Hollywood Celebrity Biography

Angelina Jolie - Biography of Famous Hollywood Actress & Celebrity Angelina Jolie, Photos, Facts, News

2014-01-04T04:44:00.003-08:00

Angelina Jolie (full name Angelina Jolie Voight) was born on 4 June, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a famous American actress and a former model.

Biography and Career :

She is known for her exotic looks, her tumultuous off-screen life and her humanitarian work with refugees.

Regarding her family, Angelina Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand and sister of James Haven. She is also niece of Chip Taylor and the god-daughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. Her grandparents were French-Canadian and her paternal-grandfather was from Czechoslovakia. Thus, she is of Czech and English descent on her father's side and of French-Canadian and Iroquois on her mother's.

As a teenager , she dreamed of becoming a funeral director. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from the age of 11, later attending Beverly Hills High School. Though Angelina Jolie enrolled at the film school at New York University after finishing "Gia", she did not complete her studies.

She has been long estranged from her father, blaming his infidelity for the break-up of the family , though a reconciliation was attempted by his appearing with her in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". In 2004, Angelina Jolie indicated that she was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her father, but that she did not hate him because she realised that "...we only have so much energy in this life". Soon afterwards, he claimed that she has "serious emotional problems" while she legally dropped Voight as her last name and took "Angelina Jolie" as new legal name.

Before Angelina Jolie began a career as an actress, she was a model.

Her first starring role came in the 1995 film Hackers. In 1998 Angelina Jolie achieved a major critical success, starring in the TV film "Gia", the true story of 1970-80s supermodel Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS. She won Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Satmifie awards and was nominated for an Emmy.

She had roles in several box-office flops until 1999, when she co-starred in "The Bone Collector" with Denzel Washington and won an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted". Beside the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the latter movie also brought three Golden Globes. Her first healding blockbuster role came from "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider".

Several of her subsequent films, such as "Life or Something Like It", "Alexander" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" were box-office disappointments, although Jolie herself usually received good notices. She did provide the voice of Lola in the successful animated film "Shark Tale".

Jolie quickly became one of Hollywood's most "in-demand" actresses. Following the success of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005), she was set to earn up to $15 million to star in the film "The Good Shepherd" (2006).

Apart from her acting and humanitarian endeavours, Jolie has worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles and appeared in numerous music videos, including those of Korn, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, and The Rolling Stones.

As for her private life, after divorcing from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie has a wonderfull life with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has captured worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax and Zahara, and a biological child, Shiloh.

Trivia :

- Height: 5'7"/170 cm

- She has a private pilot and Airbase single engine land civilian pilot's license.

- She has a fondness for Liverpool Football Club because her son Maddox "only wants to play for Liverpool".

- She was named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Cafe.

- "Jolie" means "pretty" in French.

- She is the goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset.

- She graduated from Beverly Hills High School at age 16.

- She donated many items to Rocky Stone to be given to less fortunate kids as part of the Toy Mountain Campaign.

- She and her brother, to whom she is very close, publicly spoke out to deny false rumors that the two were having an incestuous love affair. [2000]

- She had childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.

- She and Brad Pitt welcomed daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt on May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa.

- Her mother is Marcheline Bertrand and her father, Jon Voight.

- She majored in film at New York University.

- She collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.

- The government in Namibia is offering citizenship to her new daughter.

- She has tattoos of the coordinates representing the locations where she adopted Maddox and Zahara on her left arm, which cover up the Billy Bob Thornton tattoo (June 2006).

Angelina Jolie Dates :

Jenny Shimizu (1994 - 1995)
Jonny Lee Miller (1996 - 1999)
Timothy Hutton (1998 - 1999)
Billy Bob Thornton (2000 - 2003)
Colin Farrel (2003 - 2004)
Brad Pitt (2005 - )

Angelina Jolie Photo Gallery

Oprah Winfrey - Oprah Winfrey Biography, American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

2013-01-22T03:13:00.001-08:00

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show" which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was for a time the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.

Howard Stern may be the king of all media, but Winfrey is definitely the queen. This talk-show host/actress/magazine publisher/Broadway and Hollywood producer/studio mogul/philanthropist is consistently cited as one of the entertainment industry's most powerful people. Winfrey worked as a news anchor in Nashville and Baltimore before becoming the host of Chicago's morning talk show in 1984. She was so popular that the series was renamed in her honor and became a national hit in syndication in 1986. Oprah quickly became a household name, a wildly successful yet still accessible woman who struggled with her weight and talked about surviving sexual abuse. Every year, Winfrey seemed to tackle a new business venture, rarely making any missteps, and winning a multitude of awards for her efforts. Although the couple never married, she has dated Stedman Graham for decades.

Oprah Winfrey Photo Gallery

Katy Perry Bio - Hollywood Celebrity Katy Perry Biography, American singer, songwriter and actress Photos, Facts, News

2012-10-11T02:30:00.001-07:00

Katy Perry (Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson)

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Perry grew up around gospel music. During her first year of high school, she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album, called Katy Hudson, which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.

She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, One of the Boys in 2008, which spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, Perry released her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), which topped the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". Teenage Dream became the first and so far only album (after Michael Jackson's Bad)—to do so, and Perry became the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide. Perry re-released the album under the name of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single "Part of Me" and top two single "Wide Awake".

Perry is the only artist to spend over 52 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, and has since extended this to 69 weeks. As of 2012, Perry has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year (Teenage Dream) and Record of the Year ("Firework"). She was named 2011's "Artist of the Year" by MTV. She has sold 37.6 million digital tracks in the United States and 11 million albums worldwide, and sold over 74.6 million digital tracks worldwide. Perry was a guest judge on the seventh series of The X Factor UK and the ninth season of American Idol. She has released fragrances "Purr" and "Meow". She ventured into film, voicing Smurfette in the 2011 film The Smurfs and being spotlighted in the 3D biopic-concert film Katy Perry: Part of Me. Perry was married to British comedian Russell Brand from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, Perry was ranked at number fourteen on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $11 million. Billboard named Perry 2012's Woman of the Year.

Katy Perry Photo Gallery

Nina Dobrev Bio - Hollywood Celebrity Nina Dobrev Biography, American Actress, Celebrity Photos, Facts, News

2011-12-05T20:49:00.001-08:00

Nina Dobrev

Nina Dobrev (born Nina Konstantinova Dobreva; Bulgarian: born January 9, 1989) is a Bulgarian-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mia Jones, the single teenage mother, on Degrassi: The Next Generation, from the show's sixth to ninth season. She currently stars as Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW television teen drama, The Vampire Diaries. Nina Dobrev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and moved to Canada at the age of two, where she was raised in Toronto, Ontario. She speaks fluent French, English, and Bulgarian. Her mother is an artist, and her father is a computer scientist. She has one older brother. From a very young age, she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts: dance, gymnastics, theatre, music, visual arts and acting.

Dobrev attended J. B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School and Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, Ontario. She attended Ryerson University in Toronto, majoring in sociology. She left in 2008 to pursue her acting career.

Nina moved to Canada at the age of two and has lived in Toronto, Ontario since. From a very young age she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts: Dance, Gymnastics, Theatre, Music, Visual arts, and Acting! Modeling jobs led to commercials, which then turned into film auditions. Shortly after, she booked roles in feature films "Fugitive Pieces", "Away From Her" and the popular television series "Degrassi: The Next Generation" on CTV.

Nina loves to travel and has often visited Europe both for pleasure, as well as competing internationally representing Canada in Aesthetic gymnastics. She enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, swimming, rock climbing, wake boarding, snowboarding, and horse back riding to name a few.

But above all acting is her passion, and she sees it as an adventure that has just begun; she believes that the journey and the characters we create along the way will help us understand ourselves.

Date of Birth: January 09, 1989 Sofia, Bulgaria

Birth Name:Nina Const Dobreva

Height: 5'6½" (1.69 m)

Personal Life

Nina was born in Sofia, Bulgaria but moved to Toronto, Ontario in Canada at the age of two. She attended J.B. Tyrell Sr. Public School. Nina attended the Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, after graduating she attended Ryerson University. While attending Ryerson she majored in Sociology, she dropped out in 2008 to pursue acting.

Training

Nina attended the Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, in Ontario. From the start Nina showed interest in acting, dance, gymnastics, music and theater. She attended the Dean Armstrong Acting school which lead to her being discovered by many talent agencies.

