1.
Kate Winslet
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Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE, is an English actress and singer. Winslet is the recipient of an Academy Award, an AACTA Award, three BAFTA Awards, a BIFA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is the youngest person to receive six Academy Award nominations, with seven nominations in total, in addition, she has won awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and European Film Academy, among others, and the Honorary César Award in 2012. Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood and began her career in British television in 1991 and she made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures, for which she received praise. She garnered recognition for her role in Sense and Sensibility before achieving global stardom with the epic romance Titanic. Winslets performances in Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, Revolutionary Road, The Dressmaker, in 2008, film critic David Edelstein described her as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. Winslets greatest commercial successes since Titanic include the romantic comedy The Holiday, the animated film Flushed Away, in addition to acting, Winslet has narrated documentaries and childrens books. She was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000 for narrating Listen to the Storyteller and she has also provided her vocals to soundtracks of her films, including the single What If from Christmas Carol, The Movie. Divorced from two directors, Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet is currently married to businessman Ned Rocknroll. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Sally Anne, a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet and she has two sisters, Beth and Anna, and one brother, Joss Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School, a independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in an advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was there from the start, Winslet made her television debut with a co-starring role in the BBC childrens science fiction serial Dark Season. This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, in 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jacksons Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker. The film included Winslets singing debut, and her a version of Sono Andati. The film was released to reviews in 1994 and won Jackson. Winslet was awarded the Empire Award and London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance, the Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented, As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in
2.
Venice Film Festival
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The film festival is part of the Venice Biennale, which was founded by the Venetian City Council in 1895. The film festival has taken place in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, since its inception the Venice Film Festival has grown into one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The 74th Venice International Film Festival is scheduled to be held from 30 August to 9 September 2017, the first edition of the Venice Film Festival was carried out from the 6 to the 21 of August in 1932. The festival began with an idea of the president of the Venice Biennale Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata and Luciano De Feo, with good reason, the festival was considered the first international event of its type, receiving strong support from authorities. This first edition was held on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido, and at that stage it was not a competitive event. The very first film to be shown in the history of the Festival was Rouben Mamoulians Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the second edition was held two years later, from 1 to 20 of August in 1934. For the first time it included a competition, at least 19 countries took part with over 300 accredited journalists. The Mussolini Cup was introduced for best foreign film and best Italian film, other awards were the Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment to best actor and actress. The prize for best foreign film went to Robert J. Flahertys Man of Aran and was a confirmation of the taste of the time for auteur documentaries, starting in 1935, the Festival became a yearly event under the direction of Ottavio Croze. The actors award was renamed Volpi Cup, in 1936 an international jury was nominated for the first time and in 1937 the new Cinema Palace, designed by the architect Luigi Quagliata, was inaugurated. The 1940s represent one of the most difficult moments for the review, the conclusion of the Second World War divides the decade in two. Before 1938 political pressures distorted and ruined the festival, in addition, few countries participated and there was an absolute monopoly of institutions and directors that were members of the Rome-Berlin Axis. The festival resumed full speed in 1946, after the war, with the return of normalcy, Venice once again became a great icon of the film world. In 1947 the festival was held at the Doges Palace, a most magnificent backdrop for hosting a record 90 thousand participants, surely it can be considered one of the greatest editions in the history of the festival. For the next twenty years the festival continued its development and expansion in accordance with the plan set in motion after the war. In 1963 the winds of change blow strongly during Luigi Chiarini’s directorship of the festival, during the years of his presidency, Chiarini aspired to renew the spirit and the structures of the festival, pushing for a total reorganization of the entire system. The social and political unrest of 1968 had strong repercussions on the Venice Bienniale, from 1969 to 1979 no prizes were awarded and the festival returned to the non-competitiveness of the first edition
3.
Mandy Moore
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Amanda Leigh Mandy Moore is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. Moore first came to prominence with her 1999 debut single, Candy, after signing with Epic Records, she released her first album, So Real, in 1999. It went on to receive a Platinum certification from the RIAA and her 2000 single, I Wanna Be with You, became her first Top 30 song in the US, peaking at number 24 on the Hot 100 chart. As of 2009, Moore has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, in 2012, Moore was ranked #96 on VH1s list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, as well as #63 on their Sexiest Artists of All Time List. Outside of her career, Moore has also branched out into acting. She made her debut in the 2001 comedy film Dr. Dolittle 2. Later that year, she appeared as Lana Thomas in the comedy film The Princess Diaries and she had her first starring role as Jamie Sullivan in the 2002 romantic drama film A Walk to Remember, which was based on Nicholas Sparks novel. Moore later voiced Rapunzel in the 2010 animated feature Tangled, in 2016, she began starring as Rebecca Pearson in the NBC family comedy-drama series This Is Us for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. Amanda Leigh Moore was born on April 10,1984 in Nashua and her mother, Stacy, is a former news reporter who once worked for the Orlando Sentinel, and her father, Donald Moore, is a pilot for American Airlines. Moore was raised Catholic, but has developed a hodgepodge of things that she believes. Moores ancestry is Russian Jewish, English, and Irish and she is the second among the three children with an older brother, Scott, and a younger brother, Kyle. When she was two old, Moore and her family moved to Longwood, Seminole County, Florida, outside of Orlando. She attended Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Orlando, Florida from 1998 to 2002, Moore became interested in acting and singing at a young age, and cited her British grandmother, Eileen Friedman, a professional ballerina in London, as one of her inspirations. Moore stated My parents thought It was just a phase Id grow out of, but I stuck to it and begged them for acting lessons, for voice lessons. Moore began starring in numerous productions, as well as performing the National Anthem at numerous Orlando based events. She was only twelve years old when she attended the Stagedoor Manor theater camp, production director Konnie Kittrell said of Moore She was a quiet, sweet girl, and stated that even though she earned numerous solos She wasnt a spotlight seeker. When Moore was thirteen, she working on music by herself. One day, while working in an Orlando studio, she was overheard by a FedEx delivery man, the delivery man, named Victor, later sent this friend a copy of Moores unfinished demo, and Moore went on to sign with the label
4.
Christopher Walken
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He was nominated for the same award and won BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance as Frank Abagnale Sr. in Catch Me If You Can. Walkens films have grossed more than $1 billion in the United States and he has also played the lead in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Coriolanus. He is a popular guest-host of Saturday Night Live, having hosted seven times as of April 2008, Walken debuted as a film director and scriptwriter with the short film Popcorn Shrimp in 2001. He also wrote and acted the role in a play about his idol Elvis Presley, titled Him. Named after actor Ronald Colman, Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31,1943 in Astoria, Queens, New York City. He is the son of Rosalie, a British emigrant from Glasgow, Scotland, and Paul Wälken and his father owned and operated Walkens Bakery in Astoria. Influenced by their mothers own dreams of stardom, he and his brothers, Kenneth, at age 15, when a girlfriend showed him a magazine photo of Elvis, Walken said, This guy looked like a Greek god. Then I saw him on television and he changed his hairstyle to imitate Elvis and hasnt changed it since. As a teenager, he worked as a lion tamer in a circus, Walken initially trained as a dancer in music theatre at the Washington Dance Studio before moving on to dramatic roles in theatre and then film. As a child, Walken appeared on screen as an extra in numerous anthology series, after appearing in a sketch with Martin and Lewis on The Colgate Comedy Hour, Walken decided to become an actor. He landed a role in the 1953 television show The Wonderful John Acton as the shows narrator. During this time, he was credited as Ronnie Walken, over the next two years, he appeared frequently on television and had a thriving career in theatre. From 1954 to 1956, Walken and his brother Glenn originated the role of Michael Bauer on the soap opera The Guiding Light, in 1963, he appeared as a character named Chris in an episode of Naked City, starring Paul Burke. In 1966, Walken played the role of King Philip of France in the Broadway premiere of The Lion in Winter, in 1969, Walken guest-starred in Hawaii Five-O as Navy SP Walt Kramer. He prefers to be known informally as Chris instead of Christopher, Walken made his feature film debut with a small role opposite Sean Connery in Sidney Lumets The Anderson Tapes. In 1972s The Mind Snatchers a. k. a, the Happiness Cage, Walken played his first starring role. In this science fiction film, which deals with control and normalization. Paul Mazurskys 1976 film Next Stop, Greenwich Village had Walken, under the name Chris Walken, playing fictional poet, in Woody Allens 1977 film Annie Hall, Walken played the homicidal and borderline crazy brother of Annie Hall
5.
