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1-48 of 48
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Born in Bangor, North Wales and raised in Brighton, on the South coast of England, Ian Whyte was 7'1" tall by the time he was 17 years old. Ian always stood out from the crowd. Tall, slim and athletic, little did he know of his future career in the limelight. Ian discovered basketball in his teens, and quickly caught the attention of national team scouts who saw his physical attributes and determination as valuable assets. He quickly progressed to the junior national team ranks, but uninspired by school at the time, Ian was keen to escape at the earliest possible opportunity. He spent a year at Henry Hudson High School in New Jersey, where he again attracted the attention of basketball scouts, earning sports scholarships to Iona College in New York and Clarion University in Pennsylvania.
Ian returned to England in 1994 to play for the London Towers, a new franchise owned by the music promoter Barry Marshall. Still eager to find himself Ian only stayed a season with the Towers, transferring to their crosstown rivals, The London Leopards, but again, only for one season.
in 1995, Europe freely opened its doors to sportsmen and women from across the continent. Ian played for teams right across Europe. In France, Belgium, Greece and Portugal, where he won the domestic treble; League, cup and playoff championships with F.C. Porto in 1997 and went to the ¼ finals of the European cup.
Ian returned to England soon after to play for the Newcastle Eagles, a place that would become his home until his retirement from the game in 2003. Throughout his career Ian tirelessly distinguished himself, representing his country 80 times.
In 2003 Ian received a phone call that would change the whole course of his life. By his own admission he was keen to retire from basketball on his terms rather than through injury or old age, so he responded to a casting call for the new film Alien Vs Predator. His success in gaining the role is a matter of history, but personally it was a tremendous victory for him to finally find an outlet for his emotional creativity.
Ian was fortunate to work alongside such luminaries as the Oscar winning special effects duo of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr as well as Oscar winning VFX supervisor John Bruno. He also met soon to be double Oscar winning makeup effects artist Mark Coulier who encouraged him to get in touch with Nick Dudman, the creature effects supervisor for the Harry Potter franchise. Upon completion of filming on AVP Ian travelled back to England and straight into the world of Harry Potter. Not credited as an actor this time, Ian was hired to help bring to life the character of Madame Maxime played by the sublime Francis De La Tour. Ian worked full time for an entire year on the film, faithfully doubling The character who stood a glorious 8'6" tall.
During this time Ian found himself in great demand, but had to turn down roles on such exciting projects as The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy and a worldwide tour with Cirque du Soleil.
Soon after the release of Harry Potter, the AVP sequel went into production. Shot entirely in Vancouver Canada, Ian had to re-audition for the part of the Predator, (in reality an entirely new character) however, through his own personal discipline and foresight he had been preparing for it ever since the release of the first film. Ian was of course successful in giving the directors exactly what they wanted and AVP Requiem was shot in 2006. Ian's dedicated self imposed preparation involved a great deal of martial arts training and Ian based the characteristics of the Warrior loosely on the Chinese martial art known as Ba Gua. The shooting schedule for requiem was extremely intense. Half the time as AVP with twice the action! During production Ian found time to very quickly travel to New Zealand to meet with the visionary director Neil Blomkamp to discuss the role of the Master Chief in his new film based on the Halo video game franchise. The trip from Vancouver to New Zealand took 4 days and Ian spent less than 18 hours in the country, so a meeting quickly turned into an audition, a costume fitting and negotiations with the producers before returning to Vancouver. Sadly, after being in Pre-production for six months the film never went into full production.
The 2009 remake of Clash of the Titans followed soon after. Directed by Louis Leterrier the character of Sheikh Suliman gave Ian a golden opportunity to perform with a glittering ensemble cast once again.
Ian extended his dramatic credentials alongside Steven Tompkinson in the gritty 1970's Northern police drama, Harrigan.
Prometheus followed soon after when multi Oscar winning director Sir Ridley Scott brought to life the enigmatic myth of the space jockey, last seen in the original Alien film.
In 2010 Ian auditioned for the role of "The Mountain" in the upcoming TV smash Game of thrones. Ian was not cast, but was invited to fill the role of "The White Walker" for season one. Thus began a period of great creativity which saw Ian play roles in every season of the multi award winning show. Different prosthetic make ups allowed Ian to deliver multiple characters including the giant "Wun Wun" who featured in the two top rated, (according to IMDb) battle episodes of the franchise in series 5 and 6.
Never one to shy away from the responsibilities of a global franchise, Ian became involved with Star Wars in 2013 after Disney took over film production. Ian would have been an obvious choice to play the Wookie Chewbacca, but did not audition for the part. The casting brief was so specific and despite his experience and skill, Ian's deep dark brown eyes excluded him from the role. However, he went back to his action creature roots, as he was asked to be Peter Mayhew's stunt double as well as to bring to life other creatures of the Star Wars universe, which he subsequently reprised for Rogue One, Solo and most recently the Disney+ series, Andor.
In 2020, Ian had the honour and pleasure of working with the multi award winning director Robert Eggers in his Hamlet inspired, Viking epic The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgard.
Ian continues to transform himself for screens big and small.- Actor
- Producer
With over 100 film and television credits to his name, award-winning actor, Adrian Holmes, has become one to watch in the entertainment industry. He is best known for playing the patriarch of the Banks family, Philip Banks/Uncle Phil, in the acclaimed drama series, "BEL-AIR". The reimagining of the iconic 90s series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Admiral Robert April in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds". He is also known for his work on the Bravo television series "19-2", for which he won a Canadian Screen Award in 2017, in the Netflix vampire-drama series, "V Wars" and Captain Pike on the long running CW series, "Arrow."
On the film front, Holmes can be seen in the Universal Pictures' action-thriller "Skyscraper" alongside Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and "Elysium" alongside Matt Damon.
In addition to working in front of the camera, Holmes received a producer credit, for co-producing, alongside Step by Step Productions, the docudrama "Barrow: Freedom Fighter", where he played the title role of Errol Barrow, Barbados' first Prime Minister. The film was very special to him, as it was shot in his homeland of Barbados.
Born in Wrexham, North Wales, with family from Barbados, Holmes grew up in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. The eldest of three boys, Holmes was a natural entertainer as a child. In junior high school, his drama class wrote a play for a local drama festival called, "The Challenge: An Environmental Happening" which was awarded Outstanding Junior Play, and Holmes awarded Outstanding Junior Actor. A defining moment for him which inspired him to pursue a career in acting.
He continued to perform in many stage productions throughout high school and college and studied his craft with many coaches including world-renowned coach Larry Moss.
When he isn't working, Holmes enjoys traveling with his wife actress Caroline Chikezie, and tries to get back to see his family in England and Barbados as much as possible. He is also always up for a good round of golf. Holmes splits his time between Vancouver and LA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Father: Sydney Wilson Theatre Producer. Mother: Classical Dancer.
Trained by his mother as a dancer from the age of 4. At 16 trained at The Urdang Ballet School in London and at 19, Arts Educational London. Inspired by his performance as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show at The Barbican, Pete formed a Rock Band "KIX" playing in pubs and clubs all over London. Focused on music at Arts, Pete had no intention of becoming an actor but on giving his best mate a lift on his motorcycle to the set of "Music Machine" (a British attempt at "Saturday Night Fever") he was asked to play a small part in the film. At the end of filming the assistant director asked Pete if he would be interested in playing the lead in his first low budget film "Knights Electric" Pete agreed and an acting agent soon followed. A few months later Pete auditioned for one of the leading roles in "Remembrance" the first film made for Channel 4, co-starring Gary Oldman and Timothy Spall. Pete won the role and a future in acting began.- Robin Davies was born on 16 January 1954 in Tywyn, Merionethshire, North Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Spearhead (1978) and Catweazle (1970). He was married to Venetia Vivian. He died on 22 February 2010 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK.
