Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday: Mikaela Hoover

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Mikaela HooverDate of Birth 12 July 1984, Spokane, Washington, USA
Height 5′ 1½” (1.56 m)

After getting her BA in theatre she booked the first movie she auditioned for called “Frank”. She later went on to play the role of Madison in the WB’s “Sorority Forever” and landed a recurring role on the ABC show “Happy Endings”. She has guest starred on many extremely popular sitcoms including “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Saint George”, “The League”, and “Anger Management”. She has done many projects with writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) including “The Sparky and Mikaela Show”, “PG Porn”, “Humanzee”, and the movie “Super”.

Happy Birthday: Natalie Martinez

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Natalie Martinez
Date of Birth 12 July 1984, Miami, Florida, USA
Height 5′ 6½” (1.69 m)

Natalie Martinez began modeling at the age of 15, years before she considered giving acting a try. The Miami-born beauty’s career blossomed with a simple suggestion from her mother. During her senior year at St. Brendan High School in 2002, her mother saw an ad for J.Lo’s new clothing line. After beating over 5,000 other girls for the gig, Natalie packed up and moved to Los Angeles.

Happy Birthday: Milton Berle (1908–2002)

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Milton Berle (1908–2002)Date of Birth 12 July 1908, New York City, New York, USA
Date of Death 27 March 2002, Los Angeles, California, USA (colon cancer)
Birth Name Milton Berlinger
Nicknames Uncle Miltie
Mr. Television
The Boy Wonder
The Thief of Bad Gags
Height 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

Don’t burn, just singe.

You show the emotion so you get the audience going the other way.

[on his beginning as a comic] I had copied my style from a great comic, Ted Healy. I patterned myself after Healy, with the hat turned up in front and the collegiate look. I was the brash, flippant wise guy, smart-ass type.
I have a file of four million jokes . . . I have them cross-indexed. Whatever subject you want, I have a joke on it.

[on his early television show] The first year I was on, ’48 or ’49, I didn’t even have a writer. I just remembered what I did for the last 20 years ’cause we couldn’t afford a writer–there wasn’t any money. So it was a pretty difficult thing and the facilities were difficult.

[his definition of a comic]. . . a comic is a guy who depends solely on the joke, and we have thousands of them. The comedian can get a laugh opening a door in the funny way that he does it and his attitude–that’s a comic versus a comedian. Now a “funnyman” can get a laugh before opening his mouth–looking funny. Lou Costello was one of your great funnymen. Harry Langdon, Larry Semon; they were all funnymen–they LOOKED funny. W.C. Fields was never a comedian. Slim Summerville was a comedian, yet looked funny. Now if you have both attributes, you are in good shape. There is a great line between the comic, the comedian, the funnyman, the buffoon and the clown. I don’t maybe do everything well–but I know the difference.

Happy Birthday: Walter Murch

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Walter MurchDate of Birth 12 July 1943, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name Walter Scott Murch

Married to:
Aggie Murch (6 August 1965 – present) (2 children)

He believes in editing while standing up.

Murch is a beekeeper and he makes his own honey.

Introduced Hollywood to the idea of editing films on the non-linear Mac based program Final Cut Pro rather than the Avid. Since then, has gone back to Avid Media Composer.

To date, only artist ever to win Oscars for both film editing and sound engineering on a single film (The English Patient (1996)).

[about the opening scene of Apocalypse Now (1979):] “You’re looking at a character whose head is enveloped in flames, and then at slow-motion helicopter blades slicing through his body, superimposed upon a whirling ceiling fan, and strange sounds and music intermingling from different sources; you’re probably aware you’re watching a film, not an imitation of real life. Even dreams, despite their odd surreality, don’t look quite like that. Inevitably, the superimposed images in “Apocalypse Now” betray a self-consciousness because they come at the very beginning and are intended to expose and explore Willard’s inner state of mind. If there had been no resonance between that scene and the film as a whole, the opening would have been a meaningless exercise, empty virtuosity.”

