• Tag Archives: American actor

    Academy Award Winning Actor Danny Aiello Jr. Interview

    Academy Award Winning Actor Danny Aiello Jr. Interview

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    “Danny” Aiello Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon: The Professional, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush. He had a pivotal role in the 1989 Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing as Salvatore “Sal” Frangione, the pizzeria owner, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Aiello is also known for his role as Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries, Mario Puzo’s The Last Don.

    Aiello broke into films in the early 1970s. One of his earliest roles came as a ballplayer in the 1973 baseball drama, Bang the Drum Slowly, with Robert De Niro. Aiello had a walk-on role as small-time hood Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II (1974), ad-libbing the famous line “Michael Corleone says hello!” during a hit on a rival gangster Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo).

    In 1980, Aiello had a co-lead role with Jan Michael Vincent in Defiance, about some Manhattan residents who fight back against the thugs terrorizing the neighborhood. The next year, he received considerable acclaim for playing a racist New York City cop in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) with Paul Newman.

    In 1981, Danny Aiello won a Daytime Emmy award for his appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special called A Family of Strangers.

    Aiello’s singing has been on display in films such as Hudson Hawk (1991), Once Around (1991), and Remedy that starred his son Ricky Aiello and Jonathan Doscher. He has released several albums featuring a big-band sound including I Just Wanted To Hear The Words (2004) and Live From Atlantic City (2008). Aiello and EMI songwriter Hasan Johnson released an album in 2011 of standards fused with rap entitled Bridges.

    He played the title character for the video of Madonna’s song, “Papa Don’t Preach” (1986).

    Aiello’s Broadway theatre credits include Gemini, The Floating Light Bulb, Hurlyburly, and The House of Blue Leaves. He also was in the 1976 Broadway play Wheelbarrow Closers, directed by Paul Sorvino.

    In July, 2011, opened Off Broadway in the two-act drama The Shoemaker, written by Susan Charlotte and directed by Antony Marsellis. The play is a stage version of his 2006 movie A Broken Sole, which began life in 2001 as a one-act play.

    Academy Award Winner Matt Damon’s Water Org at CGI

    Academy Award Winner Matt Damon’s Water Org at CGI

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    Actor Matt Damon sprinkled in some humor with talk of the global water crisis, channeling “Bubba” in his panel discussion at Clinton Global Initiative.

    In good humor, Damon impersonated former President Clinton at the annual meeting aimed at tackling worldwide crises Tuesday in New York, pointing out that water solutions could be aiding more people.

    Damon also pointed to the fact that moved him to become a clean water advocate: Every 21 seconds, a child under 5 dies because of a preventable water related disease.

    Damon, together with fellow Water.org co-founder Gary White, explained how a lack of potable water and sanitation leads to fatal illnesses, but is also just as much of a women’s issue, since women and girls are often assaulted while relieving themselves in public.

    And while the pair agrees that there will never be “enough charity” to solve the water crisis, they remain optimistic about their progress, pointing specifically to the critical role microloans play.

    To make toilets and clean water more accessible, Water.org –- which White and Damon co-founded in 2009 — developed WaterCredit. It’s the first program of its kind to use microfinance tools enable struggling communities to address the global water crisis.

    The program connects financial institutions with communities in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Uganda, Peru and Kenya so that individuals and households can get the loans they need to fund water connections and building toilets. As the loans are repaid, they can be redeployed to other people in need, reducing the need for subsidies.

    “We solved this here in the West 100 years ago,” Damon said. “Just imagine if we solved AIDS tomorrow or cancer, and in 100 years, children were still dying by the millions — it’s really unconscionable.

    Wrestling Great Stone Cold Steve Austin , endorses the WWE Network

    Wrestling Great Stone Cold Steve Austin , endorses the WWE Network

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    Stephanie introduces Steve Austin next. He comes out to a big reaction. Austin asks for everyone to give him a hell yeah. Stephanie throws one at him. Austin talks about how proud he is to be here and how fun it was hanging out in the back.

    He says it’s a great time to be part of WWE and a fan of WWE. Stephanie shows us another video package for the Network. Vice President of Digital Media Perkins Miller is out next. Miller shows us some of the technical aspects of the Network, the interface, how to do certain things and generally use the service.

    Exclusive Interview with Tony Award Winning Actor BD Wong – 2012

    Exclusive Interview with Tony Award Winning Actor BD Wong – 2012

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    Bradley Darryl “BD” Wong (born October 24, 1960) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as Father Ray Mukada on HBO’s Oz, Henry Wu in the movie Jurassic Park, and for his Tony Award winning role as Song Liling in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly. He starred as Dr. Lee on NBC series Awake from March to May 2012.

    Wong was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Roberta Christine (née Leong), a telephone company supervisor, and William D. Wong. He is of Chinese descent. Wong attended Lincoln High School before attending San Francisco State University.

    Wong, who is openly gay, began a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson in 1988. In 2000, Wong had twin sons: Boaz Dov, who died 90 minutes after birth, and Jackson Foo Wong. They were born through a surrogate mother, using Wong’s sperm and an egg donated by Jackson’s sister. In 2003, Wong wrote a memoir about his experiences with surrogacy titled Following Foo: the Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man. Wong and Jackson ended their relationship in 2004.

    Our Executive producer had the pleasure of chatting with BD Wong at the 16th Annual Courage Awards, which he is a very big supporter of.