culture with one term, such as Hispanic, as the ethnicities, customs, traditions, and art forms vary greatly by country and region. The Spanish language and Spanish culture are the main traditions, the term Hispanic derives from Latin Hispanicus, the adjectival derivation of Latin Hispania and Hispanus/Hispanos, ultimately probably of Celtiberian origin. In English the word is attested from the 16th century, the words Spain, Spanish, and Spaniard are of the same etymology as Hispanus, ultimately. Hispanus was the Latin name given to a person from Hispania during Roman rule, in English, the term Hispano-Roman is sometimes used. The Hispano-Romans were composed of people from different indigenous tribes. A number of men, such as Trajan, Hadrian. Hispano-Roman is used to refer to the culture and people of Hispania, Hispanic is used to refer to modern Spain, to the Spanish language, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the world and particularly the Americas. Spanish is used to refer to the people, nationality, culture, language, Spaniard is used to refer to the people of Spain. Hispania was the Roman name for the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Initially, this territory was divided into two provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, in 27 B. C, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Hispania Baetica and Hispania Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. This division of Hispania explains the usage of the singular and plural forms used to refer to the peninsula and this revival of the old Roman concept in the Middle Ages appears to have originated in Provençal, and was first documented at the end of the 11th century. In the Council of Constance, the four kingdoms shared one vote, the word Lusitanian, relates to Lusitania or Portugal, also in reference to the Lusitanians, possibly one of the first Indo-European tribes to settle in Europe. From this tribes name had derived the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, the terms Spain and the Spains were not interchangeable. Spain was a territory, home to several kingdoms, with separate governments, laws, languages, religions, and customs. Spain was not an entity until much later, and when referring to the Middle Ages. The term The Spains referred specifically to a collective of juridico-political units, first the Christian kingdoms, although colloquially and literally the expression King of Spain or King of the Spains was already widespread, it did not refer to a unified nation-state
22.
William Fichtner
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William Edward Bill Fichtner, Jr. is an American actor. He has appeared in a number of films and TV series. & Mrs. Smith, The Dark Knight, Date Night, The Lone Ranger, Phantom, Elysium, Independence Day, Resurgence, Fichtner was born on Mitchel Air Force Base on Long Island, and was raised in Cheektowaga, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. He is the son of Patricia A. and William E. Fichtner, Fichtner graduated from Maryvale High School in 1974. After graduating from Farmingdale State College in 1976 with a degree in criminal justice, he attended SUNY Brockport. Fichtner then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, Fichtner credits his Farmingdale State College admissions counselor, Don Harvey, with his decision to study acting. Harvey, who became a friend, took Fichtner to his first Broadway show. On May 18,2008, Fichtner was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Farmingdale State College, Fichtner began his acting career as Josh Snyder in As the World Turns in 1987. Fichtners film credits include Contact, Heat, Armageddon, Go, Equilibrium, Black Hawk Down, The Perfect Storm, The Longest Yard, Crash, Ultraviolet and The Dark Knight. Mainly a character actor, one of Fichtners few leading roles is in Passion of Mind, also starring Demi Moore, for his role in Crash, he won a Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance Award and a Best Acting Ensemble Award from Broadcast Film Critics Choice. Credited as Bill Fichtner, he voiced the character Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto, Vice City and Grand Theft Auto, between 2005 and 2006, Fichtner also starred in the science-fiction TV series Invasion as Sheriff Tom Underlay. After Invasion was canceled, Fichtner played FBI Agent Alexander Mahone in the second through fourth seasons of Prison Break, later that year, he presented an award at the National Hockey League award show. He also appears in The West Wing episode, The Supremes as Christopher Mulready, Fichtner also had a role as the Gotham National Bank manager in the feature film The Dark Knight, and as Jurgen in Equilibrium. In June 2009, Fichtner signed on to guest star on Entourage playing TV producer Phil Yagoda and he also voices Master Sergeant Sandman in the 2011 video game Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3. Fichtner played Eric Sacks in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as of June 2014, Fichtner lives in Prague, Czech Republic, where he filmed the television series Crossing Lines. Fichtner is a fan of the National Football League s Buffalo Bills, more recently, Fichtner narrated the ESPN30 for 30 documentary titled Four Falls of Buffalo, chronicling the Buffalo Bills four consecutive Super Bowl appearances from 1990–93. William Fichtner at the Internet Movie Database William Fichtner at the official Contact movie website Random Roles, William Fichtner at The A. V
23.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
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Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
25.
