World Sweet Celebrity

Kristen Stewart Tops List of Highest-Paid Actresses

2012-06-19T23:00:00.003-07:00

Studios are notoriously stingy when it comes to paying young actors for the first film in a planned franchise. Forget about the $10 million they would have had to shell out to get a big name an up-and-comer is lucky to get $800,000.

That changes dramatically when it comes to the third and fourth films in a series. Suddenly, the star becomes indispensable and the studio has to pay up. And that's why Kristen Stewart has vaulted to the top of Forbes' annual list of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.

At this point, could anyone else play Bella Swan in "Twilight"? Probably not; if the studio tried to switch in another actress, fans would revolt. So for the last two "Twilight" films, Stewart has been able to demand an estimated $12.5 million per film, plus a share of the profits.

The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes

Her two co-stars, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, get paid the same, but Stewart earned more than them this year because of "Snow White and the Huntsman." Stewart's earnings between May 2011 and May 2012 totaled $34.5 million, helping her rank 43rd on our Celebrity 100 list. (The list measures a combination of money and fame.)
At 22, Stewart is the youngest woman on our list by 16 years. The next youngest is Kristen Wiig who is 38. Last year Stewart ranked 5th on our list of the Highest-Paid Actresses tied with Julia Roberts. This year Roberts ranked 6th.

The World’s Highest-Paid Models

Women are still paid less than men in the movie business. The 10 actresses who make up our list earned a total $200 million compared to the $361 million brought in by our top 10 men.

To determine who the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood are, we considered upfront pay, profit participation, residuals, endorsements and advertising work. We talked to manager, agents, lawyers and other in-the-know folks to come up with our estimates. We did not deduct for things like agent fees or the expenses related to being a celebrity.

The World’s Most Powerful Musicians

Ranking second on our list is Cameron Diaz. Her recent comedy "Bad Teacher" was a surprise hit, bringing in $216 million at the global box office. That's a decent haul under any circumstance but an especially good result for "Bad Teacher," which cost only $20 million to make. Diaz had a deal to take home a nice chunk of the film's profits, which were substantial.

Add that to her earnings for films like "What to Expect" and "The Green Hornet," and we estimate Diaz earned $34 million between May 2011 and May 2012.

Kristen Stewart - $34.5 Million

At the young age of 22 Stewart earned more than any other actress between May 2011 and May 2012. Most of that money came from "Twilight" where Stewart stars as Bella Swan. But she also earned big buck for starring in "Snow White and the Huntsman."

Cameron Diaz - $34 Million

Diaz' 2011 film "Bad Teacher" was a quiet hit. It earned $216 million on a tiny budget of $20 million. That massive profit helped Diaz earn $34 million between May 2011 and May 2012. The funny lady took a smaller upfront on the film in exchange for a large share of the profits.

Sandra Bullock - $25 Million

Bullock's most recent film, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," was not a box office hit but the actress is still in demand. Her 2009 film, "The Blind Side" was the kind of massive hit studios dream about. Bullock earned $25 million during our time frame thanks to money she still brings home from "The Blind Side" and the upcoming big-budget sci-fi flick, "Gravity."

Angelina Jolie - $20 Million

Even when she's not starring in a big studio flick, Jolie still earns millions from residuals and endorsement deals for companies like Louis Vuitton. Jolie also attracts plenty of attention wherever she goes.

Charlize Theron - $18 Million

Theron is in the middle of a major career surge that kicked off with the 2011 movie "Young Adult." The film might not have earned a lot of money (it brought in only $23 million) but it gave Theron the kind of buzz she hasn't had in several years. Following up with "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Prometheus" didn't hurt. Theron is also the high-profile face of Dior.

Christina Aguilera's Best and Worst Looks on 'The Voice'

2012-04-17T23:53:00.001-07:00

Christina Aguilera's Best and Worst Looks on 'The Voice'

"The Voice" coach has people talking about the attention-grabbing ensembles she's been wearing on the show.Suzy Byrne, Yahoo! TV

Christina Aguilera put on quite a show Monday night when she took the stage to perform on "The Voice." The coach put her famous curves on display in this bedazzled corset bodysuit, fishnet stockings and Christian Louboutin platforms, an outfit that immediately got people talking.

Langkawi Sky Bridge in Malaysia

2012-04-09T03:44:00.000-07:00

It's not a bridge to the sky, but it's not far from the idea! The Langkawi sky-bridge in Malaysia is suspended at 700 metres above sea level and spans 125 across the mountains,offering magnificent views of the Andaman Sea and Thailand's Tarutao Island. It's set apart from other bridges by its curves that provide different perspectives of the landscapes. Here's one of the most spectacular bridges in the world that delivers quite a pump of adrenaline.

Titanic 100 year anniversary

2012-04-08T23:17:00.001-07:00

Relatives of some who died on the Titanic are on a voyage to the North Atlantic site where the liner sank, to mark 100 years since the disaster.

MS Balmoral has left Southampton docks, retracing the route of the ill-fated cruise liner's maiden voyage.

The ship, carrying 1,309 passengers - the same number as were on the Titanic - is due to reach the wreck site next weekend for a memorial ceremony.

The Titanic hit an iceberg on 15 April 1912 and sank, killing about 1,500.

The Balmoral left England's south coast shortly after 14:45 GMT and will follow the Titanic's exact route - via Cherbourg in north-west France and Cobh on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland - to the spot where the liner sank.

Passengers will gather for a service to be held at 02:20 GMT next Sunday - 15 April - to mark the moment of the sinking.

Some relatives were bringing wreaths of flowers and family artefacts in memory of those who died.

Passengers making the journey, who come from more than 20 countries, include relatives of survivors, authors, historians and people who are fascinated by the Titanic story.

They will eat meals from the Titanic's original menu and attend lectures given by historians and experts.

Philip Littlejohn, grandson of survivor Alexander James Littlejohn and the only Titanic relative to have made the dive to the wreck site, said: "I'm sure my grandfather, a 1st Class Steward on RMS Titanic, would be proud to know his story will be shared with the passengers on this historic cruise.

"It will be an emotional moment when we are over the wreck site, where I dived in 2001, and where my grandfather left Titanic rowing Lifeboat 13."

Jane Allen, whose great uncle Tom Pears died in the disaster, is among passengers who have paid up to £6,000 ($9,000) to join the commemorative voyage.

"I don't think it's ghoulish or macabre at all," said Mrs Allen, from Devon.

"I've been to the World War II and I cemeteries in various places across the world. I think it's always important to remember."

Underground Lake: The Inner Beauty of Earth

2012-04-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Underground Lake: The Inner Beauty of Earth - An underground lake or a subterranean lake is a lake which is formed under the surface of the Earth's crust. Such a lake may be associated with caves, aquifers, or springs. They are typically very low in salinity.

Steve Jobs

2011-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.[Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

In the late 1970s, Jobs along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and other designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000 onwards. After resigning as CEO in August 2011, Jobs was elected chairman of Apple's board of directors and held that title until his death.

In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006. Consequently Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7 percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.

On October 5, 2011, Jobs died in California at age 56, seven years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.On his death he was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius perhaps one of the foremost in the field of business, innovation, and product design, and a man who had profoundly changed the face of the modern world, revolutionized at least six different industries, and who was an "exemplar for all chief executives". His death was widely mourned and considered a loss to the world by commentators across the globe.

Early years

Jobs was born in San Francisco and was adopted by the family of Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs (née Hagopian) who moved to Mountain View, California when Jobs was five years old. Paul and Clara later adopted a daughter, Patti. Paul Jobs, a machinist for a company that made lasers, taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. His adoptive mother was an accountant. Asked in a 1995 interview what he wanted to pass on to his children, Jobs replied, "Just to try to be as good a father to them as my father was to me. I think about that every day of my life." Paul and Clara Jobs were his "true parents," he told an interviewer when asked about his "adoptive parents." "They were my parents," he told the interviewer emphatically. Jobs' biological parent Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian Muslim immigrant to the U.S., who later became a political science professor at the University of Nevada and is presently a vice president of Boomtown Hotel Casino in Reno, Nevada, and Joanne Schieble (later Simpson), an American graduate student of Swiss and German ancestry who went on to become a speech language pathologist eventually[when? married. The marriage produced Jobs's biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson; the two of them first met in 1986 as adults and enjoyed a close relationship, with Jobs regularly visiting Simpson in Manhattan. From Simpson, Jobs learned more about their birth parents and he invited his biological mother Joanne to some events. Jandali claims that he didn't want to put Jobs up for adoption but that Simpson's parents did not approve of her marrying a Syrian. Jandali's few attempts to contact Jobs were unsuccessful; Jobs did not contact his biological father either. Jandali gave an interview to The Sun in August 2011 when Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple; Jandali also mailed in his medical history after Jobs's pancreatic disorder was made public that year.

