document_title: War of the Worlds (2005 film)

question_text: where was the movie war of the worlds filmed

text: War of the Worlds (2005 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: A narrator explains how humans were unaware that a race of extraterrestrials was making plans to occupy Earth. Ray Ferrier is a divorced crane operator longshoreman who works at a dock in Brooklyn, New York and lives in Bayonne, New Jersey. Ray is estranged from his children. His former wife, Mary Ann, later drops off the children, 10-year-old daughter Rachel and teenage son Robbie, at Ray's house on her way to visit her parents in Boston. Unexplained changes in the weather occur, including lightning that strikes multiple times in the middle of an intersection and disrupts all electricity.

text: Ray joins the crowd at the scene of the lightning strikes, and witnesses a massive "Tripod" war machine emerge from the ground and use alien weaponry to disintegrate most of the witnesses, turning them to a grey dust and leaving only their empty clothes behind. Ray collects his children, steals a car and drives to Mary Ann's home in suburban New Jersey to take refuge. The next morning, he discovers that a Boeing 747 has crashed in the street. A news team scavenging for food while surveying the wreckage explain that there are multiple Tripods that have attacked major cities including New York City, Paris, Washington, D.C., and London, and have force shields to protect them from human weapons. They also explain that the Martians travelled to Earth within the lightning, as a guise to enter the Tripods. Ray decides to take the kids to Boston to be with their mother. The three are forced to abandon the stolen car after a mob takes it by force. They later survive a Tripod attack which causes a Hudson River ferry to sink. During a desperate battle between U.S. Marines and the aliens, Ray is forced to choose between being separated from Rachel and preventing Robbie from joining the fight; he lets Robbie go with the Marines, who are overwhelmed, thus making Ray presume Robbie died during the attack. While escaping, Ray and Rachel are offered shelter by a paramedic, Harlan Ogilvy, who presumes that the aliens had buried their technology on Earth millions of years ago and has delusions that they can fight against the aliens themselves by observing their operations, as they are right next to their camp.

text: The three remain undetected for two days, even as a probe and a group of the Martians themselves explore the basement. They also soon discover that the Martians are growing strange red-colored alien vegetation across the landscape and is quickly growing, covering trees and spreading into the basement, thus explaining the Martians' motives: to colonise Earth for their species, therefore making Earth a Mars-like planet. The next morning, Ogilvy suffers a mental breakdown after witnessing a Tripod harvesting human blood and tissue to fertilize the alien vegetation. Convinced that Ogilvy's mad shouting will alert the Martians to their location, Ray reluctantly kills him. The basement hideout is eventually exposed when a second probe catches them sleeping. Rachel is soon abducted by a nearby Tripod; Ray allows himself to be abducted, and is placed in the same cage with Rachel and a number of other prisoners. As the Tripod selects him for harvesting, Ray takes a belt of grenades into the machine in his place, having pulled out the pins. The Tripod is destroyed and releases the cage, with Ray and Rachel, and the other prisoners, making it out alive.

text: Ray and Rachel arrive in a devastated Boston, where they discover that the Martian vegetation is dying and most of the Tripods have collapsed. When an active Tripod appears, Ray notices birds landing on it, indicating that its shields have been deactivated. Ray alerts the soldiers escorting the fleeing crowd and they shoot it down with Javelin launchers. As the soldiers advance on the downed Tripod, a hatch opens releasing a liquid; a dying Martian struggles halfway out, and then dies immediately. Ray and Rachel reach Mary Ann's parents' house, where they are reunited with Mary Ann and Robbie, who is revealed to be alive. The closing narration reveals that although the Martians were immune to the humans' weapons, their vegetation was not immune to the microbes present on Earth and that "From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate and drank, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of man's weapons and devices had failed, by the tiniest creatures that God in his wisdom put upon this earth. By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all challenges. For neither do men live nor die in vain.".

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier
Dakota Fanning as Rachel Ferrier
Justin Chatwin as Robbie Ferrier
Miranda Otto as Mary Ann Ferrier
Tim Robbins as Harlan Ogilvy
Rick Gonzalez as Vincent
Yul Vázquez as Julio
Lenny Venito as Manny the Mechanic
Lisa Ann Walter as Cheryl
Ann Robinson as Grandmother (she played the lead role of Sylvia van Buren in the 1953 film)
Gene Barry as Grandfather (he played lead role of Dr. Clayton Forrester in the 1953 film)
David Alan Basche as Tim
Roz Abrams as Herself
Camillia Sanes as News Producer
Amy Ryan as Neighbor with Toddler
Danny Hoch as Policeman
Morgan Freeman as the Narrator (voice)
Channing Tatum as Boy in Church Scene (uncredited)
Dee Bradley Baker as Alien Vocals (uncredited)
Columbus Short as Soldier (uncredited)

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: After collaborating in 2002's Minority Report, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise were interested in working together again. Spielberg stated about Cruise, "He's such an intelligent, creative partner, and brings such great ideas to the set that we just spark each other. I love working with Tom Cruise."[2] Cruise met with Spielberg during the filming of Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002) and gave three options of films to create together, one of them being an adaptation of The War of the Worlds.[2] Spielberg chose The War of the Worlds and stated, "We looked at each other and the lights went on. As soon as I heard it, I said 'Oh my God! War of the Worlds – absolutely.' That was it."[2]

text: The film is Spielberg's third on the subject of alien visitation, along with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Producer and longtime collaborator Kathleen Kennedy notes that with War of the Worlds, Spielberg had the opportunity to explore the antithesis of the characters brought to life in E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. "When we first started developing E.T., it was a much edgier, darker story and it actually evolved into something that was more benign. I think that the edgier, darker story has always been somewhere inside him. Now, he's telling that story."[2] Spielberg stated that he just thought it would be fun to make a "really scary film with really scary aliens", something which he had never done before.[2][3] Spielberg was intent on telling a contemporary story, with Kennedy stating the story was created as a fantasy, but depicted in a hyper-realistic way.[2]

text:
"For the first time in my life I'm making an alien picture where there is no love and no attempt at communication."

– Steven Spielberg[4]

text: J. J. Abrams was asked by Spielberg and Cruise to write the script but had to turn down the film as he was working on the pilot for his television series Lost.[5] Josh Friedman delivered a screenplay, which was then rewritten by David Koepp.[6][7] After re-reading the novel, Koepp decided to do the script following a single narrator, "a very limited point of view, from someone on the very periphery of events rather than someone involved in events", and created a list of elements he would not use due to being "cliché", such as the destruction of landmark buildings. Some aspects of the book were heavily adapted and condensed: Tim Robbins' character was an amalgam of two characters in the book, with the name borrowed from a third. While changing the setting from 19th century to present day, Koepp also tried to "take the modern world back to the 1800s", with the characters being devoid of electricity and modern techniques of communication.[8]

text: Spielberg accepted the script after finding it had several similarities to his personal life, including the divorce of his parents (Ray and Mary Ann's divorce), and because the plight of the fictional survivors reflects his own uncertainty after the devastation of the September 11 attacks.[3] For Spielberg, the characters' stories of survival needed to be the main focus, as they featured the American mindset of never giving up.[3] Spielberg described War of the Worlds as "a polar opposite" to Close Encounters, with that movie featuring a man leaving family to travel with aliens, while War of the Worlds focused on keeping the family together.[3] At the same time, the aliens and their motivations would not be much explored, as "we just experience the results of these nefarious plans to replace us with themselves".[9]

text: Although accepting the script, Spielberg asked for several changes. Spielberg had been against the idea of the aliens arriving in spaceships, since every alien invasion movie used such a vehicle.[7] The original Martian cylinders were discarded, where Spielberg replaced the origins of the Tripods with stating they were buried underground in the Earth long ago.[4][7]

text: Spielberg had Miranda Otto in mind for the part of Mary Ann, but at the time he called her she was pregnant and thought the opportunity would be missed. Spielberg then decided to incorporate Otto's pregnancy into the film, changing the part for her.

text: Lawrence Brown wrote: "Spielberg's decision to present the invaders' fighting machines as having been there all along, buried deep under the Earth, raises questions which did not exist in the original Wells book. In Spielberg's version, these invaders had been here before, long ago, in prehistoric times. They had set up their machines deep underground, and departed. Why? Why not take over the Earth right there and then? Spielberg does not provide an answer, and the characters are too busy surviving to wonder about this. An answer suggests itself - a very chilling answer. The invaders were interested in humans as food animals. When they came here before, humans were very scarce. The aliens left their hidden machines and departed, patiently observing the Earth until humans would multiply to the requisite numbers - and then they came back, to take over. Under this interpretation, all of us - all humans over the whole of history - have been livestock living in an alien food farm, destined to be 'harvested'".[10]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Filming took place in Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, and New York. The film shooting lasted an estimated 72 days.[11] Spielberg originally intended to shoot War of the Worlds after Munich, but Tom Cruise liked David Koepp's script so much that he suggested Spielberg postpone the former while he would do the same with Mission: Impossible III. Most of Munich's crew was brought in to work on War of the Worlds as well.[4] In 2004, the production crews quickly were set up on both coasts to prepare for the start date, scouting locations up and down the Eastern Seaboard and preparing stages and sets which would be used when the company returned to Los Angeles after the winter holiday. Pre-production took place in only three months, essentially half the amount of time normally allotted for a film of similar size and scope. Spielberg notes, however, "This wasn't a cram course for War of the Worlds. This was my longest schedule in about 12 years. We took our time."[2] Spielberg collaborated with crews at the beginning of pre-production with the use of previsualization, considering the tight schedule.[11]

text: The scene depicting the first appearance of the Tripods was filmed at the intersection of Ferry Street, Merchart Street, and Wilson Avenue, in Newark, New Jersey.[12] Later, Spielberg filmed several scenes in Virginia.[13] The continuous scene was filmed in California.[14]

text: The ferry scene was filmed in the New York town of Athens, and Mary Ann's parents' house was located in Brooklyn (but was featured in the film in Boston).[2] For the neighborhood plane crash scene, the production crew bought a retired Boeing 747, with transportation costs of $2 million,[15] destroyed it into pieces, and built houses around them.[2] The destroyed plane was kept for the Universal Studios back-lot tour.[15] Ray's house was filmed in Bayonne, New Jersey (with a soundstage doubling the interior); meanwhile, the valley war sequence was filmed in Lexington, Virginia and Mystery Mesa in California. The scene where the tripod is shot down and crashes through a factory was filmed in Naugatuck, Connecticut at the since dismantled Naugatuck Chemical. The scene of the bodies floating down the river was filmed on the Farmington River in Windsor, Connecticut by a second unit using a stand in for Dakota Fanning (the back of her character) with the portion showing the faces of the credited actors cut in later. Some filming was shot on the Korean War Veterans Parkway in Staten Island, NY.[2][16] The film used six sound stages, spread over three studio lots.[2]