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
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The Academy Award for Best Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. For 33 consecutive years,1981 to 2013, every Best Picture winner had also nominated for the Film Editing Oscar. Only the principal, above the line editor as listed in the credits are named on the award, additional editors, supervising editors. The nominations for this Academy Award are determined by a ballot of the members of the Editing Branch of the Academy. The members may vote for up to five of the films in the order of their preference. The Academy Award itself is selected from the films by a subsequent ballot of all active. This award was first given for films released in 1934, the name of this award is occasionally changed, in 2008, it was listed as the Academy Award for Achievement in Film Editing. Michael Kahn won for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindlers List, thelma Schoonmaker won for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed. To date, two film directors have won this award, James Cameron and Alfonso Cuarón for the films Titanic and Gravity, also, nominated editors Robert Wise, Francis D. West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles and The Andromeda Strain for Wise, Crazylegs for Lyon and Bound for Glory, superlatives taken from a document published by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These listings are based on the Awards Database maintained by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
26.
78th Academy Awards
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The ceremony was scheduled one week later than usual to avoid conflicting with the 2006 Winter Olympics. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 24 categories honoring films released in 2005, the ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Jon Stewart hosted the show for the first time, two weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California held on February 18, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Rachel McAdams. Crash won three awards including Academy Award for Best Picture, the telecast garnered nearly 39 million viewers in the United States. Brokeback Mountain earned the most nominations with eight total, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, all five Best Picture nominees received corresponding Best Director nominations. The winners were announced during the ceremony on March 5,2006. Several notable achievements by individuals and films occurred during the ceremony. Crash was the first Best Picture winner since 1976s Rocky to win only three Oscars, Best Director winner Ang Lee became the first non-Caucasian winner of that category. For this first time since the 34th ceremony held in 1962 and its Hard out Here for a Pimp became the second rap song to win Best Original Song and the first such song to be performed at an Oscars ceremony. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger, robert Altman — In recognition of a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike
27.
Osama bin Laden
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He was a Saudi Arabian, a member of the wealthy bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite. Bin Laden was born to the family of billionaire Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden in Saudi Arabia and he studied at university in the country until 1979, when he joined Mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He helped to fund the Mujahideen by funneling arms, money and fighters from the Arab world into Afghanistan and he was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until U. S. pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996. After establishing a new base in Afghanistan, he declared a war against the United States, initiating a series of bombings and related attacks. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigations lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, from 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, as the FBI placed a $25 million bounty on him in their search for him. S. There is no accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English, however. The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency, as well as other U. S. governmental agencies, have used either Usama bin Laden or Usama bin Ladin, less common renderings include Ussamah bin Ladin and, in the French-language media, Oussama ben Laden. Other spellings include Binladen or, as used by his family in the West, the decapitalization of bin is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions, articles, and patronymics uncapitalized in surnames, the nasab bin means son of. The spellings with o and e come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, Osama bin Ladens full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden. The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as Osama or Osama bin Laden, not bin Laden alone, as bin Laden is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Ladens son Omar bin Laden, the familys surname is al-Qahtani. Osama bin Laden had also assumed the kunyah Abū Abdāllāh and his admirers have referred to him by several nicknames, including the Prince or Emir, the Sheik, the Jihadist Sheik or Sheik al-Mujahid, Hajj, and the Director. The word usāmah means lion, earning him the nicknames Lion and Lion Sheik, in a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10,1957. Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born, Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister. The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, Bin Laden was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School and he studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in engineering in 1979
28.
