1.
Syracuse, New York
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Syracuse is a city in, and the county seat of, Onondaga County, New York, in the United States. It is the largest U. S. city with the name Syracuse, and is the fifth most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, and Yonkers. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170 and it is the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants. Syracuse is also well-provided with convention sites, with a convention complex. Syracuse was named after the original Greek city Syracuse, a city on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily. The city has functioned as a crossroads over the last two centuries, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network. Today, Syracuse is located at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 90, Syracuse is home to Syracuse University, a major research university, as well as Le Moyne College, a nationally recognized liberal arts college. In 2010, Forbes rated Syracuse 4th in the top 10 places in the U. S. to raise a family, the Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries came to the area in the 1600s. Marie de Gannentaha, on the northeast shore of Onondaga Lake, Jesuit missionaries visiting the Syracuse region in the mid 1600s reported salty brine springs around the southern end of Salt Lake, known today as Onondaga Lake. It is the north flowing brine from Tully that is the source of salt for the salty springs found along the shoreline of Onondaga lake, the rapid development of this industry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the nicknaming of Syracuse as The Salt City. In 1847, the city was named after Syracuse, Sicily. In 1861, he developed the process for the manufacture of soda ash from brine wells dug in the southern end of Tully valley. The process was an improvement over the earlier Leblanc process, the Syracuse Solvay plant was the incubator for a large chemical industry complex owned by Allied Signal in Syracuse, the result of which made Onondaga Lake the most polluted in the nation. The salt industry declined after the Civil War, but a new manufacturing industry arose in its place, the Geneva Medical College was founded in 1834. It is now known as Upstate Medical University, one of four medical colleges in the State University of New York system. The first New York State Fair was held in Syracuse in 1841, world War II sparked significant industrial expansion in the area, specialty steel, fasteners, custom machining. After the war, two of the Big Three automobile manufacturers had major operations in the area, Syracuse was headquarters for Carrier Corporation, and Crouse-Hinds manufactured traffic signals in Syracuse. General Electric had its television manufacturing plant at Electronics Parkway in Syracuse
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
4.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
5.
Pulp Fiction
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Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American black comedy neo-noir crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, from a story by Tarantino and Roger Avary. Directed in a stylized manner, Pulp Fiction connects the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals. The films title refers to the magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence. The screenplay of Pulp Fiction was written in 1992 and 1993 and its plot, as in many of Tarantinos other works, is presented out of chronological order. The film is also self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a card that gives two dictionary definitions of pulp. Its script was turned down by Columbia TriStar as too demented. Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was instantly enthralled with it, however, Pulp Fiction won the Palme dOr at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, and was a major critical and commercial success upon its U. S. release. It revitalized the careers of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and it was also nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution –, since its release, Pulp Fiction has been widely regarded as Tarantinos masterpiece, with particular praise singled out for its screenwriting. The films self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and it is often considered a cultural watershed, with a strong influence felt not only in later movies that adopted various elements of its style, but in several other media as well. A2008 Entertainment Weekly poll named it the best film since 1983, in 2013, Pulp Fiction was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The stories intersect in various ways, the film begins with a diner hold-up staged by a couple, then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, and Butch. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner, sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view, as do sequences 2 and 6. Other analysts describe the structure as a circular narrative, hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega arrive at the apartment of Brett to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. After Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of Bretts associates, then declaims a passage from the Bible before he, some time later, champion boxer Butch Coolidge accepts a large sum from Marsellus to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules deliver the briefcase, the next day, Vincent purchases heroin from his drug dealer Lance. He shoots up to pass the day, then drives to meet Marselluss wife Mia and they head to a 1950s-themed restaurant and participate in a twist contest, then return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin, mistakes it for cocaine, snorts it, Vincent rushes her to Lances house, where they revive her with an adrenaline shot to her heart
6.
