Idris Elba

Idris Elba

Name: Idrissa Akuna Elba
DOB: Sept. 6, 1972
Where: Hackney, London, England
Years Active: Actor, hip hop artist
Occupation:1995-present
Website: http://www.dris.com

-English actor of TV, film, theatre
-Grew up in Canning Town, East London
-DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis/Big Driis the Londoner.
-In 2009, he appeared on an episode of the American sitcom The Office, playing Charles Miner, Michael Scott's new boss.
-Recently, he took the role of Det. John Luther in the BBC show Luther.

Early Life
-Shortened his first name at school in Canning Town, where he first got into acting. His father is Sierra Leonean and his mother is Ghanian.
-Grew up in East Ham, and began helping his uncle with a wedding DJ business in 1986. Left school in 1988 and won a place in the National Youth Music Theatre- thanks to a grant.
-After this, he began working the night shift at a Ford factory in Dagenham from 1989-1990

Career
-In 1995, landed his first role on a series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England. In 1995, had a supporting role as a gigolo on an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, entitled "Sex". Alot of the roles he got were on British TV shows.

-Moved to New York City in 1999. Returned to England occasionally for a job, such as one in the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, a crime series. In 2001, he landed a starring role on an episode of Law and Order.
-He appeared as the role of Charlie Gotso in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency opposite Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose.

-In the Tyler Perry movie Daddy's Little Girls, he played Monty, a working class mechanic who falls in love with an attorney(Gabrielle Union), who is helping him to gain custody of his kids, and finds this relationship threatened by the arrival of his ex-wife.

-He later starred in Obsessed(2009), opposite Beyonce Knowles. He played an asset manager with a beautiful wife(Beyonce) and booming career until a seductive temp worker(Ali Larter) begins stalking him.

Personal Life
-Currently single
-He and ex-wife Kim Elba have one daughter
-Spends much of his time in London, but owns a house in Atlanta, so he can be close to his daughter
-Fan of Arsenal F.C. while his dad supports Manchester United
-In the April 2004 issue of Essence Magazine, he was voted one of the "Ten Hottest Men on the Planet".
-In the May 2007 issue of People Magazine, he was voted as one of the 100 Most Beautiful People in the World

Filmography

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Eric Idle

Eric Idle

DOB: March 29, 1943
Where: South Shields, County Durham, England
Education: Pembroke College, Cambridge
Occupation: Actor, author, comedian, singer, writer
Years Active: 1969-present
Noted Work: Monty Python, The Rutles, Spamalot
Website: http://pythononline.com

-English comedian, actor and composer.
-Was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python

Early Life/Education
-Born to Nora Barron, a health visitor, and Ernest Idle. His father served in the Royal Air Force and survived World War II, only to be killed in a hitch hiking accident on Christmas Eve 1945. His mother had problems coping with a full time job and raising a child, so when Idle was 7, he was enrolled in the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder.
-According to him, "It was a physically abusive, bullying harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority. Perfect training for Python."
-Idle said that 2 things made his life enjoyable. Those were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, the Wolverhampton Wanderers. Radio Luxembourg was famous then, because now famous British celebrities remember listening to when they grew up during WWII
-He also attended Cambridge University, meaning he is very highly educated

Career
-Idle started at Cambridge a year after future Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese. He started the children's TV comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set, costarring his future Python members Terry Jones and Michael Palin(both of whom are Oxford graduates).

Monty Python's The Life of Brian

Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

-Idle wrote Monty Python by himself. The characters end up having verbal strangeness, such as the man who speaks in anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, the butcher who goes back and forth between rudeness and politeness every time he speaks.

Monty Python. Playing an upper class "twit"

-He is one of the youngest members of the team- year behind Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge. Idle was closest to the spirit of the students and teens who made up much of Python's fanbase. The sketches on the show dealt with then obsessions, like pop music, sexual permissiveness, recreational drugs. Idle's characters often include double entendre, sexual references, and other things considered bad.

-On Saturday Night Live, he and a bunch of guys created a parody of The Beatles called The Rutles. They even made a movie of it, called All You Need is Cash, a parody of the song All You Need is Love. It was a collaboration of Python members and Saturday Night Live hosts and crew. Actors appearing in the film included John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, and also musicians like George Harrison and Mick Jagger.

