James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Martin Irving Glickman was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets.
Daniel Jason Sudeikis is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago, and The Second City. In 2003, Sudeikis was hired as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, and later spent nine seasons as a cast member from 2005 to 2013, playing Joe Biden and Mitt Romney among others.
Stephen Hopkins is a Jamaican-born British director and producer of film and television. He directed Predator 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Blown Away, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Lost in Space and Under Suspicion. He also produced and directed several episodes of the first season of 24.
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress and singer. Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996). After expanding to television and film, Farmiga's breakthrough came in 2004 with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama Down to the Bone. She received praise for starring in the 2009 comedy-drama Up in the Air, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
The Jesse Owens Story is a 1984 American two-part, four-hour made-for-television biographical film about the black athlete Jesse Owens. Dorian Harewood plays the Olympic gold-winning athlete. The drama won a 1985 Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for two more. It originally premiered in syndication on July 9 and 10, 1984 as part of Operation Prime Time's syndicated programming.
Jeremy Ferdman is a Canadian actor.
Sam Stoller was an American athlete who specialized in sprinting and long jumping. He tied the world record in the 60-yard dash in 1936. Stoller is best known for his exclusion from the American 4 × 100 relay team at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The 2-man substitution triggered widespread speculation that he and Marty Glickman—the only two Jews on the U.S. track team—were excluded because U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Avery Brundage wanted to avoid embarrassing Adolf Hitler by having two Jewish athletes win gold medals. Stoller vowed at the time that he would never run again, but he returned in 1937 to win both the Big Ten Conference and NCAA championships in the 100-yard dash. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1937, Stoller briefly went into a singing and acting career as "Singin' Sammy Stoller."
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega, known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in Britain for his role as a teenage gang leader in the comedy horror film Attack the Block (2011), and had his international breakthrough playing Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). He received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016, and the Trophée Chopard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Stephan James is a Canadian actor. After starring in a string of television series as a teenager, he rose to prominence upon winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor for his role as track and field sprinter Jesse Owens in the 2016 film Race.
The Program is a 2015 biographical drama film about Lance Armstrong directed by Stephen Frears, starring Ben Foster as Armstrong and Chris O'Dowd as journalist David Walsh.
Pacific Rim Uprising is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Steven S. DeKnight, and written by DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T.S. Nowlin. It is the sequel to the 2013 film Pacific Rim, and second installment in the Pacific Rim franchise. Guillermo del Toro, director of the first movie, serves as a producer; while production studios Legendary Pictures and Double Dare You Productions developed the movie. The sequel stars John Boyega, as well as Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny in her film debut, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona and Zhang Jin, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning from the original film. Set ten years after the events of the first film, Pacific Rim Uprising sees former pilot and Stacker Pentecost's son Jake (Boyega) returning to the Pan Pacific Defense Corps to prevent a renewed Kaiju–giant sea monsters–threat sent by the extraterrestrial Precursors.
Birth of the Dragon is a 2016 American martial arts action film directed by George Nolfi and written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele. The film stars Philip Wan-lung Ng, Xia Yu, Jin Xing, Qu Jingjing, Ron Yuan, and Billy Magnussen. Based on Michael Dorgan's article "Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight", the film is a fictional account on the supposedly true story revolving around Bruce Lee who, as a young martial artist, challenged kung fu master Wong Jack-man in 1964 in San Francisco.
A United Kingdom is a 2016 biographical romantic drama film directed by Amma Asante and written by Guy Hibbert, based on the true-life romance of Seretse Khama, heir to the throne of the Bangwato Tribe in Serowe – one of many tribes found in then Bechuanaland Protectorate – with his wife Ruth Williams Khama. David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike portray Seretse and Ruth, respectively.
Molly's Game is a 2017 American biographical film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2014 memoir by Molly Bloom. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Joe Keery, Brian D'Arcy James, and Bill Camp.
Downsizing is a 2017 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne and Jim Taylor, and starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristen Wiig. It tells the story of Paul Safranek, who decides to undergo a recently invented procedure to shrink his body so he can start a new life in an experimental community, which he ends up doing alone when his wife backs out at the last minute; his journey takes an unexpected turn after he befriends an impoverished activist. Principal photography for the film began in Ontario, Canada, on April 1, 2016.
Game Night is a 2018 American black action comedy film directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and written by Mark Perez. It stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams and follows a group of friends whose game night turns into a real-life mystery after one of them is kidnapped. The film's supporting cast includes Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, and Kyle Chandler.
Lawrence Snyder was an American track and field athlete, coach, and military veteran. He served as the track and field coach at Ohio State University from 1932 to 1965.
On Chesil Beach is a 2017 British drama film directed by Dominic Cooke and written by Ian McEwan, who adapted his own 2007 Booker Prize-nominated novella of the same name. It stars Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle and tells the story of virgins, Florence and Edward, and their first disastrous attempt at having sex on their wedding night. The initial experience and their differing responses to the failure have lifelong consequences for both.
Jeremiah T. Mahoney was an American lawyer and jurist. He served on the New York Supreme Court and as president of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). As president of the AAU, he advocated for the United States to boycott the 1936 Summer Olympics in protest of the antisemitic and racial policies of Nazi Germany. He was the Democratic Party nominee for mayor of New York City in the 1937 election, but lost to Fiorello La Guardia.
