1.
Van Nuys
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Van Nuys /vænˈnaɪz/ is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. The town was founded in 1911, and named for Isaac Newton Van Nuys and it was annexed by Los Angeles on May 22,1915, after completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, providing it with the water required for further growth. Van Nuys was the first new stop on the San Fernando Line of the Pacific Electric Railway red cars system, which boosted its early land sales and commercial success. In 1991 Marvin Braude, a member of the Los Angeles City Council and this redesignated area included the community of Magnolia Woods. Some area residents had presented a petition and several original deeds that stated Sherman Oaks to Braude and they argued that the area was originally a part of Sherman Oaks until the 1960s, when ZIP codes labeling the area as Van Nuys were established. In 2014, A Great Streets project was introduced by Mayor Eric Garcetti with Van Nuys Blvd. to be redesigned between Victory Blvd. and Oxnard Street, also, Sepulveda Blvd. was resurfaced between Victory Blvd and Oxnard Street in May 2014. A new Los Angeles County services building is under construction on the southwest corner of Van Nuys Blvd. on February 14,2016, some 170 firefighters battled a fire at the abandoned Voyager Motel at 6500 N. Sepulveda Blvd. The 2000 U. S. census counted 103,770 residents in the 8. 99-square-mile Van Nuys neighborhood—or 11,542 people per square mile, in 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 110,747. In 2000 the median age for residents was 28, considered young for city and county neighborhoods, the neighborhood was considered moderately diverse ethnically within Los Angeles. The breakdown was Hispanics,60. 5%, whites,23. 1%, Asians,6. 4%, blacks, 6%, and others, 4%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 49. 8% of the residents who were born abroad—a high percentage for Los Angeles. There were 4,917 families headed by single parents, or 21. 3%, the median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $41,134, considered average for the city but low for the county. The percentages of households that earned $40,000 or less were high for the county, renters occupied 73. 9% of the housing stock, and house- or apartment-owners held 26. 1%. Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Boulevard Metro Orange Line bicycle path Van Nuys FlyAway Bus service Galpin Auto Sports — Pimp My Ride. Sound City Studios Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 39, Station 90 Van Nuys Airport Area, Station 100 West Van Nuys, the Los Angeles Police Department operates the nearby Van Nuys Community Police Station at 6420 Sylmar Avenue,91401, serving the neighborhood. The U. S. Census Bureau operates the Los Angeles Regional Office in Van Nuys, the Social Security Administration operates a branch office on Van Nuys Boulevard north of Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. The Van Nuys Recreation Area is in Van Nuys, the area has an auditorium and gymnasium with a capacity of 420 people, and a multipurpose/community room with a capacity of 20–25 people. The Van Nuys adjacent Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area to the west is an open space park behind Sepulveda Dam
2.
Los Angeles Unified School District
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Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in the U. S. state of California and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a student population. During the 2016–2017 school year, LAUSD served around 734,641 students, during the same school year, it had 26,556 teachers and 33,635 other employees. It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County, after the county government, the total school district operating budget for 2016–2017 is $7.59 billion. The school district consists of Los Angeles and all or portions of several adjoining Southern California cities, LAUSD has its own police force, the Los Angeles School Police Department, which was established in 1948 to provide police services for LAUSD schools. The LAUSD enrolls a third of the preschoolers in Los Angeles County, the LAUSD school construction program rivals the Big Dig in terms of expenditures, and LAUSD cafeterias serve about 500,000 meals a day, rivaling the output of local McDonalds restaurants. In 2007, LAUSDs dropout rate was 26 percent for grades 9 through 12, but more recently, there are signs that the district is showing improvement, both in terms of dropout and graduation rates. An ambitious renovation program intended to ease the overcrowded conditions has been completed. As part of its project, LAUSD opened two high schools in 2005 and four high schools in 2006. Los Angeles Unified School District is governed by a seven-member Board of Education, which appoints a superintendent, members of the board are elected directly by voters from separate districts that encompass communities that the LAUSD serves. The districts former superintendent is Ramon Cortines, from 2001 until his retirement in October 2006, the district was led by former Governor of Colorado and Democratic Party chairman Roy Romer. The seven current members of Board of Education include George McKenna, Monica Garcia, Scott Schmerelson, Board President Steve Zimmer, Dr. Ref Rodriguez, Mónica Ratliff, and Richard Vladovic. Every LAUSD household or residential area is zoned to a school, a middle school. Each local school district is run by a superintendent and is headquartered within the district. The latter provided 9–12 educational services, while the former did so for K-8, on July 1,1961 the Los Angeles City School District and the Los Angeles City High School District merged, forming the Los Angeles Unified School District. Additionally, approximately seventy-eight students suffered injuries which ranged from minor to life-threatening, the annexation left the Topanga School District and the Las Virgenes Union School District as separate remnants of the high school district. The high school changed its name to the West County Union High School District. LAUSD annexed the Topanga district on July 1,1962, since the Las Virgenes Union School District had the same boundary as the remaining West County Union High School District, on July 1,1962 West County ceased to exist
3.
