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Evangeline Lilly, born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, in 1979, was discovered on the streets of Kelowna, British Columbia, by the famous Ford modeling agency. Although she initially decided to pass on a modeling career, she went ahead and signed with Ford anyway, to help pay for her University of British Columbia tuition and expenses.- Actress
- Producer
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Jennifer Love Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas, to Patricia Mae (Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She has English, Italian, French, Scottish, and German ancestry. She got her first name from her older brother Todd Daniel Hewitt (b. November 8, 1970), who picked the name after a little blonde girl on whom he'd had a crush. Her mother selected Jennifer's middle name, Love (which she goes by offstage), from her best college friend. Her parents separated when she was six months old and her mother raised her in Killeen, Texas.
Hewitt made her official performing debut at age 3 when she sang at a livestock show. At age 5, she was taking tap, jazz, and ballet lessons, which led to her joining the Texas Show Team, who toured the Soviet Union and Europe. When she was 10 her family moved to Los Angeles with encouragement from talent scouts, while Todd stayed behind to finish high school in Texas Jennifer quickly found commercial work and a role on Disney's Kids Incorporated (1984) in 1989. She went through a series of television flops before finally hitting it big on Party of Five (1994) in 1995.- Actress
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Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Her mother, Melanie Sloan is from a Jewish family from the Bronx and her father, Karsten Johansson is a Danish-born architect from Copenhagen. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, a brother, Adrian, a twin brother, Hunter Johansson, born three minutes after her, and a paternal half-brother, Christian. Her grandfather was writer Ejner Johansson.
Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother started taking her to auditions. She made her professional acting debut at the age of eight in the off-Broadway production of "Sophistry" with Ethan Hawke, at New York's Playwrights Horizons. She would audition for commercials but took rejection so hard her mother began limiting her to film tryouts. She made her film debut at the age of nine, as John Ritter's character's daughter in the fantasy comedy North (1994). Following minor roles in Just Cause (1995), as the daughter of Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw's character, and If Lucy Fell (1996), she played the role of Amanda in Manny & Lo (1996). Her performance in Manny & Lo garnered a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, and positive reviews, one noting, "[the film] grows on you, largely because of the charm of ... Scarlett Johansson", while San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle commentated on her "peaceful aura", and wrote, "If she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress."
After appearing in minor roles in Fall (1997) and Home Alone 3 (1997), Johansson garnered widely spread attention for her performance in The Horse Whisperer (1998), directed by Robert Redford, where she played Grace MacLean, a teenager traumatized by a riding accident. She received a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress for the film. In 1999, she appeared in My Brother the Pig (1999) and in the music video for Mandy Moore's single, "Candy". Although the film was not a box office success, she received praise for her breakout role in Ghost World (2001), credited with "sensitivity and talent [that] belie her age". She was also featured in the Coen Brothers' dark drama The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. She appeared in the horror comedy Eight Legged Freaks (2002) with David Arquette and Kari Wuhrer.
In 2003, she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for drama (Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)) and one for comedy (Lost in Translation (2003)), her breakout role, starring opposite Bill Murray, and receiving rave reviews and a Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival. Her film roles include the critically acclaimed Weitz brothers' film In Good Company (2004), as well as starring opposite John Travolta in A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004), which garnered her a third Golden Globe Award nomination.
She dropped out of Mission: Impossible III (2006) due to scheduling conflicts. Her next film role was in The Island (2005) alongside Ewan McGregor which earned weak reviews from U.S. critics. After this, she appeared in Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) and was nominated again for a Golden Globe Award. In May 2008, she released her album "Anywhere I Lay My Head", a collection of Tom Waits covers featuring one original song. Also that year, she starred in Frank Miller's The Spirit (2008), the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), and played Mary Boleyn opposite Natalie Portman in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).
Since then, she has appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You (2009), the action superhero film Iron Man 2 (2010), the comedy-drama We Bought a Zoo (2011) and starred as the original scream queen, Janet Leigh, in Hitchcock (2012). She then played her character, Black Widow, in the blockbuster action films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Black Widow (2021), and also headlined the sci-fi action thriller Lucy (2014), a box office success. With more than a decade of work already under her belt, Scarlett has proven to be one of Hollywood's most talented young actresses. Her other starring roles are in the sci-fi action thriller Ghost in the Shell (2017) and the dark comedy Rough Night (2017).
Scarlett and Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds were engaged in May 2008 and married in September of that year. In 2010, the couple announced their separation, and subsequently divorced a year later. In 2013, she became engaged to French journalist Romain Dauriac, the couple married a year later. In January 2017, the couple announced their separation, and subsequently divorced in March of that year. They have a daughter, Rose Dorothy Dauriac (born 2014). The couple divorced in September 2017.
She married Colin Jost in October 2020. They have one child, a son.- Producer
- Actress
- Costume Designer
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner military figure Danie Theron was her great-great-uncle.
Theron received an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". There was not much work for a young actress or dancer in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and the United States, where she got a 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.
In 1994, her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Boulevard, but without any luck. She went to a bank to cash a check for $500 she received from her mother, and became furious when she learned that the bank would not cash it because it was an out-of-state check. She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange for learning American English, which she did by watching soap operas on television.
Her first role was in the B-film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995), a non-speaking part with three seconds of screen time. Her next role was as Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina Powers in That Thing You Do! (1996). Since then, she has starred in movies like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003). On February 29, 2004, she won her first Academy Award, a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Monster (2003).- Actress
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Blake Ellender Lively was born Blake Ellender Brown on August 25, 1987 in Los Angeles, California to Elaine Lively & Ernie Lively. Her brother is actor Eric Lively, and her half-siblings are actors Lori Lively, Robyn Lively and Jason Lively. She followed her parents' and siblings' steps. Her first role was Trixie, the Tooth Fairy in the musical movie Sandman (1998), directed by her father. Her big break came along a few years later, though. Blake was up to finish high school when she got the co-starring role of Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005).
Blake was so perfect for the role of Bridget that, with no big references or even auditioning, she landed the role. According to her, all she did was walk in and leave a photo of herself. It was clear that she was the Bridget needed. After the film, Blake went back to high school for her senior year to have the life of a regular teenager -- or a very busy regular teenager. She was class president, a cheerleader, and performed with the choir.- Actress
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Kate Beckinsale was born on 26 July 1973 in Hounslow, Middlesex, England, and has resided in London for most of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, who has appeared in a number of British dramas and sitcoms and continues to work as an actress, predominantly in British television productions. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham, England. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during the 1970s, most notably the series Rising Damp (1974), Porridge (1974) and The Lovers (1970). He passed away tragically early in 1979 at the age of 31.
Kate attended the private school Godolphin and Latymer School in London for her grade and primary school education. In her teens she twice won the British bookseller W.H. Smith Young Writers' competition - once for three short stories and once for three poems. After a tumultuous adolescence (a bout of anorexia - cured - and a smoking habit which continues to this day), she gradually took up the profession of acting.
Her major acting debut came in a TV film about World War II called One Against the Wind (1991), filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991. It first aired on American television that December. Kate began attending Oxford University's New College in the fall of 1991, majoring in French and Russian literature. She had already decided that she wanted to act, but to broaden her horizons she chose university over drama school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama Royal Deceit (1994), cast as Ethel. The film was shot during the spring of 1993 on location in Denmark, and she filmed her supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the summer of that year she played the lead in the contemporary mystery drama Uncovered (1994). Before she went back to school, her third year at university was spent at Oxford's study-abroad program in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French language, Parisian culture and French cigarettes.
A year away from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused her to re-evaluate the direction of her life. She faced a choice: continue with school or concentrate on her flourishing acting career. After much thought, she chose the acting career. In the spring of 1994 Kate left Oxford, after finishing three years of study. Kate appeared in the BBC/Thames Television satire Cold Comfort Farm (1995), filmed in London and East Sussex during late summer 1994 and which opened to spectacular reviews in the United States, grossing over $5 million during its American run. It was re-released to U.K. theaters in the spring of 1997.
Acting on the stage consumed the first part of 1995; she toured in England with the Thelma Holts Theatre Company production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull". After turning down several mediocre scripts "and going nearly berserk with boredom", she waited seven months before another interesting role was offered to her. Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie Haunted (1995), starring opposite Aidan Quinn and John Gielgud, and filmed in West Sussex. In this film she wanted to play "an object of desire", unlike her past performances where her characters were much less the siren and more the worldly innocent. Kate's first film project of 1996 was the British ITV production of Jane Austen's novel Emma (1996). Her last film of 1996 was the comedy Shooting Fish (1997), filmed at Shepperton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part of Georgie, an altruistic con artist. She had a daughter, Lily, in 1999 with actor Michael Sheen.- Actress
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Jessica Biel, has become one of Hollywood's most sought-out actresses. She was born in Ely, Minnesota, to Kimberly (Conroe) and Jonathan Edward Biel, who is a business consultant and GM worker. Biel was raised in Boulder, Colorado. She is of Hungarian Jewish, Danish, English, and German descent.
As a child, Biel initially pursued a career as a vocalist, performing in musical theater. Beginning at age nine, she starred in such productions as "Annie," "The Sound of Music," and "Beauty and the Beast." Biel soon turned to modeling and commercial work by competing in The International Modeling and Talent Association's Annual Conference in 1994.
Her Film debut was in the Kid's Rock Opera It's a Digital World (1994) where she demonstrated her acting and singing abilities. Her television series acting debut, playing Mary Camden on the WB's #1-rated show, 7th Heaven (1996), helped her emerge as a breakout star. She terrified moviegoers with her portrayal of Erin, "Leatherface's" greatest nemesis to date, in New Line Cinema's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), a remake of the original. Having finished filming, Blade: Trinity (2004) in Vancouver with Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, and Kris Kristofferson, she the portrayed a jet-fighter pilot in Stealth (2005), starring Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx, and Sam Shepherd, for director Rob Cohen. Biel's film career began at age 14 when she played alongside Peter Fonda in his Golden Globe-winning performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). Her other film credits include I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998), Summer Catch (2001), Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction (2002), and Cellular (2004), which stars Chris Evans, Kim Basinger, and William H. Macy.
In her spare time, Biel is involved with charities such as Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and PETA. Her hobbies include ballet, soccer, running, yoga and hiking with her dog "East." She resides in Los Angeles.
In 2012, she married actor and singer Justin Timberlake. The two have a son.- Actress
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Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France, to British parents, Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both lawyers. She moved to Oxfordshire when she was five, where she attended the Dragon School. From the age of six, Emma knew that she wanted to be an actress and, for a number of years, she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting. By the age of ten, she had performed and taken the lead in various Stagecoach productions and school plays.
In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (2001), the film adaptation of British author J.K. Rowling's bestselling novel. Casting agents found Emma through her Oxford theatre teacher. After eight consistent auditions, producer David Heyman told Emma and fellow applicants, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, that they had been cast for the roles of the three leads, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) was Emma's cinematic screen debut. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics praised the film and the performances of the three leading young actors. The highly distributed British newspaper, 'The Daily Telegraph', called her performance "admirable". Later, Emma was nominated for five awards for her performance in the film, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film.
After the release of the first film of the highly successful franchise, Emma became one of the most well-known actresses in the world. She continued to play the role of Hermione Granger for nearly ten years, in all of the following Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). Emma acquired two Critics' Choice Award nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her work in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. The completion of the seventh and eight movies saw Emma receive nominations in 2011 for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award, and for Best Actress at the Jameson Empire Awards. The Harry Potter franchise won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in February 2011.
2011 saw Emma in Simon Curtis's My Week with Marilyn (2011), alongside a stellar cast of Oscar nominees including Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier, in addition to Eddie Redmayne, Dame Judi Dench, Dougray Scott, Zoe Wanamaker, Toby Jones and Dominic Cooper. Chronicling a week in Marilyn Monroe's life, the film featured Emma in the supporting role of Lucy, a costume assistant to Colin Clark (Redmayne). The film was released by The Weinstein Company and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. In 2012 Emma was seen in Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), starring opposite Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller. This independent drama centered around Charlie (Lerman), an introverted freshman who is taken under the wings of two seniors (Watson and Miller) who welcome him to the real world. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and received rave reviews. The film won the People's Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic Movie and Emma also picked up the People's Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic Movie Actress. Emma was awarded a second time for this role with the Best Supporting Actress Award at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards where the film also won the Best Ensemble Performance Award.
In summer 2013, Emma starred in Sofia Coppola's American satirical black comedy crime film, The Bling Ring (2013), opposite Katie Chang and Israel Broussard. The film took inspiration from real events and followed a group of teenagers who, obsessed with fashion and fame, burgled the homes of celebrities in Los Angeles. The film opened the Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Emma also appeared in a cameo role as herself in Seth Rogen's apocalypse comedy This Is The End (2013). The film tells the story about what happens to some of Hollywood's best loved celebrities when the apocalypse strikes during a party at James Franco's house.
In 2014, Emma was seen in Darren Aronofsky's Noah (2014), opposite Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman, and Anthony Hopkins. The film told the epic, biblical tale of Noah and the ark. Emma plays the role of Ila, a young woman who develops a close relationship with Noah's son, Shem (Booth). Noah made an outstanding $300m since its release in March. In 2015, Emma starred in Regression (2015), written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar and Occultum Luciferus. Also headlined by Oscar-nominated Ethan Hawke, and set in Minnesota in 1990, Regression tells the story of Detective Bruce Kenner (Hawke), who investigates the case of young Angela, played by Emma, who accuses her father of sexual abuse.
In 2012, Emma was honored with the Calvin Klein Emerging Star Award at the ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards. In 2013, Emma was awarded the Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie Awards in April and was honored with the GQ Woman of the Year Award at the GQ Awards in September. Further to her acting career, Emma is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Emma graduated from Brown University in May 2014.
In 2017, Emma starred in the live-action Disney fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), one of the biggest movies of all time in the U.S., and the dramatic thriller The Circle (2017).- Actress
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British actress Emilia Clarke was born in London and grew up in Oxfordshire, England. Her father was a theatre sound engineer and her mother is a businesswoman. Her father was working on a theatre production of "Show Boat" and her mother took her along to the performance. This is when, at the age of 3, her passion for acting began. From 2000 to 2005, she attended St. Edward's School of Oxford, where she appeared in two school plays. She went on to study acting at the prestigious Drama Centre London, where she took part in 10 plays. During this time, Emilia first appeared on television with a guest role in the BBC soap opera Doctors (2000).
In 2010, after graduating from the Drama Centre London, Emilia got her first film role in the television movie Triassic Attack (2010). In 2011, her breakthrough role came in when she replaced fellow newcomer Tamzin Merchant on Game of Thrones (2011) after the filming of the original pilot episode. From March to April 2013, she played Holly Golightly in a Broadway production of "Breakfast at Tiffany's". She played Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys (2015), opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke. She played the lead role of Louisa Clark in the romantic comedy blockbuster Me Before You (2016) and went on to star in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) as Qi'ra.
Since her rise to prominence, Emilia has contributed to various charitable organisations. In 2018, she was named as the ambassador to the Royal College of Nursing because of her efforts in raising awareness about the working condition of the nurses in the UK. In 2019, she was named as the first ambassador for the global Nursing Now campaign. In 2019, in a personal essay published in The New Yorker, Emilia revealed that she had suffered from two life threatening brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013. She launched her own charity SameYou in 2019, which aims to broaden neurorehabilitation access for young people after a brain injury or stroke.- Actress
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Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. Her father was Greek, and her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian descent. Jennifer spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City where her parents divorced when she was nine. Jennifer was raised by her mother and her father landed a role, as "Victor Kiriakis", on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives (1965). Jennifer had her first taste of acting at age 11 when she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. It was also at the Rudolf Steiner School that she developed her passion for art. She began her professional training as a drama student at New York's School of Performing Arts, aka the "Fame" school. It was a division of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts. In 1987, after graduation, she appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker's Grave". In 1990, she landed her first television role, as a series regular on Molloy (1990). She also appeared in The Edge (1992), Ferris Bueller (1990), and had a recurring part on Herman's Head (1991). By 1993, she was floundering. Then, in 1994, a pilot called "Friends Like These" came along. Originally asked to audition for the role of "Monica", Aniston refused and auditioned for the role of "Rachel Green", the suburban princess turned coffee peddler. With the success of the series Friends (1994), Jennifer has become famous and sought-after as she turns her fame into movie roles during the series hiatus.- Actress
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Rachel Anne McAdams was born on November 17, 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada, to Sandra Kay (Gale), a nurse, and Lance Frederick McAdams, a truck driver and furniture mover. She is of English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish descent. Rachel became involved with acting as a teenager and by the age of 13 was performing in Shakespearean productions in summer theater camp; she went on to graduate with honors with a BFA degree in Theater from York University. After her debut in an episode of Disney's The Famous Jett Jackson (1998), she co-starred in the Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows (2003), a comedy-drama about the trials and travails of a Shakespearean theater group, and won a Gemini award for her performance in 2003.
Her breakout role as Regina George in the hit comedy Mean Girls (2004) instantly catapulted her onto the short list of Hollywood's hottest young actresses. She followed that film with a star turn opposite Ryan Gosling in the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller The Notebook (2004), which was a surprise box office success and became the predominant romantic drama for a new, young generation of moviegoers. After filming, McAdams and Gosling became romantically involved and dated through mid-2007. McAdams next showcased her versatility onscreen with the manic comedy Wedding Crashers (2005), the thriller Red Eye (2005), and the holiday drama The Family Stone (2005).
McAdams then explored the independent film world with Married Life (2007), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and also starred Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson. Starring roles in the military drama The Lucky Ones (2008), the newspaper thriller State of Play (2009), and the romance The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) followed before she starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Guy Ritchie's international blockbuster Sherlock Holmes (2009). McAdams played the plucky producer of a failing morning TV show in Morning Glory (2010), the materialistic fiancée of Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011), and returned to romantic drama territory with the hit film The Vow (2012) opposite Channing Tatum. The actress also stars with Ben Affleck in Terrence Malick's To the Wonder (2012) and alongside Noomi Rapace in Brian De Palma's thriller Passion (2012).
In 2005, McAdams received ShoWest's "Supporting Actress of the Year" Award as well as the "Breakthrough Actress of the Year" at the Hollywood Film Awards. In 2009, she was awarded with ShoWest's "Female Star of the Year." As of 2011, she has been romantically linked with her Midnight in Paris (2011) co-star Michael Sheen.- Actress
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Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American fashion designer, producer, author, businesswoman and former actress. She co-founded luxury fashion brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, and the more affordable lines Olsenboye and StyleMint with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen. She is also the older sister of actress Elizabeth Olsen.
Ashley was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Jarnette "Jarnie", a personal manager, and David "Dave" Olsen, a real estate developer and mortgage banker. She and her twin Mary-Kate have an older brother, Trent Olsen, a younger sister, actress Elizabeth Olsen, and younger half-siblings Taylor and Jake from their father's second marriage after their parents divorced in 1996. Ashley and her siblings and half-siblings have Norwegian ancestry on their father's side.
Olsen began her career at nine months old, when she and Mary-Kate were hired to share the role of Michelle Tanner on the popular television series Full House in 1987. Following the end of Full House, Olsen released a string of successful straight-to-video movies and became a popular figure in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s. She became a household name, with her likeness seen in clothes, books, fragrances, magazines, movies, and posters, among others. There were fashion dolls of her made by Mattel from 2000 to 2005. She starred in the video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, the ABC show Two of a Kind, and ABC Family's So Little Time. She and her sister were jointly ranked number three on the VH1 program 100 Greatest Child Stars. In 2004, the twins appeared in the theatrical light-hearted romantic comedy, New York Minute. In 2007, when Mary-Kate and Ashley were 21 they said that if they got involved in movies together again it would be as producers. When asked about acting again in 2009 Ashley said, "Never say never." In 2009 Olsen contemplated returning to acting. She changed her mind and in 2012 the sisters decided to quit acting permanently and focus on fashion. In October 2013, Olsen appeared in the music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Nickelodeon acquired the rights to Mary-Kate and Ashley's video library in 2015.
In 2015, it was announced that John Stamos had signed on with Netflix to produce and co-star in Fuller House, a spin-off Full House that would reunite the original cast members. Mary-Kate and Ashley originally announced in May that they would not reprise their role as Michelle Tanner, however in July, according to Netfix's Ted Sarandos, the Olsen twins were "teetering" on an agreement to join the series.
In 2004, both Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen became co-presidents of their company Dualstar (created in 1993 following the success of Full House), the brand currently selling in over 3,000 stores in America and 5,300 stores worldwide. Their success has been marked on Forbes' The Celebrity 100 list since 2002. In 2007, Forbes ranked the twins as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated combined net worth of $300 million.
Following a high volume of public interest in their fashion choices, both worked in collaboration on a string of fashion lines available to the public. They started a clothing line in Wal-Mart stores across America for girls ages 4 to 14 as well as a beauty line called Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real Fashion for Real Girls.
In 2004, they made news by signing a pledge to allow all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh full maternity leave. The National Labor Committee, which organized the pledge, later praised the twins for their commitment to worker rights.
The idea for The Row started as a personal project in 2005 when Ashley Olsen challenged herself to create a perfect T-shirt. She tested the design on a variety of women of all body shapes and ages in an attempt to find a "commonality in fit and attitude."
By 2006, the sisters had created a 7-piece collection that included the T-shirt, a pair of cotton sateen leggings, and a cashmere wool tank dress. Barneys New York bought the entire first collection. The brand has expanded to include ready-to-wear, resort, handbags, sunglasses, and shoes.
In 2006, they were tapped as the faces of the upscale fashion line Badgley Mischka. As adults, the Olsens have devoted much of their attention to the world of fashion. They head a couture fashion label, The Row, as well as the Elizabeth and James, Olsenboye, and StyleMint retail collections. Ashley Olsen has appeared on best-dressed lists. The Olsens designed an Olsenboye Change Purse in 2011 and donated the money to "Pennies From Heaven".
In 2011, the Olsen sisters teamed up with TOMS Shoes to design footwear for kids without shoes in more than 20 countries worldwide. Mary-Kate and Ashley are now the creative directors for the Italian brand Superga. The Olsens released an Elizabeth and James perfume in early 2013. StyleMint is now available in the UK.
In October 2012, Ashley and Mary-Kate won the WSJ magazine Innovator of The Year Award.
Ashley and Mary-Kate won the top prize at the 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards.
Ashley with her twin was nominated for Council Of Fashion Designers in 2015.
In 2008, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen wrote Influence, a book featuring interviews with fashion designers that have inspired the Olsens' fashion lines.
In 2005, Olsen filed a $40 million lawsuit against tabloid magazine National Enquirer for depicting her as being involved in a drug scandal. Her case was dismissed by a federal court in Los Angeles in November of the same year.
In May 2004, Olsen and high school sweetheart Matt Kaplan split up after three years of dating. In May 2008, Olsen began dating fellow actor Justin Bartha. They split up in March 2011 after almost three years of dating.
As of January 2014, Olsen has been dating film director Bennett Miller.- Raven-haired beauty Jordana Brewster was born on April 26, 1980 in Panama City, Panama. Her mother, Maria João Leal de Sousa, is a Brazilian-born model who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978. Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American-born investment banker, who has English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Her paternal grandfather, Mayflower descendant Kingman Brewster, Jr., was president of Yale University from 1963 to 1977. Jordana was raised in London, England up until the age of six. At this time, her family decided to move back to her mother's native Rio de Janeiro. Here, they would stay for the next 4 years. Jordana learned to speak fluent Portuguese during her 4 year stay in Rio de Janeiro. At the age of ten, Jordana's family decided to move again, only this time they would relocate to Manhattan. It was here where Jordana studied at Sacred Heart, an all-girl Catholic school before moving on to the New York Professional Children's School. It was in her teens that Jordana began to make a name for herself by appearing in two of daytime television's longest-running soap operas, All My Children (1970) and in 1996 As the World Turns (1956), where she played the role of "Nikki Munson" for three years. Jordana also went on to co-star in the NBC mini-series The '60s (1999). The year 1998 marked her big-screen debut as "Delilah Profitt" in the teen-driven film, The Faculty (1998). However, it was her role as "Mia Toretto" in the blockbuster hit The Fast and the Furious (2001) that led her to reach Hollywood stardom. Despite her success, Jordana continued to attend Yale University, in the class of 2003. She played the lead in the prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), and reprised her role, Mia, in the sequels Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Furious 7 (2015).
Brewster was married to producer Andrew Form in 2007, and they have two sons. - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Emma Roberts was born in Rhinebeck, New York. She was a baby when her parents separated, and she grew up living with her mother, Kelly Cunningham. She was educated at Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, California.
Emma is the daughter of Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts, and the niece of Oscar-winner Julia Roberts. As a child she spent some time on the sets of movies with her aunt Julia. This helped Emma decide that she wanted to follow a career in acting. Her first movie role came in Blow (2001), where she played the daughter of Johnny Depp's character. Various small parts followed, until she was cast in the lead role of Addie Singer in Nickelodeon's "Unfabulous" (2004). Her performance lead to many award nominations as well as a foray into the music industry, including the release of an album, "Unfabulous and More".
More roles followed in various projects, including the eponymous heroine in Nancy Drew (2007), Hotel for Dogs (2009), 4.3.2.1. (2010) and Scream 4 (2011). In 2011, Emma began attending Sarah Lawrence College in New York, studying English Literature.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Christian Marie Serratos (born September 21, 1990) is an American actress who plays Rosita Espinosa in AMC's The Walking Dead TV series, based on the comic book of the same name. She is also known for playing Suzie Crabgrass in the Nickelodeon series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and Angela Weber in The Twilight Saga series.
Serratos was born in Pasadena, California and raised in Burbank, California. Her mother is a jewelry designer, and public relations and marketing agent at ACSPR and is of Mexican descent. Her father is a set construction worker of Italian descent. She began figure skating when she was 3 and continued competitively, saying, "My coaches were talking about the Olympics and it was really crazy. Now, I just do it for fun." At the age of 7, she signed with the Ford Modeling Agency.
Serratos played Suzie Crabgrass in the Nickelodeon series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, which debuted in 2004 and ended in 2007 after three seasons.
Serratos' role as Angela Weber in Twilight won her the "Young Supporting Actress" award in the Best Performance in a Feature Film category at the 30th Young Artist Awards. Serratos reprized the role in Twilight's sequels The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. In 2011, she appeared in The Black Keys video for their song "Howlin' for You".
She played the recurring character of Rosita Espinosa in the fourth season of AMC's series The Walking Dead, making her first appearance at the end of the tenth episode, "Inmates". For her character Rosita, she was upped to series regular in the fifth season, and was added to the series' main credits in the seventh season.
She ranked at No. 65 on Maxim's "Hot 100" list for 2010. In the March 2015 issue of Playboy magazine, Serratos was featured in the "After Hours" section.
Serratos is an animal activist. She has posed for a number of PETA campaigns promoting a vegan lifestyle. In March 2017, Serratos revealed that she is expecting her first child with her longtime boyfriend, New Politics singer David Boyd. On Mother's Day 2017, Serratos announced that she'd welcomed her first child, a baby girl, whose name she later revealed to be Wolfgang Serratos Boyd.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager. She is of Norwegian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before settling in Rochester, New York. When Wiig was 9 years old, her parents divorced and she lived with her mother and older brother Erik.
After graduating from Brighton High School in Rochester, Wiig attended the University of Arizona as an art student. She took her first acting class, as an elective, and was soon encouraged by her teacher to pursue acting. Years later, she moved to Los Angeles and Wiig worked as a main company member of the Los Angeles-based improv and sketch-comedy troupe The Groundlings. As a Groundlings alumna, she joins the ranks of such SNL cast mates as Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz.
Wiig made her big-screen debut to universal high praise as Katherine Heigl's passive-aggressive boss in Judd Apatow's smash-hit comedy Knocked Up (2007). Additional film credits include Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It (2009), starring Elliot Page; Greg Mottola's Adventureland (2009), with Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg; David Koepp's Ghost Town (2008), with Ricky Gervais; and Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), another Apatow-produced film, in which she starred opposite John C. Reilly. She has also guest-starred on the Emmy-winning NBC series 30 Rock (2006), the HBO series Bored to Death (2009), with Jason Schwartzman, and Flight of the Conchords (2007).
Wiig joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) in 2005, and was known for playing such memorable characters as the excitable Target clerk, Lawrence Welk singer Doonese, the hilarious one-upper Penelope, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Suze Orman, among others. Wiig earned four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. She left the show in the spring of 2012.
In 2011, Wiig co-wrote and starred in Bridesmaids (2011), along with Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Rose Byrne. The film was a box office hit and won several awards, plus earned two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay), and two Golden Globes nominations (Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical and Best Actress).
Wiig also appeared in such notable films as Greg Mottola's Paul (2011), opposite Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; Andrew Jarecki's All Good Things (2010), opposite Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella; DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon (2010), with Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel; the Universal Pictures' animated feature film Despicable Me (2010), starring Steve Carell and Jason Segel; and Jennifer Westfeldt's Friends with Kids (2011), opposite Jon Hamm, Megan Fox, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph and Westfeldt.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Though most famous for her role as Isabella "Bella" Swan in The Twilight (2008) Saga, Kristen Stewart has been a working actor since her early years in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, John Stewart and Jules Stewart, both work in film and television. The family includes three boys, Kristen's older brother Cameron Stewart and two adopted brothers Dana and Taylor. Kristen is of English, Scottish, and Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
After a talent scout caught her grade school performance in a play at the age of eight, she appeared on television in a few small roles. Her first significant role came when she was cast as Sam Jennings in The Safety of Objects (2001). Soon after that, she starred alongside Jodie Foster in the hit drama, Panic Room (2002) and was nominated for a Young Artist Award.
Praised for her Panic Room performance, she went on to join the cast of Cold Creek Manor (2003) as the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone. Though the film did not do well at the box office, she received another nomination for a Young Artist Award. After appearing in a handful of movies and a Showtime movie called Speak (2004), Stewart was cast in the role of a teenage singer living in a commune in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007), a critically acclaimed biopic. A third Young Artist Award nomination resulted in a win for this role. She also appeared in Mary Stuart Masterson's The Cake Eaters (2007) that same year.
Just 17, Stewart took on the starring role in Twilight (2008) which was based on a series of the same name written by Stephenie Meyer, the novel already had a huge following and the film opened to fans anxious to see the vampire romance brought to life. Awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance, Stewart's turn as Bella continued in the sequels The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010). The final installments of the series started filming in late 2010, and were released the following years, as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012).
Despite her stratospheric launch into stardom with the Twilight films, she stayed true to her roots by working on a number of indie projects, including Adventureland (2009) (filmed prior to the Twilight series) and Welcome to the Rileys (2010). And she took on the daunting task of playing hard rocker Joan Jett in Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways (2010) alongside Dakota Fanning. Stewart received praise for her acting and musical performances and later won the 2010 BAFTA Rising Star Award and best actress at the Milan International Film Festival for Welcome to the Rileys (2010).
Stewart worked on several other leading roles between the Twilight Saga installments including the #1 summer box office hit, Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and the Cannes selection On the Road (2012). She also performed in the Sundance drama Camp X-Ray (2014), Cannes selection Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), for which she won a César Award, and the Lionsgate action comedy, American Ultra (2015), also starring Jesse Eisenberg, the Adventureland duo. She also delivered an acclaimed turn opposite Academy Award-winner Julianne Moore in Still Alice (2014). For the remainder of the decade, Kristen alternated choice supporting roles, such as Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Café Society (2016), with starring roles in films about historical figures, including Lizzie (2018) and Seberg (2019), and special effects/action thrillers Charlie's Angels (2019) and Underwater (2020).
Kristen had a change-of-pace role in the romantic comedy Happiest Season (2020), about an LGBT+ couple, and received universal acclaim, and her first Oscar nomination, for Best Actress, for her performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín's Spencer (2021). Moving deeper into the 2020s, she is working on David Cronenberg's thriller Crimes of the Future (2022).
Stewart lives in Los Angeles, California.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Julie Bowen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the middle daughter of Suzanne and John Luetkemeyer Jr., a real estate developer. Her early education was at Calvert School in Baltimore, and Garrison Forest School, Maryland. She moved on to St. George's School, Rhode Island and then attended Brown University, graduating with a BA in Renaissance Studies.
During college, Bowen acted in stage productions such as "Guys and Dolls" and "Stage Door". After graduation, she relocated to New York and studied at the legendary Actors Studio. Success followed with a series of TV roles, and in 1996 she appeared as the love interest in Happy Gilmore (1996). Other supporting film roles followed. However, it was on television that she was destined to make the biggest impact, with strong turns in ER (1994), Ed (2000) and Boston Legal (2004), among others. From 2009 she has starred as Claire Dunphy in the hit series Modern Family (2009), for which she has won Emmy and Screen Actors Guild awards.
Julie was previously married to Scott Phillips, a real-estate investor, and they have three sons: Oliver, and twins Gus and John.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten years old, her 40-year-old father died of a sudden heart attack. Her mother never remarried, and her grandmother moved in to help her mother.
Cate graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1992 and, in a little over a year, had won both critical and popular acclaim. On graduating from NIDA, she joined the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls", then played Felice Bauer, the bride, in Tim Daly's "Kafka Dances", winning the 1993 Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle for her performance. From there, Blanchett moved to the role of Carol in David Mamet's searing polemic "Oleanna", also for the Sydney Theatre Company, and won the Rosemont Best Actress Award, her second award that year. She then co-starred in the ABC Television's prime time drama Heartland (1994), again winning critical acclaim. In 1995, she was nominated for Best Female Performance for her role as Ophelia in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet". Other theatre credits include Helen in the Sydney Theatre Company's "Sweet Phoebe", Miranda in "The Tempest" and Rose in "The Blind Giant is Dancing", both for the Belvoir Street Theatre Company. In other television roles, Blanchett starred as Bianca in ABC's Bordertown (1995), as Janie Morris in G.P. (1989) and in ABC's popular series Police Rescue (1994). She made her feature film debut in Paradise Road (1997).
Cate married writer Andrew Upton in 1997. She had met him a year earlier on a movie set, and they didn't like each other at first. He thought she was aloof, and she thought he was arrogant, but then they connected over a poker game at a party, and she went home with him that night. Three weeks later he proposed marriage and they quickly married before she went off to England to play her breakthrough role in films: the title character in Elizabeth (1998) for which she won numerous awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama. Cate was also nominated for an Academy Award for the role but lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow. 2001 was a particularly busy year, with starring roles in Bandits (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001) and playing Elf Queen Galadriel in the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. She also gave birth to her first child, son Dashiell, in 2001. In 2004, she gave birth to her second son Roman.
Also, in 2004, she played actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's film The Aviator (2004), for which she received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for playing a teacher having an affair with an underage student in Notes on a Scandal (2006). In 2007, she returned to the role that made her a star in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). It earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She was nominated for another Oscar that same year as Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in I'm Not There (2007). In 2008, she gave birth to her third child, son Ignatius. She and her husband became artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, choosing to spend more time in Australia raising their three sons. She also purchased a multi-million dollar home in Sydney, Australia and named it Bulwarra and made extensive renovations to it. Because of her life in Australia, her film work became sporadic, until Woody Allen cast her in the title role in Blue Jasmine (2013), which won her the Academy Award as Best Actress. She ended her job as artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, while her husband continued there for two more years before he too resigned.
In 2015, she adopted her daughter Edith in her father's homeland of the United States. That same year, she and her husband sold their multi-million dollar home in Australia at a profit and moved to America. Reasons varied from her wanting to work more in America to wanting to familiarize herself with her late father's American heritage. She played the title role of Carol (2015), a 1950s American housewife in a lesbian affair with a younger woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. While most actresses might slow down in their forties, Blanchett did the opposite by stretching her boundaries even further, such as when she played 13 different characters in Manifesto (2015) and then making her Broadway debut in 2017 in "The Present", which is her husband's adaptation of Chekhov's play "Platonov" for which she earned a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Play. Also in 2017, she was selected for the highest honor in her birth country: the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni was born on February 25, 1966 in New York City. Her father, Anthony Pantaleoni, was a corporate lawyer, and her mother, Emily Ann (Patterson), worked as a dietitian and nutritionist. She is of Italian (from a paternal great-great-grandfather), Polish, English, Irish, Scottish, and German descent. Téa attended but did not complete studies at Sarah Lawrence College. She started out in acting as Lisa DiNapoli in Santa Barbara (1984) in 1989 and followed up with small roles in Switch (1991) and A League of Their Own (1992).
In 1992 she starred in the short-lived sitcom Flying Blind (1992). In 1994 she appeared in Wyatt Earp (1994) opposite Kevin Costner and The Counterfeit Contessa (1994) opposite D.W. Moffett. In 1995 she starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the popular film Bad Boys (1995). She also had a guest appearance on Frasier (1993) that same year.
She appeared in many successful films after that, such as Flirting with Disaster (1996), Deep Impact (1998), The Family Man (2000), Spanglish (2004), You Kill Me (2007) and most recently, she starred in the film Ghost Town (2008) opposite Greg Kinnear.
Tea was married to television commercial producer Neil Joseph Tardio Jr. from 1991 to 1995. In 1997 she married actor David Duchovny, with whom she has two children: Daughter West Duchovny (born April 24, 1999) and Son Kyd Miller Duchovny (born June 15, 2002).- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Maria Bello was born on 18 April, 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Kathy, a nurse and teacher, and Joe Bello, a contractor. She is of Italian and Polish descent. Maria went to Villanova University, majoring in political science. She had every intention of becoming a lawyer, but she took an acting class during her senior year, just for fun. She discovered she was very good at it, and she was soon cast in small off-Broadway plays, such as "The Killer Inside Me", "Small Town Gals With Big Problems" and "Urban Planning". She later guest-starred on episodes of The Commish (1991), Nowhere Man (1995), Misery Loves Company (1995), and Due South (1994). She got her big break when producers Kenny Lenhart and John J. Sakmar cast her in the spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996) as "Mrs. Smith" (they remembered her from her performance in a failed pilot that was a remake of the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958)). The show was canceled after eight weeks on the air. Then came a spot on ER (1994) as "Dr. Anna Del Amico", in which she guest-starred on the final three episodes of the third season. The show's producers were so impressed with her that they asked her back as a regular on the series.- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Mary-Kate Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American actress, fashion designer, producer, author, and businesswoman. She co-founded luxury fashion brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, and the more affordable lines Olsenboye and StyleMint alongside her fraternal twin sister Ashley Olsen. Olsen pursued acting independently as an adult until 2012. She is the older sister of actress Elizabeth Olsen.
Mary-Kate was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Jarnette "Jarnie", a personal manager, and David "Dave" Olsen, a real estate developer and mortgage banker. Along with her twin, Ashley, she has an older brother, Trent, a younger sister, Elizabeth Olsen, and two half siblings from her father's second marriage. Olsen's parents divorced in 1996.
Along with Ashley, Olsen was cast at the age of nine months to share the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House. The Olsen twins portrayed Michelle throughout the series' 1987-95 run. In the early 1990s, she and Ashley established a company, Dualstar, which produced a long string of TV movies and direct-to-video releases featuring the girls. The Olsens continued to release direct-to-video films up to the early 2000s, along with starring in the 1995 feature film It Takes Two. In 1997, the Olsen twins guest starred in an episode of Sister, Sister, alongside rival twin actresses Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry. After Full House, the sisters starred in two other sitcoms (Two of a Kind and So Little Time) and an animated series (Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!). The former lasted one season while the latter ran for two seasons. These ventures, combined with an array of licensing deals for their names and likenesses, made Olsen wealthy at a young age. In 2004, Olsen's wealth was estimated at $137 million.
Olsen and her sister became co-presidents of Dualstar upon their eighteenth birthday. Olsen's first solo acting appearance was in the movie Factory Girl, released in December 2006. Olsen's one short scene was ultimately cut from theatrical release, but was included on the film's DVD. In 2007, the sisters said that if they became involved in movies together again it would be as producers. Olsen had a recurring role on Weeds . In 2008, she appeared in The Wackness. At the Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley, her co-star' praised her. In 2008 Olsen also made a guest appearance on the ABC comedy Samantha Who? as a self-destructive girl that Samantha tries to help. Olsen appeared in the motion picture adaption of the Alex Flinn novel Beastly. Beastly was Mary-Kate's final acting project.
In March 2012, both Mary-Kate and Ashley indicated their interest to retire as actresses in order to focus on their careers in fashion. Mary-Kate and Ashley felt that their futures were in fashion, and not in acting. They discussed wanting to open a store as one of their future fashion-based endeavors.
In 2015 it was announced that John Stamos signed on with Netflix to produce and co-star in Fuller House, a spin-off Full House that would reunite the original cast members for a 13-episode series. Mary-Kate and Ashley originally announced in May 2015 that they will not reprise their role as Michelle Tanner.
Nickelodeon acquired the rights to the Olsen twins' video library in 2015.
In 1993, following Mary-Kate and Ashley's success on Full House, a limited liability company, Dualstar was created to produce Mary-Kate and Ashley-branded products.
In 2004, both Mary-Kate and Ashley took control of Dualstar, becoming joint-CEOs and presidents of the company, which at the time had its merchandise being carried in over 3,000 stores in America and 5,300 stores worldwide.
Mary-Kate and her twin Ashley's success has been marked by their inclusion on every Forbes The Celebrity 100 list since 2002. In 2007 Forbes ranked the twins jointly as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated combined net worth of $100 million.
Following a high volume of public interest in their fashion choices, the sisters began work in collaboration on a string of fashion lines available to the public. Starting as young girls, the Olsen twins started a clothing line in Wal-Mart stores across America for girls ages 4 to 14 as well as a beauty line called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real fashion for real girls". In 2004 they made news by signing a pledge to allow all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh full maternity leave. The National Labor Committee, which organized the pledge, later praised the twins for their commitment to worker rights.
In 2006, in an attempt to gain credibility in the fashion industry after their association with Wal-Mart tarnished their reputations, they were tapped as the faces of the upscale fashion line Badgley Mischka.
As adults, the Olsen twins have devoted much of their attention to the world of fashion. They head a couture fashion label, "The Row," as well as "Elizabeth and James", "Olsenboye", and "StyleMint" retail collections. Mary-Kate's sometimes controversial fashion choices have often found her on both the best and worst dressed fashion lists, particularly for her decision to wear fur. Mary-Kate and Ashley designed an Olsenboye Change Purse in 2011 and donated the money to "Pennies From Heaven".
In 2011, Mary-Kate and Ashley teamed up with TOMS Shoes to design footwear for kids without shoes in more than 20 countries worldwide. Mary-Kate and Ashley are now the creative directors for Superga. Mary-Kate and Ashley released an Elizabeth and James perfume in Spring 2013. They won the top prize at the 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards. StyleMint is now available in the UK.
In October 2012, Mary-Kate and Ashley won the WSJ magazine Innovator of The Year Award.
Mary Kate was nominated for Council Of Fashion Designers in 2015.
In 2008, the Olsen twins co-authored Influence, a book featuring interviews with fashion designers that have inspired the twins' fashion lines.
Olsen has dated David Katzenberg, son of DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg; photographer Maxwell Snow; and artist Nate Lowman.
In May 2012, Olsen began a relationship with Olivier Sarkozy, half brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In March 2014, photos were published showing Olsen wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. Olsen and Sarkozy were married on November 27, 2015 at a private residence in New York City.
In 2014, Olsen competed in the Hamptons Horse Show. In 2013, her horse Marvelous competed in and won the 38th Hampton Classic Horse Show.
In mid-2004, Olsen announced she had entered treatment for anorexia nervosa. A Got Milk? ad featuring the twins was pulled following the announcement. On November 20, 2007, she was hospitalized for a reported kidney infection.
Mary-Kate was a close friend of late actor Heath Ledger. After discovering Ledger unconscious in his bed in January 2008, his masseuse called Olsen twice before contacting police. Olsen sent a private security guard to the scene.
Responding to a claim by an anonymous law enforcement official that she would not speak to federal investigators without a promise of legal immunity, Olsen's attorney Michael C. Miller said, "We have provided the government with relevant information including facts in the chronology of events surrounding Mr. Ledger's death and the fact that Ms. Olsen does not know the source of the drugs Mr. Ledger consumed".- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
A talented artist with universal appeal, Jessica Simpson is an international star and media darling who has taken the music, fashion and entertainment industries by storm. Jessica burst on to the scene with her unmistakable voice and has since released 8 hit-producing albums. She has starred on the big and small screens with notable roles in TV shows like That 70's Show, Fashion Star and the Price of Beauty and films like Dukes of Hazzard, Employee of the Month and Blonde Ambition. Aside from Jessica's entertainment prowess, she has achieved tremendous success as a designer and entrepreneur with her Jessica Simpson Collection which she launched over a decade ago. The collection now includes over 36 product categories and is available throughout the world.
Jessica Ann Simpson was born and raised outside of Abilene, Texas, to Tina Simpson (née Drew) and Joe Simpson, who is a psychologist and Baptist youth minister. She began her performing career by sharing the stage with famous gospel acts such as Kirk Franklin, God's Property and Ce Ce Winans. With her unmistakable voice and unique pop sound, Jessica caught the eye of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola. After joining a tour in support of the boy-band 98 Degrees, she quickly burst onto the music scene in 1999 with her debut release Sweet Kisses. Her RIAA-certified double platinum debut featured Jessica's massive breakthrough hit, "I Wanna Love You Forever," which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The title track to Irresistible, her 2001 follow-up, was a crossover smash, charting on the Hot 100 (#15), the Rhythmic Top 40 (#12), Top 40 Mainstream (#3) and Top 40 Tracks (#5).
But it was the success of her quadruple-platinum album, In This Skin, which marked Jessica's debut as a songwriter and further refined her ever-evolving voice as an artist. "Sweetest Sin," the album's first single to hit the Top 40, is a marked change from the teen pop style that launched her career.
Having made her mark in the music industry, it wasn't long before Hollywood was knocking on her door. In addition to a recurring role on That 70's Show, Jessica's MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica launched in 2003, making her a household name. In 2005, Jessica made her film debut as Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard and released a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'" for the movie's soundtrack. The song topped the Billboard Hot Digital Tracks charts and was certified platinum. Jessica has also starred in Employee of the Month for Lions Gate Films and Sony Pictures' Blonde Ambition for which she co-starred with Luke Wilson. She also starred in Major Movie Star for Nu Image/ Millennium Films.
Jessica's fifth solo album, A Public Affair, was released by Epic Records on August 29, 2006. Simpson boasts songwriting credits on 10 of the 14 tracks produced by the most sought-after producers in the business: Lester Mendez, Jimmy Jam &Terry Lewis, Cory Rooney, Scott Storch and Stargate. The album is a true reflection of her growth both personally and musically, showcasing her diverse range of artistic influences. There are up-tempo dance tracks, ballads, and a beautiful cover of "Let Him Fly" originally recorded by her personal favorite, Patty Griffin. The first hit single, "I Belong to Me" is complemented by a poignant and personal music video directed by Mathew Rolston.
Jessica's album, Do You Know was released on September 9, 2008. For this album, Jessica returned to her roots - the Country format. Jessica worked with famed Nashville producers John Shanks and Brett James and co-wrote all but 3 songs on the album, one having been written for her by her all time Country inspiration, Dolly Parton. The first single, "Come On Over" broke the record for highest entry into the charts for a newcomer to Country and was the number one most downloaded country single on iTunes.
