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| Chris Tucker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chris Tucker I will always do stand-up, even if my acting career takes off. Stand-up is my life. � Chris Tucker HYPERACTIVE comedians are a dime a dozen these days, but Chris Tucker has a vibe so energetic that he could, as one pundit put it, "make caffeine nervous." A human exclamation point with elastic limbs and a face so expressive he could make the Mona Lisa show some teeth, the manic motormouth was tearing up the L.A. comedy circuit before his 20th birthday. A string of small movie roles followed, leading up to a gleeful, spastic breakout performance, as the sassiest deejay in the cosmos in 1997's The Fifth Element. That film was still playing at second-run discount houses when Tucker blew into theaters in his first starring vehicle, the buddy caper Money Talks, which doubled its production costs with a handsome $40 million gross and confirmed the celebrity status of its mouthy star. As the youngest of his parents' six children, Tucker initially relied on comedy as a means of getting attention from his brothers � the more he made them laugh, the more willing they were to let him hang out with them. Born and raised in the Atlanta, Ga., suburb of Decatur, he discovered at a young age that clowning around at school had the same affect on his classmates as it did on his brothers at home. Tucker refined his own gifts by watching the film and television performances of in-your-face comics Richard Prior and Eddie Murphy, and by the time he arrived at Decatur's Columbia High School, even his teachers were cracking up over his classroom antics. One of them suggested he host the school's annual talent show, which proved to be a life-shaping experience. "I got up there and did it," he later recalled. "Ripped it up. After I heard everyone laughing, I decided this was what I wanted to do. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had." Following graduation and a vote of confidence from his classmates, who tabbed him the Most Humorous member of their graduating class, Tucker was determined to go pro. He sneaked into a popular local comedy club and fast-talked his way up on stage � he was too young to legally be on the premises � and won a standing ovation from the regulars. Similar gigs followed, and, before long, complete strangers were stopping Tucker on the street and giving him high-fives. Buoyed by his overnight success, the hometown stand-up hero, then 19, decided he was ready for the big time and headed to Los Angeles. He camped out on the living room floor of a friend's Sunset Boulevard apartment, and diligently applied himself to working the clubs. In took him just two years to become a major player on the clubs scene, and on cable, where producer Russell Simmons helped him get his first taste of national exposure on HBO's Deaf Comedy Jam. Fate came knocking in 1994, when rap-lite duo Kid 'n' Play caught Tucker's act at a Tinseltown club and offered him a small role in House Party 3. Though he ended up on screen for less than two minutes in the role of party promoter Johnny Booze, Tucker made the most of his feature-film debut. His name and face were prominently featured in the movie's promotional materials after preview audiences burst into raucous applause following his all-too-brief appearance, and many critics singled him out for providing the movie's biggest laughs. The following year, he won a much bigger role, opposite Ice Cube, in the 'hood comedy Friday, in which he was cast as Smokey, a lackadaisical dope dealer who'd rather smoke a joint than sell it. "Weed is from the earth," Smokey admonishes Cube's more straitlaced Craig. "God put this here for me and you. Take advantage man, take advantage." Director F. Gary Gray was so sold on Tucker's knack for improvisation that he eventually filmed at least one take of every scene where he simply allowed the comedian to throw the script out the window and cut loose. "When I got to editing," Gray later reported, "I used most of [those] takes because they were so funny." After Friday became a surprise hit, Tucker got the chance to mix comedy with more downbeat emoting in Dead Presidents, a Vietnam-era crime drama produced and directed by wonder-brothers Allen and Albert Hughes. Though the film tanked at the box office, Tucker's dramatic stylings won praise from critics, particularly for the scene in which his character overdoses on heroin while watching Soul Train. By 1996, when he had a comedy album in release and a special on HBO, Tucker's public profile was prominent enough to earn him a major supporting role in French director Luc Besson's 1997 sci-fi action opus The Fifth Element. The movie was an early summer smash, and Tucker, cast as cross-dressing broadcast personality Ruby Rhod, stole it right out from under star apparent Bruce Willis with his full-tilt performance � Time magazine called him "the summer's most outrageous special effect." Having thus been introduced to Tucker's trademark high-pitched delivery and manic timing, audiences were primed for the fall release of Money Talks. The rising star flexed his newfound Hollywood muscle by exec-producing the movie, overseeing everything from script rewrites to the hiring of rookie director Brett Ratner � he even performed some of his own stunts, including taking a 19-foot fall from a helicopter onto an airbag. Perhaps most tellingly, Tucker got a seven-figure payday for Money Talks, even though he'd never had another starring role and production began well before the success of The Fifth Element dramatically broadened his name recognition. In the wake of Money Talks, he finished out 1997 with a cameo appearance as a small-time hood in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. For