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Anne Celeste Heche was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She came to recognition portraying Vicky Hudson and Marley Love in the soap opera Another World (1964), which won her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She came to mainstream prominence in the late 1990s with roles in the crime drama film Donnie Brasco (1997), the disaster film Volcano (1997), the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), the action comedy film Six Days Seven Nights (1998), and the drama-thriller film Return to Paradise (1998).

Zachery Ty Bryan began his entertainment career early as a series regular on the ABC hit sitcom "Home Improvement." As Bryan transitioned from accomplished child actor into teen and adult roles, his career flourished with stints on many other iconic TV series, including "Cold Case", "E.R.", " Smallville" and "Veronica Mars," as well as roles in feature films such as "Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift", and "The Game of Their Lives", starring opposite Gerard Butler.

After many fruitful years in front of the camera, Bryan transitioned to television and film production by launching his production entity, Lost Lane. Zachery has produced three documentaries and four feature films, including 2018 Sundance Film Festival unanimously voted, The Kindergarten Teacher, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Zachery is in post-production on "Heavy", a drug induced thriller starring Sophie Turner as well as "Skin", starring Jamie Bell grappling with the current racial climate in America; Skin recently sold to A24 at TIFF. He also just acquired the TV rights to "Freeway Ricky Ross untold Autobiography" - the book details how Ross built a crack-cocaine empire in Los Angeles, earning millions per day in the mid 1980's.

Zachery lives in Newport Beach, California with his wife of twelve years, Carly, their three daughters Gemma, Taylor, and Jordana and their son Pierce.

Francine York was born in the small mining town of Aurora, Minnesota to her parents, Frank and Sophie Yerich. When Francine was five, her family (including her younger sister, Deanne) moved to Cleveland, where she began to write short stories and take an interest in acting. At age nine, Francine made her theatrical debut in the Hodge Grammar School production of Cinderella, playing Griselda. Initially quite upset that she did not get the starring role, Francine ended up stealing the show with her performance as the evil stepsister. Right after the show, Francine ran into the audience and told her mother that she wanted to be an actress.

When Francine was age 12, the family moved back to Aurora, where she continued to perform in class plays, as well as writing, producing, directing and starring in a three-act play called "Keen Teens or Campus Quarantine". Francine, displaying an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age, charged five cents admission to the show, and the whole town turned out for the production.

While studying journalism and drama at Aurora High School, Francine worked as the feature editor of the school newspaper, Aurora Borealis, and she won all of the school's declamation contests with her dramatic readings. Additionally, she was the baton-twirling majorette for the school band, and active in the 4-H club, where she won several blue ribbons for cooking in both county and state fairs. This proved to be valuable experience for Francine later on, when she would not only host, but do all of the gourmet cooking for dinner parties for some of Hollywood's biggest names.

At age 17, Francine won the Miss Eveleth contest (Eveleth being a nearby town), and became a runner-up in the Miss Minnesota contest, which was hosted by former Miss America BeBe Shopp. For the talent portion of the Miss Minnesota pageant, Francine, who was not afraid to be less than glamorous during a performance, donned some old clothes, removed her makeup, grayed her hair, and performed a reading of a monologue called "The Day That Was That Day" by Amy Lowell, in which she played a dual role of two elderly Southern women. BeBe Shopp encouraged Francine in her theatrical ambitions, and predicted that she would end up in Hollywood very soon. At this point, however, Hollywood was still a dream for Francine, who wanted desperately to leave Minnesota and make her mark in show business.

Moving to Minneapolis, she got a job modeling sweaters for New York-based Jane Richards Sportswear and began traveling throughout the United States, ending up in San Francisco. After leaving Jane Richards, Francine began a modeling course at the House of Charm agency, which started her off on a very successful modeling career for all of the major department stores, including Macy's. Her modeling work got the attention of the producers of the Miss San Francisco beauty pageant, which she subsequently entered and was voted runner-up, but ended up taking over the title after the winner became too sick to participate. Soon after, Francine got a job as a showgirl at Bimbo's, a well-known San Francisco nightclub, which was highly disapproved of by Francine's modeling agency, but this turned out to be the right choice for Francine when she met Bimbo's headliner, singer Mary Meade French, who brought Francine to Hollywood and, later, got her signed with her first agent.

