Connor Robert Long is an American (Maryland-born (July 1994), but Colorado-based) advocate, athlete, actor and speaker.
His acting credits include stage, screen, live action and television. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA. [1]
He is a founding player in the Tapestry Theatre Company, an inclusive all-abilities troupe in Boulder County, Colorado. His film projects, both short and feature, have played festivals around the world and include a premiere at Sundance. He studied with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival School of Theatre. His acclaimed performances resulted in best actor nominations and a win in the Filmstock Film Festival Utah for his work in Menschen. [2] and the Prix D'Interpretation (Best Actor) at the Entr'2 Marches International Film Festival in Cannes, France, [3] for his lead role in the short film, Learning to Drive. He is a 2017 Heartlands Region Emmy-winning [4] contributing reporter for Denver7News (KMGH-ABC) in Denver, Colorado. [5] In November 2018, he was a sponsored guest of the US Embassy-Moscow Speaker Program for the Breaking Down Barriers 9th International Disability Film Festival, at which he received the festival Best Actor (male) award.. He appeared in the 2016 comedy film Wiener-Dog as Tommy, playing his scenes with Greta Gerwig, Kieran Culkin, and Bridget Brown. He has twice sung the national anthem at home games of the Denver Nuggets NBA team.
He has been recognized by national and international organizations for his advocacy on behalf of people with differing abilities, whether physical or intellectual. He has received awards and recognition from the National Down Syndrome Society, the Council for Exceptional Children, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, [6] the John Lynch Foundation and the Anna & John J. Sie Foundation, and The Arc of the United States. [7] In 2018, he participated in the “Channel Kindness” year-long social-media reporting program [8] established by Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.
As an athlete, he has achievements in high school (lettered twice) and Special Olympic competitive swimming. In 2022, he swam in the DSISO World Championships in Albufiera, Portugal, as a member of the USA Down Syndrome Swimming National Team. After learning to ride at age 16, he now cycles to raise funds for medical research and clinical care for Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) and related conditions. He enjoys indoor rock climbing. He earned a 1st-degree black belt in taekwondo and a broken ankle at the ninja gym.
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish, young wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed virtually all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, an autistic savant of whose existence Charlie was unaware. Charlie is left with only his father's beloved vintage car and rosebushes. Valeria Golino also stars as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.
KOAA-TV is a television station licensed to Pueblo, Colorado, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Colorado Springs area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside low-power Ion Mystery owned-and-operated station KZCS-LD. KOAA-TV's main studios and business offices are located on 7th Avenue in Pueblo, with a satellite studio and news bureau in the Tech Center office complex in Colorado Springs; its transmitter is located on Cheyenne Mountain.
KWGN-TV is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the local CW outlet. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KDVR, channel 31. The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood; KWGN-TV's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain, near Golden.
KCNC-TV, branded CBS Colorado, is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Lincoln Street in downtown Denver; its transmitter is based on Lookout Mountain, near Golden.
KMGH-TV is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3. The two stations share studios on Delgany Street in Denver's River North Art District; KMGH-TV's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain, near Golden.
KUSA is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD. The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood; KUSA's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain, near Golden. In addition to its main studios, the station also operates a secondary studio and news bureau on Canyon Avenue in Fort Collins.
Arapahoe High School is a public high school in Centennial, Colorado, United States. Located in a suburb of Denver, it is the flagship of the Littleton Public Schools District as the largest of three high schools, with an enrollment of 2,229 students. It has been designated a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.
KCDO-TV is an independent television station licensed to Sterling, Colorado, United States, serving the Denver area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KMGH-TV. The two stations share studios on Delgany Street in Denver's River North Art District; KCDO-TV's transmitter is located in rural southwestern Morgan County, east of Frederick.
Tony Laubach is an American storm chaser and meteorologist. He has participated in several field research projects and is one of the surviving members of TWISTEX. He has been contracted as a severe weather photojournalist for various major television networks, and has starred in several television shows, including Seasons 3 through 5 of Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel.
John Ferrugia is an investigative reporter who is currently working as a journalist/trainer for the non-profit Colorado News Collaborative (COLab). He is the former News Anchor and Managing Editor for Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver, Colorado. From 1992 through February 2016, he worked as an investigative reporter at KMGH-TV. He is a former CBS News correspondent. In the 1980s, he covered the White House, foreign and domestic assignments, and was a principal correspondent for the news magazine West 57th.
Pablo Pineda is a Spanish actor who received the Concha de Plata Award at the 2009 San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance in the film Yo, también. In the film, he plays the role of a university graduate with Down syndrome, which is quite similar to his real life.
Arsalan Nami better known as Arsi Nami, is a Swedish-Persian actor, music therapist, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and philanthropist living in Manhattan, New York. He earned himself 14 international Best Actor awards in 2022/23 for his role of Dylan Steere in Aion, a film presented and sponsored by FujiFilm. The awards was given by the New York International Film Awards, Tokyo Film Awards, Chicago Indie Film Awards, Sweden Film Awards, Cannes Silk Road Film Awards, Brazil Visions Film Fest, San Diego Movie Awards and Best Istanbul Film Festival to name a few. Thanks to his remarkable performance in Aion, the film was also selected and screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, California
Sarah R. Lotfi is an American filmmaker best known for her short film Menschen.
Anthony Carl Kovaleski is an American investigative journalist for Denver television station KMGH. Previously, Kovaleski worked at KNTV in San Jose, California from 2012 to 2015. From 2001 to 2011, he was the investigative reporter at KMGH and rejoined the station in 2015.
The Frog Princes is a 2011 documentary film directed by Omar Majeed and Ryan Mullins. This film follows the story of a Montreal-based theater troupe training for a play adaptation of the fairytale The Princess and the Frog. All twenty actors in the troupe have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The film is shot as a play within a play. The film centers on the lead actor in the play, Ray-Man, a young adult with Down syndrome. The film follows the personal struggles of the cast as they prepare for the play, working with the director, Dr. Stephen Snow. Snow is a trained theatre director at The Centre for the Arts in Human Development at Concordia University.
Sarah Gordy, MBE is a British actress who has Down syndrome. She is best known for her roles as Katie Thorne in The A Word and Ralph & Katie, Orlando Quine in Strike: The Silkworm, Lady Pamela Holland in the BBC TV series of Upstairs Downstairs, and Lucy Craddle in The Long Call. She has also acted in episodes of Call the Midwife, Holby City and Doctors. As well as these TV shows, she has acted in short films, radio dramas, commercials, and many theatre productions. In 2018 she became the first woman with Down syndrome to be made an MBE and the first person with Down syndrome to receive an honorary degree from a UK university.
Scott Takeda is an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He is known for his recurring roles on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, and for appearances in films such as Everything Must Go (2010), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Gone Girl (2014), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016), The Space Between Us (2017), and The Tale (2018).
Zachary Robin Gottsagen is an American actor and rapper. He had a breakout role for the film The Peanut Butter Falcon.
My Feral Heart is a 2016 British independent film written by Duncan Paveling and directed by Jane Gull. It charts the story of Luke, an independent young man with Down syndrome, forced in to a residential home following the death of his mother. Luke slowly builds relationships and goes on to demonstrate his abilities in a touching story.