Jobs attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. He frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California, and was later hired there, working with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.[33] Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

In the fall of 1974, Jobs returned to California and began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games, with the primary intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India.

Jobs then traveled to India to visit Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, the first Apple employee), Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment. He came back a Buddhist with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian clothing. During this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics, calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life". He later said that people around him who did not share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking.

Jobs returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari offered $100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest in or knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. According to Wozniak, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari gave them only $700 (instead of the offered $5,000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.

Career

Founding of Apple Computer
In 1976, Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple, with later funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. "Mike" Markkula Jr.. Prior to co-founding Apple, Wozniak was an electronics hacker. Jobs and Wozniak met in 1971 when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. Friends for several years, Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a computer and selling it. As Apple continued to expand, the company began looking for an experienced executive to help manage its expansion.

In 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO for what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?"[42] The following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled "1984". At Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience; Andy Hertzfeld described the scene as "pandemonium".The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface. The development of the Mac was started by Jef Raskin, and eventually taken over by Jobs.

While Jobs was a persuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of his employees from that time described him as an erratic and temperamental manager. An industry-wide sales slump towards the end of 1984 caused a deterioration in Jobs's working relationship with Sculley, and at the end of May 1985 following an internal power struggle and an announcement of significant layoffs because of disappointing sales at the time Sculley relieved Jobs of his duties as head of the Macintosh division. Jobs later claimed that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him; "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

NeXT Computer
After leaving Apple, Jobs founded NeXT Computer in 1985 with $7 million. A year later, Jobs was running out of money, and with no product on the horizon, he appealed for venture capital. Eventually, he attracted the attention of billionaire Ross Perot who invested heavily in the company. NeXT workstations were first released in 1990, priced at $9,999. Like the Apple Lisa, the NeXT workstation was technologically advanced, but was largely dismissed as cost-prohibitive by the educational sector for which it was designed. The NeXT workstation was known for its technical strengths, chief among them its object-oriented software development system. Jobs marketed NeXT products to the financial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting its innovative, experimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel, the digital signal processor chip, and the built-in Ethernet port.

Pixar and Disney
In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was given to the company as capital.

The new company, which was originally based at Lucasfilm's Kerner Studios in San Rafael, California, but has since relocated to Emeryville, California, was initially intended to be a high-end graphics hardware developer. After years of unprofitability selling the Pixar Image Computer, it contracted with Disney to produce a number of computer-animated feature films that Disney would co-finance and distribute.

The first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story, brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. Over the next 15 years, under Pixar's creative chief John Lasseter, the company produced box-office hits A Bug's Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); The Incredibles (2004); Cars (2006); Ratatouille (2007); WALL-E (2008); Up (2009); and Toy Story 3 (2010). Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3 each received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, an award introduced in 2001.

Play sound
Steve Jobs on computer graphics - Interview excerpt from 1995.

In the years 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnership, and in early 2004 Jobs announced that Pixar would seek a new partner to distribute its films once its contract with Disney expired.

In October 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to patch up relations with Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. Once the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest single shareholder with approximately 7% of the company's stock. Jobs's holdings in Disney far exceed those of Eisner, who holds 1.7%, and of Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who until his 2009 death held about 1% of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner especially that he soured Disney's relationship with Pixar accelerated Eisner's ousting. Jobs joined the company's board of directors upon completion of the merger. Jobs also helped oversee Disney and Pixar's combined animation businesses with a seat on a special six person steering committee.

Return to Apple

In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $429 million. The deal was finalized in late 1996, bringing Jobs back to the company he co-founded. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997. He was formally named interim chief executive in September. In March 1998, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated a number of projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. In the coming months, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a whole company." Jobs also changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines.

With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Apple products, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs's guidance the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful branding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO. Jobs quipped at the time that he would be using the title 'iCEO.'

The company subsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While stimulating innovation, Jobs also reminded his employees that "real artists ship",[citation needed] by which he meant that delivering working products on time is as important as innovation and attractive design.
Jobs was both admired and criticized for his consummate skill at persuasion and salesmanship, which has been dubbed the "reality distortion field" and was particularly evident during his keynote speeches (colloquially known as "Stevenotes") at Macworld Expos and at Apple Worldwide Developers Conferences.

In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the U.S. by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's Annual Meeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announced it would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. The Computer TakeBack Campaign responded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation at which Jobs was the commencement speaker. The banner read "Steve Don't be a mini-player recycle all e-waste". In 2006, he further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any U.S. customer who buys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendly disposal" of their old systems.

Resignation
In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained at the company as chairman of the company's board. Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares dropped 5% in after-hour trading. The relatively small drop, when considering the importance of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that Jobs's health had been in the news for several years, and he was on medical leave since January 2011. It was believed, according to Forbes, that the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt Disney Company where Jobs served as director. In after-hour trading on the day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5%.

Business life
Wealth
Even though Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, he held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar). Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance.Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd wealthiest American.

Personal life
Jobs married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991. Presiding over the wedding was the Zen Buddhist monk Kobun Chino Otogawa.The couple have a son and two daughters.Jobs also has a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs (born 1978), from his relationship with Bay Area painter Chrisann Brennan.She briefly raised their daughter on welfare when Jobs denied paternity by claiming he was sterile; he later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter.
In the unauthorized biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, author Alan Deutschman reports that Jobs once dated Joan Baez. Deutschman quotes Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs from his time at Reed College, as saying she "believed that Steve became the lover of Joan Baez in large measure because Baez had been the lover of Bob Dylan" (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). The biography also notes that Jobs went out with actress Diane Keaton briefly.[citation needed] In another unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon, the authors suggest that Jobs might have married Baez, but her age at the time meant it was unlikely the couple could have children.

Jobs was also a fan of The Beatles. He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also was interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about his business model on 60 Minutes, he replied:

Death
Jobs died at his home on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a rare form of pancreatic cancer. His death was announced by Apple in a statement which read:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Jobs is survived by Laurene, his wife of 20 years, their three children and by Lisa Brennan-Jobs, his daughter from a previous relationship. His family released a statement saying that he "died peacefully". Also since October 5, 2011, Apple's corporate website greeted visitors with a simple page showing Jobs's name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait. Clicking on Jobs's image led to an obituary that read "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." An email address was also posted for the public to share their memories, condolences, and thoughts.

A large number of newspapers carried news of his death on the front pages. Statements reacting to Jobs's death were made by several notable people, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and The Walt Disney Company's Bob Iger. Wired News collected reactions and posted them in tribute on their homepage. Other statements of condolences were issued by many of Jobs' friends and colleagues, such as Steve Wozniak and George Lucas.

A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Pitbull American Singer

2011-09-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

Armando Christian Pérez (born January 15, 1981), better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. (short for Money Is a Major Issue) under TVT Records. Since then, he has released two other albums under the label, El Mariel in 2006 and The Boatlift in 2007. He then released Rebelution in 2009, which included singles "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" and "Krazy". The latter peaked at No.30 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts while "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No.2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the UK, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. The song reached No.1 in France and the European Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine. He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc. Other singles from Rebelution included "Blanco" featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes and "Hotel Room Service", the latter of which peaked at No.8 on the Hot 100. Rebelution went on to sell over 7.5 million worldwide digital singles and albums combined.

Pérez is also the host of his own Spanish-language program on the cable channel Mun2 titled La Esquina (Spanish for The Corner).

In 2005 Pérez and rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs co-founded Bad Boy Latino, a subsidiary of Combs' Bad Boy Records label. It primarily focuses on Latin Rap, Latin Soul and Tropical music, and has offices in Miami and New York.[4][5] Along with co-founding it, Pérez currently heads the A&R division of the label.

Pérez has become a product endorser, representing alongside Drake, Rihanna, and Trey Songz the “So Kodak” campaign for the Kodak brand and embarking on a partnership with the soda giant Dr Pepper as part of the campaign “Vida 23” for which he recorded the song specifically for it that was also featured on his album Armando.

Early life
Pitbull was born to Cuban immigrant parents who made him recite the works of poet José Martí. He encountered problems early in his career as a rapper because he was blue-eyed and Cuban American. He was also influenced by the Miami bass genre of hip hop music and has cited Celia Cruz and Willy Chirino as sources of inspiration for his music. Perez's parents separated when he was young, and he was raised by his mother. He later spent time with a foster family in Roswell, Georgia. At age 16, his mother kicked him out of their house after he became a drug dealer. He then graduated from Miami Coral Park High School and focused his career in rapping.

Pitbull explained the reason behind choosing his stage name, saying about the dog "they bite to lock. The dog is too stupid to lose. And they're outlawed in Dade County. They're basically everything that I am. It's been a constant fight." After meeting Lil Jon in Miami, Pitbull was featured on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' album Kings of Crunk in 2002. Pitbull's song "Oye" was featured on the soundtrack to the film 2 Fast 2 Furious the following year. In addition, Pitbull also released several mixtapes, composed of freestyles and remixes of popular rap music. Campbell featured Pitbull in his single "Lollipop".

Music career

2009–2010: Rebelution and Armando
For his fourth studio album Rebelution, Pitbull released "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" through Ultra Records after his former label TVT Records went out of business. "Krazy" peaked at No.30 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. "I Know You Want Me" peaked at No.2 on the Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten spots of charts in the UK, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. The song reached No.1 in France and the European Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009 according to Billboard magazine. On Dec. 11, 2009, Billboard announced their Year-End Canadian Update, placing "I Know You Want Me" at No.7 on the Hot 100 chart and No.2 on the CHR/Top 40 chart. He later signed with Polo Grounds Music through Sony Music and created his own label Mr. 305 Inc.Other singles included "Blanco", featuring Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes, and "Hotel Room Service", which samples "Push the Feeling On" and which peaked at No.9 on the Hot 100. On their second collaboration since "Go Girl", Pitbull appeared on the debut single of rapper David Rush (formerly Young Bo$$), "Shooting Star", also with Kevin Rudolf and LMFAO. An amateur video of Pitbull punching a disruptive audience member at a Colorado concert leaked on the Internet in late May 2009. Pitbull explained to MTV News that it was because the fan kept throwing cash around the stage, and after Pitbull pulled him up to the stage, he threw a stash of money right in Pitbull's face. He has been tapped by the Miami Dolphins to work alongside T-Pain & Jimmy Buffett to release a new fight song for the Dolphins. The city of Miami granted Pitbull a "Key to the City" honor on August 19.

In 2010, Pitbull performed the rap section in the Haiti benefit song "Somos El Mundo", a Spanish version of "We Are the World", that included a huge group of Latin artists led by Emilio and Gloria Estefan. He was also a featured guest on "Armada Latina", the fourth single off the album Rise Up by Latin rap legends, Cypress Hill. The song was produced by Jim Jonsin and also features Marc Anthony. Pitbull then collaborated with Alexandra Burke on the single "All Night Long". He was also featured on "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher.

Pitbull also released his full-length debut Spanish-language album titled Armando on November 2, 2010. Pitbull is also one of the most nominated artists of the upcoming Latin Billboard awards. He garnered 7 nominations for “Latin Rhythm Airplay, Song of the Year” for “Bon, Bon”; “Latin Rhythm Airplay, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist”; “Latin Rhythm Albums, Album of the Year” for Armando; “Latin Rhythm Albums, Artist of the Year, Solo Artist”; “Social 50, Latin Artist of the Year”; “Latin Digital Download of the Year” for “Bon, Bon” and “Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event” for the song “I Like It” alongside Enrique Iglesias. He also won Telehit’s award for “Most Popular Artist”. 2011 present: Planet Pit

Pitbull released his highly anticipated follow-up English album, Planet Pit, on June 21, 2011. Pitbull collaborated with T-Pain on its first single, "Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)". Pitbull announced he’s the spokesperson for Voli Vodka, in which he holds a majority equity stake. Pitbull has also collaborated with Jennifer Lopez on her single "On the Floor". On March 22, 2011, Pitbull released his second single, "Give Me Everything" featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, and three months later, the song became Pitbull's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100. On May 2, 2011, Pitbull appeared on WWE Monday Night RAW to celebrate Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's birthday. Pitbull will be touring Australia as part of Iglesias’ “Euphoria” tour in July 2011. Pitbull appeared as musical guest on Conan on August 2, 2011.

Discography
Main article: Pitbull discography

    * M.I.A.M.I. (2004)
    * El Mariel (2006)
    * The Boatlift (2007)
    * Rebelution (2009)
    * Armando (2010)
    * Planet Pit (2011)

Christina Aguilera is an American Artist

2011-09-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).

In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 10 Genie in a Bottle "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful," was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim.[Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and poor sales.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme.She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque (2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, four Grammy Awards and a Latin Grammy Award, amongst fifteen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna. Christina Aguilera has sold 50 million records worldwide making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Christina Album

Leila Lopes Miss Universe 2011

2011-09-13T23:42:00.001-07:00

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Leila Lopes elected Miss Universe2011

2011-09-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

Angolan Leila Lopes elected Miss Universe2011

Luanda- The Republic of Angola, through its candidate Leila Lopes, won on Tuesday in São Paulo (Brazil), Africa’s first Miss Universe title.

The Angolan representative to the 60th edition of the beauty contest beat the candidates of Ukraine and Brazil, Olesya Stefanko and Priscila Machado, respectively

The contest started with 98 candidates, 16 of whom made to the second phase.

Of the qualified 16, highlight went to the candidates of Angola, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, USA, The Philippines, France, Holland, Kosovo, Panama, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Leila Lopes (25) was born in Angola’s central Benguela province and is a business management student. The Miss Universe contest was held for the first time in Brazil, witnessed by more than one million spectators from 190 countries.

The jury of the 60th edition comprised seven specialists and celebrities, including US television stars, the Brazilian super-model, Isabeli Fontana and the formula pilot, Indy Hélio Castroneves.

The contest, organised by the US magnate Donald Trump, gathered candidates with ages from 18 to 27 years.

Album Leila Lopes

Katrina Kaif

2011-09-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

Katrina Kaif born 16 July 1984 is a British Indian actress and former model who appears in Indian films, mainly in the Hindi-language film industry. She has also appeared in Telugu and Malayalam films. She was voted the sexiest Asian woman in the world by Eastern Eye in the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Being a British citizen, she works in India on an employment visa.

Kaif made her acting debut with Kaizad Gustad's box office bomb Boom. She tasted success in 2007 with Vipul Shah's Namastey London and Anees Bazmee's Welcome. She has since appeared in films like New York (2009) and Rajneeti (2010). While the former earned Kaif her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination, the latter emerged as her biggest commercial success so far.

Personal life

Kaif was born to an Indian Kashmiri father, Mohammed Kaif, and an English mother, Susanna Turcotte, both of whom are British citizens. Her parents divorced when she was very young. Kaif once stated, "My dad, unfortunately, and not out of choice, has had no influence on our upbringing, on our religious or social or moral bearings." Kaif has seven siblings; a brother and six sisters. From Hong Kong, she and her family moved to China, then to Japan. From there she went (by boat) to France when she was 8, and thereafter lived for a few months at a time in Switzerland, Kraków, Berlin, Belgium, and many other East European countries. Then she moved with her family to Hawaii, and eventually to her mother's home country of England. Although it is often assumed that Kaif is from London, she lived there only for three years before finally moving to Mumbai.In 2011, she confirmed she was single.

Career

Modeling and early film career (1998-2004)
Kaif began her modeling career at age fourteen; her first assignment was for a jewelry campaign. She continued modeling in London under a contract with the Models 1 Agency and did campaigns for houses such as La Senza and Arcadius, and even walked on the London Fashion Week.

