At the end of the 20th century, it looked like Christopher Guest was only starting to get his just rewards. Most famous for his rendition of one Nigel Tufnel ("my amp goes all the way to 11") from This Is Spinal Tap, the faux rockumentary, Guest's brilliance seems to have gone overlooked for much of his career. Only after emerging as a true auteur -- writer, director, actor, and master of the genre of the m ...

New Zealand-born vocalist, guitarist, and comedic actor Bret McKenzie shot to fame in the early-mid 2000s -- alongside his ever-present co-star, Jemaine Clement -- as one half of the "digifolk" music act Flight of the Conchords. The duo achieved recognition at comedy festivals in their native Australasian country, with touring schtick that involved singing and playing tongue-in-cheek compositions with goofy ...

The son of a jazz concert producer, Billy Crystal grew up in the company of such music legends as Billie Holiday, Pee Wee Russell, and Eddy Condon. His mind made up by age five, Crystal knew he wanted to become a performer -- not in music but in baseball or comedy. As he later explained to TV Guide, he chose comedy "because God made me short" -- though from all reports he is one of the best ball players in ...

Eternally known as the voice of Bart Simpson, Nancy Cartwright is one of the most prolific voice actors of her time. Born in an Ohio suburb in the late '50s, she grew up doing community theater and watching cartoons. In her last year at Ohio University, she got a chance to meet Hanna-Barbara voice actor Daws Butler. Better known by his character names Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Quick Draw McGraw, But ...

A comedienne best known for her tenure on NBC's Saturday Night Live, actress-cum-playwright Casey Wilson laid claim to a prestigious educational pedigree that included enrollment at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts and further study at the exclusive Stella Adler School of Acting. She then teamed up with fellow comedy writer June Diane Raphael to co-author a sellout two-woman show, Rode Hard a ...

Best known to audiences as the androgynous, nerdy "Pat" from Saturday Night Live, where she was a cast member from 1990 to 1994, Julia Sweeney actually began her comedy career as an accountant, of all things. Working as a numbers-cruncher for Columbia Pictures in the mid-'80s, Sweeney ignored her degree in economics to pursue comedy. In 1986, she joined the Groundlings, the famous L.A. improvisational troup ...

A Fashion model ,Film actor, Reality Tv Star and Social worker Veena Malik Born in Rawalpindi on the 26th of February 1987 at the CMH Hospital, to Ali Malik, a Pakistani Army Major and his wife Zeenat Malik, she was the third child in a family of six sisters and one brother. Veena spent most of her childhood away from her parents in Punjab and was brought up by her paternal grandfather who was a well-known ...

Actress and comedian Cheri Oteri emerged from obscurity into the proverbial limelight in the mid-'90s. 1995 brought with it the performer's definitive breakthrough; that year, Oteri -- then a member of the L.A. comedy troupe The Groundlings -- was tapped by Saturday Night Live to join its regular cast of players. She remained with SNL for five years, and cultivated an enthusiastic response for such recurrin ...

African-American actress, comedian, author, reality-show host, and occasional scriptwriter Aisha Tyler came of age in San Francisco and studied poly sci at Dartmouth College before mounting a (brief) career as an advertising executive in her hometown. Dissatisfied by this pursuit, and pining to launch herself as a full-time entertainer, Tyler "dropped out" of the corporate world and hit the road with a solo ...

One of TV's most prolific actors, John Ritter was most famous for his role as "Jack Tripper" on the popular 1970's ABC-TV sitcom, Three's Company. Although he had already appeared in several films and in guest spots in other television programs, Ritter's portrayal of the lone bachelor in an apartment with two female roommates, made him a star, and won him both an Emmy award and a Golden Globe award. Born on ...