Thursday, October 31, 2013
Salma Hayek - 1966
Salma Hayek Jiménez (born September 2, 1966) is a Lebanese and Mexican American film actress, director and producer.Widely considered to be the first Mexican actress to become a Hollywood movie star since Dolores Del Rio, Salma Hayek is known for bringing a fiery presence and striking, dark-eyed beauty to the screen. A soap star in her native Mexico, Hayek risked her entire career to come to L.A., where she struggled to be taken seriously. Her discovery by director Robert Rodriguez, who cast her in his 1995 film Desperado, gave Hayek her breakthrough, and she subsequently gained a reputation as one of Hollywood's sexiest and busiest actresses.The daughter of a Spanish mother and Lebanese father, Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, on September 2, 1966. Raised in a devoutly Catholic family, she was sent to a Louisiana boarding school at the age of 12. After getting into trouble for terrorizing the nuns, Hayek returned to Mexico, but she was eventually sent to Houston, Texas, to live with her aunt, where she stayed until she was 17. She subsequently moved to Mexico City, where she studied International Relations as a university student, but, to the chagrin of her family, decided to drop out in order to pursue a career as an actress. Starting out in local theatre productions, she eventually moved to television and landed a starring role in the popular soap opera Teresa. The show's success made Hayek a celebrity in her native country, but, desiring something more, she shocked her fans by deciding to quit the show in order to pursue a career in L.A.After taking a year to learn English and study acting with Stella Adler, Hayek got her first break when Allison Anders cast her in a supporting role in Mi Vida Loca (1993).
The role allowed Hayek to obtain a Screen Actors Guild card, and after doing so, she continued to audition until she appeared on a Spanish-language cable access talk show that happened to count director Robert Rodriguez amongst its viewers. Rodriguez tracked Hayek down and promptly cast her in Desperado, his bigger-budget 1995 sequel to El Mariachi. The film, which also starred Antonio Banderas, succeeded in giving the actress her own plot on the Hollywood map, and Rodriguez again demonstrated his faith in her when he cast her in his next project, the vampire extravaganza From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Unfortunately for Hayek, the film, which also starred George Clooney, failed to do as well as expected, and Hayek's next few projects were similarly lackluster. The Faculty (1998), a teen thriller that cast Hayek as a teacher who turns into an alien, was an exception, and Kevin Smith's Dogma (1999), which featured her as a celestial muse, was fairly successful with critics and audiences. Also in 1999, Hayek had a starring role in what was to be her biggest film to date, Barry Sonnenfeld's Wild Wild West, which also starred Will Smith and Kevin Kline. Unfortunately for all involved, the film was a turkey. In 2000, Hayek could be seen in smaller, edgier ventures, including the independent comedy Chain of Fools, in which she played a centerfold-turned- cop, and Mike Figgis' experimental Time Code, which cast her as Jeanne Tripplehorn's lover.
If these films ultimately didn't provide Hayek with a role that would draw attention to her genuine talent, this would soon change with the long awaited biography of tragic artist Frida Kahlo. With her role as the epnoymous character in Frida (2002), Hayek disappeared into her subject so convincingly that not only would she return to the good graces of critics, but earn an Oscar nomination as well.Hayek would spend the coming years enjoying superstar status with everything from comedic turns on sitcoms like Ugly Betty (which she produced) and 30 Rock, to meaty roles in dramatic thrillers like Savages.Salma Hayek is smoking. If a career as an actress didn't pan out for her, she could have fallen back on being a model (although her 5'2" frame might have hindered her success). She's hotter than a Ferrari full of Victoria's Secret models on a blazing day in South Beach. And the hot-blooded Latin passion that pours out of her sexy skin only adds fuel to the fire (We loved watching her lose her temper on Alec Baldwin as a recurring character on 30 Rock). From her dark hair and mysterious eyes to her amazing lips and curvaceous figure, Salma Hayek's exotic features can be attributed to her Lebanese and Mexican heritage.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Jennifer Lopez - 1969
Jennifer Lynn Muñiz (née Lopez; born July 24, 1969) is an American businesswoman, entertainer, philanthropist and producer. She became interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry following a minor role in the 1986 film My Little Girl, to the dismay of her Puerto Rican parents, who believed that it was an unrealistic career route for a Hispanic. Lopez gained her first regular high-profile job as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color in 1991, where she remained a regular until she decided to pursue an acting career in 1993. She received her first leading role in the Selena biopic of the same name in 1997. Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn over $1 million for a role the following year, with the film Out of Sight. She ventured into the music industry in 1999 with her debut studio album, On the 6, joining a select few in successfully converting from a film to a music career.She sings, dances, acts and her entourage is more impressive than her famous behind. Thrice married J-Lo reveals how she went from plain backing dancer to diamond-encrusted diva.With a taste for the limelight, Lopez began singing and dancing lessons from the age of five and ignored academic studies at school, instead preferring to pursue sports and the arts. At age of 16, Lopez won her first film role in ‘My Little Girl’ (1987) and while it failed to kick start her career immediately, it gave her a taste of the fame game.For over fifteen years, Lopez's personal life has attracted widespread media attention. From February 22, 1997 to January 1998, she was married to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa.
Since their brief marriage, Lopez has endured legal troubles regarding Noa. She sued to prevent him from publishing a book about their marriage in April 2006, contending that it violated their confidentiality agreement. The following year, a court-appointed arbitrator issued a permanent injunction forbidding Noa from "criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging" Lopez. She was awarded $545,000 in compensatory damages and Noa was ordered to hand over all copies of materials related to the book to Lopez or her attorney. A lawsuit regarding a compromising private honeymoon video in Noa's possession is presently running.While working on her first album On the 6, Lopez began dating record producer and rapper Sean Combs. On December 27, 1999, the couple were arrested along with two others in connection with a shooting outside the Times Square Club in New York. They were charged with criminal possession of a weapon as well as stolen property. Lopez was soon exonerated, having had nothing to do with the crime. However, Combs was charged and indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. After leaving Combs, Lopez developed a relationship with former back-up dancer Cris Judd, whom she was married to from September 29, 2001 to June 2002. Following her second divorce, she commenced a high-profile relationship with actor and director Ben Affleck, whom she became engaged to in November 2002. The media began to refer to them as "Bennifer" and they became a prominent supercouple in the media and popular culture. Bennifer became a popular term, which was eventually entered into urban dictionaries and neologism dictionaries as notable, as the name blend started the trend of other celebrity couples being referred to by the combination of their first names. The couple postponed their nuptials indefinitely a day prior to the planned ceremony in September 2003, citing the media's interference with the event as the reason.Following her break-up with Affleck in January 2004, Lopez began dating long-time friend Marc Anthony (born as Marco Antonio Muñiz).
The couple wed that June. Two men attempted to ransom a private wedding video which was stolen from the couple for one million dollars; however they were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of conspiracy, attempted grand larceny and possession of stolen property. On November 7, 2007, during the final night of their co-headlining tour, Lopez and Anthony officially confirmed that they were expecting their first child. The announcement ended months of speculation over the pregnancy. Her father confirmed that the couple were expecting twins, revealing that it runs in the family: "My sister also had twins, so it's a hereditary thing".Lopez gave birth to a son, Maximilian David and a daughter, Emme Maribel, in Long Island, New York on February 22, 2008. The twins were introduced in the March 11, 2008 issue of People, for which the magazie paid a reported $6 million the photographs of the twins became the most expensive celebrity picture ever taken at the time. Three years later in July 2011, the couple announced their split, with Anthony filing for divorce in April 2012. Since October 2011, Lopez has been in a relationship with her former back-up dancer Casper Smart. Lopez has stated, "I am a non-traditional family. Me being a single mom, their dad doesn't live at home with them. They have three stepbrothers from two other mothers...that’s not traditional". In August 2013, a man was discovered living in the guest house of Lopez's Hamptons residence, while she was out of town. The man was identified as John Dubis, a stalker whom Lopez has an protection order against. Dubis' charges included second-degree burglary and fourth-degree stalking.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Saskia Reeves - 1961
Saskia Reeves (born August 1961) is an English actress perhaps best known for her roles in the films Close My Eyes (1991) and ID (1995), and the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune. She has worked with directors including Mike Leigh, Stephen Poliakoff, Michael Winterbottom and Nicholas Hytner.A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, dramatic actress Saskia Reeves made her film debut in December Bride (1990). Prior to that, she had appeared in the television film Metamorphosis (1987). In film, Reeves has specialized in playing offbeat roles in films such as Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss (1995). Early in her career she performed in puppet shows and in satirical revues at the Covent Garden Community Theatre.Her television credits include Spooks and the Bodies finale.
Her stage work includes productions at London's National and Royal Court theatres as well as on international tour.In addition to her acting career, Reeves does voice work, including commercials, narration, and book readings.In 2008, she starred in English Touring Theatre's revival of Athol Fugard's Hello and Goodbye at the Trafalgar Studios in London.In 2010, she starred as Anne Darwin, the wife of John Darwin, in BBC4's Canoe Man, a dramatisation of the John Darwin disappearance case.In 2011, Reeves played the matriarch, Anna Brangwen, in the first part of William Ivory's two-part adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novels The Rainbow and Women in Love, first shown on BBC4.In 2010, she has co-starred in the BBC1 series Luther.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Joely Richardson - 1965
Date of Birth: January 9, 1965 ,born and raised in London, Joely Richardson comes from a long line of talented actors. Her mother is Vanessa Redgrave, and her father is the late director Tony Richardson.She is also the granddaughter of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, niece of actors Corin and Lynn Redgrave, and sister of actress Natasha Richardson.If that isn't enough, her brother-in-law is Liam Neeson.However the genes were slow - as a child she saw her older sister Natashsa interested in acting but she was a tomboy, imagining a career in gymastics.Possessing an early ambition to become a professional tennis player, she spent two years at a tennis academy in Florida. Richardson then turned to acting. In 1985 she portrayed, via flashbacks, the younger version of the leading character played by her mother in the film Wetherby. After a leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers (1988), her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, the Agatha Christie based detective series. In a 1989 episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, she was cast as a princess. She portrayed a teacher on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the 1989 Channel 4 serial Behaving Badly and fictional Finnish Princess Anna (with "a voice like a Tuba") in the 1991 screen comedy King Ralph.A year later, she appeared in Shining Through alongside her future brother in law Liam Neeson, where both played Nazis.In 1993, Richardson appeared in BBC's Lady Chatterley opposite Sean Bean. In 1996, she played fashion designer Anita Campbell-Green in the Disney live-action remake of the animated 101 Dalmatians opposite Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. In 1998, in the popular television drama The Echo, she played Amanda Powell.
The next year, she played in the science fiction/horror film Event Horizon as Lieutenant Starck, executive officer of the research and rescue ship Lewis and Clark, sent to rescue crew of the long-lost experimental ship Event Horizon.One year later, Richardson appeared opposite Mel Gibson in the film The Patriot, an American film based on the American Revolution. Later that year, she was modelling a necklace, when director Charles Shyer noticed her resemblance to doomed 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette. Thus, she secured the role of that queen in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace. Also in 2000, she appeared opposite Hugh Laurie in Maybe Baby, Ben Elton's film adaptation of his book Inconceivable.In 2003, Richardson took on the role of Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck, based on the lives of two plastic surgeons in Miami. Her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, has appeared in several episodes, playing her character's mother. In November 2006, it was announced that Richardson would be leaving Nip/Tuck to take care of her sick daughter. She last appeared on the show on 14 November, although creator/writer Ryan Murphy wrote alternate season finale episodes, in case Richardson decided to return. Soon after the season finale, it was announced that Richardson would return for the fifth season of Nip/Tuck, though her role may be limited. In June 2007 it was announced that she would return for 15 of the 22 episodes during the fifth season.In 2005, Richardson starred in Lies My Mother Told Me, based on a true story about a murderous con artist. In 2007, she played the mother in The Last Mimzy with Timothy Hutton and Chris O'Neil. She also starred in the television drama Wallis & Edward, playing the lead role of Wallis Simpson, lover of Edward, Prince of Wales.In 2009-10, Richardson appeared as Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, in the fourth (and final) season of Showtime's hit period drama The Tudors. The role reunited her with her ex-husband Tim Bevan, who was part of the show's production team.Joely has recently joined the cast of TV series Titanic - Blood and Steel in which she will play the role of Countess Markievicz.
Eva Czemerys 1940-1996
Eva Czemerys was a German-born film actress, mainly active in Italy. Born in Munich by Russian parents, she moved in Rome,Italy when she was only 1. There she studied acting and debuted as main actress in 1971 in Bella di giorno moglie di notte. She was a minor starlet in Italian cinema, especially in commedie sexy all'italiana and giallo films. Czemerys retired from showbusiness in mid-eighties and focused on volunteering; she died by cancer in Rome in 1996.
Jessica Alba - 1981
Born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California, film actress Jessica Alba comes from a diverse background. Her father is Mexican-American and her mother has Danish and French roots. As the daughter of a member of the U.S. Air Force, she moved around a lot while growing up, living in California, Mississippi, and Texas before settling back in California.
Alba began studying acting in her early teens and had an agent by the age of 12. Netting her first film role, she appeared in the 1994 comedy Camp Nowhere. She also found work as a model and did some commercials. Around this time, Alba landed a recurring role on The Secret World of Alex Mack, a popular tween comedy about a girl who develops special powers. She took to the water with a short-lived remake of the classic aquatic adventure series, Flipper, which was filmed in Australia.Alba brought a comic book heroine to life in Fantastic Four (2005).
