Leap Day Babies
Leap Day (29-February) occurs on average every four years and usually occurs during a year divisible by four. A leap day is added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year.
Which of these celebrities who were born on Leap Day is your favorite?
After voting, please discuss here.
Poll is based on this search as of 26 February 2024.
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New Year's Babies by yrnejd
Christmas' Babies by brijeshmarand
Thanksgiving's Babies by dan_dassow
Occasional Thanksgiving Birthdays by dan_dassow
Which of these celebrities who were born on Leap Day is your favorite?
After voting, please discuss here.
Poll is based on this search as of 26 February 2024.
Please vote in these other polls:
New Year's Babies by yrnejd
Christmas' Babies by brijeshmarand
Thanksgiving's Babies by dan_dassow
Occasional Thanksgiving Birthdays by dan_dassow
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Rakhee Thakrar was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. Rakhee is an actor, known for Wonka (2023), Sex Education (2019) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (2019). Rakhee has been married to Vikash Bhai since 2 September 2017.Born 29-February-1984- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Dennis Farina was one of Hollywood's busiest actors and a familiar face to moviegoers and television viewers alike. Recently, he appeared in the feature films, "The Grand," a comedy about a Vegas poker tournament with Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines and Ray Romano; "Bottle Shock," also starring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Bradley Whitford; and Fox's "What Happens in Vegas," in which Dennis starred as Cameron Diaz's boss. Farina also appeared on the NBC series "Law and Order" and in the HBO miniseries, "Empire Falls," for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Mini-Series.
Farina is well remembered for his role in memorable features such as Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight," in which he played the retired lawman father of Jennifer Lopez's character. This was Farina's second outing in an Elmore Leonard best seller, the previous one being "Get Shorty," directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and co-starring John Travolta, Rene Russo and Gene Hackman. Farina received an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male for his performance as "Ray 'Bones' Barboni."
In 1998's "Saving Private Ryan," directed by Steven Spielberg, Farina played "Col. Anderson," a pivotal role in the film. It is this character who convinces Tom Hanks character to lead a squad deep into Nazi territory to rescue "Pvt. Ryan." He also co-starred with Brad Pitt and Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro in the darkly comedic crime drama "Snatch," directed by Guy Ritchie.
Farina's numerous other screen credits include John Frankenheimer's "Reindeer Games," "Paparazzi," Martin Brest's "Midnight Run," the Michael Mann film "Manhunter", among many other feature films. Farina is also recognized for his role in the critically acclaimed television series, NBC's "Crime Story". A veteran of the Chicago theater, Farina has appeared in Joseph Mantegna's "Bleacher Bums," and "A Prayer For My Daughter," directed by John Malkovich, and many others. He died on July 22, 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona at age 69.Born 29-February-1944- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joss Ackland, the distinguished English actor who has appeared in over 100 movies, scores of plays and a plethora of television programs in his six-decade career, was born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland on February 29, 1928, in North Kensington, London. After attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama, the 17-year-old Ackland made his professional stage debut in "The Hasty Heart" in 1945.
Although he first appeared on film in John Boulting's and Roy Boulting's Oscar-winning thriller Seven Days to Noon (1950) in an uncredited bit role, he made his credited debut in a supporting role in Vernon Sewell's Ghost Ship (1952). He would not again grace the big screen until the end of the decade. Instead, Ackland spent the latter half of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s honing his craft in regional theatrical companies.
In 1955 he left the English stage behind and moved to Africa to manage a tea plantation, an experience that likely informed his heralded performance 20 years later in White Mischief (1987). In his two years in Africa he wrote plays and did service as a radio disc jockey. Upon his return to England in 1957, he joined the Old Vic company.
From 1962-64 he served as associate director of the Mermaid Theatre. Subsequently, his stage acting career primarily was in London's commercial West End theater, where he made a name for himself in musicals. He was distinguished as Captain Hook in the musical version of "Peter Pan" and as Juan Peron in "Evita". In the straight theater he was a memorable Falstaff in William Shakespeare's "Henry IV Parts 1 & 2" and as Captain Shotover in George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House". In the 1960s Ackland began appearing more regularly in films, and his career as a movie character actor picked up rapidly in the 1970s and began to flourish in the 1980s. It has shown little sign of abating in the 21st century, even though he's well into his 70s.
In addition to his performance in "White Mischief", among his more notable turns as an actor before the camera came in the BBC-TV production of Shadowlands (1986), in which he played 'C.S. Lewis', and in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) as the ruthless South African heavy, Arjen Rudd.
He is the father of seven children, whom he listed as his "hobby" in a 1981 interview. On December 31, 2000, Joss Ackland was named a Commander of the British Empire on the New Year's Honours List for his 50 years of service to the English stage, cinema and television.Born 29-February-1928- Tough, gruff, thick-browed, volatile-looking character actor Alex Rocco was born Alessandro Federico Petricone, Jr. on February 29, 1936, to Italian immigrants in Cambridge, Mass. He grew up a member of Boston's Winter Hill gang (his nickname was "Bobo") and was briefly detained regarding a murder at one point after an alleged personal incident triggered the Boston Irish Gang War (1961-1967). Rocco decided to straighten his life and relocated to Hollywood in 1962 following his detainment and release.
Developing an interest in acting, Alex initially trained with such notable teachers as Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Corey in order to curb his thick Boston accent. Working as a bartender during the lean years, his film and TV career finally kick-started in 1965, immediately relying on his sly, lethal menace, toothy toughness, and prior gangland past to realistically portray gritty anti-heroes and villains. He made an effective movie debut, co-starring as a vengeful veterinarian and Vietnam vet who goes after motorcycle "bad boys" following his wife's beating and rape in the exploitation flick Motorpsycho! (1965) directed by Russ Meyer. Despite this bold beginning, it was followed by a disappointing gangster bit in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) and a nothing role as a police Lieutenant in The Boston Strangler (1968). On TV, he found sporadic work playing thugs and other unsavory types on such TV shows as "Run for Your Life," "Batman" and "Get Smart."
Rocco came into his own in the early 1970s. After featured roles in such violent exploitation like Blood Mania (1970) and Brute Corps (1971), he received a huge boost in an Oscar-winning "A" film. He made a brief but potent impact essaying the role of Las Vegas syndicate boss Moe Green who gets a bullet in the eye during the violently explosive "christening sequence" of Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1972). From there he found a comfortable supporting niche playing various swarthy-looking cronies, hoods and cops in such crime films as The Outside Man (1972), Slither (1973), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) (in which he made good use of his Boston criminal past), Freebie and the Bean (1974), Three the Hard Way (1974) and A Woman for All Men (1975). Similar urban roles followed him on TV with yeoman work on such 1970s cop shows as "The Rookies", "Get Christie Love", "Kojak", "Cannon", "The Blue Knight", "Police Story", "The Rockford Files", "Barnaby Jones", "Dog and Cat", "Baretta", "Starsky and Hutch", "Delvecchio", "CHiPs", "Matt Houston", "Hardcastle and McCormick", and "Simon & Simon", along with the TV movies or miniseries A Question of Guilt (1978), The Gangster Chronicles (1981) and Badge of the Assassin (1985).
In the midst of all this, Alex was handed the starring role of his own series Three for the Road (1975) in which he played a new widower photographer with two teenage sons (played by Vincent Van Patten and Leif Garrett) who assuage their grief by leaving town and "discovering America" together. Although well-received, it was short-lived (13 episodes) as a result of poor scheduling. The actor returned to series TV in the late 1980s and was much more successful as a slick Hollywood agent in The Famous Teddy Z (1989) for which he won a "Supporting Actor" Emmy Award. Other regular comedy series work, such as Sibs (1991), The George Carlin Show (1994), The Division (2001) and Magic City (2012), added to his healthy resume over the years, with over 400 TV appearances racked up in all. Recurring roles on such programs as The Simpsons (1989) and The Facts of Life (1979) (as Nancy McKeon's father) also kept his career going at a steady pace. Other memorably flashy film roles include Freebie and the Bean (1974), The Stunt Man (1980), Lady in White (1988), Get Shorty (1995) and Just Write (1997).
Twice married, Rocco's first wife, Sandra Garrett, a nightclub performer and screenwriter, died of cancer in 2002. He married actress Shannon Wilcox in 2005 and together they appeared in the film Scammerhead (2014). Rocco appeared in two films helmed by his adopted son, screenwriter and director Marc Rocco: Scenes from the Goldmine (1987) and Dream a Little Dream (1989), who died in 2009. Two other children by his first wife were Lucian, a poet, and Jennifer, an attorney. Alex Rocco died of pancreatic cancer on July 18, 2015 at age 79.Born 29-February-1936 - Peter Scanavino is know for his work as A.D.A Sonny Carisi JR. on Law and Order: SVU (NBC).
Other selected TV & Film work includes: Social Distance (NETFLIX), The Cold Lands, Mutual Friends, The Leftovers (HBO), Banshee (CINEMAX), and The Good Wife (CBS).
Peter made his Broadway debut in 2006 in the TONY Nominated play, Shining City, Directed by Robert Falls. Other theater work includes: Boys' Life, Suburbia, Rainbow Kiss and David Henry Hwang's play, Yellow Face.
In 2010, Peter took time away from acting to study Culinary Arts at The French Culinary Institute in NYC. He worked briefly in the kitchen of Dan Barbers Michelin starred restaurant, Blue Hill in Greenwich Village. Peter lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and children.Born 29-February-1980 - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jessie was born in a leap year on 2/29/92. He leap his way through school earning academic excellence from elementary to college as a top honor student. He graduated high school as class salutatorian before moving straight to the Dean's List in college, studying culinary arts and earning the honor of being a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society.
Jessie was inspired to act at an early age. When his family moved to Los Angeles in 2003, he landed guest-star roles in numerous television shows including Without a Trace, Numbers, the Mentalist, Criminal Minds, Lincoln Heights, Hannah Montana and Summer Camp. Jessie's first big break came in 2011 playing the lead role of Lyle Hugginson in Cartoon Network's television movie called Level Up. The project became a well-loved TV series and Jessie reprised his role throughout the show's 2 seasons.
Leaping on to present day, Jessie can be seen on a variety of different movies and TV series like (The Boys) on Amazon as A-TRAIN, (Tales of The Walking Dead) on AMC as DAVON, (Smile) a Paramount movie as Trevor, (Shaft) on Netflix as JOHN SHAFT JR. a.k.a. JJ, (Independence Day Resurgence) a 20th Century Fox Movie as DYLAN HILLER, (The Banker) on Apple TV as TONY, (Dangerous Lies) on Netflix as ADAM, (Almost Christmas) on Universal pictures as EVAN, (When the game stands tall) Mandalay pictures as Tayshon, (Seal Team) animation on Netflix as QUINN, (Survivors Remorse) on STARZ as CAM CALLOWAY and many other great movies, television and voiceovers.Born 29-February-1992- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Antonio Sabato Jr. was born on 29 February 1972 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for The Big Hit (1998), The Three Stooges (2012) and Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas (2009). He was previously married to Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes and Tully Jensen.Born 29-February-1972- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Joel Alexander Kim Booster is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. He co-produced and wrote for Big Mouth and The Other Two and as an actor has appeared on Shrill, Search Party, and Sunnyside. In 2022, he wrote, produced, and starred in the Hulu romantic comedy Fire Island, a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a main cast of Asian American actors.Born 29-February-1988- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Steven Cree was born on 29 February 1980 in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Outlaw King (2018), The Diplomat (2023) and Outlander (2014). He has been married to Kahleen Crawford since 29 May 2016.Born 29-February-1980- Sharon Elizabeth Hugueny was a leap-year baby, born on February 29, 1944, in Los Angeles, California. She was an intelligent, introspective, and sensitive child who preferred serious reading, writing, and music to the "more frivolous" interests of her peers. Sharon's parents - a World War II Navy veteran and his wife were loving, but notoriously strict with their three children (Sharon, a younger brother born in 1950, and a sister born in 1957). Any boy interested in dating teen-aged Sharon was reportedly required to pass two interviews plus a car inspection, before being allowed to take her out. However, when Warner Brothers' famous talent-scout, Solly Biano, spotted Sharon in a theatrical production of "Blue Denim" when she was fifteen, her parents did allow her to meet producer/director Delmer Daves and to accept the contract offered to her by Mr. Jack L. Warner. Sharon signed that seven-year contract on her 16th birthday. Under Warner's personal guidance, she quickly began a performing guest-star on appearances in all of Warners' television programs, such as Lawman (1958), and Maverick (1957), where she received her first on-screen kiss from star Roger Moore (and off-screen kisses from Peter Brown of "Lawman", and The Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1975)'s Robert Logan}.
While filming Parrish (1961) in 1961, actor (later, producer-and-president of Paramount) Mr. Robert Evans visited her set and was immediately bedazzled by breathtaking Sharon, whose dark beauty earned frequent comparisons by Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons to Elizabeth Taylor. Evans' feeling for Sharon was reciprocated; and so, seventeen-year-old Sharon began dating the thirty-one-year-old Evans, much to the dismay of her parents, friends, and studio. Within weeks, the two became engaged and then, on May 28, 1961, married. Unfortunately, their union was doomed from the start. Sharon was, by all accounts, extremely mature for her age; yet Evans seemed to regard her as a child, not as a wife. Their relationship deteriorated. At one time, Mr. Evans abandoned California for his clothing business, "Evan Picone", located in New York, which effectively broke her motion picture and television contract with Warner Bros. This uprooting had taken Sharon thousands of miles from her family, work, and friends; furthermore, Warner Brothers placed her on suspension. (Evans later said that "taking Sharon to New York was like forcing a Persian cat into the Amazon"). In Mexico, less than six months after they married, he arranged for a quick, no alimony, divorce, which confused his naive wife.
