BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Joseph Columbus (born September 10, 1958) is an American filmmaker. Born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Columbus studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. After writing screenplays for several teen comedies in the mid-1980s, including Gremlins, The Goonies, and Young Sherlock Holmes, he made his directorial debut with a teen adventure, Adventures in Babysitting(1987). Columbus gained recognition soon after with the highly successful Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

The comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), starring Robin Williams, was another box-office success for Columbus. He went on to direct several other films throughout the 1990s, which were mostly met with lukewarm reception. However, he found commercial success again by directing the film adaptations of J. K. Rowling’s novels Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). In addition to directing, Columbus was a producer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), as well as the drama The Help(2011). He also directed the fantasy Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief(2010) and the 3D action comedy Pixels (2015).

Columbus is the co-founder of 1492 Pictures, a film production company that has produced some of his films since 1995. More recently, he co-founded another production firm with his daughter in 2014 called Maiden Voyage Pictures. In 2017, he launched ZAG Animation Studios, alongside Michael Barnathan, Haim Saban, and Jeremy Zag. Columbus is also known for his collaboration with composer John Williams, with whom he had worked on the film Home Alone and the film series Harry Potter.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Columbus, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁ.lin buʁ.ʒwa ta.kɛ]; born 1986; Royan) is a French director, screenwriter, and actress.

BIOGRAPHY

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973) is an American animator, writer, comedian, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows’ various characters.

A native of Kent, Connecticut, MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. He was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television shows, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken and Dexter’s Laboratory, before creating his own series for 20th Century Fox entitled Family Guy in 1999. MacFarlane would go on to co-create American Dad! in 2005, The Winner in 2007 and The Cleveland Show in 2009 for 20th Century Fox.

As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows such as Gilmore Girls, The War at Home and FlashForward. MacFarlane’s interest in science fiction and fantasy has led to cameo and guest appearances on Star Trek: Enterprise and voicing the character of Johann Kraus in Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. In 2008, he created his own YouTube series entitled Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. As a performer, MacFarlane has sung at several venues, including Carnegie and Royal Albert Hall.

MacFarlane has won several awards for his work on Family Guy, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and an Annie Award. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year. He has been a subject of criticism from television watchdog groups, such as the Parents Television Council, who regularly condemn Family Guy for its indecency. He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and is a supporter of gay rights.

On the February 10, 2011 episode of the TBS variety nighttime talk-show series Conan, MacFarlane announced he is directing his first feature-length film, Ted. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as an adult, who as a child, wished his teddy bear would come to life. MacFarlane will be the voice and motion capture for the bear.

BIOGRAPHY

Joseph Roland “Joe” Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose movie and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century. Through his young adult years, Barbera lived, attended college, and began his career in New York City. After working odd jobs and as a banker, Barbera joined Van Beuren Studios in 1932 and subsequently Terrytoons in 1936. In 1937 he moved to California and while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Barbera met William Hanna. The two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry and live action films. In 1957, after MGM dissolved their animation department, they co-founded Hanna–Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, The Jetsons,Scooby-Doo, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna–Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained head of the company until 1991. At that time the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner, owners of Warner Bros., in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors.Hanna and Barbera won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards. Their cartoon shows have become cultural icons, and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films, books, and toys. Hanna–Barbera’s shows have a global audience of over 300 million people and have been translated into more than 20 languages.

BIOGRAPHY

Graham John Yost (born September 5, 1959) is a Canadian film and television screenwriter. His best-known works are the films Speed, Broken Arrow, and Hard Rain and the TV series Justified. In 2002, he created the widely acclaimed, yet short-lived drama series Boomtown.

He has also written for the television series Herman’s Head and Band of Brothers. He also created the short-lived NBC drama Raines. Yost teamed up with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, along with two of his fellow Boomtown writers Michelle Ashford and Larry Andries, to write and direct episodes of the HBO miniseries The Pacific. As of 2010, Yost is the creator and executive producer of the series Justified, which premiered on FX in March 2010.

Born in Etobicoke, he is the son of Canadian television personality Elwy Yost, the longtime host of the public broadcaster TVOntario’s Saturday Night at the Movies. He lives in California with his family.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Olivia Jane Cockburn (born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American and Irish actress, director and producer. She played Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on the medical-drama television series House (2007–2012). She appeared in the action films Tron: Legacy (2010) and Cowboys & Aliens (2011), the romantic drama film Her (2013), the comedy film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), and the horror film The Lazarus Effect (2015). She made her Broadway debut playing Julia in 1984 (2017). 

Wilde made her directorial debut with the teen comedy film Booksmart (2019), which received critical acclaim and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. She directed the thriller  Don’t Worry Darling (2022), which she also starred in.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Olivia Wilde, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

BIOGRAPHY

Prashanth Neel is an Indian film director who works in Kannada cinema. He made his debut with the 2014 film, Ugramm starring Sriimurali that emerged as a blockbuster and all-time box office hit, and followed it up with the Kannada magnum opus KGF, which he has written and directed.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY