Lauren Vélez
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Lauren Vélez
Luna Lauren Vélez (born November 2, 1964) is an American actress and the identical twin sister of actress Lorraine Vélez. Her most notable television roles are as María LaGuerta on Showtime (TV network), Showtime's ''Dexter (TV series), Dexter'', Detective Nina Moreno on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox's ''New York Undercover'', Dr. Gloria Nathan on HBO's prison drama ''Oz (TV series), Oz'', and Elena on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's comedy-drama ''Ugly Betty''. She also starred as Rio Morales in ''Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2018). Early life and education In the early 1950s, Vélez's parents moved from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York, where she and her identical twin sister, Lorraine Vélez, were born. The twins have five other sisters and one brother. Vélez's father, a New York City Police Department officer, eventually bought a house in Far Rockaway, Queens, and moved the family there. The twins staged improvised plays and acting for the family and participa ...
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San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is commonly known simply as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC. The convention was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in 1970 by a group of San Diegans that included Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Ron Graf, and Mike Towry; later, it was called the "San Diego Comic Book Convention", Dorf said during an interview that he hoped the first Con would bring in 500 attendees. It is a four-day event (Thursday–Sunday) held during the summer (in July since 2003) at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the official opening, professionals, exhibitors, and pre-registered guests for all four days can attend a pre-event "Preview Night" to give attendees the opportunity to walk the exhi ...
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Fiddler On The Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the Dairyman'') and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. ''Fiddler'' held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until '' Grease'' surpassed its run. ...
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Jon Seda
Jonathan Seda (born October 14, 1970) is a Puerto Rican actor. Seda was an amateur boxer who auditioned for and was given a role in the 1992 boxing film ''Gladiator''. He played the role of Chris Pérez alongside Jennifer Lopez in the movie ''Selena'', and portrayed U.S. Marine John Basilone, recipient of the Medal of Honor, in Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's '' The Pacific''. On television, he had roles as Detective Antonio Dawson in NBC's ''Chicago P.D.'', and as Paul Falsone in NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. Early life Seda was born in Manhattan to parents of Puerto Rican descent and raised in Clifton, New Jersey. After graduating from Clifton High School, Seda was convinced by two friends that he should take up boxing, so he began working out in a gym. He boxed in several gyms in New Jersey and soon was a runner up in the New Jersey Golden Gloves competition. As an amateur boxer, Seda had a record of 21 wins and one loss. Career Seda's film debut was in the b ...
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Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and theater projects throughout her extensive career spanning over seven decades. Her work includes supporting roles in the classic musical films '' Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), ''The King and I'' (1956), and the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations of ''West Side Story''. Her other notable films include ''Popi'' (1969), ''Carnal Knowledge'' (1971), '' The Four Seasons'' (1981), '' I Like It Like That'' (1994) and the cult film ''Slums of Beverly Hills'' (1998). She is also known for her work on television including the children's television series ''The Electric Company'' (1971–1977), and as Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on the HBO series '' Oz'' (1997–2003). She voiced the titular role of in ''Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?'' from 1994 to 1 ...
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I Like It Like That (film)
''I Like It Like That'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film about the trials and tribulations of a young Puerto Rican man and a half Jamaican Puerto Rican American woman living in a poverty-stricken New York City neighborhood in the South Bronx. The film stars Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Lisa Vidal, Griffin Dunne, Jesse Borrego and Rita Moreno, and was written and directed by Darnell Martin who, in her filmmaking debut, became the first African-American female filmmaker to take helm of a film produced by a major film studio. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Lisette Linares is a young mother of three children and married to Chino, a bicycle messenger. Although he is always reliable as the breadwinner of the family, Chino is having an affair with their lustful neighbor, Magdalena. One summer evening, as a blackout sweeps the neighborhood, Chino gets arrested for looting. Now faced with the reality of keeping her family t ...
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Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size ...
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Into The Woods
''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...s, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood" (spelled "Ridinghood" in the published vocal score), "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of the Grimm Brothers' "Rapunzel"), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during th ...
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Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackle "unexpected themes that range far beyond the enre'straditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication." His shows address "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience," with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life. He was known for his frequent collaborations with Hal Prince and James Lapine on the Broadway stage. Sondheim's interest in musical theater began at a young age, and he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II. He began his career by writing the lyrics for ''West Side Story'' (1957) and ''Gypsy'' (1959). He transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, with his best-known works including '' A Funny Thing Happened on the ...
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Phylicia Rashad
Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992) which earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She also played Ruth Lucas on '' Cosby'' (1996–2000). She was dubbed "The Mother of the Black Community" at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards. In 2004, Rashad became the first black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, which she won for her role in the revival of ''A Raisin in the Sun''.Tony Awards (official site)
In 2022, Rashad won her second Tony Award for
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Dreamgirls
''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others,Grossberg, Michael " 'Dreamgirls' continues to spark questions about its Motown inspiration" ''The Columbus Dispatch'', March 6, 2015 the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called "The Dreams", who become music superstars. Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatundé, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. The musical was then nominated for 13 Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and won six. It was later adapted into a motion picture from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures in 2006. The film sta ...
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Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna Hall, Susanna, and twins Hamnet Shakespeare, Hamnet and Judith Quiney, Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, ...
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Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Meisner was the oldest child of Hermann Meisner, a furrier, and Bertha Knoepfler, both Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from Hungary. His younger siblings were Jacob, Ruth, and Robert. To improve Sanford's health during his youth, his family took a trip to the Catskills. While there, however, his brother Jacob contracted bovine tuberculosis from drinking unpasteurized milk and died shortly thereafter. In an interview many years later, Meisn ...
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