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1-35 of 35
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
In both career and in real life, Bobby Cannavale tends to choose the unconventional way of doing things. Despite a lack of formal training and a rocky beginning to his career, the swarthy actor's strong work ethic enabled him to take a successful path off the crowded acting trail. From character goofball and cut-up, he has broken into the leading man ranks with his recent starring role as a reincarnated matchmaker in the TV series Cupid (2009).
Born Roberto M. Cannavale on May 3, 1971, in Union City, New Jersey, to an Italian-American father, Sal, and a Cuban mother, Isabel, he was involved in various activities at his Union City Catholic school, St. Michaels, while growing up. An altar boy, choir boy and lector, he also appeared in the church school's various musicals including his very first, "Guys and Dolls", in which he showed up as one of the gangsters, and "The Music Man", appearing as the lisping, scene-stealing tyke, "Winthrop".
Bobby's parents divorced when he was five years old and his mother moved the family to Puerto Rico for a couple of years. Eventually, they returned to the States and settled in Coconut Creek, Florida, where he attended high school. Restless and uncomfortable in any sort of regimented setting, he often got suspended for playing the class clown. Graduating in the late 1980s, and bitten by the acting bug, Bobby chose to return to the New York/New Jersey area in order to jump start an acting career. Working in bars to support himself, he again avoided the confines of an acting school and, instead, gained experience as a "reader" on occasion with the Naked Angels theatre company. During this time (1994), he met and married Jenny Lumet, the actress-daughter of director Sidney Lumet. They had son, Jake, the following year. The couple divorced in 2003.
Spotted by playwright Lanford Wilson while performing in an East Village production of Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart", Bobby was invited to join Wilson's prestigious Circle Repertory Theatre. As a "reader" for the company, he eventually earned stage parts in "Chilean Holidays" (1996) and in Wilson's "Virgil Is Still the Frog Boy." He also went on to serve as understudy to Mark Linn-Baker in a 1998 production of "A Flea in Her Ear" and later replaced him. A noticeable role in the company's play, "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" by Paul Rudnick led to Bobby's being cast in the recurring role of a tugboat operator in the TV series Trinity (1998). Having only appeared in bit parts thus far in such movies as Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), directed by Lumet, and I'm Not Rappaport (1996), it was "Trinity" creator John Wells who caught Bobby's stage performance and handed him this career-making break on camera.
Bobby's "nice-guy" aura and blue-collar charm proved invaluable, if a bit restrictive. Once the "Trinity" series ended, Wells cast the 6'3" lug with the trademark caterpillar brows and crooked smile as lovelorn paramedic "Bobby Caffey" in his series Third Watch (1999). The character became quite popular but Bobby, again feeling restricted and wishing to broaden his horizon as an actor, asked to be released from the show -- but "in a big way". Creator Wells obliged and had the paramedic fatally shot in the chest and then experience a "beyond the grave" union with his character's deceased, ne'er-do-well dad.
Bobby next joined the cast of father-in-law Sidney Lumet's acclaimed TV courtroom drama 100 Centre Street (2001), starring Alan Arkin, cast against type as a brazenly opportunistic prosecutor. He subsequently earned recurring roles on Ally McBeal (1997) (in 2002) and Six Feet Under (2001) (in 2004). As for films, Bobby was featured in Gloria (1999), The Bone Collector (1999), Washington Heights (2002) and The Guru (2002) by the time he scored as the gregarious food truck driver in the critically-hailed indie film The Station Agent (2003), which paired him intriguingly opposite the diminutive actor Peter Dinklage.
Unwilling to shirk away from more controversial roles such as his gay drug dealer who has the hots for a fellow prisoner in the acclaimed series Oz (1997) or his closeted dancing neophyte in the film comedy Shall We Dance? (2004) starring Richard Gere, Bobby continued to elevate his status seesawing between film (Shortcut to Happiness (2003), Happy Endings (2005), Romance & Cigarettes (2005)) and TV assignments (the miniseries Kingpin (2003)). He earned big viewer points and an Emmy Award for his recurring portrayal of Will's dour cop/boyfriend on the hit sitcom Will & Grace (1998) in 2004. Elsewhere, on stage, he merited attention in such productions as "Hurlyburly" and earned a Tony Award nomination for his 2007 Broadway debut in "Mauritius."