text: Design and visual effects[edit]

text: Industrial Light & Magic was the main special effects company for the movie.[17] While Spielberg had used computers to help visualize sequences in pre-production before, Spielberg said, "This is the first film I really tackled using the computer to animate all the storyboards."[2] He decided to employ the technique extensively after a visit to his friend George Lucas.[2][17] In order to keep the realism, the usage of computer-generated imagery shots and bluescreen was limited, with most of the digital effects being blended with miniature and live-action footage.[18]

text: The design of the Tripods was described by Spielberg as "graceful," with artist Doug Chiang replicating aquatic life forms.[18] At the same time, the director wanted a design that would be iconic while still providing a tribute to the original Tripods, as well as intimidating so the audience would not be more interested about the aliens inside than on the vehicle itself.[9] The visual effects crew tried to blend organic and mechanical elements in the Tripods depiction, and made extensive studies for the movements of the vehicle to be believable, considering the "contradiction" of having a large tank-like head being carried by thin and flexible legs.[19] Animator Randal M. Dutra considered the movements themselves to have a "terrestrial buoyance", in that they were walking on land but had an aquatic flow, and Spielberg described the Tripods as moving like "scary ballet dancers". Most of the alien elements revolved around the number three – the Tripod had three eyes, and both the vehicle and the aliens had three main limbs with three fingers each.[9] Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman considered depicting the scale of the Tripod as challenging, considering "Steven wanted to make sure that these creatures were 150 feet tall",[18] as it was the height described by Wells in the novel.[9] The aliens themselves had designs based on jellyfish, with movements inspired by red-eyed tree frogs,[19] and an amphibian quality particularly on the wet skin. A styrofoam alien was used as a stand-in to guide the actors in the basement scene.[9] Spielberg did not want any blood or gore during the Heat-Ray deaths; in the words of Helman, "this was going to be a horror movie for kids". So the effects crew came up with the vaporization of the bodies, and considering it could not be fully digital due to both the complexity of the effect and the schedule, live-action dust was used alongside the CGI ray assimilation and particles.[18] Digital birds followed the Tripods in most scenes to symbolize the presence of death, which Chiang compared to vultures and added that "you don't know if these birds are going to the danger or away from it, if you should follow them or run away."[9]

text: During the scene where Ray's stolen minivan is attacked by a mob, Janusz Kaminski and Spielberg wanted a lot of interactive lights, so they added different kinds of lights, including Coleman lamps, oil lanterns, flashlights and Maglights.[2] The IL&M crew admitted that the destruction of the Bayonne Bridge was the toughest scene to be made with heavy usage mix of CGI effects and live action elements,[20] and a four-week deadline so the shot could be used in a Super Bowl trailer.[18] The scene originally had only a gas station exploding, but then Spielberg suggested blowing up the bridge as well.[18] The scene involved Tripods shooting a Heat-Ray towards the minivan and minivan escapes from it involved a lot of CGI layers to work out. Over 500 CGI effects were used in the film.[21]

text: Costume designer Joanna Johnston created 60 different versions of Ray's leather jacket, to illustrate the degrees to which he is weathered from the beginning of the journey to the end. "He begins with the jacket, a hoodie, and two t-shirts," explains Johnston. One piece of Dakota Fanning's costume that takes on a special importance is her lavender horse purse: "I wanted her to have something that made her feel safe, some little thing that she could sleep with and put over her face," Johnston notes. "That was the lavender horse purse. We tied it up on a ribbon and Dakota hung it on her body, so it was with her at all times." Johnston dressed Robbie for an unconscious emulation of his father, "They're more alike than they realize, with great tension on the surface," Johnston says.[2]

text: Music[edit]

text:
War of the Worlds: Music from the Motion Picture

Film score by John Williams

Released
June 13, 2005

Studio
Sony Pictures Studios

Genre
Soundtrack

Length
61:01

Label
Decca Records

Producer
John Williams

John Williams chronology

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
(2005)Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith2005
War of the Worlds
(2005)
Memoirs of a Geisha
(2005)Memoirs of a Geisha2005

text:
Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating

AllMusic
[22]

Filmtracks

ScoreNotes
C+

SoundtrackNet

text: Longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams composed the music score of War of the Worlds. It was the first time Williams had to compose with an incomplete Spielberg film, as only the first six reels, totalling sixty minutes, were ready for him to use as reference.[23] He considered the score "a very serious piece," which had to combine "necessary frightening atmosphere" with "propulsively rhythmic drive for the action scenes" –[24] the music would be symbolically "pulling forward" vehicles in chase scenes such as Ray driving out of Bayonne or the Tripod attacking the Hudson ferry. Williams added small nods to classic monster movie scores by having orchestras doing a "grand gesture" in scenes overlooking Tripods. To increase the scariness, Williams added a female chorus with a crescendo resembling a shriek – which would "humanize" the track representing "victims that go out without saying an 'ouch' – they're gone before they can say that" – for the Tripod attacks, and a nearly inaudible male choir – which Williams compared to "Tibetan monks, the lowest known pitch our bodies can make" – for the aliens exploring the basement. The only deviation from orchestras were electronic sounds for the opening and closing narrations.[23]

text: A soundtrack album was released by Decca Records, that featured the film's music and Morgan Freeman's opening and closing narration.[25][26] The songs "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Hushabye Mountain" are also featured in the movie, the former sung by Tom Cruise, and the latter by Dakota Fanning.[27][28]

text:
War of the Worlds: Music from the Motion Picture

No.
Title
Length

1.
"Prologue"
2:52

2.
"The Ferry Scene"
5:49

3.
"Reaching the Country"
3:24

4.
"The Intersection Scene"
4:13

5.
"Ray and Rachel"
2:41

6.
"Escape from the City"
3:49

7.
"Probing the Basement"
4:12

8.
"Refugee Status"
3:50

9.
"The Attack on the Car"
2:44

10.
"The Separation of the Family"
2:36

11.
"The Confrontation with Ogilvy"
4:34

12.
"The Return to Boston"
4:29

13.
"Escape from the Basket"
9:21

14.
"The Reunion"
3:16

15.
"Epilogue"
3:11

Total length:
61:01

text: Themes[edit]

text: The film was described as an anti-war film, as civilians run and only try to save themselves and their family instead of fighting back against the alien Tripods.[29] Debra J. Saunders of San Francisco Chronicle described the film as "If aliens invade, don't fight back. Run." Saunders compared the film to Independence Day, where the civilians do run, but they support the military efforts.[29] Many reviewers considered the film tried to recreate the atmosphere of the September 11 attacks, with bystanders struggling to survive and the usage of missing-persons displays.[30] Spielberg declared to Reader's Digest that beside the work being a fantasy, the threat represented was real: "They are a wake-up call to face our fears as we confront a force intent on destroying our way of life."[31] Screenwriter David Koepp stated that he tried not to put explicit references to September 11 or the Iraq War, but said that the inspiration for the scene where Robbie joins the Marines was teenagers fighting in the Gaza Strip – "I was thinking of teenagers in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks at tanks, and I think that when you're that age you don't fully consider the ramifications of what you're doing and you're very much caught up in the moment and passion, whether that's a good idea or not."[8] Retained from the novel is the aliens being defeated, not by men's weapons, but the planet's smallest creatures, bacteria, which Koepp described as "nature, in a way, knowing a whole lot more than we do".[9]

text: Release[edit]

text: War of the Worlds premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on June 23, 2005. There, Tom Cruise revealed his relationship with Katie Holmes.[32] Six days later, on June 29, the film was released in approximately 3,908 theaters across America.[1] The home video was subsequently released on November 22, 2005.

text: Secrecy[edit]

text: Spielberg kept most of the parts secret in the filmmaking, as the cast and crew were left confused about how the aliens looked.[33] When asked about the secrecy of the screenplay, David Koepp answered, "[Spielberg] wouldn't give [the screenplay] to anybody". Koepp explained he would e-mail it to him, and he would give a section of the script that was relating to whatever somebody was doing.[33] Miranda Otto thought of not even discussing the story with her family and friends. Otto said, "I know some people who always say, 'Oh, everything's so secret.' I think it's good. In the old days people didn't get to know much about movies before they came out and nowadays there's just so much information. I think a bit of mystery is always really good. You don't want to blow all of your cards beforehand."[34]

text: Spielberg admitted after keeping things secret for so long, there is in the end the temptation to reveal too much to the detriment of the story at the press conference of War of the Worlds. So, Spielberg only revealed the hill scene, where Ray tries to stop his son from leaving, stating "to say more would reveal too much."[35] The secrecy caused The Sun to claim the film would surpass Titanic's US $200 million budget, which at the time held the record for the most expensive film ever made.[36] The actual budget of the film was $132 million.[1][37]

text: According to Vanity Fair, Spielberg's relations with Cruise were "poor" during the film's release because Spielberg believed Cruise's "antics" at the time (such as an erratic appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show) had "hurt" the film.[38]

text: Marketing and home media releases[edit]

text: Paramount Pictures Interactive Marketing debuted a human survival online game on its official website, waroftheworlds.com, on April 14 to promote the film.[39] Hitachi collaborated with Paramount Pictures for a worldwide promotional campaign, under the title of “The Ultimate Visual Experience”. The agreement was announced by Kazuhiro Tachibana, general manager of Hitachi’s Consumer Business Group.[40] Kazuhiro stated, "Our ‘The Ultimate Visual Experience’ campaign is a perfect match between Spielberg and Cruise’s pursuit of the world’s best in film entertainment and Hitachi’s commitment to the highest picture quality through its digital consumer electronic products."[40]

text: The film was released on VHS and DVD on November 22, 2005, with both a single-disc edition and a two-disc special edition featured production featurettes, documentaries and trailers.[41] The film grossed $113,000,000 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $704,745,540, ranking tenth place in the 2005 DVD sales chart.[42] Paramount released the film on Blu-ray Disc on June 1, 2010.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: On June 29, 2005 (2005-06-29), the film grossed approximately US$81 million worldwide,[43] and earned the thirty-eighth biggest opening week gross with grossing $98,826,764 in 3,908 theatres, averaging $25,288 in each theater.[44] Meanwhile, on Independence Day weekend, War of the Worlds grossed $64,878,725 in 3908 theatres also, giving an average of $16,601.[45] This is the third-biggest film opening on Independence Day weekend.[46] The film earned $200 million in 24 days, ranking thirty-seventh place in the list of fastest films to gross $200 million.[47] The film has grossed $704,745,540 including DVD sales,[1] making it the fourth highest grossing film of 2005, and the 66th highest grossing film worldwide.[48][49]

text: Critical reaction[edit]

text: The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the film an average score of 73 based on 40 reviews.[50] Rotten Tomatoes gives War of the Worlds a 74% "fresh" rating based on 251 reviews and the critical consensus: "Steven Spielberg's adaptation of War of the Worlds delivers on the thrill and paranoia of H.G. Wells' classic novel while impressively updating the action and effects for modern audiences."[51] Many people praised the film's beginning while criticizing the ending.

text: James Berardinelli praised the acting and considered that focusing the narrative on the struggle of one character made the film more effective, but described the ending as weak, even though Spielberg "does the best he can to make it cinematically dramatic".[52] Total Film's review gave War of the Worlds 4 out of 5 stars, considering that "Spielberg finds fresh juice in a tale already adapted for film, TV, stage, radio and record", and describing the film as having many "startling images", comparing the first Tripod attack to the Omaha Beach landing from Saving Private Ryan.[53]

text: Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan, who felt the special effects were unusual, stated that Spielberg may actually have done his job in War of the Worlds "better than he realizes", showing how fragile the world is. Turan claimed Spielberg raised a most provocative question: "Is the ultimate fantasy an invasion from outer space, or is it the survival of the human race?"[54] However, Broomfield Enterprise's Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi did not share Berardinelli and Turan's opinion. They felt that Morgan Freeman's narration was unnecessary, and that the first half was "great" but the second half "became filled with clichés, riddled with holes, and tainted by Tim Robbins".[55]

text: Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars (out of four), saying "War of the Worlds definitely wins its battle, but not the war." Wilmington stated the film brought the viewers on a wild journey through two sides of Spielberg: the dark and the light. He also said the film contained a core sentiment similar to that of Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[56] About.com's Rebecca Murray gave a positive review, stating, "Spielberg almost succeeds in creating the perfect alien movie", with criticism only for the ending.[57] Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader praised the special effects and Cruise's performance.[58] Roger Ebert criticized the "retro design" and considered that despite the big budget, the alien invasion was "rudimentary" and "not very interesting", regarding the best scenes as Ray walking among the airliner wreckage and a train running in flames, declaring that "such scenes seem to come from a kind of reality different from that of the tripods."[59]

text: The French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked the film as 8th place in its list of best films of the 2000s.[60] Japanese film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa listed the film as the best film of 2000-2009.[61]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: War of the Worlds was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Visual Effects (Pablo Helman), Sound Mixing (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ron Judkins), and Sound Editing, losing all to King Kong.[62] The film was nominated for six Saturn Awards,[63] and won Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Dakota Fanning).[64] The film won a Golden Reel Award for Sound Effects & Foley,[65] a World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack,[66] and three VES Awards for its special effects,[67] and was nominated for three Empire Awards, three Satellite Awards, and an MTV Movie Award.


document_title: History of bitcoin

question_text: what was the price of bitcoin in january 2017

question_tokens: what was the price of bitcoin in january 2017

root

text: History of bitcoin

text: Pre-history[edit]

text: Prior to the release of bitcoin there were a number of digital cash technologies starting with the issuer based ecash protocols of David Chaum[3] and Stefan Brands. Adam Back developed hashcash, a proof-of-work scheme for spam control. The first proposals for distributed digital scarcity based cryptocurrencies were Wei Dai's b-money[4] and Nick Szabo's bit gold.[5][6] Hal Finney developed reusable proof of work (RPOW) using hashcash as its proof of work algorithm.[7]

tag: p

text: In the bit gold proposal which proposed a collectible market based mechanism for inflation control, Nick Szabo also investigated some additional enabling aspects including a Byzantine fault-tolerant asset registry to store and transfer the chained proof-of-work solutions.[6]

text: There has been much speculation as to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto with suspects including Dai, Szabo, and Finney – and accompanying denials.[8][9] The possibility that Satoshi Nakamoto was a computer collective in the European financial sector has also been discussed.[10]

text: Creation[edit]

text: On 18 August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered.[11] Later that year on 31 October, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System[12] was posted to a cryptography mailing list.[11] This paper detailed methods of using a peer-to-peer network to generate what was described as "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust".[13][14][15] On 3 January 2009, the bitcoin network came into existence with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the genesis block of bitcoin (block number 0), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins.[13][16] Embedded in the coinbase of this block was the text:

text: The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.[17]

text: The text refers to a headline in The Times published on 3 January 2009.[18] This note has been interpreted as both a timestamp of the genesis date and a derisive comment on the instability caused by fractional-reserve banking.[19]:18

text: The first open source bitcoin client was released on 9 January 2009, hosted at SourceForge.[20][21]

text: One of the first supporters, adopters, contributor to bitcoin and receiver of the first bitcoin transaction was programmer Hal Finney. Finney downloaded the bitcoin software the day it was released, and received 10 bitcoins from Nakamoto in the world's first bitcoin transaction on 12 January 2009.[22][23] Other early supporters were Wei Dai, creator of bitcoin predecessor b-money, and Nick Szabo, creator of bitcoin predecessor bit gold.[13]

text: In the early days, Nakamoto is estimated to have mined 1 million bitcoins.[24] Before disappearing from any involvement in bitcoin, Nakamoto in a sense handed over the reins to developer Gavin Andresen, who then became the bitcoin lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation, the 'anarchic' bitcoin community's closest thing to an official public face.[25]

text: The value of the first bitcoin transactions were negotiated by individuals on the bitcoin forum with one notable transaction of 10,000 BTC used to indirectly purchase two pizzas delivered by Papa John's.[13]

text: On 6 August 2010, a major vulnerability in the bitcoin protocol was spotted. Transactions weren't properly verified before they were included in the transaction log or blockchain, which let users bypass bitcoin's economic restrictions and create an indefinite number of bitcoins.[26][27] On 15 August, the vulnerability was exploited; over 184 billion bitcoins were generated in a transaction, and sent to two addresses on the network. Within hours, the transaction was spotted and erased from the transaction log after the bug was fixed and the network forked to an updated version of the bitcoin protocol.[28] This was the only major security flaw found and exploited in bitcoin's history.[26][27]

text: Growth[edit]

text: Based on bitcoin's open source code, other cryptocurrencies started to emerge.[29]

text: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group, started accepting bitcoins in January 2011,[30] then stopped accepting them in June 2011, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems.[31] The EFF's decision was reversed on 17 May 2013 when they resumed accepting bitcoin.[32]

text: In June 2011 WikiLeaks[33] and other organizations began to accept bitcoins for donations.

text: On 22 March 2011 WeUseCoins published the first viral video[34] which has had over 6.4 million views. In September 2011 Vitalik Buterin co-founded Bitcoin Magazine. On 23 December 2011, Douglas Feigelson of BitBills filed a patent application for "Creating And Using Digital Currency" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, an action which was contested based on prior art in June 2013.[35][36]

text: In January 2012, bitcoin was featured as the main subject within a fictionalized trial on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife in the third-season episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". The host of CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer, played himself in a courtroom scene where he testifies that he doesn't consider bitcoin a true currency, saying "There's no central bank to regulate it; it's digital and functions completely peer to peer".[37]

text: In September 2012, the Bitcoin Foundation was launched to "accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection, and promotion of the open source protocol". The founders were Gavin Andresen, Jon Matonis, Patrick Murck, Charlie Shrem, and Peter Vessenes.[38]

text: In October 2012, BitPay reported having over 1,000 merchants accepting bitcoin under its payment processing service.[39] In November 2012, WordPress had started accepting bitcoins.[40]

text: In February 2013 the bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase reported selling US$1 million worth of bitcoins in a single month at over $22 per bitcoin.[41] The Internet Archive announced that it was ready to accept donations as bitcoins and that it intends to give employees the option to receive portions of their salaries in bitcoin currency.[42]

text: In March the bitcoin transaction log called the blockchain temporarily split into two independent chains with differing rules on how transactions were accepted. For six hours two bitcoin networks operated at the same time, each with its own version of the transaction history. The core developers called for a temporary halt to transactions, sparking a sharp sell-off.[43] Normal operation was restored when the majority of the network downgraded to version 0.7 of the bitcoin software.[43] The Mt. Gox exchange briefly halted bitcoin deposits and the exchange rate briefly dipped by 23% to $37 as the event occurred[44][45] before recovering to previous level of approximately $48 in the following hours.[46] In the US, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) established regulatory guidelines for "decentralized virtual currencies" such as bitcoin, classifying American bitcoin miners who sell their generated bitcoins as Money Service Businesses (or MSBs), that may be subject to registration and other legal obligations.[47][48][49]

text: In April, payment processors BitInstant and Mt. Gox experienced processing delays due to insufficient capacity[50] resulting in the bitcoin exchange rate dropping from $266 to $76 before returning to $160 within six hours.[51] Bitcoin gained greater recognition when services such as OkCupid and Foodler began accepting it for payment.[52]

text: On 15 May 2013, the US authorities seized accounts associated with Mt. Gox after discovering that it had not registered as a money transmitter with FinCEN in the US.[53][54]

text: On 17 May 2013, it was reported that BitInstant processed approximately 30 percent of the money going into and out of bitcoin, and in April alone facilitated 30,000 transactions,[55]

text: On 23 June 2013, it was reported  that the US Drug Enforcement Administration listed 11.02 bitcoins as a seized asset in a United States Department of Justice seizure notice pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881.[56] This marked the first time a government agency claimed to have seized bitcoin.[57][58]

text: In July 2013, a project began in Kenya linking bitcoin with M-Pesa, a popular mobile payments system, in an experiment designed to spur innovative payments in Africa.[59] During the same month the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department in Thailand stated that bitcoin lacks any legal framework and would therefore be illegal, which effectively banned trading on bitcoin exchanges in the country.[60][61] According to Vitalik Buterin, a writer for Bitcoin Magazine, "bitcoin's fate in Thailand may give the electronic currency more credibility in some circles", but he was concerned it didn't bode well for bitcoin in China.[62]