She played Sue Storm, one of four astronauts who gained unusual powers after being exposed to cosmic rays. Alba's character was able to make herself invisible as well as to create invisible protective force fields. Reprising her role, she also appeared in the 2007 sequel, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.Taking on another adventurous part, Alba appeared in Into the Blue (2005) with Paul Walker and Scott Caan. She played a diver who gets into trouble after discovering a sunken plane. With Good Luck Chuck (2007), Alba tried her hand at romantic comedy, starring opposite Dane Cook. Neither effort fared well with critics nor attracted much of an audience.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Anica Dobra - 1963
Anica Dobra was born on June 3, 1963 in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia. She is a Serbian actress of Serbian and German film.Yugoslav sex symbol, actress Anica Dobra, has had a remarkable career in domestic and German cinema. Close to eighty roles in television and the big screen made her the undisputed star status, although she has always avoided.Since its debut in the movie Pera Panker never ceases to captivate the attention of filmmakers and audiences. Image of the blonde with the attitude opened a new era of playing in a cult film of the same, collection center, Balkan Express, The Fall of Rock and Roll and Black Bomber.Although the combination of the Balkan temperament and Aryan beauty from the beginning of her career title femme fatale, her private life is not part of the scandal. An oasis of peace in a family finds happiness with his wife and daughter Mica Softic Minna, away from the prying eyes of the public.For successful completion of the previous year and the business and private life, but also because the audience breathless, the artist is listed on the list of Top 25 Female choice magazine Story.
In 2011 Anica is shining in the role of Baroness Castelli in the cult Miroslav Krleže piece, which premiered in early February in Studio 212 For the play director Jagoš Markovic asked the ticket more in all the former Yugoslav republics, Belgrade formed in the waiting list for the upcoming theater performances.In early June, one of the best Serbian actress celebrated her 48th birthday.Parallel to his career in Serbia, Anica engage and German directors, because of their excellent knowledge of the language but also the extraordinary beauty worthy of Brigitte Bardot, with whom he is often compared. Working on two film market is a good one of the highest paid Serbian actress.At the end of the premiere of the documentary feature film Frau Einstein, where charismatic artist portrays Mileva Maric, a Serb woman who was the first wife of Albert Einstein's part in the great discoveries of the famous scientist.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Tina Aumont 1946-2006
Born Maria Christina Aumont into a family of French-Jewish and Dominican descent, her father was actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, her mother was actress Maria Montez. Her mother died when Tina was five years old. She spent much of her childhood with various relatives and after her father married actress Marisa Pavan, Tina was sent to live in a Swiss boarding school. In 1963 at the age of seventeen, she married French actor Christian Marquand (19 years her senior) and divorced him four years later. She followed her parent's paths into the film industry and marked her motion picture debut in the British production "Modesty Blaise" (1966).
Her exotic beauty enabled her to enjoy a successful career in Italian films. She may be best known for her starring role in Tinto Brass' "The Howl" (1968). On occasion, she would make an impression in Hollywood in such films as "Texas Across the River" (1966) opposite Dean Martin. Her other notable films include "Fellini's Casanova" (1976) and "Holocaust 2" (1980). She died from a pulmonary embolism in France and was interred next to her mother.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Winona Ryder - 1971
Winona Ryder (born Winona Laura Horowitz; October 29, 1971) is an American actress.Winona Ryder made her debut in the drama Lucas (1986). In many of her early films, she played quirky roles: the eccentric Lydia in 1988's horror comedy Beetlejuice and a teenager who falls for the title character in Edward Scissorhands. In 2001, she started making headlines for her trouble with the law, but she has since returned to acting in such films as A Scanner Darkly and The Darwin Awards.Ryder found herself under intense public scrutiny in December 2001 after she was charged with shoplifting more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, California. Several types of prescription medication were found in her possession at the time of the arrest. Every step of Ryder's journey through the judicial process made the news. Despite pleading not guilty, she was convicted of vandalism and grand theft in November 2002. Ryder was sentenced to 480 hours of community service and three years' probation.
She was also ordered to pay several fines and undergo counseling.Since then, Ryder has kept a relatively low profile and appeared in only a handful of films. In 2006, she had a leading role in A Scanner Darkly, the animated adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel. The futuristic story explores the impact of Substance D, a mysterious, addictive drug, on its main characters. That year, Ryder also had a lead role in the independent film The Darwin Awards, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.Ryder was engaged to actor Johnny Depp for three years beginning in July 1990. She met Depp at the Great Balls of Fire! premiere in June 1989; two months later they began dating. During their relationship, Depp had a tattoo placed on his arm reading "Winona Forever," which he had altered to "Wino Forever" after their separation in mid 1993. Following her split from Depp, she dated Soul Asylum front man Dave Pirner for three years, from 1993 to 1996. She later had a two-year relationship with actor Matt Damon between 1998 and 2000.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Laura Dern - 1967
In true Hollywood fashion, Laura Dern was conceived during the filming of Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels" (1966), a film in which parents Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd both acted, and was born on Feb. 10, 1967. Her parents split up while she was still a baby, though she grew up spending time with both of them. Her unconventional childhood including watching her father's severed head bounce down the stairs when "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (1965) aired on TV, and eating nine ice cream cones while shooting a scene as an extra in Martin Scorsese's "Alice D sn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), starring mom, Ladd. Dern also had the distinct opportunity of watching Alfred Hitchcock put her father through his paces on the set of "Family Plot" (1976). She began studying at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles at the age of nine and was ecstatic to land a bit part as an irksome party crasher in Adrian Lyne's "Foxes" (1980). By that time, Dern had already blossomed into a 5'10" young woman who barely knew what to do with the long limbs and expressive facial features that powerfully magnified every emotional twinge.ern is known as an activist and supporter of many charities, such as Healthy Child Healthy World, which aims to raise awareness about toxic substances that can affect a child's health.
During the 66th Golden Globe Awards, on January 11, 2009, Dern expressed support for the incoming administration of Barack Obama during her acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her work on the film Recount. She is quoted as saying, "I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in this last election so we can look forward to amazing change in this country. Thank you so much!"Dern has had high-profile romances with Kyle MacLachlan, Nicolas Cage, Renny Harlin, Jeff Goldblum, and Billy Bob Thornton (who ended their relationship abruptly in May 2000 by marrying Angelina Jolie while Dern was away working on a movie).Dern began dating musician Ben Harper after they met at one of his concerts in fall 2000. Harper and Dern married on December 23, 2005 at their home in Los Angeles. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker (born August 2001) and daughter Jaya (born November 2004). Through this marriage, Dern also became a stepmother to Harper's children from his first marriage, his son Charles and daughter Harris. In October 2010, Harper filed for divorce from Dern, citing irreconcilable differences. They briefly reconciled and attended the 2012 Golden Globe Awards together, but Dern reactivated the divorce by filing a legal response in July 2012. The divorce was finalized in September 2013.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Alberta Watson - 1955
Prolific Canadian actress Alberta Watson is best known for her work in off-center independent films and the syndicated TV series La Femme Nikita. Born and raised in Toronto, Watson began performing in local theater productions as a teenager. After garnering a Genie nomination for one of her first films, the steamy In Praise of Older Women (1978), Watson earned parts in several Canadian features, including Stone Cold Dead (1980) and a starring role in Black Mirror (1981). Moving to the U.S. in the early '80s, Watson continued to work regularly, scoring co-starring roles with Scott Glen in Michael Mann's stylish World War II horror movie The Keep (1983); Susan Sarandon in the TV movie Women of Valor (1986); and in cult director Donald Cammel's second-to-last feature White of the Eye (1987). Watson found 1990s indie film success as the incestuous mother to Jeremy Davies' put-upon teen in neophyte director David O. Russell's unusual black comedy (and Sundance prize winner) Spanking the Monkey (1994).
After playing a more conventional mother in Hackers (1995), Watson returned to Canada, appearing in the romantic drama Sweet Angel Mine (1996) and earning another Genie nomination for Shoemaker (1996). Watson marked her greatest artistic success the following year as a mourning mother and adulterous wife in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997). Her role as tough anti-terrorist strategist Madeline in the TV version of the female assassin drama La Femme Nikita brought her more attention and critical approbation. Following her 1997-2000 stint on the show, Watson added another Sundance Film Festival prizewinner to her credit (and another notable maternal role) with her performance as the title character's mother in the transgender rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001).
Monday, October 14, 2013
Anna Karina - 1940
Slender, dark-haired actress who appeared in several films of the French New Wave, particularly those directed by first husband Jean-Luc Godard. Karina was outstanding as the lonely, lovelorn prostitute in "My Life To Live" (1962) and the effervescent petty criminal in "Band of Outsiders" (1964). She also gave a fine performance in Jacques Rivette's "La Religieuse/The Nun" (1966), and continued to appear in international features, enjoying a chance at directing with the 1973 film, "Vivre Ensemble".Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Bayer; 22 September 1940) is a Danish, now French citizen, film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France.Karina and Godard married on 3 March 1961, during the shooting of A Woman Is a Woman, and divorced in 1965. Their relationship is said to have been rocky for most of its course, with Anna left emotionally unstimulated by Godard's obsession with work. By 1967, they were barely on speaking terms. After Godard, she was married to scriptwriter-actor Pierre Fabre (1968–1973), actor-director Daniel Duval (1978–1981) and director Dennis Berry (1982–1994).Karina won the Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1961 for her interpretation of the character Angela in the film A Woman Is a Woman. She also appeared in Godard's Bande à part (1964).
Her acting career was not, however, limited to Godard's films, and she went on to a successful collaboration with other well-known directors. Her role in The Nun (1966), directed by Jacques Rivette, is considered by some as her best performance. She also acted in Luchino Visconti's The Stranger.Other notable films include: George Cukor's Justine (1969), Tony Richardson's Laughter in the Dark (1969), Christian de Chalonge's L'Alliance (1970), Andre Delvaux's Rendezvous a Bray (1971), The Salzburg Connection (1972), Franco Brusati's Bread and Chocolate (1973) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Chinese Roulette (1976). In 1972, she set up a production company named Raska for her film-directing debut Vivre Ensemble, in which she also acted and which was released in 1973. She wrote and acted in Last Song in 1987. She has since appeared in Haut, Bas, Fragile (1995) by Jacques Rivette and sang in The Truth About Charlie.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Molly Parker - 1972
Canadian actress Molly Parker has developed a reputation as a gifted and versatile performer, thanks in part to her willingness to take on challenging, offbeat, and sometimes controversial roles. Born in 1972 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia (a town just outside Vancouver), Parker studied dance before developing an interest in acting. She was in her late teens when she began her screen career, appearing in small roles in television projects and low-budget theatrical films being shown in Vancouver, including three episodes of the TV series Neon Rider, the made-for-TV movie My Son, Johnny, and the lowbrow teen comedy Just One of the Girls. While Parker soon began winning bigger and better roles (most notably playing Glenn Close's daughter in the acclaimed TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story), her breakthrough came in 1996, with the independent feature Kissed, in which she plays a young woman fascinated with death whose job at a funeral home leads her to explore her emotional and erotic attraction to the dead. While the film's controversial theme prevented it from gaining a wide release in the United States, it received enthusiastic reviews around the world, and in Canada, Parker's performance earned her a 1997 Genie Award (the Canadian Academy Award) as Best Actress.
The acclaim for Kissed certainly improved Parker's standing in the world of independent film, and while she still appeared in the occasional television project (including the TV movie Titanic and the miniseries Intensity), she won showy roles in Bliss and Under Heaven. In 1999, Parker appeared in three highly acclaimed features: She played a pregnant housewife in the British kitchen-sink drama Wonderland, a despondent mother in The Five Senses, and the Catholic wife of a Hungarian Jew in Sunshine. 2000's Suspicious River reunited Parker with Kissed director Lynne Stopkewich, and in 2001, she once again found herself courting controversy with her role as an exotic dancer spending a weekend in Las Vegas with a computer millionaire (and being very well paid for it) in Wayne Wang's The Center of the World. That same year, Parker won a recurring role as a rabbi on the acclaimed HBO comedy drama series Six Feet Under, and also appeared in a Canadian comedy about that very Northern sport, curling, entitled Men With Brooms. In 2002, she was cast opposite John Cusack and Leelee Sobieski in Max, a bit of historical speculation about the relationship between an art teacher and one of his students -- Adolf Hitler. 2004 saw Parker returning to HBO for a couple of period productions. First, she co-stared with Anjelica Huston, Hilary Swank, Julia Ormond, and Frances O'Connor in the historical drama Iron Jawed Angels about the women's suffrage movement in America. Shortly thereafter, Parker appeared as a rich prospector's wife in in the HBO Western series Deadwood. Later that year, she starred opposite Christian Slater and Stephen Rea in the ecclesiastical thriller The Good Shepard. She appeared in the 2006 drama Hollywoodland as well as the remake of The Wicker Man. She starred in the short-lived TV series Swingtown, and went on to appear in a variety of projects including The Road, Oliver Sherman, Gone, and the made-for-cable movie Hemmingway & Gellhorn.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Brooke Shields - 1965
Brooke Shields has been in the public eye since she was 11 months, when she appeared in an Ivory Snow advertisement. In 1978, Shields made her film debut in Pretty Baby and followed it up with roles in The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love. In 1996, Shields landed the lead on the sitcom Suddenly Susan. She Later had postpartum depression and wrote a book detailing her experience.