Kaif's modeling work led to her discovery by London-based filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a part in his film Boom (2003). The film, which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Gulshan Grover, failed to make an impact. She then moved to Mumbai and was offered a number of modeling assignments, but filmmakers were hesitant to cast Kaif due to her poor command of Hindi.

Breakthrough (2005-2006)

In 2005, Kaif made a cameo in Ram Gopal Verma's drama Sarkar, as Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend. The same year, she landed her first major role in David Dhawan's adaptation of Cactus Flower, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, where she was paired opposite Salman Khan. The film also featured Sushmita Sen, Arshad Warsi, Isha Koppikar and Sohail Khan in lead roles. Upon release, the film became a moderate success with Taran Adarsh, a prominent film critic, praising Kaif as a "complete revelation". The following year, she was paired opposite Akshay Kumar for the first time in Raj Kanwar's box-office flop Humko Deewana Kar Gaye. However, for her portrayal of Jia A. Yashvardhan, Adarsh wrote, "Taking giant strides as an actor, Katrina is, without doubt, the star of the show. It's her magnetic presence and dependable performance that you carry home once the show has ended."

Success (2007- present)
In 2007, Kaif appeared in Vipul Shah's romantic-comedy Namastey London, portraying a British Indian girl named Jasmeet "Jazz" Malhotra, alongside Rishi Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Clive Standen. Upon its release, the film became a major hit, with Nikhat Kazmi, of the The Times Of India praising the chemistry between the leading couple.[23] She next played a supporting role in Anil Sharma's melodrama Apne. Featuring Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher and Shilpa Shetty, the film was a box-office hit. Her next release was David Dhawan's unofficial remake of Hitch, Partner, where she starred alongside Salman Khan, Govinda, and Lara Dutta. This too was box-office success. Her final film of 2007, Welcome, directed by Anees Bazmee and co-starring Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Anil Kapoor, was declared a blockbuster in India.

Her first release of 2008 was Abbas-Mustan's hit action-thriller Race; she played Saif Ali Khan's secretary, Sophia, who is secretly in love with his hostile stepbrother (played by Akshay Khanna). The film also featured Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy in leading roles. Despite its success, Kazmi wrote, "Katrina is too pale as the blousy secretary who comes into her own only when she gets seductive with a Touch me, kiss me tenor. "

Kaif was next seen in Anees Bazmee's action comedy Singh Is Kinng, portraying Akshay Kumar's love interest and Ranvir Shorey's fiancée. After its release, the film was declared a blockbuster and emerged as the third highest grossing film of 2008. Kaif's final release of the year, Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj, was a commercial failure, but its script made its way into the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for artistic merit, original screenplay with a substance, and the film as a whole.

Kaif's first release for 2009 was Kabir Khan's terrorism drama New York, with John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh. It was a critical and commercial success in both India and overseas. Kaif's performance was highly praised: Taran Adarsh wrote, "Katrina gives you the biggest surprise. Known for her glamour roles, Katrina proves that she can deliver if the director and writer offer her a role of substance. She's outstanding. In fact, people will see a new, different Katrina this time."For her performance, Kaif received her first nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Actress category.

She next had a cameo in the star-studded action-thriller Blue, popularly known as India's first underwater thriller, with Akshay Kumar and Zayed Khan. However, it was declared a flop.

In November 2009, she appeared along with Ranbir Kapoor, in Rajkumar Santoshi's blockbuster comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, as Jennifer Pinto. Critics mostly praised her fresh chemistry with Kapoor rather than her own performance. Her final release that year was Priyadarshan's star-studded De Dana Dan with Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal and Neha Dhupia. Despite a good opening, the film failed to do well at the box office.

Kaif's first film of 2010 was Prakash Jha's political thriller Raajneeti, where she appeared opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. The film is a modern-day adaptation of The Mahabharata set against the political backdrop of Delhi. Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai and Shruti Seth also played starring roles. Upon release, the film performed extremely well at the box office, and earned Kaif favourable reviews for her portrayal of the dynamic Indu Sakseria.

Her last release was Farah Khan's brainless comedy Tees Maar Khan with Akshay Kumar. The film was released on 24 December 2010. The film received mainly negative reviews and was declared a flop. However, Kaif's item number Sheila Ki Jawani became a major chartbuster.

On 15 July 2011, she was seen alongside Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin in Zoya Akhtar's road adventure Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. which was a critical and box office success. She will also be featured in Yash Raj Films's Mere Brother Ki Dulhan opposite Imran Khan and Ali Zafar.

Filmography

2003     Boom     Rina Kaif/Popdi Chinchpokli
2004     Malliswari     Princess Malliswari     Telugu film
2005     Sarkar     Pooja
2005     Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya     Sonia
2005     Allari Pidugu     Shwetha     Telugu film
2006     Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye     Jia A. Yashvardhan
2006     Balram vs. Taradas     Supriya     Malayalam film
2007     Namastey London     Jasmeet "Jazz" Malhotra
2007     Apne     Nandini Sarabhai
2007     Partner     Priya Jaisingh
2007     Welcome     Sanjana Shetty
2008     Race     Sophia
2008     Singh Is Kinng     Sonia Singh
2008     Hello     Story-teller     Cameo
2008     Yuvvraaj     Anushka Banton
2009     New York     Maya Shaikh     Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2009     Blue     Nikki     Cameo
2009     Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani     Jennifer "Jenny" Pinto
2009     De Dana Dan     Anjali Kakkad
2010     Raajneeti     Indu Sakseria/Pratap
2010     Tees Maar Khan     Anya Khan
2011     Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara     Laila
2011     Bodyguard     Herself     Special appearance in song "Bodyguard"
2011     Mere Brother Ki Dulhan     Dimple Dixit     Released on September 09, 2011
2011     Main Krishna Hoon     Radha     Cameo

2012 Ek Tha Tiger Filming

Kareena Kapoor

2011-09-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Kareena Kapoor; born on 21 September 1980, often informally referred to as Bebo is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films. During her career, Kapoor has received six Filmfare Awards, among nine nominations and has been noted for her performances in a range of film genres; these include her work from contemporary romantic dramas to comedies, period films to major Bollywood productions, as well as less publicised independent films.

Born into a family where her parents, Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and elder sister Karisma were actors, Kapoor faced the media spotlight from a very young age, but did not make her acting debut until the 2000 film Refugee. Her melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... became India's highest-grossing film in the overseas market in 2001, and is one of her biggest commercial successes to date after receiving negative reviews for a series of repetitive roles, Kapoor accepted more demanding parts in order to avoid being typecast, and was consequently recognized by critics for displaying greater versatility as an actress.Her portrayal of a sex worker in Chameli (2004) proved to be the turning point in her career and she was later noted for her performances in the critically acclaimed projects Dev (2004) and Omkara (2006).

In 2007, Kapoor received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in Jab We Met, a romantic comedy directed by Imtiaz Ali. She went on to play the lead female role in the thriller Kurbaan (2009), for which she earned critical acclaim, and the drama 3 Idiots (2009), which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time. Having done so, Kapoor has established herself as a leading actress of the Hindi film industry. In addition to movie acting, Kapoor is a regular stage performer and has launched her own clothing line in association with being the brand ambassador for the retail chain Globus. Her off-screen life, including her relationship with actor Saif Ali Khan, is the subject of wide media coverage in India.

Born in Mumbai, India, on 21 September 1980, into the Kapoor film family, Kapoor is the younger daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita (née Shivdasani); her elder sister Karisma Kapoor, is also an actress. She is the granddaughter of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, great-granddaughter of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, and niece of actor Rishi Kapoor. According to Kapoor, the name "Kareena" was derived from the book Anna Karenina, which her mother read while she was pregnant with her. Often informally referred to as Bebo, she is of Punjabi Khatri descent from her father's side and on her mother's side she is Sindhi. In an interview with Vir Sanghvi, Kapoor stated that growing up with her mom (left) and sister (centre) helped her become strong and independent.
As a child, she had strong aspirations to become an actress, and was particularly inspired by watching the films of Bollywood actresses Nargis and Meena Kumari. Kapoor, who describes herself as a "very naughty spoilt child", would regularly dress up in her mother's clothes and perform in front of the mirror. Despite her family background, her father disapproved of women entering the acting profession because he believed it conflicted with the traditional maternal duties and responsibility of women in the family. This led to a conflict between her parents and resulted in Kapoor's mother leaving the house with her daughters. After her parents' separation, she was raised in Lokhandwala by her mother, who worked several jobs to support her daughters until Karisma debuted as an actress in 1991. Following her parents' reconciliation in October 2007, Kapoor explained that they "were never officially divorced ... [but] ... liv[ed] separately." Asked about the relationship she shared with her father, Kapoor remarked, "My father is ... an important factor in my life. though we did not see him often in our initial years, we are a family now."

Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai before progressing to Welham Girls Boarding School in Dehradun. She later recalled, "I learnt so much from being at Welham", and described her experience there as "one of the finest parts of my life". According to Kapoor, she was a good student and received first-class honours in all subjects except mathematics. Upon graduating from the boarding school, she studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College in Vile Parle, Mumbai, but later confessed that she only studied there because she was close to her family. Kapoor then registered for a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard University in the United States. She later developed an interest in law and enrolled at the Government Law College in Churchgate; during this period she became immersed in law books and developed a long-lasting passion for reading. However, after completing one year at Churchgate, Kapoor realized that she was not inclined towards academics and returned to her initial plan to become an actress. She began training at an acting institute in Andheri, mentored by Kishore Namit Kapoor, a member of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). 2000–03: Debut and breakthrough

Kapoor was initially scheduled to make her debut in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), opposite the director's son Hrithik Roshan. Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project and later explained that, "it was probably destined that I was not to be in the film. After all, it was a launch for his son. The whole focus was on the boy. Now I am glad I did not do the movie."

She made her debut later that year in J.P. Dutta's war drama Refugee, alongside Abhishek Bachchan. Set during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the film centers on a man known simply as "Refugee", who illegally transports civilians back and forth across the Indo-Pakistani border. Kapoor portrayed Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with Refugee while illegally migrating to Pakistan with her family. Her performance was acclaimed by critics; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote that Kapoor "has a magnetic personality, which will make the viewer fall in love with her instantly. What surprises you is the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes There is no denying the fact that she is a natural performer who is very camera friendly." On the experience of making her first film, she described it as "...tough ... [but] also a great learning experience." Refugee became the fifth highest-grossing film in India in 2000 and Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

In 2001, Kapoor appeared opposite Tusshar Kapoor in the romantic drama Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, which became one of the highest earners of the year. A review in The Hindu, in regards to her performance, noted that she was "definitely the actress to watch out for, if her debut with Abhishek in Refugee and now Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai are any indication Kareena shines throughout the flick, with the grace of a seasoned sizzler already." She next starred in Subhash Ghai's family drama Yaadein alongside Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan. The drama centers on the character of Raj Singh Puri, a middle-class man, and his daughters' marriages. Kapoor played the part of the youngest daughter and Roshan's love interest, Isha Singh Puri. The film was met with negative reactions from reviewers and garnered poor box office returns. Kapoor then appeared in the Abbas-Mustan thriller Ajnabee. The feature was adapted from the 1992 American thriller film Consenting Adults and was a moderate box office success in India.

Later in the year, she played the female lead in Santosh Sivan's period epic Asoka, a partly fictionalized account of the life of Ashoka the Great. It was widely screened across the United Kingdom and North America, and was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival. Featured opposite Shahrukh Khan who played Ashoka, Kapoor portrayed the character of Kaurwaki a princess of Kalinga with whom Ashoka falls in love and received her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. While the film received generally positive reviews, Kapoor's performance received a mixed reaction from critics. Rediff.com concluded that "while a large portion of the first half is focused on the emerging romance between the runaway prince and herself and to their credit they do manage to whip up some on-screen chemistry, I am still unsure as to her acting abilities."[28] Meanwhile, David Rooney from Variety wrote, "Kapoor plays ornately tattooed Kaurwaki as a lively mix of flirtatious coquette and feisty warrior woman, kind of like J.Lo meets Michelle Yeoh."

Her final release of 2001 was Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., a melodrama, in which she featured as part of an ensemble cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Hrithik Roshan. Directed by Karan Johar, the movie was a major financial success and became India's second highest-grossing film of the year, as well as Kapoor's highest-grossing movie up until then. It also performed well internationally and became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over INR1,000 million (US$22.3 million) worldwide. Kapoor's performance as "Poo", a good-natured but superficial girl, was described as "one of the main ... highlights of the film", and her portrayal earned her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress nomination.

During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor experienced a setback in her career. She was in six films Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Talaash: The Hunt Begins, Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, and the four-hour war epic LOC Kargil all of which proved critically and commercially unsuccessful in India.Kapoor's performances were often identified by critics as unoriginal and repetitive, with little inspiration. They expressed concern that she was becoming typecast, but these negative reviews were fundamental in motivating her to improve her integrity as an actress in subsequent years by accepting more demanding roles.

Early life and background

Born in Mumbai, India, on 21 September 1980, into the Kapoor film family, Kapoor is the younger daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita (née Shivdasani); her elder sister Karisma Kapoor, is also an actress. She is the granddaughter of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, great-granddaughter of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, and niece of actor Rishi Kapoor. According to Kapoor, the name "Kareena" was derived from the book Anna Karenina, which her mother read while she was pregnant with her. Often informally referred to as Bebo, she is of Punjabi Khatri descent from her father's side and on her mother's side she is Sindhi. In an interview with Vir Sanghvi, Kapoor stated that growing up with her mom and sister helped her become strong and independent.

As a child, she had strong aspirations to become an actress, and was particularly inspired by watching the films of Bollywood actresses Nargis and Meena Kumari. Kapoor, who describes herself as a "very naughty spoilt child", would regularly dress up in her mother's clothes and perform in front of the mirror.Despite her family background, her father disapproved of women entering the acting profession because he believed it conflicted with the traditional maternal duties and responsibility of women in the family. This led to a conflict between her parents and resulted in Kapoor's mother leaving the house with her daughters. After her parents' separation, she was raised in Lokhandwala by her mother, who worked several jobs to support her daughters until Karisma debuted as an actress in 1991.Following her parents' reconciliation in October 2007,K arena kapoor explained that they "were never officially divorced separately." Asked about the relationship she shared with her father, Kapoor remarked, "My father is an important factor in my life. though we did not see him often in our initial years, we are a family now."

Filmography 2010-2012

Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2006     Don: The Chase Begins Again     Kamini     Cameo
2007     Kya Love Story Hai     Herself     Special appearance in song "It's Rocking"
2007     Jab We Met     Geet Dhillon     Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2008     Halla Bol     Herself     Special appearance
2008     Tashan     Pooja Singh
2008     Roadside Romeo     Laila     Voice
2008     Golmaal Returns     Ekta
2009     Luck by Chance     Herself     Special appearance
2009     Billu     Herself     Special appearance in song "Marjaani"
2009     Kambakkht Ishq     Simrita Rai
2009     Main Aurr Mrs Khanna     Raina Khanna
2009     Kurbaan     Avantika Ahuja / Khan     Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2009     3 Idiots     Pia Sahastrabudhhe     Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress

2010     Milenge Milenge     Priya Malhotra
2010     We Are Family     Shreya Arora     Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010     Golmaal 3     Daboo     Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2011     Bodyguard     Divya
2011     Ra.One     Sonia Shekhar

Subramanium     Post-production
2011     Agent Vinod     Iram     Filming
2012     Reema Kagti's Untitled Project         Filming
2012     Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu     Tiara     Filming

NATALIE PORTMAN LIFE HISTORY

2011-03-01T23:59:00.000-08:00

Natalie Hershlag (Hebrew:born June 9, 1981), better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an Israeli and American actress. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon. During the 1990s, Portman had major roles in films including Beautiful Girls and Anywhere but Here, before being cast for the role as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while she was working on the Star Wars films. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.

In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for the drama Closer. She shaved her head and learned to speak with a British accent for her starring role in V for Vendetta (2006), for which she won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress. She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya's Ghosts (2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury. Portman's directorial debut, Eve, opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival's shorts competition in 2008.