- Leon Pownall was born on 26 April 1943 in Wrexham, North Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Dead Poets Society (1989), The Sleep Room (1998) and Slings and Arrows (2003). He died on 2 June 2006 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
- Podcaster
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Connor Colquhoun was born on 26 July 1996 in Denbigh North, Denbighshire, Wales, UK. He is a podcaster and actor, known for Dragon and Weed: Origins Season 1 Vol.1 (2020), Honkai: Star Rail (2023) and Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 (2022).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
One of the driving, creative forces behind the legendary Hammer Studios, Jimmy Sangster was born on December 2, 1927, in Kinmel Bay, North Wales. He began in the film industry as a production assistant at age 16 during WWII. After this gig, he worked as a gofer and assistant projectionist for Norman's Film Services at London's Wardour Street. Subsequently, he became a film magazine loader and clapper boy at a small studio located on Abbey Road.
At this point, he was drafted by the R.A.F. and was posted to India. After his tour of duty came to an end, he was able to get himself a job as a 3rd assistant director for a low-budget film, that happened to be shooting near his parents' cottage. That film's producer was offered a job with Exclusive Studios, which was to become Hammer Studios. He brought Sangster along with him as an assistant producer.
Hammer Studios producer Anthony Hinds offered Sangster the assistant director job, which he performed for a while before Hinds and 'Michael Carreras' urged him to give screen-writing a go. His script for the science-fiction film X the Unknown (1956) proved to be the turning point in his career. His next project was The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), which he wanted to make his own instead of patterning it after the 1930's Universal picture; he was more interested in the role of the creator than that of the creature. Horror of Dracula (1958) (aka The Horror of Dracula)followed, which proved to be an even bigger hit for the studio. He then turned out subsequent scripts such as The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and The Mummy (1959) and would even write scripts for competing studios such as Blood of the Vampire (1958) and The Crawling Eye (1958) (aka The Trollenberg Terror).
By now, Sangster had tired of writing Gothic horrors and entered into a phase of his career where he concentrated on psychological thrillers which would be filmed in black & white. These included Scream of Fear (1961) and Paranoiac (1963).
Another short-lived phase of his career came when he was approached to re-write a script titled The Horror of Frankenstein (1970). Feeling that it was too much of a carbon copy of his own The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and wanting to put a fresh spin on it, he injected his re-write with much sex and humor. His proviso for the re-write was that he get to direct for once, which Hammer allowed him to do. After "Horror of Frankenstein", he directed Lust for a Vampire (1971), filling in for frequent Hammer director Terence Fisher, after the latter had broken his leg. His final directorial effort was "Fear in the Night"; unfortunately, these three films would prove to be disappointments commercially and critically.
Around this time, Sangster moved to Hollywood where his screen-writing credits would include Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972), The Legacy (1978) and Phobia (1980), as well as episodes of such television series as Banacek (1972), Cannon (1971) and Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) and some detective novels.
Sangster retired some time back, maintaining homes in both California and England. In 1997, his autobiography "Do You Want It Good or Tuesday?" was published. Sadly, the legendary writer passed away on August 19, 2011.
His many years in the business are indicative of the talent of a prolific and much-respected screenwriter, whose films continue to be enjoyed to this day.- Betty Glover was born on 30 April 1928 in Wales, North Dakota, USA. She was an actress, known for It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007), Crisis Counselor (1982) and The Best of Times (1981). She was married to Bruce Glover. She died on 27 May 2016.
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Dylan Roberts was born on 28 November 1971 in Bangor, North Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for Fatman (2020), Death to Smoochy (2002) and Spiral (2021).- Deborah Carroll was born on 1 December 1963 in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, UK.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rotund, cherubic-looking Welsh-born character actor, graduate of Oxford University. Hughes looked every inch the Marlborough House schoolmaster he was earlier in life, prior to embarking upon a theatrical career in 1910. Tailor-made for Dickensian impersonations, he was spot-on casting as Tim Linkinwater, partner and clerk for the Cheeryble Twins (one of whom he also played for a 1957 BBC TV serialisation), in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947). Equally so, as old Mr. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol (1951).