Actress Brooke Shields was born on May 31, 1965, in New York City, to Terri and Frank Shields. Her father was a Revlon executive and her mother a model. Shields has been in the public eye from the very beginning, as she appeared in an Ivory Snow advertisement when she was a mere 11 months old.In 1978, Shields made her film debut in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby and followed it up with high-profile roles in The Blue Lagoon (1980) and Endless Love (1981). Meanwhile, Shields caused a sensation with her advertisements for Calvin Klein jeans, in which she claimed that nothing came between her and her Calvins. Shields also endorsed Breck shampoo, Colgate toothpaste and Band Aids.Critics who claimed that Shields was more celebrity than actress were delighted when she flopped in Sahara (1983) and Brenda Starr (1989). Shields cut back on her acting to attend Princeton University in New Jersey and graduated in 1988.
However, she couldn't totally resist the spotlight and wrote a much-publicized autobiography, On Your Own.Previously linked romantically to Michael Jackson, Liam Neeson, Prince Albert of Monaco and Michael Bolton, Shields married tennis star Andre Agassi in April 1997. The two were separated less than two years later, and the marriage ended in divorce. In April 2001, Shields married ex-Suddenly Susan writer Chris Henchy. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Rowan, in May 2003.After speaking about her troubles, and reaching out to other victims of postpartum depression, she was openly criticized by actor and devout scientologist Tom Cruise. Cruise accused Shields of improperly medicating with the antidepressant drug, Paxil,and spoke out against her use of psychiatric treatment. The two actors became locked in a very public argument about the necessity of medication and psychiatry until Cruise privately apologized to Shields. Their friendship was quickly healed; Brooke and her husband attended Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006.Shields came into the public eye again on July 17, 2009, when she spoke at the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. In her tearful eulogy she shared a number of heartfelt anecdotes about the pop star.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Jamie Lee Curtis - 1958
Jamie Lee Curtis was born November 22, 1958, in Los Angeles, California, and was considered Hollywood royalty from birth. The daughter of legendary actor Tony Curtis and actress Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee's birth was a newsworthy event. Her celebrity mom and dad divorced when Jamie Lee was a mere three years old.Jamie Lee and sister Kelly Lee were raised by their mom, who had remarried shortly after her divorce. While studying at Beverly Hills High School, Jamie Lee's adolescence was marked by an estranged father who was deep into drugs and alcohol, and a lack of a social life due to not fitting in while in school.When she went topless in Trading Places, she cemented herself a fan base that would last for years. Not only because she decided to disrobe, but because she had a fantastic body, that she was often referred to as "Freeze Frame" (a nod to all the VCR users' use of the pause button on certain Jamie Lee Curtis scenes).
Jamie Lee Curtis is a film veteran, having appeared in dozens of films. Her notable performances are in Halloween, True Lies, Tailor of Panama, My Girl, Trading Places, and Forever Young.She has gained an international reputation, and in some respects is more famous or revered in Europe than she is in North America. And of course, there is the cult following of Jamie's horror roles that sees no sign of waning. Curtis is one of the few celebrity writers to win over both critics and readers. She has enjoyed tremendous success as a children's book author. Her first children's work, When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth, was published in 1993.Much of her inspiration has come from her two children with actor-filmmaker Christopher Guest. The adoption of their oldest child, Annie, led to her second book, Tell Me Again About The Night I was Born (1996). Their son, Tom, also adopted, posed the question that led to Is There Really a Human Race? (2006). Curtis has been married to filmmaker Christopher Guest since 1984. The couple lives in California with their two children.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Kate Winslet - 1975
Kate Winslet says she wanted to be an actress from the age of five but because her family members were stage actors, she was not aware of the world of film. She attended Redroofs Theatre School and made her debut television performance, aged 11, dancing in front of the breakfast cereal mascot, the Honey Monster.It is ironic her first role was advertising for food because as effortlessly down-to-earth as she seems, Winslet suffered at the hands of bullies throughout her adolescence. She was trapped in the art cupboard at school and taunted by the nickname ‘Blubber’ for being overweight. It is this experience that incenses her to stand up against the trend to shed weight. “I was like all those girls,’’ she said. “It was an unstoppable feeling. I starved myself. So seductive - all my bones sticking out.”“I was that child, looking at the images of models in films, magazines and fashion shows. This is what girls are brought up to believe, that to be thin is to be loved, adored, perfect. That's how they'll get a boyfriend - by becoming like a stick insect.”Winslet’s early roles were small parts in television until 1994, when she won the role of Juliet Hulme in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures which set her on an extraordinary path for a girl not yet 20-years-old. Heavenly Creatures was a film based on the true story of two girls who murdered one of their mothers.
Winslet played a slightly perverse, intense role which was just short of over-the-top but won her the admiration of critics.Next up was Ang Lee's Jane Austen revival, Sense and Sensibility. Lee called Winslet a “bold, raw talent’’ and said Winslet fainted on set several times, so immersed was she in the masochistic, intense romanticism of her character, Marianne. So by her late teens, Winslet had been directed by Peter Jackson and Ang Lee and starred alongside Emma Thompson who Winslet reveres and remains close with.Winslet’s next big role was opposite rising star Leonardo DiCaprio in 1997’s Titanic, the top-grossing movie of all time by a nautical mile. Love the movie or hate it - you’ve most likely seen it.And so she looked set to become part of the Hollywood machine, just another star collecting her millions from the big-budget monsters. However, Winslet has always appeared to stand apart from the other plastic Hollywood starlets, never falling drunk out of a nightclub at 4am or fussing if a nail breaks. She calls a spade a bloody shovel and rejects the trappings of super-stardom.Following Titanic, Winslet retained her art-house credentials, turning down scripts from America, choosing instead to star in a modest British film, Hideous Kinky.
Winslet starred as a flaky yet driven hippie who decamps to Morocco with two daughters in the early 1970s.It was on location in Morocco filming Hideous Kinky that Winslet met assistant director Jim Threapleton in 1998. She said she saw him and “just knew’’. They married in November that year in her home town of Reading and the couple were blessed by the same vicar who baptised Kate as a child. The wedding cemented Winslet as a rare down-to-earth celebrity as the reception was held at the bride's favourite pub, The Crooked Billet, where guests dined on bangers and mash.In 2000, the couple had a daughter called Mia but they separated the following year and were divorced by Christmas 2001. By the time the split was finalised Winslet had met her second husband-to-be, director Sam Mendes whom she would marry in 2003.In Jane Campion's 1999 film, Holy Smoke, Winslet plays Ruth, a young woman who goes to India with a friend and meets a guru (Harvey Keitel). In the film, there is a scene where Winslet stands naked in the Australian scrubland with a great sky behind her, and urinates on to the sand. She wasn't actually urinating, she says; there was a saline drip attached behind her head. However she claims she did insist on trying one take for real. “And the problem is, of course, that the wee dribbles down one leg.’’In 2000, it was back to petticoats as Winslet portrayed a laundress who colludes with the incarcerated Marquis de Sade to help smuggle out his writings in Quills. In Enigma, the World War II-era spy drama, she took a role that was less emotionally charged, instead more subtle. In Iris she played the youthful incarnation of British philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch.
