Khaled Hosseini
Born: March 4, 1965 - Kabul, Afghanistan

Here is a brief biography of Khaled Hosseini from his website:

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then their homeland had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet Army. The Hosseini’s sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980 moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. The following year he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

In March 2001, while practicing medicine, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, which was published by Riverhead Books in 2003. That debut went on to launch one of the biggest literary careers of our time. Today, Khaled Hosseini is one of the most recognized and bestselling authors in the world. His books, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed, have been published in over seventy countries and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

In 2006, Khaled was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Inspired by a trip he made to Afghanistan with the UNHCR, he later established The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. He lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was recently released (2022) on the Roku channel and is a hilarious parody of Al’s life. It was directed by Eric Appel who co-wrote the screenplay with “Weird Al”. It currently has a 84% approval rating on the review website “Rotten Tomatoes”. Fast paced, funny, and star studded, the movie is a not-quite-biography of “Weird Al’s” life.

Here is the talented “Weird Al’s” brief bio.

Al Yankovic “Few would have guessed that “Weird Al” Yankovic – who as a shy, accordion-playing teenager got his start sending in homemade tapes to the Dr. Demento Radio Show– would go on to become a pop culture icon and the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time, with classic song and music video parodies such as “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” “Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” “White & Nerdy” and “Word Crimes.”  Now in his fourth decade as America’s foremost song parodist, he has been the recipient of numerous awards, including five Grammys (out of sixteen total nominations) and a string of Gold and Platinum albums.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959, in the Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood, to Mary Elizabeth (Vivalda) and Nick Louis Yankovic. His father was of Yugoslavian descent and his mother was of Italian and English ancestry. He first took up the accordion when a salesman came around to solicit business for a music school. His parents decided on the accordion because of polka king Frankie Yankovic (no relation). As a child and young teen, Al watched a lot of television, which gave him much inspiration for his later work. He also became a fan of such musician/comedians as Allan Sherman and Spike Jones. He became especially acquainted with these musicians through the radio show of Barry Hansen, aka "Dr. Demento", which would later become a great source of publicity for his talents. After an extraordinary career at Lynwood High School, where Al graduated as valedictorian, he attended the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo to study architecture, a field he is said to have chosen because it was listed first in the catalog (although he has said that he really chose it on the advice of a guidance counselor). It was at Cal Poly that Al had a radio show and earned the nickname "Weird Al". Although he had sent tapes to Dr. Demento in the past, it was at Cal Poly where he recorded his first real published piece, a parody of the popular My Sharona by The Knack, called My Bologna. After the astounding success of that song, forever to be known as the "bathroom recording" as it was recorded in the acoustically perfect mens' room, Al began his phenomenal career, which has spanned twelve albums, numerous compilations, a box set, movies, videos and edible underwear. He has also done a great deal to advance the cause of accordion-wielding weirdos, for which we can all be thankful.

In addition to his 1989 cult hit feature film UHF, his late 1990s CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and numerous AL-TV specials he has made for MTV and VH1 over the years, Yankovic has remained a staple of film and television, from appearances on The Simpsons and 30 Rock to performing on the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards. More recently, he guested on ABC's Galavant (as a singing monk) and The Goldbergs (as the '80s version of himself). In the spring of 2015 Yankovic joined the fifth and final season of IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! as its co-host and bandleader. Al can be heard as the voice of the title character in Disney XD's animated series Milo Murphy's Law. Additional voiceover work includes Gravity Falls, Wander Over Yonder, Adventure Time, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The 7D, Teen Titans Go!, We Bare Bears, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, Uncle Grandpa, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Bojack Horseman, and the DC animated feature Batman vs. Robin.

Other notable past projects include the 2009 themed attraction Al's Brain: A 3-D Journey through the Human Brain, featuring cameos by everybody from his mother-in-law to Paul McCartney. Two years later, Comedy Central broadcast and released the concert special Weird Al" Yankovic Live: The Alpocalypse Tour, filmed at Toronto's venerable Massey Hall. Yankovic added "New York Times bestselling author" to his resumé in 2011 with the release of his children's book, When I Grow Up (HarperCollins), followed two years later by My New Teacher and Me! An animated series based on his children's books is being developed in partnership with the Jim Henson Company.

2012 saw the release of Weird Al: The Book (Abrams), an illustrated hardcover on Al's life and career, and in 2015 Yankovic became not only MAD Magazine's cover boy, but the first Guest Editor in their 63-year history. 2016 saw the release of George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison, featuring Al's live performance of What is Life?

The past year has seen the June premiere of the Dreamworks animated film Captain Underpants, for which Al co-wrote and performed the film's theme song, and the release by NECA Toys of the second in its line of retro-clothed Weird Al action figures. In August, Al wrote and performed The North Korea Polka (Please Don't Nuke Us) on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

In May 2017, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Weird Al would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In November of this year, Legacy Recordings will release Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic, a career-spanning box set of all 14 of Al's studio albums remastered for 150-gram vinyl and CD formats, plus an exclusive rarities album and 120-page book of archival photos, all housed in a replica of Weird Al's trademark accordion. Released in July 2014, Mandatory Fun became the first comedy album in history to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and the first to reach the top of the chart since 1963. Yankovic set the U.S. record on Spotify for having the most tracks from one album in the viral top 10 at one time, taking the first four spots. Internationally, the album debuted in the Top 10 in both Canada and Australia (#3 and #9 respectively).

In addition, Word Crimes debuted in the Billboard Top 40, making Al one of only four artists to have had Top 40 singles in each of the last four decades - the other three are Michael Jackson, Madonna and U2. For Mandatory Fun, Al blew up the internet by releasing eight music videos in eight days, including Tacky (the star-studded parody of Pharrell Willliams' Happy) and Word Crimes (an animated grammar lesson to the tune of Robin Thicke's *Blurred Lines*). Combined, the videos accrued more than 46 million views in their first week. In 2015 and 2016, Weird Al's Mandatory World Tour encompassed 200 shows throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, including two nights with a full orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl and a tour-ending sold-out show at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Among his many other past music and video milestones, Yankovic's 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood spawned the Platinum Billboard Top 10 anthem White & Nerdy, while the video spent two straight months at #1 on iTunes.

Weird Al has launched The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, playing stripped-down shows in smaller, more intimate theaters across North America with his band of over three decades.

Miss Kim enjoyed meeting this fun and entertaining gentleman many years ago and included many of his songs in her I LOVE DANCE Sweetheart and HeartThrob floorshows produced from 1991 - 2011.