Jessica's latest album, Happy Christmas, was released on November 22, 2010 by Primary Wave Records. For this second holiday record (her first, Rejoyce, was released in 2002), Jessica worked with legendary producers Tricky and The Dream. The album mixed traditional Christmas favorites with original songs like "My Only Wish." Among the highlights was a very special duet of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" which Jessica sang and recorded with an active naval officer, Lance Corporal John Britt from the USS Harry Truman in the Persian Gulf. As a complement to the album, a Happy Christmas concert special was produced for PBS. As part of the special, Jessica sang duets with Carly Simon, Trey Lorenz and her sister, Ashlee Simpson. Jessica had the opportunity to travel the world for her VH-1 docu-series, "Jessica Simpson's: The Price of Beauty." For the original series, produced by RDF USA, Jessica traveled to Japan, Thailand, France, Brazil, Uganda, Morocco, and India then back home to Los Angeles to meet every day women and pop culture icons and reveal what is truly beautiful in the differing cultures. Jessica also served as an executive producer on the project and wrote and recorded an original song that was used for the theme. Jessica recently starred in NBC's hit series Fashion Star, produced by Ben Silverman and Electus and Magical Elves (The Biggest Loser). As a mentor, Jessica (alongside co-mentors John Varvatos and Nicole Richie, and buyers from Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's and H&M) helped contestants on their quest to become the next big American fashion designer.
Aside from Jessica's entertainment prowess, she enjoys tremendous success as a designer and business woman with her Jessica Simpson Collection. Launched in 2005, the collection has grown to include over 34 product categories, such as footwear, handbags, denim, eyewear, lingerie, jewelry, outerwear, luggage, ready-to-wear, fine jewelry, tween, maternity, athleisure, kids, home and more. Jessica's first fragrance "Fancy" launched in August of 2008 to tremendous success. Second and third and fourth fragrances "Fancy Nights", "I Fancy You", and "Vintage Bloom" landed in stores to great success. A signature fragrance "Jessica Simpson" will launch this Spring.
An enthusiastic philanthropist, Jessica serves as Operation Smile's International Youth Ambassador. She joined the Operation Smile international medical mission in Nakuru, Kenya where she assisted the volunteer team with the medical evaluations of the more than 280 children who visited the remote region with the hopes of receiving life-changing corrective surgery for their facial deformities.
Jessica has been praised by fans and recognized by critics with three Teen Choice Awards for Breakout Artist, Love Song of the Year and Red Carpet Fashion Icon, and nominations for two American Music Awards including Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Album and two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best Pop Video. She has also graced the covers of many high-profile magazines, such as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, GQ, Marie Claire, Allure, Elle and New York Magazine, been one of People's Most Beautiful People numerous times and was 2011's Us Weekly Style Icon of the Year.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Anna Kay Faris was born on November 29, 1976 in Baltimore, Maryland, to Karen (Bathurst), a special education teacher, and Jack Faris, a sociologist. She was raised in Edmonds, Washington. Her ancestry includes English, German, Scottish, French, Dutch, Irish, and Welsh. Anna started acting very young but not professionally. She loved watching theatrical plays and eventually produced one of her own with all the neighborhood children, in her immediate environment. She was always encouraged with the emphasis that she wasn't just "pretending" but rather being an unpaid producer, director, writer and an actress.
Her first paid job was at the Seattle Repertory Theatre at age nine. She loved it and did other local plays and readings. After graduating from the University of Washington in English Literature, she decided to leave for London to work and write, but after filming (the less than wonderful) Lovers Lane (2000) and a short for the Seattle Film Festival, she decided to give Los Angeles a try. She signed up with a wonderful management agency and before she could catch her breath, Keenen Ivory Wayans cast her in heavy, hard, and comedic movie (To some people, it is almost too horrific.), Scary Movie (2000) and its sequels.
She never takes anything for granted and just feels so very fortunate to have been given a chance. (An example was her trying to thank all the journalists and photographers that came to the New York premiere.)
Anna was married to actor Chris Pratt in 2009. They have a son. They separated in 2017 and were divorced in November, 2018.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Elizabeth Chase "Lizzie" Olsen (born February 16, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films Silent House (2011), Liberal Arts (2012), Godzilla (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and Captain America: Civil War (2016). For her role in the critically-acclaimed Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), she was nominated for numerous awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She is the younger sister of actresses and fashion designers Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.
Olsen was born in Sherman Oaks, California to Jarnette "Jarnie", a personal manager, and David "Dave" Olsen, a real estate developer and mortgage banker. She is the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, who became famous as TV and movie stars at an early age. Her oldest brother is named Trent Olsen, and she has two younger half-siblings. In 1996, Olsen's parents divorced. The Olsens have Norwegian and English ancestry.
As a child, Olsen received ballet and singing lessons. She began acting at age 4, and by 11 she'd had small roles in How the West Was Fun and the straight-to-video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley. Having appeared in her sisters' videos, when she was in the fourth grade, Olsen began to go on auditions for other projects, auditioning for the film Spy Kids. She almost quit acting in 2004 over the media frenzy surrounding Mary-Kate's eating disorder.
She attended Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California from kindergarten through grade 12. After graduation, she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2009, Olsen spent a semester studying in Moscow, Russia at the Moscow Art Theatre School through the MATS program at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.
Olsen's breakout role came in 2011, when she appeared in the film Martha Marcy May Marlene. The film, along with Olsen's performance, received critical acclaim. Olsen was nominated for and won numerous critics awards for her portrayal of the titular character Martha, a girl suffering from delusions and paranoia after fleeing her life in a cult and returning to her family. She next appeared in the horror film remake Silent House, in which she played the role of Sarah. The film received mixed reviews, although Olsen's performance was once again praised. Olsen also appeared in the music video "The Queen" by Carlotta. Olsen filmed the movie Red Lights during mid-2011, and it was released in the U.S. on July 13, 2012. She starred in Josh Radnor's film Liberal Arts, which was released on January 22, 2012. She and Dakota Fanning starred in Very Good Girls, a 2013 release.
In January 2013, Olsen was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. She co-starred in the 2013 American remake of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy; she played Marie, a young social worker who developed a relationship with the protagonist, played by Josh Brolin. She played Edie Parker, Jack Kerouac's first wife and the author of the Beat Generation memoir You'll Be Okay, in Kill Your Darlings.
In 2014, Olsen starred in Legendary's Godzilla a reboot, opposite Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Olsen joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing the Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the 2015 Avengers sequel. She first appeared as the character in a mid-credits scene of the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, again alongside her Godzilla co-star Taylor-Johnson, who portrayed her brother Quicksilver. She reprised this role as the Scarlet Witch in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron and the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War.
In September 2014, it was announced that Olsen would portray Audrey Williams, Hank Williams' wife, manager, and duet partner in the upcoming 2015 biopic I Saw the Light directed by Marc Abraham and starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams.
In January 2016, it was announced that Olsen would team up with her Avengers: Age of Ultron co-star Jeremy Renner in Taylor Sheridan's directorial feature film debut, Wind River.
Olsen attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company and graduated in March 2013 after six years of intermittent study. Her sisters' clothing line "Elizabeth and James" was named after her and her older brother.
Olsen started dating fellow actor Boyd Holbrook in September 2012 after meeting him on the film Very Good Girls. They became engaged in March 2014 but called it off in January 2015.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Bryce Dallas Howard was born on March 2, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. She was conceived in Dallas, Texas (the reason for her middle name). Her father, Ron Howard, is a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Her mother is actress and writer Cheryl Howard (née Alley). Her famous relatives include her uncle, actor Clint Howard, and her grandparents, actors Rance Howard and Jean Speegle Howard. She also has two younger twin sisters, Jocelyn and Paige Howard (also an actress), born in 1985, and a brother, Reed Howard, born in 1987. Her ancestry includes German, English, Scottish, and Irish.
Howard was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, because her parents decided to raise their four children as far away from the trappings of showbiz milieu as possible. During most of her childhood, she really did not have much access to a TV. She attended Greenwich Country Day School, and Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York. At that time, she discovered existentialism and devoured books by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. She attended the prestigious Steppenwolf School and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts camp at Catskills, together with her friend, Natalie Portman. She applied to drama school as Bryce Dallas, dropping her last name to eschew special treatment because of association with her renowned father. From 1999-2003, she studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory and at the New York University Tisch School of Arts and graduated with a BFA degree in Drama in 2003. At that time, she performed in Broadway productions of classical plays by George Bernard Shaw, William Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov.
Young Howard appeared in three of her father's films as an extra, including her appearance as a child together with her mother in Apollo 13 (1995). She made her feature-film debut as Heather, a supporting role in Book of Love (2004) by director Alan Brown. Director M. Night Shyamalan was impressed by her performance in a Broadway play and cast her, without an audition, as a female lead in his two thrillers: The Village (2004) and Lady in the Water (2006). Howard replaced Nicole Kidman in the Dogville (2003) sequel, Manderlay (2005). She starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2006), a reprise of her stage role that made such an impression on Shyamalan. She also played Gwen Stacy in the third installment of the Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man 3 (2007), and the female lead, Claire, in the sequel Jurassic World (2015). Both films broke the records for highest openings weekends at the time of their release. Among Bryce's other major films are Terminator Salvation (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Help (2011), and 50/50 (2011).
Howard became a devoted vegan, after Joaquin Phoenix showed her Earthlings (2005), a documentary about animal cruelty. After seeing that, she has consumed no animal products, not even milk or eggs. Her other activities outside of the acting profession include playing basketball and writing.