Sharon's career, unfortunately, never recovered. She would become one of many fine actresses of the 1960s who possessed great beauty and tremendous talent but were not provided with good-quality material to showcase their assets. From 1965 to the mid-1970s, Sharon virtually disappeared from public view, other than for a number of television guest-starring spots, such as Mannix (1967).
There followed a marriage to photographer Raymond Ross in 1968, a child, and a divorce in 1974. By 1976, she was under new management and married to Gordon Cornell Layne, founder of "Mid-America Pictures".
Sharon was en route to ABC to sign two contracts when a new tragedy intervened: Sharon was struck by a speeding police car, doing 90 mph in pursuit of a fleeing drug addict. Not only did this end Sharon's career, it very nearly ended her life. Still seeking recovery, she and Mr. Layne left Santa Monica for Lake Arrowhead, in 1987. After nineteen years under Gordon's personal around-the-clock care, on July 3, 1996, Sharon Elizabeth Hugueny Layne died at home, from misdiagnosed cancer. The "Sharon Elizabeth Hugueny Performance Arts Scholarship" has been projected to honor her memory.Born 29-February-1944 - Arthur Scofield Franz was born in Perth Amboy, NJ, to Dorothy and Gustav Franz, German immigrants. He was a reliable character actor in many 1940s and 1950s "B" pictures, often cast as a friendly small-town businessman or professional (as in The Doctor and the Girl (1949)) or the lead's sympathetic friend (as in Invaders from Mars (1953)). He wasn't confined to just "B" pictures, however. He had good parts in such major productions as Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Alvarez Kelly (1966) and acquitted himself well. However, the film he's probably best remembered for is Edward Dmytryk's solid little "B" thriller The Sniper (1952), in which he turned in an outstanding performance as a mentally unstable ex-soldier in San Francisco who, after being rejected by a woman he was interested in, snaps and terrorizes the city by taking out his old army rifle and stalking and picking off women.Born 29-February-1920
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Large, likable, and muscular actor Ken Foree was born as Kentotis Alvin Foree on February 29, 1948, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Foree attended Loyola University in Chicago and studied acting at Michael Shulman's Performing Gallery in New York City. He began his career in off-Broadway theater and worked as an assistant manager at a restaurant in Greenwich Village, in order to keep himself afloat during his salad days.
Ken made his film debut in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976). He has since amassed a substantial array of often strong and commanding characters on either side of the law in both movies and television, alike. Foree gave a fine and impressive performance as tough swat team officer, "Peter Washington", in George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). He also had a sizable supporting part in Romero's offbeat follow-up feature, Knightriders (1981). Ken was marvelously engaging as affable cop, Buford "Bubba" Brownlee, in Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (1986) and was, once again, solid as rugged survivalist "Benny" in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990). Foree portrayed hard-nosed police officers in such pictures as The Dentist (1996), Sleepstalker (1995), True Blood (1989) and Terror Squad (1987). He had a cameo as a stern televangelist in the Dawn of the Dead (2004) remake by Zack Snyder. More recently, Ken had a terrific role as super mack daddy pimp, "Charlie Altamont", in The Devil's Rejects (2005) and made a brief-yet-memorable appearance as rough-n-tumble truck driver, "Big Joe Grizzley", in the remake of Halloween (2007) by Rob Zombie. Foree showed a softer and more sensitive side as "Roger Rockmore" on the hit Nickelodeon TV series, Kenan & Kel (1996). He also played a recurring part on the popular daytime soap opera General Hospital (1963). Among the TV shows on which Ken has done guest spots are Due South (1994), The X-Files (1993), Babylon 5 (1993), Matlock (1986), Dallas (1978), Cheers (1982), Quantum Leap (1989), Hunter (1984), Beauty and the Beast (1987), Moonlighting (1985), Knight Rider (1982), The Fall Guy (1981), Benson (1979), The A-Team (1983), Hill Street Blues (1981), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and Kojak (1973). His hobbies include surfing, boxing, weightlifting and watching basketball. In addition, Foree enjoys history and traveling. Ken Foree lives in Los Angeles.Born 29-February-1948- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
George Young was born in London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Falling for Christmas (2022), Malignant (2021) and Containment (2016). He has been married to Janet Hsieh since 26 January 2015. They have two children.Born 29-February-1980- Actress
- Director