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles
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Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, founded in 1927 with boundary changes afterward. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower density than some other areas in Los Angeles. A partner of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, Gen. Moses Hazeltine Sherman, the company had subdivided 1,000 acres of land that would become Sherman Oaks. In 1927 each acre was sold for $780, shermans other major venture was the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad. Petitioners in the area argued that their neighborhood was part of Sherman Oaks. As a result of change, Van Nuys Middle School became separated from its namesake neighborhood. Finally, in 2009, the Los Angeles City council voted to redraw neighborhood boundaries again to allow an area of about 1,800 homes in Van Nuys to be included and this proposal attracted criticism from locals. The 1994 Northridge earthquake caused damages in the surrounding area, the Community Redevelopment Agency sought to manage the rebuilding efforts. The homeowners in the Sherman Oaks area later won a lawsuit to prevent the agency from managing efforts, as of the 2010 census, according to the San Fernando Valley Almanac, Sherman Oaks had a population of 52,677 people and 25,255 households. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 82% non-Hispanic white, 5% Asian American and 3% African American, other races made up less than 1%. In 2008, the city estimated that the resident population had increased to 65,436, in 2000, the percentages of residents aged 19 to 49 and 65 and older were among the countys highest. The percentages of divorced residents and of widows were among the countys highest, the average household size of two people was low when compared to the rest of the city and the county. Renters occupied 58. 9% of the stock and house- or apartment-owners held 41. 1%. The neighborhood was considered not especially diverse ethnically within Los Angeles, the breakdown was whites,73. 8%, Latinos,11. 8%, Asians,5. 7%, blacks,4. 4%, and others,4. 4%. Iran and Mexico were the most common places of birth for the 26. 2% of the residents who were born abroad—an average percentage for Los Angeles. The neighborhood had a household income of $69,651 in 2008. The percentage of households that earned $125,000 and up was high for Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 88 Sherman Oaks and Station 102 South Van Nuys/Valley Glen in Sherman Oaks. In addition the department operates Fire Station 78, which serves Sherman Oaks, the Los Angeles Police Department operates the nearby Van Nuys Community Police Station at 6240 Sylmar Avenue,91401, serving the community
4.
Paula Abdul
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Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, voice actress, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 before rising to prominence in the 1980s as a highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the video era. Abdul later scored a string of pop hits in the late 1980s. Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female performers who have topped the chart. She won a Grammy for Best Music Video – Short Form for Opposites Attract, after her initial period of success, Abdul suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life. She saw renewed fame and success as a judge on American Idol in the 2000s. Abdul was born in San Fernando, California, to Jewish parents, Abduls father, Harry Abdul, was born into the Syrian-Jewish community in Aleppo, Syria, was raised in Brazil, and subsequently emigrated to the United States. Her mother, the concert pianist Lorraine M. Rykiss, grew up in one of the two Jewish families in Minnedosa, Manitoba, and has Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors from Ukraine, Abdul holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada. She has a sister named Wendy, in 1980, she graduated from Van Nuys High School. An avid dancer, Abdul was inspired towards a business career by Gene Kelly in the classic film Singin in the Rain. Abdul began taking lessons at an early age in ballet, jazz. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader, at 15, she received a scholarship to a dance camp near Palm Springs, and in 1978 appeared in a low-budget Independent musical film, Junior High School. Abdul studied broadcasting at the California State University, Northridge, during her freshman year, she was selected from a pool of 700 candidates for the cheerleading squad of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team—the famed Laker Girls. Within a year, she became head choreographer, Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game. She was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single Torture and my only problem was how to tell the Jacksons how to dance, Abdul later recalled. Imagine me telling them what routines to do, I was young, I was scared. Im not quite sure how I got through that, the success of the choreography in the video led to Abduls career of choreographer in music videos. It was also due to the success of the video that Abdul was chosen to be the choreographer for the Jacksons Victory tour, Abdul choreographed videos for several singers throughout the 1980s, including many videos for Janet Jackson during her Control era
5.
