News

Adam Epstein, who won a Tony Award for producing Hairspray before he was 30 and received other nominations for his work on revivals of Amadeus and The Crucible and adaptations of The Wedding Singer and Cry-Baby, has died. He was 49.

Epstein died Tuesday at Adventist Health hospital in Glendale after a brief battle with brain cancer, his family announced. He was in the midst of hosting his podcast, Dirty Moderate With Adam Epstein, when he fell ill.

When he was just 28, Epstein joined Margo Lion as a co-producer on the original Broadway production of Hairspray, which bowed in 2002 en route to collecting eight Tonys, including best musical, from 13 nominations. Originally starring Harvey Fierstein, it ran for more than 2,600 performances through 2009.

Epstein had started out on Broadway as an intern and casting assistant before serving as a production associate in 1997 on The Life, nominated for best musical. The next year, he produced...

Often we hear more about notable young women's appearances than their intellect and character.

Of course, there are plenty of women who make valuable contributions to society during their youth that have nothing to do with their looks or sex appeal. We've rounded up seven of the many women who became breakout stars in their various industries before their 30th birthdays, proving that women can make a mark on the world regardless of what society expects of them based on their age.

1. Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham, whose name has practically become synonymous with "20-something," has carved out a space for herself in the entertainment industry by exploring what it's like to be a struggling millennial. Ironically, she arguably got her first big break at the age of 23, when her film "Tiny Furniture" won the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival's best narrative feature award. The film's success attracted the attention of mega-producer Judd Apatow,...