text: On 6 August 2013, Federal Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled that bitcoins are "a currency or a form of money" (specifically securities as defined by Federal Securities Laws), and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction,[63][64] and Germany's Finance Ministry subsumed bitcoins under the term "unit of account"—a financial instrument—though not as e-money or a functional currency, a classification nonetheless having legal and tax implications.[65]

text: In October 2013, the FBI seized roughly 26,000 BTC from website Silk Road during the arrest of alleged owner Ross William Ulbricht.[66][67][68] Two companies, Robocoin and Bitcoiniacs launched the world's first bitcoin ATM on 29 October 2013 in Vancouver, BC, Canada, allowing clients to sell or purchase bitcoin currency at a downtown coffee shop.[69][70][71] Chinese internet giant Baidu had allowed clients of website security services to pay with bitcoins.[72]

text: In November 2013, the University of Nicosia announced that it would be accepting bitcoin as payment for tuition fees, with the university's chief financial officer calling it the "gold of tomorrow".[73] During November 2013, the China-based bitcoin exchange BTC China overtook the Japan-based Mt. Gox and the Europe-based Bitstamp to become the largest bitcoin trading exchange by trade volume.[74]

text:
In December 2013, Overstock.com[75] announced plans to accept bitcoin in the second half of 2014.
On 5 December 2013, the People's Bank of China prohibited Chinese financial institutions from using bitcoins.[76] After the announcement, the value of bitcoins dropped,[77] and Baidu no longer accepted bitcoins for certain services.[78]  Buying real-world goods with any virtual currency had been illegal in China since at least 2009.[79]

text: In January 2014, Zynga[80] announced it was testing bitcoin for purchasing in-game assets in seven of its games. That same month, The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel and Golden Gate Hotel & Casino properties in downtown Las Vegas announced they would also begin accepting bitcoin, according to an article by USA Today. The article also stated the currency would be accepted in five locations, including the front desk and certain restaurants.[81] The network rate exceeded 10 petahash/sec.[82] TigerDirect[83] and Overstock.com[84] started accepting bitcoin.

text: In early February 2014, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox,[85] suspended withdrawals citing technical issues.[86] By the end of the month, Mt. Gox had filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan amid reports that 744,000 bitcoins had been stolen.[87] Months before the filing, the popularity of Mt. Gox had waned as users experienced difficulties withdrawing funds.[88]

text: In June 2014 the network exceeded 100 petahash/sec.[89] On 18 June 2014, it was announced that bitcoin payment service provider BitPay would become the new sponsor of St. Petersburg Bowl under a two-year deal, renamed the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. Bitcoin was to be accepted for ticket and concession sales at the game as part of the sponsorship, and the sponsorship itself was also paid for using bitcoin.[90]

text: In July 2014 Newegg and Dell[91] started accepting bitcoin.

text: In September 2014 TeraExchange, LLC, received approval from the U.S.Commodity Futures Trading Commission "CFTC" to begin listing an over-the-counter swap product based on the price of a bitcoin. The CFTC swap product approval marks the first time a U.S. regulatory agency approved a bitcoin financial product.[92]

text: In December 2014 Microsoft began to accept bitcoin to buy Xbox games and Windows software.[93]

text: In 2014, several lighthearted songs celebrating bitcoin such as the Ode to Satoshi[94] have been released.[95]

text: A documentary film, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin, was released in 2014, featuring interviews with bitcoin users, such as a computer programmer and a drug dealer.[96]

text: In January 2015 Coinbase raised 75 million USD as part of a Series C funding round, smashing the previous record for a bitcoin company.[97] Less than one year after the collapse of Mt. Gox, United Kingdom-based exchange Bitstamp announced that their exchange would be taken offline while they investigate a hack which resulted in about 19,000 bitcoins (equivalent to roughly US$5 million at that time) being stolen from their hot wallet.[98] The exchange remained offline for several days amid speculation that customers had lost their funds. Bitstamp resumed trading on 9 January after increasing security measures and assuring customers that their account balances would not be impacted.[99]

text: In February 2015, the number of merchants accepting bitcoin exceeded 100,000.[100]

text: In October 2015, a proposal was submitted to the Unicode Consortium to add a code point for the bitcoin symbol.[101]

text: In January 2016, the network rate exceeded 1 exahash/sec.[102]

text: In March 2016, the Cabinet of Japan recognized virtual currencies like bitcoin as having a function similar to real money.[103] Bidorbuy, the largest South African online marketplace, launched bitcoin payments for both buyers and sellers.[104]

text: In April 2016, Steam started accepting bitcoin as payment for video games and other online media.[105]

text: In July 2016, researchers published a paper showing that by November 2013 bitcoin commerce was no longer driven by "sin" activities but instead by legitimate enterprises.[106] Uber switched to bitcoin in Argentina after the government blocked credit card companies from dealing with Uber.[107]

text: In August 2016, a major bitcoin exchange, Bitfinex, was hacked and nearly 120,000 BTC (around $60m) was stolen.[108]

text: In September 2016, the number of bitcoin ATMs had doubled over the last 18 months and reached 771 ATMs worldwide.[109]

text: In November 2016, the Swiss Railway operator SBB (CFF) upgraded all their automated ticket machines so that bitcoin could be bought from them using the scanner on the ticket machine to scan the bitcoin address on a phone app.[110]

text: Bitcoin generates more academic interest year after year; the number of Google Scholar articles published mentioning bitcoin grew from 83 in 2009, to 424 in 2012, and 3580 in 2016. Also, the academic Ledger (journal) published its first issue. It is edited by Peter Rizun.

text: The number of businesses accepting bitcoin continued to increase. In January 2017, NHK reported the number of online stores accepting bitcoin in Japan had increased 4.6 times over the past year.[111] BitPay CEO Stephen Pair declared the company's transaction rate grew 3× from January 2016 to February 2017, and explained usage of bitcoin is growing in B2B supply chain payments.[112]

text: Bitcoin gains more legitimacy among lawmakers and legacy financial companies. For example, Japan passed a law to accept bitcoin as a legal payment method,[113] and Russia has announced that it will legalize the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.[114] And Norway’s largest online bank, Skandiabanken, integrates bitcoin accounts.[115]

text: In March 2017, the number of GitHub projects related to bitcoin passed 10,000.[116]

text:
Exchange trading volumes continue to increase. For the 6-month period ending March 2017, Mexican exchange Bitso saw trading volume increase 1500%.[117]
Between January and May 2017 Poloniex saw an increase of more than 600% active traders online and regularly processed 640% more transactions.[118]

text: In June 2017, the bitcoin symbol was encoded in Unicode version 10.0 at position U+20BF (₿) in the Currency Symbols block.[119]

text: Up until July 2017, bitcoin users maintained a common set of rules for the cryptocurrency.[120] On 1 August 2017 bitcoin split into two derivative digital currencies, the bitcoin (BTC) chain with 1 MB blocksize limit and the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain with 8 MB blocksize limit. The split has been called the Bitcoin Cash hard fork.[121]

text: On 6 December 2017 the software marketplace Steam announced that it would no longer accept bitcoin as payment for its products, citing slow transactions speeds, price volatility, and high fees for transactions.[122][123]

text: On 22 January 2018, South Korea brought in a regulation that requires all the bitcoin traders to reveal their identity, thus putting a ban on anonymous trading of bitcoins.[124]

text: On 24 January 2018, the online payment firm Stripe announced that it would phase out its support for bitcoin payments by late April 2018, citing declining demand, rising fees and longer transaction times as the reasons.[125]

text: Prices and value history[edit]

text: Among the factors which may have contributed to this rise were the European sovereign-debt crisis—particularly the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis—statements by FinCEN improving the currency's legal standing and rising media and Internet interest.[126][127][128][129]

text: Until 2013, almost all market with bitcoins were in United States dollars (US $).[130][131][132]

text: As the market valuation of the total stock of bitcoins approached US$1 billion, some commentators called bitcoin prices a bubble.[133][134][135] In early April 2013, the price per bitcoin dropped from $266 to around $50 and then rose to around $100. Over two weeks starting late June 2013 the price dropped steadily to $70. The price began to recover, peaking once again on 1 October at $140. On 2 October, The Silk Road was seized by the FBI. This seizure caused a flash crash to $110.  The price quickly rebounded, returning to $200 several weeks later.[136] The latest run went from $200 on 3 November to $900 on 18 November.[137] Bitcoin passed US$1,000 on 28 November 2013 at Mt. Gox.

text: Prices fell to around $400 in April 2014, before rallying in the middle of the year. They then declined to not much more than $200 in early 2015.[138]

text:
Bitcoin value history (comparison to US$)

Date

USD : 1 BTC

Notes

Jan 2009 – Mar 2010

basically nothing

No exchanges or market, users were mainly cryptography fans who were sending bitcoins for hobby purposes representing low or no value. In March 2010, user "SmokeTooMuch" auctioned 10,000 BTC for $50 (cumulatively), but no buyer was found.

Mar 2010

$0.003

On 17 Mar 2010, the now-defunct BitcoinMarket.com exchange is the first one that starts operating.

May 2010

less than $0.01

On 22 May 2010,[139] Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world transaction by buying two pizzas in Jacksonville, Florida for 10,000 BTC.[140][141]

July 2010

$0.08

In five days, the price grew 900%, rising from $0.008 to $0.08 for 1 bitcoin.

October 2010

$0.125

Price surpasses one bit

Feb 2011 – April 2011

$1.00

Bitcoin takes parity with US dollar.[142]

8 July 2011

$31.00

top of first "bubble", followed by the first price drop

Dec 2011

$2.00

minimum after few months

Dec 2012

$13.00

slowly rising for a year

11 April 2013

$266

top of a price rally, during which the value was growing by 5-10% daily.

May 2013

$130

basically stable, again slowly rising.

June 2013

$100

in June slowly dropping to $70, but rising in July to $110

Nov 2013

$350–$1,242

from October $150–$200 in November, rising to $1,242 on 29 November 2013.[143]

Dec 2013

$600–$1,000

Price crashed to $600, rebounded to $1,000, crashed again to the $500 range. Stabilized to the ~ $650–$800 range.

