Hollywood Biography

Bonnie Hunt Biography

2009-07-20T02:07:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
22 September 1961, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Birth Name
Bonnie Lynn Hunt

Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse
John Murphy (8 July 1988 - 2008) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Quick-witted sense of humour.

Trivia

Used to work as a cancer nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Is one of 7 children. She has 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

It was announced that her fifth stab at a TV series was picked up by ABC for the fall 2002 schedule. Previous efforts include "Grand" (1990) (Jan-Dec 1990), "Davis Rules" (1991) (Jan 1991 - Jul 1992), "The Building" (1993) (Aug-Sep 1993), and "The Bonnie Hunt Show" (1995) (also known as "Bonnie", Sep 1995 - Apr 1996). [May 2002]

In the mid-80s, she was a co-founder of the three woman improv comedy troupe, "An Impulsive Thing", with Holly Wortell and Joan Cusack. They performed regularly in Wrigleyville at Bob's Bar in Chicago.

Sister-in-law of actor Thomas A. Senderak Alumna of Chicago's prestigious Second City theater group

Born on the same day as actor Scott Baio and actress Catherine Oxenberg.

Has never done a nude scene or posed nude in her career.

Is currently writing the sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). [2005]

Has been to every Cubs opener at Wrigley Field since 1977

Belonged to the same Second City Chicago comedy troupe with Mike Myers.

Daughter of Alice Hunt.

Friend and writing partner of Don Lake.

Is of no relation to actress Helen Hunt.

Performed "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at Wrigley Field on 20 April 2008 during the 7th Inning Stretch of the Chicago Cubs game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs beat the Pirates, 13-6.

Tossed the "First Pitch" at Wrigley field on 20 April 2008 for the Chicago Cubs game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

She has fifteen nieces and nephews.

She was nominated for a 1988 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Revue for "Jean-Paul Sartre and Ring" at the Second City Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Personal Quotes

It's great because when you go home you're the person you were in sixth grade! - talking about being one of seven children

[When asked if she ever dated David Letterman] "We never dated. We slept together, but we never dated".

"I won't wear fur-never, ever. I'm an animal lover. I wouldn't even wear faux fur. I prefer to go the cheap route and not shave my legs."

Elizabeth Banks Biography

2009-07-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
10 February 1974, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA

Birth Name
Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell

Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Actress Elizabeth Banks was born Elizabeth Mitchell in Pittsfield, a small city in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts near the New York border, on February 10, 1974. She describes herself as having been seen as a "goody two-shoes" in her youth who was nominated to be the local Harvest Queen.

Banks left home to attend college at the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated Magna cum Laude, and went on to attend the Advanced Training Program at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, from which she graduated in 1998. She then moved to New York and worked in the theater as well as obtaining her first roles on-screen, small parts in movies and guest-star roles on television series. Seeking more screen work, Banks moved to Los Angeles and the supporting roles soon came, and required that she change her name to avoid confusion with another actress named Elizabeth Mitchell who had already established herself. Her first signal success came in her delightful, brief performance in Spider-Man (2002), for which she is best known despite subsequent leading roles, as "Betty Brant", the secretary of the cantankerous newspaper tycoon. (Banks has reprised the role in the Spider-Man series.)

Banks followed up her performance in Spider-Man with small roles in other movies released that year, Swept Away (2002) and Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), in which she plays a bank clerk who assists the young Frank Abagnale with vital information about bank checking policies. More recognition came with Seabiscuit (2003), in which Banks charmed audiences playing the wife of Seabiscuit's owner "Charles Howard", and Banks was able to broker these successes into leading roles, in Michael Showalter's The Baxter (2005) and James Gunn's Slither (2006).

The winsome, beautiful Banks projects an exceptionally-charming screen presence that has drawn comparisons to Audrey Hepburn. Though her off-screen vocabulary is at times sprinkled with Valley-speak, her performances demonstrate solid acting skill and a keen intelligence. Banks and her boyfriend since college days, Max Handelman, married in 2003.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Larry-115

Spouse
Max Handelman (5 July 2003 - present)

Trivia

Graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta. Was the first in her family to graduate from college.

Graduated from American Conservatory Theater's Advanced Training Program in 1998.

Enjoys "Fantasy Football" as a hobby.

Considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four (2005), just like Fernanda Romero.

Wife of Max Handelman. She and her husband work as a production team (Brownstone Productions). They met at the University of Pennsylvania.

College friends with Todd Lieberman.

Oldest of four children in a divided house (Her mom was for the Boston Red Sox and her dad was for the New York Yankees).

Converted to Judaism after marrying her husband in 2003.

Met President George W. Bush when Seabiscuit (2003) was screened at the White House. In Oliver Stone's W.(2008) she plays the role of Laura Bush, the president's wife.

Taking a course on flying the trapeze with a girlfriend (2008).

Her father, Mark Mitchell, was a factory worker for General Electric and her mother, Ann Mitchell, worked, until recently, in a bank.

As a young child, she was a contestant on the Nickelodeon game show, "Finders Keepers" (1987).

Graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1992.

Poltergeist (1982) was the scariest movie she has ever seen. She saw it, with her sister, when she was eleven.

Is a major fan of David Letterman.

Turned down a role in The Crazies (2010) because the role was too similar with her character in Slither (2006), and she didn't want to repeat herself.

Got the role in Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) after Rosario Dawson turned it down.

Bad Santa (2003) is her favorite holiday movie.

Personal Quotes

I really think that we do a disservice to young people in America by not being more open about sex. Abstinence programs do not work. It's a natural, physical thing having sex.

I'm pleased that Hollywood hasn't figured out how to pigeonhole me yet..."

I love physical comedy. I love Oscar Wilde, I love Shakespeare comedies, I love improv. I knew I had a knack for it at a certain level, but I came into this business as a classically trained drama student and that was my reputation. When you live in a leading lady's body, which I do, you have to constantly prove that you are funny.

Every once and a while I play a true idiot, and they're really fun to play.

Cate Blanchett Biography

2009-07-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
14 May 1969, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Birth Name
Catherine Elise Blanchett

Height
5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Mini Biography

Cate Blanchett graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly's "Kafka Dances", winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet's searing polemic "Oleanna", also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television's prime time drama "Heartland" (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company's "Sweet Phoebe", Miranda in "The Tempest" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing", both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC's "Bordertown" (1995), as Janie Morris in "G.P." (1989) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997), and, in 1998, she played the title character in Elizabeth (1998), winning numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse
Andrew Upton (29 December 1997 - present) 3 children

Trade Mark

Known for playing many different roles with multifarious personalities, such as the young sensible English queen Elizabeth in 'Elizabeth' (1998), the rude, hustling wife in 'The shipping news' (2001) and the dangerous Russian villain in 'Indiana Jones & the kingdom of the crystal skull' (2007) among others.

Trivia

1993: She was the first person to win the Sydney Theatre Critic's Circle Theatre award for Best Newcomer (for her role in "Kafka Dances"), and Best Lead Actress (for her role in David Mamet's Oleanna, with the Sydney Theatre Company, opposite Shine (1996) star Geoffrey Rush)in the same year.

Has an older brother named Bob who works in the computer field, and a younger sister, Genevieve who is a theater designer.

When she was 18, Cate was on vacation in Egypt. A fellow guest at a cheap hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene, cheering for an American boxer who was losing to an Egyptian. She dreaded the experience and walked off from the movie.

Attended Methodist Ladies College (MLC) in Melbourne, Australia and was the School Drama Captain.

Her father, (Robert Blanchett) a Texan ad executive, died of a heart attack when she was ten years old.

After completing work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the role of Galadriel, she kept and bronzed her elf ear prosthetics.

Was considered for the role of Clarice Starling in Hannibal (2001). The part eventually went to Julianne Moore.

Son, Dashiell John Upton, born December 2001. He was named after the author of classic crime novel The Maltese Falcon (1941), Dashiell Hammett.

In an interview she gave to Fox Television Network, she admitted blushingly that she had accepted the role of Galadriel, the Elf Queen, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because she always wanted to appear in a movie wearing pointed ears.

Enjoys making lists and crossing items off as she accomplishes them.

Chosen as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful." [1999]

Children: Dashiell John, born on December 3, 2001 in London, England; Roman Robert, born on April 23, 2004

Has been in 6 movies where the title contains the name of the character she plays: Veronica Guerin (2003), Charlotte Gray (2001), Elizabeth (1998), Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997), Oscar and Lucinda (1997) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). [February 2008]

Was originally going to play the role of Anna in Mike Nichols's latest film Closer (2004/I), but due to her second pregnancy she had to drop out, so it was recast with Julia Roberts instead.

Second son, Roman Robert, with Andrew Upton, born 23 April 2004 in London, England.

Was the original 'Tim-Tam' girl in the series of commercials promoting the product.

September 2004: Flew back home to Melbourne, Australia to launch the skincare range from SK-II at Australia's leading department store Myer.

Was set to play "Portia" in Michael Radford's adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004), thus re-uniting with actor Joseph Fiennes, her co-star from the blockbuster Elizabeth (1998), but had to drop out after discovering her pregnancy. This also would have reunited her with Ian McKellen, with whom she appeared in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, who would have played "Shylock". He too ultimately left the project.

By winning the Oscar for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn, she became the first person to give an Oscar-winning portrayal of a previous Oscar winner.

In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), she appears with Anjelica Huston, and in The Aviator (2004), she works with Danny Huston, the daughter and son, respectively, of director John Huston. In addition to having played Katharine Hepburn, who appeared in The African Queen (1951), directed by John Huston, she also appeared in a remake of a film that John Huston appeared in: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

In The Aviator (2004), she works opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Howard Hughes. The year before, she appeared in The Missing (2003/I) with Tommy Lee Jones. Jones played Hughes years earlier in The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV).

1995: Nominated for Best Female Performance by the Melbourne Green Room Awards, for the Belvoir St Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet".

Won the Rosemont Best Actress Award for her performance in "Oleanna".

1992: Graduated from Australia's NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art).

Was unknowingly pregnant while portraying the pregnant journalist in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

Four of her five Oscar nominations are for playing real people (Queen Elizabeth I, Katharine Hepburn and Bob Dylan).

Won Best Female Actor, Helpmann Award for her performance in "Hedda Gabler". [2005]

Appeared next to Hugo Weaving in 9 different projects: "Bordertown" (1995), "Drama School" (2000), Little Fish (2005), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (2004) (VG), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings' (2002) (V), Quest for the Ring (2001) (TV).

Is of French descent.

In "The Lord of the Rings", she worked with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, who played "Frodo" and "Sam", respectively. Also appearing with her in those films, as well as in The Aviator (2004), was Ian Holm, who played "Frodo" in the BBC radio series. In Notes on a Scandal (2006), she worked with Bill Nighy, who played "Sam" in the BBC radio series. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), she worked with Samantha Morton, who is engaged to Ian Holm's son, Harry Holm.

She participated in six films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, four of them in a row: Elizabeth (1998), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Aviator (2004) and Babel (2006).

In Bandits (2001), she works with Troy Garity. In The Aviator (2004), she plays Katharine Hepburn, who appeared with Garity's mother, Jane Fonda and grandfather, Henry Fonda, in On Golden Pond (1981).

Was considered for the role of Jane Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005).

15th February 2005: Attended the 2005 Elle Style Awards held at London's trendy Spitalfields Market. Posed for photos with fellow Australian Kylie Minogue, who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Her Texan father, Robert Blanchett, met her mother, June, in Melbourne.

Was officially in the BAFTA longlist (Equivalently, the semi-finals) for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her role in Notes on a Scandal (2006) (unlike the Oscars, where she was competing for Supporting Role), which consisted of 15 finalists for each category (except Animated Film). However, she was eliminated in the next round, which the five official nominees were selected. [2007]

She and her The Shipping News (2001) and Notes on a Scandal (2006) co-star Judi Dench both received Oscar-nominations for playing Queen Elizabeth I in 1999. Dench won for her supporting role in Shakespeare in Love (1998) while Blanchett was nominated for Elizabeth (1998).

Cate and her husband, Andrew Upton, are expecting their third child in April, 2008 [November 3, 2007].

Was Steven Spielberg's first choice for the role or Agatha in Minority Report (2002). After the death of Stanley Kubrick, he made Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) his first priority, and she moved on to other projects. She was later able to work with Spielberg in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Dec. 2007 - Ranked #45 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#31). [2007].

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $13 million.

She is one of the elite eleven thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Sigourney Weaver, Teresa Wright, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx.

She, Linda Hunt and Felicity Huffman are the only performers to be nominated for an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex.

She is one of five actors (and the only female actor) to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films. She played "Queen Elizabeth I" in Elizabeth (1998) and in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). The others are Bing Crosby as "Father Chuck O'Malley" in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie Felson" in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986), Peter O'Toole as "King Henry II" in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968) and Al Pacino as "Michael Corleone" in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Was listed as a potential nominee for the 2008 Razzies (but did not make the final ballot) for her performance as "Queen Elizabeth I" in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), a performance that earned her another Oscar nomination. Had she earned a Razzie nod, she would have been one of the few actors to have a Razzie and Oscar nomination for the same performance.

Son, Ignatius Martin Upton, was born 13 April 2008 in Sydney, weighing 8 pounds.

Received the 2,367th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 5, 2008.

Good friends with actress Nicole Kidman.

Got the role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) after Rachel Weisz backed out, because of scheduling problems.

Lives in Hunters Hill, Sydney Australia.

Did not return to work until six months after giving birth to her son Ignatius in order to take to the stage for a Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire", where she portrayed Blanche DuBois.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Picture at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

She was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to acting and Australian society.

Personal Quotes

If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously!

When asked what colour her hair is: "Look, it's one of the great mysteries of the world, I cannot answer that question. I think I'm vaguely blonde. To be perfectly frank, I don't know."

When asked if she has ever appeared in "Neighbours" (1985): "Absolutely not. I'm an actress."

On the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy" "I had never done anything with blue screen before, or prosthetics, or anything like that. "Lord of the Rings" was like stepping into a videogame for me. It was another world completely. But, to be honest, I basically did it so that I could have the ears. I thought they would really work with my bare head."

If I had my way, if I was lucky enough, if I could be on the brink my entire life - that great sense of expectation and excitement without the disappointment - that would be the perfect state.

It's part of my job. You can't play Veronica Guerin [puts on heavy Strine] sounding like this. It just wouldn't wash. But what I find fascinating about doing an accent - unless it's a farce - is that it's not slapped on. [on doing many accents]

"I loved making it, I had a ball - cowboys and Indians. This is the thing, I love doing things which I'd never envisaged before. And so getting me on the back of a horse, with Tommy Lee Jones and shooting guns and chasing Indians, it's just not something that I would have expected myself to be doing." [On working with Ron Howard in The Missing (2003/I).]

The more you do it, the more you learn to concentrate, as a child does, incredibly intensively and then you sort of have to relax. I remember the first film I did, the lead actor would in between scenes be reading a newspaper or sleeping and I'd think, "How can you do that?"

Thank you. I so didn't expected this. I wore a really tight dress that's very ungracious walking up those stairs. Thank you very much, I sort of don't know where to begin. Playing Katharine Hepburn, I absolutely did not expect to be standing here in front of you all. But Hepburn aside, I actually would like to say, as an actor coming from another country to this country, I am so astounded and amazed, and grateful, at the power of the SAG union and what it does for its members. And I hope that other countries, mine own included, you know, is inspired by that - I think it's incredible. (SAG acceptance speech Feb. 5, 2005)

On her disgust of how so many of her Hollywood peers have succumbed to using face-paralyzing Botox: "It's not just women on film, 18-year-old girls feel pressure to do preventative injecting. I see someone's face, someone's body who'd had children and I think they're the song lines of your experience, and why would you want to eradicate that? I look at people sort of entombing themselves and all you see is their little pin holes of terror... and you think, just live your life, death is not going to be any easier just because your face can't move."

I'm one of those strange beasts who really likes a corset.

You know, when you see yourself on a big screen, I tend to watch from behind my hands. There is absolutely the regret. You always get that at the end of every project. That's what's great about theater: at least every night you get the chance to go out and re-offend. I'm endlessly disappointed, which is what propels me into the next project, probably, not to repair the damage but to kind of hopefully keep developing. Otherwise there's no reason to keep doing it, is there?

There's this sense that of course you want to be famous. When you're a performer, of course you want an audience, but it's very, very different from courting fame.

Sometimes I think it's so good not to win those things. And, anyway, who wants to peak when they're 28? (On her first Oscar loss, in 1999)

Where Are They Now

(November 2006) Sydney Theatre Company announced that husband and wife Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton would become artistic directors, beginning in 2008.

(November 2007) She announced she is expecting her third child

(May 2008) (France) Promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) at the Cannes Film Festival.

(January 2009) Performing in "The War Of The Roses" in Sydney, Australia.

Kathy Bates Biography

2009-07-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
28 June 1948, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Birth Name
Kathleen Doyle Bates

Nickname
Bobo

Height
5' 3" (1.60 m)

Mini Biography

Poor Kathy Bates was forever losing out when her award-winning stage characters transferred to the screen. Unphotogenic and unattractive by Hollywood standards, she faced disappointment after disappointment as younger, prettier or more established stars usurped her New York stage triumphs in their adaptations to film. First Sissy Spacek takes on her potent role as the suicidal Jessie Cates in 'night, Mother (1986), then Michelle Pfeiffer seizes the moment to play her dumpy lover character in Frankie and Johnny (1991). It would take Oscar glory to finally rectify the injustice.

Kathleen Doyle Bates was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters born to Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer, and his homemaker wife Bertye Talbot. Kathy's great-great Irish grandfather, who emigrated to New Orleans, once served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She discovered acting appearing in high school plays and studied drama at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1969. With her mind firmly set, she moved to New York City in 1970 and paid her dues by working everything from a cash register to taking lunch orders. She scored a tour-de-farce performance alongside Christopher Walken at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in Lanford Wilson's world premiere of "Lemon Sky" in 1970 -- but she also had a foreshadowing of the heartbreak to come when the successful show relocated to New York's off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre without Kathy. Walken wound up winning a Drama Desk award.

By the mid-to-late 1970s Kathy was trotting the boards frequently as a rising young actress of the New York and regional theater scene. She appeared in "Casserole" and "A Quality of Mercy" (both 1975) before earning exceptional reviews for her role of Joanne in "Vanities". She took her first Broadway curtain call in 1980's "Goodbye Fidel," which lasted only six performances. She then went directly into replacement mode when she joined the cast of the already-established and highly successful "Fifth of July" in 1981.

Kathy made a false start in films with Taking Off (1971), in which she was billed as "Bobo Bates". She didn't film again until Straight Time (1978), starring Dustin Hoffman, and that part was not substantial enough to cause a stir. Things turned hopeful, however, when Kathy and the rest of the female ensemble were given the chance to play their respective Broadway parts in the film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). It was a juicy role for Kathy and film audiences finally started noticing the now 34-year-old.

Still and all, it was the New York stage that continued to earn Kathy awards and acclaim. She was pure textbook to any actor studying how to disappear into a role. Her characters ranged from free and life-affirming to downright pitiable. Despite winning a Tony Award nomination and Outer Critic's Circle Award for her stark, touchingly sad portrait of a suicidal daughter in 1983's "'night, Mother" and the Obie and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for her powerhouse job as a romantic misfit in "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune," Kathy had no box-office pull and was hardly a strong consideration when the roles finally went to film.

It was her fanatical turn as the drab, chunky, porcine-looking psychopath Annie Wilkes, who kidnaps her favorite author (James Caan) and subjects him to a series of horrific tortures, that finally turned the tide for her in Hollywood. With the 1990 shocker Misery (1990), based on the popular Stephen King novel, Bates and Caan were pure box office magic. Moreover, Kathy captured the "Best Actress" Oscar and Golden Globe award, a first in that genre (horror) for that category. To add to her happiness she married Tony Campisi, also an actor, in 1991.

Quality film scripts now started coming her way and the 1990s proved to be a rich and rewarding time for her. First, she and another older "overnight" film star, fellow Oscar winner Jessica Tandy, starred together in the modern portion of the beautifully nuanced, flashback period piece Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). She then outdid herself as the detached and depressed housekeeper accused of murdering her abusive husband (David Strathairn) in Dolores Claiborne (1995). Surprisingly, she was left out of the Oscar race for these two excellent performances. Not so, however, for her flashy political advisor Libby Holden in the movie Primary Colors (1998) and her quirky, liberal mom in About Schmidt (2002), receiving "Best Supporting Actress" nominations for both

Kathy has also done prolific work on TV as a seven-time Emmy nominee, and has taken to directing a couple of TV-movies on the sly. She was nominated for a DGA award after helming an episode of "Six Feet Under", in which she also had a recurring role. While some of her more recent movie parts have been generally unworthy of her talents, she has more than made up for it in TV-movies playing everything from cruel-minded caricatures (Little Orphan Annie's Miss Hannigan) to common, decent, every day folk.

Divorced from her husband since 1997, Kathy has been the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Spouse
Tony Campisi (April 1991 - 1997) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Often portrays kind-hearted or cold-hearted characters.

Trivia

Born at 11:12am-CDT.

Her two older sisters appeared briefly in Primary Colors (1998).

Graduated from White Station High in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Did her first ever nude scene at the age of 43 in At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991). She disrobed again for About Schmidt (2002).

Lived with ex-husband Tony Campisi for 12 years before marrying him.

Youngest of 3 sisters. Sisters: Patricia and Mary.

Father, Langdon Doyle Bates, was a mechanical engineer. Mother Bertye Kathleen Bates died in 1997.

Graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, USA in 1969 with an BFA in Theater.

Her Oscar-winning role as Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990) was ranked #17 on the American Film Institute's villains list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villians.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1983 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for "'night, Mother."

Playwright Terrence McNally originally wrote the role of Frankie in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" for Bates. Johnny was played by Kenneth Welsh in the 1987 Off-Broadway production that starred Bates.

Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch) [1998-2007].

Auditioned for TV series "Three's Company" (1977) for role that ultimately went to Joyce DeWitt. Bates says she was relieved she didn't get the part because, after auditioning, she felt she really didn't want it.

Her performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990) is ranked #77 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Mother: Bertye Kathleen Bates. She died in 1997.

Often mistaken for comedienne Roseanne, who in turn has spoofed Bates' Annie Wilkes role in Misery in a Saturday Night Live sketch.

She is an artist and writer and hopes to someday write and illustrate her own children's book. She has spoken at award ceremonies for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

In 2005, she and the rest of the chief creative team behind the "American Experience" documentary "Tupperware!" which aired on PBS were awarded the (George Foster) Peabody Award for excellence in electronic (i.e. television and radio) media. It was the 64th presentation of the internationally-renowned prize.

She is a close friend of Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth Perkins, John Travolta, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Oprah Winfrey.

Donated $1 million to Hurricane Katrina victims.

With her role, The Family That Preys (2008) she was the first white actress to have a lead in a Tyler Perry movie.

Personal Quotes

"The Oscar changed everything. Better salary, working with better people, better projects, more exposure, less privacy."

[On losing the role of Frankie, which had been written for her by playwright Terrence McNally, to Michelle Pfeiffer in the movie version of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune"] "I thought it was wonderful to see a love story about people over forty, ordinary people who were trying to connect. We haven't seen it before, and I don't think we will see it with this movie Frankie and Johnny (1991)."

"When I was told Terry Bradshaw would be playing my husband, I was like 'The star-quarterback Terry Bradshaw?'." [on playing Terry Bradshaw's movie wife in Failure to Launch (2006)].

I was never an ingénue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

My mother used to tell this corny story about how the doctor smacked me on the behind when I was born and I thought it was applause, and I have been looking for it ever since.

Julia Roberts Biography

2009-07-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
28 October 1967, Smyrna, Georgia, USA

Birth Name
Julia Fiona Roberts

Nickname
Jules

Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Julia Fiona Roberts, born in Smyrna, Georgia, never dreamed she would become the most popular actress in America. As a child, due to her love of animals, Julia originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but later studied journalism. When her brother, Eric Roberts, achieved some success in Hollywood, Julia decided to try acting. Her first break came in 1988 when she appeared in two youth-oriented movies Mystic Pizza (1988) and Satisfaction (1988). The movies introduced her to a new audience who instantly fell in love with this pretty woman. Julia's biggest success was in the signature movie Pretty Woman (1990), for which Julia got an Oscar nomination, and also won the People's Choice award for Favorite Actress. Even though Julia would spend the next few years either starring in serious movies, or playing fantasy roles like Tinkerbell, the movie audiences would always love Julia best in romantic comedies. With My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) Julia gave the genre fresh life that had been lacking in Hollywood for some time. Offscreen, after a brief marriage, Julia has been romantically linked with several other actors. Julia has also become involved with UNICEF charities and has made visits to many different countries, including Haiti and India, in order to promote goodwill. Julia is one of the most popular and sought-after talents in Hollywood.
IMDb Mini Biography By: kdhaisch@aol.com

Spouse
Daniel Moder (4 July 2002 - present) 3 children
Lyle Lovett (25 June 1993 - 22 March 1995) (divorced)

Trivia

Lent her celebrity name to help raise money for research to develop a cure for Rett Syndrome (a disease which is potentially fatal and randomly strikes girls between the ages of 2 to 6 years).

Chosen of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine in 2000.

Has a half-sister, Nancy Motes (b. 1976).

Dated Benjamin Bratt from 1998 to June 2001.

Turned down the female lead in Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Ranked #66 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).

Was engaged to Kiefer Sutherland for a short period.

Dated Matthew Perry.

Sister of Lisa Roberts Gillan and Eric Roberts.

Played clarinet in the band. She attended Griffin Middle School and then Campbell High School.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1990 and 1991.

Has "movie within a movie" scenes in The Player (1992), Notting Hill (1999), America's Sweethearts (2001) and Full Frontal (2002).

Was considered for the role of Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin (1997).

She once tried out for a part on "All My Children" (1970), but was turned down.

Lived with Liam Neeson.

Dated Daniel Day-Lewis.

Born to Walter Grady Roberts, a vacuum cleaner salesman, and his wife Betty Lou Bredemus, a one-time church secretary and real estate agent.

Ranked #1 (in Hollywood Power) and #12 (in $$) on Forbes magazine 'Power 100'.

Tops the list of the 200 "hottest" actors and actresses in the business in "James Ulmer's Hollywood Hot List: The Complete Guide to Star Power - 2000" book which is published in October 2000 (June 2000).

Turned down the Sharon Stone role in Basic Instinct (1992).

Was engaged to her Steel Magnolias (1989) co-star, Dylan McDermott.

Beat out Sandra Bullock for the role of Maggie Carpenter in Runaway Bride (1999).

Lies on her back to have her make-up applied before going onto a film set -- she insists it gives her a relaxed look.

Frequently works with Steven Soderbergh

Sister-in-law of Tony Gillan

Sister-in-law of Eliza Roberts

Aunt of Emma Roberts

After George Clooney and Brad Pitt found out that she was going to be joining them in Ocean's Eleven (2001), they sent her a card that read "We heard that you get 20 per film" and in it was a $20 bill; the joke was that she reportedly gets $20 million per film.

Named one of People Magazine's '25 Most Intriguing People of 2001'.

Named one of E!'s "top 20 entertainers of 2001".

At the 2002 Peoples Choice Awards she admitted to being a huge fan of "Days of Our Lives" (1965) and asked to be seated near the cast.

Splits her down time between her ranch in Taos, New Mexico and a home in New York City

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002.

Was ranked 6th of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001).

Married boyfriend, cameraman Daniel Moder, at their ranch home in Taos, New Mexico in a midnight ceremony. Bruce Willis was the only celebrity that attended her wedding to Daniel Moder. Julia wore a simple pink cotton halter dress by pal Judith Beylerian (4 July 2002).

She never acted in a sequel until Ocean's Twelve (2004).

She has Irish ancestry.

Moved from rank # 18 in 2002 to rank #16 in 2003 on Premiere's Annual Hollywood Power List. Also in 2003 Julia ranked #10 in Star TV's Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s. In 2005, Premiere Magazine Stars in Our Constellation feature ranked Julia as the #7 Greatest Movie Star of All Time. in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Ranked #10 in Star TV's Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s (2003)

Measurements: 34B-23-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She is a huge fan of actress Aishwarya Rai, whom she once commented on being "The most beautiful woman in the world, more beautiful than any Hollywood actress."

Pakistani film director Rauf Khalid wanted her to work in his film, and even invited her to Pakistan to discuss the project, but she refused because of prior commitments.

Observed art history classes at New York University in order to prepare for her role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003).

Her Oscar-winning performance as Erin Brockovich-Ellis was ranked #31 on the American Film Institute's Heroes list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

Announced that she and husband Daniel Moder are expecting twins. Twins run in her family. She is due in early 2005. [June 2004].

Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk wrote the song "Julia" about her after seeing her at a Los Angeles restaurant.

Shares a birthday with actor Joaquin Phoenix.

A 9000 year old female skeleton excavated in Bulgaria in November 2004, was called by the archaeologists "Julia Roberts" because of the perfect teeth it had. They said that woman would have had a perfect smile - just like the actress.

Has worked with both Hector Elizondo and Richard Gere in two different movies, first in Pretty Woman (1990), and then again in Runaway Bride (1999).

Because Erin Brockovich-Ellis is right handed and Roberts is not, she had to learn to use her right hand for Erin Brockovich (2000).

Premiere Magazine ranked her as the #7 Greatest Movie Star of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Has played an art historian twice, once in Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and also in Mona Lisa Smile (2003).

First actress to reach 20 million dollar mark salary (for Erin Brockovich (2000))

She and her Ocean's Eleven (2001) / Ocean's Twelve (2004) co-stars, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Elliott Gould, all have guest-starred on the TV show "Friends" (1994), though not in the same episodes

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2005 and appeared on the cover of the May 9, 2005 issue.

"The Alchemist" is one of her favorite books.

Roberts' production company "Red Om" films is her husband Danny's second name reversed

As a gesture of thanks for giving her children music lessons, Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bills when the pregnant Mrs. Roberts' delivered her next child. That child ended up being Julia.

Early in her career, she auditioned unsuccessfully for two soap opera roles. She lost the part of "Linda Warner" to Melissa Leo on "All My Children" (1970); and the part of "Hayley Benson" to Stacy Edwards on "Santa Barbara" (1984).

Was named of the 100 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2006.

Her great-grandmother Elin (Eleanor) was Swedish, born 1884 in Värmland, Sweden. She died in Minneapolis 1960, seven years before Julia was born.

Chosen "Sexiest Bespectacled Star" by the readers of "In Touch" magazine ahead of Felicity Huffman and Alicia Keys (November 2006).

Her Broadway debut in the play "Three Days of Rain" received terrible reviews for her performance and ran only 70 performances.

Longtime good friends with actor Denzel Washington and actress Susan Sarandon.

Daughter-in-law of Mike Moder.

Cited as America's Favorite Movie Star in a Harris Poll conducted in 2001.

Ranked #8 in Forbes the 20 Richest Women In Entertainment.

Drives a Toyota Prius (April 2004).

She won an Oscar for playing Erin Brockovich-Ellis in Erin Brockovich (2000), making her one of eleven actors to win the Award for playing a real person who was still alive at the evening of the Award ceremony (as of 2007). The other ten actors and their respective performances are: Spencer Tracy for playing Father Edward Flanagan in Boys Town (1938), Gary Cooper for playing Alvin C. York in Sergeant York (1941), Patty Duke for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), Jason Robards for playing Benjamin C. Bradlee in All the President's Men (1976), Robert De Niro for playing Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), Sissy Spacek for playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Susan Sarandon for playing Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (1995), Geoffrey Rush for playing David Helfgott in Shine (1996), Jim Broadbent for playing John Bayley in Iris (2001/I) and, most recently, Helen Mirren for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006).

An accomplished equestrienne, Julia did her own riding in Runaway Bride (1999).

Turned down leading role in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) which went to Meg Ryan.

Gave birth to a son, Henry Daniel Moder, on 18 June 2007 in Los Angeles. Henry weighed in at 8 1/2 lbs.

Daughter, Hazel Moder, and son, Phinnaeus Moder were born on 28 November 2004.

Received the American Cinematheque Award (10 October 2007).

Is an alumni of the Lee Strasberg Institute such as actors Frank Miranda, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Rosario Dawson, Dennis Hopper.

Five directors that cast Julia at least twice are: Mike Nichols, Steven Soderbergh, Garry Marshall, Robert Altman and Joel Schumacher.

Good friends with Bruce Willis.

After divorcing Walter Roberts in January 1972, her mother Betty Lou married theater critic Michael Motes (11 September 1972).

Her films have grossed more than $ 2 billion at the US box office, making her the biggest female movie star of all time (February 2007).

Has supported UNICEF enthusiastically.

Buys her own organic greens at the market near her apartment in New York.

In 2006, she earned $5 million for endorsing Gianfranco Ferre. She posed for eight print ads, which was equivalent for one day of work.

Named #57 on Empire Magazine's 100 Sexiest Movie Stars. (2007).

By 2004, she had a fortune estimated to be worth $212 million.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $9 million.

Made just one movie - Blood Red (1989) - with brother Eric Roberts.

Ranked #1 on Forbes magazine 'Celebrity 100' (2000).

Is one of six actresses that have won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain (2003), Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005), Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006) and Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008).

Big fan of actress Katharine Hepburn.

One of her favorite hobbies is knitting.

Born at 12:16 AM (EST).

Personal Quotes

I enjoy hats. And when one has filthy hair, that is a good accessory.

I'm too tall to be a girl, I never had enough dresses to be a lady, I wouldn't call myself a woman. I'd say I'm somewhere between a chick and a broad.

My real hair color is kind of a dark blonde. Now I just have mood hair.

(From 1998 interview) "I've sort of grown into my cuteness."

"We all need to take a deep breath and think about being a Bush daughter and having that cross to bear. I'd go out and have a couple of drinks, too" - about President George W. Bush's daughters being caught with alcohol as minors.

"It doesn't bring out the Einstein moment that you hoped it would."-- Julia Roberts, on forgetting to include the real-life Erin Brockovich-Ellis in her Academy Award acceptance speech.

You know I'm like a total geek, right? First of all, I sit on the set and knit. It's a very social hobby, as opposed to reading at work - I can chat with people and still be fully engaged.

"He's embarrassing, he's not my president. He will never be my president" - talking about President George W. Bush.

I'm just an ordinary person who has an extraordinary job.

"I get dressed up like a doll, a nice man puts lipstick on my lips and I say words - it's deeply satisfying" - on the essence of her job

On why she will never do a nude scene: "I just don't feel that my algebra teacher should ever know what my butt looks like."

You can be true to the character all you want, but you've go to go home with yourself.

"The first time I felt I was famous was when I went to the movies with my mom. I had gone to the loo, and someone in the bathroom said in a very loud voice, 'Girl in stall No. 1, were you in Mystic Pizza (1988)? I paused and I said, yeah that was me." - (People Magazine 8/22/99)

I think it's dangerous to talk in the big generalities of sexism and ageism and face lift-isms. You really have to speak only from your own experience. And my experience so far has been ridiculously nice. Yeah, do the boys get paid more? Yes. But do we all get paid too much? Yes. I'm confused at what I'm supposed to complain about.

I wouldn't do nudity in films. To act with my clothes on is a performance. To act with my clothes off is a documentary.

It's heaven truly... we were rehearsing one day, and we had just moved into the theater and it was dark out here, and I was on stage, and all of the sudden, I hear, 'Mama!' And Hazel had come in and in the dark just to hear this little voice, and it's incredibly amazing.

I think one of the smartest things I ever did for my career was not working for two years in the early 90s. I was being offered a lot of different movies but I just didn't see the point of any of them. People would say to me "How can you just be passing on all those things?" And my response was "Tell me a movie you've seen in the past year that I should have made."

I'm just a girl from a little town in Georgia who had this giant, absurd dream. [On her success.] (People Magazine)

[on Clive Owen] George Clooney is obsessed with Clive. Every good-guy actor talks about Clive as one of their favourites. Because he's English, because his successes have stood on the shoulders of his talents alone, and because he hasn't been carried away by popular culture.

I'm tall and smart. If you're aggressive and energetic it can be intimidating for people who aren't very smart themselves.

Salary
Duplicity (2009) $15,000,000
Mona Lisa Smile (2003) $20,000,000
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) $250,000 (scale)
Ocean's Eleven (2001) $10,000,000
America's Sweethearts (2001) $15,000,000
The Mexican (2001) $20,000,000
Erin Brockovich (2000) $20,000,000
Runaway Bride (1999) $17,000,000
Notting Hill (1999) $15,000,000
Conspiracy Theory (1997) $12,000,000
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) $12,000,000
Mary Reilly (1996) $10,000,000
The Pelican Brief (1993) $8,000,000
Hook (1991) $7,000,000
Dying Young (1991) $3,000,000
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) $1,000,000
Flatliners (1990) $500,000
Pretty Woman (1990) $300,000
Steel Magnolias (1989) $90,000
Mystic Pizza (1988) $50,000

Where Are They Now

(May 2002) Capital Hill, Washington, D.C., USA testifying for more federal funding for Rett Syndrome

(December 2004) She and her family are relaxing at their ranch in New Mexico after the birth of her new twins, Phinneaus and Hazel.

