esl biography of a famous person

 Famous People Lessons

  167 esl lesson plans.

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Stories About People (Biographies) Text & MP3 Files

Activists & people important to social reform.

• Betty Friedan - Women's Rights
• Cesar Chavez - Labor Activist
• Frederick Douglass - African-Americans's Rights
• Jane Jacobs - Activist, Writer, Moral Thinker And Economist
• Labor Leaders: Samuel Gompers, John L. Lewis, Walter Reuther, A. Philip Randolph, and Cesar Chavez
• Margaret Sanger - Led the Fight for Birth Control for Women
• Martin Luther King, Jr. - Part 1 - African-Americans's Rights
• Martin Luther King, Jr. - Part 2
• Molly Brown
• Rosa Parks - - African-Americans's Rights
• Samuel Gompers - 'The Grand Old Man of Labor'
• Susan B. Anthony - Women's Rights
• W.E.B. Du Bois - African-Americans's Rights
• Note: Many people listed in other categories were also activists.
• Andy Warhol - The Father of Pop Art
• Diane Arbus - Photographer
• Edward Hopper - Painter
• Edward Weston - Photographer
• George Catlin - Part 1 - Painter
• George Catlin - Part-2 - Painter
• Georgia O'Keefe - Painter
• Isabella Stewart Gardner - Art Collector and Cultural Supporter
• Jackson Pollock - Painter
• Mary Cassatt - Painter
• Nam June Paik - Video Artist
• Robert Rauschenberg
• Winslow Homer - Painter

Athletes (People Who Do Sports)

• Arthur Ashe - Tennis
• Babe Ruth - Baseball
• Bob Feller - Baseball
• Jackie Robinson - Baseball
• Jesse Owens - Runner
• John Wooden - Basketball
• Kay Yow and Betty Jameson - Founders Of Women's Sports Organizations
• Lou Gehrig - Baseball
• Roberto Clemente - Baseball
• Wilma Rudolph - The First American Woman to Win Three Gold Medals in One Olympics

Business & Industry

• Henry Ford - Part 1 - Automobiles / Cars
• Henry Ford - Part 2
• Katharine Graham - Owner and Publisher of The Washington Post
• Madam C.J. Walker - Hair-Care Products
• Mary Kay Ash - Cosmetics
• Milton Hershey - Candy Company
• Ray Kroc - McDonald's.
• William Randolph Hearst - Newspaper Business

Entertainers

• Annie Oakley - Sharp Shooter
• Billy Wilder - Movie Director
• Bob Hope - Comedian
• Charlton Heston - Actor
• Cliff Robertson - Actor, Writer, Producer and Director
• Eartha Kitt - Singer and Actress
• Edward R. Murrow - Radio and TV Broadcaster
• Elizabeth Taylor - Actress
• Fred Astaire - Dancer and Actor
• Gene Kelly - Dancer and Actor
• George Abbott - "Mr. Broadway"
• Harry Houdini - Magician
• Hollywood: Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn and Louis Mayer
• Jack Benny - Comedian
• James Stewart - Actor
• Jessica Tandy - Actress
• Katharine Hepburn - Actress
• Lucille Ball - Actress and Comedian
• Mae West - Actress
• Marilyn Monroe - Actress
• Marlon Brando - Actor
• Martha Graham - The Mother of Modern Dance
• The Marx Brothers - Actors and Comedians
• Milton Berle - Actor
• Patricia Neal - Actress
• Paul Newman - Actor
• Sydney Pollack - Movie Director And Producer
• Walt Disney
• Willis Conover - VOA Radio Program on Jazz
• Kennedy Center Honors of 2009 - Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, and Bruce Springsteen
• Kennedy Center Honors of 2008 - Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, George Jones, Twyla Tharp, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey
• Kennedy Center Honors of 2007 - Brian Wilson, Steve Martin, Leon Fleisher, Martin Scorsese, and Diana Ross
• Clara Barton - Started the American Red Cross
• Doctor Spock - Baby and Child Care
• Elizabeth Blackwell - Doctor
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver - Creator of the Special Olympics
• Six Medical Research Heroes - Jesse William Lazear, Clara Maass, Joseph Goldberger, Matthew Lukwiya, Carlo Urbani and Anita Roberts

Inventors, Designers, Developers, Explorers, ...

• Buckminster Fuller
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• George Ballas - Inventor of the Weed Eater
• James Rouse - A Developer of Shopping Malls and a Planned City
• Louis Kahn - Building Designer
• Philo Farnsworth - The Father of Television (4:00)
• Radio Pioneers - Guglielmo Marconi, Lee De Forest, Edwin Armstrong, David Sarnoff, William S. Paley, Edward R. Murrow & William Shirer
• Steve Fossett - Adventurer
• Thomas Edison
• The Wright Brothers
• Six Building Desingers - Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Eduardo Souta de Moura.

Journalists

• Margaret Bourke-White-1 - Photojournalist
• Margaret Bourke-White-2
• Carl Rowan - Reporter
• Henry Loomis - VOA Special English
• Ida Tarbell - Reporter
• Jacob Riis - Reporter
• Nellie Bly - Reporter
• Walter Cronkite - Reporter
• Aaron Copland - Composer
• Bess Lomax Hawes - Folk Musician (4:00)
• Billie Holiday
• Beverly Sills
• Burl Ives - Actor, Singer Recorded Hundreds of Songs
• Irving Berlin
• The Carter Family
• Celia Cruz - Salsa
• Charlie Parker - Jazz
• Cole Porter- Part 1
• Cole Porter- Part 2
• Duke Ellington- Part 1
• Duke Ellington- Part 2
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Elvis Presley
• George Gershwin - Part 1 - Composer
• George Gershwin - Part 2 - Composer
• Hank Williams - Country
• Isaac Stern - Violinist
• Itzhak Perlman - Violinist
• James Brown - Soul Music
• Janis Joplin
• Jerome Kern - The Father of American Musical Theater
• John Coltrane - Jazz Saxophonist
• John Lewis - Jazz Pianist / MJQ
• Johnny Cash - Country
• Julia Ward Howe - Wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
• Lena Horne - Singer and Actress
• Leonard Bernstein
• Les Paul - Guitarist
• Louis Armstrong - Jazz
• Maria Callas - Opera Singer
• Marian Anderson - Part 1 - Singer
• Marian Anderson - Part 2
• Michael Jackson
• Nina Simone
• Patsy Cline - Country Singer
• Paul Robeson - Singer And International Political Activist
• Ray Charles - Part 1
• Ray Charles - Part 2
• Richard Rodgers - Composer
• Roger Miller - Singer-Songwriter
• Sam Cooke - Singer-Songwriter
• Scott Joplin - Ragtime Composer
• Shirley Horn - Jazz
• Stephen Foster - Songwriter
• Todd Duncan - Broke a Major Color Barrier for Black Singers of Classical Music
• Woody Guthrie - Part 1 - Singer-Songwriter
• Woody Guthrie - Part 2

