Why are famous actors turning to podcasts for their next role? - The Independent
Why are famous actors turning to podcasts for their next role? - The Independent |
| Why are famous actors turning to podcasts for their next role? - The Independent Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:31 AM PDT  At first listen, Carrie Coon's latest role doesn't seem out of place with the serious-minded characters she's inhabited in the past, whether the police chief of a small Midwestern town in the television series Fargo, or a grief-stricken woman in The Leftovers who is coping with the mysterious disappearance of her husband and children. In Motherhacker, a podcast that Gimlet Media will release in November, Coon plays a single mother struggling with financial insecurity and "flying by the seat of her pants", as Coon puts it, when she becomes the victim of a phishing hack. But Motherhacker is a comedy, albeit a dark one, as Coon's character, Bridget, transforms from hackee to hacker, employing various accents and tech-savvy teenagers to get back her money. Bridget's funny nature is what Coon loves best about the role, and she relished the chance to stretch beyond what casting agents tend to like her for. "If you know my work, you know that people don't typically think of me when they're going to direct a comedy," she says, laughing.
Coon was drawn to recording a podcast by "the idea that there are people out there who might think differently than the Hollywood machine thinks", she says. And that freedom and the chance to play against type in juicy, well-written roles are attracting more and more movie, TV and theatre actors to this growing medium. So far this year, Rami Malek has played a radio DJ and father of two in Blackout; Cynthia Erivo has become a long-haul trucker who is accidentally caught up in a bioterrorism scheme in Carrier and Jenny Slate has starred in a one-woman alien-apocalypse thriller called Earth Break. This month, Kelly Marie Tran is the lead in Passenger List, a mystery thriller about a flight that disappears between London and New York. Cliff Smith, aka Method Man, of Wu-Tang Clan, will portray a gritty investigative journalist in the Stitcher Premium production of Marvel's 1994 comic book MARVELS. And joining Coon in Motherhacker are Alan Cumming, Lucas Hedges, Rupert Friend and Pedro Pascal. "The possibilities are more limitless, or as limited as my own voice is," Coon says. "It'll be really fun to see if I can push myself to be regarded in a new way in a new format." For the makers of fictional podcasts, the casting of well-known names helps their shows break through the clutter and, it is hoped, reach mainstream entertainment audiences. For example, when Gimlet released its first fiction podcast, Homecoming, in 2016, every voice was familiar: Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer, Oscar Isaac, David Cross, Amy Sedaris. (Such star power can also help turn those properties into movies or television shows.) Mimi O'Donnell, executive producer of fiction at Gimlet, which this year was bought by Spotify, says her task was to balance the celebrity quotient with the requirements for the parts the creative team is casting.
"Obviously, a big name highlights podcasts at a time when podcasts, especially fiction podcasts, are reaching saturation," O'Donnell says. "But then also making sure that they're right for the part," she adds, referring to the actors. "That's the key, not to feel like we're going to package this together with big names if they're not right." Since Homecoming, the company has produced shows like The Horror of Dolores Roach, starring Daphne Ruben-Vega and Bobby Cannavale; Sandra, starring Alia Shawkat and Kristen Wiig; and The Two Princes, a children's adventure podcast that has gay themes and overflows with Broadway actors like Noah Galvin and Tony Award winners Christine Baranski and Ari'el Stachel. The podcast producers have found willing collaborators in the worlds of film, TV and theatre. "Nobody has asked me so far to run around and punch aliens in the face," said Slate, the Earth Break star, who does the voices of several cartoon children in Big Mouth and Bob's Burgers and has had lead roles in movies like Obvious Child. "I've been asked a million times over to be a pregnant lady, a comedian or a Jewish person, and in life I've been two out of three of those things – a comedian and a Jewish person. I just wanted to do something different." What podcasts lack – a pricey visual component – is the very thing that makes the medium such a rich opportunity for performers. 