Jan 2014

$750–$1,000

Price spiked to $1000 briefly, then settled in the $800–$900 range for the rest of the month.[144]

Feb 2014

$550–$750

Price fell following the shutdown of Mt. Gox before recovering to the $600–$700 range.

Mar 2014

$450–$700

Price continued to fall due to a false report regarding bitcoin ban in China[145] and uncertainty over whether the Chinese government would seek to prohibit banks from working with digital currency exchanges.[146]

Apr 2014

$340–$530

The lowest price since the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis had been reached at 3:25 AM on 11 April[147]

May 2014

$440–$630

The downtrend first slow down and then reverse, increasing over 30% in the last days of May.

Mar 2015

$200–$300

Price fell through to early 2015.

Early Nov 2015

$395–$504

Large spike in value from $225–$250 at the start of October to the 2015 record high of $504.

May–June 2016

$450–$750

Large spike in value starting from $450 and reaching a maximum of $750.

July–September 2016

$600–$630

Price stabilized in the low $600 range.

October–November 2016

$600–$780

As the Chinese Renminbi depreciated against the US Dollar, bitcoin rose to the upper $700s.

January 2017

$800–$1,150

5-12 January 2017

$750–$920

Price fell 30% in a week, reaching a multi-month low of $750.

2-3 March 2017

$1,290+

Price broke above the November 2013 high of $1,242[148] and then traded above $1,290.[149]

April 2017

$1,210–$1,250

May 2017

$2,000

Price reached a new high, reaching US$1,402.03 on 1 May 2017,[150] and over US$1,800 on 11 May 2017.[151] On 20 May 2017, the price of one bitcoin passed US$2,000 for the first time.

May–June 2017

$2,000–$3,200+

Price reached an all-time high of $3,000 on 12 June and is oscillating around $2,500 since then. As of 6 August 2017, the price is $3,270.

August 2017

$4,400

On 5 August 2017, the price of one BTC passed US$3,000 for the first time. On 12 August 2017, the price of one BTC passed US$4,000 for the first time. Two days later, the price of one BTC passed US$4,400 for the first time.

September 2017

$5,000

On 1 September 2017, bitcoin broke US$5,000 for the first time, topping out at US$5,013.91.[152]

12 September 2017

$2,900

Price dipped harshly from China's bitcoin ICO and exchange crackdown (those following improper practices)

13 October 2017

$5,600

Price shot back up as the world moves on past the incident following China's crackdown

21 October 2017

$6,180

Price hit another all-time high as the impending forks draw closer

6 November 2017

$7,300

17-20 November 2017

$7,600-8,100

Briefly topped at USD $8004.59/BTC at 01:14:11 UTC before retreating from highs. At 05:35 UTC on 20 November 2017 it stood at USD$7,988.23/BTC according to CoinDesk.[153] This surge in bitcoin may be related to developments in the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. The market reaction in one bitcoin exchange is alarming as 1 BTC topped nearly US$13,500, just shy of 2 times the value of the International market.[154][155]

15 December 2017

$17,900

Bitcoin price reached $17,900[156]

22 December 2017

$13,800

Bitcoin price loses one third of its value in 24 hours, dropping below $14,000.[157]

5 February 2018

$6,200

Bitcoin's price drops 50 percent in 16 days, falling below $7,000.[158]

tag: table

text: Satoshi Nakamoto[edit]

text:
"Satoshi Nakamoto" is presumed to be a pseudonym for the person or people who designed the original bitcoin protocol in 2008 and launched the network in 2009. Nakamoto was responsible for creating the majority of the official bitcoin software and was active in making modifications and posting technical information on the bitcoin forum.[13]
Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto were attempted by The New Yorker and Fast Company. The New Yorker's investigation brought up at least two possible candidates: Michael Clear and Vili Lehdonvirta. Fast Company's investigation brought up circumstantial evidence linking an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The patent application (#20100042841) contained networking and encryption technologies similar to bitcoin's, and textual analysis revealed that the phrase "... computationally impractical to reverse" appeared in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper.[12] All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.[159][160]
In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki is Satoshi Nakamoto.[161]  Later in 2013 the Israeli researchers Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir pointed to Silk Road-linked Ross William Ulbricht as the possible person behind the cover. The two researchers based their suspicion on an analysis of the network of bitcoin transactions.[162]  These allegations were contested[163] and Ron and Shamir later retracted their claim.[164]

text: Nakamoto's involvement with bitcoin does not appear to extend past mid-2010.[13] In April 2011, Nakamoto communicated with a bitcoin contributor, saying that he had "moved on to other things".[17]

text: Stefan Thomas, a Swiss coder and active community member, graphed the time stamps for each of Nakamoto's 500-plus bitcoin forum posts; the resulting chart showed a steep decline to almost no posts between the hours of 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Because this pattern held true even on Saturdays and Sundays, it suggested that Nakamoto was asleep at this time, and the hours of 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. GMT are midnight to 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (North American Eastern Standard Time). Other clues suggested that Nakamoto was British: A newspaper headline he had encoded in the genesis block came from the UK-published newspaper The Times, and both his forum posts and his comments in the bitcoin source code used British English spellings, such as "optimise" and "colour".[13]

text: An Internet search by an anonymous blogger of texts similar in writing to the bitcoin whitepaper suggests Nick Szabo's "bit gold" articles as having a similar author.[8] Nick denied being Satoshi, and stated his official opinion on Satoshi and bitcoin in a May 2011 article.[165]

text: In a March 2014 article in Newsweek, journalist Leah McGrath Goodman doxed Dorian S. Nakamoto of Temple City, California, saying that Satoshi Nakamoto is the man's birth name. Her methods and conclusion drew widespread criticism.[166][167]

text: In June 2016, the London Review of Books published a piece by Andrew O'Hagan about Nakamoto.[168] The real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto still remains a matter of dispute.

text: Forks[edit]

text: A fork referring to a blockchain is defined variously as a blockchain split into two paths forward, or as a change of protocol rules. Accidental forks on the bitcoin network regularly occur as part of the mining process. They happen when two miners find a block at a similar point in time. As a result, the network briefly forks. This fork is subsequently resolved by the software which automatically chooses the longest chain, thereby orphaning the extra blocks added to the shorter chain (that were dropped by the longer chain).[169]

text: March 2013[edit]

text:
On 12 March 2013, a bitcoin miner running version 0.8.0 of the bitcoin software created a large block that was considered invalid in version 0.7 (due to an undiscovered inconsistency between the two versions).
This created a split or "fork" in the blockchain since computers with the recent version of the software accepted the invalid block and continued to build on the diverging chain, whereas older versions of the software rejected it and continued extending the blockchain without the offending block.
This split resulted in two separate transaction logs being formed without clear consensus, which allowed for the same funds to be spent differently on each chain. In response, the Mt. Gox exchange temporarily halted bitcoin deposits.[170] The exchange rate fell 23% to $37 on the Mt. Gox exchange but rose most of the way back to its prior level of $48.[44][45]

text:
Miners resolved the split by downgrading to version 0.7, putting them back on track with the canonical blockchain.
User funds largely remained unaffected and were available when network consensus was restored.[171] The network reached consensus and continued to operate as normal a few hours after the split.[172]

text: Regulatory issues[edit]

text: On 18 March 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, issued a report regarding centralized and decentralized "virtual currencies" and their legal status within "money services business" (MSB) and Bank Secrecy Act regulations.[49][54] It classified digital currencies and other digital payment systems such as bitcoin as "virtual currencies" because they are not legal tender under any sovereign jurisdiction. FinCEN cleared American users of bitcoin of legal obligations[54] by saying, "A user of virtual currency is not an MSB under FinCEN's regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations." However, it held that American entities who generate "virtual currency" such as bitcoins are money transmitters or MSBs if they sell their generated currency for national currency: "...a person that creates units of convertible virtual currency and sells those units to another person for real currency or its equivalent is engaged in transmission to another location and is a money transmitter." This specifically extends to "miners" of the bitcoin currency who may have to register as MSBs and abide by the legal requirements of being a money transmitter if they sell their generated bitcoins for national currency and are within the United States.[47] Since FinCEN issued this guidance, dozens of virtual currency exchangers and administrators have registered with FinCEN, and FinCEN is receiving an increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) from these entities.[173]

text: Additionally, FinCEN claimed regulation over American entities that manage bitcoins in a payment processor setting or as an exchanger: "In addition, a person is an exchanger and a money transmitter if the person accepts such de-centralized convertible virtual currency from one person and transmits it to another person as part of the acceptance and transfer of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency."[48][49]

text: In summary, FinCEN's decision would require bitcoin exchanges where bitcoins are traded for traditional currencies to disclose large transactions and suspicious activity, comply with money laundering regulations, and collect information about their customers as traditional financial institutions are required to do.[54][174][175]

text: Patrick Murck of the Bitcoin Foundation criticized FinCEN's report as an "overreach" and claimed that FinCEN "cannot rely on this guidance in any enforcement action".[176][non-primary source needed]

text: Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the director of FinCEN said, "Virtual currencies are subject to the same rules as other currencies. ... Basic money-services business rules apply here."[54]

text: In its October 2012 study, Virtual currency schemes, the European Central Bank concluded that the growth of virtual currencies will continue, and, given the currencies' inherent price instability, lack of close regulation, and risk of illegal uses by anonymous users, the Bank warned that periodic examination of developments would be necessary to reassess risks.[177]

text: In 2013, the U.S. Treasury extended its anti-money laundering regulations to processors of bitcoin transactions.[178][179]

text: In June 2013, Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis wrote in Forbes that he received a warning letter from the California Department of Financial Institutions accusing the foundation of unlicensed money transmission.  Matonis denied that the foundation is engaged in money transmission and said he viewed the case as "an opportunity to educate state regulators."[180]

text: In late July 2013, the industry group Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority began to form to set best practices and standards, to work with regulators and policymakers to adapt existing currency requirements to digital currency technology and business models and develop risk management standards.[181]

text: In 2014, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an administrative action against Erik T. Voorhees, for violating Securities Act Section 5 for publicly offering unregistered interests in two bitcoin websites in exchange for bitcoins.[182]

text: Theft and exchange shutdowns[edit]

text: Bitcoins can be stored in a bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet. Theft of bitcoin has been documented on numerous occasions. At other times, bitcoin exchanges have shut down, taking their clients' bitcoins with them. A Wired study published April 2013 showed that 45 percent of bitcoin exchanges end up closing.[183]