-When it came to movies, he appeared in various movies over the years. Like Terry Gilliams 1989 movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the 1990 movie Nuns on the Run alongside Robbie Coltrane, Casper(1995).
-He also appeared on 3 episodes of The Simpsons, as a famous documentarian named Declan Desmond.
-In the 2007 movie Shrek the Third, he provided the voice for hippie-like Merlin the Magician, alongside former Python John Cleese, who did the voice of King Harold.

Nuns on the Run

The Simpsons

Merlin the Magician

Personal Life
-Married an Australian woman named Lyn Ashley in 1969. She appeared in Monty Python occasionally. They divorced in 1975. They have one son named Carey, born in 1973.
-He married his current wife, Tania Kosevich, an American, in 1981. They have one daughter, Lily, born in 1990. He has lived in Los Angeles since the early 1990s

Filmography

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Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus

-BBC comedy show broadcast from 1969-1974
-Comprised or surreality, risque, innuendo humor, sight gags, observational sketches without punchlines
-First episode debuted on Sept. 7, 1969
-The show targeted various topics, like British culture, especially those of high ranking people. The crew members of the show were very highly educated; Terry Jones and Michael Palin were Oxford graduates; Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman attended Cambridge; and American born Terry Gilliam is an Occidenal College grad.
-Their humor is often intellectual, while making jokes about literary figures.

Did You Know?
-Terry Gilliam was the only American in the group

Characters

Arthur Pewtey(Palin)
-socially inept, very dull guy who appears in the skit "Argument Clinic" "Marriage Guidance Counselor" "Ministry of Silly Walks"
-His skits take the form of an office appointment with an authority figure, usually John Cleese, or occasionally Chapman. They end up parodying the British establishment by having the professional employed in bizarre fields of work

The Reverend Arthur Belling(Chapman and Palin)
-Vicar of St. Loony-Up-The-Cream-Bun-And-Jam
-Known for bizarre behavior

The "It's" man(Palin)
-Robinson Crusoe-like castaway, with torn clothing, long, unkept beard, who appears at the beginning of the show
-He is seen performing some long or dangerous task, such as falling off a tall, jagged cliff, or running large distance towards the camera and saying "It's"

Mr. Badger(Idle)
-Scotsman whose specialty is interrupting sketches
-Has been seen as an airplane hijacker, whose demands are odd

The "Pepperpots"
-Screeching, middle aged, lower-middle class housewives played by the Pythons in dresses.
-The Pythons played most of the female roles themselves, unless the part called for younger, more glamorous actresses
-"Pepperpot" refers to what the Pythons believed was a typical image of a middle class British housewife
-Their real life targets have included then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the British police, being shown in drag, Queen Victoria

Character Traits

Chapman
-Played straight faced guys, of any age/class, authority figures, such as military officers, police, doctors
-Also was called upon to play cross dressing and gay stereotypes, in fact he was gay, but it was not publicly known

Cleese
-Played ridiculous authority figures
-Chapman claims he is the funniest one in drag
-Also played foreigners with odd accents, such as Frenchmen

Gilliam
-Many of the animations were done by him
-Some of his on screen work included: A man with a stoat through his head, Cardinal Fang in The Spanish Inquisition sketch, A dandy wearing a mask, bikini underwear, and a cape, a hotel clerk in The Cycling Tour episode

Idle
-Best known for his roles as a cheeky, suggestive playboy, "Nudge, Nudge" as a crafty salesman, in Monty Python's Life of Brian, a merchant who loves to haggle
-Known as the master of the one liner
-Unlike Jones, Idle usually ended up playing the female roles, only altering his voice slightly.
-Several times he appeared as upper-class, middle aged females, such as Rita Fairbanks, sexually repressed Protestant wife

Jones
-He was said to have pulled most of the strings on the show

Palin
-Considered by all the Pythons as the one with the widest range, adept as a straight man, or wildly over the top
-Played working class northerners, weak willed, put upon men, boring accountant in the "Vocational Guidance Counselor"
-Also plays heavily accented characters, mostly French

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Def Leppard

Recently I discovered these guys' music and I'm loving their music! It rocks!!!!

Have this album at home. Was going to get it for my stepdad for Christmas only this album is not the one he is looking for.