1/27 Annie Hall (1977)Original title: Anhedonia Annie Hall began life as Anhedonia, which is the scientific term for the inability to experience pleasure. But the title Annie Hall was eventually settled on, inspired by actress Diane Keaton's real name, Diane Hall, and her nickname, Annie. United Artists 2/27 Dynasty (1981-89)Original title: Oil The hit series, which revolves around the family of an oil magnate, was originally supposed to be titled… wait for it… Oil. But it was then changed to Dynasty to compete with rival soap Dallas. CBS Television Distribution 3/27 Back to the Future (1985)Original title: Spaceman from Pluto Steven Spielberg genuinely thought the title Spaceman from Pluto was a joke suggestion, so it didn't last long, and was soon replaced by the now iconic name Back to the Future. He contacted the Universal Studios head Sid Sheinberg who had suggested the Pluto title, with a message thanking him for sending his wonderful "joke" name, saying the office "got a kick out of it". Ouch. Universal Pictures 4/27 The Breakfast Club (1985)Original title: The Lunch Bunch The original script for this classic high-school movie went by the very naff name The Lunch Bunch, but thanks to the son of one of director John Hughes's friends, who had a school detention class called The Breakfast Club, the title was changed. Universal Pictures 5/27 Fatal Attraction (1987)Original title: Affairs of the Heart The much friendlier sounding Affairs of the Heart wasn't a great match for the psychological thriller that brought us the bunny boiler, and after it received a poor reception from audiences, the film's title was changed to Fatal Attraction. Paramount Pictures 6/27 Licence to Kill (1989)Original title: Licence Revoked This Bond film was, at one time, called Licence Revoked, but test audiences associated the title too much with driving, so thankfully it was changed to something far punchier. United Artists 7/27 Saved by the Bell (1989-93)Original title: Good Morning, Miss Bliss NBC's Good Morning Miss Bliss centred on Hayley Mills as the eponymous teacher but, after the comedy briefly moved to the Disney Channel and then back to NBC, it was re-tooled to focus on the teenage students instead, therefore taking on a new name: Saved By The Bell. CBS Studios International 8/27 Goodfellas (1990)Original title: Wiseguy The Scorsese classic is an adaptation of a mobster novel called Wiseguy, which was originally also the title of the film, but the name had to be changed because it had already been taken for an 80s TV series. Warner Bros 9/27 Pretty Woman (1990)Original title: 3000 Originally a dark drama about class and sex work, Pretty Woman's first title was 3,000 – the amount of money that Richard Gere's character Edward spends on a week of Vivian's (Julia Roberts) time. Disney changed the name as it came across as "too science-fictiony", as well as the tone of the movie which was turned into a rom-com fairytale. Buena Vista Pictures 10/27 Friends (1994-2004)Original title: Six of One The beloved sitcom went through many different name changes, with all the following titles considered: Friends Like Us, Six of One, Across the Hall, Once Upon a Time in the West Village, and Insomnia Cafe. It's now hard to imagine the show becoming such a monumental hit with any of those names. Warner Bros Television Distribution 11/27 Pulp Fiction (1994)Original title: Black Mask Pulp Fiction was initially inspired by the detective crime stories in the seminal magazine Black Mask, hence its first name. The publication was a pulp magazine, which goes some way to explaining the new title. Miramax Films 12/27 Titanic (1997)Original title: The Ship of Dreams In a line from the classic 1997 film, the older version of Rose says: "Titanic was called the ship of dreams, and it was, it really was." It was also the original title of the film, before the simpler name of Titanic was chosen. 20th Century Fox 13/27 That '70s Show (1998-2006)Original title: Teenage Wasteland Early ideas for the 70s sitcom's name included Teenage Wasteland and The Kids Are Alright, but because the creators couldn't get song title rights from The Who, they were forced to change the name of the show. Carsey-Werner Distribution 14/27 American Pie (1999)Original title: Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Your Reader Will Love But the Executive Will Hate It was a bold move from screenwriter Adam Herz when he submitted his spec script to studios under the title Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Your Reader Will Love But The Executive Will Hate. But the risk paid off, with the film, eventually named American Pie, grossing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Universal Pictures 15/27 Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)Original title: Dairy Queens The black comedy was originally supposed to be called Dairy Queens. However, the company that owns fast food chain Dairy