There's no business, like show business, like no business I know! Whether it be sport or art, books or movies, we're all looking to occasionally escape from our daily life and be entertained. So, sit back and enjoy as we introduce you to the stars of sport who have also made it onto the big and small screen.
Stranger Things has been one of the most popular television shows of the last decade. Although set in Indiana, most of the filming was done in Atlanta, Georgia. So, when Aimee Mullins turned up to set on the first day of filming, it represented something of a full circle moment. Aimee was playing the role of Terry, the biological mother of lead character Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. Atlanta is a special place for Aimee. Born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs beneath the knee when she was young, she went on to represent the USA at the 1996 Paralympics Games in Atlanta. Now she was back there fulfilling her lifelong dream of acting.
The Oscar nominated Hollywood hit Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet, tells the story of a table tennis player and hustler. Chalamet says he spent roughly seven years training for the role, performing many of the fast-paced matches on screen himself. No CGI needed. To add to the authenticity many of the other players in the film were professionals, like Yasiris Ortez. Yasiris came to the USA from the Dominican Republic in 2018 and set up "Spin and Learn" a project that goes into schools in New York and provides kids with the opportunity to learn and play table tennis. As for the movie, Yasiris didn't really know what she was getting into when she turned up on the first day of filming!
Vicky Anstey whose life changed when she agreed to appear on a survival style television show - testing physical and mental stamina in the harshest conditions going. Since her TV appearance Vicky has become an adventurer and rowed across the Pacific Ocean. It's a far cry from the Vicky that had wandered through the first forty years of her life. That change is charted in her new book "Other People Are Like The Weather" and when we chatted, she started by explaining what her life was like before taking to the small screen.
In the 1990s, the biggest clubs in English football decided to form a new league. Spearheaded by the ‘big five’ of Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, the top teams broke away from the Football League. The Premier League began in August 1992, having securing a $500 million TV deal. David Dein was the vice-chairman of Arsenal at the time and was one of the main drivers of the new league.
PHOTO: Timothée Chalamet attends the "Marty Supreme" New York Premiere (CREDIT: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage)