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A U.S. District judge in Seattle last month ordered the anonymous actress suing IMDb for age discrimination to use her name on the lawsuit — or it couldn’t go forward. So today, Huong Hoang (pictured) who acts using the stage name Junie Hoang, amended and refiled the $1 million suit using her real name. Hoang originally sued IMDb and parent company Amazon as Jane Doe, alleging that the popular online film and TV database posted her age (40) on the site without her permission, after which time offers for younger roles decreased in frequency (her posted resume on the site says she can play ages 26-33). The lawsuit spurred reaction from Hollywood guilds, who took up Huong’s fight as an example of age discrimination for actors in the entertainment industry. IMDb and Amazon eventually denied any wrongdoing, and the Seattle judge said the complaint couldn’t go forward without a legal name on it. Hoang — whose credits include the film Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver, a role as a nurse on the reality TV series I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant as well as commercials and industrial videos — is suing for breach of contract and invasion of privacy.
Actress Who Is Suing IMDb Now Has A Name
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Kudos, Ms. Hoang.
Please! This lawsuit is complete BS. Since when is someone’s age privileged information. Not even working in age-phobic Hollywood gives you that right when her birth records can be easily discovered through a not very difficult Internet search. If she truly wanted to make a stand for Hollywood ageism should wouldn’t be hiding her age.
I thought her lawsuit’s merit was ‘in the way IMDb illegally obtained her info’ and… without her permission. It was illegal, wasn’t it; at least inappropriate?
That has NO merit. She has NO proof that IMDB stole her info when she used her credit card to put her head shots up and subscribe to imdb. I and almost every other actor I know who has used our credits cards NEVER had are birth dates listed unless we added it ourselves.
Wow….age is an issue. I mean in Hollywood years, 40 would put you right up there with Mumra, THE EVER LIVING!!!!!
Actually, birth records are not public information in most states.
She had to divulge her DOB when she signed up for her membership with them.
It is used to cross check with credit cards etc against fraud.
She voluntarily gave this information to them, unless she fraudulently completed the registration process.
This is total crap. No credit card authorization method requires a date of birth to “cross check” against anything — what exactly would they be “cross-checking” against? Publicly-available birth certificates and social security cards? Get a grip.
She didn’t “have to divulge” her birthdate to register (I didn’t when I signed up, and if it’s a required field nothing’s stopping you from putting whatever date you want) but that really doesn’t matter, because whether or not she voluntarily gave them the information does not give IMDB carte blanche to do whatever they want with it.
How delicious this all is…
Seeking damages she cannot prove or justify, conceding that she misleads her employers about her age, reluctantly refiling despite it basically ruining her career in HW.
This is her problem, from a purely evidentiary POV, finding a producer/producers to give evidence that she missed out on a role squarely because of her age (good luck with that), and having to disclose all of her income for the past decade, broken down by how much she was paid per acting gig (which should be interesting).
It would be one thing if she gave IMDB her age or freely displayed it, elsewhere, BUT they obtained the information through private channels (payment information) and displayed it publicly. That’s not legal… And, yes, ageism is a major factor in Theatrical/commercial work, especially for women.
I would think that, as an actress, she is advertising that she can PLAY roles of 26 to 33. Shes an actress, after all. She certainly looks young enough to play those roles. Many actresses play roles younger than their chronological age and everyone knows it. Being a great looking 40 shouldn’t preclude her from playing younger roles. NO CASE!
Imdb’s policy is reprehensible — they publish ages of female above- and below-the-line personnel without consent and won’t remove them. Hope this lawsuit has some positive effect on the policy and gives some control back to individuals over their own personal information.
Let me guess, you’re an old duck?
If I was her, I would have jumped at the chance to use my real name to sue IMDB – I mean, look at all the publicity. Nobody, knew who she was before, and now, she’s an actors spearhead for a legitimate complaint. And she looks pretty good for 40. Yeah, my name is anonymous.
Everyone knows that Gingerdead Man 2 was where the series peaked. You missed the boat, lady.
Best comment on here
So, does this mean we won’t see her in Gingerdeadman 4: Cookie Cutter?
“credits include…I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant…”: that’s a non-union show. If this woman isn’t SAG how could she possibly sue for damages of 1 million? More like $1000 and three SAG vouchers. This whole time I thought this lady was an aging D-lister.
So she’s doing the lawsuit thing because IMDB is telling the truth? And it’s okay for her to lie and say she can play 26-33? Guess that’s about right for someone with a film credit called The Bong Connection.
How exactly is she lying by saying she can play 26-33? And a someone who’s obviously not in the industry, you may be surprised to know that there are A LOT more roles in that age range than for women in their 40′s. That’s the whole point.
If the pic with the article is a current one, then her playing age of 26-33 is accurate. This is the woman’s living.
This is utter nonsense. Her credits or lack thereof is the real issue along with the fact there just aren’t that many roles for people of her ethinicity in Hollywood or any ethnicity for that matter. Age is the least of her problems. I have seen several critically acclaimed films of late which lacked diversity in front and behind the camera. There are far more obstacles for her to overcome than age. That’s for certain.
@ Curtis: Her credits or lack of credits are not the real issue. The real issue is that IMDB published her information without permission and won’t remove it. If she or anyone else does not volunteer their personal information it should not be displayed.
Here, here!
And I thought it might be a real actress
Sorry Junie Hoang looking at your resume it is filled with b-movies so it is most likely your acting ability that is the problem. Has anyone viewed her cut scenes in Tropic Thunder, Big Momma’s House 2 to see if she has any ability at all.
Lack of credits is not always an indicative of a lack of talent.
I know plenty of really good actors who cannot find representation and or come really close to a lot of things, but miss out by a hair.
