Darling Celebrities

Miley Cyrus

2009-02-17T09:46:00.002+08:00

Miley Cyrus

Actor
Born: November 23, 1992 in Franklin, TN

Biography:The daughter of country-music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus got her start in the entertainment industry on an episode of her father's PAX TV medical series Doc before appearing in Tim Burton's fantastical 2003 adventure Big Fish. A fateful appearance as the character Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed in 2006, and her character proved so popular that a spin-off series called Hannah Montana was launched shortly thereafter.

In the series, Cyrus portrayed a fun-loving California teen who just happens to be moonlighting as a world-famous pop star. Only Hannah's family (which includes her real-life father on the series) and her two closest friends, Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchel Musso), know the truth about Hanna's remarkable secret life.
~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Monica Bellucci

2008-08-14T09:24:00.000+08:00

Monica Bellucci

Biography

Born:
September 30, 1968 in Citta di Castello, Umbria, Italy

Biography

Film critics are quick to compare Monica Bellucci to previous Italian beauties, but she is her own brand of sultry icon. With roles as a topless vampire in Bram Stoker's Dracula, a taciturn war widow in Malèna (2000), a charmed courtesan in Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) (2002), and a sci-fi vixen in the Matrix sequels (2003), Bellucci has proved to be a bold blend of earthy and ethereal, actress and star.

Born on September 30, 1968, Bellucci grew up in the small Italian village of Citta di Castello, where her father owned a trucking company. At 18, she enrolled at the University of Perugia with plans to study law. To pay her tuition, Bellucci started modeling. Two years later, she dropped out of school to relocate to Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. Besides strutting the cat walk in fashion shows, Bellucci appeared in international advertising campaigns for designers such as Dolce & Gabbana. With her modeling career in full swing, she began to take acting classes and made her screen debut in the television film Vita Coi Figli (Life With the Sons) in 1990.

After acting in several Italian features, Bellucci graced American screens for the first time as one of Dracula's (Gary Oldman) brides in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which also starred Keanu Reaves and Winona Ryder. She subsequently returned to Italy to appear in the heist film I Mitici (The Heroes) (1994) and the children's movie Palla di Neve (Snowball) (1995). As time passed, Bellucci grew increasingly frustrated with the failure of Italy's film industry to promote its projects abroad. She starred opposite Ben Kingsley and Dominique Sanda in the American television movie Joseph (1995), before looking for work in French films.

Bellucci made her French-language debut in 1996's award-winning romance L'Appartement (The Apartment). She earned a César nomination for her performance in the role, as well as began dating her co-star, French actor Vincent Cassel. The couple (who married a few years later) re-teamed onscreen immediately, portraying comically troubled lovers in the gender-bending romance Come Mi Vuoi (As You Want Me) (1996) and murderous bank robbers in Jan Kounen's infamous thriller Dobermann (1997).

In 2000, Bellucci returned to Hollywood to play Gene Hackman's estranged trophy wife in Under Suspicion. The film's director, Stephen Hopkins, had seen L'Appartement on a transatlantic flight and requested that she star in the thriller. That same year, the actress earned unprecedented worldwide acclaim for her performance as the title character in Malèna. Helmed by award-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, the film featured Bellucci as a quiet young bride who is left alone in a small Sicilian town when her husband goes off to fight in World War II. Stunningly attractive, she struggles to keep her dignity as she is spurned by the female villagers and preyed upon by the men. Bellucci followed up Malèna's success with another international hit, Christophe Gans' genre hybrid Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) (2002). The stylish cross between period piece and kung-fu flick (which also starred Cassel) was the fourth most successful film of its year in France. After conquering Europe, the film became an art house hit in the States and Bellucci received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from the U.S. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.

The subject of numerous fan sites and men's magazine articles, Bellucci went on to star as the seductive Queen of the Nile in the comic book adaptation Astérix & Obélisk: Mission Cléopâtre. In 2001, she joined Dracula co-star Keanu Reeves in the cast of the highly anticipated follow-ups to The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). Soon after, Bruce Willis personally chose Bellucci to play a humanitarian doctor whom he must save from war-torn Nigeria in Tears of the Sun, director Antoine Fuqua's follow-up to his hit Training Day (2001).
In 2004, Bellucci's momentum continued to build when she starred as Mary Magdalene in The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's self-produced blockbuster retelling of the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ. In the wake of that film's success, Bellucci teamed with two other renowned directors, Terry Gilliam and Spike Lee, with roles in The Brothers Grimm and She Hate Me, respectively. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

Naomi Watts

2008-07-29T07:53:00.003+08:00

Naomi Watts Biography

Born September 28, 1968 (age 38)
Shoreham, Kent, England
Height 5ft 4½in (164cm)
Notable roles Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn in Mulholland Dr.
Ann Darrow in King Kong

Academy Awards Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actress (2004) for 21 Grams
Naomi Watts (born September 28, 1968) is an Academy Award-nominated English-Australian actress.

Biography

Early life

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

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

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

Career

Watts' career began in Australian television, where she appeared in commercials and television melodramas such as Home and Away and Brides of Christ. She was featured in a supporting role in the acclaimed 1991 Australian indie film Flirting, which starred future Hollywood up-and-comers Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton. As Watts made the transition from Australia to the United States, she landed a supporting role in the little-seen 1995 film Tank Girl, playing the part of "Jet Girl."
Finding quality roles at first proved difficult for Watts in the Hollywood system, as she appeared in the short-lived series Sleepwalkers and numerous B-list productions as in films like Children of the Corn. Gradually, Watts garnered supporting roles as in Dangerous Beauty.

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

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

Watts recently shot the film The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber. The film is due out in the fall of 2006.
In May 2006, Watts was named a special representative to the U.N. program for HIV/AIDS.

Personal life

Watts dated actor Heath Ledger for several years. As of 2005-2006, Watts has been dating actor Liev Schreiber. She is a close friend of fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman – they met when they were teenagers – and Benicio Del Toro, with whom she co-starred in 21 Grams. After filming her most recent movie, The Painted Veil, she has converted to Buddhism, claiming, “I have some belief but I am not a strict Buddhist or anything yet. There was a lot of excitement and energy there.”
Watts divides her time between homes in Sydney, Los Angeles, and London.

Filmography

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

Roselyn Sanchez

2008-07-11T10:57:00.003+08:00

Roselyn Sanchez Biography

Roselyn Sanchez (born April 2, 1973 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a model and film/television actress.

Biography

Roselyn is the youngest of four siblings, having three older brothers. She received her primary education in San Juan. At a young age, she showed an interest in both dancing and acting and would put on shows for her family.

In 1991, at the age of 18, Roselyn moved to New York City, where she took classes in dancing, acting and singing. She returned to Puerto Rico and in 1992, she made her movie debut, having landed a small part as an island girl in the movie Captain Ron, which was partly filmed on the island, starring Martin Short and Kurt Russell.
Roselyn enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico, where, like her father and brothers, she was to study marketing. However, this was not her calling, and after three years she left the course.

In 1993, Roselyn won the Miss Puerto Rico Petite contest and in 1994 she won the international title of Miss America Petite. In Puerto Rico, she gained public attention as a dancer and co-host of the island's #1 variety show, at that time, "Que Vacilon".

Roselyn has been named to numerous annual lists of beautiful women including Maxim Magazine Hot 100 in 2001,2002 and 2006; AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women in 2005 and 2006; FHM Magazine 100 Sexiest Women in 2005 and 2006.
Roselyn returned to New York and landed her first English speaking role in the CBS soap opera, As The World Turns. She played the role of "Pilar Domingo" from 1996 until 1997.

In 2001, Roselyn was cast as "Isabella Molina", a secret customs agent who was Jackie Chan's love interest in the movie Rush Hour 2. In 2003, she played the role of "Lorena" in the movie Chasing Papi starring alongside Jaci Velasquez and Sofia Vergara.

Roselyn Sanchez has already acted in 20 movies, including the role of Maria in Edison as well as the role of Karen Lopez in Underclassman. She is also cast in the movies Venus & Vegas and Cayo which are in the post-production stages. She is in the process of composing a musical about a singer/dancer/actress who leaves Puerto Rico to hit the big time in New York, in this she is going to play the principal part. In 2005, her first musical recording "Borinqueña" was released. She is preparing for her role in The Perfect Sleep, a neo-noir drama, where she is co-staring with Patrick Bauchau, Tony Amendola, Isaac Singleton, and Peter Lucas.

In the Fall of 2005, she joined the cast of Without a Trace, where she plays Agent Elena Delgado.

Sánchez was married to actor Gary Stretch from 1999 to 2001. In December 2005, she announced that she had ended her longtime relationship with salsa singer, Víctor Manuelle. The separation was amicable. Currently, she has been dating actor Eric Winter for over a year.