Originally trained as a singer, Hughes first appeared on the London musical comedy scene during the First World War. During the 1920's, he was busy acting in plays at the West End, demonstrating a penchant for comedy. By the end of the decade, he even had a starring turn on Broadway in the popular comedy "Bird in Hand". Hughes entered films in 1932, often featured in small roles as tradesmen, doctors, butlers or minor officials. In later years, he alternated his screen roles with acting on stage. He retired from films in 1961 and died in February 1970 at the age of 78.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Lisa was born in Rhyl, North Wales, UK. She has three younger brothers who are in a band called 3SL whom she manages. Was a member of the very successful British pop group Steps from 7 May 1997 until 26 December 2001 when the group split. She also appeared in the UK reality show Totally Scott Lee with her family.- Bethan Ellis Owen was born in Bangor, North Wales, UK. She is known for Solomon & Gaenor (1999), Pobol y Cwm (1974) and Anfamol (2023).
- Known for playing Vine in Hyperdrive (BBC 2006) alongside Nick Frost, Miranda Hart and Kevin Eldon. Also My Family (BBC 2006), Comedy Cuts (ITV 2007), Doctors (BBC 2012), Camping (Sky Atlantic 2015), Still Open All Hours (BBC 2016), Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic), Dodger (BBC 2022), Bad Education (BBC 2023), and TrueLove (Channel Four 2024).
- Samantha Armytage was born on 4 September 1976 in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She has been married to Richard Lavender since 31 December 2020.
- Carly Zucker was born on 11 May 1984 in Rhyl, North Wales, UK. She has been married to Joe Cole since 20 June 2009. They have three children.
- Actor
- Stunts
Rob appeared in a few small roles in the early 2000's, including the ITV football quiz show "Do I Not Know That?"
Was present at the 2002 Cannes International Film Festival promoting S.J. Evans' film The Invisible World (2002).
A season ticket holder at Wrexham Football Club for more than 25 years.
He is the owner of Mad4Movies, that features in the F/X TV documentary Welcome to Wrexham (2022).- Additional Crew
Kell Hutchence was born on 21 July 1924 in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is known for The Real... (1998), The Loved One: The Michael Hutchence Story (2005) and E! True Hollywood Story (1996). He was married to Patricia Hutchence. He died on 12 December 2002 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Reg Cranfield was born in 1902 in North Wales, Wales, United Kingdom. He was an actor, known for The Informer (1966), Melissa (1974) and Them (1972). He died in 1983 in Lancashire, North West England, England, United Kingdom.
- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Lloyd Handley was born on 17 January 1987 in North Wales, Wales, UK. He is a writer and director, known for Third Row Centre (2013), Still Life (2011) and The Viewing (2012).- Bronwyn Bishop was born on 19 October 1942 in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress, known for Divorce Court (1967), Club Buggery (1995) and A Current Affair (1971). She was previously married to Alan David Bishop.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Julian Boote was born on 9 October 1967 in Bangor, North Wales, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Small Time Obsession (2000), Fallen Angels (2002) and Dead Room (2001). He died on 12 May 2020 in London, England.- Lucy Ellinson was born in North Wales, UK. She is known for Britannia (2017), New Tricks (2003) and This Way Up (2010).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tammy Jones was born on 12 March 1944 in Bangor, North Wales, UK. She is an actress, known for The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968), The Benny Hill Show (1955) and The Dick Emery Show (1963).- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Mary Bellis was born on 14 January 1955 in North Wales, UK. She was a director and writer, known for Agent of Paradise (1984). She died on 28 March 2015 in New York City, New York, USA.