Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Carolyn Murphy

Carolyn Murphy was born in Panama City, Florida and grew up mainly in Northwest Florida, with brief periods in England and Maryland, as a result of her parents’ divorce. Her career began when at the age of 16, her mother enrolled her in a modeling school. Soon, she was modeling locally in Florida, as well as abroad in Japan and Paris. After graduating from Choctawhatchee High School in 1991, Murphy went to New York.

Murphy enrolled at the University of Virginia, while modeling part-time. Mario Testino shot her for French Vogue, Missoni, Et Vous, and Gucci. In 1994 she was hired for Prada and appeared in major magazines like Harpers Bazaar and Vogue. Anna Wintour had Steven Meisel shoot her for American Vogue in 1995 and he began to use her for campaigns like Dolce Gabbana, Max Mara, and Calvin Klein.

In 1998, she was named VH1/Vogue's "Model of the Year". Barry Levinson chose her for the role of "Dubbie" in his film Liberty Heights. She was presented on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American Vogue as one of the "Modern Muses".". and considered a muse by Calvin Klein, landing a contract for the perfume "Contradiction"with fellow Liberty Heights costar, Justin Chambers. She was offered roles in "Pearl Harbor" and many others to follow. Also in 1998, during a photo shoot for Elle magazine, the photographer noticed her resemblance to the actress Gene Tierney and Elle dubbed Murphy "The blonde Gene Tierney".

In 2001, Estee Lauder signed Murphy to an exclusive contract. Her first advertising campaign for the brand’s “Defining Beauty” began appearing in 2002. She continues to appear in the advertisements today, recently posing for Estee Lauder’s new fragrance, Sensuous. She shot campaigns for Missoni, Versace and Tiffany & Co. In 2005 she was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.


Source article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Murphy

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Mila Kunis

Milena "Mila" Kunis (Russian: Милена "Mилa" Кунис; Ukrainian: Мілена "Miлa" Куніс; born August 14, 1983; play /ˈmiːlə ˈkuːnɪs/) is an American actress. At the age of seven, she moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles, California with her family. After being enrolled in acting classes to help learn English she was soon discovered by an agent. She appeared in TV shows and commercials, before her first significant role, playing Jackie Burkhart on the TV series That '70s Show. A year later, she was cast as the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy.

Her breakout film role came in 2008, playing Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Subsequent film roles included Mona Sax in Max Payne, Solara in The Book of Eli, and Jamie in Friends with Benefits. Her performance as Lily in Black Swan gained her worldwide accolades, including receiving the Premio Marcello Mastroianni for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

She has received substantial media attention for her beauty, including often landing on the "Hot 100" lists for publications such as Maxim or FHM and routinely appearing on the cover of national magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and GQ magazine. Her star status was further enhanced when she signed on to be the face of the Christian Dior Spring fashion campaign. At the age of 18, she began a relationship with actor Macaulay Culkin that lasted eight years.

 Kunis was born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR. She is the daughter of Elvira, a physics teacher and drug store manager, and Mark, a mechanical engineer and cab company executive. Kunis has an older brother, Michael.In 1991, when she was seven years old, her family moved to Los Angeles, California. Kunis is Jewish and has cited antisemitism in the former Soviet Union as one of several reasons for her family's move to the U.S. She has stated that her parents "raised [her] Jewish as much as they could", though religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union.

On her second day in Los Angeles, Kunis was enrolled at Rosewood Elementary School not knowing a word of English. "I blocked out second grade completely. I have no recollection of it. I always talk to my mom and my grandma about it. It was because I cried every day. I didn't understand the culture. I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language. My first sentence of my essay to get into college was like, 'Imagine being blind and deaf at age seven.' And that's kind of what it felt like moving to the States."

In Los Angeles, she attended Hubert Howe Bancroft Middle School.She was mostly taught by an on-set tutor for her high school years while filming That '70s Show. When not on the set, she attended Fairfax High School, where she graduated in 2001.She briefly attended UCLA and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.



Thursday, May 24, 2012

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer, and humanitarian. Kidman began her career in 1983, starring in various Australian film and television productions until her breakthrough in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Batman Forever (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s. It was her performance in the musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film The Hours (2002) received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other notable films include To Die For (1995), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005), and Australia (2008). Her performance in 2010's Rabbit Hole (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006.Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honor, and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry. As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States.

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were in the United States on educational visas at the time. Kidman can thus claim both U.S. and Australian citizenship. Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 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 in 1967, her father was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He soon after 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, DC.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 17. 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 as she did. 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.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Barbara Palvin

Barbara Palvin (born 8 October 1993 in Budapest ) is a Hungarian fashion model.Palvin was born in Budapest, Hungary. At an early age, Palvin took up soccer and singing, considering them her favorite hobbies.

Palvin was discovered on the streets of Budapest in 2006 at the age of 13. She shot her first editorial that year for Spur Magazine. Palvin subsequently moved to Asia where she continued a steady stream of bookings. Since then, Palvin has been on the cover of L'Officiel, Vogue Russia, Glamour Hungary and Jalouse Magazine, and has modeled for Armani Exchange, H&M, Victoria's Secret, and Pull and Bear. In February 2012, she became an ambassador for L'Oreal Paris.

Her runway debut was as an exclusive for Prada during Milan Fashion Week in February 2010. Palvin has also walked for Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Nina Ricci, Emanuel Ungaro, Christopher Kane, Julien MacDonald, Jeremy Scott, Vivienne Westwood, Etro and opened the pre-Fall 2011 Chanel show.

Palvin is ranked 40 on the Top 50 Models Women list by models.com. Palvin is often compared to Russian model Natalia Vodianova; British Vogue editor Miranda Almond said, "We chose Barbara because she is absolutely exquisite looking a cross between a young Brooke Shields and Natalia Vodianova". Palvin credits Vodianova and Kate Moss as her favorite models.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Liv Tyler

Liv Rundgren Tyler (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. She then appeared in supporting roles in Empire Records , Heavy  and That Thing You Do! . Tyler later achieved critical recognition in the leading role in Stealing Beauty. She followed this by starring in supporting roles including Inventing the Abbotts  and Cookie's Fortune .

