Dakota North

A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be critiqued by people like Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Sontag. Later she earned a scholarship to study film at Columbia University School of Arts, graduating in 1979. She was also a member of the British avant garde cultural group, Art and Language. Kathryn is the only child of the manager of a paint factory and a librarian.

Dakota Mayi Johnson is an American actress and fashion model. She was born in Austin, Texas, and is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. Her maternal grandmother is actress Tippi Hedren.

In 1999, she made her film debut in Crazy in Alabama (1999), where she and her half-sister, Stella Banderas, played the daughters to their real-life mother, Melanie Griffith. The film was directed by her stepfather, Antonio Banderas, but it wasn't a hit. Dakota resumed her schooling and waited several years before she decided to become a professional actress and model. In 2006, she was voted Miss Golden Globe, a launching pad bestowed on off-spring of famous parents. She served as the first second-generation Miss Golden Globe in the Globes' history, since her mother was Miss Golden Globe in 1975. She also signed with IMG Models. In 2009, she modeled for MANGO brand's jeans line. Dakota traveled to Sydney, Australia, where she shot the "Rising Star" campaign for fashion label, "Wish". Once she graduated from high school, she signed with the William Morris Agency and started her acting career. She had her first box office hit in 2010 with David Fincher's film, The Social Network (2010), in which she had a scene with Justin Timberlake. The film received eight Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. She also appeared in three additional films: Beastly (2011), alongside Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen; Ezna Sands' film, Chloe and Theo (2015); and So Yong Kim's film, For Ellen (2012); She had roles in several 2012 films: Christopher Neil's film, Goats (2012), with David Duchovny; Nicholas Stoller's film, The Five-Year Engagement (2012), for producer Judd Apatow, and the hit feature film version of the 1987 television show, 21 Jump Street (1987) that made Johnny Depp a star. She also won the female lead in Chris Nelson's, film Date and Switch (2014), written by Alan Yang. Her first television show, Ben and Kate (2012), where she played "Kate", aired on Fox during the Fall 2012 season. It was canceled in 2013, and she quickly resumed her feature film career with three high-profile films: Need for Speed (2014), Cymbeline (2014), the modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, "Cymbeline", and the starring role of "Anastasia Steele" in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), the adaptation of the best-selling erotic novel, "Fifty Shades of Grey". She beat out many young actresses for the coveted role of Anastasia, and the film became a worldwide hit, making her a star. She won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress for "Fifty Shades of Grey". She also starred in the two sequels to the hit film. She has continued to seek challenging roles, such as of a young mother who loses her son in Black Mass (2015) opposite her "21 Jump Street" castmate Johnny Depp, and of a temptress in A Bigger Splash (2015). She has balanced her dramatic career by doing comedies as well, such as How to Be Single (2016). She acted in the hit independent film The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019). She co-produced some of the films that she acted in: Am I OK? (2022) (where she played a lesbian); Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022) (where she played mother to an autistic daughter); and Daddio (2023) (where she and Sean Penn are the only two principal actors in the entire film). She won good notices for playing a mother looking for her lost daughter in The Lost Daughter (2021), a film that received several Oscar nominations. She played the title role in the Marvel-adventure Madame Web (2024) and in the period film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Persuasion (2022), both films directed by first time women film directors. She also became the first female member of her family when she turned director by co-directing the music video to the song "Cry Cry Cry" by the band Coldplay

Tobias Vincent Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California. His parents were 18 and 20, and not yet married, when he was born. His mother, Wendy (Brown), did advertising, publicity, and acting in Hollywood for years as she coached and managed Tobey. His father, Vincent Maguire, was a cook and sometimes a construction worker. Tobey did not finish high school in order to pursue and focus on acting roles, but he did end up getting his GED. He did several commercials (he was a model dancer for Nordstrom by age six), and he had some roles on various TV shows before landing a starring role on the Fox comedy Great Scott! (1992). That role lasted nine weeks before the show was canceled. Fox-made series were not doing well in general at the time. He avoids drugs and alcohol, and his best friend is Leonardo DiCaprio. Tobey is a vegan and studies yoga. He now has two beautiful children with his ex-wife Jennifer Meyer Maguire. Their names are Ruby Sweetheart and Otis Tobias Maguire. Another little known fact is that his two half-brothers, Jopaul and Weston Epp, were the child actors who handed Tobey (Peter Parker) his mask after the train scene in Spider-Man 2.

A likable, boyish-looking actor with thick eyebrows and a friendly smile, Justin Long is a native of Connecticut.

He was born and raised in Fairfield, the second of three sons. His father, R. James Long, is a Professor of Philosophy at Fairfield University, and his mother, Wendy Lesniak, is a former Broadway actress. He is of German, Sicilian, and Polish descent. He attended Fairfield Prep, and after graduating, he attended Vassar College. He first really showed his promise as a member of the comedy troupe "LaughingStock." His performing talent garnered favorable notices and he won roles in some independent productions, notably Galaxy Quest (1999). However, he refused to act full time until after he graduated, which he did in 2000. He first gained notice when he played the nervous teenager Warren Cheswick in the TV series Ed (2000). The following year, he starred in the offbeat horror film Jeepers Creepers (2001). The film, with its ghoulish ending, was a major hit on the horror circuit and raised his profile.

He played the boyfriend of Britney Spears in Crossroads (2002), and won a supporting role in the Vince Vaughn comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). He had high-profile roles in some offbeat independent films, most notably Raising Genius (2004) and Waiting... (2005), and scored commercial success again when he played Lindsay Lohan's boyfriend in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005). In 2007, he appeared as second lead in the fourth "Die Hard" film, Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

He continues to win acclaim and fans. He scored commercial success again with a role in the Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy The Break-Up (2006). He is private about his personal life and does not make a point of attending nightclubs and parties. However, his personal life did get scrutiny in 2008, due to his romance with actress Drew Barrymore that year.

In addition to his film appearances, he is a spokesman for the Apple Mac computers, appearing with John Hodgman in its commercials.

Avi Arad is an Israeli film producer and CEO of Marvel Entertainment. He produced dozens of Marvel films including the X-Men original trilogy, Daredevil, Hulk, Elektra, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, Blade: Trinity, The Punisher, Ghost Rider and the Tim Story Fantastic Four film series. He now produces several Spider-Man films for Sony including Venom, Into the Spider-Verse and No Way Home.

Initially an indie film favorite, actor Jon Favreau has progressed to strong mainstream visibility into the millennium and, after nearly two decades in the business, is still enjoying character stardom as well as earning notice as a writer/producer/director.

The amiable, husky-framed actor with the tight, crinkly hair was born in Queens, New York on October 19, 1966, the only child of Madeleine (Balkoff), an elementary school teacher, and Charles Favreau, a special education teacher. His father has French-Canadian, German, and Italian ancestry, and his mother was from a Russian Jewish family. He attended the Bronx High School of Science before furthering his studies at Queens College in 1984. Dropping out just credits away from receiving his degree, Jon moved to Chicago where he focused on comedy and performed at several Chicago improvisational theaters, including the ImprovOlympic and the Improv Institute. He also found a couple of bit parts in films.

While there, he earned another bit role in the film, Rudy (1993), and met fellow cast mate Vince Vaughn. Their enduring personal friendship would play an instrumental role in furthering both their professional careers within just a few years. Jon broke into TV with a role on the classic series, Seinfeld (1989) (as "Eric the Clown"). After filming rudimentary roles in the movies Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Notes from Underground (1995) and Batman Forever (1995), he decided to do some risk taking by writing himself and friend Vaughn into what would become their breakthrough film. Swingers (1996), which he also co-produced, centers on Jon as a luckless, struggling actor type who is emotionally shattered after losing his girlfriend, but is pushed back into the L.A. social scene via the help of cool, worldly, outgoing actor/buddy Vaughn. These two blueprint roles went on to define the character types of both actors on film.

In 1997, Jon appeared favorably on several episodes of the popular TV sitcom, Friends (1994), as "Pete Becker", the humdrum but extremely wealthy suitor for Courteney Cox's "Monica" character, and also appeared to fine advantage on the Tracey Takes On... (1996) comedy series. He later took on the biopic mini-movie, Rocky Marciano (1999), portraying the prizefighter himself in a highly challenging dramatic role and received excellent reviews. Other engagingly offbeat "everyman" films roles came Jon's way -- the ex-athlete in the working class film, Dogtown (1997); a soon-to-be groom whose bachelor party goes horribly awry in the comedy thriller Very Bad Things (1998); a newlywed opposite Famke Janssen in Love & Sex (2000); a wild and crazy linebacker in The Replacements (2000); as Ben Affleck's legal partner in Daredevil (2003); and another down-and-out actor in The Big Empty (2003). He wrote and directed himself and Vaughn as two fellow boxers who involve themselves in criminal activity in Made (2001). Both he and Vaughn produced. He also directed the highly popular Will Ferrell comedy Elf (2003), in which he had a small part.

Jon went on to re-team favorably with his friend, Vince Vaughn, who enjoyed a meteoric rise into the comedy star ranks, in such light-weight features as The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008) and Couples Retreat (2009), the last of which he co-wrote with Vaughn.

Jon has made even greater strides as a writer, producer and/or director in recent years with the exciting mega-box office action-packed Iron Man (2008), starring Robert Downey Jr., and its sequels, Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013). Jon's character of "Happy Hogan" would be featured in a number of Marvel Comic adventures. Other offerings behind the scenes have included the adventure dramedy Chef (2014), in which he also starred in the title role; the revamped film version of The Avengers (2012) also starring Downey Jr., and it's sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019); and the animated Disney features The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019) and the TV series The Chef Show (2019).

Favreau's marriage to Joya Tillem on November 24, 2000, produced son Max and two daughters, Madeleine and Brighton Rose. Joya is the niece of KGO (AM) lawyer and talk show host, Len Tillem. On the sly, the actor/writer/producer/director enjoys playing on the World Poker Tour.

Kevin Feige is an American film producer who has produced every Marvel Cinematic Universe film since Iron Man. He got his start as an associate and executive producer for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, Daredevil, The Punisher, Ang Lee's Hulk, the original X-Men trilogy, Blade: Trinity and Tim Story's Fantastic Four films. Avengers: Endgame, one of his produced films is one of the highest grossing superhero films.

Stan Lee was an American comic-book writer, editor, and publisher, who was executive vice president and publisher of Marvel Comics.

Stan was born in New York City, to Celia (Solomon) and Jack Lieber, a dress cutter. His parents were Romanian Jewish immigrants. Lee co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Thor, the X-Men, and many other fictional characters, introducing a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. In addition, he challenged the comics' industry's censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, indirectly leading to it updating its policies. Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

He had cameo appearances in many Marvel film and television projects, with many yet to come, posthumously. A few of these appearances are self-aware and sometimes reference Lee's involvement in the creation of certain characters.

On 16 July 2017, Lee was named a Disney Legend, a hall of fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company.

Stan was married to Joan Lee for almost 70 years, until her death. The couple had two children. Joan died on July 6, 2017. Stan died on November 12, 2018, in LA.

Neal H. Moritz is an American film and television producer who was born on June 6, 1959. After graduating from college at Westwood, he earned a master's degree in 1985, which led to a startup of his own production company Neal Moritz Productions. He had a production deal with Paramount Pictures. The first movie he produced is Framed (1990)

In 1990, Moritz partnered with ex-United Artists employee David Heyman to start out Moritz-Heyman Productions. The two men have collaborated on films Juice (1992), The Stöned Age (1994) and Blind Justice (1994). Additionally, it partnered with commercial producer Bruce Mellon to start out Original Film in 1993, to produce commercials and music videos. After Heyman left, he signed a production deal with Columbia Pictures in 1996, after a brief deal with 20th Century Fox expired.

Through his Original Film company, he produced two films in 1997, the disaster film Volcano (1997) and the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The success of the latter saw him producing a sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), as well as various slashers like Urban Legend (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), as well as Soul Survivors (2001).

In 1998, he produced the TV movie The Rat Pack (1998) for HBO, which marked for the first time seeing him working with director Rob Cohen. On the same year, his Original Film company signed a deal with Newmarket Capital Group to produce lower budget films. Through his deal with Newmarket, he oversaw the teen fins Cruel Intentions (1999) and The Skulls (2000), both of them received two direct-to-video sequels. In 1999, his first foray on TV was the show Shasta McNasty (1999), and at the same time he made its foray onto the comedy market with the films Blue Streak (1999) and Held Up (1999).

In 2001, after years of making teen films, he made its first foray by producing the action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), which marked the first time he ever met him with star Vin Diesel. The success of the film spawned many sequels and many imitators like xXx (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003) and Torque (2004). In 2002, he partnered with agent Marty Adelstein in launching the management company Original, and they spawned a division Original Television, of which signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television. His venture produced Tru Calling (2003), Point Pleasant (2005) and the most successful of all time, Prison Break (2005) and it went defunct in 2004.

He continued making films from the time period, including Stealth (2005), Gridiron Gang (2006), Click (2006) (with friend and rival Columbia affiliated producer Adam Sandler), I Am Legend (2007), Vantage Point (2008), The Bounty Hunter (2010) and The Green Hornet (2011) (with friend and the up and coming team of writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg), while working on "Fast & Furious" sequels. In 2006, Original Film reactivated TV production by signing a deal with Sony Pictures Television, and the following year he made its first foray onto family films, Evan Almighty (2007). In 2012, he worked with MGM and Columbia on 21 Jump Street (2012) and it's sequel 22 Jump Street (2014).

His TV work with Sony Pictures Television included the shows The Big C (2010) and Save Me (2013). In 2015, he produced the most successful family film of all time, Goosebumps (2015) with Sony Pictures Animation, which was followed up in 2018 by Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018). On the same year, he acquired the rights to Valiant Comics, resulting in the creation of Bloodshot (2020). In 2017, Moritz signed a film production deal with Paramount Pictures (which Moritz worked with it back in the 1980s). His first film with Paramount was Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). He continued to produce TV shows for Sony, like Preacher (2016), S.W.A.T. (2017) and The Boys (2019), and for Universal, the show Happy! (2017).

He was currently in post-production on the film F9: The Fast Saga (2021), which is scheduled for release on Memorial Day 2021, which changed from release dates many times during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Derek Kolstad was born on 4 April 1974 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Nobody (2021), John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017).

Katrin Benedikt is a writer known for Olympus Has Fallen (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014), London Has Fallen (2016), and Angel Has Fallen (2019). She was born in Reykjavík, Iceland and moved to the United States when she was six. She has dual citizenship in both countries and now splits her time between Austin, TX and Newport Beach, CA with her husband Neil Uskali who is a professional IndyBall baseball pitcher.

Peter Suschitzky was born on 25 July 1941 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Eastern Promises (2007), Dead Ringers (1988) and Naked Lunch (1991).

Owen Paterson is known for V for Vendetta (2005), The Matrix (1999) and Captain America: Civil War (2016).

Patrizia von Brandenstein was born in 1943 in Arizona, USA. She is a production designer and art director, known for Amadeus (1984), The Untouchables (1987) and State of Grace (1990).

Julian Ashby is known for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Sleepy Hollow (1999).

Tom Brown was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a production designer and art director, known for Dune: Part Two (2024), Dune: Part One (2021) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Truong Trung Dao is known for Kong: Skull Island (2017), Da 5 Bloods (2020) and Karmalink (2021).

Jeremy Woolsey was born in Mobile, Alabama, USA. He is an art director and production designer, known for Hidden Figures (2016), Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and The Holdovers (2023).

Jay Mark Johnson was born on 10 November 1955. He is an assistant director, known for The Matrix (1999), Southland Tales (2006) and Broken Arrow (1996).

Mike was born to Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Lee Colter Sr. He attended Benedict College where he was mentored and groomed by his drama professor Scott Blanks. After transferring to the University of South Carolina where he attained a B.A. degree in theater, Mike went on to study at Mason Gross School of the Arts under renowned acting teachers William Esper and Maggie Flanigan. Upon receiving his MFA degree, Mike moved to L.A. where parts did not come easy, but after a few months he was able to grab a co-star on Spin City with Charlie Sheen followed by guest stars on E.R. and The Parkers with Mo'Nique. Mike then moved back to NYC to allow for the possibility of working in the theater as well, but as luck would have it Hollywood came calling again. He landed a role in 2005 Best Picture winner Million Dollar Baby opposite Clint Eastwood, Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman. He got the role without ever meeting Clint in person prior to the first day of shooting. The following year he received exceptional reviews for his turn as CJ Memphis, a guitar-playing blues singer in The 2005 revival of the Pulitzer prize winning "A Soldier's Play". The play had been a big off-Broadway success and was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington and many of Hollywood's up-and-coming African-American actors in 1984. Mike kept his nose to the grindstone with a role in Adam Bock's new play "Drunken City" that world premiered at Playwrights Horizon in 2008. Mike splits his time between New York and L.A. working in film and television.

Charlie Thomas Cox was born in London, England, to Patricia C. A. (Harley) and Andrew Frederick Seaforth Cox, a publisher. He has English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, and descends from several prominent forebears (Baronets of Agnew and Carnegie, an Earl of Findlater, and a Colonial Governor of New York, Andrew Elliot).

Cox was educated and received his training in drama at Sherborne School in Dorset where he appeared in Dealer's Choice / Patrick Marber (Mugsy) The Writing Game (Leo) Code Crackers / Andy Wilkinson (Weasel) Confusions / Alan Aykbourne (Martin & Arthur) Henry V (Nym & John Bates). He received the Gerald Pitman Award for Acting from Sherborne School. He also appeared in Judge John Deed (2001) as the Young Vicar.

He starred in Things to Do Before You're 30 (2005) (formerly You Don't Have To Say You Love Me), with Dougray Scott, The Merchant of Venice (2004), with Al Pacino, and Dot the I (2003) (aka Obsession) with Gael García Bernal, which received rave reviews at The Sundance Film Festival.

Elden Henson (formerly billed as Elden Ratliff and Elden Ryan Ratliff) got his start in the business at age two, as a baby model. By the time he was six, he was appearing in numerous commercials; by age ten, he was on his way to becoming a successful child actor. By the time he started high school, John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California, he got his big break, starring in the three The Mighty Ducks (1992) movies as enforcer Fulton Reed. From there, he went on to get rave reviews as Max Kane, the seemingly slow-witted giant in Miramax's The Mighty (1998). Elden has since starred in Idle Hands (1999), She's All That (1999), and Showtime's Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story (1999).

Deborah was born in 1985, in Brooklyn, New York, from Irish and German heritage. She took acting, piano and dance classes. She went to high school at Packer Collegiate Institute and graduated from the BFA program at the USC School of Theatre at the University of Southern California.

Deborah started to work as an actress on television and her breakout was in the highly-acclaimed HBO vampire drama, True Blood (2008), as a young and fierce vampire girl, "Jessica Hamby". From that moment, she gained roles in such films as Mother's Day (2010), Seven Days in Utopia (2011), Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You (2011), Catch .44 (2011), opposite Bruce Willis and Forest Whitaker, and Ruby Sparks (2012). Woll's boyfriend, Edward E.J. Scott, is a comedian and his family are afflicted with choroideremia, which is a condition that slowly blinds its victim. She uses her celebrity status to help advocate for them and others with the disease. She has been quoted as saying that her boyfriend's bravery in fighting his disability has inspired her own battle with Celiac disease, which makes her body intolerant to foods containing gluten.

Krysten Ritter stars as Jessica Jones in the Peabody, Hugo, and Emmy Award-winning Netflix original series, Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015). Her performance, which earned her a prestigious Critics Choice nomination, a Saturn nomination, a Webby Award and a Glamour Best International TV Actress Award, has received rave reviews with the show being celebrated by critics and audiences alike for its groundbreaking depiction of a reluctant anti-super-heroine with an alcohol problem and a wicked case of PTSD who will not let a sexual assault from her past define her. She will also play Jessica Jones in The Defenders (2017) and the second season of Marvel's "Jessica Jones."

Additional acting roles include her critically acclaimed turn as Jane Margolis on AMC's hit series, Breaking Bad (2008), the titular character in the cult favorite Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012), Big Eyes (2014) directed by Tim Burton, indie darling Listen Up Philip (2014), Life Happens (2011) which she co-wrote and co-produced, as well as roles in Veronica Mars (2014), The Blacklist (2013), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), and She's Out of My League (2010).

Growing up in a small-town farm in rural Pennsylvania, Ritter started her career in front of the camera as a model at 15-years-old. Her body of work has subsequently spanned film, television, theatre, writing, producing, music, and fashion design.

In 2012, Ritter launched her production company Silent Machine where she juggles many projects in various stages of development, always with the objective of highlighting complex female protagonists.

Ritter and her dog Mikey split their time between New York and Los Angeles.

Jan Hammer's musical career is as firmly rooted in the fundamentals of classical, jazz and rock as it is committed to the future of electronics, synthesized sound, the possibilities of interactive media, television, film and animation. His walls are lined with Grammy awards and gold and platinum plaques from around the world. His name is found on scores of recordings spanning the 1970s to the '90s -- solo albums, collaborations with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Al Di Meola, Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke, Elvin Jones, and many others. Jan has composed and produced at least 14 original motion picture soundtracks, the music for 90 episodes of Miami Vice (1984) (which spun-off four soundtrack albums and its worldwide #1 hit theme song), 20 episodes of the popular British television series Chancer (1990), and the music for "Beyond the Mind's Eye," one of the all-time best-selling music videos in Billboard chart history.

Jan Hammer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He began playing piano at age four; formal classical instruction began two years later. By 14 he was performing and recording throughout Eastern Europe with his own jazz trio. He entered Prague Academy of Muse Arts, but with the Russian invasion in 1968, he came to the U.S., to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston (on a scholarship) and become a citizen. Jan spent a year as keyboardist/conductor with Sarah Vaughan.

In 1971, he became a member of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, (then) the most successful group ever to record and tour in the jazz-rock fusion genre, selling over 2 million records worldwide, and performing 530 shows before their December 31, 1973 farewell concert. Jan's solo career began with The First Seven Days, produced and recorded at Red Gate Studio in his upstate New York farmhouse.

Over the next decade Jan produced and performed on nearly 20 albums with his own bands (the Jan Hammer Group, and later Hammer), and such musicians as Beck, Al Di Meola, and Neal Schon (of Journey), among others. In 1983, Jan joined Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, and others for a series of benefit concerts for Ronnie Lane's ARMS (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis). Into 1984, Jan played on Mick Jagger's She's The Boss and Jeff Beck's Flash -- which included Jan's Grammy-winning song "Escape."

That same year, Jan scored three major motion pictures, a number of documentaries, "made-for-TV" movies in the U.S., commercials, and station identifications. But his greatest challenge came in the fall '84, when the producers of Red Tape (1987) enlisted him to commence the rigorous weekly schedule of scoring the series. In 1985, "Miami Vice Theme" (MCA Records) hit #1 in Billboard -- the first TV theme to hit #1 since Henry Mancini's "Theme from Peter Gunn" in 1959. "Miami Vice Theme" became a top 5 inter-national hit and earned Jan two Grammy awards: "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" and "Best Instrumental Composition." The Miami Vice soundtrack album stayed #1 in Billboard for 12 weeks, hitting quadruple-platinum and selling over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales in excess of 7 million as of this writing. Miami Vice II and Escape From Television were both million-selling albums for Jan in 1987, both featuring "Crockett's Theme," which had become a smash European hit, topping the charts in six countries.

The following year found Jan bowing out of full-time scoring duties for Miami Vice. He was free to spend six full months building the new Red Gate Studio on his property in upstate New York. Several film and television projects from the new studio followed immediately, including HBO's Blood Money (1988) with Ellen Barkin and Andy Garcia. Snapshots was the first full album from the new Red Gate studio, with Jan composing, performing and producing every track. The promo video for "Too Much To Lose," the album's first European single, featured Jeff Beck, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Ringo Starr. The '90s brought a renewed focus on scoring for film and television, starting with _I Come In Peace_ (with Dolph Lundgren); Curiosity Kills (1990) (with Rae Dawn Chong and C. Thomas Howell); all twenty episodes of the British tv series Chancer (1990); several episodes of HBO's Tales from the Crypt (1989); a thought-provoking television spot for Amnesty International, featuring Czech president Václav Havel, which was aired worldwide; two pilots for NBC television, Knight Rider 2000 (1991) (TV) (starring David Hasselhoff) and News At 12; The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) (Columbia Pictures), Ken Wahl's first post Wiseguy vehicle; and New Line Cinema's Sunset Heat (1992), (starring Dennis Hopper, Michael Paré, and Adam Ant).

Jan's next project was a giant step forward into the world of computer animation as the composer and performer of the original score for the Miramar Productions video album, Beyond the Mind's Eye (1992), released in October '92 on Miramar/BMG Video. Scored note-to-frame with visuals that broke the 'virtual reality' barrier, the video was described as "breathtaking" by Roger Ebert (on Siskel & Ebert (1986)), who named it his "video recommendation of the week." On his syndicated CBS Radio program, Leonard Maltin called it "a dazzling showcase for computer animation... mesmerizing... 'Beyond The Mind's Eye' reflects a maturing of the [computer animation] art." Beyond The Mind's Eye was one of 1993's top five best-selling music videos, according to Billboard's Top Music Videos chart. It went on to spend 112 consecutive weeks on the chart (through March 1995), and was certified triple-platinum. 1994 was dominated by Jan's recording of Drive, his first full-fledged album of original new non-soundtrack material under his name in several years.

Jan was reunited with longtime partner Jeff Beck on "Underground," reminiscent of their supercharged collaborations of the past; while the title track blended Beck's flamenco style with Jan's keyboard funk. Michael Brecker's tenor sax was heard on the smooth, jazzy "Peaceful Sundown" and on the edgy cybertech R&B of "Curiosity Kills." Jan returned to his scoring and soundtrack work with renewed passion and creativity as 1995 arrived. He began with the one hour Universal drama Vanishing Son (starring Russell Wong of Joy Luck Club), then went on to compose the theme and score for 13 episodes of the series. He composed and performed the original music for two feature films, both released in 1996: A Modern Affair (1995) (with Stanley Tucci, Lisa Eichhorn, Caroline Aaron, and Tammy Grimes) and In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King (1995) (starring William Petersen and Paul Winfield). Jan wrapped up the year scoring Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus (1996), the long-awaited sequel to the sword-and-sorcery favorite (starring Mark Singer and Lesley-Anne Down). In 1996, Jan's output continued to thrive. His scoring assignments included the NBC Movie of the Week, The Babysitter's Seduction (1996) (with Phylicia Rashad, Stephen Collins, and newcomer Keri Russell); The Secret Agent Club (1996), a feature film starring Hulk Hogan, Richard Moll, Barry Bostwick, and Lesley-Anne Down; and The Corporate Ladder (1997) (Orion Pictures), starring Tony Denison, Ben Cross, and Jennifer O'Neill.

Also in 1996 (and through 1998) Jan was commissioned to compose all the original music for TV Nova, the first commercial television network in Eastern Europe, based in the Czech Republic. Jan composed everything -- including themes for 23 original shows produced by the network, no less than 50 separate station IDs, the music for all of the network's special broadcasts, plus the music for all the news, sports and weather programs. In 1997, Jan also composed the hard-driving rock soundtrack for the new CD-ROM game, Outlaw Racers (MegaMedia).

His next project was the theme and original music score for the pilot and the series of Prince Street (1997) (NBC-TV) starring Vincent Spano and Mariska Hargitay. On another interesting note, 1997 saw six separate compilation CDs released in the U.S. containing compositions and performances by Jan. One of these, Pure Moods (Virgin) spent 49 weeks on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart and sold nearly four million copies worldwide, a true phenomenon for such collections. Throughout 1998 Jan continued with his prolific work for TV Nova, commenced work on a new CD-ROM computer game and took some needed time off with his family. Jan started off 1999 by writing, performing and producing a tune, "Even Odds" for Jeff Beck's latest album Who Else? (Epic). Just when Jan thought his chores for TV Nova were winding down, the station changed ownership. The new management team wanted to create their own identity, vis-à-vis the station logo, IDs, promos etc., so they called upon Jan to compose new music to compliment the new visuals. They then went on an aggressive campaign to create new programs. The themes to all of these new shows were composed and performed by Jan.

Also, 1999 saw the release of The Lost Trident Sessions, the third (and last) studio album from Jan's former group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was recorded in 1973 just prior to the bands highly publicized breakup. Its release was temporarily put on hold but the masters were somehow lost and only resurfaced in December of 1998 (25 years later). The album is considered the "Holy Grail" of fusion music. This is when Jan, John McLaughlin, Bill Cobham, Jerry Goodman, and Ricky Laird were truly pushing the envelope. The album has met with worldwide critical and commercial success. Among its tunes is Jan's classic "Sister Andrea."

Jan Hammer has earned his place as a formidable voice in the arena where modern music meets the state-of-the-visual-arts. From the neo-psychedelic heyday of the Mahavishnu Orchestra to the heady breakthroughs of "Miami Vice," up through his post-modern forays into film and television, Jan Hammer has consistently proven himself a front-line musical warrior. As he is inspired to reach further into his treasury of ideas, the world of music and art is always the richer.