On June 17, 2006, in Connecticut, she married her long-time boyfriend, actor Seth Gabel, whom she met at New York University and had dated for five years. On February 16, 2007, Bryce and her husband, Seth, became parents of their first child, a son named Theodore Norman Howard Gabel. Their second child, a daughter named Beatrice Jean Howard Gabel, was born on January 19, 2012.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Ruby Rose Langenheim (born 20 March 1986), better known as Ruby Rose, is an Australian model, DJ, boxer, recording artist, actress, television presenter, and MTV VJ. Rose emerged in the media spotlight as a presenter on MTV Australia, followed by several high-profile modelling gigs, notably as the face of Maybelline New York in Australia. In addition to her modelling career, she has co-hosted various television shows, namely Australia's Next Top Model and The Project on Network Ten.
Rose pursued a career in acting from 2008 onwards, with her debut performance in the Australian film Suite for Fleur. She had a small role in the drama Around the Block (2013), and came to North American fame for starring in seasons three and four of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She has also had large roles in the action films Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017), and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), and the musical comedy Pitch Perfect 3 (2017), and will appear in the film The Meg (2018), based on the novel of the same name. In August 2018, Rose was cast as Kate Kane / Batwoman in The CW's Arrowverse.
Rose was born in Melbourne, the daughter of Katia Langenheim, a 20-year-old single mother and artist, whom she describes as one of her role models. As a young child, she travelled frequently, living in rural Victoria, Tasmania, and Surfers Paradise before finally settling in Melbourne. As a teenager, she attended University High School and Footscray City College. Rose is the god-daughter of Indigenous Australian boxer Lionel Rose and the great-granddaughter of Alec Campbell, who was the last surviving Australian Battle of Gallipoli soldier.
Rose first joined the Girlfriend model search in 2002, for which she came in second to Catherine McNeil. In 2010, she collaborated with the Australian fashion label Milk and Honey to design a capsule fashion line. The collection, named Milk and Honey Designed by Ruby Rose, includes washed jeans, leather jackets and T-shirts. The clothing line was available in selected retailers in Australia. Rose also released a collaboration collection with street footwear brand Gallaz.
In 2014, Rose began collaborating with Phoebe Dahl, designing ethical street-wear for their clothing range Faircloth Lane. She has featured predominantly within mainstream fashion titles, including Vogue Australia, InStyle Magazine, Marie Claire Magazine, Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Maxim, Nylon and New York's Inked Magazine. She's been the Australian ambassador for JVC, Australian clothes company JAG and luxury Danish label Georg Jensen. Rose is the face of Maybelline New York in Australia.
Since March 2016, Rose has been the face of Urban Decay Cosmetics.
In March 2017, Rose starred in Nike's latest campaign "Kiss My Airs" celebrating its Air Max Day. In May, Rose was the face of Swarovski 'Urban Fantasy' FW17 Collection launch.
Rose appeared on the first episode of Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, representing Generation Y alongside comedian Josh Thomas. She was selected in 2008 to act in the Australian comedy film Suite for Fleur. She also appeared alongside Christina Ricci and Jack Thompson in the 2013 film Around the Block.
Rose credits her 2014 short film Break Free, which she produced herself, for the success of her acting career. In an interview with Variety, she describes how she was not able to get a manager, agent, or audition, so she decided to create short films "as a way of being able to give myself something to do and to study my craft." The film went viral, getting millions of views in a short period of time.
In 2015, Rose joined the Orange Is the New Black cast in Season 3. Rose played inmate Stella Carlin, "whose sarcastic sense of humor and captivating looks quickly draw the attention of some of Litchfield's inmates." Rose's performance was generally well-received by the public. She was also cast in a guest role, as the service robot Wendy, in the science fiction series Dark Matter.
In 2016, Rose and Tom Felton would lend their voices in the animated title Sheep and Wolves, with Rose as her fiancé Bianca.
In 2016 and 2017, Rose appeared in three action film sequels, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, alongside Vin Diesel, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter as Abigail, and John Wick: Chapter 2, alongside Keanu Reeves; she also played a musical rival in the comedy Pitch Perfect 3, which was released in December 2017. In 2018, she starred in the Warner Bros. film The Meg, a shark epic based on the novel of the same name, alongside Jason Statham..It was also announced that Rose will be starring in the action comedy Three Sisters.
On 7 August 2018, it was reported that Rose had been cast as Batwoman in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover. Batwoman is in pre-production as a stand-alone series on The CW as well, to air if greenlit in 2019.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Vanessa Kirby is an English stage, TV, and film actress. From 2016 to 2018, Kirby portrayed Princess Margaret in Peter Morgan's Netflix series The Crown, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series in 2018. She starred as Estella in the BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, Joanna in Richard Curtis' romantic comedy About Time and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018). She is known mostly for her stage work, having won acclaim and awards for various productions, including Streetcar Named Desire with Ben Foster which transferred to New York; with Variety in 2016 called her "the outstanding stage actress of her generation, capable of the most unexpected choices." After MI6, she had a leading role in another action blockbuster, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American songwriter, singer, actress, philanthropist, dancer and fashion designer.
Gaga was born on March 28, 1986 in Manhattan, New York City, to Cynthia Louise (Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Joseph Anthony Germanotta, Jr., an internet entrepreneur. Her father is of Italian descent; and her mother, who is from West Virginia, is of half Italian and half French, English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Gaga was able to sing and play the piano from a young age. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart from age 11 where was bullied for her appearance (she was small and plumper than other girls with large front teeth) and eccentric habits.
By the age of 14, Gaga was performing at open mike nights in clubs and bars. By age 17, she had gained early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics. At the age of 19 Gaga withdrew from her studies and moved out of her parents' home in order to pursue a musical career. During this time she started a band which began to gain local attention.
After a brief partnership with talent scout Rob Fusari, which resulted in the creation of her stage name, Gaga was signed to Def Jam Records in 2006; however she was dropped from the label after just three months. Devastated, Gaga returned home, and became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.
Gaga met performance artist Lady Starlight during this time; after a performance at Lollapalooza Festival in 2007 Gaga was signed by Vince Herbert to Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. At Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio; Akon then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."
In 2008 Gaga released her first album 'The Fame' to lukewarm radio play; Gaga toured around Europe and in gay clubs in the US to promote the album - however it was not until her first hit 'Just Dance' came to mainstream attention in 2009 that Gaga exploded onto the music scene.
Since then Gaga has gained numerous awards and nominations for a string of hits; her first album spawned several more smash hits 'Paparazzi', 'Loveame' and 'Poker Face'); while touring the album Gaga wrote 'The Fame Monster', an EP examining the darker side to her new-found fame. The Fame Monster was released in 2009 and won multiple awards, spawning her most iconic single 'Bad Romance' as well as 'Telephone' and 'Alejandro'. During this time Gaga came under increased public and critical scrutiny for her eccentric and often bizarre style choices. Gaga embarked on her second tour, The Monster Ball; upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
In 2011 Gaga released her second full-length album 'Born this Way'; the album was received vastly more critically than her previous two for touching on themes of politics, sexuality, and religion. Despite this, the album's songs were praised critically, and Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which included sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.
At the end of April 2012, Gaga's Born This Way kicked off in Korea - the tour would last 2 years and take the singer to every continent of the globe. However in February 2012 the tour was abruptly canceled; Gaga had a labral tear in her right hip which she had been nursing secretly for several weeks in the hopes that she would be able to continue the tour. After a performance in Toronto left her unable to walk and in considerable pain, she was taken to hospital for surgery and the tour was canceled. Through to Jan. 17, the tour had grossed $168.2 million and moved 1.6 million tickets to 85 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore, with the Asian, European, and South American legs already completed in 2012. The North American leg, which was to wrap the tour and was almost completely sold out, would have likely put the tour at more than $200 million gross, easily in the top 20 tours of all time and probably in the top 15, according to Billboard. As it stands, Gaga finished sixth among all touring artists in 2012, with a gross of $125 million and attendance of more than 1.1 million, according to Boxscore.
Gaga wrote her third album, ARTPOP, released in 2013. Gaga made her acting debut in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013), the sequel to his 2010 film Machete, and also appeared in Rodriguez's sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). In 2018, she starred with Bradley Cooper, who also directed, in A Star Is Born (2018). Gaga received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Kristen Anne Bell (born 1980) is an American actress and singer. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Tom Bell, a television news director. Her ancestry is Polish (mother) and German, English, Irish, and Scottish (father). Kristen found her talent in entertainment at an early age. In 1992, she went to her first audition and won a role in Raggedy Ann and Andy. Bell's mother established her with an agent before she was 13, and she was cast in newspaper advertisements and television commercials. At this time, she also began private acting lessons. Bell had an uncredited role in the film Polish Wedding (1998) in 1998.
Bell attended Shrine Catholic High School, where she took part in drama and music club. She won the starring role of Dorothy in her high school's production of The Wizard of Oz. After graduation Bell moved to New York City to attend prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied musical theater. In 2001, Bell left university to play the role of Becky in Tom Sawyer. That same year, she made her first credited debut in Pootie Tang (2001), but her scene was cut and her appearance exists only in the credit sequence. In 2002, Bell appeared in the Broadway revival of The Crucible with Liam Neeson and Angela Bettis. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, and appeared in a handful television shows as a special guest, finding trouble gaining a recurring role in a television series.
In 2004, Bell appeared in the Lifetime's television film, Gracie's Choice, which received high ratings. At the age 24, Bell won the title role in Veronica Mars (2004), which started broadcasting in the fall of 2004, created by Rob Thomas. Bell starred as a seventeen-year-old detective, which put her alongside actors Enrico Colantoni who played her father, Percy Daggs III, Jason Dohring and Ryan Hansen. This series received very positive reviews, and Bell received much attention for her performance. Bell and the cast of Veronica Mars were nominated for two Teen Choice Awards.