Native Americans / American Indians

• Crazy Horse - A leader of the Lakota Indians
• Pocahontas - The First Native-American to Marry a White Person
• It is highly likely that there are other native Americans listed in other categories.
• Doc Holliday - A Famous Gunfighter
• Frank and Jesse James - Famous Outlaw Brothers
• Gunfighters - Part 1 Luke Short, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and William Matthew Tilghman
• Gunfighters - Part 2 James Miller and John Slaughter
• Alan Shepard - The First American to Travel into Space
• Amelia Earhart - The First Woman to Fly Alone Across the Atlantic
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Pilot & Writer
• Bessie Coleman
• Charles Lindbergh - The First Person to Fly Alone Across the Atlantic
• Jackie Cochran - Set Many Speed, Distance and Altitude Records
• Jimmy Doolittle
• Wiley Post - The First Pilot to Circle the World Alone
• Aviation Hall of Fame Members Harriet Quimby, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Link, John Montgomery, Giuseppe Bellanca, Charles E. Taylor, Calbraith Rodgers and Jacqueline Cochran

Politicians

• Barbara Jordan
• Bella Abzug
• Davy Crockett - Hunter, Fighter, Storyteller and Elected Official
• Edward Kennedy
• Eleanor Roosevelt - Wife of a President
• Eugene McCarthy
• Franklin Roosevelt
• Lady Bird Johnson - Wife of a President
• Ronald Reagan
• Sam Houston - Part 1 - An Early Leader of Texas
• Sam Houston - Part 2
• Shirley Chisholm - The First Black Woman Elected to Congress
• Albert Einstein
• Barbara McClintock
• Charles Darwin
• Dian Fossey - Studied Gorillas
• Edward Teller - 'Father of the Hydrogen Bomb'
• Edwin Hubble - Astronomer
• Isaac Newton - One of the World's Greatest Scientists
• Margaret Mead - Anthropologist
• Norman Borlaug - Agricultural Scientist
• Oppenheimer and Fermi - Two Developers of the First Atomic Bomb
• Percival Lowell (Planet Pluto)
• Rachel Carson - Environmental Protection Movement
• Sigmund Freud - Psychiatrist

Teachers and Educators

• John Dewey (4:00)
• Mary Lyon - A Leader in Women's Education
• Stanley Kaplan - A Test Prep Pioneer (4:00)
• Jaime Escalante - A Math Teacher (4:00)
• Ann Landers - Advice Columns
• Arthur Miller - Playwright
• Barbara Cooney - Children's Books
• Charles Schulz - "Peanuts" Comic Strip
• Clare Booth Luce - News Reporter, Magazine Editor, Member of Congress and Ambassador
• Doctor Seuss - Children's Books
• Dorothy West
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Edith Wharton
• Emily Dickinson - Poet
• Ernest Hemingway - Part 1
• Ernest Hemingway - Part 2
• F. Scott Fitzgerald - Part 1
• F. Scott Fitzgerald - Part 2
• Flannery O'Connor
• Gwendolyn Brooks - Poet
• Helen Keller - Part 1
• Helen Keller - Part 2
• James Baldwin
• John Kenneth Galbraith - Economist, Liberal Thinker, Author, Professor, Presidential Advisor And Ambassador
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Langston Hughes - Part 1 - Poet
• Langston Hughes - Part 2
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Louisa May Alcott - Children's Books
• Lucille Clifton - Poet
• Maurice Sendak
• Pearl S. Buck
• Phillis Wheatley - Early African-American Poet
• Ralph Ellison
• Ralph Waldo Emerson - Philosopher and Writer
• Robert Frost - Part 1 - Poet
• Robert Frost - Part 2
• Shel Silverstein - Poet, Writer, Composer, Singer, Musician and Artist
• Stephen Vincent Benet - Part 1 - Popular Writer of the Early 1900s
• Stephen Vincent Benet - Part 2
• Susan Sontag
• Truman Capote
• Walt Whitman - Poet
• Willa Cather
• William Faulkner - Part 1
• William Faulkner - Part 2
• William Shakespeare - Part 1
• William Shakespeare - Part 2
• Zora Neale Hurston

Year-end Special Programs

• Some People Who Died in 2010 Elizabeth Edwards, Paul Miller, Dorothy Kamenshek, Leslie Nielsen, Louise Bourgeois & Jerry Bock
• Some People Who Died in 2009 John Updike, Frank McCourt, Farrah Fawcet, John Hope Franklin, Abe Pollin & Mary Travers
• Some People Who Died in 2008 David Foster Wallace, Odetta, Irvine Robbins, Cyd Charisse & George Carlin
• Some People Who Died in 2007 Brooke Astor, Evel Knievel, Leona Helmsley & Max Roach
• Some People Who Died in 2006 Robert Altma, Ann Richards, R.W. Apple, William Styron & Ruth Brown
• Some People Who Died in 2005 Johnny Carson, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, John H. Johnson, Anne Bancroft & Shelby Foote
• Some People Who Died in 2004 Christopher Reeve, Julia Child, Mattie Stepanek, Estee Lauder & Robert Merrill

More People

• Brigham Young - A leader of the Mormons
• Douglas MacArthur - Military Leader
• Johnny Appleseed - He Planted Many Apple Trees
• Joshua Abraham Norton - He Declared Himself Emperor of the USA
• Red Adair - Famous for Putting Out Dangerous Oil Well Fires
• Robert Edison Fulton - Rode Around the World on a Motorcycle
• Thurgood Marshall - The First African American to Serve on the US Supreme Court

More Than One Person, Groups of People, ...

• The Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
• Shadow Wolves - They Track Smugglers

More People - Four-Minute Programs

• Earl Cooley - One of the First Smokejumpers
• Joseph Juran - A Leader in Quality Control
• Michael DeBakey - A Heart Surgeon
• Peter Drucker - A Management Expert

More People - Excerpts

• Women Spies: Virginia Hall, Harriet Tubman, Josephine Baker and Julia Child (8:12)

Only the Text, No MP3 Files

• zz-Artie Shaw- No MP3 File
• zz-Nat King Cole - No MP3 File
• These are good for people studying English because it is possible to read along while listening.
• These are in VOA's Special English .
• These will print very cleanly (without printing the MP3 player and menu.)
• "All text, audio and video material produced exclusively by the Voice of America is public domain. However, some images and graphics are licensed for use and covered by all applicable copyright laws. "
• Though the source material was in the public domain, I have done some editing . If you need the public domain version of any of these stories, please visit http://voanews.com/specialenglish/ .

Other VOA Material on This Web Site

• Voice of America Special English Study

This page is part of Interesting Things for ESL Students .

Copyright © 1997-2015 by Charles Kelly

Topic: Famous People

It’s a one-way street! Parasocial relationships

With this engaging lesson, students read an article, discuss parasocial relationships and talk about fandom. They also share their experiences, learn vocabulary to talk about the topic and give their opinions on fans and fandoms.

