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1-50 of 79
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Elizabeth Banks was born Elizabeth Mitchell in Pittsfield, a small city in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts near the New York border, on February 10, 1974. She is the daughter of Anne Marie (Wallace), who worked in a bank, and Mark Phineas Mitchell, a factory worker. Elizabeth describes herself as having been seen as a "goody two-shoes" in her youth who was nominated for the local Harvest Queen.
Banks left home to attend college at the University of Pennsylvania--from which she graduated Magna cum Laude--and went on to attend the Advanced Training Program at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, graduating in 1996. She then moved to New York and worked in the theater, and began getting small roles in films and on television. Seeking more screen work, she moved to Los Angeles and was soon cast in supporting roles. She also had to change her last name, to Banks, in order to avoid confusion with actress Elizabeth Mitchell.
Her breakthrough role was as Betty Brant, the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). She followed up this performance with small roles in other movies: Swept Away (2002), Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), Seabiscuit (2003) and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005). In 2003 she won the Exciting New Face Award at the Young Hollywood Awards. The winsome, beautiful Banks projected an exceptionally charming screen presence that drew comparisons to Audrey Hepburn, and Hollywood eventually began to take notice, Banks being cast in the lead in such films as Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and in Oliver Stone's biopic of George W. Bush, W. (2008), as Laura Bush.
In television, Banks was a recurring guest star on Scrubs (2001) as Dr. Kim Briggs, the love interest of Zach Braff's J.D. In 2010 she was cast as Alec Baldwin's love interest in season four of 30 Rock (2006). Originally scheduled to appear in only four episodes, she was brought back as a recurring character for two more seasons, and earned Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for two consecutive years. Elizabeth has also appeared in such films as Our Idiot Brother (2011), Man on a Ledge (2012), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), People Like Us (2012), and Pitch Perfect (2012). She also won the coveted role as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games (2012) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).
After an eleven-year courtship, Banks married Max Handelman, a sports writer and producer, in 2003. They have two sons, Felix, who was born in March 2011, and Magnus, born in Nov. 2012, both by gestational surrogacy.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Adrian Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Rosemarie Pasdar (née Sbresny), who owns a travel agency, and Homayoon Pasdar, a prominent heart surgeon. His father is Iranian and his mother, who was born in Germany, is of German, and some Polish, descent. At the age of 2, his father moved the family to Powelton, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In high school, he excelled at football, eventually leading to a football scholarship at the University of Florida in 1983. Football may have been a promising future, had it not been for a terrible accident during his freshman year that left his face scarred and his legs badly injured. A very driven Adrian finished his freshman year in a wheelchair, doing intensive physical therapy and turning his attention to campus stage productions and rediscovered a childhood interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group "People's Light and Theatre Company". Here, he worked on sound, lighting and set construction. While constructing a set, he cut off the end of his left thumb. Adrian, having the ability to turn tragedy into triumph, used his medical compensation to pay for attendance at the famous Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in Top Gun (1986). Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in Solarbabies (1986), Streets of Gold (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 cult vampire movie Near Dark (1987), with Adrian in the lead role of "Caleb Colton". He also appeared in Vital Signs (1990). Adrian has always been an actor ahead of his time, opting for roles in independent and cable movies long before they were considered fashionable for feature actors to do. In 1992, feeling completely out-of-touch with reality, Adrian left Hollywood to return to New York. He worked as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as "Frankie" in Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (1993). Another major break came in 1995, when Adrian was cast as the title character on the short-lived Fox series Profit (1996). He continues to act in supporting roles and has now added directing to his already impressive body of work. He wrote and directed the short film Beyond Belief (1999) and also directed a feature film entitled Cement (2000).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Actor Ryan Carnes has amassed numerous credits over the years, including roles in the smash hit ABC series "Desperate Housewives," and Clint Eastwood's LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. Most recently, Carnes starred in the Hulu Holiday film CUPID FOR CHRISTMAS, streaming on the platform.
Carnes grew up on a farm outside a small rural town in Illinois. As an only child, he spent much of his time in nature, exploring the acres of woods that surrounded his family's property. Beyond that, he dedicated his formative years to academics, basketball, baseball, and drumming. In addition to film and television, Carnes has been diving into songwriting and aims to release a full length record with music partner Vanessa Silberman in 2022.
The Illinois native first discovered acting at Duke University, where he majored in Public Policy. He set aside his original plans for law school in order to pursue acting in Los Angeles, where he immediately landed the role of Justin on season 1 of ABC's mega hit TV series "Desperate Housewives," alongside Eva Longoria and Shawn Pyfrom.
