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English-born American director
Alfred Hitchcock was an English-born American motion-picture director whose suspenseful films and television programs won immense popularity and critical acclaim over a long and tremendously productive...
American actor and director
Woody Allen is an American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, playwright, and author who is best known for his bittersweet comic films containing elements of parody, slapstick, and...
American director
Martin Scorsese is an American filmmaker known for his harsh, often violent depictions of American culture. From the 1970s, Scorsese created a body of work that was ambitious, bold, and brilliant. But...
American actor and director
Clint Eastwood is an American film actor who emerged as one of the most popular Hollywood stars in the 1960s, known for his portrayal of tough individualists, first as The Man with No Name in Sergio Leone’s...
American director
Robert Altman was an unconventional and independent American motion-picture director, whose works emphasize character and atmosphere over plot in exploring themes of innocence, corruption, and survival....
American director
Sidney Lumet was an American film director who was noted for his psychological dramas, which typically featured characters wrestling with moral or emotional conflicts involving betrayal, corruption, or...
American film director
George Cukor was an American motion-picture director who produced films of high quality for 50 years, combining his skill in working with actors, especially actresses, and his careful attention to details....
American musician and actress
Dolly Parton is an American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress who pioneered the interface between country and pop music styles and became one of the most iconic entertainment figures...
American film producer
Walt Disney was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of animated cartoon films and as the creator of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck....
American rapper and actor
Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s and early ’90s as a gangsta rapper who developed a reputation for being fearless when it came to courting controversy. “Cop Killer” (1992), a song about police brutality...
American actor
Charlie Sheen is an American actor who became equally famous for his work in such films as Platoon (1986) and Major League (1989) and the television series Two and a Half Men (2003–11) and Anger Management...
American director
Mitchell Leisen was an American costume designer, art director, and film and television director. He was considered a “woman’s director” by dint of the affinity he demonstrated for actresses. His motion...
American director
Don Siegel was an American motion-picture director who specialized in action-packed films with tightly constructed narratives. He frequently worked with actor Clint Eastwood, and their collaborations include...
American actor
Born in Kentucky and trained in Chicago theater, Michael Shannon emerged in the early 21st century as a versatile actor in film and television. Known for the combustible intensity he brings to his performances,...
American film director, producer, and screenwriter
Blake Edwards was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was best known for the classic romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffiany’s (1961) as well as the comedy The Pink Panther (1963) and...
American director, producer, and actor
Sydney Pollack was an American director, producer, and actor who helmed a number of popular films, including The Way We Were (1973), Tootsie (1982), Out of Africa (1985), and The Firm (1993). Although...
American actor, filmmaker, and screenwriter
Stanley Tucci is a prolific American actor, filmmaker, and writer widely recognized for his versatile acting skills in film, television, and theater, as well as his acclaimed work behind the camera. His...
American author and illustrator
Dr. Seuss was an American writer and illustrator of immensely popular children’s books noted for their nonsense words, playful rhymes, and unusual creatures. After graduating from Dartmouth College (B.A.,...
American director
John Frankenheimer was an American television and film director who was considered one of the most important and creatively gifted directors of the 1950s and ’60s. He was especially noted for such classic...
American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor
Paul Williams is an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor known for his long and storied career in which he has written numerous award-winning songs, scored films, and acted in films and television....
Australian actress
Cate Blanchett is an Australian actress known for her multidimensional characters and wide range of roles. Her breakthrough came playing a young Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998), and she later appeared...
American actor
In the 1970s Henry Winkler created one of the decade’s true pop culture sensations: Arthur Fonzarelli, better known as “Fonzie” or “the Fonz.” With his black leather jacket, blue jeans, and slicked-back...
American actor
Steve Buscemi is an American actor, director, and screenwriter who is especially known for his portrayals of oddballs and fast-talking criminals in such films as The Big Lebowski (1998) and Fargo (1996)....
American director, producer, and screenwriter
George Lucas is an American motion-picture director, producer, and screenwriter who created several of the most popular films in history. The son of a small-town stationer and a mother who was often hospitalized...
Indian actor
Perhaps no other Indian actor has left as indelible an imprint on Bollywood and popular culture as Amitabh Bachchan (born October 11, 1942, Allahabad [now Prayagraj], India), known for his baritone voice,...
American director
Barbara Kopple is an American director and producer who is best known for her riveting documentaries that chronicle battles in the American labor movement in the 1970s and ’80s. She was the first woman...
