Dame Joan Henrietta Collins is an English actress, author and columnist. With a career spanning nearly 8 decades, Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. She is one of the last surviving actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. In 1983, Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been recognised for her philanthropy, particularly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honours. In 2015, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services, presented to her by the then Prince of Wales, Charles III.
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naïve Midwestern townsfolk, promising to train the members of the new band. Harold is no musician, however, and plans to skip town without giving any music lessons. Prim librarian and piano teacher Marian sees through him, but when Harold helps her younger brother overcome his lisp and social awkwardness, Marian begins to fall in love with him. He risks being caught to win her heart.
Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's television series created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC1 and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comedy retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an 'incompetent' ex-tailor.
Lena Marina Alexandra Dahlström is a Swedish actress and film director.
Billie Paul Piper is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest female singer to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one. Her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also entered at number one. In 1998, Piper released her debut studio album, Honey to the B, which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Her second studio album, Walk of Life, was released in 2000 and spawned her third number-one single, "Day & Night". In 2003, Piper announced that she had ended her music career to focus on acting.
Stockard Channing is an American actress. She played Betty Rizzo in the film Grease (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing (1999–2006). She also originated the role of Ouisa Kittredge in the stage and film versions of Six Degrees of Separation; the 1993 film version earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She was also one of two comic foils of The Number Painter on Sesame Street.
Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, Chenoweth was nominated for a second Tony Award for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked. Her television roles include Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the comedy drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009.
Samantha Zoe Womack is an English actress, singer, model and director who has worked in film, television and stage. Womack initially planned a career in singing and she represented the United Kingdom in the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest. Her song for the contest, "A Message to Your Heart", was released as her first single in April 1991 and reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart.
Claire Skinner is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom for her television career, particularly playing Sue Brockman from the BBC television series Outnumbered. She is also known for her collaboration with director Mike Leigh on two of his films, Life is Sweet (1990) and Naked (1993).
Sarah Catharine Paulson is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Sophie Thompson is a British actress. She has worked in film, television and theatre and she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. She has been nominated for the Olivier Award five other times for Wildest Dreams (1994), Company (1996), Clybourne Park (2011) Guys and Dolls (2016) and Present Laughter (2019).
Michelle Hurd is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2001). She has since starred as Athena Barnes in the drama series Leap Years (2001), Colleen Manus in the crime drama series The Glades (2010–2013), Linda Bates Emery in the comedy-horror series Ash vs Evil Dead (2016), and Ellen "Shepherd" Briggs in the crime drama series Blindspot (2015–2018). She portrayed Raffi Musiker in the science fiction series Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).
Carice Anouk van Houten is a Dutch actress. Her first leading role in the television film Suzy Q (1999) won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama; two years later, she won the Golden Calf for Best Actress for Miss Minoes (2001).
Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke is an English actress, comedian and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in BBC sitcoms, including Hyperdrive (2006–2007) and Not Going Out (2006–2009).
Lucy Ursula Griffiths is an English actress known for her roles as Lady Marian in the BBC drama series Robin Hood (2006–09), as Nora Gainesborough, Eric Northman's vampire "sister", in the HBO horror series True Blood (2012–13) and as Emily Woodrow in the AMC supernatural drama series Preacher (2016).
Chantal Janzen is a Dutch actress, singer and TV presenter. She had parts in The Preacher, Full Moon Party and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and presented Idols.
Petula Louise "Patty" Brard is a Dutch entertainer and entrepreneur of Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) descent. She is a television personality and a singer, notable as a former member of the girl group Luv'. For four decades, she has often hit the headlines of the tabloid press.
Flikken Maastricht is a Dutch police drama. The series is set in Maastricht, Limburg, a city in the south of the Netherlands, and began broadcasting on Dutch channel NPO 1 on 3 September 2007. The series is a spin-off of the Flemish show Flikken set in Ghent, Belgium.
Glaiza Castro Galura-Rainey, professionally known by her stage name Glaiza de Castro, is a Filipino actress. Noted for her range in playing a wide range of roles, she is prominent in television and in mainstream, independent and socio-political films. Her performances have earned her accolades including a Luna Award and a Facine Film Festival Award, in addition to a number of nominations from the FAMAS Awards and Gawad Urian Awards.
Victoria Koblenko is a Dutch actress, presenter and columnist of Ukrainian descent.
