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High and Low poster

High and Low

1963

DramaMysteryThriller

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Ryuzo Kikushima photo

Ryuzo Kikushima

Writer · Known for High and Low

Japanese screenwriter and film producer who is best known for co-writing the screenplays for several Akira Kurosawa films, including Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo and High and Low. He also produced several of Kurosawa's early 1960s films. In addition to his work with Kurosawa, screenplays he wrote or co-wrote include Tora! Tora! Tora!, Hiroshi Inagaki's Arashi and The Birth of Japan, and Mikio Naruse's When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, on which he also served as producer.

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Brandon Knox

Brandon is an actor hailing from Scarborough, Ontario. Performing on stage and screen for over 20 years, Brandon has trained with several of the top acting coaches from around North America and has worked on high and low budget productions. He believes that 'work should be fun' and approaches his characters with that philosophy.

Kenjirō Ishiyama photo

Kenjirō Ishiyama

Cast · Known for High and Low

Kenjiro Ishiyama (石山 健二郎) was a Japanese actor. Born on 10 October 1903 in Hiroshima, Japan, he was known for High and Low (1963), Shiosai (1964) and Las Vegas Free-for-All (1967). He died on 10 May 1976.

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Kyōko Kagawa

Cast · Known for High and Low

Kyōko Kagawa (香川 京子 Kagawa Kyōko, born 5 December 1931) is a Japanese actress. She has appeared in leading and supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, and Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff. She won the "New Face Nomination" sponsored by the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper out of about 6,000 applicants and joined Shintoho. She was also taking entrance exams for a regular company at the same time, and her final interview and the final exam for the New Faces camera test overlapped, but with her mother's advice, she decided to pursue acting. After appearing in Red Beard in 1965 , she gave birth to a child and accompanied her husband to New York where he was posted overseas, leaving the film industry for about three years. She returned to Japan in 1968. As film began to decline, she expanded her field of work to include television dramas and stage productions. She was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1998 and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2004 .

Akira Kurosawa photo

Akira Kurosawa

Director · Known for High and Low, Ikiru, Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and High and Low (1963). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Posthumously, he was named Asian of the Century in the Arts, Literature, and Culture category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there as being among the five people who most prominently contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th century. His career has been honored by many retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both print and video, and by releases in many consumer media.

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Yutaka Sada

Cast · Known for Ultraseven, High and Low

Yutaka Sada (佐田 豊) was born on March 30, 1911 in Tokyo, Japan. He was an actor, known for his roles in Akira Kurosawa's films, the chauffeur in High and Low (1963), Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962) and The Hidden Fortress (1958). He died in 2017.

Toshirō Mifune photo

Toshirō Mifune

Cast · Known for High and Low, Seven Samurai

Toshirō Mifune (April 1, 1920 - December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor who is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Japanese cinema. He was born in Qingdao, China, but was raised in Japan. Mifune's career spanned over 50 years, during which he collaborated extensively with renowned director Akira Kurosawa, creating some of the most iconic films in Japanese cinema. Mifune gained international recognition for his performances in Kurosawa's films, particularly in samurai films. He portrayed strong, dynamic, and often rebellious characters, bringing a raw intensity to his roles. Some of his notable collaborations with Kurosawa include "Rashomon" (1950), "Seven Samurai" (1954), "Yojimbo" (1961), and "The Hidden Fortress" (1958), which inspired George Lucas's "Star Wars." Apart from his work with Kurosawa, Mifune appeared in numerous other films, showcasing his versatility as an actor. He played roles in various genres, including dramas, comedies, and war films. Some of his other notable films include "The Throne of Blood" (1957), "High and Low" (1963), and "Red Beard" (1965). Mifune's charismatic presence, powerful performances, and ability to convey complex emotions made him an iconic figure in Japanese cinema. He received international recognition and awards for his contributions to the film industry, including several honors at the Venice Film Festival and a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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William Gibson

William Ford Gibson is an American and Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his early works were bleak, noir, near-future stories that explored the effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans—a "combination of lowlife and high tech"—and helped to create an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s.

