Same Name, Entertainment Edition - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Julie Brown. "Downtown" Julie [Dorne] Brown, who was born in the U.K. but also spent time to Singapore, India, Cyprus, and Wales because of her Royal Air Force father, hosted Club MTV. "West Coast" Julie [Ann] Brown starred in Just Say Julie and cowrote and appeared in the 1988 movie Earth Girls Are Easy.
• A2) David Jones. David Thomas "Davy" Jones, the elder by barely a year, first became famous portraying the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver! in London and on Broadway. David Robert Jones, who performed briefly as Davie Jones and Davy Jones, renamed himself David Bowie in honor of American pioneer Jim Bowie and his eponymous knife.
• A3) Michael Douglas. The late Mike Douglas, born as Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr., hosted The Mike Douglas Show from 1961 to 1980, including a segment with Tiger Woods showing off his mad golf skills at age 2. Michael John Douglas took his stage name after reading about actress Diane Keaton. Michael Kirk Douglas, middle name courtesy of his famous dad, won his Best Actor Oscar as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.
• A4) Paul Simon. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and the bow tie-wearing politician cohosted the December 19, 1987 episode of Saturday Night Live as a same-name joke.
• A5) Howard Stern. Howard Allan Stern became so famous for his radio talk show that it became a bawdy television show and won him a nine-figure contract with Sirius Satellite Radio. Howard Kevin Stern worked for Anna Nicole Smith when she was just an unknown model; they became famous together when she contested her late multimillionaire husband J. Howard Marshall's will, and Stern later became a regular on The Anna Nicole Show.
• A6) James Brown. Born three years apart, James Joseph "Godfather of Soul" Brown and running back James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown both broke out in 1958, as singer James topped the R&B charts for the first time with "Try Me" and NFL sophomore Jim set a career high with 17 rushing touchdowns.
• A7) David Copperfield. The magician, who once used his tricks to keep robbers from discovering his wallet, chose the title character in the novel that Charles Dickens considered to be the most autobiographical.
• A8) Jimmy Walker. James John Walker won one reelection but left his wife for a chorus girl, led a corrupt administration, and eventually resigned under pressure from then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. James Carter "Jimmie" Walker found fame as wise-cracking son J.J. Evans on the television series Good Times from 1974 to 1979.
• A9) Vanessa Williams. Born less than two months apart in 1963, Vanessa Lynn Williams, the first black Miss America, starred in the 1997 movie Soul Food, while Vanessa A. Williams appeared in its 2000 to 2004 Showtime spinoff, Soul Food: The Series (no, they didn't play the same character).
• A10) Jason Alexander. Jason Alexander, born as Jason Scott Greenspan, catapulted to fame as Seinfeld's friend George Costanza. Jason Allen Alexander was Britney Spears's childhood sweetheart, but their January 3, 2004 Vegas wedding was annulled two days later when Spears came to her senses.
• A11) Mike Myers. Ontario-born Michael John Myers plied his trade on television with The Second City and SNL before breaking out on the large screen as the title characters in the Wayne's World and Austin Powers movie series. Psychotic murderer Michael Myers scared viewers to the tune of 150 times the $325,000 spent to create the original movie.
• A12) Joe Jackson. Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson has been denied entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his part in the 1919 Black Sox scandal despite batting .375 with the only homer in the eight games. Musician Joe Jackson had his biggest hit by "Steppin' Out" and up to number six on the charts in 1982.

Same Name, Entertainment Edition - Random Trivia Questions

As unusual as my last name is (it's an old transliteration of an uncommon name), there are still at least a dozen of us that share both our first and last name. When I first Googled my name (way back in the day when AltaVista was my search engine of choice), several others showed up pretty high in the results. Now, I'm the first ten hits and most of the top fifty. Unfortunate for people looking for another Robert Jen.

The same thing happens if you Google for a friend who happens to share a name with someone famous (a Google twin). But neither of these scenarios are likely to be common queries. For this week's quiz, all of the answers are names that are shared by two famous people, either of which you might be looking for. Tough luck if you seek the less popular one.

Same Name, Entertainment Edition Questions

What first and last name are shared by...

• Q1) ...the MTV VJ whose catchphrase was "Wubba Wubba Wubba" and "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" singer, who also had a show on MTV in the late 1980s?
• Q2) ...two singers, one who became famous with the Monkees, and the other who had to change his name as a result?
• Q3) ...the talk show host who won the first Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Daytime Television, the actor who became famous as Michael Keaton, and another actor who captured the 1988 Best Actor Oscar while his father was given an honorary Oscar eight years later?
• Q4) ...the Grammy-winning singer who was briefly married to actress Carrie Fisher and the Illinois Senator who unsuccessfully campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988?
• Q5) ...a disc jockey and Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer?
• Q6) ...a singer who caught his big break when Little Richard abandoned rock for religion and a football player who retired in 1966 with an NFL career record 126 total rushing and receiving touchdowns?
• Q7) ...a magician, born in Metuchen, New Jersey on September 16, 1956 to Rebecca and Hyman Kotkin, and the Charles Dickens character from whom he borrowed his stage name as a high school freshman?
• Q8) ...a Seinfeld actor and a man who was married to Britney Spears for a mere 55 hours?
• Q9) ...the Tarrytown, New York native who was named Miss America in 1983 and the Brooklynite who won the Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2003?
• Q10) ...the mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932 and an actor whose catchphrase was "Dyn-o-mite!"?
• Q11) ...an Emmy Award-winning Saturday Night Live actor and the killer in the Halloween movie series?
• Q12) ...the Major League Baseball player with the third highest career batting average and the singer who first hit the pop charts in 1979 when he asked, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"