1.
Genndy Tartakovsky
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Genndy Tartakovsky is a Russian American animator, director, storyboard artist, producer, and screenwriter. He is also known for co-creating Sym-Bionic Titan and directing the feature films Hotel Transylvania. Tartakovsky was born January 17,1970, in Moscow, to Jewish parents and his father, Boris, worked as a dentist for government officials and the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. His mother, Miriam, was an assistant principal at a school and he also has a brother, Alexander, who is two years older and currently a computer consultant in Chicago. Before coming to the United States, his family first moved to Italy, there, Tartakovsky says he was first drawn to art, inspired by a neighbors daughter. Tartakovsky later commented, I remember, I was horrible at it, for the life of me, I couldnt draw a circle. Tartakovskys family moved to the United States when he was seven due to concerns about the effect of antisemitism on their childrens lives, the family originally settled in Columbus, Ohio and later moved to Chicago. He was greatly influenced by the comics he found there, his first purchase was an issue of the Super Friends, Tartakovsky began attending Chicagos Eugene Field Elementary School in the third grade. School was hard for him because he felt that everyone recognized him as a foreigner and he went on to attend Chicagos prestigious Lane Technical College Prep High School, and says he never felt he fit in until he was a sophomore there. When he was 16, his father died of a heart attack and he felt that his father was very strict and was an old-fashioned man, but Genndys relationship with his father was very special to him. After the death of his father, Genndy and his moved to government-funded housing. To satisfy his ambitious family, Tartakovsky tried to take an advertising class, however, he signed up late and had little choice over his classes. At CalArts, Tartakovsky directed and animated two student films, one of became the basis for Dexters Laboratory. Reportedly, after two years at CalArts, Tartakovsky got a job in Spain on Batman, The Animated Series, there, he learned the trials of TV animation, labor intensive and cranking it out. While he was in Spain, his mother died of cancer, Craig McCracken acquired an art director job at Hanna-Barbera for the show 2 Stupid Dogs and recommended hiring Robert Renzetti and Tartakovsky as well. This was a turning point in Tartakovskys career. Hanna-Barbera let Tartakovsky, McCracken, Renzetti and Paul Rudish work in a trailer in the lot of the studio. Dexters Laboratory grew out of a student film with the title that he produced while at the California Institute of the Arts
2.
Robert Smigel
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Robert Smigel is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live TV Funhouse cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. He also co-wrote both Hotel Transylvania films and You Dont Mess with the Zohan, all starring Adam Sandler, Smigel was born in New York City to Irwin Smigel and Lucia Smigel. He is Jewish and frequently went to Jewish summer camp and he attended Cornell University, studying pre-dental, and graduated from New York University in 1983 with a degree in political science. Smigel began developing his talent at The Players Workshop in Chicago. Bob Odenkirk was a student there. Smigel was also a member of the Chicago comedy troupe All You Can Eat in the early 1980s, Smigel first established himself as a writer on Saturday Night Live by joining the writing staff when Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer for the 1985–1986 season. Smigel was hired after then-SNL producers Al Franken and Tom Davis saw Smigel in a Chicago sketch show and this is when Smigel began to write more memorable sketches, including one where host William Shatner urged worshipful attendees at a Star Trek convention to get a life. Smigel rarely appeared on screen, though he was credited as a player in the early 1990s. Smigel co-wrote Lookwell with Conan OBrien for NBC, in 1996, Smigel wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, a primetime sketch comedy program on ABC. Despite its premature end, the show provided Smigel the opportunity to debut his first cartoon, upon the shows cancellation, Smigel continued developing more cartoon ideas the following summer and would begin airing them on Saturday Night Live under the TV Funhouse banner. Smigel would later claim, My whole career out of the impulse to do cartoons on The Dana Carvey Show. Smigels most famous creation, however, would be the foul-mouthed puppet Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog and this character debuted on Late Night with Conan OBrien in February 1997 and would continue to make appearances on the show, as well as others, for many years to come. Smigel continued to establish himself on Saturday Night Live by producing short animated segments under the title TV Funhouse and it spawned a TV show on Comedy Central featuring a mix of puppets, animation, and short sketches, although only eight episodes were aired. According to interviews, Smigel helped punch up the scripts for Little Nicky, Smigel acted alongside fellow SNL writer Bob Odenkirk in Waynes World 2 as a nerd backstage at an Aerosmith concert. In 2000, he voiced a sage bulldog in Little Nicky, Smigel, along with Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow, wrote the script for the film You Dont Mess with the Zohan in which Smigel played Yosi, an Israeli electronics salesman. Smigel is also one of the producers of the film. It was reported in 2006 that Smigel and Adam Sandler were working on a sitcom for Fox called Animals. Fox has not made any statement regarding the show
3.
Adam Sandler
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Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, film producer, and musician. After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in many Hollywood feature films that combined have grossed over $2 billion at the box office. He has ventured into more dramatic territory with his roles in Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish, Reign Over Me, Sandler has released five comedy albums in his career. Theyre All Gonna Laugh at You. and What the Hell Happened to Me. are both certified double-platinum, in 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison Productions. Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, to Judith Judy, a school teacher, and Stanley Sandler. His family is Jewish and descends from Russian and Israeli immigrants on both sides and he grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire after moving there at the age of six. He attended Manchester Central High School, as a teen, Sandler was in BBYO, a popular Jewish youth group. Sandler graduated from New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts in 1988, early in his career, Sandler played Theo Huxtables friend, Smitty in The Cosby Show and the Stud Boy or Trivia Delinquent in the MTV game show Remote Control. After his film debut Going Overboard in 1989, Sandler performed in comedy clubs and he was discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who caught Sandlers act in Los Angeles and recommended him to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Sandler told Conan OBrien on The Tonight Show that NBC fired him, in 1993, Adam Sandler appeared in the film Coneheads with Chris Farley, David Spade, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, and Jane Curtin. In 1994, he co-starred in Airheads with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi and he followed this film with Bulletproof, and the financially successful comedies Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer. He was initially cast in the bachelor-party-themed comedy/thriller Very Bad Things but had to back out due to his involvement in The Waterboy, although his earliest films did not receive critical praise, he started to receive more positive reviews, beginning with Punch-Drunk Love in 2002. Roger Eberts review of Punch-Drunk Love concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts, Sandler has moved outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious parts such as the aforementioned Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and Reign Over Me. He played a father figure in Big Daddy. He returned to more dramatic fare with Mike Binders Reign Over Me and he starred with Kevin James in the film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Sandler headlined You Dont Mess with the Zohan, the film was written by Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel, it was directed by Dennis Dugan. It marked as Sandlers first family film and first film under the Walt Disney banner, in 2009, Sandler starred in Judd Apatows third directorial feature Funny People. The film was released on July 31,2009, Sandler appeared in Grown Ups, alongside Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade
4.
Andy Samberg
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Andrew David Andy Samberg is an American actor, filmmaker, musician and comedian. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and he occasionally goes by the stage name Young Sandwich. He currently stars in the police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2014. Samberg was born in Berkeley, California, as David A. J. Samberg and his mother, Marjorie Margi, is an elementary school teacher, and his father, Joe, is a photographer. He has two sisters, Johanna and Darrow and he is Jewish, his maternal grandfather, industrial psychologist and philanthropist Alfred J. Marrow, served as the executive chair of the American Jewish Congress. Samberg has described himself as not particularly religious and he is a third cousin of U. S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, as their grandfathers were first cousins. Samberg discovered Saturday Night Live as a child, while sneaking past his parents to watch professional wrestling on television and he was obsessed with the show and his devotion to comedy was frustrating to teachers who felt he was distracted from his schoolwork. Samberg graduated from Berkeley High School in 1996, where he interested in creative writing and has stated that were the ones that I put all my effort into. Thats what I cared about and thats what I ended up doing and he attended college at University of California, Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated in 2000. Samberg majored in film, including the music video for James Kochalkas song Monkey vs. Robot as Monkey. He became a YouTube and internet star and made his own comedy videos with his two friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, when YouTube was created in 2005, the streaming of their videos became much more widespread over the internet. Samberg became a player on SNL in part because of the work he had done on their sketch comedy website TheLonelyIsland. com. Prior to joining its cast, Samberg was a member of the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, the trio began writing for Saturday Night Live in 2005 and released their debut album, Incredibad in 2009. Samberg appeared in theatrical films, commercials, music videos and hosted special events. In 2012, Samberg delivered the Class Day speech at Harvard University, and U. S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as having an unkempt appearance, Is it just me or does Bernie Sanders always seem like his flight is delayed. Samberg starred in Sleater-Kinneys No Cities to Love video along with celebrities such as Fred Armisen, Ellen Page. On May 16,2016, Samberg and the Lonely Island performed their 2009 hit Im on a Boat with classroom instruments on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
5.
Selena Gomez
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Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer. Having appeared as a child in the television series Barney & Friends. Due to the success of the series, Gomez worked on films, television shows. Gomez also formed her own company in 2008, titled July Moon Productions, she serves as an executive producer on the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why. She signed a contract with Hollywood Records in 2008 and subsequently formed her band Selena Gomez & the Scene the following year. The band released three albums by 2011. Gomez hoped to focus on her career by transitioning into film work, earning starring roles in films such as Ramona and Beezus. Gomez hoped to achieve a mature image with a role in the exploitation film Spring Breakers. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 in the United States, Gomez embarked on her Stars Dance Tour, though it was later canceled due to personal and medical struggles. In 2014, Gomez fired her parents as her managers and signed with the WME, during this time, she signed a new recording contract with Interscope Records, releasing a compilation album as her fifth and final release through Hollywood Records. Gomez released her studio album, Revival, in October 2015. The album debuted at one on the Billboard 200, while the first three singles Good for You, Same Old Love and, Hands to Myself all topped the Mainstream Top 40 chart in the United States. She embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in 2016, like her previous tour, Gomez is currently working on her third solo studio album. Outside of entertainment, Gomez released her own clothing line through Kmart in 2010 and she has worked with various charitable organizations for years and became a UNICEF ambassador at the age of seventeen. Since the start of her career, Gomez has gone on to sell over 7 million albums and 22 million singles worldwide, as of November 2016, Gomez is the most-followed Instagram user in the world. Selena Marie Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 22,1992, to Ricardo Joel Gomez, Gomez was named after Tejano singer and actress Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who died in 1995. Her father is of Mexican descent while her mother, who was adopted, has some Italian ancestry, regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez has stated, My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything thats Catholic, but we dont really have anything traditional except go to the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church, Gomezs parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother
6.