After five consecutive failed pilots, Bobby has come front-and-center with his quirky starring role in the ABC series Cupid (2009), plus recurring roles in Cold Case (2003) and Nurse Jackie (2009), and his second Emmy-winning part in Boardwalk Empire (2010). He continues to rake up credits on the big screen with (The Merry Gentleman (2008), Diminished Capacity (2008), The Take (2007), 100 Feet (2008), Roadie (2011), Blue Jasmine (2013), link=tt2883512], Ant-Man (2015), I, Tonya (2017), Boundaries (2018) and The Irishman (2019), and with fascinating continuing/regular roles on such TV series as Cupid (2009), Cold Case (2003), Boardwalk Empire (2010), Nurse Jackie (2009), Vinyl (2016), Mr. Robot (2015) and Homecoming (2018), this dark, brutish character has plenty of staying power in both comedy and drama.- Actress
- Writer
- Executive
A.J. Mendez was born on 19 March 1987 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for WWE Smackdown! (1999), WWE NXT (2010) and WWE Raw (1993). She has been married to CM Punk since 13 June 2014.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joey Bragg was born on 20 July 1996 in Union City, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Liv and Maddie (2013), The Outfield (2015) and Mark & Russell's Wild Ride (2015).- Actress
- Music Department
- Composer
Allison Strong was born in Union City, New Jersey USA. Allison is an actor and composer, known for Leo (2023), The Week Of (2018) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017).- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Alicia Menendez was born on 2 July 1983 in Union City New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Latina to Latina (2018), Mango Season (2020) and ABC News: Your Voice, Your Vote 2014 (2014). She has been married to Carlos Prío Odio since 15 February 2015. They have one child.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Louis Del Grande was born in 1943 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Scanners (1981), Seeing Things (1981) and Speed Zone (1989).- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Bob Kelljan was born as Robert Kelljchian on June 23, 1930, in Union City, NJ. He began his show-business career as an actor: He appeared in episodes of both The Twilight Zone (1959) and The Outer Limits (1963) but also pops up in small roles in the fun biker opus Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and the groovy hippie flick Psych-Out (1968) Kelljan made his filmmaking debut as writer and co-director of the sordid incest drama Flesh of My Flesh (1969). He achieved his greatest commercial success with the excellent drive-in horror hit Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and its equally solid sequel, The Return of Count Yorga (1971). His other theatrical features include the funky blaxploitation outing Scream Blacula Scream (1973), the splendidly sleazy vigilante revenge exploitation winner Act of Vengeance (1974) and the enjoyable redneck action romp Black Oak Conspiracy (1977). He also directed episodes of such TV shows as Hill Street Blues (1981), Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982), Fame (1982), Police Story (1973), Charlie's Angels (1976), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), +"Vega$ (1977)_, _"Starsky and Hutch" (1975)_ and Wonder Woman (1975).
Bob Kelljan died from cancer at the tragically young age of 52 on November 25, 1982.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Joseph Oriolo was born on 21 February 1913 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Casper (1995), Felix the Cat (1958) and The Mighty Hercules (1963). He was married to Dorothy Oriolo. He died on 25 December 1985 in Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Gene Lesser was born on 15 October 1925 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer, known for Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956), Lock Up (1959) and Going Home (1971). He was married to Jacqueline Scott. He died on 23 June 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
This colorful, high-flying wrestler was a mainstay in the WWF from 1986 to 1993. He appeared at many of the WWF's major Pay-Per-View events during this time frame, such as Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble. He was mainly used as a jobber - a wrestler who rarely wins and is mainly used to help elevate other talent. Despite what seemed like an endless losing streak, Koko remained one of the WWF's most popular wrestlers throughout most of his career. His biggest match was probably at Survivor Series 1988, where he wrestled in the main event on Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage's 5-man team. Koko was always one of the best high-flying wrestlers in the WWF. One of his favorite moves was a dropkick on his opponents from the top turnbuckle. He often came to the ring with multi-colored hair, and he was rarely seen at ringside without his pet parrot: Frankie. One of his strongest attributes was his hard head, which his opponents usually found out when they attempted to ram Koko's head into the top turnbuckle, with no avail. This failed attempt to hurt Koko's head was always picked up on by legendary wrestling commentator Gorilla Monsoon, who would remark "(Koko's opponent) didn't do his homework". His last year in the WWF was spent as a tag team of the late Owen Hart as the high-flying team of High Energy.- Director
- Additional Crew
- Animation Department
Cartoonist Otto Messmer was born in Union City (then known as West Hoboken), NJ, on Aug. 16, 1892. He showed an aptitude for drawing as early as grammar school, and his teachers encouraged him to follow that path. After graduating he took a correspondence course in art and attended the Thomas School of Art in New York City. He took a job with an advertising agency, illustrating fashion catalogs, but never lost his passion for drawing. One day his brother took him to a vaudeville act that showed the films of pioneering animator Winsor McCay and Messmer knew what career path he was going to follow. He began drawing his own comic strips and submitting them to newspapers. He also applied to several animation studios in New York for work as a set painter. Producer Jack Cohn at Universal saw Messmer's comic strips, however, liked them and hired him as an animator.
Messmer devised a character called "Motor Mat", a daredevil race driver, and brought it to Cohn. Cohn showed it to well-known animators Pat Sullivan and Henry 'Hy' Mayer, who were so impressed with it that they both asked Messmer to work with them. Messmer chose Mayer and helped him animate his series "The Travels of Teddy", based on the exploits of Mayer's friend Theodore Roosevelt. After Messmer finished that project he went to work for Pat Sullivan. Unfortunately for both of them, Sullivan was arrested for rape in 1917, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Messmer went back to Hy Mayer, but was soon drafted into the army and fought in World War I, returning to the US in 1919. By that time Sullivan was out of prison, and the two went back to making animated films.