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Chris Carter

Director · Known for The X-Files

Christopher Carl Carter (born October 13, 1956) is an American television and film producer, director and writer. Born in Bellflower, California, Carter graduated with a degree in journalism from California State University, Long Beach, before spending thirteen years working for Surfing Magazine. After beginning his television career working on television films for Walt Disney Studios, Carter rose to fame in the 1990s for creating the Fox science fiction supernatural drama series The X-Files. The show earned high viewership ratings and eventually enabled Carter to negotiate the creation of future series. Carter has his own television production company, Ten Thirteen Productions, wherein he went on to create three more series for the network—Millennium, a doomsday-themed series which met with critical approval and low viewer numbers; Harsh Realm, which was cancelled after three episodes had aired; and The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of The X-Files which lasted for a single season. Carter's film roles include writing both of The X-Files' cinematic spin-offs—1998's successful The X-Files and the poorly received 2008 follow-up The X-Files: I Want to Believe, the latter of which he also directed—while his television credits have earned him several accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Carter (screenwriter), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Marc Zuber

Zubair Ahmed Siddiqi (5 May 1944 – 28 May 2003), better known as Marc Zuber, was an Indian–British actor, who appeared in many British and Hindi films and television dramas. Zubair Ahmed Siddiqi was born on 5 May 1944 in Lucknow, India. He moved to Britain with his family in 1951, joining his father who had become a BBC radio producer there, 2 years prior. Zuber grew up in London and went to Harrow Technical College, before training as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He left drama school in 1968 and changed his name to Marc Zuber, on the advice of his agent and began his acting career in theatre with seasons in Chester, Bolton, Richmond, the Shaw Theatre, London and for two years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He mostly appeared in small roles in film and television, including Coronation Street in 1990, in which he portrayed Mr Khan, but he also starred in the Hindi films, Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982) and Kamla (1984), and played a leading role in Qatl (1986). His film appearances include: The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Wind and the Lion, The Sea Wolves, Shirley Valentine and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, while his television credits include: The Onedin Line, Doomwatch, The Regiment, The Changes, Space: 1999, Quiller, Blake's 7, The Sweeney, Minder (Aces High – and Sometimes Very Low), Buccaneer, The Enigma Files, The Chinese Detective, The Bill, Holby City and King & Castle. He also worked with Indian actor Aditya Pancholi and Indian actress Persis Khambatta, in television film Shingora Zuber died on 28 May 2003, in London, England at the age of 59, from a heart attack.

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Sean Penn

Cast · Known for Mystic River, One Battle After Another, The Angry Birds Movie

Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. His accolades include three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three British Academy Film Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award. He received the Honorary César in 2015 and the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2022. Penn made his feature film debut in the drama Taps (1981), before taking roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bad Boys (1983), and At Close Range (1986). He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for playing a grieving father in Mystic River (2003) and the gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk (2008). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the ruthless military officer Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another (2025). He was Oscar-nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and I Am Sam (2001). He also acted in Casualties of War (1989), State of Grace (1990), Carlito's Way (1993), The Game(1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Hurlyburly (1998), 21 Grams (2003), Fair Game (2010), The Tree of Life (2011), Licorice Pizza (2021) and Daddio (2023). Penn made his directorial film debut with the crime drama The Indian Runner (1991), followed by The Crossing Guard (1995), The Pledge (2001), and Into the Wild (2007). On stage, he acted in the Broadway plays Heartland (1981) and Slab Boys (1983). On television, he portrayed an astronaut in the Hulu drama series The First (2018) and John N. Mitchell in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit (2022). Penn has also engaged in political and social activism, including his criticism of the George W. Bush administration, his contact with the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amidst the Russian-Ukrainian war. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Penn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Laraine Day