South African born Suanne became a house hold name after working for M.NET television. She moved to Los Angeles and spent many years living and working in the USA. Suanne moved to the UK in 2002 and resides in London. She has worked steadily for over 30 years in film, television and theatre across 3 Continents.Born 29-February-1968- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Arnaud Valois studied acting at Cours Florent. He was discovered in 2006 in Charlie Says by Nicole Garcia where he played one of the lead roles alongside Jean-Pierre Bacri, Vincent Lindon and Benoit Magimel. Arnaud went on to play in A French Gigolo by Josiane Balasko and Girl on the Train by André Téchiné. After a few years break from acting, Arnaud Valois came back to the silver screen in 2017 with BPM by Robin Campillo in which he plays Nathan alongside Nahuel Perez Biscayart and Adèle Haenel. A role for which Arnaud won Best Actor newcomer at the Lumières Awards 2018 and was nominated for Best Actor newcomer at the César 2018. The following year is released the movie Sweetheart by Lisa Azuelos (Grand Jury Prize at the Alpes d'Huez Festival). 2019 also marks the beginning of his career on the international scene with the release of the film Paradise Hills by Alice Waddington (alongside Emma Roberts and Milla Jovovich - official selection Sundance). In 2020, Arnaud is starring in the fantasy mini-series Moloch by Arnaud Malherbe for the Arte channel (with Marine Vacth and Olivier Gourmet), and in two films Cannes 2020 labeled : My Best Part by and with Nicolas Maury (also with Nathalie Baye and Laure Calamy - French release : October 28th 2020) & Spring Blossom by Suzanne Lindon (with Frédéric Pierrot, Florence Viala and Dominique Besnehard - French release : June 16th 2021 - US release : Mai 21st 2021 - UK release : Mai 21st 2021 ). That same year, Arnaud was also on stage at the Philharmonie de Paris with the musical Le Vilain Petit Canard (The Ugly Duckling), set to music by French pop star Etienne Daho and directed by Sandra Gaudin. At the beginning of 2021, he directed his first short film, The New Me (Le Nouveau Moi), co-written with Suzanne Lindon and produced by Les Films du Kiosque for the French platform OCS. In December 2021, Si Demain by Fabienne Godet (with Julie Moulier and Lucie Debay) is released in theaters, and Arnaud performed on the stage of L'Arsenic (Lausanne, Switzerland) in Jean Genet's play, Le Balcon, adapted and directed by Sandra Gaudin. This autumn 2022, Arnaud will be in Sophie Levy's first feature film, Medusa (with Anamaria Vartolomei and Roxane Mesquida) - French release date is Oct 26th.Born 29-February-1984- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Her real name was Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore, and she was born in Winchester, Tennessee. Stricken with polio at 18 months of age, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment. She became a cheerleader at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University in 1938, where she majored in sociology. She took voice and acting lessons on the side and sang on radio station WSM in Nashville. In 1938 she left Tennessee for New York City and began singing on radio station WNCW in New York. Her first recordings were with bandleader Xavier Cugat, and she later changed her named to Dinah after her success with the song of the same name. She received numerous Emmy awards for television specials and productions and appeared in many films. She was married to actor George Montgomery, with whom she had one daughter and adopted a son.Born 29-February-1916- A classic beauty, blonde French actress Michèle Morgan was one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. Born Simone Renee Roussel on Leap Year Day (February 29) in 1920, she ran away from home as a teenager and studied acting under René Simon, beginning her film career at 16 working as a film extra to pay for drama classes.
The young actress soon caught the eye of director Marc Allégret, who cast her in Heart of Paris (1937), which clinched her stardom. Her remote, enigmatic features and gloomy allure had audiences comparing her to a young Greta Garbo. She went on to appear elegantly opposite Charles Boyer in the drama Orage (1938) directed by Allegret; opposite Jean Gabin in Moth and the Flame (1938) directed by Marcel Carné, as well as both Coral Reefs (1939) and Remorques (1941). She had her first top-billed roles in L'entraîneuse (1939) and La loi du nord (1939).
Michèle's eventual fled war-torn France for Hollywood and earned roles based purely on her European prestige. She did not stand out among the other female foreign imports of that time, however, such as Ingrid Bergman. Cast in rather routine sultry roles amid WWII surroundings, she received only a modest reception for such US-based films as Joan of Paris (1942) with Paul Henreid; Two Tickets to London (1943) with Alan Curtis; Passage to Marseille (1944) opposite Humphrey Bogart; and the noirish The Chase (1946) starring Robert Cummings.
Michèle succeeded much better at home continuing prolifically in such films as The Proud and the Beautiful (1953), The Moment of Truth (1952), Oasis (1955), The Grand Maneuver (1955), Shadow of the Guillotine (1956) (as Marie Antoinette), Grand Hotel (1959), Bluebeard (1963), Web of Fear (1964), The Diary of an Innocent Boy (1968) and Cat and Mouse (1975). Back in the late 1940's, she received the very first Cannes Film Festival award for "best actress" for her touching performance as the blind heroine in Pastoral Symphony (1946). She also received an honorary Cesar Award in 1992.