Movies/Television

"The Vampire Diaries" (2009 - ) Elena Gilbert
Chloe (2009) Anna
Degrassi Goes Hollywood (2009) (TV) Mia Jones
"Degrassi: The Next Generation" (2006-2009) Mia Jones
"Eleventh Hour" (1 episode, 2009) Rachel Dahl
You Got That Light (2009) Girl
"The Border" (2 episodes, 2008) Maia
Mookie's Law (2008) Rosabella
The American Mall (2008) (TV) Ally
Never Cry Werewolf (2008) (TV) Loren Hansett
My Daughter's Secret (2007) (TV) Justine
Fugitive Pieces (2007) Bella
Too Young to Marry (2007) (TV) Jessica Carpenter
The Poet/Hearts of War (2007) Rachel
How She Move (2007) Tall Girl in Bathroom
Away from Her (2006) Monica
Playing House (2006) (TV) Young Frannie
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2006) Teenage Zytrate Addict

Courtesy: http://www.imdb.com, http://en.wikipedia.org

Nina Dobrev Photo Gallery

Stacey Dash Bio - Hollywood Celebrity Stacey Dash Biography, American Actress, Celebrity Photos, Facts, News

2011-10-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Stacey Dash

Biography
Born Stacey Lauretta Dash on January 20, 1966 in Bronx, New York, Stacey Dash’s career took off on Seasme Street. After appearing on The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, she starred in the 1988 television series TV 101 opposite Matt Leblanc and Sam Robards. In the same year, she appeared on her first film, the comedy Moving. She had decent roles in more films, such as Mo’ Money, Renaissance Man, and a low-budget film Illegal in Blue.

Dash’s most memorable role would come in 1995 as she starred opposite Alicia Silverstone in the hit comedy Clueless. She played Silverstone’s best friend Dionne Davenport, a 28-years-old playing the role of a high school student. In 2001, she appeared in the music video of the Carl Thomas single “Emotional” and later in 2004 for Kanye West’s “All Falls Down.” In 2006, she posed for Playboy at age 40, while launching her own lingerie line. She has also appeared on some television shows, including Eve and CSI. In 2007, she completed another bunch of films, namely I Could Never be Your Woman, Nora's Hair Salon II, Fashion Victim, Ghost Image and American Primitive.

Dash is one of the contestants in the NBC reality show Celebrity Circus, which features six celebrities who will learn the ropes of circus life, including mastering death-defying stunts with high wires, flying trapezes, and fire dancing. The contestants will then face a panel of judges for critique. Talking about her experience in the show so far, Dash says the biggest challenge is trying to overcome or embrace your fear, to find that “great strength” to pull through. Moreover, she says learning circus stunts feels like “going to another planet” and “learning how to breathe differently.”

Fun Facts
She is married with two kids
She is Aztec

Courtesy : http://www.buddytv.com/

Stacey Dash Photo Gallery

Maria Canals Barrera Bio - Hollywood Celebrity Maria Canals Barrera Biography, American Actress, Celebrity Photos, Facts, News

2011-06-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

Maria Canals Barrera

María Canals Barrera (born María Pilar Canals; September 28, 1966) is an American actress, voice actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Theresa Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place, Connie Torres in Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, and as the voice of Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Date Of Birth

September 28, 1966

Biography

Maria Canals is a Hispanic actress and performer who was born on September 28, 1966 in sunny Miami, Florida. She went on to pursue higher learning at the University of Miami’s drama school, from where she received her degree in Theater. Canals has worked extensively in both Los Angeles and Miami, in a career spanning numerous television series and films. Among the shows she has worked on are 21 Jump Street, The Proud Family, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She has also acted in movies such as America’s Sweethearts and The Master of Disguise. Canals is well-known to comic book fans for playing the role of Hawkgirl, Shayera Hol, in the seminal animated series Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited. She also worked on the critically acclaimed video game Grim Fandango.

Theresa Russo is portrayed by Maria Canals in the Disney Channel Original television series Wizards of Waverly Place. She is the wife of Jerry, and the mother of Justin, Alex, and Max. While she is a mortal human and possesses no magical abilities of her own, she encourages her children as they discover themselves and their powers, as well as their Latino heritage. She helps run the Waverly Place Sub Shop together with Jerry.

Place of Birth

Miami, Florida

Birth Name

Maria Pilar Canals

Gender

Female

Fun Facts

- She is married to David Barrera and has two daughters.

- She is of Cuban descent.

- She has provided the voice for Hawkgirl and the Brazillian super-heroine Fire on Justice League Unlimited.

Awards

2010: Imagen Foundation Awards - Best Supporting Actress - Television for: Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

2002: ALMA Awards - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Television Series for: "The Brothers Garcia"

Filmography

2011: Larry Crowne

2007-2011: Wizards of Waverly Place (TV series) - Theresa Russo/Theresa Larkin-Russo

2011: Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Video Game) - She-Hulk (voice)

2010: Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (TV movie) - Connie Torres

2009: Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (TV movie) - Theresa Russo

2008: Camp Rock (TV movie) - Connie Torres

2008: Disney 365 (TV series)

2005-2007: The Boondocks (TV series) - Spanish TV Reporter

2007: The Loop (TV series) - Agent Denise

2006: Handy Manny (TV series) - Peggy Salazar

2004-2006: Danny Phantom (TV series) - Paulina

2001-2006: Justice League (TV series) - Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol/Beatriz da Costa/…

2006: George Lopez (TV series) - Claudia

2005: The Proud Family Movie (TV movie) - Sunset Boulevardez (voice)

2004: Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV series) - Dalilah, the Hygienist

2003: Miss Match (TV series) - Store Manager

2003: Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (video) - Sofia Otero/Old Woman #2 (voice)

2003: Imagining Argentina - Esme Palomares

2000-2003: Static Shock (TV series) - Shelly Sandoval/Hawkgirl/Dispatcher

2002: The Master of Disguise - Sophia

2002: American Family (TV series) - Christy

2002: Bad Boy - Woman at Bar

2001: America's Sweethearts - Adinah

2001: The Brothers Garcia (TV series) - Ms. Azteca

2001: Popular (TV series) - Candy Box

2000: That's Life (TV series)

1999: Beggars and Choosers (TV series) - Yolanda

1997-1998: The Tony Danza Show (TV series) - Carmen Cruz

1998: Veronica's Closet (TV series)

1998: Caroline in the City (TV series) - Maria

1998: Grim Fandango (Video Game) - Mercedes 'Meche' Colomar (voice)

1996: Goode Behavior (TV series) - Denise

1995: Almost Perfect (TV series) - Carmen

1995: My Family - Young Irene

1994: Murder, She Wrote (TV series) - Carmen

1994: Viper (TV series) - Carla

1994: Marielena (TV series) - Nancy

1993: Harlan & Merleen (TV movie) - Carmen

1993: Cop and 1/2 - Mrs. Bobo #2

1993: Key West (TV series) - Fig

1991: Super Force (TV series) - Lori Wechsler

1990: 21 Jump Street (TV series) - Rosina

Height

5' 6" (1.68 m)

Courtesy : http://www.buddytv.com/

María Canals Barrera Photo Gallery

Jenna Fischer - Hollywood Celebrity Jenna Fischer Biography, American Actress, Celebrity Photos, Facts, News

2011-06-01T04:14:00.000-07:00

Jenna Fischer

Jenna Fischeris an American television and film actress. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The Promotion.

Date Of Birth

March 7, 1974

Biography

Born on March 7, 1974 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer aspired to become an actress while taking up theater at Truman State University. She broke out into the acting scene by appearing in the 1998 film, Born Champion, where she played Wendy Miller. She then moved on to play various guest starring roles on television series such as Six Feet Under , That '70s Show , Cold Case , Miss Match, Strong Medicine, What I Like About You , Off Centre, Undeclared and Spin City.

Fischer also worked on a number of feature films, including Employee of the Month, Slither, Lucky 13, The Specials and The Brothers Solomon. In 2005, she landed the role she is most known for, Pam Beesly on the highly-watched television series, The Office.

Aside from acting, Fischer has also written and directed a film entitled LolliLove, in which she starred in. Among the cast were her husband, James Gunn, Linda Cardellini , Judy Greer, Lloyd Kaufman, and Jason Segel. She was also awarded a Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award for her work on the film.

"The directing was exhausting and the writing was painful. It was very difficult to direct and star in a movie. We also had a very small crew so I did a lot of things a normal director doesn't have to do, like make the props and serve lunch," the actress-turned-writer and director said of her experience behind the camera. "I was simultaneously getting into character, going over my lines, set dressing the next shot, coaching an actor, and brainstorming with my D.P. I'm good at multitasking, but that was too much for me. I couldn't enjoy any one part the way I would have liked. I think I'll stick to acting."

In May 2007, Fischer had unfortunately got into an accident, when she fell down a flight of stairs in a Manhattan bar. This caused her four fractures in her back, forcing her to take 12 weeks off to recover from the injury. In September 2007, Fischer and her husband, Gunn announced their separation, after almost seven years of marriage. That year, Jenna Fischer continued her acting career by taking on roles in Blades of Glory, alongside Jon Heder and Will Ferrell. She was also seen on Judd Apatow’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and 2008’s The Promotion.

Place of Birth

Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

Birth Name

Regina Marie Fischer

Gender

Female

Fun Facts

Spouse:

Lee Kirk (3 July 2010 - present)

James Gunn (7 October 2000 - 2008) (divorced)

Considered becoming a veterinarian due to her love for animals; ultimately opted for working with Kitten Rescue and being the proud owner of a dog and a cat (Andy, featured prominently with Jenna in 2006 issue of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful).

