Famous Artists & Entertainers

Will Ferrell

2008-09-06T20:27:00.001-07:00

He was born in Irvine’ California on July 16’ 1968. His career first started at the University of South California where he graduated with a degree in Sports Information. After his graduation’ he started working as a sportscaster on a weekly cable show’ but then later found his interests in acting and stand-up comedy. He then enrolled in some acting classes. In only one short year of training’ he was invited to join The Groundlings. The Groundlings are a small comedy improve group. Working with The Groundlings quickly lead to his discovery by the world famous comedy show’ Saturday Night Live or SNL. From then on’ he was an unknown comedian making his way to the top. After a few years of working with SNL’ he was offered to be a main character in the movie A Night At The Roxbury.

In 1995 Will became a feature cast member at Saturday Night Live during the show’s rapid recasting. He was declared quite possibly the worst cast member ever during his first season. However’ his talents of impersonations and range of characters shot him forward to making him arguably the greatest SNL cast member ever. While Ferrell has portrayed many unforgettable characters; among his most popular recurring personas include: his send-up of President George W. Bush’ musical middle school teacher Marty Culp with wife Bobbi (played by Ana Gasteyer)’ Professor Klarvin the overly amorous "lover" and husband to Virginia (played by Rachel Dratch)’ and Spartan Spirit cheerleader Craig. Among his many impressions are Attorney General Janet Reno’ who ended her tenure with the Clinton administration by doing the twist with Will live on "Saturday Night;" Alex Trebek; "Inside the Actors Studio" host James Lipton; lounge singer Robert Goulet and the late great Chicago Cubs sportscaster’ Harry Caray. Ferrell’s latest films are the new Kevin Smith film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and the Ben Stiller comedy "Zoolander." In 1998’ Ferrell brought his swinging SNL character to the big screen in "A Night at the Roxbury" which he co-wrote with fellow cast member Chris Kattan and Steve Koren. He has also appeared in SNL Studios features "The Ladies’ Man" and "Superstar." In 1997’ Ferrell made his feature film debut as "Mustaffa" in the hit comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." He returned in the blockbuster sequel "The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Wesley Snipes

2008-09-06T20:26:00.002-07:00

Wesley Snipes grew up on the streets of the South Bronx in New York City, where he very early decided that the theater was to be his career. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts (popularized in Fame (1980)). But dreams of the musical theater (and maybe a few commercials) faded when his mother moved to Orlando, Florida before he could graduate from high school.

But after graduation from a Florida high school he appeared in local dinner theaters and regional productions. An agent saw him in a competition and got him his first movie role with Goldie Hawn in Wildcats (1986). Athletic roles such as that gave way to tough guy roles as in New Jack City (1991), and to the action hero in Passenger 57 (1992).

Wesley feels that at least with the Hollywood heavyweights he must be doing something right – Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper and Sean Connery all had veto power over casting and all approved his role.

Wes Bentley

2008-09-06T20:26:00.001-07:00

Birth Name : Wesley Cook Bentley
Date of birth (location) : 4 September 1978, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA

Arkansas native Wes Bentley solidified his reputation as a rising star with a galvanizing performance as Ricky Fitts, the drug-dealing videographer who romances his neighbor’s daughter, in the highly-acclaimed “American Beauty” (1999). While in person the young actor tries to downplay his looks, on screen, the combination of his dark hair, piercing blue eyes and handsome features clearly sets him as a future leading man.

Born in Jonesboro and raised in Little Rock, this self-called “pretty boy” participated in sports in an effort to counteract the teasing and abuse he faced from his classmates over his countenance. Simultaneously, Bentley also acted in school plays and local competitions in what he described to Erik Himmelsbach in Time Out New York, September 9-16, 1999) was an effort “that was my need to prove to people that I was better than what they thought of me, or what I THOUGHT they thought of me.” At his mother’s suggestion, he applied for and was accepted by Juilliard where he was cast in stage productions.

Roles in independent films like “Three Below Zero” (1998) soon followed, as did a small part in “Beloved” (also 1998). While waiting on line at an open call for the musical “Rent”, Bentley was spotted by a casting agent who asked him to read for a movie. After seven callbacks, he landed the job, although he declines to identify which film it was, merely stating “I don’t know WHERE the movie is now.” (Vanity Fair, October 1999).

Wayne Brady

2008-09-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

Wayne Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American comedian and television personality , best known for his role on ABC’s television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? The show featured such memorable castmates as Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops and Colin Mochrie. In the show, he astounded viewers with his dead on impressions of various singers and the sense of humor he brought to the show. He has since gone on to form his own ABC variety show, which failed, and a daytime talkshow called The Wayne Brady Show, which won four Daytime Emmy Awards. These other series focused on Brady’s own skills and likable personality.

In 2004, Brady joined the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn.

Brady was born in Orlando, Florida. He began to perform the central Florida comedy circuit. He moved from Florida to Las Vegas, Nevada and then eventually on to Los Angeles, California in 1996, where he developed his acting skills. Brady is married and has a child.

Warren Beatty

2008-09-06T20:24:00.001-07:00

NAME: Warren Beatty
BORN: 30/03/1937
BIRTH PLACE: Virginia, USA

BIOGRAPHY

The younger brother of actress Shirley MacLaine, Beatty was groomed for stardom early. After studying with acting coach Stella Adler, he was cast in prominent supporting roles in TV dramas, winning the part of Milton Armitage on the TV sitcom, ‘Dobie Gillis’.

His film debut came with ‘Splendour in the Grass’ in 1961, but for a number of years he was often written off as a would-be Brando.

In 1965 Beatty put much of his own money into a quirky crime drama, ‘Mickey One’. The film was a critical success but failed to secure top bookings.

Beatty took on his first film as producer and star, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Critics were hostile at first, but soon it became the most significant film of 1967.

In 1975, Beatty wrote his first screenplay, and the result was ‘Shampoo’, a hilarious satire on the late 1960s.

Beatty debuted as director for 1978’s ‘Heaven Can Wait’, which was successful enough to encourage future Hollywood bankrolling of Beatty’s directorial efforts. In 1981, Beatty produced, directed, co-scripted and acted in ‘Reds’, a spectacular recounting of the Russian Revolution. It was a pet project of Beatty’s that he’d been trying to finance since the 1970s. Beatty won an Oscar as Best Director.

In 1998 he again expressed his left-wing politics through highly successful and much acclaimed political satire ‘Bulworth’.

Beatty’s long and well-documented history of high-profile romances with such actresses as Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Diane Keaton, and Madonna came to an end with his 1992 marriage to ‘Bugsy’ co-star Annette Bening, with whom he later starred in 1994’s ‘Love Affair’.

Walter Matthau

2008-09-06T20:23:00.002-07:00

NAME: Walter Matthau
BORN: 01/10/1920
BIRTH PLACE: New York
DIED: 01/07/2000

Walter Matuschanskayasky was born to Russian Jewish immigrants. He lived with his father until the age of three’ before moving to the Lower East Side to be with his mother and older brother.

Walter started out selling soft drinks and playing bit parts at a Yiddish theatre at age 11. He was paid 50 cents for each of his early onstage appearances.

After graduating’ he took Government related jobs that included time as forester’ a gym instructor for the Works Progress Administration and a boxing coach for policemen.

During World War II’ he served in the Army Air Corps and returned home a sergeant’ with six battle stars.

His fame came with 1966’s ‘The Fortune Cookie’’ which won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar’ and marked his first collaboration with Jack Lemmon. However’ while making it he suffered a serious heart attack and underwent heart bypass surgery.

It was his Oscar-nominated leading turn as ‘Oscar’ to Lemmon’s ‘Felix’ in ‘The Odd Couple’ that firmly established him as a comedic leading man. Continuing their collaboration’ Lemmon directed Matthau to a second Academy Award as Best Actor in ‘Kotch’.

The 80s were not great for Walter. Fed up with the kind of scripts he was getting’ he turned to the small screen. He returned to leading feature roles as the long-suffering Mr. Wilson in 1993’s ‘Dennis’’ and appeared with Lemmon again to score a major hit with ‘Grumpy Old Men’ and its sequel’ ‘Grumpier Old Men’.

1997 saw his twelfth acting collaboration with Lemmon in ‘Out to Sea’’ and the following year they worked together on ‘The Odd Couple II’.

He was perfect as the irritable father of Diane Keaton’ Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow in ‘Hanging Up’’ but a case of pneumonia forced him to leave the production early and later that year he died from a heart attack.

Yul Brynner

2008-09-06T20:23:00.001-07:00

During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied, “Ordinary mortals need but one birthday.” At any rate, it appears that Brynner’s mother was part Russian, his father part Swiss, and that he lived in Russia until his mother moved the family to Manchuria and then Paris in the early ‘30s. He worked as a trapeze artist with the touring Cirque D’Hiver, then joined a repertory theater company in Paris in 1934. Brynner’s fluency in Russian and French enabled him to build up a following with the Czarist expatriates in Paris, and his talents as a singer/guitarist increased his popularity. And when Michael Chekhov hired Brynner for his American theater company, he added a third language—English—to his repertoire.

Zach Braff

2008-09-06T20:22:00.002-07:00

Zach Braff stars as fresh-faced medical intern John “J.D.” Dorian’ who is embarking on his career at a hospital full of unpredictable staffers and patients. Braff’s love of acting dates back to his childhood in South Orange’ New Jersey’ where he watched his father’ an attorney’ work in community theater for fun. At age 11’ he attended the renowned children’s acting camp’ StageDoor Manor’ and was scouted by a talent manager who got him started professionally. Braff’s first role came at 14 in a television pilot produced by Bruce Paltrow (“St. Elsewhere”)’ where he co-starred opposite the producer’s daughter’ Gwyneth Paltrow. He went on to appear in the films “Getting to Know You” (opposite Heather Matarazzo and Bebe Neuwirth)’ and Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery’” where he played the son of Allen’s and Diane Keaton’s characters. He recently co-starred in “The Broken Hearts Club’” winner of a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film. Braff has also appeared in theater in New York’ working opposite Alec Baldwin’ Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in “Macbeth” at New York’s Public Theatre and as Romeo in Shakespeare-on-the-Sound’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Displaying a chameleon-like ability to transform himself into a wide range of characters’ Braff has played a blond’ gay drug addict’ a nerdy introvert and a Scottish warrior’ among other roles. A graduate of Northwestern University’s film school’ Braff studied theater acting while writing and directing his own short films’ including “Lionel on a Sun Day’” which won numerous awards during the 1998 festival season. He has also directed a number of commercials and public-service announcements in both New York and Los Angeles. When he’s not busy with his acting career’ Braff continues to work on his screenplay and looks forward to his next opportunity to act in theater.

Victor Mature

2008-09-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

Victor Mature (born in Louisville, Kentucky; 1915-1999) was an American film actor. He was most commonly associated with the term “beefcake” due to his muscular physique and stolid onscreen manner.

His first leading role was as a fur-clad caveman in One Million B.C. (1940), after which he joined 20th Century Fox to star opposite actresses such as Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. However, with the US entry into World War II, Mature entered military service.

After the war, Mature was cast by John Ford in My Darling Clementine, playing Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fonda’s Wyatt Earp. For the next decade, Mature settled into playing hard-boiled characters in a range of genres such as westerns and Biblical films, such as The Robe (with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons) and the popular sequel to The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators (with Susan Hayward). Both films deal with the fate of the robe worn by Jesus before the crucifixion. Victor also starred with Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. Demille’s Bible epic, Samson and Delilah.

Additional films by Victor Mature include The Egyptian (1954) and Chief Crazy Horse (1955).

Toto

2008-09-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Toto was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (b. June 21, 1954, Los Angeles; keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (b. October 21, 1957, Los Angeles; guitar, vocals), Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Toteaux, March 29, 1947, Vinton, LA; vocals), Steve Porcaro (b. September 2, 1957, Connecticut; keyboards), David Hungate (b. Texas; bass), and Jeff Porcaro (b. April 1, 1954, Hartford, CT; d. August 5, 1992, Hidden Hills, CA; drums). Paich was the son of arranger Marty Paich; the Porcaros were the sons of percussionist Joe Porcaro. The bandmembers had met in high school and at studio sessions in the 1970s, when they became some of the busiest session musicians in the music business. Paich, Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Silk Degrees, the multi-million-selling 1976 album that combined pop, rock, and disco elements into a slick combination which heavily influenced mainstream pop music.

Toto released its self-titled debut album in October 1978, and it hit the Top Ten, sold two-million copies, and spawned the gold Top Ten single “Hold the Line.” The gold-selling Hydra (October 1979) and Turn Back (January 1981) were less successful, but Toto IV (April 1982) was a multi-platinum Top Ten hit, featuring the number-one hit “Africa” and the Top Tens “Rosanna” (about Lukather’s girlfriend, movie star Rosanna Arquette) and “I Won’t Hold You Back.” At the 1982 Grammys, “Rosanna” won awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocal; and Toto IV won awards for Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording, and Best Producer (the group). In 1984, a third Porcaro brother, Mike (b. May 29, 1955), joined the group on bass, replacing Hungate. Then lead singer Kimball quit and was replaced by Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen (b. May 15, 1951, Wyoming, MI).

Toto’s fifth album, Isolation (November 1984), went gold, but was a commercial disappointment. Frederiksen was replaced by Joseph Williams (b. Santa Monica), the son of the conductor/composer John Williams, for Fahrenheit (August 1986). Steve Porcaro quit in 1988, prior to the release of The Seventh One. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, then left, as Lukather became the group’s lead singer. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992, but was featured on the group’s next album, Kingdom of Desire. By this time, Toto was far more popular in Japan and Europe than at home. The group added British drummer Simon Phillips. Tambu, released in Europe in the late fall of 1995, appeared in the U.S. in June 1996. For 1999’s Mindfields, Bobby Kimball returned to the lineup after a 15-year absence. The group members continued to do session work during the band’s tenure, contributing significantly to the sound of mainstream pop/rock in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

Terry Kinney

2008-09-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

Some actors have such defining traits that they seem to have “leading man” written all over them, while others, like Terry Kinney, succeed with an uncanny ability to drastically alter their appearance at the drop of a hat. Though his chameleon-like skills have helped the actor land numerous roles on the stage and screen, it’s his talent that ultimately formed the backbone of his enduring career. After graduating from high school, the Lincoln, IL, native attended Illinois State University. It was there that he befriended aspiring actor Jeff Perry, who invited Kinney to Chicago to watch his best friend perform in a stage production of Grease. Perry’s friend was an ambitious young actor named Gary Sinise, and the three soon began planning to open their own regional theater.

Though it was founded in 1974, the Steppenwolf Theater wouldn’t quite get off the ground until two years later—when Kinney and Perry graduated from I.S.U. The venture was largely unprofitable at first, so its founders supported themselves and their dream through a series of odd jobs before the theater moved from a Highland Park church basement to the old St. Nicholas Theater building in the early ‘80s. The change of scenery proved to be just what the theater needed to flourish, and it was soon drawing good crowds. In the years that followed, the company moved once again—this time to a permanent location in Chicago—and Kinney served as Steppenwolf’s artistic co-director alongside Sinise. During this profitable period, Kinney and his co-founders were nominated for numerous theatrical awards, while their productions made headway on Broadway. Kinney, of course, had aspirations beyond regional theater, and, in 1986, made his film debut with a small part in the romantic comedy Seven Minutes in Heaven. The remainder of the ‘80s found the actor landing bit parts in No Mercy (1986) and Sinise’s Miles From Home (1988), in addition to a brief stint on television with thirtysomething. It wasn’t until the following decade, however, that his film career truly began to blossom.

Following an appearance in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Kinney drew favorable reviews for his top-billed turn in Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers, and his billing remained high with The Firm (1993), Fly Away Home (1996), and Sleepers (1998). In 1997, Kinney landed an extended gig on the acclaimed HBO prison drama Oz. Cast as Cell Block Five Unit Manager Tim McManus, Kinney’s hardened performance lent the show both dimension and a certain foundation. Kinney frequently balanced his role on this series with a number of feature performances, including such films as The Young Girl and the Monsoon (1999, his second lead), Luminous Motion (1998), and The House of Mirth (2000). Although the bulk of his work in Save the Last Dance (2001) ended up on the cutting room floor, audiences could still get a good look at Kinney in such features as The Laramie Project (2001) and the 2004 soccer drama The Game of Their Lives.

Peter Horton

2008-09-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Peter is a multi-talented actor, being both an accomplished actor and musician. Capable of playing the classical piano, he is also a musical composer. Born in Bellevue, Washington, his father was in the shipping business. While in school, he pursued his musical talent and got his degree in music composition from the University of California.

His career aspiration of becoming a music conductor eventually yielded to a fascination with acting. After studying acting under Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, Horton landed his first major role, playing a teenage basketball player accused of being gay in an episode of the late seventies television series The White Shadow.

In 1981, he married Hollywood starlet Michelle Pfeiffer. As her career took off in film, so did his in television. The marriage only lasted a few years and in 1988, they were divorced.

In 1991, he was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. It seems Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern would agree. She began dating him soon after his divorce with Michelle.

He has appeared in a number mediocre feature films, but seems intent on making a name for himself as a director. His first feature film directorial effort was the 1995 film The Cure, which tells the story of a friendship between two young boys, one of whom is dying of AIDS.

Pedro Martinez

2008-09-06T20:17:00.002-07:00

Pedro Jaime Martinez (born October 25, 1971 in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic) is a baseball pitcher who plays for the New York Mets. He has won three Cy Young Awards and has been considered one of the top pitchers in baseball since the late 1990s. Martinez is unusual for a power pitcher as he is 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) and 170 pounds (77 kg), small by modern-day standards. Martinez’s pitches include a tailing fastball, an outstanding changeup , and a hard curveball.

Martinez throws from a low three-quarter position that hides the ball very well from batters, who have remarked on the difficulty of picking up Martinez’s delivery. Throughout his career, his arm angle has dropped increasingly lower; he presently throws from the “low 3/4” slot. Earlier in his career, his fastball was consistently clocked in the 95 mph (153 km/h) range, but in recent years, his fastball has slowed. In many games, his fastball now tops out in the 88-89 mph (142-144 km/h) range, although he is still occasionally able to throw a mid-90s fastball. As the speed of his fastball has slowed, he has come to rely more on his changeup as his “out” pitch.

Contents

1 Early years
2 Best years
3 Memorable games
4 Quotes
5 Facts

Early years

Martinez’s career started with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 as a relief pitcher. Before the 1994 season, he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Delino DeShields, and became one of the top starters in baseball. In 1997 he posted a 17-8 record for the Expos, and led the league in half a dozen pitching categories, including a 1.90 ERA, 305 strikeouts and 13 complete games pitched, and won the National League Cy Young Award. Pedro Martinez was also the first righthanded pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts with an ERA under 2.00 since Walter Johnson in 1912.

The 13 complete games were tied for the second-highest single-season total in all of baseball since Martinez’s own career began (Curt Schilling had 15 in 1998; Chuck Finley and Jack McDowell also reached 13 in a year). However, this 1997 total is by far the highest in Martinez’s career, as he has only compiled as many as 5 complete games in any other season on two other occasions.

Best years

Martinez was traded to the Boston Red Sox in November 1997 for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr., and was soon signed to a six-year, $75,000,000 contract by the Sox, at the time the largest ever awarded to a pitcher. In 1999 he enjoyed one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time, finishing 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts, winning his second Cy Young Award (this time in the American League), and coming in second in the Most Valuable Player ballot. The MVP vote was controversial as Martinez received the most first-place votes, but was totally omitted from the ballot of two sportswriters who believed pitchers were not sufficiently all-around players to be considered. Martinez was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April, May, June, and September of 1999, an unprecedented feat for a single season.

In the 1999 playoffs against the Cleveland Indians, though hampered by an injury, Martinez dominated the final game of the series. Entering the game in relief with an 8-8 score, Martinez pitched six no-hit innings for the win. In the American League Championship Series, he pitched seven shutout innings to beat the New York Yankees in Game 3, handing them their only loss of the postseason.

Martinez’s strikeouts and win count were slightly down in 2000, but he posted an exceptional 1.74 ERA, the AL’s lowest since 1978, winning his third Cy Young award with his ERA about a third of the park-adjusted league ERA (4.97). No other single season by a starting pitcher has had such a gigantic differential. He also set a record in the lesser known sabermetric statistic of Weighted Runs allowed per 9 innings pitched (Wtd. RA/9). Martinez posted a remarkably low 1.55 Wtd. RA/9.

In 2000, Pedro Martinez’s WHIP was 0.74, breaking a 77-year-old record set by Walter Johnson. The American League slugged just .259 against him. Martinez became the only starting pitcher to have more than twice as many strikeouts in a season (284) than hits allowed (128).

In 1999 and 2000 Martinez allowed 288 hits, 597 strikeouts, 69 walks and a 1.90 ERA in 430 innings. Some statisticians believe that under the circumstances-with lefty-friendly Fenway Park as his home field, in a league with a DH, during the highest offensive period in baseball history-this performance represents the peak for any pitcher in baseball history.

Though he pitched well while healthy, carrying a sub-2.00 ERA to the midpoint of the season, Martinez was injured for much of 2001 with a rotator cuff injury as the Red Sox slumped to a poor finish. He rebounded in 2002 to lead the league with a 2.26 ERA and 237 strikeouts, going 20-4. However, that season’s American League Cy Young award went to Barry Zito of the Oakland A’s. despite a higher ERA, fewer strikeouts, and a lower winning percentage. Martinez became the first pitcher in history to lead his respective league in ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage, but not win the Cy Young Award.

After the 2004 season, Martinez became a free agent and signed a 4 year, $53 million contract with the New York Mets.

Memorable games

Martinez has come about as close to throwing a perfect game as possible without actually getting credit for it. On June 3, 1995, while pitching for Montreal, he retired the first 27 Padres hitters he faced to accumulate nine innings of perfect pitching. However, the score was still tied 0-0 at that point and the game went into extra innings, and Martinez surrendered a double to the 28th batter. According to Major League Baseball rules, that meant that Martinez accomplished neither a perfect game nor a no-hitter.

Martinez also came close to the feat on September 10, 1999, when he beat the New York Yankees 3-1. He faced just 28 batters while striking out 17 and walking none; only a solo home run by Chili Davis separated Martinez from a no-hitter. Martinez had previously thrown a 1-hitter against the Reds in 1997.

