Kirsty bushnell biography of michael
Matt Smith
English actor (born 1982)
For other people with the same name, see Matthew Smith.
Matt Smith | |
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Smith in 2015 | |
| Born | Matthew Robert Smith (1982-10-28) 28 October 1982 (age 42) Northampton, England |
| Alma mater | University of East Anglia |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2003–present |
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who (2010–2014), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series The Crown (2016–2017)—for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination—and Daemon Targaryen in HBO's fantasy drama series House of the Dragon (2022–present).
Smith initially aspired to be a professional footballer, but spondylolysis forced him out of the sport. After joining the National Youth Theatre and studying drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, he became an actor in 2003, performing in plays including Murder in the Cathedral, Fresh Kills, The History Boys and On the Shore of the Wide World in London theatres. Extending his repertoire into West End theatre, he has since performed in the stage adaptation of Swimming with Sharks with Christian Slater, followed a year later by a critically acclaimed performance in That Face.
Smith's first television role came in 2006 as Jim Taylor in the BBC adaptations of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, while his first major role in television came as Danny in the 2007 BBC series Party Animals. In film, he has played a dual role in the science fiction film Womb (2010), the physical forms of Skynet in the cyberpunk action film Terminator Genisys (2015), a 1960s pimp in the psychological horror film Last Night in Soho (2021) and Milo Morbius in the superhero film Morbius (2022).
Early life and education
Matthew Robert Smith was born in Northampton, Engla
Katie Ledecky
American swimmer (born 1997)
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (lə-DEK-ee; born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied with Larisa Latynina) and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
In her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games as a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's 800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she left Rio de Janeiro as the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads. In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event. In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international
Jonathan Mane-Wheoki: teacher
Jonathan died recently in Auckland after a long illness. At his requiem mass, held at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, I looked around the many hundreds of people who had assembled for the occasion – and the range of prominent roles in the fields of art and culture they represented – and realised just how many had either been taught by Jonathan or had been lucky enough to be mentored by him. He taught on the art history programme at the University of Canterbury for thirty years, seeding the next generations of art historians, curators and writers; he assisted young Māori artists through his work with the Māori Education Foundation; and he was a role model and mentor for younger academics, particularly those of Māori and Pasifika descent. He was a person who would not only open doors for you, but give you a gentle push through if you needed it, and he continued to keep you within the ambit of his view for years to come.
He also had a long association with the Gallery, and one of my first acts as newly appointed senior curator was to arrange an interview with him for Bulletin. He had recently spoken about his life and faith on Radio New Zealand's Spiritual Outlook programme. He pronounced himself relaxed about his impending death ('What else could I be?') and described the joy he was taking in making arrangements for his requiem mass, and for the tangi at which he would be laid to rest beside his father at his marae, Piki Te Aroha at Rāhiri in Northland. Recalling that Ralph Hotere was transported on his final journey in a black Hummer, Jonathan said that he had arranged a rental van ('a modest people-mover') to take his body north. When I went to see him in Auckland in early September, at the mid century house he shared with his partner Paul Bushnell, it was with the knowledge that there was not much time left.
'I don't regret one second of my years of teaching,' he told me. I mentioned his achievements as an aca
Studio visit - Kirsty Budge May 2020
KB: I love that you told me this because that is a dream response to my paintings involving Real Housewives and other reality TV moments and especially from people that don’t watch the shows. I will happily wait three years for this pay off! This is why I love certain reality shows because they are explorations of the human condition and provide us with these little moments both in soundbite and image that (when they are good) can resonate with everyone. Dorinda Medley (from Real Housewives of New York) said this line in passing to author Candice Bushnell at a party in 2017 and it was so in the moment and reactionary but so deeply truthful. Inserting Dorinda’s head into my painting diffused the vulnerable and sensitive personal subject matter in that moment for me because it was sharp, funny and bleak.
Incorporating reality TV references in painting feels like a conversation with a new kind of Pop Art and I relate to how the artist Pauline Boty in the 1960’s referred to Pop Art as “Nostalgia for now”. A friend recently articulated that Real Housewives is like Arrested Development but with real people, and that description couldn’t be more accurate. These women are some of the funniest people on television. Housewives iconic moments have entered the general lexicon and have become a sort of dialect or shorthand visual adjectives to describe feelings and moments to connect us all. I think it's important to include them in my work at times because I want to paint from a contemporary perspective and embrace the absurdity of life, in a way.
I’ve gone off track and this doesn’t make sense, I could talk about this for hours. How am I doing? I am in a much happier place now than I was in 2017 so I am pretty good thanks!
How is the pandemic affecting you?
Like a lot of people I have lost a large portion of my income, I have a little art class that I run for kids 3 afternoons a week which is on hold for now but I still work a