Tyler achieved international recognition as a result of her portrayal of Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Jersey Girl, the indie film Lonesome Jim, the drama Reign Over Me and big-budget studio films such as Armageddon , The Strangers  and The Incredible Hulk .

Tyler has served as a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador for the United States since 2003, and as a spokesperson for Givenchy's line of perfume and cosmetics.
Tyler was born Liv Rundgren at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She is the first-born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.Her mother named her after Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977 issue of TV Guide. She is of Italian, German, Cherokee, and Russian ancestry on her father's side, and her mother is German-American Tyler has three half-siblings: Mia Tyler (born 1978), Chelsea Anna Tallarico (born 1989), and Taj Monroe Tallarico (born 1992). Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.

At Liv's birth, Buell claimed that rock star, Todd Rundgren, was Tyler's biological father. At age eight Tyler discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia.When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed. The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until five years later in 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name. Buell's stated reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth. Since learning the truth about her paternity, Liv and Steven have developed a close relationship. They also have worked together professionally, once when she appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy" in 1993, and again when Aerosmith performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon (1998) in which Liv Tyler starred.
 
Tyler attended the Congressional Schools of Virginia, Breakwater School and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, before returning to New York City with her mother at age 12. She went to York Preparatory in New York City for junior high and high school after her mother researched the school to accommodate Tyler's ADHD. She graduated in 1995, and left to continue her acting career. When asked about the way she spent her early life, Tyler said: "For me, I didn’t get much of a childhood in my teen years because I’ve been working since I was 14. But that also kept me out of trouble. When everybody was doing acid and partying like crazy, I was at work on a movie in Tuscany ... having my own fun, of course, but it was a different kind of thing. I have no regrets. I love the way my life has gone."

Friday, May 18, 2012

Marion Cotillard

Marion Cotillard (French pronunciation:  born 30 September 1975) is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants. She has also appeared in such films as Big Fish, A Good Year, Public Enemies, Nine, Inception, Midnight in Paris, and Contagion.

In 2007, Cotillard starred as the French singer Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, for which she won the Academy Award, the BAFTA Award, the César Award and the Golden Globe Award for best actress. She made film history by becoming the first person to win an Academy Award for a French language performance. In 2010, she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the musical Nine.

Cotillard was born in Paris and grew up around Orléans, Loiret in an artistically inclined, "bustling, creative household". Her father, Jean-Claude Cotillard, is an actor, teacher, former mime, and 2006 Molière Award-winning director. Cotillard's mother, Monique (now known as Niseema) Theillaud, is also an actress and drama teacher. She has two younger twin brothers, Quentin and Guillaume. Guillaume is a screenwriter and director. She began acting during her childhood, appearing on stage in one of her father's plays.

After small appearances and performances in theater, Cotillard had occasional and minor roles in television series such as Highlander, but her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s with small but noticeable roles in such films as Arnaud Desplechin's My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument. Cotillard appeared in the comedy La belle verte, directed by Coline Serreau. In 1998, she starred in Gérard Pirès' action comedy Taxi. In the film, she plays Lili Bertineau, who becomes Daniel's girlfriend. Cotillard reprised the role in two sequels. She then ventured into anticipation science fiction with Alexandre Aja's Furia 

Cotillard appeared in Pierre Grimblat's film Lisa as Young Lisa, alongside Jeanne Moreau, Benoît Magimel and Sagamore Stévenin in the Swiss war drama In The Highlands. She starred in Gilles Paquet-Brenner's film Les jolies choses, adapted from the work of feminist writer Virginie Despentes. In the drama, Cotillard portrayed the characters of two twins of completely opposite characters, Lucie and Marie. She was nominated for a César Award for her performance. In Guillaume Nicloux's thriller Une affaire privée she portrayed Clarisse, friend of the disappeared.



Sunday, May 13, 2012

Eva Green

Eva Gaëlle Green (Swedish pronunciation: born 5 July 1980) is a French actress and model. Green performed in theatre before making her film debut in The Dreamers . She achieved greater fame for her parts in Kingdom of Heaven and the James Bond film Casino Royale , for which she won a BAFTA.

Eva Green was born in Paris, the daughter of French actress Marlène Jobert and Swedish dentist Walter Green. Green was born two minutes earlier than her sororal twin sister, Joy (Johanne). Her mother, a pied-noir, was born in Algeria. Green's mother is Jewish.Green was raised without religion;she has said "I feel like a citizen of the world. Life and cinema don't have borders.She grew up in the 17th arrondissement of Paris where she attended the American School of Paris. Green has described her family as "bourgeois", and has said that her sister is very different from her. Green is a natural dark blonde; she has dyed her hair black since she was 15 years old. French-Swedish actress Marika Green is her aunt. The 1980s pop-star Elsa Lunghini is her first cousin, through their mothers.

Green was raised in France, attended and graduated from the American University of Paris, an English-speaking institution, and also spent time between Ramsgate, London and Ireland. Green was quiet in school, and developed an interest in Egyptology when she visited the Louvre at age seven.At age 14, after seeing Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H., Green decided to become an actress. Her mother initially feared that an acting career would be too much for her sensitive daughter, but later came to support young Eva's ambitions.

Eva Green was born in Paris, the daughter of French actress Marlène Jobert and Swedish dentist Walter Green. Green was born two minutes earlier than her sororal twin sister, Joy (Johanne). Her mother, a pied-noir, was born in Algeria. Green's mother is Jewish.Green was raised without religion; she has said "I feel like a citizen of the world. Life and cinema don't have borders."She grew up in the 17th arrondissement of Paris where she attended the American School of Paris. Green has described her family as "bourgeois",and has said that her sister is very different from her. Green is a natural dark blonde; she has dyed her hair black since she was 15 years old.French-Swedish actress Marika Green is her aunt. The 1980s pop-star Elsa Lunghini is her first cousin, through their mothers.

Green was raised in France, attended and graduated from the American University of Paris, an English-speaking institution, and also spent time between Ramsgate, London and Ireland. Green was quiet in school,and developed an interest in Egyptology when she visited the Louvre at age seven.At age 14, after seeing Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H., Green decided to become an actress. Her mother initially feared that an acting career would be too much for her sensitive daughter, but later came to support young Eva's ambitions.