his second starring role, he shared top billing with martial arts megastar Jackie Chan in the 1998 action comedy Rush Hour. Currently single and living in Los Angeles, Tucker frequently points to his working-class parents, whom he escorted to the Money Talks world premiere, as the source of his success, and maintains close ties to his deep South roots � he still does stand-up shows at the Atlanta club where he got his first break. He's never had any formal acting lessons, and claims he developed "that voice" largely by accident; as he told one interviewer, "I don't try to speak that way, but when I'm hyper and on the mike, that's how it comes out. Whenever I would have to deal with bill collectors, my voice would go up. I started doing it on stage, not really for laughs, and people would love it. They would say, 'Talk in that voice,' and I would always be like, 'What voice? What are you talking about.'" Coming down the pike for Tucker is a role in the spy spoof Double O-Soul, a project he's developing for Universal in which he'll star opposite Mariah Carey as a low-level secret agent pressed into service on a top-priority mission after his fellow agents are all wiped out. Copyright �1999 ABC News Internet Ventures. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form. Please click here for legal restrictions and terms of use applicable to this site. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the terms of use. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Biography Nickname: Fresh Prince As a child, Will constantly charmed his way out of trouble, so his teachers nicknamed him The Prince. When he got a little older, he added Fresh to it. Date of Birth: September 25, 1968 Born in Philadelphia, Sun in Libra, Moon in Scorpio, currently 28 years old. Height: 6' 2" Family: Will Smith was the second of four children of Caroline, a school board worker, and Willard Smith Sr., owner of a refrigeration company and later an engineer. He grew up in middle class West Philadelphia and graduated from Overbrook High School. Rapping since he was twelve years old, when he met Jeff Townes at a party they soon began performing together as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. When the duo took off in popularity, Will made, and spent, a lot of money on a house, cars and jewelry. But Will was looking for something new when, in 1989, he met Benny Medina, who had an idea for a sitcom based on his life in Beverly Hills. Will loved the idea as did NBC which put on the "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". The plot was simple - Will basically played himself; a street-smart West Philly kid transplanted to Beverly Hills. The series lasted 6 years. During that time, he ventured into movies, where the critics took note of him in Six Degrees of Seperation (1993). With the success that came with the action picture Bad Boys (1995), Will's movie career was set. His latest movie is the blockbuster Independence Day (1996) where he plays the alien-asskicker Marine Corps Captain Steven Hiller. Ex-spouse: Sheree Zampino (May 1992 - 1995) Girlfriend: Jada Pinkett Other: His son, Willard Smith III, nicknamed 'Trey' was born in 1992. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bruce Willis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Real Name: Bruce Walter Willis. | Nickname: Bruno. Birthday: Born on March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany. Marriage: Wife: Demi Moore. Actor. Married in Las Vegas in 1987 by Little Richard. Separated June 1998. Have 3 children, Rumer Glenn Willis, Scout LaRue Willis and Tallulah Belle Willis. Education: Montclair State College, Montclair, New Jersey. Hobby: Singer of the band Bruce Willis & The Accelerators. Career in Films: Bruce Willis The actor Bruce Willis is one of the Jersey boys. Bruce hails from the southern Jersey town of Penns Grove, where he grew up and was the class cut-up. Bruce headed to New York after graduation from high school. Bruce Willis worked at a lot of odd jobs, but it was his stint as a bartender that got him discovered. Bruce had the look and personality needed to play the lead role in a new TV series in the planning, "Moonlighting". Bruce won the role and played opposite Cybill Shepherd for the series' run. Bruce Willis rose to stardom after "Moonlighting" as John McClane in "Die Hard". Bruce's "Die Hard" films were all box-office hits, "Die Hard 2" and "Die Hard with a Vengeance". Bruce Willis had a few movies over the years that have not exactly brought in the crowds, however Bruce had just the perfect voice for little Mikey in the 1989 comedy "Look Who's Talking" and it's 1990 sequel, "Look Who's Talking Too". Bruce redeemed himself with the public in the '97 remake thriller, "The Jackal". Bruce is back with a vengeance working on Disney's "Armageddon" and another "Die Hard" sequel. Bruce also has a future project in the works that he'll be producing and starring in, "Breakfast of Champions". Bruce Willis has been married to mega-star Demi Moore since 1987. They have three little girls, Rumor, Scout Larue, and Tallulah Belle. Bruce and Demi 24 June - A statement from Demi Moore's publicist on June 24, 1998 confirmed rumors that the actress has moved to dissolve her 10-year marriage to Bruce Willis. 5 Feb 98 Just In - Bruce Willis will begin filming in "Breakfast of Champions" in Twin Falls, Idaho late this month thru mid March. Most of the filming will be done at Gary's Wasteland Motors, the local Pontiac dealer. Others in the film include Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey, and rumor of Sylvester Stalone having a part. Awards Golden Globe (1987) - "Moonlighting" - Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Comedy/Musical, Bruce Willis.
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