Astronomer
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An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who concentrates their studies on a specific question or field outside of the scope of Earth. They look at stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies, as well as other celestial objects — either in observational astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers work on include, planetary science, solar astronomy, there are also related but distinct subjects like physical cosmology which studies the Universe as a whole. Astronomers usually fit into two types, Observational astronomers make direct observations of planets, stars and galaxies, and analyze the data, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial bodies work, there are further subcategories inside these two main branches of astronomy such as planetary astronomy, galactic astronomy or physical cosmology. Today, that distinction has disappeared and the terms astronomer. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a Ph. D. in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments. The number of astronomers in the United States is actually quite small. The American Astronomical Society, which is the organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,000 members. This number includes scientists from other such as physics, geology. The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 different countries who are involved in research at the Ph. D. level. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes usually just a few weeks per year, analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers time. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service to encourage interest in the field. Those who become astronomers usually have a background in maths, sciences. Taking courses that teach how to research, write and present papers are also invaluable, in college/university most astronomers get a Ph. D. in astronomy or physics. Keeping in mind how few there are it is understood that graduate schools in this field are very competitive
6.
Professor
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Professor is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a person who professes being usually an expert in arts or sciences, in much of the world, the unqualified word professor is used formally to indicate the highest academic rank, informally known as full professor. Professors conduct original research and commonly teach undergraduate, graduate, or professional courses in their fields of expertise, in universities with graduate schools, professors may mentor and supervise graduate students conducting research for a thesis or dissertation. Professors typically hold a Ph. D. another doctorate or a different terminal degree, some professors hold a masters degree or a professional degree, such as an M. D. as their highest degree. The term professor was first used in the late 14th century to one who teaches a branch of knowledge. As a title that is prefixed to a name, it dates from 1706, the hort form prof is recorded from 1838. The term professor is used with a different meaning, ne professing religion. This canting use of the word comes down from the Elizabethan period, a professor is an accomplished and recognized academic. In most Commonwealth nations, as well as northern Europe, the professor is the highest academic rank at a university. In the United States and Canada, the title of professor is also the highest rank, in these areas, professors are scholars with doctorate degrees or equivalent qualifications who teach in four-year colleges and universities. An emeritus professor is a given to selected retired professors with whom the university wishes to continue to be associated due to their stature. Emeritus professors do not receive a salary, but they are often given office or lab space, and use of libraries, labs, the term professor is also used in the titles assistant professor and associate professor, which are not considered professor-level positions in some European countries. In Australia, the associate professor is used in place of reader, ranking above senior lecturer. However, such professors usually do not undertake academic work for the granting institution, in general, the title of professor is strictly used for academic positions rather than for those holding it on honorary basis. Other roles of professorial tasks depend on the institution, its legacy, protocols, place, a professor typically earns a base salary and a range of benefits. In addition, a professor who undertakes additional roles in her institution earns additional income, some professors also earn additional income by moonlighting in other jobs, such as consulting, publishing academic or popular press books, or giving speeches or coaching executives. Some fields give professors more opportunities for outside work, the anticipated average earnings with performance-related bonuses for a German professor is €71,500. The salaries of civil servant professors in Spain are fixed in a basis, but there are some bonus related to performance and seniority
7.
