Hey, Film Fans!

Well, Blog Buddies, in the time that we’ve been blogging—which hasn’t been incredibly long—we’ve talked about a good number of celebrities who have gone to summer camp. Today I have another great celebrity to tell you about who attended summer camp—two of them, actually—when he was about your age.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m talking about Iron Man, himself—Robert Downey Jr. Robert attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts located in Hancock, New York as well as Stage Door Manor in Massachusetts. From a young age, Robert expressed his passion for acting and while attending both camps he was very involved in the plays that they put on.

Robert’s first appearance on the screen came at a young age—before he ever went to summer camp! He debuted in his father’s film, Pound at the very young age of five. Afterwards he played roles in the films Less Than Zero as well as the popular cult classic, Weird Science.

In 2000 he won a Golden Globe Award for his new role in the hit television drama, Ally McBeal. With growing popularity, Robert has been seen in a bunch of more recent movies, but none of them quite so popular as the three Iron Man movies in which he plays the role of Tony Stark. Iron Man started out as a Marvel Comic Book superhero but is now better associated with Robert Downey Jr.

Robert has become incredibly successful over the years making billion dollar movies like The Avengers (another Marvel Comic Book movie), and Iron Man 3. He is now one of Hollywood’s highest paid actors at $75 million in this last year!

And just remember kids, Robert Downey Jr. liked summer camp so much he went to two of them.

Hey there, Summer Campers!

For today’s blog post, I’m going to tell you about a very “pretty woman” that we all know as Julia (Fiona) Roberts. Like many other famous people- not just in Hollywood, but from all sorts of different scenes- Julia Roberts went to summer camp when she was around your age.

She actually attended her uncle’s summer camp, Camp Birchwood, located in beautiful Minnesota. Camp Birchwood is a summer camp with whom we here at Everything Summer Camp are proud to work with. She once stated that "All the coolest things I know how to do - I learned to do at camp."

But it wasn’t long before she reached for stardom at the young age of 23 and caught it! Now, having been an obviously caring and charismatic character in Hollywood for the last few decades, Julia has stolen the hearts of millions.

Known for such classic movies as My Best Friend’s Wedding, Runaway Bride, Notting Hill, and Mirror Mirror, Julia Roberts has also voiced for animated films like Charlotte’s Web, as the voice of Charlotte the Spider, and was the voice of Hova in the Ant Bully. She has received multiple accolades for her acting and continues to bring warmth and beauty to the big screen.

Julia married Daniel Moder on July 4, 2002. Daniel is a cameraman whom she met on the set of one of her films where they fell in love. Still together, they are now a family of five with their three children. They have twins, Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus (or “Finn” for short) Walter Moder and also Henry Daniel Moder.

Julia Roberts went to summer camp and went on to find success, love, and happiness, what will you find? Thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

Hey, Camp Lovers!

For our Celebrities at Summer Camp blog posts, I like to tell you about other people—famous people—who also love summer camp! Well, today’s blog post is a special one for a man who has been said by some to be America’s greatest singer/songwriter—Mr. Neil Diamond.

Neil went to Surprise Lake Camp (SLC—also attended by Gene Simmons from the 1980’s hairband Kiss), located in the mountains of Cold Spring, New York. A beautiful place that works hard to make sure that every summer is at least as fun as the last. They’ve been doing it since 1902.

When he first started his career as a singer/songwriter in 1962, Neil was less known as a performer and better known as a songwriter. A common misnomer is that he didn’t perform his earlier music—just wrote songs that he sold to other performers. However, he always had intended to be a performer, his music simply became famous first by other bands and performers that covered his music.

Among other musical performers, The Monkees are known for using a number of Neil’s songs such as “I’m a Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” But by the later 60’s he was gaining stardom not only recognized as a songwriter anymore but also as a performer.

Neil shined all throughout the 70’s with such brilliant songs like “Sweet Caroline,” “Song Sung Blue,” and “Holly Holy.” Neil has sold over 125 million records the world over. The man is thought to have become the third-most famous and successful singer/songwriter, ceded only to the ultra-famous Barbara Streisand and Elton John.

Today, Neil continues making music and released a CD of new material in 2010. He still tours pretty frequently and loves his fans! That’s pretty awesome! As always, thanks for reading, Folks.

Hey, Campers!

Are you ready to boldly go where no camper has gone before? If there happen to be any trekkies reading this post, you’re in luck! Today I’m talking about the captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk himself—William Shatner, ladies and gentlemen!

It may be hard to envision it, but Mr. Shatner himself wasn’t always out there exploring the final frontier—when he was your age, he was exploring the twenty acres of private forest where Camp Massad is located, just north of Winnipeg, in Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba, Canada.

There at Camp Massad, William enjoyed the ginormous outdoor pool, the paved tennis courts, basketball courts, the outdoor stage, jungle gym, acres upon acres of private forest, and the beauty of the nearby Lake Winnipeg.

More than just an actor, William Shatner is also a musician, a singer, an author, a film director, a spokesman, and a comedian. Of course, it was his acting on Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 that turned him into a cultural icon for his role as James T. Kirk. He became famous the world over!

Originally, Shatner was cast as the James T. Kirk of the second pilot for Star Trek which wasn’t called Star Trek. It was called “Where No Man Has Gone Before,”—not nearly as catchy as Star Trek! After that, William was contracted to play Kirk for Star Trek.

He also did voice work for the animated series of Star Trek from 1973 to 1974 and he was in seven of the feature films of Star Trek that came out between 1979 and 1994. In the early nineties he hosted the Rescue 911 reality-based television series.

He later starred in the television series the The Practice as well as the spin-off of The Practice, Boston Legal as Denny Crane. He won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. Maybe you’ll win an Emmy or two after your through with summer camp!

Till next time, Campers. Live long and prosper. And, as always, thanks for reading!

Hey there, Campers!

Did you know that well over a hundred of our favorite celebrities have spent at least a summer or two at summer camp? I’ll bet you’re just about ready to camp out all night and party every day! Well, Gene Simmons was when he was your age!

That’s right! Today I’ll be telling you about the amazing Gene Simmons from Kiss who went to Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, New York. Surprise Lake Camp (SLC) was founded in 1902 and seems to have frozen time in that spot since it first started. The site is beautiful, the people are good, and the program is great!

Look what it did for Gene Simmons—the popular rock star from the hairband era! Along with Kiss, Gene Simmons has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide! Few people know that Gene was actually born Chaim (pronounced Hi-um) Witz in 1949, Israel.

It wasn’t until he was eight-years-old that he, along with his mother, Florence, immigrated to Queens in New York City. As they both began to blend into the United States, Chaim had his name changed to Eugene Klein which later became Gene Simmons.

Before beginning his musical career, Gene went to summer camp (obviously) and had a number of jobs throughout the New York City area as assistant to an editor for Vogue Magazine as well as a sixth-grade instructor on the Upper West Side.

When Gene did get involved with his first band, he got very into it. Lynx, then renamed The Missing Links was Gene’s first band. It didn’t last very long. After that he formed The Long Island Sounds. In Community College, Gene joined a new band—Bullfrog Bheer. The band recorded a demo but never got much further than that.

In the early 70’s, Gene formed the rock band Wicked Lester with Paul Stanley which produced one album that never got released. Still unhappy with their band, Wicked Lester did not survive. But after that Gene and Paul Stanley set out to form the ultimate rock band.

After finding Peter Criss and Ace, Kiss was formed. A true rags to riches story, Gene was never afraid of a little hard work and persistence which ultimately led to one of the most popular rock bands of all time.

Thanks for reading, Campers! Till next time.