(April 2006) Making her Broadway debut in the revival of Richard Greenberg's play "Three Days of Rain". Her co-stars are Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper.

Anna Faris Biography

2009-07-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
29 November 1976, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Birth Name
Anna Kay Faris

Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Anna started acting very young but, of course, not professionally. She loved watching plays and eventually produced her own with all the neighborhood children. She was always encouraged with the emphasis that she wasn't just "pretending" but rather being an unpaid producer, director, writer and actor.

Her first paid job was at the Seattle Repretory theatre at age nine. She loved it and did other local plays and readings. After graduating from the University of Washington in English Literature, she decided to leave for London to work and write, but after filming (the less than wonderful) Lovers Lane (1999) and a short for the Seattle Film Festival, she decided to give Los Angeles a try. She signed with up with a wonderful management agency and before, she could catch her breath, Keenen Ivory Wayans casted her in Scary Movie (2000).

She never takes anything for granted and just feels so very fortunate to have been given a chance.( An example was her trying to thank all the journalists and photographers that came to the New York premiere.)
IMDb Mini Biography By: Karen Faris (Mother), Todd C. & Miles of T.U.A.F.E.

Spouse
Ben Indra (3 June 2004 - 19 February 2008) (divorced)

Trivia

Is a natural blonde. She dyed her hair black during the production of Scary Movie (2000) and Scary Movie 2 (2001) so she could give her character, "Cindy Campbell", a "Neve Campbellish-look".

Her parents are Karen and Jack Faris. Has one brother named Robert.

Was rated #57 on the Maxim Hot 100 of 2004 list.

Graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in English Literature

Of Scottish, Irish, English, German, and French descent.

Spoofs Charlie's Angels (2000) in two films: first, in Scary Movie 2 (2001), as Cindy Campbell, (poking fun at Drew Barrymore's chair escape scene) and again in Lost in Translation (2003), as starlet Kelly (in the press conference for her action movie with "Keanu").

Grew up in Edmonds, Washington.

Had only done dramatic plays, before she get her role in Scary Movie (2000).

Engaged to Chris Pratt [January 29, 2009].

Was recommended for the role of Erica on "Friends" (1994) by Matthew Perry who was a fan of her work in Lost in Translation (2003).

Is a fan of Parker Posey.

Is two years older than Topher Grace who plays her twin brother in Young Americans (2010).

She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Washington.

Personal Quotes

I try to keep my head on straight and take nothing for granted.

I don't really like to go out to clubs or anything. It's just not my style. I'd much rather go to a dive bar or a local place. I just don't love feeling awful, having to tell people, "Hi, yeah, I was in Scary Movie (2000). Do you mind if we come in?" I mean, it's so awkward.

I never imagined being able to make money from acting - and now I can.

They've [the Scary Movie series] given me a career but they've also sort of boxed me in. What really surprised me when I first moved here is that the industry thought of actors as either comedic or dramatic. And I'm still confused. I understand that maybe some people are better at one or the other, but I can't understand why it's so divided. I've been able to chip away at that a bit; I think it gets easier as my body of work expands.

Blythe Danner is somebody whose career I admire. She's a great actress and does good work, but also has a life of her own. I love my job but, at the end of the day, I want to come home and watch a movie and drink a bottle of wine with my husband.

[on doing another Scary Movie (2000) sequel] After Scary Movie 3 (2003), I was like, 'no I'm done,' but then I had so much fun making [Scary Movie 4 (2006)] that I think that I would. I would definitely be open to doing it.

I was never the class clown or anything like that. When I was growing up and doing theatre in Seattle I was always doing very dramatic work. Now I can't get a dramatic role to save my life!

Where Are They Now

(November 2003) Filming a number of episodes of "Friends" (1994) in which she plays a guest role, giving up her baby for Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) to adopt.

(December 2005) Filming Scary Movie 4 (2006).

Kate Beckinsale Biography

2009-07-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
26 July 1973, London, England, UK

Birth Name
Kathryn Bailey Beckinsale

Height
5' 7" (1.70 m)

Mini Biography

Kate Beckinsale was born on 26 July 1973 in England, and has resided in London for most of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, who has appeared in a number of British dramas and sitcoms and continues to work as an actress, predominantly in British television productions. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham, England. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during the 1970s, most notably the series "Rising Damp" (1974), "Porridge" (1974) and "The Lovers" (1970). He passed away tragically early in 1979 at the age of 31.

Kate attended the private school Godolphin and Latymer School in London for her grade and primary school education. In her teens she twice won the British bookseller W.H. Smith Young Writers' competition - once for three short stories and once for three poems. After a tumultuous adolescence (a bout of anorexia - cured - and a smoking habit which continues to this day), she gradually took up the profession of acting.

Her major acting debut came in a TV film about World War II called One Against the Wind (1991) (TV), filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991. It first aired on American television that December. Kate began attending Oxford University's New College in the fall of 1991, majoring in French and Russian literature. She had already decided that she wanted to act, but to broaden her horizons she chose university over drama school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama Prince of Jutland (1994), cast as Ethel. The film was shot during the spring of 1993 on location in Denmark, and she filmed her supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the summer of that year she played the lead in the contemporary mystery drama Uncovered (1994). Before she went back to school, her third year at university was spent at Oxford's study-abroad program in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French language, Parisian culture and French cigarettes.

A year away from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused her to re-evaluate the direction of her life. She faced a choice: continue with school or concentrate on her flourishing acting career. After much thought, she chose the acting career. In the spring of 1994 Kate left Oxford, after finishing three years of study. Kate appeared in the BBC/Thames Television satire Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV), filmed in London and East Sussex during late summer 1994 and which opened to spectacular reviews in the United States, grossing over $5 million during its American run. It was re-released to U.K. theaters in the spring of 1997.

Acting on the stage consumed the first part of 1995; she toured in England with the Thelma Holts Theatre Company production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull". After turning down several mediocre scripts "and going nearly berserk with boredom", she waited seven months before another interesting role was offered to her. Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie Haunted (1995), starring opposite Aidan Quinn and John Gielgud, and filmed in West Sussex. In this film she wanted to play "an object of desire", unlike her past performances where her characters were much less the siren and more the worldly innocent. Kate's first film project of 1996 was the British ITV production of Jane Austen's novel Emma (1996) (TV). Her last film of 1996 was the comedy Shooting Fish (1997), filmed at Shepperton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part of Georgie, an altruistic con artist. She had a daughter, Lily, in 1999 with actor Michael Sheen.
IMDb Mini Biography By: peacham@excite.com

Spouse
Len Wiseman (9 May 2004 - present)

Trivia

Studied French and Russian literature while a student at Oxford.

Studied at New College Oxford, but left to pursue her acting career before completing her degree course.

Her mother, Judy Loe is an actress, and her father, Richard Beckinsale, was famous as a comedy actor.

Attended grade/primary school at Flexlands Private School in London, England, she took ballet there and it was at this young age that her father died of a heart attack.

Half-sister of Samantha Beckinsale.

Got the lead female role in Pearl Harbor (2001) after Charlize Theron pulled out to do Sweet November (2001).

Lost out to Juliette Binoche for a part in Wuthering Heights (1992).

Has a daughter, Lily Mo Sheen (b. 31 January 1999), with Welsh actor Michael Sheen.

Suffers from stomach ulcers.

According to an interview she gave on the UK show "The Big Breakfast" (1992) (December 2001), she hates wearing knickers.

Selected by Hello Magazine as England's Number #1 Beauty.(2002)

Richard Beckinsale's maternal grandfather - her great-grandfather - was Burmese.

June 2003: Engaged to director Len Wiseman.

Married Len Wiseman on 9th May 2004 at the Bel-Air Hotel. Her daughter, Lily, received her own "wedding ring" from Wiseman.

Half sister-in-law of Richard Trinder.

Spent her teens reading French, Russian and German novels because of her studies, and completed A-levels in Russian, German and French, which resulted in her admission to Oxford University.

Won the prestigious WH Smith's Young Writers' competition two years running, once for her short stories, once for poetry.

Ranked #63 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World" (2002)

Shares a birthday with Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Piven.

Was in close competition for the role of Rachel Keller in The Ring (2002), but lost out because producers felt she looked too young.

Normally slender, she gained twenty pounds for roles in 2004 - ten pounds for Van Helsing (2004) and another ten pounds to portray the voluptuous Ava Gardner in The Aviator (2004).

Has played a vampire (Underworld (2003)) and a vampire hunter (Van Helsing (2004)).

Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category on the 2005 ballot for her performance in the film Van Helsing (2004) and again two years later in the same category for her roles in the films Click (2006/I) and Underworld: Evolution (2006). She failed to receive either nomination.

Named #23 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Met Len Wiseman when he directed her in Underworld (2003).

Ranked as #71 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

She did not like Physical Education at school. It was also her worst subject.

Was anorexic as a teenager

Lives in Venice, California because it reminds her of London.

Named #78 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Replaced Sarah Jessica Parker after she dropped out from the film Vacancy (2007).

Ranked #21 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Director Stephen Sommers wanted Kate for the role of "Anna Valerious" in Van Helsing (2004). But Stephen feared that it was too similar in tone to Underworld (2003), a film that Kate started and was filming at the time. Eventually, her agent got Sommers to send the script and Kate immediately signed on.

Ranked as #12 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women 2008" (2008).

Ranked as #10 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Had an emergency appendectomy in January, 2004.

Personal Quotes

If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!

No one is more enslaved than a slave who doesn't think they're enslaved.

Everybody likes the underdog, because everybody feels like the underdog. No matter how successful you are, you always think, No one's being nice enough to me!

"I try and take lots of vitamins and I don't drink. I do smoke, though, I'd be insufferable if I didn't smoke, you'd have to push me off a balcony I'd be so boring",

With every project you do, you bring out a part of yourself, and it seems to be quite a good way of expanding a person.

Apparently, I get facials and manicures all the time. I read this and think, 'Oh, I wish I did that!' I don't think I've had a facial since I was 19. When I shave my legs, I use my child's shampoo and a razor - if I can find one. If I did everything they said I did, I would never see Lily.

I dropped out of Oxford, and now I only speak Russian with the woman who gives me a bikini-wax. See what Hollywood does to you?

I think, at 19, I was very grown-up in certain ways and extremely not so in others. If I had come on to a movie set at that age and someone had said, 'You're a bit funny-looking, can you go on a diet?' - I might have jumped off a building. I just didn't have the confidence to put that into perspective at the time.

"I look at how Keira Knightley is coiffed when she attends events. I remember going to Cannes with Much Ado About Nothing (1993) when I was 18, and nobody told me, 'Oh, here's a make-up artist or, 'This person wants to dress you, what clothes are you wearing?' It just wasn't like that when I started. Nobody even told me I could bring a friend! I just sort of showed up in a very expensive pair of trousers I bought in Harvey Nichols, and something I bought in the Sock Shop at the airport. But Keira Knightley has like full hair and make- up and a proper outfit and I think, 'Wow, she's not going to have the before photos I had to endure!' She's really lucky".

"I don't think he liked being in a cage and wouldn't stop masturbating and humping his bowl." about her daughter's pet rabbit

"It's the only time my education has come in remotely handy." -on using her Russian literature studies for copying her "Van Helsing" script into Russian to acquire a Slavic accent.

She [Lily] already has some Americanisms: she says 'pants' instead of trousers and 'elevator' instead of lift. That's more than enough for me."

We had something recently when there were about 16 people in front of us taking pictures and Lily was enjoying the chance to legitimately shout at some grownups because normally she's not allowed. But even when she shouted they didn't stop. I find that shocking.

Salary
Pearl Harbor (2001) $200,000

Jessica Alba Biography

2009-07-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
28 April 1981, Pomona, California, USA

Birth Name
Jessica Marie Alba

Nickname
Sky Angel
Albz

Height
5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Pomona, California, on April 28, 1981, Jessica Alba and her family moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, when she was an infant. Three years later, her Air Force father brought the family back to California, then to Del Rio, Texas, before finally settling in Southern California when Jessica was nine. In love with the idea of becoming an actress from the age of five, she was 12 before she took her first acting class. Nine months later, she was signed by an agent. A gifted young actress, Jessica has already played a variety of roles ranging from light comedy to gritty drama since beginning her career. She made her feature film debut in 1993 in Hollywood Pictures' comedy Camp Nowhere (1994). Originally hired for two weeks, she got her break when an actress in a principal role suddenly dropped out. Jessica cheerfully admits it wasn't her prodigious talent or charm that inspired the director to tap her to take over the part - it was her hair, which matched the original performer's. The two-week job stretched to two months, and Jessica ended the film with an impressive first credit. Two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C. Penney quickly followed before Jessica was featured in several independent films. She branched out into TV in 1994 with a recurring role in Nickelodeon's popular comedy series "The Secret World of Alex Mack" (1994). She played an insufferable young snob, devoted to making life miserable for the the title character, played by Larisa Oleynik. That same year, she won the role of "Maya" in "Flipper" (1995) and filmed the pilot for the series. She spent 1995 shooting the first season's episodes in Australia. An avid swimmer and PADI-certified scuba diver, Jessica was delighted to be doing a show that allowed her to play with dolphins. The show's success guaranteed it a second season, which she also starred in. Her involvement in the show lasted from 1995 to 1997. Since the show ended, she has appeared in a number of TV shows and films. In 1996, she appeared in Venus Rising (1995) as "Young Eve". The next year, she appeared on the "The Dini Petty Show" (1989), a Canadian talk show, and spoke about her role in "Flipper" (1995) and her general acting career. She began working on P.U.N.K.S. (1999), featuring Randy Quaid, in 1998. In early 1998, she appeared in "Brooklyn South" (1997) as "Melissa". That same year, she was in two episodes of "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990) as "Leanne" and in two episodes of "The Love Boat: The Next Wave" (1998). She appeared in "Teen Magazine" in 1995 and various European magazines in the following several years. More importantly, she was featured in the February 1999 issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine. She also had major roles in two movies that year: Never Been Kissed (1999) and Idle Hands (1999). In 2000, she had roles in Paranoid (2000/I) and starred in the sci-fi TV series "Dark Angel" (2000).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Gerald Olivier

Spouse
Cash Warren (19 May 2008 - present) 1 child

Trivia

Sister of Joshua Alba.

Was #1 on Maxim's Hot 100 Babe List. [2001]

Her father's ethnic background is Mexican, her mother's is French and Danish.

Was voted the fifth Sexiest Female Star for 2002 in a Hollywood.com poll. Also, formerly engaged to Michael Weatherly. [February 2002]

Her show "Dark Angel" (2000) was canceled after two seasons on Fox.

Vote #4 in the Top 10 Sci-Fi Babes in 2002 for her role as Max in "Dark Angel" (2000).

Loves to play golf.

Voted in at #6 in FHM's Sexiest Girls of 2002 poll, American edition. [June 2002]

Graduated high school at age 16.

Has a tatoo of a daisy with a ladybug on it on the back of her neck.

Her second cousin is skateboarding legend Steve "Salba" Alba.

Broke off her long engagement to co-star Michael Weatherly ("Dark Angel" (2000)) in 2003 but has reconciled recently.

She co-starred in one episode of "Dark Angel" (2000) with her brother, Joshua Alba, titled "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole." He played, Krit, one of her X-5 brothers who wanted to help destroy Manticore in the Season 1 finale.

Mentioned in the D12 song "My Band".

Was "Punk'd" (2003) on the Ashton Kutcher-hosted MTV show in 2003. Dax Shepard showed up fully nude at a clothing store Jessica was patronizing, following Miss Alba around the store and exposing his "business" to the blushing actress as she tried to shop for clothes. Jessica was a good sport after being informed it was all a practical joke, taped for the popular hidden- camera show.

Though it is common for actresses and female pop stars to strip down to various states of undress for magazine layouts and movie/TV scenes, she has stated that she is a very modest girl and would never do a nude scene or pose topless in a magazine. She has posed for men's magazines fully dressed, however.

Ranked #12 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

Said once in an interview that she began preparing her own meals as a child to control her weight and maintain her health. She said the food her family prepared led to weight problems for them, so she avoided that.

After graduating from high school, she studied with William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, at David Mamet's Atlantic Theater Company.

Named one of "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine. [2005]

Had asthma as a child.

She wanted to become an actress at the age of five.

Became anorexic the same year she had a kidney infection (2001).

Measurements: 34-24-34 according to an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Has two pug dogs, named Nancy and Sid.

Named #5 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Ranked #3 on E! Television's 2006 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies.

She and Hayden Christensen visited Bellevue hospital and spent time with little children, bringing them Christmas cheer while filming Awake (2007). .

Ranked and Voted #1 by AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2006.

Threatened to sue Playboy Magazine for using her picture on the cover of the March 2006 issue without her permission. She said it misled people to believe she appeared nude in the magazine, which she did not. Hugh M. Hefner apologized for the confusion and made a charity contribution on her behalf, to the satisfaction of all parties.

On E's "101 Sexiest Bodies", she was placed at 3rd, behind Brad Pitt in 2nd and Angelina Jolie in 1st.

Nominated as "Worst Actress" for both Fantastic Four (2005) and Into the Blue (2005) for the 26th annual Razzie Awards.

Playboy magazine named her among its 25 Sexiest Celebrities, and the Sex Star of the Year in its March 2006 issue, on whose cover she appeared. Alba was involved in a litigation against Playboy for its use of her image (from a promotional shot for Into the Blue (2005)) without her consent, which she contends gave the appearance that she was featured in the issue in a "nude or semi-nude pictorial." However she later dropped the lawsuit after receiving a personal apology from Playboy owner Hugh M. Hefner, who also agreed to make donations to two charities that she has supported.

Despite her Mexican ancestry, she isn't fluent in Spanish. She hardly understands anything in that language.

Named #22 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement (2005).

Was featured as #5 in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002" supplement. (2002).

Named #2 on Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2006" supplement (2006).

Loves to cook. Her specialty is chicken enchiladas and homemade tortillas.

Loves Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Named #3 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Went to strip clubs as a part of her research for her character in Sin City (2005). However, she said that it didn't help because all the pro-strippers were doing "is trying to get tips".

Regularly goes to watch NBA player Baron Davis when he plays in Los Angeles as her boyfriend, Cash Warren, is a close friend of Davis.

The bra that she wore in Sin City (2005) drew a winning bid of $1,025 in an eBay auction.

Named #2 on Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2007" supplement (2007).

Was ranked #2 on Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100" of the year lists, two years in a row. (2006 and 2007).

Named the "Sexiest Woman Celebrity" by Victoria's Secret. (2007).

Grew up in same town as Gil Menchaca.

Learned how to play the violin for her role in The Eye (2008).

Voted #1 as the most sexy woman in the world by the Norwegian FHM in 2006 and 2007.

Mentioned in Ashley Tisdale's song "He Said She Said".

Her father was a pro-circuit tennis player before joining the Air Force.

She has the Sankskrit word for "lotus" tattooed on the inside of her wrist.

Her maternal grandfather was a Marine NCO for thirty years, serving in the Pacific during WWII, and later as Asst. Drum Major for the United States Marine Band.

Good friends with Eva Longoria Parker, Eva Mendes and Kate Hudson.

Started training in dance and Tae Bo two months prior to the start of scheduled filming on Honey (2003) (July 2002).

Frightened of flying birds.

Voted in at #1 in FHM's Sexiest Girls of 2007 poll, Latvian edition.

Engaged to Cash Warren [December 27, 2007].

Named #4 on Empire Magazine's 100 Sexiest Movie Stars. (2007).

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year to be $9 million.

Has co-starred with actor Sean Whalen in Never Been Kissed (1999) and Idle Hands (1999) but has never appeared on screen with him.

Her parents were only 20 when she was born.

Paid $4,050,000 for a 4,686-square-foot house in Beverly Hills, California. [2008]

Daughter-in-law of Michael Warren.

Married her husband,Cash Warren, at a private ceremony on May 19th, 2008. Even her closest friends were not invited.

Ranked #34 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Ranked #2 on Wizard magazine's "Sexiest Women of TV" list (March 2008).

Jessica and husband Cash Warren welcomed their first baby, a girl named Honor Marie Warren, on the 7th of June, 2008 in Los Angeles.

Named to GQ Magazines' 25 Sexiest Women in film of all time.

Has portrayed a character named Sam or Samantha in four different movies.

Did not return to work until four months after giving birth to her daughter Honor in order to begin filming An Invisible Sign of My Own (2009).

Personal Quotes

I'm really good at being sarcastic with guys. That's the best way to hang out with them, because that's what guys like. They don't want the quiet, prissy little things.

I like Spongebob Squarepants. He's goofy, like me.

[July 2004] I just don't have a great feeling about what we're doing in Iraq. I don't know why we're there. Didn't we just give the power back over there? Why are we still there?

[on racial stereotyping] My father is Mexican and very dark; my mother is very fair. I used to always get [script] breakdowns for things like Maria, the janitor's daughter who hangs around with white kids. I was born in the United States. I never thought about it until the industry made me think about being a Latin girl. It seemed like such a bizarre thing.

My grandfather was the only Mexican at his college, the only Hispanic person at work and the only one at the all-white country club. He tried to forget his Mexican roots, because he never wanted his kids to be made to feel different in America. He and my grandmother didn't speak Spanish to their children. Now, as a third-generation American, I feel as if I have finally cut loose.

Men are much bigger divas than women. When I used to do the action scenes in "Dark Angel" (2000) I would have to play it rough. If you hit an actress accidentally, she would usually take it on the chin and say, "Don't do that again." But with the guys, they would put ice on it, take a 20-minute break and ask for X-rays. It was unbelievable. I would tell them, "Come on, man, get over it." That's actors for you.

There is always an unspoken problem about casting Latina actresses. I have heard Jennifer Lopez talk about how it was for her, always being up for the role of the Latina chick.

What happens when the looks fade?. If I don't establish myself as someone who can act a part rather than look the part, I will soon be finished.

I love listening to Coldplay. But sometimes I listen to it too much and it depresses me. I call it a "reflective" mood.

The most important thing I have learned in life was that being a teenager wasn't forever. I had a hard time being a teenager.

I don't hang out with the Hollywood cool people. I'm not out trying to make friends with people because they're famous.

I have my own spiritual thing, but am not part of an organized religion. I think religion is very special and individual to each person.

I don't need to be in the press or seen. Just because I'm not in magazines or because I'm not in a movie doesn't mean I'm going away. It just means I have some sense of integrity.

Living in L.A., everyone likes to mold you and change you. I don't care about fame, I don't care about being a celebrity. I know that's part of the job, but I don't feed into anyone's idea of who I should be.

I used to come to Beverly Hills for auditions as a kid and think, "Why don't I live here? Why don't I drive that car?"

I wasn't given a whole lot in my life. I was on the bottom of the class system. But I got wisdom. I never just did what people told me. I questioned everything. When I look back, it is really no surprise that I started working at 12.

From a very early age, I remember thinking that adults were always acting like assholes. I couldn't understand why I had to respect them. My pre-school teacher forced me to write right-handed when I was left-handed. I didn't get why I had to change. Nobody could give me a reason. I have had a big problem with authority ever since.

[oeing raised by young parents] We all grew up together. My parents were so young. My dad hates it when I talk about our past, about not having things, living with grandma, wearing thrift-store clothes, cutting coupons.

[on learning Spanish] I have a great accent because I grew up hearing it in the neighborhood. But I have no idea what I'm saying.

[on growing up in L.A.] I never really belonged anywhere. I wasn't white. I was shunned by the Latin community for not being Latin enough. My grandfather was the only one in our family to go to college. He made a choice not to speak Spanish in the house. He didn't want his kids to be different.

It's not always so great to be objectified but I don't feel I have much of a choice right now. I'm young in my career. I know I have to strike when the iron is hot. I look forward to the day when I can do a small movie and act and it's not about me wearing a bathing suit or chaps.

One of the reasons why I chose not to be a devout Christian is because a lot of people gave me a lot of grief for just being a woman and made me feel ashamed for having a body because it tempted men. I didn't understand what that meant because I was like, "God created this . . ." That was a hard time in my life.

I just didn't like the damsel-in-distress thing. I could relate to young girls wanting to see her take care of herself. And because I'm so good at action, I talked the writer and producer and director into throwing together a little fight sequence. It ended up taking three more weeks to shoot it. But at least I'm not tied up and asleep until my knight in shining armor comes and saves me. So I thought it was cool.

My whole life, when I was growing up, not one race has ever accepted me. So I never felt connected or attached to any race specifically. I did grow up in a Mexican-American culture, but my mom [who's of French and Danish descent] was there the whole time. I mean, I had a very American upbringing, I feel American, and I don't speak Spanish. So, to say that I'm a Latin actress, OK, but it's not fitting; it would be insincere. If you're going to look genetically, I'm actually less Latin than Cameron Diaz, whose father is from Cuba. But she's not getting called a Latin actress because she's got blond hair and blue eyes.

The movies that I do are usually physically demanding in one way or another. It's a good way to keep your health on track. Especially when you've been on-set for 14 hours, it's nice to relieve that stress in another way than having to rely on a big meal and wine.

Thank you to the fans. I do movies for you. Practice safe sex and drive hybrids if you can.

My first kiss was when I was 7, and it was scandalous because he was 10! I only did it so he would pick me on our neighborhood baseball team. And at the time, I thought it was great, but then it sucked because he didn't even pick me!

Men's magazines have nipples so why don't women have a magazine where men show their penises? There's Playgirl but not a fashion magazine like Elle. If there was a magazine like that I'd buy it. Nudity's not a big deal to me . . . I've said I won't go naked in any of my movies, because I don't want to. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see other people strip off!

It's porn [Good Luck Chuck (2007)]. There were all these actresses who got conned into being completely naked. Some were strippers, probably. But every day when I was done, I ran away. I was like, "Bye". As long as they didn't disrespect me, I could give a rat's butt.

It's probably the most influential thing that I've ever had. Thank god for Dark Angel. Getting a blessing by James Cameron to star in his first television show. Really the first thing he did after Titanic was hire me.

To me, box office is the most important thing. If the movie makes money, then I'm fine.

My theory is that if you look confident, you can pull off anything - even if you have no clue what you're doing.

When I went blonde for Sin City (2005) three years ago, I swear I've never had more male attention. I'd go to a bar and all these Arab Princes and much older men would want to buy me a drink - I'm talking guys in their 80s!

Where Are They Now

(April 2008) Los Angeles, California

Megan Fox Biography

2009-07-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
16 May 1986, Rockwood, Tennessee, USA

Birth Name
Megan Denise Fox

Nickname
Mega Fox
Foxy Megan

Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Megan Fox was born May 16, 1986 in Tennessee. She has one older sister. Megan began her training in drama and dance at the age of 5 and, at the age of 10, moved to Florida where she continued her training and finished school. She now lives in Los Angeles. Megan began acting and modeling at the age of 13 after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Megan made her film debut as "Brianna Wallace" in the Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen movie, Holiday in the Sun (2001) (V).
IMDb Mini Biography By: anonymous

Trivia

Named #68 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Ranked #18 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

She has Irish, French and Cherokee ancestry.

Is friends with Jennifer Blanc, Kellan Rhude, Amanda Seyfried, and Michael Biehn.

Ranked #17 on interview magazines Hollywood faces to watch "Future Stars of Tomorrow".

She was voted #1 sexiest woman by FHM readers for 2008.

Ranked #16 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Is both a fan of comic books and video games. Her favorite artist is the recently deceased Michael Turner.

Is a huge fan of animals and has owned dogs, cats, birds, squirrels and a pig.

Names Shia LaBeouf as one of her favorite people ever.

Was ranked #1 on Moviefone's 'The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25'(2008).

Engaged to Brian Austin Green from November 2006 until February 2009 when they called off their engagement. They then got back together in April 2009.

Ranked #2 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2009 list.

Her Irish ancestors were from County Tipperary, one of the first Irish counties to be established in the 13th century.

She has a quote from William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' tattooed on her right shoulder that reads: "We will all laugh at gilded butterflies.".

Personal Quotes

Michael Bay's name, if it's attached to a script, you know it's going to be a huge blockbuster released in the summer, with jets flying over at the premiere and all that kind of stuff. So, I knew it was going to be a huge movie.- On working with Michael Bay

[on George Clooney] He's sarcastic, and he has a different girlfriend constantly. It's considered charismatic. He's like this James Bond, sexy dude. The older he gets, the better he gets. It's a double standard. To be outspoken, or different at all, is a problem for women. As soon as you curse or, God forbid, make some sort of sexual reference that's a joke, you're labeled a party girl. They don't do that with men, so I feel it would be a lot easier.

[Director Michael Bay] doesn't like really skinny actresses. He's been traumatized by them for some reason in the past. So I always try to put on eight to ten pounds before [filming], and I'm always the fattest I've ever been when making a Transformers (2007) movie.

[on her Marilyn Monroe tattoo] I committed to having her face on my arm for the rest of my life, so I have to be a pretty big fan.

I don't want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every single Sat word I've ever learned, to prove, like, 'Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak.' I don't want to have to do that. I resent having to prove that I'm not a retard.

Wonder Woman is lame. She flies around in an invisible jet, but she's not invisible. I don't get it.

Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands. She's mesmerizing.

Zac Efron is my obsession, we're the same person. We're not actually here, it's like Janet and Michael Jackson. He just puts on his wig and a dress, and it's me, and you don't know that. It's one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature. I feel like I have a better shot with someone in his thirties.

When I go to a party, I always feel like I'm chum. Like my agent is just chumming the waters until I'm circled by all these dudes.

People assume that I'm really promiscuous. There's a difference between being very sexual and being promiscuous. I'm not promiscuous. I'm extraordinarily sexual within a monogamous relationship. Nothing's off-limits. But that has nothing to do with experiencing a lot of people. I've only had two boyfriends my whole life.

If I ever lose a role because of my tattoos, I'll quit Hollywood and go to work at Costco.

[on Shia LaBeouf] He probably is my favourite person in the entire world. Shia makes me laugh harder than anybody I've ever known in my life. I end up crying or almost peeing myself every time I'm with him. So he's just my favourite - I love you, Shia! And he's really super-handsome!

[on Angelina Jolie] I'm actually frightened of her, I haven't had the opportunity to meet her and I try to avoid that because I'm afraid. Angelina's a powerful person and I bet she would eat me alive. I guess that is why I'm afraid of her. There have been a lot of films I've had to pass on because I don't want people thinking I'm trying to emulate her.

When I moved to Los Angeles I had no money. I remember needing to shave my legs, and I didn't even have enough money to buy disposable razors. So I'd wear pants all the time.

Women are expected to be conformist automatons in L.A. but in Britain you can be more yourself and people will take you on face value.

I don't trust male intentions, usually, because they don't approach me for intellectual conversation.

Hollywood is the most superficial thing you could possibly be a part of and if I weren't attractive I wouldn't be working at all.

I'm definitely labelled in the pin-up category. I haven't given people a reason to take my work seriously yet, which is my responsibility. I think the expectation for me, as far as my ability as an actress goes, is very low. I feel like that means I can only ever be an over-achiever when people expect so little from me.

I was with someone from the time I was 18 and I've never been my own independent adult. Right now there's no space in my head for who's going to be next or how I need to fill my time. I'm trying to expand myself and grow and be comfortable with who I am before I get into another relationship where I'll just repeat a cycle. Otherwise I will have ten failed relationships. I will be Elizabeth Taylor by the time I am 60 and I don't want that.

I'm kind of a recluse. I'm a hermit and it's because I do have a great fear of Hollywood, just watching what it does to people. You have to be a really strong human being to survive it, as a girl especially. So I try to avoid the Hollywood scene as much as possible and people who enjoy the Hollywood scene -- that's usually a red flag to me. Some people might think my life is boring, but I haven't been to rehab yet, so I think I'm doing something right!

I didn't decide I'm gonna be an actress cause I wanna be respected for how I play chess.

I do have a 22-inch waist, I will say that.

[on Marilyn Monroe] I just had an incredible amount of empathy for her my whole life. I cry when I see her on camera.

I worked at a Tropical Smoothie in Florida when I was 15. I would sometimes have to go out by the street in a gigantic banana costume and dance to try to get customers to come in. There was no anonymity - the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone could see your face. My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all kinds of awesome obscenities at me.

I grew up craving the spotlight and once it happened I immediately recoiled. It just always seemed really glamorous. As a child you think everyone who's famous is very wealthy and powerful. I thought my internal issues would be solved and I would be this really confident person. And I'm not.

[On giving male writers an amped-up version of her past] They're boys; they're easily toyed with. I tell stories and have them eating out of my hand.

Sex and the City (2008), the movie, was so tragic. Costume dramas bore me and Hollywood comedies are total garbage, not funny at all. Fame doesn't mean anything because anyone can be famous, and TV news is mindless.

I have no friends and I never leave my house. You just have to make a choice to just refuse to be involved with things that could get you in trouble. It's easy when you feel upset or depressed about something to want to go to a club and want to drink, but instead I just force myself to sit and feel it and deal with it, and try to grow from it, because I don't want to go down that path. I'm one of the most isolated people in existence right now, but it's worth it because if I wasn't making that decision I would be throwing away my career.

[on Angelina Jolie] She always seems otherworldly in her power and her confidence. I'm sure she has no idea who I am.

[on Transformers (2007)] I'm terrible in it. It's my first real movie and it's not honest and not realistic. The movie wasn't bad, I just wasn't proud about what I did.

I think one day I could be a very good actress. But so far, I haven't done anything.

I'm not going to win an Oscar anytime soon. I'm not Meryl Streep.

[on being asked if she had a crush on Angelina Jolie] Absolutely. Every time a relationship ends, I say, 'If I could just be Angelina's girlfriend, I would be so happy.' I love Angelina Jolie. She's someone I admire and look up to. She's my favourite actress in Hollywood. I just love that she's incredibly honest, and I feel that she's not afraid to be herself. She tells you exactly what's on her mind.

I am not a Jennifer Aniston or a Britney Spears or even a Lindsay Lohan, you know? My pictures don't sell for that kind of money. But [of] the small level that I do deal with it, it is hard and there have been times [when] people don't want to hang out with me because they don't want to end up on the Internet. I sometimes just turn around and go back home and don't do anything and have to have someone go do my grocery shopping.

[on her childhood playtime] I played with Barbies but I used to decapitate them. I used to take their heads off then dye their hair and do weird things.

[on rumours that she will star in a new Lara Croft movie] I think that's a role that Angelina Jolie mastered, and I would never attempt to take that over from her.

When you think about it, we actors are kind of prostitutes. We get paid to feign attraction and love. Other people are paying to watch us kissing someone, touching someone, doing things people in a normal monogamous relationship would never do with anyone who's not their partner. It's really kind of gross.

[on her role in Jonah Hex (2010)] I'm sort of a tough, no-nonsense prostitute, like, she'll shoot you in the head if she has to. And she does. Actually not in the head but I get to shoot someone somewhere. It's a lot of fun.

I like to cut through the BS. I don't like small talk and I don't like to have to be a cookie cutter. That's a quality I started to develop as a kid in middle school. You know how everybody goes into cliques and you all talk behind everyone's back? I thought it was so ignorant. So I just really started being completely honest with everybody all of the time. It gets me into trouble often, but, at the end of the day, I think it's a good quality to have. I have become a little more aware of the media's tendency to twist things that I say.

If you know how to take control of being a sex symbol, then it can be powerful. But I have no idea how to handle it yet, how to deal with it.

If your idea of a role model is somebody who's gonna preach to your kids that sex before marriage is wrong and cursing is wrong and women should be this and be that, then I'm not a role model. But if you want your girls to feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right, then I want to be that type of role model, yeah.

Where Are They Now

(September 2004) Starred in "Hope & Faith" (2003) as "Sydney Shanowski", replacing Nicole Paggi.

(July 2007) Starred in Transformers (2007) as Mikaela Banes.

(June 2008) Filming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).

(May 2008) Voted the sexiest women in the world by readers of FHM.

(June 2009) Attends Premiere of Transformers sequel in Japana

Jennifer Aniston Biography

2009-07-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
11 February 1969, Sherman Oaks, California, USA

Nickname
Jen
Jenny

Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Sherman Oaks, California, Jennifer Aniston spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City where her parents, John Aniston and Nancy Dow, divorced when she was 9. Jennifer was raised by her mother and her father landed a role, as "Victor Kiriakis", on the daytime soap "Days of Our Lives" (1965). Jennifer had her first taste of acting at age 11 when she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. It was also at the Rudolf Steiner School that she developed her passion for art. She began her professional training as a drama student at New York's High School of the Performing Arts. In 1987, after graduation, she appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker's Grave". In 1989, she landed her first television role, as a series regular on "Molloy" (1990). She also appeared in "The Edge" (1992), "Ferris Bueller" (1990), and had a recurring part on "Herman's Head" (1991). By 1993, she was floundering. Then, in 1994, a pilot called "Friends Like These" came along. Originally asked to audition for the role of "Monica", Aniston refused and auditioned for the role of "Rachel Green", the suburban princess turned coffee peddler. With the success of the series "Friends" (1994), Jennifer has become famous and sought-after as she turns her fame into movie roles during the series hiatus.
IMDb Mini Biography By: cb@lim.nl

Spouse
Brad Pitt (29 July 2000 - 2 October 2005) (divorced)

Trivia

Married boyfriend of 2-1/2 years, Brad Pitt, on 7/29/00 in Malibu, CA.