Kevin James
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Kevin George Knipfing, known professionally by his stage name Kevin James, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, voice actor, and producer. He is best known for playing Doug Heffernan on the hit CBS sitcom The King of Queens. He is also known for his roles in films including Hitch, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Paul Blart, Mall Cop, Grown Ups, Zookeeper, Here Comes the Boom. Kevin James was born Kevin George Knipfing in Mineola, New York and he is the second son of Janet, a homemaker who also worked in a chiropractors office, and Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr. who owned an insurance agency. He has a brother, Gary Joseph Knipfing, known as Gary Valentine, who is also a comedian and actor, Leslie works for James and helped raise money through charity events for retinitis pigmentosa, with which she is afflicted. James graduated from Ward Melville High School, while there, he reached the number one spot on the wrestling team, just ahead of friend and WWE star Mick Foley. Both wrestled at 145 lb weight class, a season-ending back injury to James resulted in Foley taking over the first string position. James began doing comedy in 1989, making his debut at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island. James was listed at #89 on Comedy Centrals list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians, James has also done his stand-up routine on Just for Laughs, an annual comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec. Later he was on commercials for Mazzios Italian Eatery, in 2001, James did his own stand-up special called Kevin James, Sweat the Small Stuff. He has also appeared as a musical guest on Just for Laughs, James first television job was in 1991 on The New Candid Camera, where he used his comedy timing and improvisation skills playing the actor that pulled the practical jokes on unsuspecting people. James appeared on television as the announcer for the MTV sports game show SandBlast from 1994 to 1996, James later moved to Los Angeles and befriended Ray Romano, and later guest-starred on a few episodes of Romanos hit CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. These appearances led to the development of his own sitcom, The King of Queens and his father-in-law, Arthur lives with them. For his work on the season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006. James stars in the sitcom Kevin Can Wait, which premiered on September 19,2016, James made his film debut in the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch, alongside Will Smith and Eva Mendes. In 2006, he co-starred with his Everybody Loves Raymond colleague Ray Romano in the comedy Grilled, James co-starred with Adam Sandler in the comedies I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Dont Mess with the Zohan, and Paul Blart, Mall Cop. In the latter film, his character patrolled the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall, filmed at the Burlington Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts, on a Segway PT. The film opened as the #1 film in North America with a gross of $39 million, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews
7.
Steve Buscemi
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Steven Vincent Steve Buscemi is an American actor and film director. He is also known for his appearances in films by the Coen brothers, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo. Buscemi provides the voice of Randall Boggs in the Monsters, Inc. franchise and he made his directorial debut in 1996, with Trees Lounge, in which he also starred. Other works include Animal Factory, Lonesome Jim and Interview and he has also directed numerous episodes of TV shows, including Homicide, Life on the Street, The Sopranos, Oz,30 Rock, and Nurse Jackie. He currently hosts the Emmy Award-winning AOL On comedy talk-show Park Bench, Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to John Buscemi, a sanitation worker and Korean War veteran, and Dorothy, who worked as a host at Howard Johnsons. Buscemis father was of Italian descent, his ancestors were from the town of Menfi in Sicily, Buscemis mother was of Irish, English, and Dutch ancestry. He has three brothers, Jon, Ken, and Michael and he graduated in 1975 from Valley Stream Central High School in Nassau County, New York, a school which he attended with actress Patricia Charbonneau. In high school, Buscemi wrestled for the varsity squad and participated in the drama troupe, Buscemis 1996 film Trees Lounge, in which he starred and served as screenwriter and director, is set in and was largely shot in his childhood village of Valley Stream. Buscemi briefly attended Nassau Community College before moving to Manhattan to enroll in the Lee Strasberg Institute, in 1980, Buscemi became a firefighter in New York City, after taking a civil service test in 1976 when he was 18. For four years, Buscemi served on FDNYs Engine Co.55 in Manhattans Little Italy, after 9/11, Buscemi returned to Engine 55 and for several days worked 12-hour shifts alongside other firefighters to sift through the rubble from the World Trade Center. In 2003, he gave a speech supporting higher wages for firefighters at a union rally, in 2014, he was appointed as an Honorary Battalion Chief of the FDNY. His film debut was the 1985 No Wave Cinema film The Way it Is, other early films include Parting Glances in 1986, Slaves of New York in 1988, and Tales from the Darkside, a 1990 film with three segments. Buscemi starred in the first segment, playing Bellingham, a student who orders a mummy and unleashes it on fellow college students played by Christian Slater. In 1990, Buscemi had a couple of additional crime roles and he played the henchman of Laurence Fishburne named Test Tube in Abel Ferraras King of New York. He also played Mink in the Coen Brothers Millers Crossing, although he had to audition twice for this role, it marked the first of five of the Coen Brothers films in which Buscemi appeared. In 1991, he played the bellboy, Chet, in the Coen Brothers film and his first lead role was in 1992, when he played Adolpho Rollo in Alexandre Rockwells In the Soup. Then he came to attention for playing Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantinos 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs. He also appeared in Tarantinos next film, Pulp Fiction, in which he acts as a waiter at the 1950s themed restaurant which Mrs. Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega attend
8.
David Spade
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David Wayne Spade is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and he also starred and co-starred in the films Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, Joe Dirt, Joe Dirt 2, Beautiful Loser, Grown Ups, and Grown Ups 2, among others. He has also been part of an ensemble cast of two long-running sitcoms, Just Shoot Me. and Rules of Engagement and he also starred as C. J. Barnes in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules. In animation, he voiced Kuzco in the 2000 film The Emperors New Groove and its direct-to-video sequel, Spade is known for a comedic style, in both his stand-up material and acting roles, that relies heavily on sarcasm and self-deprecation. Spade was born in Birmingham, Michigan and he is the son of Judith J. a writer and magazine editor, and Wayne M. Spade, a sales representative. His brothers are Bryan and Andy Spade, Andy Spade is an entrepreneur who, together with his wife Kate Spade, Spade and his family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, when David was four years old. His parents divorced soon thereafter, and he and his brothers were raised for the most part by their mother, Spade attended Saguaro High School and later Scottsdale Community College, before transferring to Arizona State University, where he earned his bachelors degree in business in 1986. He also was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Spade performed standup at the universitys long-running sketch comedy show, Farce Side Comedy Hour, on numerous occasions. In the mid-80s he also did stand up in the Monday night comedy show at Greasy Tonys Pizza in Tempe, with the help of friend and fellow comedian Dennis Miller, he joined Saturday Night Live in 1988. By 1990, Spade was a regular cast member as well as writer, other characters include Christy Henderson from the Gap Girls, and Karl from the Karls Video sketches. He also did impressions of celebrities, including Brad Pitt. According to interviews with Spade, most of the material that he early in his time at SNL was given to Dana Carvey to perform on the show. Due to his relatively low rate, he was in danger of being fired as a performer. Referring to Murphys lack of box office success at the time, the crack led to audience boos, and made Murphy upset at both Spade and SNL for years afterwards. Though most of the cast left in 1995, Spade stayed the following year to help in the transition with the new cast and he then quit in 1996 citing burnout as the reason. Said Spade, When I leave, it will be to ease the pressure and you cant stay there forever – it kills you inside. It ages you in dog years and he returned to host an episode in 1998 and another in 2005. He appeared with fellow Saturday Night Live cast member and friend Chris Farley in two comedy films, Tommy Boy and Black Sheep
9.
Keegan-Michael Key
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Keegan-Michael Key is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He starred in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele and he spent six seasons as a cast member on MADtv and has made several guest appearances on Whose Line is it Anyway. In 2014, he starred in the first season of the FX series Fargo. He has had supporting roles in films, including Lets Be Cops, Tomorrowland. In 2015, Key appeared at the White House Correspondents Dinner as the character Luther, in 2016, he produced and starred in Keanu with his Key & Peele co-star Jordan Peele. Key was born in Southfield, Michigan, and raised in Detroit and he was adopted as a child by Patricia Walsh and Michael Key, both social workers. His biological and adoptive fathers are both African-American, and his biological and adoptive mothers are both Caucasian, he met his biological mother, Carrie Herr. In 1989, he graduated from Shrine Catholic High School in Royal Oak, Key attended the University of Detroit Mercy as an undergraduate and earned his Master of Fine Arts in Theater at Pennsylvania State University. While at the University of Detroit Mercy, he was a brother of Phi Kappa Theta and he later discovered the identity of his birth mother, and that he had two half-brothers who were both already deceased, one of them comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie. Key joined the cast of MADtv midway into the ninth season and he and Jordan Peele were cast against each other so that FOX could pick one black cast member, but both ended up being picked after demonstrating great comedic chemistry. Key played many characters on the show, one of his most famous characters is Coach Hines, a high school sports coach who frequently disrupts and threatens students and faculty members. On the penultimate episode of MADtv, Hines revealed that he is the long-lost heir to the Heinz Ketchup company, during seasons 9 and 10, Key appeared as Dr. Funkenstein in blaxploitation parodies, with Jordan Peele playing the monster. Key also portrayed various guests on Real **********ing Talk like the strong African Rollo Johnson and he often goes backstage as Eugene Struthers, an always-ecstatic water- or flower-delivery man who accosts celebrities. There is also Jovan Muskatelle, a man with a jheri curl. He interrupts live news broadcasts by a reporter, annoying him with rapid fire accounts of events that have happened frequently exclaiming It was crazy as hell and he also played female celebrities, including Phylicia Rashād, and Eva Longoria. Key and his former MADtv castmate Jordan Peele starred in their own Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, which began airing on January 31,2012, and ran for five seasons until September 9,2015. Key and his comedy partner Jordan Peele starred in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, with Key playing Mahatma Gandhi, the pair then returned to Epic Rap Battles of History for the second time in the Muhammad Ali versus Michael Jordan battle, with Key portraying Jordan. The film titled Substitute Teacher was written by Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens who are co-producers on the show, Key was introduced by President Barack Obama at the 2015 White House Correspondents Dinner as Luther, Obamas Anger Translator, one of Keys characters from the show
10.
