Ali Larter Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Gossip Wallpaper Video.

A former teen model who segued into acting in her early 20s, Ali Larter's fresh look enabled her to play high school students for the first few years of her screen career. After turning heads in "Varsity Blues" (1999), and the blockbuster teen horror films "Final Destination" (2000) and "Final Destination 2" (2003), Larter had a brief flirtation with big screen comedy before establishing her calling card in roles as strong, nurturing women in extraordinary situations. She reached new heights with her ensemble role in the acclaimed sci-fi drama series "Her s" (NBC, 2006- ), where she initially played a single mother with a split personality. While her first character was written out of the series, Larter was transformed into an aspiring politician with the power to manipulate water. She was an especially popular draw for young audiences, proven by nominations at the Teen Choice Awards. Larter ventured into more adventurous roles with two thrillers, "Resident Evil: Extinction" (2007) and "Obsessed" (2009), which successfully positioned her as a film star for all audiences - one capable of successfully embodying both hero and villain nude wallpaper.Boyfriend, hot Ali Larter.
Born on Feb. 28, 1976 and raised in the suburb of Cherry Hill, NJ, Larter was the daughter of a homemaker mother and an executive father who worked for a trucking company. The baby of the family, she traded in her childhood penchant for sports and tomboyish pursuits at the onset of her teens, in favor of commercial acting and modeling across the river. An association with New York's famed Ford Modeling Agency at age 14 allowed the young Larter a chance to appear in publications like Seventeen and to do extensive traveling to places such as Australia and Japan - the latter of which served as the location of her first overseas shoot at the age of 17. With enough success in the industry, Larter eventually made a decision to eschew her senior year of high school in favor of a burgeoning career as a model.
By 1996, following a stint modeling in Miami, FL, Larter had decided to make the leap to Hollywood in an attempt at an acting career. She was encouraged in this new pursuit by a friend and fellow model-turned-actress, Amy Smart, whom she had met while on a modeling job in Milan. She enrolled in an acting class and fell in love with it. That year, she was also offered a unique modeling job for Esquire magazine, one which even came with its own backstory. Appearing on the November cover as the fabricated rising "star" Allegra Coleman of its lead article, "Hollywood's Next Dream Girl: The Allegra Coleman Nobody Knows," Larter's serious Hollywood profile caused quite a stir, prompting appearances on several national morning talk shows including ABC's "Good Morning America" (1975- ).
With some early heat on her almost fictional entry into Hollywood, Larter landed an agent and found work quickly, putting in legitimate guest appearances during the first half of 1997 on the NBC sitcoms "Suddenly Susan" (1996-2000) and "Chicago Sons" (1997). In what seemed like perfect casting, she was attached to a previously-written movie script called "The It Girl," about a fictional magazine model personality similar to the one she portrayed in Esquire. That project stalled, but, not content to merely serve as a pretty face, Larter opted to mix things up and the following year by adding some drama to her resume. First, she appeared on the CBS medical series, "Chicago Hope" (1994-2000), before wrapping up 1998 with a pair of episodes of The WB's teen drama, "Dawson's Creek" (1998-2003).

In 1998, Larter and Smart auditioned for the same role in the MTV Films teen sports drama, "Varsity Blues" (1999). Larter nabbed the role, but Smart was cast shortly thereafter as well, portraying James Van Der Beek's girlfriend. It was Larter's first film role, but in a genre populated by attractive twenty-somethings, she established herself as anything but an arbitrary presence. An instant, sexy impression was forged with viewers when her character, Darcy Sears, seduced Van Der Beek's with a makeshift bikini shaped entirely from whipped cream.
The now very memorable Larter was starting to land more speaking parts with some regularity, culminating with a lead role in the remake of "House on Haunted Hill" (1999). She was then cast as a lead in the cast of "Final Destination" (2000) - a moody thriller about a group of plane crash survivors stalked by Death itself - a film franchise that became a modest success. Larter then returned to comedy, playing a legal client in the Reese Witherspoon vehicle, "Legally Blonde" (2001), just as the film rocketed its star into leading lady status. That year, she went east and stepped onto the stage to appear in an off-Broadway production of "The Vagina Monologues." Retaining her East Coast state of mind, she was also tapped by director and fellow Jerseyite Kevin Smith to be part of a sexy trio of thieves in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001).
Although Later was enjoying her work, she was becoming less of a fan of Los Angeles and the hard knocks it took to make it in the business. After taking some time off midway into 2002, she decided to exit Hollywood and reassess her career goals, planting roots in Manhattan. Still, it seemed Tinseltown was willing to follow her lead. She was working less fervently and choosing projects more sporadically, but the studios remained fans. She was offered top billing to reprise her role as Clear Rivers in "Final Destination 2" (2003) before landing a supporting role in the big screen romantic comedy, "A Lot like Love" (2005), starring Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher.

In 2005, a rejuvenated Larter journeyed back to Los Angeles. The first audition she gave, for a primetime television pilot, was a hit with producers. The show, fortuitously, was NBC's "Her s," which began airing in the fall of 2006. Larter, who could walk on either the troubled or the sweet and sexy side onscreen, returned to television to play both and became a household name when the show - about ordinary people discovering their own super gifts - took flight as a surprising phenomenon. As Niki, a loving, single mother whose personality is shared with one of violent Hulk-like brutality named Jessica, Larter found an opportunity to sink into one of the hit series' most complex roles. During her stint on "Her s," Larter continued to develop a film career, first battling evil in the ravaged world of the successful sci-fi thriller "Resident Evil: Extinction" (2007). From the post-apocalyptic future, she went back in time to play the prehistoric woman in an ingenious caveman's dreams in "National Lampoon's Stoned Age" (2007), which was released straight to DVD.
After her leading role as an American B-movie actress stranded in India in the limited release, "Marigold" (2007), Larter took a few years off from the big screen to recover from her breakout year. When she returned to the "Her s" set for the third season, she found that her character Niki Sanders had been written out of the series. Instead, the actress portrayed Tracy Strauss, Sanders' aspiring politician sister who possessed the power to turn anything into ice and herself into water. The twenty-something still proved to be a teen draw with a pair of Supporting Actress nominations and one win from the Teen Choice Awards. She returned to theaters with a starring turn in the profitable, but critically reviled sex thriller "Obsessed" (2009), where she played a temp office worker who stalks her married boss (Idris Elba).

    * Also Credited As:
      Alison Elizabeth Larter, Alison Larter
    * Born:       Alison Elizabeth Larter on February 28, 1976 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
    * Job Titles:       Actress, Model, Coat-check girl

Family
    * Father: Danforth Larter.
    * Mother: Margaret Larter.

Significant Others
    * Husband: Hayes MacArthur.

Education
    * Cherry Hill High School West, Cherry Hill , New Jersey

Milestones
    * 1989 Began modeling career at age 13
    * 1995 Moved to Los Angeles and began studying acting
    * 1996 Portrayed the hoax model Allegra Coleman for Esquire magazine; a spoof article about a fictional up and coming starlet
    * 1997 Made TV debut on an episode of the NBC sitcom, Chicago Sons
    * 1998 Appeared in two episodes of the WB teen drama, Dawson s Creek
    * 1999 Made feature debut in Casanova Falling
    * 1999 Portrayed Adrien Grenier s girlfriend in Drive Me Crazy
    * 1999 Re-united with Dawson s Creek star Van Der Beek for her breakthrough role as a Texas cheerleader in Varsity Blues
    * 2000 Co-starred in the thriller, Final Destination
    * 2000 Featured in the college-campus set independent comedy, 100 Girls
    * 2001 Played Brooke Taylor Windham, who is accused of murdering her wealthy husband in Legally Blonde
    * 2001 Portrayed the love interest of Colin Farrell s Jesse James in American Outlaws
    * 2003 Starred in the horror sequel, Final Destination 2
    * 2005 Cast opposite Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet in A Lot Like Love
    * 2006 Cast in the NBC series, Heroes as Jessica/Niki Sanders and Tracy Strauss
    * 2007 Played an American B-movie actress who gets stranded in India in Marigold
    * 2009 Co-starred as a woman stakes her boss and his family in Obsessed
    * 2009 Nominated for the 2009 Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Action Adventure
    * 2010 Co-starred opposite Milla Jovovich in the action thriller, Resident Evil: Afterlife
    * At seventeen, temporarily settled in Japan

Debbie Gibson Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper Video.

BORN: August 31, 1970, Long Island, NY
Full name: Deborah Ann Gibson
Confirmation name: Marie
Religious denomination: Catholic
Date of birth: August 31, 1970
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York
Education: Sanford H. Calhoun High School, June 1988
Marital Status: Single

Deborah Gibson started her career at a young age. She got experience in theater by playing roles in plays like "A Christmas Carol", "Annie" and "Mickey Mouse and Friends". At age 12, she started songwriting seriously. She was part of the Metropolitan Opera for several years, doing opera's like "Hansel und Gretel", "La Boheme" and "Le Rossignol", some of which meant singing in a foreign language.Deborah got her first recording contract at age 16, for a 12" aimed at the dance market. Late 1986, "Only in my Dreams" was released, a song she had written three years prior. After it became a hit, 6 months of hard work performing at various clubs later, she recorded her first album, titled "Out of the Blue". It went triple platinum, just like her second album "Electric Youth", which was released in January 1989. With the song "Foolish Beat" she set a record: she became the youngest artist in chart history to have written, produced, and performed a Number 1 song.
After Deborah's third album, "Anything is Possible", she made her broadway debut as Eponine in the musical "Les Miserables". She continued her efforts in theater by appearing as Sandy in the musical "Grease" on London's West End for a period of nine months, shortly after she had released her fourth album "Body Mind Soul". Her fifth album, called "Think With Your Heart", once more showed her abilities as a songwriter, musician, singer and producer. It contains mostly ballads with Deborah playing piano, accompanied by an orchestra.

Deborah played Betty Rizzo in the National Touring Company of Grease. She was part of the cast from October 29 1995 through March 3 1996, touring through the USA and performing in 19 different cities in a usually sold out theatre. Deborah recorded her sixth album, "Deborah", in the summer of 1996, after which she starred as Fanny Brice in a brief revival of the musical "Funny Girl". She continued showing her passion for theatre by playing Belle in the Broadway musical "Beauty and the Beast" for nine months, followed by starring as Gypsy Rose Lee in the Papermill Playhouse production of Gypsy, playing the narrator in the US touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and the title role in the US touring production of Cinderella.

On March 6, 2001, she released her seventh studio album, titled "M.Y.O.B. (Mind Your Own Business)".
Besides her own career, she has written and/or produced material for several other artists (Chris Cuevas, Ana, the Party, Jobeth Taylor) and regularly participates on 'various artists' albums benefiting charities. She surprised many, including her own fans, by singing backup vocals for a song on the last Circle Jerks album.
Deborah has an upbeat, caring, open-minded, ambitious and family-oriented personality. In her career she has always had the support of her family. Her mother, Diane, is also her manager. Her sisters have also helped from the start by doing things like designing her stage-outfits, sound engineering and running the fan club.
She supports several charities, among which are the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and St. Mary's Children & Families Foundation. The latter is a home for abused, orphaned and/or neglected children. Deborah's father, Joe Gibson, has spent several years there. After listing those causes, it should come as no surprise that Deborah is very fond of children. She hasn't got any of her own yet, but has stated that she definitely wants several children, of her own as well as adopted.

Debbie Gibson became a pop phenomenon in the late '80s, scoring a string of hit singles when she was only 17. Although she was still a teenager, Gibson showed signs of being a talented pop craftsman, capable of making catchy dance-pop in the style of Madonna, as well as lush, orchestrated ballads. Gibson's time at the top of the charts was brief, but it was quite successful, producing five Top Ten singles, including two number ones, and two multi-platinum albums.

Gibson began writing songs in her early childhood, taking piano lessons from Morton Estrin (who also taught Billy Joel) from the age of five. At the age of six she wrote "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom," but it was "I Come From America," which she wrote at age 12, that earned wide recognition for her talents. "I Come From America" won 1,000 dollars in a songwriting contest, prompting her parents to sign a management contract with Doug Breithart. Breithart helped Gibson learn several instruments, as well as teaching her how to arrange, engineer, and produce records; she would record over 100 of her own songs by 1985.
While she was still in high school, Debbie Gibson signed with Atlantic Records and began recording her debut album with producer Fred Zarr. "Only in My Dreams," her debut single, climbed to number four when it was released in the summer of 1987. It was followed in the fall by the dance-oriented "Shake Your Love," which also peaked at number four; the single also became a hit in Britain, reaching number seven. Out of the Blue, her debut album, was released in the fall of 1987, and by the spring of 1988, it had reached the American Top Ten. The title track became a number-three hit that spring and it was followed by her first number one single, "Foolish Beat," making her the youngest artist ever to write, perform, and produce a number one single. Following the success of "Foolish Beat," Gibson graduated from Calhoun High School in Merrick, NY, with honors. "Staying Together," released in the fall of 1988, didn't perform as well as her previous four singles, stalling at number 22. By the end of 1988, Out of the Blue had gone triple platinum in the U.S.

"Lost in Your Eyes," the first single from her second album, Electric Youth, became Gibson's biggest hit early in 1989, staying at number one for three weeks. Electric Youth, released in the spring of 1989, also hit number one, spending five weeks at the top of the charts. However, her popularity began to slip by the end of the year -- "Electric Youth" just missed the Top Ten and her next two singles did progressively worse, with "We Could Be Together" unable to climb past number 71. At the end of 1990, she released her third album, Anything Is Possible; it peaked at number 41. Two years later, she released Body Mind Soul, which produced only one minor hit single, "Losin' Myself." After its release, she starred in a production of +Les Miserables. Gibson returned to pop music in 1995, recording a duet of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You" with the Los Angeles punk band the Circle Jerks and releasing a considerably softer album of her own, Think With Your Heart, which marked a departure from the dance-pop that made her famous. What You Want was released in fall 2000. M.Y.O.B. followed in early 2001, and Colored Lights: The Broadway Album two years later.

Curtis Granderson Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper Video.

Age: 29
Born: Mar 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185
Rookie Year: 2004
MLB Experience: 7 years

Overview
Curtis Granderson (born March 16, 1981, in Blue Island, Illinois) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Detroit Tigers. Granderson grew up in Lynwood, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago and began his baseball career in the town's Little League.
High school career
Granderson attended high school at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing, Illinois. As a senior in 1999, Granderson hit .427 and was selected SICA Central All-Conference, as well earning All-Area recognition from the Illinois Times and the Daily Southtown.

College career
As a freshman University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000, Granderson led the team with 7 home runs and 45 walks. He followed that with a strong sophomore season in which he hit .304, leading the team in runs, home runs and walks. Granderson was named Second-Team All-American by Baseball America and USA Today's Baseball Weekly and a Third-Team Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American following his junior season. He graduated with degrees in business administration and advertising.
Professional career
Minor leagues
Having been drafted by the Tigers in the third round of the 2002 draft, Granderson started his minor league career with the Oneonta Tigers where he hit an impressive .344 in 52 games. The following season he again posted solid numbers, this time with the Erie Seawolves, hit his best minor league season, hitting .303 with 21 home runs and 93 RBI. In addition, he was named to the Eastern League's post-season all-star squad and made Baseball America's Double A all-star team, earning him a late season call-up to the Tigers where he made his major league debut on September 13 against the Minnesota Twins.
Granderson started the 2005 season with the Toledo Mud Hens where he again posted terrific numbers, hitting .290 with 15 home runs, 65 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. In September he was again called to the majors and had an inside-the-park home run September 15, a five-hit game September 18 and a walkoff homer on September 26 against the Chicago White Sox.

Detroit Tigers
Granderson became the Tigers' starting center fielder for the 2006 season after beating out then teammate Nook Logan for the position during spring training. From the start of his major league career in 2004, Granderson had the longest errorless streak by a position player to start his career since Dave Roberts went 205 games from 1999-2003. He ended up hitting 2 home runs during the playoffs.Granderson is considered one of the nicest players in the Major Leagues. On Easter Sunday 2007 Granderson pulled out a bag filled with over 100 autographed Easter eggs filled with candy and passed them out to young fans in Kansas City. Although Granderson was not listed on the 2007 All-Star Game ballot, due to the Tigers' decision to put Gary Sheffield as an outfielder on the ballot, he still received 376,033 write-in votes, the most write-in votes for any player in the Majors.
Granderson was named the American League Player of the Week on July 16, 2007, the first time he had won the award. During the week ending July 15, 2007, Granderson hit .500 (8-16) with two doubles, a triple, and a home run. Granderson slugged .938, drove in two runs, scored seven runs, and had fifteen total bases during Detroit's four-game series at Seattle.On August 7, 2007, Granderson became only the second player in franchise history to have at least 30 doubles, 15 triples, 15 home runs, and 10 stolen bases in a single season when he hit a double in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The other Tiger to accomplish this feat was Charlie Gehringer in 1930.

Granderson hit his second inside-the-park home run in his first at bat against the Yankees on August 26, 2007.On September 7th, 2007, Granderson became the 6th member all-time of baseball's exclusive 20-20-20 Club. Granderson joined the 20-20-20 club with Kansas City's George Brett (1979), Willie Mays of the New York Giants (1957), Cleveland's Jeff Heath (1941), St. Louis' Jim Bottomley (1928), and Frank Schulte of the Chicago Cubs (1911).On September 9th, 2007 Granderson stole his 20th base of the season and joined Willie Mays and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte as the only players in major league history to reach 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs, and 20 stolen bases in a season, a feat since accomplished by the Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins. Schulte was the first to accomplish the feat in 1911 while playing for the Chicago Cubs and Mays did it in 1957 with the New York Giants.
In 2007, he hit .302 with 23 home runs, and was 26-for-27 in stolen base attempts. He was one of only 6 batters in the AL to have at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Ian Kinsler, B.J. Upton, and Grady Sizemore.

Triples
Curtis Granderson has become one of the premier triples hitters in all of baseball during the 2007 season. Through 154 team games Granderson has 23 triples which leads all of baseball. The American League and Detroit Tigers record is 26 triples, a feat achieved by the all-time triples king, Sam Crawford, in 1914. Granderson is the first player since 1949 to manage at least 23 in a single season. It is also worth noting that only 10 of his triples were at home despite the fact Comerica Park has seen more triples since it opened in 2000 than any other ballpark in baseball. Through September 25, 2007 Granderson's 23 triples is more than some entire teams have managed - the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds, all have no more than 23 total triples.

Awards and accolades
* American League Player of the Week (July 9-15, 2007)

Broadcasting career
Uncharacteristic in sports broadcasting, TBS employed Curtis Granderson as a color commentator alongside Cal Ripken, Jr. and Frank Thomas for its coverage of the 2007 baseball postseason games as an analyst of some aspects of the game; in his case, largely baserunning and outfield defense. Ordinarily the commentators are retired players or players near the ends of their careers... but Granderson had only two full seasons of major league baseball behind him and three altogether.
Trivia
* Granderson said on a local Detroit interview that one of his best MLB moment was a ninth inning home run against Cincinnati Reds pitcher David Weathers. The home run tied the game and the Tigers went on to win on an error by Reds shortstop Felipe Lopez. The game was played at Comerica Park on Saturday, May 20, 2006 to a sell-out attendance. * During an August, 2006 game an ESPN shot revealed that Granderson had written the words "Don't Think, Have Fun" on the underbill of his cap. * After visiting London in the off-season, Granderson is now a British baseball favorite, with Britain's Channel 5 baseball show MLB on Five now including a segment called "Granderson Watch", taking over from Weaver Watch (after Jeff Weaver got a World Series ring). The segment involves Curtis answering weekly emails and occasionally appearing live over the phone. * According to a Detroit Free Press article one of Curtis Granderson's hobbies is spending a lot of his spare time on the internet. Curtis says one of his favorite sites is youtube.com * Curtis Granderson (0-for-13), Iván Rodríguez (0-for-11) and Plácido Polanco (0-for-10) were the first group of three teammates, each with 10-or-more at-bats, to go hitless through the first three games of a World Series. * As of November 2007, more Facebook users have named Graderson as their Tiger in the Who's Your Tiger application than any other player. * Granderson often has 1990's West Coast Rap played as entrance music for each at-bat at Comerica Park. This includes "Bad Intentions" & "Nuthin' But A G' Thang" by Dr. Dre or "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" by 2 Pac & Snoop Dogg.

Camilla Belle Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper Video.

From a prolific childhood acting career in family entertainment and made-for-TV movies, Camilla Belle went on to become a star with edge-of-your-seat teen date offerings "When a Stranger Calls" (2006), and "The Quiet" (2005). But Belle simultaneously cultivated art house street cred with a mature performance opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" (2005), even as she rocketed into "It" girl status playing a cave woman in "10,000 B.C." (2008) and a psychic government operative in the sci-fi thriller "Push" (2009). A radiant but natural beauty who avoided the trappings of young Hollywood, Belle entered her twenties with a string of dramatic, multi-dimensional leading characters - including the Virgin Mary - that suggested the actress had a long and promising career beyond multiplex entertainment.Camilla Belle hot nude picture collection.
Born Camilla Belle Routh in Los Angeles on Oct. 2, 1986, Belle was named after actress Renata Sorrah's character, Camila, on the Brazilian soap opera "Cavalo de Aço" (1973). Belle headed immediately for the spotlight herself, landing her first modeling gig for a national print ad at the age of nine months.
The ambitious youngster segued smoothly into acting, appearing in minor roles in television movies such as "Trouble Shooters: Trapped Beneath the Earth" (NBC, 1993), "Empty Cradle" (ABC, 1993) and "Deconstructing Sarah" (USA Network, 1994). After a supporting role in the direct-to-video family feature "Annie: A Royal Adventure" (ABC, 1995), Belle hit the big screen playing a fellow orphanage-dweller of the beloved literary character "A Little Princess" (1995) in Alfonso Cuaron's 1995 remake of the 1939 film classic starring Shirley Temple. The young actress found steady work with roles in "Poison Ivy 2" (1996) and the Jimmy Smits' vehicle "Marshal Law" (Showtime, 1996), returning to theaters in her first major studio film, Steven Spielberg's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997). In the Nicole Kidman/Sandra Bullock chick-flick "Practical Magic" (1998), Belle had a plum role as the young version of Bullock's character.
Meanwhile, Belle attended the elite, all-girls Marlborough school, taking time off to play Steven Seagal's daughter in the HBO thriller "The Patriot" (1998). In her downtime, Belle studied classical piano and became actively involved in charities, including becoming an international spokesperson for "Kids With a Cause," a program created to provide help for children suffering from poverty, hunger, neglect and abuse. She was in her late teens when she landed her next major film outing, starring in the critically acclaimed indie, "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" (2005), as the commune-dwelling daughter of a single father (Daniel Day-Lewis) whose nontraditional family lifestyle leads to complicated relationships. The same year, Belle portrayed another non-conformist teen in the dark ensemble comedy "The Chumscrubber" and took first billing in the campy horror thriller "The Quiet," where she played a traumatized teen taken in by relatives who shakes up her adopted household.
In 2006, the actress finally got a profile boost when she was cast in the remake of the 1979 slasher classic "When a Stranger Calls (2006), in which she gave an appropriately sympathetic portrayal of a young babysitter being harassed on the phone by an unknown killer who is closer proximity-wise than she knows. The film opened at No. 1 at the box office. The 20-year-old acting veteran went on to star as a kidnapped cave girl opposite Steven Strait in Warner Bros. "10,000 B.C." (2008), a critically lambasted but money-making prehistoric epic directed by Roland Emmerich and starring many a computer animated dinosaur. "Push" (2009), a sci-fi thriller about a group of paranormally gifted subjects trying to overthrow the government agency that controls them, was similarly dismissed by critics but also failed to bring in big box office. That year, the low-key, spotlight-shunning actress uncharacteristically wound up in the gossip blogs when she was spotted at a number of events with teen heartthrob Joe Jonas, after having appeared in a music video of Jonas' pop band, The Jonas Brothers.
Amid rumors about relationships with Jonas and "Twilight" (2009) heartthrob Robert Pattinson, Belle began to break away from broad genre pics with a starring role in Bruce Willis' directorial debut "Three Stories About Joan" (2009), a romantic drama co-starring Owen Wilson and Kieran Culkin. In 2010, Belle was a surprising casting choice to play the title character in "Mary, Mother of Christ" (2010), a historic chronicle of the life of Mary co-starring heavy-hitting thespian Peter O'Toole and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

    * Also Credited As:
      Camilla Belle Routh
    * Born:      Camilla Belle Routh on October 2, 1986 in Los Angeles, California, USA
    * Job Titles:      Actor

Family
    * Father: Jack Routh.
    * Mother: Christina Routh. Designed a fashion line in her native Brazil; currently manages daughter s career

Significant Others
    * Boyfriend: Joe Jonas. Met while filming the video of the band s single Lovebug in 2008; began dating shortly after; ended relationship in July 2009
    * Companion: Max Minghella.