Laraine Day, born La Raine Johnson, was a major movie star of the 1940s and '50s. Raised in Utah as part of a prominent Mormon family, she came to Hollywood as a young woman, and made her film debut with an uncredited role in Stella Dallas. Before she was famous she also played the birth-mother of Tarzan and Jane's adopted son "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son. Her break came in 1939, with the wildly popular "Dr Kildare" sequels. Day played Kildare's nurse and love interest in the third through ninth Kildare movies, until her character married the doctor in Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day. As Mrs Kildare, she was written out of the next, and last, Kildare feature. In 1942, she starred with Ayres again in the underrated axe murder melodrama Fingers at the Window. Over subsequent decades, her memorable films included the flashback-within-flashback-within-flashback drama The Locket, the gangster comedy Mr Lucky, and the campy paranoia piece I Married A Communist. She was among the all-star passengers in the overwrought airliner-in-peril drama The High and the Mighty, and in Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent it was Day who encouraged Joel McCrea to give his stirring report of the air raid at the film's climax Hitchcock's thinly-veiled plea for America to enter World War II. When television became a viable income source, Day found the small screen more inviting and less time-consuming than making movies, and she became primarily a TV actress. She had a 15-minute series of uplifting vignettes called Daydreaming with Laraine, and another 15-minute daily celebrity chat show called The Laraine Day Show. Married to New York Giants manager Leo Durocher, Day became one of TV's first female sports reporters when she hosted Day with the Giants, an early 1950s baseball talk show with Giants' players that aired on New York City's Channel 11. Her last film was a low-budget thriller, The Third Voice, in 1960, but she continued taking occasional guest roles on TV series Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Murder, She Wrote, etc. through the mid-1980s. Following her retierment she spent the remainder of her life active in the Mormon church, Republican politics, and various charity related work. Upon the death of her third husband Michael Grilikhes in March 2007 she moved back to her native Utah where she died that November at age 87. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA.​

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Kevin Gage

Cast · Known for Heat

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kevin Gage (born May 26, 1959) is an American actor. He was married to actress Kelly Preston from 1985 to 1987. Gage was born as Kevin Gaede in Wisconsin, where he grew up dividing his time between attending school, working in his grandparents' dairy, and participating in sports. Upon graduating from high school, he hitchhiked his way to Florida, where he saw the ocean for the very first time. He lived and worked there for a time, taking odd jobs to support himself, although ultimately decided to gravitate out west to California. Once in Los Angeles, he was spotted by a theatrical agent and asked if he had ever given any serious thought to becoming an actor. During a subsequent audition, Gage displayed obvious natural abilities, and it was suggested that he enroll in an acting workshop to further develop his talent. He soon came to love the profession, and over time began to find work in playing small parts on series television and low-budget film productions. His breakthrough role eventually came in the DeNiro / Pacino crime epic, Heat, portraying the ominous thrill-killing loose cannon, Waingro. Gage went on from there to give numerous other performances in many films. On July 30, 2003, Gage was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, starting September 29, 2003, for cultivating marijuana despite owning a California-issued license for medicinal marijuana. Gage stated that he cultivated medicinal cannabis to help him cope with chronic pain and stress from injuries suffered in a 1993 car accident, as well as for a sister with cancer and brother with multiple sclerosis. He was released September 21, 2005. Gage was involved in another cannabis-related incident on April 29, 2008 in Annapolis, Maryland. The actor was reportedly arrested for smoking marijuana after police were called to the scene of a loud party. Afterwards, Gage was cited and released on his own recognizance. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kevin Gage (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Paul Tripp