Roselyn is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She recently appeared nude in a PETA ad in support of anti-fur campaign efforts

Filmography
• Rush Hour 3 (2007) (filming)
• Venus & Vegas (2007)
• Shooting Gallery (2005)
• Edison (2005)
• Underclassman (2005)
• State Property 2 (2005)
• Chasing Papi (2003)
• Basic (2003)
• Nightstalker (2002)
• Boat Trip (2002)
• Miss Miami (2002) (TV)
• Rush Hour 2 (2001)
• Held Up (1999)
• Captain Ron (1992)

Charlize Theron

2008-07-03T08:50:00.005+08:00

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).

Personal Quotes

[On the revelation that Charlize's mother shot and killed Charlize's father while he was in a drunken rage. The shooting 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 [Toronto Film Festival], 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 [In the Valley of Elah (2007)] and I was embarrassed because _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 _Thabo Mbeki_ after winning a Best Actress Oscar for _Monster_: '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 drunken-raging father in 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.'

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_ 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_? 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 pay cheque.'

Brooke Shields

2008-03-14T00:06:00.002+08:00

Brooke Shields

Biography
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Birthday: May 31, 1965

Through the connections of her manager mother, a former model, Brooke Shields landed her first professional modeling job before her first birthday when she was selected to pose for advertisements for Ivory Snow photographed by Francesco Scavullo. Within two years, the toddler was a pro on the runways as well and was later featured as a Breck girl and in Colgate commercials shot by Richard Avedon. With her thick eyebrows, sensual pouty lips, lustrous hair and bright eyes, Shields projected the image of a Lolita while off-screen she was a conservative Catholic girl. When Louis Malle tapped her for the title role of a child prostitute in "Pretty Baby" (1978), a drama loosely inspired by the life of photographer E.J. Bellocq, she became embroiled in controversy, partly over the overt sensuality of her role and partly for her somewhat innocent nude scenes (such as a shot of the actress emerging from a bathtub).

Shields attempted to demonstrate a more wholesome persona co-starring with George Burns in "Just You and Me, Kid" (1979) and featured appearances in numerous TV variety specials headlined by veteran comic Bob Hope. Yet she reverted to teen vamp for the 1980 remake of "The Blue Lagoon" and Franco Zefferelli's overwrought adaptation of "Endless Love" (1981). By the time she enrolled at Princeton in 1983, Shields was considered more of a personality than an actress and the few movies she made during her college years (e.g., "Sahara" 1984; "Brenda Starr" filmed in 1986 but released in 1989) merely confirmed that opinion. (It also didn't help that her beauty and modeling work had landed her on the cover of TIME magazine as "the face of the 80s".) She was equally famous for a chapter in a 1984 book she penned ("On Your Own") in which she extolled the virtues of remaining a virgin.

As the 1990s rolled around, Shields worked hard to dispel those images. She effectively portrayed a stalking victim in the 1993 CBS movie "I Can Make You Love Me: The Stalking of Laura Black" and surprised many with her Broadway musical debut as bad girl Betty Rizzo in a revival of "Grease" in 1995. A well-received guest turn as a rabid soap opera fan on a two-part episode of "Friends" awoke many to her capabilities as a light comedienne and Shields soon was fielding offers for sitcoms. She opted to portray a San Franciscan journalist coping as a single woman in the NBC series "Suddenly Susan" (1996-2000). While the sitcom had a promising beginning, it quickly deteriorated into banality becoming the butt of jokes and critical derision.
The actress was unstoppable, though, and during each hiatus squeezed in at least one feature. Shields offered a nice turn as a snooty socialite at first willing to marry Chris O'Donnell until she learns of the terms in "The Bachelor" (1999).

She also offered a strong turn as a documentary filmmaker following a group of white urban kids enthralled by hip-hop culture in James Toback's messy and uneven "Black and White" (also 1999). In "The Weekend" (filmed in 1998 but released in 2000), she was cast as a daughter who constantly disappoints her critical mother (Gena Rowlands) while the 2001 Lifetime TV movie "What Makes a Family" offered her a juicy role as a lesbian single parent. Shields was next seen in a pair of miniseries: "Widows" (ABC, 2002) as the low-rent actress Shirley, one of the widows of three men killed while trying to steal a famous painting who join forces to find their husband's killers and finish off the job of stealing the painting; and "Gone But Not Forgotten" (2004), as a female lawyer who defends a mogul accused of being a serial killer. She also enjoyed a recurring role as the vain Pamela Burkhart, mother of Mila Kunis' character Jackie on the popular Fox sitcom "That 70s Show" beginning in 2004.

In 2005, Shields released her memoir Down Came the Rain, which chronicled her struggles with post-partum depression, including becoming dependant on anti-depressant Paxil, following the birth of her daughter Rowan in 2003. The sparked an odd public war of words with her one-time "Endless Love" costar Tom Cruise, who in an interview with "Access Hollywood" denounced Shields' use of medication--in line with the teachings of the Church of Scientology, he suggested that "vitamins" would have been a sufficient cure--and took a swipe at the state of her career. Shields fired back, calling his comments "dangerous" and suggested that people shouldn't take advice from someone who devotes his life to a worship of aliens.

The actress also had a string of successful stints on stage, beginning with her off-Broadway debut performance as Suzanne in "The Eden Cinema" in 1986. Later in her career, she wowed skeptical crticis with her replacement stint as Rizzo in the revival of "Grease" in 1995. Following a 2001 Los Angeles performance in the "Vagina Monologues" Shields was tapped to play Sally Bowls in "Cabaret" with Broadway's Roundabout Theatre Company that same year. In 2003 Shields appeared, while pregnant, in the off-Broadway production of "The Exonerated", a piece based on interviews with death row inmates. She next starred as Ruth Sherwood in the Tony-nominated Broadway revival of "Wonderful Town" at the Martin Beck Theatre in 2004 and made her London stage debut playing Roxie Hart in the West End production of "Chicago" in 2005, then returning to Broadway in the same later that year.

ALSO CREDITED AS
Christa Shields

BORN
On 05/31/1965 in New York, New York

JOB TITLES
model, actor, producer
EDUCATION
• Dwight-Englewood High School, Englewood, New Jersey
• Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

BA
wrote thesis on the voyage from innocence to experience in Louis Malle's films

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
• Andre Agassi
introduced in September 1993 by Lyndie Benson, a mutual friend; had first date in December 1993; became engaged in February 1996; married on April 19, 1997; Shields filed for divorce in April 1999; divorced; Shields also had the marriage annulled
• Liam Neeson
no longer together
• Christopher Atkins
dated for two weeks
• Dean Cain
dated for two years while both were attending Princeton
• Chris Henchy
began dating from late 1999; became engaged in July 2000; married on April 4, 2001 in a civil ceremony held on Catalina Island; had Catholic ceremony on May 26, 2001

Paula Abdul

2008-02-24T22:14:00.003+08:00

Paula Abdul
Biography
• Birthplace: San Fernando, California
• Birthday: June 19, 1963

Though primarily known as a choreographer and top-selling recording artist, Paula Abdul had a resurgence later in her career as the host of the pop culture phenomenon, “American Idol” (Fox, 2002- ). One of three panelists—which included Simon Cowell and famed music producer Randy Jackson—Abdul added a nurturing presence in contrast to Cowell’s harsh persona and Jackson’s bland assurance while a steady stream of horrid singers vied for their shot to become a star. Throughout her career, Abdul had been the subject of severe criticism herself: wearisome comparisons to Madonna and Janet Jackson, ridicule about her weight and sharp jabs at her lack of vocal range. But once on “American Idol,” she seemed to revive her image as the sweet girl next door—until controversy dogged her once again, shedding light on the dark underbelly of her nice girl veneer.

Born in San Fernando, California to a Syrian-Brazilian father and French-Canadian mother—a unique blend that gave her a distinctive look often confused as being part African-American—Abdul was drawn to entertainment after watching “Singing in the Rain” (1952) as a child. At 6, she began ballet and tap lessons, then did summer stock from ages 7 to 15, performing excerpts from musicals like “Hello Dolly” (1969) and “Gypsy” (1962). A near-obsessive overachiever, she was class president, head cheerleader, member of the science and debate teams and flautist in the orchestra at Van Nuys High School. Meanwhile, her mother—a retired classical pianist and former assistant to Billy Wilder—warned Abdul about the perils of the entertainment industry. So instead of following her dream, Abdul attended California State University at Northridge to pursue a degree in film and television. She wanted to become a sportscaster in the Jayne Kennedy vein, but the entertainment bug continued to bite.

During her freshman year at CSUN, Abdul auditioned for a spot on the cheerleading squad for the Los Angeles Lakers. She was quickly dismayed, however, upon seeing hundreds of other girls vying for the same opportunity. But her years of tap, jazz and ballet paid off and she became one of twelve girls selected in 1981. Soon after her arrival, the choreographer left to get married and suggested Abdul take over. The chance allowed her to infuse jazz and street steps with standard cheerleading moves, which captured the attention of Janet and Michael Jackson—both used her talents for their videos “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” and “Torture.” Soon other artists demanded her services—she choreographed videos for Duran Duran, George Michael and ZZ Top. Music videos quickly led to feature films—she did the choreography for “Private School” (1983), “The Running Man” (1987) and “Coming to America” (1988).

It was her work on ZZ Top’s “Velcro Fly” video that attracted the attention of Jeff Ayeroff, executive at Virgin America Records. He spoke with Abdul in 1986 about turning her into a vocalist despite her lack of experience or talent as a singer. Instead, he was impressed with her work ethic and flair for showbiz. He later signed Abdul to a contract and put her into the studio to record her first album, Forever Your Girl. Before it was released, Virgin put the single “Knocked Out” onto a mixed sampler CD and KMEL in San Francisco put the song in its rotation. The response was positive and Virgin moved up its release of Forever Your Girl to June of 1988. The first two singles—“Knocked Out” and “The Way That You Love Me”—faired well, but the third, “Straight Up,” went to No.1. Meanwhile, the album topped the Billboard 100 at number one and eventually sold over 10 million copies internationally.

Despite the multi-platinum album and hit singles, critics blasted her tinny octave-and-a-half voice that was doubled, tripled and heavily-synthesized to make it palpable to the ear. By her own admittance she wasn’t a good singer, but felt she had more to offer—looks, charm, dance moves, acting flair; in other words: image. As part of the Club MTV tour, she performed with Tone-Loc, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, but the tour suddenly turned sour when it was revealed that fellow act Milli Vanilli were frauds. The experience weighed heavily upon the other artists, but Abdul slipped away unscathed. Meantime, her next album, Spellbound, though not as big a seller as Forever Your Girl, managed to sell 3 million copies and boasted two No.1 singles, “Rush, Rush” and “The Promise of a New Day.”

For Spellbound, she tried hard to improve her voice, working with coach Gary Catona, who put her through the ringer with exercises that stripped down her throat muscles. But Abdul had a hard time shaking off her rap as a bad singer. To make matters worse, Yvette Marine, a backup singer on Forever Your Girl, filed a lawsuit against Virgin Records claiming that she sang co-lead on two tracks and did not receive proper credit for her work. A jury ruled against Marine, but the public damage to Abdul was done. Meanwhile, she embarked on her first solo tour, performing around the country in large 20,000 seat arenas—an experience Abdul admitted she was ill prepared for. The tour, however, was successful and left her perched atop the pop world.

The pressures of the lawsuit, world tour and swift marriage to actor Emilio Estevez forced Abdul to retreat from the spotlight. During this time, she came to grips with a problem that plagued her for 17 years: bulimia. In a 1995 episode of “PrimeTime Live” (1989- ), she confessed to ABC’s Nancy Collins that she finally conquered the punishing eating disorder despite public ridicule about her weight and her divorce from Estevez. Meanwhile, she released a third album, Head Over Heels, which failed to crack the Top Ten and caused some critics to lament its weak hooks, bland lyrics and reedy vocals. By 1995, her overproduced dance pop seemed out of step with the Grunge and Hip-Hop saturating the airwaves and MTV. As of 2005, Head Over Heels was her last recorded album.

Abdul spent the remainder of the 1990s appearing in guest spots on television, mainly as herself: episodes of “Cybill” (CBS, 1994-1998), “Spin City” (ABC, 1996-2002), “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” (ABC-WB, 1996-2003) and “The Bernie Mac Show” (Fox, 2001- ) padded her resume. She also continued choreographing films, working on “The Doors” (1991), “American Beauty” (1999) and “Black Knight” (2001). Then in 2002, Abdul returned to the spotlight as a judge on “American Idol,” where her pleasant critiques of even the worst singers endeared her to millions. Rumors swirled that she and Simon Cowell were having an affair off-screen because of their flirtatious banter. But the rumors remained unconfirmed and even prompted occasional spoofs on the show.

Though “American Idol” had its share of controversy—previous contestants had been kicked off for hiding unflattering pasts—she remained above the fray until 2005, when Abdul faced hit-and-run charges following a traffic accident the previous year, followed by a public admission that a personal health issue had caused various instances of erratic behavior in public. Then failed "Idol" hopeful Corey Clark claimed he and Abdul had an affair during his 2003 run. Clark further alleged that she gave him wardrobe advice, song tips and money—a no-no for judges. First reported in the tabloids, word spread across the media landscape and became a full-blown scandal. Abdul called Clark a “liar” and an “opportunist,” and highlighted his criminal past. Though Abdul poked fun of herself on “Saturday Night Live,” Clark continued his allegations, claiming proof in the form of answering machine messages and phone bills. Clark later said he would reveal more explicit evidence if there was a federal investigation. After Fox's own internal investigation, the network found no substantial evidence to back up the claims of an actual affair, and Abdul was allowed to continue with "American Idol."

ALSO CREDITED AS
Paula Abdul
BORN
On 06/19/1963 in San Fernando, California
JOB TITLES
actor, dancer, choreographer, singer, professional cheerleader

EDUCATION
• California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California
television and radio
dropped out
• Van Nuys High School, Van Nuys, California
was class president, member of the debate and science teams and head of the cheerleading squad

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

• Colton Melby
part owner of gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson; began dating April 2003; split January 2004
• Dante Spencer
met salsa dancing at an L.A. club; began dating August 2005; no longer together
• Tony Schiena
rumored to be dating 2006
• Jace Richdale
wrote for the TV series "The Simpsons"
• Brad Beckerman
married October 24, 1996; divorced 1998
• Emilio Estevez
born May 12, 1962; married April 1992; divorced May 1994

Hayden Panettiere

2008-01-04T21:57:00.000+08:00

Hayden Panettiere: Biography

Actor

Biography
Though she was only 17, by the time Hayden Panettiere gained stardom as one of the leads on NBC's hit superhero drama Heroes, she'd already been acting for more than 16years. After appearing in television commercials beginning at 11 months old, flaxen-haired Panettiere was cast as a regular on One Life to Live at five.

She remained on the show for three years, before leaving for a stint on another soap, Guiding Light. Meanwhile, she appeared in a number of small movie parts as well as one of the lead voices in Pixar's A Bug's Life.

After Panettiere showed up in such films as Remember the Titans and Joe Somebody, her next notable role was Maddie Harrington, the long-lost daughter of the quirky title character on Fox's Ally McBeal.

Along with supporting parts in Raising Helen and Racing Stripes and the lead in the second straight-to-DVD Bring It On sequel, several more small TV roles followed before 2006, when she was cast on Heroes as the cheerleader with the ability to spontaneously heal herself. Panettiere's first post-Heroes project came in 2007 with the indie comedy drama Shanghai Kiss, in which she starred opposite Ken Leung. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Amy Adams

2007-12-23T22:26:00.000+08:00

Amy Adams:Biography

Actor
Born: August 20, 1975 in Italy

An actress with a knack for light comedy, Amy Adams was born in Italy and raised in Castle Rock, Colorado. After high school, she studied dance and worked in regional dinner theater until age 20, when she moved to Minnesota with her family after being spotted by a visiting Minneapolis producer and recruited to work in his dinner theater there. She landed her first film role in the satiric 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, which was, appropriately enough, set in Minnesota.

After appearing in the independent comedy Psycho Beach Party, Adams made guest appearances on a number of television series, including That 70s Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The West Wing; she was also cast as a regular in Manchester Prep, a TV spin-off of the hit film Cruel Intentions. Manchester Prep, however, was never aired when its network decided that the show's sexual content was too strong for television, although several episodes were eventually re-edited into a direct-to-video feature entitled Cruel Intentions 2. 2002 proved to be a very busy year for Adams, who appeared in no fewer than four features, including the eagerly anticipated Catch Me if You Can, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Adams took a 2 year break following Catch Me If You Can, reemerging in 2004 to appear with Fred Savage in the low-key comedy/drama The Last Run. The next year she took a substantial role in the romantic comedy The Wedding Date, but the part that proved to be a career-shaping one was the very innocent, very pregnant Ashley in Phil Morrison's independent film Junebug. Adams was adored by audiences and praised by critics for her quirky, sensitive performance, and she netted a Best Supporting Actress nomination in the process.

The young actress rounded out 2005 with a series of regular appearances on the wildly popular TV comedy The Office. By 2006 was appearing in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, alongside Will Farrell and Sacha Baron Cohen. 2007 provided a big boost to her lead-actress stock in the form of Disney's Enchanted, a Splash-like confection in which Adams played a fairytale princess inadvertently plopped into the alternate universe of modern-day New York City. The family-friendly Thanksgiving release racked up considerable praise and millions of box-office dollars. ~ All Movie Guide

Katie Holmes

2007-12-11T21:04:00.000+08:00

Katie Holmes:Biography

Actor
Born:
December 18, 1978

Biography

Born Kate Noelle Holmes on December 18, 1978 in Toledo, OH, Katie Holmes embodies the wholesomeness and charm of the prototypical All-American girl while exhibiting just enough dark undertones to let her audience know that America's Sweetheart has a few tricks up her sleeve. As angst-ridden tomboy Joey Potter on the WB network's Dawson's Creek, Holmes went from relative unknown to, as indicated by a 1999 Teen People ranking, one of the "21 Hottest Stars Under 21."

Holmes grew up as part of a close-knit family in Toledo and first acted in high-school productions. Participation in a national model and talent convention landed her a trip to Los Angeles when she was 16, and it was there that Holmes auditioned for a role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. The film, which was released in 1997, won critical acclaim, and Holmes' role as the object of Tobey Maguire's affections caught the attention of Kevin Williamson. Williamson, known for his screenplays for such movies as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, was casting roles for his new TV series, Dawson's Creek. Holmes was asked to audition, and did so via videotape. She won the part of Joey Potter, and the series, which premiered in January of 1998, met with a positive reception from both critics and television viewers. Soon the series' young stars were in hot demand, with Holmes in particular receiving attention for her measured and insightful performance as Joey.

It was not long before Holmes appeared in her second film, 1998's teen conspiracy thriller Disturbing Behavior, which met with lackluster reviews but did fairly well at the box office. Holmes' next venture, Doug Liman's 1999 Go, found greater favor with the critics. In her role as the sweet and slightly insecure Claire Montgomery, Holmes won praise even from critics who disliked almost everything else about the film. Coupled with the continuing success of Dawson, the film helped to set the foundations for what is shaping up to be a lengthy and illustrious career.
In 2000, Holmes further built upon this foundation with high-profile turns in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys and Sam Raimi's The Gift. The former featured her as a college student with a crush on her English professor (Michael Douglas), while the latter, a Southern gothic thriller co-starring Cate Blanchett and Greg Kinnear, saw her subvert her nice-girl image by playing a scheming and promiscuous young socialite -- and in the process flashing the audience with substantially more than her famous grin.

Holmes alternated between a Joey Potter-esque innocent and a particularly delusional psychopath in 2002's Abandon, and while the movie itself did not fare well with critics or audiences, Holmes won more praise for her versatility. After the long-anticipated end of Dawson's Creek, Holmes could be seen in the psychological Phone Booth with Colin Farrell, and in 2003's Pieces of April, which found the young actress in the part of a punky family outcast.

In 2004, Holmes starred alongside Michael Keaton in director Forest Whitaker's First Daughter.
2005 became by far the most notable year of Holmes' career, both personally and professionally. Her five year relationship with actor Chris Klein came to an end and the actress began dating Tom Cruise. Cruise had recently become publicly outspoken about his beliefs in Scientology, making volatile statements about actress Brooke Shields' use of anti-depressants following a bout with post partum depression and causing a media stir that questioned his mental and emotional stability, as well as possible cult-like themes in Scientology. These ideas were greatly exacerbated by Cruise's seemingly manic enthusiasm for his new love of Holmes, making a now infamous appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in which he bounced up and down on the couch and vigorously shook the talk show host by the arms while proclaiming his happiness.

In addition to this most curious public display, the pair were surrounded by additional rumors when Holmes, who had been a lifelong Catholic, converted to the church of Scientology and took on a Scientologist advisor to stay by her side through many of her daily activities. She was also said to have been "lost" for a two week period in April during which she was unreachable to her parents, friends, and extended family. The couple's rumor-generating behavior was believed by some to be an attempt to garner buzz for the movies the stars were respectively starring in that summer. Whether the talk effected the box-office performance of Holmes' Batman Begins or Cruise's War of the Worlds proved unclear, but Holmes certainly found success as the female lead in the reinvigorated franchise, as the film was a huge critical and commercial smash.

Cruise and Holmes announced their engagement only two days after Batman Begins opened in the US. The 5 karat diamond engagement ring that Cruise reportedly offered her while on vacation in Paris was evidently not the only extra weight she would be carrying: though they wouldn't announce it until October, Holmes became pregnant that summer and gave birth to a baby girl named Suri in April of 2006, just a few weeks before the release of Cruise's Mission Impossible III. Just as much speculation and curiosity surrounded the event. There were whispers of dangerous or inadvisable methods of childcare and feeding, rumors that the Scientology endorsed method for birthing demands complete silence from everyone--including the mother--and questions about what kind of access to medical care and pain medicine Holmes would have in accordance with the practices of Scientology.

Holmes said little publicly of her new relationship, religion or role as a mother, but Cruise insisted in interviews that the process of the "silent birth" demands others in the room be quiet but not the mother. Even after the child was born, controversy surrounded the name that the couple chose for her, as Cruise's public statement claimed the name Suri was chosen because it means "princess" in Hebrew and "red rose" in Persian, while experts on both languages insisted that this was not accurate. Scholars and speakers of the languages in question said that in Persian (conventionally known as Farsi) the word denotes the color red but has no connection what so ever to roses, while in Hebrew, the closest connection it bears to its claimed origin is that the Jews of Eastern Europe use it as a nickname for the name Sarah, and that in ancient Hebrew Sarah is the feminine form of the word Lord. After the birth, the couple finally set their date wedding, planning to hold the event in early July.

Yet another release date seemed to eerily coincide with media frenzied events in Holmes' personal life as her next film, Thank You For Smoking, saw wide release a few days before the birth of her daughter. Again, the controversy seemed to neither harm nor hurt the film, which performed essentially as expected. The actress did impress critics and audiences, however, with her performance, playing against type as a venomous, femme fatale reporter.

~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Maria Sharapova

2007-12-01T23:54:00.000+08:00

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova was born on 19th April 1987 in Nyagan, Russia. She first began playing tennis at the tender age of four and quickly began showing early promise, so much so that when Maria was nine she and her father moved to Florida in order for her to attend the prodigious Nick Bollettieri tennis academy.

Whilst at the time this must have been a stressful change for the young Sharapova, having to move away from her native Russia at such a young age, it had a positive result as the skills she learned at the Bollettieri academy meant she was able to turn professional in 2001 aged only 14.

Since then Sharapova has never looked back. Just two years later she won her first victory on the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) tour at the Japan Open.

As her name started to become well-known on the tour because of her ability, so it did off the court also as Maria began doing modelling shoots and product endorsements.

In 2005, Forbes magazine declared Sharapova the highest paid female athlete in the world, earning a staggering $18 million in prize money, sponsorship and product endorsements such as Canon Cameras.

It is no surprise that Maria Sharapova has been compared innumerable times to her compatriot Anna Kournikova, as the two share many similarities. Not only do they look similar with their flowing blonde hair and popularity with men everywhere, both girls left Russia at a young age to train at the Bollettieri tennis academy in Florida and were able to turn professional tennis players at a young age.

However, there has been a distinct difference in their success off the court. During her tennis career, Kournikova was often criticised for failing to turn her early promise into one of female tennis's greats.

Many people began to think that she spent too much time modelling and not enough practicing her tennis. However fair or unfair this criticism was, Kournikova never managed to win a major title in her professional career.

A lot of people wondered if Sharapova would follow a similar pattern, which is why many were stunned when in 2004 she stunned the tennis world by beating the defending champion Serena Williams in the Wimbledon championships to win the title at the age of 17, just three years since turning professional.

The same people who had doubted her ability before again said that her Wimbledon victory was just a flash in the pan, or that she could only play well on grass, but over the following months Sharapova silenced her critics by continuing to play some exceptional tennis, eventually culminating in her being crowned World No.1 in the women's tennis rankings in August 2005.

Maria Sharapova

Eva Longoria

2007-11-30T12:35:00.000+08:00

Biography for
Eva Longoria
advertisement Date of Birth
15 March 1975, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

Birth Name
Eva Jacqueline Longoria

Height
5' 2" (1.57 m)

The youngest of four sisters who grew up on a ranch near Corpus Christi, Texas, Longoria attended Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. After graduating from college, she entered a talent contest that brought her to Los Angeles, where she was spotted and subsequently signed by a theatrical agent.

After landing roles on "The Bold and the Beautiful" (1987), "General Hospital" (1963) and co-starring on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990), she auditioned for and won the role of "Isabella" on the popular series, "The Young and the Restless" (1973). After Y&R, Eva Longoria became well known worldwide thanks to "Desperate Housewives" (2004) where she plays adulteress "Gabrielle Solis". She also has a contract with L'Oreal and has been named one of the most beautiful people.

IMDb Mini Biography By: acapulqueno

Spouse
Tyler Christopher (20 January 2002 - 19 January 2004) (divorced)

Trivia
Attended Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology (the study of anatomy, physiology and body movement).

Was Miss Corpus Christi USA 1998

Favorite basketball team: The San Antonio Spurs. Favorite player: Tony Parker.

Is of Mexican descent.

Signed up to be the new L'Oreal image for 1 million pounds. [2005]

Is the only one among her parents' children to have dark skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. Her three sisters all have fair hair, blue eyes, and Caucasian skin color. Eva thought for a long time that she was adopted because of her features.

Named #1 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Was named one of the "50 mas bellos" (50 most beautiful people) by People en Español (2005).

Was a dancer with The Pussycat Dolls.

#3 on E!'s "50 Steamiest Southern Stars"

Her father was a hunter and she has been practicing shooting her entire life.

Spokesmodel for Hanes (2005)

Accidentally hit on the head by a falling pole on the set of her series "Desperate Housewives" (2004) and was unconscious for four minutes. Taken to a hospital, treated for a bump on the head and released. [August 18, 2005]

Lives in L.A.

Was on the cover of the 100th edition of Maxim magazine [April 2006]

Named #38 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

She is considered a fluent Spanish speaker, though, she was interviewed in English by the Spanish TV as she wasn't able to answer fluently in Spanish.

Daughter of Enrique Longoria Jr. (born in Rachal, Brooks County, Texas) and Ella Eva Mireles, married in Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas.

She has three older sisters; Elizabeth Judina, Emily Jeannette (formerly Mrs. David Brown and currently Mrs. Dennis Blevins), and Esmeralda Josephina, and two nieces, Briella Megan Blevins and Bethany Mikaela Blevins.

One of her cousins works at a post office in New Jersey.

Was among the guests at Marcia Cross' wedding to Tom Mahoney

Plans to open her own restaurant called Por Fin, meaning At Last, sometime between October and November of 2006.

Was the cover-girl of the 100th edition of Maxim magazine [April 2006]

Among the guests at her Silvester party 2004/2005 was her then-boyfriend J.C. Chasez

She fell down some stairs on the set of "Desperate Housewives" (2004). Her ribs were very bruised. [October 2006]

Named #13 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Engaged to Tony Parker. The wedding is set for the Summer of 2007 in Paris, France [November, 2006].

Her surname, Longoria, comes from the old Asturian (Spanish) noble surname; de Longoria, from a branch settled on Nueva España, now Mexico, in the XVIIth century, becoming rich farmers.

Of the four leading actresses of "Desperate Housewives" (2004) she is the only one not to receive an Emmy-nomination for her performance on the show.

Chosen by Australian men magazine Zoo weekly as one of the "Top 50 Hottest Babes Ever". [March 2006]

Is the only woman to be ranked #1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list twice. (2005 and 2006).

Ranked #1 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Ranked #1 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2006 list.

Ranked #9 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Close friend of Mario López since 1992.

Personal Quotes
"I grew up as an ugly duckling. They used to call me prieta fea, because I was the only one of my family's four girls with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. Growing up I was the ugly one, because I was the odd one."

"As soon as I read the script I knew it was pretty special. The creator of the show asked what I thought of the writing as a whole. I told him I had no idea because I'd only read my part. He laughed and told me I'd got the job. He thought my answer was completely Gabrielle" On how she got the part as Gabrielle Solis

"I didn't really blossom until my mid teens and by that time I had to work on my personality to make people like me. I found it easy to make people laugh and I was always pretty popular"

"I love being a woman. I love the sexiness we get to exude. But the best thing about being a woman is the power we have over men."

"I love men, I love being in love and having romantic dates"

"I'm a fabulous date, I make sure I look good, I like hearing what a guy has to say and I make sure the evening is a real laugh. I like to laugh." On going out on a date.

"I'm a late bloomer, my looks came pretty late and success happened at the age of 30. But I'm pleased about things not coming to me immediately because it makes you appreciate it when you finally get it"

"I'm definitely no Bridget Jones. I don't believe in that whole 'oh there are no decent men out there' thing. Get real girls- there are loads of gorgeous guys on every street corner"

"I'm totally blown away by the success of _"Desperate Housewives" (2004)_ .

"It literally did happen overnight" On her success from "Desperate Housewives" (2004).

"That whole T-Shirt thing was just a bit of a joke. I did it for a laugh. I never expected my picture to be on the front pages of newspapers and magazines all over the world. It was just something me and my girlfriends thought was funny." On wearing the 'I'll have your baby Brad' T-Shirt.

"I do like British guys. If I had to pick one it would be Ewan McGregor. I met him once and he was gorgeous even if he is a little short. He has the most amazing charisma".

"It would be nice to go out on a date with Brad Pitt but I'm not going to cry about it. There are plenty of other guys out there."

"I don't agree with all the boundaries we put on everything. Women are forever discounting men for all sorts of silly reasons - too old, too young, wrong haircut. Give the guy a chance and he may surprise you. I've definitely been pleasantly surprised by my choices and I've always had plenty of choice."

"Believe me, I would shout it from the highest mountain. I married before when I was too young and eloped to Vegas. This time I'd love to have an engagement and a big wedding and do it properly." On marrying again

"Surely there are more beautiful women in the world. I can name 10."

"I'm like "Blanche" on "The Golden Girls" (1985). I have a good head on my shoulders but, once in a while, a man will come and knock the sense out of me".

"I've always been desperate to be a pussycat. And here I am, a bona fide, show-stopping pussycat."

Beyonce Knowles

2007-11-25T07:13:00.000+08:00

Beyoncé Knowles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beyoncé

Beyoncé performing "Dangerously in Love" during the Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It tour.

Background information
Birth name Beyoncé Giselle Knowles
Born September 4, 1981 (age 25)
Houston, Texas, United States

Genre(s)
R&B

Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, model, philanthropist

Years active
1990–present (singing)
2001–present (acting)
Label(s):Columbia Sony Urban Music

Associated acts
Destiny's Child, Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Solange Knowles

Website
BeyonceOnline.com

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, and model.

Knowles rose to fame as the creative force and lead singer of R&B girl group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time.

After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Knowles released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003. The album became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year, topping the album charts in the U.S. and the UK. It also spawned the number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy" and earned Knowles five Grammy Awards in a single night in 2004. Knowles' sophomore album, B’Day, which was released worldwide on September 4, 2006 (her twenty-fifth birthday), continued her success. The album spawned the UK number-one singles "Déjà Vu" and "Beautiful Liar", as well as the worldwide number-one hit "Irreplaceable". The album also earned Knowles her seventh solo Grammy Award (she has won ten in total).

Knowles has contributed to the soundtracks to films in which she has starred, including Dreamgirls (2006), for which she received two Golden Globe Award nominations, one for acting and another for the soul hit "Listen".

Early life

Knowles is the oldest of two daughters born to Mathew Knowles and Tina Beyincé in Houston, Texas. Her parents decided on her first name as a tribute to her mother's maiden name. Her maternal grandparents, Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon (a seamstress), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles. She is the older sister of Solange Knowles, cousin to Angela Beyincé (her personal assistant and song co-writer), and aunt to Solange's son Daniel Julez Smith, Jr. By age seven, she was attending dance school and was a soloist in her church's choir. Her dance instructor took an interest in Knowles and took her star student to various competitions. Knowles went on to win over thirty local singing and dancing competitions.

Knowles and her childhood best friends LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland along with LeToya Luckett formed a quartet that would perform in their backyards and in Tina Knowles' hair salon. After singing at local events, they got their break when they entered Star Search.

The group, then named "Girl's Tyme", were disappointed after losing the competition. Mathew Knowles, Knowles' father and Rowland's legal guardian, decided to help the girls reach their dreams of becoming singers. He quit his six-figure salary job as a multi-million dollar equipment salesman at Xerox to manage the group. This decision by Mathew eventually affected the whole family. Their income had been cut in half, causing the family to move into two different apartments. When the group was signed to Columbia Records in 1996, it gave the entire family a second chance at making things work.

As a teenager, Knowles attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, where she showed her musical talents. She later went to Alief Elsik High School, in the Alief neighborhood of Houston.

Beyonce Knowles

Heidi Klum

2007-11-20T08:03:00.000+08:00

Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heidi Klum

Date of birth June 1, 1973 (age 34)

Place of birth Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany

Height 1.75.5 m (5 ft 9 in)

Hair color Blonde(dyed)
Eye color Hazel

Measurements 34-28-34 (US); 86-71-86 (EU)
Weight 54 kg (119 lb)

Heidi Klum (born June 1, 1973) is a German supermodel, actress, TV presenter, fashion designer, television producer and singer.

Born in Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, Heidi Klum became famous after winning a televised modeling contest in Germany at age 18. After finishing school, she accepted the modeling contract she won and worked as a model throughout Europe briefly before moving to the United States. She lived in Miami, Florida with little success acquiring modeling jobs before moving to New York City.

She acquired world-wide fame after signing a contract with Victoria's Secret and appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in many well-known fashion magazines, had several small acting roles in TV shows and movies, and produced and hosted two reality shows of her own: Project Runway and Germany's Next Topmodel. She co-authored a book with Alexandra Postman entitled Body of Knowledge: Eight Rules of Model Behavior (ISBN 1400050286), which gives her biography, advice on how to be successful, and many of her favorite pictures.
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Modeling and acting

Klum has been on the cover of most of the well-known fashion magazines including Vogue Magazine, ELLE and Marie Claire. She became widely known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria's Secret. She has been a spokesmodel for McDonald's, Braun, H & M, and Liz Claiborne, among others. She is currently the latest celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows, including Spin City, Sex and the City, and Yes, Dear. She had a role as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie Blow Dry, played a giantess in the movie Ella Enchanted and was cast as Ursula Andress in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. She also had a small cameo appearance in The Devil Wears Prada and Perfect Stranger.

Project Runway

In December of 2004, she became the host and judge of the reality show Project Runway on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, in which fashion designers compete for the opportunity to show their line at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line. She also received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for the first and second seasons.

Designing and perfume

Klum has designed her own clothing lines (including one for infants) that were featured in the German mail-order catalog "Otto." She also has designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewelry for Mouawad, and swimsuits – featured in the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue – that, for a limited time, were available for sale through her personal website. She was one of the designers of the Victoria's Secret lingerie line "The Body", which was named after the nickname she received following her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show appearance. Her Mouawad jewelry collection debuted on the cable shopping network QVC on September 14, 2006, and 14 of the 16 styles sold out after only 36 minutes. A second line of her jewelry collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success.
She has produced two fragrances, called "Heidi Klum" and "Me", which are currently available for sale through her official website.

Heidi Klum hosting Germany's Next Topmodel.
She was also involved in the development of a namesake rose, the Heidi Klum rose, which is available in Germany.

Germany's Next Topmodel

Germany's Next Topmodel is a German reality television show which pits contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win a modeling contract with IMG. Heidi Klum is the host and co-producer of the show along with model Tyra Banks. The first season or "cycle" of the show was won by Lena Gercke and the second cycle was won by Barbara Meier.
Other

Heidi Klum's debut single "Wonderland."
Heidi Klum is also an artist and has had several of her paintings appear in various art magazines in the U.S. On September 27, 2002 she dedicated a sculpture she painted called "Dog with Butterflies" to commemorate the role of rescue dogs in the aftermath of September 11.

Her other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, where she plays a villain Dr. Katya Nadanova. She has appeared in several music videos, including Jamiroquai's video "Love Foolosophy" from their album A Funk Odyssey, and Kelis's "Young, Fresh N' New," off her second album Wonderland.

In November 2006 Klum released her debut single "Wonderland," which was written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer "Douglas." Proceeds from the single were given to a children's charity in her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach.

Personal life

Klum married celebrity hairstylist Ric Pipino on September 6, 1997. The couple divorced in November 2002. Following the divorce she had brief relationships with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis and Formula One manager Flavio Briatore.

In the Autumn of 2003 she became pregnant with Flavio Briatore's child. On the day Klum announced the pregnancy, Briatore was photographed kissing Fiona Swarovski, a jewelery heiress. Klum and Briatore split up shortly thereafter. On May 4, 2004, she gave birth to a daughter, Helene "Leni" Klum, who was named after Klum's grandmother.

Around the same time of the birth, Heidi began a relationship with British musician Seal. Klum and Seal married May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. They have had two children together, both sons: Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, born September 12, 2005 and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel born November 22, 2006. Seal has treated Heidi's first daughter as his own child.

Heidi Klum

Anna Kournikova

2007-11-15T23:39:00.000+08:00

Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova

Country Russia

Residence Miami, Florida, United States

Date of birth June 7, 1981 (age 25)

Place of birth Moscow, Russia

Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Weight 56 kg (123 lb)

Turned Pro October 1995

Retired 2003

Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money $3,584,662
Singles
Career record: 209-129
Career titles: 0
Highest ranking: 8 (November 20, 2000)

Grand Slam results
Australian Open
QF (2001)
French Open
4r (1998-99)
Wimbledon
SF (1997)
U.S. Open
4r (1996, 1998)
Doubles
Career record: 200-71
Career titles: 13
Highest ranking: No. 1 (November 22, 1999)

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova (Russian: Анна Сергеевна Курникова (listen (help•info)), Anna Sergeeyevna Kurnikova; born June 7, 1981) is a retired Russian professional tennis player and model. Although she never won a major singles tournament, she became one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name (or misspellings of it) one of the most common search strings on Google.

She was born in Moscow, Soviet Union to Alla and Sergei Kournikov; her family later emigrated to the United States. Presently, she resides in Miami, Florida.
Kournikova's major-league tennis career has been curtailed for the past several years, and possibly ended, by serious back and spinal problems. She has had some success at the singles game, but her specialty has been doubles, where she has at times been the world's No.1 doubles player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002.

Kournikova's playing style fits the profile for a doubles player, and is complemented by her height. She has been compared to such players as Pam Shriver and Peter Fleming.

Tennis career

Kournikova follows through on a two-hand backhand.
She trained from an early age at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
At ages 13 and 14, Kournikova made headlines in international junior tennis, winning several tournaments including the 1995 Italian Open. She was 14 years old when she ended 1995 as Junior European Champion Under 18 and ITF Junior World Champion Under 18.

Kournikova debuted in professional tennis at age 14 in the Fed Cup for Russia, the youngest player ever to participate and win. At age 15, she reached the fourth round of the 1996 U.S. Open, only to be stopped by then-top ranked player, Steffi Graf.

Kournikova was a member of the Russian delegation to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, as a 16-year-old, she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where she lost to the eventual champion, Martina Hingis by a score of 6-3, 6-2. 1998 was her breakthrough year, when she broke into the WTA's top 20 rankings for the first time and scored impressive victories over Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Steffi Graf. Kournikova's two Grand Slam doubles titles came in 1999 and 2002, both at the Australian Open in the Women's Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis, with whom she played frequently starting in 1999.

Kournikova proved a successful doubles player on the professional circuit, winning 16 tournament doubles titles, including two Australian Opens and being a finalist in mixed doubles at the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon, and reaching the No.1 ranking in doubles in the Women's Tennis Association tour rankings. Her pro career doubles record was 200-71. However, her singles career plateaued after 1999. For the most part, she managed to retain her ranking between 10 and 15 (her career high singles ranking was No.8), but her expected finals breakthrough failed to occur; she only reached four finals out of 130 singles tournaments, never in a Grand Slam event, and never won one. As a player, Kournikova was noted for her footspeed and aggressive baseline play and excellent angles and dropshots; however, her flat, high-risk groundstrokes tended to produce high numbers of errors and her serve was sometimes unreliable in singles. Her singles record is 209-129.

Her final playing years were marred by a string of injuries, especially back injuries, which caused her ranking to erode gradually. Kournikova has not played on the WTA tour since 2003, but still plays exhibition matches for charitable causes.
In late 2004, she participated in three events organized by Elton John and by fellow tennis players Serena Williams and Andy Roddick. In January 2005, she played in a doubles charity event for the Indian Ocean tsunami with John McEnroe, Roddick, and Chris Evert.

In November 2005, she teamed up with Martina Hingis, playing against Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the WTT finals for charity. Kournikova is also a member of the Sacramento Capitals in the World Team Tennis (WTT), playing doubles only.
In a feature for ELLE magazine's July 2005 issue, Kournikova stated that if she were 100% fit, she would like to come back and compete again.

Media publicity

Most of Kournikova's fame has come from the publicity surrounding her personal life as well as numerous modeling shoots. During her debut at the 1996 U.S. Open at the age of 15, Kournikova's physical beauty was noticed by the world and soon pictures of her appeared in numerous magazines worldwide.

Kournikova's marital status has been an issue on several occasions. There were conflicting rumors about whether or not she was engaged to hockey player Pavel Bure. There were reports that she married NHL hockey star Sergei Fedorov in 2001. Kournikova's representatives have denied this, but Fedorov stated in 2003 that the couple had married and since divorced. Kournikova currently has a relationship with pop star Enrique Iglesias (in whose video, "Escape", she appeared), and rumors that the couple had secretly married appeared in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny rumors about the status of her personal relationships.

In 2000, Kournikova became the new face for Berlei's shock absorber sports bras range, and appeared in the highly successful "only the ball should bounce" bill board campaign. Photographs of her scantily-clad form have appeared in various men's magazines, including more than one much-publicized Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues (2004 – 2005), where she posed in bikinis and swimsuits, and in other popular men's publications such as FHM and Maxim.

