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1-46 of 46
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
David Hyde Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is the youngest child of George and Laura Pierce (both deceased) and has two older sisters (Barbara and Nancy) and an older brother (Thomas). As a child, he was very interested in music (particularly piano) and regularly played the organ at his local church (Bethesda Episcopal Church). David discovered a love of drama in high school and, upon his graduation in 1977, he received the Yaddo Medal which is to honor academic achievement and personal character. However, his love of music was still strong so he decided to study classical piano at Yale University.
Unfortunately, he soon grew bored with music history lessons and found that he wasn't dedicated enough to practice the required amount of hours to become a successful concert pianist. Instead, he returned to his love of drama and graduated in 1981 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts. He then moved to New York where he worked several menial jobs (including selling ties at Bloomingdales and working as a security guard) while acting in the theater during the late 80s and early 90s. He appeared in small roles in films such as Bright Lights, Big City (1988) before his life and career changed forever when he landed the role of "Dr. Niles Crane" in the television series Frasier (1993). Throughout the show's eleven year run (1993-2004), David was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series each year (he won four times: 1995, 1998-1999 and 2004). David resides in Los Angeles with his romantic partner, Brian Hargrove, and their two Wheaton Terriers, Maude and Mabel. He remains very close to his three siblings.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Scott Valentine was born and raised in Saratoga Springs, New York and first discovered acting at age five doing plays in his parents' garage. He appeared in a few high school plays, but didn't pursue acting as a career until his second semester of college. He moved to New York City and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he completed the school's three-year program in a year and a half. He held a few odd jobs such as short order cook and researcher for a publishing firm, and he won a few roles off-off Broadway. He signed a contract for a daytime soap and was about to screen test for a role in the feature film, "Lords of Discipline" but was accidently hit by a truck on September 17, 1981. After three years of convalescing, he left New York for Los Angeles where he landed the part of Nick Moore on the hit series, Family Ties (1982).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lance Guest's family lived on an 11 acre prune ranch in the then-rural Saratoga, Ca for most of the 1950's. More than 10 years younger than his boomer siblings, Lance was born in 1960, when his father, a Navy fighter pilot, moved the family to a larger house with running water. At a young age, he was memorizing the comedy records of Bill Cosby, Stan Freberg, Allan Sherman, and Mel Brooks, as well as all the early 60's Bob Dylan records. He learned to play guitar at age 10, and was performing plays in junior high school. At 15, his friend Michael Gurley asked him to join his garage band, Stillwater, for their first and only gig in the summer of 1975. He was cast in plays all throughout high school, his first being Nathan Detroit, and knowing nothing of New York, other than TV detectives, performed the entire role as Mel Brooks. He then trained in the summers at an intensive workshop created by former members of ACT in San Francisco. Planning to attend ACT and work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, his acting teacher convinced him to attend college at UCLA instead.
After two years of back to back college theatre, and garnering the school's Shakespeare award in 1980, Guest, upon discovering that they made films and TV shows in LA, made a plan to acquire an agent by his senior year, and moved out of the dorm and into a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other roommates, including fellow students and future screenwriters Ed Solomon and Shane Black. He worked two part time jobs, attended UCLA, and began rehearsals for " Transgressor", an original play developed the previous year at school. Within weeks he had attended his first open call for the TV show "Fame", and though not initially cast, received a call from an agent the next day inviting him to come in for a meeting. Guest was then sent out on auditions so much over the next few months that he had to quit UCLA by the end of fall term to pursue acting full time.
Within the next year, he had a recurring role on "Lou Grant", a pilot, 2 screen tests, an after school special, some episodic TV, and a role opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the horror cult classic "Halloween 2". The Writer/producer of Halloween 2, John Carpenter, was going over the film before it's release and Carpenter's friend, Nick Castle, took note of the young actor, and remembered him for his current project in development, "Centauri's Recruit", later to be called. "The Last Starfighter".
More television movies, recurring roles (St. Elsewhere) and small film roles followed, and Guest visited NYC for the first time. He came back to LA , inspired by the theater, and ready to move back east, when he was called in by Castle for what became "The Last Starfighter". Principal photography was completed in the spring of 1983, a couple months shy of his 23rd birthday. He was then cast as the protagonist in "The Roommate", an American Playhouse production, also starring Barry Miller and John Cameron Mitchell, based on a John Updike short story, which later won the grand prize at the LA Film Festival (1985). After wrapping "The Roommate", Guest escaped to New York and lived there for the first half of 1984 seeking theatre roles. He was working at the Santa Fe Festival theatre when The Last Starfighter opened in July of 1984. He was then cast in a TV drunk driving cautionary tale with Val Kilmer, Mare Winningham, and Michele Pfeiffer. Back in LA, he turned down a couple of subsequent offers in favor of a $3MIL indie about bluegrass musicians in the Blue Ridge mountains. When that project fell apart, he starred in another TV movie,"My Father, My Rival" for HBO, alongside Wendy Crewson.