Blank (cartridge)
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A blank is a type of cartridge for a firearm that contains gunpowder but no bullet or shot. Blanks use paper or plastic wadding to seal gunpowder into the cartridge, when fired, the blank makes a flash and an explosive sound, the wadding is propelled from the barrel of the gun, and the firearms action cycles. Blanks are often used for simulation, training, for signaling, blank cartridges differ from dummy cartridges, which are used for training or function testing firearms, these contain no primer or gunpowder, and are inert. Specialized blank cartridges are used for their propellant force in fields as varied as construction, shooting sports. In the case of non-crimped blanks, it serves to pulverise the plug to prevent it leaving as a projectile. For movie use, specially designed blank-firing firearms are often used, 5-in-1 blanks are specifically made for theatrical use and are commonly used in real firearms for dramatic effect. 5-in-1 blanks can function in a variety of different calibers, hence the name, special blank cartridges are also used when the explosive power of a cartridge is needed, but a projectile is not. Blank cartridges were used for launching tear-gas or rifle grenades. Larger blanks are used for line launching guns, such as the line launching kit for the Mossberg 500 shotgun. Some forms of fast draw competitions use special blanks that are loaded with a layer of slow burning rifle powder on top of a layer of faster-burning pistol powder. The pistol powder ignites the slower burning powder, and fires it out the barrel much like a shotgun shell. The burning powder only travels a few yards before it completely combusts, wax bullets are also commonly used for competitions and training where a non-lethal projectile is required. This tradition dates back to before cartridge arms, when a muzzle loading musket would be loaded without a ball, the appearance of a blank cartridge can give a false sense of safety. Blank cartridges frequently contain a paper, wood or plastic called a wad which seals the powder in the case. This wad can cause severe penetrating wounds at close range and bruising at medium ranges, there is also muzzle blast – a cloud of hot, expanding gas expelled at extremely high velocity from the muzzle of the firearm. This high velocity gas can inflict severe injury at close ranges, in addition, if there is any small debris lodged inside the barrel it will be expelled at a velocity similar to that of a bullet, with the ability to inflict a severe or lethal wound. Furthermore, the loud noise of blanks being fired can damage the hearing of people in the immediate area. Actors in particular are at risk of injury from blank cartridges used on movie sets
29.
Saint Christopher
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Saint Christopher is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian. There appears to be due to the similarity in names Decius. He may be the figure as Saint Menas. Therefore, he is the saint of travelers, and small images of him are often worn around the neck, on a bracelet, carried in a pocket. There are several associated with the life and death of Saint Christopher which first appeared in Greece and had spread to France by the 9th century. The 11th-century bishop and poet, Walter of Speyer, gave one version, according to the legendary account of his life Christopher was initially called Reprobus. He was a Canaanite,5 cubits tall and with a fearsome face, while serving the king of Canaan, he took it into his head to go and serve the greatest king there was. He went to the king who was reputed to be the greatest, on thus learning that the king feared the devil, he departed to look for the devil. He came across a band of marauders, one of whom declared himself to be the devil, but when he saw his new master avoid a wayside cross and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and enquired from people where to find Christ. He met a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith, Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher replied that he was unable to perform that service, the hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where they were perishing in the attempt. The hermit promised that service would be pleasing to Christ. After Christopher had performed this service for time, a little child asked him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him, when he finally reached the other side, he said to the child, You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were. The child replied, You had on your shoulders not only the whole world, I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work. Christopher later visited Lycia and there comforted the Christians who were being martyred, brought before the local king, he refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. The king tried to win him by riches and by sending two beautiful women to tempt him, Christopher converted the women to Christianity, as he had already converted thousands in the city
30.
Human trafficking
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Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy, Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the rights of movement through coercion. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another, according to the International Labour Organization, forced labor alone generates an estimated $150 billion in profits per annum as of 2014. Estimated that 21 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery, of these,14.2 million were exploited for labor,4.5 million were sexually exploited, and 2.2 million were exploited in state-imposed forced labor. Human trafficking is thought to be one of the activities of trans-national criminal organizations. Human trafficking is condemned as a violation of rights by international conventions. In addition, human trafficking is subject to a directive in the European Union, the protocol is one of three which supplement the CTOC. The Trafficking Protocol is the first global, legally binding instrument on trafficking in over half a century, one of its purposes is to facilitate international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting such trafficking. Another is to protect and assist human traffickings victims with full respect for their rights as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 2014, the International Labour Organization estimated $150 billion in annual profit is generated from forced labor alone. The average cost of a trafficking victim today is USD $90,000 which. The average slave in 1800 America was the equivalent to USD $40,000, though illegal, there may be no deception or coercion involved. After entry into the country and arrival at their ultimate destination, Human trafficking, on the other hand, is a crime against a person because of the violation of the victims rights through coercion and exploitation. Unlike most cases of smuggling, victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. While smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not, trafficked people are held against their will through acts of coercion, and forced to work for or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercial sexual exploitation, the arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment, or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the not being permitted or able to pay off the debt. Bonded labor, or debt bondage, is probably the least known form of labor trafficking today, generally, the value of their work is greater than the original sum of money borrowed
31.