Eddie Izzard
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Edward John Eddie Izzard is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer and political activist. His comedic style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and he has also worked as a voice actor in The Wild, Igor, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, and Cars 2. Izzard has cited his main role model as Monty Python. In 2009, he completed 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief despite having no history of long-distance running. He has won awards including a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his comedy special Dress to Kill. Izzards website won the Yahoo Peoples Choice Award and earned the Webby Award, Izzard was born on 7 February 1962, in the Colony of Aden, the younger son of English parents. His mother, Dorothy Ella, was a midwife and nurse, his father, a year after Izzards birth, the family moved to Bangor, County Down, and lived there until he was five. The family then moved to Skewen, West Glamorgan, where his mother died of cancer when Izzard was six and his brother, Izzard and his brother built a model railway to occupy their time while their mother was ill, it was donated to the Bexhill Museum in 2016. The Izzard family name is of French Huguenot descent, following his mothers death, Izzard attended boarding schools such as St Johns School in Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan, as well as St Bedes Prep School and Eastbourne College in East Sussex. He said that he knew he was a person at the age of four, after watching another boy being forced to wear a dress by his sisters. Izzard began to toy with comedy at the University of Sheffield, after leaving his accountancy degree course, he and Ballard took their act to the streets, often in Covent Garden. After his split with Ballard, Izzard spent a deal of the early 1980s working as a street performer in Europe. He then moved his act into the stand-up comedy venues of Britain and his first gig was at the Banana Cabaret in Balham, London. In 1987, he made his first stage appearance at the Comedy Store in London and he refined his material throughout the 1980s, and in the early 1990s he finally began earning some measure of recognition through his improvisation, in part at his own club Raging Bull in Soho. Izzard has performed stand-up in French, as well as German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, in 1994, Izzard made his West End drama debut as the lead in the world premiere of David Mamets The Cryptogram with Lindsay Duncan, in the production at Londons Comedy Theatre. The success of that led to his second starring role in David Beairds black comedy 900 Oneonta. In 1995, he portrayed the character in Christopher Marlowes Edward II. In 1998 Izzard appeared briefly on stage with the Monty Python team in The American Film Institutes Tribute to Monty Python
6.
Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
7.
Mel Gibson
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Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson AO is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Peekskill, New York, and moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia and he studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a company which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called. Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama Gallipoli, the film also helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor. He later directed and produced the successful and controversial, biblical drama film The Passion of the Christ. He received further critical notice for his work of the action-adventure film Apocalypto. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children, and the son of Hutton Gibson, a writer. One of Gibsons younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor, because of his mother, Gibson retains dual Irish and American citizenship. Mel was twelve years old at the time, Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St Leos Catholic College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, during his high school years. Gibson gained very favorable notices from critics when he first entered the cinematic scene. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that Mr. Gibson recalls the young Steve McQueen, I cant define star quality, but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it. Gibson has also likened to a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. Gibsons roles in the Mad Max series of films, Peter Weirs Gallipoli, later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in Maverick and What Women Want. He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with, The Man Without a Face, in 1993, Braveheart, in 1995, The Passion of the Christ, in 2004, jess Cagle of Time compared Gibson with Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and Robert Redford. Connery once suggested Gibson should play the next James Bond to Connerys M. Gibson turned down the role, Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation for screen acting. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
9.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
10.