American writer, raconteur, and cultural critic
Renowned by generations as a quintessential New Yorker, Fran Lebowitz arrived in New York City in her late teens after being expelled from her New Jersey preparatory school for what she has described,...
American actress
Known for her statuesque beauty and sophisticated demeanor, American actress Uma Thurman began appearing in films in the late 1980s before landing her breakout role as raven-haired trophy wife Mia Wallace...
Irish actor
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor known for his carefully constructed performances on stage and screen. Critics and fans enjoyed his portrayals of the psychopath Jim Moriarty in Sherlock (2010–17), the irreverent...
Scottish actor
David Tennant is a Scottish stage and screen actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, the British science-fiction television series. Apart from the show, Tennant has...
American actor
Alec Baldwin is an American actor of great versatility who is especially known for his portrayal of roguish characters, notably Jack Donaghy on the sitcom 30 Rock (2006–13). Adept at comedy and drama,...
American singer-songwriter and actress
Lady Gaga is an American singer-songwriter and performance artist, known for her flamboyant costumes, provocative lyrics, and strong vocal talents, who achieved enormous popular success in the early 21st...
American director
Sam Peckinpah was an American motion-picture director and screenwriter who was known for ultraviolent but often lyrical films that explored issues of morality and identity. During World War II, Peckinpah...
Australian actress
Nicole Kidman is an American-born Australian actress known for her considerable range and versatility as well as for her glamorous looks and cool demeanour. Kidman was born in Honolulu to Australian parents....
American actress
After more than a decade playing small but noteworthy roles in action thrillers and comedies, American actress Sharon Stone became a bona fide movie star and a major sex symbol in the early 1990s. The...
American actor, writer, and director
Ben Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker who has played leading roles in action, drama, and comedy films but who is perhaps more renowned for his work as a screenwriter, director, and producer. He...
American director and actor
Rob Reiner is an American actor and director known especially for his role as Michael (“Meathead”) Stivic in the television series All in the Family (1971–79) and for his direction of such culturally resonant...
American actress
Meryl Streep is an American film actress known for her masterly technique, expertise with dialects, and subtly expressive face. She has received an unprecedented 21 Academy Award nominations, and she won...
American actor
Johnny Depp is an American actor and musician who was known for his eclectic and unconventional film choices. He achieved perhaps his greatest success as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean...
Australian-born American publisher
Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born American newspaper publisher and media entrepreneur who founded (1979) the global media holding company the News Corporation Ltd.—often called News Corp. It focused...
American film director
Peter Bogdanovich was an American director, critic, and actor noted for his attempts to revitalize film genres of the 1930s and ’40s. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) As...
American actress and musician
Jennifer Lopez built a massively successful triple-threat career as an actress, dancer, and musician to become a global superstar known to fans as simply “J.Lo.” She began appearing in films in the late...
American actor
Robert De Niro is one of cinema’s most acclaimed actors, famous for his uncompromising portrayals of violent and abrasive characters and, later in his career, for his comic depictions of cranky old men....
American comedian
Robert Klein is an American comedian, actor, and singer who, along with Richard Pryor and George Carlin, transformed the art of stand-up comedy in the 1970s. The grandson of Hungarian Jewish immigrants...
American television personality
Pat Sajak is an American television personality best known as the four-decade-long host of the television game show Wheel of Fortune (1981–2024). Can you solve this puzzle? (Category: Person). You might...
American actor
Matthew Broderick is an American actor best known for playing the title character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and for performing in such stage hits as The Producers (2001). He also gave Tony Award-winning...
American game-show host
This BYU graduate and software engineer won a record 74 consecutive Jeopardy! matches before going on to become one of the game show’s hosts in 2021. Who is Ken Jennings? Or more precisely, Kenneth Wayne...
American actress and singer
Idina Menzel is an American actor and singer whose three-octave mezzo-soprano voice has made her a star of stage and screen in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She is best known for her roles as...
American actor, singer, and dancer
Zendaya is an American actor, singer, and dancer who first gained fame for comedic roles on the Disney Channel and later transitioned to more complex and critically acclaimed parts such as Rue Bennett...
American actor, director, and musician
Kevin Bacon is an American actor, director, and musician who is best known as the star of the film Footloose (1984). His prolific, increasingly distinguished acting career made him the subject of a parlor...