Queen apparently didn't love the idea of being associated with the movie, so they filed a lawsuit and, lo and behold, Drop Dead Gorgeous was born. New Line Cinema 16/27 8 Simple Rules (2002-03)Original title: 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter This family sitcom originally had a longer name, but when star John Ritter – who played the concerned father in the show – suddenly died after filming the third episode of the second series, the show changed its format and name to 8 Simple Rules and Ritter's death was written into the plot. Buena Vista International Television 17/27 Cars (2006)Original title: Route 66 The animated hit was initially called Route 66 after the iconic road in America, but the title was changed to Cars to avoid confusion with a 60s TV show of the same name. Buena Vista Pictures 18/27 Hannah Montana (2006-11)Original title: Alexis Texas Miley Cyrus's Disney comedy was originally called Alexis Texas but, because a porn actor shares the same name, it had to be changed in case children looked up the show's title and accidentally found pornography. Disney-ABC Domestic Television 19/27 The Big Bang Theory (2007-19)Original title: Lenny, Penny and Kenny The Big Bang Theory's original rhyming title was forced to change after the character Kenny's name switched to Sheldon, who was then brought to life by Jim Parsons. Warner Bros Television Distribution 20/27 Samantha Who? (2007-09)Original title: Sam I Am Clearance issues with the estate of Dr Seuss led ABC to change the name of its Christina Applegate-led show, as the original title, Sam I Am, drew on the first lines of Dr Seuss's classic Green Eggs and Ham. Disney – ABC Domestic Television 21/27 The Good Wife (2009-16)Original title: Leave the Bastard The Good Wife's creators got a call from CBS pushing them to change the title just as it went into production. The network did actually consider Leave the Bastard, but ultimately decided to play it safe with The Good Wife. CBS Television Distribution 22/27 Shutter Island (2010)Original title: Ashecliffe Ashecliffe, the name of the hospital in Martin Scorcese's thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was originally going to be the film's title before it was changed to Shutter Island. Paramount Pictures 23/27 New Girl (2011-18)Original title: Chicks and Dicks New Girl was initially pitched as "a young ensemble comedy about the sexual politics of men and women", hence its original, provocative title: Chicks and Dicks. Not only did this name attract the wrong kind of attention, but New Girl better reflected the content of the sitcom, which ended up revolving around Zooey Deschanel's Jess. 20th Television 24/27 Edge of Tomorrow (2014)Original title: All You Need Is Kill The Tom Cruise action movie was originally known as All You Need Is Kill, the title of the book on which the movie is based, but filmmakers changed the title because they felt the word "kill" was too problematic. "I think the word 'kill' in a title is very tricky in today's world…" producer Edwin Stoff said. "We see it enough in real newspaper headlines, and I don't think we need to see it when we're looking at a movie." After a lucklustre box office opening, the film's name was changed once again, in marketing and for home release, to Live, Die, Repeat. Warner Bros Pictures 25/27 Lovesick (2014-18)Original title: Scrotal Recall The relationship comedy drama starring Johnny Flynn was renamed after one series because, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was suffering from a lack of word of mouth, with people reluctant to say the word "scrotal". Clerkenwell Films 26/27 Stranger Things (2016-)Original title: Montauk The original title of the Netflix hit was Montauk, as the plan had been for it to be set in a village of the same name in New York. However, when creators the Duffer brothers later relocated the show's action to the fictional town of Hawkins in Indiana, the name changed to Stranger Things. Intriguingly, Montauk also happens to be the title of a short film which the Duffer brothers were accused of plagiarising. Netflix 27/27 Arrival (2017)Original title: Story of Your Life The sci-fi film starring Amy Adams originally went by the title of the novella it was based on, Story of Your Life, but because producer Shawn Levy thought it "sounds a bit like a One Direction song" and "multiword titles can be really problematic", the movie changed its name to Arrival. Paramount Pictures 1/27 Annie Hall (1977)Original title: Anhedonia Annie Hall began life as Anhedonia, which is the scientific term for the inability to experience pleasure. But the title Annie Hall was eventually settled on, inspired by actress Diane Keaton's real name, Diane Hall, and her nickname, Annie. United