Mel Brooks
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Melvin Brooks is an American filmmaker, comedian, actor, composer, and songwriter. He is known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies, Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows. He became well known as part of the duo with Carl Reiner in the comedy skit The 2000 Year Old Man. He also created, with Buck Henry, the hit comedy series Get Smart. In middle age, Brooks became one of the most successful directors of the 1970s. His best-known films include The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs and Robin Hood, Men in Tights. A musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers, ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007, in 2001, having previously won an Emmy, a Grammy and an Oscar, he joined a small list of EGOT winners with his Tony award for The Producers. Brooks was married to Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her death in 2005, Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28,1926, in Brooklyn, New York, to James and Kate Kaminsky, and grew up in Williamsburg. His fathers family were German Jews of Polish descent from the Free City of Danzig, his mothers family were Jews from Kiev and he had three older brothers, Irving, Lenny, and Bernie. Brooks father died of disease at 34 when Brooks was two years old. He has said of his fathers death, Theres an outrage there, I may be angry at God, or at the world, for that. And Im sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger, growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems—like a punch in the face. Brooks was a small, sickly boy who often was bullied and teased by his classmates and he was taught by Buddy Rich how to play the drums and started earning money at it when he was 14. After the war, Brooks started working in various Borscht Belt resorts and nightclubs in the Catskill Mountains as a drummer, around this time, he changed his professional name to Mel Brooks after being confused with the Borscht Belt trumpet player Max Kaminsky. After a regular comic at one of the nightclubs was too sick to perform one night, Brooks started working as a comic, telling jokes. He also began acting in stock in Red Bank, New Jersey. He eventually worked his way up to the comically aggressive job of Tummler at Grossingers, Brooks found more rewarding work behind the scenes, becoming a comedy writer for television. In 1949 his friend Sid Caesar hired Brooks to write jokes for the NBC series The Admiral Broadway Revue, paying him $50 a week
11.
Mark Mothersbaugh
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Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, author and visual artist. Mothersbaughs music career more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, the band has maintained a cult following throughout its existence. Mothersbaugh is one of the composers of Devos music and made major lyrical contributions to the bands songs. He is one of two members who have been with Devo throughout its entire history. He also has had a career which has included four studio albums, Muzik for Insomniaks, Muzik for the Gallery, Joyeux Mutato. In 2004, he was honored with the Richard Kirk award at the BMI Film and TV Awards for his significant contributions to film, additionally, Mothersbaugh was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Kent State University in 2008. He has married twice and is the father of two adopted children, Mark Allen Mothersbaugh was born on May 18,1950, in Akron, Ohio. He is the son of Mary Margaret and Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr and he grew up with two younger brothers, Bob and Jim, and two sisters, Amy and Susan. His father appeared in early Devo films and fan events as the character General Boy and his brothers participated in the band, although Jims tenure was brief, Mothersbaugh attended Kent State University as an art student, where he met Devo co-founders Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis. This association culminated in 1973, when the trio started to play music as Devo, following the commercial failure of their sixth studio album Shout, Warner Bros. dropped Devo. Shortly after, claiming to feel creatively unfulfilled, drummer Alan Myers left the band, causing the band members to abandon the plans for a Shout video LP. In 1987, Devo reformed with new drummer David Kendrick, formerly of Sparks to replace Myers and their first project was a soundtrack for the flop horror film Slaughterhouse Rock, starring Toni Basil and they released the albums Total Devo and Smooth Noodle Maps, on Enigma. Devo had an out and played two shows in 1991 before breaking up. Around this time, members of Devo appeared in the film The Spirit of 76, following the split, Mark Mothersbaugh established Mutato Muzika, a commercial music production studio, along with Bob Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale. Mothersbaugh meant to further a career as a composer, Mothersbaugh gained considerable success in writing and producing music for television programs, video games cartoons, and movies. In 2006, Devo worked on a project with Disney known as Devo 2.0, a band of child performers was assembled and re-recorded Devo songs. Their debut album, a two disc CD/DVD combo entitled DEV2.0, was released on March 14,2006
12.
Sony Pictures Animation
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Sony Pictures Animation is an American animated film production and distribution company owned by Sony Pictures, founded in May 2002. It works closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which handles digital production, all theatrical releases are distributed worldwide by Columbia Pictures, and direct-to-video releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. They are well known for the franchises Open Season, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Smurfs and Hotel Transylvania, in 2001, Sony Pictures considered selling off its visual effects facility Sony Pictures Imageworks. After failing to find a buyer, having been impressed with the CGI sequences created for Stuart Little 2. SPI was reconfigured to become an animation studio, astro Boy, which had been in development at Sony since 1997 as a live-action film, was set to be SPIs first all-CGI film. In May 2002, Sony Pictures Animation was established to develop characters, stories and movies, meanwhile, SPI produced two short films, the Academy Award-winning The ChubbChubbs. and Early Bloomer, as a result of testing its strengths and weakness in producing all-CG animation. Its first feature film was Open Season, released in September 2006 and its second feature film, Surfs Up was released in June 2007, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won two Annie Awards. A motion-captured animated film, Neanderthals, written and produced by Jon Favreau, was cancelled sometime in 2008, the Smurfs was the studios first CGI/live-action hybrid and its most successful release. SPAs parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment has partnered in 2007 with Aardman Animations to finance, co-produce, together, they produced a computer-animated film, Arthur Christmas, and The Pirates. Band of Misfits, Sonys first stop-motion film, although made entirely by Aardman, sPAs latest releases are Hotel Transylvania 2, directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and released in September 2015, and the live-action/computer-animated film Goosebumps, released in October. SPA has since signed Tartakovsky to a deal with the studio to develop. It has many projects in development, including Kazorn and the Unicorn. Medusa, and a live-action/stop-motion film Superbago, on November 3,2014, the studio made a deal with Cartoon Hangover to create GO. Released films R Not produced, but released by Sony Pictures Animation under its label, official website Sony Pictures Animation at the Internet Movie Database Sony Pictures Animation at the Big Cartoon DataBase Corporate Facts
13.
Columbia Pictures
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The studio was founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jacks best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924, and went public two years later and its name is derived from Columbia, a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studios logo. In its early years, it was a player in Hollywood. With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbias major contract stars were Jean Arthur, in the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studios premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio, in 1982, the studio was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company, and launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which was sold to Tri-Star, after a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989. It is one of the film studios in the world. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studios early productions were short subjects, Screen Snapshots, the Hall Room Boys. The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywoods famously low-rent Gower Street, among Hollywoods elite, the studios small-time reputation led some to joke that CBC stood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Brandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and sold his stake to Harry Cohn. In an effort to improve its image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10,1924, Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, the second-longest tenure of any studio chief, even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jacks relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, because it has so many Cohns, Columbias product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was an integrated company. It controlled production and distribution, it did not own any theaters, helping Columbias climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra
14.
3D film
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A three-dimensional stereoscopic film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception, hence adding a third dimension. The most common approach to the production of 3D films is derived from stereoscopic photography, 3D films are not limited to theatrical releases, television broadcasts and direct-to-video films have also incorporated similar methods, especially since the advent of 3D television and Blu-ray 3D. 3D films became more and more throughout the 2000s, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009. The stereoscopic era of motion pictures began in the late 1890s when British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3D film process, in his patent, two films were projected side by side on screen. The viewer looked through a stereoscope to converge the two images, because of the obtrusive mechanics behind this method, theatrical use was not practical. Frederic Eugene Ives patented his stereo camera rig in 1900, the camera had two lenses coupled together 1¾ inches apart. On June 10,1915, Edwin S. Porter and William E. Waddell presented tests to an audience at the Astor Theater in New York City. However, according to Adolph Zukor in his 1953 autobiography The Public Is Never Wrong, My 50 Years in the Motion Picture Industry, nothing was produced in this process after these tests. The earliest confirmed 3D film shown to an audience was The Power of Love. The camera rig was a product of the producer, Harry K. Fairall. Whether Fairall used colored filters on the ports or whether he used tinted prints is unknown. After a preview for exhibitors and press in New York City, the film dropped out of sight, apparently not booked by exhibitors, and is now considered lost. Kelley then struck a deal with Samuel Roxy Rothafel to premiere the first in his series of Plasticon shorts entitled Movies of the Future at the Rivoli Theater in New York City. Also in December 1922, Laurens Hammond premiered his Teleview system, Teleview was the first alternating-frame 3D system seen by the public. Using left-eye and right-eye prints and two interlocked projectors, left and right frames were alternately projected, each pair being shown three times to suppress flicker. Viewing devices attached to the armrests of the seats had rotary shutters that operated synchronously with the projector shutters, producing a clean. The show ran for weeks, apparently doing good business as a novelty. In 1922, Frederic Eugene Ives and Jacob Leventhal began releasing their first stereoscopic shorts made over a three-year period, the first film, entitled Plastigrams, was distributed nationally by Educational Pictures in the red-and-blue anaglyph format
15.
Comedy horror
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Comedy horror is a literary and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types, black comedy, parody and spoof, the genre almost inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre. Comedy horror will often use satire on horror cliches as its source of humour or take a story in a different perspective, such as The Cabin in the Woods. Author Bruce G. Hallenbeck cites the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving as the first great comedy horror story, the story made readers laugh one moment and scream the next, and its premise was based on mischief typically found during the holiday Halloween. Horror and comedy have been associated with each other since the days of horror novels. Shortly after the publication of Frankenstein, comedic parodies appeared, edgar Allan Poe put humor and horror on the same continuum, and many nineteenth century authors used black humor in their horror stories. Contemporary author Robert Bloch called them opposite sides of the same coin, in comedy horror film, gallows humor is a common element. In the era of silent film, the material for early comedy horror films came from stage performances instead of literature. One example, The Ghost Breaker, was based on a 1909 play, in the United States following the trauma of World War I, film audiences sought to see horror on screen but tempered with humor. The pioneering comedy horror film was One Exciting Night, written, directed, and produced by D. W. Griffith, while the film included blackface performances, Griffith also included footage of a hurricane for a climactic storm. As an early experiment, the genres were not well-balanced with horror and comedy. Charles Bramesco of Vulture. com identifies Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as the first commercially successful horror film. Its success legitimized the genre and established it as commercially viable, List of comedy-horror films List of genres Zombie comedy – a subgenre involving zombies Hallenbeck, Bruce G. Comedy-Horror Films, A Chronological History, 1914–2008. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, Inc, transnational Horror Across Visual Media, Fragmented Bodies. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
16.