From there, he continued to book steady work that brought him international recognition. He made an extended appearance on the legendary British sci-fi series "Doctor Who," as the popular character Laszlo (forever commemorated through an actual action figure, sculpted in his likeness). He fulfilled his childhood dream of dawning superhero tights in the title role in the SYFY limited run series "The Phantom." In 2016, Carnes took a turn as a troubled wanderer in the 2016 short film titled, "The Golden Year," written and directed by Salvador Paskowitz (THE AGE OF ADELINE). Carnes also starred opposite Mexican superstar Omar Chaparro in LA BODA DE VALENTINA, one of Mexico's top 10 grossing films of all time.
As a creative artist, Carnes' lent his voice to the development of the Paramount+ hit "Why Women Kill," Season 3. He will also serve as producer.- After a youthful career in the New York City Ballet under the guidance of the famed dance-master George Balanchine, Elaine Giftos starred on Broadway, before moving to Hollywood to act in movies and on TV. She has co-starred with Barbra Streisand and Jack Nicholson, with Woody Allen and Gene Wilder, and with Burt Reynolds, among other major stars, in motion pictures. She has starred in over fifty TV series, such as Emmy-winners Ally McBeal (1997), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Three's Company (1976), and the sci-fi cult hit War of the Worlds (1988), as well as starring in many award-winning movies for television. She stars with Edward Asner and Majel Barrett in the first original made-for-the-Net Science Fiction cyberseries, Mars and Beyond (2000), on the Cyber Sci-Fi Network.
- Deirdre O'Connell was born on 29 June 1953 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Secondhand Lions (2003) and Dragonfly (2002).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Character actor Carmen Filpi was born on March 22, 1923 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The son of Remigio and Rosa Gatto Filpi, Carmen graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1942. Moreover, Filpi served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War II. Carmen began his acting career as part of a comedy team with fellow Pittsfield resident George Morell; the duo performed in minstrels and floor show troupes in touring shows as well as in the Washington area. Filpi moved to Hollywood, California in the late 1960's in order to further pursue his acting career. Outside of his substantial film and television credits, Carmen also appeared in numerous TV commercials. Filpi was often cast as drunken bums and mangy drifters in a career that spanned over forty years. Carmen died at age 80 on May 9, 2003 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was survived at the time of his death by his sister Carmena and brothers John and Peter.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Special Effects
Tim Rose was born on 17 July 1956 in Pittsfield, Illinois, USA. He is an actor, known for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Howard the Duck (1986) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
James was the Player / Coach for HERENTALS HYC Professional Ice hockey Club which won the Belgium National Championship in 1983-84 Season. IN 1986 he was cast as in WHEATIES COMMERCIAL...As as hockey player.
From 1986 to 1989 James was the lead singer for a NYC rock band called RUNNER. They weren't great.- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ben Silverman, the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning media entrepreneur and visionary producer behind The Office is the Chairman and Co-CEO of Propagate Content, creating and producing all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world.
Pioneering content at the forefront of the entertainment industry, Silverman has created and executive produced major network, cable, and digital platform hits, including Golden Globe and Peabody award-winning shows The Office, Ugly Betty, Biggest Loser, and The Tudors, as well as hits like Jane The Virgin at The CW, Marco Polo and Flaked with Will Arnett and Mitch Hurwitz for Netflix, NBC's transformative TV commerce show Fashion Star and Running Wild with Bear Grylls on NBC, Separation Anxiety for TNT/TBS, and Fameless for TruTV.