While hosting "Saturday Night Live" (1975) in 1999, she did a skit satirizing boyfriend Brad Pitt's stalker, aspiring actress Athena Marie Rolando. Pitt was promoting Fight Club (1999) at the time.

Daughter of actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow.

Raised in Greece and New York City.

The late Telly Savalas was her godfather.

She and husband Brad Pitt purchased a 14,000-sq.-ft. house in Beverly Hills, CA.

Listed in "People Weekly"s "Most Intriguing People" list. (December 25, 1995 issue)

Chosen in 1999 as one of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People in the World.

Became estranged from her mother, who made unflattering statements about her in a tabloid. As a result, she refused to invite her mother to her wedding.

Sued "Celebrity Skin" magazine on 8/7/00 for publishing photos taken of her while sunbathing topless in her own backyard.

When she was 11, a painting she had done was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Officially changed her name to Jennifer Pitt on 10;25/00. She will still be using her maiden name (Aniston) professionally.

Attended Fiorello La Guardia School of Music, Art & Performing Arts, New York City. Also known as the "Fame" School.

She and Brad Pitt stated in July of 2001 that Pitt was misquoted in a German magazine article which said that he and Jennifer were expecting their first child late in 2001. The magazine will be printing a retraction.

Named one of E!'s "Top 20 Entertainers of 2001."

Suffered minor injuries in auto accident in Los Angeles on 1/15/02.

In 2002 she offered to be Matthew Perry's personal trainer in a bid to help him lose weight.

Was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2002.

She and husband Brad Pitt reached a settlement with Damiani International Jewelers on 1/11/02. The pair claimed the company agreed to never reproduce their wedding rings, but it manufactured and sold "Brad and Jennifer" rings in 18-karat white or yellow gold for about $1,000 apiece. Under the settlement, Pitt will design jewelry for Damiani that Aniston will model in ads, and Damiani will stop selling the "Brad and Jennifer" copies.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew ruled on 6/24/02 that her lawsuit against two magazine publishers for printing topless photos of her will proceed without a jury because her lawyers failed to demand a jury when the lawsuit was filed in 2000 and that he would render a verdict himself. Aniston sued Man's World Publications Inc. and Crescent Publishing Group, claiming that paparazzi scaled an eight-foot wall to photograph her as she sunbathed in the backyard of her home in February of 1999. The pictures appeared later that year in the magazines Celebrity Skin, High Society, Celebrity Sleuth, the Italian magazine Eva Tremila, the English newspaper Daily Sport and the French publication Voici.

Won award: International star of stars - The Scorpio Multimedia Cable TV Awards 2002.

Long-time friend of actress Andrea Bendewald. They both attended Manhattan's High School for the Performing Arts. Bendewald was maid of honor at Aniston's wedding to Brad Pitt on July 29, 2000. And Aniston was matron of honor at Bendewald's wedding to actor Mitch Rouse on August 19, 2001.

Measurements: 34C-23-35 1/2 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Her half-brother, John T. Melick, worked as 2nd Assistant Director for the award winning Thirteen (2003), starring Holly Hunter.

Photographer Francois Navarre agreed on 11/20/03 to pay her $550,000 in damages for taking pictures of her as she sunbathed topless in her back yard.

Although she is half Greek, she does not like Greek food. She is also not fond of Chinese, Indian or spicy foods.

She and Brad Pitt are campaigning in the United States to save "EastEnders" (1985) from being axed over there.

Was a schoolmate of Chastity Bono.

Voted as #11 on the "Top 100 Sexiest Women 2004" in FHM [DK].

Often plays a waitress - her characters in "Friends" (1994), Office Space (1999), The Iron Giant (1999) and Along Came Polly (2004) were all waitresses.

At one point in 2003, was filming "Friends" (1994), Bruce Almighty (2003), and Along Came Polly (2004) simultaneously.

Shares a birthday with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow, actor Burt Reynolds, singer Kelly Rowland, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, and Alaska Governor/Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Has a fear of flying.

Announced on 1/7/05 that she and husband Brad Pitt were separating after 4-1/2 years of marriage. Filed for divorce on 3/25/05, citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce was finalized on 10/2/05.

Stepdaughter of Sherry Rooney.

Had worked as a telemarketer and waitress before making it as an actor.

Her middle name, Joanna, was her father John Aniston's mother's name.

Has said that her favorite food is Mexican, and that (when they were still together), she and Brad Pitt would get Mexican food and margaritas three times a week.

Was known as a class clown in high school.

Godmother of Courteney Cox and David Arquette's daughter, Coco Riley Arquette.

She and "Friends" (1994) co-star Lisa Kudrow both auditioned to be regular cast members of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) prior to their success on "Friends" (1994).

In 2003 she was ranked #1 on Forbes' 2003 "Celebrity 100 List" According to the magazine, she made $35 million in 2003.

Invented "The Rachel", a famous hairstyle in the '90s, which was copied by a lot of women and drew much attention to her.

Has a younger half-brother, Alexander Aniston [b. 1989].

2005 - appeared in Heineken TV commercial frequently aired before UEFA Champions League (in Europe). The Turtles song "Happy Together" is also used in this commercial.

Was named "Woman of the Year" by GQ magazine in 2005

Named #88 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list.

Behind the scenes of "Friends" (1994), Aniston was very close friends with co-star Matthew Perry.

Named #41 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.

Met ex-husband Brad Pitt on a blind date.

Was #1 on American publication People's annual Best Dressed List in 2006.

Best friend of Courteney Cox.

Was originally slated to play Mariane in A Mighty Heart (2007).

Good friend of Andrea Buchanan. They both directed the short film, Room 10 (2006).

Named #45 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.

Has two dogs, Norman (a corgi-terrier mix) and Dolly (a white German shepherd).

Said that yoga helped her to recover from her split with Brad Pitt.

Her niece was born in 1998.

Sister-in-law of Shannon Melick.

Her birth name is Jennifer Aniston, not Jennifer Anastasakis. Her father John Aniston had changed the spelling of his last name to Aniston from Anastasakis before his marriage to Nancy Dow, and the last name that appears on Jennifer's birth certificate is Aniston.

Nationally famous Finnish songwriter Anssi Kela has written a song called "Jennifer Aniston". The tragic story is about a paper mill that was moved to China resulting in many people left unemployed. Jennifer Aniston appears in the "singer's" recurring dream. The song was released in the album "Rakkaus" on Murhaa 10/19/2005.

Granddaughter of Yaya Joanna Aniston, Gordon McLean Dow and Louise Grieco Dow.

Niece of Mary Aniston, Joan Dow, Jean Dow, Linda Dow, Martha Dow and Sally Dow.

One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $14 million.

Good friends with actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Orlando Bloom.

Noted that she was inspired to direct Room 10 (2006) by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who directed a short film in 2006.

Her French dubbing voice Dorothée Jemma is also the French dubbing voice of Melanie Griffith and Sheryl Lee.

Her Czech dubbing voice is actress Miriam Chytilová.

Broke up with boyfriend John Mayer. They had been in an on-and-off relationship since May 2008. [March 2009]

She started to train in Karate encouraged by her best friend Courtney Cox Arquette, who holds a brown belt in the sport.

Personal Quotes

When somebody follows you 20 blocks to the pharmacy, where they watch you buy toilet paper, you know your life has changed.

It's impossible to satisfy everyone, and I suggest we all stop trying.

[on her marriage to Brad Pitt, after two years] Everybody always asks if we're happy. Give me a break. We're married two years. In Hollywood years, that's forever.

[on the constant rumors surrounding her split from Brad Pitt] There is always going to be the tough and the nasty. You just tune out to that.

[on the irony of the title of her movie, The Break-Up (2006)] Well, you know. I figured just seize the moment.

I always say, "Don't make plans, make options."

If we can say, "I loved, and I received a lot of love," then great. That's enough.

I've learned that you can get through things that hurt. Nothing will kill you. Nothing. People are unbelievable. we have such resilience.

Salary
Marley & Me (2008) $8,000,000
The Break-Up (2006) $8,000,000
Rumor Has It... (2005) $8,000,000
Along Came Polly (2004) $5,000,000
Rock Star (2001) $3,000,000
Picture Perfect (1997) $2,000,000

Angelina Jolie Biography

2009-07-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
4 June 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name
Angelina Jolie Voight

Nickname
Angie
Catwoman
Ange
AJ

Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Growing up in Los Angeles, Jolie was no stranger to the film industry, being the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. She later trained and performed at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she was seen in several stage productions.

She worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles, and has also appeared in music videos for such artists as Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, Antonello Venditti and The Lemonheads. In addition, she has acted in five student films for the USC School of Cinema, all directed by her brother, James Haven.
IMDb Mini Biography By: finityj

Mini Biography

Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the "Lara Croft" series of blockbuster movies. Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many "most beautiful women" lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.

In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her parents - her father is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and her mother is Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. At age 11, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She undertook some film studies at New York University and later joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. At age 16, she took up a career in modeling and appeared in some music videos. Her exotic good looks may derive from her mixed ancestry which is Czech, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English.

In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women (1997) (TV), and in George Wallace (1997) (TV) which won her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. Jolie's acclaim increased even further when she played the lead role in the HBO production Gia (1998) (TV). This was the true life story of supermodel Gia Carangi, a sensitive wild child who was both brazen and needy and who had a difficult time handling professional success and the deaths of people who were close to her. Carangi became involved with drugs and because of her needle-using habits she became, at the tender age of 26, one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. Jolie's performance in Gia (1998) (TV) again garnered a Golden Globe award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

Angelina got a major break in 1999 when she won a leading role in the successful feature The Bone Collector (1999), starring alongside Denzel Washington. In that same year, Jolie gave a tour de force performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) playing opposite Winona Ryder. The movie was a true story of women who spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Jolie's role was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), the role which won Nicholson his first Oscar. Unlike "Cuckoo", "Girl" was a small film that received mixed reviews and barely made money at the box office. But when it came time to give out awards, Jolie won the triple crown -- "Girl" propelled her to win the Golden Globe, the SAG Award and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

With her new-found prominence, Jolie began to get in-depth attention from the press. Numerous aspects of her controversial personal life became news. At her wedding to her Hackers (1995) co-star Jonny Lee Miller, she had displayed her husband's name on the back of her shirt painted in her own blood. Jolie and Miller divorced and in 2000 she married her Pushing Tin (1999) co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie had become the fifth wife of a man twenty years her senior. During her marriage to Thornton, the spouses each wore a vial of the other's blood around their necks. That marriage came apart in 2002 and ended in divorce. In addition, Jolie was estranged from her famous father, Jon Voight.

In 2000, Jolie was asked to star in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). At first, she expressed disinterest, but then decided that the required training for the athletic role was intriguing. The Croft character was drawn from a popular video game. Lara Croft was a female cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. When the film was released, critics were unimpressed with the final product, but critical acclaim wasn't the point of the movie. The public paid $275 million for theater tickets to see a buffed up Jolie portray the adventuresome Lara Croft. Jolie's father Jon Voight appeared in "Croft", and during filming there was a brief rapprochement between father and daughter.

One of the Croft movie's filming locations was Cambodia. While there, Jolie witnessed the natural beauty, culture and poverty of that country. She considered this an eye opening experience, and so began the humanitarian chapter of her life. Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be formally appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some of her experiences were written and published in her popular book "Notes from My Travels" whose profits go to UNHCR.

Jolie has stated that she now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, to be financed by her actress salary. She devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. In 2002, Angelina adopted a Cambodian refugee boy named Maddox and in 2005 adopted an Ethiopian refugee girl named Zahara. Jolie's dramatic feature film Beyond Borders (2003) parallels some of her real life humanitarian experiences although, despite the inclusion of a romance between two westerners, many of the movie's images were too depressingly realistic -- the film was not popular among critics or at the box office.

In 2004, Jolie began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) with co-star Brad Pitt. The film became a major box office success. There were rumors that Pitt and Jolie had an affair while filming "Smith". Jolie insisted that because her mother had been hurt by adultery, she herself could never participate in an affair with a married man, therefore there had been no affair with Pitt at that time. Nonetheless, Pitt separated from his wife Jennifer Aniston in January 2005 and, in the months that followed, he was frequently seen in public with Jolie, apparently as a couple. Pitt's divorce was finalized later in 2005.

Jolie and Pitt announced in early 2006 that they would have a child together, and Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh that May. They also adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy named Pax. The couple continues to pursue movie and humanitarian projects.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Roger Burns

Spouse
Billy Bob Thornton (5 May 2000 - 27 May 2003) (divorced)
Jonny Lee Miller (28 March 1996 - 3 February 1999) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Husky voice

Her full lips

Trivia

Niece of Chip Taylor.

One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People." [2000]

She is extremely close to and protective of her brother James Haven. He often accompanies her to awards shows, and she used his name, or at least his memory, as inspiration in the "Where's Jamie?!" scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Has the letter "H" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, which is a reference to two people she is close to who have this letter in their names: her brother, James Haven, and Timothy Hutton. She got the tattoo when she was dating Timothy but since their break-up she now says it's only for James.

Has a tattoo of the Tennessee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages." on her left forearm.

Was married to Jonny Lee Miller in a black leather pants and a white shirt. On the white shirt she painted her husband's name in her own blood (across the back).

Tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross.

Daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand.

Majored in film at New York University.

Collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.

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

Had a childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.

Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Café.

"Jolie" means "pretty" in French.

Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset.

Has the Latin phrase "Quod me nutrit me destruit" ("What nourishes me also destroys me") tattooed across her stomach.

Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland after her visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan. [27 August 2001]

Born at 9:09 AM PDT

"Introducing Angelina Jolie" in opening credits of Love Is All There Is (1996) suggests delayed release as Jolie already had at least two major screen roles by 1996.

She is of Slovak and American descent on her father's side and French-Canadian and Haudenosaunee (Iroquian Indian) heritage on her mother's side.

She and Billy Bob Thornton adopted a Cambodian baby boy, named Maddox. Jolie took custody of the baby in Africa, where she was shooting Beyond Borders (2003). [10 March 2002]

Ranked #87 in Premiere's 2002 annual "Power 100" list.

In role as goodwill ambassador, visited Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand, May 2002, to check on conditions of 9,000 refugees from bordering Myanmar.

July 2002 - confirms break-up with actor Billy Bob Thornton.

Measurements (before pregnancy): 36C-27-36.

Announced in late 2002 that she is "in talks" to portray the late porn star Linda Lovelace. Eventually, she lost the role to Courtney Love.

Voted the 3rd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Her adopted son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, was born on August 5th, 2001 in Cambodia. His original name was Rath Vibol.

Her favorite Disney character is Dumbo the flying elephant, she has said that she cried when he was able to fly.

She is the woman most American males would like to date on New Year's Eve, according to a survey by movie rental chain Blockbuster Inc. Results of the survey showed her in the top spot with 35 percent of respondents saying she would be their number one pick for a hypothetical New Year's Eve candle-lit dinner. Rival star Catherine Zeta-Jones gained second spot in the online survey conducted by Blockbuster November 11-24, 2003. The survey had 31,969 responses.

Started modelling at the age of 14.

Was named "The sexiest woman alive" by the Swedish evening newspaper "Aftonbladet." [2003]

She was voted the ninth sexiest woman in FHM UK's top 100 sexiest in 2004.

Is planning to give up her acting career to settle in England with her son Maddox and become a full-time mum. She says she wants to "Quit movies, be a great mum to Maddox and join the Parents and Teachers Association".

Favorite music: Madonna, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Clash, Matchbox Twenty.

One of her favorite TV shows is "King of the Hill" (1997). She also enjoys the Game Show Network and Animal Planet.

She was voted #2 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."

Graduated from Beverly Hills High School at age 16, the same school as Lenny Kravitz. She also went to school with Michael Klesic and Bahar Soomekh.

Ranked #6 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World." [2002]

Has said that she speaks "very little French".

Voted #1 star most men would like to kiss under the mistletoe in a poll for Sky Movies.

Used to own several pet reptiles, including two snakes. Therefore she had no problem shooting the snake scene in Alexander (2004).

Went to elementary school at William O. Schaefer School in Tappan, New York. She graduated from El Rodeo elementary school in 1989.

Her father starred with her godmother Jacqueline Bisset in Der Richter und sein Henker (1975), which was directed by her godfather Maximilian Schell.

Voted Hollywood's Sexiest Single Mother, in a poll for website Date.com.

Consulted with real-life FBI profiler Robert K. Ressler for her role in Taking Lives (2004).

In 2003 was first recipient of the Citizen of the World Award from the UN's Correspondents' Association for her work as a goodwill ambassador with the UNHCR.

July 6th 2005: adopted a baby girl (born on January 8th, 2005) from Ethiopia who was orphaned by AIDS.

She ranked #2 in 2000 on Mr. Blackwell (aka Richard Selzer)'s Worst Dressed List.

Named Esquire Magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2004.

Named Most Beautiful Woman in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People 2005 issue. More than 500,000 readers were polled.

In August, 2005 was made an official citizen of Cambodia by the King for her ongoing efforts to help the environment there.

Was nominated for Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards for four straight years from 2002 to 2005, but each time was beaten by another of her fellow nominees. She has still yet to "win" an award.

Performed her own stunts in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and received cuts from the chandelier scene as a result. She also set fire to her silk pajamas on the chandelier while she was doing her "bungee jumps" in the house. She was taken to a hospital with minor burns but resumed filming the next day.

Named #7 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Ranked #1 in E! Television's 2006 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies.

Gave her Oscar Statuette, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critic Choice Award to her mother. She felt she didn't need to hang on to awards.

Her godfather Maximilian Schell always gave her a doll as a birthday present, from her first to sixteenth. Sometimes it was a modern doll, made of plastic, sometimes it was an old and precious one, made of wood or porcelain.

Gave her mother the nickname "Great Lady".

One of the first actresses to win 3 consecutive Golden Globes in 3 different categories: "Best Supporting Actress in a Mini Series": George Wallace (1997) (TV), "Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini Series": Gia (1998) (TV), "Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture": Girl, Interrupted (1999). Coincidentally, all her roles were based on real people.

Ranked and Voted #3 by AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2006

Topped People magazine`s "100 most beautiful people" list in 2006 (28 April 2006).

Named #1 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

She and Brad Pitt welcomed daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt on May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa. The government in Namibia is offering citizenship to her new daughter.

Has tattoos of the coordinates representing the birth countries of each of her kids (she even has the coordinates of France tattooed on her arm twice, one each for Knox and Viv), which cover up the Billy Bob Thornton tattoo (June 2006).

Holds a Private Pilot Certificate with the Airplane, Single Engine, Land rating. This means that she is qualified to fly any single-engined aircraft based on land (i.e., no seaplanes) under visual flight rules only (i.e., no instrument qualifications yet so she cannot fly in conditions requiring instruments).

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

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

Was the cover girl for the much anticipated issue of Forbes Magazine, in which appeared the infamous Celebrity 100 list. [June 2006]

Named #4 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2006 list.

Became the third actress to join the coveted $20 Million Club (after Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz), when she signed to do Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) for that amount.

Fan of author Ayn Rand.

Named #2 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Is left-handed and therefore had to have guns specially made so that she could reload them easily for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).

Her mother Marcheline Bertrand died from ovarian cancer in Los Angeles after a 7 1/2 year battle (27 January 2007).

She and Brad Pitt adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy, Pax Thien Jolie (born November 29, 2003), who was initially named Pham Quang Sang (15 March 2007). Pax had lived in the Tam Binh orphanage because he was found abandoned outside a Ho Chi Minh City hospital shortly after his birth. Since the orphanage does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, with Pitt later adopting his son domestically.

Chosen the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British television show "The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols" (February 2007).

Was on the "Time 100", a list of the world's 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" magazine, in 2006.

Ranked #12 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Is an alumna of the Lee Strasberg Institute as are Frank Miranda, Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sally Field.

2007 - Ranked #33 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $20 million.

In 2007, moved to New Orleans with Brad Pitt and their four children.

In 2006, after the birth of her daughter Shiloh, she sold the first pictures of her newborn for $4,100,000. She later donated the profits to charity.

Ranked #3 in the 2008 Forbes The Celebrity 100 list.

The first-ever male to hold Jolie in his arms was Charley Boorman. He'd earlier served as a pageboy at the wedding of Jolie's parents Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand during the Deliverance (1972) shoot, and later happened to be present during the delivery of Jolie. Boorman was just 8-years-old and Jolie was but an infant. Today (2008) Boorman quips that his epitaph should read: "I was the first man to get his hands on Angelina Jolie".

Gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France around 8 PM via c-section. Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt weighed 5lbs 3 oz. and Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt weighed 5 lbs.

Was considered for the role of Kelly Kapowski on "Saved by the Bell" (1989).

Since becoming a Goodwill Ambassador in 2001, she has visited over 20 countries.

In an interview about her movie Changeling (2008), Angie revealed that although her mom's name was Marcheline, everyone called her "Marshmallow", because she was such a softie.

Went to Beverly Hills High School with writer/actor Quincy Rose and Antonia Bennett, the daughter of Tony Bennett.

Did not return to work until eight months after giving birth to twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon in order to begin filming Salt (2010).

Personal Quotes

Therapy? I don't need that. The roles that I choose are my therapy.

Because I am a bad girl, people always automatically think that I am a bad girl. Or that I carry a dark secret with me or that I'm obsessed with death. The truth is that I am probably the least morbid person one can meet. If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens.

And my dad, you're a great actor but you're a better father.

[On if she ever caught her husband Billy Bob Thornton cheating] I've told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn't kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up. I know where all of his sports injuries are. And I'd beat her, too!

I'll make it real simple, I'm a 36-C. In the game, she's a double-D. In the movie [Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)] she's a D. We split the difference . . . [Lara] is much more athletic, and she has smaller breasts, but she's still Lara Croft, so there.

I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It's like people see Hackers (1995) and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I'd like to play strong women who are also very feminine.

I'd like to believe that the people that have supported me in my work or identified with me in films, the people that feel they know me, they do and they don't have misconceptions - they understand. I believe that.

[on her split from husband Billy Bob Thornton] I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time. It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it's not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. It's clear to me that our priorities shifted overnight. He's focused on his music and career. I'm focused on my baby. It comes down to what's important to you.

[People Magazine 8 July 1996] There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate life now.

[on playing Olympias in Alexander (2004)] I felt that if I lived at that time, with the dangers she had and the threats she had and the lack of power she had as a woman, I would not have been that different from her. And I thought I also just saw her as a mother who really would push her son at a time that if he didn't get the throne, he didn't acquire a certain kind of strength and ability and greatness, he would probably just die or be killed or be exiled. So out of concern, out of love for your own, just to come from this place that seems very much like the horrible mafia father, but in fact it was for his own survival that she was focused on, which made it very easy for me to focus on thinking of my own son and what he had to do to protect himself from bad things that could hurt him.

If you don't get out of the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how much bigger the world is.

[on the superficiality of the industry] We are setting an example of what we think is beautiful and you really want to put that much make up on me?

You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons - and not all those stupid things that people tell you you're useful for.

[(CNN International Edition 29th January, 2005)] My role as goodwill ambassador has made my work as a film star relatively dull. I can't find anything that interests me enough to go back to work. I'm simply not excited about anything. I'm not excited about going to a film set.

[on what she does with the money she makes each year] Save one-third, live on one-third and give away one-third.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I'm not frightened by anyone's perception of me.

If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

Love one person, take care of them until you die. You know, raise kids. Have a good life. Be a good friend. And try to be completely who you are. And figure out what you personally love. And like go after it with everything you've got no matter how much it takes.

[Regarding the possibility of marriage with her current beau and father of her child, Brad Pitt] We have both been married before so it's not marriage that necessarily kept some people together.

[2002] I'm drawn to kids that are already born. I think some people are meant to do certain things, and I believe I'm meant to find my children in the world somewhere and not necessarily have them genetically.

[interview with Ann Curry] I'm in a strange, I suppose, place in my life. I think that happens when you lose a parent, where you drop into a different kind of serious. And yet, at the same time, you want to laugh and enjoy as much as possible every day. I'm hanging on to my family really tight at this moment, and, because of that, trying to be as good a woman as I can be in my life. Dammit, you got me crying.

It's alright. It's a part of life . . . I lost my mom. It's a natural thing for a child to lose a parent. I lost my mom too young, but it happened. And I'm happy she's out of pain, because I love her and she's my friend.

Not many people know this about me but I'm a natural blonde. My hair went from light blonde naturally to a darker kind of blonde. My mother dyed my hair dark when I was a child as I loved the look then. So I'm basically a natural blonde.

[on making action movies] I think there's always going to be that side of me. [Harrison Ford] is doing it, and he's doing it well, (so) it looks like I've got some more time.

Salary
Wanted (2008) $15,000,000
Beowulf (2007) $8,000,000
A Mighty Heart (2007) $10,000,000
The Good Shepherd (2006) $10,000,000
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) $20,000,000
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) $12,000,000
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) $7,000,000

Where Are They Now

(January 2006) Expecting a child with boyfriend Brad Pitt in Summer 2006

(January 2006) In the Dominican Republic filming The Good Shepherd (2006).

(May 2006) Gave birth to her third child, a girl named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt with boyfriend Brad Pitt on May 27, 2006.

(October 2006) In Pune, India filming A Mighty Heart (2007).

(July 2008) Gives birth to twins, a boy named Knox Leon and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline, in Nice, France.

Charlize Theron Biography

2009-07-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
7 August 1975, Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa

Nickname
Charlie

Height
5' 9½" (1.77 m)

Mini Biography

Charlize Theron grew up on a farm outside Benoni, South Africa, as the only child. She got an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and the "Nutcracker Suite". There wasn't much for a young actress or dancer to do in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and United States of America, where she got job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She was also able to work as a photo model. However, an injured knee put a halt to her dancing career.

At the age of 18, her mother made her go to Los Angeles to try a career in the movie industry. She came to Los Angeles without knowing anyone in the city but after two weeks when she was standing in line on Hollywood Boulevard an agent gave her his card. After eight months in Los Angeles she got her first part. Since then, she has taken acting lessons and her career has skyrocketed, most lately in The Devil's Advocate (1997).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Mattias Thuresson < mattias.thuresson@mbox300.swipnet.se>

Mini Biography

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg-area, South Africa on August 7th, 1975. Her mother, Gerda, is German, while her late father, Charles, was French (she was named after him).

Charlize began her modeling career in 1991 aged 16 when she won a local modeling contest. She started modeling in Europe and came to New York a year later. She didn't like being a model though, and decided to try her luck with ballet, which had been her biggest passion as a child. Unfortunately, a knee injury prevented her from dancing. Her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles in 1994 and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Boulevard but without any luck. She went to the bank to cash a check for $500 she'd got from her mother and became furious when she learned that the bank could not cash her check because it was an out-state check. She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange that she learn the language, which she did by watching soap operas on TV. Her first role was as a young mother in a park in a B-film in 1995, but it was a non-speaking role with three seconds of screen time. Her next role was as Helga in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina in That Thing You Do! (1996). Since then, she has starred in movies like The Devil's Advocate (1997); Mighty Joe Young (1998); The Cider House Rules (1999); The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003). An important day in her life was February 29th, 2004 when she was awarded with her first Academy Award for her performance in Monster (2003).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Lola Sarnowska

Trivia

When she was 15 her father attacked her mother, and her mother shot him in self-defense. He died, but her mother was not charged in the incident.

First language is Afrikaans, English is spoken as her second language.

Appeared in the May 1999 issue of Playboy Magazine.

Became a fashion model at age 14.

Named one of "People" magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. (2000).

Turned down the female lead in Pearl Harbor (2001) to star alongside Keanu Reeves in Sweet November (2001).

Auditioned for the female lead of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995).

Dated Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of the band Third Eye Blind, from January 1998 to July 2001.

Was ranked 4th of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001).

Placed #1 on Beautiful People Internet Poll, narrowly beating Cameron Diaz in #2 and Kate Beckinsale in #3. The photo featured on the site was the famous 'Diving Board' photo.

Both her parents are Africans, born and raised in South Africa. However her father is of French descent and her mother of German descent.

Voted the 12th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Measurements: 36B-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Used hypnotherapy as an aid to quit smoking.

Was named after her father, whose name was Charles.

She gained 30 pounds to play Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003).

On the show, "Sunday Morning Shootout" (2003), it was revealed that her manager discovered her in a Hollywood bank after he witnessed her yelling at a bank teller for refusing to cash her check.

Won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Aileen Wuornos on what would have been Aileen's 48th birthday: 29 February 2004.

After winning her Oscar, she returned to great celebrations in her native South Africa, and she even met former South African President Nelson Mandela. When he praised her for putting their country on the map and gave her a hug, Theron broke into tears (she was guest of honor at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on March 11th 2004).

She has been dating Irish actor Stuart Townsend since August 2001.

Has said her favorite actor is Tom Hanks.

In 2004, injured her neck while filming Æon Flux (2005). Luckily, the injury wasn't serious enough to put her in the hospital, but it did shut down production for several weeks.

As a teenager in her native South Africa, she learned English by watching American TV.

At the 2005 Golden Globes she was sporting a new dark hair color. She is a now a member of the celebrities who have dyed their hair from blonde to brown, or black. They include, among others: Mary-Kate Olsen; Nicky Hilton; Mandy Moore; Renée Zellweger; Christina Aguilera, Melinda Messenger and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz.

She was the first person to sign on to be a presenter at the 77th Annual Academy Awards.

Second actress (the first was Kim Basinger) to win an Oscar after appearing naked in Playboy magazine.

Met fiancé Stuart Townsend on the set of Trapped (2002).

She is the second South African-born person to win an Academy Award. The South African-born cinematographer Ted Moore was the first. South African-born actor Basil Rathbone was the first South African-born actor to be nominated, followed by Cecil Kellaway. Theron was the first South African-born woman to win an Oscar.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (September 29, 2005).

Named #15 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Æon Flux (2005). However, she failed to receive a nomination. (Had she gotten the nomination, she would have been the first person to be nominated for both Leading Actress awards at the Oscars, for North Country (2005), and the Razzies.)

Named #4 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement (2005).

Studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck.

Named #15 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Dyed her hair black for Æon Flux (2005).

Trained as a ballet dancer at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, and performed in both "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". Her dancing career ended after a knee injury.

One of the first movies she ever went to see at the theater was Splash (1984). She confessed that after watching the movie, she felt jealous of Daryl Hannah and developed a crush on Tom Hanks. She even said to herself that she could have played the role of Madison better than Hannah.

Was the recipient of the German television award "Goldene Kamera" for best international actress and appeared also in the award show. The award is sponsored by the German television program "Hörzu". [2006]

Shares the same background as actor Daniel Bonjour who also left South Africa as a teenage actor and traveled to Europe and then America. Both their parents are of European background. Also, both actors have found it easier to simply use an American accent in their work.

Chosen by Femme Fatales magazine as one of the "50 sexiest women on the planet". [February 2006]

Esquire magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2007.

Entertainment Weekly predicted her Oscar win for Monster (2003) eleven months before she won it.

She earns $2 million per year endorsing Dior's J'Adore fragrance as well as $2.5 million per year endorsing Swiss Watch-maker, Raymond Weil.

At 16, she won a modeling competition to go to Milan and work on the catwalks and at 18, she won a scholarship to study ballet at the Joffrey School in New York. She turned to acting only because she injured both knees.

Mother's name is Gerda.

Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year for 2008.

Announced on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) that she is now a United States citizen (March 12, 2008).

Ranked #11 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Was considered for the role of Vickie Kittrie in Mercy (2000).

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Has stated that the only reason she signed on to star in Æon Flux (2005) was for money.

Was in consideration for the part of Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

Personal Quotes

[on the revelation that her mother shot and killed her father while he was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] I was always Mama's girl, and I always felt like her protector.

Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it's about time we had a female president. I don't think we're that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Rodham Clinton runs - I really admire her.

I've always been very proud to be a South African and I've always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power I promise you I will do. I don't think it's too much pressure. I think it's our duty as citizens of this country. You don't have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I'll be glad to be that.

I'm 50-50 on glamour stuff. I'd rather put on a pair of jeans and get on my Harley and act like a guy.

I think of myself as a highly sexual creature. I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn't grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.

[on the importance of the Toronto Film Festival for smaller films] If people, critics respond to the film there, it starts a nice little wave of chat, which for a movie like North Country (2005) is really important. It's one of those films that travels by word of mouth.

[on marriage] I'm happy for people who want to get married, but it's not my thing. I'm extremely happy in my relationship and I would love to have kids.

[on accents] At first I found it really hard using three different English accents: South African, faking the American, faking the accent required by the job. I decided to make it easier for myself and just do one. I haven't lost my culture, just my accent.

[on bad habits and guilty pleasures] Anything fried I'll take. Are you kidding me? I will fry my shoe and eat it.

Looks alone won't get you that far. It may get you in the door, but there's always somebody younger, somebody prettier. You have to rely on something else.

What kind of stories can you tell with glamor? There are very few stories of conflict you can tell, right? I look for good stories; I'm not driven by anything other than good filmmakers and good stories. And then my job as an actor is to service those stories as well as I possibly can. The physical is the last thing that drives me.

I live a very simple life. I don't have to make those giant movies. I don't have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don't have to worry about all that stuff. I don't have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house I can't afford.

I've always said that I worry about being with a man who doesn't flirt.

[on a possible biopic of her life] God, I hope not. I've been working harder than anything in my life to try and keep my life sacred. I really don't mind when I'm in front of a camera and playing a character I'm comfortable with . . . but I don't necessarily like the spotlight to be about me - not at all. The idea of sitting in Cannes and watching that . . . ugh. No.

[on playing unglamorous characters yet posing for glamorous spreads] Well, guess what? I'm a sexual creature. There's nothing wrong with that. Why do we have to be ashamed of being so many different things? Why do we have to be only one thing, a good mother or a hooker? I don't think that what's under my clothes is evil. I'm a woman, I'm feminine. And I like the way I look. And I celebrate that. And I don't make excuses for that.

People just aren't willing to see conflict, or ugliness or the more flawed side of life through a female character's eyes. I mean, can you imagine a woman playing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)? When Robert De Niro does it it's fine, [but] people are very uncomfortable about seeing that through a woman's eyes. We aren't allowed complexity.

[on the media's reaction to her appearance in In the Valley of Elah (2007) It just bummed me out because I was, "What do you want? Do you want me to play a detective from Albuquerque who's a single mom in a Dior dress?" The way they focused on my appearance, I felt like it hurt [the film] and I was embarrassed because [director] Paul Haggis had worked really hard, and just because I had a ponytail that's what they were talking about.

I don't believe in charmed lives. I think that tragedy is part of the lesson you learn to lift yourself up, to pick yourself up and to move on.

[on being congratulated by Nelson Mandela and South African president Thabo Mbeki after winning a Best Actress Oscar for Monster (2003)] I don't think I want to be a pin-up for anything! The people who inspire me are the ones who just live life and live it in a way that's good-natured. Do unto others what you want done unto yourself. It's not that hard. Don't screw people over. Enjoy life, travel, adventure. Enjoy. I try to just live my life in as good and authentic a way as possible. And I just wish people would write about that and the matter-of-fact way that that is, rather than, "On a summer's day, her mother shot her father". It's like I walk around with this badge. I live my life the way I want to live my life. It's like I have chosen this life. I want to be able to go to sleep at night and feel that I'm not haunted and I'm happy and I enjoyed my day in London and that I enjoy my friends and my love, and that if this is all gone tomorrow, like that man who died so horribly in front of me when I was five, that it was good.

[on her mother shooting her father, who was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] You know, people drank. Some people drank more, but it was never considered that this might be a problem. It was just the way it was then.

[on her role in Monster (2003)] I was trying to make the correlation between Aileen Wuornos and her experiences when she was very young. And I was reminded of something that happened to me. I was five years old and we were driving . . . all the cars stopped because a truck had rolled over and was ablaze. The doors were jammed and there was a man trapped inside. In South Africa everybody carries a weapon, and the man begged for someone to shoot him because he didn't want to burn to death. Nobody could get him out of the cab, so somebody shot him. It was horrific, but definitely a moment that made me have a great value for life. Other things in life have taught me not to take a moment for granted.

I never got offered parts like that, never. And it took a woman, a first-time female director to offer me that role. Paul Haggis [the director of Crash (2004/I) and In the Valley of Elah (2007)] recently said to me, "You know, often it's the material that will define an actor, but you didn't do that. You defined yourself with what you chose to do". And I thought that was a nice compliment.

I do like the challenge of finding material that people don't want to risk a lot of money on and that studios don't necessarily jump to go, "Yeah! We want to tell that story." And how could I not after I had done something like Monster (2003)? Everybody wondered how a movie like that could be successful.

[on her role in Hancock (2008)] I keep myself guessing. I get bored so quickly. I just really liked the material. And the girl was cool. I wasn't ticking any boxes. I just try and do good material and how it gets made is secondary . . . and anyway, it's really nice to get a decent paycheck.