The youth changing the world

With this highly relevant lesson, students discuss youth activism, examine different causes and practise vocabulary related to the topic. They also watch and discuss a video about Malala Yousafzai and reflect on the impact of youth involvement in social causes.

Famous people (non-defining relative clauses)

With this flipped lesson plan, students learn and practise using defining and non-defining relative clauses. They also watch two videos and talk about famous people. 

That’s a good question!

This lesson plan focuses on basic English questions. Students watch an interview with two famous actors and discuss different questions. Students also do a role play where they interview each other. 

Has cancel culture gone too far?

In this lesson students learn vocabulary useful to talk about cancel culture, do a CAE multiple-choice cloze task, watch a video, and get the opportunity to discuss cancel culture and freedom of speech in depth. 

Behind every success there are dozens of failures

In this lesson about success and failure students watch an interview with Jeff Bezos and learn a few idioms related to failure. They also put them into practice through a role-play activity involving different aspects of business failures.

The Green Lady (present, past and future forms revision)

In this lesson students get an opportunity to talk about colours and their role in our daily lives, learn some vocabulary related to house interior and revise present, past and future forms.

What’s in your bag?

Throughout this A2 lesson plan, students will learn vocabulary for things we carry in our bags and backpacks and watch two Vogue videos.

The other side of fame

This lesson plan about fame includes some related vocabulary as well as adjectives + prepositions that B1 students will learn and use in speaking.

Will they find out I’m a fraud? Imposter syndrome

Learn about the imposter syndrome, discover what Michelle Obama has to do with it and discuss how to cope with it.

Beaming the internet from space

In this lesson plan about the internet students will learn computer networking vocab, do listening comprehension tasks and discuss the Starlink project.

The stories of famous entrepreneurs

This lesson plan is perfect for Past Simple revision. Students practise using the tense as well as learn vocabulary related to running a business.

How celebrities want to make a difference

Our lesson plan about celebrities looks into what they can do to make a difference and why their civil disobedience might be important.

The story of Frida Kahlo (+ Advanced Tense Review)

Get your students interested in the life and work of Frida Kahlo and check their knowledge using our interactive video focused on advanced tense review!

Practise reported speech with Vogue interviews

Use Vogue 73 Qs interviews to teach your students reported speech with our original lesson plan and discover new facts about their favourite celebrities!

Climate change

This climate change lesson plan is prepared for B2 students, touches upon the environmental issues and is based on a speech by Greta Thunberg.

ESL Worksheets for Teachers

Check out our selection of worksheets filed under topic: celebrities and historical figures. use the search filters on the left to refine your search..

FILTER LESSONS

Customised lessons

Worksheet type

Mixed levels

A breaking news lesson about the recent incident at the Oscars, with a news report about actor Will Smith hitting comedian Chris Rock and an article giving the opinions of four members of the public on the scandal. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

by David Marriott

Note: Select the audio/video file for the appropriate level you’d like to use with your students. To change the level of the embedded audio or video file, click the play button for the level you want to use in the multimedia box.

Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

This lesson looks at the recent discovery of Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance . Exercises focus on authentic listening, through a video news report, and reading skills. Related vocabulary will be looked at and students will be given the opportunity to discuss a number of issues that are related to the topic.

by Peter Clarkin

Intermediate (B1-B2)

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the pioneering African American mathematician and space scientist Katherine Johnson (1918-2020). The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking, and includes a short look at past perfect forms. There is also an optional extension activity about a range of toys that honours women’s achievements.

by Stephanie Hirschman

In this lesson, students learn language related to contracts and fraud through current and classic cases. This topic continues to evolve as technology and marketing advance.

by Susan Iannuzzi

In this lesson, students learn language related to sports law and contracts by discussing buy-out and release clauses. Although sports law contracts have their own specific clauses, the principles are similar to other more common contracts.

by Susan Iannuzzi

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the British statesman Winston Churchill. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension and speaking, and includes a short look at the infinitive of purpose. The optional extension task focuses on two of Churchill’s homes, now tourist destinations.

A breaking news worksheet about a bridge in Rotterdam being partially dismantled to make way for a superyacht owned by Jeff Bezos. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary in conversation tasks.

by David J. Marriott

A breaking news lesson about the recent visa scandal involving Novak Djokovic, with a news report about the decision to reinstall Djokovic’s visa, and an article offering the opinions of three members of the public on the scandal. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

Note: this lesson covers topics that some students may find sensitive, such as Covid regulations and vaccination stances. Additionally, this news story is ongoing and the situation discussed in the news report may change rapidly. 

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the legendary physicist Albert Einstein. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking and includes a short look at linking words that show contrast. The optional extension task is a mini marketing activity about how the name Einstein can be used to sell products.

Advanced (C1-C2)

This lesson focuses on the case of Ghislaine Maxwell and her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. There is additional work on legal language , two listenings, an article, and opportunities for students to discuss the case.

Note: Due to the nature of the case, this worksheet is not going to be suitable for all classes. There are no details of abuse, or indeed anything that can’t be found in the media about the case. However, themes of child sexual abuse and suicide are present and caution should be taken before covering this material with a class.

by Joe Wilson 

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speaking, and includes a short look at " so ... that " cause-and-effect structures. There is also an optional extension activity about the genre steampunk.

A breaking news lesson about time capsules with a news report about a recent discovery and an article offering a brief history of time capsules. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

A breaking news lesson about the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film, with a news report on a documentary about the reunion. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

by David J. Marriott 

This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of the famous 19th-century writer Charles Dickens, who had a huge influence on how we think about Christmas. The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension, a short review of the passive and speaking. There is also an optional extension activity about vocabulary related to Scrooges, misers, penny-pinchers, etc.

This lesson, themed around the biographies of three famous cats (Grumpy Cat, Lil Bub and Bob the Street Cat), helps students review and consolidate questions for past simple, past continuous, past perfect and present perfect forms. The lesson is most suitable for B1 students as it is assumed they have encountered these verb forms before. Students activate the language in a pair work reading/speaking activity and discussion questions are included, as well as an optional extension related to cat vocabulary.

Celebrities

"I don't think I could think of a single thing that's more isolating than being famous." Lady Gaga, American pop star

• February 22, 2022
• General English

Home » Celebrities

Latest lesson plans

This free ESL lesson plan on celebrities has been designed for adults and young adults at an intermediate (B1/B2) to advanced (C1/C2) level and should last around 45 to 60 minutes for one student.

Celebrities are people we pay attention to. In the past, famous scientists, philosophers or writers would cause quite a stir with their presence. With the advent of film and cinema, our attention turned towards movie stars. Next came pop stars and TV actors. The common denominator was that all of these people were famous for something, whether that was acting or singing. More recently, with the spread of social media and reality TV shows, celebrities are increasingly famous for nothing more than being famous. In this ESL lesson plan on celebrities, students will have the opportunity to discuss and express their opinions on issues such as famous people and why we obsess over them.

For advice on how to use this English lesson plan and  other lesson plans  on this site, see the  guide for ESL teachers .