In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance in Black Swan.

Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel.er father, Avner Hershlag,is a fertility specialist.Her mother, Shelley Hershlag is an American homemaker who works as her agent. Portman's maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants to the United States from Austria and Russia, and her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.

EARLY LIFE

Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University, where her mother was selling ets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has said that although she "really love the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."

Portman and her family first lived in Washington, D.C., but relocated to Connecticut in 1988, and then settled on Long Island, New York, in 1990.

EDUCATION

In Washington, D.C., Portman attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Portman learned to speak Hebrew in addition to English and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove, New York.She graduated from Syosset High School in Syosset, Long Island, in 1999. Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I so she could study for her high school final exams. In 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. degree in psychology. "I don't care if [college] ruins my career," she told the New York Post, according to a Fox News article. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star."At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz's research assistant in a psychology lab. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of Lowell House and wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions towards Palestinians.

Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 2004. In March 2006, she appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film V for Vendetta.Portman has professed an interest in foreign languages since childhood and has studied French,Japanese,German, and Arabic.

As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in professional scientific journals. Her 1998 high school paper, "A Simple Method To Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar," co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search, in which she was named a semifinalist.In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence" during her psychology studies at Harvard.

Due to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a finite Erdős–Bacon number, a concept that reflects the "small world phenomenon" in academia and entertainment by measuring the "collaborative distance" between that person and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős and the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon.

CAREER

After filming Where the Heart Is, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology.She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the Star Wars prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. During the summer break from June to September 2000, Portman filmed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in Sydney, along with additional production in London.

In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull, irected by Mike Nichols; she played the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearances in the 2001 comedy Zoolander. Portman was cast in a small role in the film Cold Mountain alongside Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.

In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies Garden State and Closer. Garden State was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in Closer earned her a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The final Star Wars prequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, was released on May 19, 2005. The film was the highest grossing domestic film of the year,and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Also in 2005, Portman filmed Free Zone and director Miloš Forman's Goya's Ghosts. Forman had not seen any of her work but thought she looked like a Goya painting, so he requested a meeting.

2006-2010

Portman hosted Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2006. In a SNL Digital Short, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rapper (with Andy Samberg as her Flavor Flav-esque partner in Viking garb) during a fauxinterview with Chris Parnell, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on marijuana and cocaine The song, titled "Natalie's Rap," was released alongside other sketches from the show in 2009 on Incredibad, an album by the Lonely Island. In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist.

V for Vendetta opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.

Portman has commented on V for Vendetta's political relevance and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion"

Both Goya's Ghosts and Free Zone received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie." In late 2006, Portman filmed The Other Boleyn Girl, a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn; Eric Bana and Scarlett Johansson co-starred. She was named one of the hottest women of film and TV by Blender Magazine.

In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai's road movie My Blueberry Nights. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because" or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman... but she's not coasting on her looks... She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table." Portman voiced Bart Simpson's girlfriend Darcy in the episode "Little Big Girl" of The Simpsons' 18th season.

She appeared in Paul McCartney's music video "Dance Tonight" from his 2007 album Memory Almost Full, directed by Michel Gondry. Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson short film Hotel Chevalier, opposite Jason Schwartzman, in which she performed her second nude scene (her first being Goya's Ghosts).

In May 2008, Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury, and in 2009, she starred opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name. In 2008, Portman at age 27 made her directorial debut at the Venice Film Festival. "Eve", a short movie about a young woman who is dragged along on her grandmother's romantic date, was screened out of competition. Portman said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for the character from her own grandmother.

2010-PRESENT

In 2010, Portman played a veteran ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, a role of which critic Kurt Loder wrote: "Portman gives one of her most compelling performances in this film, which is saying something." To prepare for the role, she went through five to eight hours of dance training each day for six months and lost 20 lb. On January 16, 2011, she won the Best Actress Golden Globe Award for her performance. On February 27, 2011, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Portman's next film was No Strings Attached, which was released on January 21, 2011. She has also played the role of Jane Foster in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming film adaptation of Thor. Portman dropped out of the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet in the novel adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but she continues as producer.

PERSONAL LIFE

In the May 2002 issue of Vogue, Portman called actor/musician Lukas Haas and musician Moby her close friends. After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", she began a relationship with American folk singer Devendra Banhart,which ended in September 2008. She met ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied in late 2009, on the set of her film Black Swan, for which Millepied acted as choreographer. By at least New Year's Eve 2009, the two had begun dating.On December 27, 2010, a Portman representative told the press that Portman and Millepied are engaged and expecting a child,due in the summer of 2011.

On the concept of the afterlife, Portman has said, "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." She has said that she feels more Jewish in Israel and that she would like to raise her children in the Jewish religion: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner."

WON ADARDS
* 2002 – Teen Choice Awards, Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

* 2004 – National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Best Acting by an Ensemble: Closer (shared with Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Julia Roberts)

* 2004 – San Diego Film Critics Society, Best Supporting Actress: Closer

* 2005 – Golden Globe Awards, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Closer

* 2007 – Saturn Awards, Best Actress: V for Vendetta

* 2010 – Boston Society of Film Critics, Best Actress: Black Swan

* 2010 – New York Film Critics Online, Best Actress: Black Swan

* 2010 – Online Film Critics Society, Best Actress: Black Swan

* 2011 - Academy Award, Best Actress: Black Swan

* 2011 – BAFTA Awards, Best Actress in a Leading Role: Black Swan

* 2011 – Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Best Actress: Black Swan

* 2011 – Golden Globe Awards, Best Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama: Black Swan

* 2011 – Independent Spirit Awards, Best Female Lead: Black Swan

* 2011 – Screen Actors Guild Awards, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Black Swan

NATALIE PORTMAN WIN 83rd BEST ACTRESS AWARD

2011-02-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

Actress Natalie Portman paid tribute to fiance Benjamin Millepied as she won the award for the best actress at the 83rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

The 29-year-old star, who is pregnant with her fiance's first child, received the accolade for her role as troubled ballerina Nina Sayers in Black Swan and thanked the choreographer for changing her life with the movie, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Showing off her baby bump in a flowing Rodarte gown, Portman, who met Benjamin on the sets of Black Swan, said: 'Thank you to my beautiful love Benjamin Millepied who choreographed the film and has now given me my most important role of my life.'

Despite her victory, Portman is unsure of what her career holds in the future because she now wants to put all efforts into motherhood.

'It's one of the most exciting things of being pregnant. I'm just accepting that I have no idea, it's accepting what people go through every day,' she said.

2011 Oscars: Host Anne Hathaway is radiant in red Valentino | Main | 2011 Oscars: Cate Blanchett in

2011-02-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, wow, WOW! Also leading the ladies on the Oscars red carpet was the stunning Mila Kunis in this exquisite lavender creation by Elie Saab. I couldn't have chosen a better dress for the actress, who admitted that squeezing her feet into ballet slippers for Black Swan was a lot harder than strutting about in stilettos.

Mila's 2011 Couture lilac gown was a fantastic choice, and I especially love the lace panelling and soft draping around the bust line and skirt. It's difficult to believe that she only decided to wear this number on the day of the Oscars. "This was one of the first dresses we tried on a month ago," she revealed. "Then today, it was a toss-up between this dress and another dress, and this one won."

It's not surprising why.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5 MUSIC NEWS STORIES

2011-02-26T22:55:00.000-08:00

More and more details of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album are slowly being revealed and one of the more interesting angles is that the album is influenced by the likes of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, and Iron Maiden..

Our pals at Rolling Stone were lucky enough to receive a private preview of four of the album's songs. An hour before Gaga took the stage at a recent Monster Ball tour date in Atlantic City, she played unfinished tracks..

"Hair" features Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Rolling Stone described the song as a mixture of Pat Benetar and Nine Inch Nails. In an interview with "On-Air With Ryan Seacrest," Gaga said the song had a "Bruce Springsteen vibe," while its melody was anthemic akin to Kiss and Iron Maiden.

Clemons is also featured on the '80s-"stadium-rock"-fueled "Edge Of Glory." "Scheiße" has been compared to '90s dance records by C&C Music Factory and Snap. And "Judas," billed as the album's next single, puts a bubbly spin on the theme of relationship despair.

