Matthew Fox Biography (1966-)

Actor Matthew Fox played Dr. Jack Shephard, the handsome and overwrought leader of the island castaways in TV’s Lost (2004-10, co-starring Evangeline Lilly). Fox got into acting by way of modelling, a job he fell into while attending Columbia University on a football scholarship. He studied economics at Columbia and graduated in 1989, but modelling jobs led to…

Patrick Stewart Biography (1940-)

Actor, writer, director, and producer. Born Patrick Hewes Stewart on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, England. Widely known for his work on the popular science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart is a versatile performer, equally at home playing comic book characters and legendary Shakespearean parts. He comes from a modest beginning. “I grew…

Gene Simmons Biography (1949-)

Musician, entertainer. Born Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel. His mother, Flora, was a Hungarian Jew and Holocaust survivor, who watched her family die in the concentration camps when she was only 14 years old. After the end of World War II, Flora headed to Israel. It was there that she…

Darren Criss Biography (1987-)

Actor/musician Darren Criss joined the cast of Glee in November 2010. Originally hired as a guest star, he became a series regular several weeks after his first episode, when the Glee version of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” — featuring Criss on lead vocals, with backup harmonies from collegiate a cappella group the Beelzebubs — because the show’s first…

Robert Redford Biography (1937-)

Actor, director, producer, activist and founder of the Sundance Institute. Born Charles Robert Redford on August 18, 1937, in Santa Monica, California. Robert Redford has proved to be one of the great talents in American film. He is equally at home behind the scenes as he is in front of the cameras. In addition to his own career,…

Ron Howard Biography (1954-)

Actor, director, producer. Born on March 1, 1954 in Duncan, Oklahoma. Ronald William Howard is part of a theatrical family; his mother, Jean, was an actress and father Rance was an actor and director.

Howard appeared in his first movie, Frontier Woman (1956), when he was just 18 months old, and made his stage debut at the age of…

Jon Hamm Biography (1971-)

Jon Hamm plays Don Draper, the creative and womanizing anti-hero of the hit TV series Mad Men. Dark-haired and clasically handsome, Hamm has been one of TV’s most popular actors since the show’s debut in 2007. Jon Hamm was described as a “sturdy, reliable character actor” by the All Movie Guide in his pre-Mad Men days. He had…

Garrett Hedlund Biography (1984-)

Midwestern-born actor Garrett Hedlund debuted in the mid-2000s with a series of plum roles in A-list features. In the beginning, he seemed typecast as a well-rounded, average American young man, and made particularly strong impressions in that vein with his portrayal of high-school football hero Don Billingsley in Friday Night Lights, opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Yet Hedlund surprised…

James McAvoy Biography (1979-)

Actor. Born in 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland. With a number of strong dramatic performances, James McAvoy has emerged as a leading film actor. He grew up in Glasgow, moving with his grandparents after his parents divorced when he was seven. As a child, he thought of becoming a missionary and later considered joining the navy before acting captured…

James Arness Biography (1923-2011)

American actor James Arness had an unremarkable Minneapolis childhood, but his wartime experiences shattered that normality – literally. During the battle of Anzio, Arness’ right leg was peppered with machine gun bullets, and when the bones were set they didn’t mend properly, leaving him with a slight but permanent limp. The trauma of the experience mellowed into aimlessness after…

Tim McGraw Biography ( 1967-)

Country singer. Born May 1, 1967 (some sources say 1966), in Delhi, Louisiana. One of the most popular “Young Country” stars to emerge in the 1990s, Tim McGraw quickly began to top charts and pack arenas after the release of his second album in 1994. With his high-pitched, rather growly voice, McGraw became known for his ability to…