Hotel Transylvania (franchise)
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The Hotel Transylvania franchise consists of two theatrical films produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Columbia Pictures, and several video games. A third theatrical film and a series are in development. Hotel Transylvania was released on September 28,2012, and is about Count Dracula and they meet a human named Johnny, who Mavis instantly loves and eventually dates, despite Draculas attempts to keep Johnny away from his daughter. Hotel Transylvania 2 was released on September 25,2015, and is about Mavis and Johnny, Mavis thinks Hotel Transylvania isnt the right place to raise Dennis and wants to raise him in Transylvania. When Dracula is disappointed that Dennis does not have any vampire abilities, in November 2015, Sony Pictures Animation announced that Hotel Transylvania 3 will be released on September 21,2018. Despite previously leaving the series to other projects, Genndy Tartakovsky will return as director for this installment. The third film will be about Dracula unwittingly falling for Ericka, a television series based on the film is scheduled to begin in 2017. Developed and produced by Nelvana Limited, in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Television will handle distribution in the United States, while Nelvana will distribute the series outside the United States. It will air on Disney Channel worldwide, goodnight Mr. Foot is a traditionally animated short film based on Hotel Transylvania, featuring Bigfoot from the film. Premiering in time for Halloween, on October 26,2012, as Sony Pictures Animations first traditionally animated film, it was written and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky himself, who also animated the short with the help of Rough Draft Studios. Animated in the style of Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, Bigfoot was voiced by Corey Burton while the Witch Maid was voiced by Rose Abdoo. Both voice actors provided voices in Hotel Transylvania. Taking place before the events of Hotel Transylvania, the short stars Bigfoot, puppy is an upcoming animated short film based on Hotel Transylvania, featuring Dennis from Hotel Transylvania 2. The film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, and will be shown in theaters alongside The Emoji Movie, the film will be set in the hotel, as Dennis gets a pet, and the hotel learns to cope with it. Note, A gray cell indicates character did not appear in that medium, the game allows players to create their own Hotel Transylvania, where they must take care of the hotels guests. Another video game, titled Hotel Transylvania, developed by WayForward and published by GameMill Entertainment, was released on September 18,2012, for Nintendo DS, the game was also released in the Nintendo eShop in North America on November 15,2012. A mobile game, titled Hotel Transylvania Dash, developed by Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. and PlayFirst, was released to iTunes App Store on September 20,2012. The game is a variation of Hotel Dash mobile game and features the art and characters. BooClips. com
17.
Hotel Transylvania
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Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American 3D computer animated fantasy comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, and produced by Michelle Murdocca, the film stars the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, and CeeLo Green. The film tells a story of Count Dracula, the owner of a hotel called Hotel Transylvania where the monsters can take a rest from human civilization. Dracula invites some of the most famous monsters to celebrate the 118th birthday of his daughter Mavis, the film was released on September 28,2012, by Columbia Pictures. It was met with mixed reception, while the general public received it favorably. Despite mixed reviews, Hotel Transylvania earned a total of $358 million on a budget of $85 million, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It had launched a franchise, with a sequel, Hotel Transylvania 2, which takes place seven years after the film, in 2015, and a third film scheduled for 2018. A television series is planned for early 2017, and it will focus on the years of Mavis. The plan works, but the zombies inadvertently lead a 21-year-old human named Jonathan back to the hotel, Dracula frantically disguises him as a Frankensteinesque Monster and passes him off as Johnnystein, a distant cousin of Franks right arm. Jonathan soon encounters Mavis and the two Zing, unable to get Johnny out of the hotel without notice, Drac quickly improvises that Jonathan is a party planner, brought in to bring a fresher approach to his own traditional and boring parties. Jonathan quickly becomes a hit to the monsters, especially Mavis. Drac orders Johnny to leave, but Johnny is brought back by Mavis, after being shown the beauty of a sunrise by Johnny, Mavis is inspired to give humans another chance. Meanwhile, the hotel chef Quasimodo with the help of his pet rat Esmeralda learns that Johnny is a human, Dracula intervenes and magically freezes Quasimodo to keep him from telling anyone that Jonathan is human. Dracula leads Jonathan to his quarters and shows him a painting of his wife, Jonathan is understanding and Dracula develops respect for his knowledge, and the two bond, recognising that Jonathan is a good person. Jonathan then tries to leave for good, but Dracula convinces him to stay for the time-being to avoid ruining Maviss birthday, the party is a great success the next night, and Mavis looks forward to opening a gift from her deceased mother. However, when Jonathan and Mavis share their first kiss, Dracula overreacts, a still-frozen Quasimodo bursts in and the Fly translates from his frozen speech that Johnny is a human disguised by Dracula. The guests are outraged by the deceit at play, but Mavis is undeterred and wants to be with Johnny, Jonathan feigns disinterest in Mavis and rejects her out of respect for her father and leaves the hotel. Mavis then angrily yells at Dracula and flies off, Dracula finds Mavis on the roof with her mothers present
18.
Sony Pictures Imageworks
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Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SPI is a unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, SPI has provided visual effects for many films, most recent include Oz the Great and Powerful, The Amazing Spider-Man and Men in Black 3. They also provided services for several of director Robert Zemeckis films, including Contact, Cast Away, The Polar Express, Monster House, Sony Pictures Imageworks was formed in 1992 with five employees to use computers to help plan complicated scenes for live-action films. Located in the former TriStar building, their first work was a previsualization for a 1993 film Striking Distance, to fill the gaps between VFX jobs, SPI decided to partake in a more profitable animation business. Its first independent animated effort was the 5-minute short The ChubbChubbs, in 2002, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Early Bloomer, released in 2003, was the second short film. SPI completed its first feature animation project in 2006 with the release of Open Season, in 2007, SPI acquired Indian visual effects studio FrameFlow to take advantage of lower labor costs. Renamed to Imageworks India, a facility was opened in Chennai a year later. To leverage New Mexicos tax rebates and talent base, a production facility was opened in 2007 in Albuquerque. In 2010, SPI opened a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to take advantage of the local talent pool. Two years later, the studio doubled its Vancouver facilities, at the same time, the Albuquerque studio was closed down due to declining New Mexicos subsidies and difficulty with attracting artist to move there. In the beginning of 2014, as part of Sonys cost-cutting move, by May 2014, entire headquarters and production had been moved to Vancouver, with only a small office remaining in Los Angeles. At the same time, SPI closed down its Indian studio, a year later, over 700 artists moved into a new 74, 000-square feet headquarters in Vancouver. They have achieved that with Arnold Renderer, an unbiased stochastic ray tracer, Arnold was used on projects such as Monster House, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,2012, Alice in Wonderland, The Smurfs, Arthur Christmas and is being used on all upcoming SPIs films. Sony Pictures Imageworks has provided visual effects and digital animation for the following films, Official website Sony Pictures Imageworks at the Internet Movie Database
19.
Lone Star Funds
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Lone Star Funds is an American private equity firm that invests in distressed assets in the U. S. The founder of Lone Star established its first fund in 1995, Lone Star’s investors include corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations, fund of funds and high-net-worth individuals. Lone Star Funds has affiliate offices in North America, Europe, in this capacity, Hudson Advisors LLC has managed in excess of $95 billion of assets for Lone Star Funds since inception. Lone Star was founded by John Grayken, during this period, Brazos Advisors LLC was formed to provide asset-management and related services to Brazos Partners. Following Brazos Partners, Grayken organized institutional capital to continue investing in distressed assets, closing Brazos Fund, Lone Star Opportunity Fund, L. P. followed in 1996, with approximately $396 million of capital commitments. At that time Brazos Advisors, LLC was renamed Hudson Advisors LLC, after an expansion into Canada in 1995 and 1996, Grayken pursued the launch of a global platform for Lone Star in 1997. Since then, Lone Star has invested extensively in North America, Europe, Lone Star invested primarily in East Asia, including Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan, following the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. In the mid-2000s, following the establishment of the Eurozone, Lone Star increased its investment focus in Europe, and with the onset of the global financial crisis, from 2007 Lone Star was again actively investing in the U. S. In July 2015, Lone Star acquired the UK property investment and development company Quintain for £700 million. In March 2017, the Portuguese Central Bank announced that Lone Star Funds will acquire 75% of third largest Portuguese bank, Novo Banco, the other 25% will be retained by the Portuguese banks resolution fund. Lone Star invests in a variety of classes, primarily distressed opportunities in developed markets. Through its credit affiliate, LStar Capital, the company entered the motion picture financing sector when they signed a $200 million deal with Sony Pictures in early 2014, the deal gives them a financial stake in nearly all of Sonys upcoming films
20.
Fran Drescher
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Francine Joy Fran Drescher is an American film and television comedian, model, actress, producer, and activist. She is best known for her role as Fran Fine in the hit TV series The Nanny, and for her nasal voice and thick New York accent. Drescher made her debut with a small role in the 1977 blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever. She received further recognition for her performances in Jack and The Beautician, Divorced from writer and producer Peter Marc Jacobson, she currently lives in Malibu, California. On February 4,2014, Drescher made her Broadway debut in Cinderella as stepmother Madame, Drescher was born in Kew Gardens Hills, New York, the daughter of Sylvia, a bridal consultant, and Morty Drescher, a naval systems analyst. Her family is Jewish, from Southeast and Central Europe and her maternal great-grandmother Yetta was born in Focșani, Romania, and emigrated to the United States, while her fathers family came from Poland. She has a sister, Nadine. Drescher was a first runner-up for Miss New York Teenager in 1973 and she attended Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens, where she met her future husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, whom she married in 1978, at age 21. Jacobson was Dreschers constant supporter in her show-business career, and he wrote, directed, Drescher graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975, one of her classmates was comedian Ray Romano. Dreschers character Fran Fine from The Nanny and Romanos character Ray Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond met at a 20th high school reunion on an episode of The Nanny. Drescher and Jacobson attended Queens College, City University of New York and they then enrolled in cosmetology school. Dreschers first break was a role as the dancer Connie in the blockbuster movie Saturday Night Fever. A year later, she began to more attention in films such as American Hot Wax. She also took on a dramatic role in the 1981 Miloš Forman film. She also made an appearance in a episode of Whos the Boss. in 1985 as an interior decorator. She also had an appearance on Night Court as a schizophrenic who flips from a prude to a sexually minded woman, in 1991, Drescher co-starred on the short-lived CBS sitcom Princesses. In the early-to-mid 1990s, she voiced Peggy from The P Pals on PBS, Drescher and Jacobson created their own television show, The Nanny, in 1993. The show aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999, and Drescher became an instant star, Drescher appeared in Jack, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Beautician and the Beast and Picking Up the Pieces co-starring Woody Allen
21.