Martinez was also on the mound for Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS versus the Yankees. He was left in by manager Grady Little in the 8th inning and proceeded to allow the Yankees to tie the score, and his team eventually lost.

Quotes

Don Zimmer being thrown to the ground by pitcher Pedro Martinez during Game 3 of the ALCS

Martinez is a very controversial pitcher, both on and off the field. He refuses to yield the inside part of the plate, and has a high numbers of batters hit as a result. His career rate for hitting batters is historically high. When asked about the Red Sox – Yankees rivalry, he responded: “I’m starting to hate talking about the Yankees. The questions are so stupid. They’re wasting my time. It’s getting kind of old … I don’t believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass, pardon me the word.” In Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, Martinez threatened to hit Yankee catcher Jorge Posada in the head, angering 72-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer. Zimmer ran towards Martinez during a bench-clearing incident and Martinez, grabbing Zimmer’s head, violently threw the coach to the ground. After a Red Sox loss to the Yankees late in the 2004 season, Martinez remarked in a press conference, “They beat me. They’re that good right now. They’re that hot. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy”. The New York media publicized the quote heavily, and whenever Martinez pitched at Yankee Stadium in the 2004 American League Championship Series, fans chanted “Who’s Your Daddy?”

Facts

Martinez’s brother Ramon Martinez was also a Major League pitcher and the brothers have twice been teammates, with the Dodgers (1992-93) and Red Sox (1999-2000). Their younger brother, Jesus, also pitched in the Dodgers farm system for several years.

Martinez’s first cousin, Denny Bautista, is a Major League pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.
Pedro pulled out of the 2005 All Star Game because of short rest, pitching Sunday July 10th. This was not the first time Martinez had pulled out of an All-Star Game.

Pedro Martinez also skipped his last start in 2002, after the Red Sox had been eliminated from the postseason; some have suggested that this hurt him in the Cy Young voting that year, when he finished second to Oakland’s Barry Zito.

Pedro has a friend from the Dominican Republic named Nelson who is only 2 feet tall, and was believed to be the Red Sox good luck charm during the 2004 season.

Paul Holmes

2008-09-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

Paul Holmes is president and CEO of The Holmes Group, which provides knowledge and insight for public relations professionals, and also serves as editor of The Holmes Report, a weekly e-mail newsletter of opinion and analysis for the public relations industry.

Holmes has spent 15 years writing about the public relations industry. He was news editor of PR Week in the U.K., launch editor of PR Week in the U.S., and an editor at Adweek and Adweek’s Marketing Week before launching Inside PR in 1990. For the past five years he was editor of Inside PR and Reputation Management magazine, before leaving to start his own consulting and knowledge management business at the end of 2000.

Holmes is a frequent speaker on public relations topics including trends in corporate reputation management, crisis communications, public relations ethics, agency management, and recruiting and retaining top talent. He has served as a consultant to seven of the top 10 public relations agencies in the world. He also spent 10 years as chairman of the judges for the Creativity in Public Relations Awards and currently manages the SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Awards for The Holmes Group.

Holmes was raised and educated in northern England, and worked on newspapers in Lancashire and South London before focusing on the public relations field.

Lee Marvin

2008-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

NAME: Lee Marvin

BORN: 19/02/1924

BIRTH PLACE: New York, USA

DIED: 29/08/1987

Lee Marvin quit high school to join the Marine Corps during World War II, and was wounded in battle in the South Pacific. Recovery was slow, and he then served as a plumber’s apprentice.

Marvin made his Broadway debut in a production of ‘Billy Budd’ in 1951, landing his first film role the same year, in ‘You’re in the Navy Now’. The film’s director, Henry Hathaway, hired him again for ‘The Diplomatic Courier’ in 1942

In 1952, Marvin landed the lead role in ‘Eight Iron Men’, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred in Fritz Lang’s ‘The Big Heat’ in 1953.

He became known as a screen villain in films such as ‘Bad Day at Black Rock’, and appeared opposite Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One’, in 1954.

After some notable B-movies, such as ‘I Died a Thousand Times’, Marvin moved to television, starring in the police series ‘M Squad’.

He returned to film in the 1961 John Wayne film, ‘The Comancheros’, and starred with him again in the John Ford classic, ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’.

After branching into comedy with Kramer’s 1965 ‘Ship of Fools’, he won an Oscar for his performance in Western pastiche, ‘Cat Ballou’.

1967 proved his year for stardom, with the release of ‘The Dirty Dozen’, one of the year’s biggest hits. ‘Point Blank’ was similarly massive, as was the Clint Eastwood musical comedy, ‘Paint Your Wagon’. At that point, ‘Paint Your Wagon’ was one of the most expensive movies ever made.

Starring with Paul Newman in 1972’s ‘Pocket Money’, Marvin constantly considered retirement, and even turned down the lead in ‘Deliverance’. After bad reviews for 1976 films, he shrunk from public view.

A high-profile alimony case, brought by his long-term girlfriend, for share of earnings did little for his reputation.

Marvin reprised his Major Reisman role in ‘The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission’, but died of a heart attack on 29th August 1987.

Larry Miller

2008-09-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

LARRY MILLER has had a long and successful career as a stand-up comedian and has also developed a strong career as an actor in such films as Runaway Bride, Ten Things I Hate About You, The Nutty Professor, Corrina, Corrina, Dream Lover, The Favor, Frozen Assets, Undercover Blues, LA Story, Necessary Roughness and Pretty Woman.

Of his many television credits, Miller has had recurring roles on some of television’s most successful series: Law & Order, Mad About You and as the doorman with the attitude on Seinfeld. He appeared as a series regular on HBO’s DOA as well as guest starring on the hit comedy 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Miller’s love for stand-up comedy continues with regular guest appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Show With David Letterman and two of his own critically acclaimed specials for HBO.

Larry Miller

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John McDaniel

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JOHN MCDANIEL was born Janaury, 1834, in Pulaski County, Ky., and is the fifth of the nine children of John and Unia Elizabeth (Littlejohn) McDaniel, natives of Kentucky, and of Scotch and Irish descent. John, our subject, was reared to the plow, and in 1852 came to this county, lived with an uncle and worked by the month for several years. About 1858, he lived in Missouri and Kansas, and afterward was employed to drive a cattle team across the plains. From Salt Lake he assisted in driving one thousand head of cattle to California, where he engaged in farming by the month, but soon afterward returned to his present location. April 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the regiment marching immediately to join the Army of the Cumberland, which took part at the battles of Franklin, Cumberland Gap, the Atlanta campaign and the march through Georgia.

While in the hospital, his regiment was captured, by the enemy, and he was thereafter assigned to the heavy artillery, in which he remained for ten months, and was discharged April, 1865. Janaury 11, 1866, he married Mary A., daughter of James and Ellen Martin, which union was cemented by six children—James H., William Franklin, John E., Clinton H., Kelle B. and Ella J. Mr. McDaniel is owner of eighty acres, being a good farm and comfortable home. He is a member of the G. A. R., and of the Baptist Church, also an active Republican.

Jerry Hall

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Born on July 2, 1956, in Gonzalez, Texas, Jerry Faye, one of five daughters, including her twin, Terry Jaye, moved with her family to Mesquite, a nearby working-class town, when she was two. She had a turbulent early life, often facing the wrath of her late alcoholic truck driver father. Aged 16, Jerry left home to pursue a modelling career in Paris, carrying nothing but a suitcase full of Frederick’s Of Hollywood knockoffs fashioned by her mum. With waist-long blonde hair and standing nearly 6ft tall, Jerry was soon making thousands of dollars a week as a fashion model, snagging a rock star fiancé, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, along the way. The cover girl, then the face of Yves Saint Laurent Opium perfume and Revlon cosmetics, starred in two of the group’s early music videos, and posed for the sleeve of their 1975 album Sirens. Aged 20, she was still with the art rock singer when she met the man with whom she would spend the next two decades, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger. In 1979 she left Bryan for the 36-year-old music icon, whose marriage to first wife Bianca was coming to an end.

Five years into their famous relationship, the couple had their first daughter, Elizabeth Scarlett, and welcomed a son, James Leroy Augustin, in 1985, the same year she released her autobiography, Tall Tales. Her modelling career on the back burner, over the next decade she landed small roles in films such as 1989’s Batman and 1994’s Princess Caraboo. The famous pair were together for more than a decade when they finally tied the knot on November 21, 1990, and a third child, Georgia May Ayeesha soon followed. Though rumours of a split buzzed throughout the marriage, it was two years after the 1997 birth of baby number four, Gabriel Luke Beauregard, that model Luciana Morad’s announcement she was pregnant with Mick’s child drove Jerry to file for divorce. The mess got messier when the model-actress’ partner of 22 years claimed their Hindu beach wedding in Bali wasn’t valid under English law. The marriage was annulled by a High Court judge in 1999. Jerry and the kids live in the £5 million family mansion in London’s Richmond Hill; Mick recently bought a flat next door. A science-lover with an IQ of 146 Jerry’s also enrolled in an Open University course in humanities. In the early 2000s she was noted for her theatrical performance as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate.

Gil Bellows

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Gil Bellows worked steadily in film throughout the mid-’90s before he achieved TV fame on the whimsical Fox comedy Ally McBeal. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bellows left Canada to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Southern California. He then headed East, appearing in New York theater as well as on TV’s Law & Order. Though he made his film debut in Frank Darabont’s acclaimed prison drama The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and co-starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in Miami Rhapsody (1995), Bellows followed more in the direction of his first starring film, Love and a .45 (1994), appearing primarily in independent features. After a supporting role in The Substance of Fire (1996), Bellows starred in the British-Canadian adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s The Assistant (1997) and the Canadian romantic comedy Dinner at Fred’s (opposite indie queen Parker Posey), as well as the French supernatural romance Un Amour de Sorcière (1997). It was TV producer/writer David E. Kelley’s innovative Ally McBeal, though, that made Bellows a well-known presence after the series debuted in 1997. As Ally/Calista Flockhart’s ex-love-turned-law colleague, Bellows’ Billy was a bastion of relative normalcy (at least until the third season) among the eccentric staff populating the series’ fictional Boston law firm and stoking Ally’s neuroses. Though Billy was supposed to last only one season, Bellows stayed for three, leaving in 2000. Bellows is married to actress Rya Kihlstedt and has one daughter.

Gerard Depardieu

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Despite his unorthodox visage, Gérard Depardieu has made a profound mark on the acting world, and has earned recognition as one of Europe’s most prolific actors. Perhaps a contributor to his consistently intense performances, Depardieu’s childhood was one of extreme poverty. At 12 years old, he dropped out of school and hitchhiked across Europe on an informal tour funded primarily by the profits of stolen cars and assorted black-market products. Depardieu would likely have continued in his juvenile delinquency were it not for a friend who was attending drama school in Paris. Intrigued, Depardieu enrolled at the Theatre National Populaire, where he studied his trade alongside future co-stars Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou. In 1965, the young actor made his debut in a French short film by the name of Le Beatnik et le Minet, and began making regular appearances on French television shows.By the mid-’70s, Depardieu had co-starred in 11 French films, though he wouldn’t enjoy widespread success until his role of a nihilistic but lovable petty criminal in director Bertrand Blier’s Going Places (1974). Not long afterward, Depardieu could be found holding his own against acclaimed French actress Isabelle Adjani in Barocco and portraying a passionate Communist organizer in 1900 (both 1976). In 1978, Depardieu re-teamed with Blier for the Oscar-winning Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, and he went on to win France’s prestigious César award for his performance as a resistance fighter in The Last Metro (1980). After his portrayal of a 16th century peasant in The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), Depardieu could be found playing the title role in Danton, and he stepped behind the camera as co-director for 1984’s Le Tartuffe.The 1990s were equally successful for Depardieu, particularly in the case of director Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1990 version of Cyrano de Bergerac, for which Depardieu earned an Oscar nomination. He made his foray into American film in 1990’s Green Card opposite Andie MacDowell .

Though the bulk of his success still stemmed from French films (All the Mornings of the World [1991], Germinal [1993], A Pure Formality [1994], and Colonel Chabert [1994], to name a few) Depardieu nonetheless achieved moderate recognition in the American film market. Despite the failures of Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) and Steve Miner’s English remake of My Father the Hero, Depardieu was praised for his performances in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1996), Nick Cassavetes’ She’s So Lovely (1997), and Randall Wallace’s The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), with Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, and Leonardo DiCaprio.Despite two nearly fatal accidents—he was involved in both a plane collision and a motorcycle accident—and significant heart problems (he went through a coronary bypass procedure in 2000), Depardieu maintained his prowess in film. In addition to critically acclaimed performances in The Closet (2001), CQ (2001), City of Ghosts (2002), and Nathalie… (2003), Depardieu began work with internationally recognized French director Alain Chabat for RRRrrr! in 2004.

Gene Autry

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Gene Autry was more than a musician. His music, coupled with his careers in movies and on radio and television, made him a part of the mythos that has made up the American identity for the past hundred years—John Wayne with a little bit of Sam Houston and Davy Crockett all rolled into one, with a great singing voice and an ear for music added on. He defined country music for two generations of listeners, cowboy songs for much of the 20th century, and American music for much of the world. He was country music’s first genuine “multimedia” star, the best-known country & western singer on records, in movies, on radio, and on television from the early ‘30s until the mid-’50s. His 300 songs cut between 1929 and 1964 include nine gold record awards and one platinum record; his 93 movies saved one big chunk of the movie industry, delighted millions, and made millionaires of several producers (as well as Autry himself); his radio and television shows were even more popular and successful; and a number of his songs outside of the country & western field have become American pop culture touchstones.

The biggest selling country & western singer of the middle of the 20th century was born Orvon Gene Autry on September 29, 1907, in the tiny Texas town of Tioga, the son of Delbert and Elnora Ozmont Autry. He was first taught to sing at age five by his grandfather, William T. Autry, a Baptist preacher and descendant of some of the earliest settlers in Texas, contemporaries of the Houstons and the Crocketts (an Autry had died at the Alamo). The boy’s interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who taught him hymns and folk songs and read psalms to him at night. Autry got his first guitar at age 12, bought from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog for eight dollars (saved from his work as a hired hand on his uncle’s farm baling and stacking hay). By the time he was 15, he had played anyplace there was to perform in Tioga, including school plays and the local cafe, but made most of his living working for the railroad as an apprentice at $35 a month. Later on, as a proper telegraph operator, he was making $150 a month, which those days was a comfortable income in that part of Texas.

Curtis Martin

2008-09-06T20:10:00.001-07:00

The Jets’ 1999 team MVP and 3-time Pro Bowler (1995-96, 1998), Martin has established himself as 1 of the elite RB in the NFL, has rushed for the 7th most yards in NFL history over the 1st 5 years of his career (6,550) and has 8,064 yards from scrimmage (6,550 rushing and 1,514 yards receiving) and 50 TD, became just the 4th player in NFL annals to rush for more than 1,000 yards in each of his 1st 5 seasons, joining Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson (7), Tony Dorsett (5) and certain Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (10) in the ultra exclusive fraternity, entering the 2000 season Martin has missed just 4 out of 80 regular season games, established a Jets team-record for most rushing yards in a season in 1999 when he racked up 1,464 yards on 367 carries (4.0 avg.) and 5 TD, also had 45 receptions for 259 yards, is 2nd on the team’s career 100-yard rushing games list with 14 century days in just 2 years, when Martin carries the ball 20-or-more times in a game the Jets are 18-6 and have posted a 10-4 record when he reaches the 100-yard mark in a game, in his 2 seasons with the Jets has combined (rushing and receiving) for 3,375 yards and 14 TD, has 28 100-yard career rushing games to his credit, has started 75 out of the 76 regular season games he has played in’selected after junior season by NE in 3rd round (74th overall) of the 1995 draft, was tendered an offer sheet as a RFA on 3/20/98 by the Jets. NE declined to match offer sheet on 3/25/98?

Bill Brochtrup

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Bill Brochtrup got his big career break when he was cast for two episodes on NYPD Blue during the show’s second season. Brochtrup’s portrayal of the extremely efficient police administrative aide endeared him to viewers, as well as the show’s producers. When NYPD Blue co-creator Steven Bochco next hired Brochtrup to reprise the role of John Irvin in the sitcom, Public Morals, it created the rare occasion for the same character to appear both in a drama and a comedy, and on different networks. Following Public Morals, Brochtrup went on to star in the ABC series Total Security, with James Belushi. Soon after the conclusion of that series, Brochtrup returned to NYPD Blue. Since making his professional debut a decade ago in the television series Hot Pursuit, Brochtrup has worked continuously in theater, film and television. He has guest-starred on series such as Dharma & Greg, Picket Fences and Murder, She Wrote. His feature film credits include Ravenous, Not Again, the critically acclaimed mockumentary Man of the Year, and the futuristic Space Marines.

Adam Ferrara

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A proven favorite in comedy clubs, festivals and sitcoms, Adam Ferrara has earned a name for himself as one of today’s leading comedic talents. Adam’s charismatic charm enhances a stand-up act that blends witty characterizations and hilarious observations. His popularity as a stand-up has been validated with two American Comedy Awards” nominations for the Stand-Up Comic Audience Award.

Adam was born in Queens and raised on Long Island, NY. He was known as the Aclass clown” at Walt Whitman High School and was bestowed with that Ahonor” in his yearbook. Although Adam received a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Marist College, he admits, “I can’t even balance my own checkbook”. So on July 13th 1988, he took to the stage at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island and performed for the first time. His appearance was a huge success – thanks to his mother who had invited the entire neighborhood. That appearance resulted in another gig the following night and Adam’s first agent.

Adam is a national touring headliner playing the famed Improvs as well as Catch a Rising Star, Caroline’s in NYC, The Laugh Factory, and The Punchlines. He is also a regular performer at the world renowned Just for Laughs: The Montreal Comedy Festival. This past July, Adam appeared at the Festival again and performed at three different shows including the prestigious closing night Gala with host Louie Anderson.

His stellar list of stand-up television appearances over the years include multiple appearances on Comedy Central, A&E, MTV/VH-1, NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC. Most recently, Adam appeared on “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” and “The Late Show with David Letterman”.

Adam has also had success on television in numerous roles including the recurring role of Pete on NBC’s “Caroline in the City”. He was a series regular on UPN’s “Social Studies”, and most recently has been cast in the role of Tommy in “The Job” with Denis Leary for Dreamworks on ABC. Adam has completed taping his second half-hour special for Comedy Central as well.

Adam recently performed his one-man show “I DO” in Los Angeles and at the Toyota Comedy Festival in New York City.

Norman Wisdom

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Sir Norman Wisdom (born February 4, 1915, other dates reported) is an English comedian, singer and actor.

He created an accident prone “gump” or fool character called Norman Pitkin, who appeared in several films, most notably, The Early Bird, His famous cry as Pitkin was, “Mr Grimsdale! Mr Grimsdale!”

UK chart singles – Don’t Laugh At Me (Cause I’m A Fool) (1954): The Wisdom Of A Fool (1957).

He is a supporter and a former board member of Brighton and Hove Albion F.C..

He was knighted in 1999.

Norman Wisdom is a well known and loved cult film icon in Albania, being the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the Communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha (the archetypal Wisdom plot—the common working man getting the better of his bosses—was considered ideologically sound by Hoxha). In 1995, he visited the country where he was, to his surprise, greeted by many appreciative fans and the then president of Albania, Sali Berisha. He has announced that he intends to retire on his 90th birthday.

Meryl Streep

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Born June 22, 1949 in Summit, NJ, Streep’s interest in acting began while she attended Bernards High School, prior to which she had taken operatic voice lessons. Beginning with Daisy Mae in Lil’ Abner, Streep appeared in several school productions, but also found time to be a good student, a cheerleader, and the Homecoming Queen. Upon graduation, she studied drama at Vassar, Dartmouth, and Yale, where she appeared in between 30 and 40 productions with the Yale Repertory Theater.

Like her longtime acting cohort Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep is known for her ability to disappear inside her characters, transforming herself physically to meet the demands of her roles. A luminous blonde with nearly translucent pale skin, intelligent blue eyes, and a lovely facial bone structure, Streep possesses a fragile, fleeting beauty that allows her to be as earthy and plain as she can be glamorous and radiant.

With her education finished, Streep headed for the New York stage where she launched her career off-Broadway. She then spent time on Broadway in shows such as Tennessee Williams’ 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, for which she was Tony nominated, before making her television debut in Robert Markowitz’s The Deadliest Season (1977). That year she also made her feature film bow in Fred Zinnmann’s Julia (1977), playing Anna Marie opposite heavyweights Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, and Hal Holbrook. The following year, Streep earned an Emmy for her performance in Marvin J. Chomsky’s miniseries Holocaust. She first worked with DeNiro in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978). Though her role was small, she played it with an energetic sensitivity that earned her the first of many Oscar nominations. She was next seen as Woody Allen’s ruthless lesbian ex-wife in his classic comedy Manhattan (1979), and became better known following her turn as the conflicted Joanna Kramer opposite Dustin Hoffman in the tear-jerking divorce saga Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979).

Leonard Rossiter

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On October 21st 1926, in the bustling port of Liverpool, North West England, a second son was born, at home, to John and Elizabeth Rossiter, and a baby brother for John junior. Leonard was raised in the family home above his father’s barber shop in Cretan Road, Wavertree, a suburb of the city of Liverpool. After primary school in Granby St., Toxteth, he attended the city’s Collegiate Grammar School from 1939 to 1945. He excelled at languages and sport, both of which would come in useful in later life. A cheerful, modest, punctual and scholarly pupil, Leonard was made vice captain of the school, and captains of both the football and cricket teams, where he was ” a slow, left-arm bowler – in true Lancashire style”. In one match the school football team beat their opponents 11-0, and it was Leonard who scored all eleven goals. He was also a member of the school’s drama society. Naturally shy, Leonard remembers his adolescence with embarrassment: “I remember all those dances at The Rialto, Liverpool, where I spent every Saturday night between 10.30 and 11. Well, I hated it. The whole evening was geared to that last half-hour. The last waltz, or whatever. Mostly the whatever.” When he started to mix with people from different social classes, he would always hold back if he wasn’t sure how to conduct himself: “I remember getting very hot under the collar at dinner tables… I was always afraid of being laughed at.”
World War Two began shortly before Leonard’s thirteenth birthday, but he still had hopes of studying a French and German degree course at university. His father was now a volunteer ambulance man, helping to ferry the wounded to Liverpool’s hospitals. Tragically, in 1942, John Rossiter was killed performing this duty during an air raid. Leonard now had to re-think his future, especially with regards to supporting his mother. Before then, however, he would reach conscription age, and have to ‘do his bit’ for the war effort. He joined the Education Corps. based in Germany. By now the Germans had surrendered but the Japanese were still fighting. To give him an authority as instructor, he was instantly made a sergeant. Leonard would spend his time there teaching soldiers their ABC, and often had to write their letters home. Many men were less than keen to learn: “Lots of chaps resented it”, Leonard recalls. “Most of them were totally hardened to the idea of never needing to read or write and didn’t see why they should start.”