Is a fan of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

First met ex-husband James Gunnat a script reading for The Specials (2000), which he wrote.

Mother Anne Fischer and younger sister Emily are both elementary school teachers.

Has one sibling - Emily, her younger sister.

Graduated from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.

Awards

2008: Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for: "The Office"

2007: Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for: "The Office"

Filmography

2005-2010: The Office (TV series) - Pam Beesly

2010: A Little Help - Laura

2009: Solitary Man - Susan Porter

2008: The Promotion - Jen Stauber

2007: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - Darlene Madison

2007: The Brothers Solomon - Michelle

2007: Blades of Glory - Katie Van Waldenberg

2006: Slither - Shelby

2005: The 40 Year Old Virgin - Woman #1

2005: Six Feet Under (TV series) - Sharon Kinney

2005: That '70s Show (TV series) - Stacy Wanamaker

2005: Lucky 13 - Sorority Girl 1

2004: LolliLove - Jenna

2004: Cold Case (TV series) - Dottie 1943

2004: The Women (short) - Leslie

2004: Employee of the Month - Whisper

2003: Miss Match (TV series) - Connie

2003: Strong Medicine (TV series) - Camille Freemont

2003: Doggie Tails, Vol. 1: Lucky's First Sleep-Over (video) - Kelsey

2003: Melvin Goes to Dinner - Hostess

2003: Rubbing Charlie (TV movie)

2002: What I Like About You (TV series) - Kim

2002: Off Centre (TV series) - Melanie

2002: Les superficiales (short) - Bitchy French Girl

2001: Picking Up Chicks with Harland Williams (short) - Dog Walker #1

2001: Undeclared (TV series) - Betty/Sorority Girl

2001: Spin City (TV series) - Waitress

2000: The Specials - College Girl

1998: Channel 493 - Rane

1998: Born Champion - Wendy Miller

Nickname

Jenna

Height

5' 5 1/2" (1.66 m)

Quotes

"She goes, 'Dare to BORE me.' And I'm like, 'Really?' I'm like, 'I'll bore you. I will seriously, I will go and I will be ugly, and I will bore you.' Am I selling my show? Ugly, boring people - check it out!" - on receiving the casting call for "The Office" (2005).

"All the rehearsals were in this guy's penthouse. And I swear - I kept going to rehearsal. And I learned my song, and it was about a truck stop...and I noticed that none of the other girls were singing with me, but they did walk by in lingerie...and I'm like, 'Huh, weird!'" - on being the sixth member of the International Spice Girls, which turned out to be a front for a call-girl service

"I had this crazy job, though, when I first got to Los Angeles...I answered this ad in the back of the newspaper to be a telephone psychic, and I did that for two days. I called up this guy, and...this is how hard it was to get this job: He said, 'So, uh, do you feel intuitive from time to time?' And I was like, 'Yea, sure, I feel intuitive.' He said, 'Do you read Tarot cards?' And I said, 'I DO!' and I didn't." - on her stint as a telephone psychic

Courtesy : http://www.buddytv.com/

Jenna Fischer Photo Gallery

Reese Witherspoon - Hollywood Celebrity Reese Witherspoon Biography, American film producer, Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2011-04-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Reese Witherspoon Biography

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976), better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower. In 1996, Witherspoon appeared in Freeway and followed that appearance with roles in three major 1998 films: Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville, and Twilight. The following year, Witherspoon appeared in the critically acclaimed Election, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

2001 marked her career's turning point with the breakout role as "Elle Woods" in the box office hit Legally Blonde, and in 2002 she starred in Sweet Home Alabama, which became her biggest commercial film success to date. 2003 saw her return as lead actress and executive producer of Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. In 2005, Witherspoon received worldwide attention and praise for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, which earned her an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Witherspoon married actor and Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Phillippe in 1999; they have two children, Ava and Deacon. The couple separated at the end of 2006 and divorced in October 2007. Witherspoon married her second husband, talent agent Jim Toth, in 2011. Witherspoon owns a production company, Type A Films, and she is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation.

Pretty, petite and pert, this Southern belle made her movie debut in 1991's The Man in the Moon at the age of 15. Throughout the '90s, Witherspoon steered clear of typical teen roles and instead turned in complex performances in indie favorites such as Freeway and Election, playing sweet young things who were way tougher than they looked. Cruel Intentions, the adolescent retelling of Dangerous Liaisons, paired her with soon-to-be-husband Ryan Phillippe and made her something of a teen idol. Then her charismatic turn as a Barbie doll with a brain in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde made her a megastar. Witherspoon continued to land high-profile roles and also began producing her own vehicles, including Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. In 2006 she scored a Golden Globe and an Oscar as Johnny Cash's wife in the biopic Walk the Line.

Reese Witherspoon Photo Gallery

Elizabeth Taylor - Liz Taylor Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood Singer, Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2011-03-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Taylor - Liz Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, often referred to as Liz Taylor, was an English-born American actress. She born on February 27, 1932 and died on March 23, 2011 at the age of 79 by cause of Congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Beginning as a child star then throughout her adulthood, she was known for her acting talent, glamour, beauty, and striking violet eyes; as well as a much publicized private life that included eight marriages, several life-threatening illnesses, and decades spent as a social activist, championing the cause of AIDS awareness, research and cure. Taylor, a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, is considered one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list. She married eight times (twice to legendary actor Richard Burton) and became infamous for breaking up other people's marriages. Taylor showed off her unique beauty in films like BUtterfield 8 (1960) and Cleopatra (1963) -- one of the most expensive productions up to that time. She received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress between 1957-1959, and although she didn't take home Oscar himself, the best was yet to come for the beautiful starlet.

During the 1960s, she won the coveted Oscar for Best Actress twice; for her role as a call girl in 1960's BUtterfield 8, and for her portrayal of the loudmouth, alcoholic Martha in 1966's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, which also earned her the British Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as a New York Film Critics Circle prize. She also made history as the first actress to earn a cool million for a single movie appearance, for 1963's Cleopatra.

Taylor became a leader in the fight against AIDS following the diagnosis of close friend and Giant (1956) co-star Rock Hudson in 1985. She was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1992 Oscar ceremony for her support of AIDS research. A year later, she received the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.

The London-born actress was made a Dame by none other than Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. Dame Elizabeth became a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

In 2008, Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and pneumonia and was briefly on a life support machine. In 2009, she underwent heart surgery in October 2009 to repair a leaky valve.

Taylor was hospitalized again in early 2011, and her celebrated life came to an end the morning of Wednesday, March 23rd, in a hospital in Los Angeles. She is survived by 10 grandchildren and four great-grand children.

Elizabeth Taylor - Liz Taylor Photo Gallery

Christina Aguilera - Christina Aguilera Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Christina Aguilera, Hollywood Singer, Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2011-02-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress.Although she lost when she appeared on Star Search at age 9, this determined diva was definitely the winning star out of a slew of late-'90s pop princesses. Undeterred by her televised talent-show defeat, Aguilera continued to pursue her musical dreams and signed on to the Mickey Mouse Club at age 12, where she performed alongside Justin Timberlake, J.C. Chasez and her future nemesis, Britney Spears. After working overseas and recording the song "Reflection" for Disney's Mulan, Aguilera released her self-titled first album in 1999. Like many of her fellow teen songstresses, including Spears and Jessica Simpson, she had blonde hair, an innocent yet alluring image and catchy pop hits like "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants." However, Aguilera was a much stronger vocalist than her competitors, boasting a four-octave range and a jazzy-pop style. The industry took note of her superior talent and in 1999 she won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In the 2000s, she (like her cohorts) sexed up her look. For her second album, 2002's Stripped, she went from teenybopper to bombshell, appearing practically nude on its cover, in her videos and in a number of men's magazines. In 2006, Back to Basics found her super-sexy image complemented by vintage vocal stylings reminiscent of her idols Etta James and Billie Holiday. Despite Aguilera's racy image, she had a down-to-earth personal life. Unlike Spears, whose life spiraled out of control, or Simpson, who traded music for movies, Aguilera remained amazingly focused, earning three more Grammys (including two for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) and settling into a stable marriage with producer Jordan Bratman.

Christina Aguilera Photo Gallery

Marko Stout - Contemporary New York City artist, Contemporary Art, "The Cave"

2011-02-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Marko Stout

Marko Stout is a New York City artist who utilizes an outsider post-expressionist style of the "academic visionary" movement to understand the human experience and fundamental nature in the universe.

Dr. Stout retired from medical practice in 2006 to peruse a life of physiological and metaphysical study

through nontraditional art work. He lived for a while on a houseboat in San Fransisco Bay and now currently resides in Manhattan.

In addition to degrees in medicine and biology "Marko" also holds a doctorate in metaphysics. His outsider "art brut" style provides the viewer with a spiritual experience through the brilliant twisting of human anatomy with psychological and mythical archetypes. Marko often refers to his innovative art for as "academic visionary" which is a reference to both its cognitive and spiritual nature. This movement rejects many of the current trivial trends of many current art forms art as basic uninspired corporate decoration or the products of classically trained commercial graphic artists.

