Michael Madsen, an American actor, producer, director, writer, poet and photographer

Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957)^[1][2] is an American actor, producer, director, writer, poet and photographer. He has starred in many feature films and television series.

Madsen began working at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where he served as an apprentice under John Malkovich and appeared in a production of Of Mice and Men.^[7]
In Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut film Reservoir Dogs, Madsen played Mr. Blonde, a villainous mobster. He did not get the role of Mr. Pink (which went to Steve Buscemi), which he wanted because it had more scenes with Harvey Keitel.^[7] For Pulp Fiction, Madsen declined the role of Vincent Vega, which went to John Travolta. Madsen starred in Mike Newell's gangster film Donnie Brasco (1997). He once said of these films: "Some of them I'm only in for 10 minutes, but they bought my name, and they bought my face to put on the DVD box with a gun. What people don't always understand is that I established a certain lifestyle for my family back in the days of Species and Mulholland Falls and The Getaway. I wasn't about to move my six kids into a trailer park. So when people offered me work, it wasn't always the best, but I had to buy groceries and I had to put gas in the car."^[7]

Madsen in 2006

In Kill Bill, Madsen played assassin Budd, the brother of Bill (David Carradine) The film was released in two parts, Vol. 1 and Vol.2.^[8] In 2004, Tarantino discussed an idea for the film to unite Madsen and Travolta, as The Vega Brothers.^[9] In 2007, Tarantino said the film (which he intended to call Double V Vega) was "kind of unlikely now", because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters.^[10]
Madsen appeared in Uwe Boll's BloodRayne, a film he described as "an abomination... It's a horrifying and preposterous movie".^[11] He won Best Actor awards at the Boston Film Festival and New York International Independent Film and Video Festival for his performance in Strength and Honour. He played himself in the mockumentary Being Michael Madsen. Madsen co-starred in Coma, a Web series on Crackle.^[12]
Madsen played Jim Ricker, the old friend of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), in the final season of 24.^[13] Madsen starred in the comedy film Let the Game Begin.^[14] On January 5, 2012, he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, where he finished in 4th place in the final. In February 2014, he played Las Vegas casino mogul Ted Binion in Josh Evans' film Death in the Desert.^[15][16] The screenplay was written by John Steppling, based on the book Death in the Desert by crime writer Cathy Scott.^[17] In August 2014, he starred in the Kill Bill-themed music video for the song "Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea featuring Rita Ora.^[18]
Madsen starred in the ensemble western film The Hateful Eight (2015). He was among a number of people rumored to have leaked the film's script, before it was released causing Tarantino to almost not make the film and eventually rewrite it.^[19] In 2016, he played a dramatized role of former Texas Ranger Phil Ryan in Real Detective on the Investigation Discovery network.^[20] In 2017, Madsen signed on as executive producer of the under $5K budget feature crime-thriller The Dirty Kind, written and directed by Vilan Trub. After being screened some footage and the trailer for the film by producer Derek Zuzunaga, Madsen agreed to sign on as EP and make the film citing a need for more quality independent films in the genre.

Florin Piersic, un actor român de film, radio, televiziune, scenă și voce. A jucat dramă, comedie, tragedie, figuri istorice, haiduci

Florin Piersic (n. 27 ianuarie 1936, Cluj, Regatul României) este un actor român de film, radio, televiziune, scenă și voce. A jucat dramă, comedie, tragedie, figuri istorice, haiduci.

Născut din părinți originari din Bucovina (mama originară din Valea Seacă, tatăl, medic veterinar, originar din Corlata), Florin Piersic și-a petrecut copilăria în Corlata, Pojorâta și Cajvana,^[3] apoi în Cernăuți și, ulterior, la Cluj, unde a urmat Liceul de băieți nr. 3 (azi Colegiul Național Emil Racoviță). Florin Piersic a fost descoperit de catre actrita si regizoarea Elena Negreanu. ^[4][5]