Sergeant Rossiter was demobbed in 1948 and, despite being offered his dream place at Liverpool University to study languages, turned it down to become the breadwinner for the Rossiter household. Through a school friend he got himself a job with Commercial Union, one of the country’s largest insurance companies. He was a clerk in the claims and accidents department, earning £210 per year. Although frustrated at being tied to a desk all day, he stayed with the firm for six and a half years. Many years later he would joke about his time at the CU: “It really is amazing how many entertainers started life in insurance”, he quipped, “and most of them will still try to sell you some, given half a chance.” One of his colleagues in the same office was the late actor Michael Williams, husband of Dame Judi Dench. Michael remembers: “Len was the most competitive man ever. We used to play football for the office team. Once, he passed me the ball by an open goal. I missed it. Len wouldn’t speak to me for a week. And we sat at opposite desks!”

Helen Mirren

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Born Ilynea Lydia Mironoff in 1945, Chiswick, London, Helen Mirren is the daughter of an English mother; her father was a Russian aristocrat stranded in London after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Mirren realised she wanted to become an actress from a very early age. She joined the National Youth Theatre, where she first made her mark at the age of eighteen playing Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra (1965) at the Old Vic. This led to her joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967. Mirren made her screen debut in the forgettable Herostratus (1968). That same year, she made a more favourable appearance as Hermia in Peter Hall’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968). She next starred opposite James Mason as a teenage seductress in Michael Powell’s Age of Consent (1969). In 1972 she joined Peter Brook’s experimental International Centre of Theatre Research, touring in Africa and America. She appeared on screen in an early raunchy role in Ken Russell’s Savage Messiah (1972), and the Lindsay Anderson musical drama O Lucky Man! (1974). After a short spell in television appearing in the likes of Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills (1979), she returned to the big screen in the controversial Penthouse film Caligula (1979). The 1980s saw Mirren come of age as an actress and earn her first acclaimed role when cast opposite Bob Hoskins in the British gangster film The Long Good Friday (1979).

During the subsequent decade, Mirren continued to work on stage and screen, broadening her appeal with such roles as the seductively evil Morgana in John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), and playing the widow of a British officer who unwittingly falls in love with the man responsible for her husband’s death in Pat O’Connor’s Cal (1984). Her accurate portrayal of strong feminine characters continued in Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast (1986), as Harrison Ford’s loyal wife, and as the adulterous wife of a gangster in Peter Greenaway’s controversial The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989).

The 1990s saw Mirren tackling varying roles, ranging from a fragile wife in the thriller The Comfort of Strangers (1991), to a headstrong widow in Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991). Mirren also began appearing on television as the hard-bitten DCI Jane Tennison in Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect, the ITV series proving immensely popular with viewers. She achieved her biggest international success to date and earned an Oscar nomination for her part in Nicholas Hytner’s The Madness of King George (1994), playing the devoted queen whose husband, George III (Nigel Hawthorne), is suffering from declining mental health. The following year she earned further acclaim for her work in Some Mother’s Son (1996), in which she played the mother of a Belfast hunger striker. She has more recently played a titular teacher in Kevin Williamson’s disappointing Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999) and Georgina Woodhouse in the comedy Greenfingers (2000). She earned her second Oscar nomination for Robert Altman’s acclaimed ensemble comedy Gosford Park (2001). Mirren followed with another choice part as the widow of deceased butcher Michael Caine in the sentimental drama Last Orders (2002).

Joanna Lumley

2008-09-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Joanna Lumley (born May 1, 1946 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is a British actress and former model who is best known for her portrayal of the chain smoking, boozing, cocaine-sniffing and other drug-taking sexpot Patsy Stone on the British comedy television show Absolutely Fabulous.

Tall, leggy, thin and blonde, she began her acting career as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Her first major role was as Purdey in The New Avengers: a revival of the secret agent series The Avengers.

She has specialised in playing upper-class parts, and her distinctive plummy voice has reinforced this. However, following her rise to fame, she revealed that she had been an unmarried mother during the 1960s when it was socially unacceptable. The first of her two subsequent marriages was to comedy writer, Jeremy Lloyd.

Lumley was awarded an OBE in 1995.

Ben Kingsley

2008-09-06T20:04:00.002-07:00

Born Krishna Bhanji in Snaiton, northern England, in 1943, the boy who would become Ben Kingsley was raised in Salford by his physician father Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji and his fashion model mother Anna Lyna Mary. After being turned down by the prestigious London acting school RADA in 1965, Ben spent two years plying his trade in the English provinces before returning to London in 1967 on being invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Over the next two decades, he would go on to perform at both the Royal Court and the National Theatre. Despite his glittering stage career, however, Ben’s passage into films was a slow one. It took another ten years before he landed a starring role in Gandhi, film on biopic of Indian independence leader Gandhi. As the film roles poured in, the actor still managed to balance a film career with a range of work on TV. Ben lives with his partner Kate Townsend and has three sons by his two previous marriages.

Paris Hilton

2008-09-06T20:04:00.001-07:00

Paris Hilton nicknamed ‘Star’ was born on 17th February in 1981, is entitled to many famous introductions. She is the daughter of Ricky and Kathy Hilton, the great grand daughter of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and grand daughter of Barron Hilton and the grand niece of Nicholas Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, the first husband of Elizabeth Taylor. There was nothing extraordinary about her except being the co-heiress to the 300 million dollar, Hilton empire with her sister Nicky till she zoomed to fame in a 5 minute home made sex video with her ex- boyfriend Ricky Solomon who is Shannen Doherty’s ex- husband too. The film was widely circulated on the Internet.

This however was not her only claim to notorious popularity. Apart from her dalliances with hot Hollywood stars like Leonardo Di Caprio, Edward Furlong, and boxer Oscar De La Hoya her name was also associated with the nightclub owner and proclaimed lesbian Ingrid Cesress. Later she was engaged to Hollywod star Jason Shaw with whom she later broke off.

It was after completing her High School and leaving graduate studies midway that Paris as she loves to call herself wanted to do something different. Breaking away from family tradition she opted for modelling profession and walked the ramps for famous designers like Marc Bouwer and Catherine Malndrino. She also did an ad campaign for Iceberg and featured on the centre spreads of magazines like GQ, VHM and Vanity Fair. The tabloid press has always been close on her heels, reporting and blowing out of proportion her professional or personal escapades.

Lately, she also featured in fish out of water reality show titled The Simple Life. The show was broadcast on Fox. She gave a cameo appearance in Ben Stiller’s fashion spoof Zoolander.

She has also been photographed with her sister Nicky for the People Magazine. Nicky, the junior sibling of Paris was born in 1983 and is a known socialite. Besides modelling and acting she has diversified into designing a collection purses for Tokyo brand Samantha Thavasa.

Young “Hilton the Heiress” still has a long way to go whichever way she chooses her career to be.

Glenda Jackson

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Glenda Jackson was born in 1936. An independent, intelligent and exceptionally talented actor, she has achieved considerable success by expertly portraying strong and self-willed women. In 1964, she took part in Peter Brook’s Theatre of Cruelty season organized with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the London Academy of Dramatic Art. This led to her playing Charlotte Corday in Peter Brook’s production of The Marat/Sade in 1965 which was acclaimed both in London and New York. In 1967 she gave a notable performance of Masha in The Three Sisters at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1969, the British film director, Ken Russell, cast her to play Gudrun Brangwen in his adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love (1969). She received the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Throughout the 1970s, she gave sparkling performances in 17 films, including Russell’s The Music Lovers (1971), Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) – for which she was nominated for an Oscar – and the romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), for which she won her second Academy Award.

In the 1980s, although she continued to make films, she also starred in a sequence of West End successes, including Great and Small (1983) and Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude (1984).

In 1992, her stage and film career came to an end when she was elected a Member of Parliament – the first (and almost cetainly she’ll remain the only) MP to have been awarded not just one but two Oscars.

Lee Evans

2008-09-06T20:02:00.002-07:00

Lee Evans is a British stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Avonmouth, Bristol in 1964. He won the Perrier Comedy Award in 1993.

Evans appeared in a number of films, including Mousehunt , There’s Something About Mary, The Medallion, and Freezeframe . Evans also appears regularly on stage, including an appearance as “Clov” in the West End play Endgame. In autumn of 2004 Evans performed as Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks’ musical The Producers and will tour once again in 2005.

Judi Dench

2008-09-06T20:02:00.001-07:00

Born in York, England, on December 9, 1934, Dench made her stage debut as a snail in a junior school production. After attending art school, she studied acting at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. In 1957, she made her professional stage debut as Ophelia in the Old Vic’s Liverpool production of Hamlet. A prolific stage career followed, with seasons spent performing with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

Dench broke into film in 1964 with a supporting role in The Third Secret. The following year, she won her first BAFTA, a Most Promising Newcomer honor for her work in Four in the Morning. Although she continued to work in film, Dench earned most of her recognition for her stage work, occasionally bringing her stage roles to the screen in adaptations like A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968) and Macbeth (1978). In the mid-1980s Dench began to make her name with international film audiences. In 1986, her turn as a meddlesome romance author in A Room with a View, earned her a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA. Two years later, she won the same award for her work in another period drama, A Handful of Dust. After her supporting role as Mistress Quickly in Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 adaptation of Henry V, Dench exchanged the past for the present with her thoroughly modern role as M in GoldenEye (1995), the first of the Pierce Brosnan series of James Bond films. She has reprised the character – traditionally a male role – twice since.

In 1997 she earned an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe award for her portrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. The following year, Dench did win the Oscar, garnering Best Supporting Actress honors for her astonishing eight-minute appearance as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love. There would be another Oscar nomination for her role as the tetchy oldster seeking reconciliation in Chocolat (2000). For her role as a talented British writer struggling with Alzheimer’s Disease in Iris (2001), Dench earned her fourth Oscar nomination. After this came The Shipping News, where Dench played the aunt of a troubled Kevin Spacey.

Joan Collins

2008-09-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

NAME: Joan Collins
BORN: 23/05/1933
BIRTH PLACE: London, England

Joan Henrietta Collins, the daughter of a theatrical booking agent, studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for 18 months and made her film debut in 1951 as a beauty pageant contestant in ‘Lady Godiva Rides Again’.

She appeared in a handful of other British films before gaining international attention in 1955, as the femme fatale in Howard Hawks’ epic of ancient Egypt, ‘Land of the Pharaohs’.

A year later, Joan ventured to Hollywood and immediately capitalised on her sultry appeal in ‘The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing’, portraying Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, whose involvement with prominent architect Stanford White brought about his shocking murder in early 20th Century NYC.

Joan worked infrequently during her 1963-71 marriage to Anthony Newley, although she starred opposite him in his notorious sex comedy ‘Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?’

During 1967, Joan made several television appearances.

When she returned to films, it was in thrillers and horror sci-fi films like ‘Inn of the Frightened People’, ‘Tales From the Crypt’, ‘Tales That Witness Madness’ and ‘Empire of the Ants’.

Joan returned to the London stage in 1980, with ‘The Last of Mrs Cheney’, before she landed the role of super-bitch Alexis Carrington in the prime-time TV soap ‘Dynasty’.

This role, which she played from 1981-89, opened up a whole new world of opportunity for her and bought her greater worldwide fame and recognition.

Playboy beckoned, featuring her as ‘50 Is Beautiful’.

Joan had already written three books, including a kiss-and-tell autobiography, ‘Past Imperfect’, when she followed in sister Jackie’s footsteps and published her first novel, ‘Prime Time’.

In 1997, she was awarded an OBE.

In 2000, she also appeared in the play ‘Love Letters’, where she met Percy Gibson. Percy, who is 31 years Joan’s junior, became Joan’s husband in 2001.

Halle Berry

2008-09-06T20:00:00.002-07:00

Born August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio, Halle is the youngest daughter born to Jerome and Judith Berry, an interracial couple. Halle, and her older sister Heidi, spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood. Her abusive father, Jerome Berry, abandoned his wife and children, and left the family when Halle was four years old.

Halle was raised almost totally by her mother, Judith, a psychiatric nurse. Judith then moved her family to the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford. This rough start to her life did not deter her from excelling in whatever she did. Halle attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result, she was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Throughout high school, Halle participated in a variety of extracurricular activities, holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, member of the honor society, varsity cheerleader, and prom queen.

Halle won Miss Ohio, Miss Teen All-American, and in 1986, was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. She was the first African American to represent the U.S. in the Miss World competition in London. Halle attended Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied broadcast journalism. Halle abandoned her idea of a career in news reporting however, choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a career in entertainment. She first moved to Chicago, then New York City, where she found work as a catalog model.

Halle’s acting career began in television with a role on the short-lived sitcom “Living Dolls”. This was followed by a year-long run on the CBS prime time drama “Knot’s Landing”. Halle’s first big screen break came later that year when she was cast as Samuel L. Jackson’s drug addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever”. More substantial supporting roles followed, including that of a stripper in the action-thriller “The Last Boy Scout”, starring Bruce Willis. This success lead to Halle as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy’s heart in the romantic comedy “Boomerang”.

Halle, now with a few films under her belt, accepted more offbeat roles, making cameos in the rockumentary “CB4” which traced the rise and fall of the titled rap group. She then starred in the live action version of “The Flintstones”, featuring Halle as a Stone Age seductress, a very sexy and successful performance. Halle’s next role was a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict seeking to regain custody of her son in “Losing Isaiah”. The story was set in the midst of a bitter custody battle with adoptive parents, played by Jessica Lange and David Strathairn. Later that year, Halle overcame Hollywood’s racial barriers when she was cast as the first African American to play the Queen of Sheeba in Showtime’s movie “Solomon & Sheeba”. Halle has been introduced as the new Bond Girl, and we are sure to see her in a very sexy role in the near future.

Julie Andrews

2008-09-06T20:00:00.001-07:00

Born Julia Elizabeth Wells on October 1st, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, eighteen miles south of London. She was named after her two grandmothers Julia Morris and Elizabeth Wells.

Her father Ted Wells was a woodwork teacher and her mother Barbara Morris Wells gave piano lessons and was a part-time pianist for a dance school ran by her sister, Joan Morris. When Julie was two she appeared in the dance schools pageant as a fairy.

In 1939 Barbara Wells took a job as a pianist for a variety show. Also on the bill was a tenor named Ted Andrews. After a short while they became a double act. With the advent of World War II, Ted and Barbara Wells grew apart and were divorced. Barbara married Ted Andrews.

Julie’s step father began to give her singing lessons in an attempt to get to know her better. To everyone’s surprise Julie had a fully developed larynx, perfect pitch and a large four octave vocal range. Julie soon became part of Ted and Barbara’s act. It was at this time that Julie changed her last name to Andrews simplifying the billing of their act.

At the age of eight Julie began to have singing lessons from Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen, who had once been a renowned concert singer. The two became close friends. It was thanks to Lilian’s training that Julie ended up with perfect diction.

Julie was ten when World War II ended, and she was allowed for the first time to make unbilled appearances on stage with her parents. During the school holidays Julie spent most of her summer touring England with Ted and Barbara as part of their act.

Julie made her radio debut in 1946 singing a duet with Ted Andrews on a BBC variety show called “Monday Night at eight”.

Sandra Bullock

2008-09-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sandra Bullock was born on July 26th, 1966, in Arlington, Virginia. Sandra is a veteran superstar actress. She is the eldest daughter of her father John, a voice coach and Pentagon official, and mother Helga, an opera singer. Sandra and her sister, Gesine, lived a number of their childhood years in Nuremberg, Germany. She and her sister spent endless hours listening to their mother perform. Sandra not only developed a deep appreciation for opera, and also learned to speak fluent German. It was an exciting time in her young life, and perhaps it was seeing her mother up on stage that influenced her to become a performer herself. When Sandra was eight, she had her first taste of a stage performance when she played the role of a gypsy child in a play with her mother. Her mother Helga says that by the time Sandra was in sixth grade, she had already set her mind on acting.

Sandra’s family moved back to the United States when she was around ten years old. Sandra was an ugly duckling, and was teased mercilessly by her schoolmates. Instead of becoming resentful however, she vowed she would never treat anyone the way she had been treated, and her generous and kind qualities manifest themselves in both her personal and professional lives.

Sandra went on to become a cheerleader at Washington Lee High, being voted “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day” by her senior class. After high school graduation, she continued her education, at East Carolina University, where she majored in Drama. During this time, she helped support herself by entering and winning dance contests, a passion that has stayed with her. Sandra dances at every possible opportunity, and it has been said that if she ever gave up acting, she could easily take up dance as a second professional career. After graduation from East Carolina, it was off to New York with her life savings, dog and meager possessions to seek her career.

Sandra bartender and waitressed between auditions and acting classes. Her persistence finally paid off when she got the lead in the off-Broadway play “No Time Flat”. Sandra received glowing reviews for her work in the off-Broadway play, and this led to the TV movie “The Bionic Showdown”, opposite Lindsay Wagner. The only worthwhile things that came from this work, was the professional experience and an Actors Guild union card. Sandra moved to Los Angeles where she got the role of a spunky cop in the Sylvester Stallone sci-fi action film, “Demolition Man”. This was a role that drew the attention of director Jan De Bont, who cast her in the hit movie “Speed”, practically making her an overnight success.

The two mega hits, “The Net” and “While You Were Sleeping” followed, sending Sandra on a skyrocket ride to A-list status and a hefty increase in her paycheck. The success of these films made it possible for her to start her own cinema production company, Fortis Films. Sandra appointed her sister Gesine, a graduate law student as executive vice-president, and her father John, as her business advisor.

Kate Hudson

2008-09-06T19:58:00.002-07:00

Born Kate Garry Hudson, on April 19, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. The daughter of actress-producer Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, a 1970s television comedian, Kate Hudson was raised by her mother and Hawn?s longtime companion, actor Kurt Russell, after her parents divorced when she was 18 months old. No stranger to the show business life, Hudson decided to embark on an acting career of her own, landing an agent and a guest spot on the TV drama Party of Five in 1996. Upon her acceptance to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Hudson convinced Hawn and Russell to let her defer a year in order to concentrate on finding her first film role.

She made her big-screen debut as an ambitious young starlet stranded in a tiny California town in Desert Blue (1998). Her next two films, while critically panned, made it into wider release: 200 Cigarettes (1999) (in which she played an earnest but accident-prone ditz) and Gossip (2000)- (which cast her as a rich, virginal college student). Perhaps Hudson’s biggest break was landing the role of rock groupie (or “Band Aide”) Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000). The part was originally intended for Sarah Polley; when Polley backed out to pursue another project, director Cameron Crowe considered scrapping the film altogether. Hudson, who had been cast in a smaller role (as William’s stewardess sister), begged for a chance to read for Penny. Crowe was impressed, Hudson got the part, and the show went on. An immensely watchable young actress, Kate Hudson is one of a rare breed that stands out due to her onscreen presence, and sheer star quality that makes her more than just another Hollywood actress. She possesses a smile that lights up the screen whenever she’s up there, and you literally can’t take your eyes off her.

Rahul Khanna

2008-09-06T19:58:00.001-07:00

Son of ex-model Gitanjali Taleyarkhan and matinee idol Vinod Khanna, Rahul Khanna has been in the limelight since he was seventeen. He has been into video jockeying, acting, and modeling ever since. A wonderful anchor, Khanna is charismatic and good looking. Rahul was hired as the first VJ for MTV Asia’s relaunch following the much publicized split from Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV Network. He spent four years with the channel. As a VJ for MTV Asia, Rahul Khanna reached the zenith of popularity. He hosted a variety of programmes, like MTV’s Most Wanted, Hollywood Screening Room, MTV Hanging Out, MTV Fresh, MTV India Hitlist. His perfect ease in front of the camera and gorgeous looks made Khanna an instant hit.

He has done a course from Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and film & video at The School of Visual Arts. He has hosted two television shows, Saturday Live and Bombay Glitter, on New York’s ITV Asianet.

He has now moved on from MTV into the world of films where his brother and father are already well established stars. A gifted cartoonist, Khanna has his hands full with Bollywood projects.

It was on MTV that Canadian director Deepa Mehta saw Khanna and cast him as the romantic lead in Earth, the second instalment in her Indian trilogy and the follow-up to her critically acclaimed, award winning and controversial movie, Fire. Earth premiered as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1998. The film received a 10 minute standing ovation, and Khanna was named one of “the best and brightest new talents” of the Festival by the movie critics of the Toronto Star. He also won the Filmfare award for most promising male debut in 1999.

Rahul has also been seen on the New York stage. He made his theatrical debut starring in the New York production of the hit West-End play, East is East. Directed by Scott Elliott (A Map of the World), Rahul’s performance as Tariq, the rebellious son of a Pakistani father and British mother, won him acclaim from audiences and critics, alike.

Since then Rahul has starred in various films featured in small and big roles such as Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood Hollywood, Spike Lee’s 3 AM, Kevin Kline starrer The Emperor’s Club and has upcoming projects such as Vikram Bhatt’s blockbuster multi-starrer Elaan.

Jennifer Aniston

2008-09-06T19:57:00.001-07:00

Though she would spend most of her youth in New York, Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, CA, into a prominent acting family. Well connected from the beginning—her father is veteran Days of Our Lives star John Aniston; her godfather is none other than Telly Savalas—Aniston did not discover her own penchant for acting until attending the Rudolf Steiner School drama club at age 11.

Aniston proved to be a talented painter during her stay at the Rudolf Steiner School (one of her pieces was displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art), but acting became her primary focus after graduating from New York’s prestigious High School for the Performing Arts in 1987, and she held roles in off-Broadway productions such as +For Dear Life and +Dancing on Checker’s Grave.

Though Friends launched Aniston’s career as a sitcom actress, her television debut was in 1989, when she starred in the ‘90s short-lived series Molloy. Before long, Aniston’s television resume had grown to include appearances in The Edge, a role in the ultimately unsuccessful attempt at adapting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off into sitcom format, and a part in an episode of Quantum Leap. In 1991, she landed a recurring role on Herman’s Head, while 1993 led her to a small part on The Ben Stiller Show.