PRE-CLASS ACTIVITIES

Reading activity Before the English class, send the following article to the students and ask them to read it while making a list of any new vocabulary or phrases they find (explain any the students don’t understand in the class):

Live Science | Oscar Psychology: Why Celebrities Fascinate Us

The article looks at the psychology behind why we are so obsessed with celebrities, and the dangerous of turning from fan to fanatic. What do they think about the issues raised in the article? Do they agree with what was said? Can they think of any ways they might disagree with the content of the article?

Video activity To save time in class for the conversation activities, the English teacher can ask the students to watch the video below and answer the listening questions in Section 3 of the lesson plan at home. The questions for the video are styled in a way similar to an exam like the IELTS.

The video for this class is a called “From celebrities to influencers: A brief history of celebrity” by BBC Ideas which looks at the history of celebrities, from the Victorian era to the age of Hollywood, and to the recent trend in internet celebrities.

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

The focus in the class is on conversation in order to help improve students’ fluency and confidence when speaking in English as well as boosting their vocabulary.

This lesson opens with a short discussion about the article the students read before the class. Next, the students can give their opinion on the quote at the beginning of the lesson plan – what they think the quote means and if they agree with it. This is followed by an initial discussion on the topic including how people become celebrities, the students’ favourite celebrities and which celebrities they’d like to meet.

After this, students will learn some vocabulary connected with celebrities such as glamorous , claim to fame and household name . This vocabulary has been chosen to boost the students’ knowledge of less common vocabulary that could be useful for preparing for English exams like IELTS or TOEFL. The vocabulary is accompanied by a cloze activity and a speaking activity to test the students’ comprehension of these words.

If the students didn’t watch the video before the class, they can watch it after the vocabulary section and answer the listening questions. Before checking the answers, ask the students to give a brief summary of the video and what they thought about the content.

Finally, there is a more in-depth conversation about celebrities. In this speaking activity, students will talk about issues such as why so many people want to be famous, celebrities that are famous for being famous, and which people have not coped with fame very well.

After the class, students will write about their opinion of celebrities. This could be a short paragraph or a longer piece of writing depending on what level the student is at. The writing activity is designed to allow students to practise and improve their grammar with the feedback from their teacher. For students who intend to take an international English exam such as IELTS or TOEFL, there is an alternative essay question to practise their essay-writing skills.

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2 thoughts on “Celebrities”

I’m an English teacher. Thank you a lot for these free awesome lesson plans!

I am a teacher and your lesson plans are perfect for my students. I am so grateful !!!

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Guess The Biography

Tags: advanced , entertainment , intermediate , passive , past simple , present perfect continuous , present perfect simple , present simple

In the Guess The Biography ESL activity, students create five-part biographies then have to guess the people their classmates describe.

Start by modelling an example five-part biography. For example for Johnny Depp:

1) He was born in the USA. 2) He is a famous movie actor. 3) He has been acting since the 1980s, but he became famous in the 1990s. 4) He has worked with Tim Burton. 5) He starred in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Reveal one sentence at a time and see when the students can guess who it is.

Students can complete the Guess The Biography ESL activity individually or in pairs.

• Students use the Internet to research a famous person and create a similar biography, consisting of five separate sentences. They could do this as a homework activity if you wish. The biography should include examples of all the different target grammar you wish to practise. Note that the person should be living if you wish to practise the present perfect.
• Importantly, the students should write and arrange their sentences so that  guessing becomes gradually easier. As such more general information comes earlier, and more specific/obvious clues come later (as shown in the example).
• The students/pairs take turns coming to the front to read their biography, one sentence at a time. After each sentence, the other students write down a guess, and the readers privately check each one to see if it is correct (the answer must be kept secret until the end).
• If students guess correctly after one sentence, they receive five points, after two sentences four points, after three three points and so on.
• The process is repeated for all the biographies. The student(s) with the most points at the end wins.

Target Language

The Guess The Biography ESL activity is a good way to practise any grammar used in a biography. For low intermediate students this may just be the present simple and past simple .

Higher level students on the other hand should include the present perfect simple , the present perfect continuous , and/or the passive voice .

Got a picture or video of this activity in action? How about snapping one next time you use it? We'd love to showcase your submissions- find out more here .

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Warmer of the day.

Tags: advanced , beginner , grammar , intermediate , kids , vocabulary , warmer

The Can’t Stop ESL game is a variation on the board game of the same name, in which students have to answer consecutive questions correctly to win.

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An Appraisal

Alice Munro, a Literary Alchemist Who Made Great Fiction From Humble Lives

The Nobel Prize-winning author specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope, spanning decades with intimacy and precision.

• Share full article

By Gregory Cowles

Gregory Cowles is a senior editor at the Book Review.

The first story in her first book evoked her father’s life. The last story in her last book evoked her mother’s death. In between, across 14 collections and more than 40 years, Alice Munro showed us in one dazzling short story after another that the humble facts of a single person’s experience, subjected to the alchemy of language and imagination and psychological insight, could provide the raw material for great literature.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

And not just any person, but a girl from the sticks. It mattered that Munro, who died on Monday night at the age of 92, hailed from rural southwestern Ontario, since so many of her stories, set in small towns on or around Lake Huron, were marked by the ambitions of a bright girl eager to leave, upon whom nothing is lost. There was the narrator of “Boys and Girls,” who tells herself bedtime stories about a world “that presented opportunities for courage, boldness and self-sacrifice, as mine never did.” There was Rose, from “The Beggar Maid,” who wins a college scholarship and leaves her working-class family behind. And there was Del Jordan, from “Lives of Girls and Women” — Munro’s second book, and the closest thing she ever wrote to a novel — who casts a jaundiced eye on her town’s provincial customs as she takes the first fateful steps toward becoming a writer.

Does it seem reductive or limiting to derive a kind of artist’s statement from the title of that early book? It shouldn’t. Munro was hardly a doctrinaire feminist, but with implacable authority and command she demonstrated throughout her career that the lives of girls and women were as rich, as tumultuous, as dramatic and as important as the lives of men and boys. Her plots were rife with incident: the threatened suicide in the barn, the actual murder at the lake, the ambivalent sexual encounter, the power dynamics of desire. For a writer whose book titles gestured repeatedly at love (“The Progress of Love,” “The Love of a Good Woman,” “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage”), her narratives recoiled from sentimentality. Tucked into the stately columns of The New Yorker, where she was a steady presence for decades, they were far likelier to depict the disruptions and snowballing consequences of petty grudges, careless cruelties and base impulses: the gossip that mattered.

Munro’s stories traveled not as the crow flies but as the mind does. You got the feeling that, if the GPS ever offered her a shorter route, she would decline. Capable of dizzying swerves in a line or a line break, her stories often spanned decades with intimacy and sweep; that’s partly what critics meant when they wrote of the novelistic scope she brought to short fiction.