Marko's careful use of vibrant color often reveals the extreme emotional states of his subjects. Such examples include the bold use of red to indicate excitement, passion, love, desire, strength, aggression, blood, violence, all things intense and passionate. Whereas the heavy use to black is applied to show power, sexuality, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, restlessness, remorse, anger, anonymity or loneliness and of course death or decay. Also present is the use of yellow which has been shown tostimulate the nervous system and used symbolize optimism, enlightenment or potential happiness, as well as dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal and jealousy. The color white is most often used in Marko's art to illustrate or highlight areas of coldness, clinical sterility, reverence, purity, conflict resolution or even just simplicity.

Marko Stout's work has a mature complexity that incorporates the viewer into the art experience as they examine the many rich layers of the work, they too become part of the art as they are forced into interpretation and contemplate the nature of these extraordinary pieces.

"The Cave"

The Cave is a scenario in which people take to be real that which in fact is an illusion. In this case Dr. Stout uses"The Cave" as a metaphor for our thought and sensory limitations, as our human experience is limited by our imprisonment within a physical body, we therefore attempt to understand the nature of the universe through myth, religions and scientific methodology in an impossible attempt to understand the universe.

Understanding "The Cave": You should imagine a cave inhabited by prisoners who have been chained and held immobile since birth, compelled to gaze only at a wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway along which people walk carrying things on their heads including figures of men and animals made of wood, stone and other materials. The prisoners watch the shadows cast by their jailers not knowing they are just shadows. There are also echoes off the wall from the noise produced from the walkway.

The prisoners would take the shadows to be real things and the echoes to be real sounds, unaware they are just the reflections of reality since this is all they had ever seen or heard. They would praise as clever the prisoner who could best guess which shadow would come next as someone who understood the nature of the world and the whole of their society would depend on the shadows on the wall.

Marko's prisoners remain in "The Cave" seeking impossible enlightenment through false perceptions, shared archetypes and myths. Whereas the jailers are unable to experience the collective human condition of their prisoners.

Art work of Marko Stout

Source : Marko Stout

Madonna - Madonna Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Madonna, Hollywood Singer, Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-12-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

Madonna

Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone; August 16, 1958) is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983. She followed it with a series of albums in which she found immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Throughout her career, many of her songs have hit number one on the record charts, including "Like a Virgin", "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes". Madonna has been praised by critics for her diverse musical productions while at the same time serving as a lightning rod for religious controversy.

Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the world's top-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States, behind Barbra Streisand, with 64 million certified albums. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Madonna at number two, behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history of the Billboard chart. She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the same year. Considered to be one of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry. She is recognized as an inspiration among numerous music artists.

Britney, Christina and Jessica were all still in diapers when this unstoppable bottled blonde shot to stardom in the early '80s with her catchy pop songs and sexy, eye-catching videos. Although far from a powerhouse vocalist, the provocative diva ruled the charts for decades by repeatedly reinventing herself, both aesthetically and musically, and by constantly causing controversy, from her make-out session with a saint in "Like a Prayer" to her X-rated 1992 picture book Sex to her lip lock with Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, which was viewed by many as Madonna's unique way of passing the torch to the next generation of pop stars. Her forays onto the big screen weren't as successful. She fared best when basically playing herself (Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy, the documentary Truth or Dare), but save for Evita, which earned her a Golden Globe, her attempts to be taken seriously as an actress (the wannabe screwball comedy Shanghai Surprise opposite first husband Sean Penn, the unwatchable remake of Swept Away directed by her second husband, Guy Ritchie) were met with critical and commercial scorn, as well as Razzie Awards. While Madonna hasn't exactly mellowed with age, she has shifted her focus. After years of a love-hate relationship with Catholicism, she became a very vocal follower of kabbalah. She also became a mother of two and an author of children's books, all while sporting a body most 20-year-olds would die for.

Courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(entertainer)

Madonna Photo Gallery

Kim Kardashian - Kim Kardashian Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Kim Kardashian, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-10-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Kim Kardashian

Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American celebutante, socialite, television personality, producer, actress, and model. She also is the daughter of late attorney Robert Kardashian. She is widely known for a sex tape with her former boyfriend Ray J and her E! reality series which she shares with her family, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Since then, Kim has launched multiple fragrances, guest starred on numerous shows and competed on ABC ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She also has had roles in movies such as, Disaster Movie, and Deep in the Valley.

Dark haired beauty Kim Kardashian became an unexpected star after the first airing of her hit E! Entertainment reality series "Keeping up with the Kardashians." The show follows the exploits of the Kardashian/Jenner family, which includes father Bruce Jenner, mom Kris Jenner, Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Rob Kardashian and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, in their Calabasas home. The shows fourth season concluded on February 21, 2010 delivering over 4.8 million total viewers marking E!'s most-watched telecast ever.

Kardashian grew up with an almost fairy-tale childhood. She was the second child, born to Kris and prominent defense attorney Robert Kardashian. Her parents had four children at the time of their divorce. Her mom eventually married famous Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner, who also had four children, and they became a modern day Brady Bunch. Bruce and Kris had two more children together, bringing the extended family of children to ten.

Kardashian first feature film, "Disaster Movie", for Lionsgate stars Carmen Electra, Matt Lanter and Vanessa Minnillo. The comedy, a spoof of recent films, follows an unsuspecting group of twenty-somethings who find themselves bombarded by a series of natural disasters and catastrophic events.

In September 2008, Kardashian competed on the ABC hit series "Dancing with the Stars" where she was paired with defending champion Mark Ballas.

Kardashian was most recently seen as a guest judge on "America's Next Top Model" as well as FOX's new show "Brothers," and has continual hosting stints on E! Entertainment Tonight/The Insider and EXTRA. She has also appeared on "The Simple Life," and "How I Met Your Mother," and the N's series "Beyond the Break. She currently produced her first show called "The SPINdustry" which premiered in February to 2.46 million households.

Kim has graced the covers of many magazines, most recently, Cosmopolitan and Ocean Drive Magazine. She has appeared on numerous television shows such as The Jay Leno Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lopez Tonight, On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Larry King Live, Regis and Kelly, The View, Hannity, Good Day L.A., Tyra Banks, Rachel Ray, The Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Late Night with David Letterman, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Employing her entrepreneurial business skills, Kardashian started on her own as a fashion stylist and became and immediate sought after wardrobe stylist for infomercials, television shows, music videos and photo shoots. But it was her organizational, orderly arrangement and construction of high fashion closets that led Kardashian into a unique line of work overhauling and designing closets for celebrities.

In 2006, together with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, Kardashian opened the designer clothing store DASH in Calabasas, California; a must-shop-at store for those with discriminating, yet fashionable taste. Their second store opened in Miami in May 2009.

Kardashian recently launched her own perfume Kim Kardashian which is available worldwide. In addition, Kim has co-designed a fashion line with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe in conjunction with Bebe for five seasons which debuted this February. Similarly, Kim and her sisters have also designed a line of Armenian-inspired jewelry with Virgin, Saints and Angels to honor their heritage. Her online shoe company, ShoeDazzle.com, launched in March 2009 and provides affordable, fashionable shoes to its members. Kim released her new fitness series DVD "Fit In Your Jeans By Friday" to incredible reviews and it has hit the #1 spot on Amazon.com!

Kardashian's official website, KimKardashian.com, gets 6 million page views a month, making it the fastest growing celebrity blog on the web. The site is updated daily and includes frequent blogs from Kardashian, her appearances in the press, beauty tips and relationship advice. Kim Kardashian also has over a 3 million followers on Twitter! She updates her Twitter page daily and enjoys an amazing connection to her fans.

When not working, Kardashian gives her time to charitable causes. She is a Dream Foundation ambassador which grants last wishes to terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She also recently completed PSA's about the political plight in Burma and Breast Cancer awareness and also participated in a photo shoot promoting the "Until There's A Cure" bracelet dedicated to eradicating HIV/AIDS by raising awareness and funds to combat the pandemic.

Courtesy : http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com

Kim Kardashian Photo Gallery

Elizabeth Hurley - Elizabeth Hurley Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Elizabeth Hurley, Hollywood Actor, Photos, Facts, News

2010-10-18T02:56:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Hurley

Born on June 10, 1965, in Hampshire, England, Elizabeth Hurley is the daughter of an army officer and a schoolteacher mother. While growing up in Basingstoke, England, Hurley dreamed of becoming a dancer, which prompted her to attend a boarding school that specialized in ballet at the age of 12.

Her attendance at the boarding school was short-lived, and Hurley then went through an English punk phase. Although it's hard to imagine the now glamorous Hurley with pink hair and a nose ring, she was in fact a victim of early-'80s punk fashion.

elizabeth hurley meets hugh grant

At age 21, Hurley got her first film role in the 1987 film Aria, after having attended the London Studio Centre on scholarship. Hurley's role in the film Remando al viento (a.k.a. Rowing In the Wind) that same year also starred her future boyfriend Hugh Grant. One year later, Hurley received critical acclaim for her role as Christabel Bielenberg in the BBC miniseries Christabel.

Hurley gained some recognition in the United States for her role in the 1992 action film Passenger 57, starring Wesley Snipes. Although it was a Hollywood movie, she was still having difficulty receiving quality roles and consequently returned to England.

Whoever said that clothing isn't important doesn't know about Elizabeth Hurley's claim to fame. Apparently, Versace did Hurley a huge favor by giving the statuesque beauty an unsold dress to wear to the 1994 London premiere of Hugh Grant's film Four Weddings and a Funeral. The low-cut, risqué dress held together by safety pins became Hurley's ticket to stardom, as she made heads turn at the premiere.

elizabeth hurley is the face of estee lauder

More attention followed when Estée Lauder signed Hurley to be the face of the international cosmetics company. And who can forget Hugh Grant's arrest due to a one-night tryst with prostitute Divine Brown?

Contrary to public belief, Hurley and Grant remained a couple after the incident; they even founded the production company Simian Films together. Its first production was the film Extreme Measures, a 1996 thriller starring Hugh, Gene Hackman and Sarah Jessica Parker.

elizabeth hurley stars in austin powers

If anyone had still not heard of Elizabeth Hurley at this point, 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery -- the little movie that became a smash hit -- surely got her the recognition she deserved. Thanks to her comedic turn as agent Vanessa Kensington alongside Austin Powers, played by Mike Myers, Hurley began seeing movie scripts roll in.

Several film roles followed, including parts in 1998's Permanent Midnight and 1999's My Favorite Martian, EDtv and Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me. That same year, Hurley worked as a producer for Mickey Blue Eyes, which starred boyfriend Hugh Grant and marked the second film for Simian Films.

elizabeth hurley has a baby

However, after a 13-year relationship, Elizabeth and Hugh Grant parted ways in 2000, triggering rumors that the breakup stemmed from a disagreement over having children together. Liz began a romance with millionaire movie producer Stephen Bing in 2001 and gave birth to a son, Damian Charles, on April 4, 2002.

Bing initially denied that he was the baby's biological father, claiming that he and Liz had a non-exclusive relationship. DNA testing has since proven that Bing is indeed the child's father, although he and Liz are no longer romantically involved.

elizabeth hurley in bedazzled

Despite all the drama in her life, Hurley continued to appear in smaller productions, including 2000's The Weight of Water and Bedazzled, 2002's Bad Boy with Denis Leary, and Serving Sara, a comedy costarring Matthew Perry. In 2004, Elizabeth was seen in Method, in which she starred as a serial killer.

The following year, Elizabeth launched a beachwear line called Elizabeth Hurley Beach, which is sold at Saks Fifth Avenue in the U.S. and Harrod's in the UK. In 2006, the distribution was expanded to Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

elizabeth hurley hosts project catwalk

Also in 2006, Elizabeth served as host and executive producer for Project Catwalk, a UK reality show that is focused on fashion design and based on Heidi Klum's Project Runway.

In March 2007, Elizabeth married Indian textile magnate Arun Nayar, whom she had been dating since 2003, in a lavish ceremony.

Courtesy: www.askmen.com

Elizabeth Hurley Photo Gallery

Tom Hanks - Tom Hanks Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Tom Hanks, Hollywood Actor, Photos, Facts, News

2010-10-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks

His career track is the stuff of showbiz legend. After two seasons on the silly sitcom Bosom Buddies (in drag, no less), the affable actor came to prominence in the 1984 romantic comedy Splash. Then a string of big-screen flops (Turner & Hooch, The Money Pit, the embarrassing Bonfire of the Vanities, to name just a few) tarnished his reputation. Aside from his Oscar-nominated turn as an overgrown kid in 1988's Big, as well as an underrated performance in the stand-up comedy drama Punchline that same year, he seemed washed up by the early '90s. But by mid-decade, he finally scored a slew of commercial and critical hits, earning two successive Oscars (as a gay lawyer dying of AIDS in 1993's Philadelphia and as a mentally challenged man in 1994's Forrest Gump), along with the respect of his peers, the public's love and a hefty per-project pay raise. Dubbed a latter-day James Stewart because of his everyman likability, the actor was careful to avoid typecasting. Although he played plenty of heroes, they were usually complicated and flawed (yet he never played any outright villains, either). He also branched out into writing, producing and directing (the 1996 feature That Thing You Do! and a number of TV projects, including the Emmy-winning 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers). The quintessential nice guy counted several A-list directors among his friends/fans and he collaborated multiple times with Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal) and Ron Howard (Splash, Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code). He also distinguished himself from other megastars by staying in the spotlight and out of the tabloids, with a stable off-screen life with his actress wife, Rita Wilson, and their children.

Tom Hanks Photo Gallery

Scarlett Johansson - Scarlett Johansson Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Scarlett Johansson, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-10-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Johansson made her film debut in the 1994 film North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in 1996's Manny & Lo. Johansson rose to fame with her roles in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and 2001's Ghost World.

She made the transition to adult roles with her performances in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, for which she won a BAFTA Award, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, both of which earned her Golden Globe Award nominations in 2003. A role in A Love Song for Bobby Long earned her a third Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination. Following an appearance in The Island, Johansson garnered a fourth Golden Globe nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Woody Allen's Match Point. She followed that with another Allen film, Scoop, with Hugh Jackman. A role in Brian de Palma's film noir The Black Dahlia was followed by a second role opposite Hugh Jackman in The Prestige, also starring Christian Bale.

Following a 2007 appearance in The Nanny Diaries, Johansson starred in the 2008 films The Other Boleyn Girl, opposite Natalie Portman and Eric Bana, and the Woody Allen-directed film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. She appeared in He's Just Not That into You (2009) and as the anti-heroine Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2 (2010), with Robert Downey, Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson. Johansson won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her part in A View From the Bridge.

On May 20, 2008, Johansson debuted as a vocalist on her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, which included cover versions of Tom Waits songs. Her second album, Break Up, with Pete Yorn was released in September 2009.

Couttesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_Johansson

Scarlett Johansson Photo Gallery

Julia Roberts - Julia Roberts Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Julia Roberts, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-09-01T03:15:00.000-07:00

Julia Roberts

Born: 28 October 1967 (Age: 42)

Where: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Height: 5' 9"
Awards: Won 1 Oscar, 3 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA and 1 Emmy nomination.

Actress, producer. Born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. The youngest of three children, she grew up surrounded by creative individuals. Her parents were both actors who ran a workshop for aspiring writers and performers until their divorce in 1971. Initially Roberts wanted to become a veterinarian, but she abandoned this dream when she realized that she had "an inability to deal with science on a brainiac kind of level."After graduating high school in 1985, Roberts moved to New York City to live with her sister Lisa. Both Lisa and brother Eric were pursuing careers as actors.

In New York, Roberts also joined the family business, landing a guest appearance on the television series Crime Story. She really caught the public's eye, however, as the wild but vulnerable Daisy in Mystic Pizza (1988). The next year, she cemented her status as a rising star in Steel Magnolias (1989), appearing alongside such acting legends as Shirley MacLaine and Sally Field. Roberts earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work on the film. She was also in the spotlight for her relationships with actors Liam Neeson and Dylan McDermott.

After that, Roberts' career really took off. She played a hooker who falls in love with a client (played by Richard Gere) in the box-office hit Pretty Woman (1990). For her convincing performance, Roberts received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She followed up the role with a few career missteps i. Dying Young (1991) received mixed reviews, as did Hook (1991), which revisited the story of Peter Pan. Both films also proved to be disappointments at the box office. Around this time, Roberts called off her wedding to actor Kiefer Sutherland, her co-star in 1990's Flatliners, just days before the ceremony was set to occur.

After taking a break from film, Roberts landed another big hit with the thriller The Pelican Brief (1993) with Denzel Washington. She then surprised fans with a quickie marriage to country singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett that same year. The union proved to be short-lived, however, with the pair divorcing after only 21 months of marriage.

Mary Reilly (1996) starred Roberts in a decidedly unglamorous role, playing a maid who works for Dr. Jekyll. Audiences were less than enthusiastic about the film. Returning to her image as America's sweetheart, Roberts dominated the box office with such romantic comedies as My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) with Dermot Mulroney and Notting Hill (1999) with Hugh Grant. Her star appeal even helped draw audiences to the critically panned Runaway Bride, in which Roberts again joined up with Pretty Woman co-star Richard Gere.

In 2000, she made a dramatic breakthrough with her powerful performance in Erin Brockovich. In the film, she played the title character: a gutsy, struggling single mom. Based on a true story, Brockovich helped lead the fight against a California power company that allegedly poisoned a small town s water supply. Roberts won several awards for the project, including her first Academy Award. Her $20 million salary for the film was also a Hollywood milestone, making her first woman to receive such a hefty sum.