Gaga's "You And I," which she has been playing during concert dates, is reminiscent of Elton John. And as she proclaimed during her Grammy Award acceptance speech, "Born This Way" was inspired by Whitney Houston. "I thought of her voice when I wrote it," Gaga told Seacrest about the song that has also drawn comparisons to Madonna, among others.

That's a lot of influences for one album. But it's a part of Gaga's master plan. "I wouldn't tell people to expect all of the same types of songs like 'Born This Way,'" she told Seacrest. "They are very different. I explore lots of different genres in tandem with dance music and electronic music and industrial music.".

Gaga, who wrote all of the album's lyrics and melodies, is again working with producer Red One. Clemons says he became a bigger Gaga fan after working with her. "All the craziness and stuff, there's a purpose to all of it," he says. "She has no boundaries. ... It's a day I'll never forget..

Former "American Idol" hopeful Chris Medina also had a day he'll never forget this week. Though it was sad to see him get eliminated from the singing competition, his exit drew the sympathy of judge Jennifer Lopez. Clips of J. Lo weeping about booting the contestant, who takes care of his handicapped fiancé, have added to Medina's celebrity as a web star. It's a good thing Medina is releasing a video for his Rodney Jerkins-produced song just in time. Aretha Franklin, however, didn't have too much empathy for Season 3 "Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino, who boycotted the Grammys last week when she learned that she would not be a part of the event's tribute to the Queen Of Soul. Though Franklin loves Fantasia and is looking forward to seeing her this summer in Detroit, she offered the budding singer a bit of tough love advice.

Billy Ray Cryus' equally candid interview with GQ magazine about his concern for his daughter Miley backfired, and he made an effort to clean things up in a follow-up statement released this week. But many of us have learned that healing generally takes time. So we'll give the Cyruses some space. We also give Rihanna and Chris Brown credit for moving past their 2009 tabloid fodder fight that resulted in Brown pleading guilty to felony assault and being ordered to service probation, and take anger management and domestic violence courses. After two years, the judge agreed, with Rihanna's blessing, to lessen the restraining order that required Brown not to come within 50 yards of the "Only (Girl In The World)" singer.

It seems as though all of this week's music news headliners are steadily moving forward despite any setbacks. Not bad at all. Next week, though, they may not be so lucky. We will see you then for another wrap-up.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5 MUSIC NEWS STORIES.

1) Sneak Peek -- Gaga previews new songs.

2) Papa Don't Preach -- Billy Ray Cyrus regrets negative Miley comments.

3) Movin' On -- Rihanna's restraining order against Chris Brown reduced.

4) Hard To Say Goodbye -- J. Lo cries during "Idol" elimination.

5) You Better Think -- Aretha Franklin responds to Fantasia's Grammy boycott

Megan Fox

2011-02-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

Monica Bellucci is an Italian Actoress

2011-02-24T03:04:00.000-08:00

Personal life

Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy, the only child of Luigi Bellucci, who owned a trucking company, and Maria Gustinelli, a painter. Bellucci started modelling at 16, when she was attending the Liceo classico. Initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, Bellucci modeled to pay her tuition at the University of Perugia,but the lifestyle tempted her away from her law studies. She speaks Italian, French, and English fluently, Spanish semi-fluently, and she has had speaking roles in each of these languages as well as in Aramaic for her part as Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ.

Bellucci married fashion photographer Claudio Carlos Basso in 1990, but they later divorced. She is currently married to actor Vincent Cassel, with whom she has appeared in several films. They have two daughters, Deva (born 12 September 2004) and Léonie (born 21 May 2010). In 2004, while pregnant with Deva, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian Vanity Fair Magazine in protest against Italian laws that prevent the use of donor sperm. She posed pregnant and semi-nude again for the magazine's April 2010 issue. In the documentary movie The Big Question, about the film The Passion of the Christ, she stated: "I am an agnostic, even though I respect and am interested in all religions. If there's something I believe in, it's a mysterious energy; the one that fills the oceans during tides, the one that unites nature and beings."

Bellucci's film career

Bellucci's film career began in the early 1990s. She played some minor roles in La Riffa (1991) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). In 1996 she was nominated for a César Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Lisa in L'Appartement and strengthened her position as an actress. She became known and popular with worldwide audiences, following her roles in Malèna (2000), Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Irréversible (2002). She has since played in many films from Europe and Hollywood like Tears of the Sun (2003), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Le Deuxième souffle (2007), Don't Look Back (2009), and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010).

She was supposed to be seen portraying Indian politician Sonia Gandhi in the biopic Sonia, originally planned for release in 2007, but it has been shelved.

Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film Shoot 'Em Up (2007). She also voiced Kaileena in the video game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and the French voice of Cappy for the French version of the 2005 animated film Robots.

Photo Albums

Hot American Singer Lady Gaga

2011-02-23T22:50:00.000-08:00

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop singer-songwriter. She began performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side in 2003 and enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, accomplished positions within the top-ten worldwide, and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Achieving similar worldwide success, the follow-up EP The Fame Monster (2009) produced a further two global chart-topping singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and allowed her to embark on a second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release in 2011.

Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her as the Artist of the Year in 2010 and ranked her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Halle Berry is an American Actress

2011-02-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

Halle Berry is an American actress, former fashion model, and beauty queen. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was also nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2011, only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood and also a Revlon spokeswoman. She has also been involved in the production side of several of her films.

Before becoming an actress, Berry entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant (1986), and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. Her breakthrough feature film role was in the 1991 Jungle Fever. This led to roles in The Flintstones (1994), Bulworth (1998), X-Men (2000) and its sequels, and as Bond Girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002). She also won the Golden

Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for Catwoman and accepted the award in person. Divorced from baseball player David Justice and musician Eric Benét, Berry dated French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry from November 2005, through April, 2010. Their daughter, Nahla Ariela Aubry,was born on March 16, 2008.

Early life

Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, though her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry in 1971. Berry's parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith Ann (née Hawkins), who is Caucasian, was a psychiatric nurse. Her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an African American hospital attendant in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked; he later became a bus driver. Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins, was born in Ohio. Berry's parents divorced when she was four years old; she and her older sister Heidi[14] were raised exclusively by her mother. Berry has said in published reports that she has been estranged from her father since her childhood, noting in 1992, "I haven't heard from him since [he left]. Maybe he's not alive.

Berry graduated from Bedford High School, afterward working in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. She then studied at Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. She was the 1986 Miss USA first runner-up to Christy Fichtner of Texas. In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges. She was the first African-American Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth and Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde was crowned Miss World.

Robin Gayle Hot American Actress

2011-01-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

Robin Gayle Wright (born April 8, 1966) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny in the film Forrest Gump and as Buttercup in The Princess Bride. She has also been credited as Robin Wright Penn.

Early life

Wright was born Robin Gayle Wright in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Gayle (née Gaston), an Independent Executive National Sales Director for Mary Kay cosmetics, and Freddie Gayle Wright, a pharmaceutical executive. She was raised in San Diego, California.

Career

She was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 38. [1986]. Wright first became famous on television, playing Kelly Capwell on the soap opera Santa Barbara, which earned her three Daytime Emmy nominations. She shot to stardom after her roles as Buttercup in The Princess Bride and Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump, the latter role garnering her Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Wright was offered the role of Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but turned it down because she was pregnant. She had to back out of the role of Abby McDeere in The Firm (1993), with Tom Cruise, upon discovering that she was pregnant with her second child (son Hopper Penn).

In 1996, she married Sean Penn and changed her name to Robin Wright Penn. The same year she starred in the film adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders for which she received a Satellite Nomination for Best Actress in a Drama. She went on to co-star with her husband in the 1997 film She's So Lovely, for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. One of her most recent successes was a supporting role in the TV movie Empire Falls as Grace Roby, mother of Ed Harris's character Miles Roby. Wright received her third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for this role.