Kournikova was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 and was voted "hottest female athlete" and "hottest couple" (with Iglesias) on ESPN.com. In 2002 she also placed first in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World in U.S. and UK editions.

By contrast, ESPN — citing the degree of hype as compared to actual accomplishments as a singles player — ranked Kournikova 18th in its "25 Biggest Sports Flops of the Past 25 Years".

Kournikova had a small role (as a motel manager) in the 2000 film Me, Myself and Irene, starring Jim Carrey.

A man named William Lepeska once swam naked across Biscayne Bay in search of her Miami Beach home after attempting to contact Kournikova via a number of letters and e-mails. When apprehended by the police, Lepeska

Charlize Theron

2007-10-12T01:32:00.000+08:00

Charlize Theron is Esquire's new 'sexiest woman alive'

Oscar-winner Charlize Theron has been named the "sexiest woman alive" by US magazine Esquire, following in the footsteps of fellow actresses Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson.

In an interview with the magazine due out next week, Theron discusses her upbringing on a farm in South Africa and how hard it is for a star in Hollywood to have a normal life, saying: "I can't go anywhere. Not if we want to talk."

Theron, who won an Oscar for the 2003 movie "Monster," also talks about her recently-acquired US citizenship, but takes a swipe at her new country.

"I know what I am now, too. I'm American," she says.

"I grew up in a country that learned the lesson that you can't impose your way of life on 26 different kinds of people just because you call yourself righteous. I think there are lessons this country still has to learn."

The actress also offers some self-criticism for the 2000 box office flop "Reindeer Games."

"That was a bad, bad, bad movie. But even though the movie might suck, I got to work with John Frankenheimer. I wasn't lying to myself -- that's why I did it. I mean, he directed 'The Manchurian Candidate,' which is like the movie of all movies," she said.

Theron is currently appearing in "In the Valley of Elah," which explores the stress experienced by US soldiers in Iraq.
"I wanted to make the movie precisely because it evades formulas about guilt. It's hard to tell things in black-and-white now, during this war. I'm drawn to ambiguity," Theron told Esquire.

Mawi

2007-09-22T18:42:00.000+08:00

Mawi AF3- Asmawi Ani

Mawi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Malaysian singer.

Mawi

Background information

Birth name Asmawi Bin Ani
Born August 25, 1981 (age 25)

Origin Kulai, Johor, Malaysia

Genre(s)
Pop, Ballad

Occupation(s) Singer, Actor, model

Instrument(s)
Vocals

Years active 2005–present
Label(s)
Maestro Records

Asmawi bin Ani (born August 25, 1981), better known as Mawi, is a Malaysian singer and a Third Season winner of Malaysia's popular reality show, Akademi Fantasia. Mawi has created a new phenomenon in the Malaysian music industry by becoming one of the best-selling and influential singers of the last few years. His debut album sold more than 200,000 copies in Malaysia and he has won numerous industry awards since winning the competition.

There has been criticism that Mawi is overrated and hypocritical, given his "religious" background, but is fiercely denied by his fan base who go to the extent of actually flooding blogs critical of him with hate comments .It has been said that this reflects the sore need of the Malays for a role model, and the general mindset of that ethnic community, revering artists only a degree short of a deity.

Mawi is of Javanese descent.

Awards

ABP (Anugerah Bintang Popular 2006)
• Popular Artist

HITS 1 (RTM/MALAYSIA)

• The Best Song 2006 - Lagu Jiwa Lagu Cinta

Muzik-Muzik (TV3/Malaysia)

• The best performance - Aduh Saliha
• The best song - Ethnic Creative Category - Aduh Saliha

ABP(Anugerah Bintang Popular 2005)

• Most Popular Artist
• Best New Artist

Anugerah Era (2006)

• Best Artist
• Best Song (Kian)
• Best Ethnic Song (Aduh Saliha)
• Artist SMS Digi
• Best Video Clip (Lagu Jiwa Lagu Cinta - directed by Mamat Khalid)

MTV ASIA AWARDS 2005

• Most Popular Artist

Discography

• Yang Tercinta (2005)
• Best of Mawi World (2005)
• Doa, Berzanji & Qasidah Berlagu (2006)
• Yang Tercinta MTV Karaoke (2006)
• Selingkar Kisah (The Story Life of Mawi at AF) (2006)
• Satu Dalam Seribu (2007)

Mawi

Nicole Kidman

2007-09-22T18:33:00.000+08:00

Once relegated to decorative parts for years and acknowledged primarily as the wife of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman spent the latter half of the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium earning much-deserved critical respect. Standing a willowy 5'11" and sporting one of Hollywood's most distinctive heads of frizzy red hair, the Australian actress first entered the American mindset with her role opposite Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), but it wasn't until she starred as a homicidal weather girl in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For that she achieved recognition as a thespian of considerable range and talent.

Though many assume that the heavily-accented Kidman hails from down under, she was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 20, 1967, to Australian parents. Her family, who lived on the island because of a research project that employed Kidman's biochemist father, then moved to Washington, D.C. for the next three years. After her father's project reached completion, Nicole and her family -- which also included her RN mother and a younger sister -- harkened back to Aussie country.

Raised in the upper-middle-class Sydney suburb of Longueville for the remainder of the 1970s and well into the eighties, Kidman grew up infused with a love of the arts, particularly dance and theatre. Trained in ballet from the age of three, she made her acting debut in a nativity play at six. By the age of ten, she was studying acting in drama school, and she subsequently trained at the St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne and at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre.

An awkward, gawky teenager, teased relentlessly because of her height, Kidman took refuge in the theater, and landed her first professional role at the age of 14, when she starred in Bush Christmas (1983), a TV movie about a group of kids who band together with an Aborigine to find their stolen horse. Brian Trenchard-Smith's BMX Bandits (1983) -- an adventure film/teen movie -- followed , with Kidman as the lead character, Judy; it opened to solid reviews. Kidman then worked for the gifted John Duigan (The Winter of Our Dreams, Romero) twice, first as one of the two adolescent leads of the Duigan-directed "Room to Move" episode of the Australian TV series Winners (1985) and, more prestigiously, as the star of Duigan's acclaimed miniseries Vietnam (1987), produced by Kennedy-Miller In the latter, the actress won positive notices for her portrayal of an awkward 1960s schoolgirl who matures into an idealistic 24-year-old Vietnam war protester.

Kidman also secured Hollywood representation at about this time, which opened quite a few doors of opportunity. In 1988, Kidman got another major break when she was tapped to star in Phillip Noyce's Dead Calm (1989). A psychological thriller about a couple (Kidman and Sam Neill) who are terrorized by a young man they rescue from a sinking ship (Billy Zane), the film helped to establish the then-21-year-old Kidman as an actress of considerable mettle. That same year, her starring performance in the made-for-TV Bangkok Hilton (which cast her as a young woman incarcerated in a Thai prison on false drug smuggling charges) further bolstered her reputation.

By now a rising star in Australia, Kidman began to earn recognition across the Pacific. In 1989,Tom Cruise picked her for a starring role in her first American feature, Tony Scott's Days of Thunder (1990). The film, a testosterone-saturated drama about a racecar driver (Cruise), cast Kidman as the neurologist who falls in love with him. A sizable hit, it had the added advantage of introducing Kidman to Cruise, whom she married in December of 1990.

Following a role as Dustin Hoffman's moll in Robert Benton's Billy Bathgate (1991), and a supporting turn as a snotty boarding school senior in the masterful Flirting (1991), which teamed her with Duigan a third time, Kidman collaborated with Cruise on their second film together, Far and Away (1992). Despite their joint star quality, gorgeous cinematography, and adequate direction by Ron Howard, critics quite rightly panned the lackluster film; Roger Ebert wrote, ". It's depressing that such a lavish and expensive production, starring an important actor like Tom Cruise, could be devoted to such a shallow story; do they think audiences have entirely lost their wits?"

Kidman's subsequent projects, My Life and Malice ( both 1993), were similarly disappointing, despite scattered favorable reviews. Batman Forever (1995), in which she played the hero's love interest, Dr. Chase Meridian, fared somewhat better, but did little in the way of establishing Kidman as a serious actress even as it raked in mile-high returns at the summer box office.

