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Katharine Hope McPhee Foster is an American singer-songwriter and actress. In May 2006, she was the runner-up on the fifth season of American Idol.
Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records on January 30, 2007, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 381,000 copies (as of December 2010). The album's first single, "Over It", was a Pop Top 30 hit and was certified gold in 2008. Her second album, Unbroken, was released on Verve Forecast Records on January 5, 2010, and debuted at No. 27 on the "Billboard 200". The album featured the single "Had It All", which peaked at number 22 on the AC chart. It has sold 45,000 copies as of January 2011. Her third album, the holiday-themed Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You, was released on October 12, 2010. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart, while the single "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" peaked at number 16 on the "Billboard" AC chart. As of January 2011, this album had sold 23,000 copies. McPhee released her fourth album, Hysteria, on September 18, 2015. She released her fifth album, I Fall in Love Too Easily, composed of jazz standards, on November 17, 2017.
McPhee has also established an acting career, co-starring in The House Bunny and Shark Night 3D. She played Karen Cartwright, one of the lead roles on Smash. From 2014 to 2018, she starred in CBS' Scorpion as Paige Dineen.- Actress
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Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an actress known for her versatile work in a variety of film and television projects. Possibly most known for her role as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), she has also starred in critically acclaimed independent films such as Smashed (2012), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, as well as genre fare like Final Destination 3 (2006) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007).
Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina but largely raised in Sandy, Utah, which is where she discovered a love for the performing arts. She grew up training to be a ballerina and attended the Joffrey Ballet School training program at the age of 12. It was also around this time that she began to pursue a career in acting and soon started working steadily in television and film.
Winstead is also a recording artist and performs under the name "Got a Girl" alongside producer Dan the Automotor.- Actress
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Eva Mendes is an American actress, model and businesswoman. She began acting in the late 1990s. After a series of roles in B movies such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), she made a career-changing appearance in Training Day (2001). Since then, Mendes has co-starred in films such as All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Stuck on You (2003), Hitch (2005), opposite Will Smith. and The Other Guys (2010). She has appeared in several music videos for artists like Will Smith. Mendes has been a model and ambassador for Cocio chocolate milk, Magnum ice cream, Calvin Klein, Cartier, Thierry Mugler perfume, Reebok, Campari apéritif, Pantene shampoo, Morgan, and Peek & Cloppenburg. She designs a fashion collection for New York & Company and is also the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a makeup line sold at Walgreens.
Eva de la Caridad Méndez was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez, and was raised by her mother in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake after her parents' divorce. Mendes grew up a Roman Catholic and at one time even considered becoming a Catholic nun. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company, and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes had one older brother, Juan Carlos Méndez, Jr. (1963-2016), who died from throat cancer. She has an older sister, Janet, and a younger paternal half-brother, Carlos Alberto "Carlo" Méndez. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale, and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but left college to pursue acting under coach Ivana Chubbuck. Mendes began her acting career after a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film appearance was in the direct-to-video Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998). Mendes was disappointed in her performance and she hired an acting coach. She then appeared in the films A Night at the Roxbury, My Brother the Pig, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and Exit Wounds. Mendes' breakthrough role came when she appeared in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller Training Day (2001), playing the girlfriend of Denzel Washington's character. This then led to roles in All About the Benjamins (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) (which earned her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), Out of Time (2003), and Stuck on You (2003).
She was the female lead in the 2005 film Hitch, making her one of the first minority actors to play the lead in a hit romantic comedy. Mendes subsequently starred in The Wendell Baker Story (2005) with Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell, with Luke Wilson directing, as well as Guilty Hearts (2002), Trust the Man (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), We Own the Night (2007), Live! (2007), and Cleaner (2007). In 2008, she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the all-female comedy film The Women. Mendes then appeared in The Spirit, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Other Guys (2010), Last Night (2010), Fast Five (2011), and a spoof short film for Funny or Die. In 2012, Mendes visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. In 2012, she starred in the crime drama film The Place Beyond the Pines, with Entertainment Weekly describing her performance as "quietly heartbreaking". The following year, she appeared in the HBO comedy film Clear History (2013). Mendes appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" in 1996, Aerosmith's music video for "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, and Will Smith's music video for "Miami" in 1998.
She also appeared in the music video for The Strokes' "The End Has No End" in 2004, and appeared nude in a print advertisement for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume, an ad which was banned in the United States. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. She also modeled in a Morgan campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. In July 2008, she was announced as the international face of Australia's 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty event. She made guest appearances in that country at the month-long festival in September. Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance, Reebok shoes, and Pantene shampoo. In 2011, Mendes appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog. Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In 2010, Mendes sang on "Pimps Don't Cry," a song featured in The Other Guys, and performed a duet with CeeLo Green on "Pimps Don't Cry." In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind."
Along with acting, Eva is employed by Revlon Cosmetics as an international spokeswoman. She joins such elite actresses and models as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and Cindy Crawford, who appear in Revlon's television and print ads. She is also a passionate supporter and active participant in Revlon's fight against breast cancer. Eva's goals are to improve her acting skills by working with such contemporary directors as Steven Soderbergh, Spike Jonze, Pedro Almodóvar, Robert Rodriguez, Carl Franklin, John Singleton, and Antoine Fuqua and learning from such renowned directors as Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni.
She was the creative director of the makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which launched exclusively at Walgreens in 2015.
Eva has two children with her partner Ryan Gosling.- Actress
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Shannyn Sossamon is an American actress and director. She is of Irish, French, Dutch, Hawaiian-Filipino, German and English ancestry. Growing up in Reno, Nevada, Sossamon spent most of her youth at a local dance studio. After graduating high school at age 17, she moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a life in the creative arts. Sossamon began acting in films at age 21 after being approached by casting director Francine Maisler, who was casting the starring role in Brian Helgeland's A KNIGHTS TALE opposite Heath Ledger. Additionally, she can be seen with Matt Dillon and Carla Gugino in the event series WAYWARD PINES, from M. Night Shyamalan, opposite Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison in Fox's SLEEPY HOLLOW, and as the lead of Blumhouse feature SINISTER 2, opposite James Ransone. Other credits include THE END OF LOVE starring Michael Cera and Mark Webber; OUR FAMILY WEDDING starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY starring opposite Patrick Fugit; THE RULES OF ATTRACTION starring opposite James Van Der Beek; 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS starring opposite Josh Hartnett, and as the lead in Monte Hellman's ROAD TO NOWHERE. Recent credits include the feature films THERE ARE NO SAINTS and BACKSPOT, opposite Devery Jacobs. Sossamon spends her free time creating short videos for her project, THE MAUDE ROOM: A VARIETY SHOW, a short-form video project made especially for phone viewing.- Actress
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Born in Shenyang, grew up in Jinan, the daughter of an economics professor. Loved music from childhood, and dreamed of a singing career. After failing to gain entrance to China's top music school in 1985, applied for and was admitted to the Central Drama Academy in Beijing, from which she graduated in 1989. While still a student, was cast as the female lead in Red Sorghum (1988)(aka "Red Sorghum"), the initial directing effort by Yimou Zhang. China's best-known actress in the West, she was named Best Actress at the 49th Venice International Film Festival for her role in The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) (aka "The Story of Qiu Ju"). Made a series of successful films with Yimou Zhang, a collaboration that apparently ended with the breakup of their personal relationship in 1995 and Gong's subsequent marriage to a tobacco company executive.- Actress
- Producer
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
- Soundtrack
Minka Kelly was born in Los Angeles, California and she is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother, who often moved with her daughter to different communities before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in junior high school.
Her paternal grandfather was actor Richard Ney. Minka's ancestry includes Austrian, German, French, Irish, English, Scottish, and Dutch.- Although her career spans over two decades, Stacy Keibler continues to be the fresh-faced beauty that both film and television audiences adore. Stacy was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She began dancing when she was three-years-old and has a background in ballet, tap and jazz. Stacy went to school in Baltimore and was also one of Baltimore's first "Raven Cheerleaders". She began her career as a model at the age of 6. Shortly thereafter, she was cast in national commercials, which led her to join AFTRA and SAG before the age of 10. Though still young, Keibler began building an impressive resume in both film and television. Her film credits include the box office successes . Added to Keibler's list of film roles is The Comebacks (2007), a 20th Century FOX feature she appeared in alongside comedian David Koechner.
When she competed on Dancing with the Stars (2005), Keibler's skills and popularity landed her among the final three contestants. Impressing not only the audience but also ABC executives, she was quickly offered a network talent deal. This has led to recurring roles on ABC's George Lopez (2002) and What About Brian (2006), where she played the love interest of the lead character "Brian", and the villain in the ABC Family mini-series Samurai Girl (2008). Keibler also appeared on the drama October Road (2007). Next up for Keibler is a reoccurring role on the ABC comedy In the Motherhood (2009), starring Cheryl Hines and Megan Mullally.
Prior to her stint on Dancing with the Stars (2005), Keibler, a former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader, auditioned for the chance to be the new "Nitro Girl" for World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Keibler wowed both fans and executives and went on to win the National Search. Shortly thereafter, WCW was acquired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Keibler's skills impressed the creators of the program so much that she was the only female brought over to the new company, where she immediately became a regular on the longest running live program in television history.
A model of peak physical fitness, Keibler has graced the covers of numerous magazines including Shape, Vegas, TV Guide, Maxim, FHM Australia, Muscle & Fitness, 6 Degrees, and Beverly Hills 213. She has been featured in Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle Girl, LA Times, Parade, Maxim (UK), and Fitness. She regularly appears in Entertainment Weekly, People, Us Weekly, The Look, OK, and Life & Style. The issue of Stuff featuring Stacy Keibler on the cover was one of the magazines highest selling issues of all time.
Stacy Keibler currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. - Actress
- Producer
Comedic actress Rachel Sterling began her training at the Piero Dusa Acting Conservatory in Santa Monica California. Her years at the conservatory laid the foundation that would lead to a love and respect of the fundamentals of theater.
Originally known for being a pin up model and music video vixen, appearing first in Playboy's College girl issue, then appearing in videos for Kid Rock, Dr. Dre, Shaggy, Sugar Ray, Ja Rule, Velvet Revolver, No Doubt, Wyclef Jean, Enrique Iglesias, Nas, Third Eye Blind, Lil Kim, Blink 182, Chief Wakil, Limp Biszket, Saliva, and George Michael. The transition to film and television came with her debut as Cherry in the comedy film TomCats, followed by her series regular role on the Comedy Central series The Man Show staring Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla.
Shortly after a 5 episode run as the On The Red Carpet correspondent for ShowTime, an offer came to join Robin Antin's original Pussycat Dolls live at the Viper Room. This opportunity would change her life forever. After years of working the showgirl circuit before coming to Hollywood, burlesque became second nature to Rachel. It was a dream come true becoming the Dolls burlesque solo artist. Her performance in the bath tube and Champagne glass have been often imitated but never duplicated. Under Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records, The Pussycat Dolls transformed from a burlesque revue to pop girl band group originally having 12 members including Carmen Electra. The opportunity to appear in a small role in The Wedding Crashers along side Vince Vaughn would guide Rachel back to her original path toward acting. Rachel would leave the Dolls to pursue acting. Returning years later for 6 months as the Headliner at The Pussycat Doll Lounge at Caesars Palace.
The success of The Wedding Crashers coupled with the notoriety of being an original Pussycat Doll landed Magazine features and covers globally for Maxim, FHM, Stuff, Esquire, Front, Frank 151, and in various photography art books. Most notable is her work with Ellen Von Unwerth, Nick & Adam Hayes as well as close friends Estevon Oriol, Patrick Hoelck, and Scott Cann. During this time Rachel toured America and Canada as the burlesque headliner coupled with famous DJs at numerous nightclubs, theaters, events and even Hugh Hefner's famous Playboy Mansion.
After honing her improv chops at Upright Citizens Brigade, Rachel quickly found a place on The Carpet Brothers along side Will Ferrell as Bianca Jaguar, and as Madam Caramel for 2 seasons on Reno 911. It was this role that got Hugh Hefner's attention and the celebrity pictorial for Playboy Magazine. Proving once and for all that personality counts.
Her time studying at the John Rosenfeld Studios was time well spent and, soon after, landed her television roles on Wilfred, How I Met Your Mother, Entourage, Workaholics, House MD, True Blood & 90210. Rachel also makes a cameo along side Chelsea Handler in Fun Size and makes her debut into the horror world in indie film The No Vacancy. This past year Rachel not only posed images with photographer Tibor Glob for clothing companies Want My Look and Stephanie Costello couture, but made a cameo on Australia's Dancing With The Stars with her partner Damian Whitewood ,as well and landing an invitation to appear on NBC's Truth Be Told staring Vanessa Lachey, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Bresha Webb, and comedian Tone Bell.- Amanda Kimmel was born on 3 August 1984. She is an actress, known for Bamboo Shark (2011), All Together Now (2013) and Cinema Salvation (2010).
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Carrie Ann Inaba was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. She is of Japanese, Chinese, and Irish ancestry, and is the youngest of two children. Carrie Ann grew up dancing the hula (native Hawaiian dance) and other dance forms. She also played the piano and violin and sang in the choir. She attended Hanahaouli School and then Punahou School. Carrie Ann played volleyball for a little while but found her true love in performing.
At the age of 16, she and her closest friend Tina Horii won the Hawaii statewide competition, "Search for Talent", dancing a piece that they had choreographed together. While still sixteen, Carrie Ann was scouted to go to Japan to become a "Teen Idol".
However, she waited until she finished high school and then left Hawaii to pursue her career as a musical artist in Japan. During her time in Japan, Carrie Ann released three singles with Pony Canyon Records while attending Sophia University, a Jesuit university in Tokyo. In the two-year period spent living in Tokyo, Japan, she learned a great deal about the entertainment industry, performing, as well as the Japanese language. She also made great friends from all over the world, which later became a theme in her life as a documentarian.
After realizing that the Tokyo lifestyle wasn't for her at the time, Carrie Ann returned to the United States, relocating to California. She began to study choreography at the University of California, Irvine. It wasn't long till she got the bug to dance in Los Angeles and moved up to study with Alex Magno at the Debbie Reynolds Studios in North Hollywood, California. One day in dance class, Carrie Ann was approached by a producer who asked her to be in a music video for an artist named Terry Lin. She met the choreographer and booked the job. She was ready to start working.
One of her first jobs was as a dancer for the Emmy Award-winning television show, In Living Color (1990). Her next big gig was performing with Madonna, being featured as the "Pole Girl" on The Girlie Show tour. For this tour, Carrie Ann had to shave her head and also train with circus trainers and a stripper. She later went on to dance with Ricky Martin, David Copperfield, Chayanne, and did a lot of appearances on shows such as The Creative Arts Emmys, The SAG Awards, The NAACP Awards, The MTV Awards, The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986), and so much more. To this day, she still loves to dance. In her heart of hearts, it is the movement and the music that will always inspire her as an artist. In fact, even as an actress, she likes to incorporate dance and movement.
When Carrie Ann began her acting career, her main interest was in action roles. She studied tae kwon do with Billy Blanks, the creator Taebo, and continues her education in martial arts. She also practices hatha yoga. Carrie Ann always looks for ways to include her background in movement (choreography and martial arts) into her career.
Besides performing, Carrie Ann has many credits behind the scenes as well. Besides her choreography, she opened up her own digital video production company, EnterMediArts, Inc., which produced two of her documentaries and her short film. She hopes that EnterMediArts, Inc. will soon produce more reality/education television programming, behind-the-scenes DVD productions as well as lower-end film projects. She is the president and CEO for the company and has directed and edited most of her own projects. She loves the entertainment industry and loves the accessibility that DV (Digital Video) provides. She invested in a few edit bays and a few cameras and produces projects for fellow artists and "creatives." As her company's name implies, Carrie Ann likes to break down barriers and combine elements, creating hybrids just like she, herself, is a combination of cultures. Her production company, EnterMediArts, Inc., gets its name from Entertainment, Media, and the Arts -- all rolled into one.
Carrie Ann has also modeled here and there and has been on the cover of European magazines and Japanese magazines. She was the national spokesmodel for an AT&T Asian Campaign and has been in many commercials throughout her career.
At the time of this writing, Carrie Ann is in the limelight once more for her participation in the hit show, Dancing with the Stars (2005) and Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (2008).- Music Artist
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- Actress
Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 in The Bronx, New York City, New York to teacher Lupe López and computer specialist David López. The two Puerto Ricans were brought to the continental United States during their childhoods and eventually met while living in New York City. Their daughters would have a stable, middle-class upbringing.
Jennifer always dreamed of being a multi-tasking superstar. As a child, she enjoyed a variety of musical genres, mainly Afro-Caribbean rhythms like salsa, merengue, and bachata, and mainstream music like pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Although she loved music, the film industry also intrigued her. Her biggest influence was the Rita Moreno musical, West Side Story (1961). At 5, Jennifer began taking singing and dancing lessons. Aside from being a budding entertainer, Jennifer was also a Catholic schoolgirl, attending eight years at a Catholic elementary school named Holy Family, located in The Bronx, before graduating from all-girls prep school Preston High School after a four-year stay. At school, Jennifer was an amazing athlete and participated in track and field and tennis. She spent most of her upbringing in a two-story house in the Castle Hill neighborhood.
At 18, Jennifer moved out of her parents' home. After high school, she briefly worked in a law office and took dance classes at night. During this time, she continued dance classes at night. Her big break came when she was offered a job as a fly girl on Fox's hit comedy In Living Color (1990). After a two-year stay at In Living Color (1990) where actress Rosie Perez served as choreographer, Lopez then went on to dance for famed singer-actress Janet Jackson. Her first major film was Gregory Nava's My Family/Mi familia (1995), and her career went into overdrive when she portrayed late Tejana singer Selena in Selena (1997).- Actress
- Producer
Jennifer Connelly was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York, to Ilene (Schuman), a dealer of antiques, and Gerard Connelly, a clothing manufacturer. Her father had Irish and Norwegian ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish immigrant family. Jennifer grew up in Brooklyn Heights, just across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, except for the four years her parents spent in Woodstock, New York. Back in Brooklyn Heights, she attended St. Ann's school. A close friend of the family was an advertising executive. When Jennifer was ten, he suggested that her parents take her to a modeling audition. She began appearing in newspaper and magazine ads (among them "Seventeen" magazine), and soon moved on to television commercials. A casting director saw her and introduced her to Sergio Leone, who was seeking a young girl to dance in his gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Although having little screen time, the few minutes she was on-screen were enough to reveal her talent. Her next role after that was an episode of the British horror anthology TV series Tales of the Unexpected (1979) in 1984.
After Leone's movie, horror master Dario Argento signed her to play her first starring role in his thriller Phenomena (1985). The film made a lot of money in Europe but, unfortunately, was heavily cut for American distribution. Around the same time, she appeared in the rock video "I Drove All Night," a Roy Orbison song, co-starring Jason Priestley. She released a single called "Monologue of Love" in Japan in the mid-1980s, in which she sings in Japanese a charming little song with semi-classical instruments arrangement. On the B-side is "Message Of Love," which is an interview with music in background. She also appeared in television commercials in Japan.
She enrolled at Yale, and then transferred two years later to Stanford. She trained in classical theater and improvisation, studying with the late drama coach Roy London, Howard Fine, and Harold Guskin.
The late 1980s saw her starring in a hit and three lesser seen films. Amongst the latter was her roles in Ballet (1989), as a ballerina and in Some Girls (1988), where she played a self-absorbed college freshman. The hit was Labyrinth (1986), released in 1986. Jennifer got the job after a nationwide talent search for the lead in this fantasy directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas. Her career entered in a calm phase after those films, until Dennis Hopper, who was impressed after having seen her in "Some Girls", cast Jennifer as an ingénue small-town girl in The Hot Spot (1990), based upon the 1950s crime novel "Hell Hath No Fury". It received mixed critical reviews, but it was not a box office success.
The Rocketeer (1991), an ambitious Touchstone super-production, came to the rescue. The film was an old-fashioned adventure flick about a man capable of flying with rockets on his back. Critics saw in "Rocketeer" a top-quality movie, a homage to those old films of the 1930s in which the likes of Errol Flynn starred. After "Rocketeer," Jennifer made Career Opportunities (1991), The Heart of Justice (1992), Mulholland Falls (1996), her first collaboration with Nick Nolte and Inventing the Abbotts (1997). In 1998, she was invited by director Alex Proyas to make Dark City (1998), a strange, visually stunning science-fiction extravaganza. In this movie, Jennifer played the main character's wife, and she delivered an acclaimed performance. The film itself didn't break any box-office record but received positive reviews. This led Jennifer to a contract with Fox for the television series The $treet (2000), a main part in the memorable and dramatic love-story Waking the Dead (2000) and, more important, a breakthrough part in the polemic and applauded independent Requiem for a Dream (2000), a tale about the haunting lives of drug addicts and the subsequent process of decadence and destruction. In "Requiem for a Dream," Jennifer had her career's most courageous, difficult part, a performance that earned her a Spirit Award Nomination. She followed this role with Pollock (2000), in which she played Pollock's mistress, Ruth Klingman. In 2001, Ron Howard chose her to co-star with Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind (2001), the film that tells the true story of John Nash, a man who suffered from mental illness but eventually beats this and wins the Nobel Prize in 1994. Jennifer played Nash's wife and won a Golden Globe, BAFTA, AFI and Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Connelly continued her career with films including Hulk (2003), her second collaboration with Nick Nolte, Dark Water (2005), Blood Diamond (2006), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), He's Just Not That Into You (2009) and Noah (2014), where she did her second collaboration with both Darren Aronofsky and Russell Crowe and made her third collaboration with Nick Nolte in that same film.
Jennifer lives in New York. She is 5'7", and speaks fluent Italian and French. She enjoys physical activities such as swimming, gymnastics, and bike riding. She is also an outdoors person -- camping, hiking and walking, and is interested in quantum physics and philosophy. She likes horses, Pearl Jam, SoundGarden, Jesus Jones, and occasionally wears a small picture of the The Dalai Lama on a necklace. Her favorite colors are cobalt blue, forest green, and "very pale green/gray -- sort of like the color of the sea". She likes to draw.- Actress
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Jennifer Garner, who catapulted into stardom with her lead role on the television series Alias (2001), has come a long way from her birthplace of Houston, Texas. Raised in Charleston, West Virginia by her mother Patricia Ann (née English), a retired English teacher, and her father, Billy Jack Garner, a former chemical engineer, she is the second of their three daughters. She spent nine years of her adolescence studying ballet, and characterizes her years in dance as consisting of determination rather than talent, being driven mostly by a love of the stage.
Jennifer took this determination with her when she enrolled at Denison University as a chemistry major; later she changed her major when she discovered that her passion for the stage was stronger than her love of science. New York attracted the young actress after college, and she worked as a hostess while pursuing a career in film and television. Her most recent move has been to Los Angeles, a decision that led to a role on the television series Felicity (1998), where she met her future husband Scott Foley. The couple divorced in 2004.
Jennifer starred in the television series Alias (2001) as Agent Sydney Bristow, who works for the Central Intelligence Agency. For her work, Garner has received four consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She has also received four Golden Globe nominations and won once, as well as received two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and won once. She has appeared in numerous other television production as well as such films as Elektra (2005), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Daredevil (2003), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Dude, Where's My Car? (2000). Aside from filming Alias (2001), Jennifer enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, and--inspired by her character on the series--kickboxing. She married actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck in 2005, now her ex-husband, with whom she has three children.- Actress
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Actress and activist Olivia Wilde is a modern day renaissance woman, starring in many acclaimed film productions, while simultaneously giving back to the community.
She was born on March 10, 1984 in New York City. Her parents are Leslie Cockburn (née Leslie Corkill Redlich) and Andrew Cockburn. Her mother is American-born and her father was born in London, England to an upper-class British family; he also later became a citizen of Ireland. Wilde is the middle child, having an older sister, Chloe Cockburn, and, a younger brother, Charlie Cockburn. She is of English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Manx descent.
She was raised in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and spent her summers in Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland. She attended the private Georgetown Day School, as well as, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 2002. She was accepted to Bard College, another highly selective private school in Duchess County, New York but deferred her enrollment three times in order to pursue an acting career. She later studied at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland.
Wilde is known for her television roles as Alex Kelly in The O.C. (2003) from 2004-2005 and Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley in the medical-drama television series, House (2004) when she joined the cast in 2007 and appeared on the show until the series end in 2012.
Wilde is a board member of the organization "Artists for Peace and Justice," which supports communities in Haiti through programs in education, health care, and dignity through the performing arts. She has served as executive producer on several documentary short films, including, Sun City Picture House (2010), which is about a community in Haiti that rallies to build a movie theater after the disastrous 2010 earthquake and Baseball in the Time of Cholera (2012), which explored the cholera epidemic in Haiti.
Wilde is known for her roles in Year One (2009), Tron: Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), In Time (2011), People Like Us (2012), Her (2013), Rush (2013), Drinking Buddies (2013), The Longest Week (2014), Love the Coopers (2015), and Meadowland (2015).
Since 2011, Wilde had been in a relationship with Jason Sudeikis. They have two children together, Otis Alexander Sudeikis (born April 20, 2014) and Daisy Josephine Sudeikis (born October 11, 2016). In November 2020, they announced that they had ended their relationship.
Wilde made her Broadway debut in the play "1984" at the Hudson Theatre in New York City in 2017. She has recently starred in Life Itself (2018) and A Vigilante (2018).- Actress
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Hope Solo is a professional goalkeeper and one of the most recognizable figures in women's football worldwide. After a turbulent childhood, she was recruited to play for the University of Washington Huskies, where she began attracting national attention for her strong performances between the goalposts. With the USA national team, she is a World Cup winner and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She is a role model in the women's game and has won the Do Something Award, the Phoenix Mercury 'Woman of Inspiration' and the Sports Spectacular Female Athlete of the Year, as well as running for President of the US Soccer Federation.- Actress
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Malin was born in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pia (Sundström), is a model and aerobics instructor, and her father, Magnus Åkerman, is an insurance broker. They moved to Toronto when she was age 2. At age 5, she began appearing in TV commercials. Her parents divorced when she was 6 and her father returned to Sweden.
At age 17, she won the Canadian title of Ford Supermodel. This enabled her to spend 3 years as a catwalk model in Europe. She decided to become a child psychologist and enrolled in York University but she was offered a guest role in Earth: Final Conflict (1997) so she turned her attention back to acting. She moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and won roles in both TV and film. Her breakthrough role came when she was cast as Silk Spectre II in Watchmen (2009).- Actress
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Elizabeth Berkley was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, to Jere, a gift basket business owner and Fred Berkley, a lawyer. She has an older brother, Jason (b. 1969). Her family is Jewish. By five, she was taking tap and jazz classes with Barbara Fink and ballet classes at Detroit Dance Company. She danced "Swan Lake" with principals from the American Ballet Theatre and for five years she performed in the NYC Ballet's holiday production of "The Nutcracker" in Detroit. Roles in community theatre followed in such plays as "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", "Gypsy" and "Eleemosynary". She placed as a finalist at the "Look of the Year" contest promoted by Elite Agency. At 13 she began modeling for Elite's New York division and that led to print work and TV commercials.
Her first on-screen job was a small part in Gimme a Break! (1981), followed by a leading role in the critically acclaimed short Platinum Blonde (1988) and a supporting part in the TV movie Frog (1988). In 1988 her family eventually relocated to California to let Elizabeth pursuing a career in Hollywood. After guest roles in series like TV 101 (1988) and Day by Day (1988), she landed a regular role in Saved by the Bell (1989). After four seasons and a TV movie, she left the show to try to break into features films. In 1994, after several roles in television and straight-to-video films, she booked the coveted role of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995). Unexpectedly, the much-anticipated film bombed at the box office and was destroyed by critics. After leaving CAA, she signed with United Talent Agency and began rebuilding her film career with some small roles in major films (The First Wives Club (1996) and Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999)) and leading parts in quality indies (including Taxman (1998) and The Real Blonde (1997)).
In 1999 she played Lenny Bruce's wife in the acclaimed West End production of "Lenny", directed by Sir Peter Hall and starring Eddie Izzard. Her performance in Dylan Kidd's Roger Dodger (2002), released in 2002 after a successful festival tour, impressed the critics. The box-office hit "Sly Fox" marked her Broadway debut in 2004 but it was her performance in the Off-Broadway production "Hurlyburly" (directed by Scott Elliott and co-starring Ethan Hawke, Parker Posey and Wallace Shawn) that earned her the best reviews of her career and a public apology from The New York Times.
She appeared for several seasons in the hit series CSI: Miami (2002) as Julia Winston, and in the final season of Showtime's The L Word (2004). Thanks to television syndication of Saved by the Bell (1989), Elizabeth is a favorite among a whole new generation of teen girls. Elizabeth has been making life-changing connections with these girls over the past seven years through Ask Elizabeth, her not-for-profit organization that includes self-esteem workshops she facilitates as a volunteer in schools and for youth organizations, a thriving website (ask-elizabeth.com) that hosts digital content as a way to be of continued service to girls and, most recently, her book "Ask Elizabeth" (published by Penguin), which made The New York Times' best-seller list. This nationwide movement has affected the lives of over 100,000 girls and counting. She was also a featured contributor on Oprah.com, bridging the communication gap between mothers and daughters.
Berkley is married to artist Greg Lauren and the couple has one son, Sky Cole Lauren, born in 2012. She is 5'10", and she has been a vegetarian her entire life. She enjoys yoga, dancing and singing. She attended UCLA where she studied English Literature. Berkley is active in numerous outreach programs including dance classes for young teens and physically and mentally challenged youth; volunteer work with the elderly at the Motion Pictures Home for the Aging; Women's Cancer Research Fund, the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the Humane Society.- Actress
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Tiffani Amber Thiessen was born on January 23, 1974 in Long Beach, California to Robyn Ernest, a homemaker & Frank Thiessen, a park designer. She grew up in Long Beach with her parents and her brothers, professional cyclist Todd (born August 1, 1968) and Schyler (born May 10, 1977). When Tiffani was 8, her uncle, Roger Ernest, suggested that she try acting and modeling. Soon afterward, she appeared in her first TV commercial, for Peaches and Cream Barbie. From there she started competing in several beauty pageants and, in 1987, she won the Miss Junior America pageant.
She got her big break when she was cast as the popular cheerleader Kelly Kapowski on the NBC series Saved by the Bell (1989), which lasted for five years. But this was not at all the end of her career. Coinciding with the cancellation of the short-lived Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993), she was cast as the bitchy, conniving vixen Valerie Malone on Aaron Spelling's long-running hit series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Here, she played the constant enemy of Kelly Taylor, played by Jennie Garth, although in real life, the two are actually best friends. Tiffani also lived with co-star Brian Austin Green for several years. She stayed with the show until 1998 and then left to pursue her movie career. The result was two independent movies, followed by two comedies and then Hollywood Ending (2002), in which she starred alongside Woody Allen.
She met actor Richard Ruccolo while guest starring as Marti in the hit sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998) where in 2001, the couple became engaged. During the fall of 2002, she co-starred with best friend Jennie's husband, Peter Facinelli, and Bill Bellamy on Fox's action/drama series, Fastlane (2002), where she starred as Billie Chambers, but the show was canceled after one season. In 2003, Tiffani broke off her engagement to Richard Ruccolo and in 2005, she married actor Brady Smith. The couple have two children, a daughter, Harper Smith (Harper Renn Smith) and a son, Holt Fisher Smith.- Actress
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Karyn Parsons decided to go into acting at the age of 13. She had her first TV role in the NBC drama The Bronx Zoo (1987), but she made her big break as Will Smith's cousin "Hilary Banks" on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990). During the show's six-year run, she starred in movies such as Class Act (1992) and Major Payne (1995). After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), she starred in the short-lifted sitcom Lush Life (1996), co-starring Lori Petty, which only lasted three episodes before it was canceled. In 1998, she starred in her first lead role in the award-winning movie Mixing Nia (1998). She guest-starred in TV sitcoms before starring in 13 Moons (2002), in which she met her husband, director Alexandre Rockwell, whom she married in 2003. After their wedding, they had a child and now live in New York.- Actress
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Since making her uncredited debut as a dancer in Beatlemania (1981), Gina Gershon has established herself as a character actress and one of the leading icons of American camp. For it was fourteen years after her movie debut that Gina made movie history as the predatory bisexual who was the leading light of a Las Vegas leg-line in director Paul Verhoeven's kitsch classic Showgirls (1995). Exploding out of a plaster-of-Paris volcano clad in nothing but body makeup and a G-string, Gina Gershon obtained cinema immortality. After Showgirls (1995), she solidified her reputation, playing a lesbian sexpot in the Wachowskis' neo-noir Bound (1996).
Gina Gershon was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, the last in a brood of three kids. Her mother, Mickey (Koppel), worked as an interior decorator, and her father, Stanley Gershon, was a salesman and worked in the import/export business. Her paternal grandparents were from Russian Jewish families, and her maternal grandparents were born in Holland and Belgium, both of them to Jewish families from Poland. Gina was raised in the San Fernando Valley, and got the acting bug early, appearing at the age of seven in a school production of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Because of her acting ambitions, her parents moved to Beverly Hills so Gina could attend Beverly Hills High, where she indulged her acting jones by appearing in a student production of The Music Man (1962). Her first love, she says, is singing.
After graduating from high school in 1980, she attended Emerson College in Boston, but took a part in the musical "Runaways". She transferred to New York University, where her official biography says she studied philosophy and psychology, but she graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts, taking a bachelor of fine arts degree in drama in 1983. In New York City, while perfecting her craft, she co-founded the theater company Naked Angels with Helen Slater.
Her big-screen breakthrough came with a part in the 1986 "Brat Pack" teenage hit Pretty in Pink (1986). She also had parts in the Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail (1988) and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Red Heat (1988). Of this period, she says, "One of my first gigs, a movie called Cocktail (1988), I found myself at 8 in the morning, in bed, practically naked, having to make out with Tom Cruise; hmmmm... movie business - so far, so good".
Citing Frank Sinatra's song "My Way" as an inspiration, she says that following Cocktail (1988), "I was fortunate enough to play many diversified roles in film, television and stage. Not always to the liking of my managers and agents, but I always did what I wanted...." She played Nancy Barbato Sinatra, Frank's first wife, in the TV miniseries Sinatra (1992).
Gina Gershon became a celebrity in Showgirls (1995). The following year, Gershon solidified her claim on second-tier stardom playing the calculating lesbian "Corky" in the crime movie Bound (1995). She never did capitalize on her mid-1990s breakthrough, but Gershon is established as a character actress and is never out of work, unlike most of her female peers who started out in the industry at the same time. Though no classic beauty, the talented thespian remains gainfully employed while many actresses of her vintage are out of work as she is possessed of a unique look and smoldering sex appeal that comes across on camera.
Gershon is versatile, too, as at home on stage as she is in front of the camera. After appearing in off-Broadway and regional theater productions, she made her Broadway debut as a replacement in Sam Mendes' revival of Cabaret (1972) in January 2001. For six months, she played the key role of "Sally Bowles", returning that October to reprise the role for another month. In 2008, she once again appeared on Broadway in the revival of the farce "Boeing Boeing" on Broadway, which won the Tony award for Best Revival.
