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The Woman of S.R.I.

1999

Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.

Kenya Moore

Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American film and television actress, producer, model and author. She is recognizable for her roles in movies such as Waiting to Exhale, Deliver Us from Eva and the 2007 Lindsay Lohan thriller I Know Who Killed Me. One of her best acting roles came in the independent film Trois which also starred Gretchen Palmer and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star Gary Dourdan. Trois went on to become one of the highest grossing African-American films of 2000. She has appeared on the cover of several major magazines, including Glamour, Seventeen, Ebony and Essence. Kenya has also been featured in several music videos, including R&B group Shai's "I Don't Wanna Be Alone", rapper Nas' "Street Dreams" and the Jay-Z & Jermaine Dupri Grammy-nominated hit "Money Ain't a Thang". She founded the Kenya Moore Foundation which awards scholarships to under-privileged girls from her high school alma-mater. In 2007, she released her first book Game, Get Some!, that coaches men on how to get the woman of their dreams as she reveals the secrets of what women really desire from men. In 2010 Moore starred in the film Trapped: Haitian Nights. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kenya Moore, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

P!nk

Alecia Beth Moore-Hart (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as P!nk or P!NK, in all caps), is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her acrobatic stage presence. At age 15, Pink formed the short-lived girl group Choice, which signed with LaFace Records in 1995, although they disbanded without major releases. Her debut studio album, Can't Take Me Home (2000), received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Produced by label boss Babyface and influenced by contemporary R&B, the album spawned US Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles: "There You Go" and "Most Girls". Pink gained further recognition for her 2001 collaborative single "Lady Marmalade" from the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge!, which peaked atop 13 international charts, including the US, and earned her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Pink shifted to pop rock with her second album, Missundaztood (2001), which sold over 13 million copies worldwide and yielded three Top 10 singles: "Get the Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me", and "Just Like a Pill". While Pink's third album Try This (2003) sold significantly less than her second album, it earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Her fourth and fifth studio albums, I'm Not Dead (2006) and Funhouse (2008), saw a commercial rebound and spawned the Top 10 singles "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand", as well as the US No. 1 single "So What". She scored her third and fourth US No. 1 hits with "Raise Your Glass" as well as "Just Give Me a Reason" from her sixth album The Truth About Love (2012), which became her first to top the US Billboard 200. In 2014, Pink formed the collaborative folk duo You+Me with Dallas Green and released the album Rose Ave.. Her following albums, Beautiful Trauma (2017) and Hurts 2B Human (2019), saw success and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the former becoming the third best-selling album of that year worldwide. Her ninth and latest studio album, Trustfall (2023), peaked at No. 2 on the chart. Pink has sold more than 135 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Pink is the most-played female solo artist in the UK during the 21st century, while Billboard named Pink the Pop Songs Artist of the 2000s Decade. Her accolades include three Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, seven MTV Video Music Awards, and two MTV Europe Music Awards. At the 63rd BMI Pop Awards, she received the BMI President's Award for "her outstanding achievement in songwriting and global impact on pop culture and the entertainment industry", and was honored with the People's Champion Award, the iHeartRadio Music Award Icon Award. Billboard named Pink the 2013 Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music and honored her with the Billboard Icon Award and the Billboard Legend of Live. VH1 ranked her 10th on its list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music. In 2026, Pink was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ashanti

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas born October 13, 1980 is an American recording artist, record producer and actress who rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release throughout the U.S. in April 2002. The album set a Soundscan record as the biggest opening week sales for a new female artist, outselling debuts by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish", and "What's Luv?" (with Fat Joe). Ashanti broke records again by having three top ten songs, "Foolish," "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time", on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first woman to accomplish this feat and being second only to the Beatles. In 2003, the self-titled debut album won Ashanti her first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B album. As of 2008, she has sold more than 27 million albums worldwide. Ashanti ended the decade (2000–09) as the third top new R&B artist behind Alicia Keys and Beyonce Knowles. She also ended the decade at number 38 on the Top Artist of the Decade list. As of 2010, Ashanti is listed in the 20 Best Selling Music Singles Since 1990 in History. She ranked #17, with Foolish selling more than 7.4 million copies in the U.S. Ashanti sang background vocals for Jennifer Lopez on "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and wrote and sang background on the song "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" sung by Jennifer Lopez, both reaching number one on Billboard Hot 100 , which was also in the top 10 charts at the same time as "Foolish", "Always on Time" (with Ja Rule), and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe). Later that year, she was acclaimed as the "Princess Of Hip-Hop & R&B" by her label and capped off her successful debut by winning eight Billboard awards and two American Music Awards. Within seven years of Ashanti's career, she has scored 16 top 40 hits on the Hot 100. Ashanti has endorsed numerous products including Gap, Herbal Essences and Mudd Jeans. Ashanti cites Janet Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Tamia, Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Yolanda Adams, Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, The Beatles, The Clark Sisters, Smokey Robinson, Donna Summer, and Blue Magic as her musical influences. Praised as a gifted songwriter by her peers and critics alike, Ashanti has written/co-written the bulk of all her music. She is currently working on her own publishing company entitled Written Entertainment. She released her fourth studio album entitled The Declaration on June 3, 2008 and is currently in the studio working on her fifth. She also performed the charity tune "Just Stand Up" alongside 14 other female singers for the "Stand Up to Cancer" live television special which helped raise $100 million dollars for cancer research Description above from the Wikipedia article Ashanti, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Chaka Khan

Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (/ˈʃɑːkə ˈkɑːn/ SHAH-kə KAHN), is an American singer and songwriter. Known as the "Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. With the band she recorded the notable hits "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," "Do You Love What You Feel," and the platinum-certified "Ain't Nobody." Her debut solo album featured the number-one R&B hit "I'm Every Woman" (which became a pop hit for Whitney Houston). Khan scored another R&B charts hit with "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me" before becoming the first R&B artist to have a crossover hit featuring a rapper, with her 1984 cover of Prince's "I Feel for You." More of Khan's hits include "Through the Fire" and a 1986 collaboration with Steve Winwood that produced a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Higher Love." Khan has won ten Grammy Awards.With Rufus, she achieved three gold singles, one platinum single, four gold albums, and two platinum albums. In the course of her solo career, Khan achieved three gold singles, three gold albums, and one platinum album with I Feel for You. She has also worked with Whitney Houston, Ry Cooder, Robert Palmer, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Guru, Chicago, Joni Mitchell, Gladys Knight, De La Soul, Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande, and Sia. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 65th most successful dance club artist of all time. She was ranked at No. 17 in VH1's original list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. Khan has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times as a solo artist and four times as a member of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, the first time in 2012 as a member of Rufus. In 2023, Khan was picked as an inductee in the Musical Excellence category. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chaka Khan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Linda Hopkins

Linda Hopkins (born Melinda Helen Matthews; December 14, 1924 – April 10, 2017) was a Tony Award-winning American actress and blues and gospel singer. She recorded classic, traditional, and urban blues, and performed R&B and soul, jazz, and show tunes. Hopkins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, the second child of the Reverend Fred Matthews, Sr. and Hazel Smith, Hopkins grew up in the section of New Orleans known by the locals as "Zion City". She went to school in "Gert Town" which bordered the Xavier University of Louisiana. Known as "Lil Helen Matthews" as a child, she was discovered at the age of eleven by Mahalia Jackson when she persuaded Jackson to perform at a fundraiser at her home church, St. Mark's Baptist Church. Lil Helen opened the children's fundraising program with a rendition of Jackson's gospel hit, "God Shall Wipe Your Tears Away". Jackson was reportedly so impressed by Helen's determination and talent that she arranged for the young girl to join the Southern Harp Spiritual Singers in 1936. Hopkins remained with the group for a decade. She first saw Bessie Smith perform Empty Bed Blues at The New Orleans Palace Theatre in 1936. Hopkins greatly admired Smith and later won critical plaudits for her rendition of Smith in the 1959 theatrical presentation Jazz Train. Matthews left New Orleans in the 1950s, and, in 1951, began performing at Slim Jenkins' Night Club in the Oakland/Richmond area. There she met Johnny Otis and Little Esther Phillips who created her stage name, Linda Hopkins. In 1952, Hopkins toured Hawaii and Japan for two years which included a stint with Louis Armstrong at The Brown Derby in Honolulu. She recorded for the Savoy, Crystalette, Forecast, Federal and Atco labels and often appeared at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. In 1960, Hopkins first toured Europe in the Broadway Express, the restaged production of Jazz Train. She recorded "Shake a Hand" with Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label, which is her sole hit single reaching #21 on the US Billboard R&B chart. She also recorded "I Found Love" and "There's Nothing Like Love" with him on Brunswick in early 1962. She attended Stella Adler's Acting School in New York City. During the 1970s, Hopkins performed in the Broadway musical, Purlie, and with Sammy Davis Jr. for nine months. In addition, she performed at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural ball. In 1972 she was awarded a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her performance in Inner City. She sang "Do You Believe" at the political event Star-Spangled Women for McGovern–Shriver, bringing 19,000 people to their feet. Hopkins starred in Me and Bessie, a one-woman show paying homage to blues singer Bessie Smith, conceived and written by Hopkins and Will Holt. The world premiere was in Washington, D.C., in 1974. After a run in Los Angeles it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. The critically acclaimed show ran for thirteen months and 453 performances, and Hopkins was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. ... Source: Article "Linda Hopkins" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", Rolling Stone twice named her as the greatest singer of all time. With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling music artists. As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", and "I Say a Little Prayer", propelled Franklin past her musical peers. Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), Spirit in the Dark (1970), Young, Gifted and Black (1972), Amazing Grace (1972), and Sparkle (1976), before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records. The singer appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers before releasing the successful albums Jump to It (1982), Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985) and Aretha (1986) on the Arista label. In 1998, Franklin returned to the Top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song "A Rose Is Still a Rose"; later, she released an album with the same name. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on the US Billboard charts, including 73 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles. Besides the foregoing, the singer's well-known hits also include "Ain't No Way", "Call Me", "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)", "Spanish Harlem", "Rock Steady", "Day Dreaming", "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", "Something He Can Feel", "Jump to It", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who" and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (a duet with George Michael). Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards (out of 44 nominations), including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975), a Grammy Awards Living Legend honor and Lifetime Achievement Award. Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2019, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded the songwriter a posthumous special citation "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades". In 2020, Franklin was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. .. Source: Article "Aretha Franklin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Julia Fox