In 2003, a year before the release of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Winslet and Mendes were married in a top secret wedding in the West Indies. The wedding was attended by three close friends and her daughter Mia. The couple, who are still together, have a son called Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes.Perhaps motherhood encouraged her to try different roles. In 2006 she voiced the streetwise Rita, a rat living in a vast sewer metropolis stumbled upon by a pampered pet mouse Rody (Hugh Jackman), in the animated comedy Flushed Away.Her role in Little Children earned her another Academy Award nomination. She told television talk show host Michael Parkinson that nude scenes never got any easier. She was unable to watch the film, in particular the love-making scenes, with husband Sam Mendes so he went to see her performance on his own. Winslet wept during the Parkinson interview when she revealed Mendes had come home in tears after seeing the film and told her he was incredibly proud of his talented wife. Winslet says she doesn’t read reviews because they give such a distorted opinion, “What matters to me is what my mum, dad and husband think.’’
In chick flick The Holiday, Winslet stars with Cameron Diaz, as a woman so totally over men she decides to house-swap and take a break in America. Winslet got caught in a cross-cultural faux pas when she told reporters: “Cameron could eat me under the table.’’ To the Brits the sentence sounds like nothing more than Diaz being a big eater, in American parlance the phrase takes on a lewd connotation referring to oral sex. In typical Winslet fashion, she laughed it off - even though she says the producer looked as if she was “about to vomit’’ when she made the gaff.Winslet and Mendes were given a nod in August 2007’s InStyle Magazine for being the best Old School Hollywood couple for their stylish red-carpet public appearances. Typically for Winslet but rather unusually for a celebrity, she was revealed as the face of Lancôme’s Tresor perfume but she only accepted the modeling job if the company promised not to airbrush her for the poster campaign.Anna Winslet, Kate’s older sister, told reporters: “Kate and I don’t think men like skinny, pointy, spikey women. She feels women should be allowed to be the natural shape they are without having to conform into some sort of image that is never going to be what their make-up is really about.’’Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet appeared again as a couple in Revolutionary Road, released in 2009. In the same year Winslet won the Oscar for best actress for her role in The Reader.
Margaret Ruth Gyllenhaal (Maggie) - 1977
Margaret Ruth 'Maggie' Gyllenhaal refers to a famed American actress. She is one of the daughters of the director Stephen Gyllenhaal and the screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal and older sister of the actor Jake Gyllenhaal. She did her screen debut as she began to appear at her father's films. Maggie Gyllenhaal has built a solid reputation as a talented and unique actress. She can only be admired for her non-conformist attitude and her ability to garner respect through her natural flair and intelligence in performance. Maggie Ruth Gyllenhaal was born on 19th November 1977 in New York City. Her mother, Naomi, was a children’s TV producer-turned-scriptwriter and her father Stephen was a published poet and Emmy-nominated director. Her parents’ successful film careers led the family to LA when Gyllenhaal turned one year old, and two years later, brother Jake arrived.Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter Sarsgaard, a close friend of her brother Jake, since 2002. They announced their engagement in April 2006, and married on May 2, 2009, in a small chapel in Brindisi, Italy. They have two daughters: Ramona (born October 3, 2006) and Gloria Ray (born April 19, 2012). The family lives in Brooklyn, New York.Gyllenhaal is politically active. At the 18th Independent Spirit Awards, she spoke out against the Iraq war, stating the reason for the invasion was "oil and imperialism". In 2005, Gyllenhaal drew controversy for her statement that the September 11 attacks were "an occasion to be brave enough to ask some serious questions about America's role in the world It is always useful as individuals or nations to ask how we may have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to this conflict."
Gyllenhaal took part in Artists United to Win Without War, a campaign started by Robert Greenwald with the aim of advancing progressive causes and voicing opposition to the Iraq War. She and her brother Jake filmed a commercial for Rock the Vote, and visited the University of Southern California (USC) campus to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, in which she supported John Kerry.Gyllenhaal supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. She has campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization her family strongly supports.In June 2013, Gyllenhaal and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Bradley Manning.Besides acting, Gyllenhaal has modeled for Miu Miu Reebok, and Agent Provocateur, and recorded the first unabridged audiobook version of Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar.Gyllenhaal is a supporter of Witness, a non-profit organization that uses video and online technologies to expose human rights violations. She co-hosted a benefit dinner with founder Peter Gabriel in November 2007. Gyllenhaal helped raise funds for TrickleUp.org, a non-profit organization that helps impoverished people start a micro-enterprise. For one of the fundraisers, Gyllenhaal helped design and promote a necklace that sold for $100; all proceeds from sales went to the charity. In October 2008 she hosted a fashion show event called "Fashionably Natural", which was presented by Gen Art and SoyJoy in Los Angeles. The show featured four up-and-coming designers who only worked with all-natural and eco-friendly fabrics and materials.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Jennifer Jason Leigh - 1962
A professional actor since the age of nine, Jennifer Jason Leigh earned her Screen Actors Guild card at 16 and dropped out of high school to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute and star in seedy made-for-TV movies. Born to actor Vic Morrow and writer/actress Barbara Turner in Hollywood, CA, Jennifer picked up the middle name Jason from family friend Jason Robards Jr. Throughout her career, she has made a name for herself portraying helpless, damaged, or mentally unsound characters, often performing at a higher level than the material. Also known for extensively researching her roles, Leigh dropped down to less than 90 pounds for one of her first features as an anorexic teenager in the TV-movie The Best Little Girl in the World. Never one to shy away from touchy subject matter, her breakthrough role came in 1982 as the naïve high school girl who gets an abortion in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. After a decade of developing a repertoire of various troubled characters, she was nominated for two Critics Circle awards in 1990 for playing prostitutes in both Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn. She would continue to play vulnerable characters in dangerous situations as the rookie narcotics officer-turned-drug addict in Rush. This was followed by her notorious role as the psycho roommate Hedra who tries to steal the identity of her roommate (Bridget Fonda) in Single White Female. She played a phone sex worker in the ensemble film Short Cuts, her first of three projects involving director Robert Altman. Leigh occasionally stepped out of her down-and-out roles, and in 1994 she shined as Amy Archer in The Hudsucker Proxy. Her comic turn as a plucky undercover journalist was said to recall the work of legendary actresses like Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Jill Clayburgh 1944 - 2010
Jill Clayburgh suffered from chronic leukaemia for 21 years prior to her death in 2010. Upon her death, Jill was cremated and her ashes are in the custody of her family. She was among the first generation of 70s actresses and she was listed on Hollywood's 25 Greatest Actresses.