By 1994, it looked like Aniston was destined for a life of obscure parts in doomed television sitcoms. Despite being asked to audition for the role of Monica Gellar in a pilot for a sitcom at that point titled “Friends Like These” (a role that would eventually be filled by Courteney Cox Arquette), Aniston insisted on trying out for the part of Rachel Green, a spoiled suburbanite-turned-spunky coffee-house waitress. The rest, as they say, is history—“Friends Like These” would become the mega-hit Friends.

Friends quickly inspired an obsessive following, as did Aniston’s signature hairstyle. Just as “The Rachel” fell out of popularity in the salons, Aniston began scoring roles in a series of romantic comedies—namely, She’s the One (1996), Picture Perfect (1997), ‘Til There Was You (1997), and The Object of My Affection(1998)—and met fellow actor Brad Pitt. “Gwen and Brad” quickly turned to “Jen and Brad,” and the two young stars took their places among Hollywood’s elite power couples after their marriage in 2000.

Needless to say, Aniston had gained an astounding amount of notoriety since her fledgling film debut in 1993’s Leprechaun, and starred in director Stephen Herek’s Rock Star in 2000 after a relatively well-received supporting role in 1999’s Office Space. Though Rock Star was far from a massive success, Aniston’s talent for dramatic roles was finally given a proper outlet, and she went on to land the lead part in 2002’s The Good Girl. In 2003, Aniston starred alongside Jim Carrey in the romantic comedy Bruce Almighty, and Friends began what was rumored to be its final season.

Paula Abdul

2008-09-06T19:56:00.002-07:00

Paula Abdul was born on 19 June 1962 in San Fernando, California.

After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, Paula Abdul was hired by The Jacksons as assistant dance director and choreographer on a range of Jackson videos and tours.

Her first album was “Forever Your Girl” in 1998, which featured the single “Straight Up” which dramatically increased her popularity.

“Straight Up” was the first of six number one singles.

Paula Abdul has had a couple of short-lived marriages – including one to actor Emilio Estevez.

Paula founded her own dance company and in 2005 she was made a ‘correspondent’ on the TV show, So You Think You Can Dance, hosted by Lauren Sanchez.

She has also released an aerobics video, Cardio Dance (1998), and has written songs for Kylie Minogue amongst others.

Her father is of Syrian Jewish descent and Abdul featured in a poster for The Forgotten Exodus, a campaign that highlights the plight of Jews who have had to flee from persecution in Arab countries.

Paula Abdul has been a regular expert judge on American Idol. In her years on the show she has become more opinionated and feisty.

In response to the controversy generated by her behaviour, Paula Abdul told the media that she has been fighting chronic pain after a cheerleading accident that left her with an injured disc in her neck when she was 17. After a couple of car crashes and a plane crash in 1992 the pain worsened and led to seizures, bulimia and depression. Abdul explained that she has had 12 operations.

Paula Abdul said that in November she was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

American Idol has provided an impetus to Paula Abdul’s career in other areas leading to her recording a follow-up to 1995’s “Head Over Heels”, and making jewelry.

In March 2005 Paula Abdul was fined and placed on probation after a hit-and-run incident in California, that took place in December 2004.

Spring 2005 also featured rumours of an affair between Paula Abdul and an American Idol contestant, which Abdul has denied.

Jim Carrey

2008-09-06T19:56:00.001-07:00

NAME: Jim Carrey
BORN: 17/01/1962
BIRTH PLACE: Ontario, Canada

BIOGRAPHY
Canadian Jim was born James Eugene Carrey. Jim’s father lost his job when Jim was 13 years old, so he, his parents and his siblings went to work as caretakers and security guards in the Titan Wheels factory near his hometown.

Encouraged by his father, he began performing comedy routines at stand-up clubs in Toronto, aged 15.

While not exactly winning over the crowds then, Jim returned to it two years later and caught the attention of booking agents, who hired him to open for Rodney Dangerfield in Las Vegas.

During this period Jim met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter, Jane, but the couple later went through a very messy divorce.

In 1981, he acted in the TV-movie ‘Rubberface’, and after appearing on ‘The Tonight Show’, Jim got his first feature role in the quirky comedy, ‘Finders Keepers’.

He began to alternate between working comedy clubs and supporting roles in movies and, towards the late 80s, he landed parts in two Clint Eastwood films, ‘The Dead Pool’ and ‘Pink Cadillac’, after Eastwood had seen Jim do an impression of him.

Vin Diesel

2008-09-06T19:55:00.001-07:00

Mark Vincent (born July 18, 1967 in New York City), better known by his stage name of Vin Diesel, is an American actor. Diesel is multi-racial, a fact upon which he based his well-recieved 1994 short film Multi-Facial , about a struggling actor who is rejected for part after part because he doesn’t look “black/white/Jewish” enough.

He’s quoted as saying his mother is descended from the Sinclairs of Scotland. Also, he has a dog, a mastiff. Diesel, who was cast in 1998’s Saving Private Ryan on the strength of Multi-Facial, broke through to mainstream audiences with the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious and the 2002 film xXx. In 2004 he reprised his role as Pitch Black’s Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick, and will thereafter take on the titular role in Hannibal , as the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps by elephant to attack Rome.

Diesel has his own film production company , One Race Productions , with long time producing partner George Zakk . In 2002, he founded Tigon Studios , a video game production company; it is named after the tigon, the hybrid offspring of a male tiger and a female lion.

Diesel is also a long time fan and player of Dungeons & Dragons and other role playing games, a fact that he proudly states in various interviews. He occasionally places references to D&D in his films, such as in XXX where one of the tattoos on Xander Cage (Diesel’s character) read “Melkor,” the name of one of Diesel’s old player characters. (Melkor is also the original name of the Satan-like character in The Silmarillion and other Tolkien stories.) He has also written the forward to the commemorative book “30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D ,” which chronicles the history of D&D through various stories and essays written by various authors and developers.

Ansel Adams

2008-09-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ansel Easton Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902. An American photographer, Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco, and originally trained to become a concert pianist. As a teenager he was a regular visitor to Yosemite National Park in California.

Ansel Adams became a professional photographer in 1927 and Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, his first portfolio was published. In 1928 he began to work as an official photographer for the Sierra Club, which had been established to promote the preservation of the environment of the Sierra Nevada.

Ansel Adams invented a method of exposure and development called the ‘zone system’. He also founded the f/64 group devoted to taking photographs in sharp focus.

In the mid-1930s Adams moved into the Yosemite Valley and made trips throughout the Southwest with Edward Weston, Georgia O’Keeffe, and David McAlpin.

In 1940, Adams helped establish the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where, in 1944 his photographs of interned Japanese-Americans, Born Free were exhibited.

In the 1950s onwards as well as Yosemite, Adams produced portfolios featuring Alaska, Hawaii and Maine. In the 1970s Adams gave up active photography. Instead he revised his Basic Photo-Books series on technique, and published books of his life’s work.

Ansel Adams died in 1984.

Bryan Adams

2008-09-06T19:53:00.002-07:00

Singer, Bryan Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario on 5 November 1959. Adams’ parents were emigrants from Britain.

In 1983 Bryan Adams had his first major hit: “Straight From The Heart”. His third album, “Cuts Like A Knife”, brought greater success. It included the hits “Straight”, “Cuts Like A Knife” and “This Time.”

In 1984 “Reckless” became a No. 1 album. It contained six top 20 singles, including Adams’ first-ever No. 1 single, “Heaven”.

But it was in 1991 that the astonishingly succesful music from the film Prince Of Thieves propelled Bryan Adams to yet another level. “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” was a No. 1 for seven weeks in the US, and an amazing 16 weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. It was the biggest-selling single in the history of A&M Records.

Christina Aguilera

2008-09-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

Christina Maria Aguilera was born on 18 December 1980 in Staten Island, New York.

Christina Aguilera grew up with a violent father. In a song, from her album Stripped, she described “living in a war called home”.

Aguilera supported the Scottish Executive’s domestic abuse campaign, donating artwork featuring lyrics to her song “I’m OK” for an exhibition.

Christina Aguilera said:

“My own experience has shown that you can survive after going through terrible times at home and I give my utmost support to those women and young people living with the threat of domestic abuse… Don’t suffer in silence because help is out there.”

Christina Aguilera appeared on the Star Search show when she was 8. At 10 she sang the national anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates. A couple of years later, like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Aguilera presented TV’s Mickey Mouse Club.

In 1998, Aguilera recorded Reflection for the soundtrack of Disney’s full-length animation Mulan. She gained a contract with RCA and a host of hits were to follow, including Genie In A Bottle, What a Girl Wants, Dirrty, Beautiful, and Survivor.

Christina Aguilera’s diverse work includes the album Mi Relejo, recorded in Spanish. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2000, for best pop collaboration (Lady Marmalade) in 2002 and more recently for best female pop vocal performance (Beautiful).

Eminem referred to his fling with Christina Aguilera in The Real Slim Shady. In February 2005 Christina Aguilera announced her forthcoming marriage to music executive Jordan Bratman.

Al Alvarez

2008-09-06T19:52:00.001-07:00

Al Alvarez was born in London 1929.

Alvarez was educated at Oundle School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

He was poetry critic of The Observer from 1956 to 1966 and is a poet and novellist, but some of his most famous works are in the realm of non-fiction: The Savage God: A Study of Suicide; and Biggest Game in Town, about poker players.

He says of his Penguin anthology, The New Poetry: “I had attacked the British poets’ nervous preference for gentility above all else.”

In her study, The Silent Woman – Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Janet Malcolm provides an analysis of Alvarez and his relationships with Plath and Hughes.

Alvarez’s recent publications include Poker: Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats (2000), his autobiography Where Did It All Go Right? (first published 1999, Bloomsbury paperback 2002), and Feeding the Rat, the story of climbing legend Mo Anthoine.

You can look up Al Alvarez’s poker record on our celeb poker pages. According to the aforementioned, Biggest Game in Town, Al Alvarez plays poker every Tuesday.

Keith Arthur

2008-09-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Keith Arthur presents ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ on Talksport Radio every weekend between 6 and 8 a.m. I have to admit to not being in the least interested in angling, but I find that there’s nothing better after a very late night than sipping a cup of strong tea and listening to Keith Arthur. Not really ‘listening’ – just background wallpaper!

This morning (19 December 2004) however a couple of things Keith said did make me sit up a bit. The first was a reference, that I will paraphrase, that they should cut off the testicles of polluters; and the second was a phrase that I hadn’t heard before (no doubt people will tell me that it is very common) – referring to the height of a great fisherman who had recently passed away, Keith Arthur said:

“He would have to stand on a tanner to see over a thruppenny-bit”

Keith Arthur also presents Tight Lines, Sky Sports’ angling show.

Keith Arthur started fishing at four years of age. From 1990 to 2002 Keith wrote a column for the Angling Times.

Rosanna Arquette

2008-08-31T08:07:00.002-07:00

Rosanna Lauren Arquette was born on August 10, 1959 in New York.

Arquette was born into a show-business family and made her acting debut in Los Angeles when still a teenager in a theatrical production of Metamorphosis.

As well as acting in such films as “After Hours”, “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “The Big Blue” she has also directed and shot the film documentary ‘Searching for Debra Winger’ in 2002, which included interviews with 25 actresses including Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Sharon Stone and Vanessa Redgrave.

According to a book called Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot:

“Another gifted psychic who can see the aura in great detail is Los Angeles-based ‘human energy field consultant’ Carol Dryer … her client list includes many celebrities such as Tina Turner, Madonna, Rosanna Arquette, Judy Collins, Valerie Harper, and Linda Gray.”

Nicole Appleton

2008-08-31T08:07:00.001-07:00

Nicole Marie Appleton was born on 7th December 1974 in Ontario, Canada.

Nicole Appleton is the younger of the two sisters who were part of All Saints, who shot to fame in 1997 and sold over six million albums across the world.

When All Saints disbanded in February 2001 Nicole and her sister Natalie formed a duo called Appleton and had a hit with ‘Fantasy’. Their debut album was ‘Aloud’. Appleton followed up with ‘Don’t Worry’ and ‘Everything Eventual’.

The two sisters also released an autobiography entitled Together.

Together with Melanie Blatt the Appleton sisters appeared in a 2000 film entitled Honest.

Before settling down with Liam Gallagher, after his split with Patsy Kensit, Nicole Appleton was linked with Ioan Gruffud, Travis Fimmel and Gavin Rossdale. She also had a 18 month relationship with Robbie Williams.

Nicole Appleton and Liam Gallagher have a child, Gene, who was born in July 2001.

Nicole Appleton is due to present ‘Hell’s Kitchen Extra Portions’ with Mark Durden-Smith. She will be the red carpet reporter interviewing celebrity diners.

Appleton said:

“It’s my first presenting role so I will be a bit nervous, but I’m sure it’s going to be great fun. I can’t wait to sample the food and meet the celebrities on the red carpet.”

It will be the second series of the ITV show. This time celebrity chefs Jean-Christophe Novelli and Gary Rhodes replace Gordon Ramsay.

Lindsay Anderson

2008-08-31T08:06:00.002-07:00

Lindsay Gordon Anderson was born on 17 April 1923 in Bangalore, South India. He was the son of an officer in the Indian army.

Lindsay Anderson died of a heart attack on 30 August 1994.

He directed film, television and theatre. Lindsay Anderson directed his first documentary, Meeting The Pioneers, in 1948. In the fifties he became a leading character in the ‘Free Cinema’ movement. Anderson won an Academy Award for Thursday’s Children (1953). From 1969 to 1975 he was an associate director at The Royal Court Theatre.

Lindsay Anderson made his debut as a feature film director in 1963, with an adaptation of a David Storey novel, This Sporting Life starring Richard Harris, which along with his next film, If … were well received.

According to David Thomson’s New Biographical Dictionary of Film:

“...there was never any doubt that he [Anderson] was more talented than his contemporaries – Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz …”

Lauren Bacall

2008-08-31T08:06:00.001-07:00

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske in New York on September 16, 1924.

Lauren Bacall was given her first break, aged 19, in the movies by Howard Hawks in ‘To Have and Have Not’ in 1944. Her first line was “Anybody got a match?”. Bacall starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, whom she was to marry a year later.

The duo were to co-star in a succession of box-office hits, including (also directed by Hawks) The Big Sleep in 1946 and Key Largo in 1948, directed by John Huston.

In her autobiography, By Myself, Bacall says of her life with Bogart: “No one has ever written a romance better than we lived it.”

Lauren Bacall was widowed at the age of 31 when Bogart passed away. She had an ill-fated affair with Frank Sinatra, and a marriage to Jason Robards Jr. in 1961 that failed to work, divorcing eight years later.

In 1988 she was reported in The Daily Telegraph as saying: “I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.”

Samuel Beckett

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The Irish genius Samuel Barclay Beckett was born of a Protestant family in Dublin on 13 April 1906. The dramatist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. After 1937 Samuel Beckett primarily lived in France. He was close to James Joyce, and sometimes took down passages of Finnegan’s Wake for him.

During World War II Samuel Beckett was a member of the Resistance. In the end he had to flee occupied France.

Beckett wrote in French to avoid lapsing into rhetoric, although his manner and material was essentially Irish. He often translated his own works. For example, ‘En attendant Godot’ was published in Paris in 1952 and translated by him as ‘Waiting for Godot’ and published as such in London in 1956.

Many of his writings deal with the ‘absurdity of existence’, and somehow manage to be simultaneously comic and bleak.

Beckett is quoted as saying in 1961 in conversation with Tom Driver (in Samuel Beckett, a Biography by Danielle Barr): “To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.”

Uma Thurman

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Uma Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970 into a highly unorthodox and Eurocentric family – her mother is a European socialite and former model, her father one of the nation’s foremost Buddhist scholars. As a result, hers was a household in which the Dalai Lama was an occasional guest, she and her siblings all have names deriving from Buddhist mythology, and Middle American behavior was little understood, much less pursued.

And so it was that the young Thurman confronted childhood with an odd name and eccentric homelife – and nature seemingly conspired against her as well. Currently six feet tall, from an early age she towered over everyone else in class. Her famously large feet would soon sprout to size 11 – and even beyond that – and although they would eventually be lovingly filmed by director Quentin Tarantino, as a child she generally wore the biggest shoes in class, which only provided another subject of ridicule. Even her long nose moved one of her mother’s friends to helpfully suggest rhinoplasty – to the ten-year-old Thurman. To make matters worse yet, the family constantly relocated, making the gangly, socially inept Thurman perpetually the new kid in class. The result was an exceptionally awkward, self-conscious, lonely and alienated childhood.

Unsurprisingly, the young Thurman enjoyed making believe she was someone other than herself, and so thrived at acting in school plays – her sole successful extracurricular activity. This interest, and her lanky frame, perfect for modeling, led the 15-year-old Thurman to New York City for high school and modeling work (including a layout in Glamour Magazine) as she sought acting roles. The roles soon came, starting with a few formulaic and forgettable Hollywood products, but immediately followed by Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons (1988), both of which brought much attention to her unorthodox sensuality and performances that intriguingly combined innocence and worldliness. The weird, gangly girl became a sex symbol virtually overnight.

Thurman continued to be offered good roles in Hollywood pictures into the early 90s, the least commercially successful but probably best-known of which was her smoldering, astonishingly-adult performance as June, Henry Miller’s wife, in Henry & June (1990), the first movie to actually receive the dreaded NC-17 rating in the USA.

After a celebrated start, Thurman’s career stalled in the early 90s with movies such as the mediocre Mad Dog and Glory (1993). Worse, her first starring role was in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), which had endured a tortured journey from cult-favorite book to big-budget movie, and was a critical and financial debacle. Fortunately, Uma bounced back with a brilliant performance as Mia Wallace, that most unorthodox of all gangster’s molls, in Tarantino’s lauded, hugely successful Pulp Fiction (1994), a role for which Thurman received an Academy Award nomination.

Since then, Thurman has had periods of flirting with roles in arty independents such as A Month by the Lake (1995), supporting roles in which she has lent some glamorous presence to a mixed batch of movies such as Batman & Robin (1997), and the occasional starring role now and then, such as her role as a martial arts assassin in Tarantino’s controversial Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), a grueling stretch for Thurman which proved her game for virtually any acting challenge.

Thurman had been briefly married to Gary Oldman, from 1990 to 1992. In 1998, she married Ethan Hawke, her co-star in the offbeat futuristic thriller Gattaca (1997). The couple had two children, Roan and Maya. Hawke and Thurman filed for divorce in 2004.

Shannon Elizabeth

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Born on September 7th in Houston, Texas, an only child, of a Syrian/Lebanese father and a mother also of mixed decent (Cherokee Indian). At age two she started taking ballet, tap and jazz. She loved to sing and dance. In her third grade year they moved to Waco, Texas, where a ton of her relatives already lived. During her senior year she had the opportunity to be in a video for a local band. The producer of the project thought that she should be in New York modeling and proceeded to pitch the idea to her parents. That Christmas Shannon and her family ended up going to New York to have some pictures taken and meet with some agencies. By the end of their trip she had an agent. So she began her high-profile international modeling career in New York City upon graduation from high school.

After landing a national commercial, Elizabeth launched her acting career in Los Angeles by landing guest starring roles on prime time shows on various major networks. Shannon Elizabeth first garnered attention from critics and audiences alike for her performance as the sexy Czech exchange student in the box office hits AMERICAN PIE and AMERICAN PIE 2. She also scored another success with Miramax’s teen horror parody SCARY MOVIE. Currently, Shannon can be seen on That 70s Show where she has a recurring role as Kelso’s pregnant girlfriend. She was most recently seen in Kevin Smith’s irreverent comedy JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, as well as in TOMCATS, THIRTEEN GHOSTS and an all-star young cast in Wes Craven’s CURSED with Christina Ricci.

Milla Natasha Jovovich

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Milla Natasha Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975 in Kiev, Ukraine. She is the only child of Gallina Loginova, an actress, and Bogdanovitch (Bogie) Jovovich, a physician. Much of her first five years was spent travelling back and forth between her father’s medical studies in London and their home in Russia.

After those five years, Milla’s father decided that his medical practice could not grow any more in the Russian economy. At age 5, Milla moved with her family to Sacramento, California. Unfortunately, during Milla’s childhood in the United States, she was antagonized by children who would never let her forget that she was a “commie” in the heat of the Cold War.

At age 11, Milla rose above this relentless torment to begin her acting career. Her first movie, released in 1988, was Two Moon Junction. From that point on, Milla was flying high. Upon her entry in the realm of modeling, the world was amazed by how beautiful and 11-year-old fashion model could be. Milla’s acting and modeling careers continued through her adolescence.

At age 18, Milla released her first album, The Divine Comedy. Many critics anticipated a cheesy pop album that they had come to expect from a model/actress turned singer/songwriter. To the surprise and pleasure of music-lovers everywhere, Milla’s first album was a beautiful collection of eclectic music that utilized instruments from around the world.

In 1997, Milla starred with Bruce Willis in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. Her performance as Leeloo forced the world to recognize her as the incredible actress that she is. During the filming, there were stories of a love affair between Milla and Luc.

Milla and Luc were married in December, 1997. Milla’s last starring role came in Spike Lee’s He Got Game with Denzel Washington. She will star in Luc Besson’s upcoming Joan of Arc (slated to be released this November). In June 1999, she began performing on stage again, and there are rumors of an upcoming follow-up album to “The Peopletree Sessions”, Milla’s second album. Milla turns 24 this December.

Kim Basinger

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Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the 3rd of 5 children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her dad had played big-band jazz, and her mother had performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Kim was introspective, from her father’s side. As a schoolgirl, she was very shy. To help her overcome this, her parents had Kim study ballet from an early age. By the time she reached sweet sixteen, the once-shy Kim entered the Athens Junior Miss contest. From there, she went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia title, and traveled to New York to compete in the national Junior Miss pageant. Kim, who had blossomed to a 5’7” beauty, was offered a contract on the spot with the Ford Modeling Agency. At the age of 20, Kim was a top model commanding $1,000 a day. Throughout the early 1970s, she appeared on dozens of magazine covers and in hundreds of ads, most notably as the Breck girl. Kim took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse, performed in various Greenwich Village clubs, and she sang under the stage name Chelsea. Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1976, ready to conquer Hollywood. Kim broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as ‘Charlie’s Angels’. In 1980, she married Ron Britton (they divorced in 1989). In movies, she had roles like being a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983)’ and playing a small-town Texan beauty in ‘Nadine’ (1987). Her breakout role was as photojournalist Vicki Vale in the blockbuster hit ‘Batman’. There was no long-orchestrated campaign on her part to snag this plumb role, Kim was a last-minute replacement for Sean Young. This took her to a career high. With perhaps too much disposable income, Kim headed up an investment group that purchased the entire town of Braselton, in her native Georgia, for $20 million (she would later have to sell it).

