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English-born American director
Alfred Hitchcock was an English-born American motion-picture director whose suspenseful films and television programs won immense popularity and critical acclaim over a long and tremendously productive...
American film director and producer
Steven Spielberg is an American motion-picture director and producer whose diverse films—which range from science-fiction fare, including such classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and...
American director, writer, and actor
Woody Allen is an American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, playwright, and author who is best known for his bittersweet comic films containing elements of parody, slapstick, and...
United States secretary of defense
Pete Hegseth is the polarizing U.S. secretary of defense (2025– ) in the second administration of Republican Pres. Donald Trump. When he was nominated for the position by Trump in 2024, many, including...
American filmmaker
Martin Scorsese is an American filmmaker known for his harsh, often violent depictions of American culture. From the 1970s, Scorsese created a body of work that was ambitious, bold, and brilliant. But...
American actor and director
Clint Eastwood is an American film actor who emerged as one of the most popular Hollywood stars in the 1960s, known for his portrayal of tough individualists, first as The Man with No Name in Sergio Leone’s...
American film director
Robert Altman was an unconventional and independent American motion-picture director, whose works emphasize character and atmosphere over plot in exploring themes of innocence, corruption, and survival....
American screenwriter and director
James Gunn’s ability to translate the energy and inventiveness of comic books into film has made him one of the most sought-after American writer-directors in the superhero genre—a lucrative reservoir...
American director
Sidney Lumet was an American film director who was noted for his psychological dramas, which typically featured characters wrestling with moral or emotional conflicts involving betrayal, corruption, or...
American film director
George Cukor was an American motion-picture director who produced films of high quality for 50 years, combining his skill in working with actors, especially actresses, and his careful attention to details....
American director
Mike Nichols was an American motion-picture, television, and stage director whose productions focus on the absurdities and horrors of modern life as revealed in personal relationships. (Read Martin Scorsese’s...
American actor and comedian
Stephen Colbert is an American actor and comedian who was best known as the host of The Colbert Report (2005–14), an ironic send-up of television news programs, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015–26)....
South Korean film director
When the revenge thriller Oldeuboi (Oldboy) opened in South Korean cinemas in 2003, audiences lapped up director Park Chan-Wook’s flashy camerawork, black humor, and operatic violence—not to mention a...
American actor and director
Rob Reiner was an American actor and director known especially for his role as Michael (“Meathead”) Stivic in the television series All in the Family (1971–79) and for his direction of such culturally...
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
Dolly Parton was an American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress who pioneered the interface between country and pop music styles and became one of the most iconic entertainment figures...
American-born Australian actress
Nicole Kidman is an American-born Australian actress known for her considerable range and versatility as well as for her glamorous looks and cool demeanor. She won an Academy Award for best actress for...
American chef, television personality, and author
Ina Garten is an American chef, entrepreneur, author, and television personality. She is best known as the founder of the Barefoot Contessa brand, which began as a gourmet food store that she owned and...
American entertainer
Janet Jackson is an American singer and actress and the youngest member of Motown’s famed Jackson family. Starting out in the 1970s as a child actor who occasionally performed music with her siblings,...
American Canadian actor
Matthew Perry was an American Canadian comedic actor best known for his portrayal of the wisecracking Chandler Bing on the hugely popular sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Matthew Perry was the only child born...
American actor
Charlie Sheen is an American actor who became equally famous for his work in such films as Platoon (1986) and Major League (1989) and the television series Two and a Half Men (2003–11) and Anger Management...
American film producer
Walt Disney was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of animated cartoon films and as the creator of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck....
The extravagant designer dressed Marilyn, Elton, and Cher
Bob Mackie was an American costume designer noted for his extravagant and inventive style, characterized by meticulously hand-beaded garments and abundant applications of feathers and rhinestones. His...
American actor and race-car driver
Patrick Dempsey is an American actor and professional race-car driver best known for his role on the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy (2005– ), created by American producer Shonda Rhimes. In the show, Dempsey...
American actor and producer
Noah Wyle is an American actor and producer best known for playing a pair of fictional hospital physicians: John Carter on the hit NBC medical drama ER (1994–2009) and Michael (“Dr. Robby”) Robinavitch...
American televangelist
Jim Bakker was an American televangelist, best remembered as the cohost, with his wife Tammy Faye Bakker, of the television talk show The PTL Club (also called The Jim and Tammy Show). He began his career...