Chinatown, Los Angeles
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Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops and art galleries but also has a neighborhood with a low-income. The original Chinatown developed in the late 19th century, but it was demolished to make room for Union Station, a separate commercial center, known as New Chinatown, opened for business in 1938. There are two schools and a library in Chinatown, as well as a city park, a state park. Many motion pictures have filmed in the area. Many of them settled in Los Angeles, in 1871, nineteen Chinese men and boys were killed by a mob of about five hundred white men in one of the most serious incidents of racial violence that has ever occurred in Americas West. This incident became known as Massacre of 1871, the first Chinatown, centered on Alameda and Macy Streets, was established in 1880. Reaching its heyday from 1890 to 1910, Chinatown grew to approximately fifteen streets and it boasted a Chinese Opera theater, three temples, a newspaper and a telephone exchange. But laws prohibiting most Chinese from citizenship and property ownership, as well as legislation curtailing immigration, from the early 1910s Chinatown began to decline. Symptoms of a corrupt Los Angeles discolored the publics view of Chinatown, gambling houses, opium dens, as tenants and lessees rather than outright owners, the residents of Old Chinatown were threatened with impending redevelopment, and as a result the owners neglected upkeep of their buildings. Eventually, the area was sold and then resold, as entrepreneurs and developers fought the area. After thirty years of decay, a Supreme Court ruling approved condemnation of the area to allow for construction of a rail terminal. Residents were evicted to make room for Union Station, causing the formation of the New Chinatown, seven years passed before an acceptable relocation proposal was put into place, situating a new Chinatown in its present location. Old Chinatown was gradually demolished, leaving many businesses without a place to do business, nonetheless, a remnant of Old Chinatown persisted into the early 1950s, situated between Union Station and the Old Plaza. The Chinese American Museum is now situated in Garnier Building, costumed workers greeted tourists, and a Chinese opera troupe performed live shows in front of the shops. Some replica buildings in China City came from the set of the 1937 Hollywood blockbuster, China City received mixed support from Chinese American residents and businessmen. Many welcomed the opportunity the project provided. Others preferred the New Chinatown project, considered less distorted by the lens of Hollywood
32.
Shaun Toub
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Shaun Toub is an Iranian film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Yinsen in 2008s Iron Man, Farhad in the 2004 movie Crash, Rahim Khan in the movie The Kite Runner, Toub, who is of Persian Jewish background, was born in Tehran, Iran. At age 2, he moved in Manchester, England, where his mother attended podiatry school and he returned to Iran, where he lived until he was 13, before moving to Switzerland. He crossed the Atlantic to Nashua, New Hampshire to finish his last year of high school and he decided at age 5 he wanted to become an actor. His high school yearbook notes, The funniest guy in school, after two years of college in Massachusetts, Shaun transferred to USC. Shaun is active in the Iranian Jewish community, through various charity events and public speaking engagements, he inspires the community to embrace the arts, as the arts enhance everyday life. He has been a recipient of the Sephard award at the Los Angeles Sephardic Film Festival, Toub currently resides in Los Angeles, with his wife, Lorena. Through a chance encounter with a talent agent, he broke into the Hollywood scene, Toub has received accolades for several of his appearances in over 100 television episodes including Seinfeld, The Sopranos, ER, NCIS, Married. With Children, Lost, Homeland and various movies made for television and his performance as Farhad in Paul Haggiss Oscar-winning film Crash received positive reviews. He played the part of the Virgin Marys father in The Nativity Story and he also played Rahim Khan in The Kite Runner. Toub played Ho Yinsen in the 2008 film Iron Man, Yinsen is the surgeon held captive by terrorists who first saves Tony Starks life then helps Stark escape by helping him construct the first Iron Man suit. Toub reprises the role in an appearance in the 2013 film Iron Man 3. His most recent role is in the series Grimm, playing the part of Bonaparte, Shaun Toub at the Internet Movie Database Shaun Toubs website Shaun Toub cover story in OCPC magazine
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