Cast · Known for The Deputy, No Sudden Move, One Night Only

Julia Fox (born February 2, 1990) is an Italian-American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her debut performance in the 2019 film Uncut Gems, for which she was nominated for the Breakthrough Actor Award at the 2019 Gotham Awards. Fox was born in Milan, Italy, to an Italian mother and an American father. Fox spent her early years living with her grandfather. At the age of six, she moved to New York City with her father and lived in Yorkville, Manhattan. She worked several service jobs, including at a shoe store, an ice cream shop, and a pastry shop. Fox attended City-As-School High School and worked as a dominatrix for six months. Prior to her role in Uncut Gems, Fox was a clothing designer and launched a successful women's knitwear line, Franziska Fox, with her friend Briana Andalore. She also worked as a model, posing for the last nude edition of Playboy in 2015, and as an exhibiting painter and photographer. She self-published two books of photography, Symptomatic of a Relationship Gone Sour: Heartburn/Nausea, published in 2015, and PTSD, published in 2016. In 2017, Fox hosted an art exhibit titled "R.I.P. Julia Fox'", which featured silk canvases painted with her own blood. Fox made her feature film debut in the 2019 Safdie brothers film Uncut Gems, playing a showroom saleswoman and mistress of the film's protagonist Howard Ratner (played by Adam Sandler), an erratic jewelry dealer and gambling addict. Fox had known the Safdie brothers for almost a decade after meeting Josh Safdie through a chance encounter at a cafe in SoHo, Manhattan. Fox also wrote and directed Fantasy Girls, a short film about a group of teenage girls involved in sex work living in Reno, Nevada. She starred in Ben Hozie's PVT Chat, playing a cam girl named Scarlet. She also played Vanessa Capelli in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's period crime thriller No Sudden Move, which was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fox married Peter Artemiev, a private pilot based out of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, in November 2018. They reside in Yorkville, Manhattan. On February 14, 2021, Fox announced the birth of her son.

Rick James

James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Rick James began his musical career in his teenage years. He was in various bands before entering the U.S. Naval Reserve to avoid being drafted into the Army. In 1964, James moved to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band The Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James's career with the group halted after military authorities discovered his whereabouts and eventually convicted him of desertion related charges. He served several months in jail. After being released, James moved to California, where he started a variety of rock and funk groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After forming the locally popular Stone City Band in his hometown of Buffalo in 1977, James finally found success as a recording artist after signing with Motown's Gordy Records, releasing the album Come Get It! in 1978 which produced the hits "You and I" and "Mary Jane". In 1981, James released his most successful album, Street Songs, which included career-defining hits such as "Give It to Me Baby" and "Super Freak", the latter song becoming his biggest crossover single, mixing elements of funk, disco, rock, and new wave. James was also known for his soulful ballads such as "Fire & Desire" and "Ebony Eyes". He also had a successful career as a songwriter and producer for other artists, including Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, The Temptations, Eddie Murphy, and Smokey Robinson. James's mainstream success peaked by the release of his album Glow in 1985 and his appearance on the popular TV show, The A-Team. His subsequent album releases failed to sell as well as their predecessors. Rapper MC Hammer sampled "Super Freak" for his breakout 1990 hit, "U Can't Touch This", which won Best R&B Song at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards in 1991. James received his only Grammy for composing the song. By the early 1990s, James's career was hampered by his drug addiction, and he was embroiled in legal issues. In 1993, he was convicted of two separate instances of kidnapping and assaulting two different women while under the influence of crack cocaine, resulting in a three-year sentence at Folsom State Prison. He was released on parole in 1996. His health problems halted his career again after he had a mild stroke during a concert in 1998, and he announced a semi-retirement. In 2004, James returned to pop culture notoriety after he appeared in an episode of Chappelle's Show. The segment involved a Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories-style sketch that satirized James's wild lifestyle in the 1980s. This resulted in renewed interest in his music, and that year he returned to perform on the road. He died later that year from heart failure at age 56. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rick James, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Glenda Jackson