Education
    * Marlborough School, Los Angeles , California

Milestones
    * 1987 Made debut at age nine months in a national print commercial
    * 1993 TV acting debut in Trouble Shooters: Trapped Beneath the Earth
    * 1995 Cast as the orphan Molly in the ABC TV-movie Annie: A Royal Adventure!
    * 1995 Feature film debut, A Little Princess
    * 1996 Portrayed Jimmy Smits young daughter in the Showtime movie Martial Law
    * 1997 Appeared in The Lost World: Jurassic Park
    * 1998 Played a young Sandra Bullock in the feature Practical Magic
    * 1999 Appeared alongside Mary McDonnell in Replacing Dad (CBS)
    * 1999 Co-starred as Steven Seagal s daughter in the thriller The Patriot ; aired on HBO before its release
on video
    * 2001 Garnered glowing reviews for work in the Showtime film Back to the Secret Garden
    * 2001 Played the young incarnation of Phoebe (who grows up to be Jordana Brewster) in The Invisible Circus
    * 2005 Co-starred in Arie Posin s darkly satiric ensemble The Chumscrubber
    * 2005 Portrayed Daniel Day-Lewis daughter in The Ballad of Jack and Rose
    * 2006 Played a deaf-mute teenage orphan in the indie film, The Quiet
    * 2006 Starred in Simon West s remake of the 1979 thriller, When a Stranger Calls
    * 2008 Cast in Roland Emmerich s prehistoric epic, 10,000 BC
    * 2009 Co-starred in the supernatural thriller, Push, along with Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans

Jessica Simpson Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper Video.

Jessica Ann Simpson was born on July 10, 1980 and she is an American pop music singer who rose to fame during the late 1990s. In the following decade, she starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey, in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, released her own line of beauty products and started a career as an actress whilst continuing her music career nude photo.

Biography and Career :
Jessica Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Jessica Simpson is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson ( a former Baptist youth minister ) and Tina Ann Drew ( a former Sunday School teacher).She has a younger sister, Ashlee, who launched her own music career in mid-2004. Jessica Simpson started singing at the age of twelve as a part of her Baptist church choir. At t
he same age, she made an unsuccessful application for The New Mickey Mouse Club, which starred fellow pop singers Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, among other future stars.
 
Jessica Simpson attended J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. She was discovered singing at a church camp by a head of a small contemporary Christian record label and recorded an album over the next three years; however, the label folded before the record could be released.She dropped out in her senior year in order to tour and promote her demo album, which was funded by her grandmother, Joyce (thus the reason for the name of her 2004 holiday album, ReJoyce: The Christmas Album); she later earned her GED.During this time, Jessica Simpson toured with the Christian Youth Conference circuit performing with Kirk Franklin, God's Property and CeCe Winans. She and her father sold copies of the album after her performances.
Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records obtained a copy of the album and, thinking Jessica Simpson had potential as a pop singer, signed her as such. Christian influences can still be found in much of her music. Jessica Ann Simpson was born on July 10th, 1980 in Texas. Jessica is the oldest of two girls born to Tina and Joe Simpson. She was raised in the Dallas area with her sister Ashlee Simpson. Jessica was brought up in the Baptist faith and sang in her church as a child. During this time she also tried out for the Mickey Mouse Club, but was not chosen due to a poor audition. The show went on to cast Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake.Jessica attended Richardson North Junior High and then J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. She was a cheerleader and very involved in the school's drama program.

While singing in a church summer camp, she was discovered by a Christian music label. She was signed to a record deal. For young Jessica, this was a dream come true. She worked for three years on her debut Christian album, however, the label folded and her album was never released. Her grandmother then put forth the funding in order for Jessica to have a demo album. Jessica dropped out of high school her senior year in order to pursue her music career. (She would later get her GED.) She toured with the Christian Youth Conference and shared the stage with Christian music greats God's Property, CeCe Winans, and Kirk Franklin. Jessica's father, Joe Simpson, would help her sell her demo albums after the shows.

Jessica caught the attention of Tommy Mottola from Columbia Records, who signed her to a record deal. He had heard Jessica's demo album and thought that she could make it big in the pop world. Her first album, Sweet Kisses, was released in 1999. This album was certified double platinum. Her single, "I Wanna Love You Forever" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs. This was Jessica's first Top 10 hit. The single also was a success internationally, garnering Top 10 status in several European countries. In 2000, she was offered a role in the film "Coyote Ugly" but she turned it down.
Jessica stayed close to her Christian roots during the initial releases of her album. She dressed much more conservatively than her pop star counterparts. However, with the release of her second album, "Irresistible," Jessica began to show more of a sexier image. The title single, "Irresistible," contained somewhat suggestive language and even showed Jessica questioning her famous decision to remain a virgin into marriage. This change in image was largely due to the influence of Tommy Mottola. Although Jessica had been successful with her first album, he had been disappointed with the results. He felt that Jessica had the ability to be competitive with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, but the image was holding her back. He decided that Jessica needed to lose a little weight and dress sexier, both in her videos and while out in public. The "Irresistible" video is the first one to show this side of Jessica, and she is rumored not to be too fond of it. While she gained some new fans, she alienated some of her early fans who looked up to her as a Christian role model.

The next year Jessica married her long time boyfriend, Nick Lachey. The two met in 1998 when they both performed at a charity event. Nick was there to perform with his group, 98 Degrees. For her wedding, Jessica wore a beautiful strapless beaded Vera Wang gown. She carried a stephanotis bouquet that was made up of 500 stems and took the florists over twelve hours to make. After the wedding, Jessica wrote a book called, "I Do: Achieving Your Dream Wedding." The book included details regarding her own wedding to Nick as well as tips on how readers could plan their own wedding. Jessica and Nick also agreed to star in a MTV reality show, entitled "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica."

It was this reality show that shot Jessica into superstardom. Although it had a somewhat slow start, the show soon became a smash hit, and Jessica and Nick became household names. She was often portrayed in the show to be a dumb blonde, but Jessica's mother told Vanity Fair magazine that Jessica's IQ is 160, which would put her in the genius category. The show was a ratings winner for MTV. It averaged 1.4 million viewers per episode. Along with the reality show, she also released her third album, "In This Skin." The album debuted at #10 on the charts and wasn't selling well. However, after "Newlyweds" became successful, radio stations began to play her second single, "With You" frequently. Jessica capitalized on that success by releasing a music video that parodied some of her "blonde moments" on "Newlyweds." A second version of the album was released, with several new tracks. It shot to #2 on the charts and sold 150,000 copies in one week. The album ended up selling over 3 million copies in the United States alone. Jessica also appeared on "That 70's Show" three times between 2002 and 2003. In addition, Jessica won three 2003 Teen Choice Awards.

In 2004, Jessica released ReJoyce: The Christmas Album, named for her grandmother who had funded her demo album. It was certified gold. Also that year, Jessica and Nick had a television special, "The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour." Jessica released a line of beauty products called "Dessert" which featured lotions and body sprays in flavors such as "cupcake" and "candy." She earned the distinction of being chose as #1 on Maxim magazines "Top 100 Hot List." She also went on her "Reality Tour Live" which was a series of concert dates which featured footage from "Newlyweds." The show was opened by Ryan Cabrera, who was romantically linked to her sister, Ashlee. The tour was also released on DVD.

Filming on "Newlyweds" wrapped in 2005. Later that year it won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show. Jessica also appeared as Daisy Duke in the motion picture "The Dukes Of Hazzard." It debuted at #1 in the United States. Her cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" appeared on the soundtrack. It hit #14 on the Billboard charts and won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Song from a Movie. Jessica appeared in multiple television commercials related to her work on this film. She was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People of 2005.

Although Jessica was enjoying public success, her personal life was in trouble. In November of 2005, Nick and Jessica separated. The next month she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Jessica purchased her own home in Beverly Hills for $3 million dollars. The divorce was finalized in June of 2006. The couple sold the house made famous in the "Newlyweds" series to "Malcolm in the Middle" star, Justin Berfield. Jessica did not let her divorce slow her down, however.

Her fourth album, "A Public Affair," was released in August of 2006 on Epic Records. Jessica was credited with writing 10 of the 13 songs on the album. The video for "A Public Affair" was full of celebrities including Ryan Seacrest, Andy Dick, Christina Applegate and Eva Longoria. Jessica released a second single "I Belong to Me" on her website and later added to her CD. Jessica did a poll on her website to determine what her second single should be. "I Belong To Me" received over 14,000 votes, beating out the other five possibilities. In October, Jessica's second movie project, "Employee of the Month" was released. The film stars Dane Cook and Dax Shepard. Jessica started filming her third film "Blonde Ambition" with Luke Wilson in November of 2006. The film is expected to come out in theatres in 2007.

During filming of Employee of the Month, Jessica was rumored to have dated Dane Cook and Luke Wilson during early filming of Blonde Ambition. Her current boyfriend is singer John Mayer. The couple appear to be very happy together. Jessica's one true love is her dog Daisy, who she is often seen carrying with her while out and about. Daisy is a Maltipoo, which is a mix between a Maltese and a Poodle. Jessica also loves the movie "Pretty Woman" starring Julia Roberts, hot pink roses, and Mexican food. She's a big fan of sour skittles, vanilla ice cream and chicken-fried steak. She drives a 2005 Mercedes Benz SL500.

