Insider’s Corner

Paula Abdul was raised in San Fernando Valley. At age eight, she began learning dance. She was a student at Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class president and head cheerleader. Her graduation was in 1980 and went to the college process at Cal State Northridge to major in TV and radio. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. The Jacksons recruited her to choreograph the 1984 "Torture" the first of many videos and movies she choreographed. After her debut album "Forever Your Girl" the singer's career began to take off. However, the single "Straight Up" was a massive success and she has become a popular singer/dancer for years after. This is aided by her stint on American Idol (2002-2004). Her father (Harry Abdul) is of Sephardic Jewish background from Syria. Her mother, also Jewish, was born and raised ...

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is most well known for her portrayals on screen in both traditional and contemporary roles. She has also had a long line of roles both on stage and screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell is a Pennsylvania-born actress. She was the child of Eileen (Mundy) the Irish-American computer consultant, as well as John McDonnell. She was raised in Ithaca and then graduated from Fredonia State University of New York. She went on to the drama school and then was accepted into the Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). She was just 22 when she landed her breakthrough movie part in Dances with Wolves (1990) in which she played "Stands with a Fist", a Sioux Indian woman who is white. For the role, she earned her first Academy Award nomination. McDonnell was a part of the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991), and Mumford (1999) with such famous actors such as Robert Redford as well as Sidney Poitier. She also played in Roland Emmerich...

Paula Faris is an American journalist who was previously an anchor for television at ABC News. She is most famous for her role as co-host of Good Morning America Weekend, from 2014 to 2018, and host of The View, 2015-2018. Before this, she co-anchored World News Now as well as America This Morning. After graduating, she worked in several communications-related jobs including an operations position at Mills/James Productions in Columbus, Ohio. Because of the lack of opportunities available on television, she landed an opening as an agent for radio sales. She was eventually able to find work for a year as a production assistant at WKEF/WRGT , and then occasionally anchor and report. From 2002 to 2005 she was the weekend sports anchor and sports anchor on weekdays at the station WCPO in Cincinnati. The contract was ended and she was hired as a reporter and anchor for NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV, Chicago, from November 2005 to December 2011. In December 2011 she was appointed by ABC News, the ne...

Markie Post grew up in Walnut Creek, California and began her career in films and TV shows like Card Sharks (1978) and "The New Card Sharks" (1986) and then went on to create projects such as Double Dare (1976) and has made appearances on such programs on television like 1st to Die (2003), E! True Hollywood Story (1996) and Electra Woman (2000). Her most famous TV part was "Christine Sullivan" in Night Court (1984). The actress was on an entire 156 episodes of this show from 1984 to 1992. Marylee (Armstrong) Post was her mother. She was an accomplished poet and nuclear scientist Richard Freeman Post (November 14 1918-April 7, 2015). She had two daughters with her second husband Michael A. Ross: Katie Ross (born June 26 in 1987) and Daisy Ross (born March 30, 1990). Her birthplace was Palo alto, California and grew up in the vicinity of Walnut Creek in California. As an athlete, she was a part of Las Lomas High school located in Walnut Creek. The Bachelor of Arts deg...

Sarah Chalke was born on 27 August 1976 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Angie Chalke is her mother and Doug Chalke are her father. She is the middle child having an older sister, Natasha Chalke, and one younger, Piper Chalke. Sarah made her acting debut in a television film called City Boy (1992). After her debut film her audition, she was cast in 1993 for the role of "Becky" from Roseanne (1988). After Alicia Goranson left the show to go to college the show was in search for the perfect replacement. Sarah completed her high school graduation in the year 1995, while shooting the 1994-1995 season of Roseanne (1988). In 1994, Sarah co-starred in the film Ernest Goes to School (1994) together with Jim Varney. She was in Robin of Locksley (1996) and Stand Against Fear(1996). In these films, she played the role of Krista Wilson and was a cheerleader. Sarah was invited to be a part in the 1998 show Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy. It was a year after Roseanne (1988). Based on the show No...