He was told that Starfighter reportedly made no money on it's initial release, so he returned to the theatre, this time in LA for the West coast premiere of Chris Durang's "Baby With the Bathwater" with Jennifer Tilly, which ran for 5 months at the Coronet Theatre. More regional theatre over the next year, "Key Exchange" with Anthony Edwards and Jennifer Beals, and "Look Homeward Angel" at Playmakers Rep in NC. Later that year he was offered the part of Michael Brody in 1987's "Jaws: The Revenge." with Michael Caine. Wrapping "Jaws" in July, he was then cast in what he calls his favorite film, "The Wizard of Loneliness", a small WWII era piece about a 12 year old growing up in Vermont, with Lukas Haas, Lea Thompson, Dylan Baker and the late John Randolph.
Over the next decade, it was mostly TV, co-starring with Robert Loggia as FBI agents in the political thriller miniseries "Favorite Son", a year as a bitter, ex-con photojournalist in "Knot's Landing", recurring on "Life Goes On" as an environmental metal-sculptor and street musician, McGoverns campaign manager on the '72 election episode of " The Wonder Years", a computer geek, a fireman, a high school teacher, another sculptor, an enviro-terrorist in "The X-Files", and back to the independent film "Plan B" with Jon Cryer, playing a regular-guy pilot who tries with his wife to conceive a child.
Guest has continued to work in LA small theatre developing strictly original works, as well as touring for two and a half years('97-2000) with the satirical folk-group The Foremen, playing guitar and banjo. He also began planting vineyards in different locations in Northern California, and making wine.
A handful of indie films: a wrongfully defrocked priest in "The Least of These", a gitmo-type interrogator in "Shadowbox", a hippie political adviser in "Mach 2 ", a MASH type ER doctor in "21 and a Wake-Up" with Amy Acker, a recurring role as a no-nonsense Navy pilot on JAG, a couple of Disney Channel movies: one as wacky alien Cosmo Cola in "Stepsister from Planet Weird", and chimp-adopting primatologist Hugo Archibald in "The Jenny Project", episodic roles on" Becker", "NYPD Blue"('05),"House",('06) TV movie now called "Alibi", starring Famke Jahnsen ('07) and a cynical journalist on "Jericho".('07)
After the birth of his, and partner Danna Hyams' son Jack in 2004, Guest started preliminary readings and workshops for a new musical created by Floyd Mutrux about an historic 1956 reunion at Sun Records in Memphis of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on the actual jam session these four attended, and hosted by legendary producer Sam Phillips, "Million Dollar Quartet" had two full tryout productions in Daytona Beach('06) and Issaquah, Wa. ('07) before moving to Chicago in 2008, where it still is running. The original production then moved to The Nederlander Theater on Broadway in March of 2010 and ran for 15 months (over 500 performances) before moving to the New World Stages Off-Broadway where it played for almost another year, closing in June of 2012.
Guest created the role of Johnny Cash and has been in all productions since it's inception excluding London and now Las Vegas, choosing to stay in NY with his family rather than go out on the tour, which is set for it's third incarnation. The unique aspect of this play is that all the actors play their own instruments; they ARE the orchestra, and the show features blockbuster renditions of rockabilly and traditional hits, covered by the four main characters. It also tells the story of Sam Phillips' relationship to all the artists, and his particular contribution to pop culture and history in general. Guest received great reviews in particular as Cash, as well as a Distinguished Performance Award Nomination by the Drama League of New York. The show was also nominated for Best Musical in 2010.
Guest completed filming indie thriller "Late Phases" in June 2013.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Mekenna Melvin is an Actress/ Writer/ Director/ Producer. Born and raised in Saratoga CA, she spent most of her childhood in her mother's drama classes and rehearsals. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY and The British American Drama Academy, Midsummer in Oxford England. She is best know for her role as Alex McHugh on NBC's "Chuck"- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
Ed Solomon was born on 15 September 1960 in Saratoga, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Men in Black (1997), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and Now You See Me 2 (2016). He was previously married to Cynthia Cleese.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Soundtrack
George Jones was born on 12 September 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Ad Astra (2019), Only the Brave (2017) and Crazy Heart (2009). He was married to Nancy Sepulveda, Tammy Wynette, Shirley Ann Corley and Dorothy Bonvillion. He died on 26 April 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Writer
- Producer
Charles Brackett, born in Saratoga Springs, New York, of Scottish ancestry, followed in his attorney-father's footsteps and graduated with a law degree from Harvard University in 1920. He practised law for several years, before commencing work as drama critic for The New Yorker (1925-29), in addition to submitting short stories to The Saturday Evening Post. In 1932, Brackett left for Hollywood as a screenwriter. He was signed by Paramount primarily on the strength of his novel "Week-End". Brackett remained at the studio until 1950, doubling up as producer from 1945.
