Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra, known professionally as Meg Ryan, is an American actress. Known for her leading roles as quirky, charismatic women since the late 1980s, Ryan is particularly recognized for her work in romantic comedies, a genre she dominated during the 1980s and 1990s. Dubbed "America's sweetheart" by the media, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars of the latter decade.
The Glimmer Man is a 1996 American buddy-cop action comedy film directed by John Gray and produced by Steven Seagal. The film stars Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton, and Brian Cox. The film was released in the United States on October 4, 1996.
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
David Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor, director, comedian, and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom Friends, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995. While still acting in Friends, his first leading film role was in The Pallbearer (1996), followed by roles in Kissing a Fool;Six Days, Seven Nights;Apt Pupil ; and Picking Up the Pieces (2000). He was then cast in the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) as Herbert Sobel.
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor, film producer, and director. He graduated from RADA in 1985. A Shakespeare interpreter, Fiennes excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Widely regarded as one of Britain's most well-known and popular actors, he has received various accolades, including a BAFTA Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award.
James Edmund Caan was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972) – a performance that earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role in The Godfather Part II (1974). He received a motion-picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978.
James William Van Der Beek is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013), starred on CSI: Cyber as FBI Agent Elijah Mundo (2015–2016), and appeared as Matt Bromley on the first season of the FX drama Pose (2018). His film credits include Varsity Blues (1998), Texas Rangers (2001), The Rules of Attraction (2002), Formosa Betrayed (2009), Labor Day (2013), and Bad Hair (2020).
DeShaun Dupree Holton, known professionally as Proof, was an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. During his career, he was a member of the groups 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad, and D12. He was a close childhood friend of rapper Eminem, who also lived in Detroit. Proof was often a hype man rapper at Eminem's concerts.
The Pompatus of Love is a 1996 American comedy film that tells the story of four guys discussing women and the meaning of the word "pompatus". This made-up word is found in two Steve Miller songs, "Enter Maurice" and "The Joker", the latter of which contains the line "Some people call me Maurice / 'cause I speak of the pompatus of love". Wolfman Jack can also be heard using the term in his spoken lines in The Guess Who's "Clap for the Wolfman."
Hard Rain is a 1998 action thriller film directed by former cinematographer-turned director Mikael Salomon, written by Graham Yost, produced by Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, and Gary Levinsohn, and starring Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver, and Ed Asner. An international co-production among the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Japan. In a small Indiana town amidst a natural disaster, a gang attempts to pull off a heist and survive man-made treachery. It received generally negative reviews and was a box office flop.
The Man Who Knew Too Little is a 1997 spy comedy film starring Bill Murray, directed by Jon Amiel, and written by Robert Farrar and Howard Franklin. The film is based on Farrar's 1997 novel Watch That Man, and the title is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much and his 1956 remake of the same title.
Simon Sez is a 1999 action film starring Dennis Rodman, Dane Cook, and John Pinette. The film was directed by Kevin Alyn Elders, and the score was composed by Brian Tyler.
Thinner is a 1996 American body horror film directed by Tom Holland and written by Michael McDowell and Holland. The film is based on Stephen King's 1984 novel of the same name and stars Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Kari Wuhrer, and Bethany Joy Lenz. In the film, an obese lawyer who accidentally kills a Romani woman is cursed by the woman's father to rapidly lose weight.
Sudden Death is a 1995 American action-thriller film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Boothe, Raymond J. Barry, and Dorian Harewood. The film pits a lone fire marshal against extortionists who hold unsuspecting NHL players and fans for ransom during game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, and set payment milestones to coincide with the game's progress. It was Hyams' second directorial collaboration with Van Damme, after Timecop (1994) and before Enemies Closer (2013).
Maximum Risk is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Hong Kong director Ringo Lam in his American directorial debut, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Natasha Henstridge.
Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Arts and Leisure weekly section of The New York Times, as well as a film critic. Among the newspapers for which Van Gelder worked were the New York Daily Mirror, the New York Daily News, the New York World-Telegram and Sun and the World-Journal-Tribune.
Scott Silver is an American screenwriter and film director.
Jama Williamson is an American actress. She was active in New York City theater throughout the early 2000s, during which she appeared in such shows as Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, A. R. Gurney's Sylvia and Simon Mendes da Costa's Losing Louis. She also appeared in Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, an off-Broadway musical adaptation of the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas, and she is featured in the show's original cast recording soundtrack.
Mary Agnes Donoghue is an American screenwriter and director. Following early jobs as a secretary and short story writer, Donoghue's first writing credit was the 1984 film The Buddy System. She went on to pen the screenplays for Beaches (1988) and Paradise (1991), which was also her directorial debut. Donoghue co-wrote and co-produced Deceived (1991) and two years later, her first play, Me and Mamie O'Rourke, made its debut at the Strand Theatre in London. In the 2000s, Donoghue wrote the screenplay for White Oleander (2002) and co-wrote Veronica Guerin (2003) with Carol Doyle. In 2013, Donoghue wrote and directed Jenny's Wedding.
