After trading in her given name of Brook Busey-Hunt for the snappier pseudonym Diablo Cody, this Illinois native raised eyebrows online in addition to dimly lit peep-show booths with her blog, Pussy Ranch, as well as her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper. Cody, who graduated college with a degree in media studies and spent the early days of her career doing clerical work at ...

(born June 25, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) American motion-picture, television, and stage director noted for his psychological dramas. He was one of the most prolific and important American cinematic directors of the second half of the 20th century. The son of a Jewish actor, Lumet made his acting debut in New York City's Yiddish theatre as a child and was appearing in plays on Broadway by the l ...

Joan Chen has been one of a very few actors to have a viable career both in Hollywood and in Hong Kong. Whether playing a wizened Vietnamese peasant woman or the doomed Empress of China, she lends her characters a natural elegance and a beguiling vulnerability. Chen was born tp a family of doctors on April 26, 1961, in Shanghai, China. She tasted fame early in her life when she made her film debut in Xie Ji ...

An intense, unaffected, sloe-eyed Italian American player of television, stage, and film, Cara Buono never lacked determination. The product of a working-class Bronx household, she was determined to become an actor during adolescence, then broke into show business at age 12 (ca. 1983) and used a succession of roles, including Broadway and small screen assignments, to generate a steady income, support hersel ...

Writer, film critic. Born June 18, 1942, in Urbana, Illinois, Roger Ebert, along with his longtime television partner Gene Siskel, is perhaps the most noted movie critic in film history. With their popular syndicated show Siskel and Ebert became almost as celebrated and famous as the movies and movie stars they covered. Ebert, the only child of Annabel and Walter Ebert, came from a modest background. His fa ...

Jason Segel is a comic actor of TV and film who wrote and starred in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Segel was a regular cast member in the short-lived Judd Apatow series Freaks and Geeks (1999, with James Franco and Seth Rogen). Segel played Nick, the tall, awkward drummer smitten with Lindsay (played by Linda Cardellini). The show was cancelled after one season and Segel turned more attention to scre ...

As the screenwriter/producer (along with frequent collaborator and then-spouse Charles Shyer) of some of the best-known comedies of the 1980s and '90s, Nancy Meyers could, at least in part, be credited with providing screen starlet Goldie Hawn with a couple of the bubbly actress's late-career signature roles. Later moving into directing with the popular Disney remake The Parent Trap (1998), Meyers entered i ...

Well known for his works as teen heartthrob on the NBC series Freaks and Geeks and films like Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore, James Franco has the dark, refined looks of a classic movie star. Indeed, he was cast in the TNT film James Dean playing the screen legend himself, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in 2002. Born on April 19, 1978, Franco has lived in Califor ...

Writer, actor, producer, director. Born Emmitt Perry Jr. on September 13, 1969, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tyler Perry has forged his own way in the entertainment industry, building an empire that consists of successful films, plays, and even a best-selling book. One of four children, he had a difficult childhood, suffering years of abuse at the hands of his carpenter father. He once described his father as ...

Actor, director, producer. Born on September 8, 1971, in Winchester, Virginia. Offbeat and unpredictable, David Arquette is known for playing a variety of quirky characters. He comes from a well-known family of actors, stretching back to his great-grandfather who worked in vaudeville. His grandfather Cliff Arquette was a comic actor and both of his parents have worked as performers. Older sisters Rosanna an ...