Gina Gershon also is a children's book writer. In 2008, Putmam Juvenile published her "Camp Creepy Time", a tale of a boy who discovers aliens at his summer camp, which she co-wrote with her brother, Dann Gershon. "Camp Creepy Time" recently was optioned by DreamWorks, which plans to turn it into a movie. In 2008, she also released "In Search Of Cleo", a CD featuring nine songs which she wrote or co-wrote.- Actress
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An actress who always attracts audiences' attention, Jennifer Tilly is by turns funny, sexy, compassionate, compelling and often all at once. She has been playing unforgettable characters ever since she started her career as an actress.
Jennifer Tilly was born Jennifer Ellen Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles, to Harry Chan, a used car salesman, who was of Chinese origin, and Patricia (née Tilly), a schoolteacher and stage actress. Her sister is actress Meg Tilly. They were raised on rural Texada Island, British Columbia, by her mother and stepfather, John Ward.
Jennifer successfully cultivated another fan base with the revitalization of the "Child's Play" horror comedy franchise. For Ronny Yu's Bride of Chucky (1998), the filmmakers turned to Jennifer to create the character who would spark the series in a new direction. She met the challenge and established a new horror icon in Tiffany. In Rogue Pictures' Seed of Chucky (2004), written and directed by series creator Don Mancini, Jennifer again took the popular series to the next level; starring as Tiffany and as herself, the deadly doll's favorite actress, who soon becomes an unwitting hostess in more ways than one.
Jennifer's pitch-perfect voiceover work as Tiffany is not the only instance of her being able to incarnate a character from the vocal chords out. Families know her distinctive cadences from the Disney hits Home on the Range (2004), directed by Will Finn and John Sanford; The Haunted Mansion (2003) (in which Jennifer acted from the neck up only), directed by Rob Minkoff; and the Pixar blockbuster Monsters, Inc. (2001) (voicing Mike's love interest Celia), directed by Pete Docter, David Silverman and Lee Unkrich. She began her acting career as a teenager, putting herself through the theater program at Stephens College in Missouri by winning writing competitions. She then headed to Los Angeles, California. While she continued to act on the stage (earning a Dramalogue Award for her performance in "Vanities"), movies and television immediately came calling for the actress with the unique voice and visage.
In 2001, she starred in the Broadway revival of "The Women" with Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Johnson, which was later taped for, and broadcast on, PBS. In 2008, she appeared with Miranda Richardson in the critically acclaimed production of Wallace Shawn's play "Grasses of a Thousand Colors" at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Other plays include "Tartuffe" (LAAT) "Boy's Life" (LAAT) "Baby with the Bathwater" (LAPT) and others too numerous to mention. In 2005, Jennifer met her boyfriend, professional poker player Phil Laak (also known as the Unabomber). That summer at the World Series of Poker, she bested a field of 601 to take down the Ladies Event and win a coveted gold bracelet. She followed this up by winning the WPT Ladies Invitational, making her one of a small but elite group holding both a WSOP bracelet, and a WPT title. In summer 2010, she also won the Bellagio Cup 5k tournament.- Actress
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Lacey Nicole Chabert was born in Purvis, Mississippi, to Julie (Johnson) and Tony Chabert, a representative for an oil company. She is of Cajun (French), Italian, English, and Scottish ancestry. Chabert started in drama and music performances in and around her hometown in Mississippi from an early age, and was a finalist on Star Search (1983) in 1991. She gained her break in a cough syrup commercial, before successfully auditioning for the Broadway production of Les Miserables, where she played young Cosette for two years. Since then, she has been on a few television series, notably Party of Five (1994), a number of telemovies like Gypsy (1993), and her big-screen debut, Lost in Space (1998). Known for her natural acting skills and charming personality, her cotton candy voice has seen her record many advertising jingles, plus play parts in animated films and TV shows like Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys (1998). A more than capable violinist, she enjoys various activities, especially shoe shopping, and she is particularly fond of Cajun cooking. As a result of her promising career, her family, including two sisters and a brother, have moved from Mississippi to California.- Actress
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Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, CA, to Catherine (Jensen) and Mark David Alba, who served in the US Air Force. Her father is of Mexican descent (including Spanish and Indigenous Mexican roots), and her mother has Danish, Welsh, English, and French ancestry. Her family moved to Biloxi, MS, when she was an infant. Three years later her father's career brought the family back to California, then to Del Rio, TX, before finally settling in Southern California when Jessica was nine. In love with the idea of becoming an actress from the age of five, she was 12 before she took her first acting class. Nine months later she was signed by an agent. She studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company with founders William H. Macy and David Mamet.
A gifted young actress, Jessica has played a variety of roles ranging from light comedy to gritty drama since beginning her career. She made her feature film debut in 1993 in Hollywood Pictures' comedy Camp Nowhere (1994). Originally hired for two weeks, she got her break when an actress in a principal role suddenly dropped out. Jessica cheerfully admits it wasn't her prodigious talent or charm that inspired the director to tap her to take over the part--it was her hair, which matched the original performer's. The two-week job stretched to two months, and Jessica ended the film with an impressive first credit. Two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C. Penney quickly followed before Jessica was featured in several independent films. She branched out into TV in 1994 with a recurring role in Nickelodeon's popular comedy series The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). She played an insufferable young snob, devoted to making life miserable for the the title character, played by Larisa Oleynik. That same year, she won the role of "Maya" in Flipper (1995) and filmed the pilot for the series. She spent 1995 shooting the first season's episodes in Australia. An avid swimmer and PADI-certified SCUBA diver, Jessica was delighted to be doing a show that allowed her to play with dolphins. The show's success guaranteed it a second season, which she also starred in. Her involvement in the show lasted from 1995 to 1997.
In 1996 she appeared in Venus Rising (1995) as "Young Eve." The next year she appeared on The Dini Petty Show (1989), a Canadian talk show, and spoke about her role in "Flipper" and her general acting career. She began working on P.U.N.K.S. (1999), featuring Randy Quaid, in 1998. In early 1998 she appeared in Brooklyn South (1997) as "Melissa." That same year she was in two episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) as "Leanne" and in two episodes of Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998).
She appeared in "Teen Magazine" in 1995 and various European magazines over the following years. More importantly, she was featured in the February 1999 issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine. She also had major roles in two movies that year: Never Been Kissed (1999) and Idle Hands (1999). In 2000 she had roles in Paranoid (2000) and starred in the sci-fi TV series Dark Angel (2000), gaining worldwide recognition.
Her first starring role in a major studio film was the Honey (2003), Universal Pictures' contemporary urban drama that grossed over $60 million worldwide. She has since made over 25 feature films that have earned a combined box-office total of over $800 million, including comedies and dramas, from gritty independents to major studio blockbusters. In 2005 she starred opposite Bruce Willis and an all-star cast in the provocative and critically acclaimed Sin City (2005), directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. She next starred as Sue Storm--"The Invisible Girl"--in Marvel's action-franchise blockbuster Fantastic Four (2005), which was released by 20th Century-Fox in July 2005 and became a worldwide box-office success with over $300 million in revenue.
Jessica was part of Garry Marshall's all-star ensemble romantic comedy, Valentine's Day (2010), which broke box-office records with the largest opening on a four-day President's Day weekend in history. She starred opposite Casey Affleck and Kate Hudson in director Michael Winterbottom's controversial screen adaptation of The Killer Inside Me (2010), based on Jim Thompson's novel, as well as Robert Rodriquez's Machete (2010). She co-starred in the third installment of the hit "Meet the Parents" franchise Little Fockers (2010), as well as the 4D family adventure Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011), marking her third of five collaborations with Robert Rodriguez. Jessica was part of an all-star voice cast for The Weinstein Company's animated adventure, Escape from Planet Earth (2012), also featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Brendan Fraser and James Gandolfini.
She appeared in the comedy A.C.O.D. (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and starred Adam Scott, Jane Lynch and Amy Poehler. She made a cameo appearance in Machete Kills (2013) and co-starred in Robert Rodriquez's highly-anticipated, star-studded sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). That year she had a full slate of acting projects, including the period drama Dear Eleanor (2016), The Englishman opposite Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek; the IFC parody mini-series The Spoils of Babylon (2014), produced by Funny or Die, with a stellar cast including Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire, Michael Sheen and Tim Robbins; and Stretch (2014), co-starring Patrick Wilson, Chris Pine, Ray Liotta, Ed Helms and Brooklyn Decker.
Jessica has received Golden Globe and People's Choice Award nominations, was voted TV Guide readers' Breakout Star of the Year, and won Favorite TV Actress at the 2001 Teen Choice Awards for "Dark Angel." She won the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Female Actress for her performance in "Fantastic Four" and an MTV Movie Award for Sexiest Performance in "Sin City." She received another Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Horror/Thriller for The Eye (2008) and was honored by the Young Hollywood Awards as Superstar of Tomorrow in 2005. She has received ALMA Awards for her performances in "Dark Angel" and "Machete," as well as a Fashion Icon in 2009.- 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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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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Rachel Meghan Markle is an US-born member of the British royal family and a former film and television actress.
Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California, and is of mixed-race heritage. During her studies at Northwestern University, she began to play small roles in television series and films. From 2011 to 2017, she played her best-known role, Rachel Zane, on the legal drama series Suits. As an outspoken feminist, Markle has addressed issues of gender inequality, and her lifestyle website, The Tig, featured a column profiling influential women. Her humanitarian work in the 2010s saw her represent international charity organizations. She has also received recognition for her fashion and style, releasing a clothing line in 2016.
From 2011 until their 2014 divorce, Markle was married to actor and producer Trevor Engelson. In 2017, she announced her engagement to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and moved to London. She consequently retired from acting, closed her social-media accounts, and started undertaking public engagements on behalf of the British royal family. Following their wedding on May 19, 2018, Markle received the title of Duchess of Sussex. After her and Harry's departure as working members of the Royal family, they no longer use their HRH titles in a professional capacity.
Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles, California, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park. Her mother, Doria Loyce (Ragland), a social worker and yoga instructor, is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and lives in View Park Windsor Hills, California. Markle has often described a very close friendship with her mother. Her father, Thomas Wayne Markle, who lives in Rosarito, Mexico, is a retired Emmy Award winning television director of photography and lighting director, whose profession resulted in his young daughter often visiting the set of "Married...with Children." Markle's parents divorced when she was six years old. She has two older paternal half-siblings, Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Markle, from whom she is reportedly estranged.
Describing her heritage in a 2015 essay for Elle, Markle states that her "dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white ... While my mixed heritage may have created a gray area surrounding my self identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I'm from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed race woman." Her father's roots include German, English, Irish, and Scottish. Her mother has family lines in Tennessee and Georgia.
Markle grew up in Hollywood. She was educated at private schools, beginning at age two at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse. Markle attended Immaculate Heart High School, a girls' Catholic private school in Los Angeles, but was raised as a Protestant. She then attended Northwestern University, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and participated in community service and charity projects. While at Northwestern, her uncle obtained an internship for her at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Markle studied for a semester in Madrid, Spain. Markle graduated from Northwestern's School of Communication in 2003 with a bachelor's degree and a double major in theater and international studies.
Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher to support herself between early acting jobs. Her first onscreen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital (1963), where her father was lighting director. Early in her career, Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2005), and CSI: NY (2004). She also took on several contract acting and modeling jobs, including a stint as a "briefcase girl" on the US game show Deal or No Deal (2005). She appeared in Fox's series Fringe (2008) as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season. Markle had some difficulty getting roles early in her career. In 2015, she wrote: "Being 'ethnically ambiguous', as I was pegged in the industry, meant I could audition for virtually any role. Sadly, it didn't matter: I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn't book a job."
In July 2011, Markle joined the cast of the USA Network show Suits (2011), playing Rachel Zane. The character began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney. She completed work on the seventh season in late 2017. According to a critique in The Irish Times, Markle deftly and actively re-positioned her character from ingenue to moral conscience and gave viewers the unique portrayal of a daughter, whose African American father is in a position to help her career and advance her strong desire to break several racial and gender "glass ceilings". She appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek (2010) and Remember Me (2010), and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses (2011). She also appeared in episodes of Cuts (2005); Love, Inc. (2005); 90210 (2008); Knight Rider (2008); Without a Trace (2002); The League (2009); and Castle (2009).
From 2014 to 2017, Markle was founder and editor in chief of lifestyle website The Tig. She derived the name from Tignanello red wine. One of The Tig's features was Tig Talk, a column that profiled women including Jessica Alba, Gail Simmons, Ella Woodward, Daphne Oz, Elizabeth Hurley, Lauren Bush Lauren, Ivanka Trump, Dianna Agron, and Jessica Stam. In April 2017, she closed The Tig. Markle developed an adept and polished social media presence at the time of its closing, her Instagram account had 1.9 million followers. In January 2018, Markle deleted her social media accounts and, in a statement issued by Kensington Palace, thanked "everyone who has followed her social media accounts over the years".
Since her marriage with Prince Harry of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, Markle is known as HRH Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel.- Actress
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Gemma Christina Arterton was born in Gravesend, Kent, England, where she was raised. She is the daughter of Sally-Anne (Heap), a cleaner, and Barry J. Arterton, a welder. Her mother's cousin is singer-songwriter Eric Goulden.
Her parents divorced when she was age five, and Gemma subsequently lived with her younger sister and her mother. Her parents encouraged their children to explore their creative abilities. Gemma's sister, Hannah, liked to sing, whereas Gemma chose acting. During her teenage years, she was part of the Masquerade and Miskin theater companies, appearing in productions of The Massacre of Civitella and Guiding Star. In 2004, she won an award for Best Supporting Actress, which helped her to win a grant to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Whilst studying at RADA, she landed her first professional role in Capturing Mary (2007), directed by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Maggie Smith. Gemma graduated from RADA in 2007 and won her first film role in St. Trinian's (2007). Her breakthrough role came in 2008, when she appeared in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). In 2009, she was the winner of Empire's Best Newcomer Award.- Marisa Miller is a supermodel best known for her work in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and as a Victoria's Secrets lingerie model. She appeared in three Victoria's Secret Fashion shows from 2007 through 2009 and became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2007. Miller appeared in seven straight editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from 2002 to 2008. She has been the face of lifestyle brand, Harley-Davidson and the NFL since 2010. Her sex symbol status has been cemented by her 2008's Maxim #1 rank on the Hot 100 and FHM magazine in 2010 dubbing her the sexiest woman in the world. Miller has appeared on the cover or has been featured in many international fashion magazines including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Marie Claire, Elle, Vanity Fair among others. She was born Marisa Lee Bertetta on August 6, 1978 in Santa Cruz California, USA. She was married to Jim Miller from 2000 to 2002 and re-married in 2006 music producer Griffin Guess with whom she has two sons, Gavin and Grayson. Miller was discovered at a San Fransisco cafe at age sixteen by Italian modeling agents. Her breakthrough happened in 2001 when she met famed photographer Mario Testino and within months appeared on the pages of Vogue, Sports Illustrated and the Victoria's Secret catalog.
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Charisma Carpenter first made her television debut with a guest spot on Baywatch (1989), before receiving a call from legendary producer Aaron Spelling and subsequently being cast on the prime time soap opera, Malibu Shores (1996). But her big break - and the one that would forever change the trajectory of her life - came shortly thereafter when she was cast as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), a role she would portray for three seasons before migrating to its spin-off series, Angel (1999), and continuing on for four more seasons. In total, Carpenter portrayed Cordelia in 140 episodes across both franchises. The former series has been ranked by Time, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Guide, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly among their lists of greatest television series' of all time.
Carpenter went on to recur on Charmed (1998) as the demon Kyra and on Veronica Mars (2004) as gold digging stepmother Kendall Casablanacas as well as Greek (2007) and, most recently, CW's Pandora (2019). While working as a series regular on ABC Family's The Lying Game (2011), Carpenter subsequently served as host and producer of Investigation Discovery's Surviving Evil (2013), a series featuring survivors who fought back against their attackers. Additional guest starring roles include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Burn Notice (2007), Supernatural (2005), Blue Bloods (2010), Sons of Anarchy (2008), Scream Queens (2015), Chicago P.D. (2014), Lucifer (2016), and 9-1-1 (2018).
Carpenter has also segued into movies, with a supporting role as Lacey in The Expendables (2010) and its sequel, The Expendables 2 (2012), as well as roles in over 12 made for television movies for Lifetime, Syfy and more.
Offscreen, Carpenter is the proud founder of MyCon, a platform intended to lift the spirits of socially isolated fans throughout the pandemic by connecting them with their favorite actors. Additionally, she works closely with the Thirst Project, an international water charity bringing safe, clean drinking water to the most vulnerable people around the world, as well as The Ronan Thompson Foundation, which is dedicated to researching pediatric cancer. In addition to her first love, that of a devoted mother, Carpenter spends much of her time working as a philanthropist, political activist, and social justice advocate. So passionate about these causes, she recently completed a course on administrative justice.- 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.- Actress
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Carrie-Anne Moss was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. At age 20, after studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she moved to Europe to pursue a career in modeling. While in Spain she was cast in the TV show Dark Justice which was produced in Barcelona for its first season and Los Angeles for its second. Once in LA, Carrie-Anne was cast in other series regular opportunities like Matrix (which coincidentally presaged the movie that would later make her famous), and then Aaron Spelling's Models Inc.
Carrie-Anne's work was gaining attention when the late great Mali Finn brought her in to audition for The Wachowski's, who offered her the opportunity to create the iconic cyber warrior "Trinity". Alongside her "One" Keanu Reeves, in stride with Laurence Fishburne and the multifaceted Hugo Weaving. Carrie-Anne Moss galvanized her place in cinematic history in one of the highest grossing sci-fi action franchises of all time.
Carrie-Anne began receiving a wide range of scripts but it was the complex screenplay Memento that stirred her creative senses and once meeting the then unknown writer/director Christopher Nolan, it was without hesitation that she accepted the role of "Natalie" in Nolan's directorial debut. Her remarkable performance won her the coveted Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female that year.