Jessica is very involved in charity work. She serves as Operation Smile's International Youth Ambassador. Operation Smile works to help children with facial deformities receive surgery. Jessica also has been involved with the USO, which provides entertainment to American troops stationed throughout the world. She's traveled to visit the troops in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, Germany and Iraq, as well as visiting several ships which were stationed in Southwest Asia. She also toured military bases and provided screenings of "The Dukes of Hazzard" to military members in the United States.
There have been some rumors that Jessica might be recording an album with friend Liv Tyler. Jessica is planning to start work on another film soon, which will be in theatres sometime in 2008. Filming for that movie will begin in June and is titled "Major Movie Star." Jessica was scheduled to begin filming "The Witness" in June but filming has been pushed back. As for her plans for the future, Jessica had indicated a desire to adopt a child.

Jessica's hard work and perseverance have paid off and now she is considered one of the top female pop singers in the United States. You may find more Jessica Simpson News here and we also have a Jessica Simpson Forum for you to enjoy.

Eva Mendes Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper.

A growing interest in Latin American film and TV talent during the 1990s helped propel actress Eva Mendes from B movie supporting player to Hollywood star and sex symbol. Her supporting role as Denzel Washington's girlfriend-on-the-side in "Training Day" (2001) put Mendes on the map and she continued to woo male fans with action offerings like "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003) and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). Mendes' pop culture presence rapidly grew out of proportion to her actual on-screen time and she became a favorite fashion model, Revlon spokeswoman, and a boon to the animal rights cause PETA when she posed nude in an advertisement that claimed the actress would rather go naked than wear fur. Regardless of the hype surrounding the leggy starlet, Mendes proved that she had real acting talent, offering up increasingly well-received performances in the hit comedy "Hitch" (2005) and the comic strip-based crime drama "The Spirit" (2008). With over a dozen film credits to her name and an increasing number of successful business ventures, the tough trailblazer emerged as an important role model for the growing ranks of aspiring Latin American entertainers.
Born on March 5, 1974 in Miami, FL, Mendes moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was two years old. Of Cuban descent, her parents fled the island in 1959 before the revolution, but ultimately split up when Mendes was 10 years old. Her mother worked as an accountant to support the family, and was very strict with Mendes and her three elder siblings. Mendes was not even thinking about an acting career when, while attending Cal State Northridge and majoring in marketing, a stroke of luck changed her life forever. Her neighbor - a photographer - took some photographs of her to use in his portfolio and a casting agent noticed the pictures and asked to meet Mendes. The 24-year-old was plucked from obscurity and cast in the straight-to-video release "Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror" (1998).
Mendes was determined not to let her career be defined by a cheesy horror flick, so she began taking acting lessons and got serious about success. She landed newcomer acting gigs in commercials and music videos and added a few more feature films to her resume including "Night at the Roxbury" (1998) starring Will Farrell and Chris Kattan, and "Urban Legends: Final Cut" (2000). Mendes finally got a profile boost in the critically acclaimed "Training Day" (2001) starring Denzel Washington, which generated some buzz over the actress' nudity. The same year, she appeared in Steven Seagal's actioner "Exit Wounds" (2001) and earned a bigger supporting role in "All About the Benjamins" (2002), a diamond heist comedy starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps.
In her first leading screen role, Mendes played an undercover U.S. customs agent who works with a pair of race car drivers (Paul Walker and Tyrese) to ensnare a drug kingpin in John Singleton's "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2002) - the sequel to "The Fast and the Furious" (2001). Mendes' flair for action material led Robert Rodriguez to cast her in the third installment of his Mariachi trilogy, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003), in which she played a duplicitous Mexican Federale to Johnny Depp's rogue CIA agent.
She reunited with Denzel Washington for director Carl Franklin's thriller "Out of Time" (2003), playing the estranged wife of Washington's Florida Chief of Police whose life falls apart when he becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. Around this time, Mendes' became a spokesmodel for Revlon and began to show a little more versatility as an actress with her co-starring role as a gossip reporter who falls for a relationship consultant (Will Smith) she is pursuing for a story in the romantic comedy, "Hitch" (2005).
In the independent romantic comedy "Trust the Man" (2006), Mendes delivered a strong supporting performance as an old college friend who engages in an affair with a man (Billy Crudup) trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with a longtime girlfriend (Maggie Gyllenhaal) looking to start a family. Mendes raised her profile significantly with the blockbuster comic book adaptation "Ghost Rider" (2007), playing the childhood sweetheart of a superstar stunt motorcycle rider-turned-bounty hunter of rogue demons (Nicolas Cage).
Mendes took on another "girlfriend" role opposite crooked club owner Joaquin Phoenix in the successful crime drama "We Own the Night" (2007), and leveraged her sex appeal again as a cosmetic counter siren who lures a husband away from his wife in the disappointing remake of George Cukor's classic 1939 film "The Women" (2008). The high profile actress and spokeswoman expanded her ventures with the release of a line of bedding and a deal to model for Calvin Klein, ending a busy year with a co-starring role in "The Spirit" (2008), a dark comic book adaptation helmed by Frank Miller.

January Jones Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper.

After making a splash with her breakthrough role in "American Wedding" (2003), actress January Jones quickly rose up the ranks to become a prominent screen presence in film and on television. Prior to her emergence, Jones started her career as a model, which naturally segued into acting. She made the rounds of independent film and guest spots on television, landing a small role in "All the Rage" (1999) while appearing in the pilot episode of "Get Real" (Fox, 1999-2000). After supporting roles in the features "Anger Management" (2001) and "Love Actually," she continued her rise with more notable features and bigger parts in such fare as "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" (2004) and "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005). But it was her regular series role as the long-suffering housewife Betty Draper on the critically acclaimed "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007- ) that earned Jones serious consideration as an actress.
Born on Jan. 5, 1978 in Sioux Falls, SD, Jones was named by her parents after the character January Wayne from Jacqueline Susann's novel, Once is Not Enough. While attending Roosevelt High School, Jones spent her pre-modeling, pre-Hollywood time toiling away at a local Dairy Queen. At 18, she moved to New York City and made her first mark as a stunning model for hip suburban clothier Abercrombie & Fitch. After moving to Los Angeles to become an actress, Jones made her debut with a small role in the independent film "All the Rage" (1999), starring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin. She followed with a guest appearance in the Fox pilot, "Get Real," an irreverent family drama told from the perspective of three teenagers. Two years later, she had her biggest break to date when she landed a role in her first major motion picture, the teen-oriented thriller "The Glass House" (2001), starring Leelee Sobieski.

Like all young and beautiful starlets on the cusp of fame, Jones quickly became a fixture on the young Hollywood scene. Her blonde beauty attracted a variety of male admirers, including then-relatively unknown pre-Demi Moore paramour Ashton Kutcher. The couple, who reportedly met in 1998 at an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot, dated for three years until Kutcher became enchanted with Moore. Jones moved on to funnyman extraordinaire Jim Carrey and "American Wedding" co-star Seann William Scott before meeting and falling for pop-classical singer and favorite "Oprah" guest, Josh Groban, in 2003. Meanwhile, Jones continued to hone her acting chops, landing roles in a variety of high-profile projects, playing a bank robber in the Bruce Willis-Billy Bob Thornton crime comedy "Bandits" (2001), a memorable lesbian sexpot with temperament issues in the Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson hit comedy, "Anger Management" (2003), and a British tourist in the hit romantic comedy, "Love Actually" (2003).
At the time her career began to heat up, Jones was featured as #82 in Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 of 2002" supplement. Next up was the star-making role of Cadence Flaherty, the beautiful sister and maid of honor to the not-so-blushing bride (Alyson Hannigan), as well as the love interest of an obnoxious hound (Seann William Scott) in "American Wedding" (2003). Though the film tanked, Jones received her first major coverage for a role that she had won from literally thousands of on-the-brink ingénues. Looking for further challenges, Jones learned how to swing dance for her role in "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" (2004), the critically maligned sequel to the 1987 dance classic. In a journey back to the small screen, she appeared in the recurring role of Marissa Wells on "Huff" (Showtime, 2004-06), a drama about a psychologist (Hank Azaria) who attempts to salvage the lives of his patients, while his own spirals down the drain.
The actress continued to expand her range as a dramatic actress by portraying Barry Pepper's repressed wife in Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005). After a small supporting part in the earnest, but ultimately humdrum "We Are Marshall" (2006), Jones landed her most significant role to date on the wildly acclaimed series, "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007- ), a subtle and darkly textured drama that depicts society and culture in the early 1960s as seen through the eyes of Madison Avenue advertising executives. Jones played Elizabeth "Betty" Draper, the wife of Sterling Cooper's junior partner, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), whose crushing dissatisfaction with life as a suburban housewife and mother causes deep psychological and emotional distress, which becomes heightened by her growing knowledge of her husband's infidelities. The series earned 16 Emmy Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Drama Series, though Jones was surprisingly left out of the actress categories. She did, however, earn a Golden Globe nomination in 2008 for Best Actress in the television drama category, a feat she repeated the following year. Back on the big screen, she joined the ensemble cast of the British-made comedy, "Pirate Radio" (2009), which focused on a strange, but exciting subculture of disc jockeys that sprung up in the late 1960s in opposition to the BBC giving rock-n-roll little airtime. Meanwhile, her performance as the suffocating Betty Draper earned her an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2010.

    * Born:
      January 5, 1978 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
    * Job Titles:
      Actor, Model

Significant Others

    * Companion: Ashton Kutcher. Born c. 1977; met in 1997 on an Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot; no longer together
    * Companion: Jason Sudeikis. Reportedly began dating in summer 2010
    * Companion: Josh Groban.
    * Companion: Tommy Alastra.

Education

    * Roosevelt High School, Sioux Falls , South Dakota

Milestones

    * 2001 Made her feature debut in the suspense drama The Glass House
    * 2002 Had a part in Steven Soderbergh s comedy Full Frontal
    * 2003 Played Gina in the hilarious Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler comedy Anger Management
    * 2003 Played the sister to the not-so-blushing bride in American Wedding
    * 2004 Appeared in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, co-starring Diego Luna
    * 2005 Played the bored wife of a border patrolman (Barry Pepper) in Tommy Lee Jones The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
    * 2006 Co-starred with Matthew McConaughey in the sports drama We Are Marshall directed by McG
    * 2007 Cast as suburban housewife and mother, Betty Draper in the AMC original television drama series Mad Men ; earned Golden Globe (2008, 2009) and Emmy (2010) nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
    * 2009 Joined an ensemble cast for Richard Curtis Pirate Radio
    * Nominated for the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in Drama Series

Marisa Tomei Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper.

For some performers, winning an Oscar became both a blessing and a curse. While an Academy Award could lead to bigger and better roles, it could also bring about career stagnation, as the actor tried to live up to unrealistic expectations. Actress Marisa Tomei was in danger of failing to warrant the hype after seemingly coming out of nowhere to nab Best Supporting Actress for her comical performance in "My Cousin Vinny" (1992). Though she spent the following years in long-forgotten movies like "Only You" (1994) and "Happy Accidents" (2000), Tomei managed to display potential star-making turns in "Unhook the Stars" (1996) and "The Slums of Beverly Hills" (1998), but they failed to propel her career due to slim box office performances. She proved her talent and career longevity, however, with her Oscar-nominated, subtle but complex turns in "In the Bedroom" (2001) and "The Wrestler" (2008), proving her worth to critics who had cruelly deemed her win for "My Cousin Vinny" to be a fluke, vindicating fans and critics who recognized her considerable talents all along.
Born on Dec. 4, 1964 in Brooklyn, NY, Tomei was raised by her father, Gary, a trial lawyer and her mother, Patricia, an English teacher; also helping with the child rearing were her grandparents, Romeo and Rita. Tomei spent a relatively normal childhood in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, spending time in her parent's Westchester County summer home while attending Edward R. Murrow High School, where she performed in several school plays. Tomei tried her hand at college following high school when she matriculated at Boston University. The summer after her freshman year, her father had lined up a boring job, which she desperately wanted to avoid. So instead, she landed her first film role in "The Flamingo Kid" (1984), and though she had only one line, Tomei had avoided a dreadful summer job - and more importantly, she had her foot in the door. She then dropped out of college after landing the role of Marcy Thompson on the soap opera "As the World Turns" (CBS, 1956- ). Tomei soon left daytime to hone her craft on stage, winning a 1986 Theatre World Award for her performance in "Daughters."

Tomei soon headed out to Los Angeles, where she continued her stage success with a Dramalogue Award for her turn in Alan Bowne's "Beirut." Making her way over to television, she was cast as one of Lisa Bonet's roommates during the first season of "A Different World" (NBC, 1987-1993), then after leaving, made her television movie debut in the private eye mystery, "Parker Kane" (NBC, 1990). In the 1990s, Tomei returned to feature films, putting on a memorable display with her innate comic talents as Sylvester Stallone's overly spoiled daughter in the otherwise forgettable mob comedy "Oscar" (1991). Tomei had a major breakthrough with her next role, delivering a finely wrought comic performance as Mona Lisa Vito, the sassy auto mechanic and devoted girlfriend of an inexperienced trial lawyer (J Pesci) trying to defending his cousin (Ralph Macchio) and friend (Mitchell Whitfield) against murder charges in "My Cousin Vinny" (1992). Thanks in part to her Brooklyn upbringing, Tomei was the perfect choice to play Mona, earning substantial critical praise and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. But when her name was called out as the recipient of statue, many were shocked over her win, especially when the competition included such stalwart veterans as Judy Davis, Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and Miranda Richardson. Afterwards, rumors abounded that presenter Jack Palance accidentally called out the wrong name, a slight the actress never forgot.

Prior to her Oscar triumph, Tomei co-starred in "Chaplin" (1992) as a dead-ringer for scandal-ridden silent film star, Mabel Normand, who regularly starred with The Tramp (Robert Downey, Jr.). But after winning, she found it difficult to translate her success into other quality roles. Though terrific as a shy waitress romanced by an awkward busboy (Christian Slater) in "Untamed Hearts" (1993) and nothing short of miraculous as the pregnant wife of a star reporter (Michael Keaton) in "The Paper" (1994), Tomei was undermined by below average material. Her first real leading role in the gentle romantic comedy "Only You" (1994) attempted to showcase her charms, but her surprising lack of chemistry with former beau Robert Downey, Jr. usurped the love story. Two of her best post-Oscar roles were her turn as a troubled, working-class single mother who learns lessons from her older neighbor (Gena Rowlands) in "Unhook the Stars" (1996), and as the wild cousin of an impressionable young girl (Natasha Lyonne) in "The Slums of Beverly Hills" (1998). She also delighted television fans and joined an esteemed club of "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1990-98) guest-stars when she appeared as herself - the object of George Costanza's (Jason Alexander) affection in the 1996 episode, "The Cadillac." Tomei made a rare return to the small screen in the AIDS-themed drama "My Own Country" (Showtime, 1998), co-starring with real-life brother Adam. That same year, she starred alongside Quentin Tarantino in the Broadway revival of the thriller "Wait Until Dark."

Tomei started the new millennium with a starring turn opposite Vincent D'Onofrio in the fantasy romance "Happy Accidents" (2000). Finally finding a meaty role that allowed her to display her versatility, the actress delivered a charming performance as a modern-day woman whose Mr. Right reveals a disconcerting secret - he is a time traveler from the future who has come back to save her life. The film premiered at Sundance and was snapped up for distribution, but the releasing company had second thoughts and sold the rights to another company. By the time "Happy Accidents" had opened in 2001, Tomei had already been seen in relatively thankless supporting roles in romantic comedies like "What Women Want" (2000) and "Someone Like You" (2001). While her lack of another significant hit failed to go unnoticed by critics, Tomei soon proved her dramatic mettle in the Sundance-made drama, "In the Bedroom" (2001) As the older, married lover of a college student (Nick Stahl) whose mother (Sissy Spacek) disapproves of the relationship, which gets ripped apart after he dies tragically, Tomei glowed and delivered a delicate, layered performance. The film was among the year's best-reviewed and earned her a second Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, certain vindication for those who previously claimed that her first was a mistake.

In 2002, Tomei took on the role of a confused thirty-something in the romantic comedy "Just a Kiss." She also had several other high profile film roles lined up including the comedies "The Guru" (2003) and "Anger Management' (2003). In the remake "Alfie" (2004), she provided a welcome moral center as Julie, the honest, grounded mom who refuses to share her caddish paramour (Jude Law) with other women. In 2006, Tomei was seen in a string of independent films, including "Mary Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School," an ensemble drama about a depressed man (Robert Carlyle) who attends a dance school where he rediscovers his joy for life through the connection he makes with a beautiful woman (Tomei) looking for her own inner peace. After appearing in flashback sequences as the mother of a neglected daughter (Kyra Sedgwick) looking for unqualified love in "Loverboy" (2006), she played a gold-digging floozy whose love affair with a drunken mess of a writer (Matt Dillon) propels him back into serious depression in "Factotum" (2006).
Also in 2006, Tomei began a recurring role in the audacious dramedy "Rescue Me" (FX, 2004- ), playing the ex-wife of Johnny Gavin (Dean Winters) who pretends to date Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) in order to help him get back at his brother for dating his ex-wife (Andrea Roth). Tomei then showed up as a diner owner in "Wild Hogs" (2007), a big, dumb and hugely successful comedy about four down-and-out men (John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) going through respective mid-life crises who embark on a freewheeling, cross-country motorcycle trip in order to prove their manhood, only to run afoul of a biker gang leader (Ray Liotta) determined to teach them proper biker behavior. Despite scores of bad reviews, many of which complained about the bizarre, almost obsessive need for the four leads to constantly prove their heterosexuality onscreen, "Wild Hogs" dominated the box office its opening weekend, taking in almost $40 million and making it the first bona fide hit of 2007.