University of California, Los Angeles
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The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. It became the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919 and it offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. UCLA enrolls about 31,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students, and had 119,000 applicants for Fall 2016, including transfer applicants, the university is organized into six undergraduate colleges, seven professional schools, and four professional health science schools. Fourteen Nobel laureates, three Fields Medalists, two Chief Scientists of the U. S. Air Force and three Turing Award winners have been faculty, researchers, or alumni, the university was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1974. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015–2016 ranked UCLA 16th in the world for academics, in 2015-2016, UCLA ranked 12th in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities and 31st in the 2016/17 QS World University Rankings. UCLA student-athletes compete as the Bruins in the Pac-12 Conference, the Bruins won 126 national championships, including 113 NCAA team championships, more than any other university. UCLA student-athletes, coaches and staff won 251 Olympic medals,126 gold,65 silver and 60 bronze, UCLA student-athletes competed in every Olympics since 1920 with one exception, and won a gold medal in every Olympics that the United States participated in since 1932. The State Normal School at Los Angeles opened on August 29,1882, the facility included an elementary school where teachers-in-training could practice their technique with children. That elementary school is related to the present day version, UCLA Lab School, in 1887, the school became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School. In 1914, the moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood. However, David Prescott Barrows, the new President of the University of California, the same legislation added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science. After the athletic teams entered the Pacific Coast conference in 1926, the Southern Branch student council adopted the nickname Bruins, in 1927, the Regents renamed the Southern Branch the University of California at Los Angeles. In the same year, the state broke ground in Westwood on land sold for $1 million, less than one-third its value, by real estate developers Edwin and Harold Janss, the campus in Westwood opened to students in 1929. The original four buildings were the College Library, Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building, the first undergraduate classes on the new campus were held in 1929 with 5,500 students. A timeline of the history can be found on its website, during its first 32 years, UCLA was treated as an off-site department of UC. As such, its presiding officer was called a provost, in 1951, UCLA was formally elevated to co-equal status with UC Berkeley, and its presiding officer Raymond B. Allen was the first chief executive to be granted the title of chancellor. The appointment of Franklin David Murphy to the position of Chancellor in 1960 helped spark an era of growth of facilities. By the end of the decade, UCLA had achieved distinction in a range of subjects
8.
Vint Cerf
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Vinton Gray Cerf ForMemRS, is an American Internet pioneer, who is recognized as one of the fathers of the Internet, sharing this title with TCP/IP co-inventor Bob Kahn. In the early days, Cerf was a manager for the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency funding various groups to develop TCP/IP technology, Cerf was instrumental in the funding and formation of ICANN from the start. He waited in the wings for a year before he stepped forward to join the ICANN Board and he was elected as the president of the Association for Computing Machinery in May 2012, and in August 2013 he joined the Council on CyberSecuritys Board of Advisors. Cerf is active in organizations that are working to help the Internet deliver humanitarian value in our world today. He is supportive of innovative projects that are experimenting with new approaches to problems, including the digital divide, the gender gap. Cerf is also known for his style, typically appearing in a three-piece suit—a rarity in an industry known for its casual dress norms. Cerf was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Muriel, a housewife, and Vinton Thruston Cerf, Cerf went to Van Nuys High School in California along with Jon Postel and Steve Crocker, he wrote the formers obituary. Both were also instrumental in the creation of the Internet, whilst in high school, Cerf worked at Rocketdyne on the Apollo program, including helping to write statistical analysis software for the non-destructive tests of the F-1 engines. Cerfs first job after obtaining his B. S. degree in mathematics from Stanford University was at IBM and he left IBM to attend graduate school at UCLA where he earned his M. S. degree in 1970 and his PhD degree in 1972. While at UCLA, he also met Bob Kahn, who was working on the ARPANet hardware architecture, Cerf then moved to DARPA in 1976, where he stayed until 1982. As vice president of MCI Digital Information Services from 1982 to 1986, Cerf led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first commercial email service to be connected to the Internet. In 1986, he joined Bob Kahn at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives as its president, working with Kahn on Digital Libraries, Knowledge Robots. It was during time, in 1992, that he and Kahn, among others, founded the Internet Society to provide leadership in education, policy. Cerf served as the first president of ISOC, Cerf rejoined MCI during 1994 and served as Senior Vice President of Technology Strategy. In this role, he helped to guide corporate strategy development from a technical perspective, during 1997, Cerf joined the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University, a university for the education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Cerf himself is hard of hearing and he has also served on the universitys Board of Associates. Cerf, as leader of MCIs internet business, was criticized due to MCIs role in providing the IP addresses used by Send-Safe. com, MCI refused to terminate the spamware vendor. At the time, Spamhaus also listed MCI as the ISP with the most Spamhaus Block List listings, Cerf has worked for Google as a Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist since October 2005
9.