In 2005, Bell starred in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005) in the role of Mary Lane. Reefer Madness debuted on the Showtime network on April 16, 2005. The following year, Bell won the Saturn Award for 'Best Actress on Television' for her performance in Veronica Mars.
In 2013, Bell voiced the main character, Princess Anna of Arendelle, in the Walt Disney Pictures animated movie, Frozen (2013), which received the 'best animated feature' award at the 86th Academy Awards. She performed the songs: 'For the First Time in Forever', 'Love is an Open Door', 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman', and 'For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)'. Frozen (2013), which was released on November 22, 2013, was hugely successful worldwide.
On March 13, 2013, it was confirmed that a Veronica Mars (2014) movie would finally be coming to fruition. Bell and creator, Rob Thomas, launched a fund raising campaign to produce the film through Kickstarter and attained the $2 million goal in few hours. The movie was released on March 14, 2014.
Bell married Dax Shepard in October, 2013.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Since SVH, Brittany has starred in Dawson's Creek, Joe Dirt and 2, other shows and movies and starred in the long series The Game. She battled stage four non-Hodgkin's's lymphoma and survived. She married her husband Adam Touni in 2017 and have now become parents to a daughter named Hope via surrogacy.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Dania is a Latin American actress born in the Dominican Republic. She grew up, living with her grandmother, in a poor household. Her parents left for the United States, when she was 6-months old, and she finally joined them in New York when she was age 10.
She knew from a young age that she wanted to act. She was discovered by a model scout and cast in a soda commercial. She attended the Actor's workshop in New York City and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.
Her first job was Jay-Z's girlfriend in his music video, Streets Is Watching (1998). She went on to appear in high profile TV shows The Sopranos (1999), Entourage (2004) and Heroes (2006). She has also appeared in films and, in 2012, she was cast in American Reunion (2012). She is currently starring on Lifetime's Devious Maids (2013) as 'Rosie Falta'.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Paula Patton was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American and her mother, who is caucasian, has German, English, and Dutch ancestry. Her family lived across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot when she was growing up and she was a fan of films from her earliest years. Her mother, who also appreciated good films, was a schoolteacher, and her father was a lawyer. Paula claims that as a girl she would escape by "pretending to be someone else" so it was not a surprise that she acted in high school plays at Hamilton Magnet Arts High School. Her favorite role was that of "Abigail" in "The Crucible". However, she went on to study film at the University of Southern California in a summer program, and won a 3-month assignment making documentaries for PBS. This led to her working as a production assistant for TV documentaries, and also for Howie Mandel's talk show. She progressed to actually producing documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula now professes that she liked what she was doing, but her dream remained the same as when she was small so she took acting lessons and shifted gears to become a performer. She was almost immediately successful and, within three years, had played parts in major features, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and the female lead in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.- Actress
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One of Europe's most celebrated actresses, Carice van Houten is perhaps best known as 'Melisandre' in the iconic TV show Game of Thrones, a performance for which she has been recognized with an Emmy Award nomination in 2019. Other projects include Paul Verhoeven's award-winning Black Book and Bryan Singer's Valkyrie opposite Tom Cruise and as Melisandre on Game of Thrones. Recent projects include Instinct and Temple, a TV show for Sky opposite Mark Strong, which has been picked up for a second season.
Her Dutch-language feature Love Life, gained her further critical acclaim and broke box office records in her native Holland. Her next film Happy Housewive won her a record breaking 5th Golden Calf at The Netherlands Film Festival and was voted 'Best Dutch Actress of All Time' by the Dutch audience. Other awards include Best Actress for Black Butterflies at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Best Performance award for Instinct at the Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.
Her credits include Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's Intruders and Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate, the Jesse Owens biopic, Race, with Jason Sudekis and Jeremy Irons and voiced a character in The Simpsons. She can also be seen in Brian de Palma's Domino and in Brimstone, opposite Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce and Kit Harrington, and The Glass Room, with Claes Bang. She played a leading role in Halina Reijn's directorial feature debut Instinct, opposite Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin), which won the Variety Piazza Grande Award in Locarno Film Festival 2019. Instinct is the first outing for the Carice and Halina's production banner, Man Up.
Up next is the new Dutch series Red Light, in which she not only plays the lead role but she is also creative producer of the show, together with Halina and their production company Man Up The show is expected to air in Autumn 2020.- Actor
- Producer
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Elliot Page was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia to Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer. Page wanted to start acting at an early age and attended the Neptune Theater School. They began their career at the age of 10 on the award-winning television series Pit Pony (1999), for which they received a Gemini nomination and a Young Artist Awards nomination. Later, Page appeared in Marion Bridge (2002), which won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. They won a Gemini Award for their role of Lilith in the first season of ReGenesis (2004), a one-hour drama for TMN/Movie Central, and for the cable feature, Ghost Cat (2004), for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series. In addition, Page appeared in the cult hit TV series Trailer Park Boys (2001).
As the lead in David Slade's Hard Candy (2005), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Page garnered much praise for their tour de force performance as a 14-year-old who meets a 30-year-old photographer on the Internet and then looks to expose him as a pedophile. Films that followed included the title role of Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments (2007); An American Crime (2007), also starring Catherine Keener; and the third installation of the X-Men franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), where Page played Kitty Pryde.
With their breakout role in Jason Reitman's hit comedy Juno (2007), about an offbeat teenager who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, Page received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Best Actress nominations, and won the Independent Spirit Award for their performance. They followed up that turn with the lead in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, the roller-derby comedy-drama Whip It (2009), Christopher Nolan's psychological thriller Inception (2010), the independent film Peacock (2010), and the dark comedy Super (2010), opposite Rainn Wilson and Liv Tyler.
Page co-starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Alison Pill, Alec Baldwin, and Greta Gerwig in the Woody Allen ensemble comedy To Rome with Love (2012), and appeared in the thriller The East (2013), a story centered on a contract worker (played by Brit Marling) tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group, only to find herself falling for its leader (played by Alexander Skarsgård).- Actress
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- Director
Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on 7 March, 1970, in London, U.K., to Edith Ruth (Teich), a psychoanalyst, and George Weisz, an inventor. Her parents both came to England around 1938. Her father is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and her mother, from Vienna, was of Italian and Austrian Jewish heritage. Rachel has a sister, Minnie, a curator and photographer.
Rachel started modeling when she was 14, and began acting during her studies at Cambridge University. While there, she formed a theater company named "Talking Tongues", which won the Guardian Award, at the Edinburgh Festival, for its take on Neville Southall's "Washbag". Rachel went on to star on stage in the lauded Sean Mathias revival of Noël Coward's "Design For Living". It was a role that won her a vote for Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critics' Circle.
She has starred in many movies, including The Mummy (1999), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Stealing Beauty (1996). Rachel can also be seen in the movies The Shape of Things (2003), About a Boy (2002), Constantine (2005) and The Constant Gardener (2005), for which she won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Rachel has a son with her former partner, director Darren Aronofsky. In June 2011, she married "James Bond" actor Daniel Craig in a private ceremony in New York.- Actress
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Cameron Diaz, an American actress, was born in 1972 in San Diego, the daughter of a Cuban-American father and a German mother. Self described as "adventurous, independent and a tough kid," Cameron left home at 16 and for the next 5 years lived in such varied locales as Japan, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, and Paris. Returning to California at the age of 21, she was working as a model when she auditioned for a big part in The Mask (1994). To her amazement and despite having no previous acting experience, she was cast as the female lead in the film opposite Jim Carrey. Over the next 3 years, she honed her acting skills in such low budget independent films as The Last Supper (1995); Feeling Minnesota (1996); and Head Above Water (1996). She returned to main stream films in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), in which she held her own against veteran actress Julia Roberts. She earned full fledged star status in 1998 for her performance in the box office smash There's Something About Mary (1998). Cameron Diaz appears to possess everything necessary to become one of the super stars of the new century.- Kimberly Jan Dickens is an American actress. Her film debut was in the 1995 comedy film Palookaville. Dickens played lead roles in the films Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997), Zero Effect (1998) and Mercury Rising (1998). Her other films include Great Expectations (1998), Hollow Man (2000), House of Sand and Fog (2003), Thank You for Smoking (2005), The Blind Side (2009), Gone Girl (2014), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Lizzie (2018), and Land (2021).
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Jennifer Esposito was born in Brooklyn, New York. She launched her career with an appearance on Law & Order (1990) in 1996, and went on to play the character of "Stacey Paterno" in 36 episodes on the hit TV series Spin City (1996), starring alongside Michael J. Fox.
Her first major film was Spike Lee's Summer of Sam (1999). Other famous film credits include the Academy Award-winning film Crash (2004) and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).- Actress
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Emmanuelle Chriqui was born in Montreal, Quebec, to Moroccan Jewish immigrants, Liliane (Benisty) and Albert Chriqui. Her family moved to Toronto when she was two years old. At the age of 10, Chriqui appeared in a McDonald's commercial. She moved to Vancouver, guest-starring in series such as Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990), Forever Knight (1992), Once a Thief (1996) and PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (1996). Her first Hollywood role was in Detroit Rock City (1999). Her breakout performance came in 2000's Snow Day (2000), in which she played the foxy "Claire Bonner." She appeared in rock band Hinder's "Lips of an Angel" music video in 2006. Emmanuelle later starred in several films and was nominated for a DVD Exclusive Award as Best Actress for her performance in 100 Girls (2000). She also starred in the movie, Adam and Eve (2005), opposite Cameron Douglas. Chriqui increased her visibility by playing "Sloan" on the HBO hit show, Entourage (2004), and by starring opposite Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). She reprise her role as Sloan in Entourage (2015).- Actress
Sara Anne was born in Newport Beach, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Alone (2020), Criminal Minds (2005) and When You Finish Saving the World (2022).