Kelly Maria Ripa was born in 1970 and raised in Berlin, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Esther, a homemaker, and Joseph Ripa, a labor union president and bus driver. She has three-quarters Italian and one-quarter Irish ancestry. During her high school years she was a cheerleader and was encouraged by her drama teacher to pursue acting. She starred in local theater productions and was discovered while performing in The Ugly Duckling during her senior year. She attended Camden County College studying psychology, but dropped out and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Aside from local TV gigs, Ripa’s first national television exposure came in 1986 when she appeared as a regular dancer on Dancin’ On Air, leading into Dance Party USA. Her career goal at the time was to be a newscaster and she often did the cast news reports. Ripa was cast in her first major acting role in 1990 as Hayley Vaughan, a troubled party girl, on All My Children. She concluded her 12-year stint in 2002, but returned for two episodes in 2010 to help celebrate the soap opera’s 40th anniversary.

In Feb 2001, Ripa replaced co-host Kathie Lee Gifford on Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. The chemistry between Philbin and Ripa (or “Pippa” as he nicknamed her), their banter, interviews, and conversations about their families, personal lives, and New York City attracted a successful, strong, and loyal viewership averaging 6 million viewers daily. In January 2011, Philbin announced that he would be retiring from Live! at the end of the year. Ripa replaced Philbin as the head of the show, which was re-titled Live! with Kelly. Michael Strahan was announced as the new co-host and Live! with Kelly and Michael premiered September 4, 2012. Live! won its first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show on June 23, 2012. After Strahan left Live! for Good Morning America, Ryan Seacrest took over as the new co-host. 

Ripa ventured into primetime in September 2003 on Hope & Faith, playing Faith Fairfield, an unemployed ex-soap star. The half-hour sitcom, co-starring Faith Ford, Ted McGinley, and Megan Fox, gave ABC its best Friday premiere score since 1996. The show ended in May 2006 with Ripa declaring she “never wanted to work that hard again.”

In 2007, Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos founded Milojo, the production company, named for their children Michael, Lola, and Joaquin. On October 12, 2015, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored Kelly Ripa with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo Brothers, were born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the sons of Patricia Gallupoli and attorney and judge Basil Russo. Their paternal and maternal families immigrated from Sicily and Abruzzo, fleeing poverty and settling in Ohio to work in its steel mills. Joe graduated from the University of Iowa and majored in English and writing, while Anthony graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and majored in business before switching to English.

The Russo brothers were graduate students at Case Western Reserve University when they began directing, writing, and producing their first feature, Pieces. They financed the film with student loans and credit cards. After viewing Pieces at the Slamdance Film Festival, Steven Soderbergh approached the duo and offered to produce their next film, along with his producing partner George Clooney. This project was the crime comedy Welcome to Collinwood, starring William H. Macy, Sam Rockwell, and Clooney.

FX network executive Kevin Reilly hired the Russos to direct the pilot for the series Lucky, having liked the pair’s work on Collinwood. Ron Howard was a fan of the pilot, and he had a hand in hiring the brothers to direct the pilot for Fox’s Arrested Development. The brothers won a Primetime Emmy Award for their work on the episode.

In 2006, the Russo brothers returned to film, directing the Owen Wilson comedy You, Me and Dupree. By June 2013, the Russos were in final talks to direct Marvel Studios’ second Captain America movie. In July 2013, the brothers wrapped principal production on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the film was released on April 4, 2014. In January 2014, the brothers signed on to return to direct the third Captain America film, Captain America: Civil War, which was released on May 6, 2016. 

The Russo brothers directed Avengers: Infinity War (2018), which became the first superhero movie to gross over $2 billion at the box office. They are the third directors to make a $2 billion movie after James Cameron’s films Avatar and Titanic and J. J. Abrams’s film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Its sequel, Avengers: Endgame, was released on April 26, 2019, broke numerous box office records, and became the second superhero movie to gross over $2 billion. They join James Cameron as the only directors to make two $2 billion films. 

The Russos are developing a spy series called Citadel for Amazon Prime, which will star Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden. In April 2020, it was announced that they would be producing a live-action film adaptation of Disney’s Hercules. By July 2020, the Russos were hired to direct an adaptation of The Gray Man for Netflix, from a screenplay by Joe Russo.