In 1993, Kim married Alec Baldwin, and in 1995 they had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse. Kim took some time off to stay at home with her child. Kim, who loves animals and is a strict vegetarian, devoted energy to animal rights issues, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), even posing for some ads. In 1997, Kim gave an Oscar-winning performance in the film noir classic L.A. Confidential. Kim’s salary for ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ is $5,000,000 putting her firmly in the category of big-name movie star. And no doubt there are still many great things ahead, in the career of cover girl turned Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger.

Jamie King

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Born Jamie King, this blue-eyed blonde’s hometown is Omaha, Nebraska, where she was born on the 23rd of April, 1979. She was discovered at the age of fourteen while attending a modeling school in Nebraska. After being spotted at her graduation fashion show, James (Jamie’s stage name) was invited to New York to start modeling and thus her career as a model began. It didn’t take long for James to be photographed by the industry’s top photographers and appear on the covers of fashion magazines. By age fifteen, she had already worked for Vogue, Mademoiselle, Allure, and Seventeen while the following year she was able to add Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar to her already full resume.

She has most recently graced the covers of Cosmopolitan and Details. As a model, James has already become a staple in the fashion circuit. Not only has she appeared in almost every woman’s fashion magazine, but she has also walked down the catwalks of big league fashion shows for designer houses such as Chanel, Christian Dior and Marithe & Francois Girbaud. Although a natural on the catwalk, James has been the victim of an embarrassing moment—at the age of fifteen she spilt red nail polish all over a Gucci dress right before strutting down the runway!

As for advertisements, James has appeared in ads for the following companies: Bebe, Benetton, Guess?, Kenneth Cole, Macy’s, Mondi, and Nordstrom. Aside from modeling, James has had her share of experience on the screen. Her television credits include a role in Inferno in 1992, appearances on Catwalk, Unzipped, Naomi Conquers Africa, as well as appearances as herself in Beautopia and Original Copies. James’ film roles include Four Faces of God, The Happy Campers and Bar Hop.

Not only does James sometimes co-host MTV’s House of Style with host Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, but she has also landed the role of a nurse in Jerry Bruckheimer’s big budget film Pearl Harbor, co-starring Ben Affleck. She will also play Johnny Depp’s daughter in the upcoming film, Blow. In the tradition of models being cast in music videos (i.e. Linda Evangelista in two of George Michaels’ videos), James appears in Filter’s video, Take a Picture. Although James’ life seems picture perfect, all has not been rosy in the land of King.

A former heroin addict and alcoholic since the age of sixteen, her fashion photographer boyfriend David Sorrenti died of a heroin overdose in 1997. James is now sober. There have been rumors that James dated Sean Lennon, but she denied the rumors while on the Howard Stern Show. Another rumor has linked her with Kid Rock. She is apparently now dating model and personal trainer Alex Burns.

Denise Richards

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In the fantasy world of most guys, all nuclear weapons experts (and doctors and lawyers and tax auditors) would look like Denise Richards’ character, Dr. Christmas Jones. Seeing as she played a weapons expert, it’s only fitting that Roger Ebert called her a first-rate sex bomb.

Denise Richards was born on February 17th, 1972 in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. When she was 15, the family moved to California, a state that just loves girls that look like her. She started doing some modeling and after graduating high school in 1989 she moved to New York for more work in that field. Though great for print ads, her five-foot six-inch figure wasn’t really runway material and Denise headed back west.

She was able to land the pretty girl bit parts on shows like Saved By the Bell and Married with Children. She also met her longtime boyfriend, actor Patrick Muldoon. She had a part on Seinfeld in 1993 and won a role in a forgettable movie, Tammy and the T-Rex. In 1996 she played a conniving beauty pageant contestant on a few episodes of Melrose Place, a show which also featured Muldoon.

In 1997, Denise and Muldoon worked together on the big screen, in the sci-fi bug flick Starship Troopers. Males everywhere took notice. But not as much notice as they gave her next picture. Richards was cast in Wild Things opposite Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon. The film feature a partially nude threesome with Dillon and Campbell. Partially in the sense that Neve’s no-nudity clause meant that Richards was the naked one being pawed over by the other two.

Her role as a beauty contestant in Drop Dead Gorgeous didn’t stir the excitement of the audience too much and left cinemas pretty quickly. Her role in the James Bond flick The World is Not Enough redeemed her though and also tosses her into the Bond Girl club. She’ll soon be seen opposite Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Third Wheel. Denise also just signed up for a movie in which she will star opposite Charlie Sheen in the romantic comedy Good Advice. in addition to a role opposite David Boreanaz in Warner Bros.’ Valentine. Hopefully Denise can get better reviews in her upcoming roles, her career may depend on it.

Charlize Theron

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Born on August 7th, 1975, she grew up in a small town called Benoni and was a member of the tribe South Soho. She was born a single child in a very wealthy family. She learned many of the 28, (twenty-eight!) languages she speaks from the staff on her parents’ farm. When she was 6, Charlize showed her first signs of what would be her stardom. She began ballet and considered doing this for a career. She continued dancing and would eventually go professional in Johannesburg. At the age of 16 she took an offer to begin modelling in Milan, Italy, because she’d won a local modeling contest. She was not content with the way she was viewed as a model, so on the last day of shooting under her current contract in New York City, she decided she wouldn’t return to Milan. Instead she began dancing with the Joffrey school in New York, returning to her first love. At 18, she suffered a ballet ending injury. And her carreer ended in this field.

She bought a ticket to Hollywood and grabbed a role in “2 Days In the Valley” and quickly lost her South African accent. She’s slowly battled her way up through Hollywood ranks to the title of “starring actress” with roles in “The Cider House Rules”, “The Astronaut’s Wife”, “Mighty Joe Young”, and more. She’s had roles in tons of the great movies of this and the past decade.

Cameron Diaz

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Cameron Diaz was sixteen when she got her big break in life. Born in August 30, 1972, she was at a Hollywood party when she ended up speaking to, and eventually dating, a fashion photographer who landed her a modelling contract with the Elite Modelling Agency within a week of knowing her. She went to Japan with another young model (15) to further her modelling career shortly afterwards.For five years afterwards she travelled from country to country and fashion capital to fashion capital. From Paris to Morocco to Milan and even to Australia and eventually hooked up with boyfriend Carlos De La Torre whom she stayed with for five years in a Hollywood apartment.

By the time she landed herself a role in the film The Mask, starring comedian Jim Carrey, she was already an accomplished actress appearing in commercials for Calvin Klein, Levi’s, and Coca-Cola as well as being on magazines such as Seventeen and Mademoiselle. She was 21 and had much experience in the modelling world. However, she had begun to feel that there was more in her future than just modelling and she eventually decided to turn from modelling to acting. She initially got a small role in the movie but got bored “practising with the choreographer so that he knows the steps he gonna teach the real girl who gets the job? The director, Charles Russell, who realised what she felt, managed to convince the producers at New Line Cinema to give her the female lead role and so she launched her acting career.A month into the production of the movie she discovered the scale of the movie and got an ulcer realising the pressure set upon her according to the success of the motion picture. After this experience, and a case where she injured herself in training for the film Mortal Kombat, studios became wary of taking her on and so fate would have it that she returned to the world of big time modelling and independent films.

She gained a role in the movie the Last Supper?in 1995 saying she decided to do so to gain experience working with other actors seeing as how she had little experience. In 1996 she earned roles in Feeling Minnesota and She The One along side big stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Aniston and in the film lead Above Water? She doesn fail to show off her model figure in most of these films and they are all worth a view. She was named N.A.T.O. female star of tomorrow in that year and now with experience in several films she has a growing following of fans.Since then she has starred in My Best Friend Wedding along side Julia Roberts, A Live Less Ordinary with Trainspotting star Ewan McGregor, and most recently There Something About Mary along side long time boyfriend, Matt Dillon. Rumour would have it the two have now broken up but reports are vague.Soon she will appear again on the big screen in the films hear And Loathing In Las Vegas?and an Any Given Sunday? Her latest film, Very Bad things, is out in the States at the moment and will be coming out soon across Europe.

Blu Cantrell

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As she grew up in Providence, R.I., with her five siblings, Blu Cantrell was toted from one jazz performance to another to watch her mother sing. She born in September 12th 1972. From that point forward, she knew what she wanted to do, and began auditioning for vocal gigs and displaying her dynamic alto at talent shows. On a visit to Atlanta in 2000, Cantrell played her demo tape for A&R executive Tab and producer C. Stewart (aka Tricky) of RedZone Entertainment. They were so impressed that they immediately provided studio work to the young singer, and she sang backgrounds for artists including Gerald Levert, Faith Evans, Puff Daddy, and Aaron Hall. Meanwhile, Cantrell began recording tracks for what would ultimately become her first full-length album.

Upon hearing the cut “Till I’m Gone,” L.A. Reid, the CEO and president of Arista Records, signed Cantrell. Before the release of the full-length, the single “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)” occupied the number two position on the Hot 100 list. The buzz was out and Cantrell was invited to perform on national television programs. Her full-length debut, 2001’s So Blu, reached the Top Ten on the album charts. Her next record, 2003’s Bittersweet, didn’t perform as well on the charts but did earn Cantrell a Grammy nomination for best R&B album.

Keira Knightley

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Born on March 22, 1983. When she was only 6 years old, Keira had landed herself an agent and at the age of 7 she got her first part from a friend of her parents’. In 1994, when Keira was only 9-years-old, she played Natasha Jordan in the movie A Village Affair. One year later, she played the young Celia Graves in the movie Innocent Lies (aka Halcyon Days.) The role that made her famous to some degree was that of Sab¨¦ – Queen Amidala’s most trusted handmaiden, decoy, and best friend – in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (released in 1999). When LucasFilm stumbled across young Keira, she was only 14-years-old. It wasn’t until 1998 that Keira Knightley received her “introducing” credit when she starred in the first (of a four-part) Drama series called Coming Home.

She played the role of young Judith Dunbar. More and more parts came Keira’s way, and in July 2003, at the age of 19, Keira has become an international star with the releases of Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Since then she has completed an impressive array of films including Hole, The (2001) and has recently completed filming on a new Richard Curtis comedy, Love Actually (2003). Though beautiful, young, and famous, Keira still keeps her head about her. Scripts and job offers keep pouring in for the young star, but she still says it could all be over tomorrow. Keira plans to have fun with acting, but is prepared for the worst.

Mia Sara

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Mia Sara stars in The WB’s new action-drama series, Birds of Prey, as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a brilliant madwoman who uses her day job as a therapist to achieve her savage purpose – to take control of the city of New Gotham.

Born on 19 June 1967 and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sara realized her dream to become an actress when she was still a teenager. She fell in love with old Hollywood stars such as Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Marlene Dietrich. Intrigued by the double bills at the Regency Theatre in Uptown Manhattan, she knew acting was her calling when she went to a movie theater with her mother to see The French Lieutenant’s Woman and walked out of the theater in full character.

In 1985, Sara made her film debut in Ridley Scott’s dark fantasy feature film Legend as Princess Lily opposite Tom Cruise and Tim Curry. Sara is most recognized from her role as Sloane Peterson, the girlfriend of Matthew Broderick’s character in the high school comedy, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Sara’s past film credits include A Stranger Among Us with Melanie Griffith and Time Cop with Jean Claude Van Damme.

Sara’s television credits include the life story of Queenie Kelly, from India to England, in the television mini-series Queenie with Kirk Douglas, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea co-starring Michael Caine and Patrick Dempsey, and Brian Henson’s (son of Jim Henson) Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story with Matthew Modine and Vanessa Redgrave.

Sara currently resides in Los Angeles with her 5-year-old son. When not working, she enjoys reading, practicing yoga, and spending time with her son.

Jayne Mansfield

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Born in 19 April 1933, Vera Jayne Palmer visited Hollywood for the first time when she was thirteen. After a tour of Twentieth Century Fox Studios, she and her mother went to the Brown Derby for lunch. Jayne spotted The Great Gildersleeve radio stars Dennis Day and Harold Peary, and asked for their autographs. “You know Mama,” she said when she returned, “one day some other young girl is going to make her way across this room and ask for my autograph.”

Jayne’s desire to become a star was not ignited that day; the trip only fanned flames that had always burned within her. Her parents, Herbert and Vera, were witness to her enthusiastic performances at an early age. When she was five, Jayne was singing for anyone who would listen, including her gigantic collection of stuffed animals. At seven, she would stand in her driveway and play the violin for passers-by. Though her idols changed over the years- from Shirley Temple to Gene Tierney, Hedy Lamarr, and Jean Harlow- they were always movie stars.

A naïve and trusting child, Jayne’s innocence often resulted in touching anecdotes. Once, Jayne’s Sunday school teacher told the children that God was always with them. That night, Jayne fell out of bed several times “making room for God.” When Jayne learned that a family living down the street had fallen on hard times, she helped them out in whatever way possible. Disturbed because their little girl had no winter coat, Jayne traded her jacket to the girl in exchange for an old baby bottle. Jayne’s parents were upset, but she never regretted the trade.

Though Jayne’s kind heart enabled her to touch the lives of many, it made her extremely vulnerable. When she was three, her father died suddenly. That morning, at a physical, he was declared healthy, but several hours later he had a heart attack. Jayne, who had been a daddy’s girl, was stunned. “Something went out of my life,” she said. Years later, she remembered how she would sit on his lap while he stroked her long curly hair. “My earliest memories are the best. I always try to remember the good times when Daddy was alive.”

Fortunately, Vera was able to support the family by working as a school teacher. Not long afterward, she met and married Harry “Tex” Peers, and they decided to move from Phillipsburg, New Jersey to Dallas. Jayne was fond of Harry, a firm but loving man, and appreciated the discipline he brought as they became a “family” again. Harry also cultivated Jayne’s love for barbecuing. Outgoing and personable, Jayne would invite anyone to join their weekly barbecues. Years later, on their custom-built double pink marble-topped barbecue, she and husband Mickey Hargitay cooked for the entire San Francisco Giants baseball team.

At a party on Christmas Eve, 1949, Jayne met Paul Mansfield. Handsome and studious, Paul treated Jayne with genuine respect. They fell in love, and were married on January 28. After a difficult labor, Jayne Marie Mansfield was born on November 8, 1950. Well aware of his wife’s Hollywood ambitions, Paul thought becoming a mother would distract her. He was wrong. Though she was thrilled with the birth of her daughter, Jayne had not faltered in her dream to become a star. The war in North Korea started, and Paul had to leave for Army reserve duty. Before leaving, he relented and promised her that when it was over, the family would move to Hollywood. Two years later, the Mansfield family started out for California. Paul would stay only four months. They divorced and he went back to Dallas. Nonetheless, Jayne kept the name Mansfield because she thought it sounded illustrious.

Jayne flourished in Hollywood. She took a job at a movie theater but was soon accepting work as a model. Gene Lester, a well-known photographer, recalled her first professional shoot for General Electric. “Jayne was one of the girls I used. She was way over to the left side of the picture. General Electric notified me that they had to cut her out of the picture because she looked too sexy for 1954 viewers.”

Hollywood publicity agent Jim Byron saw her potential. “Jayne had a star quality,” he said. “She was very much like a raw gem.” During Christmas, they decided Jayne would visit newspapers and provide the overworked reporters with cheer-in the form of a spirited hug and kiss. Her appearances were a hit, and Jayne’s picture was in newspapers all over the country. For Byron’s next big event, he got Jayne a ticket to a press event in Florida for the RKO Pictures release of “Underwater,” starring Jane Russell. On the plane, she was seated next to Daily Variety reporter Joe Schoenfeld. He found her so delightful that the following day their conversation consumed his column. Later, in a red bikini, it became obvious to everyone that she had control of the spotlight. Headlines from that weekend announced, “Jayne Out-Points Jane.” That same year, after starring in the Broadway hit “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter,” the headlines read, “Jayne Signs Studio Contract With Fox.”

Jayne was on her way to becoming a celebrity when she attended a Mae West performance at the Latin Quarter. After the show, Jayne was also on her way to falling in love-with 1956 Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, who was working as one of Mae’s musclemen in the show. As their relationship developed, Mae became irate at the loss of Mickey’s affections, and called a press conference where she ordered him to denounce his relationship with Jayne. Her plan backfired. Instead of reading the scripted statement, Mickey said, “Jaynie and I are very much in love, and we have seriously discussed marriage plans in the future.” On January 13, 1958, amid family, friends and a flurry of press in Palos Verdes, California, the pair married. Theirs was very much a storybook love, of which Jayne later said, “We were into something so beautiful. Mickey and I had a grasp of life that most people never know anything about.” Both Jayne and Mickey loved children, and were ecstatic each time Jayne became pregnant. The couple had three children together, Micklos, Zoltan and Mariska, whom they regularly brought on location for performances. “We take our children everywhere we go,” she said in a Star Weekly magazine interview. “I don’t believe in having them and then leaving them to someone else to bring up.”

Meanwhile, Jayne’s career had continued to prosper. In 1956, she starred in “The Girl Can’t Help It,” a successful film that satisfied the public’s demand for anything rock and roll related. The musical talent of Little Richard, Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, Fats Domino, The Platters and Julie London accompanied Jayne and her co-stars, Tom Ewell and Edmond O’Brien. When she earned the lead in “The Wayward Bus,” based on John Steinbeck’s best-selling novel, Jayne captured the persona of her character and the critics took notice. Next, Jayne took her Broadway role as Rita Marlowe to the big screen in the film version of “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” Once again, “Rock Hunter” was a success, and so was Jayne. Fox then placed her in “Kiss Them For Me” alongside Cary Grant, whom she found to be “one of the most marvelous men I’ve ever met.” During this time she purchased a Mediterranean style mansion on Sunset Boulevard. In keeping with her distinct decorative taste, the mansion would soon become known as “The Pink Palace.”

Before she left to film “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw” in England, Jayne and her family spent four weeks in Las Vegas. She had been asked to appear in nightly performance at the Tropicana, where she sang, danced and joked with the audience, and could not refuse the offer of $25,000 a week. Jayne loved being able to personally interact with her fans, and the Tropicana loved the crowd she drew. Her performance brought in a packed house every night. It was the beginning of a long-standing, highly successful nightclub career for Jayne. Several years later she returned to Las Vegas, this time at the Dunes Hotel, where her weekly salary was raised to $35,000. Though she began touring with her act, Jayne’s stage performances were not limited to nightclubs. She renewed her involvement in the theater, most notably in an acclaimed production of “Bus Stop.” “As the chanteuse being abducted by the lonesome cowboy, Miss Mansfield can hardly help stealing scenes,” said a critic. “But oft times the scenes are earned rather than stolen…it turns out the lady is endowed with a comedic talent.” She also dabbled in television, with cameo appearances on “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Jack Benny Program,” “Burke’s Law” and “The Steve Allen Show.” Ultimately, Jayne juggled a career that encompassed almost every media facet. Unfortunately, as so often happens in Hollywood, Jayne and Mickey’s relationship had become strained. They decided to divorce in August 1964, but always remained good friends.

In 1967, Jayne’s life was still moving at full speed. “I will never be satisfied,” she said in an interview. “Life is one constant search for betterment for me.” Her time was split between a Southern nightclub tour and the production of “Single Room, Furnished,” a drama that would become her last film. “Furnished” was directed by Matt Cimber, who Jayne met on the set of “Bus Stop” and later married. On June 29, Jayne was riding in front with Ronnie Harrison and lawyer Sam Brody on the way from a Mississippi nightclub engagement. Her children, Mickey Jr., Zoltan and Mariska sat in the back. As they rounded a curve on a dark stretch of road, the car slammed into a slowed semi. Though the children survived with minor injuries, everyone sitting in the front was killed instantly.

The world was stunned. Jayne’s personality was so vibrant, her career so vivacious, that it was impossible to believe she was gone. At 34, she had already earned a special place in the hearts of millions, and with her death came a deep void that will never be filled.

Jayne was laid to rest in Fairview Cemetary in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. There is also a centograph dedicated to her in the Hollywood Forever Memorial Park in Hollywood, California.

Tilda Swinton

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Known throughout Britain for her idiosyncratic performances and long-time association with the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, Tilda Swinton is nothing if not one of the more unique actresses to come along during the second half of the 20th century. Born in London on November 5, 1961, Swinton attended Cambridge University, where she received a degree in social and political sciences. While at Cambridge, she became involved in acting, performing in a number of stage productions. Following graduation, Swinton began her professional theater career, working for Edinburgh’s renowned Traverse Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1985, Swinton began her long collaboration with Derek Jarman, both as a friend and fellow artist. She made her screen debut in his Caravaggio (1986) and appeared in every one of the director’s films until his death from AIDS in 1994. It was for her role as the spurned queen in Jarman’s anachronistic, controversial Edward II (1992) that Swinton earned her first dose of recognition, becoming a familiar face to arthouse audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and earning a Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival for her work in the film. The acclaim and recognition Swinton garnered was amplified the same year with her title role in Sally Potter’s adaptation of Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s classic tale of an Elizabethan courtier who experiences drastic changes in both gender and lifestyle over the course of 400 years.

Following appearances in Jarman’s Blue (1993) and in his acclaimed biopic, Wittgenstein (1994), Swinton earned some of her strongest notices to date for her lead in Female Perversions (1996), in which she played a successful lawyer trying to cope with her own insecurities and self-destructive tendencies. She then portrayed another brilliant, troubled woman in Conceiving Ada (1997), a science fiction piece that cast her as the real-life daughter of Lord Byron, a woman who was widely held to be the inventor of the first computer.

Never one to choose films for their simplicity or mainstream appeal, Swinton subsequently appeared in Love Is the Devil (1998), John Maybury’s controversial account of the life and times of artist Francis Bacon. She then portrayed a battered wife in The War Zone (1999), Tim Roth’s hellish portrait of extreme family dysfunction. Following on a slightly lighter note with Trainspotting director Danny Boyle’s The Beach in 2000, Swinton would later take the lead in The Deep End (2001). Noted for her delicately textured performance as an isolated and protective mother who makes a desperate bid to protect her son after assuming he has committed murder, many critics noted Swinton’s performance as a key element to the film’s success. The next year, the talented actress took on multiple roles in a complex tale of cyborg fantasy and speculative science fiction, Teknolust, and appeared in a small role in Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.