Artists 2/27 Dynasty (1981-89)Original title: Oil The hit series, which revolves around the family of an oil magnate, was originally supposed to be titled… wait for it… Oil. But it was then changed to Dynasty to compete with rival soap Dallas. CBS Television Distribution 3/27 Back to the Future (1985)Original title: Spaceman from Pluto Steven Spielberg genuinely thought the title Spaceman from Pluto was a joke suggestion, so it didn't last long, and was soon replaced by the now iconic name Back to the Future. He contacted the Universal Studios head Sid Sheinberg who had suggested the Pluto title, with a message thanking him for sending his wonderful "joke" name, saying the office "got a kick out of it". Ouch. Universal Pictures 4/27 The Breakfast Club (1985)Original title: The Lunch Bunch The original script for this classic high-school movie went by the very naff name The Lunch Bunch, but thanks to the son of one of director John Hughes's friends, who had a school detention class called The Breakfast Club, the title was changed. Universal Pictures 5/27 Fatal Attraction (1987)Original title: Affairs of the Heart The much friendlier sounding Affairs of the Heart wasn't a great match for the psychological thriller that brought us the bunny boiler, and after it received a poor reception from audiences, the film's title was changed to Fatal Attraction. Paramount Pictures 6/27 Licence to Kill (1989)Original title: Licence Revoked This Bond film was, at one time, called Licence Revoked, but test audiences associated the title too much with driving, so thankfully it was changed to something far punchier. United Artists 7/27 Saved by the Bell (1989-93)Original title: Good Morning, Miss Bliss NBC's Good Morning Miss Bliss centred on Hayley Mills as the eponymous teacher but, after the comedy briefly moved to the Disney Channel and then back to NBC, it was re-tooled to focus on the teenage students instead, therefore taking on a new name: Saved By The Bell. CBS Studios International 8/27 Goodfellas (1990)Original title: Wiseguy The Scorsese classic is an adaptation of a mobster novel called Wiseguy, which was originally also the title of the film, but the name had to be changed because it had already been taken for an 80s TV series. Warner Bros 9/27 Pretty Woman (1990)Original title: 3000 Originally a dark drama about class and sex work, Pretty Woman's first title was 3,000 – the amount of money that Richard Gere's character Edward spends on a week of Vivian's (Julia Roberts) time. Disney changed the name as it came across as "too science-fictiony", as well as the tone of the movie which was turned into a rom-com fairytale. Buena Vista Pictures 10/27 Friends (1994-2004)Original title: Six of One The beloved sitcom went through many different name changes, with all the following titles considered: Friends Like Us, Six of One, Across the Hall, Once Upon a Time in the West Village, and Insomnia Cafe. It's now hard to imagine the show becoming such a monumental hit with any of those names. Warner Bros Television Distribution 11/27 Pulp Fiction (1994)Original title: Black Mask Pulp Fiction was initially inspired by the detective crime stories in the seminal magazine Black Mask, hence its first name. The publication was a pulp magazine, which goes some way to explaining the new title. Miramax Films 12/27 Titanic (1997)Original title: The Ship of Dreams In a line from the classic 1997 film, the older version of Rose says: "Titanic was called the ship of dreams, and it was, it really was." It was also the original title of the film, before the simpler name of Titanic was chosen. 20th Century Fox 13/27 That '70s Show (1998-2006)Original title: Teenage Wasteland Early ideas for the 70s sitcom's name included Teenage Wasteland and The Kids Are Alright, but because the creators couldn't get song title rights from The Who, they were forced to change the name of the show. Carsey-Werner Distribution 14/27 American Pie (1999)Original title: Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Your Reader Will Love But the Executive Will Hate It was a bold move from screenwriter Adam Herz when he submitted his spec script to studios under the title Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Your Reader Will Love But The Executive Will Hate. But the risk paid off, with the film, eventually named American Pie, grossing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Universal Pictures 15/27 Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)Original title: Dairy Queens The black comedy was originally supposed to be called Dairy Queens. However, the company that owns fast food chain Dairy Queen apparently didn't love the idea of being associated with the movie, so they filed a lawsuit and, lo and behold, Drop