Our Gang
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Our Gang is a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. The series broke new ground by portraying white and black boys, the franchise began in 1922 as a series of silent short subjects produced by the Roach studio and released by Pathé Exchange. Roach changed distributors from Pathé to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1927, and the series entered its most popular period after converting to sound in 1929, production continued at the Roach studio until 1938, when the series was sold to MGM, which produced the comedies until 1944. In total, the Our Gang series includes 220 shorts and one film, General Spanky. Roachs The Little Rascals package and MGMs Our Gang package have since remained in syndication, new productions based on the shorts have been made over the years, including a 1994 feature film, Little Rascals, released by Universal Pictures. Senior director Robert F. McGowan helmed most of the Our Gang shorts until 1933, McGowan worked to develop a style that allowed the children to be as natural as possible, downplaying the importance of the filmmaking equipment. Scripts were written for the shorts by the Hal Roach comedy writing staff, when sound came in at the end of the 1920s, McGowan modified his approach slightly, but scripts were not adhered to until McGowan left the series. Douglas in particular had to streamline his films, as he directed Our Gang after Roach halved the running times of the shorts from two reels to one reel. As children became too old for the series, they were replaced by new children, eventually Our Gang talent scouting employed large-scale national contests in which thousands of children tried out for an open role. Norman Chubby Chaney, Matthew Stymie Beard and Billie Buckwheat Thomas all won contests to become members of the gang, even when there was no talent search, the studio was bombarded by requests from parents who were sure their children were perfect for the series. Among them were the child stars Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple. The Our Gang series is notable for being one of the first in history in which blacks. The four African-American child actors who held main roles in the series were Ernie Sunshine Sammy Morrison, Allen Farina Hoskins, Matthew Stymie Beard and Billie Buckwheat Thomas. Ernie Morrison was, in fact, the first African-American actor signed to a contract in Hollywood history. In their adult years, Morrison, Beard and Thomas became some of Our Gangs staunchest defenders, maintaining that its integrated cast and we were just a group of kids who were having fun, Stymie Beard recalled. Ernie Morrison stated, When it came to race, Hal Roach was color-blind, other minorities, including the Asian Americans (Sing Joy, Allen Tong, and Edward Soo Hoo and the Italian American actor, were depicted in the series with varying levels of stereotyping. According to Roach, the idea for Our Gang came to him in 1921, the girl was, in his opinion, overly made up and overly rehearsed, and Roach waited for the audition to be over. After the girl and her left the office, Roach looked out of his window to a lumberyard across the street
10.
Larry Dixon (dragster driver)
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Larry Dixon, Jr. is an American professional drag racer in the NHRA. Larry is the son of Larry Dixon, Sr. who won Top Fuel Eliminator at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals, dixons NHRA career began when he was a worker for a team owned by Larry Minor that had Gary Beck as driver. Dixon began his friendship with Don The Snake Prudhomme in 1988 while working on Snakes Funny Car. In 1994 he earned his Top Fuel license with 4. 76-second pass at Gatornationals at Gainesville, in 1995 his rookie season he earned Rookie of the Year honors. That season became third rookie to win $100,000 Budweiser Shootout, in 1997 Dixon was the runner-up in Budweiser Shootout from the No.8 qualifying spot. Then in 1998 won Pomona 1, joining his father on the Top Fuel winner’s list at the event and he qualified the first at Indianapolis. In 1999 he became the first Top Fueler to go under 4.5 secs, in 2000 Dixon won six events in nine final round appearances, including the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals for the time in his career. The victories propelled him to finish in the top 10 of the POWERade point standings for his seventh consecutive season and he also won the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout bonus event. Dixon earned first NHRA POWERade championship in 2002 after leading the standings all season. He tied the single-season Top Fuel record for victories with nine, Dixon became fifth Top Fuel driver to win consecutive NHRA POWERade Top Fuel championships in 2003. He was only the driver in NHRA history to sweep the Western Swing. That year he moved to fourth on Top Fuel all-time win list and that season he tied legendary “Big Daddy” Don Garlits for third on all-time Top Fuel wins list with 35 career victories. He finished second at the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout after gaining starting spot in bonus event via wild-card selection, Dixon raced to three victories in seven final rounds in 2005 clocking a career-best elapsed time at Pomona 1 and also posted three No.1 qualifying positions. His victory at Englishtown, on Father’s Day was his fifth victory on the day. With victory at Las Vegas 1, Dixon moved ahead of Don Garlits on all-time Top Fuel wins list and he won his third Mac Tools U. S. It was his eleventh consecutive POWERade Series Top 10 finish when he finished second in the POWERade point standings,2006 saw Larry advance to his only final round of the season on Father’s Day, but lost on that day after having previously won the event for five consecutive seasons. He also posted four semifinal appearances and earned his twelfth consecutive POWERade Series Top 10 points finish, Dixon finished in the runner-up spot at four races in 2006, including the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals
11.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
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Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child actor, he appeared in the films A River Runs Through It, Angels in the Outfield and 10 Things I Hate About You and he took a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to pursue acting again. He has since starred in 500 Days of Summer, Inception, Hesher, 50/50, Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises, Brick, Looper, The Lookout, Manic, Lincoln, Mysterious Skin and G. I. He starred as Philippe Petit in the Robert Zemeckis-directed film The Walk and he also founded the online production company hitRECord in 2004 and has hosted his own TV series, HitRecord on TV, since January 2014. In 2013, Gordon-Levitt made his film directing and screenwriting debut with Don Jon. He previously directed and edited two short films, both of which were released in 2010, Morgan M. Morgansens Date with Destiny and Morgan and Destinys Eleventeenth Date, Gordon-Levitt was born in Los Angeles, California, and was raised in its Sherman Oaks neighborhood. He is Jewish, from a family that is not strictly religious and his father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM. Gordon-Levitts maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon, was a Hollywood film director between the 1940s and 1970s, and directed the 1959 Doris Day/Rock Hudson film Pillow Talk, Gordon-Levitt attended Van Nuys High School and graduated in 1999. Gordon-Levitt joined a theater group at the age of four. Subsequently, he was approached by an agent and began appearing on television and in commercials for Sunny Jim peanut butter, Cocoa Puffs, Pop-Tarts, at age six, he starred in several made-for-television films. In 1991, he played both David Collins and Daniel Collins in the Dark Shadows television series, and appeared in the movie A River Runs Through It. During 1992–93, he played in The Powers That Be, a sitcom starring John Forsythe, also in 1992, he portrayed Gregory Kingsley in the made-for-TV film Switching Parents, based on Kingsleys real life case of divorcing his parents. In 1994, he starred in the Disney film Angels in the Outfield as an orphan who sees angels, in 1996, he began playing Tommy Solomon on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. The series ran for six seasons, the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Gordon-Levitt was a Jewish kid playing an extraterrestrial pretending to be a Jewish kid. During the 1990s, he was featured in teenage magazines. In 2000, he began attending Columbia University School of General Studies and he studied history, literature, and French poetry. He became an avid Francophile and a French speaker and he said that moving to New York City from his hometown forced him to grow as a person. He dropped out in 2004 to concentrate on acting again, Gordon-Levitt has said that he made a conscious decision to be in good movies after returning to acting
12.
Marilyn Monroe
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Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and model. Famous for playing comic dumb blonde characters, she one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s. Although she was an actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962. She continues to be considered a popular culture icon. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes, while working in a factory in 1944 as part of the war effort, she was introduced to a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career. The work led to short-lived film contracts with Twentieth Century-Fox and Columbia Pictures, after a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in 1951. Over the next two years, she became an actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business. Monroe faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for photos before becoming a star, but rather than damaging her career. Although she played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, she was disappointed at being typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project, when the studio was still reluctant to change her contract, Monroe founded a film production company in late 1954, she named it Marilyn Monroe Productions. She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying acting at the Actors Studio. In late 1955, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. After a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop and acting in the first independent production of MMP, The Prince and her last completed film was the drama The Misfits. Monroes troubled private life received much attention and she struggled with substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. She had two highly publicized marriages, to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, both of which ended in divorce and she died at the age of 36 on August 5,1962, from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles. Although Monroes death was ruled a suicide, several conspiracy theories have been proposed in the decades following her death. Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson at the Los Angeles County Hospital on June 1,1926, Gladys, the daughter of two poor Midwestern migrants to California, was a flapper and worked as a film negative cutter at Consolidated Film Industries. When she was fifteen, Gladys married a man nine years her senior, John Newton Baker and she filed for divorce in 1921, and Baker took the children with him to his native Kentucky