Cast · Known for Film '72

Glenda May Jackson CBE (9 May 1936, Birkenhead, Cheshire – 15 June 2023) was an English actress and politician. She was one of the few artists to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. She was made a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her roles in Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973). She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Her other notable roles include Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Hedda (1975), The Incredible Sarah (1976) and Hopscotch (1980). She won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her role as Elizabeth I in the BBC series Elizabeth R (1971). She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her role in Elizabeth Is Missing (2019). Jackson studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She made her Broadway debut in Marat/Sade (1966). She received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations for her West End roles in Stevie (1977), Antony and Cleopatra (1979), Rose (1980), Strange Interlude (1984) and King Lear (2016), the later being her first role after a 25 year absence from acting, which she reprised on Broadway in 2019. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in the revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women (2018). Jackson took a hiatus from acting to take on a career in politics from 1992 to 2015, and was elected as the Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Highgate in the 1992 general election. She served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during the government of Tony Blair, later becoming critical of Blair. After constituency boundary changes, she represented Hampstead and Kilburn from 2010. At the 2010 general election, her majority of 42 votes, confirmed after a recount, was the narrowest of that parliament. Jackson stood down at the 2015 general election and returned to acting.

Bernard Hepton

Cast · Known for ITV Playhouse

Bernard Hepton (born 19 October 1925 - 27th July, 2018) was a British actor of stage, film and television. Hepton was known as a particularly versatile character actor. He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church along with actors such as Robert Stephens. He had extensive stage experience as an actor, under Sir Barry Jackson in addition to a spell as Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep and Liverpool Playhouse. On television, he played Toby Esterhase in the BBC Television adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People, and George Smiley in the radio adaptations. He also played the Kommandant in Colditz (1972–74), and later appeared for the same production team as Albert Foiret in three seasons of Secret Army (1977–79). Before that he had made a guest appearance in an episode of the first series of Catweazle in 1970 where he played a naturalist. Other notable performances included Thomas Cranmer in both The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) and Elizabeth R (1971). He played Sam Toovey in the 1989 television adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman in Black. On radio Hepton played the role of Albert, in Stranger In The Home by Alan Dapre, also the role of The Old Man in the Corner, the Baroness Orczy amateur, and mostly sedentary, sleuth in the BBC dramatizations called The Teahouse Detective (1998–2000). His appearances in feature film were less frequent. He made a brief appearance as Thorpey, a gangster in the classic British film Get Carter (1971), and had another small role, as Milton Goldsmith, in Voyage of the Damned (1976). He was a fan of the Rugby League team Hunslet Hawks and also played stand-off for them in the 1952/53 season, winning a Yorkshire Cup Medal. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bernard Hepton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris (né Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Wonder is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, when he was 13, making him the youngest solo artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. His "classic period" began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard. His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. Wonder began his "commercial period" in the 1980s; he achieved his biggest hits and highest level of fame, had increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations (including with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson), political impact, and television appearances. Wonder has continued to remain active in music and political causes. Wonder is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 100 million records worldwide. He has won 25 Grammy Awards (the most by a male solo artist) and one Academy Award (Best Original Song, for the 1984 film The Woman in Red). Wonder has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also noted for his political activism, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2014, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was conferred Ghanaian citizenship in 2024. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stevie Wonder, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. ​

Matthew Kevin Anderson

Cast · Known for UNABOMBER, The Art of Racing in the Rain

Matthew Kevin Anderson (born 1981, Westlake Village, Los Angeles, California, USA) is a Canadian-American actor, writer, and performance coach, active since the early 2000s. He graduated from the Vancouver Film School and early in his career hosted MTV Canada's video countdown show Select, where he interviewed major musicians. He moved to Los Angeles in 2010 on an O-1 Artist's Visa. He was married to actress Jewel Staite from 2003 to 2011. He has over 100 acting credits and also works as a performance coach and writer, with screenwriting credits including House of Deadly Lies (2023) and Deadly House Call (2022). He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2020 Hollywood North Film Awards for Ada (2019). His most notable screen roles include a part in Tomorrowland (2015) (George Clooney, Hugh Laurie), a role in Big Eyes (2014) (Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz), a role in Trick 'r Treat (2007) (Anna Paquin, Dylan Minnette), a role in Death Note (2017) (Lake Bell, Nat Wolff), a Fox Sports Reporter in The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019) (Michael Fassbender, Kim Dickens), Sean in Welcome to Marwen (2018) (Steve Carell, Gwendoline Christie), The Stranger in Alexandre Aja's Never Let Go (2024) (Hilary Swank, Luke Evans), Mark in Woman of the Hour (2023) (Anna Kendrick, Jack Quaid), Joan's Dad in Eternity (2025) (Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller), and David Kaczynski in Unabomber (2026) (Russell Crowe, Jacob Tremblay).