Arriving in Los Angeles, Francine once again found herself working as a showgirl at Frank Sennes' Moulin Rouge, a popular nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where she performed in three shows a night, seven nights a week for six months. Tired of sharing a stage with elephants, pigeons and horses, she moved on to pursue her acting career and began study with famed actor/teacher Jeff Corey. While performing in Corey's class, Francine was spotted by a theatrical producer, who cast her in a play called "Whisper in God's Ear" at the Circle Theatre. During this time, the same producer gave Francine her very first movie role, starring in Secret File: Hollywood (1962), a film about the day-to-day operations of a sleazy Hollywood tabloid. The movie premiered in Francine's hometown of Aurora, which gave her the biggest thrill of her life as the whole town, the press, her family, friends, and even the high school band turned out at the airport to greet her with banners proclaiming, "Welcome Home, Francine!"

Francine's first big break came when Jerry Lewis cast her in his film It's Only Money (1962), in which she played a tantalizing sexpot, a role which brought her a tremendous amount of publicity. This led to Lewis hiring her for five more of his films, including The Nutty Professor (1963), The Patsy (1964), The Disorderly Orderly (1964), The Family Jewels (1965) and Cracking Up (1983), in which she played a fifteenth century marquise. Other notable film appearances include Bedtime Story (1964) (with Marlon Brando and David Niven), Tickle Me (1965) (with Elvis Presley), Cannon for Cordoba (1970) (with George Peppard), and science fiction cult films Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968), Mutiny in Outer Space (1964) and Space Probe Taurus (1965). Francine's most popular film was the cult classic The Doll Squad (1973), where she played Sabrina Kincaid, leader of an elite team of gorgeous female assassins who attempt to stop a diabolical madman from destroying the world with a deadly plague virus. Francine also delivered a stunning performance as Marilyn Monroe in an otherwise lackluster film, Marilyn Alive and Behind Bars (1992). (Film critic Tom Weaver has been quoted as saying that Francine's performances often rise above the low-budget films she has been cast in.) More recently, Francine played Nicolas Cage's mother-in-law in The Family Man (2000).

Francine has also had tremendous success in television, with appearances on Route 66 (1960), Hawaiian Eye (1959), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), My Favorite Martian (1963), Burke's Law (1963), Perry Mason (1957), Batman (1966), Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), Lost in Space (1965), It Takes a Thief (1968), Green Acres (1965), The Wild Wild West (1965), Ironside (1967), I Dream of Jeannie (1965), Love, American Style (1969), Mannix (1967), Bewitched (1964), Adam-12 (1968), Mission: Impossible (1966), Kojak (1973), Columbo (1971), Matlock (1986), The King of Queens (1998) and Las Vegas (2003), among many others. Francine's personal favorites among her television roles include her portrayal of nineteenth century British actress Lily Langtry in the Death Valley Days (1952) episode "Picture of a Lady", and her role as the princess opposite Shirley Temple (one of Francine's childhood idols) in NBC's presentation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". One of Francine's other favorite roles was that of high-class prostitute and blackmailer Lorraine Temple on Days of Our Lives (1965).

While Francine was enjoying great success as a film and television actress, she was also making a name for herself as a fitness/nutrition expert and gourmet cook. She made many appearances on television demonstrating her culinary skills, and many of her recipes, as well as her exercise programs, were published in national health magazines. Francine also became known as one of Hollywood's leading hostesses, cooking for such celebrities as Clint Eastwood, Rex Harrison, Vincent Price, Regis Philbin, Jean Stapleton, Neil Sedaka, James Arness, Glenn Ford and Peter Ustinov.

Francine continued to act in films and on television. Two recent television appearances include Hot in Cleveland (2010) (as British matriarch Lady Natalie), and Bucket and Skinner's Epic Adventures (2011) (as Aunt Bitsy). She was also quite busy working on her autobiography, something her fans are looking forward to with great interest. In 1996, she met director Vincent Sherman (Mr. Skeffington, The Adventures of Don Juan, The Young Philadelphians), and was his companion until his death in 2006. Francine never married - she once said, "Like Cinderella, I always wanted to marry the handsome prince...but they don't make glass slippers in size ten!" On January 6, 2017, Francine York died of cancer at age 80 in Van Nuys, California.

Brandon Quinn plays "Ronnie Sullivan" on the hit Netflix series SWEET MAGNOLIAS and can be seen opposite Kevin Hart in the Roku series DIE HART.A native of Aurora, Colorado, Brandon found his passion for acting in high school theater after a serious car accident in his junior year that kept him from playing sports. He recently wrapped production on the LightWorkers media feature film ON A WING AND A PRAYER with Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham and the STX feature film GREENLAND starring Gerard Butler. Previously, Brandon led the John Singleton series REBEL on BET and recurred on the ABC comedy KEVIN (PROBABLY) SAVES THE WORLD, as well as the Freeform series THE FOSTERS. Brandon got his start as the lead of Fox Family's long-running cult classic series BIG WOLF ON CAMPUS shortly after moving to Los Angeles. Additional television credits include AGAINST THE WALL, GRIMM, ENTOURAGE, CHARMED, THE O.C., and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. In 2015, Brandon spent two years studying at an acting conservatory, The Miesner Center, working to deepen his understanding of the craft. Brandon is married to his wife of 20 years, Rachel, with whom he has three kids.

Don S. Davis was born on 4 August 1942 in Aurora, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for A League of Their Own (1992), The Fan (1996) and Twin Peaks (1990). He was married to Ruby Fleming-Davis and Sondra Sue Davis. He died on 29 June 2008 in Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada.

Natalie Knepp is an actress, sketch comedian, voiceover artist and harpist based in CLE/PITT/CHI market Manager: Paul Brown at Industry Entertainment

Repped by DPN NY for voiceover/promo/animation. Contact Liz Klausner, Matt Smith & Matt Ambrosia + Grossman & Jack Chicago Agent: Susan Farlik Carlson

On Camera Commercial agents BBR NY: Tracey Goldblum & Doug Kesten

Follow: @NatalieKnepp on TikTok & Instagram @NatalieKneppNYC on YouTube & Facebook For all collab requests on social media email Risa Rubin at Grossman & Jack Talent Agency

Britt Stewart, dancer, educator, choreographer, dance arts advocate. Before joining the cast of Dancing With The Stars, Britt got her start in the entertainment industry as a principal dancer in all three of Disney's original High School Musical movies. She went on to be in film, TV and live performances including worldwide tours. Some of her biggest moments include films like Disney Channel's Teen Beach Movie, prime time television shows, dancing for artists like Janet Jackson and Katy Perry's back up dancer for three years on her Prismatic World Tour and Super Bowl halftime performance. After working with Perry, she joined the Dancing With The Stars cast. Britt was made a Pro Dancer on Dancing With The Stars as the First Black Female Pro on Season 29, making history after five seasons as a Troupe member. She continues to bring her unique flare as a pro dancer with celeb partners semi-finalist Johnny Weir and Martin Kove! She also educates aspiring young dancers and gives back to her community as President of recently launched non-profit Share The Movement focused on making dance accessible to BIPOC youth! Britt most recently was back on the Dancing With The Stars Live stage sharing her love for dance and authentic self during this 2022 winter tour.

After years of experience in the entertainment industry with dance, dance education, and choreography she is beginning to expand her career in hosting and public speaking appearances.

Brooke Anne Smith is an American actress known for her lead series regular role on two seasons of Tyler Perry's "Too Close To Home" where she played a drug addicted sexual assault survivor. She is also known for her recurring role on MTV's hit show "Awkward." She landed a lead series regular role in Oscar winner Renee Zellweger's six million dollar pilot "Cinnamon Girl" which was directed by critically acclaimed Gavin O'Connor. Smith made her motion picture debut as a lead in Walt Disney's "Max Keeble's Big Move" and since then, has gone on to several television shows and feature films to date.

Christine Horne was born on 14 December 1981 in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress, known for The Captive (2014), The Stone Angel (2007) and Ashgrove (2022).

Paul T. Scheuring was born on 20 November 1968 in Aurora, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Experiment (2010), Den of Thieves (2018) and Prison Break (2005).

Tyne Stecklein grew up in Aurora, Colorado where she began dancing at the age of 3. At a very young age she had a love for the arts, and knew that she wanted to be a performer in the entertainment industry. Tyne had extensive dance and theatre training growing up in Denver, as well as in New York and Los Angeles where she would travel in the summers to study. After graduating from High School, Tyne relocated to L.A. to pursue a professional career in dance and acting. She booked her first big job as a principal dancer for the national "High School Musical Concert Tour" directed by Kenny Ortega, just a few months after moving to LA. In 2008 she worked with Ortega again, when she was one of two female dancers chosen to dance with Michael Jackson on what would have been his last concert tour. Tyne went on to dance and act in multiple films and TV shows including High School Musical, Step Brothers, Burlesque, True Blood, No Strings attached, and Fuller House.

Slim, shapely, and luscious stunner Nicole Narain was born on July 28, 1974 in Aurora, Illinois. Her mother is Afro-Guyanese and her father is half Indo-Guyanese and half Chinese-Guyanese. She has a brother named Mike and a sister named Mimi. Nicole ran track in high school and was homecoming queen two years in a row. She has been modeling on and off ever since she was twelve. After graduating from high school, Narain moved to Chicago. She was discovered by "Playboy" senior editor Kevin Kaster at a local nightspot called Circus. Nicole was featured in the pictorial "Girls of Mardi Gras" in the March, 2000 issue of "Playboy." Narain was the Playmate of the Month in the January, 2002 issue of the famous men's magazine. Nicole has been featured in a bunch of "Playboy" videos and has appeared as herself on "Fear Factor" and "Howard Stern." Moreover, she has made guest appearances on episodes of the TV shows "One on One," "MADtv," "Entourage," and "American Heiress." In addition, Narain has appeared in the music videos for "Got Me a Model" by R.L., "Luv You Better" by LL Cool J, "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans, and "Baby" by Fabolous. Nicole achieved considerable notoriety when a sex tape she did with Colin Farrell became readily available on the Internet despite Farrell filing a restraining order against Narain to prevent the display or distribution of said tape. The lawsuit was later amicably resolved. More recently Narain has appeared on "Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew" seeking treatment for her sex addiction.

Andrea Evans was born on 18 June 1957 in Aurora, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for One Life to Live (1968), Passions (1999) and DeVanity (2011). She was married to Stephen Rodriguez and Wayne Massey. She died on 9 July 2023 in Pasadena, California, USA.

Shirlee Fonda was born on 11 February 1932 in Aurora, Illinois, USA. She is known for Joanne Carson's VIPs (1972), V.I.P.-Schaukel (1971) and To Tell the Truth (1956). She was previously married to Henry Fonda.

Brendan "Big Brown" Schaub is a former MMA fighter, with a storied fight career. He competed in the show The Ultimate Fighter (2005), getting a place in the finale fight and securing a contract with the UFC. While in the UFC, he won 6 fights and defeated one of his personal heroes, the Croatian veteran and legend Mirko Cro Cop. Brendan decided to retire from fighting after a podcast with Joe Rogan, who was concerned for his well-being, as well as being dissatisfied with the direction the UFC was taking its sponsorship with Reebok. Brendan, who was already running a very successful podcast, quit fighting to focus on podcasting, acting, and stand-up comedy full-time.

Schaub hosts The Fighter and the Kid (2015) podcast with co-host comedian/actor Bryan Callen and is a recurring guest on The Joe Rogan Experience (2009) (one of the most successful podcasts in the world). He has two sons with his wife actress Joanna Zanella: Tiger Pax Schaub and Boston J. Schaub.

One of the most recognizable voices in Los Angeles, Francis Dayle Hearn, better known as "Chick" was the play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Lakers for from 1960 to 2002. Known for his witty comments during the game and lightning-quick reactions to the play on the court, Hearn was as well-known a personality as some of the past Laker greats including Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Originally from Illinois, Hearn came to Los Angeles in 1956 and did radio and TV work in a variety of sports before getting his gig with the Lakers. He was also the long-time host of "Bowling for Dollars." Hearn has also done the play-by-play for other sports including the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Director/writer/producer Jeff Burr was born in 1961 in Aurora, Ohio. He grew up in Dalton, Georgia. Burr avidly watched low-budget independent movies at the local drive-in theater and made Super-8 pictures as a kid. Burr attended the University of Southern California for three years, where he met fellow student and aspiring filmmaker Kevin Meyer. The two of them dropped out of USC to complete Divided We Fall (1982), an acclaimed Civil War drama that wound up winning a plethora of awards at various film festivals all over the world. Burr made his first fright feature in 1987 with the superbly creepy and disturbing horror anthology winner From a Whisper to a Scream (1987). Burr then directed a handful of above average horror sequels: Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989) (Make Room for Daddy), Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1993), and the fourth and fifth "Puppetmaster" movies (Puppet Master 4 (1993) and Puppet Master 5 (1994)). Burr's more current spate of films have been a decidedly mixed bag. They range from mediocre (1999's Phantom Town (1999)) to awful (2006's "The Devil's Den"), with the strong, gritty and harrowing World War II action drama Straight Into Darkness (2004) rating as a definite recent career highlight. In addition to directing, Jeff Burr has also played small roles in such movies as The Mangler Reborn (2005), Dark Asylum (2001), High Tomb (1995), and Fear of a Black Hat (1993).