As you get older, you get wrinkles and your boobs sag. But you get wisdom, too. So it's not all bad!

[in response to a reporter's question as to which side of the bed she sleeps on] The side that you're not on.

[responding to a question as to why she doesn't have kids] I actually have seven children no one knows about--in a cave. They can see Russia from their house, too.

I don't avoid glamorous roles. I played Britt Ekland [in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)], who is one of the most beautiful women alive. But I don't see so many. You tell me one glamorous role that is in a good movie you have seen in the last ten years. My point is, it's not a case of wanting to be glamorous or not. It's about wanting to tell a good story. And the physical is at the bottom of the list for me. Your job, as an actor, is to be a clean canvas for your director, and you have to tell the story as authentically as possible.

I don't know if I would be who I am today if I'd grown up in a different country. In our house the news was always on, the newspaper was always on the dining room table and my parents had a real thirst for politics, and that's how I grew up. A lot of my American friends grew up in a different way, and because of what's happened in America in recent years, they are asking questions, playing catch-up. But I can understand that, because they were living in a country that was comfy and cosy. I wasn't. I want to know what is going on. I have an interest in world politics - how can you not when you live on this Earth? I'm just flabbergasted when people don't give a shit.

I can remember [growing up in South Africa] we'd have to travel an hour to the nearest drive-in cinema, and we'd go and never really knew what was playing. But once you got there, it was an hour's drive back, so you may as well watch whatever it was. I was about eight or nine and Fatal Attraction was playing and Mom didn't want to turn all the way round, so she was like, 'Well, this is as good a way for you to learn as any.'

On her mother shooting her father: I don't think you can go through something like that and not kind of walk with it, hand in hand. But you try very hard to move on.

My mother was an incredible example to me. I can't imagine going through life without her. I think she has influenced who I am, but without intent really. She would always say, 'That's how I feel, but you should figure it out for yourself.' I think of my life now and I realise that the way I was brought up is why I can deal with so much now. I'm responsible for my own actions, my own decisions. So it's a weird one, because she didn't want me to be her, but I think now, at 32, I look at her and I kind of go, 'Wow, I somehow aspire to be you.' I think she really values me being independent and being myself.

The reason I did North Country (2005) wasn't just because of what the women were going through. I was really fascinated to understand where the men came from. But what those women suffered was appalling. Just appalling. The real lady that this happened to is still in therapy and on medication. When you meet her, you understand that this has taken a real toll on her.

Look, I can't forget I'm a woman. I love being a woman and I love being feminine, so that will always be part of my work, obviously. But I approach the material with a more humanistic approach. I think that kind of stuff can become over-earnest if you approach it with a big hammer. Personally I've been lucky. Maybe it's the way I was raised, but I know right from wrong and I know wrong when I walk into a room - and if I feel it's wrong, I walk right out again.

There were a lot of pros to winning the Oscar, but a lot of cons too. Suddenly it all became about transformation. Every movie I did after Monster (2003) was jumped upon as yet another transformation. Even when I only had dirt on my face, like in North Country (2005) it was transformation.

I do all this work with Guillermo Arriaga on the The Burning Plain (2008) script, we explore all these themes, and then we come on these junkets and it's like: 'So, you don't play a glamorous role again.' Sometimes I just want to look at people and say, 'Have you really thought this through?' You know, how many great stories can you tell in a Dior dress? Or is it because I've done a J'adore perfume ad that I can only be one type of woman? I don't think women are that. We are many things. One day we wake up and we want to put on jeans and T-shirt, and the next day we want to fucking have our hair done. But that doesn't mean that I don't have access to raw emotion.

Asked if beauty is a problem for her: No. But it seems to be a problem for journalists.

I don't know how to say this without sounding strange. But I feel like having this tragedy [her mother shot her father] at such a young age has given me a leg up from other people. Because, man, from 16, I knew the value of life and I knew how quickly it could be taken away. And from that moment on, I made a choice to either swim or to drown, you know?

People want to think that I am this tortured soul, that my work is drawn only from this one well. And though I would never sit here and say that it didn't mark me, or mould me into the person that I am, my life has had many painful journeys and heartbreaks since my father died, many of which I draw on for my work.

Where Are They Now

(January 2005) Took a break from filming Æon Flux (2005) due to a minor injury, but returned to the set. She was also a presenter at the Golden Globes in the middle of January.

(June 2005) On Greek island, Santorini, having a vacation with Stuart Townsend.

Halle Berry Biography

2009-07-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
14 August 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Birth Name
Halle Maria Berry

Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Halle Berry was born on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA to African American father Jerome Berry, a former hospital attendant, and Caucasian mother Judith Berry, a retired psychiatric nurse. Halle also has an older sister named Heidi Berry. Halle first came into the spotlight at 17 years old when she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio in 1985 and, a year later in 1986, when she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant. After participating in the pageant, Halle became a model. It eventually led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's "Living Dolls" (1989), where she soon gained a reputation for her on-set tenacity, preferring to "live" her roles and remaining in character even when the cameras stopped rolling. It paid off though when she reportedly refused to bathe for several days before starting work on her role as a crack addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991) because the role provided her big screen breakthrough. The following year, she was cast as Eddie Murphy's love interest in Boomerang (1992), one of the few times that Murphy was evenly matched on screen. In 1994, Berry gained a youthful following for her performance as sexy secretary "Sharon Stone" in The Flintstones (1994). She next had a highly publicized costarring role with Jessica Lange in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Though the movie received mixed reviews, Berry didn't let that slow her down, and continued down her path to super-stardom. In 1998, she received critical success when she starred as a street smart young woman who takes up with a struggling politician in Warren Beatty's Bulworth (1998). The following year, she won even greater acclaim for her role as actress Dorothy Dandridge in made-for-cable's Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series. In 2000, she received box office success in X-Men (2000) in which she played "Storm", a mutant who has the ability to control the weather.
IMDb Mini Biography By: TrendEkiD@aol.com

Spouse
Eric Benét (24 January 2001 - 3 January 2005) (divorced)
David Justice (31 December 1992 - 24 June 1997) (divorced)

Trivia

She was placed on three years probation and ordered to pay $13,500 in fines and penalties after pleading no contest on May 10, 2000 to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of a traffic accident. The judge also ordered the actress to perform 200 hours of community service and to make restitution as determined by the outcome of civil litigation arising from the February accident when she was driving a rented Chevrolet Blazer and ran a red light and crashed into another car on Sunset Boulevard. She left the scene of the accident before authorities arrived, suffered a gash to her head that required 20 stitches to close, and the woman (Hetal Raythatha) driving the other vehicle broke her wrist. Halle reported the accident to a police officer at the hospital where she sought treatment.

Is type 1 diabetic.

Her parents, Judith Ann Hawkins & Jerome Jesse Berry, divorced when she was 4 years old. She was then raised by her mom. When researching for her role of Dorothy Dandridge, she discovered that she and Dorothy were both born in the same Cleveland, Ohio hospital.

One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People." [1998]

Miss USA; first runner-up to Christy Fichtner who was on the first season of "Who Wants to Marry My Dad?" (2004). [1986]

Miss Ohio USA. [1986]

Miss Teen All American. [1985]

Attended Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio.

Turned down the role of Annie in Speed (1994/I).

Is named after the grand old Halle Building in Cleveland, Ohio, which originally housed the Halle Brothers department store. The building is now an office building and the fictional setting for the Winfred-Louder department store on "The Drew Carey Show" (1995).

In high school, was an honor society member, editor of the school paper, and class president. Was also crowned prom queen.

Born at 9:03 p.m EDT

Lost some hearing in one of her ears due to a physical encounter with a boyfriend in the early 90s.

Attended Heskett Middle School in Bedford Heights, Ohio.

First African American actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress.

Older sister Heidi Berry (b. 1964) is estranged from Halle.

April 10, 2002 - She received an injury on the set of Die Another Day (2002). Halle was injured on location in Cadiz, Spain while shooting an action sequence that involved Pierce Brosnan firing on a helicopter being flown by Rick Yune.

Portrayed Dorothy Dandridge in the made for television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV). Dorothy Dandridge was the first African- American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and coincidentally Halle Berry is the first to have won in that category.

Was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2002.

Graduate of Bedford High School, Bedford, Ohio

First black American in the Miss World Competition. She didn't win a prize but her dress did.

She and Kim Basinger are the only "Bond girls" to win Oscars.

Her dress for the 2002 Oscars ceremony was voted the most popular from the first 75 years.

Ranked #96 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List.

Named one of the 50 most beautiful people in People Magazine in 2003.

Voted the 10th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Starred in four movies with Hugh Jackman: X-Men (2000), Swordfish (2001) and X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

May 2003 - Broke her arm on the set of Gothika (2003), filming in Montreal.

Measurements: 36C-22-37 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Was a Bearcats cheerleader at Bedford High School.

Became engaged to singer Eric Benét on 14 August 1999. Benet has a daughter, India (b. 1991).

Half British on her mother's side.

The first actress to star and portray two different comic book characters for two different comic book companies: "Storm" for Marvel's X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003), and "Catwoman" for D.C Comics's Catwoman (2004).

She is currently the highest paid black actress in Hollywood. [2004]

Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in People Magazine in 2004. She has now appeared on this list eight times, tying with Julia Roberts for the most appearances.

Voted as #7 on the "Top 100 Sexiest Women 2004" in FHM [DK].

Played a character called "Sharon Stone" in The Flintstones (1994). Ten years later she appeared with the real Sharon Stone in Catwoman (2004).

Wisely turned down the female lead in box office disaster Gigli (2003), which birthed the relationship of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

Smashed her head into set lights on the set of Catwoman (2004). She wasn't seriously injured.

Adopted a cat (that was originally an extra for Catwoman (2004)) named Playto, to help herself learn about cats. However, she renamed the cat Playdough, because Playto was too serious a name for her.

Her first $1 million salary for a film was for Executive Decision (1996) - a part which she earlier refused.... until she was offered $1 million.

Voted #7 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."

Ranked #15 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

The age difference between herself and Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day (2002) - 12 years and 5 months - is the greatest age difference between two Bond girls in one film since Alison Doody and Grace Jones - a difference of 18 years - in A View to a Kill (1985).

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2004 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was suggessted in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Gothika (2003), she failed to receive a nomination however. The very next year though, she got a nomination for Worst Actress in the film Catwoman (2004).

On Febuary 26, 2005, she showed up in person to accept the Razzie award for Worst Actress for her role as Catwoman (2004) and became the first actress to do so. Accepting the award, Berry smiled and said "Thank you and I hope to God I never see you guys again."

One of only three actresses, along with Faye Dunaway and Liza Minnelli, to win both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Razzie Award for Worst Actress (Dunaway shared her award with Bo Derek).

Frequently hailed as one of Hollywood's best dressed stars.

Was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2005

Voted #1 on BET's "All Shades of Fine: The 25 Hottest Women of the Past 25 Years" (2005)

Her favorite actresses are Dorothy Dandridge, Jodie Foster and Whoopi Goldberg.

Named #41 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' 2006 Woman of the Year

Was born in Cleveland but grew up in Oakwood Village, Ohio. She still has family there.

Named #5 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Was featured as #7 in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002" supplement. (2002)

Mother is from Liverpool, England.

First actress to star in a "Bond-film" following an Oscar win

Adopted Eric Benét's daughter India

Named #6 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Well known for "living" her roles, she refused to bathe for two weeks in preparation for a role as a crack addict in Jungle Fever (1991).

Her maternal grandmother was English. Also has other English (distantly related to the Baronets Beresford, Viscounts of Tyrone, Earls of Tyrone and Marquesses of Waterford, to Barons Decies and to Baron Beresford, and to the Marquess of Campo-Maior Count of Trancoso in Portugal), Irish, German and remote Dutch ancestry.

Received the 2,333rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 3, 2007.

Is one of four African-American actresses to win an Oscar in a competitive category. In chronological order the others are: Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind (1939), Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (1990) and Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006).

Is an active participant with the Jenesee Center (for abused women and children) in Los Angeles.

Ranked #55 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Saved from choking on a fig by Pierce Brosnan during shooting of the love scene on Cuba for Die Another Day (2002).

Is one of only 7 African-American actresses to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. The others in chronological order are: Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Whoopi Goldberg and Angela Bassett.

Studies acting under Ivana Chubbuck.

Halle and her partner Gabriel Aubry became the parents of a daughter named Nahla Ariela Aubry, born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, on 16 March 2008.

Early in her career she auditioned for the role of Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), but lost out to Angela Bassett who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance.

Was given her Oscar-winning role of Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball (2001) after both Angela Bassett and Vanessa Williams turned the role down.

Was named "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire magazine in 2008.

Moved to a residence in Saint-Hyacinthe (Montreal), Quebec, Canada in mid October, 2008.

Did not return to work until eight months after giving birth to her daughter Nahla in order to begin filming Frankie and Alice (2009).

Personal Quotes

On Dorothy Dandridge: "...You have to find a way to be sad on every day, in every scene, in every moment. And always try to hide the sadness. And (then) you'll get the essence of who she was."

"This moment is so much bigger than me, This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll... It's for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Bassett, Vivica A. Fox... and it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance, because the door tonight has been opened." - During her Oscar acceptance speech.

On choosing both serious and popcorn-movie roles: "There's art and there's commerce. You have to find a way to mesh the two. It's important to do the little movies just for the love of the art. But it's those big movies that take you around the world and make you globally famous."

I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again.

I was black growing up in an all-white neighborhood, so I felt like I just didn't fit in. Like I wasn't as good as everybody else, or as smart, or whatever.

Blackness is a state of mind and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white women. So out of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community.

I spent a lot of time with a crown on my head.

The worst thing a man can ever do is kiss me on the first date.

I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my mother is white [her father Jerome is black]. Knowing that has made my life easier, I think.

I want to be the next Spike Lee. I want to help other black folks to get into Hollywood and be successful in Hollywood.

What is my real purpose here? I've looked at what I do. I make believe and make movies. I entertain people and get paid for it. Sometimes it seems like such a shallow existence. How insignificant in the scheme of life.

"When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner. And I hope to God I never see these people again." - on accepting her Razzie Award for Worst Actress

I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as. A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting.

I guess you could say I have bad taste in men. But I no longer feel the need to be someone's wife.

(On receiving a film festival award while pregnant) I am three times the girl I used to be. This is the second red carpet where I didn't have to think about sucking in my stomach - because I can't!

Salary
Perfect Stranger (2007) $10,000,000
Catwoman (2004) $14,000,000
Gothika (2003) $6,000,000
Die Another Day (2002) $4,000,000
Monster's Ball (2001) $600,000
Swordfish (2001) $2,500,000
Executive Decision (1996) $1,000,000

Drew Barrymore Biography

2009-07-18T20:50:00.001-07:00

Date of Birth
22 February 1975, Culver City, California, USA

Birth Name
Drew Blyth Barrymore

Nickname
D

Height
5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Charming, free-spirited and - above all - talented, Drew Barrymore has come a long way since her big-screen breakout in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Despite a troubled and much-publicized adolescence during which she appeared in only a handful of films, Barrymore's star was officially on the rise during the mid-90s with notable appearances in Poison Ivy (1992), Bad Girls (1994/I), Boys on the Side (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and Wes Craven's Scream (1996/I). Turns in The Wedding Singer (1998), Ever After (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), Charlie's Angels (2000), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and Donnie Darko (2001) followed, proving to once-cynical audiences that Barrymore was not only a capable leading lady, but also a gifted and versatile actor. Recent projects have included 50 First Dates (2004), Fever Pitch (2005), Music and Lyrics (2007), Curtis Hanson's Lucky You (2007) and the forthcoming Grey Gardens (2009) (TV).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Nate

Spouse
Tom Green (7 July 2001 - 15 October 2002) (divorced)
Jeremy Thomas (20 March 1994 - 18 February 1995) (divorced)

Trivia

She was the Guest Host for "Saturday Night Live" (1975) when viewers voted that Andy Kaufman would never be allowed to return to the show.

Never finished high school.

Originally offered the lead role in Scream (1996/I) but chose to play Casey Becker because she thought it would be more fun.

Was engaged to Jamie Walters for a brief period of time.

Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [1997]

Daughter of John Drew Barrymore and Jaid Barrymore. Half-sister of John Blyth Barrymore. Niece of actress Diana Barrymore. Granddaughter of actor John Barrymore and Dolores Costello, on her father's side. Great-granddaughter of silent film actor Maurice Costello and Mae Costello. Great-niece of famed actors, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore.

She is half Hungarian from her mother's side.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36. [1984]

Steven Spielberg gave her a quilt for her birthday with a note "Cover yourself up". Enclosed was a copy of the January 1995 issue of Playboy Magazine for which she posed nude, with the pictures altered by Spielberg's art department so that she appeared fully clothed.

Her favorite poet is e.e. cummings.

Won the 1999 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award for favorite movie actress.

Her godmothers are Sophia Loren and Anna Strasberg.

As a child, she auditioned for the role of Carol Ann in Poltergeist (1982).

She was formerly a vegan: "I don't eat a ton of meat, and I don't wear a ton of leather, but I just don't put strict limitations on myself anymore".

She was, at seven years old, the youngest person ever to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Was offered the leading part of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995), but turned it down because she felt uncomfortable with the explicit nudity displayed in the script.

Her $3-million Beverly Hills mansion caught fire while she and fiance Tom Green were inside sleeping. The couple made it safely out, but the house was ruined. [February 2001]

Born at 11:51 AM.

During an appearance on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" (1996), she said that she never watches any of the movies she stars in.

Published an autobiographic book titled "Little Girl Lost" (co-written by herself and contributor Todd Gold) in 1990. At the time of completing the book she was 14.

Married Tom Green twice, 1st eloping to the South Pacific in March 2001, then on July 7, 2001 before family and friends in a ceremony in Malibu, California.

She and Tom Green honeymooned in Ireland.

Ranked #61 in Premiere's 2002 annual Power 100 List.

Measurements: 34C-24-34. (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

In honour of Bill Clinton turning 50, John Kennedy Jr. had Drew pose as Marilyn Monroe on the cover of his magazine, "George", with the heading, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President", which Marilyn Monroe sang to his father at the now-infamous 19 May 1962 Birthday Salute to President John F. Kennedy. (September 1996).

3 February 2004: Got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, joining her famous relatives Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore as recipients of that honour.

Was engaged to Fabrizio Moretti, drummer in the band The Strokes. [2004]

Godmother of the late Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter, Frances Bean.

Referenced by name in the Invertigo song "Typical".

One of her hobbies is photography.

Owns her own production company, "Flower Films".

She is allergic to garlic, bee stings, perfume and coffee.

Lived with David Crosby and his wife for over a year.

Became a Boston Red Sox fan during the filming of the movie Fever Pitch (2005).

Her first of two impulsive marriages was to Welsh-born Jeremy Thomas, who was a Los Angeles barkeep. They had known each other only six weeks before they married, which was decided within hours one night. The impromptu setting was at Thomas' bar, "The Room," on Cahuenga Boulevard, shortly after 5:00 a.m, on March 20, 1994. Supposedly both were sober. The minister was a clairvoyant from a psychic hot line who arrived within a half an hour after being paged.

She was delivered by Dr. Paul Fleiss, father of Heidi Fleiss.

Best friends with Cameron Diaz since Charlie's Angels (2000).

Drives a Porsche Carerra.

Currently (2005) lives part time in Hollywood Hills, and part time in Mahattan, New York.

When she found out that a 23-year-old girl wanted to be on MTV's "I Want a Famous Face" (2004) and have cosmetic surgery to look like her, she contacted the girl and successfully convinced her to not have the surgery.

Ranked #5 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars".

Personal assistant is Kelly Kall.

Is the spokesperson of Lancome.

Was ranked #3 in E's 50 cutest child stars all grown-up. (2005).

Model for Missoni. (2006)

Her godfather Steven Spielberg is also the godfather of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Is a huge fan of The Beach Boys and appeared in their music video, "Rock and Roll To The Rescue" as well as singing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" in the film 50 First Dates (2004). Other favorite musicians include The Beatles, Daft Punk, Lauryn Hill, Coldplay Ratt and Beck.

Was named as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Program. [2007]

On February 3, 2007, she became a member of "Saturday Night Live" (1975)'s "five-timer" club, which consists of celebrities who have hosted five or more times. She is the second female member to date, the first being Candice Bergen.

Great-granddaughter of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore. Great-great granddaughter of Louisa Drew. Great-grand-niece of Sidney Drew. Grand-niece of S. Rankin Drew, Ethel Colt, John Drew Colt, and Samuel Colt.

Close friend of Nancy Juvonen. She and Nancy have a production company together called Flower Films.

Ranked #40 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Referenced by name in the movie Monkeyshine (2008).

EdenPark, a punk band from York, Pennsylvania, recorded a song called "Barry Loves Drew Barrymore" on their limited edition, 2002 vinyl release, "Journey To The Center Of Skull Mountain.".

Broke up with Justin Long. They had dated for about a year. [July 2008]

Referenced in the Tim Sandlin book "Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty" as the future governor of California.

Auditioned for the Nicole Kidman role in Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Personal Quotes

I know certain actors are totally screwed up on drugs, yet it gets covered up. Why wasn't I excused for 'exhaustion' or 'the flu'?

There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.

If I ever start talking to you about my 'craft', my 'instrument', you have permission to shoot me.

I believe in fate. I believe that everything happens for a reason, but I think it's important to seek out that reason - that's how you learn.

I believe you can be the person that you dream of being.

[On her favorite movies to make]: I try to make movies that I would want to go see rather than ones I would just want to do as an actor. I want people to have movies full of romance and hope and empowerment, something they can escape into and feel good about. I love happy endings.

[On her morning routine]: Every morning I stay in bed for ten minutes to ponder my place in the universe. Then I wash my face and check my karma.

Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.

I love levity. As crazy as I am, I just love to laugh!

I'm getting older so those dark circles are really starting to show. Now, I'm starting to look like Night of the Living Dead.

When I lay my head on the pillow at night, I can say "I was a decent person today". That's when I feel beautiful.

There's nothing like the power of a smile.

[As quoted in Woman's World (5-24-05 issue]: I'd rather be a few pounds heavier and enjoy life than be worried all the time.

I don't want to sit around and hope good things happen. I want to make them happen.

[Quoted in Woman's Day, 11-1-05]: My whole life, I've wanted to feel comfortable in my skin. It's the most liberating thing in the world.

My parents are not bad people. It was just a case of them not wanting a child.

You have to fight unhappiness like a dragon with fire and breathe.

As much light as I have inside me, there's just as much darkness, I'm afraid. There's a polarity, and I still have demons to work out.

"I love women who have fought to the change the world and made a difference. I want to be one of them myself".

I did karaoke once - a Pat Benatar song - and my friends looked at me with disgust. (In Style/Sept/2006)

I just think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period. Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness. If somebody walks in the room and they're drop-dead gorgeous and sexy, it's really fun to look at. But if someone is giving of their spirit and they make you laugh and feel good, that's a whole other level of beauty.

[on her attraction to Christian Bale] He's so cute! And I knew him when he was a kid. He was in Empire of the Sun (1987). If he walked into the room now, I would totally clam up. Or I might go overboard and embarrass myself.

Salary
Music and Lyrics (2007) $15,000,000
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) $14,000,000
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) $250,000 (scale)
Donnie Darko (2001) $500,000
Charlie's Angels (2000) $9,000,000
Ever After (1998) $3,000,000

Where Are They Now

(June 2005) Currently filming her new Curtis Hanson movie, Lucky You (2007), a drama, in Los Angeles.

Renée Zellweger Biography

2009-07-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
25 April 1969, Katy, Texas, USA

Birth Name
Renée Kathleen Zellweger

Nickname
Zelly

Height
5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, USA to parents Emil Erich Zellweger, a Swiss-born engineer who married Renée's mother Kjellfrid Irene Andreassen, a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife in 1963. Renée also has a brother named Drew Zellweger, a marketing executive born on February 15, 1967. Renée got interested in acting in high school while working on the drama club. She also took an acting class at the University of Texas (Austin), where she began looking towards acting as a career. After graduation, she wanted to continue acting, but Hollywood is a tough town to break into, so Renée decided to stay in Texas, and auditioned for roles around Houston, where she managed to grab roles in such films as Reality Bites (1994) and Empire Records (1995).

She then took a role in the sequel The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994), where she met Matthew McConaughey, another Hollywood up-and-comer. He was working on a project at the time that Renée was interested in, auditioned for, and won the role in the film Love and a .45 (1994), which earned her enough critical praise that she decided to move to Los Angeles. Another role in The Whole Wide World (1996) followed which led to her big break. Cameron Crowe was busy casting his next film, Jerry Maguire (1996), starring Tom Cruise. Crowe was considering such actresses as Cameron Diaz, Bridget Fonda, Winona Ryder, and Marisa Tomei, when he heard of Zellweger's performance in The Whole Wide World (1996). He auditioned Zellweger and was sure he'd found his Dorothy Boyd.

Renée followed her huge success with a few small independent films and after receiving further critical praise, she felt confident enough to reenter the world of big-budget Hollywood films. She starred opposite Meryl Streep in the tear-jerker One True Thing (1998). She also took a role in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), opposite Jim Carrey, and soon after began dating Carrey. The two denied their relationship at first, but finally gave in and admitted it; today they are no longer together. Also in 2000, she starred in the title role in Nurse Betty (2000), where she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. In 2001, she received even more critical and commercial success in the title role in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). She received her first Academy Award nomination for her role, which was followed by her second Oscar-nominated role in the musical Chicago (2002). She then again wowed audiences with her fierce yet warm portrayal of Ruby Thewes in the film adaptation of Cold Mountain (2003), which won Zellweger an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which was her first Academy Award.
IMDb Mini Biography By: TrendEkiD@aol.com

Spouse
Kenny Chesney (9 May 2005 - 20 December 2005) (annulled)

Trivia

Swiss father, Norwegian mother.

Chosen by 'People Magazine' as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [2001]

She was a part of the Katy High School Bengal Brigade and Cheerleaders.

Was in the bathroom when it was announced that she won the Golden Globe for her performance in Nurse Betty (2000).

Named one of E!'s "top 20 entertainers of 2001."

With no dance or voice training, she learned how to perform for Chicago (2002) by watching co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. She endured a grueling training regime of vocal coaching and dance training for 10 months to rise to professional standards.

Her dog, Dylan, a collie-golden retriever mix, died in November 2003.

While her mother is originally from Norway, her Swiss father was raised in Australia.

Attended University of Texas at Austin, Graduated 1991, majoring in English.

Worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club while trying to catch her "big break" in acting.

Had a non-speaking role in Dazed and Confused (1993).

Prior to the filming of Chicago (2002), Renee had only sung previously in public in the last scene of Empire Records (1995) and in the comical karaoke scene in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). However, critics were amazed how good her voice was in the movie.

Lived with actor Rory Cochrane for four years.

Gained 20 pounds for her role in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001).

Her Norwegian mother, Kjellfrid Irene Andreassen, is of Sami origin (a minority originating mainly from the northern parts of the Scandinavian peninsula often referred to as Lappland). Zellweger herself has many typical Sami features, such as strong cheekbones and slanted eyes.

She became the first performer to win 2 individual (excluding best acting ensemble) SAG awards in film catagories.

Is accompanied to many award shows and other functions by her long time agent John Carrabino.

Her father (Emil Erich Zellweger) and her grandparents (Dorothy and Emil Zellweger) lived in Switzerland, a village called Au in the canton of St. Gallen. They left right after World War II and moved first to Australia and then to the U.S. Emil Erich met Renee's mother on a boat during the crossing to the U.S.

Ended her relationship with Jack White (they met during the filming of Cold Mountain (2003)) over the Christmas holidays in 2004.

Married country singer Kenny Chesney on the resort island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Her wedding ceremony lasted 15 minutes.

Met her future husband Kenny Chesney at a tsunami relief benefit in January 2005.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame [May 24, 2005].

In 2004, she accepted the Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role" on behalf of Johnny Depp, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony

She wore a gown designed by her favorite designer, Carolina Adriana Herrera, for her wedding to Kenny Chesney.

Friend of Reese Witherspoon.

Dyed her hair brown for her role in Cinderella Man (2005).

Her father's family comes from Au in canton St. Gallen/Switzerland. This is just a few minutes away from Rorschach where Emil Jannings was born, the very first actor to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Fan of Chelsea FC (England soccer club).

First on-screen kiss was with Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites (1994).

Is one of six actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (2000), Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005), Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006) and Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008).

Was considered for the role of Jessica Kimble in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993).

She visited Argentina, in 1996, to promote, with Vincent D'Onofrio, the film The Whole Wide World (1996) in Mar del Plata Film Festival, where she won the Best Actress Award for this film.

Dating Dan Abrams [February 5, 2009].

Honored as Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year for 2009 on February 5, 2009.

Was the first choice to play the part of Carla Albanese in Nine (2009), but the role was eventually given to Penélope Cruz.

Was in consideration for the part of Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

Personal Quotes

On Los Angeles "It opens your eyes in this town, it's amazing. It's taught me who I don't want to be."

Regarding the lifestyle of the people of Romania, she says, "I learned how little in the way of material goods we really need, and how beautiful a simple life can be. In Romania people work with their hands every day, and you'll see an 80-year-old woman still chopping wood because she's been looking after herself all her life, and she still has the strength to do it."

"It saddens me every day when people come up and say, 'OK, how did you lose that weight?' I can't speak about it because I am not an authority on weight loss. I am just not. I am not challenged with a medical situation that's weight-related and that I need to pay attention to". [On the weight she lost after Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)].

It was very exciting for me to fill out Bridget's dresses. It felt really great. I didn't feel any different. I didn't feel uncomfortable, and I didn't feel as if it changed my life. I got such positive responses from the fellows in my life while I looked like Bridget Jones. I had a lot of friends who said I should think about keeping some of the weight on. I have to say I agreed, because there were certain things about it I liked very much. But, of course, I'm a girl, and I thought, 'Ugh, no.' Like anybody, I want to look my best.

"I see the Oscar [for best supporting actress in Cold Mountain (2003)] in my bedroom, and it's like I bought it in a souvenir shop on Hollywood Boulevard".

My life has far exceeded what I might ever have dreamed of because I would never have been so bold as to dream that these things might happen to me.

"I wanted to be self-sufficient, I wanted to take care of myself, and I wanted to learn. I wanted to travel, I wanted to see the world and have my eyes opened. I wanted to be consistently challenged, and I knew I needed to be creative in some way. When I got my job in a bar and I could pay for my tuition and go on auditions and sometimes get jobs that I loved and pay my rent, I knew that I would be all right. That's when my dreams came true, long before the telephone rang and someone said, 'Come and meet Tom Cruise'".

"It's great to be a brunet. I can sneak around downtown Los Angeles and nobody knows it's me. I went to Starbucks to get my coffee in the morning, and they said, 'What's your name?' I said, 'Oh, Renée.' Nobody even looked at me twice. My friends even walk past me. It's fantastic because I feel so free again. That's why I think the old adage that blonds have more fun is a presumption!" [on dying her hair brown]

I think we can all relate to Bridget standing in a hallway wanting to know, 'Do you love me or not?' She just blurts it out and maybe that makes her seem like she's not strong. I think she's very brave because she's speaking her mind. Ultimately, she knows that even if she doesn't get the right answer from this man, she will still get up and move forward. That's strength to me.

What I admire most about Bridget is her ever-present optimism in the face of adversity. I love how she has romantic troubles, but she gets back up and even laughs at herself. Me? I do my best. I keep on trying, anyway.

Emotionally gaining the weight didn't affect me. In fact, I was afraid that I didn't gain enough weight. We were working six days a week, so my fear was that I'd lose a few pounds from the work, and the fluctuations in my weight would show on the screen. But they weren't noticeable. (On her weight gain in _Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)_).

People did suggest to me, 'Oh, it might not be necessary to gain that much weight or as much as you did last time.' I thought the weight was essential in repeating the journey. If you're not going to be who she is, then what is the point?

I am very proud to be Norwegian. [1996 interview]

[On her friendship with George Clooney, her co-star in Leatherheads (2008)] We have a lovely relationship. I write him six-page emails about my political rage and he writes back.

(On landing Jerry Maguire (1996)) I remember driving to the audition, and I remember being very calm because I was thinking, 'This is never going to happen'.

Salary
Cinderella Man (2005) $5,000,000
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) $11,000,000
Cold Mountain (2003) $15,000,000
Down with Love (2003) $6,000,000
Chicago (2002) $10,000,000
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) $3,750,000

Where Are They Now

(September 2005) Annouced that she is getting a divorce from country music star Kenny Chesney after just 4 months of marriage.

(September 2006) In Vancouver filming Case 39 (2009).

Reese Witherspoon Biography

2009-07-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
22 March 1976, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Birth Name
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon

Height
5' 1½" (1.56 m)

Mini Biography

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 at Southern Baptist Hospital (now Memorial Medical Center) in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the second child born to Dr. John Witherspoon and Betty Reese. Her father was a military surgeon specializing in the ear, nose and throat. Her mother was a Registered Nurse who later became a Ph.D in pediatric nursing. Reese spent the first four years of her life in Wiesbaden, Germany where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army reserves. Shortly after, John moved the family back to the States, settling in Nashville, Tennessee.

Reese was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. At age 7, she began modeling. This led to appearances on several local television commercials. At age 11, she placed first in a Ten-State Talent Fair.

In 1990, she landed her first major acting role in Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon (1991). Her role as a 14-year old tomboy earned her rave reviews. Roles in bigger films such as Jack the Bear (1993) and A Far Off Place (1993) followed shortly after.

Following high school graduation in 1994 from Harpeth Hall, a Nashville all girls school, Reese decided to put her acting career on hold and attend Stanford University where she would major in English literature. However, her collegiate plans were shortly dashed when she accepted roles to star in two major motion pictures: Fear (1996) alongside Mark Wahlberg and Freeway (1996) with Kiefer Sutherland. Although neither film was a huge box-office success, they did help to establish Reese as a rising starlet in Hollywood and open the door for bigger and better film roles. Those bigger roles came in movies such as Pleasantville (1998), Election (1999) and Cruel Intentions (1999).

Her breakthrough role came as Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde (2001). The movie was huge box-office smash and established Reese as one of the top female draws in Hollywood. The next year, she scored a follow-up hit with Sweet Home Alabama (2002) which went on to gross over $100 million dollars at the box office. In 2006, she took home the best actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (2005).

Off the screen, she was married to Ryan Phillippe from 1999 to 2007. They met at her 21st birthday party and subsequently worked together in Cruel Intentions (1999). They have two children: a daughter, Ava Elizabeth (born 9 September 1999) and a son, Deacon (born 23 October 2003).
IMDb Mini Biography By: SteveG

Spouse
Ryan Phillippe (5 June 1999 - 13 June 2008) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

Majored in English Literature at Stanford University; on leave from her studies as of 1998.

Shortly after she started acting she had an audition for a role in Cape Fear (1991). She was supposed to meet with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese for the audition, but at the time didn't really know who they were. On the plane she was talking to the man next to her about her audition, and the man started to rave to her about De Niro and Scorsese. This made her so nervous that she completely blew the audition and the role eventually went to Juliette Lewis.

daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe born [9 September 1999]

Refused the lead roles in two horror movies, Scream (1996/I) and Urban Legend (1998).

Was considered for the role of Juliet in Romeo + Juliet (1996).

One of her ancestors, John Witherspoon, signed the Declaration of Independence. In the movie 1776 (1972), the role of Dr. John Witherspoon was played by James Noble.

Her mother, Betty, has a Ph.D. in pediatric nursing and her dad, John, is a surgeon.

Named one of People Magazine's "25 Most Intriguing People of 2001"

Named one of E!'s "Top 20 Entertainers of 2001".

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002.

Went to Harpeth Hall School, a private school for girls in Nashville, Tennessee

She runs a production company called "Type A Films" with Debra Siegal

Appears in Entertainment Weekly's Most Powerful List sitting at #22

At the young age of 11 she won the "Ten State Talent Award"

She was a cheerleader in high school and a debutante.

Reese is her mother's maiden name.

Has moved her production company, Type A Films, to Universal Pictures. Has signed a two-year first-look production pact with Universal. The studio has already picked up a romantic comedy pitch, Sports Widow (2010), for her to star in and produce.

She appeared in a television commercial when she was 7 for a local Nashville florist.

Has been named one of Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" along with Eminem and Kelly Osbourne.

She lived in Wiesbaden, Germany, as a young child.

Her Gap ad appeared on a six-story-high building on Sunset Blvd,.

Named one of E! 2002 "Entertainers of the Year".

Her daughter, Ava, is named after Ryan's grandmother.

Steve Dontanville from the William Morris Agency is still her agent. They got together after The Man in the Moon (1991).

She can trace her family all the way back to Scotland, UK. John Witherspoon, her Gifford-born "favourite ancestor", who attended Haddington Grammar School, obtained a Master of Arts from Edinburgh University in 1739, and was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Her wedding ring is an early 1990s Neil Lane, Asscher-cut-diamond, and there are only a few like it in the world.

Has an older brother, John D. Witherspoon

Ranked #1 on E!'s Hollywood's Hottest Blondes (2003)

Son Deacon Reese Phillippe was born [October 23rd, 2003].