Clayburgh was born in New York City, the daughter of Julia Louise (née Dorr), a theatrical production secretary for producer David Merrick, and Albert Henry "Bill" Clayburgh, a manufacturing executive. Her paternal grandmother was concert and opera singer Alma Lachenbruch Clayburgh.Clayburgh's father came from a wealthy, Jewish family.
She was raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where she attended the Brearley School. She then attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she decided that she wanted to be an actress.Clayburgh married screenwriter and playwright David Rabe in 1979. They had one son, Michael Rabe, and one daughter, actress Lily Rabe. Prior to this, she had dated actor Al Pacino for five years (and briefly appeared with him in a November 1968 N.Y.P.D. episode, "Deadly Circle Of Violence").
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Monica Bellucci - 1964
Monica Bellucci is supposedly the best Italian import in Hollywood since Sophia Loren. She commands a huge amount of respect in the industry which the other models can dream of. She has acted in over 50 films and TV shows and her popularity is simply legendary. She has a number of blockbuster films to her credit including The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and Shoot 'Em Up. 2010 was a remarkable year for the actress as she starred opposite Nicholas Cage in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, opposite Racel Weisz in The Whistleblower and in Joel Schumacher's 1:30 Train. And lest you start think otherwise, she is only 45 years old!!
Monica has acted in more than 50 films but there is no concrete information about her salary per film. However, it is believed that she earns a heft sum of money through her endorsements. She is already the face of Dior cosmetics and has also posed for Dolce & Gabbana and French ELLE. In 2011 French Cashmere brand Eric Bompard signed the actress for their autumn/winter 2011 ad campaign. It is also alleged that once she was paid 230,000 euros to attend a gala at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.We know it will disappoint the fans but presently we do not have any information on her house. However, confirmed reports suggest that Monica is proud to be the owner of a Lamborghini.
The Lamborghini is one of the fastest cars in the vehicle industry. The choice of her directly is actually opposite to the type of cars she uses during the shooting of short video clips. The Italian actress is also known for her philanthropy work and she has also promoted a new residence for young cancer patients and their parents. She has also attended charity concerts in many parts of the world including St. Petersburg.Bellucci was born in Umbria, Italy as the only child. She began modeling at the age of 13 for a local photographer. In 1988 she moved to Milan and signed a deal with Elite Model Management. By 1989 she was a known figure in the modeling circuit and has already posed for renowned designers like Dolce & Gabbana and French ELLE. She married French actor Vincent Cassel and they have two daughters. During her first pregnancy she created quite a storm by posing nude for the Italian magazine, Vanity Fair. She posed pregnant and semi-nude again during her second pregnancy. This was done as a mark of protest against specific Italian laws. In 2012 she became the face of the luxury brand, Dolce & Gabbana.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Penélope Cruz - 1974
Actress Penelope Cruz studied classical ballet at a young age and later moved to Hollywood, California, to pursue acting. She soon landed roles opposite the likes of Matt Damon and Tom Cruise. She won an Academy Award—becoming the first Spanish actress to do so—for her performance in the film Vicky Christina Barcelona. Cruz married her Vicky Cristina Barcelona co-star.Penelope Cruz Sanchez was born on April 28, 1974, in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain. Cruz was born as the eldest of three and a natural performer; her father, Eduardo, worked as a car mechanic, and her mother, Encarna, was a hairdresser. As a child, Cruz amused her family by re-enacting television commercials. Though a natural actress, she took up dance for her choice of performance arts.
She studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, and then moved to New York to dance under a series of prominent performers.When she was 15 years old, Cruz found her true vocation after beating out 300 other girls at a talent agency competition. Following this early success, she landed several roles as a dancer for music videos, as well as a gig hosting Spanish TV's La Quinta Marcha. Additionally, Cruz explored her more sensual side in the French erotic TV series Serie Rose.In July 2010, Cruz married her Vicky Cristina Barcelona co-star, Spanish actor Javier Bardem. The couple had begun dating early into filming, in 2007. Cruz and Bardem welcomed their first child, son Leo Encinas, in January 2011. Two years later, on July 22, 2013, a 39-year-old Cruz gave birth to her second child with Bardem, a daughter named Luna Encinas, in Madrid, Spain.
Nicole Kidman - 1967
Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on educational visas. Kidman can therefore claim citizenship in Australia and the United States. Her father, Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. Kidman's ancestry includes Scottish and Irish. At the time of Kidman's birth, her father was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He soon became a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the war in Vietnam, which was causing social unrest in both Australia and the United States, Kidman's parents participated in anti-war protests while they were living in Washington, D.C. The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her parents now live on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist and TV presenter. Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls' High School. She was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. Kidman revealed she was timid as a child, saying, "I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself." In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Kidman to temporarily halt her education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age seventeen. She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Victoria, and at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, with actress and friend Naomi Watts who had attended the same high school. This was followed by attending the Australian Theatre for Young People. Here she took up drama, mime and performing in her teens, finding acting to be a refuge.
Due to her fair skin and naturally red hair, the Australian sun forced the young Kidman to rehearse in halls of the theatre. A regular at the Phillip Street Theatre, she received both encouragement and praise to pursue acting full-time.A dual citizen of Australia and the United States - she was born on June 20, 1967 to Australian parents in Hawaii - Kidman spent her earliest years in Washington, D.C. before returning to Australia, where her father maintained a career as a biochemist and psychologist and her mother was a nursing instructor. Her performing career got an early start with ballet training at three and showed a natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. In 1983, she debuted in the Australian kids' action-comedy, "BMX Bandits;" she soon made for an engaging juvenile lead in the popular holiday feature "Bush Christmas" (1983) and 12 episodes of the family series "Five Mile Creek" (7 Network, 1983-85). In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused her to temporarily halt her higher education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age 17. Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a fourth Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup.TV Guide reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Lili Elbe, the world's first postoperative transsexual. Screen Daily reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011.