Molly Shannon
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Molly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBCs Kath & Kim from 2008 to 2009, also for her voice roles in Igor and the Hotel Transylvania film series. Her performance in the 2016 comedy-drama Other People received widespread critical acclaim, Shannon was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on September 16,1964, to an Irish American Catholic family. Her mother, Mary Margaret Peg, was a teacher, and her father, at age four, Shannon was involved in a car accident which killed her mother, younger sister, and cousin. Shannon attended St. Dominic School in Shaker Heights for grade school and she attended New York University, where she studied drama and graduated from NYUs Tisch School of the Arts in 1987. Before Saturday Night Live, Shannon had a career in movies. Shannons major break came in February 1995, when she was hired as a player on Saturday Night Live to replace Janeane Garofalo after Garofalo left mid-season due to creative differences. Shannon was one of the few cast members to be kept when Lorne Michaels overhauled his cast and writers for season 21. She appeared in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld entitled The Summer of George, where she played Sam, the co-worker who drove Elaine Benes crazy because she did not swing her arms while walking. In 1998, she played the role of Emily Sanderson in the film A Night at the Roxbury, featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan who were also cast members of SNL at the time. In 1999 Shannon starred in Superstar, a film based on her most famous SNL character, Mary Katherine Gallagher. Shannon left SNL in 2001, surpassing Victoria Jackson as the shows longest-serving female cast member, in 2003, she appeared in the romantic comedy My Bosss Daughter and the television remake of The Music Man. In 2004 she starred in a short-lived Fox network television series Cracking Up with actor Jason Schwartzman and that same year, she guest starred in an episode of Scrubs and starred as Mrs. Baker in the film Good Boy. In 2006, Shannon was featured in the Sofia Coppola directed movie Marie Antoinette as Aunt Victoire, the next year, Shannon guest starred on ABCs Pushing Daisies, and appeared in the film Evan Almighty. Shannon also made a move to drama, appearing in the critically acclaimed film Year of the Dog in 2007. Shannon hosted Saturday Night Live on May 12,2007, making her the former female cast member to host. In 2008, Shannon starred as Kath in the American version of the hit Australian sitcom Kath & Kim. In early 2010, Shannon was cast in a role on the Fox television series Glee as Brenda Castle
22.
CeeLo Green
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Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, better known by his stage name CeeLo Green, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. Green came to prominence as a member of the Southern hip hop group Goodie Mob and later as part of the soul duo Gnarls Barkley. Subsequently he embarked on a career, partially spurred by YouTube popularity. Internationally, Green is best known for his work, his most popular was Gnarls Barkleys 2006 worldwide hit Crazy. In the United States, Crazy reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and its parent album St. Elsewhere, was also a hit, peaked at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and number 4 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart. Gnarls Barkleys second album, The Odd Couple, charted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, in 2010, Green took a hiatus from working with Danger Mouse, and released a solo single titled Fuck You. on August 19. The song became a single, with the radio-edit version Forget You, reaching the top spot in the UK. His next two singles, Its OK and Bright Lights Bigger City were also hits in Europe, from 2011 to 2014, Green was a judge and coach on American reality television singing competition The Voice, appearing on four of its seasons. In 2013, Green reunited with the rest of Goodie Mob, in 2011 he did a concert with Prince in Madison Square Garden. He worked as an actor in the animated feature Hotel Transylvania. Green has endorsed 7 Up, Duracell, M&M’s, and sake brand TY KU and his work has earned numerous awards and accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a BET Award, a Billboard Award, and a Brit Award. Green was born in Atlanta, Georgia and he graduated from high school at Riverside Military Academy, a boarding school for boys in Gainesville, Georgia. Both of his parents were ordained ministers, and he started his career in church. His father died when Green was two years old and his mother, Sheila J. Tyler-Callaway, a firefighter, was paralyzed in a car crash and died two years after the accident when Green was 18. At the time of his mothers death, Greens career with Goodie Mob had just begun taking off, Green also wrote about his mother in the song Guess Who from Goodie Mobs album Soul Food. Along with Big Gipp, T-Mo, and Khujo, Green was an member of the Atlanta hip hop group Goodie Mob. He is the youngest of the four, the Goodie Mob was a part of the Atlanta rap collective the Dungeon Family, which also included Outkast. Goodie Mob appeared on two tracks on OutKasts 1994 debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, with Green providing vocals for Call of da Wild and Git Up, Goodie Mob released their debut album, Soul Food, in 1995
23.
Nick Offerman
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Offerman was born in Joliet, Illinois and grew up in Minooka, Illinois. He is the son of Cathy, a nurse, and Ric Offerman and he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre, Offerman lived in Chicago in the mid-1990s, where he participated with theatre companies such as Steppenwolf, Goodman, and Wisdom Bridge. At Steppenwolf, he worked as a fight choreographer and master carpenter. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler, who was involved with the Chicago improv comedy scene. In 2003, he married Will & Grace actress Megan Mullally and has appeared on her talk show. Prior to Parks and Recreation, his most prominent role was as factory worker and he appeared twice on Gilmore Girls, in 2003s The Festival of Living Art and 2005s Always a Godmother, Never a God. In 2007, Offerman co-starred in the Comedy Central series American Body Shop, slate magazine declared Offerman Parks and Recreations secret weapon, and said he regularly stole scenes and has a gift for understated physical comedy. Offerman has also featured in the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital with Rob Corddry. He is the voice of Axe Cop in the series of the same name that premiered on July 27,2013. In the same year, Offerman portrayed Johnny Cool in the Boston episode of Derek Waters Drunk History on Comedy Central. Offerman has appeared in films, such as November, Cursed, Miss Congeniality 2, Armed and Fabulous, Sin City, The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Kings of Summer. He also appeared in the 2006 film Wristcutters, A Love Story as a cop who attempts to arrest Shannyn Sossamons character,2012 saw him in two film roles, as 21 Jump Streets Deputy Chief Hardy and in Casa de Mi Padre as DEA Agent Parker. Additionally, he starred in and produced an independent film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, shot in Austin and he appeared in the 2013 comedy Were the Millers, which starred Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, and voiced Metalbeard in The Lego Movie. Offerman conceived of and starred in punk band FIDLARs 2013 video for their song Cocaine, Offerman also played an alcoholic college guidance counselor in Believe Me. Offerman played the recurring role Karl Weathers in the season of Fargo. Offerman voiced Grandpa Mike alongside wife Megan Mullally who voiced Grandma Linda in Hotel Transylvania 2, in addition to acting, Offerman is also a professional boat builder and has a side business as a wood craftsman. Offerman makes furniture and other structures such as canoes and boats at his woodshop
24.
Megan Mullally
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Megan Mullally is an American actress and a singer. Mullally is best known for playing the wealthy, alcoholic socialite, Karen Walker, on the Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom, Will & Grace, from 2006 until early 2007, Mullally hosted The Megan Mullally Show. Following the short-lived talk show, she has been a regular on shows such as In the Motherhood, Party Down. She has appeared in several guest-starring roles in programs, including Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings,30 Rock, Up All Night, Boston Legal. She has also appeared in such as Why Him. Smashed, and The Kings of Summer, Mullally was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Martha and Carter Mullally, Jr. an actor who was a contract player with Paramount Pictures in the 1950s. Mullally moved to her fathers native Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the age of six and she is of Irish ancestry on her fathers side. She studied ballet from the age of six and performed at the Oklahoma City Ballet during high school, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985. Two weeks later, she was signed by the William Morris Agency, one of her first acting spots was on a McDonalds commercial that also featured John Goodman. She made her series debut in 1986 in The Ellen Burstyn Show and she subsequently guest starred on sitcoms such as Seinfeld, Frasier, Wings, Ned and Stacey, Mad About You, Caroline in the City, and Just Shoot Me. So I get a one day from my agent that Id gotten offered a guest role. I literally fell down onto my knees and testified and wept, I played some former protégée of Jessica Fletcher. Its one of my favorite things Ive ever shot, in 1989, Mullally tested for the co-starring role of Elaine Benes on Seinfeld. Mullally in 1998 landed the role of Karen Walker, Grace Adlers sarcastic, pill-popping assistant and she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in both 2000 and 2006, and was nominated in 2001,2002,2003,2004, and 2005. She is the first of two actresses to win a SAG Award three years in a row. She was nominated each year from 2000 until 2003 for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Also in 2005, Mullally was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. Following Will & Grace, Mullally hosted her own talk show and she has hosted Saturday Night Live, guest-hosted the Late Show with David Letterman, hosted the 2006 TV Land Awards, and been a featured performer twice on the Tony Awards
25.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
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Hotel Transylvania 3 is an upcoming American 3D computer-animated fantasy-comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It is the installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and a sequel to 2015 film Hotel Transylvania 2. The film is scheduled to be released on July 13,2018 by Columbia Pictures, Mavis surprises Dracula with a family voyage on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship so he can take a vacation from providing everyone elses vacation at the hotel. The rest of Dracs Pack cannot resist going along, and once they leave port, romance zings Drac when he meets the mysterious ship captain, now its Mavis turn to play the overprotective parent, keeping her dad and Ericka apart. Little do they know that his too good to be love interest is actually a descendant of Van Helsing, nemesis to Dracula. In September 2015, director Genndy Tartakovsky revealed that he would not be returned for the sequel, I have a lot of other ideas, and I kind of have to express them and have them come out. Despite previously leaving the series to other projects, Tartakovsky later confirmed that he would return as the director for this installment. Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg would also reprise their previous roles as Dracula, Mavis and Johnny in the film, according to Tartakovsky, he returned after he got an inspiration from a miserable family vacation, and the film would take place aboard a cruise ship. Hotel Transylvania 3 was scheduled for a September 21,2018 release date, on February 6,2017, it was then moved up to July 13,2018 to switching over to Goosebumps sequel. Hotel Transylvania 3 at the Internet Movie Database
26.