Silverman has also produced feature films including My Boyfriend's Meds, Mansome and Hands of Stone, the biopic of Roberto Duran starring Robert De Niro, Usher and Edgar Ramirez which premiered at Cannes Film Festival. Propagate is a creatively led company, whose emerging portfolio includes the "Hillary" documentary that premiered at Sundance and Berlin and will stream on Hulu as well as the unscripted "November 13: Attack on Paris" "Haunted" and "Prank Encounters" for Netflix, "In Search Of" and "Kings of Pain" for the History Channel and "Lore" for Amazon and the scripted "Blood and Treasure" and "Broke" for CBS, "Charmed" for The CW and "Best Intentions" for Pop TV. Propagate's expanding portfolio of companies includes Electus ("You vs. Wild", "Running Wild With Bear Grylls," "Jane the Virgin," "Fashion Star"), Big Breakfast ("Adam Ruins Everything", "Hot Date"), Notional ("Chopped" food series franchise), and talent management firms Artists First and Authentic Talent & Literary Management.- Producer
- Actor
- Executive
J. Todd Harris, Producer, is the CEO/founder of Branded Pictures Entertainment. Originally from New York City, Mr. Harris earned his BA and MBA from Stanford. Between undergraduate and business school, he served as Managing Director of the award-winning Palo Alto-based repertory company TheatreWorks. Mr. Harris has produced 50 films, including five Sundance Film Festival entries. His most recent productions include The Trial of the Chicago 7, 12 Mighty Orphans, Shepherd and Stage Mother. He also produced Bottle Shock starring Alan Rickman and Chris Pine, The Kids Are Alright starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo, and Piranha 3D from The Weinstein Company. In theatre, he produced Heathers the Musical off Broadway in 2014 and Broadway productions Doctor Zhivago (2015) and Tony-nominated American Psycho (2016). Additionally, Mr. Harris is a founding member of the board of the Napa Valley Film Festival. He has been a member of the Producers Branch of the Motion Picture Academy since 1999, the Broadway League 2015-2018), and the Producers Guild since 2016. Mr. Harris lives in Los Angeles with his songwriter wife Amy Powers.- Peter Bruni was born on 28 December 1931 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Incredible Hulk (1977) and The Wild Wild West (1965). He died on 3 May 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
- Producer
Michael Haley was born on 22 September 1942 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He is an assistant director and actor, known for A League of Their Own (1992), Bedazzled (2000) and Angels in America (2003).- Producer
- Actress
- Production Manager
John Sayles and Maggie Renzi have been creative partners, in their life and in their art, since the early '70s. They met as students at Williams College in Massachusetts. John was a member of the class of 1972 and Maggie was member of the class of 1973. In the years immediately after graduation, Maggie worked as a bookstore clerk, a pediatric receptionist, a substitute teacher, a casting agent and a talent agent, while John took jobs like nursing home orderly and meat packer. In the late '70s they moved to California for a few years. John worked for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, and Maggie worked as a salad chef.
In 1979 they released their first film: Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980). John wrote the screenplay, and directed and edited the film. He also played the supporting role of Howie', a townie who has three kids before his 30th birthday. Maggie starred as 'Kate', the high school English teacher who invites all her college buddies up to her New Hampshire home for their annual reunion. She also served as Unit Manager and Assistant Editor. The Return of the Secaucus Seven became an art house and campus hit, winning the Los Angeles Film Critics' Award for Best Screenplay, and launching Sayles and Renzi on their way as independent filmmakers.
Beginning with their second film, Lianna (1983), Maggie assumed the role of Producer. While she continued to act, her producing responsibilities grew on each subsequent film, and she finally decided to focus just on producing after Passion Fish (1992) was released in 1992. She worked as part of a team of producers on the early films, but on the two most recent films Limbo (1999) and Sunshine State (2002), she is credited as sole producer.
In 2000, Maggie was one of the producers of Girlfight (2000), the award-winning first feature made by Karyn Kusama (who began her film career on Sayles/Renzi production teams). However, Maggie says she is not planning to produce other non-Sayles films.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Emily Robison was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on 16 August, 1972. She was born with the name Emily Burns Erwin. Her parents are Paul Erwin and Barbara Trask. Her sister is Martie Maguire. She plays the banjo for the music band The Chicks, along with her sister Martie, and Natalie Maines. She, along with Natalie and Martie, were featured in Dixie Chicks on the Fly (2000). They also sung songs for the Julia Roberts film, Runaway Bride (1999). In May 1999, Emily married Charlie Robison.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Rick D'Elia was born on 10 June 1967 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Price of Air (2000), Don't Suck (2023) and The Last Horseman.- Don McGovern was born on 19 March 1932 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Last Detail (1973), Mannix (1967) and The Bionic Woman (1976). He was married to Maureen Smith McGovern. He died on 15 October 2013 in Conway, Arkansas, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
George Ernest was a child actor who appeared in more than 60 films from 1929 to 1942. He was born George Ruud Hjorth in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father was Danish and his mother Norwegian . The family moved to California when George was two years old, and his father ran a restaurant in Hollywood. At age 10, Ernest got his start in movies. Among his early roles were a few of the short films in the comedy series created by Hal Roach, known as The Little Rascals and later as Our Gang.
