Curated playlist

American people of Italian descent

Fred TatascioreAs of March 2, 2017, no one had voiced more superhero video game characters than Fred Tatasciore.
Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
Al PacinoAl Pacino's mother told him poor people don't do acting. He went on to earn nine Oscar nominations.
Kate HudsonKate Hudson reached the end of a long awards season in 2025 with a striking comparison. Her first brush with acclaim, she said, had felt like a "shock entrance, or invitation, into this world." This time was different. When you have been…
Antonin ScaliaAntonin Scalia won confirmation to the United States Supreme Court on the 17th of September 1986 by a vote of 98-0. Not one senator voted no. Later, Joe Biden, a committee member who became a president, said he regretted not opposing…
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen threw the first acetate of his own album Born to Run into the swimming pool of his hotel in 1975. The record was being mastered while the band toured, and he was furious at what he heard. He briefly considered scrapping…
Dean MartinDean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, delivered one of his sharpest hometown jokes in a 1967 spy spoof. In The Ambushers, his secret agent Matt Helm is about to be executed and is offered a last cigarette. Helm tells the man who hands it…
Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprio owes his first name to a kick. His pregnant mother felt the baby move while she stood before a Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy. That child grew up to be an American actor and film…
Daniela AmodeiDaniela Amodei started college on a classical flute scholarship. She now leads Anthropic as its president.
Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
Jennifer AnistonJennifer Aniston, the American actress, once approached a television executive at a Los Angeles gas station and asked him for reassurance. She was depressed. Four of her television shows had failed, and she wanted someone in the business…
Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei's first film role was a waitress with exactly one line. She later earned three Oscar nominations.
Michelle PfeifferMichelle Pfeiffer was born on the 29th of April 1958 in Santa Ana, California, and by the early 1990s she ranked among the best-paid actresses in the world. Her start was far less certain. After her first leading role, in the 1982 musical…
Cyndi LauperCyndi Lauper wore almost a pound of necklaces to the Grammy Awards ceremony in 1985. The excess suited the woman wearing it. Lauper is an American singer, songwriter and actress, born on the 22nd of June 1953. She is known for eccentric…
Sean PennIn Kyiv in November 2022, Sean Penn handed an Oscar statuette to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing...When you win, bring it back to Malibu." That was the whole speech. Penn is an…
Paris HiltonParis Hilton became so inescapable in 2007 that parts of the American press tried to stop mentioning her. The Associated Press attempted to leave her out for the week of the 19th of February 2007. On the 26th of June 2007, host Mika…
Jane FondaJane Fonda sat on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during a 1972 visit to Hanoi, and a photograph of that moment outraged a large number of Americans. It earned her a nickname that has followed her for decades: Hanoi Jane. For many…
Ariana GrandeAriana Grande organized a benefit concert after the Manchester Arena bombing. It raised $23 million.
Bradley CooperBradley Cooper was a kid who dreamed of moving to Japan to become a ninja. Later came twelve Academy Award nominations.
Mark RuffaloMark Ruffalo has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which ties a record. Each nomination came for a different kind of man. Ruffalo is an American actor and producer, and the road to that record was…
Steven TylerSteven Tyler, the singer born Steven Victor Tallarico, saw his touring career end in August 2024. That month, his band Aerosmith announced that it was retiring from the road. The reason was Tyler's voice. He had fractured his larynx and…
James GandolfiniJames Gandolfini once stopped in the middle of an audition and walked out. David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, told the story to The Guardian in a 2013 interview. Gandolfini felt that he "didn't prepare right." Later that night he…
Hayden PanettiereHayden Panettiere was eleven months old when she first appeared on screen, in a 1990 advertisement for a Playskool toy train. That commercial was the start of a working life that now spans several decades. How does an infant in commercials…
Megyn KellyMegyn Kelly stood on a rally stage in Pittsburgh on the 4th of November 2024, one day before the presidential election, and endorsed Donald Trump. She told the crowd he would be a "protector" of women. Afterward she posted a selfie with…
Alicia KeysAlicia Keys was fifteen years old when Columbia Records tried to win her signature with a $26,000 white baby grand piano. She took the deal. It began a long struggle over who would decide what her music sounded like. Years later she summed…
Travis BarkerTravis Barker learned a 20-song setlist in 45 minutes. It was early 1998, he had no time to rehearse with the band, and he played every song flawlessly at the first show. The band was Blink-182, and he was only meant to be a stand-in.…
Gwen StefaniGwen Stefani had a hit in 2005 that changed how Americans bought music. Her single “Hollaback Girl” rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became the first song downloaded one million times in the United States. The woman…
Elizabeth OlsenElizabeth Olsen is an American actress who once considered dropping her surname. Her middle name, Chase, was the alternative she had in mind. The reason was simple. Her older sisters, the twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, were already…
Paul TagliabueTwo days after September 11, 2001, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue canceled that weekend's games.