John Kerry is an American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1985 until 2013. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2004 presidential election, losing to Republican incumbent President George W. Bush.

Probably one of the greatest adventure novelists of our time. When his novel "Raise the Titanic" was bought for $840,000 by Viking Publishing in 1976, it put him on the map after 11 years of hard work. Before his success with RTT, he previously had written "Pacific Vortex", which wasn't published until after his successes, "The Mediterranean Caper" and "Iceberg". Originally in advertising, first as an award-winning copy writer, and then as creative director for two of the nation's largest agencies. He started his writing career when his wife, Barbara, got a night job for the local police station as a clerk. At night after putting his kids to bed, he had hardly anything to do and no one to talk to. So out of solitude he decided to write a book. After a few nights of thinking of an idea on what to write about he thought it would be fun to produce a little paperback series. The thought of a best-seller never crossed his mind. Thanks to his marketing experience, he began researching and analyzing all the series heroes, beginning with Edgar Allan Poe's Inspector Dumas. Next came Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes and all the other fiction detectives and spies. Like the likes of Bulldog Drummond, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Matt Helm, James Bond. Whatever he could find, he studied them all. With his experience in creative advertising under his belt, he started to wonder what he could conceive that was totally different. He didn't want to compete with already-famous authors. He was determined not to write about a detective, secret agent or undercover investigator or deal in murder mysteries. He then decided his hero's adventure would be based on and under water. And thus, the basic concept for Dirk Pitt the marine engineer with the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) was born. He found it interesting that almost no authors were writing pure, old-fashioned adventure. It seemed to him, a lost genre. After taking a refresher course in English, he launched his first book that introduced Pitt and most all of his characters who appeared in the upcoming novels to follow afterwards. The first book was named "Pacific Vortex". Dr. Cussler, leaned heavily on Alistair McLean on his first two books and was quite flattered when critics told him they were quite similar. But by his third book, he began to drift into his own style with a myriad of sub-plots. And because of that, "Iceberg", to this day, has and always will be a sentimental favorite of his because it never ended where it began. After completing "Pacific Vortex", he was about to launch a second book when he was offered a position at a large advertising agency. It would have been a wonderful opportunity with a well-paid salary, but his wife challenged him. She knew that if he wanted to write sea stories, why didn't he take a job as a clerk at the local dive shop who at the time was hiring. He wasted little time and in 1968 he started working for the Aquatic Center Dive ship in Newport Beach as a behind-the-counter-salesman. Never being a certified diver, it took him just a few weeks. Once he was certified, Dr. Cussler started bringing in his typewriter in the morning and wrote at a card table behind the counter when business was slow which was usually in the afternoons. A little over a year later, Dr. Cussler finished his second novel, "Mediterranean Caper". That's when he decided to leave the shop and return to advertising. With constant rejection letters on his first novel, Pacific Vortex, Dr. Cussler had decided that it would be a smart decision to find himself a literary agent. With a little cunning and ingenuity, he soon met Peter Lampack, who was with the William Morris Agency in Manhattan. With Peter liking his second novel, "Mediterranean Caper", Dr. Cussler now had a contract. With the contract promptly signed and mailed, he started working on his third novel, "Iceberg". Now that he had an agent and with renewed inspiration, Dr. Cussler left the advertising agency, and decided to write full time. Fed up with Southern California and wanting to change his family's lifestyle, he sold his boat, house and car. He bought a new family sedan and a tent trailer. After a wonderful summer, he and his family relocated to Estes Park, Colorado. Once settled in, he started to work on his third novel, Iceberg. After a year he finished Iceberg and with his agent having no success finding an editor to take "Mediterranean Caper" and now, "Iceberg" and with his savings about depleted, Dr. Cussler went back to advertising. Once he got himself a job with a very small agency and started to prove to them his value, Dr. Cussler moved his family to the suburb of Arvada just outside of Denver. It wouldn't be long before he was given the pink slip again. Taking a once broken down and small firm and making it into multi-million company, Dr. Cussler vowed to never work in the advertising agency again. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because that's when he started to work on "Raise The Titanic!" in one corner of his unfinished basement. By then his agent, Peter Lampack, had found a small publisher to take Mediterranean Caper. Printing fifty-thousand copies and selling thirty-two thousand, Pyramid Publishing paid him five thousand dollars and sold the novel for seventy-five cents a piece. Less then a year later, Dr. Cussler sold his novel, Iceberg to Dodd Mead Publishing for five-thousand dollars. The novel sold thirty-two thousand copies with an initial intent of only printing five thousand. Once he finished Raise The Titanic, Dr. Cussler sent it off to his agent. Once approved, it was relayed to Dodd Mead. It was rejected within ten days. His agent decided to sent the renounced manuscript to Putnam but they wanted a massive rewrite which Dr. Cussler refused to do. And what Dr. Cussler would later say, "Out of the blue, Viking Press bought it, asked for very few changes and paid me seventy-five hundred dollars." And that's when "strange forces" went to work. A London editor from Macmillan Publishing was visiting a friend at Viking and heard about the Dr. Cussler manuscript. Since the Titanic was a British ship, he asked for a copy of the manuscript to read on his plane back to England. He ended up wanting to buy it. But his agent had already sold "Iceberg" to Sphere Publishing, a small publishing house in London, for four hundred dollars. Since Sphere had the first option, they put in a bid for the manuscript that was promptly topped by Macmillan. Once the dust settled from the bidding war, Sphere owned the book, paying twenty-two thousand dollars, a high price for England in those days. Getting the feeling that things were suddenly falling into place, Dr. Cussler called his agent and got his rights back for Mediterranean Caper. At the same time, Dodd Mead Publishing notified his agent that Playboy Publications had offered four thousand dollars for the paperback right to Iceberg. Still with that "gut" feeling, Dr. Cussler told his agent that he would buy back Mediterranean Caper from Dodd Mead Publishing for five thousand dollars. The deal was done two weeks later. With the buzz and interest about Raise The Titanic over in Britain, it didn't take long for American paperback publishers to take notice. It soon went to auction with Viking Press winning the rights for $840,000. Once the auction was over and finding out that "Raise The Titanic" was the third Dirk Pitt novel, Viking Press bought them both for forty thousand dollar a piece. "Raise The Titanic" was Cussler's first novel to have several plots going on at the same time and to have them all converge at the end. Since then, Dr. Cussler has sold over 100 million copies of his Dirk Pitt Adventures. He continues to write Dirk Pitt adventures while living a life that nearly parallels that of his action hero. Like Pitt, Dr. Cussler enjoys discovering and collecting things of historical significance. With NUMA (National Underwater & Marine Agency, a non profit group begun by Cussler) he has had an amazing record of finding over 60 shipwrecks, one of which was the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley. And recently discovered the rescue ship Carpathia who picked up the Titanic survivors. Dr. Cussler also has a renowned and extensive classic car collection, which features over 80 examples of custom coachwork. Along with being Chairman of NUMA, he is also a fellow of the Explorers Club (which honored him with the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration), the Royal Geographical Society and the American Society of Oceanographers. Married to Barbara Knight for 40 years, with three children and two grandchildren, he divides his time between the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Arizona. He is represented by the Bartholomeaux Agency.

Born in Aurora, Illinois, to local philanthropists and Civil Rights workers Charles and Marie Wilkinson, Sheila had a brother, Donald, who died of cancer in 1970. She left home at age 16 to study drama in Frankfurt and in London, where she lived for many years, acting with the National Theatre and appearing in the pioneering film on race relations 'Pressure' and as the female lead in the film version of 'The National Health'. She ultimately cut down on acting, one reason being her stated view that parts are fewer for older actresses, returning to America, to Los Angeles, where she founded Theatre of Hearts, which aims to bring culture and acting opportunities to under-privileged youngsters.

Shannan Leigh Reeve was born in Aurora, Colorado, USA. She is an actress and assistant director, known for Tiny Beautiful Things (2023), Gone Before Her Time: Brittany Murphy (2023) and Passage (2019).

Bert V. Royal was born on 14 October 1977 in Aurora, Colorado, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Easy A (2010), Big Hero 6 (2014) and Cruel Summer (2021).

Rae Ritke was born on 13 February 1964 in Aurora, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Last Night (2010), Dirty Sexy Money (2007) and Judging Amy (1999).

Paul Tremblay was born on 30 June 1971 in Aurora, Colorado, USA. He is a writer, known for Knock at the Cabin (2023), A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World. He is married to Lisa Ann Carroll. They have two children.

Rachel Risen was born on 27 October 1983 in Aurora, Colorado, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Puppy Love (2023), My Fake Boyfriend (2022) and Dear David (2023). She has been married to Richard Alan Reid since 8 June 2016. They have two children.