Kidman finally broke out of her window-dressing typecasting when Gus Van Sant enlisted her to portray the ruthless protagonist of To Die For (1995). Directed from a Buck Henry script, this uber-dark comedy casts Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a television broadcaster ready and eager to commit one homicide after another to propel herself to the top. Displaying a gift for impeccable comic timing, she earned Golden Globe and National Broadcast Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress. Further critical praise greeted Kidman's performance as Isabel Archer in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. Now regarded as one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood -- as well as one half of its most high-profile couple -- Kidman starred opposite George Clooney in the big-budget action extravaganza The Peacemaker (1997) and opposite Sandra Bullock in the frothy Practical Magic (1998). Both films weren't remotely as interesting or successful as Kidman's concurrent return to the stage in London's Donmar Warehouse production of The Blue Room. Cast as several characters, one of which required her to play a scene in the nude, Kidman inspired a sensation among both audiences and critics, the latter of whom were moved to write numerous lines of sweaty praise for the actress' full-bodied flirtation with nudity. The play enjoyed a sold-out run in both London and New York, and Kidman earned an Evening Standard Award and Olivier nomination for her performance.

In 1999, Kidman starred in one of her most controversial to date, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. The film, adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle and cloaked in secrecy from the beginning of its production, also stars Cruise as Kidman's physician husband. During the spring and summer of 1999, the media unsurprisingly hyped the couple's onscreen pairing -- and the alleged envelope-pushing sexual content -- as the two major selling points. However, despite an added measure of intrigue from Kubrick's death only weeks after shooting wrapped, Eyes Wide Shut repeated the performance of prior Kubrick efforts by opening to a radically mixed reaction. For the most part, however, the critics (even those who disliked the film) consistently lavished praise onto Kidman's performance. Variety's Todd McCarthy rhapsodized, "Kidman is sensational and luminous as she inhabits her character, who reps a convincing argument for the view that women are far more cognizant and expressive of their emotions than are men."

Meanwhile, as the new millennium arrived, problems began to erupt between Kidman and Tom Cruise, capped by the actress's allegations that Cruise had neglecting her following a miscarriage. Divorce followed soon after, and the tabloids swirled with talk of new amorous relationships - specifically (c. 2002), Kidman's surreptitious romantic involvement with rocker Lenny Kravitz. She concurrently plunged into a string of daring, eccentric film roles - edgier and chancer than anything she had done before --and seemed to relish greater and greater challenges as her career rolled on.

Kidman began this trend with a role in Jez Butterworth's Birthday Girl (2001) as a Russian mail order bride, and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001), which cast her, in the lead, as a courtesan in a 19th century Paris hopped up with late 20th century pop songs. The picture - a carnivalesque whirligig of color, light, sound and kinesthesia -- dazzled some and alienated others, but once again, journalists flocked to Kidman's side. Salon's Stephanie Zacharek gushed:
"Kidman has rarely looked so beautiful... pale, luminous, cracklingly sexual and with a protective veneer that's both as hard and as delicate as an eggshell... When she's playing the showgirl, she cannily navigates the psychology of the biz with all its attendant bravado and feigned vulnerability: Her eyes look catlike and calculating, peeking out from behind those devilish Titian waves. But [as] the lover... enchanted by a handsome boy with no money... she's heartbreakingly girlish."

Nicole Kidman

Following this qualified triumph (the picture gleaned a Best Picture nod but failed to win), Kidman gained even more positive notice for her turn as an icy mother after the key to a dark mystery in Alejandro Amenabar's spooky throwback, The Others. When the 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards finally arrived, Kidman received nominations for her memorable performances in both films. Though her emotionally fragile performance in The Others (2001) lost out to Sissy Spacek's performace in Todd Field's masterful In the Bedroom (2001), Kidman's upbeat performance in the lively Moulin Rouge found the versatile actress taking home a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy in addition to an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Though it couldn't have been any further from her flamboyant turn in Moulin Rouge, Kidman's virtually unrecognizable role as Virginia Woolf in the following year's The Hours (2002) (she wears little makeup and a prosthetic nose), for which she delivered a mesmerizing and haunting performance, kept the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations steadily flowing in for the acclaimed actress. WIth her 2003 Golden Globe win foreshadowing unbridled glory at the 75th annual Academy Awards, fans cheered as the fair haired beauty snagged the Best Actress Oscar that had been so elusive the year before.

After the elation that followed the Oscar ceremony, Kidman continued to take on challenging work under the aegis of intensely cerebral directors. She played the lead, Grace - a woman on the run from gangsters who holes up in a 1930s western town -- in Lars von Trier's Dogville, although she declined to continue in Von Trier's planned trilogy of films about that character. She swung for the Oscar fences again in 2003 as the female lead in Cold Mountain, but it was co-star Renee Zellweger who won the statuette that year. Kidman did solid work for Jonathan Glazer in the Jean-Claude Carriere-penned Birth, as a woman revisited by the incarnation of her dead husband in a small child's body, but stumbled with a pair of empty-headed comedies, Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives and Nora Ephron's Bewitched (both 2005), that her skills could not save. She worked with Sean Penn in the political thriller The Interpreter in 2005. In 2006 Kidman's personal life took a turn for the better when she married country singer Keith Urban.

Professionally, the high-gloss, audience-pleasing studio material of Stepford and Bewitched represented anomalies at this point in Kidman's career. For the most part, Kidman continued to stretch herself with increasingly demanding and arty roles throughout 2006. In Steven Shainberg's Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Kidman plays controversial housewife-cum-photographer Diane Arbus -- a role that plunges the actress into a bizarre, fictionalized romance with the freakishly hirsute paramour Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.). In Happy Feet, fellow Aussie Dr. George Miller's live action Babe follow-up about a penguin who learns to tap dance to impress a crush, Kidman voices one of several talking Arctic animals. She also stars in Noah Baumbach's heavily-veiled follow-up to The Squid and the Whale, a domestic comedy-drama about a mother (Kidman) and her sons who visit the mom's sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) over the course of an eventful weekend. The studios slated all three of these pictures to be issued around the end of 2006.

Meanwhile, Kidman returned to buttered popcorn pictures by signing on to play Mrs. Coulter in Chris Weitz's massive, $150-million fantasy adventure The Golden Compass (2007), made for New Line Cinema and adapted from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series of books. She also signed on to headline the sci-fi thriller Invasion for Warner Brothers, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Kidman plays a psychiatrist who, during a global epidemic that begins changing human behavior en masse - infers that an alien invasion is responsible. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Darling Celebrities: Nicole Kidman

Latest Celebrity Hair Style

2007-09-02T10:18:00.000+08:00

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Shilpa crowned CBB Queen

2007-09-02T10:10:00.000+08:00

Shilpa crowned CBB Queen

28/01/2007

Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty was tonight voted the winner of Celebrity Big Brother.

Shilpa was the firm favourite to win the contest, considered the most controversial in the show's history after she became the victim of alleged racist bullying by fellow contestant Jade Goody.

She beat the other last remaining contestant singer Jermaine Jackson, the 52-year-old brother of Michael Jackson.

Shilpa let out a lengthy scream when host Davina McCall announced the vote, saying: "Are you kidding me, oh my God. I can't believe it."

Shilpa won tonight with a total of 63 per cent of the public vote.

Runner-up Jermaine reminded her not to cry before he departed, saying: "Kindness is strength."

Bookies had the Indian actress at 1/6 odds-on favourite to win.

At an interview immediately after his eviction, Jermaine told Davina of the race row: "I happen to like Jade. She is who she is. But Shilpa is from another culture and they did not fit."

© 2007 The Press Association Limited

10 Sexiest Woment 2007

2007-09-02T09:13:00.000+08:00

10 Sexiest Woment 2007
Sexiest Women

SLIDE SHOW

Sexiest no.1 : Jessica Alba

Many has approved the beauty of Hollywood actress Jessica Alba and her curvy figure as well. Graced People magazine's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" list, the actress, in addition, also has been given the predicate of Sexiest Woman in the World by men's magazine FHM.

Sexiest no.2 : Keeley Hazell

Following close at 2nd spot on the magazine's annual list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World" is British Page 3 Girl and glamour model Keeley Hazell

Sexiest no.3 : Eva Longoria

The No. 3 spot is won by Eva Longoria, who just like Alba graced People's Most Beautiful People list as well.

Sexiest no.4 : Adriana Lima

Rounding out the Top 5 is Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima, best known for her work with Victoria's Secret, and actress Scarlett Johansson at No. 4 and 5 respectively.

Actress-singer Hayden Panettiere is ranked 6th, just one place ahead of Cheryl Tweedy of the girl group Girls Aloud at No. 7. Angelina Jolie secures the 8th spot, followed after by Australian Commercial, Lingerie and Glamour model Emily Scott at the 9th spot. Finishing the Top 10 is Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert.

Sexiest no.5 : Scarlett Johansson

Sexiest no.6 : Hayden Panettiere

Sexiest no.7 : Cheryl Tweedy

Sexiest no.8 : Angelina Jolie

Sexiest no.9 : Emily Scott

Sexiest no.10 : Elisha Cuthbert

10 Sexiest Woment 2007

Darling Celebrities

2007-08-31T11:34:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Darling Celebrities site.

Darling Celebrities is all about celebrities gateway.