Married during the war and early post-war years (1942-1949) to American actor/singer William Marshall, Michèle's second husband was handsome Gallic star Henri Vidal and they appeared together in a couple of films, including both the historical drama Fabiola (1949) and romantic drama La belle que voilà (1950), plus The Seven Deadly Sins (1952) (albeit different "sin" segments) and Napoleon (1955). Following Vidal's sudden death of a heart at age 40 in 1959, the actress married a third time one year later to well-known French actor/writer/director Gérard Oury. They had unbilled cameos in A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (1986). She was left a widow in 2006.
Semi-retired by the 1970's, Michèle's last feature film was a small bit in the Marcello Mastroianni film Everybody's Fine (1990). She retired in 1999 after a few sporadic 90's TV parts. She died in her home town of Hauts-de-Seine, France on December 20, 2016, at age 96.Born 29-February-1920 - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Anthony Robbins was born on 29 February 1960 in Glendora, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Shallow Hal (2001), Sound of Freedom (2023) and Man's Search for Meaning. He has been married to Sage Bonnie Humphrey since 14 October 2001. They have one child. He was previously married to Rebecca Lynn Biggerstaff.Born 29-February-1960- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born in Istanbul in 1972, Nejat Isler graduated from Mimar Sinan State Conservatory's Theater Deparment in 1995. He made his first professional TV debut in 1994 in the TV series "Gurur". He continued his professional acting career and took leading roles in a number of TV series and movies. In 2008 at the SIYAD Turkish Cinema Awards, Isler received Best Leading Actor for his performance in 'Yumurta'. He was awarded the Best Actor in the Germany-Turkey Film Festival.Born 29-February-1972- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
Popular stage, film and TV actor Harvey Jason was born on Leap Year's Day, 1940 in London, England. From childhood he aspired to a career as an actor. His efforts, and his substantial talent, paid off. At 19 he was in New York, ready to go. A year later, he was appearing in Joseph Papp's prestigious Shakespeare in the Park.
Other shows followed: off-Broadway, national tours, Broadway: A Taste of Honey, Hostile Witness with Ray Milland, Marat/Sade and others, his reviews always excellent. With the late Peter Cook and the fames satirical revue, The Establishment, he toured the U.S and Canada. Jason's incredible facility with dialects, his ability to do with total authenticity, any accent imaginable, made him a truly sought after actor. Soon he was film and TV.
Oscar-winning director Robert Wise brought him out to California for the Julie Andrews film, Star. Then it was non-stop work. Guest star roles on TV, one after the other; a season with James Whitmore in My friend Tony: a season on the famed Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, co-starring with Bruce Boxleitner on the series run of Bring 'Em Back Alive - show after show. Jason became a national favorite as Harry Zeff in the hugely successful all-star NBC mini-series Captains and the Kings. Movies to: With Michael Caine in Robert Aldrich's in Too Late the Hero, Lost in the Stars, Save the Tiger with Jack Lemmon, Stanley Kramer's Oklahoma Crude with George C. Scott, the zany Lapchik in Gumball Rally, Air America, then as Ajay Sidhu, one of the stars in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Yet it was in Necromancy, starring Orson Wells and Pamela Franklin, that he met Pamela, the woman who would become his wife. They have been married since 1970 and have two sons, Joshua and Louis.
Jason retired for acting in 1997 to open, with his son Louis, the famed exclusively First Edition collectible literature bookshop, Mystery Pier Books, called One of the Most Important First Edition Bookshops in the U.S.Born 29-February-1940- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its lead single "Holla Holla". During the 2000s, Ja Rule was signed to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records, formerly known as The Inc. From 1999 to 2005, Ja Rule had multiple hits that made the top 20 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, including "Between Me and You" (featuring Christina Milian), "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and "Ain't It Funny" (both with Jennifer Lopez)-which both topped the Hot 100-the number 1 hit "Always on Time" (featuring Ashanti), "Mesmerize" (featuring Ashanti), and "Wonderful" (featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti).Born 29-February-1976- Director
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- Producer
James Cullen Bressack is an American producer, director, and screenwriter and son of three time Emmy-award winning writer Gordon Bressack and voice actress Ellen Gerstell. At the age of 18 he received critical attention from audiences and critics alike when he made his debut feature, My Pure Joy.
One to push boundaries, James followed up with the bold and unapologetic Hate Crime which forced audiences along for a brutal home invasion, the first found footage feature ever to be made in the style of having no cuts. The entire film plays out painfully in real time. It was promptly banned in the UK for its fearless story telling, one of three films to be banned in the last 25 years and remains so to this day.
Ahead of his time, he then started the To Jennifer series, the first feature film to be shot entirely on the iPhone 5. He produced the next three instalments.