Personal life

From 1986 to 1988, Wright was married to actor Dane Witherspoon. In 1989, Wright became involved with actor Sean Penn following his divorce from Madonna. Their daughter Dylan Frances Penn was born on April 13, 1991. Their son Hopper Jack Penn, born August 6, 1993, is named after two family friends, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. After the marriage in 1996, the relationship went through on-and-off again periods in the 2000s. Divorce plans and separation have been announced, beginning in December 2007 and again in April 2009,only to be withdrawn and then again in May 2009.On August 12, 2009, Robin Wright Penn filed for divorce once more,declaring she has no plans to reconcile. She also dropped "Penn" from her professional name.The couple finalized their divorce on July 22, 2010.

She is the national campaign spokesperson for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. She is also the Honorary Spokesperson for the Dallas, Texas based non-profit The Gordie Foundation.

Debbie Gibson American Singer-Songwriter

2011-01-30T00:14:00.000-08:00

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous at the age of 16. The following year, she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a 1 single on the Billboard hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and perform a 1 single to date.

She appeared on the covers of teen magazines (in the USA), such as Tiger Beat. She has gone on to starring roles on Broadway and touring musicals, as well as independent film and television work. She continues to record, and reached the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart as high as 24 during 2006 in a duet with Jordan Knight titled "Say Goodbye."

Early life

Gibson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the third daughter of four for Diane and Joseph Gibson. She grew up in the Long Island suburb of Merrick. At the age of five, she began performing in community theater with her sisters Karen, Michele and Denise and cousin T.J Normandin and wrote her first song, "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom." At age eight, she sang in the children's chorus at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She began playing the ukulele and taking piano lessons soon after, including with American pianist Morton Estrin.Gibson said that her household was probably the only one where you would hear kids fighting over piano playing time.

Music career

In 1987, while performing around the United States at nightclub venues, Gibson was recording what would become her debut album, "Out Of The Blue." The album was recorded in four weeks. Four singles from Out Of The Blue reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 100: "Only in My Dreams", "Shake Your Love", "Out Of The Blue", and the 1 hit "Foolish Beat", followed by "Staying Together" which performed more modestly, reaching 22. "Foolish Beat" set a record for Gibson, making her the youngest artist ever to write, produce, and perform a Billboard 1 single, as entered in the 1988 Guinness Book of World Records, and she remains the youngest female artist to write, record, and perform a 1 single to date. By the time Out Of The Blue was established as a hit album, and she had success in the UK, as well as in Japan and southeast Asia, with her Out Of The Blue tour. By the end of 1988, Out of the Blue had gone triple platinum.[6] The Out Of The Blue music videos on VHS was certified platinum by the RIAA, as well as Live In Concert "The Out of The Blue tour VHS video was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA.

In October 1988, Gibson sang the national anthem for Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series. Throughout 1988 and early 1989, Gibson was racking up studio time recording her second album release. Electric Youth was released in March 1989, and spent five weeks at on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart. The first single released, "Lost in Your Eyes", was on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, garnering Debbie with another achievement Electric Youth album and single "Lost In Your Eyes" simultaneously at. She shared ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award 1989 with Bruce Springsteen. Subsequent singles from this album missed the Top 10: Electric Youth No More Rhyme and We Could Be Together. The Electric Youth album was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA. Another successful "The Electric Youth" world tour, and Live Around the World tour on vhs certified 2x platinum by the RIAA followed.

In tandem with the album, she created a perfume called Electric Youth that was distributed by Revlon, and other makeup essentials for young girls that were distributed nationwide through Natural Wonder Cosmetics, another of her sponsors at the time.

For all her success of the era, Gibson also attracted a lot of detractors. She was the subject of the parody song "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child", which peaked at 15 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1989, and was a frequent target of stand-up comedian Bill Hicks, most notably in his 1989 Sane Man performance.

1990–95 Gibson recorded two more albums for Atlantic Records: Anything Is Possible (1990), and Body Mind Soul (1993). "Anything Is Possible", co-written with Motown mainstay Lamont Dozier, peaked at 26 on Billboard's Hot 100 in January 1991. Subsequent singles from Anything Is Possible failed to chart on The Billboard Hot 100, although "One Step Ahead" scored on the Billboard Hot Maxi Singles and Hot Dance chart, peaking at 21 and 18 respectively. Body Mind Soul, which was released in February of 1993, spawned another minor hit in "Losin' Myself", which was accompanied by a somewhat contraversial video clip featuring Gibson as a stripper. And while second single "Shock Your Mama" would fare well in Europe and the UK, "Losin' Myself" remains Gibson's last American Billboard Hot 100 chart appearance to date. Atlantic released a greatest hits package in 1995.

Gibson on the set of the video for "No More Rhyme"During this time, Gibson was part of a supergroup that recorded the charity single Voices that Care which peaked at 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart In 1995, she signed with EMI's SBK Records division and recorded what would be her only album for the label, Think With Your Heart. This album is an Adult Contemporary heavy album consisting of piano ballads and keyboard ballads. The album's producer, Niko Bolas (usually Neil Young's co-producer), was producing the reunion album for veteran punk band Circle Jerks, and invited Gibson to a recording session for that band's album. She sang background vocals on the song "I Wanna Destroy You," as well as appearing at and participating in the Circle Jerks' performance at punk venue CBGB, wearing one of the band's t-shirts and sharing a microphone with frontman Keith Morris.
Studio albums

Out of the Blue (1987)
Electric Youth (1989)
Anything Is Possible (1990)
Body Mind Soul (1992)
Think With Your Heart (1995)
Deborah (1997)
M.Y.O.B. (2001)
Colored Lights: The Broadway Album (2003)
Ms. Vocalist (2010)

Photo Gallery

Lea Michele American Actress & Singer

2011-01-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

Lea Michele Sarfati (born August 29, 1986), known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays Rachel Berry in the Fox television series Glee.

Early life

Michele was born in the Bronx, New York City, the daughter of Edith Sarfati, a nurse, and Marc Sarfati, a delicatessen owner. Michele's mother is Italian American and Catholic, while her father is a Spanish Sephardic Jew. Michele grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, where she attended Tenafly High School. She attended Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills, a performing arts training center. She was then later accepted to the CAP21 program at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, but opted to continue working on stage.

Career

At eight years old, Michele went with a friend to an open call for a musical. Michele decided on a whim she wanted to try out. She was offered the part and made her debut on Broadway in 1995 as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in the original New York City production of Les Misérables. This was followed by her performance of the role of Tateh's daughter, the Little Girl, in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. In 2004, Michele played Shprintze and Chava in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. She played the role of Wendla in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops to Off-Broadway and finally originating the role in the Broadway production at the age of 20. Around the same time that the show was set to go to Broadway, she was offered the role of Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She chose to remain with Spring Awakening, which debuted on Broadway in December 2006. Michele was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Spring Awakening in the category of Outstanding Actress in a Musical.

On May 18, 2008, Michele left Spring Awakening with co-star Jonathan Groff. She performed in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. On August 8 through 10, 2008, Michele portrayed Eponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert.

Michele is on the original Broadway cast recordings of Ragtime and Spring Awakening, as well as the 2003 Broadway revival cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof.

Michele stars in the Fox television series Glee, where she plays the star singer of a high school glee club, Rachel Berry. The pilot debuted on May 19, 2009. She has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding ensemble performance and the 2009 Satellite Award for best actress. She also received nominations for an Emmy Award, two nominations for an Golden Globe Award, and Teen Choice Award for her performance in the role. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' "Gives You Hell" reached number one on the Irish charts and the top 40 on the US Billboard 200. Michele is featured lead singer in 14 of the top 20 selling glee songs as of 2010.

Michele was included in Time magazine's 2010 list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World. FHM named her #7 on 2010 Sexiest Women List, which was the highest ranking for a new entry on the list that year. Michele was named to People Magazine's Best Dressed List of 2010 as "The Newbie and she was voted "2010 Most Stylish Star" by E! Online In 2010, Michele joined the cast of the animated film Dorothy of Oz, voicing the lead role of Dorothy Gale. That same year, she also joined the ensemble cast of Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve.

PHOTO GALLERY

Sheila Ki Jawani_Tees Maar Khan (Full Video Song) Katrina Kaif

2011-01-23T00:14:00.000-08:00

WEAPONS GIRLS AND HOT MOTO GIRLS

2011-01-20T01:51:00.000-08:00

HOT MOTO GIRLS