1994 Timeline

• American and Russian nuclear missiles are for the first time no longer pointed at each

other’s countries, thanks to the signing of the Kremlin Accords. This marks the most significant thawing of Cold War relations in decades.

• A massive earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale shakes up southern California

and kills 61 people just before dawn.

• The biggest spying trial of the decade begins with CIA employee Aldrich Ames being

arrested and charged with espionage on behalf of the former Soviet Union.

• The Rwandan genocide begins in Africa. Close to 1 million people would be slaughtered

in a 100 day period in one of the worst incidents of ethnic cleansing in the 20th century.

• The Channel Tunnel, an undersea rail link between England and France, opens for

passengers for the first time. It is the longest sub-oceanic tunnel in the entire world.

• OJ Simpson is arrested for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her male

companion Ronald Goldman, sparking a media frenzy over the most controversial trial since the Rodney King beating.

• Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese doomsday cult, released sarin nerve gas in the city of

Matsumoto at night, killing seven people and hospitalizing hundreds more.

• The Provisional Irish Republican Army, a terrorist organization focused on Irish

independence, announces a ceasefire that will last almost 2 years.

• Close to 50 members of the Order of the Solar Temple, a religious cult, are found dead

by their own hand in Switzerland and Quebec, Canada.

• Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan goes public with the fact that he has been

diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Kansai International Airport, located on an artificial island constructed in Osaka Bay,

Japan, goes into operation. The airport took 7 years to construct.

• Streets of Philadelphia – Bruce Springsteen
• I Swear – All-4-One
• Cotton Eye Joe – Rednex
• About a Girl – Nirvana
• Basket Case – Green Day
• All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crow
• Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
• Closer – Nine Inch Nails
• Always – Bon Jovi
• Crazy – Aerosmith
• Gin & Juice – Snoop Doggy Dogg
• I Like to Move It – Reel 2 Real
• Juicy – The Notorious B.I.G.
• Loser – Beck
• Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
• Sabotage – Beastie Boys
• Come Out And Play – Offspring
• Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos
• I Alone – Live
• Sure Shot – Beastie Boys
• Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
• What’s The Frequency Kenneth – REM
• Sour Times – Portishead
• Secret – Madonna
• The Sign – Ace of Base
• Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

My So-Called Life
This short-lived teen drama would only last 19 episodes but it would launch the career of actress Claire Danes and paint one of the most accurate portraits of 1990’s teen angst found on the small screen. Check out our Angela Chase costume.

Party of Five
Focusing on a family who have lost their parents in a tragic accident, Party of Five was a virtual star factory as it featured the soon to be famous trio of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell and Matthew Fox.

Due South
American audiences were treated to a stylized interpretation of life in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police through Paul Gross’ benevolent Mountie character.

Chicago Hope
Doctor dramas were hot in 1994, and Chicago Hope found legions of fans dedicated to following the lives of the workers in a big city hospital.

Touched By An Angel
Although at times saccharine-sweet, the CBS series about angels intervening in the lives of everyday people would touch a chord across a wide audience.

ER
Premiering one day after Chicago Hope, Michael Crichton’s ER would become a ratings juggernaut and introduce the world to such big name actors as George Clooney.

Friends
The definitive sitcom of the 1990s, Friends was a cultural phenomenon that helped revitalize television hilarity.

Inside The Actors Studio
James Lipton is still going strong after more than a decade of interviewing performers in a casual, academic setting.

Forrest Gump
Starring Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise and Robin Wright
The highest grossing film of 1994 featured a sprawling narrative that told the tale of a simple man’s incredible journey through life and American history.

Speed
Starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper
There’s a bomb on a bus and if it slows down, everybody dies. That simple plot was enough to keep audiences on the edge of their seat while Reeves’ character attempted to save the lives of the passengers trapped onboard.

The Flintstones
Starring John Goodman, Halle Berry and Rick Moranis
The film that started the rush of television big-screen remakes, it also helped launch Halle Berry’s career.

The Lion King
Starring Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones
One of the biggest animated Disney musicals to have ever been released, this tale of a young lion cub grossed close to a billion dollars worldwide in 1994 alone.

Dumb and Dumber
Starring Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels and Lauren Holly
The Farrelly brothers directed this lowbrow comedy that gave Jim Carrey an international stage upon which to flaunt his unique brand of humor.

True Lies
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold
James Cameron’s epic action film about a secret agent whose wife is tired of his double life but who gets herself tangled up in chaos when she tries to intervene.

The Mask
Starring Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and Peter Greene
A comic book fantasy about a pencil neck bank clerk who discovers a mystical mask that gives him incredible powers and allows him to break out of his boring day-to-day existence.

Interview with the Vampire
Starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas
Anne Rice’s vampire classic is brought to the silver screen. The film also featured the first major role for soon-to-be-teen idol Kirsten Dunst.

Pulp Fiction
Starring Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta
This neo-film noir vaulted Quentin Tarantino into the A-list of directors and re-defined the entire crime film genre for the rest of the decade.

Clerks
Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes
Shot on the lowest of budgets, the black and white comedy would herald a turning point for independent cinema in the United States and help director Kevin Smith begin to assemble his own entertainment empire.

Four Weddings and a Funeral
Starring Hugh Grant, Andie McDowell and Kristin Scott Thomas
The first of many successful romantic comedies for Grant, who would emerge as an unlikely superstar of British film

Natural Born Killers
Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis and Tom Sizemore
A controversial examination of media sensationalism that follows two star-crossed lovers on a cross-country crime spree.

Junior
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emma Thompson and Danny DeVito
An absurdist comedy in which the normally rough and rugged Austrian superstar sees himself become the first ever man to become pregnant as part of science experiment and publicity stunt.

Maverick
Starring Mel Gibson, James Garner and Jodie Foster
Another television series redux, this time Gibson finds himself in the Old West as a gambler in search of the bankroll he needs to make the big time.

Once Were Warriors
Starring Rena Owen, Cliff Curtis and Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell
Harrowing depiction of life as a native New Zealander struggling to deal with the demands of modern society and the traditional aspects of Maori culture.

The Shawshank Redemption
Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Bob Gunton
Based on a Stephen King short story, this prison drama’s uplifting ending made it one of the most enduring films of the year.

The Santa Clause
Starring Tim Allen, Wendy Crewson and Eric Lloyd
When a man is forced to step into the role of Santa Clause, he finds his entire world turned upside down.

Clear and Present Danger
Starring Harrison Ford, Anne Archer and Willem Dafoe
A sprawling tale of political intrigue and the drug trade based on a book by Tom Clancy.

Senna & Ratzenberger are killed during the San Marino Grand Prix.

George Foreman, at 45 years old, knocks out Michael Moorer.

Go for Gin wins the Kentucky Derby.