Champaign, Illinois
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Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The city is 135 miles south of Chicago,124 miles west of Indianapolis, Indiana, the United States Census Bureau estimates the city was home to 84,513 people as of July 1,2014. Champaign is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois, and the states fourth-most populous city outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign with its sister city of Urbana. Champaign is also the home of Parkland College which serves about 18,000 students during the academic year. Due to the university and a number of well known technology startup companies, it is referred to as the hub, or a significant landmark. Champaign houses offices for Abbott, Archer Daniels Midland, Caterpillar, Deere & Company, Dow Chemical Company, IBM, State Farm, and Intel all of which are Fortune 500 companies, and for Sony. Champaign was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its rail track two miles west of downtown Urbana, originally called West Urbana, it was renamed Champaign when it acquired a city charter in 1860. Both the city and county name were derived from Champaign County, during February 1969, Carl Perkins joined with Bob Dylan to write the song Champaign, Illinois, which Perkins released on his album On Top. The two Champaign, Illinois songs are not similar to other, except that Bob Dylan was involved in both of them. On September 22,1985, Champaign hosted the first Farm Aid concert at the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, the concert drew a crowd of 80,000 people and raised over $7 million for American family farmers. In 2005, Champaign-Urbana was the location of the National Science Olympiad Tournament, the city also hosts the state Science Olympiad competition every year. The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign once again hosted the National competition on May 20–22,2010, in 2013, Champaign was rated fifth best place in the United States for a healthy work-life balance. According to the 2010 census, Champaign has an area of 22.457 square miles. Champaign is located on high ground, providing sources to the Kaskaskia River to the west. Downtown Champaign drains into Boneyard Creek, which feeds the Saline Branch of the Salt Fork Vermilion River, Champaign shares a border with the neighboring city of Urbana, together they are home to the University of Illinois. Champaign, Urbana, and the village of Savoy form the Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area also known as Champaign-Urbana. It may also be known as the Twin Cities or Chambana. The following diagram represents localities within a 35 miles radius of Champaign, the city has a humid continental climate, typical of the Midwestern United States, with hot summers and cold, moderately snowy winters
11.
Roger Ebert
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Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
12.
Urbana, Illinois
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Urbana /ɜːrˈbænə/ is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 41,250 at the 2010 census, Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area. Most of the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located in Urbana, the Urbana area was first settled in 1822, when it was called Big Grove. The creation of the new town was celebrated for the first time in July 4,1833, the first mills were founded c. 1838-50, and stores began opening beginning in 1834. The towns first church was built c.1840, with the Baptist Church following in 1855, the Presbyterian Church was founded in 1856. The citys first school was built in 1854, Urbana suffered a setback when the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, which had been expected to pass through town, was instead laid down two miles west, where the land was flatter. The town of West Urbana grew up around the depot built there in 1854. Champaign-Urbana was selected as the site for a new agricultural school. Illinois Industrial University, which would evolve into the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a number of efforts to merge Urbana and Champaign have failed at the polls. On October 9,1871 a fire burned much of downtown Urbana, children playing with matches started the fire. Downtown Urbana is located southwest of the intersection of its two busiest streets, U. S.150 and U. S.45, most of Urbana lies south of I-74. There are three exits, Lincoln, Cunningham and University, the Lincoln exit is closest to the University of Illinois, while the Cunningham exit goes to downtown Urbana. The University exit goes to downtown Urbana as well as Illinois Route 130 to Philo, the Norfolk Southern operates an east to west line through Urbana. The NS line connects industries in eastern Urbana to the Norfolk Southern main line at Mansfield, Illinois, construction of the line was begun by the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad. This short-lived entity became part of the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway before the railroad was completed, as of the census of 2000, there were 36,395 people,14,327 households, and 6,217 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,468.3 people per square mile, there were 15,311 housing units at an average density of 1,459. 1/sq mi. The racial makeup of the city was 67. 01% White,14. 34% African American,0. 18% Native American,14. 24% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,1. 76% from other races, and 2. 45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3. 54% of the population,36. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older