The Doors
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The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were unique and among the most controversial and influential acts of the 1960s, mostly because of Morrisons lyrics and charismatic. After Morrisons death in 1971 at age 27, the members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. Signing with Elektra Records in 1966, The Doors released eight albums between 1967 and 1971, All but one hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum or better. By the end of 1971, it was reported that The Doors had sold 4,190,457 albums domestically and 7,750,642 singles. The band had three million-selling singles in the U. S. with Light My Fire, Hello, I Love You, after Morrisons death in 1971, the surviving trio released two albums Other Voices and Full Circle with Manzarek and Krieger sharing lead vocals. The three members also collaborated on the spoken word recording of Morrisons An American Prayer in 1978, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited in 2000 for an episode of VH1s Storytellers and subsequently recorded Stoned Immaculate, The Music of The Doors with a variety of vocalists. Although the Doors active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted, According to the RIAA, they have sold 33 million certified units in the US and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines, including Rolling Stone, the Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold and platinum LPs. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger started playing again, branding themselves as the Doors of the 21st Century. Densmore opted to sit out and, along with the Morrison estate, sued the duo over proper use of the bands name and won. After a short time as Riders On the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek-Krieger and continued to tour until Manzareks death in 2013 at the age of 74. Three of the studio albums, the self-titled debut, L. A. Woman, and Strange Days, were featured in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at positions 42,362. According to The Washington Posts Martin Weil, the rose to the center of the counterculture of the 1960s. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and with Manzareks encouragement sang Moonlight Drive. The members came from a musical background of jazz, rock, blues. In August, Densmore joined the group, which had renamed the Doors. This has circulated widely since then as a bootleg recording, in mid-1965, after Manzareks two brothers left, the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger and the best-known lineup – Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore – was complete
7.
University at Albany, SUNY
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Founded in 1844, it carries out undergraduate and graduate education, research, and service. It is a part of the State University of New York system, the University enrolls more than 17,300 students in nine schools and colleges, which offer 50 undergraduate majors and 125 graduate degree programs. The Honors College, which opened in fall 2006, offers opportunities for well-prepared students to work closely with faculty, the UAlbany faculty had $82.7 million in research expenditures in 2015. for work advancing discovery in a wide range of fields. The research enterprise is in four areas, social science, public policy, life sciences, an economic impact study in 2004 estimated UAlbany’s economic impact to be $1. The institution began as the New York State Normal School on May 7,1844, a new campus — today, UAlbany’s Downtown Campus — was built in 1909 on a site of 4.5 acres between Washington and Western avenues. By 1913, the institution was home to 590 students and 44 faculty members, offered a degree for the first time. Enrollment grew to a peak of 1,424 in 1932, in 1948 the State University of New York system was created, with the College for Teachers and the states other teacher-training schools as the nuclei. To do so, he launched a construction program that developed more than 50 new campuses. Reflecting a broadening mission, the College for Teachers changed its name to SUNY College of Education at Albany in 1959, in 1961, it became a full-fledged four-year liberal arts college as the State University College at Albany. Finally, in 1962, the State University College was officially designated a doctoral-degree granting university center of SUNY as the State University of New York at Albany, the same year, Rockefeller broke ground for the current Uptown Campus on the former site of the Albany Country Club. The new campuss first dormitory opened in 1964, and the first classes on the podium in the fall of 1966. By 1970, a year beyond the University’s 125th anniversary, enrollment had grown to 13,200 and that same year the growing protest movement against the Vietnam war engulfed the University when a student strike was called for in response to the killing of protesters at Kent State. The Downtown Campus became dedicated to the fields of policy, criminal justice, public affairs, information science. In 1985, the university added the School of Public Health, in 1983, the New York State Writers Institute was founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy. As of 2013, the Institute had hosted over more than 1,200 writers, poets, journalists, historians, dramatists. In addition the institute has hosted up-and-coming writers to provide them with exposure at the beginning of their writing careers, during the 1990s, the University built a $3 billion,450, 000-square-foot Albany NanoTech complex, extending the Uptown Campus westward. In 2005, this campus became home to the University’s Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, in the spring of 2005, the University created a College of Computing and Information, which has faculty on both the Uptown and Downtown campuses. In the fall of 2015, CCI was replaced and its programs incorporated into a new college
8.
Burt Lancaster
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Burton Stephen Burt Lancaster was an American film actor. Initially known for playing tough guys, Lancaster went on to success with more complex. He was nominated four times for Academy Awards and won once for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960 and he also won a Golden Globe for that performance and BAFTA Awards for The Birdman of Alcatraz and Atlantic City. During the 1950s his production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster was highly successful, making such as Marty, Trapeze, Sweet Smell of Success, Run Silent, Run Deep. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema, Lancaster was born in Manhattan, New York City, at his parents home at 209 East 106th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, today the site of Benjamin Franklin Plaza. Lancaster was the son of Elizabeth and James Henry Lancaster, who was a mailman, both of his parents were Protestants of working class origin. All of Lancasters grandparents were Ulster immigrants to the United States, the family believed themselves to be related to Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts. Before he graduated from DeWitt Clinton, his mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage, Lancaster was accepted by New York University with an athletic scholarship, but subsequently dropped out. At the age of 19, Lancaster met Nick Cravat, with whom he developed a lifelong partnership, together they learned to act in local theatre productions and circus arts at Union Settlement, one of the citys oldest settlement houses. They formed the acrobat duo Lang and Cravat in the 1930s, however, in 1939, an injury forced Lancaster to give up the profession, with great regret. He then found work, first as a salesman for Marshall Fields. He served with General Mark Clarks Fifth Army in Italy from 1943–45, although initially unenthusiastic about acting, after returning to New York from his Army service, Lancaster auditioned for a Broadway play and was offered a role. Wallis, who signed him to an eight-movie contract, Lancasters first filmed movie was Desert Fury. Fortunately for Lancaster, producer Mark Hellinger approached him to star in The Killers, in 1946, the tall, muscular actor won significant acclaim and appeared in two more films the following year. Subsequently, he played in a variety of films, especially in dramas, thrillers, and military and adventure films. In two, The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate, a friend from his circus years, Nick Cravat, played a key supporting role, in 1953, Lancaster played one of his best-remembered roles with Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity. The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from film in which Deborah Kerr. The organization named it one of AFIs top 100 Most Romantic Films of all time, Lancaster won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and the New York Film Critics Award for his performance in Elmer Gantry
9.