Friday, May 11, 2012

Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Anne Affleck (née Garner; born April 17, 1972), better known as Jennifer Garner, is an American actress and film producer. Garner gained recognition on television for her performance as CIA agent Sydney Bristow in the thriller drama series Alias, which aired on ABC for five seasons from 2001 to 2006. While working on Alias, she gained minor roles in hit movies such as Pearl Harbor and Catch Me if You Can . Since then, Garner has appeared in supporting as well as lead roles on the big screen in projects including Daredevil , 13 Going on 30 , Elektra , a spin-off of Daredevil, and Juno . She is married to actor and director Ben Affleck, with whom she has two daughters and a son.

Her mother, Patricia Ann (née English), was an English teacher from Oklahoma, and her father, William "Bill" John Garner, worked as a chemical engineer at Union Carbide. When she was four years old, her father's job with Union Carbide relocated her family to Princeton, West Virginia, and then later to Charleston, West Virginia, where Garner resided until her college years. She has credited her older sister, Melissa Lynn Garner Wylie, who resides in Boston, Massachusetts, as a source of inspiration to her. Her younger sister is Susannah Kay Garner Carpenter.

Garner's conservative upbringing included going to church every Sunday, not wearing make-up or a bikini, and waiting at least until the age of 16 to be allowed to get her ears pierced, which, she later joked, made her family "just a step away from being Amish." She began taking ballet lessons at the age of three and continued to dance throughout her youth, but she did not envision herself becoming a classical ballerina. Garner attended George Washington High School in Charleston. In 1990, she enrolled at Ohio's Denison University, where she originally studied chemistry but changed her major to drama and worked in numerous theatrical productions.She graduated from Denison, where she was initiated into the sorority Pi Beta Phi, in 1994.

Garner had been stalked since 2002 by a man, Steven Burky, who was eventually arrested in December 2009, after violating a 2008 restraining order against him. Burky was charged with two counts of stalking, to which he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity; in March 2010, he was ruled insane and sent to the California state mental hospital with a court order to stay away from the Affleck family for 10 years if released from the hospital.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes (born March 5, 1974) is an American actress, model, singer and homeware designer. She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of roles in B movies such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror  and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the Hollywood mainstream with an appearance in Training Day . She has since starred in many films including All About The Benjamins 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Stuck on You Hitch  Ghost Rider and We Own the Night  The Spirit Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans  The Other Guys and Last Night

Mendes has worked as a spokesmodel for Cocio chocolate milk, Magnum ice cream, Revlon make-up, Calvin Klein underwear and perfume, Cartier jewelery, Thierry Mugler perfume, Reebok trainers, Campari apéritif, Pantene shampoo, Morgan clothes and Peek & Cloppenburg clothes. Mendes is the creator of a home decor line, Vida, sold exclusively at Macy's. She launched a bedding collection in 2008 and a dinnerware collection in 2010. Mendes is a singer: she has recorded a version of The Windmills of Your Mind and has collaborated with Cee Lo Green on a song entitled Pimps Don't Cry. She is dating Ryan Gosling and lives in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

While Mendes "always had high hopes" for herself, she didn't consider an acting career until 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. Mendes was "so ashamed" by her performance in the film that she decided to hire an acting coach so that she wouldn't "squirm" when watching herself in future roles. In this period of her career, she also starred in A Night at the Roxbury, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Brother the Pig, The Disciples, Urban Legends: Final Cut and Exit Wounds.

Mendes' breakthrough role came when she appeared in Training Day as the wife of Denzel Washington's character. She found it to be a fulfilling experience: "I thought, 'This is what people meant about acting."That performance led to roles in All About the Benjamins, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (which earned her a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), Out of Time and Stuck on You. She was the female lead in the 2005 comedy Hitch opposite Will Smith. They were the first minority actors to play leads in a hit romantic comedy. She then starred in The Wendell Baker Story, Guilty Hearts, Trust the Man, and Ghost Rider. In 2007, she starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall in the film We Own the Night. She also starred in Live! and Cleaner.

In 2008, she received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in The Women. She next starred in The Spirit, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Other Guys, Last Night and Fast Five. In August 2010, Mendes appeared in a Funny or Die video spoof, selling her "S.E.X. tape". She also sang for the Funny or Die music video "Pimps Don't Cry," a song featured in The Other Guys, released on August 6, 2010.


Monday, May 7, 2012

Megan Fox

Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a regular role on the Hope & Faith television show. In 2004, she launched her film career with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. In 2007, she was cast as Mikaela Banes, the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character, in the blockbuster film Transformers, which became her breakout role. Fox reprised her role in the 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Later in 2009, she starred as the eponymous lead in the film Jennifer's Body.

At 16, Fox made her acting debut in the 2001 film Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years she guest-starred on What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men, as well as being an uncredited extra in Bad Boys II (2003). In 2004, she made her film debut in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen co-starring opposite Lindsay Lohan, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). Fox was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in seasons 2 to 3, until the show was cancelled in 2006.

In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards. Fox had signed on for two more Transformers sequels. In June 2007, Fox was cast in a minor role in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring alongside Jeff Bridges, Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst. She portrayed Sophie Maes, a love interest of Sydney Young (Simon Pegg). The film premiered on October 3, 2008, but was considered a box-office failure.

Fox reprised her role as Mikaela Banes in the Transformer sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was some controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel of Transformers when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain 10 pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009.Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler (see below). Co-star Shia LaBeouf said, "Criticism is one thing. Then there's public name-calling, which turns into high-school bashing. Which you can't do." Bay similarly amended his previous statements of support of Fox, and told GQ in June that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg.Fox with Friends with Kids co-stars Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, and Jon Hamm at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

In between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, Fox had her first lead role playing the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody.She played Jennifer Check, a mean-girl cheerleader possessed by a demon who begins to feed off the boys in a Minnesota farming town. The film was released on September 18, 2009,and co-stars Amanda Seyfried and Adam Brody.

In April 2009, Fox began filming Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010 and co-starred Will Arnett; Despite receiving top billing, Fox has described her role in the film as being a cameo.Jonah Hex was universally panned by critics and was a box office bomb in the U.S., having its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance. The film was named the "worst picture of the year by the Houston Film Critics Society. Fox next starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film received such bad reviews after its screening at the Toronto Film festival that its plans for a conventional theatrical distribution were withheld for a direct-to-video release with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations. Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie."

In early April 2009, Fox signed on to star as the lead female role in the upcoming 2011 film The Crossing, about a young couple who get caught up in a drug trafficking scheme during their vacation to Mexico. In March 2009, Variety reported that Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaption of the comic books Fathom which she will also co-produce with Brian Austin Green. Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie".


Friday, May 4, 2012

Salma Hayek

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsalma ˈxaʝek]; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican American film actress, director and producer. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film FridaAround 2000, Hayek founded film production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and television projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba, Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.

Frida, co-produced by Hayek, was released in 2002. Starring Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and Alfred Molina as her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, the film was directed by Julie Taymor and featured an entourage of stars in supporting and minor roles (Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, Geoffrey Rush) and cameos (Antonio Banderas). She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.In the Time of the Butterflies is a 2001 feature film based on the Julia Álvarez book of the same name, covering the lives of the Mirabal sisters. In the movie, Salma Hayek plays one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos plays the Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo whom the sisters opposed.

In 2003, Hayek produced and directed The Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime movie based on the book of the same name, winning her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special. In December 2005, she directed a music video for Prince, titled "Te Amo Corazon" ("I love you, sweetheart") that featured Mía Maestro.Hayek was an executive producer of Ugly Betty, a television series that aired around the world from 2006 to 2010. Hayek adapted the series for American television with Ben Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001. Originally intended as a half hour sitcom for NBC in 2004, the project would later be picked up by ABC for the 2006–2007 season with Silvio Horta also producing. Hayek guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Sofia Reyes, a magazine editor. She also had a cameo playing an actress in the telenovela within the show. The show won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007. Hayek's performance as Sofia resulted in a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.

In April 2007, Hayek finalized negotiations with MGM to become the CEO of her own Latin themed film production company, Ventanarosa. The following month, she signed a two year deal with ABC for Ventanarosa to develop projects for the network.Hayek stars as the wife of Adam Sandler in Grown Ups, which also co-stars Chris Rock and Kevin James. At his insistence, Hayek co-starred with Antonio Banderas in the Shrek spin-off film Puss in Boots as the voice of the character Kitty Softpaws, who serves as Puss's female counterpart and love interest.


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Liya Kebede

Liya Kebede (Amharic: ሊያ ከበደ?) (born January 3, 1978) is an Ethiopian model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer and actress who has appeared three times on the cover of US Vogue. According to Forbes, Kebede was the eleventh-highest-paid top model in the world in 2007. Since 2005, Kebede has served as the WHO's Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.Kebede's big break came when Tom Ford asked her for an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. Her popularity in the fashion industry sky-rocketed when she appeared on the cover of the May 2002 edition of Paris Vogue, which dedicated the entire issue to her.

Kebede has been seen on the covers of Italian, Japanese, American, French and Spanish Vogue, V, Flair, i-D and Time's Style & Design. Kebede has been featured in ad campaigns including those for Shiatzy Chen, Gap, Yves Saint-Laurent,Victoria's Secret, Emanuel Ungaro, Tommy Hilfiger, Revlon, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada and Louis Vuitton. In 2003, Kebede was named the newest face of Estée Lauder cosmetics, the only Ethiopian to serve as their representative in the company's 57-year history. Her contract was rumored to be for $3 million dollars.

In 2005, Kebede was appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.[8]In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $2.5 million in the past 12 months, Forbes named her eleventh in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In 2008 casting agent James Scully, who is responsible to pick which model is to score a spot on top runways, says in regards to Kebede: An all-time eternal favorite for me — she's an exotic Grace Kelly. Models work for years to develop the poise, grace, and style that she came to the business already equipped with! It still shocks me that I sometimes have to sell her to a client, but every time she walks in the room, she always proves me right.
In 2009, Kebede starred in the film-adaption of the bestselling autobiography Desert Flower by former supermodel Waris Dirie. The film recounts Dirie's childhood in Somalia, her rise to stardom and subsequent awareness campaign against female circumcision. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received a standing ovation. Kebede has also had minor roles in two films: The Good Shepherd and Lord of War.In 2011, Kebede was among the models featured in Lacoste's "new look" campaign in January, a different advertising concept for the year, under the new tagline, “Unconventional Chic”. The ads were shot by Mert and Marcus, showing models wearing the iconic white Lacoste polo shirts worn over fancy black eveningwear.


Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Gemma Ward

Gemma Ward was born on 3 November 1987 in Perth, Western Australia, the second of four children of Gary Ward, a doctor, and Claire, a nurse. She has an older sister, Sophie (who also became a model), and younger twin brothers, Oscar and Henry. She was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College and Shenton College. Gemma was the family clown whose ambition was acting. Her passion for acting was born in 1997, when she was cast as the witch in a school play of Hansel and Gretel when she was ten.

Ward's brush with modeling was an accidental one. She was discovered in 2002, at the age of fourteen, while accompanying her friends to the Australian modelling competition Search for a Supermodel. As she said herself in a Teen Vogue interview, she ended up being scouted herself:I had come straight from my auntie and uncle's farm, and I was wearing this big gray barn jacket with mud all over it. When the scout came up to me, I said, 'No, thank you.' They forged my mum's signature [for mandatory parental consent], and pushed me in front of the cameras.Ward didn't win the competition, but her fragile, unique look, got the attention of a spotter from Vivien's Model Agency who saw her potential and made a show reel. The show reel then landed on the desk of ace model scout David Cunningham from the New York agency IMG. "Look how confident she is. I mean, she looks like she's been doing this for years, and she's a 15-year-old kid walking in an alleyway in Perth She's a supermodel, for sure," Cunningham said.