Ernest was among the small number of child actors whose careers continued through their teen years. In a family comedy series by 20th Century Fox, he was Roger, a son of the Jones family. But as he reached manhood, three things happened that would change his career and life. As film roles were becoming more difficult to find, he became interested in camera work and began studying and following the camera crews. Then, World War II broke out. One of his last roles was in "Four Sons" of 1940. That war film was about a Czech family whose four sons take different paths after Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939.
Shortly after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered WW II, Ernest enlisted in the Army. He became a combat photographer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He served in the photographic unit that was headed by Hollywood director, John Ford. Ernest filmed American forces fighting in North Africa, in the invasion of Sicily, and the Italian campaign. He parachuted behind enemy lines in France and Germany to take photos. One of those occasions was a few days before the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. He moved through the French underground and hid along the German front. And, on June 6, 1944, he took photos of the American landings at Omaha Beach.
After the war, Ernest entered the business field and later became an executive with the McDonnell Douglas aviation company. He died on June 25, 2009, in Whittier, California. He was 87 years old.- Brian Piccolo was born on 31 October 1943 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Joy Grace Murrath. He died on 16 June 1970 in New York, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
Originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, she has been a full time comedienne for nearly 20 years.
When she was in her early 20s she moved to Las Vegas and became a cigarette girl at Caesars Palace. Later she moved to San Diego, California where eventually she became a regular at both the Comedy Store and The Improv.
As of July 2008 she is single.- Hung Hyunh was born on 25 January 1978 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Matt Greene-DeLanghe grew up in Western Massachusetts in the 90's. He studied filmmaking at NYU in the mid-2000's. In 2015 he wrote his first feature-length screenplay based on a childhood experience of making a haunted house with his friends each Halloween. In 2016 he ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for making a short version of this film, and in 2017 he produced and directed this film, which ended up being called "The Year of the Haunted House." Four years later he directed the feature-length version of this film called "Skelly".- JV Hampton-VanSant is a non-binary actor, voice actor, writer, podcast host and producer. They have been writing most of their life, but RedWing is their first foray into writing for an audio format. JV began writing RedWing (as a novel) in December 2015. In December 2018, they joined Keyerra on Crime In Color. In 2020, they started the podcast, JV Reads The T.
JV graduated from Lesley University with bachelor's degree in Holistic Psychology. They have done a lot of work with Multicultural BRIDGE, a minority and women run social justice non-profit, where they have been doing youth work around diversity, positive psychology and leadership.
JV has also written and illustrated 3 children's books in the One Tail at a Time trilogy: "The Neptune Brothers", "The New Girl", and "The Wave Dancer".
As of December, 2020, they live in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. - Writer
- Producer
- Director
Philip wrote his first screenplay largely due to prompting from a writer friend. The second script he penned, Neon Cactus, landed a berth as a Quarter-Finalist in the Academy's esteemed Nicholl Fellowship (1990). Since then, scores of his scripts & films have received acclaim in screenwriting contests, film festivals and writing fellowships. The first short he penned as work-for-hire, Mirage at Zabul Province, was a multi-festival award winner, taking the trifecta of Jury, Audience Choice and Director's Choice Awards and was an Official Selection in an Oscar-Qualifying Film Festival.
In 2024 he will direct Unbridled, a short script written by his partner Lesley Lillywhite. This short follows two shorts that he wrote and directed and enjoyed outstanding festival runs.
Philip has been brought onboard the feature length documentary, Through the Lens (working title) as writer.
He is also pitching feature scripts, including his most recent script, Bait - a shark movie with a potent relationship theme. As well, he is working to fund his Nicholl Fellowship placing script, Neon Cactus. In his script library are many production-worthy screenplays.
He was served as a juror for the Prescott Film Festival where his screenwriting workshops were popular amongst festival attendees. He has presented screenwriting topics at the Tucson Festival of Books, the Institute for Collaborative Story Telling, and Independent Film Arizona. In the past he wrote as a columnist for MediaVillage.com as well as the Science Fiction Channel's website. He is a member of the Arizona Production Association.
Philip is available for story consulting, rewrites or as work-for-hire writer. He is proficient in the most widely used screenwriting platforms.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Joan H. Parker was born on 16 October 1932 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for B.L. Stryker (1989), Spenser: For Hire (1985) and A Man Called Hawk (1989). She was married to Robert B. Parker. She died on 12 June 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.- Randy Rocca was born on 28 February 1952 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Remington Steele (1982), Cagney & Lacey (1981) and Plaza Suite (1982). He died on 15 May 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA.