Curated playlist
Annie Award winners
- Rob PaulsenRob Paulsen was the voice in the first Got Milk? radio spot in 1993. The joke had a man's mouth full of peanut butter.
- Wes AndersonWes Anderson has said his first ambition was to be a writer, not a director. He grew up making silent films.
- Ian McKellenIan McKellen came out as gay on BBC radio in 1988, while Parliament weighed Section 28.
- Hayao MiyazakiHayao Miyazaki was told as a boy he would not live past 20. He went on to found Studio Ghibli in 1985.
- Guillermo del ToroAt about eight, Guillermo del Toro filmed a serial killer potato with a Super 8 camera. It sought world domination.
- Ken KeelerA Futurama episode contains a math theorem invented just so its plot could work. Writer Ken Keeler proved it.
- John LasseterDisney fired John Lasseter in 1984 after he pitched a film blending hand-drawn art with computer backgrounds.
- John WilliamsSteven Spielberg laughed at John Williams's two-note Jaws theme, thinking it was a joke.
- Sting (musician)Sting, the English musician and actor born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, once disowned his own first name on camera. In the 1985 documentary Bring On the Night, a journalist addressed him as Gordon. He answered, "My children call me Sting,…
- Hans ZimmerHans Zimmer, the German film composer born on the 12th of September 1957, once set out to write a sound that people would truly hate. His own words were: "I wanted to write something people would truly hate." The target was the villain in…
- Katsuhiro OtomoManga artist Katsuhiro Otomo planned Akira as only about ten chapters. It ran for eight years and two thousand pages.
- Trent ReznorTrent Reznor once worked at Right Track Studio in Cleveland as an assistant engineer and janitor. Studio owner Bart Koster remembered his employee this way: "He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked…
- Bryan CranstonIn 1968, a 12-year-old Bryan Cranston was riding horses with his cousin at Spahn Ranch when he met Charles Manson. About a year later, Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca murders. Cranston grew up to become an American actor and filmmaker…
- Eddie MurphyEddie Murphy opened Saturday Night Live on the 11th of December 1982 with a boast: "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The host booked for that Christmas episode, Nick Nolte, had become too ill to appear. Murphy stepped in.…
- Ben KingsleyBen Kingsley turned down an offer to become a pop star in 1966. He auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company instead.
- Lupita Nyong'oAfter her Oscar, Lupita Nyong'o says she was offered another slave role, this time on a slave ship.
- Charlie KaufmanEvery company rejected Charlie Kaufman's script for Being John Malkovich. Spike Jonze later agreed to direct it.
- Kihachirō KawamotoPuppet animator Kihachirō Kawamoto said his puppets only came alive after a year studying in Prague.
- Joss WhedonJoss Whedon earned more from a web musical than from directing The Avengers.
- Michael GiacchinoMichael Giacchino used pieces of a real airplane fuselage as instruments on Lost.
- Joe HisaishiJoe Hisaishi took his stage name from Quincy Jones. "Joe" came directly from "Jones," a private homage.