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The AP names its five Breakthrough Entertainers of 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In this big year of entertainment — think “Barbenheimer,” the twin conquests of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé and the jolting strikes by actors and writers — we witnessed five streaking stars. Their party was 2023.Kris Bowers, Reneé Rapp, Charles Melton, Lily Gladstone and Ayo Edebiri all set down markers in TV, film and music this year. The five have been named The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year.Gladstone and Melton both snagged Golden Globe nominations and are getting Oscar buzz for their work in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “May December,” respectively. Gladstone has been called “the quiet, powerful center” at the heart of Martin Scorsese real-life tale of greed and treachery, while Melton “will break your heart” in his movie about an actor preparing to play a Mary Kay Letourneau-like role.A year of success for all the honorees puts all those years of working hard in perspective. “I was walking dogs and working Chinese takeout seven years a...

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Ayo Edebiri is rising to the top, and she’s bringing her friends along

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

In 2023, Ayo Edebiri was everywhere. This year alone, the 28-year-old Emmy-nominated actor starred in “Bottoms,” “Theater Camp,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” guest-starred on “Abbott Elementary” and “Black Mirror” and returned for the second season of “The Bear” — the show that initially shot the stand-up comedian and writer-turned-actor to fame.With roles in everything from bawdy and brutal live-action teen comedy to animated film to kitchen-based dramedy, Edebiri landed a spot as one of The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of 2023.“I think it’s like not the reason why you do any of this, but it’s very humbling and moving that it’s happening because I think that it means that people are responding to my work,” Edebiri says of all her newfound recognition during a video call while filming on location in New Mexico. “And that is all you can ask for as an artist, for just people to pick up what you’re putting down and in whatever way possible.”Edebir...

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Kris Bowers, quickly scoring the title of Hollywood’s favorite composer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kris Bowers grew up in Los Angeles, just a few minutes away from The World Stage performance space, and immersed in jazz. Music, he knew, was always his path.“I told them (my parents) when I was 12, I want to go to school for jazz and tour as a jazz artist and then transition into film scoring,” the pianist-turned-composer says. “I never had a moment where I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do something else.’ I was always like, ‘Oh, that’s the path. And like, yeah, I’ll try to figure out how to make it happen.’”Scarcely two decades after that preteen declaration, the 34-year-old is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated composer whose resume could fill pages. He’s created moving compositions for prominent filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay and Justin Simien, and Oscar-winning films like “King Richard” and “Green Book.”This year alone, Bowers has scored Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” series, “Chevalier” and “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (he’s a veteran of Sho...

New sanctions from the US and Britain target Hamas officials who help manage its financial network

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday announced new war-related of sanctions against Hamas, targeting eight officials and representatives who help manage the militant group’s financial network.The penalties, coordinated with Britain, are the Treasury Department’s latest response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel. The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent those designated from doing business with Americans.The list included individuals based in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Turkey. Among them was Ismail Barhum, who the Treasury Department said in a statement was a member of the Gaza Strip Political Bureau and has worked with Hamas Finance Minister Zaher Jabarin, also under sanction, to aggregate money from global fundraising into the organization’s finance accounts.Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Hamas exploits “seemingly permissive jurisdictions...

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Reneé Rapp has always known what she wants – and isn’t afraid to say no

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For a 23-year-old, Reneé Rapp has had a lot of practice telling powerful people no. Her first time came at 19, when Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels offered her one of the lead roles in the national touring production of the “Mean Girls” musical. Practically speaking, Rapp was hardly in a position to turn it down. She needed money to make the move from her hometown in North Carolina to New York permanent as she sought to realize her dreams of becoming a pop star.Though she admitted the decision was, “in a way, difficult,” she was sure she could land something better, citing her upbringing, work ethic and financial security all as factors in that confidence.“I was also really fortunate to have that delusion of like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing that,’” she said. “I really do have a certain level of trust in myself when it comes to work that I’m going to figure it out.”And it wasn’t long before she did. A few months later, Fey and Michaels came back to Rapp with an offer to pl...

Trump’s lawyers tell an appeals court that federal prosecutors are trying to rush his election case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that it should not speed up its consideration of whether the former president is immune from prosecution, accusing federal prosecutors of trying to rush his 2020 election subversion case through before next year’s presidential election.“The prosecution has one goal in this case: To unlawfully attempt to try, convict, and sentence President Trump before an election in which he is likely to defeat President Biden,” defense lawyers wrote Wednesday. “This represents a blatant attempt to interfere with the 2024 presidential election and to disenfranchise the tens of millions of voters who support President Trump’s candidacy.”The issue is of paramount significance to both sides given the potential for a protracted appeal to delay a trial beyond its currently scheduled start date of March 4. Trump faces charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and he has d...

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Charles Melton thinks it’s good it took years to make it in Hollywood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fame didn’t come overnight for Charles Melton.The 32-year-old “May December” star, currently reaping praise and racking up awards and nominations for his scene-stealing performance alongside acclaimed Hollywood veterans Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, has dutifully been chipping away at his resume since he moved to Los Angeles more than a decade ago.“I was walking dogs and working Chinese takeout seven years ago,” Melton recalled of his early days trying to make it as an actor.But his role in “May December” — which has already snagged him several accolades heading into awards season, including outstanding supporting performance at the Gotham Awards — has notched him a spot as one of The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of 2023.And while his story isn’t one of instant success, he believes the maturity he gained along the way was instrumental in giving him the chops necessary to make his characters believable, particularly in the debatably campy Todd ...

AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Lily Gladstone is standing on the cusp of history

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lily Gladstone is named after her great-grandmother.The elder Lily bore many similarities to Gladstone’s character in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Mollie Burkhart. Both women, born 10 years apart in the late 19th century, were traditional in nature, well-loved by their Native communities and devout Catholics.Growing up between Seattle and the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, Gladstone was familiar with the stories of older generations of Native women — of their encounters with a fast-modernizing America and the brutal attempts to extract resources from tribal lands.The Osage murders of the early 20th century, a reign of terror in which the Osage were targeted for the headrights to their oil-rich land, took place many miles away, in Oklahoma. But as a tragedy about the sinister exploitation of Native people, “Killers of the Flower Moon” told a tale Gladstone knew intimately.“I carry my family’s legacy. And I’m expected to carry my family lega...

Father of Highland Park parade shooting suspect, Robert Crimo Jr., released from jail Wednesday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The father of the man accused in the Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooting has been released from jail.Robert Crimo Jr. is charged with seven counts of felony reckless conduct. Prosecutors allege that Crimo Jr. was criminally reckless at the time that he helped procure a FOID card for his son Robert Crimo III.After reaching a deal to plead guilty last month, Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in the Lake County Jail and two years probation with 100 hours of public service.  According to Lake County Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, Crimo Jr. was released from jail Wednesday morning. He served less than a month. Trial for accused Highland Park shooter to begin in February; Crimo III to represent himself On Monday, a judge in Lake County set a trial date for February 2024 for Crimo III, who now plans to represent himself.This is a developing story. Check back for details.

Person shot at Blue Line station near Medical District

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:29 GMT

CHICAGO — A person was shot Wednesday morning at the Western Blue Line station near the Medical District.SkyCam9 was over the scene at around 7:45 a.m. showing multiple squad cars at the station, located in the 400 block of South Western.The Chicago Fire Department transported a person with a gunshot wound. Trains are bypassing the station at the time.No other details are available. WGN News will update this story once more information becomes available.