In 2003, Swinton delivered strong performances opposite Michael Caine in the thriller The Statement and Ewan McGregor in the erotic drama Young Adam. She went on to star in the ensemble comedy Thumbsucker and appeared with Keanu Reeves in the supernatural thriller Constantine. In 2005, she would play the White Witch in the much-anticipated live-action adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.

Keri Russell

2008-08-31T07:56:00.001-07:00

Born Keri Lynn Russell on March 23, 1976 in Fountain Valley, CA, the oldest of three, she was raised in the Southwest and in Denver. Russell studied dancing from an early age. She later found that her love of dancing was good preparation for acting, insofar as both disciplines demanded self-discipline and an adherence to timing and choreography. Dancing led to a modeling stint, which in turn led to a trip to Los Angeles, where in 1991 she landed her first regular TV gig as one of the Mouseketeers on the Disney Channel’s “All New Mickey Mouse Club”. Russell stayed with the show until 1993, during which time she lived at Disney World, where the show was taped. During her time on the Mickey Mouse Club, Russell landed her first film role as the babysitter for a giant toddler in the Disney-produced sequel 1992’s Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. After her TV commitment ended, Russell moved to Los Angeles .

After stints on two failed series (the 1994 CBS sitcom “Daddy’s Girls” and the 1996 NBC primetime soap “Malibu Shores”), the young actress landed the coveted title role in “Felicity” (The WB, 1998-2002), a fantasy drama about a college freshman coping with life changes. In 1996, she did more film work in the little-seen The Babysitter’s Seduction, and she continued her film work in 1997 with the comedy Eight Days a Week. With her career flagging, playing confused college freshman Felicity Porter, turned out to be her big break. Russell nearly wasn’t considered for the part because the show’s creators felt she was too beautiful to have the problems her character did.

Suddenly the subject of countless interviews and magazine covers, Russell found herself as one of television’s hottest commodities, especially in the wake of the Golden Globe she netted for her portrayal of Felicity. Unsurprisingly, this new status led to a new range of opportunities, including her role in The Curve (1998), a thriller which had its premiere at Sundance and co-starred Matthew Lillard and Michael Vartan. Russell undertook her first lead in the independent romance Mad About Mambo (1999). After playing a soldier’s wife in the Vietman drama We Were Soldiers in 2002, alongside Mel Gibson and Madeleine Stowe, she will next be seen in the British flick Cabbages & Queens (2004).

Maggie Gyllenhaal

2008-08-31T07:55:00.002-07:00

After playing several smaller roles in motion pictures, Maggie Gyllenhaal made her debut as a full-fledged, first-billed star in Secretary in 2002. Her sweet looks and demeanor are given complicated depth onscreen with a subtle style that enhances the characters she plays, large part or small. With the exception of a few television-movie roles, Gyllenhaal has established herself as a big-screen player, and early in her career already showed her presence taking shape. While born in Los Angeles (on November 16, 1977), Gyllenhaal resides in New York City where she settled after attending Columbia University. She earned her B.A. in English, although she had much theater experience while in college in addition to her literary focus. She also studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. While she focused on English academically, her stage experience would lead her back to acting after graduation. In fact, the limelight is in her blood, as she is the daughter of screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and also the sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. In the early ‘90s she made small appearances in Waterland and A Dangerous Woman, getting her feet wet in the business in which her family had established experience. Additionally, she appeared on-stage both in New York City and in London. More than a kid sister or a daddy’s girl, Maggie Gyllenhaal has become a Hollywood star in her own right.

With an interesting role in Cecil B. Demented—a strange dramatic commentary on an artist’s visions and psychoses, starring Stephen Dorff and Melanie Griffith—Gyllenhaal was an intelligent performer whose beguiling looks brought all the more depth to the character she played. Continuing in the genre of bizarre and mysterious dramas, she appeared in Donnie Darko (2001), starring her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, along with Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze. Maggie Gyllenhaal developed an early niche of appearing in films elating an artist’s tale of woe, with notably self-reflective movies that deal with making movies. While Cecil B. Demented told a director’s twisted story, Adaptation (2002) presented a screenwriter’s struggle to adapt a novel into a film version. Directed by Spike Jonze, Adaptation features Gyllenhaal in support of stars Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep. Also in 2002, Gyllenhaal’s first major starring role came with Secretary, a film by Steven Shainberg. In it, she brings her signature depth and charming warmth to the role of Lee, a young woman who takes a job as a secretary and winds up discovering her own sexuality through a relationship that develops in the office.

Kimberley Locke

2008-08-31T07:55:00.001-07:00

When Kimberley Locke finally said goodbye to American audiences on American Idol in summer 2003, being one of the last remaining three finalists with Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, her first thought was that she would be leaving her two close friends; her second was, “Oh no, I didn’t win”; and her third was, “If this was the Olympics, I’d still get a medal. It was a great race”. That determination and mindset is what Kimberley Locke is all about. America has not heard the last from Kimberley, as Kimberley Locke will soon be coming back with her debut album on Curb Records, which will feature a mixture of pop, R&B, and ballads, sung with the power and intensity of this hot newcomer that America has already enthusiastically embraced. Kimberley Locke was born on January 3, 1978 to Christine and Donald Locke in Hartsville, Tennessee, a small town just outside of Nashville. When Kimberley Locke was 7, her parents split up and she moved with her mother to Gallatin, Tennessee, where she finished her primary years of schooling. Kimberley Locke’s love for music was innate, and her first memories of singing began when her mother bought her her first radio with a dual cassette recorder. “My mother bought me these books that were singalongs—the Getalong Gang, Rainbow Bright, the Care Bears…I used to listen to them over and over and memorize the songs. I always loved to sing. “In fact, I remember one time that my dad was driving me to my babysitter’s house, and I didn’t let him turn on the radio in the car, because I wanted to sing the whole way,” recalls Kimberley. ” I had seen The Wizard Of Oz the night before, and I was singing all of the songs from the movie…it’s pretty ironic that I ended up singing ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ on Idol.” Growing up on Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Diana Ross, Kimberley Locke relied on her grandmother’s extensive vinyl collection to listen to her favorite singers. Music was a family affair, and Kimberly often sang vocals in her “first band”—with her cousins as backup musicians. But it wasn’t until the seventh grade that Kimberley formed an all-girl group with friends who called themselves Shadz Of U—a group that she still performs with to this day. “We used to sing a lot of a cappella materials—it was all about the harmonies,” says Kimberley Locke. “We didn’t have a leader of the group, and we did a lot of gospel. We performed at many churches in the area, and on some Sundays,” she adds, “we would perform at five different churches in one day.”

When Kimberley Locke joined the choir in high school, she was advanced enough to make it into the premier high school group as a young sophomore called the Performers, which featured a top 20 select group of male and female singers. “Once I got into the Performers, and developed my craft, I became a lot better singer. It was really my life outside of school.” Natural progression would lead one to believe that Kimberley would continue to pursue music at college when she began attending Belmont University in Nashville. “When I went to college, I didn’t sing at all. They had a school of music, but it was very competitive, and I didn’t want to compete in college.” Kimberley continues, “but it was really difficult for me, because I was majoring in business education, and I wasn’t singing—I felt like I had a void that needed to be filled.” That wasn’t until a good friend of Kimberley Locke’s turned her on to a local band, which led to her singing with various bands in Nashville. Soon Kimberley was performing with Black Widow, a group that sang top 40, and the Imperials, a group of retired professors—in which the drummer had once played with James Brown. “I learned the most from working with the Imperials. They pushed me that extra mile to where most of my jazziness comes from.” Kimberley Locke continued playing with local bands in Nashville for six years while going to school, but she began to feel like “this was work.” She decided that she did not want to be 40 and still singing in clubs. She stopped performing at age 22.

“I stopped cold turkey, finished school, and then enrolled in law school,” says Kimberley Locke. “I had my books and was slated to begin attending the Nashville School of Law last October, when I was urged by my sister-in-law and several friends to audition for American Idol. “I remember thinking yeah, yeah…I can do this.” But Kimberley was reluctant. At the advice of a friend telling her, “You’ll never know if you don’t try,” Kimberley decided to take the plunge. American Idol was holding auditions in Nashville, and soon Kimberley Locke found herself waiting for at least five hours a day over the course of five days in the waiting line. “I put in a total of 18 hours auditioning for the show. With more than 1,500 people in line, I was 1,580,” laughs Kimberley. “I was really wondering what I was doing there. I had a job, and here I am standing outside waiting to be heard. In my mind there was no rational answer to this, but I thought, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it.’”

Kimberley Locke did it, all right. She kept making it through round after round of auditions, and finally came to Los Angeles to audition in Glendale’s Alex Theatre for the final round. Kimberley Locke now had to make a serious decision: begin law school or pursue American Idol further. The American Idol auditions were the week after she was to begin law school, and Kimberley decided to withdraw from law and take the risk. “It was a tough decision because in my mind, I had this road that I could see down. It was clear, there was no fog. And now I was going down this road that was very foggy, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face”. Regardless, Kimberley Locke felt that she had to take the chance.

Carrie- Anne Moss

2008-08-31T07:51:00.002-07:00

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on August 21, 1967, Moss decided that she wanted to be an actress at an early age. The youngest of two children raised by a single mother, she grew up taking acting classes. At the age of 11, she had joined and starred in school theather, and later studied at Magee, an exclusive secondary college. At the age of 20, she left Canada to pursue a career as a model. She landed assignment in Toronto, Japan and Spain, shot her first of several international magazine covers. She then studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, landing her first acting job in Barcelona, Spain as Tara McDonald in ‘Dark Justic (1991), upon her return to North America, she moved to L.A. and was cast on the Aaron Spelling series Models Inc. After making her film debut in 1996’s Sabotage, Moss continued to do TV work and appeared in fairly obscure films. Carrie got her big break and rose to international stardom, playing the latex-clad cyber warrior Trinity in the Wachowski brothers’ The Matrix. After this Moss was soon in great demand. In 2000 alone, she could be seen in no less than four films, including the action comedy The Crew, Red Planet, and as a bartender with questionable motives in director Christopher Nolan’s unconventional breakthrough, Memento. She still enjoys the stage, appearing at the recent production of ‘Outward Bound’ at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles.

Cheryl Ladd

2008-08-31T07:51:00.001-07:00

Born in 12 July, 1951. Actress/singer Cheryl Jean Stopelmoor billed herself as Cherie Moore when she performed as a backup singer on the 1970 Hanna-Barbera animated TVer Josie and the Pussycats. Cheryl Ladd reverted to her given name when appearing as a regular on the prime-time programs The Ken Berry WOW Show and Search (both 1972), and in various TV guest assignments. Stopelmoor was occasionally written up in fan and industry magazines of the period, more because of her unusual name than her acting skills (often, her last name was longer than the parts she played). Cheryl Ladd finally became a star when she adopted her married name of Ladd (her husband of many years was actor David Ladd, son of film luminary Alan Ladd) and replaced Farrah Fawcett on the highly-rated ABC “jiggle” show Charlie’s Angels. Cheryl Ladd played blonde angel Kris Munroe from 1977 through 1981, then concentrated on made-for-TV films, wherein she was permitted plenty of creative input. Cheryl Ladd’s TV movies found her cast as both victim (A Death in California) and victimizer (When She Was Bad); arguably her best outing was the title role in the 1983 TV biopic Grace Kelly. Cheryl Ladd has since returned to series TV from time to time, playing Liane DeViller on Crossing (1986) and Holli Holliday on the syndicated Baywatch wannabe One West Waikiki (1994). Tirelessly active in civic and charitable endeavors, Cheryl Ladd was at one time Goodwill ambassador to Childhelp USA.

Britney Spears

2008-08-31T07:50:00.002-07:00

Born. 2nd December 1981, Kentwood, Louisiana, USA. One of the last teenage superstars of the millennium, Spears enjoyed her breakthrough success at the end of 1998. She appeared in local dance revues and church choirs as a young girl, and at the age of eight auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. Although she was too young to join the series, a producer on the show gave her an introduction to a New York agent. She subsequently spent three summers at the Professional Performing Arts School Center. She appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions as a child actor, including Ruthless (1991).

She returned to the [ Walt ] Disney Channel for a spot on The Mickey Mouse Club, where she was featured for two years between the ages of 11 and 13. She began to audition for pop bands in the New York area, her demo tapes eventually landing on the desk of Jive Records’ Jeff Fenster. ‘’Her vocal ability and commercial appeal caught me right away,’’ he recalls. She was expensively groomed by Jive, who put her in the studio with Eric Foster White (producer and writer for Boyzone, Whitney Houston and others). They employed top R&B writer Max Martin (of Backstreet Boys fame) to produce her debut single, ‘’... Baby, One More Time’‘, and an album of the same title. They also set up a promotional free phone number where fans could listen to Spears’ music and interviews throughout the summer of 1998. She toured American venues for a series of concerts sponsored by US teen magazines, eventually joining ‘N Sync on tour.

The careful planning paid off when her debut album and single went on to top the American charts at the start of 1999. The album and single enjoyed similar success in the UK and Europe. The ballad ‘’Sometimes’’ and the funky ‘’(You Drive Me) Crazy’’ were also substantial transatlantic hits. ‘’Born To Make You Happy’’ topped the UK charts in January 2000. The demand for new Spears material was satisfied when her sophomore set, Oops! ... I Did It Again, was released in May. The album contained the expected quota of well-produced, expertly crafted pop songs alongside a risible cover version of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

Jessica Simpson

2008-08-31T07:50:00.001-07:00

Born July 10, 1980, in Dallas, Texas, this sexy 5’ 3” recording star and singer displays a hard core attitude in her performances. Jessica has a younger sister named Ashlee. Her father, who is a psychologist, manages her career, and her mother designs her wardrobe and assists in the business affairs. Jessica first developed and nurtured her talent in the local Baptist church, where her father also works as the congregation’s youth minister.

While at church camp, at the age of 13, Jessica sang Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and an arrangement of “Amazing Grace”. One of the camp’s visitors, a gentleman who was launching a gospel record label saw great promise and profits in her voice. Jessica began to tour with Christian youth conferences with tunes like “True Love Waits”, sometimes entertaining audiences of 20,000 people.

Jessica is boldly traveling down several fresh new musical avenues. In addition to offering more of the lush, passionate ballads that have become her signature, she has effectively expanded her creative styles. This includes ebullient rhythm pop and sultry R&B and is a collection of funk-fortified songs and sophisticated contemporary ballads. Jessica has the finesse and confidence of a well seasoned performer.

Jessica says she is part of a positive new breed of teenager and youths who welcome responsibility and propriety. In school, Jessica hung with a crowd that was popular and respected, and she was elected Homecoming Queen two years in a row at J.J. Pierce High School.

Jessica’s relationship with her fans is of tremendous importance to her. “They keep me going. They inspire me. I do all I can to keep in close touch with the fans who support my music, whether it be via my shows or on the Internet. The energy I get from them is extraordinary.”

Jessica states, “That’s what I really wanted to come across on these songs, confidence”. Jessica notes, “I wanted to show that with that inner strength and inner light, nothing is impossible.” That said, Jessica admits that she does occasionally enjoy flexing a little external heat… even if it’s completely innocent. “There’s a cut on the album, ‘Hot Like Fire’, that I think will take people by surprise”, she says of the self-assured hip-hop-flavored cut produced by Cory Rooney. “It’s a hard-core ‘attitude’ song. You might not even recognize my voice at first. It’s totally raw and intense. It’s a shake-your-hips kind of song. I love it.”

Kate Winslet

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Kate Winslet was born October 5, 1975 in Reading, England. She was born into an family of people in the theatre, and it seemed to Kate that it was the natural thing to do to go into it. Her first role ever was a the Virgin Mary, at age 5. From that point on, she had caught the acting bug.She attended Redroofs, a performing arts school in Maidenhead, until age 16. Kate’s first job was in a Sugar Puffs cereal commercial. After that, she appeared in a few television series. On one of them, Dark Season, she met Stephan Tredre, many years her senior, who became Kate’s first real love interest. They were together for quite some time, and continued to be extremily close. Stephan passed away in December, of cancer, causing Kate to miss the Hollywood premier of Titanic

During her childhood, and into her teen years, Kate’s 5’6’’ frame weighed as much as 185 pounds, which led to her to acquire the nickname ‘’Blubber’’ in school. Her weight has since become a non-issue in my opinion, but one that still causes her to get press about. Personally, one of the reasons why I like Kate is that she looks like a normal person, not someone who looks like they have been stranded on a desert island for five months eating nothing but berries and moss.Anyway, Kate’s first movie role was in Heavenly Creatures, the much acclaimed New Zealand film about the true story oftwo girls whose relationship becomes so close that it causes them to do a drastic thing to be together. Kate plays one of those girls, Juliet Hulme. After Heavenly Creatures in 1994, Kate had a role in Disney’s A Kid in King Arthurs Court, as Princess Sarah and her Oscar-nominated role a Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, both movies released in 1995. She followed up with the part of Sue Bridehead in Jude and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh’s wonderous Hamlet

Currently, Kate has the starring role (she beats out Leonardo in my mind) in James Cameron’s amazing, heart-wrenching, wonderful Titanic, as Rose Dewitt Bukater, the 17-year old wild beauty trapped in the heart of Philidelphia high society. Kate got a second Oscar nomination for her part as Rose (also a Golden Globe nomination, which, unfourtunately, went to Judi Densch, who is also an incredible actress, but still…) Kate also recieved a nomination for best actress from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. If you haven’t yet seen Titanic, run, don’t walk, to you’re nearest movie theatre. You won’t be sorry!Kate’s future projects include a movie called Hideous Kinky, which is set to be released in June, 1998. The film has yet to be picked up by a North American production company, but hopefully that will change! It is based on the novel of the same title by Anna Freud (grandaughter of the famous Sigmund). Kate stars as a young British mother of two in the 1960’s who is travelling around Morroco with her two young daughters. She also slated to do a new film with director Jane Campion called Holy Smoke.

Naseeruddin Shah

2008-08-31T07:49:00.001-07:00

Naseeruddin Shah (born July 20, 1950) is one of the icons of New Indian Cinema along with Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri. Shah was born in Delhi and educated at the National School of Drama in Delhi.

Like many of the other actors of his genre, Naseeruddin Shah was first noticed by Shyam Benegal. He acted in Benegal’s Nishant (1975), Manthan and Bhumika (1976). One of his most intense performances was given in Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai (What makes Albert Pinto angry?, 1980). In the movie, he plays a garage mechanic from Goa who dreams of the expensive cars that he repairs but that are far beyond his reach. The film is set in a Catholic setting, primarily because Mirza did not have the courage to tackle Muslim issues. Naseeruddin Shah has also acted for other New Indian Cinema directors including Mrinal Sen (Khandan, 1983) and Sai Paranjpye (Sparsh, 1979).

Besides these serious roles, he has a penchant for comedy. His roles in Ketan Mehta’s films and also in films like Mandi, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, and Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (1983), have endeared him to the Indian public. He has also not shied away from accepting roles in mainstream Hindi movies where he has played a variety of characters, though his slight frame has ensured that he is most often cast in a comic role. However, directors also utilize his great acting talent when a character role has to be played.

Naseeruddin Shah has also played and directed English and Hindi plays. With his wife Ratna Pathak, Naseeruddin Shah continues to act regularly in plays, often at Shashi Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre.

Abhijeet Sawant

2008-08-31T07:48:00.001-07:00

Abhijeet Sawant was the winner of India’s first Indian Idol, a show very similar to American Idol, on March 9, 2005.

Originally from Mumbai, Abhijeet beat Amit Sana for the title. He won a contract worth Rs 10 million (or 1 crore) from Sony and a luxury car. Both the finalists also won a weeklong trip to Switzerland with their families.

His most famous song, Muhabbatein Luttaunga, is the song he sang on the final episode. His first solo album, Aapka Abhijeet Sawant, was released on April 7, 2005. The album contains songs sung by Abhijeet, Amit Sana and Prajakta Shukre.

The first Indian Idol was considered to be even bigger and more extravagant than the original American version, in terms of the votes cast and the people watching it on television. Sawant was used to promote many other shows and products related to Sony in the following months. He even released an album for another Sony show Jassi jaissi Koi nahin in June 2005. Sawant was also seen singing and sometimes acting in many other Sony-produced shows, including CID.

His first grand concert after winning Indian Idol was the Yaaron Concert in Delhi. The show was broadcast on television on 17 July 2005. He was accompanied by the 11 Gala Round finalists of the TV show.

Elizabeth Hurley

2008-08-31T07:47:00.002-07:00

Elizabeth Hurley was born June 10, 1965 in Hampshire, England. She grew up as the daughter of an army officer father and an elementary schoolteacher mother, Hurley grew up in the suburb of Basingstoke, England. When she was young she wanted to become a dancer, so she went to school for ballet instruction when she was twelve. Hurley won a college scholarship to the London Studio Centre, which taught courses for dance and theater.

Hurley made her screen debut at the age of 21 in the movie Aria in 1987. Several roles in television and a film with young actor Hugh Grant soon followed. Continuing her streak of success, in 1992 Hurley made her Hollywood film debut as a terrorist in the Wesley Snipes action drama Passenger 57. After Passenger 57 her career slowed down for a couple of years so she returned to England.

Unbeknownst to Hurley, her fame was soon to skyrocket because the London premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral where Hurley wowed the crowd by wearing a black Versace dress that was held together by nothing more than safety pins, and Hurley’s fame taking off was her becoming the spokesmodel representing top cosmetics house Estée Lauder. Since then Elizabeth Hurley has done such movies as The films Austin Powers 1&2, Extreme Measures, Permanent Midnight and Ed TV. And, to top it all off, Hurley is still modeling for Estee Lauder.

Catherine Zeta Zones

2008-08-31T07:47:00.001-07:00

Catherine Zeta Zones (Catherine Fair and Zeta Jones being the names of her grandmothers) was born in Swansea on the 25th of September, 1969, growing up in the now-chic Mumbles area, a beautiful sweep of wooded coastline. Her father, Dai, managed a confectionery factory, turning him, in young Catherine’s eyes, into something of a Willy Wonka figure. Her mother, Pat, was Irish and a seamstress by trade. She commented, upon Catherine’s birth, that she looked like a frog. Catherine had one older brother, David A Jones, and one younger, Lyndon, both of whom now aid her in her work with her production company, Milkwood Films (Swansea also being the former home of Dylan Thomas, author of Under Milk Wood).