The prolific filmmaker refused to slow down completing seven more features including Pernicious, 13-13-13, and Blood Lake, starring Shannen Doherty and Christopher Lloyd, which made James the youngest director to ever direct for television.
After writing and directing the haunting Bethany, a film that garnered rave reviews and limited theatrical release, James shifted his focus to producing. He has now produced forty-eight features including releases for Lionsgate and Cinedigm and is a member of both the PGA and SAG/AFTRA. His impressive body of work has won him numerous Best Picture and Best Director awards on the film festival circuit.
James has achieved all this at the age of 28 and refuses to slow down as he continues to push the envelop and make films no one thought possible. His last directorial feature, Beyond The Law, had a theatrical release that reunited Steven Seagal and DMX, and continues to be a best seller topping charts. He just completed producing two back to back films including the directorial debut and the follow up feature by punk rock legend, Glenn Danzig of the Misfits and Danzig, Verotika, based on the comic book series of the same name, and Death Rider In The House of Vampires, a vampire spaghetti western blood bath epic from the twisted mind of Danzig.
James shows no signs of stopping and delivers high quality films consistently.Born 29-February-1992- Director
- Writer
- Producer
William Wellman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director of the original A Star Is Born (1937), was called "Wild Bill" during his World War I service as an aviator, a nickname that persisted in Hollywood due to his larger-than-life personality and lifestyle.
A leap-year baby born in 1896 on the 29th of February in Brookline, MA, Wellman was the great-great-great grandson of Francis Lewis, one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Wellman's father was a stockbroker and his mother, the former Cecilia McCarthy, was born in Ireland. Despite an upper-middle-class upbringing, the young Wellman was a hell-raiser. He excelled as an athlete and particularly enjoyed playing ice hockey, but he also enjoyed joyriding in stolen cars at nights.
Cecilia Wellman served as a probation officer for "wayward boys" (juvenile delinquents) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and was such a success in her field that she was asked to address Congress on the subject of delinquency. One of her charges was her own son, as the young Bill was kicked out of school at the age of 17 for hitting his high school principal on the head with a stink bomb. He tried making a living as a candy salesman and a cotton salesman, but failed. He worked for a lumber yard but was fired after losing control of a truck and driving it through the side of a barn. Eventually he wound up playing professional ice hockey in Massachusetts. While playing at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, an actor named Douglas Fairbanks took note of him. Impressed by Wellman's good looks and the figure he cut on ice, the soon-to-be silent-film superstar suggested to him that he had what it took to become a movie actor. Wellman's dream was to become an aviator, but since his father "didn't have enough money for me to become a flier in the regular way . . .I went into a war to become a flier."
When he was 19 years old, through the intercession of his uncle, Wellman joined the air wing of the French Foreign Legion, where he learned to fly. In France he served as a pilot with the famous Lafayette Flying Corps (better known as the Lafayette Escadrille), where he won his nickname "Wild Bill" due to his devil-may-care style in the air. He and fellow pilot Tom Hitchcock, the great polo player, were in the Black Cat group. Wellman was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and injured during the landing of his plane, which had lost its tail section. Out of 222 Escadrille pilots 87 were killed, but Wellman was fated to serve out the duration of the war. In the spring of 1918 he was recruited by the US Army Air Corps, joining "because I was broke, and they were trying to get us in." Commissioned an officer, he was sent back to the US and stationed at Rockwell Field, in San Diego, CA, to teach combat fighting tactics to the new AAC pilots.
Wellman would fly up to Hollywood and land on Fairbanks' polo fields to spend the weekend. Fairbanks told the returning hero that he would help him break into the movies when the war was over, and he was as good as his word. Fairbanks envisioned Wellman as an actor and cast him as the juvenile in The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (1919) and as a young officer in Evangeline (1919), but acting was something Wellman grew to hate, a hatred he later transferred to actors in his employ. He was fired by fellow macho director Raoul Walsh from "Evangeline" for slapping the lead actress, who Wellman didn't know was Walsh's wife. Disgusted with acting, Wellman told Fairbanks he wanted to be a director, and Fairbanks helped him into the production end of the business. It was a purely financial decision, he later recalled, as directors made more money than supporting actors at the time.
Goldwyn Pictures hired him as a messenger in 1920 and he soon worked his way up the ladder, first as an assistant cutter, then as an assistant property man, property man, assistant director and second-unit director before making his uncredited directorial debut later that year at Fox with Twins of Suffering Creek (1920) starring Dustin Farnum (the silent film B-Western star whom Dustin Hoffman's star-struck mother named the future double-Oscar winner after). Wellman later remembered the film as awful, along with such other B-Westerns as Cupid's Fireman (1923), starring Buck Jones, whose westerns he began directing in 1923 after serving his apprenticeship.