Tom MorelloTom Morello, the American guitarist behind Rage Against the Machine, once made an entire festival crowd listen to nothing but noise. At Lollapalooza in 1993, his band walked onstage naked. Their mouths were covered with duct tape, and…
Nick FuentesNicholas Joseph Fuentes, born on the 18th of August 1998, is an American far-right commentator and live streamer. In October 2025 Tucker Carlson interviewed him and opened by predicting the backlash. "I don't think Fuentes is going away,"…
Brittany MurphyBrittany Murphy stood on the stage of the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards with a very simple job. She was to read the names of five nominees, open an envelope and announce the winner. Instead, the American actress and singer turned the…
Jon Bon JoviJon Bon Jovi, born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. on the 2nd of March 1962, has played more than 3,000 concerts with his band in over 50 countries. The crowds added up to more than 35 million fans. He is an American singer, songwriter and…
Pope Leo XIVBefore the 2025 conclave, the future Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, explained his chances to a friend by text message. "I'm an American, I can't be elected," he wrote. He was elected anyway. This documentary follows a path…
Selena GomezIn 2016, Selena Gomez became the first person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram, a milestone Time later singled out in its Firsts series. Gomez is an American actress, singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and producer, born in…
Andrew CunananAndrew Cunanan killed five people in the space of three months in 1997. Four of them had been his friends, lovers, or strangers who simply owned something he wanted. The fifth was one of the most famous fashion designers in the world. For…
Guy FieriGuy Fieri, an American restaurateur, author and television presenter, was called the "face of the network" by The New York Times in 2010. The network was Food Network. The same article said he brought an "element of rowdy, mass-market…
Jeff BuckleyJeff Buckley finished exactly one studio album before he died, and it was called Grace. It came out in 1994. Decades later, Rolling Stone placed it on three separate lists of the 500 greatest albums. In 2014, the Library of Congress added…
Lou FerrignoLou Ferrigno built his first weights from a broomstick and pails of cement. He later played the Hulk.
Dario AmodeiOpenAI's board once asked Dario Amodei to replace Sam Altman as its chief executive. He turned it down.
Michael GiacchinoMichael Giacchino used pieces of a real airplane fuselage as instruments on Lost.
Joseph James DeAngeloDeputies arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. in the side yard of his Sacramento home on the afternoon of the 24th of April 2018. He was 72 years old, a retired truck mechanic and a former police officer. For more than four decades,…
Steven Van ZandtSteven Van Zandt answers to several names. Born Steven Lento, he is also known as Little Steven and as Miami Steve, and each name marks a different stretch of his working life. In Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band he plays guitar and…
Quincy JonesQuincy Jones taped a sign to the entrance of a recording studio in 1985, and it read "Check Your Ego at the Door." Behind that door waited most of the major American recording artists of the day. Jones needed every one of them to work as…
Joe ManganielloJoe Manganiello went out for Peter Parker and came home as Flash Thompson. It was his first professional acting credit.
David MiscavigeDavid Miscavige was born on the 30th of April 1960, and he now leads the Church of Scientology. Inside the organization he answers to several names. Members call him “DM,” “COB,” and “captain of the Sea Org.” His formal title is chairman…
Norman ReedusDaryl Dixon on The Walking Dead began as an audition for a different role.
P. G. T. BeauregardBeauregard fired the Civil War's first shots at his own former teacher. Robert Anderson had taught him at West Point.
Vince LombardiVince Lombardi, the football coach, once dreamed of becoming a priest. He attended Mass every day of his adult life.
Mario BataliMario Batali was roommates at Rutgers University with the actor James Gandolfini, years before either man was famous. Batali, born in 1960, became an American chef, writer and restaurateur whose name was once close to shorthand for Italian…