However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz.In 2009, Variety said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel Little Bee, in association with BBC Films.In June 2010, TV Guide announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman, began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012. She also starred alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage. On 17 September 2010, ontactMusic. com said Kidman would return to Broadway to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, with Scott Rudin producing. On 30 August 2011, Cromer spoke to The New York Times and explained that the production would not meet its original fall 2011 revival date but that it remains an active project. In June 2011, Kidman was cast in Lee Daniels' adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel, The Paperboy; she began filming on the thriller on 1 August 2011, and The Paperboy was released in 2012. In the film, she portrayed death row groupie Charlotte Bless, and performed sex scenes that she claims not to have remembered until seeing the finished film. "I was like okay, so that's what I did," she said. Kidman co-starred in Park Chan-wook's Stoker (2013).In April 2012, various sources, including Variety, announced that Kidman was in talks to star in upcoming Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco. The film will focus on the 1962 crisis, in which Charles de Gaulle blockaded the tiny principality, angered by Monaco's status as a tax haven for wealthy French subjects. In 2012, Kidman's audiobook recording of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse was released at Audible.com. In April 2013 she was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Kim Basinger - 1953
Kim Basinger Film actress, born on December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia, USA. She appeared in television commercials and was a top model before making her feature film debut in Hard Country (1981). Other films include Nine Weeks (1986), The Real McCoy (1993), I Dreamed of Africa (2000), 8 Mile (2002), Cellular (2004), and The Sentinel (2006). She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in L.A. Confidential (1997). Kim Basinger's second marriage (1993–2001) was to actor Alec Baldwin and they have a daughter, Ireland Eliesse.Basinger dated and lived with Dale Robinette in the 1970s.On October 12, 1980, Basinger married makeup artist Ron Snyder-Britton (born 1938), who worked on the crew of her film Hard Country (1981). They separated in 1988 and were officially divorced in 1989. He later wrote a memoir in 1998, Longer than Forever, about their time together and her rumored affair with actor Richard Gere, with whom she starred in No Mercy (1986) and Final Analysis (1992).
After the divorce Basinger dated casting director Jon Peters and singer Prince.She met her second husband, Alec Baldwin, in 1990 when they played lovers in The Marrying Man. They married on August 19, 1993, and appeared in the remake of The Getaway (1994). They played themselves in a 1998 episode of The Simpsons (which includes Ron Howard), in which Basinger corrects Homer Simpson on the pronunciation of her last name and polishes her Oscar statuette. Basinger and Baldwin have a daughter, Ireland Eliesse Baldwin (born October 23, 1995), thus connecting her to the well-known Baldwin family. They separated in December 2000 and were officially divorced in February 2002. In the following years, the pair were embroiled in a custody battle over their daughter. In a 2000 interview with Charlie Rose, Basinger confessed to having suffered from agoraphobia in the early 1980s and suffering deep-rooted insecurities. Basinger says that she has a "humorous relationship" with God and a strong faith.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Monica Guerritore - 1958
Monica Guerritore is a Actress from Rome Italy. Monica Guerritore is 55 years old, born on January 5, 1958.After her debut at just sixteen years of age under the direction of Giorgio Strehler in The Cherry Orchard (however, she had her first small part in Vittorio De Sica's Una breve vacanza, at the early age of 13), she tied herself romantically and artistically to film and theatre director Gabriele Lavia, acting in his theatrical performances mostly strong female characters like Jocasta, Lady Macbeth and Ophelia. The couple separated in 2001, and Guerritore continued her work with other directors, like Giancarlo Sepe, in Madame Bovary, Carmen and in The Lady of the Camellias.Beside the stage career.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Julianne Moore - 1960
Julianne Moore (born Julie Anne Smith; December 3, 1960) is a British–American actress and children's author. I will not talk in details about her acting carrier so she is a versatile actress who most recently scored Oscar nominations for The Hours and Far From Heaven, she has excelled in blockbusters, comedy and serious drama.The award-winning actress Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1960. She was born into a military family; her father Peter worked as a judge in the US Army's Judge Advocate General Corps.Her mother, who was called Ann, was a Scottish-born psychiatric social worker.Peter Smith's work as an army judge meant that the family moved around a great deal whilst young Moore was growing up, living in army bases as far-flung as Alabama, New Jersey, Nebraska, Juneau in Alaska, Panama and Germany - around two dozen locations, all told.But this peripatetic upbringing doesn't appear to have affected Moore adversely, since she happily describes herself as a "proud army brat". Moore has a younger sister, Valerie, and a brother called Peter Moore Smith III, who is a novelist by profession.Moore grew up in an atmosphere of intellectual and emotional enquiry, as her parents would both discuss their various cases at the dinner table. She graduated from Frankfurt High School in Frankfurt, Germany in 1979, and was initially encouraged to take up acting by her English teacher at school.Her parents weren't keen on her choice of career, as they'd both hoped she'd opt for something more stable - but her mind was made up. As a compromise solution, she attended the College of Fine Arts in Boston, where she majored in drama, thereby combining her acting training with an academic degree.After she'd been awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Moore moved to New York to pursue her dreams of acting. But when she tried to register with the Actors Guild, she was dismayed to discover that she couldn't use her own name, since there was already another actress called Julie Smith. So she tagged on her mother's Christian name Ann to her own name, and took her father's middle name as a surname, thus arriving at her stage name - Julianne Moore.Moore met her first husband, the actor and stage director John Gould Rubin, in 1984. They married on May 3, 1986, when she was 25. Moore separated from Rubin in 1993, which she has called the biggest decision of her life. "I got married too early and I really didn't want to be there", she has since explained.
Their divorce was finalized in August 1995, and the pair are no longer in contact.In 1996, Moore began a relationship with Bart Freundlich, her director on The Myth of Fingerprints. He was 26 and she was 35. The couple have a son, Caleb (born December 1997) and a daughter, Liv (born April 2002).They wed in August 2003, and live in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Moore says, "We have a very solid family life, and it is the most satisfying thing I have ever done." She tries to keep her family close when working, and picks material that is practical for her as a parent. "Just like every other working parent", she says, "I'm trying to figure out: 'How do I work, how am I available for soccer games, how can I make sure that I'm home when everybody's doing their homework?'"Moore is politically liberal, and supported Barack Obama at the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. She is a pro-choice activist, and sits on the board of advocates for Planned Parenthood. She is also a campaigner for gay rights, and since 2008 she has been an Artist Ambassador for Save the Children. Regarding religion, Moore has implied that she is an atheist. When asked on Inside the Actors Studio what God might say to her upon arrival at heaven, she gave God's response as, "Well I guess you were wrong, I do exist."Moore has said she finds little value in the concept of celebrity, and is concerned with living a "normal" life. Upon meeting her, the journalist Suzie Mackenzie described Moore as "the most unostentatious of stars", and she attracts little gossip or tabloid attention. She is humble about her profession ("it's just a person with a job") and casual in her appearance. Moore is known for maintaining a natural image and refraining from botox and plastic surgery. "I feel like it doesn't make people look any younger. It makes them look like they've had surgery", she said on The Early Show in 2009; "It's an aesthetic that's not human.
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