Her sentences rarely strutted or flaunted or declared themselves; but they also never clanked or stumbled — she was an exacting and precise stylist rather than a showy one, who wrote with steely control and applied her ambitions not to language but to theme and structure. (This was a conscious choice on her part: “In my earlier days I was prone to a lot of flowery prose,” she told an interviewer when she won the Nobel Prize in 2013. “I gradually learned to take a lot of that out.”) In the middle of her career her stories started to grow roomier and more contemplative, even essayistic; they could feel aimless until you approached the final pages and recognized with a jolt that they had in fact been constructed all along as intricately and deviously as a Sudoku puzzle, every piece falling neatly into place.

There was a signature Munro tone: skeptical, ruminative, given to a crucial and artful ambiguity that could feel particularly Midwestern. Consider “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” which — thanks in part to Sarah Polley’s Oscar-nominated film adaptation, “ Away From Her ” (2006) — may be Munro’s most famous story; it details a woman’s descent into senility and her philandering husband’s attempt to come to terms with her attachment to a male resident at her nursing home. Here the husband is on a visit, confronting the limits of his knowledge and the need to make peace with uncertainty, in a characteristically Munrovian passage:

She treated him with a distracted, social sort of kindness that was successful in holding him back from the most obvious, the most necessary question. He could not demand of her whether she did or did not remember him as her husband of nearly 50 years. He got the impression that she would be embarrassed by such a question — embarrassed not for herself but for him. She would have laughed in a fluttery way and mortified him with her politeness and bewilderment, and somehow she would have ended up not saying either yes or no. Or she would have said either one in a way that gave not the least satisfaction.

Like her contemporary Philip Roth — another realist who was comfortable blurring lines — Munro devised multilayered plots that were explicitly autobiographical and at the same time determined to deflect or undermine that impulse. This tension dovetailed happily with her frequent themes of the unreliability of memory and the gap between art and life. Her stories tracked the details of her lived experience both faithfully and cannily, cagily, so that any attempt at a dispassionate biography (notably, Robert Thacker’s scholarly and substantial “Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives,” from 2005) felt at once invasive and redundant. She had been in front of us all along.

Until, suddenly, she wasn’t. That she went silent after her book “Dear Life” was published in 2012, a year before she won the Nobel, makes her passing now seem all the more startling — a second death, in a way that calls to mind her habit of circling back to recognizable moments and images in her work. At least three times she revisited the death of her mother in fiction, first in “The Peace of Utrecht,” then in “Friend of My Youth” and again in the title story that concludes “Dear Life”: “The person I would really have liked to talk to then was my mother,” the narrator says near the end of that story, in an understated gut punch of an epitaph that now applies equally well to Munro herself, but she “was no longer available.”

Read by Greg Cowles

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

Gregory Cowles is the poetry editor of the Book Review and senior editor of the Books desk. More about Gregory Cowles

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C1/C2: The Life of a Celeb – Fame Vocabulary

This is a vocabulary lesson plan for C1/C2 students on the topic of fame and celebrities. Students read a text on the pros and cons of fame, examine some advanced expressions on the topic, then put them into practice in a Cambridge-style exercise, a discussion and a debate. Download the handout below, you’ll find the key for the key word transformations on page 3:

Part 1: Pre-reading

• What type of people do you think want to be famous?
• What do you think are some of the most common pros and cons of fame?
• What is the stereotypical story of the life of a child star?
• What advice would you give to someone who still wants to be famous despite the cons?

Part 2: Reading

Read the text.

Does it mention anything you discussed in part 1?

The life of a celeb isn’t all a bed of roses, you know. It really is a double-edged sword and it’s difficult to know if the pros outweigh the cons. Being in the limelight 24/7 can’t be good for your mental health. Being under constant scrutiny, having every aspect of your life dissected by the tabloids, it’s enough to drive you round the bend. It’s no wonder so many child stars go off the rails in such a spectacular fashion. They get their big breaks and rise to fame at such a young age then burn out in a blaze of glory for all to see. Keeping your feet on the ground is no mean feat when you’re surrounded by so many hangers-on blowing smoke up your backside. It must be so easy to let the fame go to your head and start thinking you’re the best thing since sliced bread. Then, if things take a turn for the worse, the fall from grace can be precipitous. 

It’s not all doom and gloom however, being in the public eye does have its perks. For one thing you get to lead a glamorous lifestyle; on the guestlist for every event, endorsed by all the biggest brands, it’s ironic that some of the richest people in the world hardly have to pay for anything. Designers and companies bend over backwards to get those publicity shots of you decked out in their latest products. But brands and products aren’t the only ones that can benefit by association with a megastar; some A-listers choose to use their platforms to raise awareness of various issues and campaigns, drawing their followers’ attention to the plights of various disenfranchised groups around the world.

So, have you still got your heart set on making a name for yourself in the world of show business? If so, be warned, you’ve got to learn to take the rough with the smooth. And should you happen to make it to the top, against all odds, enjoy your time in the sun, make the most of your 15 minutes of fame, because they might be over in the blink of an eye. 

Read the text again.

Answer the questions. 

• What drawbacks of fame does it mention?
• What effect can becoming famous have on your psyche/character?
• What are some of the perks of fame?
• What advice does the writer give to wannabe celebs?

Part 3 – Language Focus

Look at the underlined expressions. 

Discuss the meaning with your partner. 

Memory test:

The life of a celeb isn’t all a …… of roses, you know. It really is a double-…….. sword and it’s difficult to know if the pros ……… the cons. Being in the l……… 24/7 can’t be good for your mental health. Being …….. constant scrutiny, having every aspect of your life dissected by the t………, it’s enough to drive you r…….. the b…….. It’s no …….. so many child stars go off the …….. in such a spectacular fashion. They get their big …….. and r……. to fame at such a young age then burn ……. in a blaze of glory for all to see. Keeping your feet on the …….. is no m……. feat when you’re surrounded by so many h……..-on blowing s……… up your b……… It must be so easy to let the fame go to your ……. and start thinking you’re the best thing since s…….. b…….. Then, if things take a ……. for the worse, the fall from ……… can be p……….. 

It’s not all d…… and g……. however, being in the …….. eye does have its perks. For one thing you get to ……. a glamorous lifestyle; …… the guestlist for every event, endorsed by all the biggest brands, it’s ironic that some of the richest people in the world hardly have to pay for anything. Designers and companies bend over b……… to get those publicity shots of you d……. out in their latest products. But brands and products aren’t the only ones that can benefit by association with a m……..; some A-l……… choose to use their p…….. to …….. awareness of various issues and campaigns, ……… their followers’ attention to the p…….. of various dis………….. groups around the world.

So, have you still got your …….. set on making a ……. for yourself in the world of ……..business? If so, be w…….., you’ve got to learn to take the r…….. with the s………. And should you happen to make it to the ……, against all o……., enjoy your time in the sun, make the most of your ……. minutes of fame, because they might be over in the …….. of an eye. 

Key Word Transformations

• My agent showed me some of the articles that had appeared in the papers.

My agent…………………………………………. some of the articles that had appeared in the papers.