As extra credit for a high school class, she worked as an office production assistant for the film Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). Director Carl Franklin paid homage to her by featuring Legally Blonde (2001) in the film Out of Time (2003/I).

She collects antique linens and is crazy about old embroidery.

Ryan proposed to her in December of 1998 while the couple was vacationing at The Planter's Inn in Charleston, South Carolina.

As a child she appeared in her local Sunday paper modeling kids' track suits and such. She said that it was creative for her. She was paid $50 a day.

Started children's acting classes at a community college at the age of 7. By the age of 9 she was taking adult acting classes.

Her son is named after former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Deacon Phillippe, a distant relative of her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

Gymnast for 7 years

Named 'Favorite Female Film Star' by People Magazine (2004)

Neither she nor her ex-husband, actor Ryan Phillippe, use their real first names - Reese's first name is Laura, Ryan's first name is Matthew.

Was the first person to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975) after the September 11th terror attacks.

Was approached by a few companies to record music after she provided her own singing voice for Walk the Line (2005).

Has appeared in four movies bearing the names of songs: Jack the Bear (1993), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Just Like Heaven (2005) and Walk the Line (2005).

Friend of Renée Zellweger.

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

The year she won her Oscar for Walk the Line (2005) her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe appeared in the movie that won "Best Picture": Crash (2004/I) .

Her performance as Tracy Flick in Election (1999) is ranked #45 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Dyed her hair brown for her role in Walk the Line (2005)

Named #40 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Is the second actress to win the best actress Oscar for portraying a female singer in a biography; the first was Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980).

The dress she wore at the Golden Globes in 2006 was also worn by Kirsten Dunst at the Golden Globes in 2003

Distant cousin of Daniel Morton

Named #34 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Announced on October 30, 2006 that she has separated and would file divorce papers against her husband, Ryan Phillippe, after seven years of marriage.

Best friends with Selma Blair.

Was originally cast in the lead role in Bunny Lake Is Missing (2012), but backed out a few weeks before shooting began.

Filed for divorce against husband Ryan Phillippe, also demanding sole custody for their children Ava and Deacon, on 8th November 2006.

Is a vegetarian.

Mentioned in the song High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup, as "the prom queen".

Named the first-ever Avon Global Ambassador and will serve as the Honorary Chairman of the Avon Foundation [August 1, 2007].

Was named highest-paid actress in Hollywood by The Hollywood Reporter in 2007.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $7 million.

The last place her great great grandfather John Witherspoon lived was Paisley in Scotland UK, before he moved to the States where he was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Is one of six actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (2000), Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain (2003), Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006),Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006) and Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008).

Campaigned for the role of Christine Collins in Changeling (2008), but lost the part to Angelina Jolie.

Personal Quotes

[on having a baby]: "Obviously, this isn't the time in my life that I would have chosen to do this, but I feel like life gives you these challenges for a reason. I feel so happy and glad to be in the place that I am. I really feel blessed. This is something I need to face and take control of."

[talking about how she choose the films she will be in]: "I have a weird process, but the main thing is like this: I hear her voice in my head. There are a lot of wonderful scripts my agents can't believe I pass on, but I do because I can't hear the voice. It doesn't appeal to me then. I'm really careful. Unless I hear the voice, I can't do it."

[talking about Ryan Phillippe]: "I'm lucky to find a person to share my life, and the best friend I'll ever have."

[Talking about motherhood and her baby]: "I feel good, I'm proud of Election (1999) and very proud of this [her child]. It couldn't be a better time. It's always the right time when it happens. You make it the right time".

[talking about Pleasantville (1998)]: "We were thrilled for just the three nominations we got, but obviously it's a little sad. I went through so many press junkets with people saying they loved it. And Joan Allen was robbed but she can't get nominated every year. She's an inspiration for every young actress. She has that calm and reserve about herself and makes you think she appreciates the normal things of everyday. Then she transforms into this character that's so different."

[talking about the movie business]: "The battles that we face in this business aren't financial, but they are moral. And I certainly think that the longer you can keep your values, and your morality intact, and keep your head on your shoulders about what is important at the end of the day, you can get the most out of this business and really emerge with something wonderful."

"I grew up in Tennessee. We didn't know what Louis Vuitton was. I had to order all my prom outfits out of catalogs".

People want to try and move you into a place where you can be easily identifiable by every woman in America - to be this very likable woman in a romantic comedy. And it's really hard for me. I just don't see myself as the girl that everybody likes. I never have been and I don't know how to be that person.

As far as being in the spotlight and under public scrutiny, a lot of that's about how much you put yourself out there. It's not like we go to every premiere and every celebrity function and every charity auction. We really just try to maintain our privacy and never let our public persona get out of hand.

I'm not perfect! I'm human. I make mistakes. But I try to be as conscious as I can about things I should be. If I'm going to do something commercial and mainstream and made for the masses, I just believe you can make those kinds of films with quality - and good ideas and good intentions. There's a lot of negativity out there.

"While making Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), I had like 50 outfit changes. It was great! I'm real into the whole "girlie" thing, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it".

Attending an all-girls school has its advantages, there are no inhibitions. You can walk to school with your zit cream on and your hair in rollers and nobody cares.

"It's nice to come home to what's real." - E! "Revealed with Jules Asner" (2001).

[On husband Ryan Phillippe] "I don't think I can imagine a better guy than the one I've ended up with".

"There's something timeless and important about making people laugh, about being the right spot in their day." - as quoted in the Dec 7, 2004 issue of Woman's World

I was thinking about why I make movies, and I know why. Life is hard. It's nice to go escape and have a good time at the movies. If I can give people a movie about hope, love and the future, then I've done my job.

I do think things were meant to happen. I'm just this little girl from Tennessee, and here I am today. I think a lot of things are just out of your hands.

[Asked about the ways she is discriminated against] "I get discriminated against in three ways: I get discriminated against because I'm blond, I get discriminated against because I'm an actress and I get discriminated against because I'm from the South."

I did. I called my attorney. My agent. My manager. I said "You know y'all, you're serious about this? I'm really.. I gotta get out of this. Like can't they call 'Leann Rimes'? I mean she's good." - On trying to get out of the part of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005).

The director came to us and he said "No, I really want you guys to learn to sing. To learn to play instruments and I want you to record an album". and that is what... and I just absolutely was just gob-smacked and I said .. "I don't know. I can't do that." And he said "Well I want you to try." Now that's the thing for me. If someone asks me to try, I will always try. - On doing her own singing in Walk the Line (2005).

"Life isn't just about you: It's about family and friends and giving back." quoted in Woman's World magazine 2-21-06

About dual careers and marriage: "Marriage and family come before everything. You don't want to make a movie at the cost of your relationship."

I feel like there's a race being run for some unattainable goal - to be the best, the skinniest, the most beautiful. I just admit that's what I'll never be.

What gets me is how many women - young women - give up their power and sense of self. Thinking they're going to get more out of life if they take off their clothes and objectify themselves, instead of functioning on the principle that they're smart and capable, that you can be an actress and not be on the covers of T&A magazines. I'm flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do that. It blows my mind.

(Part of Oscar Speech) I am so blessed to have my family here tonight. My mother and my father are here. And I just want to say thank you so much for everything, for being so proud of me. It didn't matter if I was making my bed or making a movie. They never hesitated to say how proud they were of me. And that means so very much to a child. So thank you, Mom and Dad. I want to say thank you to my wonderful husband and my two children who should be going to bed. And thank you for loving me so much and supporting me. And I want to say that, my grandmother was one of the biggest inspirations in my life. She taught me how to be a real woman to have strength and self respect, and to never give those things away. And those are a lot of qualities I saw in June Carter Cash. People used to ask June how she was doing, and she used to say -- 'I'm just trying to matter'. And I know what she means. You know, I'm just trying to matter, and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody. And you have all made me feel that I might have accomplished that tonight. So thank you so much for this honor".

I think everyone has their own set of problems, and sometimes I feel I'm in the middle of the biggest challenge of my life just trying to maintain normalcy in a kind of crazy lifestyle.

I'm pretty conservative or old-fashion, I should say, it's how I grew up. I think you have to let your children be individuals, but you have to set boundaries. Ryan and I have similar ideas about all of it, you really have to support you partner in the things that are important to them and hold the line together.

Many people worry so much about managing their careers, but rarely spend half that much energy managing their lives. I want to make my life, not just my job, the best it can be. The rest will work itself out.

I have cellulite. I have stretch marks. I feel intimidated by Victoria's Secret. Hollywood is one of those endless competitions, but it's like running a race toward nothing. There's no winning. You're never going to win the pretty race. I just want to be the best version of myself that I can be.

I feel like there's a race being run in Los Angeles for some unattainable goal -to be the best, the skinniest, the most beautiful. I just admit that that's what I'll never be. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I don't think these women are stupid. I think they're selling a personality that's very marketable: Wouldn't it be fun if we were all gorgeous and didn't have a care? But creating a cultural icon out of someone who goes, "I'm stupid, isn't it cute?" makes me want to throw daggers at them! I want to say to them, "My grandma did not fight for what she fought for, and my mother did not fight for what she fought for, so you can start telling women it's fun to be stupid." Saying that to young women, little girls, my daughter? It's not OK. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I feel there are certain people who are systematically ripping [feminism] down because of their lack of regard and their ignorance about what the women before us had to go through. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

What gets me is how many women - young women - give up their power and their sense of self. Thinking they're going to get more out of life if they take off their clothes and objectify themselves, instead of functioning on the principle that they're smart and capable, that you can be an actress and not be on the covers of T&A magazines. I'm flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do that. It blows my mind. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I'm wary of what goal I set, because then I'll have to accomplish it. (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

Since when is self-improvement a negative? Why wouldn't I be interested in psychology? I like to read a lot of psychology books. I'm obsessed with child behavior; I would love to be a child psychologist. [On being criticized after admitting she and then-husband Ryan Phillippe have gone to couples therapy.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

I've learned the art of ignoring people. When people give you some piece of direction you don't like, you just nod and ignore it. Just don't do it! Most people want to be heard and acknowledged, anyway. Just do what you want to do. [On how she handles people who disagree with her.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

Even now, people want to marginalize me. They want to attribute all my success to teenagers seeing my movies. I really resent it when people say, "It's just a genre film; it's a teen comedy." It takes a lot of work to make these things have heart and resonance so they're not just empty, disposable confections. But I don't give a damn about other people's perceptions, because I'll show them. For women in this business, ascendancy is always a battle. It's scrape and claw. I just try to stick to my guns and respect myself. I want to take the ingenues aside and say, "Value yourself! It's O.K. if you have opinions!" [On struggling to be taken seriously in the industry.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

They want people they can push around. I was the girl who was always asking, "Why? Yeah, I know you want me to do that - but why?" I always thought people wanted to hear my opinions. [Grins] But I gave them anyway. It's just blind self-confidence. I get like a little terrier about things. My mother says I should have been an attorney. [On asserting herself, even with her employers.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

It's one of those endless competitions, but it's like running a race toward nothing. "There's no winning. You're never going to win the thin race. You're never going to win the pretty race. You're never going to win the smart race. You're never going to win the funny race. I just want to be the best version of myself I can be. [About the harsh standards placed on women by Hollywood.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

I like work. If it's not hard enough, I try to make it harder. I like the process of being daunted by it, tackling it, and knowing I can do it. (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

{On roles resembling the title character in 'Penelope'] I like this girl because she is a bit of a bad-ass. I grew up watching movies with people like Barbara Stanwyck, and sometimes I get frustrated that there aren't a lot of great female characters out there that young women can look at and go, 'I want to be like that'. I go to movies and yell at the women on-screen, 'Shoot him; just shoot him.' I mean, why why does the guy always have to shoot him?

When I was a question on Jeopardy!, that's when I felt famous.

Salary
Four Christmases (2008) $14,000,000
Just Like Heaven (2005) $15,000,000
Walk the Line (2005) $15,000,000
Vanity Fair (2004) $15,000,000
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) $15,000,000
Sweet Home Alabama (2002) $12,500,000
Legally Blonde (2001) $5,000,000
Cruel Intentions (1999) $250,000
Fear (1996) $200,000

Where Are They Now

(July 2004) Currently filming Walk the Line (2005).

(March 2006) Currently filming Penelope (2006).

(December 2006) Honoring Dolly Parton, of whom she's a great big fan, at the Kennedy Center Honors TV special aired on December 26th, 2006.

Nicole Kidman Biography

2009-07-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
20 June 1967, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Birth Name
Nicole Mary Kidman

Nickname
Nic

Height
5' 10½" (1.79 m)

Mini Biography

Elegant redhead Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Australian parents Anthony (a biochemist and clinical psychologist) and Janelle (a nursing instructor) Kidman. The family moved almost immediately to Washington, DC, where Nicole's father pursued his research on breast cancer, and then, three years later, made the pilgrimage to her parents' native Sydney. Young Nicole's first love was ballet, but she eventually took up mime and drama as well (her first stage role was a bleating sheep in an elementary school Christmas pageant). In her adolescent years, acting edged out the other arts and became a kind of refuge -- as her classmates sought out fun in the sun, the fair-skinned Kidman retreated to dark rehearsal halls to practice her craft. She worked regularly at the Philip Street Theater, where she once received a personal letter of praise and encouragement from audience member Jane Campion (then a film student). Kidman eventually dropped out of high school to pursue acting full-time. She broke into movies at age 16, landing a role in the Australian holiday favorite Bush Christmas (1983). That appearance touched off a flurry of film and TV offers, including a lead in BMX Bandits (1983) and a turn as a schoolgirl-turned-protester in the miniseries "Vietnam" (1987) (for which she won her first Australian Film Institute Award). With the help of an American agent, she eventually made her US debut opposite Sam Neill in the at-sea thriller Dead Calm (1989).

Kidman's next casting coup scored her more than exposure. While starring as Tom Cruise's doctor/love interest in the racetrack romance Days of Thunder (1990), she won over the Hollywood hunk hook, line, and sinker. After a whirlwind courtship (and decent box office returns), the couple wed on December 24, 1990. Determined not to let her new marital status overshadow her fledgling career, the actress pressed on. She appeared as a catty high school senior in the Australian film Flirting (1991), then as Dustin Hoffman's moll in the gangster flick Billy Bathgate (1991). She reunited with Cruise for Far and Away (1992), the story of young Irish lovers who flee to America in the late 1800s, and starred opposite Michael Keaton in the tear-tugger My Life (1993/I). Despite her steady employment, critics and moviegoers still hadn't quite warmed to Kidman as a leading lady. She tried to spice up her image by seducing Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), but achieved her real breakthrough with Gus Van Sant's To Die For (1995). As a fame-crazed housewife determined to eliminate any obstacle in her path, Kidman proved that she had an impressive range and deadly comic timing. She took home a Golden Globe and several critics' awards for the performance. In 1996, Kidman stepped into a corset to work with her countrywoman and onetime admirer, Jane Campion, on the adaptation of Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady (1996). A few months later, she tore across the screen as a nuclear weapons expert in The Peacemaker (1997), adding "action star" to her professional repertoire.

She and Cruise then disappeared into a notoriously long, secretive shoot for Stanley Kubrick's sexual thriller Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The couple's on-screen shenanigans prompted an increase in public speculation about their sex life (rumors had long been circulating that their marriage was a cover-up for Cruise's homosexuality); tired of denying tabloid attacks, they successfully sued The Star for a story alleging that they needed a sex therapist to coach them through love scenes. Family life has always been a priority for Kidman. Born to social activists (mom was a feminist; dad, a labor advocate), Nicole and her little sister, Antonia Kidman, discussed current events around the dinner table and participated in their parents' campaigns by passing out pamphlets on street corners. When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, 17-year-old Nicole stopped working and took a massage course so that she could provide physical therapy (her mom eventually beat the cancer). She and Cruise adopted two children: Isabella Jane (born in 1993) and Connor Antony (born 1995). Despite their rock-solid image, the couple announced in early 2001 that they were separating due to career conflicts. Her marriage to Cruise ended mid-summer of 2001.
IMDb Mini Biography By: IMDb Editors

Spouse
Keith Urban (25 June 2006 - present) 1 child
Tom Cruise (24 December 1990 - 8 August 2001) (divorced) 2 children

Trade Mark

Often plays cold, emotionally vacant characters.

Trivia

Listed in "People Weekly"s "Most Intriguing People" list. (December 25 1995/January 1 1996 issue)

2000: She and her husband Tom Cruise donated to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing New York state.

Suffered a broken rib while rehearsing a dance routine for the movie Moulin Rouge! (2001). Production was halted while she recovered.

1999: Chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.

1996: Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.

Wore a corset while filming The Portrait of a Lady (1996) to take her waist down to 19".

Spent two weeks in bed after filming of The Portrait of a Lady (1996) - diagnosed as suffering from "emotional stress".

Her father is renowned Sydney psychologist Dr. Antony Kidman, famous in his own right for work done with breast cancer patients, among other things.

Family: sister, Antonia Kidman, brother-in-law, Angus Hawley, father, Dr. Anthony David Kidman, mother, Janelle Ann MacNeille Kidman, son, Connor Antony, daughter, Isabella Jane.

10/99: Crusader against child abuse. "Children should be allowed to grow up without fear of cruelty.".

2/5/01: Separated from husband Tom Cruise.

In Moulin Rouge! (2001) Kidman sang alongside Ewan McGregor.

She has two adopted children with Tom Cruise: Isabella Jane Cruise (born December 22, 1992) Connor Antony Cruise (Connor Cruise) (born January 17, 1995).

Sang alongside Robbie Williams in a remake of the duet "Something Stupid", originally sang by Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra.

Scared of butterflies.

2001: Named one of People Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People of 2001.

2001: Named E!'s Celebrity of the Year.

2001: Named Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of The Year.

Played a young girl named Grace on a sketch on "Saturday Night Live" (1975) with Mike Myers, the next time she played a character named Grace was her 2001 movie, The Others (2001). She played a character named Grace for the third time in Dogville (2003).

She was supposed to be the star of Panic Room (2002), but she hurt herself in a stunt for Moulin Rouge! (2001). So, she played the voice of Jodie Foster's divorced husband's wife.

2002: Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine.

Sister of Australian television personality Antonia Kidman.

Although naturally left-handed, she taught herself to write right-handed for her role in The Hours (2002), where she played the right-handed author Virginia Woolf.

1/13/03: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Found out about her first Academy Award nomination, for Moulin Rouge! (2001), while shooting Dogville (2003) in Sweden.

2003: Ranked #31 in Premiere's annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #83 in 2002.

First Australian actress to win the Best Actress Academy Award.

8/02: Voted the 5th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine.

Measurements: 34B-23-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

In recent polls, she was elected alongside fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman as one of the favorite upcoming romantic couples on screen.

Originally cast as Mrs. Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005).

Has appeared in My Life (1993/I) with Michael Keaton, Batman Forever (1995) with Val Kilmer, The Peacemaker (1997) with George Clooney and The Portrait of a Lady (1996) with Christian Bale. All four actors have played Batman in a movie.

She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1999 (1998 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "The Blue Room".

Best friends with Naomi Watts.

1998: She was awarded the Special Award at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her special and significant contributions to London Theatre for her performance in "The Blue Room".

A very tall woman at nearly 5' 11", she actually stood about 4 inches taller than ex-husband Tom Cruise, and rarely wore heels when seen publicly with him so that they could appear similar in height. Since their divorce, she is rarely seen on the red carpet without high heels, and she often meets 6' 4" actors in the eye.

Scored an IQ of 132+

While she usually commands $10 million+ for a movie, she is willing to receive only $500,000 for her role in "Eucalyptus (2006)". Produced by Fox Searchlight, its financing guideline shows that each actor signed on to the project can receive no more than $500,000, to keep costs low. This movie will be produced in Australia, another reason she decided to accept it.

Frequently does her own nude scenes, declining to use body doubles.

Replaced Rene Russo as Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever (1995) when Val Kilmer replaced Michael Keaton.

Likes the poetry of Anne Carson and the writing of Phillip Larkin.

Writes short stories in her free time and hopes to publish them one day.

Is in the 50th-anniversary edition of the Guinness Book Of Records as the highest-paid actress in a commercial. She netted $3.71 million for her part in a four-minute Baz Luhrmann-directed Chanel No. 5 movie ad. The ad, costing $11 million a minute, is a short film titled "No 5: The Film". Guinness book editors noted the actress earned $928,800 per minute. Costumes designed by Karl Lagerfeld and score by Debussy.

Good friends with Russell Crowe.

Was considered for the role of Catwoman (2004).

Had played a witch twice. Once in Practical Magic (1998) and again in Bewitched (2005).

2005: Premiere Magazine ranked her as #48 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature.

2004: One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People for most wanted skin.

Friends with Renée Zellweger and Jim Carrey.

Is a pianist, and did her own piano-playing in Cold Mountain (2003).

Is highly conscious of avoiding excessive sun exposure, and is rarely seen during her downtime without a hat, sunglasses and wearing sunscreen. In fact, best friend Naomi Watts has said that "Nicole won't cross the street without a hat."

In addition to having worked with all four of the most recent Batmans, she has also worked with both of the most recent actors to play Alfred Pennyworth. In Batman Forever (1995), she appears with Michael Gough. In Bewitched (2005), her father is played by Michael Caine.

Shares her birthday with Brian Wilson, Josh Lucas, Tina Sinatra, Lionel Richie, Olympia Dukakis, Martin Landauand Errol Flynn.

Has one niece: Lucia (b. 1999) and two nephews: Hamish (b. 2001), James (b. 2003).

8/04: Australian business magazine Business Review Weekly listed Kidman as the richest Australian woman under age 40, estimated at a worth of $155 million (Australian).

Is a childhood friend of Peter Overton, a reporter for the Australian "60 Minutes" (1979) program. Both lived in the same suburb of Sydney when they were children.

Has Irish ancestry.

She and ex-husband Tom Cruise made 3 movies together: Days of Thunder (1990), Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Far and Away (1992). They met on the set of Days of Thunder (1990).

Attended the same high school attended by Catherine Martin (two time Oscar winner for costume design and direction on Moulin Rouge! (2001) and wife of Baz Luhrmann) and legendary Australian actress Ruth Cracknell.

Godmother of Harry (b. 19 September 2001), the son of Simon Baker and Rebecca Riggs. Riggs and Kidman are close friends.

Named goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2006 and 2008 Razzie Award nominating ballots. She was suggested in the Worst Actress category on the 2006 ballot for her performance in Bewitched (2005). And she was suggested again two years later on the 2007 ballot in the Worst Actress category again for her performance in The Invasion (2007). She failed to receive either nominations.

2006: Her performance as Suzanne Stone Maretto in To Die For (1995) is ranked #40 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

2006: Accompanied her boyfriend Keith Urban to the Grammy Awards. It was their first public appearance together.

2005: Ranked as #69 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.

5/17/06: Engaged to country musician Keith Urban.

Is allergic to strawberries.

Wore a wedding gown at her wedding to Keith Urban by the label Balenciaga.

Married Keith Urban in the St. Patrick's church in Manly, a suburb of Sydney.

230 guests attended her wedding to Keith Urban. Among them were her best friend Naomi Watts, Russell Crowe, Baz Luhrmann, Hugh Jackman and Nicole's two children Isabella and Conor. Jim Carrey was invited and greatly wanted to come, in fact he booked plane tickets to Australia, but last minute scheduling conflicts stopped him from going.

She asked her wedding guests not to buy any presents for her and Keith Urban but to donate the money instead to some humanitarian organization.

She and Keith Urban honeymooned in Tahiti -- more precisely the St Regis in Bora Bora. Eva Longoria Parker and her boyfriend Tony Parker were also coincidentally staying there at the time. (So much for "getting away from it all".).

Her second wedding ceremony lasted 35 minutes.

Four Oscar winners were at her wedding to Keith Urban: Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Catherine Martin and Kidman, herself.

Baz Luhrmann read a love Psalm by New Zealand writer Joy Cowley (a nod to Urban's birth place) at her wedding to Keith Urban.

Three star performers sang at her wedding reception to Keith Urban. Hugh Jackman sang "Tenterfield Saddler", a favorite of Urban's. Keith Urban sang his hit song "Making Memories of Us" to her. Neil Finn sang "Fall At Your Feet".

Dropped out of the role of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004) due to scheduling conflicts.

Ex-girlfriend of Lenny Kravitz.

2006: Lives in an apartment in Sydney, with her husband, country music singer Keith Urban. (2006).

Author Philip Pullman requested her specifically to play the role of Marisa Coulter in the movie adaptation of his book "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass".

Studied ballet and drama in Australia.

Keith Urban's brother Shane Urban was best man at their wedding.

Keith Urban gave Nicole a first edition of Emily Brontë's novel, "Wuthering Heights", purchased from Sotherby's for $200,000 as a wedding present.

Keith Urban's brother Marlon Holden was best man at their wedding.

Stepmother of her adopted children Isabella and Connor is Katie Holmes.

Wrote the introduction to the book "Truth: Personas, Needs, and Flaws in the Art of Building Actors and Creating Characters" by her friend and acting consultant Susan Batson.

2004: Topped The Hollywood Reporter's list of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood .

9/01: Attended the Royal Premiere of Moulin Rouge! (2001) alongside Kylie Minogue, Prince Charles and Ewan McGregor.

Was considered for the lead role in The Painted Veil (2006), which eventually went to her best friend Naomi Watts.

Is a fan of actress Aishwarya Rai, and her film Bride & Prejudice (2004). Nicole got to meet Aishwarya for the first time at the 2005 Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world dinner held in New York City.

Was cast as Ulla in The Producers (2005), but backed out due to scheduling conflicts.

The bridesmaids at her wedding were her adopted daughter Isabella Jane Cruise, her sister Antonia Kidman and her niece Lucia.

In honor of her June 2006 wedding to singer Keith Urban, Australian TV presenters Simon Reeve and Nelson Aspen teamed up to sing Nicole a live rendition of the theme song "Bewitched" on the morning news program "Sunrise" (2003).

4/13/07: She was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia, which is Australia's top civil honor, at a ceremony in Canberra. She was honored for her contribution to cinema as well as her charity work with women, children and cancer research.

Was slated to star alongside Russell Crowe in the movie adaptation of Murray Ball's novel "Eucalyptus," but the project was dropped.

Wore a red wig for her role in Moulin Rouge! (2001).

2006: Presented her The Peacemaker (1997) co-star George Clooney his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Was cast in Baz Luhrmann's doomed Alexander the Great-project.

2004: Presented her The Interpreter (2005) co-star Sean Penn his Best Actor Oscar.

Jim Carrey is her best male friend.

December 2007: According to Forbes, her movies averaged $8 of gross income for every dollar the actress got paid.

Earns $4 million per year endorsing Chanel No. 5 perfume. Her three year contract is up for renewal in 2007.

Turned down the lead role of "Roxie Hart" in Chicago (2002) because she had just completed Moulin Rouge! (2001) and did not want to do two musicals in a row. Her friend, Renée Zellweger, won the role of Roxie and an Oscar nomination for her efforts.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year to be $28 million.

She and husband Keith Urban, purchased a farm near Leipers Fork, Tennessee, which they are now renovating. (November 2007).

Was originally cast in Ridley Scott's Emma's War (2011).

Moved in together with Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh during filming Margot at the Wedding (2007), because they wanted to perfect their roles as a dysfunctional family.

Welcomed her first child with Keith Urban, a daughter named Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on Monday July 7, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. Kidman has said Sunday is the couple's favorite day of the week because it can be both lonely and happy depending on whether "you've got your family" around. They also found inspiration in Aussie art collector Sunday Reed, whose first name Kidman's father suggested as a possibility. The baby's second name is a tribute to Urban's grandmother, Rose.

To prepare for her role in The Human Stain (2003) she visited women's shelters and talked to former victims of abuse for inspiration.

Her and Tom Cruise's high profile divorce was finalized the same week that her horror movie The Others (2001) was released.

When she went to Sweden to shoot Dogville (2003), it was the first time in 15 years that she had flown on a public plane.

For her role in Birthday Girl (2001) she went to the Russian Embassy in Australia for help in speaking Russian. She didn't work with any other coach on the set except the woman from the embassy.

Got the role as Diane Arbus in Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) after Samantha Morton backed out.

To make the character 'Marisa Coulter' in The Golden Compass (2007) so good as possible, she read the whole His Dark Materials trilogy, and wrote small notes, whenever she found something personal about the character.

While filming The Invasion (2007) she was involved in an accident while riding with others in a picture car mounted on trailer being towed by a camera truck rig. While filming a stunt in downtown Los Angeles, the truck took a turn too wide, slid on wet pavement, and collided with a light standard. Several stunt artists on the picture car were injured in the accident. Ms. Kidman was brought to the hospital as a precaution, but was able to return to the set the next day.

With a beautiful letter, Philip Pullman convinced her to take the role as Marisa Coulter in The Golden Compass (2007).

Just like Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, and Robin Williams she did her own singing for Happy Feet (2006).

While she was searching divorce from Tom Cruise, she lived together with her friend Naomi Watts.

Her friend Naomi Watts turned down the female lead in The Interpreter (2005) because she knew Nicole wanted the role.

Has always dreamed of working with her friend Steven Spielberg.

Like to work with costume designer Ann Roth, with whom she worked on Margot at the Wedding (2007), Cold Mountain (2003) and The Hours (2002).

One of her favorite movies is Gone with the Wind (1939).

Became good friends with Daniel Craig after working with him on The Invasion (2007) and The Golden Compass (2007).

She loved wearing the prosthetic nose, that she originally used in The Hours (2002) and wore it in private too, mainly as she was undergoing a divorce from Tom Cruise at the time and was attracting a lot of paparazzi interest. Much to her delight, by wearing her fake nose out and about, she found she could easily evade the paparazzi as they didn't recognize her.

She decided not to imitate Virginia Woolf's actual tone and voice because she feared people thought it would be comic.

She is distantly related to Isabel Kidman, the second wife of Jack Lee.

Good friends with Meryl Streep.

Did not return to work until two months after giving birth to her daughter Sunday in order to begin filming Nine (2009).

Replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role of Claudia in Nine (2009) after she quit due to scheduling conflicts.

Personal Quotes

[8/00, on her marriage to Tom Cruise] Every day there is a compromise. Living with somebody requires a lot of understanding. But I love being married. I really love it. Sometimes I try to downplay it a bit because people are like, "God you guys!" I just feel so fortunate that I have found someone who will put up with me and stay with me.

[on husband Tom Cruise] I wouldn't want to be married to me, but luckily he does.

[8/01, commenting on her break-up with Tom Cruise] Now I can wear heels.

It's so bizarre, I'm not scared of snakes or spiders. But I'm scared of butterflies. There is something eerie about them. Something weird!

[on winning the Academy Award for The Hours (2002)] And I am standing in front of my mother, and my whole life I have wanted to make my mother proud. And now I'm going to make my daughter proud.

When I heard about the Suzanne role in To Die For (1995), I thought, "I'll never get it - it'll be offered to someone else." So I called Gus [Gus Van Sant] at home, and he took my call, thank God. I told him I'd seen Drugstore Cowboy (1989), and I really wanted to work with him. I said I was destined to work with him.

I think it's important that we don't all have to hold our heads high all the time saying everything's fine.

These different people that I play become the loves of my life.

The split [from Tom Cruise] left me very fragile but I'd love to marry again.

I would love to have boobs and a butt like Jennifer Lopez but I'm not having surgery so there it is.

[on receiving her star on the Walk of Fame] I've never been so excited to have people walk all over me for the rest of my life.

You want to take some responsibility in your choices so that it sets the groundwork for that next generation of actresses - so for me working with Lars von Trier, I would hope that says to another generation: "go and seek out those directors, it's ok"

[on Dogville (2003)] One day it would be a fairy tale, the next it was a nightmare. Lars [Lars von Trier] was gentle with me - he was gentle and soft, then he would beat me up emotionally when he felt he needed that. I did not always register what was happening until afterwards but you shouldn't have too much awareness as an actor, I don't think.

I have a boy's body. I would prefer to have more curves because I think that's more beautiful. I would much rather have J. Lo's [Jennifer Lopez] body than mine.

[on filming The Interpreter (2005) at UN headquarters in New York] As a backdrop for a thriller, it's fantastic, but also since I'm Australian and I've always worked internationally and this is an international place in New York, I really like the kind of communication it represents. I know I sound very much like my character now, but I do believe in this place.

[on Cold Mountain (2003), The Human Stain (2003) and Dogville (2003) being released within months of each other] It's weird because they're all coming out at once. But I made them over 2-1/2 years.

You look at somebody's work as an actor and you can see their emotional life being fed into it and you can kind of feel them through it. That's far more interesting than anything I could say about where I'm at or who I'm with. It's good to have a little distance. If you discuss your love too much, it just damages it.

[on the troubled The Stepford Wives (2004)] It's a comedy. We hope.

Even from a very early age I knew I didn't want to miss out on anything life had to offer just because it might be considered dangerous.

Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too.

[on Birth (2004)] This is a film about love. What is a great love? Is there a love of our life? Do you ever recover from the loss of somebody that was so important to you?

Stanley Kubrick taught me to believe in myself artistically. I spent my 20s raising my children, and wanting to, and being married. That was my driving force. And then he said to me, "No, you have to respect your talent, and give it some space, and give it some time." Which was a lovely thing to be given. And my children were a little older then.

It was by chance that The Hours (2002) came along. Was I in a place where I could say, "I'm going to go to England and make this?" Yes. Could I do that earlier, when I was married? No, I couldn't travel like that. We had a thing where we couldn't be separated for more than two weeks. So that made a lot of work just not possible. Which was fine by me.

I have moments where I've said, "Don't tread on that crack in the pavement, don't have a black cat walk in front of you." Deep down am I superstitious? No. Do I believe in trying to be as kind as possible and as compassionate as possible because ultimately you're alone with yourself and your own conscience, and you want that to be as clear as possible? That's not superstition. You have to just try and stay pure and know what you value.

Usually, a young actress can't deliver because she doesn't have the emotional baggage, really, to play those things. That's something that's very beautiful about becoming a woman, and becoming a woman in your 30s. If you've lived your life, and lived it where you've said, "I want to be a participator and not a voyeur", then you have an enormous amount to pull on.

I'm still just finding my way through. I don't actually see a path in front of me. I can see not ever doing it again, and I can also see other things pulling me away from this. It's strange, because I know it's in my blood in terms of having to somehow act or express myself creatively, but I'm willing to do it different ways if need be. And I think that's partly because when I went through my divorce I dealt with the idea of never ever working again, and never being here and never able to be an actress, and went through an enormous amount of soul searching, and at that time, I was very ready to give it all up, and dealt with that emotionally. I was going, "Well, I'll never be able to do this again." And that was OK. And, strangely, as life is so strange, that was when everything exploded.

I never feel like I'm in control. There's a certain type of actor that relinquishes control when they act, and then there's another type who ends up being a producer and director and they're more someone that likes to take control. I fall in the first category, where I like to relinquish control, and fit into somebody else's world. And that's just lately, but you never feel like you are making choices. You feel like they're finding you in a strange way. That's why when people say, "What role do you want to play next?", I say, "I don't know". I never know. It's about responding to things rather than planning.

I think someone said my career defies all logic [laughs]. Because I choose the sort of strange little films, and somehow they're the things that make my career.

So if you talk about a box-office career, then I'm a disaster. But somehow, you know, I still manage to find my way to work.

I think actors are getting so much more power these days, but I'm not. I stay very much away from the decisions, the way in which things are orchestrated, what's been changed. I just try to stay completely in the role as the actor and as the character.

I'm at a time of my life now where, for me to want to go back and work, it'd have to be something that I really feel passionately about.

Regrets are ridiculous, so I don't regret, no.

[talking about her character from Batman Forever (1995)] Chase is attracted to the darker side of life. Batman is very appealing to her.

To be an actor you have to have a certain amount of madness in you. That's why, when people meet you and you seem very together, they are quite surprised--they don't see you behind closed doors.

[speaking of her father Antony Kidman] He's a great father, I can call him at three in the morning and he's there for me.

By the time I was a teenager, I had developed skills as a writer, and my father encouraged me to think about a career in journalism. I began keeping a diary, which I maintain to this day. I used to fill whole notebooks with my writings.

My parents thought it was nice to develop my imagination, but they never seriously thought that anything would ever come of it. They said that I couldn't be an actress because I would be taller than all my leading men, so I thought I would be a writer instead.

It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.

Do you know I'm always scared that one day I'll look back and say "God they were the best years of my life and now what?" There are moments when you feel as if you have been blessed for a while, moments when you think this is perfect, moments when you start to believe that even for an hour, even for a year, it might all happen. So I'm determined to keep making it get better and better.

It's a very brave thing to fall in love. You have to be willing to trust somebody else with your whole being, and that's very difficult, really difficult and very brave.

[about her first role at the age of five] I was one of those terrible kids who said everyone's lines.

Since I have fair skin, I have to stay out of the sun. I can't stand the sun. I dyed my hair red for a while during the 1990s but I'm actually a natural blonde.

I'm very close to my sister, Antonia [Antonia Kidman]. Every day we swim together. I love my sister.

When I was a child, I was a natural towhead. Now my hair is naturally a darker shade of blonde.