Dracula
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Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula. Dracula has been assigned to many genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel. Stoker did not invent the vampire but he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film, a short note is located at the end of the final chapter written 7 years after the events outlined in the novel. At first enticed by Draculas gracious manners, Harker soon realizes that he is Draculas prisoner, wandering the Counts castle against Draculas admonition, Harker encounters three female vampires, called the sisters, from whom he is rescued by Dracula. After the preparations are made, Dracula leaves Transylvania and abandons Harker to the sisters, Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life. Not long afterward, a Russian ship, the Demeter, having weighed anchor at Varna, the captains log narrates the gradual disappearance of the entire crew, until the captain alone remained, himself bound to the helm to maintain course. An animal resembling a dog is seen leaping ashore. The ships cargo is described as silver sand and 50 boxes of mould, or earth and he does this to secure for himself lairs and the 50 boxes of earth would be used as his graves which would grant safety and rest during times of feeding and replenishing his strength. Soon Dracula is indirectly shown to be stalking Lucy Westenra, who is holidaying in Whitby, as time passes she begins to suffer from episodes of sleepwalking and dementia, as witnessed by her friend Mina Murray, the fiancée of Jonathan Harker. Lucy receives three marriage proposals from Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood, Lucy accepts Holmwoods proposal while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. Dracula communicates with Sewards patient Renfield, an man who wishes to consume insects, spiders, birds. Renfield is able to detect Draculas presence and supplies clues accordingly, when Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously, Seward invites his old teacher, Abraham Van Helsing, who immediately determines the true cause of Lucys condition. He refuses to disclose it but diagnoses her with acute blood-loss, Helsing prescribes numerous blood transfusions to which Dr. Seward, Helsing, Quincey and Arthur all contribute over time. Helsing also prescribes flowers to be placed throughout her room and weaves a necklace of withered Garlic Blossoms for her to wear as well and she however continues to waste away - appearing to lose blood every night. While both doctors are absent, Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf, Mrs. Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright. Van Helsing attempts to protect her with garlic but fate thwarts him each night, whether Lucys mother removes the garlic from her room, the doctors have found two small puncture marks about her neck, which Dr. Seward is at a loss to understand. After Lucy dies, Helsing places a crucifix over her mouth. Fate conspires against him again when Helsing finds the crucifix in the possession of one of the servants who stole it off Lucys corpse, following Lucys death and burial, the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a bloofer lady
27.
Count Dracula
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Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stokers 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the vampire in subsequent works of fiction. He is also depicted in the novel to be the origin of werewolf legends, some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler, who was also known as Dracula. Other character aspects have been added or altered in subsequent popular fictional works, the character has subsequently appeared frequently in popular culture, from films to animated media to breakfast cereals. Bram Stokers novel takes the form of a tale, in which Count Draculas characteristics, powers, abilities and weaknesses are narrated by multiple narrators. Count Dracula is an undead, centuries-old vampire, and a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun and he inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, details of his early life are obscure, but it is mentioned he was in life a most wonderful man. Which latter was the highest development of the knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond compare, there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay. He studied the arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu and has a deep knowledge of alchemy. Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, according to his nemesis Abraham Van Helsing, He must indeed have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. In Draculas Guest, the narrative follows an unnamed Englishman traveller as he wanders around Munich before leaving for Transylvania and it is Walpurgis Night and the young Englishman foolishly leaves his hotel, in spite of the coachmans warnings, and wanders through a dense forest alone. Along the way, he feels that he is being watched by a tall, the short story climaxes in an old graveyard, where the Englishman encounters a sleeping female vampire called Countess Dolingen in a marble tomb with a large iron stake driven into it. This malevolent and beautiful vampire awakens from her marble bier to conjure a snowstorm before being struck by lightning and returning to her eternal prison, however, the Englishmans troubles are not quite over, as he is dragged away by an unseen force and rendered unconscious. He awakens to find a wolf lying on his chest and licking at his throat, however. When the Englishman is finally back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about dangers from snow and wolves. As the Dracula novel begins in the late 19th century, Dracula acts on a plan for world domination. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harkers employer
28.
Frankenstein's monster
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Frankensteins monster, sometimes known as Frankenstein, is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. Shelleys title thus compares the monsters creator, Victor Frankenstein, to the mythological character Prometheus, although nameless in Shelleys novel, the creature is often referred to by his creators surname, Frankenstein. In Shelleys Gothic story, Victor Frankenstein builds the creature in his laboratory through an ambiguous method consisting of chemistry, Shelley describes the monster as 8-foot-tall, hideously ugly, but sensitive and emotional. The monster attempts to fit into society but is shunned. According to the scholar Joseph Carroll, the monster occupies a territory between the characteristics that typically define protagonists and antagonists. Mary Shelleys original novel never ascribes an actual name to the monster, although when speaking to his creator, Victor Frankenstein, Victor refers to the monster as creature, fiend, spectre, the demon, wretch, devil, thing, being, and ogre. It has become common vernacular to refer to the creature by the name Frankenstein, as in Shelleys story, the monsters namelessness became a central part of the stage adaptations in London and Paris during the decades after the novels first appearance. In 1823, Shelley herself attended a performance of Presumption, the first successful adaptation of her novel. The play bill amused me extremely, for in the list of dramatis personae came _________, by Mr T. Cooke and this nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good. Within a decade of publication, the name of the used to refer to the monster. The story was adapted for the stage in 1927 by Peggy Webling, however, the monster has no name in the Universal film series starring Boris Karloff during the 1930s, which was largely based upon Weblings play. The 1931 Universal film treated the monsters identity in a way as Shelleys novel, in the opening credits. Nevertheless, the creature soon enough became best known in the imagination as Frankenstein. This usage is considered erroneous, but usage commentators regard the monster sense of Frankenstein as well-established. Thumbing through a book of the works of William Shakespeare, the monster chooses Proteus from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, as told by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein builds the creature in his laboratory through an ambiguously described scientific method consisting of chemistry and alchemy. Frankenstein is disgusted by his creation, however, and flees from it in horror, frightened, and unaware of his own identity, the monster wanders through the wilderness. He finds brief solace beside a remote cottage inhabited by a family of peasants, eavesdropping, the creature familiarizes himself with their lives and learns to speak, whereby he becomes eloquent, educated, and well-mannered. The creature eventually introduces himself to the blind father, who treats him with kindness
29.
Werewolf
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Early sources for belief in lycanthropy are Petronius and Gervase of Tilbury. From the early period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages, during the early period, accusations of lycanthropy were mixed with accusations of wolf-riding or wolf-charming. The case of Peter Stumpp led to a significant peak in both interest in and persecution of supposed werewolves, primarily in French-speaking and German-speaking Europe, the trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern pop culture. The word werewolf continues a late Old English werwulf, a compound of were man, the only Old High German testimony is in the form of a given name, Weriuuolf, although an early Middle High German werwolf is found in Burchard of Worms and Berthold of Regensburg. The word or concept does not occur in medieval German poetry or fiction, Middle Latin gerulphus Anglo-Norman garwalf, Old Frankish *wariwulf. Old Norse had the cognate varúlfur, but because of the importance of werewolves in Norse mythology. In modern Scandinavian also kveldulf evening-wolf, presumably after the name of Kveldulf Bjalfason, use of lycanthropy for supposed shape-shifting is much later, introduced ca. Slavic uses the term vlko-dlak, literally wolf-skin, paralleling the Old Norse ulfhéðinn, however, the word is not attested in the medieval period. The Slavic term was loaned into modern Greek as Vrykolakas, baltic has related terms, Lithuanian vilkolakis and vilkatas, Latvian vilkatis and vilkacis. The name vurdalak for the Slavic vampire is a due to Alexander Pushkin. Tolstoy in his novella The Family of the Vourdalak, Greek λυκάνθρωπος and Germanic werewulf are parallel inasmuch as the concept of a shapeshifter becoming a wolf is expressed by means of a compound wolf-man or man-wolf. Their underlying common origin can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European mythology and this is reflected in Iron Age Europe in the Tierkrieger depictions from the Germanic sphere, among others. The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone, such transformations of men into wolves in pagan cult were associated with the devil from the early medieval perspective. In his Man into Wolf, Robert Eisler tried to cast the Indo-European tribal names meaning wolf or wolf-men in terms of the European transition from fruit gathering to predatory hunting, a few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology. In the second century BC, the Greek geographer Pausanias related the story of Lycaon, in accounts by the Bibliotheca and Ovid, Lycaon serves human flesh to Zeus, wanting to know if he is really a god. Lycaons transformation, therefore, is punishment for a crime, considered variously as murder, cannibalism, Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves. In addition to Ovid, other Roman writers also mentioned lycanthropy, virgil wrote of human beings transforming into wolves
30.