From the age of 4, Catherine wanted to entertain, to be the centre of attention. She’d prance around using the spout of her grandma’s kettle as a microphone. Very soon, she was onstage, performing with an amateur troupe organised by the local Catholic Church. Her singing voice, though, was once severely threatened. Falling sick with a viral infection that impaired her breathing, she had to undergo a tracheotomy (the scar is still visible today). Consequently, she missed a lot of school, and was sent to a small private establishment to catch up.

But, though she was bright, academic work was not Catherine’s calling. Studying tap and ballet, she continued with the amateur troupe, starring in Annie, then as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone. This latter part was wholly appropriate, Catherine being perfect as the super-sexy vamp. She says that even at 12 she looked 22, and would go to clubs with the blessing of her trusting parents.

Saif Ali Khan

2008-08-31T07:46:00.001-07:00

Saif Ali Khan born on 16 August 1970 in New Delhi, India is National Film Award winning Indian actor who stars in Bollywood films. He is the son of the Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and the actress Sharmila Tagore.

Currently living in Mumbai, Khan married actress Amrita Singh in October 1991. The marriage made news as Amrita was twelve years older than him. After thirteen years of marriage and two children, a daughter named Sara and a son named Ibrahim, the couple divorced in 2004. His children currently live with their mother.

Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh have now separated. Sara and Ibrahim are with their mother, Amrita Singh. Saif Ali Khan is now romantically involved with an Italian girlfriend. He has a sister by the name of Soha Ali Khan.

Saif Ali Khan made his debut in 1992 with Parampara. He had his major success with the 1994 films Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Yeh Dillagi. After starring in several box office failures throughout the 1990s, he gained acclaim and rose into prominence with his performance in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), and went on to turn his career professionally after that.

He was praised for his performance in Nikhil Advani’s hit Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), which won him the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, and won the coveted National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in another hit Hum Tum (2004). He then had commercial success with films like Salaam Namaste (2005) and Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007), and starred in numerous critically acclaimed projects such as Parineeta and Omkara (2006). These successes put him among the most successful actors in the industry.

After he divorced his wife, he began dating Rozza Catalino, who he recently broke up with. The tabloids have often linked him with many other Bollywood stars, but he has denied all these rumours.

Khan is currently dating actress Kareena Kapoor. At the grand finale of the Lakme Fashion Week, he declared that they were indeed a couple and were seeing each other.

On February 18, 2007, Khan was hospitalized at Leelawati Hospital, Mumbai due to experiencing chest pain while rehearsing for his performance at the Stardust Awards, to be held that night. Many film personalities came to see the actor in hospital. After hospitalisation he gave up smoking.

Soha Ali Khan

2008-08-31T07:45:00.002-07:00

Soha Ali Khan’s mom, dad and brother are superfamous celebrities. She’s the daughter of “Sharmila Tagore” famous hindi actress of 60’s and 70’s and “Tiger Pataudi” well known Indian cricketer. And Saif Ali Khan’s sister. And now it’s time for this talented and stunning girl to make a mark. The sensational Soha Ali Khan has signed her first film opposite Shahid Kapoor in Nitin Manmohan’s Mohabbat Ki Ki Ki to be directed by Anant Mahadevan. There are two more girls in it but this doesn’t bother her at all. She is concerned with her character and very happy with it. So she is ready to take the challenge.

She was born in mumbai and at the age of six shifted to delhi. She studied at british School and use to study hard to get good marks. She enjoyed sports and theatre. Then she did her under graduate at Oxford and master’s at London School of Economics in International Relations. Studying abroad has given her international outlook and understand and be tolerant towards other cultures.

She has been brought up in liberal way, where ever to travel, think and have friends she wants. She was quite a hyperactive child. Very friendly and outgoing always running from one place to another. But never bothered about appearances. She didn’t wear too much jewellery nor was colour coordinated.

While studying she know exactly that she wanted to be in films in terms of career. She know if started acting before accomplishing her academy, then it wouldn’t be possible for her to go back to studying. Her parents had the typical normal parental concerns about joining the films. When she was 12, she meant to play the child in Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala and taken two months leave from school also. But couldn’t do the film because she had to get braces.

She had also worked with Citibank and an NGO to get experience which help her when she finally starts acting. And now she is 3000 percent ready for films.

Sharmila Tagore

2008-08-31T07:45:00.001-07:00

Her smile and dimples took the hearts of millions right in her first Hindi film. Sharmila Tagore has been the embodiment of glamour in the Hindi film industry. She was in her teens when Satyajit Ray introduced her in his last film of the Appu triology’ Apur Sansar and then in Devi, one of his best movies, where she plays as an incarnation of goddess Kali, “I did those movies during my holiday’s. My career in films was a kind of chance with pressure, mingled with curiosity” is what she says. She later on went to do his films like Nayak (1966) Aranyer Din Ratre (1970) and Seemabaddha (1971).

Acting was never a difficult task for this multi-talented actress. Her first film Kashmir ki kali in 1964 opposite Shammi Kapoor, by the famous director Shakti Samantha launched her as the hottest and most glamorous actress of her times.

Her style, her sophistication as a educated foreign born Indian girl in her double role in her next film An Evening in Paris justified her being a sex symbol, especially her bikini clad cabaret role in the same film, and, made a great news at the age of high conventionality.

She was also a style setter. Her butterfly knot blouse, her style of making up, long eyelashes, her curvy dresses all became a fashion statement. In the mean time she also appeared on the cover of a magazine in two piece bikini which became the talk of the town. “Looking back, I realize I was very different from the other actresses of my time.

My behavior was grossly misinterpreted. I felt I was making mistakes all the time. I’d wear clothes that were not suitable. Everybody would be wearing a sari and I’d turn up in jeans. I was also accused of being snooty and arrogant, which I was not. I didn’t know that one was expected to lead a certain lifestyle.”

There was a twist in her career when she did Araadhana opposite Rajesh Khanna which was a film that made golden jubilee hit, where she plays the role of a bright and young sporting girl to that of a old mother. Her roles opposite Rajesh khanna became the best-known duo in the industry.

She got married to the former Indian cricket captain, Mansoor Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataud, everybody was sure that their marriage wouldn’t work out but her post marriage performances are the best in her career and her marriage is one of the ever lasting ones. She also converted to Islam, under the name of Ayesha Sultana.

After a short break (after her son Saif Ali Khan’s birth) a series of offers opposite Rajesh Khanna was impossible to resist. That is when she made a come back with lots of offers Her pairing with Rajesh Khanna sparked off great many hits. Amar Prem is the film where we see the famous character of Pushpa, a mute courtesan with whom Rajesh khanna is in love with.

Which is just opposite to a prostitute’s role in Gulzar’s Mausam opposite Sanjiv Kumar where she played double role and won a national award. Besides Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila also made a good pair with hit heroes of yester years Shashi Kapoor with films like Waqt, Aaamne Saamne, Suhana Safar… Sanjeev Kumar in Charitraheen, Mausam, Grihapravesh and Dharmendra in Devar, Anupama, Chupke Chupke and also the superstar Amitabh Bachchan in Faraar, Besharam and Desh Premee but these pairs didn’t make much impact on filmgoers.

She was recently seen in character roles in Mann (1999) and Dhadkan (2000), which was not upto the mark. It is said now, Sharmila is shooting with one-time archrival, Raakhee, for Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film Shubho Mahurat.

In an industry where the all heroine’s make a mark Sharmila Tagore with her royal background has a left with a permanent mark with her cute dimples, her styles and most of all the glamour that nobody else has.

Hilary Duff

2008-08-31T07:44:00.001-07:00

HILARY DUFF (Lizzie McGuire) is becoming one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars. The dynamic young actress has garnered world-wide recognition as the star of Disney Channel’s international hit series “Lizzie McGuire,” in which she portrays a teen navigating the turbulence of middle school cliques, trendy styles and rites of passage while her animated, brassy alter ego gives running commentary. “Lizzie McGuire” premiered in January 2001 and is now seen every day at 7:30 p.m. on Disney Channel and Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. on the ABC Television Network.

Duff co-starred with Frankie Muniz in the MGM film “Agent Cody Banks.” She plays prep school student Natalie Connors, who is unknowingly caught between a new love, who is actually a secret teen agent, and her father, a scientist who unknowingly develops a fleet of deadly nanobots.

In April, 2003, she begins filming 20th Century Fox’s “Cheaper By The Dozen,” with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. In July, 2003, Hilary goes into production with a starring role in the Warner Bros. picture “Cinderella Story,” a comedy about a Southern California high school student who is transformed from an awkward teen into the most popular girl in school.

In 2002, Duff starred in the blockbuster “Cadet Kelly,” which ranks as Disney Channel’s highest rated original movie ever, the top-rated movie on both broadcast and cable television for its premiere week and cable television’s highest rated movie to date in 2002.

Last August, the multi-talented Duff crossed over to other platforms, making her singing debut with the single “I Can’t Wait” on the “Lizzie McGuire” soundtrack from Walt Disney Records. The song quickly catapulted up the charts on Christmas-themed album, “Santa Claus Lane,” by Walt Disney Records. On the album, Hilary duets with R&B/pop recording artist Christina Milian and with hip-hop artist Lil’ Romeo. In addition, she was chosen to perform “The Tiki Tiki Room” on the upcoming Disneymania album. She is currently recording a new album, which will be released in the fall of 2003.

Duff’s enormous popularity was further proven with a nomination for Favorite Television Actress for Nickelodeon’s “15th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards,” and she accepted the award for “Lizzie McGuire,” which was voted Favorite Television Series.

Duff made her stage debut at age six with BalletMet Columbus and its touring company of “The Nutcracker.” Her subsequent role in a television commercial spurred her longing to act and she soon amassed several television and film credits.

On television, she was featured in the mini-series “True Women” with Dana Delaney and Rachel Leigh Cook, in “Soul Collector” which earned her a “Young Artist Award” for Best Supporting Actress, and in a guest starring role on “Chicago Hope.” She had theatrical roles in “Playing by Heart” with Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid and Gena Rowlands; as the friendly ghost’s best friend, Wendy, in the successful video release “Casper Meets Wendy;” and in the Cannes Film Festival favorite “Human Nature” with Tim Robbins.

Born September 28, 1987, Duff splits her time between homes in Houston and Los Angeles with her parents, sister and two dogs. She enjoys swimming, tumbling and rollerblading. Duff has served on the Advisory Board of the Audrey Hepburn Child Benefit Fund and the Celebrity Council of Kids with a Cause.

John Lennon

2008-08-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

The murder of John Lennon, who in so many ways represented the heart and soul not just of the Beatles but of all ‘60s rock’n’roll, was perhaps the most emotionally felt of all rock deaths.

Certainly there was an equal outpouring of emotion for Elvis Presley, and perhaps as much in some quarters for Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. But John Lennon’s death was more stunning than any of them.

He was just emerging from a long period of silence with a vigor as surprising as it was refreshing, and he seemed in command of his powers as never before, at a time when rock’n’roll and the world desperately needed his voice.

It was the time immediately following the first landslide election of Ronald Reagan, a discouraging prospect to so many who had embraced all that Lennon seemed to stand for and believe in. If the two events were unrelated, and clearly they were, they are indelibly linked on an emotional level. Not only had Ronald Reagan been elected president, with all his cold, brutal values coming to ascendance—but the one rock star who seemed the warmest and most human (much of that merely public image, as it turned out) had been summarily slain a month later.

Asked about Lennon’s death within days of its happening, Ronald Reagan cupped a hand to an ear and then shrugged and grinned, saying something affably inaudible toward the crowd of reporters. He obviously didn’t care.

But don’t get mixed up about John Lennon. His true genius, which he practiced all his life, was to make people love him. As a human being, he was seriously troubled, the result of a lifetime of festering pain. Separated from his parents as an infant (his father went off to sea and his mother on to good times, the next relationship, and eventually an early death), he was raised by his aunt, Mimi Smith, in a middle-class British setting.

He was a behavior problem all through school, but early on found something like salvation, or at least balm, in U.S. rock’n’roll, which he loved. He formed his first band at age sixteen. Paul McCartney attended a performance in 1957 and shortly afterward became a member. McCartney’s musical skills impressed Lennon—and Lennon’s savvy impressed McCartney. Soon they had agreed that everything written by either would from that point on be credited to “Lennon-McCartney,” a promise they kept for nearly fifteen years.

George Harrison eventually joined and, later, Pete Best, who was replaced on the brink of the group’s breakthrough by Ringo Starr. Known variously as the Quarry Men, Johnny & the Moondogs, and the Silver Beatles, they finally settled on the name the Beatles, after the Crickets, whom they idolized, with Lennon misspelling it to make the pun on “beat group.” In 1960, a four-month stint in Hamburg, Germany, playing some eight hours a night, helped them get their impressive performing act together and provided the physical endurance training they needed to survive Beatlemania when it hit. The last pieces to fall in place were a manager and a record deal, both of which had happened by mid-1962.

Lennon, who had been deeply involved with Cynthia Powell since 1957, married her in 1962 when she became pregnant with Julian. The Beatles’ enormous success, which followed almost immediately, was overwhelming beyond belief. As mere mortals, we can only try to imagine what it was like to be a Beatle between 1964 and 1970. Lennon on touring: “Oh, it was a room and a car and a car and a room and a room and a car.” Fast-forward to Lennon in a 1966 interview with British journalist Maureen Cleave: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now.” He was to pay dearly for those remarks, which raised a stink some six months later in the U.S. and earned him and the group lasting enmity from many.

The Beatles retired from the road shortly after that, at the end of 1966—in hindsight that was the beginning of the end. In November of 1966 Lennon met Yoko Ono at a gallery opening; almost immediately they hit it off, and she pursued him. But Lennon was not available yet. He was still married, and he was also busy making his contributions to the vastly celebrated Sgt. Pepper. In reality it was an album all too sorely wanting in concept and containing more filler than the two previous outings (Revolver and Rubber Soul) combined.

But still it has somehow insinuated itself as a lasting hippie totem and a permanent symbol of the times. Then the Beatles embarked on a very sad and a very silly time, with LSD adventures at home, TM adventures in India, the death of Brian Epstein, the dissolution of Lennon’s marriage, and the formation of Apple. Meanwhile, as the moral center of the U.S. dissolved the Beatles had somehow become an integral part of it, every step of the way. No one knew quite how or why or what it all meant, but few denied it. The White Album seemed to capture the sense of 1968. Abbey Road seemed to capture the sense of 1969. Let It Be seemed to capture the sense of 1970. It didn’t matter when any of them were really recorded. How did they do that?

And then, finally, the group broke up. Lennon, switching his psychic allegiance and expectations from McCartney to Yoko, was ultimately traumatized by it, as his public statements and behavior of the time made clear. But the overall impact of this difficult time on him nonetheless resulted in some of his most fascinating and enduring work: 1970’s John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and 1971’s Imagine, both of them startling testaments to scathing self-disclosure. Somehow, when Lennon opened up and exposed all his running sores, everyone’s first impulse was to respond with love. There was his true genius again, the evidence of which really became obvious after his death.

Those gut-wrenching albums set the tone for Lennon in the ‘70s, a decade that was not good to him despite the stories that claimed otherwise. He spent the first half fighting the U.S. Immigration Department for his green card, drinking heavily, and yawping non-stop for peace (for which we almost have to assume that Lennon, an unusually violent man in his personal life, was driven by his overwhelming need for the “of mind”- type even more than the end to armed conflict, despite his overt, conscious focus on war; he doubtless understood the interconnectedness therein at some level, or so we may hope). He spent the second half in seclusion after the birth of his son Sean.

Reports conflict on his activities then, some claiming that he baked approximately as many loaves of bread as Jesus distributed with the fishes in the miracle described in the Bible, others reporting a series of ugly psychotic episodes. The (“just gimme some”) truth is no doubt somewhere in between, and we will likely never know it. Yoko, at any rate, was in charge of their financial affairs, and Lennon was mostly on sabbatical from life. Then a sudden creative fit in 1980 resulted in the material for Double Fantasy. The album came together extraordinarily quickly and was released in November.

Still in a creative frenzy, the couple were already at work on their next project when, coming home late from a session, Lennon was hailed by a fan to whom he’d given an autograph earlier that day, Mark David Chapman. Lennon turned and Chapman shot him five times with a .38 revolver. Lennon was rushed to the hospital but pronounced dead on arrival from a massive loss of blood. Chapman later claimed it was Lennon’s remarks in 1966 on Jesus that drove him to his act, but more likely he was in search of fame. He found it.

Imraan Hashmi

2008-08-31T07:42:00.000-07:00

Emraan Hashmi or Imraan Hashmi (born on 23 March 1979 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is an Indian actor. Emran Anwar Hashmi was born to a Muslim father and Catholic mother. His birth name is Emraan Anwar Hashmi. He later changed it to Farhaan Hashmi but recently decided to keep his original name but add an extra “a” as per numerology. He graduated from Sydenham in Mumbai where he studies graphics and animations.

He is the nephew of Mahesh Bhatt and is a cousin of actress and director Pooja Bhatt. He married Parveen Shahani at an elaborate ceremony on Thursday, December 14, 2006. The reception was held at a plush hotel in Bandra, Mumbai and was limited to the family members and close friends of the actor.

Hashmi made his debut in 2003 with the film Footpath however, it did not do well at the box office. He shot to fame with Murder (2004) which was his first hit. His next few films such as Zeher (2005),”Aashiq Banaya Apne” Kalyug (2005) and Gangster (2006) have done well at the box office and the soundtracks in these respective films have helped create a large fan base. Incidentally, all the songs from his movies have become instant hits. The playback singers for most of his film’s songs has been Himesh Reshammiya, Kunal Ganjawala and Atif Aslam.

Emraan is also famous for his kissing scenes in most of his movies and has gained the title of ‘Serial Kisser’ in the bollywood industry. Emraan also described his first on screen kiss during an interview claiming that he was very nervous and almost opted out of the scene before going ahead and shooting it with the female co-star.

Emraan lately decided to try and strip himself of the lover boy or ‘Serial Kisser’ image, he has said in many interviews that he hopes the release of his new film Awarapan will show him in a different light and after watching it people will stop seeing him as a lover boy and instead start to look at him as a serious and mature actor. Also in his recent film “The Train”, his role is more serious than his usual movies, despite a few kissing scenes with his female co-star Geeta Basra.

It is common knowledge that Emraan Hashmi is a product of the Bhatt camp. He is Mahesh Bhatt’s nephew. Though according to the actor, he continued to get roles in Bhatt’s films because of his ability to act.

The actor has always been surrounded by controversy because of the contentious scenes in all of his movies. Perhaps controversy comes with the territory he belongs to.

Tanushree Dutta

2008-08-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

22 years old and standing 5’8” tall, Tanushree was crowned Pond’s Femina Miss India Universe 2004 in Mumbai, on March 27th. When she was 18, Tanushree tried out for the Femina competition and was brought to the regional rounds, but in that year and last year, she failed to make it to the final group of contestants. After much effort, she made it this year, and aside from picking up the main crown over 28 others, she won the VLCC Miss Confidence and Pond’s Miss Beautiful Smile sub-titles.

Originally from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Tanushree’s father Tappan is an officer with LIC, Life Insurance Corporation of India, but she wanted to make it big. She moved to the Mumbai area and enrolled as a B Com student at Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, where she even won the Miss BMCC crown. Officially, she still resides in Pune today. In the meantime, she has worked with an even management company and pursued modelling, primarily in ad campaigns and a recent music video.

Ayesha Takia

2008-08-31T07:39:00.002-07:00

Ayesha Takia (born April 10, 1986 in Mumbai, India) is a Bollywood actress who won Best Debut Female at Filmfare for her performance in Taarzan: The Wonder Car. Her other films includes her role as Shalini in Socha Na Tha. She is a Mumbaite and comes from a mixed family. Her father is Gujarati, and her mother is half British and half Maharashtrian.

In her free time, she enjoys listening to stories, listening to music, reading, spending time with family, long drives, and sitting at cafés over conversation with people she likes.

Ayesha had to learn Hindi to do films, but only needed to learn diction because she came from a family where they speak more English at home.

She is a pure vegetarian.

Sushma Reddy

2008-08-31T07:39:00.001-07:00

Born in a family of three stunning sisters. Sushma is the eldest and the sister number 2 – Meghana who is a model cum veejay and the youngest sister Sameera is working as a spokesperson for Omega.

She is tall and stands five feet ten inches on her feet.

She completed an economics degree at Mithibai College, Mumbai.

She’s tried her hand at jewelry designing, learnt Japanese for two-and-a-half years, and floated a company to develop and export herbal products for skin and hair care.

She even did a stint with Channel [V] where she realized that she didn’t want to do production work ever.

She is the hair behind Organics. The skin behind Lakmé. The persona behind Pond’s Lavender Talc and the babe with Salman Khan in the Thums-up commercial.

She is in Sonu Nigam’s Deewana video with Diwaker Pundir.

Her latest are collections for Linarika, Araiya, Wendell Rodericks among many others.

She also has an unnerving habit of looking you straight in the eyes when she talks. She is one woman who oozes confidence.

She also learned acupuncture in her college days.

Her only hassle is modeling on the ramp, something she’s trying to over come, “Put me on a podium, with a spotlight on me and a mike in my hand and I’ll freeze, probably with my mouth wide open.”

She feels her main asset is the fact that she takes her career really seriously and makes every effort to be extremely professional, according to her “Modeling is all about who you are. Your inner beliefs, how you feel about yourself and how you project yourself. You cannot hide anything from the camera. If you have to look sweet, sexy or sultry it has to come from within.”

She along with her sisters and mother are now engaged in Animal Rights.

Arshad Warsi

2008-08-31T07:38:00.002-07:00

Arshad Warsi (born April 19, 1968). Arshad Warsi’s debut film was Tere Mere Sapne. It was a big hit. After that he had done many movies Betaabi, hogi Pyar ki Jeet, Hero Hindustani and Mujhe meri Biwi Se Bachaao etc but never come out as a big star. He had never come as a solo hero till now. His two latest released are Munnabhai MBBS with Sanjay Dutt. In this movie he had played a comic character and Waisa Bhi Hota Hai directed by Shasanka Ghosh is being dubbed in english and the portion in the film in which Arshad gives a speech in english will be dubbed in ‘Italian’.

