World Biographical Encyclopedia

Jared Leto is an American actor, singer, composer, director and producer. He is known for roles in the films Requiem for a Dream and Dallas Buyers Club. He is also co-founder and lead singer of the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

Steve Biko

Bantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.

Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedian, television host, writer, producer, actress, and LGBT activist. She starred in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998, however, she is best known for her TV talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she has hosted since 2003.

Otto Preminger

Otto Ludwig Preminger was an American theatre and film director, originally from Austria-Hungary.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven is one of the greatest figures in the history of classical music and one of the most brilliant composers of all times. His instrumental music forms a peak in the development of tonal music and is one of the crucial evolutionary developments in the history of music as a whole.

Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, best known as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. He is the star of several box-office hits, including "Risky Business", "A Few Good Men", "The Firm", "Jerry Maguire" and the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. Tom was honored with three Golden Globe Awards and three nominations for Academy Awards. It's also worth noting, that Cruise is one of the highest-gross...

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen was a laconic American movie star of the 1960's and 1970's. Cool and stoical, his loner heroes spoke through actions and rarely with words.

Stephen Field

Stephen Johnson Field was an American jurist and chief architect of the constitutional approach that largely exempted the rapidly expanding industry of the United States from governmental regulation after the Civil War. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from March 10, 1863, to December 1, 1897. Prior to this appointment, he was the fifth Chief Justice of California.

Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault was a French poet, prose writer, and storyteller. He was a leading member of the Académie Française, who played a prominent part in a literary controversy known as the quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns. He is best remembered for his collection of fairy stories.

Charles-Michel de l'Épée

Charles-Michel de l'Épée was a philanthropic educator of 18th-century France who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf".

Eric Kandel

Eric Richard Kandel is an Austrian-born American neurobiologist, psychiatrist, and biochemist. Together with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2000 for discovering the central role synapses play in memory and learning.

Richard Madden

Richard Madden is a Scottish actor. He is best known for playing Robb Stark in the world-renowned American fantasy television series ‘Game of Thrones.’

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupér was an aristocrat French writer, poet, and pioneering aviator. He is best remembered for his novella The Little Prince and for his lyrical aviation writings, including Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.

Domenico Dolce

Domenico Mario Assunto Dolce is an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. Along with Stefano Gabbana, he is one half of the luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana (D&G). Since founding D&G in 1985, Mr. Dolce has become one of the world's most influential fashion designers and an industry icon.

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke is an American actor, writer, and director. Hawke is best known for his portrayals of cerebral sensitive men. He first gained recognition, when he was cast in director Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society and the film's success gave him the much-needed breakthrough. He later starred in the critically acclaimed film Training Day (2001) with Denzel Washington, earning his first Oscar nominati...