Kevin Costner
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Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, director, producer, and musician. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and one Emmy Award, Costner has played Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, Crash Davis in Bull Durham, Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, Lt. John J. He directed, produced, and starred in The Postman, Costner was born January 18,1955 in Lynwood, California. He grew up in Compton, California and he is the youngest of three boys, the middle of whom died at birth. His mother, Sharon Rae, was a worker, and his father, William Costner, was an electrician. His fathers heritage originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s and Costner also has English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and he instead enjoyed sports, took piano lessons, wrote poetry, and sang in the First Baptist Choir. He has stated that a viewing of the 1962 film How the West Was Won at the age of seven had formed his childhood. Spending his teenage years in parts of California as his fathers career progressed, Costner has described this as a period when he lost a lot of confidence. Costner lived in Ventura, then in Visalia, he attended Mt. Whitney High School and then moved to Orange County and he went on to earn a BA in marketing and finance from California State University, Fullerton in 1978. While at CSUF, he was a fraternity brother in Delta Chi. Costner became interested in acting while in his last year of college, Burton agreed to speak to Costner after he finished reading his book. Costner, who had been taking acting classes but had not told his wife about his desire to be an actor, watched Burton closely and approached when Burton gestured. Costner told Burton that he would prefer to avoid the drama that followed Burton, Burton replied, You have green eyes. After landing, Burtons limousine pulled up to the curb where Costner, Burton wished Costner luck, and the two would never meet again. Still, Costner credits Burton with partially contributing to his career, having agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive, Costner began taking acting lessons five nights a week, with the support of his wife. His marketing job lasted 30 days, Costner allegedly made his film debut in the film Sizzle Beach, U. S. A. Although a biography claims it was filmed in the winter of 1978–79. Costner made a brief appearance in the Ron Howard film Night Shift. He is listed in the credits as Frat Boy No.1 and appears at the climax of a frat-style, blow-out party in the New York City morgue, Costner can be seen holding a beer and looking surprised at the sudden halt of celebration
10.
Tom Cruise
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Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards and he started his career at age 19 in the film Endless Love. After portraying supporting roles in Taps and The Outsiders, his first leading role was in the romantic comedy Risky Business, Cruise became a full-fledged movie star after starring as Pete Maverick Mitchell in the action drama Top Gun. One of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, Cruise starred in more successful films in the 1980s, including the dramas The Color of Money, Cocktail, Rain Man. In 2012, Cruise was Hollywoods highest-paid actor,16 of his films grossed over $100 million domestically,22 have grossed in excess of $200 million worldwide. In 2002, Cruise won the Saturn Award for Best Actor for Vanilla Sky, in 2003, he won an AFI Movie of the Year Award for The Last Samurai and an Empire Award for Best Actor for Minority Report. Cruise is an advocate for the Church of Scientology and its associated social programs. Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Mary Lee, a special teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III. He has three sisters, Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass and they are of English, German, and Irish ancestry. One of Cruises paternal great-great-great-grandfathers, Patrick Russell Cruise, was born in north County Dublin in 1799, he married Teresa Johnson in County Meath and they left Ireland for the United States that same year and settled in New York. They had a daughter, Mary Paulina Russell Cruise, whose son Thomas Cruise Mapother was Cruises great-grandfather, a cousin, William Mapother, is also an actor, he and Cruise have appeared in five films together. Cruise grew up in poverty, and had a Catholic upbringing. The family was dominated by his father, whom Cruise has described as a merchant of chaos. Cruise has said that he was beaten by his father, whom he has called a bully and he stated, He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a lesson in my life—how hed lull you in, make you feel safe and then. For me, it was like, Theres something wrong with this guy, Cruise spent part of his childhood in Canada. His family moved to Beacon Hill, Ottawa, in late 1971 so that Cruises father could take a position as a consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces. There, Cruise attended the newly opened Robert Hopkins Public School for much of grade four, in grade four, Cruise first became involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg
11.