Ray Parker Jr.

Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 hit in 1982 with "The Other Woman". He also performed with his band, Raydio, and with Barry White. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Venolia Parker and Ray Parker Sr. He has two siblings: his brother Opelton and his sister Barbara. Parker attended Angel Elementary School where his music teacher, Afred T Kirby, inspired him to be a musician at age six playing the clarinet. Parker attended Cass Technical High School in the 10th grade. Parker is a 1971 graduate of Detroit's Northwestern High School. He was raised in the Dexter-Grand Boulevard neighborhood on its West Side. Parker attended college at Lawrence Institute of Technology. Parker gained recognition during the late 1960s as a member of Bohannon's house band at the 20 Grand nightclub. This Detroit hotspot often featured Tamla/Motown acts, one of which, the (Detroit) Spinners, was so impressed by the young guitarist's skills that they added him to their touring group. Through the Bohannon relationship, he recorded and co-wrote his first songs at age 16 with Marvin Gaye. Parker was also employed as a studio musician as a teenager for the emergent Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus/Hot Wax stable, and his "choppy" style was especially prominent on "Want Ads", a number one single for Honey Cone. Parker was later enlisted by Lamont Dozier to appear on his first two albums for ABC Records. In 1972, Parker was a guest guitarist on Stevie Wonder's funk song "Maybe Your Baby", from Wonder's album Talking Book, an association which prompted a permanent move to Los Angeles. He also was the lead guitarist for Wonder when Wonder served as the opening act on the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour. In 1973, he became a sideman in Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. Parker appeared briefly in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night as a guitar player in the church picnic scene. Parker also wrote songs and did session work for the Carpenters, Bill Cosby, Rufus and Chaka Khan, the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Deniece Williams, Bill Withers, Michael Henderson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Leon Haywood, the Temptations, Boz Scaggs, David Foster, Rhythm Heritage, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Herbie Hancock, Tina Turner, and Diana Ross. Parker's first bona fide hit as a writer was "You Got the Love", co-written with Chaka Khan and recorded by Rufus. The single hit No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 11 on the pop charts in December 1974. In 1976, he featured as rhythm guitarist on Lucio Battisti's album Io tu noi tutti, translated as "Me you and all of us". Parker has stated that he was the original songwriter of Leo Sayer's 1976 hit "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", but that when he submitted the tune as a demo, his accreditation as such was missed. ... Source: Article "Ray Parker Jr." from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Debra Hale

Upcoming in 2026 – Debra Hale (Toronto Actress) is the groom’s aunt in ‘Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen’ (Netflix; 3 episodes), a beloved mentor in ‘Duty To Report’ (TV movie) and the Camp Coordinator/cooking contest judge in the comedy ‘Campfire Cookof’f (Roku). Current TV/Film Credits – ‘Relative Dange’r (TV movie), ‘Christmas By Design’ (TV movie), ‘Pocketdial Murder’ (TV movie), ‘SurrealEstate’ (TV Series), ‘Murdoch Mysteries’ (TV Series), ‘Fake Nice’ (CFC) ‘Titan’s (TV Series) and others. Her theatrical successes include the two-woman, multi-character, comedy/drama ‘Freedom 85’ which Debra wrote and performed in. Touring extensively, including NYC, the play garnered great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Other ‘two-handers’ pepper her resume and include ‘Sexy Laundry’, ‘Storm Warning’ and ‘Here On The Flight Path’. When the pandemic hit, moving into editing and directing short videos was a natural evolution for Debra. In addition to these creative roles, she plays "Kitty" in ‘Colleen Curran's Kitty Calling’ - winner of NOW Magazine's Best Web Series 2021. Born and raised in Guelph, Ont. Canada, and a long-time advocate of dog rescue initiatives, this passionate dog lover has welcomed three wonderful rescue dogs into her home, vowing never to be without a canine in her life. Debra is also a self-described theatre-junkie whose hobbies include travelling, painting, cooking, cycling, playing euchre and visiting family and friends.