I'd like to be wise. You have to go through a lot to get there, but I'm willing to go through a lot.

What's the point of doing something good if nobody's watching?

Even from a very early age, I knew I didn't want to miss out on anything life had to offer just because it might be considered dangerous.

I believe that as much as you take, you have to give back. It's important not to focus on yourself too much.

I love acting but I don't like all of the other stuff associated with it. The interest in celebrities, the press, the Internet, when your identity becomes mixed up in the way people are perceiving you.

I have a little bit of a belly, a tiny bit of pooch. It's the one thing I don't want to lose. I just like having some softness. If I lose that, then Tom [husband Tom Cruise] might leave me.

I never knew I'd be in a musical, let alone win an award for one.

There's no drugs, no Tom [Tom Cruise] in a dress, no psychiatrists.

Having gone through all of this, I feel in some ways calmer now. It's strange, but sad. I think I'll always be sad.

I love acting, but it's much more fun taking the kids to the zoo.

[on her split with Tom Cruise] My life collapsed. People ran from me because suddenly it was, "Oh my God! It's over for her now!"

I love working with people who are inspired and obsessive.

As a child my hair was naturally red, but since I was 13 my hair turned light blonde naturally. It's really strange but it happened. Ever since Chase through the night, the directors made me dye my hair red, as they all thought it suited me at the time. Even for Dead Calm (1989), Phillip Noyce made me dye my hair red. Now the directors and studios just let me keep my natural blonde hair.

For an actor, facial expressions and emotions are really important. That's why I'll never have Botox. I've always been against that and seeing Botox on TV with all the swelling and pain put me off it anyway. The directors always allow actors with Botox but I just say. "No way, not for me". Drinking lots of water, eating fruit and doing yoga is what keeps me looking young naturally. I swear by it. I also use creams with natural ingredients to make wrinkles less visible. Everybody should try these things rather than going the plastic route, which I just hate.

You don't have to be naked to be sexy.

I'm a person that carries everything that happened to me in my past, with me into the future. I refuse to let it make me bitter. I still completely believe in love and I remain open to anything that will happen to me.

If I packaged toothpaste and told you you were gonna get half the toothpaste in the tube, you probably wouldn't buy it.

It would be far easier to go, "Oh, I wish I loved women," but I don't. I love the way a man thinks. I love the way a man smells. I love the way men look. And I'm hooked on the male physique - hooked on it.

You're either going to walk through life and experience it fully or you're going to be a voyeur. And I'm not a voyeur.

Salary
The Golden Compass (2007) $15,000,000
Margot at the Wedding (2007) $6,000
The Invasion (2007) $16,000,000+
Bewitched (2005) $17,500,000
The Interpreter (2005) $17,500,000
Birth (2004) $15,000,000
The Stepford Wives (2004) $15,000,000
Cold Mountain (2003) $15,000,000
Dogville (2003) $2,800,000
The Hours (2002) $7,500,000
Birthday Girl (2001) $1,500,000
The Others (2001) $7,000,000
Moulin Rouge! (2001) $7,000,000
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) $6,500,000
Practical Magic (1998) $6,000,000
The Peacemaker (1997) $5,000,000
The Portrait of a Lady (1996) $2,500,000
Batman Forever (1995) $2,500,000
To Die For (1995) $2,000,000
My Life (1993/I) $500,000
Far and Away (1992) $250,000
Billy Bathgate (1991) $200,000
Days of Thunder (1990) $200,000

Katie Holmes Biography

2009-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
18 December 1978, Toledo, Ohio, USA

Birth Name
Kate Noelle Holmes

Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Katie Holmes acted in high school theater productions before meeting a manager who encouraged her to go to LA for television's pilot season. She won a part in the acclaimed feature film The Ice Storm (1997) in her very first audition, but she didn't stop there. A videotape was sent to "Dawson's Creek" (1998), a new production by the acclaimed writer Kevin Williamson (Scream (1996/I), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)), which landed her the series regular role of Joey Potter.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Geoff Chueh < geoffrey@usa.net>

Mini Biography

Born two months premature at four pounds, Kate Noelle Holmes made her first appearance on December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio. Her parents, Martin and Kathleen, say that her strong-willed personality is probably from being born premature. Being the youngest in the Holmes clan, completing the family of three other sisters and one brother, Katie was always the baby. As a teenager, she began attending modeling school. When she was sixteen, her teacher invited her to go to a modeling competition with other girls from her class. She competed in the International Modeling and Talent Association by singing, dancing, and reciting a monologue from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). By the end of that time in New York, Katie won many awards. But she said she didn't want to model because it wasn't challenging enough. So when she was seventeen, Katie went to Los Angeles to audition for movies. Luckily, on her second audition, she was cast in the movie, The Ice Storm (1997), directed by Ang Lee. Katie's character was Libbets Casey, a rich New Yorker, who is pursued by two of the main characters. It was a small part, but it marked the beginning of her professional acting career.

After the excitement of her first movie, Katie began sending in audition tapes for pilot shows. During that time, she was also starring in her all-girls Catholic high school musical, Damn Yankees, as Lola. After Kevin Williamson received her audition tape for his new show, "Dawson's Creek" (1998), the producers wanted her to come to Hollywood right away and read live for them. But because they wanted her to come on the opening night for Damn Yankees, Katie had to tell them she couldn't make it. Fortunately, the show's producers wanted her so much for that role, they rescheduled her callback and the result was she got the part as Joey Potter.

During her first year with "Dawson's Creek" (1998), Katie was able to do two movies, Disturbing Behavior (1998) and Go (1999), and, for the former, she won Best Breakthrough Female Performance in the 1999 MTV Movie Awards. The following year, she starred next to Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys (2000), playing Hannah Green, a published author and a boarder at her teacher's (Douglas) house, who has a crush on him, and tries to seduce him.

Her first leading role came in 2002, with Abandon (2002). She played a college student named Katie Burke, who is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend who vanished two years prior.

With "Dawson's Creek" (1998) coming to a close after six years in May of 2003, it was a bittersweet thing for all the cast. Accustomed to being in North Carolina filming ten months out of a year, the cast members now had the opportunity to make more movies. Katie demonstrated this in October, when she had two new movies, Pieces of April (2003) and The Singing Detective (2003), coming out in that month alone. Pieces of April (2003) is a charming Thanksgiving movie about April (Holmes), the black sheep of her family, who wants to give her family the perfect dinner before her mother passes on. The Singing Detective (2003) is a dark musical where the main character (Robert Downey Jr.) is a writer in a hospital for skin conditions who writes a dark world of seduction and murder in his mind. Katie Holmes plays the kind Nurse Mills who tends to his every need. She also gets to lip-sing and dance in this movie. Her 2004 movie schedule included the upcoming romantic movie First Daughter (2004), in which she plays the President's (Michael Keaton) daughter, Samantha, who wants to go to college without any Secret Service tagging along. Currently filming for release in 2005 is Batman Begins (2005), a new Batman movie where Katie plays Rachel Dawes, a childhood sweetheart and love interest to Batman/Bruce Wayne.
IMDb Mini Biography By: KatieJoWitter

Spouse
Tom Cruise (18 November 2006 - present) 1 child

Trivia

Her father Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr. is a lawyer, an attorney specializing in divorces, and her mother Kathleen (Kathy) A. Stothers is a homemaker and a philanthropist.

Voted as "Babe of the Year 98" (Årets Babe 98) by Expressen Fredag, Sweden.

Graduated from Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls Roman Catholic school in Toledo, Ohio.

Chosen as one of Teen People Magazine's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21". [1999]

Dated actor and co-star of "Dawson's Creek" (1998), Joshua Jackson, while filming Season 1 of the show and part of Season 2. She refers to him as her first love. They remain great friends.

Deferred attending Columbia University twice, but finally took a single photography class in the summer of 2000.

Bought a Wilmington, North Carolina townhouse, while filming "Dawson's Creek" (1998), and lived there for ten months of the year.

Turned down the lead role in 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), due to scheduling conflicts.

Auditioned for the role of Ellie Christianson in Wicked (1998), but Julia Stiles won the part.

A small band from Japan have performed a song about her entitled "Katie".

Was lined up to have a 3 episode guest spot on "Friends" (1994) but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts.

Likes to run three to four miles a couple of times a week to clear her head.

The first movie she ever saw was E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Her fantasy role was playing Sydney in Scream 3 (2000).

The first concert she ever saw was Whitney Houston.

Her favorite movie is My Best Friend's Wedding (1997).

Sang Eponine's theme song, "On My Own" from Les Miserables, in an episode of "Dawson's Creek" (1998).

Three older sisters: Tamera (born c. 1968), Holly Ann, and Nancy Kay, Mrs. Blaylock (born c. 1975). One older brother: Martin Joseph, Jr. (born 1970), who works as a lawyer in Ohio.

Noisy underground British artist 'Firexit' has two songs with references to Katie, one called "K H" (Katie's initials) and a song called "The reason I can't have her" featuring samples of Katie singing 'On my own' from a "Dawson's Creek" (1998) episode.

Auditioned for the role as Buffy Summers in the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997), but was too young.

December 2003 - She and Chris Klein are engaged.

Bust 34C.

Ranked #35 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

Engaged to actor Chris Klein December 2003 - March 2005. They were together for five years.

Shares a birthday with Brad Pitt, Casper Van Dien, Christina Aguilera, DMX, film critic Leonard Maltin and legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

Engaged to Tom Cruise as of 17th June 2005.

Has worked with two Batmans. In Batman Begins (2005), she works with Christian Bale. Her previous film was First Daughter (2004), in which her father, the President, is played by Michael Keaton.

Named #22 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Holmes's couch-jumping-worthy engagement ring is a Edwardian-style oval- shaped diamond ring of about 5 carats in a pave setting.

Katie and Tom Cruise became the parents of Suri Cruise on April 18, 2006 in Los Angeles. "Suri" weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches.

Ranked as #72 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Her brother Martin Joseph, Jr. works as a lawyer in Ohio.

Friends with Victoria Beckham.

Named #90 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

She and Tom Cruise both wore Armani at their wedding.

On November 18, 2006, married Tom Cruise at the Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy in front of family and friends. Lots of celebrity guests included Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy, Richard Gere, Victoria Beckham and David Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Jenna Elfman, Bodhi Elfman and Leah Remini.

Stepmother of Tom Cruise children Isabella and Connor.

Best Man at her wedding to Tom Cruise was David Miscavige.

Mentioned in the song High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup.

Participated in and finished the New York Marathon in 2007.

Niece of former WCW Superstar Jimmy Golden.

Almost cast opposite Patrick Wilson (her co-star on Broadway's All My Sons), in the film version of Phantom of the Opera (2004) as Christine Daae', but was considered old to play the part.

Katie's brother-in-law Joseph Jeffrey Fretti, the husband of Holmes' eldest sister Tamera, was found dead on 12 April in his mother Shirley's home in Sarasota, Florida. He was 48.

Auditioned for the role of Carla Albanese in Nine (2009), but Penélope Cruz was given the part instead.

Personal Quotes

"It's kind of fun being the cute, little one. In fact, I'm finding it hard to grow out of that."

"I know this sounds dorky, but I'm always having this out-of-body experience with my career. I can't wait to write it down. I can't wait to tell my grandchildren. It's amazing."

"I've kept in touch with a lot of my high school friends. When I'm home, I see them. It's really cool."

"It's important to try to be creative. I paint, and my mom is going to teach me how to make clothes. I think people should have passions."

"My family always keeps me in check. I have three older sisters, and they work their butts off. They're all very supportive of my career, but I know what's really important is kids and family."

"I felt so proud to be having a baby and so excited. And I felt closer to other women - to my sisters, to my mom. I felt empowered, like, 'I've given birth. I did it! There's nothing I can't handle. I've really enjoyed this time that I have taken to be with Suri as well as the challenges of the first couple of months: feeding and pumping, learning to decipher what each cry means - is she hungry? Is she tired? Does she need a fresh diaper? - and figuring out how to really help her."

Salary
Batman Begins (2005) $1,000,000
Pieces of April (2003) $0 (box office % only)
Phone Booth (2002) $500,000
Abandon (2002) $1,000,000
The Gift (2000) $200,000

Where Are They Now

(April 2002) Filming the movie Pieces of April (2003) with Oliver Platt.

(October 2002) Is back in Wilmington, North Carolina filming the 6th (and probably final) season of "Dawson's Creek" (1998).

(January 2004) Recently announced engagement to actor Chris Klein.

(April 2004) Filming Batman Begins (2005) in London, England.

(June 2005) Accepted marriage proposal from Tom Cruise at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

(April 2006) Gave birth to her first child, Suri, alongside future husband, Tom Cruise.

(September 2008) Starring on Broadway's All My Sons opposite John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson

Cameron Diaz Biography

2009-07-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
30 August 1972, San Diego, California, USA

Birth Name
Cameron Michelle Diaz

Nickname
Cami

Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

A tall, strikingly attractive blue-eyed bottle blonde, Cameron Diaz was born in 1972 in San Diego. She is the daughter of Billie (Anglo-German) and Emilio Diaz (Cuban-American). Self described as "adventurous, independent and a tough kid," Cameron left home at 16 and for the next 5 years lived in such varied locales as Japan, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, and Paris. Returning to California at the age of 21, she was working as a model when she auditioned for a part in The Mask (1994). To her amazement and despite having no previous acting experience, she was cast as the female lead in the film opposite Jim Carrey. Over the next 3 years, she honed her acting skills in such low budget independent films as The Last Supper (1995); Feeling Minnesota (1996); and Head Above Water (1996). She returned to main stream films in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), in which she held her own against veteran actress Julia Roberts. She earned full fledged star status in 1998 for her performance in the box office smash There's Something About Mary (1998). With her name near the top on virtually every list of Hollyood's sexiest actresses, and firmly established as one of filmdom's hottest properties and most sought after actresses, Cameron Diaz appears to possess everything necessary to become one of the super stars of the new century.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom McDonough

Trade Mark

Blonde hair and Blue eyes.

She is filmed dancing in almost every movie.

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history (#13). [1995]

Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful" people in the world. [1998]

Has a reputation for being late.

Was set to play Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat (1995) but broke her wrist prior to filming and was replaced by Bridgette Wilson.

Got alcohol poisoning in Australia at age 18.

Very superstitious.

Cameron's father Emilio Diaz appeared in her movie There's Something About Mary (1998) as a "Jailbird.".

She graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic (Poly) High School (Class of 1990) in Long Beach, California. As a member of that school's "Polyettes" dance-drill team, Cameron performed during half-time at football games.

Police caught an airline security guard at Los Angeles International Airport stealing items from Diaz. Diaz reported her passport and a large sum of cash missing. [December 1999]

Ex-fiancée of Jared Leto.

Auditioned for the film Waking the Dead (2000) but lost the role to Jennifer Connelly.

Cameron's parents allowed the then-16-year old to spend five years traveling the world to pursue her modeling career beginning in Japan, where she was accompanied only by a 15-year-old fellow model.

Was discovered by a photographer at a Hollywood party who, within a week, helped her land a contract with the Elite Modeling Agency.

Lived with video producer Carlos De La Torre for five years.

Her father is Cuban. Her mother is Anglo with partial Cherokee ancestry.

Will only wash her face in Evian spring water.

Became only the second actress to join the coveted $20 Million Club (after Julia Roberts), when she signed for that amount to do Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) in January 2002.

Named by People Magazine as one of the the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. [2002]

Has an older sister, Chimene; they also have a brother.

Her mother, Billie, is of German, English and Native American descent.

Voted the 11th "Sexiest Female Movie Star" in the Australian Empire Magazine. [September 2002]

Measurements: 34B-23-36 (on set of The Mask (1994)) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

30 August 2003 - Broke her nose in a surfing accident in Hawaii on her birthday.

Photographer John Rutter was ordered to stand trial for attempted extortion, attempted grand theft, perjury, and forgery after trying to blackmail her with topless shots he had of her from a 1992 shoot. [20 November 2003]

Voted as #8 on the "Top 100 Sexiest Women" in FHM [DK]. [2004]

Ranked #3 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World." [2002]

During her interview on "Inside the Actors Studio" (1994), said that she doesn't read scripts and wishes movies were filmed from start to finish because sometimes she doesn't understand them.

Her name is mentioned in the lyric of Brian Wilson's 1998 song "South America".

Best friends with Drew Barrymore since Charlie's Angels (2000). Both Drew and Cameron are huge fans of the rock group Ratt.

Lived with Matt Dillon for some years in the 1990s.

Named #11 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Used to be a vegetarian.

Named #13 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Ranked #1 in the "Worst Hollywood Signers 2006" list by "Autograph Collector" magazine (May 2006).

Christophe Gans originally wanted her to play the part of Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill (2006).

Went to the same high school at the same time as Snoop Dogg.

Named #23 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

After having her nose broken 4 times, she decided to undergo corrective surgery. [November 2006]

Said that her role in Gangs of New York (2002) marked the pinnacle of her career.

Attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California.

Was considered for the role of Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Ranked #19 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Was set to play Jane in Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), but bowed out shortly before production due to scheduling conflicts.

Robbie Williams mentions her in his song "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen".

December 2007 - According to Forbes, for each dollar she got paid, Cameron Diaz's movies averaged $9 of gross income.

Named #47 on Empire Magazine's 100 Sexiest Movie Stars. (2007).

As a child, her friends nicknamed her "Skeletor," because she was tall and had an infectious smile.

Ranked #26 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

One of her favorite hobbies is knitting. She picked it up from Julia Roberts while they were filming My Best Friend's Wedding (1997).

Received the 2,386th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 22, 2009.

Personal Quotes

There were times when I'd go, 'This outfit would look so badass with stilettos.' You wanted those 4-inch heels, those wrappy, strappy, show-off-your pedicure shoes, but you couldn't do it. At the beginning of the scene it would have been fine because I'm just hanging out with the dude. But the next thing you know, you're kicking the dude's rear, so you had to make sure you had the right shoes on.

I didn't realize it [The Mask (1994)] was a fairly large film that I was a part of. Halfway through I was going, 'Is there any place that my mom and dad can see this film?' and they're going, 'Cameron, at the theatres.' I had no idea. Durrrrrrr. I'm blonde. I'm allowed.

One thing I realized from Julia [Roberts, My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) co-star] - which I knew before, but was made very clear - is that when you're the star of the film, the crew looks to you to set the tone of everyday work. So when you come into work, whatever it is that you're giving off, that is what the tone is going to be for the working conditions.

On Being John Malkovich (1999): "It's been said that in Hollywood there are only 14 different scripts. Well, this is number 15."

Your regrets aren't what you did, but what you didn't do. So I take every opportunity.

I grew up with a lot of boys. I probably have a lot of testosterone for a woman.

Growing up, I was the plain one. I had no style. I was the tough kid with the comb in the back pocket and the feathered hair.

I would kiss a frog even if there were no promise of a Prince Charming popping out of it. I love frogs. I'd lick him.

We have a voice now and we're not using it. Women have so much to lose. I mean, we could lose the right to our bodies. If you think rape should be legal then don't vote. But if you think you have a right to your body and you have a right to say what happens to you and fight off that danger of losing that, then you should vote.

My Latin roots are very strong. All my life, because I'm blonde and blue-eyed, people who aren't Hispanic can't believe I am. And people who are Hispanic always think I'm not, because I don't look like them. Being Latin is part of who I am and I bring that part to every role.

"What we women need to do, instead of worrying about what we don't have, is just love what we do have." quoted Women's World (6-14-05)

Toronto has such a nice balance as far as the films they show there. They kind of give an opportunity to everybody. You get the best of the best there. It's a good standard to be held up against, and it's very flattering to be in that festival.

"I'm like every other woman: a closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear: So I wear jeans." quoted in Woman's World 1-3-06

I go, 'God, you know, it all sounds so familiar. I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly.' I didn't grow up in a Cuban or Latin community. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third generation. I'm of Cuban descent, but I'm American. - when asked if she can speak Spanish

The last couple of years were hell. Like, I can't even tell you, it was so hard. I didn't know how to handle it. But I think I'm in a much better place now, because I stepped away for a second and took a breath. Hollywood is a funny place. It offers so much, but it can also take a lot away from you.

I'm not 25 years old anymore, nor do I want to be. I wouldn't even want to go back to being 30. You know what I mean? That journey, I've done it already. I don't want to do it again. It's a lot of work to get through it, and I am excited about moving forward. I think that people get caught up in getting back to some place that they already passed or to a place where you cannot stay.

Men are wonderful. I don't think my feeling about that is ever going to change. I'm never going to feel differently about men. I'm not a man-hater. It's just not in my nature. I think guys are amazing. I love the dichotomy, the differences in men and women. I think it's wonderful. It keeps things interesting. We can't walk in each other's shoes. We don't know what it's really like, but we certainly can make an effort to know each other a little bit better.

My father's death will be a part of me forever, and I'm sure it's going to be a part of all of the roles that I play now. It's been a year since he died, and it's been an incredibly transformative year. It's just something that's going to be with me forever.

We all fall in love with our parents.

What's changed from 10 years ago is that now I want a man who knows who he is. Someone who understands himself, has already dealt with his issues and who can say: "I see where I've been foolish before and I'm not going to be like that again."

It will be cool to be under people's feet. It really is the place where people can understand exactly that actors are not really stars -- they don't exist in the sky, they exist on the ground just like everybody else. - on getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Salary
What Happens in Vegas (2008) $10,000,000
In Her Shoes (2005) $15,000,000
Shrek 2 (2004) $10,000,000
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) $20,000,000
Gangs of New York (2002) $17,500,000
The Sweetest Thing (2002) $15,000,000
Vanilla Sky (2001) $10,000,000
Shrek (2001) $3,000,000
Charlie's Angels (2000) $12,000,000
Any Given Sunday (1999) $500,000
There's Something About Mary (1998) $2,000,000

Kate WInslet Biography

2009-07-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
5 October 1975, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK

Birth Name
Kate Elizabeth Winslet

Nickname
English Rose
Corset Kate

Height
5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

Ask Kate Winslet what she liked about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a result, she's built an eclectic resume; that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica.

Born into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally Bridges-Winslet were both stage actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges was a fixture in London's West End theatre district -- Kate came into her talent at an early age. She scored her first professional gig at 11, dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first big break came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was roundly praised by critics.

Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).

The role that transformed Winslet from art house attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron's Titanic (1997). Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, un-emaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy nods.

After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1960s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she received her fourth at age 29.)

Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses), and a brother, Joss. In 1998, she married Jim Threapleton, whom she met on the set of Hideous Kinky (1998); the pair had a daughter, Mia, in October of 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and has since given birth to their son Joe.
IMDb Mini Biography By: IMDb Editors

Spouse
Sam Mendes (24 May 2003 - present) 1 child
Jim Threapleton (22 November 1998 - 13 December 2001) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Daughter Mia Honey Threapleton was born (in England) on the 12th October 2000, weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces.

Kate met husband Jim Threapleton on the set of her movie Hideous Kinky (1998), where he was working as an assistant director.

Won Best Spoken Word Album for Children, Grammy Awards, shared with Graham Greene. [2000]

Turned down the Gwyneth Paltrow role in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and the Jodie Foster role in Anna and the King (1999).

Has very large feet and wears size 11 shoes.

At age 11, she began attending the acting school Redroofs in Maidenhead, England, UK.

Dated Rufus Sewell.

Sister of Anna Winslet, Joss Winslet and Beth Winslet. Kate is the second child.

The youngest actress ever to be nominated for two Academy Awards (for Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Titanic (1997)) (Aged 20 and 22 respectively). [1998]

Dated Stephen Tredre. [1991-1995]

Her first acting job was dancing with the Honey Monster in a commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Manchester Evening News Award for her theatre role in "What the Butler Saw" as Geraldine Barclay. [1994]

Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [1996]

She has a younger brother, Joss.

Parents: Roger Winslet (actor) and Sally Bridges-Winslet.

After her first success in the film Heavenly Creatures (1994), a reviewer predicted that she would always be associated with that character and would never be a big star.

Recorded a song for the soundtrack for the movie Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001). Producers were so impressed at her efforts they have decided to release the ballad - called "What If?" - as a single. It reached the top ten in the UK, peaking at number six. [June 2001]

Announced that she and husband Jim Threapleton are splitting up. [3 September 2001]

[November 2001] Confirms that she is dating director Sam Mendes.

Purchased a $3 million (US) home in London with boyfriend (later husband) Sam Mendes. They also bought a home in New York City.

She holds a unique position in Academy Awards history: Only twice have two actresses been nominated for playing the same character in the same film. The first two were Gloria Stuart and Kate in Titanic (1997). The second two were Judi Dench and Kate in Iris (2001/I).

Married director Sam Mendes in a private ceremony whilst on holiday in the West Indies in May, 2003.

Daughter Mia's name is Italian for "my".

Has sung in 5 of her films.

Prefers to wear boots rather than ordinary shoes because it makes her feel that her feet are "firmly on the ground."

Missed the premiere of Titanic (1997) because she was attending the funeral of close friend and former boyfriend, Stephen Tredre.

Son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on December 22, 2003, in New York, and weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces.

Resides in both London, England, and New York City, America. Her main home, however, is in Cotswolds, England.

Has a nephew, George. His mother is Beth Winslet.

Sprained her ankle on the set of Romance & Cigarettes (2005) in May 2004.

She sold her North London home in Belsize Park to Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.

Was considered for the role of Bridget in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) but it was then decided she was too young to portray the role.

On the day she had to film the straitjacket scene in Hamlet (1996), she learned she had won the role of Rose in Titanic (1997).

While serving as host of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) one week after Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's "recorded song malfunction," she opened the show by singing and dancing live.

Bust size 1996 - 34C.

Born in the same year and on the same day as Parminder Nagra.

Was born in the same hospital as her husband, Sam Mendes.

Filmed her 2005 American Express commercial in Camden Town, London, England.

First screen kiss was with Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Her performance as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is ranked #81 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Her daughter Mia had to be delivered by Cesarean section, which made Kate feel she hadn't given birth properly. She admitted to it only after giving birth to her son Joe (who had been delivered naturally).

Was offered the role of Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

Offered the role of Tessa in The Constant Gardener (2005) but turned it down to do Finding Neverland (2004).

Kate married Sam Mendes, who was a childhood friend of Tom Hollander, with whom he went to Cambridge University and whom he directed in several plays. Tom and Kate were both in the film Enigma (2001).

Very close friends with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Premiere Magazine for Sense and Sensibility (1995)). [1995]

Won Best Film Actress, Smash Hits Magazine. [1998]

Won Sexiest Actress, Entertainment Insider Awards. [1998]

Won Film Actress of the Year, Variety Club of Great Britain. [1999]

Nominated for Best Actress, Roughcut.com Internet Movie Award for Holy Smoke (1999). [2000]

When interviewed on "Good Morning America" (1975) to promote her film The Holiday (2006), they surprised her by showing a clip which was supposedly Winslet on the Sugar Puff Commercial in 1987. However, the girl in the clip shown was not her. Winslet did not point out the error because she did not want to embarrass the researcher and get the person fired. She was then praised by the media for her caring and consideration of other people. [2006]

Her performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is her personal favorite.

Along with Vanessa Redgrave (for Julia (1977)) and Mare Winningham (for Georgia (1995)), she is the only performer to be nominated for an Supporting Oscar (for Iris (2000)) for playing the title role in a movie. As of 2006, Redgrave is the only one to win.

As of January 2009, she is the youngest actress to rack up 6 Oscar nominations.

Won Best Actress, Toronto Film Festival for Heavenly Creatures (1994), shared with Melanie Lynskey. [1995]

Runner-Up for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for Holy Smoke (1999). [1999]

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Rec.Arts.Movies.* Critics Circle for Quills (2000). [2000]

Runner-Up for Best Actress, National Society of Film Critics for Holy Smoke (1999). [2000]

Runner-Up for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). [2004]

Chris Tookey, of the British newspaper "Daily Mail," chose her as Best Actress of the Year for her roles in The Holiday (2006) and Little Children (2006). [2006]

Is a fan of Rufus Wainwright's CD, "Poses" (mentioned in one of her ads for AmEx).

Nominated for Best Actress in a Dramatic Performance, Excellent Dynamic Activism (EDA) Awards/The Alliance of Women Journalists for Little Children (2006). [2006]

In an interview for the London Evening Standard, she revealed she has taken a year off (from April 2006 to April 2007) from her career, to spend more time with her family. [2007]

Official Celebrity Spokesperson for Lancôme. [2007]

Her children refer to close friend Leonardo DiCaprio as "Uncle Leo".

Was named one of '50 Most Beautiful' by People Magazine in 2005.

Auditioned for the role of "Elizabeth" in Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein (1994). Helena Bonham Carter got the role, but Branagh was so impressed by Winslet that he offered her the part of "Ophelia" in Hamlet (1996).

Involved, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Rufus Sewell, Miranda Richardson and Paul McGann in the 1998 film project "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline". The film was to be executive produced by Emma Thompson, and written and directed by Fay Efrosini Lellios. The shooting was set to start in June 1998 in New Hampshire. The film was canceled due to financial withdrawal. [1998]

Lives in New York City. She also owns a home in Gloucestershire, England.

Placed third equal (with Anne Hathaway) for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle for Revolutionary Road (2008). [2008]

The Holiday (2006) was the first movie that Kate used her own accent and didn't develop a special voice for her character.

Sister-in-law of Edmund Harcourt.

Only the third person in history to win two acting Golden Globes in the same year (Best Actress, Drama for Revolutionary Road (2008) and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader (2008)).

As of 2009, she is only one of six performers who won a Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (hers for Revolutionary Road (2008)). The others are Spencer Tracy in The Actress (1953), Anthony Franciosa in Career (1959), Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965), 'Shirley Maclaine' in Madame Sousatzka (1988), Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (1998).

The producers of the The Reader (2008) tried to promote Winslet as Supporting Actress during the Oscar race 2009 in order to enhance her chances to get nominated twice (for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader (2008) and Best Actress for her role in Revolutionary Road (2008)). The Academy overthrew this plan by nominating Winslet for Best Actress for her performance in The Reader (2008), leaving aside her performance in Revolutionary Road (2008), although she won several other award nominations in both categories for the respective movies.

Is one of six actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (2000), Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain (2003), Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005), Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006) and Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006).

Was originally cast as Nola Rice in Woody Allen's Match Point (2005), but dropped out at the last minute, so she could spend her time with her child. The role went to Scarlett Johansson .

Leonardo Dicaprio bought her an inscribed gold ring, after filming Revolutionary Road together. The inscription however Winslet keeps a secret.

Was in consideration for the part of Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

Personal Quotes

[talking about her screen debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994)]: "I was reading the script in the back of the car and I turned to my dad and yelled, 'I've GOT to get this!' And he replied, 'Then you will.' And I thought, 'Yep, that's it. I'm bloody well going to.' And that was it. I was so determined. It was something crucial to my life. I just so communicated with her, the story and their relationship. And when I found out, I just couldn't believe it. I was so happy, I cried. I remember I was working part-time at a deli at the time because I didn't have any money and was in the middle of making a sandwich when they phoned and said I'd got the job. I burst into tears and had to leave work because I couldn't control myself. It was absolutely brilliant."

In 2002 she had this to say about doing nude scenes: "I like exposing myself. There's not an awful lot that embarrasses me. I'm the kind of actress that absolutely believes in exposing myself."

I'd rather do theatre and British films than move to L.A. in hopes of getting small roles in American films.

It's very important for me to make the statement that I am English and just because I've done one really big film, it doesn't mean that I don't want to keep a finger in the fantastic British film industry and do films like this.

About her spur-of-the-moment marriage to Sam Mendes - "We hadn't been planning to do it but we thought it was rather a good idea, so we just did it."

After Titanic (1997) it would have been completely foolish for me to go and try and top that. I'm an English girl, I've always loved England, I've never felt the desire to leave it for any particular reason. And whilst I'm ambitious and care very much about what I do, I'm not competitive. I also don't want to act every day of my life. ... So it was important to me after Titanic (1997) to just remind myself of why it was that I was acting in the first place, which is of course because I love it.

Since I was 13 or 14, I've always felt older than I actually am.

I was on the tube just before Christmas. and this girl turned round to me and said, 'Are you Kate Winslet?'. And I said, 'Well, yes. I am actually'. And she said, 'And you're getting the tube?' And I said, 'Yes'. And she said, 'Don't you have a big car that drives you around?' And I said, 'No'. And she was absolutely stunned that I wasn't being driven round in some flash car all the time. It was ludicrous.

People say to me, 'You seem to have made this conscious decision to do independent films'. In reality, I haven't. After each movie, I always think, how different can I possibly be?... Is this going to challenge me, is this going to inspire me, and is this going to make me love my job more than I already do?

There is no way we are going to move out of England. Some might think that we want to live in Hollywood but that is not what we want at all. We will go and live in New York when it is necessary because of work but we prefer to be in England. I'm proud to be English - we both are. It's very important to me to retain that. I am an English girl and I love England. I have never felt the desire to leave. I am still ambitious and I will have to travel and live elsewhere because of that but England is always home.

On a scene from the movie Holy Smoke (1999),: "It was a difficult scene. When I read the script and I saw this scene was there, I laughed hysterically. I just couldn't believe it. When it came to shooting it, I had been sort of putting it off, and pretending it wasn't going to happen. And suddenly, I am there naked, peeing and thinking "Oh no!" It was really hard to do, but I've always loved the fact that it was there, and it's such a sort of turning point for the character I play in the movie that I've always felt sort of good, that it should be there."

On receiving her 4th Oscar nomination: "I can't believe it. I am ecstatic! This nomination means so much to me. To be remembered for a film that was released a while ago, I am unbelievably honoured and completely overwhelmed."

There's more to life than cheek bones.

Mum and dad were very much friends, and up to life. There was no anxiety for anything when I was growing up, they just taught me to be me.

Life is short, and it is here to be lived.

Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.

I don't know if it's a skill, but I have been really lucky. I've always got on with every actor I've had to work opposite. I just always try and be as accepting of that person as I possibly can, and remain non-judgmental about their process, because every actor works in a different way.

I was a wayward child, very passionate and very determined. If I made up my mind to do something, there was no stopping me.

On going to the 1996 Oscars: Emma Thompson said to me 'Listen, it's honestly just like going to see a fantastic show', and actually it really is, because there are so many people to look at and all those fabulous frocks and it's really fascinating. But mum and dad and I did kind of amble through it a bit, a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies, getting out the car, my mum stepping on my dress and I'm going 'Mum, mum!'

I'm really proud of being English, because I learned my job in England, in English films with English actors. But I never dared dream of such a success... it's more than a dream. I realize it's extraordinary for a British actress. I feel good, but guilty at the same time, cause I wish I could share this emotion with all my British actors' friends... I play the main character in the most expensive and probably successful film, but that's not a good reason to leave England and become a superstar. Not at all.

It seems daft that I'm famous and I've not really got to grips with that.

On taking chances in Hollywood: If you're not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career. - Interview, November 2000

My skin still crawls if you call me a movie star. I get embarrassed. I think, don't be ridiculous. Maybe it's because I'm British. To me, Julia Roberts that's a movie star. But when people do call me one, that, I think, is an enormous compliment but, my God, is that a responsibility!

It feels unbelievable to be mentioned in the same breath as fellow actress Meryl Streep. It's inconceivable to me that this would even happen in my lifetime at all. It's such a dream. (About being nominated in the same category as superstar Meryl Streep)

Salary
Finding Neverland (2004) £ 6,000,000
Enigma (2001) £ 300,000
Quills (2000) £ 450,000
Holy Smoke (1999) £ 360,000
Titanic (1997) $2,000,000

Kirsten Dunst Biography

2009-07-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
30 April 1982, Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA

Birth Name
Kirsten Caroline Dunst

Nickname
Kiki

Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Kirsten Caroline Dunst was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA to Klaus Dunst, a German medical-services exec. who's now stationed in New Jersey while the rest of his family lives on the West Coast. Klaus separated from Kirsten's mother Inez Dunst, a former art-gallery owner. She also has a brother named Christian, who was born in 1986. Kirsten started out in showbiz at the age of three, where she began filming television commercials (a grand total of more than 70). She made her feature film debut in a segment of Woody Allen's 1989 film New York Stories (1989). Shortly after in the same year her family moved to Los Angeles, where her film career took off.

In 1994 she made her breakthrough performance in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) alongside such stars as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, the MTV Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the Saturn award for Best Young Actress. In 1995, she was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Over the next few years she made a string of hit movies including Little Women (1994), Jumanji (1995) and Small Soldiers (1998).

2000 was Kirsten's biggest year yet - she received rave reviews for her role as Lux Lisbon in Sofia Coppola's Independent film The Virgin Suicides (1999). She proved her status as a leading actress in the comedy hit Bring It On (2000), and she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles in June of that year. She is now working on her own production company with her mother called "Wooden Spoon Productions."
IMDb Mini Biography By: TrendEkiD@aol.com

Trivia

Was a Ford model as a child.

Beat out Christina Ricci for roles in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) and Little Women (1994).

Attended the Anne Rice's Memnoch Ball in New Orleans in 1995.

One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 1995.

Parents are separated. She lives with her mother Inez, and brother Christian in Southern California.