Oliver Stone
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William Oliver Stone is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of Midnight Express and he also wrote the acclaimed gangster movie Scarface. As a director, Stone achieved prominence as director/writer of the war drama Platoon, for which Stone won the Academy Award for Best Director, Platoon was the first in a trilogy of films based on the Vietnam War, in which Stone served as an infantry soldier. He continued the series with Born on the Fourth of July —for which Stone won his second Best Director Oscar—and Heaven & Earth. Many of Stones films focus on controversial American political issues during the late 20th century and they often combine different camera and film formats within a single scene, as evidenced in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon. Stone was born September 15,1946, in New York City, the son of Jacqueline and Louis Stone and he grew up in Manhattan and Stamford, Connecticut. His parents met during World War II, when his father was fighting as a part of the Allied force in France and his American-born father was a non-practicing Jew, and his French-born mother was a non-practicing Roman Catholic. Stone was raised in the Episcopal Church, and now practices Buddhism, Stone attended Trinity School in New York City before his parents sent him away to The Hill School, a college-preparatory school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His parents were divorced abruptly while he was away at school, Stones mother was often absent and his father made a big impact on his life, father-son relationships were to feature heavily in Stones films. He often spent parts of his vacations with his maternal grandparents in France. Stone also worked at 17 in the Paris mercantile exchange in sugar, Stone graduated from The Hill School in 1964. Stone was admitted into Yale University, but left in June 1965 at age 18 to teach school students English for six months in Saigon at the Free Pacific Institute in South Vietnam. Afterwards, he worked as a wiper on a United States Merchant Marine ship in 1966 and he returned to Yale, where he dropped out a second time. In April 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army, from September 16,1967 to April 1968, he served in Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division and was twice wounded in action. He was then transferred to the First Cavalry Division participating in long range patrols before being transferred again to drive for an infantry unit of the division until November 1968. Stone graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film in 1971, Stone made a short, well received 12-minute film Last Year in Viet Nam. In 1979, Stone won his first Academy Award, after adapting true-life prison story Midnight Express into a hit film for British director Alan Parker. Stones screenplay for Midnight Express was criticized by some for its inaccuracies in portraying the events described in the book, the original author, Billy Hayes, around whom the film is set, spoke out against the film, protesting that he had many Turkish friends while in jail
12.
Jennifer Connelly
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Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before she made her debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America. Connelly continued modeling and acting, starring in such as the 1985 horror film Phenomena, the 1986 film Labyrinth. She gained critical acclaim for her work in the 1998 science fiction film Dark City, in 2002, Connelly won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for her supporting role as Alicia Nash in Ron Howards 2001 biopic A Beautiful Mind. She re-teamed with her Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky, Connelly was named Amnesty International Ambassador for Human Rights Education in 2005. She has been the face of Balenciaga fashion advertisements, as well as for Revlon cosmetics, in 2012, she was named the first global face of the Shiseido Company. Magazines including Time, Vanity Fair and Esquire, as well as the Los Angeles Times newspaper have included her on their lists of the worlds most beautiful women, Connelly was born in Cairo, New York, in the Catskill Mountains. She is the daughter of Ilene, a dealer, and Gerard Karl Connelly. Her father was Roman Catholic, and of Irish and Norwegian descent, Connellys mother was Jewish, and was educated at a yeshiva, all of Connellys mothers grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia. Connelly was raised primarily in Brooklyn Heights, near the Brooklyn Bridge, where she attended Saint Anns and her father suffered from asthma, so the family moved to Woodstock, New York, in 1976 to escape the city smog. Four years later, the returned to Brooklyn Heights. When Connelly was 10 years old, an advertising executive friend of her suggested she audition as a model. Her parents sent a picture of her to the Ford Modeling Agency, Connelly began modeling for print advertisements before moving on to television commercials. In an interview with The Guardian, she revealed that, after having done some modeling and she appeared on the cover of several issues of Seventeen in 1986 and 1988. In December 1986, she recorded two pop songs for the Japanese market, Monologue of Love and Message of Love, Connelly sang in phonetic Japanese as she did not speak the language. Her mother started taking her to acting auditions, at once, Connelly was selected for a supporting role as the aspiring dancer and actress Deborah Gelly in Sergio Leones 1984 gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America. The role required performing a ballet routine, during the audition, Connelly, who had no ballet training, tried to imitate a ballerina. Her performance, and the similarity of her nose to Elizabeth McGoverns, Connelly described the movie as an incredibly idyllic introduction to movie-making