Bride of Frankenstein (character)
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The Bride of Frankenstein is a fictional character briefly mentioned in the novel, Frankenstein, and officially introduced in the film, Bride of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is tempted by his monsters proposal to create a creature so that the monster can have a mate. He promises that if Victor grants his request, he and his mate will vanish into the wilderness of South America, fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees and travels to England to do his work. He destroys the female creature after he sees his first creation looking through the window. The monster witnesses this and vows to be with Victor on his wedding night. True to his word, the monster murders Frankensteins new wife Elizabeth, Henry initially balks at the idea, but Pretorius threatens to expose him to the authorities as the creator of the Monster. Henry eventually agrees to help his mentor when the monster kidnaps Henrys wife Elizabeth, Henry returns to his tower laboratory where in spite of himself, he grows excited by his work. After being assured of Elizabeths safety, Henry completes the Brides body, a storm rages as final preparations are made to bring the Bride to life. Her bandage-wrapped body is raised through the roof, lightning strikes a kite sending electricity through the Bride. They remove her bandages and help her to stand, Pretorius then declares it The Bride of Frankenstein. The excited Monster sees his mate and reaches out to her, when the monster quotes friend to it, the Bride screams in horror at the sight of him. When the Monster tries to advance on her, the Bride screams again as the Monster quotes She hate me, as Elizabeth races to Henrys side, the Monster rampages through the laboratory and puts his hand on a lever. When Henry tells Elizabeth that he cant leave his creation, the Monster tells Henry, to Pretorius and the Bride, he says You stay. While Henry and Elizabeth flee, the Monster sheds a tear as the Bride hisses, the following film Son of Frankenstein reveals that the monster survives the explosion while the fates of Pretorius and the Bride are unknown. He considered Brigitte Helm and Phyllis Brooks before deciding on Elsa Lanchester, Lanchester, who had accompanied husband Charles Laughton to Hollywood, had met with only moderate success at that point. Lanchester had returned alone to London when Whale contacted her to offer her the dual role, Lanchester modeled the Brides hissing on the hissing of swans. She gave herself a sore throat while filming the hissing sequence, a version of the character appears in the 1985 film The Bride, played by Jennifer Beals. A version of the character appears in the 1994 film Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, in this version, Victor attempts to revive his wife Elizabeth after being killed by the Monster
31.
Dana Carvey
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He is well known for his impersonations of George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot on Saturday Night Live. He is also known for playing The Church Lady and Hans from Hans and Franz on SNL, Carvey was born in Missoula, Montana, the son of Billie Dahl, a schoolteacher, and Bud Carvey, a high school business teacher. Carvey is the brother of Brad Carvey, the engineer/designer of the Video Toaster, the character Garth Algar is loosely based on Brad. Carvey has English, German, Irish, Norwegian, and Swedish ancestry, when he was three years old, his family moved to San Carlos, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his first drum kit at an early age and he had a minor role in Halloween II, and co-starred on One of the Boys in 1982, a short-lived television sitcom that also starred Mickey Rooney, Nathan Lane, and Meg Ryan. In 1984, Carvey had a role in Rob Reiners film This Is Spinal Tap, in which he played a mime. He also appeared in the short-lived film-based action television series Blue Thunder and his big break came in 1986, when he co-starred opposite Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in Tough Guys. Being the lifelong Douglas fan that he is, Carvey threw an affectionate impression of his mentor and that same year, Carvey became a household name when he joined the cast of NBCs Saturday Night Live. He, along with newcomers Phil Hartman, Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks, an important part of the shows revival was Carveys breakout character, The Church Lady, the uptight, smug, and pious host of Church Chat. Carvey said he based the character on women he knew from church while growing up and he became so associated with the character that later cast members such as Chris Farley referred to Carvey simply as The Lady. Carveys other original characters included Garth Algar, who was based on his brother, Hans, throughout the election and presidency of George H. W. Bush, he was the designated impersonator of the president, making him the lead actor of the regular political sketches on SNL. In 1992, Carvey joined Mike Myers in Waynes World, the film, a sequel, Waynes World 2, was filmed and released in 1993. Carveys SNL work won him an Emmy Award in 1993 for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program and he has a total of six Emmy nominations. Carvey has returned to host SNL four times, in 1994,1996,2000, the 12,30 spot eventually went to Conan OBrien. In 1994, Carvey starred in the film Clean Slate, the following year, Carvey filmed his first HBO stand-up special Critics Choice. The show featured Carvey doing many of his SNL impersonations, as well as making fun of the channels name. He had to turn down a role in Bad Boys because he felt overwhelmed as a new father and he reprised many of his SNL characters in 1996 for The Dana Carvey Show, a short-lived prime-time variety show on ABC. The show was most notable for launching Robert Smigels cartoon The Ambiguously Gay Duo, as well as the careers of Steve Carell, in 2002, he returned to films in the spy comedy The Master of Disguise
32.
Rob Riggle
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Robert Allen Rob Riggle, Jr. is an American actor, comedian and retired United States Marine Corps Reserve officer. He has also co-starred in the Adult Swim comedy-action series NTSF, SD, in 2012, Riggle replaced Frank Caliendo for the comedy skit and prognostication portions of Fox NFL Sunday. Riggle was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Sandra Sue and Robert Allen Riggle and his family moved to Overland Park, Kansas, when he was 2. He attended Shawnee Mission South High School, where he was involved in the schools radio and he was voted the most humorous in high school and graduated in 1988. Riggle later graduated from the University of Kansas, in 1992, with a B. A. in Theater and Film, while also attained his pilots license and he went on to earn a Master of Public Administration degree from Webster University in 1997. Riggle joined the Marines in 1990 after getting his pilots license, intending to become a Naval Aviator, in August 2007, Riggle went to Iraq to report for The Daily Show as well as to entertain the troops under the purview of the USO. Riggle was a public affairs officer with a New York City based unit, and served in Liberia, Kosovo, Albania, on January 1,2013, Riggle retired from the Marine Corps Reserve after 23 years of service. Perhaps the duos best known creation was their long running two-man show Kung Fu Grip which they performed at UCBT. The show was one of the acts in the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival. Around this time began appearing together in several of Comedy Central and VH1s talking head commentary programs such as Best Week Ever. They also appeared in Bravo networks 100 Scariest Movie Moments special in 2004 and these appearances got the duo their first mainstream exposure to television viewers. The two were instant fan favorites among regular viewers of the VH1 commentary programs, Riggle, Huebel and most of their fellow castmates from Respecto Montalban also performed regularly in comedic sketches on Late Night with Conan OBrien throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. The duos growing popularity landed them an audition on Saturday Night Live in the summer of 2004 and they auditioned together, though only Riggle ended up making the cut. After spending one season on Saturday Night Live from 2004 to 2005, Riggle soon joined Huebel, soon after, the two landed a holding deal at NBC in early 2006 to develop a new half-hour comedy program for the network, though nothing has come of it since then. In September 2006, Riggle joined The Daily Show as a regular correspondent, around the same time Huebel started developing Human Giant, a sketch show for MTV. Riggle would often appear in the programs various sketches, as well as in the shows 24-hour live marathon which aired on MTV in May 2007. One of Riggles most memorable guest appearances was as hired muscle, Ham-Bone, Riggle and Huebel can also be seen performing a sketch together on stage at the UCBT in Doug Bensons documentary Super High Me. A featured player during the 2004–2005 season, his first appearance as a cast member was on the shows premiere on October 2,2004
33.
Chris Kattan
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Kattan was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California. His father, Kip King, was an actor and voice actor who appeared on the series Reno 911. as Larrie Plum and his mother, Hajnalka E. Biro, was once photographed for Playboy and worked as a model in London. His father was Jewish of Iraqi and Polish descent, while his mother and his stepfather was a Buddhist therapist and monk. His half-brother, Andrew Joslyn, is a musician and composer. Kattan was raised on a Zen retreat on Mount San Antonio and he lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he attended Bainbridge High School, and graduated in 1989. Kattan was a member of improvisational comedy and sketch comedy troupes one of them being The Groundlings in Los Angeles. His father was an member of the troupe. Kattan also did some minor roles on TV, including the first episode of the season of NewsRadio, No, This Is Not Based Entirely on Julies Life. He moved to New York City to work on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003 and his recurring characters included Mr. Kattan and Ferrell continued the characters in 1998s film A Night at the Roxbury. Kattan was to play Xanthias in the Broadway theatre production of Stephen Sondheims The Frogs, Kattan was set to host the game show Gameshow In My Head and even filmed the pilot episode in Hollywood. However, he was replaced with Joe Rogan for the series, starting in fall of 2009, Kattan appeared in a supporting role in The Middle. Kattan plays Bob, a colleague of Frankie Hecks at Mr. Ehlerts car dealership, Kattan appeared in an episode of How I Met Your Mother as a star in Wedding Bride, a fictional movie within the show. He played himself acting as Jed Mosely, a based on the main character Ted with an arrogant personality. He reappeared as the character while the gang was watching its sequel, on December 17,2011, Kattan made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Lives Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon and again briefly on the final episode of SNLs 37th season. In January 2014, Kattan was a cast contestant who was eliminated 1st in episode 2 of Rachael vs. Guy, Celebrity Cook-Off. In June 2014, Kattan reprised his role as former SNL character Mango in a preview of Missy Elliott protégée Sharaya Js Shut It Down via a T by Alexander Wang campaign. On March 1,2017, Kattan was revealed as one of the contestants who would compete on season 24 of Dancing with the Stars and he was paired with professional dancer Witney Carson before being the first celebrity dancer eliminated. Kattan married model Sunshine Deia Tutt on June 28,2008, in Oakhurst, California, the couple separated on August 10,2008, and were officially divorced in February 2009
34.
Jon Lovitz
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Jonathan Michael Jon Lovitz is an American comedian, actor and singer, best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. He starred as Jay Sherman in The Critic and has appeared in other television series. His film credits include roles in The Brave Little Toaster, Big, A League of Their Own, The Wedding Singer, High School High, The Benchwarmers, Lovitz was born Jonathan Michael Lovitz in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California on July 21,1957. Lovitz was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990 and he later said in an interview for the book Live From New York, An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live that his time on SNL was the most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being offered a $500,000 film contract and he was nominated for an Emmy Award his first two years on Saturday Night Live. One of his most notable SNL characters was Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar who used an old Humphrey Bogart line Yeah, as a catchphrase to punctuate painfully elaborated implausible lies. Other recurring characters included Annoying Man, Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Harvey Fierstein, in a 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live, he portrayed a virgin Trekkie, who was scripted to hang his head when asked by William Shatner if he had ever kissed a girl. Harry is asked to fill in when Santa falls ill on Christmas Eve, on February 15,2015, on the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, he was seen in the montage of deceased SNL members, with the camera cutting to him to show his reaction. Lovitz was a contestant on The New Celebrity Apprentice, playing for the charity St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and he was the 6th contestant fired, finishing in 11th place and raising $50,000 for his charity. Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films, in The Critic, he played the title character of Jay Sherman. He was also the voice of Radio in the Hyperion-produced, Disney-distributed animated movie The Brave Little Toaster, Lovitz performed a duet with Robbie Williams on Williams album Swing When Youre Winning, in the song Well, Did You Evah. He also performed on the hit series Two and a Half Men singing We Are the Orphans and he has appeared on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in Neil Simons play The Dinner Party, taking over the lead role from Henry Winkler. He sang at Carnegie Hall three times and sang the anthem at Dodger Stadium and the U. S. Open. On October 10,2001, Lovitz sang a duet of the song Well, the recording can be found on the Swing When Youre Winning album. Between 1999 and 2000 Lovitz appeared in a $33 million advertising campaign featured a series of television commercials promoting the Yellow Pages. The comic premise was to present Lovitz as the Yellow Pages author, one of them featured Lovitz saying, The hardest thing to do is to come up with a simple idea that is also great. And I just thought, Oh, the alphabet, in 2006, he became the spokesman in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain. In 2003, Lovitz began his career at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles
35.
