1. Charles Chaplin Writer, Modern Times Charlie Chaplin, considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular Little Tramp character; the man with the toothbrush mustache, bowler hat, bamboo cane, and a funny walk... 2. Al Pacino Actor, The Godfather Known for his forceful dramatic presentation, Al Pacino is most closely associated with the roles of Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, as well as Tony Montana of the legendary gangster film Scarface. But it was his performance as Frank Slade, a blind, retired Lt. Colonel, in Scent of a Woman that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993... 3. Jack Nicholson Actor, The Shining Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director, is a three-time Academy Award winner and 12-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received Oscar nods in every decade from 1960s through the 2000s. Born on April 22... 4. Sean Penn Actor, Mystic River Powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints, California-born Sean Penn is the second son of actress Eileen Ryan & director Leo Penn... 5. Daniel Day-Lewis Actor, There Will Be Blood Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the only person in film history to win the Oscar award for Best Actor three times. Born in London, England, he is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis (A.K.A. Nicholas Blake) (Poet Laureate of England) and his second wife, Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon... 6. Marlon Brando Actor, The Godfather Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in 1949... 7. Brad Pitt Actor, Inglourious Basterds An actor and producer known as much for his versatility as he is for his handsome face, Golden Globe-winning actor Brad Pitts most widely recognized role may be Tyler Durden in Fight Club. But his portrayals of Billy Beane in Moneyball, and Rusty Ryan in the remake of Oceans Eleven and its sequels, also loom large in his filmography... 8. Johnny Depp Actor, Edward Scissorhands Born John Christopher Depp in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, Johnny Depp was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the hopes of becoming a rock musician. He fronted a series of garage bands including The Kids, which once opened for Iggy Pop. Depp got into acting after a visit to Los Angeles... 9. Dustin Hoffman Actor, Kramer vs. Kramer Graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1954. Went to Santa Monica City College where he dropped out after a year due to bad grades. But before he did, he took an acting course because he was told that nobody flunks acting. Also received some training at Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Decided to go into acting because he did not want to work or go into the service... 10. Kevin Spacey Actor, American Beauty As enigmatic as he is talented, Kevin Spacey has always kept the details of his private life closely guarded. As he explained in a 1998 interview with the London Evening Standard, the less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person... 11. Robert De Niro Actor, Goodfellas Robert De Niro, who is thought of as one of the greatest actors of his time, was born in New York City in 1943 to two artists. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. He first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly, but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets... 12. Liam Neeson Actor, Schindlers List Born on June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, UK, Liam Neeson worked as a forklift operator for Guinness, truck driver, assistant architect and an amateur boxer. He had originally sought a career as a teacher by attending St Marys Teaching College, Newcastle. However, in 1976, Neeson joined... Tom Hanks Actor, The Da Vinci Code Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His father had English, and some German, ancestry, while his mothers family, originally surnamed Fraga, was entirely Portuguese. Tom grew up in what he has called a fractured family... Tim Robbins Actor, The Shawshank Redemption Born in West Covina, California, but raised in New York City, Tim Robbins is the son of former The Highwaymen singer Gil Robbins and actress Mary Robbins. Robbins studied drama at UCLA, where he graduated with honors in 1981. That same year, he formed the Actors Gang theater group, an experimental... Christian Bale Actor, The Dark Knight Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer James and David Bale. Christians father was a commercial pilot, and the family lived in different countries throughout Bales childhood, including England, Portugal, and the United States. Bale acknowledges the constant change was one of the influences on his career choice... Clint Eastwood Actor, Million Dollar Baby Perhaps the icon of macho movie stars, Clint Eastwood has become a standard in international cinema. Born in 1930 in San Francisco, the son of a steelworker, Eastwood briefly attended Los Angeles City College but dropped out to pursue acting. He found bit work in such B-films as Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula until he got his first breakthrough in the long-running TV series Rawhide... Benicio Del Toro Actor, Snatch. Benicio Del Toro emerged in the mid-90s as one of the most watchable and charismatic character actors to come along in years. A favorite of film buffs, Del Toro gained mainstream public attention as the conflicted but basically honest Mexican cop in Steven Soderberghs Traffic. Born in Puerto Rico on February 19... Leonardo DiCaprio Actor, Inception Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprios. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3, to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s, as the hunky lead actor in movies such as Romeo + Juliet and Titanic... . Morgan Freeman Actor, The Shawshank Redemption With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Born in June 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, the young Freeman attended Los Angeles City College before serving several years in the US Air Force as a mechanic between 1955 and 1959... Willem Dafoe Actor, Spider-Man In 1979, Willem Dafoe was given a small role in Michael Ciminos Heavens Gate from which he was fired. His first feature role came shortly after in Kathryn Bigelows The Loveless. From there, he went on to perform in over 80 films - in Hollywood (John Carter, Spider-Man, The English Patient... Russell Crowe Actor, Gladiator Born in New Zealand, Russell has made his home in Australia since he was a small child. The son of movie set caterers, Russell got the acting bug early in life. Beginning as a child star on a local Australian TV show, Russells first big break came with two films ... the first, Romper Stomper, gained him a name throughout the film community in Australia and the neighboring countries... Roberto Benigni Actor, La vita è bella Jean Reno Actor, Léon Born in Casablanca, Morocco, to Spanish parents (from Andalucía) who moved to North Africa to seek work, Jean Reno settled in France at 17. He began studying drama and has credits in French television and theater as well as films. His first two marriages both ended in divorce, and he had two children with each of them. He keeps homes in Paris and Los Angeles. Jim Carrey Actor, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Jim Carrey, a Canadian-born actor who became a U.S. citizen in 2004, is an actor and producer famous for his rubbery body movements and flexible facial expressions. The two-time Golden Globe-winner rose to fame as a cast member of the Fox sketch comedy In Living Color but leading roles in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb & Dumber and The Mask established him as a bankable comedy actor... Michael Madsen Actor, Reservoir Dogs Michael Madsens long career spans 25 years and more than 170 films in which he has played memorable characters in myriad box office hits, including: Kill Bill, Sin City, Hell Ride, Die Another Day, Donnie Brasco, Species, The Getaway, The Doors, Thelma & Louise, and Free Willy. Michael Madsen is notably recognized for his role as Mr. Blonde, in Quentin Tarantinos Reservoir Dogs... Adrien Brody Actor, The Pianist The son of Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy and retired history professor Elliot Brody, Adrien Brody grew up an only child in the Woodhaven section of Queens, New York, where he accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice. He credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the camera... Anthony Hopkins Actor, Hannibal Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both half Welsh and half English. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre... . Mel Gibson Actor, Braveheart Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York, USA as the sixth of eleven children to parents Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Ann Gibson, who was born in Australia and died in December of 1990. Though born in the US, Mel and his family moved to New South Wales... Anthony Quinn Actor, Lawrence of Arabia Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to an Irish-Mexican father and a Mexican mother. After starting life in extremely modest circumstances in Mexico, his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he grew up in the Boyle Heights and the Echo Park neighborhoods... Robin Williams Actor, Good Will Hunting Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator Anselm J. McLaurin. Robin briefly studied political science, before enrolling at Juilliard School to study theatre. After he left Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where... Robert Downey Jr. Actor, The Avengers Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after three decades in the business. In 1992, Downey received an Academy Award nomination and won the BAFTA (British Academy Award) for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Chaplin... Don Cheadle Actor, Crash Don Cheadle was born in Kansas City but moved throughout his childhood. He attended CalArts and earned his BA in Fine Arts. He auditioned for many roles, and won a part on the television series Fame. He was then cast in the John Irvin film Hamburger Hill. He first became recognized in Devil in a Blue Dress... Gregory Peck Actor, To Kill a Mockingbird Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California. His father was a druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the movies every week and of his dog... Joe Pesci Actor, Goodfellas Compact Italian-American actor born February 9, 1943, in Newark, NJ, who first broke into entertainment as a child actor and by the mid-50s was starring on the series Star Time Kids. In the mid-60s he released a record under the stage name of Joe Ritchie titled Little Joe Sure Can Sing, and was also playing guitar with several bands... Humphrey Bogart Actor, Casablanca The son of a moderately wealthy Manhattan surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium) and a famed magazine illustrator, Humphrey Bogart was educated at Trinity School, New York City, sent to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in preparation for medical studies at Yale. He was expelled from Phillips and joined the U.S... Tommy Lee Jones Actor, No Country for Old Men Born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Clyde C. and Lucille Marie (Scott) Jones, Tommy Lee Jones worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Marks School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another scholarship.He roomed... . Charles Bronson Actor, Cera una volta il West The archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features--one film critic described his rugged looks as a Clark Gable who had been left out in the sun too long--Charles Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky, one of 15 children of struggling parents in Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary (Valinsky)... Clive Owen Actor, Children of Men Recently breaking into the top ranks of British superstars who are making it huge in Hollywood, the smoothly virile actor Clive Owen was born on October 3, 1964, in Coventry. His father was a country/western singer who deserted his family when Clive was only 3. He attended Binley Park Comprehensive... Bruce Willis Actor, The Sixth Sense Actor and musician Bruce