Julia Roberts Photo Gallery

Naomi Watts - Naomi Watts Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Naomi Watts, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-03-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

Naomi Watts

Naomi Ellen Watts (born September 28, 1968) is a British-Australian actress most famous for her roles in the film remakes of The Ring and King Kong, as well as her Academy Award-nominated role in the film 21 Grams.

Early life

Watts was born in Shoreham, Kent, England, where she lived until the age of eight. Her parents, Peter and Myfanwy Watts, separated when she was four years old, and when she was seven, her father died. Following her father's death, her mother relocated the family to the town of Llangefni (more specifically Llanfawr Farm), on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, where they lived with Naomi's grandparents, Hugh and Nikki Roberts. Although her mother occasionally moved the family around Wales and England, usually to follow boyfriends, she always ended up returning to Llangefni. Watts lived there until she was 14. Then, during a trip to Australia, her mother became convinced it was "the land of opportunities" and moved the family to Sydney in 1982. Her grandmother Nikki was Australian, which made it easier to obtain the documentation necessary, since Naomi and her family were entitled to Australian citizenship.

Her father was a sound engineer with Pink Floyd (his manic laugh is featured in The Dark Side of the Moon) and her mother (who also contributed a line to Dark Side of the Moon's "The Great Gig in the Sky") is described by Watts as a hippie "with passive-aggressive tendencies" who used to threaten to send her and her brother to foster care to convince her grandparents to take care of the family, since her mother had virtually no money after her father's death.

In Sydney, she attended several acting schools (and in the very first lesson in the first school, she met Nicole Kidman, with whom she shared a taxi home from class and is still good friends). In 1986 she took a break from acting and went to Japan to work as a model, but the experience, which lasted for about four months, was fruitless. Watts describes it as one of the worst periods of her life. Upon returning to Australia, Watts went to work for a local department store and from there she went to work as assistant fashion editor with an Australian fashion magazine. She only returned to acting when a casual invitation from a colleague to participate in a small play rekindled her passion for the scenic arts and prompted her to quit her job and dedicate herself completely to making it as an actress.
Career

Watts' career began in Australian television, where she appeared in commercials and television melodramas such as Home and Away and Brides of Christ. She was featured in a supporting role in the acclaimed 1991 Australian indie film Flirting, which starred future Hollywood up-and-comers Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton. As Watts made the transition from Australia to the United States, she landed a supporting role in the little-seen 1995 film Tank Girl, playing the part of "Jet Girl."

Finding quality roles at first proved difficult for Watts in the Hollywood system, as she appeared in the short-lived series Sleepwalkers and numerous B-list productions such as films like Children of the Corn. Gradually, Watts garnered supporting roles as in Dangerous Beauty.

However it wasn't until 2001, when Watts caught the attention of critics and audiences as she appeared in David Lynch's highly acclaimed Mulholland Drive. The film, which premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, won Watts high praise. She won the National Society of Film Critics Award as Best Actress and the National Board of Review award as Breakthrough Performance of the year. Watts worked with director/screenwriter Scott Coffey on Lynch's Mulholland Dr., where Watts had her breakout performance. Her next film, the semi-autobiographical Ellie Parker, grew out of the friendship forged between Watts and Coffey. Soon after the quality and importance of Watts' roles improved and quickly shot the actress to the top of the Hollywood A-list. In 2002, she starred in one of the biggest box office hits of that year, the English language remake of the Japanese horror film, The Ring. The following year, she starred in the film Ned Kelly opposite Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush; as well as the Merchant-Ivory film Le Divorce with Kate Hudson. It was her performance opposite Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in director Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams that earned Watts her first Academy Award nomination as Best Actress.

Since then Watts has been one of the most in-demand actresses. She produced and starred in the well-received independent picture We Don't Live Here Anymore. She reunited with Sean Penn and Don Cheadle in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, teamed up with Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell's ensemble I ♥ Huckabees, and starred in the sequel to the Ring, The Ring Two. Aside from balancing both independent projects as Ellie Parker, she managed to star in the biggest remake of them all, 2005's King Kong. The role, which was immortalized by Fay Wray in the original, proved to be Watts' most commercial film yet. Directed by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the film won high praise and has since grossed more than $400 million worldwide.

Watts starred in The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber, released in December 2006.

In May 2006, Watts was named a special representative to the U.N. program for HIV/AIDS.

She is known for her roles in films such as Mulholland Drive (2001), The Ring (2002) and 21 Grams(2003), for which she received worldwide attention and an Academy Award nomination. She starred in the successful film King Kong (2005), where she acted along with Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Watts appeared in Eastern Promises (2007), and The International (2009). Watts stars in Fair Game, with her 21 Grams costar Sean Penn and Mother and Child (2010).
Personal life

Watts previously dated director Daniel Kirby and most famously actor Heath Ledger for several years. Since 2005, Watts has dated actor Liev Schreiber. They are currently expecting their first child.

Watts is a close friend of Benicio Del Toro, with whom she co-starred in 21 Grams. After filming her most recent movie, The Painted Veil, she converted to Buddhism, claiming, "I have some belief but I am not a strict Buddhist or anything yet. There was a lot of excitement and energy there."

Watts divides her time between homes in Sydney, Los Angeles, and London.

Filmography
Year Film Role
1986 For Love Alone Leo's Girlfriend
The Custodian Louise
1991 Flirting Janet Odgers
1993 Wide Sargasso Sea Fanny Grey
Matinee Shopping Cart Starlet
1995 Tank Girl Jet Girl
Persons Unknown Molly
1996 Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering Grace Rhodes
1997 Under the Lighthouse Dancing Louise
1998 Babe: Pig in the City Additional Voices
Dangerous Beauty Guila De Lezze
A House Divided Amanda
1999 Strange Planet Alice
2001 Mulholland Drive Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn
Down Jennifer Evans
Ellie Parker (short film) Ellie Parker
Never Date an Actress The shallow girlfriend
2002 The Ring Rachel Keller
Rabbits Suzie
2003 21 Grams Cristina Peck
Le Divorce Roxeanne de Persand
Ned Kelly Julia Cook
2004 I ♥ Huckabees Dawn Campbell
The Assassination of Richard Nixon Marie Andersen Bicke
We Don't Live Here Anymore Edith Evans
2005 King Kong Ann Darrow
Stay Lila Culpepper
The Ring Two Rachel Keller
Ellie Parker (feature film) Ellie Parker
2006 The Painted Veil Kitty Fane
Inland Empire Suzie Rabbit
2007 Eastern Promises (filming) Ana
Funny Games (post-production) Anne
2009 The Birds (remake) (rumored) Melanie Daniels
Year Television Show/Television Movie Role
1990 Hey Dad..! Belinda
1991 Home and Away Julie Gibson
Brides of Christ Frances Heffernan
1993 Gross Misconduct Jennifer Carter
1996 Timepiece Mary Chandler
Bermuda Triangle Amanda
1997 Sleepwalkers Kate Russell
1998 The Christmas Wish Renee
1999 The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer Holly Maddux
2000 The Wyvern Mystery Alice Fairfield
2002 The Outsider Rebecca Yoder

Naomi Watts Photo Gallery

Lindsay Lohan - Lindsay Lohan Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Lindsay Lohan, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-02-04T00:33:00.000-08:00

Lindsay Dee Lohan

Actress, singer. Born Lindsay Dee Lohan on July 2, 1986, in New York City. Lohan's father, Michael Lohan, ran his family's pasta business and worked as an investment banker. Her mother, Donata "Dina" Sullivan, was a Wall Street analyst. Lohan grew up in the wealthy Long Island suburbs of Cold Spring Harbor and Merrick.

Stints as a child model and commercial actress brought Lohan into the spotlight at the age of three. The star of more than 60 television spots and 100 print ads for clients like Toys 'R Us and Duncan Hines helped Lohan land the film role of twin sisters in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. In the film, the sisters—one raised in England and the other in the U.S.—try to reunite their long-divorced parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The movie performed well at the box office, making more than $92 million globally.

Lohan's success resulted in more Disney film roles, including the remake Freaky Friday (2003) also starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Her next role with Disney, the pre-teen comedy, Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen (2004), brought mild success. But it was her starring role in Paramount's film Mean Girls, written by comedian Tina Fey, that turned Lohan into a bona fide star. The movie recieved both popular and critical success; it became the 24th highest grossing movie of 2004 and earned Lohan a Teen's Choice Award and an MTV movie award for her performance.

Lohan returned to Disney in 2005 to star in Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film in the Herbie the racecar series. The film earned $144 million worldwide and marked the actress' transition into more grown-up roles. in the meantime, Lohan also launched a music career. Thanks to her growing fan base, her first album, Speak, debuted in 2004 and hit platinum status. Her next album, A Little More Personal, hit stores in 2005 but didn't fare as well. Neither did her next two films, Just My Luck and A Prairie Home Companion, which made it to the big screen in 2006 to mild box office sales.