Genevieve O'Reilly

Cast · Known for Andor, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Genevieve O'Reilly is an Irish actress known for her versatility, having earned recognition for her performances across stage and screen. Most recently, Genevieve reprised her groundbreaking and legacy role of 'Mon Mothma' in the second and final season of Andor (2022), the Star Wars series on Disney+ described in 2025 by Vanity Fair as "the best television of the year so far." Her performance has been widely acclaimed: Variety praised her "excellent supporting turn," The Playlist highlighted her portrayal as "one of the finest seen from any actor on any screen," and Screen Rant called it "essentially flawless... eloquence and vulnerability." The second season has become the highest-rated live-action Star Wars series on Rotten Tomatoes to date. The first season was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the 2024 Emmy Awards, won a Peabody Award for Entertainment, and Genevieve was nominated for Supporting Actress - Drama at the 2023 IFTA Awards. For film, Genevieve was nominated as Best Lead Actress in Film at the AACTA Awards for her role in The Dry (2020), the adaptation of Jane Harper's multi-award-winning novel. The film opened at the top of the Australian box office on New Year's Day and achieved the fifth-highest opening day for a local film in history. Released by IFC Films in the US, The Dry (2020) garnered similar acclaim and was announced as runner-up for Best Narrative Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Her other notable film appearances include Tolkien (2019), the biopic of the iconic author J.R.R. Tolkien. The film explored Tolkien's formative years against the brutal backdrop of the First World War. Additionally, Genevieve appeared in the acclaimed films The Legend of Tarzan (2016) and The Young Victoria (2009). Genevieve is also known for her leading role in Tin Star (2017), Her portrayal of Angela Worth earned her an Irish Film and Television Award nomination. The series, a significant success for the channel, accumulated more than 17 million downloads and views during its first season. Genevieve's further television credits include Episodes with Matt LeBlanc, the Peabody Award-winning drama The Honorable Woman (2014) alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal, the BAFTA-nominated The Secret for ITV, BBC's Spooks and The Snowman with Michael Fassbender. On stage, Genevieve delivered a powerful performance as Mary Carney in Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman, first at the Royal Court Theatre and later in London's West End. She reprised the role on Broadway following the production's record-breaking, sold-out run. Directed by Sam Mendes, the play won three Olivier Awards, Evening Standard Awards, and a UK Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play. The New York Times called the production 'fiercely gripping,' and The Hollywood Reporter praised Genevieve's performance, noting her 'gorgeous speech,' which 'spills out full of conflicting impulses of hurt and compassion.' Genevieve's additional theatre credits include Ibsen's epic Emperor and Galilean as Helena, wife to Andrew Scott's emperor Julian, and Mike Bartlett's 13 at the National Theatre, Splendour by Abi Morgan at the Donmar Warehouse, Richard II at the Old Vic, The Way of the World with the Sydney Theatre Company, and The Weir at the Gate Theatre Dublin.

Tracy Froese

Tracy was born and raised in the small town of Warman Saskatchewan; she began performing as a competitive figure skater until the age of 17 when she moved to Vancouver, and came across acting by chance. She was signed with Tea Buechner at Vancouver Talent and was given her first role on Michael Dougherty's' "Trick r' Treat" as Anna Paquin's body double. It was that day on set that she discovered her passion for acting; which was further fueled by a role on"Supernatural", Season 3 Episode 5 "Bedtime Stories". Since then Tracy has been studying at "Lyric", "A.C.T Vancouver" and the "Margie Haber Studios" in Los Angeles. The Encouragement of one of those mentors was the catalyst for her to begin writing. She has three screenplays in the works, "The Pain of Passion", "Second Chance", and "Losing your Memory" She landed her first leading role in a short film called "The Orchid" by Lee Gerlach and since then has found herself booking several short films and independent projects including a recurring role in web series "Disturbia", as well as leading roles in "Eat it Raw", "Over" and "Holmes and Howards". She has also just recently become involved with theater and cast as "Miss Holly Day" a nerdy yet enthusiastic tour guide, "Miss Kate" the hurdy gurdy dancing girl and "Lottie McKinnon" the richest and cheapest woman to be found in the historical town of Barkerville.