When you get down to the wire for roles, talent is a given. Missing by a hair is down to all the other details. Not tall enough to play opposite other actor, not short enough to play opposite other actor, ears to big, ears to little, reminds me of my college roomate, reminds me of my college nemesis, she flirted with me, she didn’t flirt with me enough.
Who?
An utterly frivolous lawsuit. She’s a nobody who probably hasn’t made $20k, collectively, in salary in the past 3 years.
What a joke,
Even if she only makes “20K” a year playing these parts, that’s 20K she *won’t* make anymore once they refuse to hire her for the parts she used to get when they thought she was in her 20s.
Maybe you are an actor lucky enough to get lots of offers, and good offers every year; not eveyone does. The ones who don’t feel grateful for the parts they do get. They shouldn’t be “aged” out of parts that casting people and producers wouldn’t know otherwise if IMDB didn’t publish their private information.
So where does the $1M damages claim come from when her actual damage doesn’t look to exceed $50K
Punitive? Not likely given the circumstances.
This is a beat up by greedy lawyers (coming from a former greedy lawyer).
*goes to Netflix to find the Gingerdead Man franchise.*
I can’t stand those fucking dickheads at IMDB. They should make urinal cakes with all the employees names on them. FYI, IMDB guys, you don’t eat those.
Good for her!
And what are your credits hotshot?
You knuckleheads should also remember that DOB is information used to verify identity with most financial institutions. That’s how they got the DOB in the first place. It’s called IDENTITY THEFT.
I’d you don’t know what identity theft is then please look yourself up in imdb under “ignorant idiot.”
So, let me get this straight – rather then take on the studios and sue them for so-called “age discrimination”, she decides to go after sites like IMDB whose purpose it is to provide an accurate product (information) for its customers? Yea, that makes sense. Oh, but the Hollywood Unions are championing her as the Rosa Parks of Hollywood!! Really??!!
If Hollywood is Evil guy here who discriminates people for age then why she is not suing Hollywood? And all Hollywood guilds that supported her? What a joke. And it’s not like IMDB lied. She is 35 and they wrote that she is 40. No.
As I understand she is 40 but wanted to lie in her resume and to her future employees that she is 30-35? And now she can’t lie because IMDB revealed her age. So she is a fraud right? You know she can also sue her mother because she gave her birth 40 years ago and not 30. And also people who made her credit card because it’s written there that her age is 40.
The whole lawsuit is ridiculous.
Somewhere Nicole Bilderback is throwing a party since most everyone assumed it was her all along.
I also don’t think that publishing someones age could be seen as a wrong doing. I know things are changing in the old USA…but I hope that publishing the indisputable truth never makes one guilty of anything.
Here here Laxdude. And Craig…I knew it was her skills getting in her way all along. And now, seeing that she’s actually kinda hot, I mean, really… she must be terrible.
It depends what that “truth” is. If it’s private, personal information, one should have the right to have it kept private and off the internet.
Or would you like a website to have the right to publish your name, address, phone number and bank account information without your permission? After all, if the details were correct, those things would be the “truth”, would they not?
Age discrimination is a serious problem in the film/TV industry (especially for women), and this lawsuit will not help make it go away. This is because the lawsuit does not involve the actual people (namely, producers, etc.) who are responsible for the discrimination. It would be nice if the guilds, unions and studios could work this out on their own… just dreaming, right?
She’s going to win this and I hope it bankrupts those cretinous turds at IMDB, who delight in bullying actors and film workers and never, ever, ever removing the false information that they KNOW is on their site.
IMDb is worth a hell of a lot more than $1M – no chance of this bankrupting them
An age, or even date of birth, isn’t ‘personal information’ in the UK as anybody can go to a registry office and not only inspect the registers of births, deaths and marriages; but also obtain copy birth, wedding and death certificates.
This law suit is nonsense and makes the actress look stupid and petty.
dude. she does not live in the UK. and the lawsuit has been filed in the u.s.
Wow, just checked, imdb even knows how old Angelyne is!
@laxdude
Why not publish social security numbers too?
Hell, someone publish the code to launch the nukes!
Here’s another “indisputable truth,” people who can only see black and white are color blind.
wow way to take a good example, try to refute it, and make yourself look completely retarded. Age is not a confidential file, my brother is a police officer, and according to him, technically she could get sued by every producer she ever falsified information to by saying she is younger than she is. Its just as serious of an offense as falsifying your social security number.
Next time you want to make an ignorant ass out of yourself, just copy your old post, it cant get much worse than that hahaha.
I’m sorry, but WHY are people defending her? Remember when Felicity writer Riley Weston was hailed as a “prodigy” and even had a big 19th birthday celebration on the set? And then it turned out she was a really a 32 year old lying about her age?
I’m not saying ageism isn’t a problem, but to sue because someone is publishing a FACT about you and preventing you from LYING to employers and the public is not only ridiculous, but reprehensible.
“…a role as a nurse on the reality TV series I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant …”
What the fuck does that mean? How can you have a fake role on a reality TV show, especially a nurse?
Aww. Its like telling you the easter bunny isn’t real… You just learned the dark secret behind “reality” TV…
This is just a failed actress trying to make a quick million with a frivolous lawsuit. If someone posted false information about her, fine. But what did they do? They exposed the TRUTH. Oh no! I’m 40! I know I will never make it in Hollywood so I’ll find another way to cash in on this!
Let’s face it – it isn’t your posted age that’s keeping you from roles, lady. It’s the fact that you’re just another actress who will never amount to more than d-list fare.
Like someone else said, if you wanna attack Hollywood for age discrimination, go ahead. but don’t blame a site for posting a birthday.
while we’re at it, dont blame Hollywood either. It’s audiences that decide what they want to see, and the vast majority would rather look at younger people.