Pico Alexander

Anyone that has seen the trailer for Home Again probably noticed Pico Alexander.

Alexander Jogalla, best known as Pico Alexander, (born June 3, 1991) is an American stage, film, and television actor.

Alexander was raised in Brooklyn, New York.  His parents, Magdalena Deskur and cinematographer Lukasz Jogalla, are Polish immigrants. His grandfather is actor Jerzy Jogałła, and his great-grandfather was journalist Jerzy Turowicz. His name, "Pico", is a childhood nickname. He graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.

He has appeared in lots of TV series including Blue Bloods and Orange is the New Black.

Shawn Barber - Canadian Olypian

When pole vaulter Shawn Barber captured gold at the 2015 IAAF World Championships, he put his name in the history books as Canada’s first athletics world champion in anything other than a sprint event. A two-time Canadian champion, Barber had his international breakthrough at the 2012 World Junior Championships where he won pole vault bronze.

He went on to make his senior world championship debut a year later and then captured bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It was on the NCAA circuit where Barber first made a name for himself while competing for Akron University. He won back-to-back NCAA indoor pole vault titles in 2014 and 2015, adding the outdoor title in 2015, earning him consecutive school Male Athlete of the Year honours. In 2015 he was a finalist for the Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union to the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. Barber had a series of record-breaking results in 2015.

In February he cleared 5.88m indoors, breaking a 16-year-old NCAA record as well as the Canadian record. He then won the NCAA indoor title with another record vault of 5.91m. At his first outdoor meet of the year in March, he cleared 5.90m to win the Texas Relays, shattering his own Canadian outdoor record by 19cm.

In May, he upped the Canadian outdoor record to 5.91m at the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas. Barber went on to win gold at Toronto 2015 with a Pan Am record vault of 5.80m. Just days later, he raised the Canadian record to 5.93m in London, England. Barber turned pro in September 2015, foregoing his final year of university eligibility. On a rainy night at Rio 2016, which delayed the final round of competition, Barber vaulted well below his usual standard, clearing 5.50m for a 10th place finish.

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/shawnacy-barber/ 

Rafal Jonkisz - Mr Poland 2015

PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Rafał JONKISZ Age: 19 Height: 187 Languages: Polish, English

BIOGRAPHY

“Hi my name is Rafał, I am an acrobat from Poland.”

Rafał is probably our most flexible contestant this year. A professional acrobat, competitive athlete and skilled dancer, his passion is all about moving, which has so far taken him to the quarter finals of Poland’s Got Talent, 4th place on Dancing with the Stars, and various medals on the athletics field. His future plans include building a presence in the world of modelling and continuing his charity work, which currently sees him performing at children’s hospitals and schools.



“Rzeszów is a beautiful town in the southern part of Poland. It’s quiet and idyllic climate makes it a perfect place to rest and recharge my batteries.”

Quick Questions

Q -What would a typical workout involve for you?
-I start each workout with stretches, moving through to strength exercises, which I always combine with supersets. Most of my acrobatic training involves merging separate figures into more complicated combinations.

Q -Workout Mix?
-I do my best workouts listening to electronic music – It gives me a better motivation and more energy to train.

Q -What is your favourite app?
-Snapchat – I am running the 6th most popular channel in Poland.

Q -What is the most extreme thing you have ever done?
-I once hiked 25km in the middle of the winter with over 40cm of snow and temperature of -20 Celsius degrees. The views were amazing!

Q -Which challenge event do you feel most confident about?
-Sports Challenge. Years spent training many various sports disciplines prepared me for this challenge.

For more information on Rafal or the other contestants visit the Mr World site.

Andy Biersack - The Artist previously known as Andy Six

Andrew Dennis "Andy" Biersack, formerly known as Andy Six, is an American singer and pianist. He is the founder and lead vocalist for the American rock band Black Veil Brides, and is its only remaining original member. In May 2014, he started a solo music project under the moniker Andy Black and released the album The Shadow Side in 2016.

For his early education, Biersack attended a Catholic elementary school, which he has spoken of in many interviews. His preschool teacher was Jamie Peters, who had a big influence on his creativity. Because of the way Andy dressed and the music he listened to (i.e. The Misfits, Avenged Sevenfold, The Damned, The Dropkick Murphys, etc.), he was the target of bullying at school. This bullying is reenacted in the "Knives and Pens" music video, performed by his band, Black Veil Brides.

Biersack's stage name was previously "Andy Six" up until around 2011 when he decided that he preferred to be called by his birth name, Andy Biersack.

In an interview with Loudwire in 2012, Biersack said, "I’m not a religious person but I grew up in a religious family. I went to the funeral for my grandfather, a person that I love very much, and everyone is speaking about how he went to Heaven and how he’s in Heaven. I always fight with that, because I would love nothing more to believe that my grandfather is in the clouds playing Xbox 460 [sic] or whatever awesome stuff they have up in Heaven, but I can’t."