John Waters

John Waters (born December 8, 1948) is one of Australia's most recognised and respected film and theatre actors. He was born in London England, the middle of five children of Scottish actor, Russell Waters. As a child John often hung around film studios while dad worked and even starred in a few young parts. He first faced a live audience as a singer and bass player with 60s R & R Band The Riots and appeared in Macbeth before travelling to Australia in 1968 with only a guitar and $90. He soon heard a US film called Adam's Woman, starring Beau Bridges, was being filmed in NSW so he managed to get himself cast in a small role. Fellow cast members recommended he try auditioning for a musical. He did, and landed the lead role of Claude in Sydney's 1969 production of the landmark rock musical, Hair. This was followed by the role of Judas in Godspell. This led to an acting career on stage, film and television that elevated him to his current status as Australia's most versatile leading man. From the brooding Sgt. McKellar Of ABC TV's Rush in 1974 which earned him a Logie Award for Best New Talent, through the Australian film boom that followed with films such as End Play, Summerfield, Breaker Morant, and on to the mini-series of the 80's, All The Rivers Run, Nancy Wake and Alice To Nowhere. Not to be forgotten was his ten year stint as host of childrens ABC program PlaySchool. John has always intrigued audiences with his diversity. Since collecting Australia's highest accolade as the Australian Film Institute's Best Actor Award in 1988 for the film Boulevard of Broken Dreams, John has re-embraced musical theatre as Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady, and They're Playing Our Song, and in productions of The Hunting of the Snark for Mike Batt, and A Little Night Music for the Sydney Theatre Company. He has also appeared in Love Letters at the Sydney Opera House and Children of a Lesser God. In 1995 he appeared in ReUnion a rock musical written and financed by himself and Stewart D'Arrietta. He won unanimous acclaim in the role of Pontius Pilate in the 1992 concert version of Jesus Christ Superstar with John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens and Angry Anderson which successfully toured the nation. He has made guest appearances in various TV series, including Good Guys Bad Guys, The Man From Snowy River, All Together Now and Young Lions. John's self written one man show Looking Through a Glass Onion, based on the life of John Lennon, toured nationally and regularly since 1992 and also played six months in London's West End in 1995.

Luke Evans

Cast · Known for The Get Out, Beauty and the Beast, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Luke George Evans (born 15 April 1979) is a Welsh actor. Evans began his career on the stage, performing in many of London's West End productions such as Rent, Miss Saigon, and Piaf before making his film breakthrough in the Clash of the Titans 2010 remake. Following his debut, Evans was cast in such action and thriller films as Immortals (2011), The Raven (2012), and the re-imagined The Three Musketeers (2011). In 2013, Evans starred as the main antagonist Owen Shaw in the blockbuster Fast & Furious 6, and also played Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Evans also portrayed the vampire Dracula in the character's film origin story, Dracula Untold. In 2017, Evans starred as Gaston in Disney's live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, and portrayed American psychologist William Moulton Marston, creator of fictional character Wonder Woman, in the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sean Tucker

Cast · Known for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Sean Tucker was born on February 23, 1973, in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Belleville, Ontario. He graduated from the University of Ottawa Department of Theatre and was the co-founder and managing director of the New Ottawa Repertory Theatre (N.O.R.T.). He made his feature film debut in George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003) and has worked steadily in film and television since. He met his wife the first day of university; together they have three children. His notable film credits include Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002, dir. Clooney, with Catherine Keener), Whiteout (2009, with Claire Danes and Stephen Dorff), Long Shot (2019, with Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen), Pieces of a Woman (2020, with Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf), To Catch a Killer (2023, with Tom Hardy), and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023, with Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback).

John McCafferty

Composer · Known for Cavegirl

John McCafferty is an actor and writer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the USA to American parents. He is raised as Slovak Catholic. His father was a fireman with too many jobs to keep his family financially well. He was a workaholic, used to keep himself busy with work and spared very less time with his family. His mother, who was a look-alike of Hedy Lamar with glasses, was a supple woman with great childlike character and energy. She was a fortune teller. Her instinct, premonition, and dreams always seemed explicit. John has three sisters. As a child, John had very few friends and was alone most of the times; his father never had time for his games and his mother was busy telling people their fortunes. He was a curious child, while his other friends spent their time playing sports; he used to spend his time inspecting the unknown facts of publications like Stranger than Fiction, Fate, and Flying Saucers- Serious Business, Chariots of the Gods. He was always thinking about things and questioning his educators, ‘How can that be?’ John was fond of fantasy movies and TV serials as a child and watched Twilight Zone, Star Trek, One Step Beyond, and Outer Limits. He went to Catholic Grade School for his early studies and to Public High School for his higher studies. In high school, John joined drama club and took lead roles in plays. He also played drums in the R&R band. John attended Kent State University for his graduation; it is where his of lifestyle and mentality took a shift. In his freshman year, he met Vietnam vets and learned through them that Vietnam War was a complete waste of people’s life and resource. In his second year, he interchanged his major subject from theater to TV & Radio and minor subject to Photo Journalism. After graduation, John did different jobs which included Vampire Shift at WDBN Radio, Cleveland, Ohio, which he described as “the loneliest job in the world’. He also acted in local commercials and performed voice over. Later, he moved to Los Angeles leaving his family and band-mates behind and worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios. He then started acting in National Commercials and co-starring leads on TV through which he got a lead role on the NBC soap opera Texas for which he relocated to New York for three years. He has acted in many movies and TV series but his best-known works are - Texas (1980), Death row Game show (1987) and Sexual Intent (1993). He has other experiences as Spokesman, Ear prompter, Teleprompter, Voice over, TV Promos, Movie Trailers, Psychic, Palm Reader, Handwriting Analyst. (source: nettv4u.com/celebrity/english/movie-actor/john-mccafferty)