Prominent directors and producers continued to pursue her. She survived with Val Kilmer on the Red Planet for Warner Bros; sweetened Lasse Hallstrom's multi Oscar nominated Chocolat for Miramax and tracked Sir Ben Kingsley in Paramount's Suspect Zero. She mothered Shia LaBeouf in DreamWork's box-office hit Disturbia; and together with Samuel L. Jackson, led the intense interrogation of Michael Sheen in Sony's Unthinkable.
Carrie-Anne continued to collaborate on independent projects including The Chumscrubber with Ralph Fiennes and Glenn Close; the comedy noir Mini's First Time also starring Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson; Snow Cake the touching drama with Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman; Fireflies in the Garden in the company of Ryan Reynolds, Julia Roberts and Willem Defoe; and the retro zombie rom-com Fido along with Billy Connelly and Dylan Baker.
Throughout her career, Carrie-Anne has joined compelling television projects such as Ryan Murphy's Pretty Handsome; CBS's Vegas for James Mangold and Marvel's Jessica Jones as "Jerry Hogarth" for show runner Melissa Rosenberg. She recently finished acting and also producing in her second season, the bi-lingual English/Norwegian detective crime series Wisting, as an FBI agent set in the Norwegian landscape.
Next up, Carrie-Anne returns once again to star as "Trinity" in the much anticipated fourth installment of Lana Wachowski's Matrix Resurrections opposite Keanu Reeves for Warner Bros, which launches globally December 22, 2021- Actress
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Lovely, Julia (O'Hara) Stiles, of Irish, English and German heritage, was born on March 28, 1981 in New York City, the outgoing daughter and eldest of three children of a Greenwich Village artist mother, Judith Newcomb Stiles, and an elementary school teacher father, John O'Hara.
Encouraged to take modern dance lessons, she was introduced to Shakespeare and theater at an early age. When she was 11, she made her stage debut as a child actress with the experimental off-Broadway La MaMa Theatre. Her passion grew and by the next year was performing professionally and working in commercials. A bright, precocious student, she was seriously considered for the child vampire role of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) but lost out in the end to Kirsten Dunst. She continued training at New York's Professional Children's School and, at 15, made her cinematic bow with I Love You, I Love You Not (1996) with Claire Danes.
Julia was next featured as the daughter of Harrison Ford in The Devil's Own (1997), with her breakout role occurring on TV with the hard-hitting mini-movie Before Women Had Wings (1997), which was produced by Oprah Winfrey and dealt with child abuse. Her wish to play Shakespeare was granted threefold with her participation in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), which was based on the Bard's "The Taming of The Shrew" and earned her the Chicago Film Critics Award as volatile teen Kat; an updated version of Hamlet (2000) which paired her Ophelia with Ethan Hawke; and another updated version of "Othello" entitled O (2001), which involved her high school character of Desi (Desdemona) in a mixed romantic relationship with African-American Mekhi Phifer. The violent-edged film, made in 1998, was not released until three years later due to the Colorado shootings at Columbine High School.
In addition, Julia later portrayed Viola off-Broadway in a Shakespeare-in-the-Park production of "Twelfth Night" in 2002. She temporarily interrupted her career after deciding to enroll at Columbia University in 2000, where she earned a degree in English. Stiles has also returned to the stage, appearing in David Mamet's "Oleanna" in London, a role she would reprise on Broadway in 2009, opposite Bill Pullman and directed by Doug Hughes.
Moving into mainstream roles by the millennium, Julia took on a role that would carry her through the decade, co-starring with Matt Damon in popular Bourne series: The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). During the time between Bourne films, she appeared in ensemble dramas, appearing opposite Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), won offbeat notice in the title role of Carolina (2003) with Shirley MacLaine and Randy Quaid. She also returned to her indie film roots, with films such as Between Us (2012) and the comedy farce, It's a Disaster (2012).
In 2010, Julia switched gears and headed to series television, joining the cast of Dexter (2006) for the show's fifth season as Lumen Pierce, a performance that earned her Emmy and Golden Globe support nominations. In 2012, she followed this up with leads in two other TV series, the social drama Blue (2012) and the dramatic thriller Riviera (2017).
Married to camera assistant Preston Cook and with one son, Julia's more recent filming has included prominent roles in The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015), Misconduct (2016), Jason Bourne (2016), Trouble (2017), Hustlers (2019) and The God Committee (2021).
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As the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016, and with her films grossing over $5.5 billion worldwide, Jennifer Lawrence is often cited as the most successful actress of her generation. She is also the first person born in the 1990s to have won an acting Oscar.
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born August 15, 1990, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Karen (Koch), who manages a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who works in construction. She has two older brothers, Ben and Blaine, and has English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.
Her career began when she traveled to Manhattan at the age of fourteen after dropping out of the 8th grade. After conducting her first cold read, agents told her mother that "it was the best cold read by a 14-year-old they had ever heard," and tried to convince her stage mother that she needed to spend the summer in Manhattan. After leaving the agency, Jennifer was spotted by an agent in the midst of shooting an H&M ad and asked to take her picture. The next day, that agent followed up with her and invited her to the studio for a cold-read audition. Again, the agents were highly impressed and strongly urged her mother to allow her to spend the summer in New York City. As fate would have it, she did and subsequently appeared in commercials such as MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" and played a role in the movie The Devil You Know (2013).
Shortly thereafter, her career forced her and her family to move to Los Angeles, where she was cast in the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007), and in smaller movies such as The Poker House (2008) and The Burning Plain (2008).
Her big break came when she played Ree in Winter's Bone (2010), which landed her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Shortly thereafter, she secured the role of Mystique in franchise reboot X-Men: First Class (2011), which went on to be a hit in Summer 2011. Around this time, Lawrence scored the role of a lifetime when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in the big-screen adaptation of literary sensation The Hunger Games (2012). The film went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies ever, with over $407 million at the US box office, and instantly propelled Lawrence to the A-list among young actors and actresses. Three Hunger Games sequels were released in each consecutive November: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), with Lawrence reprising her role.
In 2012, the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012) earned her the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Satellite Award, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress, among other accolades, making her the youngest person ever to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actress and the second-youngest Best Actress winner.
She starred in David O. Russell's popular drama-comedy American Hustle (2013), as Roselyn Rosenfield, and teamed with the director again to play inventor Joy Mangano in another family comedy, Joy (2015), for which she earned Oscar nominations for both roles (Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively).- Bar Refaeli is an Israeli model, television host, actress, and entrepreneur. She is considered among the most internationally successful models to come from Israel, appearing on the cover of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and being voted No. 1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list of 2012. As a television host, Refaeli has hosted The X Factor Israel (2013) since 2013 and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest Tel Aviv 2019 (2019) in Tel Aviv.
As a result of her modeling and investment careers, her net worth was estimated at US $20 million in 2015. She was the highest-paid model in Israel according to Forbes Israel in 2013 - Actress
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It was in 1994 when Gisele Bundchen was discovered at age 14 in a Brazilian fashion mall, and now she is "the" most famous face in the business. Since then, Gisele has graced the covers of countless magazines as any other model in the history, including Rolling Stone, Time, Forbes, Newsweek and all the fashion top magazines such as Vogue, W, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, i-D, The Face, and many others. Gisele also has multi-million dollars deals with some of the world's biggest companies. Her contract with Victoria's Secret is the biggest in the fashion industry, and she also has deals with Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Bulgari, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Joop!, Otto, Lanvin, Guerlain, Nivea, DSquared, St. John, Colcci, Vivo, Vogue Eyewear and Grendene. Her own line of shoes, called "Ipanema Gisele Bundchen", have sold more than 100 million pairs since 2001.- Actress
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Jill Goodacre was born on 29 March 1964 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Friends (1994), Harry Connick Jr.: The New York Big Band Concert (1993) and Odd Jobs (1986). She has been married to Harry Connick Jr. since 16 April 1994. They have three children.- Actress
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Coming from the small town of Sylmar, Calif., Hollywood seemed like nothing more than a distant dream for Holly Lynch, however, it would soon become her home away from home. After signing with Elite Modeling Agency as a teenager, Lynch quickly went from a Neutrogena campaign and spread in Seventeen magazine, to traveling the globe and modeling in campaigns with some of the world's most well-known brands, including Guess, Apple, Forever 21 and Chanel, to name a few. She also instantly gained global recognition after starring in John Mayer's music video for his 2001 hit song "Your Body Is a Wonderland." However, it was after a pep talk from George Clooney during a 2003 commercial shoot for Toyota (Japan) that Lynch started to dabble in acting. "I hadn't done any TV or film work, but I thought about it," Lynch shares. "George told me to stop thinking and just do it. He said I was a natural and would do very well. What he said made me take the leap! I started studying at the Howard Fine Studio that next year."
Lynch got her first big break on the small screen when she was cast in the television series CSI: Miami, and has since appeared on numerous shows, including Entourage, Cold Case, CSI: NY, Necessary Roughness, The Vampire Diaries, Rules of Engagement and Ray Donovan. Lynch credits greats like Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Watts as her inspiration, explaining, "I love telling stories. I love affecting people and pushing them to feel something." She adds, "I love it when a performance can push an audience to a place of pure imagination, making them think outside themselves and disappear into a story."
Growing up, Lynch had a rough childhood due to dire situations at home, and could have never predicted achieving this lifestyle. "I never even thought it as a possibility," she says.
"Where I grew up and the community I was surrounded by, we didn't have a single artist of any kind. It was a blue collar world where no one had any creative aspirations or dreams. Even though I lived close to Hollywood, I felt like I lived on a different planet. I had no idea what I was capable of and that the possibilities were endless."- Actress
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Megan Denise Fox was born on May 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and raised in Rockwood, Tennessee to Gloria Darlene Tonachio (née Cisson), a real estate manager and Franklin Thomas Fox, a parole officer. She began her drama and dance training at age 5 and at age 10, she moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida where she continued her training and finished school. Megan began acting and modeling at age 13 after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. At age 17, she tested out of school using correspondence and eventually moved to Los Angeles, California. Megan made her film debut as Brianna Wallace in the Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen film, Holiday in the Sun (2001). Her best-known roles are as Sam Witwicky's love interest, Mikaela Banes in Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), as April O'Neil in the remake Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and as Jennifer Check in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009).- Actress
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Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in the Italian village of Città di Castello, Umbria, the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci. She originally pursued a career in the legal profession. While attending the University of Perugia, she modeled on the side to earn money for school, and this led to her modeling career. In 1988, she moved to one of Europe's fashion centers, Milan, and joined Elite Model Management. Although enjoying great success as a model, she made her acting debut on television in 1990, and her American film debut in Bram Stoker's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Her role in the French thriller The Apartment (1996), shot her to stardom as she won the French equivalent of an Oscar nomination. Other credits include Malena (2000), Under Suspicion (2000) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).- Actress
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Liv Tyler is an actress of international renown and has been a familiar face on our screens for over two decades and counting. She began modelling at the age of fourteen before pursuing a career in acting. After making her film debut in Bruce Beresford's Silent Fall, she was cast by fledgling director James Mangold (who would go on to direct such hits as Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line and Logan) in his first feature Heavy, a critical and commercial success that went on to gain cult status. This was followed by another indie cult hit, Empire Records, but it was the leading role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty that catapulted her to stardom at the age of eighteen.
Liv was next seen in Tom Hanks' hugely successful passion project That Thing You Do!, his paean to the glory days of 1960s rock 'n' roll (as the child of a rock 'n' roll background, this was a film whose subject was also dear to Liv's heart). This was followed by Michael Bay's action blockbuster Armageddon, starring alongside Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Steve Buscemi, who would later go on to direct Liv in Lonesome Jim.
Liv had come to the attention of director Robert Altman in Stealing Beauty and the late, great auteur went on to cast her in two of his final projects, Cookie's Fortune and Dr T and the Women, describing her as "very serious, very prepared and very professional...I am crazy about her."
In between her work for Altman, Liv starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in Onegin, directed by his sister Martha, from the classic novel by Alexander Pushkin. Ralph Fiennes said of Liv, "We tested a lot of actresses but Liv has an acute sense of emotional truth that's not performed or projected, but just is."
In 2001, Liv portrayed Arwen in the ground-breaking epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Nothing if not eclectic, Liv then defied expectations by starring in cult director Kevin Smith's gentle low-budget comedy Jersey Girl, re-uniting her with her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck, before playing Betty, the female lead to Edward Norton's Bruce Banner in Marvel's The Incredible Hulk.
An actress who consistently refuses to be pigeonholed, Liv's career is one that cuts across genres; she cannot be defined by the roles she has chosen and is led, above all, by what speaks to her on an instinctual and emotional level. "It's very difficult to say no to whatever comes along," Tom Hanks has said of her, "...But she's saying no to all the right things."
In addition to her acting work, Liv has forged a decade-long relationship with Givenchy as the spokesperson for their fragrance and cosmetics line. Liv is also a brand ambassador for Triumph lingerie, developing a capsule collection that celebrates the company's commitment to body confidence, as exemplified by Liv herself, "a modern woman in every sense, a mother and actress with a fierce sense of femininity that women across the world can relate to."
Liv's previous design collaboration was with Belstaff, resulting in two capsule collections for the iconic British heritage brand. Liv has also been the face of commercial campaigns for several global brands, including Visa and Pantene.- This Kentucky native began her career in her home state and abroad in Europe, singing with The Kentucky Ambassadors of Music. Sarah attended Seneca High School in Kentucky. Discovered by a modeling agent, Sarah moved to Chicago where her career took off.
In 2011, Wright began a recurring role in the CBS mid-season replacement comedy series Mad Love (2011), and maintained a small recurring role as Millicent Gergich on the NBC show Parks and Recreation (2009). In 2014, she co-starred alongside Casey Wilson and Ken Marino in the short-lived NBC sitcom Marry Me (2014). In 2017, she starred alongside Tom Cruise in the action biography American Made (2017). - Actress
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Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).
Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an American-born artist (from Cincinnati, Ohio), who also acts as Natalie's agent. Her parents are both of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Natalie's family left Israel for Washington, D.C., when she was still very young. After a few more moves, her family finally settled in New York, where she still lives to this day. She graduated with honors, and her academic achievements allowed her to attend Harvard University. She was discovered by an agent in a pizza parlor at the age of 11. She was pushed towards a career in modeling but she decided that she would rather pursue a career in acting. She was featured in many live performances, but she made her powerful film debut in the movie Léon: The Professional (1994) (aka "Léon"). Following this role Natalie won roles in such films as Heat (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996).
It was not until 1999 that Natalie received worldwide fame as Queen Amidala in the highly anticipated US$431 million-grossing prequel Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). She then she starred in two critically acclaimed comedy dramas, Anywhere But Here (1999) and Where the Heart Is (2000), followed by Closer (2004), for which she received an Oscar nomination. She reprised her role as Padme Amidala in the last two episodes of the Star Wars prequel trilogy: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). She received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Black Swan (2010).
She received a second nomination for Best Actress, for playing Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie (2016).- Producer
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Brooke Burke holds many titles, including: mother, television host, fitness guru, pod-caster, author, social media mogul (with almost 4 million followers), and cancer survivor. Forbes recognized Brooke's work by listing her as one of America's top ten moms to follow.
Brooke wrote her first biography entitled, "The Naked Mom, A Mother's Fearless Revelations", and then co-authored her 2nd book, Chicken Soup for the Soul's, "The Joy of Less".
Amongst her many credits, Brooke is often recognized for first winning, and then going on to Co-Host 8 seasons of, "Dancing With The Stars". For the past two years, she hosted and co-produced the award winning Saturday morning educational show, "Hidden Heroes". Currently she stars in TV Land's new branded content series entitled, "I Dare You", in which she is dared by the TV Land audience and fans of her social media to take on the wildest of challenges.
Brooke has ventured into the world of Podcasting, launching "The Brooke Burke Show". Her guests have included authors, celebrities, chefs, inspirational women and close friends.
In 2007, Brooke founded and launched BabooshBaby.com, the online store for her popular post-pregnancy belly wraps, Tauts. Brooke later developed Baboosh Body, a fitness product (belly wrap) made to trim the tummy. In 2011, Brooke launched the online mommy destination, ModernMom.com, of which she remains the CEO.
In 2012, Brooke brought her own personal brand of fitness workouts via her DVD series with SONY HOME ENTERTAINMENT, "Transform Your Body With Brooke Burke", "Strengthen & Condition and Tone & Tighten", "Brooke Burke Body: Sexy Abs", and "Brooke Burke Body: 30-Day Slimdown".
Inspired by her dedication to promote women's awareness of the importance of physical and mental health, Brooke's next fitness project was to create her signature "Booty Burn" workout which she personally teaches in her hometown of Malibu, California. "Being a teacher and helping women transform their lives has been one of the most rewarding efforts of my career."
Continuing her quest to educate women about health and the value of exercise, this year Brooke designed and produced her newest passion project BrookeBurkeBody, a fitness lifestyle app that allows anyone to take a fitness journey with her anytime, anywhere.
Brooke has graced the cover of countless fitness, fashion, and lifestyle magazines proving that she is an inspiration to women. She has proudly been the feature story in Health, Fitness, Women's Health, Redbook, and Ladies Home Journal, to name a few.
In 2007, Brooke did her first Primetime Network hosting gig on CBS's "Rock Star INXS" and then "Rock Star Super Nova" with iconic producer Mark Burnett. In 2010, she hosted, "She's Got The Look", while simultaneously taking on (then) her new role as co-host of "Dancing With The Stars". She continued to co-host DWTS' for eight consecutive seasons. Brooke also co-hosted Miss America for four years.
Synonymous with Health & Wellness, over twelve years ago the Skechers Shoe Company chose Brooke to become a spokesperson for their brand starring in multiple National commercials for them.