Arshad is also doing ‘Karishma’ a serial for ‘Sahara TV’. He is doing this because he feel that this serial is being made in movie format. Even the actor in it, are movie actors. He had received many offers beside Karishma on TV.

He has also offered a English film in which the option is given to him to choice to play Hero or Villian role. He don’t want to stuck in any one image. Arshad has not signed a single film after Munnabhai MBBS he feels that numbers of producer are not important but tht quality of producer is important. The only film he has consented to grace with his presence is Kabul Express to be directed by first timer Kabir Khan.

Ricky Martin

2008-08-31T07:38:00.001-07:00

Ricky Martin—an international superstar and native of Puerto Rico who has sold more than 15 million records worldwide appears to be conquering the US as well, thanks in large part to an electrifying performance of his worldwide smash hit (and 1998 World Cup theme song), “La Copa de la Vida,” at the Grammy Awards show in February 1999. Martin is being hailed as the forerunner in a vanguard of Latin pop guards – a ‘Latin fever’ that is spreading worldwide. His 1998 Spanish-language album, Vuelve, won the 1999 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance and Martin’s debut single (“Livin’ La Vida Loca”) from his first English-language album has become the biggest selling No.1 single in the history of Columbia Records.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 24th 1971, Martin got his first taste of performing in grade school, where he acted in school plays and sang in the choir. As a small child, he appeared in a number of television commercials and immersed himself in singing lessons. Unusually, early influences included David Bowie and Cheap Trick until his mother escorted Martin and his brothers to a Celia Cruz concert, an event that had a profound influence. “One day our mother got tired of rock,” he recalls with a smile. “She said, ‘I can’t stand it anymore!’ and grabbed us by the ears and took us to a Celia Cruz concert. It really affected me.” Today, Ricky says, “I listen to everything. I’m like a sponge. I’m in this creative moment that feels like, ‘Let’s get it out!’”

Martin landed a spot with the Latin boy group Menudo in 1984 at the tender age of 12, and for the next five years he maintained a grueling regime of recording work and tours. In 1989, when Menudo was at the peak of its success, Martin opted out and moved to New York, hoping to achieve solo success. After a year of unemployment, frustration led the aspiring entertainer to Mexico. Soon after being cast as a regular in the Mexican soap opera Alcanzar una Estrella II, Martin began dividing his time between acting and music. His first two Spanish albums, ‘Ricky Martin’ (1992) and ‘Me Amaras’ (1993), achieved gold status in several countries. This success led Martin to move once again, this time to Los Angeles in 1994 where he divided his time between his third Spanish album, ‘A Medio Vivir’ and as bartender Miguel Morez on the US soap, General Hospital.

Released in 1995, A Medio Vivir constituted a turning point in Martin’s recording career. The album combined Latin styling with a rock orientation. Worldwide sales reached 600,000 within six months, and in October 1997 the release was certified gold. Martin was awarded the prestigious role of Marius in the Broadway production of Les Miserables and also found time to dub the Spanish version of the popular animated Disney film Hercules.

As soon as his year-long stint on Broadway was completed, Martin began work on his fourth Spanish album titled ‘Vuelve’, the album which sported the smash hit, “La Copa de la Vida”. It experienced spectacular worldwide sales, to date selling 6 million copies. Following Martin’s 1999 Grammy victory – Vuelve was named Best Latin Pop Album – and his much talked-about performance at the awards ceremony, sales of Vuelve jumped six-fold, thus creating the perfect atmosphere for the May release of Martin’s first English-language album, ‘Ricky Martin’, which has been two years in the making. “It’s all about communicating,” Ricky says by way of explaining his decision to record in English. “I will never stop singing in Spanish—that’s who I am—but this was always part of the plan.”

“I had the dream team!,” he enthuses about his producers: Robi Rosa (with whom he’s been working for years); Emilio Estefan, Jr. (the pioneer behind the “Miami sound”); songwriter Desmond Child (best-known for his work with Bon Jovi and Aerosmith but, as Ricky points out, is Cuban-born and “very much in touch with the Latin sounds”); and, through Madonna, electronica titan William Orbit. The production values on Ricky Martin draw from, and enhance, the roots of his music. “Technology is great and it works so you use it,” Ricky admits, “but I also try to keep things very simple. When it comes to music, you cannot pull a whip on yourself. I don’t want my voice to sound too technical, I want it to sound like me. The way I feel is, I don’t have to sound perfect, but my emotion has to nail it. There’s nothing scientific about it, it’s all about emotion. I let it flow. If it’s real, it stays.”

So far Martin appears to be handling his success well, turning down a chance to star opposite Jennifer Lopez in a film remake of West Side Story, on the grounds that the movie helps perpetuate Puerto Rican stereotypes; ‘the consummate professional and painstaking artist’. He also continues to maintain a relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Rebecca de Alba (who hosts a TV show in Mexico), and in regard to his singing career he said to USA Today:
“I want to do this forever. I don’t want to be the hit of the summer, and, hopefully, with a lot of humility, we can talk in 10 years and I’ll still be here.”

Tanisha Mukerji

2008-08-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

Tanisha could not have a finer Bollywood pedigree. She is the grandaughter of Shobhana Samarth, daughter of Tanuja and Shomu Mukherjee’s daughter, niece of Nutan’s and Joy Mukherjee. Bollywood star Kajol is her older sister, hunk Ajay Devgan’s her brother in law. Add to that, she is the first cousin Mohnish Behl’s and Rani Mukherjee. It’s no surprise that Tanisha always knew she would become an actress.

Tanish made her film debut in Pawan S. Kaul’s “Sssshhh…” starring opposite Dino Morea. Kaul raved about her highly anticipated debut performance. “She’s a natural,” the director said simply.

Mammootty

2008-08-31T07:36:00.001-07:00

Mammootty, whose real name is Muhammed Kutty, is a Malayalam film actor.

Mammootty was born in Chempu, a village near Vaikom in the Kottayam district of Kerala in the year 1953. He has acted in more than three hundred movies, most of them in malayalam. . He is considered as a superstar in the malayalam film industry, along with Mohanlal. He has a very large fan following in South India.

Mammootty is considered to be one of the greatest Method Actors in India along with Nasirudeen Shah and Om Puri. His stellar performances backed by four National Awards for Best Actor is a virtual proof of his Acting Prowess. Like Ben Kingsley and Marlon Brando, it is said that Mammootty rehearses and studies a character before he actually enacts it on the screen. The True Genre of a Method Actor, it is a Folklore tale in Malayalam Film Circles that the ultimate depiction of a film character is that of “Chanthu” portrayed by Mammootty in Hariharan’s “Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha” which bagged him his first National Award for the Best Actor.

Mammootty’s masculine looks, baritone voice and thick moustache underline his qualities of manliness. In South-India, most men grow moustaches with pride as a proclamation of masculinity. With four National awards, five State awards and five Filmfare awards for best acting, his acting prowess has won him wider appreciation and recognition than his looks.

Although a lawyer by qualification, Mammootty always wanted to be an actor. His entry into filmdom was rather late. As bad luck would have it, his first film, Devalokam(‘World of Gods’), never saw the light of the day. None other than the colossal figure in Malayalam cinema M. T. Vasudevan Nair discovered him and it was veteran director K. G. George who brought up Mammootty as an actor. Initially, K G George’s films like Yavanika(‘Curtain’), and Valarthumrigangal(‘Pets’), and Vilkanunde Swapnangal(‘Dreams for sale’) made him noticeable.

Mammootty’s career graph is dotted with highs and lows. His career saw a spectacular rise after the release of Joshi’s New Delhi. This film was based on the story, “Almighty” by Irving Wallace. It heralded the arrival of Mammootty the super star. His performance as a victimized journalist, who systematically took revenge on politicians who beguiled him, caught the imagination of many in the film world. Thereafter he acted in a series of super hits, only to remain low for sometime afterwards.

Apart from the heroic roles he enacted in pure commercial films, Mammootty was fortunate to have got the chances to portray the meaty roles of M T Vasudevan Nair’s characters. M T’s films like Aalkootathil Thaniye(‘Alone in the crowd’) catapulted him to new realms of stardom. His controlled acting and presentation of M T’s dialogues, which were always pregnant with meaning, gave Malayalam cinema a new concept of hero.

Then came his Oru CBI Diary kurippe(‘A CBI diary entry’), which some observers of malayalam films say was a landmark. It brought to fore a new concept of villainy, fresh presentation of politicians and above all a refreshing idea of hero. Without even a single song or dance number, Oru CBI Diary kurippe went on to create box-office history in Kerala. For all these, a large portion of credit goes to Mammootty for his enactment of the role of an upright CBI officer and his immaculate ways of unfolding the secrets of a murder shrouded in mystery. His theatrical representation of a Tamil Brahmin CBI officer became a topic of household discussion in Kerala. The film carved itself a niche in the heart of Keralites, so that two more films (Jaagratha (1989) and Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004)) starring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, the CBI officer, were recieved very well. A fourth film with the same character, Nerariyan C.B.I (2005) is set to release immediately. This in itself is a record of sorts in the Malayalam film industry, with four movies with the same lead character (a la James Bond).

Mammootty touched higher pinnacles of his career in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha(roughly translated as ‘A northern folklore’), again a M T creation. His depiction of a ‘Chekavan’(Usually a person of a warrior clan who would fight for a king or other nobles of the land) of distinguished valor but vilified by circumstances won him the top honors of the country, National Award for best acting. His histrionics matched the literary genius of M T. After his first national award, he made it almost a habit of winning the National award.

It was his acting talent, coupled with his willingness to go to any extent to rationally portray the roles, that helped enabled him to act in both offbeat and commercial movies and other in art movies, and yet not fall flat. Mammootty became almost a regular face in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s films. He starred in three of his latest movies, Anantharam(‘Thenceforth’), Mathilukkal(‘Walls’) and Vidheyan(‘The Subservient one’). The easiness with which he illustrated on screen the protagonist in Mathilukkal won him National award for best acting once more. It was again in an art movie, Ponthan Mada, which won him the National award for a third time.

In between, he had crossed the boundaries of Malayalam cinema and acted in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies. Though he proved a success in Tamil after Mani Ratnam’s Dalapati and continues to shine in Tamil films, his maiden Hindi film, Dhartiputra went unnoticed. But his national presence was once again felt after Jabbar Patel’s Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar. So realistic was his performance that it was reported thousands who watched the shooting of the film were in tears. No wonder, he again bagged the coveted Rajat Kamal for best acting.

Howsoever, he has been critisized for his inability to do comedies. Also, his dancing skills are considered poor by even his most freverent fans. But the emotions and the depth that he gives to his characters make him a well revered actor.

Anupam Kher

2008-08-31T07:35:00.002-07:00

Anupam Kher (born March 7/June 17, 1955) is an actor in Hindi films in India. He has acted in nearly 200 Hindi films. He made his acting debut in the 1984 Hindi movie Saaransh (The Gist). He has also hosted TV shows such as Say Na Something To Anupam Uncle and Sawaal Dus Crore Ka He also served as the chairman of the Indian censor board till recently, when he was replaced by Sharmila Tagore.

He is married to Kiron Kher and has one son, Sikander Kher, who is an actor.

Renee Zellweger

2008-08-31T07:35:00.001-07:00

Renee Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, a small town outside Houston. The daughter of European parents (her father was Swiss and her mother Norwegian), Renee had an older brother that she greatly admired. After graduating from Katy High School in 1987, where Renee was a cheerleader, gymnast and participated in the drama club, she went off to the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in English. An excellent student (she made the Dean’s List several times), Renee took a drama class only because she needed a fine arts credit to complete her degree. Her participation in drama while in college turned out to be much more than a requirement, as it reminded her of how much she loved acting. Not even having planned on becoming an actress earlier, Renee knew by the time that she graduated from college that she wanted to pursue a career in acting. She immediately began auditioning for commercials and films that were being shot in Texas, and it didn’t her take long to get her first film role. Although the roles she landed were bit-parts, the films did well and co-starred respectable actors such as Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Matthew McConaughey.

Her uncredited role in 1993’s Dazed and Confused as a high school senior was her first film role, and was followed up by a role in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (released in 1997). It was on the set of Chainsaw that Renee heard about another film that was in the midst of casting actors, which as luck would have it, Renee auditioned for and got the lead. The film was Love and a .45, a film for which Renee received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. In the meantime, Renee appeared in other films such as The Low Life, 8 Seconds, Reality Bites, and Empire Records, but it was her starring role in The Whole Wide World which not only won her praise at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, but also led to her breakthrough role in Cameron Crowe’s hit Jerry Maguire. Cameron Crowe was so impressed with her work in The Whole Wide World that he knew Renee would be the perfect choice to play the girlfriend of sports agent Tom Cruise, after being dumped by Kelly Preston. She even beat out already known actresses Bridget Fonda, Cameron Diaz and Mira Sorvino for the part. Her role in Jerry Maguire earned her many awards and a lot of recognition, including a Screen Actor’s Guild Nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as well as being named Entertainment Weekly’s Best New Movie Actress.

After Jerry Maguire, Renee starred in the smaller films Deceiver and A Price Above Rubies, in which she played a Hasidic Jew. In 1998, she moved onto a more mainstream film, One True Thing, a tearjerker also starring Oscar winners Meryl Streep and William Hurt. The following year, Renee joined Chris O’Donnell in The Bachelor. Next up for Renee is the summer comedy Me, Myself and Irene, featured in our Top Summer Movie Picks. Renee fell for co-star Jim Carrey while on the set of filming the Farrelly Brothers’ film, and the two are still going strong. Renee also landed the title role in the film Bridget Jones’ Diary, beating out popular British actresses to play the role of a single British woman in her 30s.

Marcia Cross

2008-08-31T07:34:00.001-07:00

Born 25 March 1962 and raised in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Marcia Cross is the daughter of parents Mark and Janet, and the sister of siblings Susan and Ellen. Marcia holds a Master’s degree in psychology from L.A.’s Antioch University and studied at The Juilliard School, New York, New York as well. On August 30, 1993, Marcia’s longtime partner, actor Richard Jordan (born July 19, 1938) died of a brain tumor. Marcia has not dated anyone seriously since his death.

On July 27, 1984 Marcia Cross stepped into paleontologist Liz Correll’s shoes on sappy soap The Edge of Night and stayed there until December 28, 1984 when her character was seen hitchhiking out of Monticello with character Preacher Emerson. 20 years later Marcia Cross hit the prime time (and big time) as the “the Martha Stewart on steroids whose family is about to mutiny,” (quote from ABC), Bree Van De Kamp in Desperate Housewives. Those 20 years of “hitchhiking” has kept Marcia Cross busy. Some of the stops along the way included a “hold-up” with Jesse and Frank in TV’s The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James (1986), until she was sucked back into daytime drama as Kate Sanders in One Life to Live. Again with the soaps as Marcia Cross played Tanya in Another World. Marcia Cross continued to travel through some “forgotten roles” and found her way back to the series in Knots Landing (1991-1992) and Melrose Place (1992-1993, 1994-1997).

In 1993, Marcia Cross suffered a tragic personal loss when her longtime companion, actor Richard Jordan (Francis 7, Sandman in Logan’s Run, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables) died of a brain tumor and in 1997 Marcia left Melrose Place to get her Masters Degree in psychology. A career with ups and downs, good roles and bad, Marcia Cross seems to have fit into her latest niche with solid roots. TV’s Desperate Housewives, with it’s satirical poke at suburban housewives, is hot and Marcia is smack-dab planted in the middle of it.

Marcia Cross may have come to our attention by playing the role of Dr. Kimberly Shaw on Fox’s hit series Melrose Place but that is only one fraction of her credited “show and tell.” A dedicated Yoga fan and sponsor of Children United Nations, this beautiful and talented actress has dealt with those over-dramatic soap opera roles (Kate Sanders in One Life to Live, Tanya in Another World for starters), to funny man Jerry Seinfeld’s main squeeze in Seinfeld (The Slicer episode), to Bree Van De Kamp in TV’s sizzling series Desperate Housewives. It’s little wonder Marcia Cross is carving out her niche in entertainment. Familiar with theatre, television and film, Marcia has been acting for over 20 years, paying her dues and fine-tuning her craft. Marcia Cross is finally reaping the rewards with oodles of nominations for her role in Desperate Housewives. When leaving her character of Dr. Linda Abbott in TV’s Everwood for character Bree, some felt she was making a career mistake. Looks like Marcia Cross knows exactly what’s best for her.

Felicity Huffman

2008-08-31T07:33:00.002-07:00

Born December 9, 1962, Felicity Huffman, the youngest of eight children, studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and at NYU’s Circle in the Square. Felicity Huffman stars as Dana Whitaker, the strong and quick-witted producer of “Sports Night,” who is trying to elevate the upstart Continental Sports Channel’s program to victory over that other cable sports network, in Imagine Television and Touchstone Television’s new half-hour comedy series, “Sports Night,” for ABC. Felicity Huffman describes her character as “a woman who lives for the show. She’s really dedicated and single-minded—sort of a cross between Goldie Hawn and a Doberman pinscher,” Huffman joked.

Working with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme has been a great experience for Felicity Huffman. “It is such an honor to be acting with a writer of the caliber of Aaron,” she enthused. “And then there’s Tommy—I’d take a bullet for those guys”. “Sports Night” is Huffman’s first leading role in a comedy series. Felicity Huffman has guest-starred on “Law & Order,” “Chicago Hope,” and “The X-Files,” among others. Her feature film credits include “Hackers,” “Reversal of Fortune,” and “Things Change,” as well as the recently released “The Spanish Prisoner.”

Felicity Huffman is also a long-time member of New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, which is where she met her husband, actor and cofounding member William H. Macy (“Fargo,” “ER”). Felicity Huffman has appeared on Broadway in “Speed the Plow” and off-Broadway in “Cryptogram,” for which she won the 1997 Obie Award—she credits David Mamet (co-founder of the Atlantic Theater Company) for giving her such a wonderful character to play. Felicity Huffman’s other off-Broadway credits include “Dangerous Corner,” “Oh, Hell!” and “Boy’s Life.” Most recently, Macy directed her in “The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite” at the Atlantic Theater. In her spare time, Felicity Huffman is an avid reader and enjoys being outdoors and playing a variety of sports, but confesses she doesn’t follow any professional sports. Felicity Huffman and Macy reside with their dog, Walter Wallingford, in Los Angeles and have an apartment in New York.

Gwyneth Paltrow

2008-08-31T07:33:00.001-07:00

Born on September 28th, 1973 in Los Angeles California, Gwyneth was immersed right from the beginning in Hollywood life. Her mother was Tony Award winning actress Blythe Danner and her father was influential television producer Bruce Paltrow. Right from birth, Gwyneth was surrounded with the trappings of celebrity. Starting off early, in small walk-on roles in her father’s productions, she got a taste of what was to come. When she was eleven, her family moved to New York, where she attended Spence School. While a teenager, her summers were often taken up by watching her mother perform in summer-stock theater. Gwyneth’s own stage debut was at the Williamstown Theater Festival in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She followed that with other plays, and it was her performance in Picnic with her mother that convinced her to end her studies of Art History at the University of California in Santa Barbara and pursue a career in acting.

Her feature film debut was in the musical Shout, starring John Travolta. From there she moved on to supporting roles in Flesh and Bone, Malice, Se7en and Moonlight and Valentino. These roles all had one thing in common (despite the fact that they were small): when you saw them, you noticed Gwyneth Paltrow. Her first starring role was in the charming screen adaptation of the Jane Austin novel, Emma. Ironically, her biggest claim to fame is not a movie role, but a real life love story. After meeting Brad Pitt while working on Se7en, the couple had a well publicized, picture-book romance. While it’s over now, the pair have always maintained that it was an amicable break-up. The great love affair, which was chronicled for the world to see, catapulted Gwyneth to fame

Since her break up with Pitt, she has been keeping busy. In 1998 and 1999 alone, she will star in eight movies! What is even more surprising is that despite her young age, she has somehow managed to avoid the ‘’college student’’ roles and plays adults. Although Sliding Doors was a typical romantic comedy that was hardly challenging to her abilities, her roles in Great Expectations, Hush and A Perfect Murder all show the actress’ range and capacity to play more demanding characters. Her role in Shakespeare in Love earned the young actress her first Oscar for Best Actress. Her career is definitely taking off, and she is fast becoming one of the most influential women in Hollywood, even eclipsing her former beau, Brad Pitt’s celebrity.

Sheryl Crow

2008-08-31T07:32:00.001-07:00

Singer, pianist and guitarist, born Sheryl Suzanne Crow, on February 11, 1962, in Kennett, Missouri, to Wendell and Bernice Crow. She has two older sisters, Kathy and Karen, and one younger brother, Steve. Crow began playing piano at age six. She graduated from Kennett High School in 1980 and the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1984, where she majored in music education. During college, she spent her weekends performing with a local band, Cashmere.

After college, Crow worked as a music teacher in an elementary school in St. Louis before moving to Los Angeles in 1986. She began recording jingles for advertising clients, including McDonald’s, and worked as a back-up singer. In 1987-88 she sang on Michael Jackson’s “Bad” world tour. She later sang back-up for Sting, Rod Stewart and Don Henley. In 1991 Crow recorded an album for A&M Records which she shelved because it sounded too “slick.” She began playing with the band The Tuesday Music Club, comprised of Bill Bottrell, David Baerwald, David Ricketts, and Sheryl’s then-boyfriend Kevin Gilbert. In 1993 the group released the multi-platinum album Tuesday Night Music Club which included the smash hit, “All I Wanna Do.”

In 1995, she won three Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Record of the Year (for “All I Want to Do”), and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Tuesday Music Club. She also performed a MTV Unplugged session in 1995. Crow released the album Sheryl Crow in 1996, winning two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She spent much of 1997-98 on tour, playing select dates on the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon tour and performing at the 1998 Lilith Fair concerts. She released her third album The Globe Sessions in the fall of 1998, which won a Grammy for Best Rock Album. During 1999, Crow performed in Europe and toured with Lilith Fair throughout the United States. At the Grammy Awards in February 2000, Crow won for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, for her rendition of the Guns ‘n Roses hit “Sweet Child o’Mine.”

Jayne Mansfield

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Jayne was laid to rest in Fairview Cemetary in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. There is also a centograph dedicated to her in the Hollywood Forever Memorial Park in Hollywood, कैलिफोर्निया.