• It’s hard for newly famous celebrities to continue to act in a sensible and practical way.

Newly famous celebrities struggle ……………………………………………………………..

• The life of a famous dancer isn’t always good.

The life of a famous dancer………………………………………………………………….

• He moved to New York to become famous in the art world.

He moved to New York with the intention ………………………………………………… the art world.

• She wants to be an actress more than anything else in the world.

She …………………………………………………………………………… an actress.

• He aims to make more people aware of the difficulties the indigenous population are facing.

His objective is ………………………………………………………….. of the indigenous population.

Part 4 – Discussion

• Would you like to be famous?
• How well do you think you would cope with being famous?
• Do you think that the pros of fame outweigh the cons?
• Overall, do you think celebrities have a positive or a negative impact on society?
• Why do you think so many celebrities tend to suffer from addiction problems or poor mental health?
• If you had to choose images of celebrities to illustrate the pros and cons of fame, whose image would you choose and why?
• How do you think fame and show business have changed in your lifetime? How do you think it will change in the future?

Debate topic: Celebrities have a positive effect on society

My agent DREW MY ATTENTION // TO some of the articles that had appeared in the papers.

Newly famous celebrities struggle TO KEEP THEIR FEET // ON THE GROUND.

The life of a famous dancer ISN’T ALL A BED // OF ROSES.

He moved to New York with the intention OF MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF IN the art world.

She HAS (GOT) HER HEART SET // ON BECOMING an actress.

His objective is TO RAISE AWARENESS // OF THE PLIGHT of the indigenous population.

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Author: Tim Warre

Barcelona based English Teacher, blogger and sometime actor and director. View All Posts

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Amy winehouse biopic ‘back to black’ cast and their real-life inspirations.

The long-awaited film is based on the life of the late English singer-songwriter.

By Cameron K McEwan

Cameron K McEwan

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Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson ( Fifty Shades of Grey ) and written by Matt Greenhalgh ( Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool ), both BAFTA nominated Brits, Back to Black has been in and out of production for over a decade with various teams working on the Amy Winehouse biopic.

Telling the tragically short career of the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist, the film portrays Winehouse’s rise to fame and parallel fall into substance abuse. Through her story, the audience also meets the real people in her orbit.

Here’s who’s playing who in Back to Black .

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse

English actress Abela made her television debut in 2020 appearing alongside Trainspotting ’s Robert Carlyle in Sky’s political thriller COBRA . Later that same year, the RADA graduate starred as one of the leads in HBO office drama, Industry . Most recently, Abela graced the big screen as “Teen Talk Barbie” in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie . Coincidentally, the actress is currently 27 years old — the same age Winehouse was when she died. Abela uses her own singing voice in the movie.

Winehouse shot to fame in 2006, after a commercially lukewarm reception to her debut album Frank , with the three-time Grammy Award-winning hit single, “Rehab.” Her follow-up long player, Back to Black (which lends its name to the movie), was No. 1 throughout the world (and No. 2 in the U.S.) selling 16 million copies. After years of very public substance abuse and mental health issues, Winehouse died of an accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011.

As a sidenote, Winehouse was a staple feature at Camden bar, The Hawley Arms — now known to be the bar fictionalized in Netflix’s Baby Reindeer where its lead, comedian Richard Gadd , worked.

Jack O'Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil

The English actor gained recognition for playing Pukey Nicholls in This Is England (2006) but came to popular acclaim in horror-flick Eden Lake , which co-starred Michael Fassbender, two years later. In the U.K., O’Connell came to mainstream prominence as one of the leads in teen comedy-drama series, Skins . The year 2025 will be big for the 33-year-old, as he’s set to star in the as-yet-untitled Ryan Coogler and  Michael B. Jordan film and also in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later , alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who is married to Back to Black’s director, Sam Taylor-Johnson)​.

The villain of the piece, as seen by many, Fielder-Civil was a video production assistant when he and Winehouse met in North London. And just two on-again/off-again years later, they were married in Miami Beach, Florida. Their tumultuous relationship became a tabloid target and was marked by drug abuse and legal troubles. Believed to be the inspiration for her second album, he also spent some time in jail. He is now a father with two children. According to an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain last month, he has been “clean for years” and shares regrets over both using and introducing Winehouse to heroin. “I was a very young person,” he said, “I thought I had all the answers. Of course, I regret any drugs. If I had known it was going to develop, I would have been far more careful. I had no one looking out for me either.”

Eddie Marsan as Mitch Winehouse

The East End boy from London has been a very familiar face on television and movies for three decades, and is one of few actors who can straddle the worlds of art-house and blockbuster movies with ease. Marsan garnered numerous nominations and wins for supporting roles in 2004’s Vera Drake and 2008’s Happy-Go-Lucky , both helmed by legendary Brit director Mike Leigh. Since then he’s stared in such diverse fare as 2008 superhero film Hancock , Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows , Deadpool 2 , Tyrannosaur , and Mission: Impossible III as well as his memorable role as Terry in Showtime’s Ray Donovan .

Winehouse’s father was a prominent figure in the press, often seen accompanying his daughter in public. He was seen by some as a controversial figure in her life. Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary film Amy suggested that Mitch Winehouse was exploiting his daughter’s fame for his own ends. A singer now in his own right, he has toured the U.S. paying tribute to jazz legends.

Juliet Cowan as Janis Winehouse

Known for her comedy roles in shows such as Skins, PhoneShop and Fresh Meat (all from U.K. broadcaster Channel 4), Cowan found fame with recurring roles in the television adaptation of Henry Winkler’s Hank Zipzer book series and in the Doctor Who spinoff, The Sarah Jane Adventures (both from the BBC’s children’s department, CBBC). More recently, Cowan impressed in the BBC comedies Back to Life (an International Emmy nominee); Am I Being Unreasonable? (airing on Hulu in the U.S.), which has been commissioned for a second season after winning numerous Royal Television Society awards and a BAFTA; and heist-drama Culprits on Disney+.

Amy’s mother, Janis, split from husband Mitch when their daughter was 9 years old. She remarried in 2011 to partner Richard Collins. Janis was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2003 and, in 2019, she was named an MS Society Ambassador. On what would have been Amy’s 30th birthday, Janis skydived in aid of the charity. In 2015, Janis’ book Loving Amy: A Mother’s Story was published revealing the softer side of her daughter. She now goes under the name, Janis Winehouse-Collins.

Lesley Manville as Cynthia Winehouse

Seen as a national treasure in her home of the U.K., Manville made her screen debut in the 1970s and hasn’t stopped working on television, stage and film since, picking up numerous BAFTA nominations and a prestigious Olivier award along the way.

Although known for her work with Mike Leigh — in films such as Secrets & Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), and Another Year (2010) — Manville was no stranger to bigger Hollywood productions, like Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol (2009) (which also featured her ex-husband Gary Oldman), and Disney’s Maleficent and its sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil . Manville’s collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson for 2017’s Phantom Thread saw the actress nab a best supporting actress Oscars nomination (ultimately losing out to Allison Janney for I, Tonya ).