Brooke has always been heavily involved in humanitarian causes. 12 years ago, she became a "Smile Ambassador" for Operation Smile. Her efforts have included hosting their biggest fundraisers in Los Angeles and New York, appearing in PSA's, raising funds, and traveling on medical missions with her family to personally experience the miracle of helping those less fortunate. Brooke has personally helped raise large sums of money for Operation Smile, but more importantly she has helped change children's lives forever. Continuing to pursue her dedication to charities, in the past two years Brooke has emceed the annual UNICEF gala in Dallas, Texas.
Brooke beat cancer in 2013, but she continues to bring awareness and inspiration to people regarding the disease. She became the face of the American Cancer Society's "Bucket List" campaign in 2014.
The most important pursuit in Brooke's life is and always will be the raising and caring of her four children.- Actress
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Diane Lane was born on January 22, 1965, in New York. She is the daughter of acting coach Burton Eugene "Burt" Lane and nightclub singer/centerfold Colleen Farrington. Her parents' families were both from the state of Georgia. Diane was acting from a very young age and made her stage debut at the age of six. Her work in such acclaimed theater productions as "The Cherry Orchard" and "Medea" led to her being called to Hollywood. She was 13 when she was cast by director George Roy Hill in his wonderful 1979 film A Little Romance (1979), opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. The film only did so-so commercially, but Olivier praised his young co-star, calling her the new Grace Kelly. After her well-received debut, Diane found herself on magazine covers all over the world, including "Time", which declared her the "new young acting sensation". However, things quietened down a bit when she found herself in such critical and financial flops as Touched by Love (1980), Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1980), Movie Madness (1982), Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) and, most unmemorably, Six Pack (1982), all of which failed to set her career on fire.
She also made several TV movies during this period, but it was in 1983 that she finally began to fulfill the promise of stardom that had earlier been predicted for her. Acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola took note of Diane's appeal and cast her in two "youth"-oriented films based on S.E. Hinton novels. Indeed, Rumble Fish (1983) and The Outsiders (1983) have become cult classics and resulted in her getting a loyal fan base. The industry was now taking notice of Diane Lane, and she soon secured lead roles in three big-budget studio epics. She turned down the first, Splash (1983) (which was a surprise hit for Daryl Hannah). Unfortunately, the other two were critical and box-office bombs: Walter Hill's glossy rock 'n' roll fable Streets of Fire (1984) was not the huge summer success that many had thought it would be, and the massively troubled Coppola epic The Cotton Club (1984) co-starring Richard Gere was also a high-profile flop. The back-to-back failure of both of these films could have ended her career there and then -- but thankfully it didn't. Possibly "burned out" by the lambasting these films received and unhappy with the direction her career was taking, she "retired" from the film business at age 19, saying that she had forgotten what she had started acting for. She stayed away from the screen for the next three years. Ironically, the two films that were the main causes of her "retirement" have since grown in popularity, and "Streets of Fire" especially seems to have found the kind of audience it couldn't get when it was first released.
The process of rebuilding her career was a slow and gradual one. First came the obscure and very sexy straight-to-video thriller Lady Beware (1987), followed by the critically acclaimed but little seen The Big Town (1987) with Matt Dillon and Tommy Lee Jones. In the former, Diane plays a very mysterious and sexy stripper and her memorable strip sequence is a highlight of the film. Despite her sexy new on-screen image, it wasn't until 1989's smash hit TV mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989) that Diane made another big impression on a sizable audience. Her performance in the hugely popular and critically acclaimed western epic as a vulnerable "whore with a heart" won her an Emmy nomination and much praise. Film producers were interested in her again. Another well-received TV production, Descending Angel (1990), was followed by smaller roles in major films like Richard Attenborough's Chaplin (1992) and Mike Binder's Indian Summer (1993), and larger parts in small independent films like My New Gun (1992), Vital Signs (1990) and Knight Moves (1992). Indeed, the latter two films co-starred her then-husband, Christopher Lambert, with whom she had a daughter named Eleanor.
Diane was now re-established in Hollywood and started to appear in higher-profile co-starring roles in some big-budget, major movies like Walter Hill's Wild Bill (1995), the Sylvester Stallone actioner Judge Dredd (1995), the Robin Williams's comedy Jack (1996) and Murder at 1600 (1997) co-starring Wesley Snipes. However, all of these still did not quite make Diane a "big-name star" and, by 1997, she found herself, possibly by choice, back in smaller, personal projects.
Her next role as a frustrated 1960s housewife in the independent hit A Walk on the Moon (1999) deservedly won her rave notices and, at last, gave her career the big lift it needed. The cute but tear-jerking comedy My Dog Skip (2000) also proved to be a small-scale success. However, it was the £330-million worldwide grossing blockbuster hit The Perfect Storm (2000) that finally made Diane Lane the household name that she always should have been.
After the worldwide success of "The Perfect Storm", she was more in demand than ever. She played Leelee Sobieski's sinister junkie guardian in the slick thriller The Glass House (2001), and co-starred with Keanu Reeves in the #1 smash hit Hardball (2001). However, her greatest career moment was still to come with her lead role in the enormous critical and commercial hit Unfaithful (2002), in which she superbly portrayed Richard Gere's adulterous wife. Her performance won the respect of critics and audiences alike, as well as many awards and nominations including Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
Her follow-up films including Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), Must Love Dogs (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), Secretariat (2010), and the blockbuster, Man of Steel (2013), were all received and her performances were highly praised. She won further Best Actress Golden Globe nominations for her roles in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and Cinema Verite (2011).
She is very well regarded within the industry, adored by film fans, and has a credibility and quality that is all too rare today. Her immense talent at playing human and real characters, her "drop dead gorgeous" beauty and down-to-earth grittiness guarantees that she will stay on top, and she guarantee has already shown the kind of resilience that will keep her working for a long, long time.- Katherine Elizabeth Upton was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, to Shelley Fawn (Davis), a state tennis champion from Texas, and Jefferson Matthew Upton, a high school athletics director. Her uncle is Michigan congressman Fred Upton. Upton always knew she wanted to be a model. Since signing with IMG Models in 2010, Kate has taken the world by storm. For the past two years, Kate has graced the cover of the legendary Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, which has led to an onslaught of media buzz about the 21-year-old. Kate's stardom was elevated to an even higher level with her June 2013 American Vogue cover shot by Mario Testino, whose byline proclaims "American Dream Girl: How Kate Upton Became the Hottest Supermodel on Earth." She has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen Show, The Late Show, Saturday Night Live, The Dan Patrick Show, and Le Grand Journal, and continues to be one of the most searched-for names on Google.
Beyond Sports Illustrated, Kate has been featured on the covers of Vogue Italia, British Vogue, CR Fashion Book, Cosmopolitan, French ELLE, GQ, Italian GQ, German GQ, Jalouse, Sunday Times Style, Esquire, The Daily, and Muse Magazine. She has appeared in fashion editorials for American Vogue, Vogue Spain, V Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and Russian Interview, and has worked with photographers such as Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Terry Richardson, Alasdair McLellan, Bruce Weber, Sebastian Kim, Guy Aroch, Matt Jones, Miguel Reveriego, Norman Jean Roy, Josh Olins, Gilles Bensimon, Yu Tsai, Sebastian Faena, Walter Iooss, Ellen von Unwerth, and Stewart Shining. A favorite of high-fashion notables such as Stephen Gan, Tonne Goodman, Carlyne Cerf, Carine Roitfeld, and Katie Grand, Kate was also shot for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations" Exhibition Catalogue in 2012. Models.com exclaims, "The sexy market just got a little more competitive thanks to the meteoric rise of Kate Upton. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition was a major coup, but the momentum keeps building with cover after cover. We can't remember the last time a newbie made such a splash!"
Kate's YouTube video of her dancing to Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie" last year was the number one watched video on Twitter and Google for multiple weeks. She has an enterprising reputation for creating viral hits, and the clip has over 8 million views.
Known for her vivacious personality and incredible physique, Kate has been the face for Sam Edelman, Accessorize, Guess Lingerie, Guess Jeans, Guess Accessories, Liverpool, Dylan George, and Dooney & Burke. She has also worked with Gillette, Skullcandy Headphones and Beach Bunny Swimwear, even designing a Beach Bunny Swimwear collection herself. She has starred in commercials for Mercedes-Benz, Carl's Junior and Sobe, and starred in The Other Woman (2014), by director Nick Cassavetes.
Kate resides in New York City. Kate is a five-time world champion equestrian, and she enjoys hanging out at the barn, horseback riding, and is an avid sportsfan. - Additional Crew
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Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, United Kingdom. She is the oldest of three children with a younger sister, Philippa ("Pippa") Charlotte and a younger brother, James William. Her mother Carole worked as a flight attendant while her father Michael worked as a flight dispatcher, both for the British Airways. They married on June 21, 1980 and founded Party Pieces, a successful mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations in 1987. Catherine and her family moved to Amman in Jordan in 1984 where her father worked for the British Airways for two and a half years. Catherine and her sister, Philippa, attended a nursery school in Jordan. In 1986, Catherine and her family returned to their home in West Berkshire, United Kingdom, where she started St. Andrew's School in Pangbourne and remained there until 1995. Catherine went on to Marlborough College Wiltshire, where she studied Chemistry, Biology and Art at A-level. She also took part in sporty activities such as tennis, hockey, netball and athletics.
At the age of 18, Catherine undertook a gap year, where she studied at the British Institute in Florence, Italy and participated in a Raleigh International programme in Chile. She also joined as a crew member on Round the World Challenge Boats in the Solent. In 2001, Catherine enrolled at the University of Saint Andrews in Fife, Scotland and graduated in 2005 with a 2:1 in History of Art. During her time at university, she continued her interest in sport by playing hockey for the university team. It was also at university where Catherine met her future husband, Prince William of Wales. Since she completed her university degree, Catherine worked for her parents' company, Party Pieces, as well as a part-time buyer in Jigsaw Junior in London.
In October 2010, during a private holiday in Kenya, her long term boyfriend, Prince William of Wales of Wales, proposed with his mother's engagement ring. The engagement was publicly announced on November 16, 2010 at a press conference and photo call in the State Rooms of St. James Palace in London. A pre-recorded TV interview with the couple followed. They married on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London and Catherine was formally titled The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, and Baroness Carrickfergus. The Duchess of Cambridge has been branded a style icon with many of her outfits selling out. Ranked #8 on Tatler's list of best dressed women in 2007. Vanity Fair named her #1 Best Dressed in 2010, 2011, and 2012, while UK Harper's Bazaar named her #1 Best Dressed in 2011. The Duchess of Cambridge is patron of Action on Addiction and the National Portrait Gallery, and royal patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices and The Art Room. She is also a volunteer with the Scout Association. With the Death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8 2022, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge has become Catherine, Princess of Wales.- Ashley Degenford was born on 15 July 1979 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Perfect 10 Model Boxing (2006), Perfect 10: Model Boxing (2004) and Perfect 10: Model Boxing Vol. 2 (2005).
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Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski was born and raised in Australia. Her parents were Polish immigrants. She attended the Santa Sabina College for her high school education. She then went on to study Performance at the University of Western Sydney's School of Contemporary Arts, graduating in 2003. Shortly afterwards, she landed her first role on television in an episode of Fear Factory (2004). Her next role was also on Australian television, appearing in several episodes of Headland (2005). In 2007, she made her big screen debut in Gone (2006). This performance caught the attention of casting directors in Hollywood. She decided to move from Australia to Los Angeles and, on her third day of arrival, she landed her breakthrough role as "Sarah Walker" in Chuck (2007).- Actress
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Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born mother is of Scottish and Welsh origin. Brought up immersed in the acting profession from both sides - writing and performing - it is little wonder that the young Keira asked for her own agent at the age of three. She was granted one at the age of six and performed in her first TV role as "Little Girl" in Royal Celebration (1993), aged seven.
It was discovered at an early age that Keira had severe difficulties in reading and writing. She was not officially dyslexic as she never sat the formal tests required of the British Dyslexia Association. Instead, she worked incredibly hard, encouraged by her family, until the problem had been overcome by her early teens. Her first multi-scene performance came in A Village Affair (1995), an adaptation of the lesbian love story by Joanna Trollope. This was followed by small parts in the British crime series The Bill (1984), an exiled German princess in The Treasure Seekers (1996) and a much more substantial role as the young "Judith Dunbar" in Giles Foster's adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Coming Home (1998), alongside Peter O'Toole, Penelope Keith and Joanna Lumley. The first time Keira's name was mentioned around the world was when it was revealed (in a plot twist kept secret by director George Lucas) that she played Natalie Portman's decoy "Padme" to Portman's "Amidala" in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). It was several years before agreement was reached over which scenes featured Keira as the queen and which featured Natalie!
Keira had no formal training as an actress and did it out of pure enjoyment. She went to an ordinary council-run school in nearby Teddington and had no idea what she wanted to do when she left. By now, she was beginning to receive far more substantial roles and was starting to turn work down as one project and her schoolwork was enough to contend with. She reappeared on British television in 1999 as "Rose Fleming" in Alan Bleasdale's faithful reworking of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1999), and traveled to Romania to film her first title role in Walt Disney's Princess of Thieves (2001) in which she played Robin Hood's daughter, Gwyn. Keira's first serious boyfriend was her Princess of Thieves (2001) co-star Del Synnott, and they later co-starred in Peter Hewitt's 'work of fart' Thunderpants (2002). Nick Hamm's dark thriller The Hole (2001) kept her busy during 2000, and featured her first nude scene (15 at the time, the film was not released until she was 16 years old). In the summer of 2001, while Keira studied and sat her final school exams (she received six A's), she filmed a movie about an Asian girl's (Parminder Nagra) love for football and the prejudices she has to overcome regarding both her culture and her religion). Bend It Like Beckham (2002) was a smash hit in football-mad Britain but it had to wait until another of Keira's films propelled it to the top end of the US box office. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) cost just £3.5m to make, and nearly £1m of that came from the British Lottery. It took £11m in the UK and has since gone on to score more than US$76m worldwide.
Meanwhile, Keira had started A-levels at Esher College, studying Classics, English Literature and Political History, but continued to take acting roles which she thought would widen her experience as an actress. The story of a drug-addicted waitress and her friendship with the young son of a drug-addict, Pure (2002), occupied Keira from January to March 2002. Also at this time, Keira's first attempt at Shakespeare was filmed. She played "Helena" in a modern interpretation of a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" entitled The Seasons Alter (2002). This was commissioned by the environmental organization "Futerra", of which Keira's mother is patron. Keira received no fee for this performance or for another short film, New Year's Eve (2002), by award-winning director Col Spector. But it was a chance encounter with producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) which forced Keira to leave her studies and pursue acting full-time. The meeting lead to an audition for the role of "Larisa Feodorovna Guishar" - the classic heroine of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (2002), played famously in the David Lean movie by Julie Christie. This was to be a big-budget TV movie with a screenplay written by Andrew Davies. Keira won the part and the mini-series was filmed throughout the Spring of 2002 in Slovakia, co-starring Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as "Yuri Zhivago". Keira rounded off 2002 with a few scenes in the first movie to be directed by Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley writer Richard Curtis. Called Love Actually (2003), Keira played "Juliet", a newlywed whose husband's Best Man is secretly besotted with her. A movie filmed after Love Actually (2003) but released before it was to make the world sit up and take notice of this beautiful fresh-faced young actress with a cute British accent. It was a movie which Keira very nearly missed out on, altogether. Auditions were held in London for a new blockbuster movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), but heavy traffic in the city forced Keira to be tagged on to the end of the day's auditions list. It helped - she got the part. Filming took place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean from October 2002 to March 2003 and was released to massive box office success and almost universal acclaim in the July of that year.
Meanwhile, a small British film called Bend It Like Beckham (2002) had sneaked onto a North American release slate and was hardly setting the box office alight. But Keira's dominance in "Pirates" had set tongues wagging and questions being asked about the actress playing "Elizabeth Swann". Almost too late, "Bend It"'s distributors realized one of its two stars was the same girl whose name was on everyone's lips due to "Pirates", and took the unusual step of re-releasing "Bend It" to 1,000 screens across the US, catapulting it from no. 26 back up to no. 12. "Pirates", meanwhile, was fighting off all contenders at the top spot, and stayed in the Top 3 for an incredible 21 weeks. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that Keira was on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's wanted list for the part of "Guinevere" in a planned accurate telling of the legend of "King Arthur". Filming took place in Ireland and Wales from June to November 2003. In July, Keira had become the celebrity face of British jeweller and luxury goods retailer, Asprey. At a photoshoot for the company on Long Island New York in August, Keira met and fell in love with Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. King Arthur (2004) was released in July 2004 to lukewarm reviews. It seems audiences wanted the legend after all, and not necessarily the truth. Keira became the breakout star and 'one to watch in 2004' throughout the world's media at the end of 2003.
Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller The Jacket (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. A planned movie of Deborah Moggach's novel, "Tulip Fever", about forbidden love in 17th Century Amsterdam, was canceled in February after the British government suddenly closed tax loopholes which allowed filmmakers to claw back a large proportion of their expenditure. Due to star Keira and Jude Law in the main roles, the film remains mothballed. Instead, Keira spent her time wisely, visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the "Comic Relief" charity, and spending summer at various grandiose locations around the UK filming what promises to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice (2005), alongside Matthew Macfadyen as "Mr. Darcy", and with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench in supporting roles. In October 2004, Keira received her first major accolade, the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor - Female, and readers of Empire Magazine voted her the Sexiet Movie Star Ever. The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). 2005 started with the premiere of The Jacket (2005) at the Sundance Film Festival, with the US premiere in LA on February 28th. Much of the year was then spent in the Caribbean filming both sequels to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Keira's first major presenting role came in a late-night bed-in comedy clip show for Comic Relief with presenter Johnny Vaughan. In late July, promotions started for the September release of Pride & Prejudice (2005), with British fans annoyed to learn that the US version would end with a post-marriage kiss, but the European version would not. Nevertheless, when the movie opened in September on both sides of the Atlantic, Keira received her greatest praise thus far in her career, amid much talk of awards. It spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK box office.