At 15 Ward made her Australian Fashion Week debut in May 2003. Within a year, she was in Italy meeting Prada designer Miuccia Prada. Her look inspired a new generation of baby doll-like models such as Vlada Roslyakova, Heather Marks, Lily Cole, Lisa Cant, and Jessica Stam. In September 2004 at only sixteen, Ward became the youngest model to appear on American Vogue photographed by Steven Meisel as one of the nine "Models of the Moment" with Daria Werbowy, Natalia Vodianova, Gisele Bundchen, Isabeli Fontana, Karolina Kurkova, Liya Kebede, Hana Soukupova and Karen Elson. In February 2005, Ward appeared in no less than 20 New York runways for designers that included Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta and Klein, and was rumored to earn about $20,000 per show. And at 17, she became the famous face of Calvin Klein’s Obsession Night perfume billboards – bumping Kate Moss out of a job in the process. Ward was reportedly paid $1.3 million for the Calvin Klein campaign and counted similar deals with Burberry and Valentino among her model earnings.Ward modeling in San Francisco, 15 March 2007

Ward then graced the Spring 2005 cover of TIME Magazine's Style & Design issue. In September 2005, Ward secured a coveted place on the inaugural cover of Vogue China posing between Chinese models Du Juan and Wang Wenqin and was shot by leading photographer Patrick Demarchelier. A staggering 300,000 copies sold in the first three hours. "She is every inch blue chip," Vivien's agent Suzie Deveridge said. "Right now she's considered the No. 2 model in the world – and she isn't even 18 yet."

By 2006 Ward became Australia's brightest fashion star since Elle Macpherson. At the age of 18, Ward became the first model ever to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine. She was then featured in the Australian television program 60 Minutes as the "It Girl".She was earning $25,000 to stride the catwalk. In Allure magazine (October 2006), Ward is described as "the model of the moment." Allure's creative director Paul Cavaco stated: "We went through a period that was very va-va-voom, but now the pendulum has swung back. Gemma is ethereal, not earthy." Photographer Michael Thompson says, "She's an exotic blonde, the rarest of creatures."

In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $3 million in the past 12 months, Forbes named her tenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In October 2007 Ward appeared on the cover of the very first issue of Vogue India, centered between Bollywood actresses Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra shot by photographer Patrick Demarchelier (who also photographed her in Vogue China) and it became the second time Ward has appeared on an inaugural issue. Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Karolina Kurkova

Karolína Isela Kurková (born February 28, 1984) is a Czech model, best known as a former Victoria's Secret Angel, and an aspiring actress. Mario Testino said of Kurková: "The proportions of her body and her face, as well as her energy level, make her a model who could fit almost into any moment."Vogue editor Anna Wintour called her the "next supermodel".

Kurková is among the world's top-earning models, having earned an estimated $5 million in the year 2007. She was placed 6th in the Forbes annual list of the highest earning models.Following her Vogue cover, Kurková became recognized at haute couture fashion shows. Additionally, the lingerie brand Victoria's Secret chose her to be a part of 2000's fashion show webcast, though she was only 16 at the time. Prominent fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent signed Kurková to contracts, while print campaigns for Tommy Hilfiger, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, John Galliano, Chanel, Christian Dior, Hugo Boss, Versace, H&M, and others helped expose her even more. In the 2002 Victoria's Secret fashion show, she wore the multi-million dollar fantasy bra, worth almost $10 million and designed by Hearts on Fire. Other runway credits of hers include Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Karl Lagerfeld, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, and Vera Wang.

Kurková was named "Model of the Year" at the 2002 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, in part for her work ethic, having worked twenty-three weeks straight. Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment".Kurková has appeared in almost twenty Vogue magazine covers internationally, including the French, Italian, UK, German, Russian, Greek, and Korean editions, and has also appeared in international editions of Elle, Vanity Fair, and The Face. She has worked with noted fashion photographers like Steven Klein, Mario Sorrenti, and Mario Testino.

After being contracted as a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2005, she was featured in the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, showcasing the $6.5 million fantasy bra decked with almost 2000 diamonds weighing 800 carats (160 g) and a centerpiece diamond brooch weighing 10 carats (2.0 g). As an Angel, she received a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" prior to the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, appeared on the February 2008 cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover for the magazine's 75th anniversary, and was chosen as part of People magazine's 100 most beautiful people in the world.

In December 2007, she could be seen in print ads for Dell.In the last Cía Marítima fashion show, Kurková's unexpectedly heavier physique brought criticism from the Brazilian press as having "too much back fat, love handles and cellulite".Kurková has a smooth indentation in place of a navel, and photographs are often altered by the addition of an image of a navel to hide this.Kurková is represented by Viva Models Paris.In November 2008, E! Entertainment Television voted her the world's sexiest woman, beating the likes of Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Gisele Bündchen, and her fellow Angels Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima.Kurková modeled for Bottega Veneta spring 2011 campaign in a classic Hitchcock-esque style.


Sunday, April 29, 2012

Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Caroline Bündchen (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒiˈzɛli ˈbĩtʃẽ], German pronunciation: [gi:zɛlə ˈbʏndçn̩]; born 20 July 1980) is a Brazilian fashion model, occasional film actress, and goodwill ambassador for the UN Environment Programme. In the late 1990s, Bündchen became the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find international success.In 1999, Vogue magazine dubbed her "The Return of the Sexy Model" and she was credited with ending the "heroin chic" era of modeling. Bündchen was one of Victoria's Secret Angels from 2000 until 2006. Since 2004, she has been the highest-paid model in the world and the sixteenth richest woman in the entertainment industry (as of 2007) with an estimated $570 million fortune.

Models Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell have stated that Bündchen is the only true remaining "supermodel" and according to Forbes she may become the world's first ever billionaire supermodel. In June 2011, Forbes magazine estimated that Bundchen's total earnings over the last 10 years have passed the $550 million mark.As an occasional actress, she had supporting roles in Taxi (2004) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006). From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a much-publicized relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. She married New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2009.

Bündchen is a sixth-generation German Brazilian, born in Três de Maio, Rio Grande do Sul, to Vânia Nonnenmacher, a bank clerk pensioner, and Valdir Bündchen, a university teacher and writer who are both of German descent.Bündchen was born and raised in Horizontina, a southern region in Brazil where there is a large ethnic German community. She grew up with her five sisters—Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela and her fraternal twin Patrícia, her junior by five minutes. She speaks Portuguese as her native language, in addition to Spanish and English. She also learned German in school, but has not kept up with it.