More recently, she portrayed Princess Margaret in the final two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown and wowed critics and audiences alike as the titular lead in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022). Approaching 70, there’s no slowing down for Manville with currently 10 films and television shows in various stages of production, including Disclaimer , a psychological thriller television miniseries written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and also starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen for Apple TV+.

Cynthia Winehouse was born in the late 1920s London and had an enormous impact on her granddaughter’s life — so much so, that Amy had her name tattooed on her right arm. Influencing her clothes and music, Cynthia was a big jazz fan and even embarked on a relationship with world-renowned saxophonist Ronnie Scott. Mitch Winehouse once claimed that Scott introduced Cynthia to big band legend Glen Miller. Sadly, Cynthia didn’t get to enjoy the heights of her granddaughter’s fame, dying in 2006.

Jeff Tunke as Mark Ronson

Although Canadian actor Tunke was cast and filmed many scenes as the now worldwide famous music producer, the part was ultimately cut from the theatrical version. Tunke recently graduated from LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art) and Back to Black would have been his big screen debut.

Ronson took Winehouse to new creative and commercial heights with hits such as the aforementioned “Rehab” and “Valerie.” The DJ/producer/songwriter would go on to release the global smash hit single “Uptown Funk” (featuring Bruno Mars) and win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for “Shallow,” which was sung by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in 2018’s A Star Is Born . And just this year, Ronson won an OSCAR for co-writing “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (2023).

Back To Black is now in cinemas .

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All About Zoe Perry's Relationship with Famous Parents Jeff Perry and Laurie Metcalf

Zoe Perry and her mom Laurie Metcalf have played the same character in 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Young Sheldon'

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage ; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Zoe Perry followed in the footsteps of her famous parents — Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Perry — and pursued a career in Hollywood.

After meeting as theater students in Illinois, Metcalf and Perry wed in 1983. In September of that same year, they welcomed their first and only child together, daughter Zoe. Though Metcalf and Perry divorced in 1986, their passion for the arts influenced their daughter’s future career path in Hollywood.

Perry and Metcalf both got their start in the theater before pivoting to careers in television and film. Metcalf is best known for her long-standing role as Jackie Harris in Roseanne and its spinoff, The Conners , as well as for portraying Marion McPherson in Lady Bird . Meanwhile, Perry is recognized for his roles as Inspector Harvey Leek in Nash Bridges and Cyrus Beene in Scandal .

Despite her parents’ successful careers in Hollywood, Zoe’s own pursuit of acting didn’t happen until she was in college. She began in the theater before moving to New York, where she appeared in several small TV roles. Her most recognized role comes from portraying Mary Cooper in Young Sheldon , a role that her mom originated in The Big Bang Theory .

She cites her childhood exposure to the Steppenwolf Theater Company and the set of Roseanne with her parents as a driving force behind her ultimate career path. She told Entertainment Tonight in June 2018, “I was just so grateful that that passion they have for theater translated to me, because I always loved seeing it. Growing up and to be able to do it now is such a pleasure as well.”

From their days in the theater to their award-winning performances on-screen, here’s everything to know about Zoe Perry’s parents, Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Perry.

Her parents met through the theater

London Entertainment/Shutterstock

While Metcalf was studying at Illinois State University — where she earned her bachelor of arts in theater in 1976 — she met fellow theater students Perry, Terry Kinney and Gary Sinise in addition to John Malkovich , Glenne Headly and Joan Allen, according to The New York Times .

In 1974, Perry, Kinney and Sinise co-founded the Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre Company. They began performing in a church in Highland Park before moving their productions to a nearby space in Immaculate Conception Catholic School, per the organization's website .

Perry, Kinney and Sinise went on to recruit more actors as founding members, including Metcalf, Moira Harris and Malkovich. Over the next decade, the group earned national and international attention for their plays, earning their first of 10 Tony Awards in 1985.

She is the only daughter of Metcalf and Perry

Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Metcalf and Perry wed in 1983 and divorced in 1986 when Zoe was only 2. The former couple eventually moved on to their second marriages and expanded their families.

The actress married her second husband, fellow Roseanne costar Matt Roth, in 2005. She and Roth welcomed three children together before their divorce was finalized in 2014. Metcalf gave birth to their first child together, son Will Theron Roth, in 1993. Their second child, daughter Mae Akins Roth, was welcomed via surrogate in 2005. They also fostered their third child, son Donovan Roth, in 2006 and eventually adopted him.

Perry married his second wife, Linda Lowy, in 1989. The couple share one child, daughter Leah Perry.

Despite the couple splitting up after three years of marriage and moving on with different partners, Zoe commends her parents and stepparents for remaining supportive and keeping the families close.

She told the New York Post in April 2008, “My stepmom reminded me of a conversation she had with my mom early on, who said, ‘Well, we’re a family,’ and that generosity sort of bred. So I have four amazing parents who support me!”

Metcalf described her relationship with Lowy as “solid and strong,” adding, “There’s not really a term for it, but I love her, so I call her my sister-in-law.”

Metcalf and Perry are celebrated actors

Gregg DeGuire/Getty

From Steppenwolf Theatre Company to television and the silver screen, Metcalf and Perry have forged storied careers in Hollywood as actors.

After spending nearly 20 years of his career at the theater company, Perry began to focus on acting in TV and film roles. One of his most memorable characters was Bryce Hunter in Wild Things, and he also made appearances in The West Wing , Lost , Grey’s Anatomy , Prison Break and Inventing Anna .

Metcalf spent the early years of her career in theater as well, including Steppenwolf productions, one of which brought her to New York for an off-Broadway production of Balm in Gilead. She went on to appear in film and television, including a short-lived stint as a feature player on Saturday Night Live for a single episode in 1981.

After a string of movie roles, Metcalf rose to prominence for starring in Roseanne , earning her several Primetime Emmy Awards nominations. She portrayed Jackie Harris for all 10 seasons of the original show and reprised her role for its spinoff, The Conners.

In 2018, Metcalf received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Greta Gerwig’s film Lady Bird . In addition to her Tony Award nods for her roles in Hillary and Clinton , Misery , The Other Place and November , she won best actress in a play for her performance in A Doll’s House, Part 2 and best featured actress in a play for Three Tall Women.

Zoe spent time with her parents on set as a child

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty 

As a child, Zoe got a firsthand account of her mom’s career and would often visit her on set while she was filming Roseanne. Zoe even portrayed the younger version of Metcalf's character in flashbacks.

Metcalf recalled during an interview with Entertainment Tonight how her daughter spent time in the wardrobe department at the show and often played with Michael Fishman , who portrayed the character D.J. Conner.

Zoe also remembered spending time with her parents while they were heavily involved in the theater, including moments at Steppenwolf Theater Company during her formative years.

“When I was younger, I was living in that green room and accompanying them to all the different theaters that they worked at,” she told ET . “So, that has always remained a nostalgic place for me and also one of great admiration."