During his tenure at Paramount, Brackett became part of one of the most celebrated screenwriting partnerships in the motion picture business, alongside Billy Wilder. They were eventually dubbed by Life Magazine as "the happiest couple in Hollywood". Despite having very different personalities and arguing incessantly -- Wilder being the more extroverted and cynical, while Bracket was, to quote Gloria Swanson, 'quieter, more refined' -- their collaboration endured until 1951, spanning fourteen motion pictures. Many of their most popular hits, such as Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1941) and The Lost Weekend (1945), were noted for their intricate scripting and witty, sardonic dialogue. The culmination of their efforts was Sunset Boulevard (1950), which won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Following this, the team split up at the peak of their success, each going their separate ways.
Brackett moved on to work under contract at 20th Century Fox for the next eight years. With Walter Reisch, he co-wrote the screenplays for Niagara (1953) and Titanic (1953), winning his third Oscar for the latter. He also produced the superior western Garden of Evil (1954), the historical drama The Virgin Queen (1955) and the lavish musical The King and I (1956). Brackett retired due to illness after producing State Fair (1962).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Glen MacWilliams was born on 21 May 1898 in Saratoga, California, USA. Glen was a cinematographer, known for Lifeboat (1944), Lazybones (1925) and The Clairvoyant (1935). Glen died on 15 April 1984 in Seal Beach, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Syrie Moskowitz is a New York-based actress, model, and director from the Appalachian foothills of East Tennessee. From a young age, Syrie's multi-faceted creativity led her around the world to collaborate with artists, authors, and photographers-including, Ellen Von Unwerth, Mark Seligar, Pamela Hanson, David Salle, Amy Arbus, George Holz, Salman Rushdie, David Michalek, and Jenny Morgan. Syrie has been featured on the cover of many magazines as well as in campaigns for Bacardi, Lancome, and Kate Spade for two years running (with Karlie Kloss and Iris Apfel), and editorials in Vanity Fair, W Magazine, Vogue, Italian Vogue, Modern Painters, Playboy, VS Magazine, and Spirit and Flesh.
Syrie is known for her expertise in historical costuming and aesthetics, and ability to envision fairy-tale scripts and sets. She is the creative director of the immersive theatre group, The Lillian Lorraine Collective, for which she has written, directed, and produced numerous performances over the last six years. Her shows have appeared at Lincoln Center, New York Hot Jazz Fest, the Whitney Museum, the Illuminati Ball, and the National Arts Club/Antiques Roadshow). She also starred in the Broadway immersive hit, "Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic" by Cynthia Von Buhler and directed the immersive musical, "The Heart of Winter," written by film composer Rolfe Kent for the Unmarked Door in Los Angeles.- Helen Badgley was born in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1908. She made her film debut in Brother Bob's Baby (1911) as "The Baby". She became popularly known as "The Thanhouser Kidlet" and appeared in many films as a child.
She "retired" from the film business when she turned six years old--she lost her front teeth and had to wait until her new teeth grew in. She stayed with Thanhouser almost until the company's demise, appearing in such releases as The Candy Girl (1917), Fires of Youth (1918) and The Heart of Ezra Greer (1917).
After she left the film business, she married the owner of a radio and recording studio and moved to Arizona. She died in Phoenix on October 25, 1977. - Brilliant stage and screen actor Charles Eldridge was born in New York in 1854. Starred on the drama and comedy theatre from the 1870's. Occasionally known as Mr. Eldridge became a white haired gentleman who starred and supported in more than 160 melodrama, comedy and crime movies, with the Vitagraph Film Company from 1910, making his film debut as the old farmer in 'The Legacy' co-starring Mary Maurice. His most notable role was as Jabee Smith in many of the 'Mr. Jarr' comedies starring Harry Davenport in 1915. Mr. Eldridge left Vitagraph in 1916 to worked for several other film companies including IMP, Victor, Rolfe, Columbia, Stubert and last with Goldwyn and Fox until his death from cancer in 1922 age 68.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Editorial Department
Robert Carroll was born on 8 February 1978 in Saratoga, New York, USA. He is a producer, known for Vanderpump Rules (2013), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010) and Botched (2014).- Grew up outside Saratoga Springs, New York. She first began her acting career in a local troupe of middle school and high school students, SpaHa. She decided to continue the path after a great experience playing Rizzo in a high school production. Studied at scAMDA in Manhattan. Currently resides in Brooklyn with the rest of the hipsters, but would prefer to be on a commune somewhere hugging trees.
- Bruce Michael Paine was born on 24 January 1947 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Quantum Leap (1989), R.S.V.P. (2002) and Married... with Children (1987). He was married to Janin Caan. He died on 16 January 2009 in Venice, California, USA.
- Paul Schrade was born on 17 December 1924 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He was married to Monica Weil. He died on 9 November 2022 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Director
Tristan Allen was born on 14 November 1981 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), A Most Violent Year (2014) and Joy de V. (2013).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jack Russell was born on 22 September 1919 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Nude Odyssey (1961), Producers' Showcase (1954) and Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958). He died on 13 April 1988 in Winter Park, Florida, USA.- Sound Department
- Music Department
- Composer
Matt Rocker was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is a composer, known for In the Shadow of the Moon (2019), Winter's Bone (2010) and Speak (2004).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born the son of a naval submarine commander in upstate New York, Kozak's childhood was marked by frequent family moves from coast to coast. By his thirteenth birthday he had relocated a dozen times, attending Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, California. Earned BA in Economics from San Diego State University. Founded a small national sports publication. In 1995 created the internet's first interactive travel site - www.travelsource.com. Sold the company in 1996 and directed his first screenplay, "To Hell With Love". Co-founder and Director of Programming for the San Diego Film Festival.- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Amy Tomberlin Cheek was born on 9 May 1972 in Saratoga, New York, USA. She is known for Miami Vice (2006), Sex Drive (2008) and Transporter 2 (2005). She has been married to James Cheek since 10 November 2007. They have one child.- Actor
Peter Turo was born on 26 January 1985 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. He is an actor.- Actress
- Producer
Born and raised in Saratoga, California. Attended Prospect High School also in Saratoga. Her parents and younger brother, Ross, are all in the medical field.
She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to attend Loyola Marymount University where she majored in Theater Arts-Performance.
She also is a co-creator and production coordinator on "140 Characters", a documentary about twitter.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Beth Lisick is a writer and actor. She is the author of five books and has appeared in films screened at Cannes, Sundance, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Her books include the memoir collection Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames, the New York Times bestselling comic memoir Everybody Into the Pool, the gonzo self-help manifesto Helping Me Help Myself, the story collection This Too Can Be Yours, and the performance poetry/story collection Monkey Girl.
With a grant from the Creative Work Fund, she has collaborated on a chapbook series with the artists at Creativity Explored, a studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities in San Francisco. The collection, Tell You What, was released throughout 2013.
Her acting credits include leading roles in Frazer Bradshaw's Everything Strange and New, which won the FIPRESCI critics' prize, was nominated for the Spirit and Gotham awards, and screened at festivals including Sundance and Karlovy Vary; Joey Izzo's Stepsister, which screened at San Francisco International and Cannes in 2013.
Since 1999 she has been collaborating with writer/comedian Tara Jepsen on stage and video projects. They have performed at Dixon Place, UCB Theatre, SF MOMA and screened their films at OUTfest, Frameline, and the Mix Film Festival of Sexual Diversity in Sao Paulo, Brasil. They have opened for Tig Notaro, Neil Hamburger, and Dave Hill. Their web series Rods and Cones was named one of the Top 10 web series of 2014 by Indiewire.
Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Best American Poetry, Post-It Note Diaries, Yes Is The Answer, The Speed Chronicles, and the Outlaw Bible of American Literature. Her voiceover work has been heard at Metropolitan Museum of Art, SF MOMA, and the Oakland Museum, as well as in Craig Baldwin's cult film Spectres of the Spectrum.
In 2002, she created the Porchlight Storytelling Series with Arline Klatte, a monthly storytelling show in San Francisco.
She has spoken or performed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Hammer Museum, Shakespeare and Company, the Guggenheim Museum, Stanford University, Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi, Lollapalooza, the Lilith Fair, Bumbershoot, SXSW, Brown University, University of Arizona Poetry Center, and other places; and has been in residence at CESTA in Tabor, Czech Republic and the RADAR Lab in Akumal, Mexico.
She has conducted onstage interviews with writers and actors, including Dave Eggers, Mary Roach, Amy Sedaris, Elijah Wood, Evan Rachel Wood, and Zoe Saldana, for City Arts and Lectures, Litquake, SF International Film Fest and the SF Sketchfest. Performing excerpts of her writing, she has opened for Neil Young, Allen Ginsberg, Lydia Lunch, and Exene Cervenka. She has been a guest on the Rachael Ray Show, NPR's Talk of the Nation, This American Life, and The California Report.
Beth has a degree in American Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. A native of the Bay Area, she lives in Brooklyn.- Actor
- Music Department
- Director
Tom Miller was born on 1 August 1961 in Saratoga, California, USA. He is an actor and director, known for American Beauty (1999), Jersey Boys (2014) and Lucky Numbers (2000).- Additional Crew
Brett Meisner grew up in upstate New York and later moved to New York City where he became a fixture of the underground rock and roll scene. He moved to Hollywood, California in May 2002 and has been making inroads into the film and music industry. His first feature film is due out in the fall of 2004.