Daisy Spencer

Daisy Spencer is a rhythm guitarist. She is known to be a part of Olivia Rodrigo’s team as the touring guitarist of the band. She has also appeared in the music video for Rodrigo’s song, “Obsessed”. Before this, Spencer was a member of the band “The Skins” for 7 years and was the guitarist for R&B singer, Pink Sweat$. As an androgynous queer woman, Spencer is a champion for LGBTQ+ advocacy in the music industry and openly speaks about the challenges she has faced with identity and acceptance.

John Standing

Cast · Known for V for Vendetta

Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherine Standing), an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, 3rd Baronet, a stockbroker descended from Sir Herbert Leon, the builder of Bletchley Park. He succeeded his father as the 4th baronet in 1964, but does not use the title. The Leon family were, until 1937, owners of Bletchley Park, the country house in Buckinghamshire used in the Second World War as a code-breaking centre. He was educated at Eton College and Millfield School, Somerset. He served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a second lieutenant, before going on to study at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London Standing began his career in Peter Brook's 1955 production of Titus Andronicus starring Laurence Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh and later played leading parts in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Christopher Fry's Ring Round the Moon, A Sense of Detachment by John Osborne, and Noël Coward's Private Lives, with Maggie Smith. He was nominated for an Olivier award (1979) for Close of Play at the National Theatre. He made his film debut in The Wild and the Willing (1962), going on to appear in King Rat (1965), Walk, Don't Run (1966), The Psychopath (1966), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), The Elephant Man (1980), Nightflyers (1987), Mrs Dalloway (1997) and A Good Woman (2004). One of his first major television roles was as Sidney Godolphin in the BBC twelve-part serial, The First Churchills (1969). Other television appearances include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979); the ITV sitcom The Other 'Arf (1980–84), with Lorraine Chase; The Choir (1995) and King Solomon's Mines (2004). In the United States, he made guest appearances in numerous weekly programmes including L.A. Law, Civil Wars and Murder, She Wrote, and co-starred briefly with Robert Wagner and Samantha Smith in the action series Lime Street (1985). In 1976, he also appeared opposite Peter O'Toole in the little-seen BBC thriller film, Rogue Male, directed by Clive Donner. He appeared in the horror film Nightflyers (1987) adapted from a short story by George R. R. Martin. In 2002, he had a speaking credit on Lost Horizons, the second studio album from the British electronic duo Lemon Jelly. On track 1, "Elements", he lists the basic “elements" that make up the world: ash, metal, water, wood, fire and sky. On track 3, "Ramblin' Man", Standing reads a long list of various locations around the world, ranging from small Sussex villages to major world capitals. In July 2010, it was confirmed that he would be appearing as Jon Arryn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Rihanna

Cast · Known for Home, Battleship, Ali G: Who Iz I?

Robyn Rihanna Fenty (/riˈænə/ ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman and actress. She is noted as the best-selling female recording artist of the 21st century by Guinness World Records and the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of 2024, Rihanna is the third wealthiest musician in the world. She has seven U.S. diamond-certified singles and 14 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The recipient of various accolades, Rihanna is among the best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales estimated at 250 million units globally. Rihanna signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2005. She found mainstream recognition after releasing her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006). Both were influenced by Caribbean music, and the albums peaked within the top ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated dance-pop elements, establishing her status as a pop icon. Its lead single, "Umbrella", peaked atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and won her first Grammy Award. Rihanna continued to blend pop, dance and influences in her subsequent albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012)—the latter of which topped the Billboard 200. The albums spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one singles "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", and "Diamonds". Her eighth album, Anti (2016), showcased new creative control following her departure from Def Jam in favour of Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation. Becoming her second U.S. number-one album, it was supported by the chart-topping single "Work". Aside from music, Rihanna is recognized for her humanitarian involvement, entrepreneurship, and influence in the fashion industry. She established the Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first black woman to lead a luxury brand for LVMH. Rihanna has acted in major roles in Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean's 8 (2018). In 2018, the Government of Barbados appointed her as an ambassador and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rihanna, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.