In Sidney Lumet's underappreciated crime thriller, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007), Tomei played the trophy wife of a stock broker (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in desperate need of cash who plots to rob a mom-'n'-pop store with his younger brother (Ethan Hawke); only problem is the store is owned by their own mother and father, which leads to disastrous unintended consequences. She then appeared as a resourceful, left-wing reporter who is determined to uncover an assassination plot involving a hit man (John Cusack) posing as a trade show producer so he can kill a Middle Eastern oil minister in "War, Inc." (2008). She next co-starred in Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" (2008), a bittersweet drama about Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler (Mickey Rourke) who struggles with being lured out of retirement after being plagued with a dead-end job and estrangement from his daughter. Tomei played an aging stripper looking to start a new life who forms a bond with Ram, despite his inability to sustain a real relationship. For her efforts, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, which was followed by a nod at the Academy Awards in the same category. Tomei continued to impress, notching another detailed, emotionally honest performance as a mother torn between her new boyfriend (John C. Reilly) and her strange grown son (Jonah Hill) in the well reviewed comedy, "Cyrus" (2010).

    * Born:
      December 4, 1964 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
    * Job Titles:
      Actor, Waitress

Family

    * Brother: Adam Tomei. Younger; acted together in the Showtime movie My Own Country (1998)
    * Father: Gary A Tomei.
    * Grandfather: Romeo Tomei. Helped to raise Tomei and her brother
    * Grandmother: Rita Tomei. Helped to raise Tomei and her brother
    * Mother: Patricia Tomei.

Significant Others

    * Companion: Dana Ashbrook.
    * Companion: Frank Pugliese. No longer together
    * Companion: Logan Marshall-Green.
    * Companion: Robert Downey Jr..
    * Companion: Terry Stacey. No longer together; he later shot Happy Accidents (2000) in which Tomei co-starred

Education

    * Edward R Murrow High School, Brooklyn , New York, 1982
    * Boston University, Boston , Massachusetts

Milestones

    * 1983 Appeared as Marcy Thompson on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns
    * 1984 Feature film debut, The Flamingo Kid
    * 1985 Off-Broadway debut, Daughters
    * 1987 Had title role in Supermom s Daughter, an ABC Afterschool Special
    * 1987 Played Lisa Bonet s roommate during the first season of NBC s A Different World
    * 1990 TV-movie debut, Parker Kane (NBC)
    * 1991 Returned to features after five years to play Sylvester Stallone s daughter in Oscar
    * 1992 Academy Award winning role as Joe Pesci s girlfriend in My Cousin Vinny
    * 1992 Cast as silent screen star Mabel Normand in Chaplin, starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role
    * 1993 First romantic lead in features, Untamed Heart
    * 1994 Played first top-billed role in Only You ; second film with Robert Downey Jr.
    * 1994 Portrayed Michael Keaton s pregnant wife in The Paper
    * 1995 Starred opposite Anjelica Huston in The Perez Family
    * 1996 Earned plaudits for turn as a troubled single mother in Unhook the Stars
    * 1996 Made appearance as herself on an episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld (February)
    * 1998 Broadway debut in revival of Wait Until Dark co-starring with Quentin Tarantino
    * 1998 Cast as the knowing cousin of a teen coming of age in Slums of Beverly Hills
    * 1998 Made rare TV acting appearances in the Showtime drama My Own Country
    * 1999 Appeared in Dario Fo s We Won t Pay! We Won t Pay! at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA
    * 2000 Appeared opposite Mel Gibson in What Women Want
    * 2000 Co-starred with Keanu Reeves and James Spader in The Watcher
    * 2000 Played opposite Vincent D Onofrio in the Sundance-screened Happy Accidents ; released theatrically in 2001
    * 2001 Cast as Ashley Judd s best friend in Someone Like You
    * 2001 Co-starred with Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek in the award winning drama, In the Bedroom ; received second Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
    * 2002 Appeared in ensemble romantic comedy Just a Kiss
    * 2003 Cast in the feature The Guru
    * 2003 Was the female lead in the comedy Anger Management
    * 2004 Starred opposite Jude Law in Alfie a remake of the 1966 film which starred Michael Caine
    * 2006 Appeared in several episodes of Rescue Me (FX) as Tommy s (Dennis Leary) sister-in-law turned love interest
    * 2006 Cast in Randall Miller s Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
    * 2006 Co-starred with Kyra Sedgwick in the Kevin Bacon directed Loverboy ; premiered at Sundance (lensed 2003)
    * 2007 Cast opposite John Cusack in the indie drama, Grace is Gone, which premiered at Sundance
    * 2007 Co-starred in Sidney Lumet s Before the Devil Knows You re Dead ; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress
    * 2008 Nominated for the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture ( The Wrestler )
    * 2008 Played a stripper, opposite Mickey Rourke, in the The Wrestler
    * 2009 Nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role ( The Wrestler )
    * 2010 Co-starred with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly in the comedy Cyrus
    * Grew up in Flatbush section of Brooklyn

Kevin Smith Biography News Profile Relationships Photo Wallpaper.

Ever since his emergence onto the national stage, writer-director Kevin Smith became the idol of aspiring filmmakers everywhere when his independent feature "Clerks" (1994) – made for a startlingly low sum of $27,575 – earned awards at both the Cannes and Sundance film festivals and went on to become a wild success in limited art house release. Self-referential to a fault, Smith used his films to expand his fictional universe populated with a regular cast of characters who eventually crossed over into other mediums, including comic books and an animated television series. Smith was in top form with his third feature, “Chasing Amy” (1997), though he took critical hits for later work like “Dogma” (1999) and “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” (2001), both of which were admired by rabid fans, but panned by the public at large. Always assured with slacker characters, raunchy dialogue, “Star Wars” (1977) references and endless penis jokes, Smith did occasionally step outside his comfort zone – as he did with “Jersey Girl” (2004) – though such efforts were usually followed up with returns to more of the same, marking Smith as a champion of the Gen-X crowd, but often out of touch with wider audiences.
Born on Aug. 2, 1970 in Highlands, NJ, Smith was raised by his father, Donald, a postal worker and his mother, Grace, a homemaker. As a child, Smith saw his father’s misery at having to work a soul-sucking job, which led to the young lad’s determination to work at something he loved. An average student who received routine Bs and Cs, Smith videotaped basketball games and put on his own “Saturday Night Live” sketches while attending Henry Hudson High School. Though overweight, he had developed a sharp sense of humor in order to make it with the girls in his class. After graduating high school, Smith attended The New School for Social Research’s creative writing program, but dropped out after only one year when the school administration called his parents to complain that their son was throwing water balloons from his dorm window. In 1990, after seeing an ad in The Village Voice for the Vancouver Film School, he matriculated for four months before dropping out once again. Unsure of his next move, Smith took a job as a clerk at a convenience store in Leonardo, NJ.
While seemingly trapped in a go-nowhere life, Smith was suddenly inspired when he saw “Slacker” (1991), Richard Linklater's independent comedy about shiftless youth. For the first time, he saw a movie that was set in the director’s hometown, a notion that opened up the possibilities of low-budget moviemaking. Smith contacted former film school classmate Scott Mosier, who would serve as a producer on most of his films, and set to work on writing the script to his first feature, "Clerks" (1994), a somewhat plotless slice-of-life look at the lives of a slacker convenience store clerk (Brian O’Halloran) and his caustic best friend (Jeff Anderson) who works across the street at a video store. Sharp, witty and unapologetically bawdy, “Clerks” tapped into a fan base that reveled in the “Star Wars” references, non-stop male genitalia jokes and the adolescent obsession with female infidelity. With money raised from Smith's former college tuition fund, the sale of his extensive personal comic collection, loans from Mosier's parents, and maxing out 12 credit cards, Smith made "Clerks" in 21 nights, filming in the very Quick Stop convenience store where he worked.