Later that year Sullivan and Messmer received an order from Paramount Screen Magazine, which made news, travelogue and cartoon shorts, to create a cartoon character (the animator it had originally contracted with was late turning it in) and Sullivan told Messmer to do it on his own. Messmer made the character a sassy, all-black cat and called the cartoon "Feline Follies". It was quite successful and Paramount ordered an entire series of the cat's adventures. Messmer originally called the character "Master Tom" but by the third entry in the series the name had changed to Felix (a combination of "feline" and "felicity").
In 1921 Paramount Pictures decided to close down its Screen Magazine division, and Sullivan managed to get back the rights to Felix the Cat, which had actually belonged to Paramount (even though Sullivan's studio had created it). He then went to Warner Bros. to try to get a distribution deal, but the studio wasn't interested. However, M.J. Winkler, the secretary to Harry Warner, was interested and she and Sulivan eventually signed a production/distribution deal for the Felix the Cat series.
The first entry under the deal was Felix Saves the Day (1922), and it wasn't long before the series was an even bigger hit than it was under Paramount, even managing to secure distribution in Canada. The Messmer/Winkler Felix cartoons were praised for their imagination, humor, puns and intelligence. The success of the series resulted in the company securing an international distribution deal in 1922 that required more than double the number of entries from the previous year, with the resultant expansion of the studio.
Felix was a huge hit with the public, which took him to heart. In 1923 the company turned Felix into a comic strip, which ran until 1943. The strip was popular, but never achieved the status of the cartoons. In addition, the international distribution made the character a worldwide hit.
Felix's popularity began to wane with the coming of sound. Rather than jump wholeheartedly into sound cartoons, as Walt Disney did, Sullivan simply added sound effects to some new Felix films (and went back and did the same to some older entries). The result was shoddy and not up to the standards of the Disney sound cartoons. By 1931 Felix had been eclipsed by a new character, which incorporated both sound effects and dialogue as integral parts of the film, and not just add-ons: Mickey Mouse.
Television revived Felix's career, and new cartoons were created especially for that medium. This time he didn't carry the films alone--he was accompanied by his bulldog Rock Bottom, the eccentric Professor, his somewhat nerdy nephew Poindexter and his "Magic Bag of Tricks".
Otto Messmer died on October 28, 1983, in Fort Lee, NJ, at 91 years of age.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Enzo A. Martinelli was born on 29 September 1907 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Contender (1980), Gemini Man (1976) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). He was married to Valerie. He died on 5 February 1997 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA.- Animation Department
- Director
George Cannata was born on 8 July 1908 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He was a director, known for Spider-Man (1967), Captain America (1966) and The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972). He was married to Mary Dorothy Baldwin. He died on 8 February 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Joe Jeanette was born on 26 August 1879 in West Hoboken [now Union City], New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Square Joe (1922). He was married to Adelaide Atzinger and Gertrude Jeannette. He died on 7 July 1958 in Union City, New Jersey, USA.
- Hatch Tarr was born with film running in his blood. He is the cousin of famous director Terry Gilliam. After the making of his first film (Lost Cause) which he wrote, directed and starred in did he find out that is what he wanted to do with his life. Since then Hatch has acted for over 8 years, ran a horror move magazine (www.lop-productions.com) Lop Magazine, and now working as a host on a new Hot TV show Truth or Dare. It's being looked at by MTV and HBO for a networking spot.He now lives in Florida where he is working on the show. Also sings with two bands right now, "The Parasites" and the "Black Light Project". He is also working on a book called "Interview Conffessions".
- Alexis Hernandez was born in Union City, New Jersey, USA.
- Walter O. Miles was born on 1 October 1913 in Union City, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Astral Factor (1978), Psychic Killer (1975) and Summer School Teachers (1975). He died on 4 November 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Joey Diamond was born on 6 October 1991 in Union City, California, USA. He is an actor.
- Steve Finley was born on 12 March 1965 in Union City, Tennessee, USA. He was previously married to Amy Jantzen.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kathlyn Brox was born on 14 June 1904 in Union City, Indiana, USA. She was an actress, known for Manhattan Serenade (1929), The General (1929) and King of Jazz (1930). She died on 27 August 1988 in New York City, New York, USA.- Elise Bartlett was born on 5 October 1899 in Union City, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Show Boat (1929), Oh, Sailor Behave! (1930) and A Harp in Hock (1927). She was married to Michael Picard, Horace Liveright and Joseph Schildkraut. She died on 22 May 1947 in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
Brent Pfaff was born on 2 December 1959 in Union City, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for She's Too Tall (1998), Hostile Environment (1999) and Galaxis (1995). He died on 4 December 2011 in Van Nuys, California, USA.- Mae Trado was born on 26 December 1885 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Time Lock No. 776 (1915). She was married to William Steiner. She died in April 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Floyd Odlum was born on 30 March 1892 in Union City, Michigan, USA. He was married to Jacqueline Cochran. He died on 17 June 1976 in Indio, California, USA.
- Salvatore Briguglio was born on 4 February 1930 in Union City, New Jersey, USA. He died on 21 March 1978 in Little Italy, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.