Paul Tripp was born on NYC's Lower East Side on February 20, 1911. Originally he wanted to be an actor and singer in grand operas, but he had to lower his sights and perform in comic operas at local functions instead. He went to college and studied education. He graduated with a Master of Education degree. When he was unable to find any teaching jobs, he worked as a performer, scriptwriter and producer in legitimate theater, radio, nightclubs, vaudeville and burlesque. After a stint in the US Navy Signal Corps during WWII, Tripp returned to NYC, where he and his wife Ruth Enders Tripp did volunteer work for "Christian Dora House" settlement project. There the pair engaged the children in original plays that would utilize their imagination. This unique concept of teaching kids through music, stories, acting and discovery came to the attention of a talent agency. The agency heads were looking for someone to host a new children's TV show. Impressed with their educational concept, the agency heads took the show to CBS TV producer Irving Pincus, who bought the show and Mr. I. Magination (1949) debuted on the CBS TV network on Sunday night, April 24, 1949. Writing, producing and hosting the show, Paul Tripp and his wife got a child actor and/ or child actress to recreate the lives of famous persons or had them perform in the Tripp's own variations of popular fairy tales. Often "Mr. I." (Mr. Tripp) and his cast of regulars: Simon Oakland, Joe Silver, Ted Tiller and Richard Boone interviewed guest inventors who showcased the latest devices created to help mankind. Mr. I. Magination (1949) moved to Saturday mornings in l951, where it remained on air until the series was cancelled on Saturday morning, June 28, 1952. On Saturday morning, June 5, 1954, Paul & Ruth Tripp succeeded Allen Ludden as the second hosts/performers and instructors of CBS TV's kids TV news magazine On the Carousel (1955). The Tripps and Ted Tiller engaged their viewers in craft making, hobbies, songs, dramatizations, stories and interviews with guest performers, personalities and high school scientists and musicians. On the Carousel (1955) won the 1956 NYC Emmy award for "Best Children's Educational TV Show". Tripp compared a Saturday Night Magic TV Show for a family audience. He performed magic tricks with the top illusionists of the day. It's Magic (1952) was seen Saturday nights on the CBS TV Network from Saturday July 31, 1955 to Saturday, September 4, 1955. Tripp succeeded Ginger McManus as the second host/performer of WOR TV Ch. 9 NYC's: "Looney Tunes Show" weekday evenings from Monday, January 12, 1959 to Friday, July 10, 1959. Following his departure from the station, Tripp left NYC for Hollywood, California to play character parts in TV dramas and sitcoms. He made two memorable guest appearances on CBS TV's Perry Mason (1957) as a villain and as an unfaithful boyfriend of "Sally Rogers" on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961).

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Mac Ahlberg

Cinematographer · Known for Beverly Hills Cop III, The Wonder Years

Mac Arne Bertil Ahlberg was a Swedish photographer, film director and screen writer. He worked in both low-budget genre films and high-budget studio features and series. As a director of photography, Ahlberg shot dozens of features, documentaries and television productions throughout Europe including the five-part documentary “Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie.” In 1965 he directed his first feature, the Danish erotic film “I, a Woman,” a box office success that spawned two sequels.

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Kimmy Gatewood

Kimmy Gatewood is an American actress, director, writer and singer. Gatewood is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland and was educated at Paint Branch High School. She has been in a long-running comedy duo with fellow GLOW actress Rebekka Johnson. Gatewood is co-creator of The Apple Sisters, a World War II musical comedy trio. The group, which consists of Kimmy Gatewood, Rebekka Johnson, and Sarah Lowe, started in 2007 in New York City. They received wide acclaim at the 2008 Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, which lead them to move to Los Angeles where they continually perform. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Candace Thompson

Candace Thompson is a media maker and land steward fascinated by the feedback loops of ecology, economics, culture, history, media, and daily human interaction. They make video, audio, web, and social practice projects that examine and challenge the truths we purportedly hold to be self-evident. Perhaps they aren’t so self-evident after all. Thompson's current projects search for healing and agency in the face of opaque profit systems. This includes human relationship(s) with the (un)natural world vis a vis local food webs, phone addiction and the corporate surveillance state, and rituals of healing that locate personal and intergenerational trauma as somatic heirlooms. Recent institutional relationships include More Art, Residency Unlimited, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, NYFA, the Urban Soil Institute, Cycle X, Burlington City Arts, Wave Hill, and Swale House. As a freelance video producer and editor they have made music videos, documentaries and experimental narratives. Thompson's short non-fiction films, The Next Epoch Seed Library and Body Map have screened at various US festivals. As a performer they have worked in theatre, voiceover, and television, most notably on HBO's High Maintenance and with artist Pablo Helguera at BAM and the Guggenheim. They hold an MFA in Integrated Media Art from Hunter College and are the Park Manager of Stuy Cove Park, a 2 acre public food forest in lower Manhattan.

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Sarah Esberg

Executive Producer · Known for High Potential

Sarah Esberg joined Drew Goddard's production firm, Goddard Textiles, as president, after working as a producer and executive for Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment. She executive produced TV shows including Netflix's "The OA" and Starz's "Sweetbitter," as well as filmmaker-driven films like Felix van Groeningen's "Beautiful Boy," Bong Joon Ho's "Okja," and Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" and "If Beale Street Could Talk." She is developing a wide range of programs for Disney's linear and streaming platforms, including FX, Hulu, Disney+, and ABC, at Goddard Textiles. She is also producing a number of multi-genre films. Her current projects include the highly anticipated next installment of the Warner Bros. "The Matrix" franchise, which Goddard will write and direct; Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's "Project Hail, Mary," starring Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, which Goddard wrote; and "High Potential," starring Kaitlin Olson. Esberg, who has degrees from Stanford University and UCLA School of Law, started her career as a low-budget indie film producer for producer/director Roger Corman's production firm.

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Huey Lewis

Huey Lewis (born Hugh Anthony Cregg III, July 5, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player of the rock band Huey Lewis and the News. The band achieved massive success in the 1980s with hits such as “The Power of Love,” “Hip to Be Square,” and “Stuck with You,” and their album Sports (1983) remains one of the best-selling pop releases of all time. Born in New York City and raised in Marin County, California, Lewis attended Strawberry Point Elementary School (where he skipped second grade) and Edna Maguire Junior High School. His mother, Magda Cregg, was a Polish refugee, and his maternal grandfather invented the red wax sealant used on certain cheeses. After his parents divorced when he was 13, he was sent to the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, graduating in 1967 with a perfect 800 on the math SAT. He enrolled at Cornell University in the engineering program but dropped out in his junior year in December 1969 to pursue music. As a teenager, Lewis hitchhiked across the country, stowed away on a plane to Europe, and spent time busking in Madrid, Spain, where he became an accomplished blues harmonica player. Upon returning to the U.S., he joined the Bay Area band Clover in 1971, adopting the stage name Huey Lewis (inspired by poet Lew Welch, his mother’s longtime partner). Clover recorded two albums in the UK with producer Mutt Lange but struggled as punk rock overshadowed their pub-rock sound. While Lewis was on vacation, the rest of the band backed Elvis Costello on his debut album My Aim Is True. Clover disbanded in 1979. In 1979, Lewis formed Huey Lewis and the American Express, which soon became Huey Lewis and the News. After a unsuccessful self-titled debut in 1980, the band broke through with Picture This (1982) and exploded with Sports (1983), which sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and produced multiple Top 10 hits. Their follow-up Fore! (1986) also reached No. 1. Lewis wrote or co-wrote many of the band’s songs and contributed harmonica to notable recordings, including Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous (1978). The band’s music featured prominently in popular culture, most notably with “The Power of Love” in Back to the Future (1985), in which Lewis also had a cameo. They contributed to “We Are the World” and scored 14 Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. over similarities between “I Want a New Drug” and the Ghostbusters theme. The case was settled out of court. Lewis has also produced for artists such as Nick Lowe and Bruce Hornsby. In 2018, Lewis was forced into semi-retirement after being diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, which caused severe hearing loss. By 2025, he reported total deafness, though a cochlear implant has partially restored his ability to hear speech. Despite this, the band continues to tour occasionally, and Lewis remains active in other projects. In 2024, the jukebox musical The Heart of Rock and Roll, based on the band’s catalog, premiered on Broadway. In February 2025, he was the inaugural inductee into the People’s Music Hall of Fame.

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Parker Young

Cast · Known for Eternally Yours

Parker Charles William Young was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Karl and Zarina Young. He is the oldest of three children, and as a youth he enjoyed playing sports, rock climbing, paintballing, and exploring the Sonoran desert. In high school, football became Parker's main focus. As a sophomore he started on the Varsity team, and by senior year he was captain. Parker first took the stage as a junior in high school as part of a one act play; that is if you don't count the mandatory theater class in middle school, or the time that he rapped Dr. Dre's "Forgot About Dre" in the 5th grade talent show. The one act play that he was a part of took first place out of three student written plays at the school's "one act play competition." The victory was small and seemingly insignificant, but it was enough to inspire Parker to "give this acting thing a shot." With the encouragement of his drama teacher, Parker decided to take acting more seriously, and thus his senior year became a whirlwind of preparing for college while juggling theater and football. Upon graduation Parker packed his bags and headed to Los Angeles for college. But when he got to LA he decided to drop out of school before he even started and dove head first into the entertainment industry; in other words headshots, acting class, and background work. Parker's break came when he booked the role of "Ryan Shay" on ABC's hit show Suburgatory, the hyperactive jock neighbor to Jeremy Sisto, and son of Ana Gasteyer and Chris Parnell. Following Suburgatory, Parker became a lead in the critically acclaimed Fox comedy, Enlisted, as the youngest of 3 brothers (Geoff Stultz and Chris Lowell) who are all soldiers in the US Army. In the film world, Parker starred in the Flower Films produced "Animal" and the upcoming indie "Fourth Man Out." Parker resides in Los Angeles and enjoys staying active in a variety of different ways including rock climbing, Krav Maga, yoga, and camping. When he's not breaking a sweat you will most likely find him at the beach, on his motorcycle, or reading at Barnes & Noble. That is if he's not off backpacking somewhere with no cell service.

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Efren Ramirez

Efren Antonio Ramirez (born October 2, 1973) is an American actor. He is most known as Pedro in the feature film Napoleon Dynamite. Initially, his career consisted of guest star appearances on television, as he appeared in diverse roles on E.R., American Dad, Judging Amy, The District, MAD TV, and Scrubs. However, it was his memorable portrayal of Pedro in the feature film Napoleon Dynamite that dramatically launched what has become a hugely prolific acting career with an unusually diverse series of performances In the years since that film was released, Efren Ramirez has appeared in scores of films and television shows including leading roles in the HBO film Walkout, with Edward James Olmos; Employee of the Month, opposite Dane Cook and Dax Shepard; and Crank and its sequel Crank: High Voltage, opposite Jason Statham (playing his own twin brother in the sequel). He has also appeared in other movies including Gamer with Gerard Butler; When in Rome with Kristen Bell; Crossing the Heart, opposite Kris Kristofferson; House of My Father, opposite Will Ferrell; HBO's Eastbound and Down with Danny McBride; and Perpetual Grace Ltd. He appeared in FOX's The Grinder with Rob Lowe and voiced for the animated series Bordentown with Hank Azaria and Alex Bernstein, Hulu's Deadbeat with Tyler Labine, and the film Middleschool: The Worst Years of My Life, based on the James Patterson best seller. When he isn't filming, he is spinning records as a guest D.J. in clubs all across the country. He has published his first book, Direct Your Own Life .

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Jeremy Beiler

Jeremy Beiler was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. Although Making Revolution (2003) is his feature film debut, his true roots in screen acting come from "Free Love Forum," a sketch comedy show on a low-budget cable access station in Madison which he and his high school buddies did from 1997-2000. As of 2004 Jeremy is a senior at Columbia College in Chicago.

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Michael Schultz

Director · Known for All American, Arrow, Brothers and Sisters

Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Katherine Frances (née Leslie), a factory worker, and German American Leo Schultz, an insurance salesman. After his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University, he attended Princeton University, where in 1966 he directed his first play, a production of Waiting for Godot. He joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough was directing Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which he restaged for television in 1972. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby and Cooley High), reaching a peak with the ensemble comedy Car Wash (1976) and Which Way Is Up? (1977), starring Richard Pryor. In 1978, Schultz took the reins of the musical Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the largest budget ever entrusted to an African-American film director to that date. However, upon its release, the project was a commercial and critical failure. Schultz would go on to make prominent films such as Scavenger Hunt (1979), Carbon Copy (1981), and Disorderlies (1987). More recently, Schultz has worked in television, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Schultz was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.