Lauren Ash is a recent Second City Chicago Mainstage alumni. She is also a graduate of the Second City Toronto Mainstage and is one half of the sketch comedy duo "Cory!". She's a two-time winner of the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female Improviser. She also took home the 2008 best Comedic Play and the 2006 Best Sketch Troupe awards. She's played various roles in "Scare Tactics" and the Canadian TV show, "Almost Heroes." She was a regular in "The Ron James Show" and also had guest roles in "Call Me Fitz," "Cracked," and "Bomb Girls." Her television and film credits also include "Video on Trial," Hotbox and the Academy Award-nominated "Lars and the Real Girl." She is the voice of Sam in "The Dating Guy," an animated Canadian series. Her wealth has been increasing substantially in the years 2019-2020. So, what is Lauren Ash worth at the age of 37 years old? Lauren Ash is a succes...

Paula Patton was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African American and her mother is caucasian. She is of German, English, Dutch and English roots. As a child her family was located right across from the 20th Century Fox lot. She was a fervent movie buff from the time she was a child. Her mother, who was a teacher, and her dad, a lawyer, were both avid movie buffs. Paula says that she used to escape from her mother by pretending to be someone else while when she was a kid. It's not too surprising that she was involved in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's high school plays. Her favorite character was one of Abigail in "The Crucible". After finishing the University of Southern California's summer program she took film classes and was assigned a three-month assignment to create documentaries for PBS. Then, she was hired as a production assistant on documentaries for television and Howie Mandel's talk-show. Af...

Amy Carlson was born in Glen Ellyn in Illinois and was raised in Chicago. Amy lived with her family in Chicago while she was in junior high. Parents, Bob, and Barb taught at the American School in the Middle East. Amy is the youngest of three siblings, sisters Betsy and Lori and brother Joe. Amy has traveled extensively across Europe with her family as well as on her own. Since her parents were teachers and teachers, they could spend the entire summer traveling and camping across the United States. In actuality, they've been camping in every state, with the exception of Alaska. Amy traveled to Rwanda to help in efforts to help after the 1994 war. Early on, Amy showed artistic talent acting in school productions as well as taking part in writing contests. In high school, she was a star athlete and was the first to participate in the ever 3200 meter relay for girls in the Illinois track. In college, following an injury, she returned to the theater and performed in a variety on stage....

Penelope Cruz Sanchez is the daughter of Eduardo Cruz, a Madrid hairdresser, and Encarna Sanchez, a hairdresser from Madrid. She was a fervent performer in her youth and even reenacted commercials on TV to entertain the family. However, she decided to focus her attention on dancing. After studying ballet for nine years in the Spanish National Conservatory, she continued her studies under a group of highly acclaimed dancers. She discovered her true calling at the age of 15, when she topped 300 girls at an audition for a talent agency. The contract she was offered secured her roles on Spanish television shows , as well as music videos. This opened opportunities for a successful career on the big screen. Cruz made her debut in a film in The Greek Labyrinth (1993) (The Greek Labyrinth) and then briefly in the Timothy Dalton thriller Framed (1992). Her next film was the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque (1992), in which she played one of the four sisters fighting for the love of a handsome deserte...

Milena Govich is an actor also a director, actor, and musician. She has directed a number of episodes of TV such as Chicago Med (2015) (211) and The Equalizer (221). Milena served as the Co-EP/Producing Director for Dick Wolf’s CBS show FBI (2018) and is currently in the process of completing two pilots. Milena was selected as one of the eight directors for AFI's highly acclaimed Directing Workshop for Women. Unspeakable was her television series as well as a short film. With Jeff Kober and Laura Vandervoort the film was awarded the Best Episodic Award at Seattle International Film Festival as well as Best Pilot at the SoHo International Film Festival. The short film she made, Temporary (2017) has been shown across the country and won Best Narrative Short at Anthem Film Festival, Best Dark Comedy at Atlanta ShortsFest as well as the Director's Choice Award at Sedona International Film Festival. As an actor Milena has been featured in more than 100 episodes of television. She fi...