A absolvit Institutul de Artă Teatrală și Cinematografică din București (IATC, astăzi UNATC), promoția 1957. La doi ani după absolvire, Florin Piersic a debutat pe scena Teatrului Național din București obținând rolul titular în Discipolul diavolului. Au urmat Tragedia optimistă, Oameni și șoareci și Orfeu în Infern, piese care au scos în evidență geniul, naturalețea și prospețimea actorului. Are o bogată activitate teatrală la Teatrul Național din București).^[6]
În anii '60, Florin Piersic se căsătorește cu actrița Tatiana Iekel^[7], care i-a dăruit și primul copil, pe Florin Jr.^[7] A doua soție a fost tot o actriță, Anna Széles^[7], alături de care a devenit tată pentru a doua oară. În 1985 Anna Széles a cerut și a obținut divorțul și s-a mutat în Ungaria, luându-l cu ea și pe fiul lor, Daniel. În 1993, după o relație de 7 ani, Florin Piersic s-a căsătorit cu Anna Török, de asemenea originară din Cluj.^[7]
În 26 ianuarie 2011 cinematograful „Republica” din Cluj-Napoca a fost redenumit în cinematograful „Florin Piersic”.^[8]
De-a lungul timpului Florin Piersic a primit titlul de „cetățean de onoare” al mai multor orașe precum: Bacău, Cluj-Napoca, Caracal, Sighet, Suceava, Baia Mare, Oradea, București, Galați și Iași.

La 10 decembrie 2012, prin decretul președintelui Republicii Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, actorului i s-a acordat cetățenia Republicii Moldova. Florin Piersic a adresat o scrisoare președintelui moldovean motivând solicitarea prin faptul că acolo este primit foarte bine de oameni și se simte iubit, iar tatăl lui a activat, în calitate de medic veterinar, atât în Bucovina cât și în Basarabia (la Cernăuți, respectiv Soroca).^[9]
În anul 2009 Florin Piersic înregistrează un disc de autor la casa de discuri OVO MUSIC: „Florin Piersic - Hoinărind printre amintiri în lumea muzicii lui Dan Iagnov”. Toate cele 10 melodii sunt compuse de Dan Iagnov: „O poveste de o zi”, „Latino lasciv”, „Anemone mii”, „Femeia e secretul”, „Și ploua...”, „Pe cărările vieții”, „Poveste cu un saxofon”, „Viața este o poveste”, „Cînd ninge” și „Un pas pe zăpadă”. Versurile cântecelor „Latino lasciv” și „Anemone mii” sunt scrise de Dan Iagnov. Versurile celorlalte cântece sunt scrise de Andreea Andrei.


A fost distins cu Ordinul Meritul Cultural clasa a V-a (1967) „pentru merite deosebite în domeniul artei dramatice”.^[10]
Actorul Florin Piersic a fost decorat la 30 mai 2002 cu Ordinul național Steaua României în grad de Cavaler, alături de alți actori, „pentru prestigioasa cariera artistică și talentul deosebit prin care au dat viață personajelor interpretate în filme, dar și pe scenă, cu prilejul celebrării unui veac de film românesc”.[

Elisabeta Lipă, a retired romanian rower. She is the most decorated rower in the history of the Olympics, winning five gold, two silver and one bronze medals

Elisabeta Lipă (Romanian pronunciation: [elisaˈbeta ˈlipə]; née Oleniuc on 26 October 1964) is a retired rower and government official from Romania. She is the most decorated rower in the history of the Olympics, winning five gold, two silver and one bronze medals.^[1] She holds the record amongst rowers for the most years between gold medals, at 20 years.


Since 2004, Lipă has served in various government positions including Minister of Youth and Sport in the current cabinet under Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș. Since 2009, she has also served as the President of the Romanian Rowing Federation and the Dinamo București Sports Club.

Lipă debuted at the age of 19 at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where she won her first gold medal in the double sculls event. She won her most recent gold medal in the eight at the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004.


She is the only person to win a gold medal in the two premiere rowing events: the single scull and the eight. She is also one of very few women to win a gold medal in both a sculling (two oars per person) and a sweep (one oar per person) event. (Canada's Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean accomplished the same, sculling and sweep gold medals, in 1992 and 1996.)
In 2004, she became the first female rower to compete at six Olympics. This was first done by Czech rower Jiří Pták (cox) in 1992 and equalled in 2008 by Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox), Estonian Jüri Jaanson, and Australian James Tomkins.

In 2008 she was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne^[4] and became an honorary citizen of her native town Siret. As of November 2015, she is the Romanian Minister of Youth and Sport in Cioloș Cabinet.[