Dead Gorgeous was born. New Line Cinema 16/27 8 Simple Rules (2002-03)Original title: 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter This family sitcom originally had a longer name, but when star John Ritter – who played the concerned father in the show – suddenly died after filming the third episode of the second series, the show changed its format and name to 8 Simple Rules and Ritter's death was written into the plot. Buena Vista International Television 17/27 Cars (2006)Original title: Route 66 The animated hit was initially called Route 66 after the iconic road in America, but the title was changed to Cars to avoid confusion with a 60s TV show of the same name. Buena Vista Pictures 18/27 Hannah Montana (2006-11)Original title: Alexis Texas Miley Cyrus's Disney comedy was originally called Alexis Texas but, because a porn actor shares the same name, it had to be changed in case children looked up the show's title and accidentally found pornography. Disney-ABC Domestic Television 19/27 The Big Bang Theory (2007-19)Original title: Lenny, Penny and Kenny The Big Bang Theory's original rhyming title was forced to change after the character Kenny's name switched to Sheldon, who was then brought to life by Jim Parsons. Warner Bros Television Distribution 20/27 Samantha Who? (2007-09)Original title: Sam I Am Clearance issues with the estate of Dr Seuss led ABC to change the name of its Christina Applegate-led show, as the original title, Sam I Am, drew on the first lines of Dr Seuss's classic Green Eggs and Ham. Disney – ABC Domestic Television 21/27 The Good Wife (2009-16)Original title: Leave the Bastard The Good Wife's creators got a call from CBS pushing them to change the title just as it went into production. The network did actually consider Leave the Bastard, but ultimately decided to play it safe with The Good Wife. CBS Television Distribution 22/27 Shutter Island (2010)Original title: Ashecliffe Ashecliffe, the name of the hospital in Martin Scorcese's thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was originally going to be the film's title before it was changed to Shutter Island. Paramount Pictures 23/27 New Girl (2011-18)Original title: Chicks and Dicks New Girl was initially pitched as "a young ensemble comedy about the sexual politics of men and women", hence its original, provocative title: Chicks and Dicks. Not only did this name attract the wrong kind of attention, but New Girl better reflected the content of the sitcom, which ended up revolving around Zooey Deschanel's Jess. 20th Television 24/27 Edge of Tomorrow (2014)Original title: All You Need Is Kill The Tom Cruise action movie was originally known as All You Need Is Kill, the title of the book on which the movie is based, but filmmakers changed the title because they felt the word "kill" was too problematic. "I think the word 'kill' in a title is very tricky in today's world…" producer Edwin Stoff said. "We see it enough in real newspaper headlines, and I don't think we need to see it when we're looking at a movie." After a lucklustre box office opening, the film's name was changed once again, in marketing and for home release, to Live, Die, Repeat. Warner Bros Pictures 25/27 Lovesick (2014-18)Original title: Scrotal Recall The relationship comedy drama starring Johnny Flynn was renamed after one series because, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was suffering from a lack of word of mouth, with people reluctant to say the word "scrotal". Clerkenwell Films 26/27 Stranger Things (2016-)Original title: Montauk The original title of the Netflix hit was Montauk, as the plan had been for it to be set in a village of the same name in New York. However, when creators the Duffer brothers later relocated the show's action to the fictional town of Hawkins in Indiana, the name changed to Stranger Things. Intriguingly, Montauk also happens to be the title of a short film which the Duffer brothers were accused of plagiarising. Netflix 27/27 Arrival (2017)Original title: Story of Your Life The sci-fi film starring Amy Adams originally went by the title of the novella it was based on, Story of Your Life, but because producer Shawn Levy thought it "sounds a bit like a One Direction song" and "multiword titles can be really problematic", the movie changed its name to Arrival. Paramount Pictures "It was all going to rely on the listener's imagination and then what I could provide as a voice actor," Slate says. "To literally divest myself of my actual form but still play a woman was really freeing. Not that I don't like how I look, but sometimes I get tired of people saying how they feel about it." If Earth Break had been written for the screen, the story would have had to change into something reliably marketable