Domino (2005) opened well in October, overshadowed by the death of Domino Harvey earlier in the year. Keira received Variety's Personality Of The Year Award in November, topped the following month by her first Golden Globe nomination, for Pride & Prejudice (2005). KeiraWeb.com exclusively announced that Keira would play Helene Joncour in an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novella Silk (2007). Pride & Prejudice (2005) garnered six BAFTA nominations at the start of 2006, but not Best Actress for Keira, a fact which paled soon after by the announcement she had received her first Academy Award nomination, the third youngest Best Actress Oscar hopeful. A controversial nude Vanity Fair cover of Keira and Scarlett Johansson kept the press busy up till the Oscars, with Reese Witherspoon taking home the gold man in the Best Actress category, although Keira's Vera Wang dress got more media attention. Keira spent early summer in Europe filming Silk (2007) opposite Michael Pitt, and the rest of the summer in the UK filming Atonement (2007), in which she plays Cecilia Tallis, and promoting the new Pirates movie (her Ellen Degeneres interview became one of the year's Top 10 'viral downloads'). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) broke many box office records when it opens worldwide in July, becoming the third biggest movie ever by early September. Keira sued British newspaper The Daily Mail in early 2007 after her image in a bikini accompanied an article about a woman who blamed slim celebrities for the death of her daughter from anorexia. The case was settled and Keira matched the settlement damages and donated the total amount to an eating disorder charity. Keira filmed a movie about the life of Dylan Thomas, The Edge Of Love (2008) with a screenplay written by her mother Sharman Macdonald. Her co-star Lindsay Lohan pulled out just a week before filming began, and was replaced by Sienna Miller.
What was announced to be Keira's final Pirates movie in the franchise, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007), opened strongly in June, rising to all-time fifth biggest movie by July. Atonement (2007) opened the Venice Film Festival in August, and opened worldwide in September, again to superb reviews for Keira. Meanwhile, Silk (2007) opened in September on very few screens and disappeared without a trace. Keira spent the rest of the year filming The Duchess (2008), the life story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning biography of the distant relation of Princess Diana. The year saw more accolades and poll-topping for Keira than ever before, including Women's Beauty Icon 2007 and gracing the covers of all the top-selling magazines. She won Best Actress for Atonement (2007) at the Variety Club Of Great Britain Showbiz Awards, and ended the year with her second Golden Globe nomination. Christmas Day saw - or rather heard - Keira on British TV screens in a new Robbie The Reindeer animated adventure, with DVD proceeds going to Comic Relief. At the start of 2008, Keira received her first BAFTA nomination - Best Actress for Atonement, and the movie wins Best Film: Drama at the Golden Globes. Seven Academy Award nominations for Atonement soon follow. Keira wins Best Actress for her role as Cecilia Tallis at the Empire Film Awards. In May, Keira's first Shakespearean role is announced, when she is confirmed to play Cordelia in a big-screen version of King Lear, alongside Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Sir Anthony Hopkins as the titular monarch. After two years of rumours, it is confirmed that Keira is on the shortlist to play Eliza Doolittle in a new adaptation of My Fair Lady. The Edge Of Love opens the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 18th, and opens on limited release in the UK and US. A huge round of promotions for The Duchess occurs throughout the summer, with cast and crew trying to play down the marketers' decision to draw parallels between the duchess and Princess Diana. Keira attends the UK and US premieres and Toronto Film Festival within the first week of September. The Duchess opens strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. Two more movies were confirmed for Keira during September - a tale of adultery called Last Night (2010), and a biopic of author F Scott Fitzgerald entitled The Beautiful and the Damned.
Keira spent October on the streets of New York City filming Last Night alongside Sam Worthington and Guillaume Canet. Keira helped to promote the sixtieth anniversary of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, by contributing to a series of short films produced to mark the occasion. In January 2009 it was announced Keira had signed to play a reclusive actress in an adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel London Boulevard (2010), co-starring Colin Farrell. Keira continues her close ties with the Comic Relief charity by helping to launch their British icons T-shirts campaign. In the same week King Lear was revealed to have been shelved, it was announced that Keira would instead star alongside her Pride & Prejudice co-star Carey Mulligan in an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go (2010). A new short film emerges in March, recorded in the January of 2008 in which Keira plays a Fairy! The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2009) was written by Keira's boyfriend Rupert Friend and actor Tom Mison. It went to be shown at the London Film Festival in October and won Best Comedy Short at the New Hampshire Film Festival. Keira continued to put her celebrity to good use in 2009 with a TV commercial for WomensAid highlighting domestic abuse against women. Unfortunately, UK censors refused to allow its broadcast and it can only be viewed on YouTube. May and June saw Keira filming Never Let Me Go (2010) and London Boulevard (2010) back-to-back. In October, a new direction for Keira's career emerged, when it was announced she would appear on the London stage in her West End debut role as Jennifer, in a reworking of Moliere's The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis and Tara Fitzgerald. More than $2m of ticket sales followed in the first four days, before even rehearsals had begun! The play ran from December to March at London's Comedy Theatre.- Actress
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Sandra Taylor was born on 26 December 1966 in Westchester County, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for The Princess Diaries (2001), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) and Valentine's Day (2010). She is married to David John O'Connell. They have two children.- Actress
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Brande has nurtured multiple successful careers as a writer, producer, author, TV and Film actress and businesswoman. Brande joined the #1 syndicated hit series "Baywatch" in the starring role as Leigh Dyer opposite Jason Momoa. Brande's film roles have included "The Nanny Diaries", starring Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney and "Starsky & Hutch" starring opposite Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Her ventures into the Horror/Thriller genre include her co-starring role in Dimension Film's "Dracula II: Ascension" and Snoop Dog's "Hood of Horror". With Brande's popularity and success, Reality TV invited her on NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice", where Brande shined making it all the way to the end. One of the highest rated seasons of the franchise, Brande was among the elite few Celebrities invited to return on "Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars!"
What Brande is less known for, yet she is just as proud, is of her work as a producer for film and television. Starting her production company in 2000, Brande has seen success under her guidance and vision. Recent ventures include Feature Films "Ace and the Christmas Miracle", "Twisted Vines", "Project Legion" and her newest feature film "Wineville", currently in production.
Brande continues to focus on new ways to expand her acting and producing career. When Brande is not working she is volunteering with various charities and reaping the many rewards of being a mother.- Actress
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On February 13th, 1968, a girl of Chinese, English, and Hawaiian ancestry was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Herbert, was a salesman and her mother, Juanita, worked many odd jobs to help support the family. She has one older brother, Glenn. She is a former Miss Teen USA, and modeled in Japan and Italy for several months before deciding to relocate to L.A. and try her hand at show business. She received her break on TV's Growing Pains (1985) in 1987 and never looked back.- Actress
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Born in San Diego, California, Betsy Russell is best known for her starring role as "Jill Tuck," the ex-wife of the Jigsaw Killer in the "Saw" film series. Russell was born into a family of educators--her father, iconic economist Richard Russell, wrote a news letter about the stock market for over 50 years called "Dow Theory Letters," and her grandfather, Max Lerner, was an author and syndicated columnist, said to be one of the great minds of our time. Russell seemed to be destined for greatness and decided to set the bar high for herself when making career moves and setting goals. At 16 years of age she landed her first real gig in the business, a Pepsi commercial in her hometown of San Diego, California. This sparked a fire within her, and she immediately made the move to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.
Russell landed her first TV role on the series The Powers of Matthew Star (1982) with one line. After that TV roles began to pour in, until she landed an audition for a film that would change her career: the cult classic Private School (1983). She booked the role on the spot, being cast as "Jordon Leigh-Jensen," playing opposite her idol Phoebe Cates. The film launched Russell into Hollywood stardom, and she quickly became known as the "it-girl". Her scene riding a horse topless in slow motion made her an '80s icon. She continued to work steadily in film, starring in such films as Tomboy (1985), Avenging Angel (1985) and Cheerleader Camp (1988), and did guest-starring roles in such top-rated television series as The A-Team (1983), T.J. Hooker (1982) and Family Ties (1982). At the height of her career she met actor and tennis star Vincent Van Patten at The Playboy Mansion, where she visited frequently as her grandfather was a close friend of Hugh Hefner. Van Patten and Russell married in 1989 and had two beautiful boys. She decided to take a hiatus from acting, to focus on her family and raising her children.
Van Patten and Russell divorced in 2001, and she decided to move to Malibu, California, to continue raising her family. Soon after her divorce she received a call from "Saw" producer Mark Burg about an upcoming role in the series. Russell jumped at the opportunity to work in one of the biggest horror franchises in the history of film, and returned to the screen starring as "Jill Tuck" in Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures' Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009) and Saw 3D (2010).
Russell is an avid writer, has a huge passion for various charities, she holds a real-estate license and is a certified hypnotist. While she continues to love acting, she considers "Spiritual Psychology" and life coaching her other passion. She completed a three-year Masters program at The University of Santa Monica in this field, with an emphasis on consciousness health and healing, and hopes to help others with healing their issues and learning communication skills and has begun teaching workshops to actors on this subject.- Actress
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Halle Maria Berry was born Maria Halle Berry on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Oakwood, Ohio to Judith Ann Berry (née Hawkins), a psychiatric nurse & Jerome Jesse Berry, a hospital attendant. Her father was African-American and her mother is of mostly English and German descent. Halle first came into the spotlight at seventeen years when she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio in 1985 and, a year later in 1986, when she was the first runner-up in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant. After participating in the pageant, Halle became a model. It eventually led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's Living Dolls (1989), where she soon gained a reputation for her on-set tenacity, preferring to "live" her roles and remaining in character even when the cameras stopped rolling. It paid off though when she reportedly refused to bathe for several days before starting work on her role as a crack addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991) because the role provided her big screen breakthrough. The following year, she was cast as Eddie Murphy's love interest in Boomerang (1992), one of the few times that Murphy was evenly matched on screen. In 1994, Berry gained a youthful following for her performance as sexy secretary "Sharon Stone" in The Flintstones (1994). She next had a highly publicized starring role with Jessica Lange in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Though the movie received mixed reviews, Berry didn't let that slow her down, and continued down her path to super-stardom.
In 1998, she received critical success when she starred as a street smart young woman who takes up with a struggling politician in Warren Beatty's Bulworth (1998). The following year, she won even greater acclaim for her role as actress Dorothy Dandridge in made-for-cable's Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series. In 2000, she received box office success in X-Men (2000) in which she played "Storm", a mutant who has the ability to control the weather. In 2001, she starred in the thriller Swordfish (2001), and became the first African-American to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards, for her role as a grieving mother in the drama Monster's Ball (2001).- Actress
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Karina Smirnoff was born on 2 January 1978 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Kharkiv, Ukraine]. She is an actress, known for Dark Feathers (2024), Shall We Dance? (2004) and Tango Shalom (2021).- Actress
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Gabrielle Union was born on October 29, 1972, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Theresa (Glass), who managed a phone company, and Sylvester E. Union, a military sergeant and business executive. When she was eight, her family moved to Pleasanton, California, where she grew up and attended high school. There, Union was an all-star point guard and a year-round athlete participating in soccer, basketball, and track. She graduated from Foothill High School (Class of 1991).
After high school, Gabrielle attended college at University of Nebraska, where she played on the soccer team; and then later transferred to Cuesta College. Eventually, she ended up at UCLA. On her way to law school, just planning on being a working stiff, things started to happen during her senior year. Gabrielle had a college internship at a L.A. modeling agency, she thought it would be an easy way to pick up some extra credits. Little did she know that clients were eyeing the help. Upon the completion of the internship, she was asked to become a client with the agency. Gabby thought of it as a great way to pay off a stack of college loans, and modeled until her agent found that she could actually act. Her first audition/job was landed without any headshots, on Saved by the Bell (1989). Since then, she has gone on to have many small but substantial film roles and has guest-starred on several hit TV shows, all before landing the role of "Dr. Courtney Ellis", on CBS' short-lived medical drama City of Angels (2000).
Although she plays parts that are opinionated and strong, Gabrielle believes that, "Hollywood needs to recognize all shades of African-American beauty." Gabrielle is a 1996 graduate of UCLA with honors in sociology.- Actress
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Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother named Christian Dunst, born in 1987. Her father is German, from Hamburg, and her mother, who is American, is of German and Swedish descent.
Her career began at the age of 3 when she started modeling and appearing in commercials. She made her feature film debut with an uncredited role at age 6 in the 'Oedipus Wrecks' segment of Woody Allen's 1989 film New York Stories (1989). She received her first film credit in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where her film career took off.
In 1994, she made her breakthrough performance in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), alongside such stars as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, the MTV Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress. In 1995, she was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Over the next few years, she made a string of hit movies including Little Women (1994), Jumanji (1995) and Small Soldiers (1998).
In 2000, she received rave reviews for her role as "Lux Lisbon" in Sofia Coppola's independent film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) and proved her status as a leading actress in the comedy hit, Bring It On (2000). She also graduated from Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles in June of that year.
In 2002, she landed one of her best known roles as Peter Parker's love interest, Mary Jane Watson, in Spider-Man (2002). She continued her role in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
She went on to land roles in such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), and in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown (2005). She also played the title character in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).
Dunst won the Best Actress Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Justine in Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011). In 2012, she appeared in Walter Salles' film adaptation of On the Road (2012) and the independent comedy Bachelorette (2012). She also has several films in production, including The Two Faces of January (2014).
Her charity work includes designing a necklace to raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as well as supporting various cancer charities.- Tsianina Joelson was born on 16 January 1975 in Coquille, Oregon, USA. She is an actress, known for Bring It On (2000), American Pie 2 (2001) and According to Greta (2009). She has been married to Michael Lohmann since 2004. She was previously married to Gregory Joelson.
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Amber Laura Heard was born in Austin, Texas, to Patricia Paige Heard (née Parsons), an internet researcher, and David C. Heard (David Clinton Heard), a contractor. She has English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Welsh ancestry.
Heard appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film, North Country (2005), in which she played Charlize Theron's character in flashbacks. Her other early film credits include: Syrup (2013), Drive Angry (2011) 3D, The Joneses (2009), Never Back Down (2008), Alpha Dog (2006) and Friday Night Lights (2004). On television, Heard starred on The CW drama, Hidden Palms (2007), and had guest starring roles on Showtime's Californication (2007) and CBS's Criminal Minds (2005).
In 2009, Heard starred in the box office hit, Zombieland (2009), opposite Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray and Jesse Eisenberg. She also starred in the suspense thriller, The Stepfather (2009), with Sela Ward, Dylan Walsh and Penn Badgley. In 2008, she garnered attention for her role in the comedic hit, Pineapple Express (2008), with Seth Rogen and James Franco. Heard received a 2008 Young Hollywood Award for her breakthrough performance in "Pineapple Express".
She appeared in The Rum Diary (2011), opposite Johnny Depp, and John Carpenter's The Ward (2010), which premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. She also starred in the independent film, And Soon the Darkness (2010), in which she additionally served as a co-producer.
Heard starred in Paranoia (2013), opposite Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth and Gary Oldman. The film was released by "Relativity Media" on August 16, 2013. She also starred in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013), which was released by "Open Road Films" on March 4, 2013, and McG's 3 Days to Kill (2014), opposite Kevin Costner and Hailee Steinfeld, which was released in 2014.
Additionally, her film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006), which premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, was released by The Weinstein Co. in theaters in the fall of 2013.
Heard resides in Los Angeles, where she is actively involved with Amnesty International. In 2015, she married actor Johnny Depp, and the two divorced in 2017.- Actress
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From pioneering women's MMA to blazing a trail in movies, GINA CARANO is one of Hollywood's most unique rising stars. Carano began her training with Muay Thai to competitive MMA, where she competed in Strikeforce and EliteXC. Her popularity led to her being called the "Face of Women's MMA" and she was the fastest-rising search on Google and third-most-searched person on Yahoo and ranked 5th on a list of the "Top 10 Influential Women" of 2008. In August 2009, Carano fought Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, the first time two women headlined a major MMA event and at the time was the highest rated fight in Showtime history. Carano compiled a competitive record of 12-1-1 in Muay Thai and a 7-1 in women's MMA.[4]
Outside the ring, Carano served as a mentor to aspiring fighters in the 2007 Oxygen reality series Fight Girls and performed as 'Crush' in the revamped television series American Gladiators before her breakout performance in Steven Soderbergh's film HAYWIRE, holding her own against the likes of Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton and Antonio Banderas. Gina's authenticity to making the Action look real earned her performance a Critics Choice Award Nomination for Best Actress in an action film. Hot on the heels came a role in the worldwide hit FAST AND FURIOUS 6 for Universal Pictures opposite Dwayne Johnson furthering her appeal as an Action Star. Next up, she co-starred alongside Robert DeNiro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Dave Bautista in Lionsgate's film HEIST followed by the role of 'Angel Dust' in the smash hit MARVEL/FOX film DEADPOOL opposite Ryan Reynolds based on the popular comic book. The film grossed over $870 Million dollars at the Box Office. After starring in the independent films DAUGHTER OF THE WOLF opposite Richard Dreyfuss and the dark comedy MADNESS IN THE METHOD with Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, Gina had secured a lead role in Jon Favreau's highly reviewed Star Wars TV show THE MANDALORIAN for Disney +. Gina played 'Cara Dune', a former Rebel Shock Trooper in the series. However, after sharing a controversial post on social media, Gina was fired by Lucas Film and her character was written out of the show.
Carano was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Dana Joy (née Cason) and professional football player Glenn Carano who played for the Dallas Cowboys and was the backup quarterback to Roger Staubach. She has two sisters, one older and one younger.
*Gina became the first recipient of ActionFest's Chuck Norris (Best Female Action Star) Award, given to the female action star of the year.