text: On 19 June 2011, a security breach of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange caused the nominal price of a bitcoin to fraudulently drop to one cent on the Mt. Gox exchange, after a hacker used credentials from a Mt. Gox auditor's compromised computer illegally to transfer a large number of bitcoins to himself. They used the exchange's software to sell them all nominally, creating a massive "ask" order at any price. Within minutes, the price reverted to its correct user-traded value.[184][185][186][187][188][189] Accounts with the equivalent of more than US$8,750,000 were affected.[186]

text: In July 2011, the operator of Bitomat, the third-largest bitcoin exchange, announced that he had lost access to his wallet.dat file with about 17,000 bitcoins (roughly equivalent to US$220,000 at that time). He announced that he would sell the service for the missing amount, aiming to use funds from the sale to refund his customers.[190]

text: In August 2011, MyBitcoin, a now defunct bitcoin transaction processor, declared that it was hacked, which caused it to be shut down, paying 49% on customer deposits, leaving more than 78,000 bitcoins (equivalent to roughly US$800,000 at that time) unaccounted for.[191][192]

text: In early August 2012, a lawsuit was filed in San Francisco court against Bitcoinica — a bitcoin trading venue — claiming about US$460,000 from the company. Bitcoinica was hacked twice in 2012, which led to allegations that the venue neglected the safety of customers' money and cheated them out of withdrawal requests.[193][194]

text: In late August 2012, an operation titled Bitcoin Savings and Trust was shut down by the owner, leaving around US$5.6 million in bitcoin-based debts; this led to allegations that the operation was a Ponzi scheme.[195][196][197][198] In September 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had reportedly started an investigation on the case.[199]

text: In September 2012, Bitfloor, a bitcoin exchange, also reported being hacked, with 24,000 bitcoins (worth about US$250,000) stolen. As a result, Bitfloor suspended operations.[200][201] The same month, Bitfloor resumed operations; its founder said that he reported the theft to FBI, and that he plans to repay the victims, though the time frame for repayment is unclear.[202]

text: On 3 April 2013, Instawallet, a web-based wallet provider, was hacked,[203] resulting in the theft of over 35,000 bitcoins[204] which were valued at US$129.90 per bitcoin at the time, or nearly $4.6 million in total.  As a result, Instawallet suspended operations.[203]

text: On 11 August 2013, the Bitcoin Foundation announced that a bug in a pseudorandom number generator within the Android operating system had been exploited to steal from wallets generated by Android apps; fixes were provided 13 August 2013.[205]

text: In October 2013, Inputs.io, an Australian-based bitcoin wallet provider was hacked with a loss of 4100 bitcoins, worth over A$1 million at time of theft. The service was run by the operator TradeFortress. Coinchat, the associated bitcoin chat room, has been taken over by a new admin.[206]

text: On 26 October 2013, a Hong-Kong based bitcoin trading platform owned by Global Bond Limited (GBL) vanished with 30 million yuan (US$5 million) from 500 investors.[207]

text: Mt. Gox, the Japan-based exchange that in 2013 handled 70% of all worldwide bitcoin traffic, declared bankruptcy in February 2014, with bitcoins worth about $390 million missing, for unclear reasons. The CEO was eventually arrested and charged with embezzlement.[208]

text: On 3 March 2014, Flexcoin announced it was closing its doors because of a hack attack that took place the day before.[209][210][211] In a statement that once occupied their homepage, they announced on 3 March 2014 that "As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss [the hack], we are closing our doors immediately."[212] Users can no longer log into the site.

text: Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Bter lost $2.1 million in BTC in February 2015.[213]

text: The Slovenian exchange Bitstamp lost bitcoin worth $5.1 million to a hack in January 2015.[214]

text: The US-based exchange Cryptsy declared bankruptcy in January 2016, ostensibly because of a 2014 hacking incident; the court-appointed receiver later alleged that Cryptsy's CEO had stolen $3.3 million.[215]

text: In May 2016, Gatecoin closed temporarily after a breach had caused a loss of about $2 million in cryptocurrency. It subsequently relaunched its exchange in August 2016 and is slowly reimbursing its customers.[216][217]

text: In August 2016, hackers stole some $72 million in customer bitcoin from the Hong-Kong-based exchange Bitfinex.[218]

text: In December 2017, hackers stole 4,700 bitcoins from NiceHash a platform that allowed users to sell hashing power.[219][220] The value of the stolen bitcoins totaled about $80M. [221]

text: On December 19, 2017, Yapian, a company that owns the Youbit cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, filed for bankruptcy following a hack, the second in eight months.[222]

text: Taxation and regulation[edit]

text: In 2012, the Cryptocurrency Legal Advocacy Group (CLAG) stressed the importance for taxpayers to determine whether taxes are due on a bitcoin-related transaction based on whether one has experienced a "realization event": when a taxpayer has provided a service in exchange for bitcoins, a realization event has probably occurred and any gain or loss would likely be calculated using fair market values for the service provided."[223]

text: In August 2013, the German Finance Ministry characterized bitcoin as a unit of account,[65][224] usable in multilateral clearing circles and subject to capital gains tax if held less than one year.[224]

text: On 5 December 2013, the People's Bank of China announced in a press release regarding bitcoin regulation that whilst individuals in China are permitted to freely trade and exchange bitcoins as a commodity, it is prohibited for Chinese financial banks to operate using bitcoins or for bitcoins to be used as legal tender currency, and that entities dealing with bitcoins must track and report suspicious activity to prevent money laundering.[225] The value of bitcoin dropped on various exchanges between 11 and 20 percent following the regulation announcement, before rebounding upward again.[226]

text: Arbitrary blockchain content[edit]

text: Bitcoin's blockchain can be loaded with arbitrary data. In 2018 researchers from RWTH Aachen University and Goethe University identified 1,600 files added to the blockchain, 59 of which included links to unlawful images of child exploitation, politically sensitive content, or privacy violations. "Our analysis shows that certain content, eg, illegal pornography, can render the mere possession of a blockchain illegal."[227]

text: Interpol also sent out an alert in 2015 saying that "the design of the blockchain means there is the possibility of malware being injected and permanently hosted with no methods currently available to wipe this data".[228]


document_title: José Iglesias (baseball)

question_text: who did the tigers trade for jose iglesias

text: José Iglesias (baseball)

text: Professional career[edit]

text: Defection and minors[edit]

text: While in Cuba, Iglesias played with the Industriales, from the Cuban National Series. With pitcher Noel Argüelles, Iglesias defected from the Cuban junior national team while in Canada in July 2008.[1] Iglesias signed as an international amateur free agent with the Boston Red Sox in September 2009.[2] Prior to the 2011 season, Iglesias was the sole Red Sox prospect on the MLB.com annual list of top 50 baseball prospects, where he was ranked 42nd.[3]

text: Boston Red Sox (2011–2013)[edit]

text: In March 2011, Iglesias was optioned to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. Iglesias was called up by the Red Sox and made his major league debut on May 8, 2011 as a defensive substitute for Jed Lowrie in the ninth inning of a 9–5 win over the Minnesota Twins. In the next game, he represented the game-winning run, scoring from first base on a Carl Crawford double in the 11th inning.[4] On May 11, 2011, Iglesias made his first MLB start due to Jed Lowrie being sick.[5]

text: Iglesias started the 2012 season in Pawtucket. He was called up to Boston May 1 after an ailing back sidelined Kevin Youkilis,[6] but he did not appear in a game before being sent back down to Triple-A. Iglesias also appeared late in the 2012 season to back up Mike Aviles, and hit his first career home run during this stretch.

text: Entering 2013, Iglesias was ranked as the 10th best prospect in the Red Sox organization,[7] and 96th on the MLB.com Top 100 Prospects list.[8] He started the season in Boston, going 9-for-20 with two doubles and one RBI in six games, but was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after Stephen Drew was activated on April 10. He was recalled by the Red Sox on May 24 when third baseman Will Middlebrooks was placed on the DL. Iglesias excelled while splitting time between shortstop and third base, remaining in the starting lineup even after Middlebrooks returned from the DL. Despite being known primarily for his defense, Iglesias batted .420 for a stretch of over 100 at-bats after being recalled, including an 18-game hitting streak that was broken on June 19 against the Tampa Bay Rays. For his efforts, he was named the American League Rookie of the Month for June. Iglesias started the 2013 season playing 63 games with a .330 batting average, a home run, and 19 RBIs while with Boston.

text: Detroit Tigers (2013–present)[edit]

text: On July 30, Iglesias was traded to the Detroit Tigers in a three-team deal that sent Jake Peavy and Brayan Villarreal to the Boston Red Sox and Avisail García and Francellis Montas to the Chicago White Sox.[9] Iglesias chose jersey No. 1, making him the first Tigers player to wear it since Lou Whitaker retired in 1995.[10]

text: Iglesias drove in a run with a single in his very first game as a Tiger, on August 2, helping Detroit to a 2–1 win over the White Sox.[11] The next night, he hit his first home run as a Tiger, a solo shot to left field in the fourth inning.[12] Following the 50-game suspension given to Tigers starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta on August 5 for his connections to the South Florida Biogenesis clinic, Iglesias was named the Tigers new everyday shortstop.[13]

text: For the rest of the 2013 season with the Tigers, Iglesias batted .259 with 2 home runs, and 10 RBIs in 46 games. Overall in 2013, Iglesias hit .303 with 3 home runs and 29 RBIs in 109 games combined with both the Red Sox and Tigers. On the field, he committed 6 errors in 357 chances.

text: Regardless of his trade after the All-Star Break, Iglesias was part of the Tigers 25-man active roster for their postseason run. During the postseason, Iglesias batted .231 with an RBI. In Game 6 of the 2013 American League Championship Series, Iglesias was the final out of the series to strike out, resulting in the Tigers losing the series to the eventual World Series champ Boston Red Sox after 6 games.

text: Iglesias was named the 2013 Detroit Tigers/Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association Rookie of the Year. Iglesias finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2013, being edged out by Wil Myers.[14]

text: On January 8, Iglesias and the Tigers agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $1.65 million.  Although Iglesias is under team control through 2018, his 2014 salary had yet to be determined after the contract he signed with the Red Sox as an amateur free agent expired.[15] Iglesias missed the entire 2014 season due to stress fractures in both of his shins.[16]

text: On July 6, Iglesias was named as a reserve for the  American League at the 2015 All-Star Game.[17] On September 5, it was announced that Iglesias suffered a non-displaced small fracture in his right middle finger at the PIP joint after being hit on the hand by a pitch, and the team announced he would be out for at least two weeks.[18] With the Tigers later falling out of the AL Central race, the team elected to not activate him from the DL for the remainder of the season. During the 2015 season, Iglesias posted a .300 batting average in 416 at-bats, with 17 doubles, two home runs and 23 RBIs.