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Gotta Love 'Swinging London'

Gotta love this decade. This one gave us early Who music, The Stones, The Beatles, awesome fashion and cool pop culture in general! And also it gave us Twiggy, the first model of the 1960s, who just so happens to still be around today! Way to go her!!!!

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David Thewlis

David Thewlis

Name: David Wheeler
DOB: March 20, 1963
Where: Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Occupation: actor, author, director, screenwriter
Years Active: 1987-present
Partner: Anna Friel(2001-2010, 1 child)

-English actor of stage and screen
-Most successful role to date was that of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter series
-Other roles include: Kingdom of Heaven(2005), James and the Giant Peach(1996)

Early Life
-2nd of 3 children born to Maureen Thewlis and Alec Raymond Wheeler. Both parents worked at his father's shop, which sold toys in summer, wallpaper and paint in winter
-Enrolled in Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Graduated in 1984. Wanted to use 'David Wheeler' as his stage name, but it was taken, so he used his mother's maiden name Thewlis instead

Career
-First acting role: play called Buddy Holly at the Regal
-Through the 1990s, he appeared in a variety of movies, mostly fantasy anf period, such as Restoration(1995), Black Beauty(1994), Dragonheart(1996), Seven Years in Tibet(1997)
-In the movie The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, he played an SS Commandant in the Nazi death camp.

Personal Life
-In 2001, began a relationship with actress Anna Friel. They have one daughter, Gracie Ellen May Friel.

Filmography

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Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons

Name: Jeremy John Irons
DOB: Sept. 19, 1948
Where: Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
Occupation: Actor
Years Active: 1971-present
Spouse: Julie Hallam(1969), Sinead Cusack(1978-present)


Die Hard with a Vengeance. Playing a terrorist named Simon Gruber














-English actor who received his training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre.
-Began his career in 1969
-His first film role was in the 1981 romantic drama The French Lieutenant's Woman. After that, he played in various roles, such as Moonlighting(1982), Betrayal(1983), The Mission(1986). He received alot of good attention by playing twin gynaecologists in Dead Ringers(1988)
-Also has appeared on TV. He currently stars on the HBO show The Borgias.

Early Life
-Born to Barbara Anne Brereton, a houswife, and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant.
-Has a brother named Christopher and a sister named Felicity Anne.
-In school, played the drums, and was able to play "Stairway to Heaven" on harmonica.

Career
-Went on to the London stage playing John the Baptist and Judas alongside David Essex in Godspell
-In 2005, he appeared on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?
-On Jan. 12, 2011, Irons was a guest star on Law and Order:SVU, in an episode titled "Mask". On that episode, he played a sex therapist named Dr. Cap Jackson. He has said that that was the most fun he has ever had on TV. He apparently enjoys working on TV rather than film
-Played the Musketeer Aramis opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Man in the Iron Mask(1998)
-One of his better known roles was providing his voice for the character Scar in The Lion King(1994)


Law and Order:SVU





The Lion King




The Man in the Iron Mask




Eragon

 Personal Life
-Married Irish actress Sinead Cusack in March 1978. They have 2 sons, Samuel James Brefni Irons, who works as a photographer and Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons, also an actor, who appeared in the 2006 Burberry fashion campaign.

Other things
-At the 1991 Tony Awards, Irons was one of the few celebs to wear the recently created red ribbon to support the fight against AIDS.

Filmography

IMDb
Trademark
-Haunting voice
-Aggressive, industrious work ethic

Trivia
-Had his motorcycle license suspended for 3 months after going 97 mph on his BMW motorcycle in England

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The English Patient

The English Patient

-1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri-Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje.
-Directed by Anthony Minghella
-Set before WWII, it's a story of love, fate, misunderstanding and healing. Told in a series of flashbacks.

Did You Know?
-Ralph Fiennes burn make up took 5 hours to apply every day
-Both Naveen Andrews and Kevin Whately had to learn how to operate motorcycles for the film

Hmmm, might have to check this out. I'm always up for a good, old fashioned love story.

Plot
-Set during WWII and shows a critically burned man, at first known only as "the English patient", who is being cared for by Hana(Juliette Binoche), a French-Canadian nurse in an Italian monastery. The patient is hesitant to reveal any info but through a series of flashbacks, people who watch the movie can see into his past. It reveals that he is in fact a Hungarian geographer, Count Laszlo de Almasy(Ralph Fiennes), who was making a map of the Sahara Desert, and whose affair with a married woman, Katharine Clifton(Kristin Scott Thomas), brought his situation to light. As the patient remembers more, David Caravaggio(Willem Dafoe), a Canadian intelligence officer and former thief, arrives at the monastery. He lost his thumbs while being interrogated by German officers and he reveals that it was the actions of the patient that had brought about his torture. In addition to the story, the film devotes time to Hana and her romance with Kip(Naveen Andrews), an Indian Sikh sapper in the British Army. Due to events in her past, Hana believes that anyone who comes close to her is likely to die, and Kip's position as a bomb defuser makes their romance full of stress

-In the 1st phase, set in the late 1930s, the minor Hungarian noble Count Laszlo de Almasy(Ralph Fiennes) is the co-leader of a Royal Geographical Society archaeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya. He and his English partner Madox are at heart academics with little sophistication in the politics of Europe and Africa. Shortly, both the morale and finances of their trip are bolstered by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katherine Clifton(Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas). The Count is very attracted to Katharine. When Geoffrey is away from the group, an affair begins. The final months before the onset of the war, he Count's discovery of an ancient Saharan cave with "swimming figure" paintings ffrom the prehistoric times are found. Romance between the Count and Katharine get stronger. She is plagued with the guilt of infidelity, while he shows a streak of jealousy along with an imbalance that later haunts him

-The fall of 1939 and the war all bring excavation to a halt and Madox and the Count go their own ways. Geoffrey Clifton has pieced together the outline of the affair and seeks a sudden revenge: crashing his plane, with Katharine aboard, in the Count's desert camp. The wreck injures Katharine and narrowly misses the Count, and kills Geoffrey. He manages to take Katharine into the shelter of the swimming figure cave, leaves water for her, a flashlight and a fire and begins his 3 day walk back to the nearest town and help. The town is held by British Army and the dazed Count, with his non English name, is unable to explain his situation. He loses temper and is thrown into military jail. He is sent in chains on a train "north to Benghazi", escapes, finds himself behind Afrika Korps lines and quickly trades his desert maps with the Germans for a biplane. By the time he returns to the cave, Katharine is dead- and in all but a physical sense, so is the Count. He manages to bundle her body into the plane and take off. Ironically, a German anti-aircraft  battery shoots down the plane as he pilots it over the desert. Horribly burned, he is rescued by Bedouin tribesmen

-The film's 2nd phase shifts to Italy and the last months of the war. The Count by now is an invalid, and dependent on morphine and care of his French-Canadian nurse Hana. That monastery becomes the main point for the movie and it shows Hana seeing a fiancee and friend die in the Italian campaign and is left to wonder if her relationship with a British-Indian will break her chain of bad luck. A visitor named Caravaggio is in search of the Count that he thinks played a role in the problems in Egypt. He lost both thumbs to an interrogation by the Nazis and has killed those who he deems responsible.

-Hana finds solace in the film. Her lieutenant survives a brush with death on the last day of the war and her hope in love is made stronger. The Count asks for, and dies of, an overdose of morphine from Hana

Cast

• Ralph Fiennes as Count László Almásy
• Juliette Binoche as Hana
• Willem Dafoe as David Caravaggio
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton
• Naveen Andrews as Kip
• Colin Firth as Geoffrey Clifton
• Julian Wadham as Madox
• Jürgen Prochnow as Major Muller
• Kevin Whately as Sgt. Hardy
• Clive Merrison as Fenelon-Barnes
• Nino Castelnuovo as D'Agostino
• Hichem Rostom as Fouad
• Peter Rühring as Bermann
• Geordie Johnson as Oliver
• Torri Higginson as Mary
• Liisa Repo-Martell as Jan
• Raymond Coulthard as Rupert Douglas
• Philip Whitchurch as Corporal Dade
• Lee Ross as Spalding
• Anthony Smee as Beach Interrogation Officer
• Matthew Ferguson as Young Canadian Soldier
• Jason Done as Kiss Me Soldier
• Roger Morlidge as Sergeant – Desert Train

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