Best known for playing the unconventional hero and fan favorite “Edgar Stiles” in Fox’s Emmy Award winning show “24” and FBI Agent “Skip Lipari” in the highly acclaimed HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Louis Lombardi continues to steal the screen this Fall in RUNNER RUNNER, alongside Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake as “Archie” the owner of the Sports Book. Louis will also join the cast of TNT’s Frank Darabont Drama “Lost Angels” this fall with Milo Ventimiglia and Ed Burns as “Stucky” one of Mickey’s (Jeremy Luke) men.In addition, Louis is going back to his Italian roots and is launching his own gourmet Italian food line this month, “Lombardi’s,” consisting of pastas, sauces, olive oils and olives imported directly from Italy! With quick, easy and creative tips, tricks and recipes for using all the Lombardi’s products, Louis wants to show families that it is easier and healthier to make a home cooked meal that it is to go through a drive-thru!
Born and raised in the Bronx, Lombardi’s acting career took off after starring in the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize Nominee “Amongst Friends” directed by Rob Weiss which caught the attention of Academy Award winning director Oliver Stone who cast Lombardi in his next film NATURAL BORN KILLERS alongside Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr, Tommy Lee Jones and Juliette Lewis. Other notable big screen films include Academy Award winner THE USUAL SUSPECTS alongside Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Spacey and Gabriel Byrne, cult classic SUICIDE KINGS with Denis Leary, Christopher Walken and Brad Garrett, and THE ANIMAL as Rob Schneider’s best friend. Louis’ love of food also inspired DOUGHBOYS, a film festival favorite starring Lombardi, Vincent Pastore, Andrew Keegan and Mike Starr about two Bronx brothers running the family bakery which was also and written and directed by Lombardi. His small screen accomplishments include “Entourage” as ‘Turtle’s Cousin Ronnie,’ “Fantasy Island,” “Ugly Betty,” and “NYPD Blue” to name a few.
Don Whittemore – Dandy Dons Ice Cream
Don Whittemore is a funny man with a huge personality who loves to make people happy. Good thing he makes ice cream, huh? Once Upon A Time (circa 1962 – 67), Don was a stand-up comedian. He worked under the name Don Harris in Atlanta, Miami Beach & Newport, KY. (Check out his snazzy tux in this ancient head shot.) If you have some free time one day, ask him to tell you some jokes. The next part of this biography starts just after that but still long long ago, in the Time Before CDs. Don was in the record business. He convinced DJs to play records by Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, David Bowie, and Cat Stevens (to name a few). Some of those records went gold. Here’s a photo of him with New York disc jockeys Wolfman Jack (on the left) and Murray The K (center). In the late ’70s, Don decided to leave the record business for good. Too much temptation for a family man, he thought. And too few creative DJs. In 1981 Don and his lovely wife Linda (pregnant with their second child) bought an ice cream shop in Tarzana, California called The Creamery. They thought it would be a gold mine. They were wrong. So they worked their keesters off, got into the wholesale business, and began a catering division. These are photos of Don (photo on the left, 3rd from the left) and Linda (photo on the right) at one of their first hot fudge sundae bar catering gigs at the Directors’ Guild of America. This is how the catering division of their company—now with over 1,000 customers—got its start. They no longer have The Creamery, or any retail shop. But they have begun putting their homemade ice cream into pints, so once again regular folks can buy their product retail. Funny how things come full circle, even if they do take 20+ years. Don’s favorite part of doing business is dealing with people. He loves talking to his clients, making ice cream with them, and helping them promote their businesses. He loves selling his ice cream to new clients, finding out what they want, tempting them with great service. He just loves people. And he loves making people happy. Good thing he makes great ice cream.STEPHANIE ARNE - MUTUAL OF OMAHA’S ‘WILD KINGDOM’
From the Exploration of the Tegu’s Invasion of the Florida Everglades, to the California Condor’s Return from Extinction, Wild Kingdom Returns. From its premiere 50 years ago, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom has entertained, educated and inspired generations of Americans, bringing the world’s most exotic places and creatures right into Americans’ living rooms. Now this entertainment icon is back, with a four-part webisode series that takes viewers from the soaring cliffs of Big Sur to the beauty of Florida's coral reef.The webisodes will be under six minutes long, each telling a great wildlife or conservation story in a fun, yet informative way. Each webisode will premiere on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m., CST throughout November. After each of the four webisodes premiere, they will be viewable 24-7 on wildkingdom.com, and YouTube’s “Wild Kingdom TV” channel.
Stephanie Arne is Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Wild Guide (host), a title she earned in 2013 as the winner of a nationwide contest in which individuals submitted videos illustrating why they should be the iconic program’s new “Wild Guide.” She is currently the Education Coordinator at the Honolulu Zoological Society. As the new host, she brings her high energy to the online version of the show that features short, dynamic and fun webisodes exploring the modern-day Wild Kingdom. She began her career at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, as Education Outreach Coordinator.. She worked as a contracted educator for the U.S. military in Key West, Fla.; Iwakuni, Japan; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before joining the Honolulu Zoological Society as a wildlife educator. On her quest to gain more experience working with wildlife, Arne then moved to San Diego for positions at Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. She worked on wildlife projects in Australia, New Zealand, Borneo and Papua New Guinea, including working with whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, doing coral reef checks on the Great Barrier Reef and helping clean little blue penguins on the North Island of New Zealand.