text: On January 15, 2016, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Iglesias, agreeing on a one-year, $2.1 million contract.[19] Iglesias made one trip to the disabled list in 2016, after suffering a left hamstring strain in August,[20] but still reached career highs with 137 games, 467 at-bats and 26 doubles. He finished the season with a .255 batting average, 4 home runs and 32 RBI. Following the season, Iglesias was named a Gold Glove Award finalist for shortstop, along with Francisco Lindor and Andrelton Simmons. With just five errors in 574 chances, he posted an AL-best .991 fielding percentage. His 11.6 ultimate zone rating (UZR) ranked third among AL shortstops.[21]

text: On January 13, 2017, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Iglesias, agreeing on a one-year, $4.1 million contract.[22] Iglesias batted .255 during the 2017 season. Despite appearing in just 130 games due to injuries, he set career highs in doubles (33), home runs (6) and RBI (54).

text: On January 17, 2018, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Iglesias, agreeing on a one-year, $6.275 million contract.[23]

text: Personal life[edit]

text: On June 25, 2018, Iglesias became a naturalized United States citizen.[24]


document_title: List of This Is Us characters

question_text: what was randalls job on this is us

question_tokens: what was randalls job on this is us

text: List of This Is Us characters

text: Main characters[edit]

text: Jack Pearson[edit]

text: Jack Pearson (born August 31, 1944–died 1996 or 1997), portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia, is Rebecca's husband, and the father of Kate, Kevin, and Randall.[2] Jack had a brother named Nick.

text: Jack had a rough childhood because of his abusive, alcoholic father Stanley Pearson, causing them to have a strained relationship. Stanley did not know that Jack was married, so when Jack found out that he and Rebecca were expecting triplets, he went to his father asking for money, citing gambling debts, rather than telling him that he intended to buy a house for his family. When Stanley was in the nursing home dying, he met Rebecca and his granddaughter Kate for the first time. Jack was camping with Kevin and Randall when Rebecca contacted him about his father dying, but Jack refused to see him.[3]

text: Jack was drafted into the Army at age 25; he served in the Vietnam War as a mechanic.[4][5] When Jack took Randall to Washington, D.C. on a college tour to Howard University, he then took Randall to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and told him about being drafted and how the war affected him; this may have been the first time that Jack shared about his Vietnam experiences to a member of the Pearson family (including Rebecca).[5][6]

text: After serving in the war, and working as a manual laborer, Jack became a construction foreman. When he wanted to buy the house for his family, he approached his boss and got a raise to $17,000 a year (equivalent to more than $49,000 in 2016), making him the highest paid foreman at the company.[7] He dreamed of opening his own firm, "Big Three Homes", but put his dreams on hold in order to provide a steady income for his children by getting a desk job.[8]

text: Two of the triplets (the third triplet was stillborn) and Randall (who was left at a fire station) were all born on Jack's 36th birthday.[2] Jack always wanted to find out who Randall's biological father was, and never knew that Rebecca had found him.[9]

text: Jack struggled with alcoholism while the children were young, but he stopped drinking to focus more on his family.[10] However, he relapsed into alcoholism when he had a drink after a fight due to a disagreement with his wife, who wanted to go on tour with a band with a member she'd once dated.[11] His drinking continued for some time until he decided to deal with the problem, at first by boxing, and then by attending AA meetings.[12] His sobriety and AA work continued for at least 6 months.[5]

text: Jack died while his children were in high school, and Kate keeps his ashes with her.[13][14] The exact cause of Jack's death has not yet been revealed, but the Pearson house is seen by Rebecca after being burnt in a fire.[15]

text: Rebecca Pearson[edit]

text: Rebecca Pearson née Malone (born 1950 or 1951), portrayed by Mandy Moore, is Jack's wife, and the mother of Kate, Kevin, and Randall.[2]

text: She strives to be a better mother to her children,[16] and has issues with Jack's alcoholism.[10] She has always known that William is Randall's father, but kept them apart as she was afraid that he would try to take Randall back.[9]

text: Rebecca always wanted to be a singer, but gave up on her dreams in order to focus on her family.[17] In the mid 1990s, she had a chance to become a singer again by joining a band with her ex-boyfriend. Jack was upset after finding out about their history, which caused a rift between Rebecca and Jack.[11]

text: About 8 years after Jack's death, Rebecca posted pictures of Tess, her new first grandbaby, on Facebook, then got a message from Jack's best friend, Miguel Rivas.[18] Rebecca later married Miguel.[10]

text: Randall Pearson[edit]

text: Randall Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Sterling K. Brown (current day), Niles Fitch (age 15), and Lonnie Chavis (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's (adopted) son, and Kate and Kevin's brother.[2] On his 36th birthday, he found his biological father, William, and invited him to his northern New Jersey home.[2]

text: Randall worked at selling commodity futures based on weather patterns, and was shown to be successful and affluent.[8] However, after a nervous breakdown and some time off, he felt that his firm did not appreciate or respect him, and quit.[11][19]

text: On the day that Randall was born, he was dropped off in front of a firehouse by his biological father, William, and then taken to the hospital, where he was adopted by Jack and Rebecca.[2] Jack and Rebecca originally named him Kyle (the name they had intended for their third child, who was stillborn). Taking William's advice, Rebecca decided to give him his own name, naming him after William's favorite poet, Dudley Randall, although she refused to let William see Randall.[2][20] This allowed them to honor both their stillborn son's memory and Randall, rather than essentially replacing one son with the other.

text: At age nine, Randall’s teacher informed Jack and Rebecca that Randall was a gifted child who was not being challenged enough at his current school. They decided to remove him from public school and send him to Hanes Academy.[8] In high school Randall played football, wearing number 36.[17]

text: Randall and Kevin had an estranged relationship and didn't reconnect until they were 36 years old. At some points, Kevin openly despised Randall.[10] At a high school football game, where they played on opposing teams, they got in a fight.[17] However, there were also some moments when they acted like brothers.[3] (When they were 36, they got in a fight on the street in New York, but Kevin told onlookers they were brothers.)[17]

text: As an adult, Kevin was hurt that Randall didn't seem to care about his acting career.[17] They began to reconnect when Kevin needed Randall's advice, but Randall coldly told him he shouldn't care what he thinks. Eventually, Kevin moved to Randall's house in New Jersey, but they still had some work to do on building their relationship.[21] He loves Thanksgiving and has his family recreate a specific childhood Thanksgiving every year, including a 3.4 mile hike, watching Police Academy 3: Back in Training, and imitating a hotel owner known as "Pilgrim Rick".[22]

text: In season 2, Randall wanted to adopt a baby (to honor his father's legacy), but decided (with Beth's input) to foster an older child who may need help.[4][15] They fostered a 12-year old girl named Deja, whose mother Shauna was incarcerated. She showed signs of physical abuse, but Randall and Beth started to win her trust and get her to open up.[23][24][3] When the charges against Shauna were dropped, Deja went back home with her (over Randall's initial objections). Randall and Beth planned to try fostering again after some time.[5]

text: Kate Pearson[edit]

text: Kate Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Chrissy Metz (current day), Hannah Zeile (age 15), and Mackenzie Hancsicsak (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's daughter, and Kevin and Randall's sister.[2]

text: Kate is obese and has struggled with issues of self-esteem her entire life, which she greatly attributes to her strained relationship with her mother and the death of her father.[2][19] Her relationship with her mother led to depression, for which she later took Prozac. She discontinued taking this drug due to the side effect of weight gain.[25]

text: Kate lives in Los Angeles and was her brother, Kevin's, personal assistant.[20] When Kevin decided to move to New York, he fired her in order to allow her to build her own life, apart from him.[21] She is an ardent Pittsburgh Steelers fan and has a routine where she watches the games with her dad's ashes.[13] At nine years old, she had her appendix removed on Christmas Eve.[25]

text: Kate decided to join a weight-loss support group, where she met Toby. Despite saying that she was not going to get involved with a fat person, she fell for Toby.[2] When Toby decided to not continue with his diet, Kate broke up with him and decided to go to Randall's for Thanksgiving. During a turbulent plane ride to New Jersey, Kate had an epiphany and decided to have gastric bypass surgery.[22] After consulting with a doctor, she instead decided to enter a fat camp to attempt to lose the weight without surgery.[14] When Toby surprised Kate by showing up at Randall's house for Christmas, he told her that he can live without pizza and junk food, but that he cannot live without her.[25] Toby collapsed from a heart attack, and was taken to the hospital.

text: After Toby's heart surgery, Kate and Toby decided to get engaged.[26] Kate later found out she was pregnant.[24] Kate and Toby announced their pregnancy to Kevin, and planned to get married at city hall, but then considered a big wedding.[27] But Kate lost the baby in a miscarriage.[28] Despite some struggle in their relationship after the miscarriage, Toby eventually came through for Kate.[28]

text: Kate had said that her father's death was her fault (although this claim has not been clarified or explained).[19]

text: Kevin Pearson[edit]

text: Kevin Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Justin Hartley (current day), Logan Shroyer (age 15), and Parker Bates (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's son, and Kate and Randall's brother.[2]

text: Shortly before his tenth birthday, Kevin became attracted to Kate's best friend, Sophie, whom he married when they were older. Kevin and Sophie decided that she would stay in New York and he would move to California to pursue acting, believing that their marriage could handle the distance. Kevin and Sophie later divorced, 12 years prior to season 1, due to the distance and Kevin cheating on her.[14][29]

text: Kevin has always struggled with worrying about what people think of him, which caused him to have a strained relationship with Randall as they grew up.[10] Kevin was visibly envious of Randall, who had always excelled in everything and received more attention from their parents, but he didn't realize that Randall has longed for the same attention from him. In high school he played football, as a quarterback, wearing number twelve one year and number one the next[17][30] (His number one jersey was on display with Kevin's trophies when he visited the high school at age 37, for an alumni celebration.)[30] His goal of a football career ended when his knee was injured from a tackle during a game.[30]

text: Kevin was an actor in Los Angeles, starring as the lead on a long-running sitcom called The Manny, a sitcom in the tradition of Who's the Boss and The Nanny. He abruptly quit that show on his 36th birthday, criticizing the script quality, the producer's reluctance to add nuance to the show, and the audience.[2] After quitting his job, Kevin decided to move to New York to pursue a career as a serious stage actor on Broadway.[21] Upon arriving in New York, he got hired as the lead role, David, in Back of an Egg, opposite a cynical actress named Olivia Maine (who thought Kevin did not have the ability, but that Kevin was hired because his being "The Manny" would sell tickets).[21]

text: When Kevin had trouble connecting with the emotions needed for his role, he began spending time with Olivia, who tried to get him to connect with his feelings.[8] Kevin and Olivia briefly dated, but broke up after she brought her ex-boyfriend to the Pearson family cabin.[9] After his breakup with Olivia, Kevin began dating the writer of the play, Sloane Sandburg, attending Hanukkah with her family and inviting her to the Christmas Eve party at Randall's house.[25]

text: Sloane took over as the lead of the play when Olivia disappeared and the play was at risk. Kevin decided to self-fund the performance, in order to save it.[7] After Kevin and Sloane broke up, he reconnected with Sophie and began a relationship with her again.[14][19]

text: Director Ron Howard saw Kevin's play and had him cast in a war movie.[19] Kevin had trouble with his lines when he could not focus after, when Kate (visiting the set) talked with costar Sylvester Stallone about her dad, Stallone talked to Kevin about his dad. Kevin also reinjured his knee (that was injured from football) during an explosion on the set.[23]

text: As a result of the injury, Kevin became addicted to pain medication and alcohol, and allowed his relationship with Sophie to deteriorate.[27] One day after a brief visit with Randall, Kevin was speeding down a road, unaware that Tess was hiding in the back seat; Kevin was pulled over and charged with DUI, and Randall and Beth became angry with Kevin for endangering Tess.[5]

text: Beth Pearson[edit]

text: Beth Pearson, portrayed by Susan Kelechi Watson, is Randall's wife, whom he met in college and later married, circa 1999. The couple has two daughters, Annie and Tess.[10] Their marriage is based on honesty where they make an effort not to have secrets from one another. William revealed to Beth that he had met and communicated with Rebecca. This caused Beth to give Rebecca an ultimatum: to either tell Randall or she would. Growing up, Beth lived in a three-bedroom house with 14 other people.[17] After Randall quit his job, Beth took a job so Randall could be a stay-at-home dad.[15]

text: Toby Damon[edit]

text: Toby Damon, portrayed by Chris Sullivan. is Kate's fiancé.[26] Toby was born in Palm Springs, California.[7] Toby began dating Kate after they met at a weight-loss support group.[2] Toby is confident with his own body although obese, and encourages Kate to have better self-esteem. He was previously married to a woman whom Kate views as beautiful and successful, but who treated him badly. Toby gained 90 pounds in the first year after his divorce.[21]

text: Refusing to take Kate's hesitance about the relationship lightly, Toby has continually come up with sweet gestures to win her over.[20] In the beginning, he felt that he had to compete with Kevin for Kate's attention.[20] Despite breaking his weight-loss goals, Toby decided dieting was not for him and went off his diet, resulting in Kate breaking up with him.[9] He surprised Kate by showing up at Randall's house for Christmas Eve, stating that he could live without pizza and junk food, but that he could not live without her.[25] On Christmas Eve, Toby collapsed and ended up in the hospital with an arrhythmia.[7] After Toby's heart surgery, he and Kate decided to get engaged.[26]

text: William Hill[edit]

text: William H. "Shakespeare" Hill (died 2017), portrayed by Ron Cephas Jones (recent days) and Jermel Nakia (as a young adult), was Randall's biological father.[20]

text: William was a recovering drug addict who was suffering from terminal stage-four stomach cancer in the present.[21] He grew up in Memphis,[14] and after his mother moved to Pittsburgh he stayed in Memphis to play in his cousin Ricky's band, where he played piano, wrote, and sang.[31] William left the band, with the intention of returning, to care for his dying mother. However, after meeting Randall's mother and becoming a drug addict, he never returned.[31] He got clean after he thought he saw a monkey on the streets, realizing that nothing good comes from a person being on the street at 3:30 am. (He also stayed clean for years after being told by a judge, who offered to help him after his first conviction, to picture the judge's face when he was tempted to do the wrong thing.)[27] William returned to Philadelphia to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, hoping to find and reconnect with his former lover Jessie[25]

text: After leaving Randall at the firehouse, he waited outside the hospital to see him being taken home by Jack and Rebecca. Rebecca realized that William was Randall's father, after seeing him getting onto the bus as she left the hospital. She eventually tracked him down,[10] a secret she kept from everyone, including Randall and Jack.[9]

text: William always wanted to have a relationship with his child,[9] but promised Rebecca he would stay away for Randall's benefit.[20] He accidentally revealed this secret to Beth one night when they got high together,[17] and Randall accidentally found out himself, when he found a letter and photo in William's apartment, from Rebecca, while looking for cassette tapes.[22] (William also told Randall about the second time William saw Rebecca; he took a cab to follow her home, hoping he could be in Randall's life, but when he was outside the house, he thought better of it.)[5]

text: William was bisexual, previously having a relationship with a man, Jessie, with whom he never officially broke up. Jessie assumed William had died when he vanished one night (the night William moved in with Randall's family).[25] William eventually succumbed to his cancer during a road trip back to Memphis with Randall.[31] Prior to his death he left a letter to Randall's girls, asking them to plan a fun memorial for him. He also sent Beth a postcard from Memphis, saying goodbye and calling her the daughter he never had.[19]

text: Miguel Rivas[edit]

text: Miguel Rivas, portrayed by Jon Huertas, was Jack's best friend and is Rebecca's second husband. Miguel was originally married to Shelly, before they divorced.[29] While it originally seemed that his marriage to Rebecca happened shortly after Jack's death, in season 2 it is clarified that the two did not get together until at least eight years after Jack's passing. Miguel was initially disliked by Kevin, until Miguel told Kevin how much he is like his father.

text: Sophie[edit]

text: Sophie, portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge (modern day), Amanda Leighton (age 15), and Sophia Coto (age 10), was Kate's childhood best friend and Kevin's childhood love and his ex-wife. Kevin moved to New York and reconciled with her, after his relationships with Olivia and Sloane ended.[14][19] Their relationship initially survived the distance when Kevin was in his movie in L.A., but Kevin broke up with Sophie, admitting that his painkiller and alcohol addictions were out of control and he couldn't be the man that he wanted to be for her.[27]

text: Tess Pearson[edit]

text: Tess Pearson, portrayed by Eris Baker, is Randall and Beth's older daughter. She was promoted to series regular in season two.[32] She was named after the Tessana ceiling fan Randall was going to purchase when hearing about Beth going into labor.[18] Although not noticed acting out previously, she hid in her uncle Kevin's car (claiming she hates it at her house), when he was pulled over for speeding and charged with DUI.[5]

text: Annie Pearson[edit]

text: Annie Pearson, portrayed by Faithe Herman, is Randall and Beth's younger daughter. She was also promoted to series regular in season two.[32] On William's first night at Randall's family's house, when William wanted to step out, Annie convinced William that he might be happy if he stayed. [23]

text: Recurring characters[edit]

text: Introduced in season one[edit]

text: Gerald McRaney as Dr. Nathan Katowski (aka "Dr. K"): An elderly widower, who delivered Kate and Kevin.

tag: ul

text: Janet Montgomery as Olivia Maine: Kevin's former stage partner and ex-girlfriend.

text: Milana Vayntrub as Sloane Sandburg: Kevin's stage partner and ex-girlfriend.

text: Ryan Michelle Bathe as Yvette: A family friend of the Pearsons.

text: Denis O'Hare as Jessie: William's friend and former lover.

text: Adam Bartley as Duke: The stable worker at the weight-loss camp Kate attended.

text: Jill Johnson as Laurie: A member of Toby and Kate's weight-loss support group.[2]

text: Peter Onorati as Stanley Pearson: Jack's father. Jack had a strained relationship with Stanley, who was alcoholic and abusive.[7][4] When Stanley was dying, Jack did not want to see him.[3]

text: Hari Dhillon as Sanjay Jahiri: Randall's newer coworker who was given much of Randall's client base before Randall had his nervous breakdown.[11]

text: Caitlin Thompson as Madison: Member of Kate's support group, although Kate doesn't think Madison has the issues the rest of them have. In a season two episode, after Kate criticized Madison in group, she accidentally bumped into Madison's vehicle; Kate ended up telling her she's pregnant, so Madison was the first to hear about Kate's pregnancy.[3]

text: Introduced in season two[edit]

text: Lyric Ross as Deja: Randall and Beth's foster child while her mother was incarcerated.[33]

text: Guest stars[edit]

text: The following is a supplementary list of guest stars, some recurring, who appear in lesser roles. The characters are listed, in alphabetical order by actor, by the season in which they first appeared.

text: Introduced in season one[edit]

text:
Wynn Everett as Shelly: Miguel's wife.
Brad Garrett as Wes Manning: A television network president tasked with negotiating Kevin's exit from The Manny.
Jami Gertz as Marin Rosenthal: A woman who hired Kate to be an event coordinator.
Ron Howard as himself: After Howard saw Kevin's play, he called Kevin to praise his performance and offered to send him a script for a new movie he was producing.
Mario Lopez as himself: Lopez was hosting a talk show discussing Kevin's on-set meltdown.
Seth Meyers as himself: Meyers saw Kevin and Randall fighting on a New York City sidewalk and approached the pair, recognizing Kevin as a showbiz colleague.
Elizabeth Perkins as Janet Malone: Rebecca's overbearing mother.
Katey Sagal as Lanie Schulz: Kevin's Hollywood agent.
Jimmi Simpson as Andy Fannan: A co-worker whom Randall talked out of committing suicide on Christmas Eve.
Alan Thicke as himself: Thicke was guest-starring on The Manny when Kevin had his on-set meltdown.

text: Introduced in season two[edit]

text:
Debra Jo Rupp as Linda: A social worker who worked with Randall and Beth Pearson when they fostered Deja.[34]
Sylvester Stallone as himself: Actor in a movie Kevin was cast in.[35]