She is working on her own production company with her mother called "Wooden Spoon Productions". The name symbolizes women and creativity. It was inspired by her grandmother, who used wooden spoons to keep her in line when she was a girl.

Graduated from Notre Dame High School, a private Catholic high school in Los Angeles, in May/June 2000.

Turned down the role of Angela in American Beauty (1999).

Went to the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, New Jersey up until the sixth grade, when she left to pursue her career in California.

Made her singing debut performing the song "Dream Of Me" from Get Over It (2001).

Nabbed the lead role of Peter Parker's girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, in Spider-Man (2002) after Kate Hudson and Alicia Witt turned it down.

She performed her first screen kiss, at the tender age of 11, with Brad Pitt in the movie Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994).

Name is pronounced "Keer-sten" (not "Kur-sten").

One of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 2002.

One of Teen People Magazine's "25 Hottest Stars under 25" [2002]

She is Swedish and German.

Furthered her singing career with a song that appears durings the end credits to The Cat's Meow (2001).

Voted the 2nd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Auditioned along with Kate Hudson to replace Sarah Polley for the role of Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000), she didn't get the part but Cameron Crowe later said it was "very, very close".

She and Jake Gyllenhaal have broken up after two years of dating (2004).

Her nickname is Kiki as when she was a child she could not pronounce Kirsten. She then provided the voice of Kiki in the English dubbing of the Miyazaki animated feature, Majo no takkyûbin (1989) (aka "Kiki's Delivery Service").

Her favourite store is Blue Bag.

Is a big fan of the British television show "Da Ali G Show" (2000).

She was offered the role of Chrissy in Now and Then (1995), but she turned it down as the role required her to gain weight.

Her favorite show is "Friends" (1994).

Her favourite movies are Annie Hall (1977) and Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Is a fan of the television show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000).

According to producer Mark Gordon, she visited her then boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal at the set of the film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and that visit gained her an uncredited cameo appearance

Ranked #25 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).

Is a fan of the television show "The Office" (2001) and admits she is a huge fan of Ricky Gervais.

Like her Bring It On (2000) character "Torrance Shipman," Kirsten was a cheerleader in high school.

She wore a red wig in Spider-Man (2002).

She was called back to reshoot some scenes for Get Over It (2001) while filming the first Spider-Man (2002) movie, which explains why her character suddenly goes from blond to red in a few scenes.

Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2001 along with Jimmy Fallon

Jake Gyllenhaal gave Kirsten a gray and white kitten for her birthday. She named the cat Sophie.

Takes Tap dancing lessons.

Was ranked #15 in E's 50 cutest child stars all grown-up.(2005).

Her grandparents Hermann and Inge Dunst live in Hamburg.

Dyed her hair red for Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Dyed her hair brown for her role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003).

Lives in New York and Los Angeles. [2007]

Was originally cast as Clear Rivers in Final Destination (2000).

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2008 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was suggested in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Spider-Man 3 (2007). She failed to receive a nomination however.

Has checked herself into the Cinque Lodge rehab facility in Utah, the same facility which Eva Mendes, Kellan Rhude and Lindsay Lohan checked into [February 8, 2008].

Was ranked #24 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actress list. (2008).

Personal Quotes

I'd like to grow up and be beautiful. I know it doesn't matter, but it doesn't hurt.

Boys frustrate me. I hate all their indirect messages, I hate game playing. Do you like me or don't you? Just tell me so I can get over you.

Why would I cry over a boy? I would never waste my tears on a boy. Why waste your tears on someone who makes you cry?

On turning down the role of Angela in American Beauty (1999): "When I read it, I was 15 and I don't think I was mature enough to understand the script's material. I didn't want to be kissing Kevin Spacey. Come on! Lying there naked with rose petals?".

"My cat, because he's fun to play with, he'd entertain me, and I could eat him if I was really hungry." (on what her luxury item would be on survivor)

"I'm never going to say anything about who I'm dating unless I'm married or engaged." - 2002

"I run the treadmill whenever I can do it with weights." (when asked how she stays in shape) - 2002

Everybody smokes! Models, actresses, everyone! Don't they realize that it's gross? I understand it's an addiction, but it still pains me to see my friends do it.

So many teen films are overproduced and people are going to burnout on the subject.

I think vegetarians - for a lot of them - it's about a lack of commitment to life and relationships. There are some who just like the fact that they're controlling something in their life.

And in the next film they've got to bring in another female character. Just give me the acting; she can do all the falling and fighting.

(on money) I think one of my credit cards is corporate for my company, Wooden Spoons Productions. I don't know; my financial adviser does that. I don't handle that shit.

"I want to go on "Crossing Over with John Edward" (1999). I'd like to be regressed to find out about my past lives".

(On Spider-Man (2002))"I really wanted the role because I knew it would give my career a boost, especially in foreign markets where I don't feel I'm that well known".

"The Virgin Suicides (1999) showed I could nail a very difficult character, while Bring It On (2000) brought a great deal of joy to young girls. These are the beautiful rewards of being an actress".

On every film I do, whenever there are other girls my age, I think it's definitely up to me to set the pace. That's because I've had a lot of experience and I think there's always a certain amount of professionalism that should be maintained.

(On Bring It On (2000)): We're breaking boundaries. And we're not doing the same old little cliché of, "Oh, cheerleaders are dumb, so let's make fun of them".

I have never done a drug in my life. I tried smoking once. Hated it. I don't want to infect myself with cancer.

Whenever I have to smoke for a character, I make sure they're fake cigarettes. It's a terrible habit, and I can't believe kids still want to do it.

What actor do you really take seriously who becomes a singer? It's kind of ridiculous. I can't think of anybody.

"It would actually be really interesting if Spider-Man died. Why doesn't the superhero ever die? I think if Mary Jane was alone, pregnant and he died, she could give birth to a spider baby and carry on the series with another young boy or something like that." - July 2004

(On kissing Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) ): "It was horrible, I hated it. Brad and Tom were like my big brothers on the set, so it was like kissing your big brother - totally gross."

"You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you're excited for the day? That's one of my main goals in life." quoted in Womans World (1-24-06)

I don't try to be sexy, but if you are sexy it comes out. If you're not, you're not.

On Marie Antoinette (2006): "It's kind of like a history of feelings rather than a history of facts. So don't expect a masterpiece theatre, educational Marie Antoinette biopic".

I like people more undone than made up. Patricia Arquette is the ultimate. She's not anorexic or perfectly tan, she's not trying to be anything but what she is, and that's the most sexy thing.

Salary
Marie Antoinette (2006) $8,000,000
Elizabethtown (2005) $8,000,000
Wimbledon (2004) $5,000,000

Jamie Foxx Biography

2009-07-18T00:35:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
13 December 1967, Terrell, Texas, USA

Birth Name
Eric Marlon Bishop

Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Jamie's mother, Louise, was an adopted child. When her marriage to his father failed, his grandparents, Mark and Estelle Talley, stepped in and, at age 7 months, adopted him too. He says he had a very rigid upbringing that placed him in the Boy Scouts and the church choir. During high school, he played quarterback for his high school team and was good enough that he got press in Dallas newspapers. He studied music in college. He released a music album in 1994, "Peep This" and sings the theme song for his 1999 movie, Any Given Sunday (1999). However, in 1989, his life changed when a girl friend challenged him to get up onstage at the Comedy Club. In fact, he says he took his androgynous stage name because he learned that women got preference for mike time on open stage nights. That led to his being cast in "Roc" (1991) and "In Living Color" (1990) and ultimately to his own WB network TV series. He has a daughter, Corrine, born in 1995, who lives with her mother.
IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder

Trivia

1/8/00: First man of the decade to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Was a football quarterback in high school.

He started as a stand up comedian.

Auditioned for the Cuba Gooding Jr. role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Had the role of Slim in The Wood (1999), but had to drop out when he got the role of Willie Beamen in Any Given Sunday (1999).

2/04: Pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace involving charges of battery against a New Orleans policeman in a casino last April. He received two years probation and a $1500 fine.

His piano lessons started at the age of three at his grandmother's insistence.

His top five favorite songs are "Do Me, Baby" by Prince, "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, "Always and Forever" by Heatwave, "It's All About the Benjamins" by 'Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs' and "Lady" by Lionel Richie.

Attended United States International University (now known as Alliant International University) from 1986 to 1988 on a music scholarship.

As a second grader, he was so talented in telling jokes that his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Foxx would tell them jokes.

In Ray (2004/I), he wore prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind.

Went to the United States International University in San Diego after graduation on a music scholarship.

Is the first person to have been nominated for three acting awards at the Golden Globes in the same year.

He said that Richard Pryor is his idol in comedy, Denzel Washington is his idol in acting, and that Steve Hardin is his idol in music.

His three Golden Globe nominations were announced on his 37th birthday.

Started out as a stand-up comedian, often doing imitations of former president Ronald Reagan.

On January 25th, 2005, he became one of the elite eleven thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Cate Blanchett, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter and Julianne Moore.

Is only the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies. The first male to do so was Al Pacino.

First African-American to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year.

At the 2005 Grammy Awards, he performed "Georgia on my Mind" with Alicia Keys as a tribute to Ray Charles, whom he portrayed in Ray (2004/I) the previous year and became good friends with him before he passed away.

As of January 25th, 2005, he became the sixth actor nominated for playing a pianist. The first to be nominated (and win) was F. Murray Abraham, who beat out co-star Tom Hulce for the Best Actor Oscar in Amadeus (1984). The second to be nominated was Holly Hunter, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a mute pianist in The Piano (1993). Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor Oscar for his work in Shine (1996). In 2002, Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Pianist (2002). Foxx was nominated, and won, for his performance as the legendary musician Ray Charles in the hit biopic Ray (2004/I).

His Oscar win for Ray (2004/I) along with Morgan Freeman's win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), was the second time two African-Americans won Oscars in the same year. The first was in 2002 when Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day (2001) and Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster's Ball (2001).

He and Holly Hunter have both won Oscars for playing pianists - and for playing the piano themselves in their respective roles. In 1993, the same year that Hunter won Best Actress, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993) in which she appeared opposite Tom Cruise. In 2004 Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004), also opposite Cruise.

Cousin Michael Bishop starred at quarterback for Kansas State University in the mid-1990s and currently plays for Toronto Argonaughts of the Canadian Football League.

Only one of a few actors to win the quadruple award crown during motion picture award season. Foxx won a Golden Globe, the SAG Award, the BAFTA Award and topped it off with the Oscar.

Was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2005

Is a Miami Heat fan.

Invited to join AMPAS in 2005.

His 10-year-old daughter accompanied him to the Oscars in 2005.

Second actor to win an Academy Award for "Best Actor" and to have had a #1 billboard single ("Gold digger" by Kanye West). The first to do so was Bing Crosby.

To play Ray Charles from the years 1949 to 1979 for the movie Ray (2004/I), he dropped more than 30 pounds, going from 189 to 157.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category for his performance in the film Stealth (2005), however, he failed to receive a nomination.

During 2005 he was nominated nine times for both Best Actor in Ray (2004/I) and Best Supporting Actor in Collateral (2004). Eight out of those nine times he won Best Actor for Ray (2004/I) and lost for Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral (2004).

Idolizes R. Kelly and attributes his musical stylings, as well as personal style, to his influence.

His performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004/I) is ranked #31 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

In 2006, a region of his Unpredictable Tour ad campaigns were by filmmaker, Shane Stanley.

Ray (2004/I), which he played the titled role in, is ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).

Is one of only five performers to have both a Billboard #1 single and an Oscar for acting. The others are Barbra Streisand, Cher, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

His "SSG Sykes" character in Jarhead (2005) ironically took place the same time (during the Gulf War of 1990) as his "In Living Color" (1990) stint.

He often impersonated Ray Charles when he was a cast member on "In Living Color" (1990), satirizing Charles' 1992 Diet Pepsi advertisements.

When he sings "What I'd Say" for Ray (2004/I), he recites almost the same backup refrain in Kanye West's "Gold Digger".

While performing as a stand-up comedian, changed his last name to Foxx after one of his favorite comics Redd Foxx and changed his first name to Jamie because it could be a girls name as well. In comedy clubs, female comics often perform before the male comics so when a club manager read his name on the list, he would often be moved up on the list of performers.

Named one of People Magazine's "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006.

Won 22 awards for his performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004/I).

Huge fan of Professional Wrestling.

Good friends with his Any Given Sunday (1999) Co-Star and current WWE Superstar Marty Wright.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Is one of eight actors to have won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Benicio Del Toro for Traffic (2000), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King in Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008).

Personal Quotes

[On wearing prosthetic eyelids which made him blind in Ray (2004/I)] After six hours of being blind, you lose the sense of how a person is physically. It was amazing to hear the little buzzing voices all around you.

[2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ray (2004/I)] I guess we got to do it again. "Oh, ah!" Yeah, you're ready. That's for Ray Charles. Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy. And thank you, Ray Charles, for living. I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with Taylor Hackford. Taylor, you took a chance, man. I mean that love for Ray Charles was deep, down in the earth. It's cracked open. And it's spilling. And everybody's drowning in this love. I thank you for taking a chance on this film. And thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it. I want to thank you. I want to thank Crusader. I want to thank my agents. I want to thank Rick Kurtzman. I want to thank Kim Hodges. I want to thank 'Steve Smooke'. I want to thank my managers, Jaime King [Jaime Rucker King] and Marcus King. Let's live this African-American dream. It's beautiful. I'm glad I'm with you. I ain't never leaving you. I'm glad I'm with you. I got a chance to meet a whole lot of people, experiencing this. And other people I want to thank, I want to thank my sister. Four feet, eleven inches of nothing but pure love. I want to thank my daughter for telling me just before I got up here, "If you don't win, dad, you're still good. I'm just ... I see Oprah [Oprah Winfrey] and I see Halle [Halle Berry]. I just want to say your names. I want to talk to you later. Both of you. Because Oprah got -- allowed me to meet somebody by the name of Sidney Poitier. And, yes, Sidney Poitier said, "I saw you once. And I looked in your eyes and there was a connection." And he says, "I give to you responsibility." So, I'm taking that responsibility tonight. And, thank you, Sidney. This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whipped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whipped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.

You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor, so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing, and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great.

CCH Pounder taught me one thing. She said, "Characters are like putting on a coat. You put the coat on while you work, you take the coat off after it's over." You need that freshness. I know people who stay in character, and it's the worst thing in the world. You can't go out. They're still in their character and the character residue is too much. I like to go do it, flip it on like a light switch and then flip it off. Then, when we come back in the next morning I flip it back on. That's what keeps things fresh for me.

I'd like to say I'm R&B's savior. Whether that's the truth or not, I'm definitely going out there with my mic and my shield to declare, "I am here to save R&B." I will have the people saying, "Sire, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B."

Salary
Miami Vice (2006) $10,000,000

Brad Pitt Biography

2009-07-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
18 December 1963, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA

Birth Name
William Bradley Pitt

Height
5' 11" (1.80 m)

Mini Biography

Brad Pitt was born in 1963 in Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri. His mother's name is Jane Etta Hillhouse. His father, William (Bill) Pitt, worked in management at a trucking firm in Springfield. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt and a younger sister Julie Neal Pitt. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student government and school musicals. Pitt attended the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism with a focus on advertising. He occasionally acted in fraternity shows. He left college two credits short of graduating to move to California. Before he became successful at acting, Pitt supported himself by driving strippers in limos, moving refrigerators and dressing as a giant chicken while working for "el Pollo Loco."
IMDb Mini Biography By: JJH

Spouse
Jennifer Aniston (29 July 2000 - 2 October 2005) (divorced)

Trade Mark

His laugh

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#23). [1995]

Turned down a role as an astronaut in Apollo 13 (1995) to accept his role in Se7en (1995).

Posed for a campus calendar in college.

A girl went to Pitt's Hollywood-area home shortly after midnight Jan. 7, 1999 and crawled in through an open window, dressed herself in his clothes and stayed for 10 hours before the alarm went off. Athena Rolando, 19, was ordered not to contact the actor and to stay 100 yards away from him for three years. [1999]

Ranked #32 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Mutally agrees to split with Gwyneth Paltrow. [June 1997]

Banned from entering China because of his role in Seven Years in Tibet (1997). [1997]

Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [1997]

Engaged to actress Gwyneth Paltrow. [20 December 1996]

Donated $100,000 to the Discovery Center - a children's learning museum in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri. [June 1996]

Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [1996]

His first starring role in a feature film was in The Dark Side of the Sun (1997), shot in pre-war Yugoslavia during the summer of 1988. As editing neared completion, civil war broke out in the region and much of the footage was lost. In 1996, after a five-year search, all of the lost footage was found and returned to producer Andjelo Arandjelovic, who is working on getting a distribution deal. Pitt was paid $1,523 per week for seven weeks. He played a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic Sea to search for a cure for a rare skin disease.

Purchased a mansion is Southern California from the actress who portrays "Elvira" (Cassandra Peterson). He reportedly paid $1.7 million for the house. This mansion is filled with antiques and has a "vampirish" look to it. [1996]

1994: Given title "Sexiest Man Alive" from People Magazine, after making Legends of the Fall (1994).

May 1992: Lived in Southern California with friend Buck Simmonds, who starred with him in A River Runs Through It (1992).

Dated Juliette Lewis. They met on the set of the NBC movie of the week Too Young to Die? (1990) (TV). They also did Kalifornia (1993) together.

He was the third choice for the role of J.D. in Thelma & Louise (1991). William Baldwin, the first choice, left to star in Backdraft (1991).

Had to learn to fly-cast for his role in A River Runs Through It (1992). He practiced on top of buildings in Hollywood. During these practices he frequently hooked himself in the back of his head.

Voted "Best Actor" by viewers of MTV's "The Big Picture" (1988) in 1995.

Was a journalism major in college with an advertising focus.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1991" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 43. [1991]

Graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Mo. [1982]

Dropped out of the University of Missouri School of Journalism (Columbia, Missouri).

In high school was a member of the golf, tennis, and swim teams.

Belonged to the Key Club and the Forensics Club in High School.

Listed in "People Weekly"s "Most Intriguing People" list. (December 25, 1995/January 1, 1996 issue)

He has a brother Doug, born in 1966 and a sister Julie, born in 1969.

Given title "Sexiest Man Alive" from People Magazine, Mr. Pitt was also People's choice in 1995. [2000]

Was considered for the lead in The Matrix (1999).

Has his teeth capped.

Sued Damiani International, the company which created the wedding ring he gave Jennifer Aniston. According to Pitt, the ring was his design and was to be exclusive. The company has since been selling replicas and indicating Pitt/Aniston's endorsement of the ring. [18 July 2001]

He and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston spent $1 million on their wedding. [2000]

He and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston reached a settlement with Damiani International. The pair claimed the company agreed to never reproduce their wedding rings, but it manufactured and sold "Brad and Jennifer" rings in 18 karat white or yellow gold, featuring either 12 or 13 diamonds and costing about $1,000 apiece. Under the settlement, Pitt will now design jewelry for Damiani that Aniston will model in ads, and Damiani will stop selling the Pitt and Aniston copies. [11 January 2002]

For the last couple of years he has been the spokesman for Edwin Jeans ads in Japan. In 2001 he was also the face of the ads for a new Japanese canned coffee which is named Roots. Was replaced in these tv ads (2002) by Kevin Costner.

Studied acting with the late Roy London.

Did TV commercial for Toyota (Altis model) that aired only in Asia. The car became very popular and its sales resulted in Toyota getting an almost 32% share of the passenger car market.

Has a home at Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey.

Auditioned for the role of "J.D." in the 1988 cult classic film Heathers (1988) and, though he showed talent, casting directors thought him to be "too sweet" for the role, which later went to Christian Slater. He would later go on to a very similar role in the horror film Cutting Class (1989) in 1989.

Is mentioned by name in the Shania Twain hit song, "That Don't Impress Me Much."

He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. The Xi Xi chapter at The University of Missouri - Columbia.

After watching Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Pitt asked director Guy Ritchie if he could be in his next film. He couldn't master the English accent, so Ritchie gave him the role of Mickey the One Punch Pikey, an Irish fighter, in Snatch. (2000).

With Brad Grey's departure for Paramount and after the divorce settlement with ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, he now solely owns Plan B Entertainment.

Tore his Achilles tendon during the production of Troy (2004), in which he plays, ironically, Achilles. His injury caused the production of Ocean's Twelve (2004) to be pushed back to April 2004. [2003]

Is the first man ever to be named "Sexiest Man Alive" twice by "People Magazine." (1994 and 2000).

He and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston campaigned in the United States to save "EastEnders" (1985) from being axed there [2003].

Showed his parents the "Chemical Burn" scene to convince them not to watch Fight Club (1999).

Got into better shape and eventually gained over 20 pounds of muscle for Troy (2004).

He has appeared in three movies with the number seven in the title (Se7en (1995), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)). He has also appeared in two movies with the number twelve in the title (Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Twelve Monkeys (1995)).

He was ranked #6 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."

His high school nickname was Brad the "Pitt-bull."

He took Greek language lessons in secret to surprise his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston who is of Greek ancestry.

Voted #1 in Company magazine's annual "100 Sexiest Men" poll, 2004.

His favorite movies are Planet of the Apes (1968) and Saturday Night Fever (1977).

Announced on January 7, 2005 that he and Jennifer Aniston are separating after 4 1/2 years of marriage.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2005 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actor category for his performance in the film Troy (2004). He did not receive a nomination, however.

Dianne Wiest is his favorite actress.

Premiere Magazine ranked him as #50 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

A short while after completing A River Runs Through It (1992), he fled to Amsterdam where he briefly lived for three months by himself in a small basement apartment before returning to the USA to film Kalifornia (1993).

He and his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston met on a blind date, which was arranged by their agent

He and his Ocean's Eleven (2001) / Ocean's Twelve (2004) co- stars, Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Elliott Gould, all have guest-starred on the TV show "Friends" (1994), though not in the same episodes

Owns and plays Taylor Guitars

In 2001 renowned architect Frank O. Gehry renovated the wine cellar in the home in which Pitt and wife Jennifer Aniston lived. Pitt subsequently did an informal apprenticeship in Gehry's Los Angeles office.

Owns the rights to the Hong Kong thriller Mou gaan dou (2002). He wanted it to be remade with he and Tom Cruise in the leading roles.

Visited over 100 orphans affected by HIV at a facility run by The Salvation Army in South Africa.

Is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Has appeared in eight movies with a number in the title - and only one of them uses an actual number rather than spelling the word out. That is Se7en (1995), which is a combination of the two, He has appeared in 1 movie with the number Zero in the title, 1 with the number Two in the title, 3 with the number Seven in the title, 1 with the number Eleven and 2 with the Twelve.

Without being asked to, he made an appearance on MTV's "Jackass" (2000) where he did stunts with the cast, dressed in an ape outfit.

Raised in Springfield, Missouri, and is an alumni of Kickapoo High School. Other alumni include Adrienne Wilkinson and Jay Kenneth Johnson.

Broke his arm during the filming of Se7en (1995). The injury was written into the movie.

Adoptive father of Maddox Jolie-Pitt and Zahara Jolie-Pitt with Angelina Jolie.

Wanted to play Darcy in Bride & Prejudice (2004), but wasn't able to work out the filming dates.

Daughter (with girlfriend Angelina Jolie) Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born 27 May 2006 in Namibia, Africa.

Ranked #15 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #31 in 2005.

Was considered for two roles which went to Johnny Depp: Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Both were directed by Tim Burton.

The first commercial that Brad Pitt ever booked was through Matrix Talent Agency, Los Angeles. His agent was Linda Olhava, sister of film director Jody Lee Olhava.

Has Single Engine Land pilot license.

Occasionally flies a Cessna 208B Caravan belonging to Chivan Productions.

Initially didn't want to appear in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), although it was he who gave the script to director Doug Liman.

Originally cast as Colin Sullivan in The Departed (2006), but later dropped out. He continued to produce the film under his (and his then wife Jennifer Aniston's) production company, Plan B.

His first job was dancing in a chicken suit to draw in customers at an El Pollo Loco restaurant on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

March 2007 - he and girlfriend Angelina Jolie adopted a 3-year-old boy named Pax Thien from Vietnam (born November 29th 2003).

Made a cameo appearance with Matt Damon for free in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) as a favor to Ocean's Eleven (2001) costar and close friend George Clooney - the film was Clooney's directorial debut.

Has been in 7 movies where the title contains the name of the character he plays: Johnny Suede (1991), Meet Joe Black (1998), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Chad Schmidt (2010).

Considered for the role in Crimson Tide (1995) that eventually went to 'Denzel Washington'.

Voted #6 in Elle (France) Magazine's "15 Sexiest Men" poll (June 2007).

Mentioned in the song High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup, as "the quarterback".

Was trained to handle weapons by renowned Hollywood gun coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as Val Kilmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Sam Elliot, Girard Swan, Ben Foster and Kurt Russell.

He and Russell Crowe were director Ridley Scott's first two choices for the lead in American Gangster (2007). Crowe was eventually cast.

Used to act at the Vandevort Theater in Springfield, Missouri. He still visits and donates to the theater.

Donated 5 million dollars of his own money to rebuild homes in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

In 2005, he earned $4,500,000 for a Heineken commercial that aired during the 2005 Super Bowl.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year to be $35 million.

He is a Patron of the Mineseeker Foundation and the Sole of Africa, a campaign dedicated to detecting and removing land mines in Africa. The Foundation's patrons include Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Branson, Queen Noor, Graca Machel and John Paul de Joria.

Ranked #10 in the 2008 Forbes The Celebrity 100 list. His girlfriend, Angelina Jolie, ranked #3.

On July 12th 2008, his longtime girlfriend Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins - a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline.

Is a Vegetarian.

In Nov. 2005 he visited Pakistan with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In 2006, Jolie and Pitt also went to Haiti where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean.

Was officially in the BAFTA longlist for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Babel (2006), however he did not get the nomination.

Considers Fitzcarraldo (1982), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) among his personal favorite movies.

Personal Quotes

[US Weekly, 9/18/00] Being married means I can break wind and eat ice cream in bed.

I'm gonna design my own fleet of trailers. No! I'm gonna record an album like Jennifer Lopez. It'll be an acoustic version of KC & The Sunshine Band. Then maybe I'll design a line of clothes like [Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs] but all in synthetic fur.

I'd like to design something like a city or a museum. I want to do something hands on rather than just play golf which is the sport of the religious right.

[Viasat magazine, 5/01] Fame is a bitch, man.

[on what keeps him humble] You know, I telephoned my grandparents the other day, and my grandfather said to me, "We saw your movie." "Which one?" I said, and he shouted, "Betty, what was the name of that movie I didn't like?" I thought that was just classic. I mean, if that doesn't keep your feet on the ground, what would?

I'm one of those people you hate because of genetics. It's the truth.

Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.

[Time magazine, 10/13/97] You shouldn't speak until you know what you're talking about. That's why I get uncomfortable with interviews. Reporters ask me what I feel China should do about Tibet. Who cares what I think China should do? I'm a f---ing actor! They hand me a script. I act. I'm here for entertainment. Basically, when you whittle everything away, I'm a grown man who puts on makeup.

When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It's just a first impression. Then there's someone who doesn't catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them and they become the most beautiful thing in the world. The greatest actors aren't what you would call beautiful sex symbols. I'll tell you who my favorite actress is, Dianne Wiest, and you wouldn't call her a sex symbol. Dianne Wiest is, to me, the most beautiful woman on the screen.

[when asked by Conan O'Brien how he got into character as stoner Floyd in True Romance (1993)] I'm a method actor.

[In May, 2005, on his impending divorce to Jennifer Aniston] The thing I don't understand is looking at this as a failure. It's talked about like it failed, I guess because it wasn't flawless. Me, I embrace the messiness of life. I find it so beautiful, actually.

[2003] It's amazing what an impending midlife crisis will do for you, really. It got me motivated, having turned 40 in December.

[on having children] It really changes your perspective on the world. You know, I've had my day. I made some films, and I've really had a very fortunate life, and it's time for me to share that a little bit. Having children takes the focus off yourself, which I'm really grateful for. I'm so tired of thinking about myself. I'm sick of myself. You feel you want to be there and not miss out on anything. It's a true joy and a very profound love. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on.

[On how his children will influence his future roles] My thoughts these days are, "Oh, my God, what did I do? What are they going to see from the past?" It definitely colors what I'll approach in the future. I'll try to be a little bit more mature about my decisions.

[On how his earlier, lesser film roles ultimately improved him as an actor]: I believe I'm quite capable and we, as people, can learn to do anything, and that's proof of it! And my education is on film, on record! Now I can take on anything that comes my way and find truth in it an do a pretty good job.

Salary
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) $20,000,000
Troy (2004) $17,500,000
Ocean's Eleven (2001) $30,000,000 ($10m salary + backend participations)
Spy Game (2001) $17,500,000
The Mexican (2001) $10,000,000
Fight Club (1999) $17,500,000
Meet Joe Black (1998) $17,500,000
Seven Years in Tibet (1997) $10,000,000
The Devil's Own (1997) $10,000,000
Sleepers (1996) $10,000,000
Se7en (1995) $4,000,000
Kalifornia (1993) $500,000
Thelma & Louise (1991) $6,000
Cutting Class (1989) $12,000

Where Are They Now

(May 2003) Filming Troy (2004) in Malta.

(May 2004) The cast of Ocean's Twelve (2004) are currently filming in Amsterdam.

(January 2006) His girlfriend Angelina Jolie is expecting their first biological child.

(May 2006) Girlfriend Angelina Jolie gave birth to the couple's second daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, on May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa.

(October 2006) In India with girlfriend Angelina Jolie, who is shooting for A Mighty Heart (2007).

(July 2008) Angelina Jolie gives birth to the couple's fifth and sixth children, son Knox Leon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline, in Nice, France.

(May 2009) in Mato Grosso, Brazil, filming The Lost City of Z.

Jim Carrey Biography

2009-07-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
17 January 1962, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Birth Name
James Eugene Carrey

Height
6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Mini Biography

The youngest of four children born to Percy (an accountant and aspiring jazz saxophonist) and Kathleen, Jim Carrey was an incurable extrovert from day one. As a child he performed constantly, for anyone who would watch, and even mailed his résumé to "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967) at age 10. In junior high he was granted a few precious minutes at the end of each school day to do stand-up routines for his classmates (provided, of course, that he kept a lid on it the rest of the day). Carrey's early adolescence took a turn for the tragic, however, when the family was forced to relocate from their cozy town of Newmarket to Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). They all took security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim working 8-hour shifts after school let out (not surprisingly, his grades and morale both suffered). When they finally deserted the factory, the family lived out of a Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto. Back on firmer ground, Carrey decided to strike out into the comedy club scene. He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk's, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations (among them Michael Landon and James Stewart), and in 1979 worked up the nerve to move to Los Angeles. He finessed his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived sitcom "The Duck Factory" (1984); while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to pursue acting more vigorously. He scored the male lead in the ill-received Lauren Hutton vehicle Once Bitten (1985), and a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988). Impressed with Carrey's lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call to his brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the process of putting together the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" (1990). Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill- advised safety tips). Carrey's transformation from TV goofball to marquee headliner happened within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character's trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie The Mask (1994), which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey's features could stretch. Finally, in December, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the Farrelly brothers' Dumb & Dumber (1994) (his first multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of Batman Forever (1995), replacing Robin Williams as The Riddler. He also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and inked a deal with Sony to star in The Cable Guy (1996) (replacing Chris Farley) for a cool $20 million--at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been offered to any comic actor. The movie turned out to be a disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced back the next year with the energetic hit Liar Liar (1997). Worried that his comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course. In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998). Playing a naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well--when it didn't materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey threw himself into his next role with abandon. After edging out a handful of other hopefuls (including Edward Norton) to play eccentric funnyman Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999), Carrey disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman -- and his blustery alter-ego Tony Clifton -- for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman's bongo drums, which he'd used during his audition for director Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again the Academy kept quiet. An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Carrey's real-life persona wound up falling for her too--a few months after the film wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then, Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy antihero of Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). He plans to take a break from the limelight after the holiday flick (as he puts it, "I'm looking forward to getting out of America's face"). Is there another Carrey reinvention in the works? If so, he's not talking.
IMDb Mini Biography By: IMDb Editors

Spouse
Lauren Holly (23 September 1996 - 29 July 1997) (divorced)
Melissa Carrey (28 March 1987 - 11 December 1995) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Flexible body movements.

Frequently plays a character who wears green or is green.

Makes weird facial expressions in his more comical roles. A lot of times, the expression is accompanied by an equally weird voice or laugh.

Trivia

Dropped out of high school at 16.

During the filming of Me, Myself & Irene (2000), he and the production crew attended a private music show of the band Phish on June 24th 1999 at the guitarist/vocalist house in Careystock, Vermont. There, he sang two songs with Phish, "Hey You" by Bachman Turner Overdrive and "Come Together" by The Beatles.

Ranked #54 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [1997]

At age 10, he sent his resume to Carol Burnett.

He appeared at the 20th anniversary special for The Comedy Store wearing nothing but a sock on his penis.

Hosted "YTV Awards Show" in mid '80s with Laurie from "Fox After Breakfast" (1996). YTV is Canada's Youth Television station.

At one point his family lived out of their car/trailer.

Once performed "Rocket Man" on stage with Elton John at one of Elton's concerts (1998).

At one point he and his family all worked as janitors at a factory to make a living.

Wrote himself a check for $20 million and kept it in his wallet until he earned that amount for The Cable Guy (1996).

Relationship with Renée Zellweger ended while they were already engaged and had marriage plans. [2000]

Manager is Jimmy Miller, who is the younger brother of actor-comedian Dennis Miller.

Shares the same birthday with Andy Kaufman, who he played in Man on the Moon (1999).

December, 2001: Announces his intention to become a United States citizen.

His total of nine MTV movie awards as of 2001 is the most MTV movie awards won by any person.

Although he obtained American citizenship, he still intends to keep his Canadian citizenship.

He, Michael J. Fox and the late Raymond Burr head list of top Canadians in U.S. television compiled by Banff Television Festival, June 2002.

As a child, he used to wear his tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night.

Performed his first stand-up routine (with disastrous results) in a yellow suit and tails (made by his mother) similar to what he would later wear in The Mask (1994).

Insisted that his favorite band, Cannibal Corpse, play in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994).

Melissa Womer Carrey filed court papers in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting more child support, saying that $10,000 a month "is not sufficient" to meet the needs of their 15-year-old daughter Jane, who wants to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. An April 21 hearing is scheduled on the support request. (30 January 2003)

Father of Jane Carrey with his first wife, Melissa Carrey.

Ranked #5 in Star TV's Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s (2003)

Many of his characters are ordinary men whose lives are changed by supernatural or otherwise unseen forces. As in The Mask (1994) (" (Ipkiss happens to find the mask), The Majestic (2001) (Appleton is unlucky and suffers amnesia), Liar Liar (1997) (His son's birthday wish comes true), Bruce Almighty (2003) (Divine intervention), The Truman Show (1998) (He finds his life is a TV show), and so on.

His characters from Dumb & Dumber (1994), The Mask (1994), Batman Forever (1995), Bruce Almighty (2003), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Man on the Moon (1999) and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004_ are losers who want to be recognized and be famous.

There is some sort of a bathroom scene and car scene in almost every one of his movies.

Along with Jeff Goldblum and Damon Wayans, his voice was dubbed for certain scenes in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).

While filming Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), it took approximately two and a half hours for him and co-stars Jeff Goldblum and Damon Wayans to be suited up as the aliens.

Many of his characters have a job or interest in TV (The Mask (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Cable Guy (1996), The Truman Show (1998), Man on the Moon (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003))

Has said that his least favorite movie is The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969).

Owns his own $25 million dollar plane.

October 2004 - Became a U.S. citizen.

He has said that Joel, his painfully shy, lovelorn character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), is closer to what he's like when he's not "on," and that making the film lead him to reflect on his past relationships and why they didn't work out.

Attended Agincourt Collegiate Institute (High School), in Scarborough.

Auditioned for the role of Farmer Ted in the film Sixteen Candles (1984). Eventually, actor Anthony Michael Hall won the part.

He donated a signed head-shot to Rocky Stone to be auctioned off to raise money to buy more toys for less fortunate kids as part of the Toy Mountain Campaign 2004.

While getting his start in Los Angeles, one of his frequent stops was at the Comedy Store

Went through depression in the 1980s while struggling to make ends meet as a comedian.

Wrote letters to Tupac Shakur when Tupac was in prison to help him laugh and smile. Tupac said that Carrey was his favorite actor.

Briefly attended Aldershot High School in Burlington, Ontario.

Bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle and got a vanity license plate for it which read "NO TAG" as a joke. This resulted in Jim receiving numerous traffic tickets in the mail that were meant for other people. As it turns out, when filling out a ticket, police officers write "no tag" in the license plate number slot on the ticket when the offending vehicle has no license plate. In some cases, this was interpreted as the actual license plate number, as it was in Jim's case, which caused the tickets to be routed to him.

He was originally cast as "Dr. Evil" in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), but he had to drop out of the role due to a scheduling conflict with Liar Liar (1997).

Was considered for the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Was considered for the role of "Willy Wonka" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

His performance as "Ace Ventura" in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) is ranked #97 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Was originally offered the lead role in the movie The Master of Disguise (2002).