Piper Perabo is a Golden Globe nominated stage, film and TV actor. Born in Dallas, Texas, and living in New Jersey, she graduated summa cum Laude from Ohio University. She was in the film Coyote Ugly's breakout role in the year 2000. She has been in a variety of films since then, including Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" in which she starred with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale as well as "Because I Said So" featuring Diane Keaton, and "First Snow" with Guy Pearce. "Cheaper by the Dozen", "Imagine Me & You" films with Steve Martin, "Cheaper by the Dozen", "Cheaper by the Dozen", "Cheaper by the Dozen" films, "10th & Wolf" crime drama with a cast that included Dennis Hopper and James Marsden. Perabo starred alongside Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels in Rian Johnson's sci-fi action movie "Looper.". Perabo played Annie Walker on US...

Ayelet Zuer, an Israeli actress, has been praised for her performance. She was born in Tel Aviv in 1967, she first caught the attention of Hollywood when she was offered the role as Eric Bana's wife in the Oscar(r) nominated film Munich (2005). Zurer is an American actress who has appeared in Studio films, such as Sony Pictures' Vantage Point featuring Dennis Quaid (with William Hurt) Samuel Goldwyn's Fugitive pieces, which starred Stephen Dillane, Paul Schrader’s Adam Resurrected alongside Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe. Ron Howard's Angeles and Demons is opposite Tom Hanks. Darling companion, a Lawrence Kasdan cast and starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline as well as Warner Bros. Man Of Steel in which she is opposite Russell Crow, is Ron Howard. Ewan McGregor was her co-filming partner in Rodrigo Garcia's Last Days in Desert. She also waited patiently for The Last Knights to be released by Kazuaki Kriya who is Kazuaki Kriya, the Japanese director. Recently, she wa...

Pollyanna McIntosh was born in Portugal and Colombia before returning to her hometown of Scotland and where she initially started performing on stage in The Edinburgh Festival. At 16 she relocated to London, where she soon became involved in filmmaking in the indie genre. (Her first pay-per-view on The Acid House was as an actor with Irvine Welsh (1998)). She's also participated in theater as an actor as well as director. In 2004, she moved to Los Angeles to direct "The Woolgatherer", a play in which Anne Dudek (a regular guest on Mad Men (2007)/Big Love (2006)) was directed. The play was praised by critics. In Headspace (2005), she was offered her first US film role as "Stacy" an manipulative person who was a newly-baptized Christian. The first time she appeared in a movie was in the film Headspace (2005) as the manipulative, born-again Christian "Thumper Wint". This comedy was written by Heathers (1988). In both LA and London, Exam (2009) was her nex...

Paget Valerie Broughster is an American actor, singer, and voice actress. Her fame was first recognized due to her frequent appearance as Kathy on the fourth season of the NBC sitcom Friends. Her breakthrough role was Emily Prentiss, a Supervisory Special Agent on Criminal Minds. From 2006 to 2012 , she appeared on Criminal Minds frequently. She has been back with guest appearances ever since and will be appearing on Criminal Minds frequently in the year 2016. Other roles she's played includes Mr. Mumbles, Elise, and Mr. Mumbles in Dan Vs. Frankie Dart, Birdgirl in Harvey Birdman Attorney at Lawyer, Sara Kingsley, on Fox sitcom Grandfathered and voicing Donald Duck's twin sister Della on the show DuckTales 2017. The first time that she appeared in animation as the character. Brewster was conceived in Concord, Massachusetts on March 10, 1969. Her mother, Hathaway Brewster (nee Tew) was a government official. Galen Brewster was her father and worked as an administrator at the sch...

Pom Klementieff was born on May 3rd, 1986. She studied at the Cours Florent drama school, Paris. She has appeared in films such as Loup 2009, Sleepless Night 2011 and Hacker's Game 2015. She is the Mantis character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Pom Klementieff was the child of two parents: a Korean mother, and a father who was French-Russian. Her father was consul in Quebec City, Canada. Her father was a painter Eugene Klementieff. Her parents chose the name "Pom" because it is similar in pronunciation to the Korean words for "spring" and "tiger". The actress spent a year in Canada before her family moved around extensively due to her father's work. Prior to moving to France they lived in Japan as well as on the Ivory Coast. Klementieff lost her father to cancer at age five. Her mother was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. Klementieff was rai...