to recoup the price tag of a production heavy with special effects. If its action-movie protagonist had been conceived as a tall blonde with an eight-pack, for instance, Slate says she "would have never even seen the script". The flexibility of podcast productions is also appealing. Coon had to spend only three days in a downtown Brooklyn recording studio to voice Motherhacker. And Kelly Marie Tran recorded her starring role as Kaitlyn Le in Passenger List over 10 days in London while she filmed Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. (Patti LuPone was able to record her role with Tran the same week she opened in the musical Company on the West End in London last year.) Tran also had more influence over the story than she would have had for a typical big-budget movie. The show's co-director, writer and producer, Lauren Shippen, went over every script with Tran to reflect the actress's experiences and insights as the daughter of first-generation Vietnamese immigrants. One tweak Shippen made was when Kaitlyn returns home in the middle of trying to unearth the truth behind the flight's disappearance – her twin brother was on the plane – the scene is populated with Vietnamese actors actually speaking Vietnamese. "With Passenger List,' Kelly's in every single episode, basically in every single scene," Shippen says. "And so it really makes sense to basically dig into a character voice with an actor when the actor is 70 per cent of a show." Actors also enjoy another perk of audio-only performing: Coon jokes that her favourite parts of Motherhacker were the hours she didn't have to spend in hair and makeup. Screen and stage actors who are already fans of the medium, like Coon, a proud Murderino (a fan of My Favorite Murder, for the uninitiated), are thrilling to the wedding of their industries to the podcast-makers who have spent the past decade as innovators. "For me, it felt like being invited to the cool kids' party," Coon says. "Like, suddenly, the popular kids were calling me, and they knew who I was." But ultimately, the performance required isn't so different from that in a movie, a TV show or a play. "You never see yourself as that person, and you're not in a costume," Coon says. "But you still have to do all the things you have to do in your other jobs – cry, have an emotional breakdown – except you're alone in front of a microphone and you can't move. You have to be able to still reach down for what you need to supply in that moment to be truthful. And that's very challenging." 7 More Podcasts for the autumnThis autumn, as the podcast boom shows no signs of flagging, new shows will take you on a lusty romp through celebrity culture, an exploration of American iconography and an investigation into why everybody loves Dolly Parton. The Happiness Lab Based on Yale University's most popular class – ever, according to the university – psychology professor Laurie Santos explores the science of what happiness actually is, and how you should change your thinking about it. Pushkin Industries, out now. Thirst Aid Kit Revived from the dead by Slate after BuzzFeed axed it in January, this weekly chat podcast hosted by Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins discusses the ways celebrity worship and pop-culture shape our most lusty thirsts. Basically, this show is a celebration of the "female gaze" and all of its silliness, subtleties and seriousness. Come for the cultural critique, stay for their original fan fiction inspired by the crush of the week. Slate, 26 Sept. Last Day The first show from Lemonada Media, a new podcast network started by Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs, tries to understand America's biggest epidemics by zooming in on one person's story, starting with his or her last day. Then they rewind the tape and look at the circumstances, for the individual and the country, that led to death. They're beginning with the epidemic Wittels Wachs knows best, opioid addiction. Her brother, comedian and writer Harris Wittels, died of a heroin overdose in 2015 and Wittels Wachs talks with his friends Aziz Ansari and Sarah Silverman about losing Harris. Lemonada Media, 25 Sept. Scattered Comedian and actor Chris Garcia is on a mission to fulfil his father's dying wish: to have his ashes spread off the coast of Cuba. Over the course of this seven-part series, Garcia sets out to learn everything he can about his father, who was imprisoned in Castro's labour camps and fled to the United States with his wife to raise his family. Garcia uses humour and loving memories to document his father's suffering from Alzheimer's disease, to grapple with his own loss and to commemorate the untold sacrifices of immigrant parents. WNYC Studios, 23 Oct. Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi In each episode of his new podcast, Aasif Mandvi digs into the backstories of classic Americana at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Mandvi, a comedian and former correspondent for The Daily Show, starts with an exploration into the cultural object that most symbolised American cool to him as a child of the Seventies and Eighties: Fonzie's leather jacket. Mandvi sits down with Henry Winkler to discuss the celebrated yet problematic masculinity of his Happy Days character and the legacy of "the Fonz" in American culture. Stitcher, 26 Sept. The Coloured Girl Beautiful In 1916, Emma Azalia Hackley, the African American singer and political activist, published The Coloured Girl Beautiful, a self-help guide compiled from the talks she was giving to "coloured girls in boarding schools". In this new podcast, host Aseloka Smith gauges how the advice given a century ago holds up today. Her guests – black women themselves – turn over the topics in Hackley's book, including love, personal appearance, marriage, work and motherhood. 1 Oct. Dolly Parton's America This autumn, the podcast universe is getting the Dollywood treatment. In announcing the show last month, Jad Abumrad, host of Radiolab, tweeted: "She's been called the 'Great Unifier' for her rare ability to bring people together across divides." In this nine-part series, he aims to explain what the country singer's story tells us about this country. WNYC Studios, October. © New York Times  |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2019 05:17 AM PDT  Associated Press Top celebrity birthdays on September 22, 2019 Birthday wishes go out to Joan Jett, Tom Felton and all the other celebrities with birthdays today. Check out our slideshow below to see photos of famous people turning a year older on September 22nd and learn an interesting fact about each of them. -Mike Rose, cleveland.com Don't Edit  Associated Press Singer David Coverdale turns 68 Fun fact: Has performed with Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Coverdale/Page Don't Edit  Getty Images Singer Debby Boone turns 63 Fun fact: Originally from Hackensack, NJ Don't Edit  Getty Images Rocker Joan Jett turns 61 Fun fact: She sang the National Anthem for the game Cal Ripken tied Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. Don't Edit  Getty Images Actor Scott Baio turns 59 Fun fact: Spoke during the opening night of the Republican Convention in 2016 Don't Edit Don't Edit  Getty Images Actress Bonnie Hunt turns 58 Fun fact: Voiced Dolly in the 'Toy Story' films and Sally in 'Cars' Don't Edit  Associated Press Actress Daniella Alonso turns 41 Fun fact: Once appeared in a PETA ad supporting synthetic leather Don't Edit  Associated Press Actress Billie Piper turns 37 Fun fact: Was The Doctor's first new companion upon the re-start of the series in 2005 Don't Edit  Associated Press Actress Tatiana Maslany turns 34 Fun fact: Her middle name is Gabrielle Don't Edit  Getty Images Actor Tom Felton turns 32 Fun fact: Has three older siblings Don't Edit Don't Edit More celebrities with birthdays today Actress Anna Karina is 79. Dancer/choreographer/singer Toni Basil is 76. Actor Paul Le Mat is 74. Musician King Sunny Ade is 73. Capt. Mark Phillips is 71. Actress Shari Belafonte is 65. Country singer June Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 63. Singer Nick Cave is 62. Rock singer Johnette Napolitano is 62. Actress Lynn Herring is 62. Classical crossover singer Andrea Bocelli is 61. Actress Catherine Oxenberg is 58. Actor Rob Stone is 57. Actor Dan Bucatinsky (TV: "24: Legacy") is 54. Musician Matt Sharp is 50. Rock musician Dave Hernandez is 49. Rapper Mystikal is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Big Rube (Society of Soul) is 48. Actor James Hillier (TV: "The Crown") is 46. Actress Mireille Enos is 44. Actor Michael Graziadei is 40. Actress Ashley Drane (Eckstein) is 38. Actress Katie Lowes is 37. Rock musician Will Farquarson (Bastille) is 36. Actor Ukweli Roach (TV: "Blindspot") is 33. Actress Teyonah Parris is 32. Actress Juliette Goglia is 24. Actress Dalya Knapp is nine. Don't Edit Other popular or historical birthdays on September 22nd Michael Faraday, scientist Allan Lane, voice of Mr. Ed Tom Lasorda, MLB manager (92) David Stern, former NBA commissioner (77) with The Associated Press and HistoryOrb.com Don't Edit  Associated Press Celebrity fun facts Don't Edit  Associated Press Movie and television fun facts Don't Edit Want to see more celebrity birthdays as well as additional fun facts posts? Follow me on Facebook for the latest by clicking the "like" button below. Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit  |
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