Happy Birthday: Brian Grazer

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Brian GrazerDate of Birth 12 July 1951, Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name Brian Thomas Grazer
Height 5′ 7″ (1.7 m)

Married to: Veronica A Smiley (20 February 2016 – present)
Gigi Levangie (20 September 1997 – 21 May 2009) (divorced) (2 children)
Corki Grazer (23 May 1982 – 2 June 1992) (divorced) (2 children)
Theresa Mckay-Roberts (16 March 1972 – 6 July 1979) (divorced)

I only make movies that are interesting to me.

I probably should have a brand, but I think you can’t get the best artists to work for you if you’re branded. I get the trade-off, and I really would like to be more famous for my work, get more credit for my achievements. We all want more of that. But on the other hand, if you get too big–like it says in American Gangster (2007)’–success is your enemy.

I like learning stuff. The more information you can get about a person or a subject, the more you can pour into a potential project. I made a decision to do different things. I want to do things that have a better chance of being thought of as original. I do everything I can to disrupt my comfort zone.

[on criticisms that ’24’ made Americans more amenable to torture] I don’t think we made it OK at all. I think that we just stated that it was going on. Ultimately, Jack Bauer was a wish-fulfillment character – the guy we wished we could be when we saw political injustice or terrorism, either in our country or other countries.

Happy Birthday: Jamey Sheridan

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Jamey SheridanDate of Birth 12 July 1951, Pasadena, California, USA
Birth Name James Patrick Sheridan
Height 6′ 0½” (1.84 m)

Married to: Colette Kilroy (15 August 1992 – present) (3 children)

Television allows for survival, which is the basic issue for me. You have to decide how much money is enough. You can’t get carried away with the hunt for money. But there are times it shows up, and you need to grab it, and that allows you to hunt for a better script.

Happy Birthday: Anna Friel

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Anna FrielDate of Birth 12 July 1976, Rochdale, Lancashire, England, UK
Birth Name Anna Louise Friel
Height 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)

Onstage, there’s no hiding; you either can or can’t act. There’s no second take.

We will spend more time in America, we’re going to get a place in LA as hotels aren’t great for the baby.

As long as she is talented enough and passionate about doing it herself then I will be happy and support her. I think I will be sensible – my parents said I could only do it if I got my education and so I had something to fall back on.

You can see when an actor gets bored: Their eyes go dead. I promised myself I’d never let that happen. If it does, I’ll go and live on a desert island for a year.

Happy Birthday: Phoebe Tonkin

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Phoebe TonkinDate of Birth 12 July 1989, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birth Name Phoebe Jane Elizabeth Tonkin
Nickname Phoebs
Height 5′ 7¾” (1.72 m)

From age 12 began completing various courses at the Australian Theatre for Young People; including Shakespeare, Script to Stage, Clowning Around and Musical Theatre.

Attended Queenwood School in Balmoral, known for its excellent drama department, and supplemented her education with private drama classes. Each year she took part in the school’s Shakespeare festival, ultimately winning the 2005 state final in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also took part in all of the school plays including Antigone, White Crane and Venetian Twins.

Began various dance classes at age 4; including classical ballet, tap, hip-hop, and contemporary.

Happy Birthday: Kristen Connolly

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Kristen ConnollyDate of Birth 12 July 1980, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Birth Name Kristen Nora Connolly
Height 5′ 7″ (1.7 m)

A lot of auditions are not fun; they’re just a necessary evil, and, if you’re lucky, you have a few moments that are fun.

Everyone has dated or been with a person who is obsessed with their work, and it’s immensely frustrating.

I went to Yale’s drama school for theater, so we did tons of Shakespeare; then, I got out of school and said, ‘OK, it will be Shakespeare,’ and it was like, ‘Or, it will be commercials and soaps.’

Hair and make-up people don’t get enough credit for what they do. It’s not just making people look good. It’s really creating the character.