As her celebrity status grew, so did Lohan's attendance at New York nightclubs. Her wild party lifestyle made Lohan instant tabloid fodder in recent years, from her father's prison scandals to rumors of her own struggles with bulimia. On May 26, 2007, Lohan was arrested after crashing her Mercedes-Benz crashed into a tree in Beverly Hills. She was arrested again July 24 in Santa Monica after she allegedly engaged in a car chase with the mother of her former personal assistant. In both cases, Lohan was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine, below the .05 grams required for the more serious felony charges of drug possession, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office. After all her legal run-ins, Lohan was only charged with two counts each of driving under the influence, and a single count of reckless driving.

Tracie Rice, a woman who was a passenger in a car Lohan was accused of chasing on July 24, 2007, sued the star for assault and negligence. Lohan dodged felony charges when she reached a plea deal on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges on August 23. She got the minimum: four days in jail and credit for 24 hours already served. The sentence was then knocked down to one day in jail for doing 10 days of community service at a mortuary and in a hospital emergency room. That one day became 84 minutes because of overcrowding at the jail. Lohan turned herself in to the Los Angeles County women's detention center in Lynwood. She was searched, fingerprinted and put in a holding cell in the inmate reception area. She got to stay in her street clothes. Officials denied she received special treatment.

Her sentence also included mandatory rehab. In August, Lohan checked into the Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Sundance, Utah, her third stint in rehab in 2007. After checking out on October 5, she told OK! Magazine that the experience was "sobering and humbling" and her two main priorities are to stay sober and out of Los Angeles. True to her word, Lohan has kept a relatively low profile since the incident. She made headlines again in 2008, however, for revealing that she was in a long-term same-sex relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson.

In May 2008, Lohan appeared as a gust star on the television sitcom Ugly Betty. Most recently, Lohan has completed work on the film Labor Pains, which is slated to hit the small screen in late 2009. She is also currently at work on a new album, which is set for release on the Motown record label.

Lindsay Lohan Photo Gallery

Kirsten Dunst - Kirsten Dunst Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Kirsten Dunst, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-01-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American actress, model, and singer. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories (1989). At the age of 12, Dunst gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (1994). She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for this performance. That same year she appeared in Little Women, to further acclaim.

Dunst achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then her films have included the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), the science fiction drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005). She played the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and she starred in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008).

In 2001, Dunst made her singing debut in the film Get Over It, in which she performed two songs. She also sang the jazz song "After You've Gone" for the end credits of the film The Cat's Meow (2001). In early 2008 Dunst confirmed she was suffering from depression, checking into a treatment center before discharging herself in March and resuming her career.

By the time this pretty, porcelain-skinned actress essayed her breakthrough role as a tween bloodsucker in Interview with the Vampire at age 11, she was already a veteran of the entertainment industry. At age 3 Dunst began appearing in commercials and by the early '90s she was landing small parts on television and the big screen. Her captivating performance as a woman trapped in a child's body in 1994's Vampire proved that she was more than just a precocious youngster. As she grew up in front of the cameras, the starlet effortlessly alternated between kid-oriented fare (Jumanji) and edgier projects, such as her recurring role as a troubled teen on ER. In the early '00s, Dunst blossomed into a young adult capable of tackling myriad genres, including comedy (Bring It On), drama (Crazy/Beautiful) and action (the Spider-Man movies). As the webbed superhero's love interest, Dunst became a megastar and fashion plate, frequently pictured in celebrity magazines, often alongside her longtime boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal. The Hollywood couple parted amicably in 2004, and Dunst remained at the top of her game with a number of high-profile projects.

Kirsten Dunst Photo Gallery

Leighton Meester - Leighton Meester Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Leighton Meester, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2010-01-04T02:51:00.000-08:00

Leighton Meester

Leighton Marissa Claire Meester was born April 9, 1986. She was born on Marco Island, Florida and is now 22 years old. She has an older brother named Douglas. Her first appearance on television was in 1999, she played Alyssa Turner on Law and Order. She has appeared on many popular T.V series, such as House, Veronica Mars and CSI:Miami. She is best know for her leading role in the CW’s Gossip Girl portraying Blair Waldorf. She has also been in a number of films, starring in the comedy/horror Drive-Thru and The Hangman’s Curse.

Leighton says that she has identified with Blair in many ways, and her performance on the show has been met with a mostly positive report. She attended high school in Beverly Hills, California. She is an aspiring singer and sometime this year she is releasing an electric pop album.

The petite and dazzling American actress Leighton Meester began her career somewhat prestigiously and intelligently, with appearances in such popular series as 24, Law && Order, and 7th Heaven, but in time Meester's involvement in a few less-esteemed projects (such as the TV series Tarzan, and the slasher movie Drive-Thru, about a killer fast-food mascot who dresses as a clown) threatened to overshadow this early promise. Fortunately, Meester continued to demonstrate genre versatility and prolificness as she aggressively tackled new roles. In fall 2007, she could be be seen co-starring on the new CW teen drama Gossip Girl.

Leighton Marissa Photo Gallery

Johnny Depp - Johnny Depp Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Johnny Depp, Hollywood Actor, Photos, Facts, News

2009-12-17T02:40:00.000-08:00

Johnny Depp

Born John Christopher Depp in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, Johnny Depp was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the hopes of becoming a rock musician. He fronted a series of garage bands including The Kids, which once opened for Iggy Pop. Depp got into acting after a visit to Los Angeles, California, with his former wife, Lori Anne Allison (Lori A. Depp), who introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage. He made his film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). In 1987 he shot to stardom when he replaced Jeff Yagher in the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the popular TV series "21 Jump Street" (1987).

In 1990, after numerous roles in teen-oriented films, his first of a handful of great collaborations with director Tim Burton came about when Depp played the title role in Edward Scissorhands (1990). Following the film's success, Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike. He continued to gain critical acclaim and increasing popularity by appearing in many features before re-joining with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood (1994). In 1997 he played an undercover FBI agent in the fact-based film Donnie Brasco (1997), opposite Al Pacino; in 1998 he appeared in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), directed by Terry Gilliam; and then, in 1999, he appeared in the sci-fi/horror film The Astronaut's Wife (1999). The same year he teamed up again with Burton in Sleepy Hollow (1999), brilliantly portraying Ichabod Crane.

Depp has played many characters in his career, including another fact-based one, Insp. Fred Abberline in From Hell (2001). He stole the show from screen greats such as Antonio Banderas in the finale to Robert Rodriguez's "mariachi" trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). In that same year he starred in the marvelous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off: the charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow. Now Depp is collaborating again with Burton in a screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Off-screen, Depp has dated several female celebrities, and has been engaged to Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anne Allison in 1983 but they divorced her in 1985. Depp is living with French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children: Lily-Rose Melody, born in 1999 and Jack, born in 2002.

Johnny Depp is perhaps one of the most versatile actors of his day and age in Hollywood, who has recuperated his image greatly since his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the acclaimed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with a supporting cast of Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Geoffrey Rush.

Though highly successful now, Depp's early life, strangely, was as a rebel, and he took to vandalism and narcotics. He dropped out of school when he was 15, and he fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one named The Kids. However, it was when he married Lori Anne Allison (Lori A. Depp) that he took up the job of being a ballpoint-pen salesman to support himself and his wife. A visit to Los Angeles, California, with his wife, however, happened to be a blessing in disguise, when he met up with actor Nicolas Cage, who advised him to turn to acting, which culminated in Depp's film debut in the low-budget horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), where he played a teenager who falls prey to dream-stalking demon Freddy Krueger. Three years later, Depp achieved fame as police cop Tom Hanson in the series "21 Jump Street" (1987) (1987-90), and in 1990, he was firmly established as a leading Hollywood actor with the Tim Burton movie Edward Scissorhands (1990), where he played a sad-faced, tragic hero who has scissors for hands.

From then on, Depp was selective of his choice of roles in movies, and he more often than not played dark, sinister characters on-screen. He played an undercover FBI agent in Donnie Brasco (1997), in which he co-starred with Al Pacino; a druggie in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998); and in two more Tim Burton ventures, Ed Wood (1994) and Sleepy Hollow (1999), with Christina Ricci and Casper Van Dien. He filmed a fifth Tim Burton film, Corpse Bride (2005), as well as being committed for another Tim Burton production, where he plays Willy Wonka in the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), based on the classic children's novel by Roald Dahl.

During his career, Depp has, unfortunately, gotten himself under bad public scrutiny. He was accused of selling drugs at his own club, The Viper Room, in regard to the legendary celebrity, River Phoenix, who died outside the club due to drug overdose in 1993. The following year, Depp was arrested for smashing and trashing a New York suite. And, in 1999, he was arrested in London for being in a fight with paparazzi outside a restaurant.

Although he gained popularity since the success of Edward Scissorhands (1990), Depp wasn't hugely famous for many years until his portrayal of the suave, charming Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in 2003. With the film's enormous success, it has opened several doors for his career and even included an Oscar nomination. He appeared as the central character in the Stephen King-based movie, Secret Window (2004); as the kind-hearted novelist James Barrie in the factually-based Finding Neverland (2004), where he co-starred with Kate Winslet; and most recently as Rochester in the British film, The Libertine (2004).

Johnny Depp Photo Gallery

Charlize Theron - Charlize Theron Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Charlize Theron, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2009-12-12T01:35:00.000-08:00

Charlize Theron

As legend has it, Charlize Theron was discovered by an agent while fighting with a bank manager on Hollywood Boulevard. Eighteen and starving, Theron purportedly got into the argument after the manager refused to cash her check. The outburst caught the agent's attention, and eight months later Theron got her first acting job. She subsequently went on to become one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, thanks to a fortuitous combination of talent and the blonde, statuesque good looks so fervently adored by the camera.

Born August 7, 1975, Theron was raised on a farm in Benoni, South Africa. Trained as a ballet dancer, she was sent to Milan at 16 to become a model following the death of her father (which, it was later revealed, occurred after he was shot by Theron's mother, who was defending herself from his drunken abuse). After tiring of modeling, Theron returned to her first love, dancing, which resulted in a move to New York to dance with the Joffrey Ballet. Unfortunately, her career was halted by a knee injury, which led Theron -- at her mother's behest -- to travel to Los Angeles to try her luck with acting. After a long, unprofitable struggle, fate smiled upon Theron in the form of the aforementioned bank encounter.

Following an inauspicious bit part in 1994's Children of the Corn III, Theron won her first dose of recognition with 2 Days in the Valley (1996). The film wasn't particularly successful, but it did give her both much-needed exposure and critical praise. The film also served as the stepping stone to her first leading role, that of Keanu Reeves' embattled wife in The Devil's Advocate (1997). The film drew poor reviews, but Theron managed to win widespread praise for her performance. Her next project, Trial and Error (1997), surfaced briefly before disappearing with nary a trace, but the subsequent Mighty Joe Young (1998) netted Theron more positive notices. Her ascent was confirmed with her casting in Celebrity, Woody Allen's 1998 cameo-fest that also featured turns from everyone from Kenneth Branagh to Winona Ryder to Leonardo DiCaprio to Isaac Mizrahi. In her portrayal of a perpetually aroused supermodel, Theron shone in a role seemingly designed to allow her to flaunt her natural attributes and little else. She was rewarded with more substantial -- not to mention multilayered -- work in The Cider House Rules (1999), Lasse Hallström's Oscar-winning adaptation of John Irving's novel. As a troubled young woman with secrets to hide, Theron received star billing alongside Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire.

In the wake of The Cider House Rules came a few highly publicized but ultimately disappointing projects, including John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games (2000), Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), and Sweet November (2001), the last of which reunited her with erstwhile co-star Keanu Reeves. Theron was also reunited with Woody Allen in his The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), another widely anticipated film that, despite a high-profile cast and stylish period design, was both a critical and commercial underacheiver.

None of this, however, nudged Theron from her A-list status, something that was confirmed by her casting in the flashy, star-studded 2003 remake of The Italian Job, a much-beloved 1969 comedy caper starring Michael Caine. The 2003 version featured Mark Wahlberg in the starring role, with Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, and Mos Def, among others, backing him up. That same year, Theron switched gears and dove headfirst into the "serious actress" category with her starring role in Monster, the crime drama based upon the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who, in the late '80s, murdered seven men in Florida. Co-starring Christina Ricci as Wuornos' lover, the film promised to show audiences a side of Theron that certainly hadn't been hinted at in her previous portrayals of models, girlfriends, and Southern debutantes. It was evidently successful as Theron was showered with more than a dozen awards including an Oscar following her first-ever Academy Award nomination.

2005 would be a decidedly mixed year for Theron. She first appeared in the live-action adaptation of the cult animated series Aeon Flux, a film that was nearly unanimously maligned by critics and largely avoided by audiences. Luckily, she also starred in the well-received docudrama North Country. Playing a woman who successfully battled sexual harrassment, Theron was honored with her second Oscar nomination for the performance.

Courtesy : Hollywood

Charlize Theron Photo Gallery

Carmen Electra - Carmen Electra Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Carmen Electra, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2009-12-08T00:51:00.000-08:00

Carmen Electra

Perhaps more famous for her physical attributes than for her talent, Carmen Electra managed to parlay a stint as an MTV game show hostess into a career as a TV and movie actress. Born Tara Leigh Patrick and raised in Ohio, Electra left her performing arts high school with plans to become a singer. After a failed album for Prince's Paisley Park label in the early '90s, however, Electra shifted direction. Along with her first Playboy spread, the aspiring entertainer scored her career breakthrough when she replaced Jenny McCarthy as the co-host of MTV's highly-rated dating game Singled Out in 1996. After the show went off the air, Electra successfully stepped in for another buxom TV blonde when she took over lifeguarding duties from Pamela Anderson on the syndicated hit Baywatch from 1997 to 1998.

Elektra moved to features with a bit part in the comedy Good Burger (1997) and larger roles in indie movies Starf*cker (1998), The Chosen One: The Legend of the Raven (1998), and Starstruck (1999). It was Electra's infamous several-day marriage to flamboyant basketball star Dennis Rodman in 1998, though, that further augmented her celebrity. Keeping her assets and tabloid fame in humorous perspective, Electra followed her role as what else, The Female, in the mockumentary The Mating Habits of Earthbound Humans (1999) with a self-parodic turn as the bodacious first victim in the hit horror send-up Scary Movie (2000).

While Elektra failed to land any big successes in the ensuing handful of years, 2004 saw her emerge again, gaining notice on both the large and small screens. In the wake of such hit shows as The Osbournes, The Anna Nicole Show, and, most notably, Newlyweds, Elektra and husband-to-be Dave Navarro agreed to let an MTV camera crew record their lives for the reality show Til Death Do Us Part. Meanwhile, she also showed up to steal a few scenes in the tongue-in-cheek feature-film version of Starsky and Hutch.

Courtesy : Hollywood

Carmen Electra Photo Gallery

Penelope Cruz - Penelope Cruz Biography, Hollywood Celebrity Penelope Cruz, Hollywood Actress, Photos, Facts, News

2009-12-04T02:11:00.000-08:00

Penelope Cruz

One of Spain's foremost leading ladies of the 1990s, Penélope Cruz has managed to make her mark with international audiences as well. Born in Madrid on April 28, 1974, Cruz was one of three children of a merchant and a hairdresser. After years of intensive study in ballet and jazz, she broke into acting in 1992. That year, she had starring roles in Jamón Jamón and Belle Epoque, two very disparate films. The former cast her as the desperately poor daughter of a village prostitute, while the latter featured her as one of four lusty daughters of a wealthy man in pre-Franco Spain. Belle Epoque proved to be a huge success, winning nine Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of an Academy Award) and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Its success gave Cruz a dose of international recognition, and after starring in a number of Spanish films, she enhanced this recognition in 1997 with the Sundance entry Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). That same year, she had a brief but memorable role in Pedro Almodóvar's Carne Trémula (Live Flesh).

In 1998, Cruz had her first starring role in an English-language film, playing Billy Crudup's Mexican-American love interest in Stephen Frears' The Hi-Lo Country. She had another go at English later that year in the Spanish-British romantic comedy Twice Upon a Yesterday, which cast her as a Spanish barmaid living in London. In 1999, she returned to Spain to collaborate once again with Almodóvar on Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), a wildly acclaimed film that premiered at Cannes that year.

The next two years would prove to be a critical turning point in both Cruz's personal and professional life, with increasingly visible roles in large-scale Hollywood productions as well as a developing relationship with one Tinseltown's most popular leading men. Gaining notice for her roles in All the Pretty Horses in 2000 and Blow the following year, it appeared as if Cruz's career had suddenly kicked into overdrive. After starring alongside Nicolas Cage in the underperforming Captain Corelli's Mandolin in 2001, Cruz dove back into familiar territory with director Cameron Crowe's remake of Abre los Ojos, Vanilla Sky (2001). Developing a close relationship with lead Tom Cruise as his much publicized breakup with Nicole Kidman drew to a close, the pair soon found themselves the center of considerable paparazzi attention as they became Hollywood's hottest new couple.

While "Cruz & Cruise" outlasted most celebrity couplings born on movie sets -- even generating wedding talk -- the duo went their separate ways in 2004. Perhaps not coincidentally, Cruz's career took a backseat to her paramour's while she was dating him; between 2001 and 2004, most of her roles were either minor ones in uncelebrated American indies (Waking Up in Reno, Masked and Anonymous, Noel) or meatier ones in foreign films that failed to gain traction in the States (Fanfan la Tulipe, Don't Move, Bandidas). Luckily, the actress rebounded with a performance thought by many critics to be the best of her career, when she re-teamed with one of her earliest champions, Pedro Almodóvar, for his nostalgic, bittersweet Volver in 2006. Warm, witty, and biting, Cruz's performance kept her name in the running for many year-end awards, even garnering her her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

In 2008, Cruz earned strong reviews for her work in Elegy, but it was her turn in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona that garnered her Best Supporting Actress nods from the Hollywood Foreign Press, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.

Courtesy : Hollywood

Penelope Cruz Photo Gallery