Erik (The Phantom of the Opera)
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Erik is the title character from Gaston Lerouxs novel Le Fantôme de lOpéra, best known to English speakers as The Phantom of the Opera. He is also the protagonist and antagonist of film adaptations of the novel, including the 1925 film adaptation starring Lon Chaney, Sr. In the original novel, few details are given regarding Eriks past, although there is no shortage of hints, Erik himself laments the fact that his mother was horrified by his appearance, and that his father, a true master mason, never even saw him. The text also reveals that Erik was not, in fact, his birth name, leroux sometimes calls him the mans voice. Erik refers to himself as The Opera Ghost, The Angel of Music, during his time with the group Erik becomes a great illusionist, magician, and ventriloquist. His reputation for these skills and his singing voice spreads quickly. The Shah orders the Persian to fetch Erik and bring him to the palace, the Shah-in-Shah commissions Erik, who proves himself a gifted architect, to construct an elaborate palace in Mazenderan. This is designed with so many doors and secret rooms that not even the slightest whisper would be considered private. The design itself carries sound to myriad hidden locations, so one never knew who might be listening. At some point under the Shahs employment Erik is also a political assassin, the Persian dwells on the vague horrors that existed at Mazenderan rather than going in depth into the actual circumstances involved. The Shah, pleased with Eriks work and determined that no one else should have such a palace, thinking that Erik could still make another palace even without his eyesight, the Shah orders Eriks execution. It is only by the intervention of the daroga that Erik escapes, Erik then goes to Constantinople and is employed by its ruler, helping build certain buildings in the Yildiz-Kiosk, among others. However, he has to leave the city for the reason he left Mazenderan. He also seems to have traveled to Southeast Asia, since he claims to have learned to breathe using a hollow reed from the Tonkin pirates. By this time Erik is tired of his life and wants to live like everybody else. For a time he works as a contractor, building houses with ordinary bricks. He eventually bids on a contract to help with the construction of the Palais Garnier, during the construction, Erik is able to make a sort of playground for himself within the Opera House, creating trapdoors and secret passageways throughout the theatre. He even builds himself a house in the cellars of the Opera where he could live far from mans cruelty, Erik has spent twenty years composing a piece entitled Don Juan Triumphant
36.
Gill-man
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In all three films, Ricou Browning portrays the Gill-man when he is swimming underwater. In the scenes when the Gill-man is walking on dry land, Ben Chapman plays the creature in the first film, followed by Tom Hennesy in the second, and Don Megowan in the third. The Gill-mans popularity as a monster of cinema has led to numerous cameo appearances, including an episode of The Munsters, the motion picture The Monster Squad. Despite said popularity, The Gill-man had the least amount of movies than the monsters, with no more sequels. Figueroa spoke of a friend of his who disappeared in the Amazon while filming a documentary on a population of fish people. Alland then wrote story notes entitled The Sea Monster ten years later, there were various designs for the creature. William Alland envisioned the creature as a sad, beautiful monster, Alland said, It would still frighten you, but because how human it was, not the other way around. Originally, the design was meant to incorporate a sleek, feminine eel-like figure. The Gill-man suit was made from airtight molded sponge rubber and cost $15,000, the underwater sequences were filmed at Wakulla Springs in North Florida, as were many of the rear projection images. Part of the film was shot in Jacksonville, Florida on the side of the river near the foot of the old Acosta Bridge. In the underwater scenes, air was fed into the Gill-man suit with a rubber hose, the Gill-man is fully amphibious, capable of breathing both in and out of the water. As shown in the first film, it is vulnerable to rotenone and it also possesses superhuman strength, which is flamboyantly displayed in the second and third films. It also possesses large, webbed hands with sharp claws on the tip of each finger. The Gill-mans scaly skin is tough, which combined with a fast acting healing factor, allows it to survive wounds which would be fatal to humans, such as gunshots. As shown in the film, the creature has a dormant set of lungs. The Gill-man is slightly photophobic, due to its water habitat. 35% of the Gill-mans blood is composed of white corpuscles lacking a nucleus, the creature was apparently known to the natives, as the captain of the boat Rita mentioned local legends of a man-fish. After having found the remains of another Gill-man, a marine biology institute funds an expedition to the Amazon in order to find more remains
37.
Luenell
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Luenell Campbell, known professionally as Luenell, is an American comedian and actress. She was born in Tollette, Arkansas, and uses only her first name and she is the youngest of eight children. She was raised in Northern California and attended Castro Valley High School, Luenell has one daughter, and lives in Los Angeles, California. Luenells two-year tour and DVD appearances in “Katt Williams American Hustle” have created an almost cult-like following. In 2012 Luenell made appearances in three No.1 feature films – Think Like A Man, the 3D animated hit Hotel Transylvania, with Adam Sandler and she also co-starred in the comedy That’s My Boy with Adam Sandler and Leighton Meester. An interview and non-nude photo spread of Luenell appeared in the April,2017 issue of Penthouse magazine, so I Married an Axe Murderer The Rock Never Die Alone So Fresh, So Clean
38.
Shrunken head
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A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes. These include the Shuar, Achuar, Huambisa and Aguaruna tribes, found in Ecuador, the Shuar call a shrunken head a tsantsa, also transliterated tzantza. The process of creating a shrunken head begins with removing the skull from the head, an incision is made on the back of the neck and all the skin and flesh is removed from the cranium. Red seeds are placed underneath the eyelids and the eyelids are sewn shut, the mouth is held together with three palm pins. Fat from the flesh of the head is removed and it is here that a wooden ball is placed in order to keep the form. The flesh is boiled in water that has been saturated with a number of herbs containing tannins. The head is then dried with hot rocks and sand, while molding it to retain its human features, the skin is then rubbed down with charcoal ash. Decorative beads may be added to the head, in the head shrinking tradition, it is believed that coating the skin in ash keeps the muisak, or avenging soul, from seeping out. Shrunken heads are known for their mandibular prognathism, facial distortion and shrinkage of the sides of the forehead. Among the Shuar and Achuar, the reduction of the heads was followed by a series of feasts centered on important rituals. The practice of preparing shrunken heads originally had religious significance, shrinking the head of an enemy was believed to harness the spirit of that enemy and it was said to prevent the soul from avenging his death. Shuar believed in the existence of three spirits, Wakani – innate to humans thus surviving their death. Arutam – literally vision or power, protects humans from a violent death, Muisak – vengeful spirit, which surfaces when a person carrying an arutam spirit is murdered. To block a Muisak from using its powers, they severed their enemies heads, the process also served as a way of warning their enemies. Despite these precautions, the owner of the trophy did not keep it for long, many heads were later used in religious ceremonies and feasts that celebrated the victories of the tribe. Accounts vary as to whether the heads would be discarded or stored, when Westerners created an economic demand for shrunken heads there was a sharp increase in the rate of killings in an effort to supply tourists and collectors of ethnographic items. The terms headhunting and headhunting parties come from this practice, guns were usually what the Shuar acquired in exchange for their shrunken heads, the rate being one gun per head. But weapons were not the items exchanged
39.
Nick Swardson
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Nicholas Roger Nick Swardson is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter and producer. A native of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, Swardson was born to Pamela and Roger Eric Swardson, Roger Swardson also invested in land development in Saint Paul, revitalizing Grand Avenue — an area now known as Victoria Crossing. Roger and Pamela divorced in 1989, Swardson attended St. Paul Central High and started acting and performing improv comedy at the age of 16. After graduating in 1996, Swardson decided to pursue stand-up comedy rather than attend college, although Swardson was a fan of sketch comedy, he saw stand-up comedy as a stepping-stone to a career in film, more so than he would working within a comedy troupe. Swardson started performing stand-up at the age of 18, attending open mic nights at the Minneapolis comedy club Acme Comedy Co and he also went on to perform regularly at Knuckleheads, a defunct comedy club which was located in the Mall of America. Swardson was also a performer at Balls Cabaret. After garnering some attention within comedy circles, Swardson was selected to perform stand-up at the U. S, Comedy Arts Festival at 20 years of age. The festival, which up to 2007 was held in Aspen, Colorado, was a festival attended by entertainment insiders and was a place for comics. It was once the largest comedy convention of its kind in the US and became the launch pad for many comedians, after Swardsons first performance at the festival comedian Tony Camin, acting as the nights MC, was quoted as saying, Theres a deal waiting to happen. I can see the TV show now, An Aspen Kid With Altitude, Swardson eventually left the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area for New York City where he would appear in such venues as the Luna Lounge, then on to Los Angeles where he headlined at many nightclubs. In 2001, Swardsons stand-up act was featured in a half-hour Comedy Central Presents special and he appeared on the show a second time in 2006 — a performance that was featured on the DVD compilation The Best of Comedy Central Presents, Uncensored II released in 2008. In 2003, Swardson co-wrote the screenplay for Malibus Most Wanted along with the films star Jamie Kennedy and that same year he took on the role of Terry Bernadino on the Comedy Central series Reno 911. A recurring character throughout the run from 2003 to 2009 — in addition to appearing in the film Reno 911. Miami — Swardson played the role of a flamboyant gigolo who was seen wearing roller skates. 2003 also marked the beginning of a working relationship and friendship with Adam Sandler. Swardson then had intentions on making it a show. A copy of the pilot was however made available on MySpace in January 2007. Swardson also resurrected the Gay Robot character on his Comedy Central Series Nick Swardsons Pretend Time, Swardsons sketch comedy show Nick Swardsons Pretend Time, premiered on Comedy Central on October 12,2010 and ran for two seasons
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