In 1993, a then-13-year-old Bündchen joined a modeling course with her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela, at their mother's insistence. The following year, Bündchen went to São Paulo on a school excursion to give them an opportunity to walk in a big city. In a shopping mall, with her friends, Bündchen was discovered by a modeling agency. She was subsequently selected for a national contest, Elite Look of the Year, in which she placed second – Claudia Menezes, from Bahia, took first place. Bündchen placed fourth in the world contest, held in Ibiza, Spain. Then she moved to São Paulo to launch her modeling career. In 1996, Bündchen had her first New York City break at Fashion Week.


Behati Prinsloo

Behati Prinsloo (born May 16, 1989 in Grootfontein, Namibia) is a Namibian model. She is known for her work as spokesmodel for the Victoria's Secret sub-brand Pink.While on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa, at the age of 16, Prinsloo was discovered by model scout Sarah Doukas.Photographed by British Royal Family photographer Mario Testino, Prinsloo has graced magazines such as Vogue, American Velvet and the British Telegraph. Behati has walked the velvet ropes of Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, Miu Miu and Versace. She has been on the covers of Italy's Muse, Russian Vogue, French, Swedish & Italian Elle, American Velvet and A'FOUR magazine. Her ad campaigns include Adore, Aquascutum, Chanel, H&M, Hugo Boss, Kurt Geiger, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Max Studio, Nina Ricci, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, DKNY Jeans and Nine West as well as a Vogue Italia editorial with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
On her resume are appearances in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2009, Prinsloo was made a Victoria's Secret Angel.She has been doing print work for the company as the face for their sub-brand "Pink". Prinsloo ranked 14th on 'The Top Sexiest Models' list by models.com.]Media appearancesShe plays the rich girl in the "Rich Girls" music video by The Virgins.She also appears in the first episode of MTV's reality show, The City.Prinsloo is close friends with Canadian model Coco Rocha.


Source article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behati_Prinsloo

Friday, April 27, 2012

Olga Kurylenko

Kurylenko was discovered by a female model scout while on vacation in Moscow at the age of 13. When she was 17, she signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modeling agency.By the age of 18, she had appeared on the covers of Vogue and Elle. While working as a model in Paris, Kurylenko supported her mother in Ukraine.She also appeared on the covers of Madame Figaro and Marie Claire.She became the face of Triumph lingerie, Lejaby lingerie, Bebe, Clarins, and Helena Rubinstein Furthermore, she modelled for Roberto Cavalli and Kenzo, and appeared in the Victoria's Secret catalog.[citation needed]

Kurylenko's first acting appearance was in Seal's music video, 'Love's Divine' in 2003,[citation needed] but her film career began in France during 2005. She received the certificate of excellence award at the 2006 Brooklyn International Film Festival for her performance in L'Annulaire, and also starred in the Paris, je t'aime segment Quartier de la Madeleine opposite Elijah Wood. That same year, she was selected to be the face of Kenzo's new fragrance, Kenzo Amour.[citation needed] She has appeared in all subsequent Kenzo Amour ads.[citation needed] In 2007, Kurylenko starred in Hitman alongside Timothy Olyphant. She had a minor role in Max Payne as Natasha. She played Bond girl Camille Montes in the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. In the film she plays the role of a Bolivian Secret Service agent named Camille, who teams up with James Bond to avenge the death of her parents.
Kurylenko was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the US edition of Maxim and on the cover of the February 2009 issue of the Ukrainian edition of Maxim magazine.The fact that she is the first Bond girl from a post-Soviet state received mixed reactions in Russia. The Saint Petersburg based Communist group KPLO has accused her of "moral and intellectual betrayal" in starring in a film about the "enemy of the Soviet people" (meaning James Bond) (Kurylenko considered that a PR move). In Ukraine the then-mayor of Berdyansk suggested naming a street after her in early 2008, and Kurylenko and her mother met Ukraine's First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko in President Yushchenko's family country house.Kurylenko will appear in Terrence Malick's sixth feature, shot in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Also starring Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams, the film is currently in post-production.[citation needed] She will also appear in Oblivion (2013 film), an sci-fi project starring Tom Cruise and directed by Joseph Kosinski.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Nina Dobrev

Nina Dobrev (born Nina Constantinova Dobreva, January 9, 1989) is a Bulgarian-Canadian actress and model. She played the role of Mia Jones, the single teenage mother, on Degrassi: The Next Generation, from the show's sixth to ninth season. She currently stars as Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW television teen drama, The Vampire Diaries.Nina Dobrev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and moved to Canada at the age of two, where she was raised in Toronto, Ontario. She speaks fluent French, English, and Bulgarian. She has an older brother, Alexander; her father is a computer specialist and her mother is an artist.Dobrev attended J. B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School, where she started ballet and jazz classes, and competed in rhythmic gymnastic.Then, she attended and Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, Ontario and Ryerson University in Toronto, majoring in sociology. She left in 2008 to pursue her acting career.While working on the show, she began dating her Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder.
 
Modeling jobs led to commercials, which then turned into film auditions. Shortly thereafter, she booked roles in feature films, including Fugitive Pieces, Away from Her, Never Cry Werewolf, and the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. She starred in a number of Lifetime original movies. She also was in an MTV movie called The American Mall on CTV. She is currently starring in The CW's drama The Vampire Diaries, playing the dual role of Katherine Pierce, a vampire loved by two human brothers during the American Civil War, and Katherine's doppelgänger Elena Gilbert, a human who is caught between the same two brothers, now vampires, Damon and Stefan Salvatore.She also had a minor role in the erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010. The film had enjoyed commercial success and became director Atom Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.
 
In April 2011, she was cast as Candace in the film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, alongside Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Paul Rudd.Shooting began in May of that year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she completed her scenes on June 27, 2011.In September 2011, Dobrev co-hosted We Day alongside Joe Jonas.We Day is organized by Free the Children. Dobrev also designed a T-Shirt with Me to We Style, which gives 50% of its profits to Free the Children.


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Taylor Swift


Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Scott Kingsley Swift, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser, and Andrea (née Gardner), a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career. Her only sibling, a younger brother named Austin, is currently a student at Vanderbilt University. She spent the early years of her life on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm near Pottstown, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School. When Swift was nine, her family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. Swift spent her summers at her parent's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".
At the age of nine, Swift developed an interest in theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music. She travelled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything”, Swift turned her attention to country music. She was inspired by LeAnn Rimes's Blue and her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of eleven, after many attempts, Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes’s “Big Deal”, and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater. She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs and Boy Scout meetings. Swift recorded a demo of karaoke covers, and travelled with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee for spring break, leaving a copy of the demo with record labels along Music Row. She received label rejections and realised that "I needed to know how to do something more than just sing a song".
 
