Jon Favreau Biography (1966-)

Jon Favreau’s career as an actor and movie maker took off when his indie comedy Swingers (1996) became a hit in art houses and on video. The semi-autobiographical tale of two single and struggling actors made a movie star out of his friend and co-star Vince Vaughn. It also set Favreau on his path as a successful character…

Russell Brand Biography (1975-)

Russell Brand is a British comedian and actor whose success spread from United Kingdom radio and television to big-time Hollywood movies such as Get Him to the Greek. Brand became a popular host on the airwaves between 2006 and 2008 on the radio show The Russell Brand Show, and on the TV reality-show spin-off Big Brother’s Big Mouth….

Willem Dafoe Biography (1955-)

Willem Dafoe played mostly bad guys and weirdos until an Oscar-nominated role in Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986) made him a star. Compelling and intense, Dafoe started in the movies in the 1980s after extensive work in experimental theater. Instead of going the leading man route, Dafoe showed tremendous range in a variety of roles: he played Jesus in…

Omar Epps Biography (1973-)

Actor. Omar Hashim Epps was born on July 20, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York. An only child, he was raised by his mother, Bonnie Epps, a lifelong educator who advanced from teacher to principal to school superintendent. Epps proved a multi-talented child whose first love was writing. “I’ve been writing since I was a kid,” he says. “Short…

Josh Holloway Biography (1969-)

Actor, model. Josh Holloway was born on July 20, 1969, in San Jose, California. While he was still an infant, his family moved to Free Home, Georgia, a small farming town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His mother worked as a nurse and his father completed two years of medical school before dropping out. His parents’ medical training…

Aaron Carter Biography (1987-)

Aaron Carter is the younger brother of Nick Carter, one of the stars of the 1990s teen supergroup The Backstreet Boys. Nick’s success opened the door for Aaron, whose musical career took off after he performed with the Backstreet Boys during a European tour in 1997. Only 10 at the time, Aaron quickly became a popular teen heartthrob,…

Vin Diesel Biography (1967-)

Actor, director, writer, producer. Born Mark Vincent on July 18, 1967, in New York City. Diesel managed to parley several self-produced, low-budget films into big-budget leading man status.

Born to a theater director and a psychologist (and sometimes astrologer), in interviews, Diesel has been guarded about his ethnic background. He started acting at the age of 7 at the…

Peter Falk Biography (1927-2011)

Actor. Born Peter Michael Falk on September 16, 1927, in New York City. While he had many roles on stage and on the big screen, Peter Falk is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Lieutenant Columbo on television. He played the rumpled and quirky detective for more than 30 years in numerous television movies.

Growing up in Ossining,…

Donald Sutherland Biography (1935-)

Certainly one of the most distinctive looking men ever to be granted the title of movie star, Donald Sutherland is an actor defined as much by his almost caricature-like features as his considerable talent. Tall, lanky and bearing perhaps the most enjoyably sinister face this side of Vincent Price, Sutherland made a name for himself in some of…

Adam Savage Biography (1967-)

Adam Savage’s career led him to many areas in the realm of film and TV production, working as an animator, projectionist, industrial designer, and actor. He found particular success in the world of model making, working on movies like Galaxy Quest and The Matrix Reloaded. Savage became a celebrity in his own right in 2003, when he became…

Drake Biography (1986-)

Actor, rapper. Drake, the world’s only black Jewish Canadian rap star, was born Aubrey Drake Graham on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada. Drake grew up with music in his blood. His father, Dennis Graham, was a drummer for legendary rock star Jerry Lee Lewis, and Drake says that his mother, Sandi Graham, also hails from a “very musical”…