Home Entertainment Awards: Special Awards

Activist Ed Begley Jr. balances a thriving acting career with work on behalf of environmentally friendly causes. Star of the HGTV series Living With Ed (Gaiam), Begley recently finished narrating entries in the Earth Cinema Circle DVD series and participates in such entities as the Environmental Media Assn. Begley began acting in the late '60s but broke out with his role on St. Elsewhere (1982-1988). Since then, he has appeared in such films as The Accidental Tourist.

A graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts in Palo Alto, Calif., Jon Chu attracted Hollywood's attention by receiving numerous honors, including the DGA Student Filmmaker Award. After college, Chu was signed by the William Morris Agency, and he has been courted by such Tinseltown titans as Steven Spielberg. With his film debut, the successful Step Up 2 the Streets (Disney), Chu proved he can helm major motion pictures.

Cam Gigandet made his professional debut in a CSI episode and later won recurring roles on such TV shows as The Young and the Restless, Jack and Bobby and The O.C. His “bad boy” turn in the latter series made him a logical choice for the role of the charming but ruthless villain in the mixed martial arts drama Never Back Down (Summit). Recently he has been working on two high-profile horror movies: David S. Goyer's The Unborn and Summit's Twilight.

For most of his career, maverick filmmaker Henry Jaglom has remained outside the Hollywood mainstream. His latest film, Hollywood Dreams (TLA), offers commentary on our celebrity-obsessed culture. Jaglom made his directorial debut with 1971's A Safe Place, and his 1980 comedy Sitting Ducks became a big success on the midnight-movie circuit. Jaglom employs improvisational techniques and almost always elicits fine performances, directing Dennis Hopper in Tracks and Orson Welles in Someone to Love.

In 1990, Pauly Shore attracted the attention of MTV, which gave the comic his own show, Totally Pauly. After appearing in such films as Encino Man, he made in 2003 self-referential mockumentary Pauly Shore is Dead, following that success with appearances as himself on the HBO series Entourage. Big Vision/First Look's DVD and Internet smash Natural Born Komics showcases Pauly and pals giving impromptu performances in and around South Beach.

His place in pop-culture history assured thanks to a memorable turn in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ben Stein also happens to be a committed conservative who bucks the prevailing winds by thriving in left-leaning Hollywood. The Emmy-winning host of Win Ben Stein's Money generally keeps his politics separate from his show-biz work. Yet he has boldly embraced a controversial view as host and co-writer of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Vivendi), a provocative examination of the conflict between evolutionists and advocates of intelligent design.