Curated playlist

Male actors from Los Angeles

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.
LeBron JamesLeBron James led Cleveland back from a 3-1 Finals deficit, a first in NBA history. It ended a 52-year title wait.
Christian BaleChristian Bale once lived on black coffee, an apple and a can of tuna each day. The English actor began that regimen with nothing but cigarettes and whiskey. By the end he had lost 63 lb and weighed 121 lb. The script for the psychological…
Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan preached small government, then signed California's largest tax hike.
Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
David LynchDavid Lynch began as a painter who just wanted his canvases to move. That wish led him to film.
Dr. DreDr. Dre's G-funk had live musicians replay funk melodies instead of sampling them. It debuted on The Chronic.
Clark GableA Warner Bros. executive once rejected Clark Gable because his ears were too big. He said Gable looked like an ape.
Guillermo del ToroAt about eight, Guillermo del Toro filmed a serial killer potato with a Super 8 camera. It sought world domination.
Jake GyllenhaalJake Gyllenhaal, the American actor born on the 19th of December 1980, came close to playing two of the best-known superheroes in film. In 2003 he auditioned for Batman Begins and nearly won the part, which went to Christian Bale. A year…
Andrew GarfieldAndrew Garfield, the English and American actor born on the 20th of August 1983, very nearly never acted at all. He had planned to study business. At 16, a friend talked him into taking theatre studies at A-level, because the class was…
Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
Joaquin PhoenixJoaquin Phoenix had just flipped his car on a winding canyon road in Hollywood when a voice at the window told him to relax. It was the 26th of January 2006. Gasoline was leaking into the cabin. A shaken Phoenix answered, "I'm fine. I am…
Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
Ewan McGregorEwan McGregor rode motorcycles 22,345 miles from London to New York City in 2004.
Mick FleetwoodMick Fleetwood is the only member on every Fleetwood Mac studio album. He held the band together as drummer.
Timothy OlyphantTimothy Olyphant once turned down the lead in a film that its studio was ready to approve if he said yes. The producer Neal H. Moritz recalled the studio's position this way: "If you can get Timothy Olyphant to play that role we will…
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…
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger broke into a locked gym on weekends as a teenager. He later became California's governor.
John SingletonAt 24, John Singleton became the first African American nominated for the Best Director Oscar.
Val KilmerVal Kilmer spent decades being praised in a way that sounded almost like an apology. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it". By then…
Ice CubeIce Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, started writing raps in ninth grade because a friend challenged him in typewriting class. The friend, nicknamed Kiddo, lost the contest. The class was at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los…
Rami MalekRami Malek watched a single concert video, the Live Aid performance of 1985, at least 1,500 times before he played Freddie Mercury. He did it on YouTube, while preparing for a role he would later call precious beyond anything else in his…
Ice-TIce-T got his stage name when friends heard him recite novels by Iceberg Slim.
Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."
Armie HammerArmie Hammer was hand-picked in 2007 by the filmmaker George Miller to play Batman. The actor, born in 1986, had been chosen after a long search. The film was Justice League: Mortal, and Miller was set to direct it. It never reached…
Adam LevineAdam Levine was twelve years old when he played his first professional gig at The Troubadour. He was so nervous that he played with his back to the audience. Today he is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and only continuous member of the…
Shia LaBeoufShia LaBeouf, the American actor and filmmaker born in 1986, walked the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival on the 9th of February 2014 in a tuxedo with a brown paper bag over his head. Across the bag were written the words "I am not…