Was a straight-A student until he dropped out.

Before Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004), he spent years trying to produce and star in a film of Howard Hughes' life as Hughes himself.

He has been nominated for 5 Golden Globes, but although more recognised for his comedic performances, the only two Globes he's won were for dramatic performances. (The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999)).

Fellow Canadian comedian Mike Myers was chosen over Carrey to play in SNL.

Possibly out of slapstick to his nationality, his "Dick Harper" character of Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) has been compared by fans to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

First actor to reach 20 million dollar mark salary (for The Cable Guy (1996))

On September 13th, 2006, Carrey fired his agent of 15 years, Nick Stevens.

Along with his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, he was among the guests at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's wedding.

Often his protagonist (or antagonist) roles are associated with the color green. The Mask (1994), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), "The Riddler" in Batman Forever (1995), the alias 'Mr. Red Green' in Fun with Dick and Jane (2005). The Red Green reference in Fun With Dick and Jane might have been a nod to a Canadian comedy, "The Red Green Show" (1991).

Turned down the offer to induct Jerry Lawler into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2007, for he believed the people in the audience would have come to the ceremony to see him, not the legends being honored that night.

Nicole Kidman calls him her best male friend.

Is a huge fan of the cartoons Johnny Bravo, Spongebob Squarepants and Dave The Barbarian.

At one time Carrey was slated to star as the lead in "Meet the Parents" (2000) and even contributed jokes to the screenplay, such as the main character being named 'Focker'.

With the exception of his "Ace Ventura" character, Carrey has a reputation of not repeating the same character twice in a sequel (Batman & Robin (1997)) or prequel (Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)).

Studies acting with legendary coach Larry Moss.

Is a vegetarian.

A fan of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969).

Has worked with two actresses from the TV show "Friends" (1994): Courteney Cox in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and Jennifer Aniston in Bruce Almighty (2003).

Played a fictional man who is not (yet) aware he is on television on "The Truman Show" (1998) and a real life man who believed he was always on television "Man on the Moon" (1999).

Jack Nicholson has called him the "Jack Nicholson of the next generation".

As of 2009, he is only one of six performers who won a Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (his for The Truman Show (1998)). The others are Spencer Tracy in The Actress (1953), Anthony Franciosa in Career (1959), Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965), Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka (1988) and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008).

Was considered for the role of Ted Stroehmann in There's Something About Mary (1998);.

As a kid, he was a member of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets.

The characters played by him in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), The Mask (1994) and Dumb & Dumber (1994) later all became TV cartoons, whereas his "Grinch", "Horton" and "Riddler" characters were already cartoons.

Publicist is Marleah Leslie.

Spoofed the Players' Club TV commercials, made famous by Telly Savalas in the 1980s, on In Living Color.

He had never heard of "Doctor Who" (1963) until being offered the role of the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who (1996) (TV), which was the key factor into turning down the role, as he felt he would cause outrage amongst Doctor Who fans if the role wasn't played by a Doctor Who fan.

Personal Quotes

I tend to stay up late, not because I'm partying but because it's the only time of day when I'm alone and I don't have to be on, performing.

Until Ace Ventura, no actor had considered talking through his ass

It's insane...I mean, Nicholson, Hoffman, Jackson, Kline - I don't see how I can lose. - Regarding his chances at 1998 Golden Globes

I've been dubbed the man most responsible for the dumbing of America, so obviously I don't put much stock into thoughts like (the theme of the 'dumbing down' of contemporary comedy). People love to laugh, and most people can find humor in just about anything, which is great. Trying to label or categorize comedy is ridiculous. I mean, if you laugh at a fart joke, does that make you a moron? I don't think so.

Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating sandwiches.

That's the trouble with being me. At this point, nobody gives a damn what my problem is. I could literally have a tumor on the side of my head and they'd be like, 'Yeah, big deal. I'd eat a tumor every morning for the kinda money you're pulling down.

I'm charming, but I dip into the Prozac now and then.

I don't believe in this fairy tale of staying together for ever. Ten years with somebody is enough. In ten years, you can give a lot of love.

I have no intention of giving up my Canadian heritage, and all those who loved and supported me. My upbringing in Canada made me the person I am. I will always be proud to be a Canadian.

After recording a cover of 'I am the Walrus': "There! I did it! I defiled a timeless work of art! For my next trick, I will paint a clown face on the Mona Lisa while using the shroud of Turin as a dropcloth."

[On being asked what his personal motto is] Always turn your wheel in the direction of the skid.

Salary
Bruce Almighty (2003) $25,000,000
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) $20,000,000 + merchandising
Me, Myself & Irene (2000) $20,000,000
Man on the Moon (1999) $20,000,000
The Truman Show (1998) $12,000,000
Liar Liar (1997) $20,000,000
The Cable Guy (1996) $20,000,000
Batman Forever (1995) $5,000,000
Dumb & Dumber (1994) $7 000,000
The Mask (1994) $540,000
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) $350,000
"In Living Color" (1990) $25,000/episode

Tom Hanks Biography

2009-07-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
9 July 1956, Concord, California, USA

Birth Name
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks

Height
6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Born in California, Tom Hanks grew up in what he calls a "fractured" family. His parents were pioneers in the development of marriage dissolution law in that state, and Tom moved around a lot, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no abuse, no alcoholism, just a confused childhood. He had no acting experience in college and, in fact, credits the fact that he couldn't get cast in a college play with actually starting his career - he went downtown, auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started. He met his second wife, actress Rita Wilson on the set of the his television show "Bosom Buddies" (1980), she appeared in one episode in the second season (1981) - they have two children and Tom has another son and daughter by his first wife. In 1996, he made his first step behind the camera, directing as well as starring and writing the film That Thing You Do! (1996).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Bruce Cameron

Spouse
Rita Wilson (30 April 1988 - present) 2 children
Samantha Lewes (24 January 1978 - 19 March 1987) (divorced) 2 children

Trade Mark

Playing conflicted regular guys

Trivia

Is a frequent guest host on "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the U. S. Navy's highest civilian honor, on Veterans Day 1999 for his work in the movie Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Entertainment Weekly chose him as the only actor worthy of $20 million.

Dislocated his shoulder when he fell through a rotting floor in a building in Germany while scouting locations with Steven Spielberg for the HBO series "Band of Brothers" (2001) (1999).

Second actor to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, for his work in Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). The first was Spencer Tracy, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938).

Ranked #17 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).

Attended Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Attended Chabot College in Hayward, California.

Attended California State University, Sacramento.

Voted best actor by the readers of "Us" magazine (1995).

Younger brother of Sandra Hanks and Larry Hanks and older brother of Jim Hanks.

After a one-shot guest appearance on "Happy Days" (1974), producer Ron Howard asked him to read for a secondary part in Splash (1984), and he got the lead instead.

Father, with first wife Samantha Lewes, of Colin Hanks (born on 24 September 1977) and Elizabeth Hanks (born on 17 May 1982).

Marriedhis first wife Samantha Lewes (real name: Susan Dillingham) two months after their son Colin's birth.

Hanks cited the help of a nearby ice cream shop which helped him gain 30 pounds for his role in A League of Their Own (1992).

Received emergency treatment for serious staph infection in leg after returning from overseas location shoot (1999).

Was asked to play the title role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Born at 11:17 AM

His Oscar acceptance speech for 1993's Philadelphia (1993) led to the plot of the movie In & Out (1997). Hanks thanked a gay teacher in his speech.

Has another brother who is a professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, IL.

Received American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award, presented by fellow Oscar winner Steven Spielberg, the youngest ever to receive that award (12 June 2002).

Returned to his old high school, Skyline High School in Oakland, California, to dedicate a renovated theater named for Rawley T. Farnsworth, the retired drama teacher he thanked in his Philadelphia (1993) Oscar speech. Oakland Tribune reports Hanks donated about 1/4 of the $465,000 cost of the project. Then he led the audience of some 1000 people in a chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business" (6 March 2002).

According to Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), he is a huge Trekkie and the first time the two met, Star Trek was the only thing he wanted to talk about. Hanks was actually the original choice to play Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and desperately wanted to play the role, but had to back out due to his earlier commitment to That Thing You Do! (1996).

Is a member of the International Thespian Society (a group supporting theatre for high school students internationally).

Father, with Rita Wilson, of Chet Hanks (born on 4 August 1990) and Truman Theodore (born on 26 December 1995).

Jim Lovell, whom Hanks played in Apollo 13 (1995), is actually left-handed, but Hanks refused to write with his left hand for the movie.

He is a third cousin, four generations removed, of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Their common ancestor is John Hanks (1680 - 1740), who was the great-great-grandfather of Lincoln, and the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Tom Hanks. It is commonly (albeit incorrectly) reported that they are fourth cousins, four times removed, but Thomas Hanks (b. 1819) and Abraham Lincoln were both great-great-grandchildren of John Hanks, making them third cousins. Tom Hanks was Thomas Hanks' great-great-grandson, making his relation to Abraham Lincolns four generations removed.

Ranked #13 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #15 in 2002.

Is a diehard Cleveland Indians baseball team fan.

Ranked #1 on Star TV's Top Ten Box Office stars of the 1990s (2003)

Lost 30 lbs. for his role in Philadelphia (1993).

Gained and later lost 50 lbs. for his role in Cast Away (2000).

Is a fan of English Premier League soccer team Aston Villa and was presented with a shirt on a TV show with the print 'Hanks 1' on the back.

Has been referred to by many as "the modern James Stewart".

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 205-206. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

His heroic Oscar-winning gay character Andrew Beckett in the 1993 film Philadelphia (1993) was ranked #49 on the Amerian Film Institute's heroes list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villians.

He was voted the 26th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

His three favourite bands/artists are Elvis Presley, Patrick Rondat and Alabama Thunderpussy.

His first wife Samantha Lewes died of cancer 14 years after their divorce.

Had made three films with director Steven Spielberg, all of which are tied to Europe. Saving Private Ryan (1998) revolved around his character and his infantry unit seeking out a missing private in Europe during WW II. Catch Me If You Can (2002) involved his character tracking down Frank Abagnale Jr. in France and in The Terminal (2004), his character was from the fictional eastern European country of Krakohzia.

Shortly before the release of Columbia Pictures' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), he was one of several actors speaking out against the use of "synthespians" (computer-generated actors) in the place of flesh-and-blood humans. Nevertheless, he took the lead role in the computer-animated film The Polar Express (2004), a film highly-publicized for its use of new (and expensive) technique of digital actors.

Between 1994 and 2004, he was the performer nominated for the most Academy Awards (four times, along with Sean Penn, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench and Ed Harris) and won the most (twice).

Was considered for the role of Peter Banning (Peter Pan) in Hook (1991).

Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category on the 2005 ballot for his roles in the films The Polar Express (2004) (referred to as "Bi-Polar Express" on the ballot), The Ladykillers (2004) and The Terminal (2004). He was suggested again in the Worst Actor category two years later, for his performance in The Da Vinci Code (2006). He failed receive either nomination.

Has been good friends with Bruce Springsteen since his youth.

He once worked as a hotel bellman. Some of the celebrity guests whose bags he carried were Cher, Sidney Poitier, Slappy White and Bill Withers.

Premiere Magazine ranked him as #28 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

He is an environmental conservationist and often advocates and supports natural causes.

In three of his movies, he has had a scene where he is stranded at sea: Splash (1984), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and Cast Away (2000).

Has worked with two actors who played Howard Hughes. In Philadelphia (1993), he worked with Jason Robards, who played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980) for director Jonathan Demme. His cast mate in Catch Me If You Can (2002) was Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Hughes in The Aviator (2004) for Martin Scorsese.

He and actress Meg Ryan have been co-stars in three movies as love interests: Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and You've Got Mail (1998).

Shares his birthday with Jack White, David O'Hara, Courtney Love, Chris Cooper, O.J. Simpson and Donald Rumsfeld.

His ancestors originally came from England. The name "Hanks" can be traced back several centuries.

Born to Amos Mefford Hanks, a chef, and his wife Janet Marylyn Frager, a hospital worker, his parents divorced in 1960.

Has been Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch) since 2001.

Related to Bill Cosby's wife Camille O. Cosby (née Camille Olivia Hanks), as both share a biological lineage to Abraham Lincoln through his mother, Nancy Hanks.

Stepson of the former Frances Wong, whom his father married in 1965.

Sold popcorn and peanuts as a teenager at the Oakland Coliseum.

His performance as Josh Baskin in Big (1988) is ranked #15 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

His performance as Chuck Noland in Cast Away (2000) is ranked #46 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

He and President George Bush are both related to 19th-century Presidents. Bush, a Republican, is descended, by way of his mother's family, from Franklin Pierce, one of the last Democratic presidents before Abraham Lincoln. Hanks, a Democrat, is descended from the family of Lincoln's mother.

His top five all-time favorite films are 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Godfather (1972), Fargo (1996), Elephant (2003) and Boogie Nights (1997), with Stanley Kubrick's film holding the top ranking.

His performance as Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994) is ranked #43 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Is the second most-represented actor (behind Sidney Poitier and Gary Cooper) on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with four of his films making the list. They are: Forrest Gump (1994) at #37, Philadelphia (1993) at #20, Apollo 13 (1995) at #12, and Saving Private Ryan (1998) at #10.

Ranked #16 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #16 in 2005 as well.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". Volume 244, pages 199-202. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2006.

He once shared a record (with Tom Cruise and Will Smith) as the actor to star in the most consecutive $100 million-grossing movies (7). As of 2008, Smith holds the record alone with 8 movies.

Frequently works with director Steven Spielberg, and is related to Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Ironically, he is not involved in Spielberg's film about Lincoln, despite his frequent involvement in historical projects.

Both his maternal grandparents, though born in California, had Portuguese ancestry, originally from the Azores Islands.

Forbes magazine estimated his 1999 earnings at $71.5 million.

Cited as America's Favorite Movie Star in Harris Polls conducted in 2002, 2004, 2005, a record number of times as the #1 favorite. Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood are the only other actors to have achieved that feat.

Was a member of Monty Python for one night only, filling in for John Cleese, at A Concert For George.

Married Rita Wilson at Saint Sophia's Church, converting from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Was in attendance at Princess Diana's funeral along with Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, among others.

Auditioned for the role of Joel in Risky Business (1983), which eventually went to Tom Cruise.

Has also credited Joe Spano, former co-star of the TV series "Hill Street Blues" (1981), as being another of his most important early inspirations.

Favorite baseball team is the Cleveland Indians. He purchased a stone in the front of Jacob's Field when it was built.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine reported that his earnings were estimated to be $74 million the previous year.

The asteroid "12818 tomhanks" was named after him.

Enjoys collecting typewriters, purchasing over 80 of them around the globe.

Publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Is a die hard Oakland Raiders fan. Featured in the documentary Rebels of Oakland: The A's, the Raiders, the '70s (2003) (TV).

Is a fan of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), and has expressed desire to one day guest star on the show.

Is a fan of "Doctor Who" (1963).

Was originally cast in the dual role of "Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman" in Adaptation. (2002), but later dropped out. Nicolas Cage, who went on to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, was cast instead.

Personal Quotes

It's just as hard . . . staying happily married as it is doing movies.

I've made over 20 movies, and 5 of them are good.

[on the CGI used in The Polar Express (2004)] It's the same stuff they used in that fourth "Lord of the Rings" movie. Or was it the 19th "Lord of the Rings" movie? You know, the one where Boldo and Jingy travel across the bridge? I don't know, I don't know their names. When I watch "Lord of the Rings", I just think, "Someone got their finger stuck on the word processor for too long".

[interview in "Women's World", 10/11/05] If you're funny, if there's something that makes you laugh, then every day's going to be okay.

I do not want to admit to the world that I can be a bad person. It is just that I don't want anyone to have false expectations. Moviemaking is a harsh, volatile business, and unless you can be ruthless, too, there's a good chance that you are going to disappear off the scene pretty quickly. So appearances can be deceptive, particularly in Hollywood.

My wife keeps on telling me my worst fault is that I keep things to myself and appear relaxed. But I am really in a room in my own head and not hearing a thing anyone is saying.

Some people go to bed at night thinking, "That was a good day." I am one of those who worries and asks, "How did I screw up today?"

I love what I do for a living, it's the greatest job in the world, but you have to survive an awful lot of attention that you don't truly deserve and you have to live up to your professional responsibilities and I'm always trying to balance that with what is really important.

I must say that I do wrestle with the amount of money I make, but at the end of the day what am I gonna say? I took less money so Rupert Murdoch could have more?

My favorite traditional Christmas movie that I like to watch is All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). It's just not December without that movie in my house.

The year I was born, 1956, was the peak year for babies being born, and there are more people essentially our age than anybody else. We could crush these new generations if we decided to.

Regarding the WGA Strike and how it could affect the Academy Awards: The show must go on, that is one of the tenets of everything. I am a member of the board of governors of the Academy, and we definitely want to put on a great show and honor the films that have come out in the course of the year. I just hope that the big guys who make big decisions, up high in their corporate boardrooms and what not, get down to honest bargaining and everyone can get back to work.

As you know, the election between [Thomas] Jefferson and John Adams was filled with innuendo, lies, a bitter, partisan press and disinformation. How great we've come so far since then.

In this business, careers are based upon longevity.

If I was to direct Ron Howard, I guarantee you, I would put him through a living hell every day. I would demand so much of him. We wouldn't quit until he leaves the set crying. Weeping! Spent!

My work is more fun than fun but, best of all, it's still very scary. You are always walking some kind of high wire. I guess it's like being a sportsman. When people ask great football stars or cricketers what they will miss most when the time comes to stop, they'll tell you that it's that moment when the ball comes to them. In that moment, there's that wonderful anxiety, that feeling of "Please don't let me screw this up". If I didn't have the chance to do what I do, it's that I would miss more than anything. That terror is what makes me feel alive. It's a wonderful feeling, unlike anything else in the world.

[on Charlie Wilson] Wilson may have lived his life in a certain way, but to give him his due, he severed the Achilles' heel of the Soviet Union. It was just nine months after they pulled out of Afghanistan that the Berlin wall came down. And one of the reasons it fell was that the Soviet government knew that the cream of its armed forces had been decimated by a bunch of people in a place called Afghanistan. That meant they couldn't defend their borders in East Germany and Poland. That has Charlie Wilson all over it.

On The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990): When we were making it, that movie was huge. We couldn't make a move anywhere in New York City. Everybody was talking about it. Everybody was miscast, me particularly. Brian De Palma deals with iconography more than filmmaking. He is the most uncompromising filmmaker - both in a good way and a bad way - that you'll ever come across. This is the guy who made Scarface (1983). So his take on it one just one of those things. You can't take a book like that, that has changed the way people talk and think and change it into a palatable movie, or alter the thrust of what the source material is talking about. It may not translate in a way that is going to work.

Salary
The Da Vinci Code (2006) $18,000,000 + profit participation
Cast Away (2000) $20,000,000
The Green Mile (1999) $20,000,000
Toy Story 2 (1999) $5,000,000
You've Got Mail (1998) $20,000,000
Saving Private Ryan (1998) $40,000,000+ (gross and profit participations)
Toy Story (1995) $50,000
Forrest Gump (1994) $70,000,000 (gross and profit participations)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) $5,000,000
The 'burbs (1989) $3,500,000
Punchline (1988) $5,000,000
Big (1988) $2,000,000
Splash (1984) $70,000
He Knows You're Alone (1980) $800

Nicolas Cage Biography

2009-07-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
7 January 1964, Long Beach, California, USA

Birth Name
Nicholas Kim Coppola

Nickname
Nick

Height
6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

The son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (a brother of director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang, Cage changed his name early in his career to make his own reputation, succeeding brilliantly with a host of classic, quirky roles by the late 1980s.

Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High (though he dropped out at 17), he secured a bit part in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) -- most of which was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with auditioners for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (1983) landed him a role in that film, followed by the punk-rocker in Valley Girl (1983), which was released first and truly launched his career.

His one-time passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street-vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (1984).

In his early 20s, he dated Jenny Wright for two years and later linked to Uma Thurman. After a relationship of several years with Christina Fulton, a model, they split amicably and share custody of a son, Weston Coppola Cage (b.1992).
IMDb Mini Biography By: Dan Hartung
Spouse
Alice Kim Cage (30 July 2004 - present) 1 child
Lisa Marie Presley (10 August 2002 - 26 May 2004) (divorced)
Patricia Arquette (8 April 1995 - 18 May 2001) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Often plays flamboyant and/or eccentric characters (Ronny Cammareri in Moonstruck (1987), Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart (1990), Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman in Adaptation. (2002)).

Trivia

Half German, half Italian.

2000: Filed divorce papers in February, withdrew them in April.

October 1997: Ranked #40 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

Was engaged to Kristen Zang.

Nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire.

Got Johnny Depp his first acting job.

Close friend of Tom Waits, Crispin Glover and Rush drummer Neil Peart.

Stage name taken from comic book character Luke Cage.

Owns a Lamborghini that used to belong to Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran.

Brother of Marc Coppola and Christopher Coppola.

Grandson of Carmine Coppola.

Proposed to Patricia Arquette on the day he met her in the early 1980s. Arquette thought he was a bit strange but played along with his antics by creating a list of things Cage would have to fulfill to win her. When he started to work his way through the list, Arquette got scared and avoided him. They met again many years later and later went on to marry.

1997: He lived in a fake castle on the outskirts Los Angeles. He wants to import an authentic one from overseas.

Loves to improvise, ocassionally to the annoyance of other cast members.

Collects comic books and sees them as being today's equivalent of mythology.

The Wild at Heart (1990) movie poster lists his name as both "Nicolas Cage" and "Nicholas Cage".

Ranked #37 in Premiere's 100 most powerful people in Hollywood in 1998.

1984: Listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36.

Suffers from vertigo.

Tim Burton cast Cage in his doomed Superman project. Cage even did fittings of the costume.

On his upper back he has a tattoo of monitor lizard with a top hat.

2001: Announced that he is dating Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of the late Elvis Presley. They later married.

Cousin of Robert Schwartzman, who changed his name to Robert Schwartzman-Cage inspired by Nicolas.

May 2001: Awarded an Honory Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement.

Father August Coppola, formerly a professor at Cal State Long Beach and Dean of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University

During an A&E Biography on him, the host explained that Cage was director Sam Raimi's first choice to play Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the movie Spider-Man (2002). Apparently this was before he met Willem Dafoe.

Graduated UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

Cousin of Sofia Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola.

On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992), he told Jay that he took the name "Cage" from a comic book character named Luke Cage, the "first black superhero." This is not accurate; the first black superhero in mainstream comics was Marvel's Black Panther, introduced in 1966. Luke Cage, introduced in 1972, was also preceded by: Marvel's Falcon, introduced in 1969; the black western hero, Lobo, from Dell Comics in 1965 (the first black character to star in his own title); the title character of "Waku, Prince of the Bantu," an African chieftain, introduced as part of the Atlas Comics anthology title "Jungle Tales" in 1954. When asked which of the powers he would prefer to have, he said flight was his desire.

Has a son, Weston Cage (with actress Christina Fulton), born 26 December, 1990.

One of three actors (with Lee Marvin [Cat Ballou (1965)] and Peter Sellers [Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)]) with an Oscar nomination for playing multiple characters in a film (in Adaptation. (2002), he plays two characters, Donald and Charlie). Marvin is the only one who actually won one for a double role.

Former cousin, by marriage, of director Spike Jonze.

Met his future wife, Alice Kim Cage, at a sushi bar where she was a waitress. She was only 20-years-old at the time they married.

Went to the same high school as Angelina Jolie, Michael Klesic, Lenny Kravitz, David Schwimmer, Jonathan Silverman, Gina Gershon, Rhonda Fleming, Jackie Cooper, Rob Reiner, Antonio Sabato Jr., Pauly Shore, Michael Tolkin, Betty White, Corbin Bernsen, Elizabeth Daily, Albert Brooks and Crispin Glover.

Ate a real cockroach in the film Vampire's Kiss (1988), it reportedly took three takes. He once said about the experience, "Every muscle in my body didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway."

Attended Justin-Siena High School in Napa, CA, during the early '80s.

His is (along with his cousin Sofia Coppola) the third generation of Oscar winners in the Coppola family. His uncle, Francis Ford Coppola and his grandfather, Carmine Coppola, are the other two generations. They are the second family to do so, the first family is the Hustons - Anjelica Huston, John Huston and Walter Huston.

Nick and his wife, Alice Kim Cage, had a son, Kal-el Coppola Cage, on October 3, 2005 in New York City. Just as Nick was named after a comic book character, "Luke Cage", so he has named his son after the comic book character "Kal-el" (aka Superman).

Trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Royce Gracie

Referred to as the "Jazz musician of acting" by David Lynch.

Former stepfather of Patricia Arquette's son Enzo

Former stepfather of Danielle Riley Keough.

July 2006: Bought Schloss Neidstein, a mini castle in the Bavarian village of Etzelwang.

After his first film role (in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)), he adopted the stage name of Cage, because he wanted to assure himself that any success he had was based on his own merits, not the fame of his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola.

Was a very close friend of late Johnny Ramone.

Big fan of Elvis Presley.

Considered "Blue" before settling on "Cage" as his surname.

His grandmother originates from Cochem/Mosel, Germany.

2006: He purchased a home on the former property of John Wayne in Newport Beach, CA, for a record-setting $24 million.

Said in a Reader's Digest interview that his wife, Alice, is into designing jewelry and has no interest whatsoever in being an actress.

Offered the role of Green Goblin/Norman Osborn in Spider-Man (2002).

Was originally considered for the role of Brad Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), but after his audition the studio thought his performance was too dark and the role went, instead, to Judge Reinhold. Additionally, Cage was 17 at the time and could not work as many hours as actors over 18. In this film, he is credited under the name Nicolas Coppola for the first and only time.

1999: Was among the guests at the wedding of Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola. Others were George Lucas, Jason Schwartzman, Bo Barrett, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Waits.

Auditioned for the role of Joel in Risky Business (1983), but the role eventually went to Tom Cruise.

He said he realized that all great movie stars, such as Spencer Tracy, had had recognizable voices, so he has stylized his to be distinctive.

Great-grandson of Francesco Pennino.

Owns a home in New Orleans.

Devoted Elvis Presley fan that he is, in Wild at Heart (1990) he performed the Elvis classic "Love Me" with uncanny aplomb.

Former son-in-law of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley.

2007: Bought Midford Castle (a big house, not a real castle) near Bath, England. Purchase price was in the region of £5 million (about $10 million).

In 2006, he donated $2 million to Amnesty International for a fund to help child soldiers.

Owns homes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and New York City.

Owns the rights of the original The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) movie, for which he bought the rights from Ted Turner. He was going to use that as a new movie. Since Cage was busy with other projects, the movie didn't come to any fruition.

While making an appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) for the film Knowing (2009), he mentioned that he is fascinated with hang-gliding.

Is alumni for the children's theatre group MET2 along with Sofia Coppola, Adam Lambert, Matt McFarland, Kylie Tyndall, Keaton Tyndall, & Vivian Bayubay.

In addition to the homes he owns, he also owns a home in Middletown, Rhode Island. Purchased in August 2007.

Personal Quotes

To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal, to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new.

There's a fine line between the Method actor and the schizophrenic.

I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.

[about his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley] I'm sad about this, but we shouldn't have been married in the first place.

Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.

I'm at the point now where I know I'm doing something right when a movie gets mixed reviews, because then I'm not in the box. I don't want to make it too easy for people and I don't want to make it too easy for myself. I want to try something unusual. I feel good about the bad reviews because I feel like I've affected them on some level. They may not know what I was trying to do but they felt something

I want to make all kinds of movies. I do want to make big movies that are a lot of fun to go to, but I also want to make movies that are going to stimulate some thought and maybe raise some awareness. And so please don't think you're gonna go on a roller-coaster ride with those movies.

It's very risky for an actor who's a bankable star to make pictures like The Weather Man (2005) or Lord of War (2005) because they inevitably promote them like big studio releases. And they're not big studio movies, they're more edgy, thought-provoking, independent-spirited films. What happens is, it goes into the computer, and everyone says they can't open the movie because they thought it was X when it actually was Y.

I needed to change my name just to liberate myself and find out I could do it without walking into a Hollywood casting office with the name Coppola.

[Pablo Picasso] said art is a lie that tells the truth. What if you just want to tell the truth and not lie about it?

It's good to make movies that are tragedies, where people can think about things in life that are undeniable, that everyone has to deal with. But at the same time, it's also healing to make movies that are entertaining, that are a lot of fun, where you don't have to think about your problems.

When I did Vampire's Kiss (1988), I got so wound up. It was so important to me that this vision I had of Peter Lowe's character get on film exactly the way that I wanted it, that I frankly don't think I was very easy for anyone to live with. Certainly, I was not easy for myself to live with. I remember that I wasn't drinking or anything at the time. One night I felt so wound up that I was about to snap. I ordered a martini. And I just relaxed, and I could tell my body really needed a rest. From then on, I learned you can do good work without torturing yourself.

What happens is, you become different people in your path as an actor. When I was doing those things, I was a very new actor. I didn't have a lot of training, and I was trying to make some sort of impact, because that was what was important for me at the time - to get on the map. There were things I would do that were more shocking, or approaches I would do to try and live the character, because I didn't have the training. But then, as I went on, I started to find other methods, ways to get into characters that weren't exactly destroying my life. (On the wild eccentrics he used to get into character earlier in his career)

I remember when I met Johnny Depp, he was a guitar player from Florida, and he had no idea he could be an actor. I said, "I really think you are an actor, that you have that ability." That was just from playing one game of Monopoly with him. I sent him to my agent and he has gone on to carve out a successful career.

There is a method of thought that says it's better to stay mysterious, make yourself an event so when you come out, people have a hunger to see you again. I can think of some superstars who adopt that principle, where they are very selective. But we are all going to get older, and there is something to be said about doing some of your best work when you are younger, when you still have that virility, something visceral and raw. I've heard there have been some actors who've regretted not doing more work when they were under fifty. (On why he works so much)

[on making his character in Knowing (2009) a single father] I have seen a lot of movies with single mothers and their children. They're good, but there are not so many with capable single fathers. There seems to be this archetype that if you're a man and single, you're incapable of raising a child, which I think needs to be broken. If you find yourself in that position - like I have - it's important not to give up because of what people tell you.

[on Face/Off (1997)] Without tooting my own horn - I think it's a masterpiece.

Salary
National Treasure (2004) $20 million
Adaptation. (2002) $2,000,000
Windtalkers (2002) $20,000,000
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) $7,000,000
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) $20,000,000
Bringing Out the Dead (1999) $1,000,000
Snake Eyes (1998) $16,000,000
Face/Off (1997) $6,000,000
The Rock (1996) $4,000,000
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) $240,000
Vampire's Kiss (1988) $40,000
Valley Girl (1983) $5,000.00

Where Are They Now

(October 2008) Heis selling the sprawling Gray Craig estate in Middletown, Rhode Island.

(August 2007) Bought the sprawling Gray Craig estate in Middletown for $15.7 million, a purchase price that ranks among the highest ever for a home in Rhode Island.

Adam Sandler Biogrpahy

2009-07-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
9 September 1966, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Birth Name
Adam Richard Sandler

Nickname
Sandman

Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Adam Sandler was born on September 9, 1966, in Brooklyn, New York, to Judy and Stanley Sandler. At 17, he took his first step towards becoming a stand-up comedian when he spontaneously took the stage at a Boston comedy club. He found he was a natural comic. He nurtured his talent while at New York University (graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991) by performing regularly in clubs and at universities. During his freshman year, he snagged a recurring role as the Huxtable family's friend Smitty on "The Cosby Show" (1984). While working at a comedy club in L.A., he was "discovered" by Dennis Miller, who recommended him to "Saturday Night Live" (1975) producer Lorne Michaels and told him that Sandler had a big talent. This led to his being cast in the show in 1990, which he also wrote for in addition to performing. After "Saturday Night Live" (1975), Sandler went on to the movies, starring in such hit comedies as Airheads (1994), Happy Gilmore (1996), Billy Madison (1995) and Big Daddy (1999/I). He has also starred in Mr. Deeds (2002) alongside Winona Ryder; Eight Crazy Nights (2002), an animated movie about the Jewish festival of Chanukah; and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). He also writes and produces many of his own films and has composed songs for several of them, including The Wedding Singer (1998). Sandler has had several of his songs placed on the "Billboard" charts, including the classic "The Chanukah Song".
IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous

Spouse
Jackie Sandler (22 June 2003 - present) 2 children

Trade Mark

Often casts Allen Covert, Peter Dante , Jonathan Loughran and former SNL players in his films.

His characters often have a penchant for a particular brand name food (i.e. Snack Packs, Subway, Popeye's chicken, etc.)

Often plays a character with a bad temper, or a short fuse.

Frequently appears in Rob Schneider films either with a large role or a small cameo.

Frequently uses 80s music for the soundtrack of his movies

Trivia

Adam's comedy album "Stan and Judy's Kid" set a record for most albums sold by a comedy album in its first week. It debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts. All three of his previous comedy albums have gone platinum.

Graduated from New York University (1991).

Grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Often casts Allen Covert, Blake Clark, Peter Dante, Jonathan Loughran, Steve Buscemi, and former SNL players - such as Rob Schneider -- in his films.

Was originally cast for a role in Very Bad Things (1998).

In 1988, he was hired as a repertory player for MTV's TV-trivia game show "Remote Control" (1987).

Dated actress Alicia Silverstone.

Announced engagement to longtime girlfriend, model/actress Jackie Sandler. [June 2002]

Ranked #35 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #43 the previous two years.

Father was an electrician. His brother is an attorney. One sister is a dentist; the other sister is a waitress.

Started Happy Madison Productions, which is behind most of his films.

His production company, Happy Madison, is named after two of his films, Happy Gilmore (1996) and Billy Madison (1995).

His beloved dog, Meatball, who also has a section on Adam's official website with photos and videos, passed away due to a heart attack, at 4 years old. He was the son of Mr. Beefy, the talking dog in Little Nicky (2000). Meatball was best "man" at Sandler's wedding and was dressed in a tux, with a yarmulka on his head. [January 27 2004].

Is a major Yankee fan, refers to the team in some of his films, especially Anger Management (2003). He has gone to games when the Yankees are playing.

He is a huge fan of Van Halen and Styx. There is usually a reference or song in his movies.

He was originally set to play taxi driver Max in Collateral (2004), opposite Tom Cruise, but he backed out to work on Spanglish (2004). Jamie Foxx was cast in Collateral (2004) instead. Jamie Foxx went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for the role.

Shares a birthday with Hugh Grant.

Was parodied by Jimmy Fallon on "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Performed at the RNC (Republican National Committee) convention in 2004.

Was a Resident Advisor in Brittany Hall during his time at New York University.

Spoke at Manchester Central High School's 2003 Graduation, the same school he graduated from. His nephew was one of three Valedictorians that year.

Attended WWE's WrestleMania 21 (2005) (TV) in April 2005.

Has starred alongside Drew Barrymore in two movies: The Wedding Singer (1998) and 50 First Dates (2004).

Adam wore an Armani tux in his June 2003 wedding to Jackie Sandler.

Was considered for the role of "Willy Wonka" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Has worked with director Frank Coraci three times: The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), and Click (2006/I).

Ranked #24 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #24 in 2005 as well.

Is good friends with comedians Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald, David Spade and Rob Schneider.

Owns a white and tan English bulldog named Motzaball.

Moved to New Hampshire when he was 5.

Is a fan of professional wrestling, and most of his self-written films have references to professional wrestling in them (the principal in Billy Madison (1995), Captain Insano in The Waterboy (1998), Chief Jay Strongbow's sleeper hold in Big Daddy (1999/I), mind-wrestling and 'Tommy 'Tiny' Lister' - a.k.a. the WWF's Zeus - in Little Nicky (2000), etc). Sandler even appeared on "WWF Smackdown!" (1999) to promote Little Nicky (2000). Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin; all professional wrestlers, appeared in Adam's recent film, The Longest Yard (2005). Wrestler/producer Anthony Begonia almost appeared in 50 First Dates (2004) as an ukulele player.

His favorite cartoon character is "SpongeBob SquarePants" (1999).

Resides in New York City and Los Angeles.

December 2007 - According to Forbes, for each dollar he got paid, Adam Sandler's movies averaged $9 of gross income.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year at $30 million.

Adam and his wife, Jackie Sandler, are expecting their second child, due in October, 2008.

Children: (with Jackie Sandler) Sadie Madison Sandler (b. May 6, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) and Sunny Madeline Sandler (b. November 2, 2008).

Former roommate of Writer/Director/Producer Judd Apatow during his time on "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Personal Quotes

[after getting laser eye surgery] : Now I realize how ugly I am.

Salary
Anger Management (2003) $25,000,000 against 25% of the gross
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) $7,000,000
Little Nicky (2000) $20,000,000 plus 20% (star)
Big Daddy (1999/I) $8,000,000
The Wedding Singer (1998) $5,000,000
Bulletproof (1996) $2,500,000
Billy Madison (1995) $1,700,000

Where Are They Now

(September 2006) Begins filming his new movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

(June 2009) Filming "Grown Ups"