Swift began performing the national anthem at many sporting events in an attempt to create record label interest. On one occasion, an 11-year-old Swift high-fived Jay-Z after singing the national anthem at a 76ers game in Philadelphia. At the age of 12, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You". She then recorded a second demo of original songs. In 2003, Swift and her parents began working with music manager Dan Dymtrow, after he spotted her singing at the US Open. Swift's second demo caught the attention of RCA Records, who offered the eight-grader an artist development deal. In 2004, Swift modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign and had an original song included in a Maybelline Cosmetics compilation CD.
 
When Swift was 14, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lake-shore house in Hendersonville, Tennessee Swift has said her parents "presented it as a move to a nice community" rather than as her chance to become a star. Her mother has said, "We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true." In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore year. Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services, and earned her high school diploma in 2008.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Isabeli Fontana

Isabeli Bergossi Fontana (born July 4, 1983) is a Brazilian model.Fontana was born in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. In 1996 she made it to the finals of the Elite Model Look when she was just 13 and in the following year she moved from South brazil to Milan, Italy.Career.In 1999, at the age of 16, she appeared in the Victoria's Secret lingerie catalogue. The shoot caused controversy, as Victoria's Secret stated that they would not use girls younger than 18.[citation needed] Soon after the Victoria's Secret shoot, she was signed by Versace, Ralph Lauren and Valentino.Since 1999 she has modeled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Marie Claire, ELLE, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Numéro, i-D, Arena and many others.
 
Fontana has been the face of a variety of advertising campaigns including Shiatzy Chen, Armani Jeans, Chanel, Colcci, Disritmia, Dolce and Gabbana, Emporio Armani, Enrique Martinez[disambiguation needed ], Escada, H&M, Helena Rubinstein, Hugo Boss, Hussein Chalayan, Massimo Dutti, M. Officer, Nicole Farhi, Oscar de la Renta, Peter Hahn, Philips, Ralph Lauren, Revlon, Roberto Cavalli, Rosa Chá, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Hilfiger, Triton[disambiguation needed ], Valentino, Versace, Victoria's Secret, Vivara and others. Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment".Fontana can be seen in the Spring/Summer 2011 campaigns for Escada, Dolce and Gabbana, Uniqlo & Ann Taylor.Fontana is the current[when?] face of Viktor & Rolf's fragrance Flowerbomb.In 2008, Fontana made her debut on the Forbes The World's 15 Top-Earning Models list at place 11, having earned $3 million.
 
She has appeared in the Pirelli Calendar on a number of occasions, including in the 2011 calendar, which features models posing as Greek and Roman gods, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld.
Isabeli Fontana, with her son, Zion.Personal lifeAs a youth, Fontana attended Catholic School in the Portão district of Curitiba. She is often seen making the Sign of the Cross in footage.[citation needed] She was married to model Álvaro Jacomossi but they divorced in 2004. Their son, Zion, was born in 2003.Fontana married actor and model Henri Castelli on December 10, 2005 and their son, Lucas, was born on October 23, 2006 in São Paulo. Fontana and Castelli divorced in 2007.


Monday, April 23, 2012

Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981), known mononymously as Beyoncé (play /biˈjɒnseɪ/ bee-YON-say; legal name, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles–Carter) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child. Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time.

During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in 2003, which spawned two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy"—and became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her a then record-tying five Grammy Awards. Following the disbandment of Destiny's Child in 2005, Knowles released her second solo album, B'Day, in 2006, and included the top 10 singles "Déjà Vu", "Irreplaceable" and "Beautiful Liar". Her third solo album I Am... Sasha Fierce, released in 2008, spawned four commercially successful singles—"If I Were a Boy", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Halo" and "Sweet Dreams". The album helped Knowles earn six Grammys in 2010, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night. Knowles released her fourth solo album, 4, in 2011, and became her fourth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200 as a solo artist. This made her the third artist in history to have her first four studio albums debut atop the chart.

Apart from her work in music, Knowles has also launched a career in acting. She made her debut in the 2001 musical film Carmen: A Hip Hopera, prior to appearing in major films, including Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Dreamgirls (2006), which earned her two Golden Globe nominations, Cadillac Records (2008) and Obsessed (2009). Knowles and her mother introduced their family's fashion line, House of Deréon, in 2005, and has also endorsed brands including, L'Oréal, Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, Nintendo and Vizio. In June 2010, she was ranked first on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential musicians in the world, and second on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world.
 
Knowles' work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including 16 Grammy Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards, 4 American Music Awards, a Billboard Millennium Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Destiny's Child. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Radio Songs Artist of the 2000s decade, and ranked her as the 4th overall Artist of the Decade (and as the First Female Artist of that period). The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), also recognized Knowles as the Top Certified Artist of the 2000s. In the US, Knowles has sold over 11.2 million albums as of May 2010, and more than 30.4 million digital singles as of January 2012. She has sold 75 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2010, VH1 included Knowles in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and ranked her third in their 2012 list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.


Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie (play /dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-LEE, born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress and director. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Special Envoy and former Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as the world's "most beautiful" woman, a title for which she has received substantial media attention.
Jolie made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in Lookin' to Get Out (1982), but her film career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Jolie achieved wide fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and established herself among the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood with the sequel The Cradle of Life (2003). She reinforced her reputation as a leading action star with Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and Wanted (2008)—her biggest non-animated commercial successes to date and received further critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008), which earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jolie made her directorial debut with the wartime drama In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011). Because of this film, Sarajevo's regional government named Jolie an honorary citizen of Sarjevo and credited her and the film, which she wrote and directed, for bringing awareness to the three-year Bosnian War that began in 1992.Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie now lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship notable for fervent media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.