She has followed in her parents' footsteps

With both of her parents having decades-long careers as actors on film, stage and television, Zoe was predestined to find herself on-screen. However, her parents said that they had an “ unwritten pact ” that she wouldn’t pursue acting as a career until she was an adult. Metcalf told PEOPLE in September 2017, “I didn’t want her to have to deal with the stress.”

After spending time on the set of Roseanne with her mom, Metcalf told Entertainment Tonight that she thought Zoe had “caught the acting bug,” but she and Perry “didn’t think it would be a good idea for a kid that young.”

“We just felt that it might be too stressful for a kid that age that was pretty shy and quiet,” she explained. “We didn't want to put her in a position where she had a role and had all this responsibility all of a sudden. She was fine with that.”

Zoe admitted that she was too shy to act before she became an adult, but after transferring from Boston University to Northwestern University, she began acting as a means of making new friends, according to a January 2013 interview with Broadway Buzz .

Instead of using her parents’ connections in Chicago and Los Angeles, Zoe went to New York in pursuit of a career in theater. She landed minor roles on TV, including Law & Order: Criminal Intent , but ultimately got homesick and returned to L.A., where she started pursuing the theater again.

Over the years, she’s made one-off appearances on TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and has had recurring roles on The Family and Scandal. She is best known today for her portrayal of Mary Cooper on Young Sheldon.

Metcalf has always been “such an inspiration” for Zoe

George Pimentel/WireImage

When asked by Entertainment Tonight how their mother-daughter dynamic affected their acting choices, Zoe praised her mom for "always been such an inspiration" for staying dedicated to her craft, no matter the project.

"She's always been such a good example of having a really strong work ethic and taking pride and value in the work that she does," she said.

Metcalf attributed her daughter’s perspective to her childhood — seeing the work that went into her parents’ careers — and not “all the perks” that come along with Hollywood.

Zoe agreed, adding, “That was such a benefit of having her and dad, and being around a lot of the Steppenwolf actors, because they all came for the passion of the work.”

Zoe and Laurie made history playing the same character

In a rare occurrence in Hollywood, the mother-daughter duo have portrayed the same character — Mary Cooper, mother of Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. Metcalf originated the character on the original run of the sitcom from 2007 to 2018, portraying Jim Parsons ’ mom. Zoe took on the role in 2017 and played actor Iain Armitage’s mother in the spinoff prequel series.

She told Glamour in September 2017 that she was “very nervous” to “potentially be filling shoes — rather large shoes — of my mother's.”

Metcalf reflected on the rare coincidence in a February 2018 interview with The Washington Post , telling the outlet, “This can’t ever have happened in the history of anything, playing the same character decades apart, and we’re mother and daughter.”

Despite her mom originating the role in the first series, Zoe told the Toronto Star in September 2017 that she had to go through the traditional audition process.

“I had to audition like everybody else,” she explained. “I didn’t go in there thinking, ‘I’ve got this.’ I always think, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice but probably won’t happen.’ Which is frankly how I went into this one. So it’s pretty marvelous that I have the opportunity.”

As for whether Metcalf had any advice for her daughter, Zoe told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2017 that her mom was “too good and empathetic an actor to give another actor any notes.”

“She’s been really supportive through the whole thing and I feel lucky that I get to share this with her in that way,” Zoe added. “At the end of the day, she’s a parent and she’s happy to see that her kids are OK.”

During a panel at Calgary Expo in April 2024, Metcalf said that she'd be open to a "face-off" of their shared character given the chance, though Young Sheldon has now come to an end .

"I did play with Zoe one time," she said. "Maybe we should have a Mary Cooper face-off, and people could [vote] who's the better Mary Cooper."

Zoe has acted with her parents on TV and on stage

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Throughout their careers, Metcalf and Perry have acted alongside their daughter.

From December 2012 to March 2013, Metcalf and Zoe starred in The Other Place on Broadway. Perry also shared the stage with Zoe in a revival of Anna Christie , where she portrayed the titular character, and Perry fittingly played her father.

A few years later, they worked side-by-side on Scandal , where Zoe portrayed the role of Samantha, a foe to her father’s character in the drama. In an April 2017 interview with PEOPLE, Zoe praised the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes , for keeping her in mind for the role.

“I was so lucky that Shonda is just the most incredible woman and thought of me for [this part], and here I am getting to act with just my favorite actors,” Zoe explained. “My dad, obviously. Joe Morton, who is so incredible. I’ve gotten to work with just the best people around.”

Perry described the experience as a “great joy” and said that Rhimes had gotten the idea to cast Zoe in the role more than a year and a half after she saw the duo perform in the local theater production of Anna Christie .

When it came to working with his daughter, Perry had to hold himself back from outwardly being a proud dad.

“During Anna Christie , the biggest challenge I had was working with my daughter, and sort of not stopping and asking an audience member for a camera to record the moment,” he explained. “I just go, ‘Can you believe her?’ She’s doing so great.”

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David Sanborn, saxophonist who played with David Bowie, dies at 78 from prostate cancer

Jazz musician David Sanborn , a Grammy-winning saxophonist known for his genre-blending work, has died following a long battle with cancer. He was 78.

Sanborn died Sunday afternoon due to complications from an "extended battle" with prostate cancer, a post on the musician's official Facebook page read Monday.

"It is with sad and heavy hearts that we convey to you the loss of internationally renowned, six-time Grammy Award-winning saxophonist David Sanborn," the post read. "Mr. Sanborn had been dealing with prostate cancer since 2018 but had been able to maintain his normal schedule of concerts until just recently. Indeed, he already had concerts scheduled into 2025."

Sanborn's representative Stephanie Pappas confirmed the authenticity of the post in an email to USA TODAY.

Sanborn, who had contracted polio at age 3, was later introduced to the saxophone at 11 years old when his doctor recommended playing a wind instrument to help his lungs. He later honed his craft by studying music at Northwestern University and the University of Iowa.

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Sanborn released his debut solo album "Taking Off" in 1975. His later studio efforts, 1979's "Hideaway" and 1981's "Voyeur," earned him commercial and critical acclaim. Both albums each sold half a million copies , while the latter earned Sanborn his first Grammy Award for best R&B instrumental performance ("All I Need is You").

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The saxophonist also crossed over into pop music through collaborations with top acts including Stevie Wonder, David Bowie , The Rolling Stones , Luther Vandross and Eric Clapton .

Sanborn recorded a saxophone solo for Bowie's 1975 hit "Young Americans," which peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 .

"David Sanborn was a seminal figure in contemporary pop and jazz music," the Facebook post continued. "It has been said that he ‘put the saxophone back into Rock 'n Roll.' "

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Sanborn also made his mark on television and radio. The musician co-hosted the Emmy-nominated late-night talk show "Sunday Night" from 1988-1990, as well as the "After New Year's Eve" special on ABC.

According to his official website , Sanborn also helmed the syndicated radio program "The Jazz Show with David Sanborn."