American director
Mitchell Leisen was an American costume designer, art director, and film and television director. He was considered a “woman’s director” by dint of the affinity he demonstrated for actresses. His motion...
American director
Don Siegel was an American motion-picture director who specialized in action-packed films with tightly constructed narratives. He frequently worked with actor Clint Eastwood, and their collaborations include...
American actor
Born in Kentucky and trained in Chicago theater, Michael Shannon emerged in the early 21st century as a versatile actor in film and television. Known for the combustible intensity he brings to his performances,...
Indian actor
Perhaps no other Indian actor has left as indelible an imprint on Bollywood and popular culture as Amitabh Bachchan (born October 11, 1942, Allahabad [now Prayagraj], India), known for his baritone voice,...
American actor, filmmaker, and screenwriter
Stanley Tucci is a prolific American actor, filmmaker, and writer widely recognized for his versatile acting skills in film, television, and theater, as well as his acclaimed work behind the camera. His...
American singer and actor
Billy Ray Cyrus is an American country singer and actor best known for his 1992 song “Achy Breaky Heart,” a smash hit that crossed over to the pop charts and inspired a line dancing craze. He also acted...
American comedian, writer, and director
Jon Stewart is an American comedian, writer, and director who is best known for hosting (1999–2015, 2024– ) the satiric television news program The Daily Show. During his first stint on the show, which...
American comedian and actor
Chris Rock is an American comedian, actor, and director who broke into show business in the late 1980s with his electrifying stand-up routines, which often address racial matters with biting humor and...
American actor
Owen Wilson’s path to Hollywood comedy stardom began with what he once described as a “little idea” that he cooked up in his early 20s with Wes Anderson, his college friend and lifelong collaborator. That...
Canadian actress
Catherine O’Hara was a Canadian comedic actor whose improvisational skills and ability to imbue her comic characters with depth and humanity brought her respect and a number of career-defining roles. O’Hara...
American actor
Tramell Tillman is an American actor best known for playing the turtleneck-wearing, exceedingly loquacious supervisor Seth Milchick on the award-winning Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) dystopian sci-fi thriller...
American director
Arthur Penn was an American motion-picture, television, and theater director whose films were noted for their critical examination of the darker undercurrents of American society. (Read Martin Scorsese’s...
American actress
Linda Cardellini is a versatile actress who rose to prominence portraying teenager Lindsay Weir in the cult-classic coming-of-age television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). She is also known for playing...
British actor
Ian McKellen is a British actor of great versatility, noted for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and for his eclectic filmography. Counted among the most respected stage actors of his time,...
American director and screenwriter
Blake Edwards was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was best known for the classic romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffiany’s (1961) as well as the comedy The Pink Panther (1963) and...
American British actress and consort of Prince Harry
Meghan, duchess of Sussex is an American actress who in 2018 married Prince Harry, duke of Sussex, now fifth in line to the British throne. She previously acted on television shows, notably in the legal...
American actress
Jean Smart is an American actress recognized for her long, eclectic career in a range of comedic and dramatic roles, most notably as caustic stand-up comic Deborah Vance in the HBO comedy-drama television...
English film director
John Schlesinger was an English film director known for a wide variety of sensitively told stories set in his homeland and in the United States. Schlesinger’s father was a pediatrician, and both of his...
American director, producer, and actor
Sydney Pollack was an American director, producer, and actor who helmed a number of popular films, including The Way We Were (1973), Tootsie (1982), Out of Africa (1985), and The Firm (1993). Although...
American actress
Christina Applegate is an American actress who rose to fame as the airheaded teenage character Kelly Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children (1987–97). Applegate has since enjoyed a prolific career,...
American director
John Frankenheimer was an American television and film director who was considered one of the most important and creatively gifted directors of the 1950s and ’60s. He was especially noted for such classic...
Brazilian American actor and filmmaker
Wagner Moura is a Brazilian American actor and filmmaker who first came to the attention of global audiences with his portrayal of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the Netflix drama Narcos (2015–17)....
American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
Mel Brooks is an American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor whose motion pictures elevated outrageousness and vulgarity to high comic art. Brooks began his career in entertainment...
American playwright
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on marginalized communities, the working class, and race relations in America. Nottage has said of her work, “In all my plays, I’m trying...
American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor
Paul Williams is an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor known for his long and storied career in which he has written numerous award-winning songs, scored films, and acted in films and television....