*Gina received the Artemis Action Warrior Award for her contributions to the female action genre and women's MMA. The award was presented to her by Action legend Zoe Bell- Producer
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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).- Music Artist
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Shania Twain was born as Eilleen Regina Edwards in 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, one of three daughters of Clarence and Sharon (Morrison) Edwards (sister Jill is two years older and Carrie-Ann three years younger). When she was age six, her mother remarried Jerry Twain, a full-blooded Ojibwa native from Timmins, Ontario, who adopted her as his own. She started out singing in bars as a child after hours, and, at thirteen, appeared on The Tommy Hunter Show (1965). When she was 22, her parents were killed in an accident, and she became the legal guardian of her half-brothers (Mark, then 13, and Darryl, then 14) and sister, putting her musical career on hold to raise her family. In 1991 she changed her name to Shania (meaning "I'm on my way" in Ojibwa, it was the name of a co-worker), and signed a contract with Mercury Nashville that same year. Her first album went by without notice, but her second album (produced with Mutt Lange, who she wed in 1993) broke world records with its sales!- Music Artist
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Audrey Faith McGraw known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer, actress and record producer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill's first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (1995), were major successes and placed a combined three number ones on Billboard's country charts. She then achieved mainstream and crossover success with her next two albums, Faith (1998) and Breathe (1999). Faith spawned her first international success in early 1998, "This Kiss", while Breathe became one of the best-selling country albums of all time, led by the huge crossover success of the songs "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me". It had massive sales worldwide and earned Hill three Grammy Awards.- Actress
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Michaela Conlin is an American actress best known for her role as Angela Montenegro on the Fox crime procedural comedy-drama Bones. Conlin was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on June 9, 1978 to a Chinese mother, an accountant, and an Irish father, a contractor. She performed in her first play at the age of seven, and continued to appear on stage in numerous Pennsylvania community and regional productions.- Charissa Thompson was born on May 4, 1982 in Seattle, Washington. She is currently co-hostess of Fox Sports Live (2013) on Fox Sports 1. Previously, Thompson was the co-hostess of ABC's series, Splash (2013). Prior to joining Fox, she co-hosted ESPN2's SportsNation (2009), along with Marcellus Wiley. Prior to joining ESPN, Thompson covered the NHL, for Versus, from 2010-11, including the 2010 All-Star Game and Stanley Cup Finals. In 2010, Thompson reported on the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, FIFA World Cup, BCS National Championship Game, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game for Yahoo! Sports. She has also appeared on NFL Network and co-hosted programming on the Speed Network.
- Desiree Hartsock was born on 8 April 1986 in Colorado, USA. She has been married to Chris Siegfried since 18 January 2015. They have two children.
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Born in Los Angeles on June 2, 1978, Cox expressed an interest in show business at age four. She was discovered by a prominent dance agent while taking dance classes, which led to her professional debut in the comedy film Mac and Me (1988). Dancing temporarily held center stage with appearances in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (1988); a Los Angeles Music Center Ballet Tour; The Joffrey Ballet; Paula Abdul's video "Forever Your Girl"; "The MTV Awards" and The Arsenio Hall Show (1989). At age 10, Cox won her first speaking part in a guest-starring role in Mama's Family (1983). Her other television credits included Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Night Court (1984), Murphy Brown (1988), Baywatch (1989) and Boy Meets World (1993). Cox also had starring roles in The Ryan White Story (1989) and the sci-fi thriller The Presence (1992) - both television movies. She was also a series regular on NBC's Someone Like Me (1994). On the big screen, Cox was featured in the box-office hit Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and played Gina Cates, Jagger Cates' long-lost sister on ABC's General Hospital (1963).- Producer
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TV star, entrepreneur, fashion designer, and author (New York Times best-seller - "Kardashian Konfidential"), Kim Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, to Kris Jenner (née Kristen Mary Houghton) and attorney Robert Kardashian. Her father was of Armenian descent and her mother is of mostly English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Kim first burst onto the scene in 2007, after the premiere of her hit E! Entertainment reality series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007). The show follows the exploits of the Kardashian/Jenner family, which includes her stepfather Caitlyn Jenner, her mother, Kim, her siblings Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, and younger half-sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. The show was the highest-rated program on the E! Network. She also stars alongside her sister Kourtney in Kourtney & Kim Take New York (2011), which premiered its second season in November of this year. Most recently, Kardashian shared her wedding with the world in a two-part special, Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 1 (2011) and Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 2 (2011). The special ranks as E!'s most-watched event, ever, bringing in 10.5 million viewers. In addition to starring in her own reality shows for E!, she has appeared as an actress in a number of other projects, including the feature, Disaster Movie (2008) (Lionsgate), CW's hit show, 90210 (2008) and TV's How I Met Your Mother (2005) and Brothers (2009), among others. In 2010, she produced The Spin Crowd (2010), her first TV show for E!, which premiered to 2.46 million households. Additionally, in September 2008, Kardashian competed on the ABC hit series, Dancing with the Stars (2005), where she was paired with defending Champion Mark Ballas.
In recent years, Kardashian has become a highly-sought-after name and face for a number of high profile brands. She is the face of "Sketchers Shape-ups", the sneaker designed to get you fit while you walk, work, shop, and more. She was featured in a Sketchers commercial during Super Bowl XLV. Also, she (along with her sisters), has her own line of "Nicole by OPI" nail polish, "Kardashian Kolors", which will be available on holiday 2011. She has created a line of contemporary jewelry line, "Belle Noel", with famed jewelry designer Pascal Mouawad. Kardashian also serves as the official spokesperson for "Midori Melon Liqueur" and its new "Stand-Out" marketing campaign.
Employing her entrepreneurial business skills, Kim began her fashion career as a stylist and became an immediate sought-after wardrobe stylist for infomercials, television shows, music videos and photo shoots. But it was her organizational, orderly arrangement and construction of high-fashion closets that led her into a unique line of work, overhauling and designing closets for celebrities.
In 2006, together with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, Kardashian opened the designer clothing store, "Dash", in Calabasas, California; a must-shop-at store for those with discriminating, yet fashionable taste. Because of high consumer demands, other stores in Miami and New York opened in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2010, Kim co-designed a fashion line with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe, in conjunction with the Bebe fashion brand. This collaboration led to a partnership between the three sisters and Bruno Schiavi on a complete brand launch, "Kardashian Kollection", encompassing apparel, shoes, lingerie, home, jewelry and accessories. "Kardashian Kollection" is sold at over 500 Sears, nationwide. Sears has created a store within a store concept, specifically for "Kardashian Kollection". It is also sold in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
In 2009, Kim launched her own perfume, "Kim Kardashian", which is available worldwide. Her second perfume, "Kim Kardashian Gold", was launched in 2010. A limited edition scent, "Kim Kardashian Gold", launched in August 2011. Her online shoe company, "ShoeDazzle.com", was launched in March 2009 and provides affordable, fashionable shoes to its members.
Kim has graced the covers of numerous publications around the world, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Prestige (Hong Kong), and Self, among others. Additionally, she has appeared, as a guest, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), Late Show with David Letterman (1993), Larry King Live (1985), among others.
Kardashian's official website gets 6 million page views a month, making it the fastest growing celebrity blog on the web. She also has over 10 million followers on Twitter.
When not working, Kim gives her time to charitable causes. She is a Dream Foundation ambassador which grants last wishes to terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She enjoys spending time with children at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is passionate about cancer foundations since her father, the late Robert Kardashian, passed away from esophageal cancer. Kardashian recently gave a heart-felt speech about her father at Gabrielle's Angel Foundations' Angel Ball which supports cancer research.- Actress
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Actress, writer, and producer on both the big and small screen, Abigail Spencer is quickly making a name for herself in Hollywood.
Spencer was seen in Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), a prequel take on The Wizard of Oz (1939), alongside James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams.
She has starred in the Sundance Channel's first scripted series, Rectify (2013). The series follows "Daniel Holden" (played by Aden Young), who must put his life back together, after serving 19 years on Georgia's Death Row before DNA evidence calls his conviction into question.
Spencer also was on the indie, Kilimanjaro (2013), opposite Brian Geraghty, and reprising her role of "Annie" for the online series, "Burning Love" on YouTube, which got picked up for a second and third season. The series, produced by Red Hour, is a funny parody of a "Bachelor"-esque show. She also reprised her role on the USA hit show, Suits (2011), and was seen in the season of Childrens Hospital (2008) for Adult Swim.
Abigail was the lead in Daniela Amavia's cinematic piece A Beautiful Now (2015), produced by Keith Kjarval/Unified Pictures.
As a screenwriter and producer, Spencer is in development on Wrong Number, with James Franco producing through his "Rabbit Bandini Productions" banner. Spencer will also star in the indie romantic comedy directed by AnnaRose King. Spencer also co-wrote, with Lauren McBrayer Miller, the television series "Teach", which was purchased by ABC Family and deals with the lives of high-school teachers.
Spencer starred, alongside Gerard Butler in Curtis Hanson's, Chasing Mavericks (2012). The film follows surfer "Jay Moriarity", who sets out to ride the Northern California break, known as "Mavericks". She was also seen opposite Jon Hamm on AMC's award-winning and critically-acclaimed original series Mad Men (2007), in the series' third season, as Don Draper's latest love interest, who also happens to be his daughter's school teacher. Other film credits include McG's This Means War (2012) and Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens (2011).- Anna Kournikova is a Russian former professional tennis player and American television personality. Her appearance and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide.
Despite never winning a singles title, she reached No. 8 in the world in 2000. She achieved greater success playing doubles, where she was at times the world No. 1 player. With Martina Hingis as her partner, she won Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002, and the WTA Championships in 1999 and 2000. Her pro career doubles record was 200-71. Her singles record is 209-129.
Kournikova retired at the age of 21 due to serious back and spinal problems. She was a new trainer for season 12 of the television show The Biggest Loser, replacing Jillian Michaels, but did not return for season 13. In addition to her tennis and television work, Kournikova serves as a Global Ambassador for Population Services International's "Five & Alive" program, which addresses health crises facing children under the age of five and their families. - Actress
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Counted amongst the sexiest women in the glamour world, English model Lucy Pinder has graced the covers of some of the hottest British publications such as 'FHM,' 'Nuts,' 'Loaded,' and the 'Daily Star.' She had already been modeling for a few years when she first decided to go for topless photo-shoots and this decision of hers proved to be a turning point in her career. Blessed with a curvaceous figure, she sent ripples across the fashion world with her sizzling hot topless pictures which catapulted her to the status of a supermodel in no time. Her successful modeling career paved the way for a television career as well and she was bombarded with numerous offers to appear on television shows. After making her first appearance on Living TV's series 'I'm Famous and Frightened!,' she went on to appear on Sky Sports as a celebrity soccerette on 'Soccer AM' and as a contestant on a special edition of the 'Weakest Link.' Soon enough, she became a presenter on the 'Nuts TV live show' which further enhanced her popularity.
Back in the early 2000s, Lucy Katherine Pinder was just another young college gal who did not have any specific ideas about what her future was supposed to look like. She was led into the world of modeling purely by a stroke of destiny. Lucy, like other girls, loved to sunbath on the beaches in summer and it was during some such instance in 2003 that she caught the eye of freelance photographer Lee Earle. Impressed by the busty figure of the young girl, he asked her if she would pose for him. She did, and the resultant photographs led to a professional modeling contract with 'Daily Star.' Comfortable with her body, and confident in her demeanor, she soon became a very popular swimsuit model, often posing in risqué and skimpy bikinis. While getting admired for her beautiful big breasts was nothing new to Lucy, initially she refrained from posing topless. She finally shed this inhibition in 2007 and first appeared topless in 'Nuts' that year. Her topless pics sent her fans into frenzy and her popularity peaked at newer heights! The Australian magazine 'Ralph' even declared that she had the "Best Breasts in the World!" By this time she had ventured into television as well and had built a name for herself as a TV personality too. As a successful model and TV personality, she confidently seized the opportunity to appear in films too and has appeared in movies, such as Strippers vs Werewolves (2012), The Seventeenth Kind (2014) and Age of Kill (2015).
Lucy founded her humanitarian foundation Busty Brains. Lucy is active in charity programs as well. Lucy is an eager supporter of charities like Cat protection, MCAC (Male Cancer Awareness Campaign), Tiger Time, Help for Heroes which supports the troops and much more. Lucy was an ambassador for Kick for life, a charity that fought poverty and disease in Third World countries taking football as a medium. Many people may know Lucy Pinder as a model and an actress but she is a philosopher as well. At the age of 21, Lucy graduated from Cambridge taking along with her a Philosophy degree. Lucy published her groundbreaking study on how men tend to objectify and personify a woman's body parts. Llucy also discovered that men do not listen to women while they talk, instead, they focus on one or several of her desirable body parts.
Lucy Pinder is not only recognized as a model but also as an actor. Lucy has been seen in a few films and has made many TV appearances in Dream Team, Book at Bedtime with Lucy Pinder, Celebrity Big Brother and many more.- Rosie Jones is known for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), We Are One (2012) and Alien Encounters: Superior Fan Power Since 1979 (2014).
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An award-winning actor, an accomplished writer, a producer, and now a showrunner, Kathleen Robertson is the definition of a multi-hyphenate.
Her breakthrough was as naughty girl Clare in the landmark 1990s series 'Beverly Hills, 90210.' She appeared in the sixth and final season of the critically acclaimed Amazon series 'The Expanse.' Robertson also wrapped production on 'Triage' for ABC/Disney and director Jon Chu. In addition, she appears in the Lionsgate series 'Swimming with Sharks' opposite Diane Kruger, Kiernen Shipka and Donald Sutherland, a project for which she also created, produced and was showrunner.
Robertson also starred on the Netflix drama 'Northern Rescue,' the critically acclaimed TNT crime drama 'Murder in the First' opposite Taye Diggs for three seasons, and had a pivotal, recurring role opposite Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore on A&E's Emmy nominated 'Bates Motel.' She also garnered much attention for her starring role on the Gus Van Sant Golden Globe-winning political drama 'Boss,' as the brilliant, broken and duplicitous Kitty O'Neill, Mayor Tom Kane's (Kelsey Grammer) press aide. On the writing and producing front, Robertson and her production company Debut Content continue to build an impressive slate of both television and feature film projects.
On the television side, in a highly competitive situation, Robertson signed an overall deal with Universal Cable Productions (UCP) to both create and produce original content. She also has projects with Netflix, Barry Jenkins ('Moonlight'), Jason Bateman's Aggregate Films, Imagine Television, and acclaimed Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger ('Cecil Hotel').
On the feature side, she is writing Flight for Paramount Pictures and Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman.
She also adapted the acclaimed novel 'The Possibilities' for Fox Searchlight and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Jason Reitman who is attached to direct. Reitman also attached himself to direct the TV pilot 'Your Time is Up,' which Robertson wrote and signed on to star in. In addition, she adapted the novel 'Little Bee' for Amazon and Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts. Robertson was also recently brought on to adapt the comic-book series 'Lady Killer' for Dark Horse with Michelle Mac Laren (Westworld/Game of Thrones) directing.
A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Robertson moved to Los Angeles, California, USA, to pursue her career.- Laura Harring is a Mexican actress best known for her role as the mysterious amnesiac Rita in David Lynch's enigmatic film Mulholland Drive, which was recently voted the best film of the 21st century in multiple polls. Film critic Roger Ebert compared Harring to screen legend Rita Hayworth, while the International Herald Tribune's film reviewer likened Laura to Ava Gardner. But Laura Harring is her own person, a classical performer with a passion for acting, dance, travel, food and life.
Laura Harring became a world traveler shortly after finishing her studies at the prestigious Aiglon College, one of Switzerland's exclusive private boarding schools. After graduating with an academic diploma, Laura spent time in the foothills of the Himalayas, working as a social worker to help transport heavy rocks, plant gardens, build schools, and perform other manual tasks that helped the villagers create a better quality of life. After her social work, Laura devoted a year to backpacking through Asia and Europe, often falling asleep beside the ocean in a sleeping bag, an experience that changed her life forever. Laura spent time living in other countries and meeting new people, and it changed her life profoundly.
Years later, Harring starred opposite extraordinary actors such as Oscar winner Javier Bardem in the adaptation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, Oscar winner Denzel Washington in John Q, and Oscar winner William Hurt in The King. Laura also starred opposite John Travolta in Marvel's The Punisher. For the small screen, Laura starred opposite Forest Whitaker in the critically acclaimed television show The Shield, a show that changed the conventional formula of the cop genre and won multiple awards. Later she starred as Ed Westwick's mom in the super-hit TV show Gossip Girl. But Laura was no stranger to the small screen, having started her career as a series regular on Aaron Spelling's Sunset Beach on NBC.
In her earlier years, Laura studied at the London Academy of Performing Arts. She credits her grandfather, an extraordinary athlete who was due to compete in the Olympics in 1948, for her equestrian and fencing skills. Her philosophy in life is unique. She believes we are all one human family meant to enjoy the trip of life. - Actress
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Cindy Crawford was born on 20 February 1966 in DeKalb, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Fair Game (1995), 54 (1998) and Cougar Town (2009). She has been married to Rande Gerber since 29 May 1998. They have two children. She was previously married to Richard Gere.- Music Artist
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- Actress
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969 in Fullerton, California & raised in Anaheim, California. She was one of four children born to Dennis Stefani and Patti Flynn. Her siblings are Eric Stefani, Jill and Todd Stefani. Her father is of Italian descent and her mother's ancestry is English, Irish, Scottish, German, and Norwegian. She and her brother Eric began the band No Doubt when Gwen was a teenager and she moved from backing vocals to lead singer when their original lead, John Spence, committed suicide. She dated band-mate Tony Kanal for seven years, before marrying English rocker Gavin Rossdale on 14 September 2002 in London. They had three children together before divorcing in 2016.- Erin McNaught was born on 22 May 1982 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. She is an actress, known for Neighbours (1985), The Other Guy (2017) and Drunk History: Australia (2020). She has been married to Example since 18 May 2013. They have one child.