Willis is well known for his film appearances as wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD placing him in the top ten stars in terms of box office receipts... Javier Bardem Actor, No Country for Old Men Javier Bardem is the youngest member of a family of actors that has been making films since the early days of Spanish cinema. He got his start in the family business, at age six, when he appeared in his first feature, El picaro (1974) (A.K.A. The Scoundrel). During his teenage years, he acted in several TV series... Sylvester Stallone Actor, Rocky This athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director of European parentage may never be mentioned by old-school film critics in the same breath as, say, Richard Burton or Alec Guinness; however, movie fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallones films for over 30 years, making Sly one of Hollywoods biggest-ever box office draws... Christoph Waltz Actor, Django Unchained Christoph Waltz was born to Elisabeth Urbancic, a costume designer, and Johannes Waltz, a stage builder. He has 3 siblings. He was born into a theater family. His grandmother was the Viennese Burgtheater actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather was fellow Burgtheater actor Emmerich Reimers. Christoph attended the Theresianium and Billrothstrasse in Vienna... Edward Norton Actor, Fight Club Edward Norton was born on August 18, 1969 to parents Edward, an attorney who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Robin Norton, a former foundation executive and teacher who passed away of brain cancer on March 6, 1997. Edward also has two younger siblings named James and Molly... Jeff Bridges Actor, The Big Lebowski The son of well-known film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and his long-time wife Dorothy Dean Bridges, Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up amid the happening Hollywood scene with big brother Beau Bridges. Both boys popped up, without billing, alongside their mother in the film The Company She Keeps... Michael Keaton Actor, Batman Quirky, inventive and handsome US actor who first achieved major fame with his door busting performance as fast talking, ideas man Bill Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler in Night Shift. Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5th, 1951 in Corapolis, Pennsylvannia and studied speech for two years at Kent State... Samuel L. Jackson Actor, Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson usually played bad guys and drug addicts before becoming an action hero, as the character Mitch Henessey, in The Long Kiss Goodnight and in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. From character player to leading man. His performance in Pulp Fiction gave him an Oscar nomination for his character Jules Winnfield... Christopher Walken Actor, Catch Me If You Can Amazingly versatile stage & screen actor with sandy colored hair, pale complexion and a somewhat nervous disposition. Has a reputation for playing mentally unbalanced characters on-screen, however that generalisation would not do justice to Walkens depth and breadth of performances. He learnt his stage craft... Sean Connery Actor, Dr. No Thomas Sean Connery was born on August 25, 1930 in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. His mother, Euphamia C. Maclean, was a cleaning lady, and his father, Joseph Connery, was a factory worker and truck driver. He also has a brother named Neil Connery, who works as a plasterer in Edinburgh. Before going into acting... Gene Hackman Actor, Unforgiven Gene Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lydia (née Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. Gene grew up in a broken home, which he left at the age of 16 for a hitch with the US Marines... Ralph Fiennes Actor, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Ralph Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes was born on December 22, 1962 in Suffolk, England to Mark Fiennes, a photographer, and Jennifer Lash, a novelist, the eldest of six children. Four of his siblings are also in the arts: Martha Fiennes, a director; Magnus Fiennes, a musician; Sophie, a producer; and Joseph Fiennes, an actor... Colin Farrell Actor, Phone Booth A native of Dublin, Ireland, Colin Farrell began turning heads in Hollywood when he starred in Joel Schumachers Tigerland, the story of American soldiers taken to the backwoods of Louisiana in 1971 to play war games in preparation for their first tour of duty in Vietnam. He garnered a Best Actor Award from the Boston Society of Film Critics for his portrayal of Bozz... John Cusack Actor, Being John Malkovich John Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, the Chicago-born actor has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out--all the while avoiding the media spotlight. With the exception of mom Nancy (a former math teacher)... Gary Oldman Actor, The Dark Knight Rises Gary Oldman was born on March 21, 1958 in London, England, the son of Kathleen (Cheriton), a homemaker, and Leonard Bertram Oldman, a welder. For most of his career he was best-known for playing over-the-top antagonists, though he has recently reached a new audience with heroic roles in the Harry Potter and Dark Knight franchises... Hugh Jackman Actor, The Prestige Born in Sydney, to English parents, and the youngest of five children, Jackman has a communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was offered a starring role in the ABC-TV prison drama Correlli... John Goodman Actor, Monsters, Inc. John Stephen Goodman is a U.S. film, television, and stage actor. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Virginia Roos (Loosmore), a waitress and saleswoman, and Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker who died when John was a small child. John is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne (1988-1997)... Image of Denzel Washington 56. Denzel Washington Actor, American Gangster Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the middle child of the three children of a Pentecostal minister father and a beautician mother. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at Fordham University intent on a career in journalism. However... Colin Firth Actor, The Kings Speech Born into an academic family - his father is a history lecturer at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfreds College) in Winchester and his mother is a comparative religions lecturer at the Open University - Colin Firths first acting experience came in infants school when he played Jack Frost in a Christmas pantomime... Ben Kingsley Actor, Schindlers List Ben Kingsley was born in England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was of Gujrati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was British. Ben began to act in stage plays during the 1960s. He soon became a successful stage actor, and also began to have roles in films and TV. His birth name was Krishna Bhanji... Ray Liotta Actor, Goodfellas Ray Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, where he became friends with Steven Bauer (Scarface, Thief of Hearts). He spent his first years acting in TV: Another World, a TV movie and several short-lived series. He broke into movies with the black comedy Something Wild, which garnered him rave reviews... Kirk Douglas Actor, Spartacus Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being the ragmans son (the name give to his best-selling 1988 autobiography) of Belarusian Jewish ancestry to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born in Amsterdam... Jason Statham Actor, The Transporter Jason Statham has done quite a lot in a short time. He has been a Diver on the British National Diving Team and finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He has also been a fashion model, black market salesman and finally of course, actor. He got the audition for his debut role as Bacon in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels through French Connection... Lee Van Cleef Actor, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. One of the great movie villains, Lee Van Cleef started out as an accountant. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and subchasers during World War II. After the war he worked as an office administrator, becoming involved in amateur theatrics in his spare time. An audition for a professional role led to a touring company job in Mr... Charlie Sheen Actor, Wall Street Charlie Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estévez on September 3, 1965, in New York City. His father, Martin Sheen, at the time was an actor just breaking into the business with performances on Broadway. His mother, Janet Sheen, was a former New York art student who had met Charlies father right after he had moved to Manhattan... Michael J. Fox Actor, Back to the Future Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His parents, Bill and Phyllis Fox, moved their ten-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen and Jacki and his brother Steven to Vancouver, British Columbia, after his father, a sergeant in the Canadian Army Signal Corps... Henry Fonda Actor, Cera una volta il West Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, Henry Fonda started his acting debut with the Omaha Community Playhouse, a local amateur theater troupe directed by Dorothy Brando. He moved to the Cape Cod University Players and later Broadway, New York to expand his theatrical career from 1926 to 1934. His first major roles in Broadway include New Faces of America and The Farmer Takes a Wife... James Stewart Actor, Rear Window James Maitland Stewart was born on 20 May 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where his father owned a hardware store. He was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he was a keen athlete (football and track), musician (singing and accordion playing), and sometime actor. In 1929 he won a place at Princeton... Peter Sellers Actor, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born to a well-off English acting family in 1925. His mother and father worked in an acting company run by his grandmother. As a child, Sellers was spoiled, as his parents first child had died at birth. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force and served during World War II... Heath Ledger Actor, The Dark Knight When a hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a pretty boy and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. Heath Ledger was born on the fourth of April 1979... Kevin Costner Actor, Dances with Wolves Kevin was born in Lynwood, California, on January 18, 1955, the third child of Bill Costner, a ditch digger and ultimately an electric line servicer for Southern California Edison, and Sharon Costner. His older brother, Dan, was born in 1950. A middle brother died at birth in 1953. His fathers job required him to move regularly... Andrew Garfield Actor, The Amazing Spider-Man Andrew Russell Garfield was born in Los Angeles, California, to a British-born mother, Lynn (Hillman), and an American-born father, Richard Garfield. When he was three, he moved to Surrey, U.K., with his parents and older brother. Andrew was raised Jewish. He went to a private school, the City of London Freemens School... Takashi Shimura Actor, Shichinin no samurai Japanese character actor Takashi Shimura was one of the finest film actors of the 20th century and a leading member of the stock company of master director Akira Kurosawa. A native of southern Japan, Shimura was a descendant of the samurai warrior class. Following university training, he founded a theatre company... Jamel Debbouze Actor, Le fabuleux destin dAmélie Poulain Paul Newman Actor, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born in January 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Theresa (Fetsko) and Arthur Sigmund Newman. Pauls father was Jewish, the son of immigrants from Poland and Hungary; he owned a successful sporting goods store... Robert Redford Actor, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Hart. His mother died in 1955, the year after he graduated from high school. Charles Robert Redford Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of drunkenness...
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 07:55:25 +0000
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