Theater, Broadcasting, Cinema

Adie, Kate

Adie is especially famous for her reports from war zones (Turkey, Lebanon, the Gulf War, China, the former Yugoslavia, etc.). Her mother became pregnant while her husband was away at war an... [more]

Akabusi, Kriss

Akabusi was born an Igbo prince in Nigeria, but taken to England as a child, where he went into care when his mother returned to Nigeria. He spent time in a children's home and also had mul... [more]

Albee, Edward Franklin

Albee has won three Pulitzer Prizes. His 13 plays (including The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, Tiny Alice, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Three Tall Women) are among the most famous in 20th... [more]

Angelou, Maya

Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in California. Her parents divorced when she was a young child and she and her brother were sent by their father to live with his mother i... [more]

Anstis, Toby

Anstis began broadcasting while still a comprehensive school-boy in Northampton, where he was born (also representing his county in rugby and cricket). He got a degree in marketing and psyc... [more]

Ashcroft, Edith Margaret Emily

Ashcroft was German Jewish and Danish on her mother's side and English on her father's side. Both her parents (Violetta and William) died before she was 20. She began acting before her p... [more]

Bankhead, Tallulah

Bankhead was born into an illustrious American political family: her father was Speaker of the House of Representatives 1936-40. Her mother died shortly after she was born, and she was sent... [more]

Barberie, Jillian

Barberie was born in Ontario and adopted as a baby by an electrician and a nurse, Jim and Mariel Warry. Her birth parents, immigrants from Ireland and England, felt they were too young to ... [more]

Bartholomew, Freddie

Bartholomew was born in Dublin but abandoned by his parents to the care of an aunt, Millicent Mary Bartholomew. In 1930 he began his film career as a child star with Fascination, and... [more]

Bay, Michael

Bay was adopted as a small baby by an accountant and child psychologist in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. His parents later also adopted a baby girl. His birth father is rumored to b... [more]