- Lili Simmons is an American actress who was born in San Diego, California, USA as Lili Marie Simmons. At the age of fifteen she was discovered by a talent manager. She would begin her career as a Ford Model and continue her work for Bebe Stores, Roxy, J.C. Penny, and Saturn. In 2010 she began her acting career and starred in recurring roles in several television series including Hollywood Is Like High School with Money (2010), Banshee (2013), and Hawaii Five-0 (2015). Her film work includes a starring role in the movie Bone Tomahawk (2015).
- Sharleen Joynt has been married to Andy Levine since 8 September 2017.
- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Katy Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California to Mary Christine Hudson (née Perry) & Maurice Keith Hudson. She has a big sister named Angela & a little brother named David, and has English, Portuguese, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Her mother's half-brother was director Frank Perry.
Raised in a deeply religious family, Perry's first experience of performing was singing in church. A passion for music grew and at the age of 15, Perry began visiting Nashville, gaining experience of song writing and recording demos.
She signed to a Christian record label, Red Hill, and recorded an album, under her birth name of Katy Hudson. The album was not a success. At age 17 she moved to Los Angeles and collaborated with producer Glen Ballard, but was not able to secure a lasting record deal. Perry did sign to Columbia Records in 2004, but again this did not prove a success, and she was dropped.
An executive at Columbia recommended Perry to the chairman of Virgin Records, Jason Flom, which resulted in her signing for Capitol Music Group. She recorded her second album, "One of the Boys" and in the Spring of 2008 released the lead single, the controversial "I Kissed a Girl". The song proved a smash, hitting the number one slot in several countries. Other hit singles followed and the album was a commercial success.
Perry was now established as a pop superstar and cemented her position with the release of her next album "Teenage Dreams", which spawned more huge hits including "California Gurls" and "Firework". Many awards and music industry records followed. In 2012 Perry made the move into movies, releasing the documentary feature film Part of Me (2012).
Katy has started her own record label called "Metamorphosis Music" and has signed her very first artist Ferras, who was signed to Capitol Records back in 2007 with Katy Perry. He had released an EP the same day that the record label news was released to the public. There is also a duet with Katy on his new EP; they are expected to be on tour together in North America June 22 in Raleigh, North Carolina-October 11 in Houston, Texas.- Actress
- Producer
Angie Everhart was born on 7 September 1969 in Akron, Ohio, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Last Action Hero (1993), Take Me Home Tonight (2011) and Bandido (2004). She has been married to Carl Ferro since 6 December 2014. She was previously married to Ashley Hamilton.- Jade Roper Tolbert was born on 19 December 1986 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She has been married to Tanner Tolbert since 24 January 2016. They have three children.
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- Soundtrack
Charlotte McKinney was born on 6 August 1993 in Orlando, Florida, USA. She is an actress, known for Fantasy Island (2020), Baywatch (2017) and Guest House (2020).- Actress
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- Executive
Margot Elise Robbie was born on July 2, 1990 in Dalby, Queensland, Australia to Scottish parents. Her mother, Sarie Kessler, is a physiotherapist, and her father, is Doug Robbie. She comes from a family of four children, having two brothers and one sister. She graduated from Somerset College in Mudgeeraba, Queensland, Australia, a suburb in the Gold Coast hinterland of South East Queensland, where she and her siblings were raised by their mother and spent much of her time at the farm belonging to her grandparents. In her late teens, she moved to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to pursue an acting career.
From 2008-2010, Robbie played the character of Donna Freedman in the long-running Australian soap opera, Neighbours (1985), for which she was nominated for two Logie Awards. She set off to pursue Hollywood opportunities, quickly landing the role of Laura Cameron on the short-lived ABC series, Pan Am (2011). She made her big screen debut in the film, About Time (2013).
Robbie rose to fame co-starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, portraying the role of Naomi Lapaglia in Martin Scorsese's Oscar nominated film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). She was nominated for a Breakthrough Performance MTV Movie Award, and numerous other awards.
In 2014, Robbie founded her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment. She also appeared in the World War II romantic-drama film, Suite Française (2014). She starred in Focus (2015) and Z for Zachariah (2015), and made a cameo in The Big Short (2015).
In 2016, she married Tom Ackerley in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.
She starred as Jane Porter in The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Tanya Vanderpoel in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) and as DC comics villain Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016), for which she was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, and many other awards.
She portrayed figure skater Tonya Harding in the biographical film I, Tonya (2017), receiving critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.- Actress
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It would seem that 2004, the year of her 18th birthday, will be remembered as pivotal for Emmy Rossum due to her appearance in two very different films, The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004). Emmy's performance in the latter film gained her a Golden Globe nomination.
Emmanuelle Grey Rossum was born in New York City, where she was raised by her single mother, Cheryl Rossum, a corporate photographer (she has only met her father a few times). Her mother is of Russian Jewish descent and her father has English and Dutch ancestry. After passing an audition at the Metropolitan Opera when she was 7 years old, Rossum performed in more than 20 operas in six different languages at Lincoln Center, alongside such figures as Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. She was directed by Franco Zeffirelli in "Carmen." She left the opera when she entered her teenage years, as she had grown too tall to perform as a child. Emmy also appeared in a Carnegie Hall presentation of "The Damnation of Faust." She graduated from the Spence School, a private institution in Manhattan, in 1996 and then earned a high school diploma when 15 years old by taking online extension courses offered by Stanford University (Education Program for Gifted Youth). She later enrolled at Columbia University and studied art history and French.
In a change of venue, Emmy created the role of Abigail Williams in the daytime soap opera As the World Turns (1956) in 1997 and branched out in performances in the made-for-television movies Genius (1999) and The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000), in which she played the title character as a young teenager. Other television work included Snoops (1999), Law & Order (1990), and The Practice (1997).
Emmy made her theatrical feature debut in the indie film Songcatcher (2000), with her good friend Rhoda Griffis, which won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2000. Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance for her performance as an Appalachian orphan. She played an aspiring songwriter (the title character) in the romantic comedy Nola (2003). Cast as the ill-fated daughter of a small-business owner in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), she projected an aura of innocence that made her character's tragic death memorable and heartbreaking. This was her first major studio film.
After six months of filming her role as the fresh-faced but highly intelligent teenage damsel in distress The Day After Tomorrow (2004) in Montreal, she returned to New York and screen-tested for the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (2004) in full costume and makeup, and was finally selected for the part by Andrew Lloyd Webber after singing for him at his home. Although she was surprised to be chosen ahead of many better-known and older actresses considered for the part, the combination of her vulnerable, fragile beauty and fine, classically trained singing voice ultimately proved that she was perfectly cast. In preparation for the role, she took ballet classes for two months and started polishing her singing. Emmy has commented that, in her approach to acting, she draws heavily upon her own experiences, so she visited locations in Paris and conjured up what she terms "past memories" to draw upon in making her performance emotionally realistic. She stood on the roof of the Opéra Garnier, where Christine sings "All I Ask of You," and went underneath the opera house, where there is actually a gloomy, dark lake. She studied Degas's paintings of ballerinas in the Musée d'Orsay to learn how to stand like one.
Her next project Poseidon (2006) was a mainstream effort, but since its release, she has been more true to advice she obtained from Sean Penn when making Mystic River (2003), that she should be picky and only accept roles that are fun to do, such as Dragonball Evolution (2009).- Actress
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Elisha Ann Cuthbert (born November 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. She became internationally known for playing Kim Bauer in the series 24 (2001); Danielle in the teen comedy film The Girl Next Door (2004) and Carly Jones in the horror remake House of Wax (2005). She was voted the sexiest actress in the world in 2015 by the magazine Glam'Mag. In 2013, she was elected the most "Beautiful woman of American TV."
Cuthbert is considered a sex symbol, and she has often been cited as one of the "sexiest" women and as one of the "most beautiful" in the world.
At the age of 14, Cuthbert made her feature film debut in the 1997 family-drama Dancing on the Moon (1997). Her first major lead role came in the 1998 drama film Airspeed (1999) (No Control) alongside Joe Mantegna. In 2001, she starred in the movie My Daughter's Secret Life (2001), in which she received her first award, the Gemini Awards, but her career began in earnest in the decade of 2000 when she was listed to play Kim Bauer, daughter of Jack Bauer in the award-winning action series 24 (2001). Subsequently, Cuthbert appeared in the lead role in the films The Quiet (2005) and Captivity (2007).
From 2011 to 2013, Cuthbert starred as Alex Kerkovich, in the series Happy Endings (2011).
In 2011, Cuthbert was named one of "The 100 Hottest Women of the 2000s", and also entered the list of "The 25 Hottest Blonde Bombshell Actresses" by Complex magazine. In 2013 GQ Magazine listed her among "The 100 Hottest Women of the 21st Century."- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Katy Mixon is an American actress. She began her career playing supporting roles in films such as "The Quiet" (2005), "Four Christmases" (2008), and "State of Play" (2009), before landing the female leading role in the HBO comedy series "Eastbound & Down" (2009-2013).
From 2010 to 2016, Mixon starred as Victoria Flynn, sister to Melissa McCarthy's character, on the CBS sitcom "Mike & Molly." She had dramatic parts in films "Take Shelter" (2011), "Drive Angry" (2011), and "Hell or High Water" (2016), and did voiceover work in "Minions" (2015). From 2016 to 2021, Mixon starred as the lead character Katie Otto in the ABC comedy series "American Housewife."- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Emily Rose is an American actress who is known for her roles as Audrey Parker from the Syfy television show Haven and Elena Fisher from the Uncharted series of video games for the PlayStation. She also acted in Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case, Brothers & Sisters and Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. She is married to Dariek Morgan since 2009 and has three children.- Actress
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- Publicist
Torrie Wilson and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas made one of the most dynamic duos in professional wrestling during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Torrie spent a great amount of time in WCW, when she was not fulfilling her potential until she became the valet for The Franchise Shane Douglas. Using all the dirty tricks of the trade, Torrie was a major help to Shane Douglas during his matches. Starting out as a fitness model, Torrie won several competitions and was on the cover of many fitness related magazines before she joined WCW in 1999. Since then, she appeared at the side of The Franchise and became a major player in WCW. In her own words, Torrie never leaves home without a cell phone and some cash.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Soundtrack
Patricia Apollonia Kotero was born on August 2, 1959 in Santa Monica, California, to Mexican parents, Maria Socorro Torres, a caregiver, and Victor Manuel Kotero, a restaurant manager. She initially pursued fame and fortune via work as an actress, singer and model. After winning the Miss San Pedro beauty competition and a stint cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1980s, Kotero began acting in roles both in films and television series such as CHiPs (1977), Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982), Fantasy Island (1977), Matt Houston (1982) and Knight Rider (1982).
Apollonia landed the role of a lifetime while auditioning for Prince for his first ever feature film. Winning the starring role opposite Prince in the blockbuster musical Purple Rain (1984), which received an Academy Award. Apollonia 6, also featured supporting singers Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie. Apollonia 6 went on a worldwide tour to promote the blockbuster single "Sex Shooter". Apollonia had originally recorded a version of the song "Manic Monday" for the album "Apollonia 6" (1984). Written by Prince, the song would later become a worldwide hit single for the girl group, The Bangles. "Take Me with U" is Apollonia's highest charting single, reaching #25 on the Top 40 chart in the United States. Kotero left Prince's camp in 1985 to appear on the CBS primetime soap opera Falcon Crest (1981). She was allowed to appear under her own stage name, "Apollonia", and also performed several solo songs, none of which would be released (one of the songs, which was often played and referred to on the series was a title called "Red Light Romeo", which was written by U.S. songwriter Jon Lind who had penned the U.S. #1 hit, "Crazy for You", for Madonna). Kotero stayed on the series for 10 consecutive weeks, playing the girlfriend of teenage heartthrob Lorenzo Lamas. In 1988, Warner Bros. Records released her first solo album, simply titled "Apollonia". Containing high energy dance music, three singles were released from the album: "Since I Fell For You", "The Same Dream" and "Mismatch".
Kotero then released the 1997 bilingual ballad "Stay with Me". Apollonia went on to appear in such films as Ministry of Vengeance (1989), Back to Back (1989), Black Magic Woman (1991) and a couple of Italian productions, A Woman's Secret (1992), Bad Girls (1992). She returned to television on such series as Sliders (1995) and Air America (1998), and also hosted The Jazz Channel's "Latin Beat" program. During this period, an exercise video entitled "Go For It" was also released. Apollonia can be seen on E Channel's "Celebrity Homes" and MTV's "Cribs", with friend Carmen Electra, "The Test" and "Rendezview". In 2005, Apollonia formed a multimedia entertainment company, Kotero Entertainment, which formed partnerships with a number of producers to produce a children animated television series, as well as featured films. Kotero Entertainment also manages young talent such as television and film star Sascha Andres and young pop singer Nikki Barreras, also known as Nikki B. More recently, Kanye West's 2007 song "Stronger", used her name in the lyrics, and on December 1, 2007, she appeared at a Project Angel Food charity event in Beverly Hills, California.- Actress
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Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tania Raymonde began her career on Malcolm in the Middle (2000), and is known for her portrayal of Alex Rousseau in the J.J. Abrams series Lost. She played the title role of notorious murderer Jodi Arias in the Lifetime original feature Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (2013), and starred alongside Billy Bob Thornton and William Hurt in David E. Kelley's legal drama Goliath for Amazon. Other TV credits include recurring roles on The Last Ship, The Big Bang Theory (2007), and Crash (2008), opposite Dennis Hopper.- Actress
- Producer
From the age of 13,she attended the Italia Conte stage school where she studied dance, drama, and singing for three years. At 16, she began her modeling career gracing the covers of numerous magazines including GQ, FHM, Maxim, Sky, Cosmopolitan, Hello, Tatler, The Face, and Company, becoming one of the most recognisable in Britain, It wasn't long before Madison Avenue started calling, and in 1995, she got her first advertising campaign for Lee Jeans. Since then, she's been featured in campaigns for Renault Megane Walkers and Piz Buin. In 1998, she launched the biggest bra campaign ever for Triumph's Flaunt range and was featured on billboards nation wide, Her UK television credits are extensive and include co-hosting Britain's most popular morning programme magazine Channel 4's The Big Breakfast and MTV's live two-hour show Select. She also hosted VPL, a magazine lifestyle programme for Granada Television, the final concert at Wembley Stadium for Sky Premiers Oasis Live at Wembley. Her US credits include a four-episode arc on the WB's Smallville portraying Lex Luthor's girlfriend. She made her feature film debut in the thriller Ripper, released in October 2001, and also starred in the play "Eye Contact" at the Riverside Studios in Lonon. In her first stage role, her character Anya explores the world of adult dance clubs from an honest and funny point of view,- Actress
- Producer
Kelsey Asbille Chow is the oldest of three siblings, a younger brother and younger sister. At a young age she studied dance, and grew to love performing. School plays led to community theater, then she was member of the Hammond Select Ensemble, which she has performed with in Italy and other places. She has a recurring role in "One Tree Hill (2003)", also co-stars Matisse Burrows in the Disney movie "Den Brother (2010)". She is perhaps best known for her role as Mikayla in Disney XD's popular TV show "Pair of Kings (2010)".- Olivia Pierson was born on 20 August 1989 in Langley Township, Canada.
- Claudia Sampedro is known for Pitbull Feat. TJR: Don't Stop the Party (2012) and WAGS Miami (2016).
- Originally from Bloomington, Minnesota, Kelly attended school in Richfield, Minnesota at the Academy of Holy Angels. She is the daughter of a hair dresser mother and a late father who was a high school basketball coach. Kelly went on to start acting in theater before making the step into screen performances. She first appeared in 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) in a minor role. She got her first notable television role on the series Nip/Tuck (2003) and gained quick popularity for her character eventually becoming a regular cast member. Her feature film roles include supporting cast work in the direct-to-video sequel Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004) and the WWE-produced action film The Marine (2006) as the kidnapped wife of wrestling star John Cena. Kelly has established an obvious and noticeable collection of work in television across several series including Everwood (2002), Monk (2002), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Melrose Place (2009), CSI: Miami (2002), Castle (2009), Supernatural (2005) and Ghostfacers (2010). Outside of acting, Kelly is a member of the Smile Network, a humanitarian organization based in her home state that provides reconstructive surgeries and related health care services to impoverished children and young adults in developing countries. In 2010, in keeping with her love of horses, Kelly lobbied for a bill to prevent the inhumane transport of American horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada as well as roundups of wild horses by government authorities. Kelly also has been a model, working in company ad projects with Miller Lite, Rembrandt, and Oliver Peoples sunglasses. She has appeared in magazine publications including the August 2004 issue of Maxim and the October issue cover of Stuff.
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Actress and singer Annabella Avery "Bella" Thorne, known for Shake It Up (2010), The DUFF (2015), Blended (2014), and Midnight Sun (2018), was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, to Tamara (Beckett) and Delancey Reinaldo "Rey" Thorne. She has three siblings, Remy Thorne, Dani Thorne and Kaili Thorne, all of whom have also acted. Her father was of Cuban and Italian descent. At six weeks old, Bella shot her first pictorial, for "Parents Magazine". She has continued to grace the covers of many national and international magazines and catalogs ever since.- Actress
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Quinn Shephard is a writer, director and actress based out of the New York area, with a career spanning two decades. At age 15, Shephard began writing her debut feature Blame (2017), inspired by playing Abigail Williams in a New Jersey regional production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. She went on to direct, produce, edit, and star in the film at age 20. It premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, making Shephard the youngest female filmmaker ever to screen a feature there. Shephard is a 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 Listmaker and in 2019 received a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay for Blame.