Fox Films gave Wellman his first directing credit in 1923 with the Buck Jones western Second Hand Love (1923) and, other than the Dustin Farnum picture The Man Who Won (1923), he turned out Jones pictures for the rest of his time at Fox. The studio fired him in 1924 after he asked for a raise after completing The Circus Cowboy (1924), another Buck Jones film. Moving to Columbia, he helmed When Husbands Flirt (1925), then went over to MGM for the slapstick comedy The Boob (1926) before landing at Famous Players-Lasky (now known as Paramount Pictures after its distribution unit), where he directed You Never Know Women (1926) and The Cat's Pajamas (1926). It was as a contract director at the now renamed Paramount-Famous Players-Lasky Corp. that he had his breakout hit, due to his flying background. Paramount entrusted its epic WW I flying epic Wings (1927) to Wellman, and the film went on to become the first Academy Award-winning best picture.
Paramount paid Wellman $250 a week to direct "Wings". He also gave himself a role as a German pilot, and flew one of the German planes that landed and rolled over. The massive production employed 3,500 soldiers, 65 pilots and 165 aircraft. It also went over budget and over schedule due to Wellman's perfectionism, and he came close to being fired more than once. The film took a year to complete, but when it was released it turned out to be one of the most financially successful silent pictures ever released and helped put Gary Cooper, whom Wellman personally cast in a small role, on the path to stardom. "Wings" and Wellman's next flying picture, The Legion of the Condemned (1928)--in which Cooper had a starring role--initiated the genre of the World War One aviation movie, which included such famous works as Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930) and Howard Hawks' The Dawn Patrol (1930). Despite his success in bringing in the first Best Picture Oscar winner, Paramount did not keep Wellman under contract.
Wellman's disdain for actors already was in full bloom by the time he wrapped "Wings". Many actors appearing in his pictures intensely disliked his method of bullying them to elicit an performance. Wellman was a "man's man" who hated male actors due to their narcissism, yet he preferred to work with them because he despised the preparation that actresses had to go through with their make-up and hairdressing before each scene. Wellman shot his films fast. The hard-drinking director usually oversaw a riotous set, in line with his own lifestyle. He married five women, including a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, before settling down with Dorothy Coonan Wellman, a former Busby Berkeley dancer. Wellman believed that Dorothy saved him from becoming a caricature of himself. She appeared as a tomboy in Wild Boys of the Road (1933), a Depression-era social commentary picture made for the progressive Warner Bros. studio (and which is a favorite of Martin Scorsese). It came two years after Wellman's masterpiece, The Public Enemy (1931), one of the great early talkies, one of the great gangster pictures and the film that made James Cagney a superstar. Scorsese says that Wellman's use of music in the film influenced his own first gangster picture, Mean Streets (1973) .
Wellman was as adept at comedy as he was at macho material, helming the original A Star Is Born (1937) (for which he won his only Oscar, for best original story) and the biting satire Nothing Sacred (1937)--both of which starred Fredric March--for producer David O. Selznick. Both movies were dissections of the fame game, as was his satire Roxie Hart (1942), which reportedly was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films.
During World War Two Wellman continued to make outstanding films, including The Ox-Bow Incident (1942) and Story of G.I. Joe (1945), and after the war he turned out another war classic, Battleground (1949). In the 1950s Wellman's best later films starred John Wayne, including the influential aviation picture The High and the Mighty (1954), for which he received his third and last best director Oscar nomination. His final film hearkened back to his World War One service, Lafayette Escadrille (1958), which featured the unit in which Wellman had flown. He retired as a director after making the film, reportedly enraged at Warner Bros.' post-production tampering with a film that meant so much to him.
Other than David O. Selznick, not many people in Hollywood particularly liked the hell-raising iconoclast Wellman. Louis B. Mayer's daughter Irene Mayer Selznick, the first wife of David O. Selznick, said that Wellman was "a terror, a shoot-up-the-town fellow, trying to be a great big masculine I-don't-know-what". The Directors Guild of America in 1973 honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
William Wellman died (from leukemia) in 1975.Born 29-February-1896- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
While known mostly as an actor, Shane has also ventured into producing, writing and animation. Given his passion for one particular project, he taught himself how to animate and has since been developing multiple projects. He's also ventured into scripted and reality TV as a writer/creator, striking deals with production companies and navigating the maze. He's married to Keili Lefkovitz. They live in Los Angeles with their 2 sons.Born 29-February-1976- Actress
- Additional Crew
Margit Carstensen was born on 29 February 1940 in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Possession (1981) and Martha (1974). She died on 1 June 2023 in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.Born 29-February-1940