Source article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Jolie

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Keira Knightley



Keira Christina Knightley (play /ˌkɪərə ˈnaɪtli/;[3] born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham. From 2003, her appearances in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series took her to much greater prominence.Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Two years later she again was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Atonement.In 2008, Forbes claimed Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood, having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on the list of highest paid actresses.Knightley was born in Teddington, London, England, the daughter of Sharman MacDonald, an award-winning playwright, and Will Knightley, a theatre and television actor.[8] Her father is English and her Scottish mother is of half Welsh ancestry. She has an elder brother, Caleb.
 
Knightley lived in Richmond, attending Stanley Junior School, Teddington School and Esher College.[citation needed] She was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of six, but nevertheless was successful in school and was thus permitted to acquire a talent agent and pursue an acting career. She requested an agent as early as the age of three and got one when she turned six, from her mother as a reward for studying hard. Knightley has noted that she was "single-minded about acting" during her childhood.She performed in a number of local amateur productions, including After Juliet (written by her mother) and United States (written by her then drama teacher, Ian McShane, no relation to the actor of the same name). She focused on art, history, and English literature while at Esher, but left after a year to focus on her acting and she also turned down her spot at the London Academy of Music and Drama.After getting an agent at 6, she did work mostly on commercials and small TV roles. Her first role was "Little Girl" in Royal Celebration, a 1993 TV movie. A year later, she had a small role in the movie A Village Affair. She later starred in 1995's Innocent Lies and 1998's Coming Home. She was a princess in the 1996 movie The Treasure Seekers. Later in 1999, she appeared as Rose in Oliver Twist.
 
Keira Knightley appeared in several television films in the mid to late 1990s—as well as ITV1's The Bill—before being cast as Sabé, Padmé Amidala's decoy, in the 1999 science fiction blockbuster Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Sabé's dialogue was dubbed over with Natalie Portman's voice. This was to hide the fact that the handmaiden Padmé (played by Natalie Portman) was actually disclosed as the real Queen Amidala at the end of the film. Knightley was cast in the role due to her close resemblance to Portman; even the two actresses' mothers had difficulty telling their daughters apart when the girls were in full makeup.Knightley's first starring role followed in 2001, when she played the daughter of Robin Hood in the made-for-television Walt Disney Productions feature, Princess of Thieves. She trained for several weeks in archery, sword fighting, and horse riding. During this time, Knightley also appeared in The Hole, a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the United States. She appeared in a miniseries adaptation of Doctor Zhivago which first aired in 2002 to mixed reviews but high ratings.[citation needed] In the same year, she also was in the movie Pure, in which she portrays a pregnant teenager who is a heroin addict and had a child taken by social services. Knightley's breakthrough role was in the football-themed film, Bend It Like Beckham, which was a success in its August 2002 UK release, grossing $18 million, and in its March 2003 U.S. release, grossing $32 million.
 
 

Halle Berry

Halle Berry (play /ˈhæli ˈbɛri/; born August 14, 1966) is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2012, only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood and also a Revlon spokeswoman. She has been involved in the production side of several of the films in which she performed.

Before becoming an actress, Berry entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant (1986), and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. She made her film debut with a small role in 1991's Jungle Fever. This led to starring roles in The Flintstones (1994), Bulworth (1998), X-Men (2000) and its sequels, and as Bond Girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002). She also won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for Catwoman and accepted the award in person—one of the few performers to do so.

Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, though her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry in 1971.Berry's parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith Ann (née Hawkins), who is of European descent, was a psychiatric nurse. Her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an African American hospital attendant in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked; he later became a bus driver. Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins, was born in Ohio. Berry's parents divorced when she was four years old; she and her older sister Heidi were raised exclusively by her mother. Berry has said in published reports that she has been estranged from her father since her childhood, noting in 1992, "I haven't heard from him since [he left]. Maybe he's not alive."
 
Berry graduated from Bedford High School, afterward working in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. She then studied at Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. She was the 1986 Miss USA first runner-up to Christy Fichtner of Texas. In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges. She was the first African-American Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth and Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde was crowned Miss World.


Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci began modeling at age 13 by posing for a local photo enthusiast.Portrait of Bellucci taken in 2008.In 1988,Bellucci moved to one of Europe's fashion centers, Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. By 1989, she was becoming prominent as a fashion model in Paris and across the Atlantic, in New York City. She posed for Dolce & Gabbana and French Elle, among others. In that year, Bellucci made the transition to acting and began taking acting classes. The February 2001 Esquire's feature on Desire featured Bellucci on the cover and in an article on the five senses. In 2003, she was featured in Maxim. Men's Health also named her one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time", ranking her at No. 21. AskMen named her the number one most desirable woman in 2002. Bellucci's modelling career is managed by Elite+ in New York City. She is considered an Italian sex symbol. From 2006 to 2010 she was the face of a range of Dior products. Bellucci is signed to D'management group in Milan and also to Storm Model Management in London.

In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter Deva, Bellucci posed nude for the Italian Vanity Fair Magazine in protest against Italian laws that prevent the use of donor sperm. She posed pregnant and semi-nude again for the magazine's April 2010 issue. ActingBellucci's film career began in the early 1990s. She played some minor roles in La Riffa (1991) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). In 1996 she was nominated for a César Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Lisa in L'Appartement and strengthened her position as an actress. She became known and popular with worldwide audiences, following her roles in Malèna (2000), Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Irréversible (2002). She has since played in many films from Europe and Hollywood like Tears of the Sun (2003), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Le Deuxième souffle (2007), Don't Look Back (2009), and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010).

She was supposed to be seen portraying Indian politician Sonia Gandhi in the biopic Sonia, originally planned for release in 2007, but it has been shelved.Bellucci dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film Shoot 'Em Up (2007). She also voiced Kaileena in the video game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and the French voice of Cappy for the French version of the 2005 animated film Robots.She is for Empire, for her role of "Persephone" in Matrix, one of "The Sexiest 25 Characters In Cinema". Personal life.Bellucci is married to French actor Vincent Cassel, with whom she has appeared in several films. They have two daughters, Deva (born 2004) and Léonie (born 2010).In the documentary movie The Big Question, about the film The Passion of the Christ, she stated: "I am an agnostic, even though I respect and am interested in all religions. If there's something I believe in, it's a mysterious energy; the one that fills the oceans during tides, the one that unites nature and beings."


Source article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Bellucci