A screening at the Independent Feature Film Market generated the initial buzz, which culminated into a sale to Harvey Weinstein at the Sundance Film Festival, where “Clerks” shared the Filmmaker's Trophy with Rose Troche's "Go Fish" (1994). “Clerks” was also notable for its introduction of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), two characters who made routine appearances in most of the director’s films, stealing every scene they were in. After earning a distribution deal from Weinstein’s Miramax Films, Smith’s film went on to earn critical acclaim and further awards at the Cannes Film Festival. But the Motion Picture Association of America ratings board determined that his film should receive an 'NC-17' for graphic language, which delayed the commercial release of the film. Enlisting Harvard law professor and noted attorney Allen Dershowitz to their cause, Smith and Mosier appealed the decision and eventually got their sought-after 'R' rating. Playing in a limited number of art house theaters, "Clerks" grossed a surprising $2 million and garnered wide critical acclaim.

By the time “Clerks was released, Smith was already neck deep with his next effort, "Mallrats" (1995), an irreverent comedy about two New Jersey slackers (Jeremy London and Jason Lee) who look for solace at the local mall after being dumped by their girlfriends (Shannon Doherty and Claire Forlani). Funded by distributor Gramercy for $5.8 million, "Mallrats" earned lukewarm critical notices and bombed at the box office. Chastened by the blight on his fledgling career, Smith ate crow before a crowd at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, saying “I want to apologize for Mallrats. I have no idea what we were thinking.” In fact, the only notable achievement of his sophomore effort was the launching of former skateboarder Jason Lee’s feature and television career. But Smith redeemed himself to many with the critically-acclaimed romantic comedy, "Chasing Amy" (1997), which depicted the unlikely relationship between Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), a bisexual comic book creator, and fellow comic writer Holden (Ben Affleck), which causes untold fits of jealousy with his best friend and writing partner, Banky (Jason Lee). Made for only a quarter million dollars, “Chasing Amy” was a big art house hit, taking in over $12 million at the box office, while repairing the damage Smith created with “Mallrats.”

Back on top of his game, Smith began to expand his horizons beyond writing and directing when he served as executive producer on "Good Will Hunting" (1997), written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Meanwhile, Smith merged his passions for film and comics when he wrote a screenplay for "Superman Lives" which Tim Burton was assigned to direct. Conflicts with Warner Bros. and Burton, however, relegated the project to the trash heap. When he returned to his bread and butter, Smith departed from the boy-girl relationship format of his previous movies in directing "Dogma" (1999), a controversial religious satire about two fallen angels (Affleck and Damon) trying to re-enter Heaven despite the apocalyptic havoc they aim to create. Also starring Linda Fiorentino, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek and Alan Rickman, “Dogma” featured some witty dialogue which was largely buried by an avalanche of exposition that was required to move forward a convoluted and often pointless plot. Regardless of the attention created by Smith’s skewering of Catholicism, the film ultimately proved that the director’s talents were better served in more slacker-friendly fare.
With his next effort, Smith tried to deliver a lighthearted romp starring his recurring side characters Jay & Silent Bob in the madcap "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001), a hodgepodge of several amusing, but ultimately pointless sequences that showcased some classic Smith dialogue that nonetheless proved too meandering and exposition-laden to bear. Smith brought back many of the characters from his previous films – what he called the View Askew universe, named after his production company – including his close buddy Ben Affleck as both Holden from "Chasing Amy" and a parody version of his movie-star self. Ultimately, the movie made a decent showing at the box office despite being panned by critics. Always a dazzling raconteur and canny self-promoter, Smith made forays into television, turning "Clerks" into a short-lived animated series for ABC, which both aired and ended in 2000. In 2002, Smith joined "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC, 1991-2009) on a recurring basis for short filmed comedy bits. Among the more amusing were the collection of Smith's snarky road trips across America, visiting "Roadside Attractions" like giant balls of twine, and short films like "The Flying Car" featuring the "Clerks" characters trapped in traffic discussing what they would do to have a flying car like the Jetsons.

Smith also put his career as a writer of comics firmly on track with the debut of Clerks (the Comic) (1998), followed by the adventures of Jay & Silent Bob in Bluntman and Chronic – which was first featured in “Chasing Amy” – as well as his collaborations on Marvel Comics' Daredevil and DC's Green Arrow. His track record faltered in 2002, however, when he put his focus back on movies and failed to finish his runs on the miniseries Spider-Man: Black Cat and Daredevil: Bullseye, something his fans skewered him about afterwards. Indeed, it was his collected paperback run of Daredevil that lured his friend Ben Affleck – another childhood fan of the character – to pen a glowing introduction, which in turn inspired Marvel Productions and 20th Century Fox to lobby successfully to cast the actor as the blind superhero in the 2003 film. Smith also had a cameo role, playing a morgue attendant named Jack Kirby, after the prominent Marvel comic book artist. He also became one of the first filmmakers to engage in regular, near-direct dialogue with his audience, communicating via the Internet through his web sites MoviePoopShoot.com and ViewAskew.com.

During the media furor surrounding the "Bennifer" romance between Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Smith often found himself acting as an unofficial spokesperson for the couple, given his closeness to Affleck and the fact the couple were both appearing in his romantic comedy "Jersey Girl" (2004). When the pair's previous film outing "Gigli" (2003) was labeled a bomb of epic proportions and the relationship subsequently fell apart, Smith and his film's marketers made a painstaking effort to point out that Lopez's role was pivotal, but brief in an effort to distance his film from the "Gigli" catastrophe. Instead, "Jersey Girl" – which opened to mixed reviews and unspectacular box office, but came nowhere near the flop that was "Gigli" – focused on Affleck as a driven, urban public relations executive who becomes a widowed single dad stuck in the Jersey suburbs with his dad (George Carlin) and his daughter (Raquel Castro), and who unexpectedly gets a second chance at love with a video store employee (Liv Tyler). Smith threw out much of his juvenile humor – along with Jay & Silent Bob – out the window and attempted to tell a more straightforward, romantic story, albeit with mixed success.

Perhaps in a sign of his creative well starting to dry, Smith returned to comfortable ground with “Clerks II” (2006), another raunchy look at the slacker lives of Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson), who – after years of still working behind the counters of the Quick Stop and video store – are forced to find new jobs when the strip mall burns to the ground. Having already been there and done that, Smith offered very little that was new – some even accused him of retreating to familiar territory after taking uncertain steps onto new ground with “Jersey Girl” – though the sequel did have flourishes of classic witty Smith dialogue. Made for a paltry $5 million, “Clerks II” did well enough at the box office to turn a profit. Meanwhile, Smith made a rare foray into television, serving as executive producer and directing the pilot episode on “Reaper” (CW, 2007- ), a supernatural dramedy about a young man, Sam (Bret Harrison), who learns on his 21st birthday that his parents made a deal with the Devil (Ray Wise) to give him the soul of their first born in order for his father to recover from a grave illness, leading Sam to serve as a bounty hunter for souls escaped from Hell. Back in features, Smith wrote and directed “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (2008), a romantic comedy about two roommates (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide to make an adult film in order to pay their ever-mounting bills. The film marked the first time since his debut “Clerks” that Smith had no role – not even a cameo – for Ben Affleck.

    * Also Credited As:
      Kevin Patrick Smith
    * Born:
      Kevin Patrick Smith on August 2, 1970 in Red Bank, New Jersey, USA
    * Job Titles:
      Director, Editor, Screenwriter, Actor, Producer, Comic book writer, Cashier, Comic book store owner

Family

    * Brother: Donald Smith, Jr. Older
    * Daughter: Harley Quinn Smith. Born June 26, 1999; mother, Jennifer Schwalbach
    * Father: Donald Smith.
    * Mother: Grace Smith.
    * Sister: Virginia Smith. Older

Significant Others

    * Companion: Joey Lauren Adams. Together from 1995-1997; starred in Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997)
    * Companion: Joey Lauren Adams. together from c. 1995 to 1997; appeared in Mallrats and Chasing Amy

Education

    * Vancouver Film School, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, film, 1990
    * The New School for Social Research, New York, NY, creative writing

Milestones

    * 1991 Inspired to start a film career after seeing, Slacker, Richard Linklater s film about shiftless youth
    * 1992 Wrote script for Clerks
    * 1994 Debuted Clerks at the Sundance Film Festival; Miramax acquired distribution rights
    * 1995 Released second feature, Mallrats ; first affiliation with actor Ben Affleck
    * 1996 First producing credit (as executive producer) on a movie he did not direct, Drawing Flies
    * 1996 Signed deal with Carsey-Werner Productions to develop TV sitcom; deal fell apart when Jason Lee (star of Mallrats ) decided he didn t want to do a sitcom
    * 1997 Helmed Chasing Amy, starring Affleck, Lee and then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams
    * 1997 Received co-executive producing credit on Good Will Hunting for his help getting the Damon-Affleck script made
    * 1998 Clerks , the Comic Book debuted, offering the continuing adventures of super slackers Dante and Randal
    * 1998 Rewrote screenplay for straight-to-video Overnight Delivery
    * 1999 Directed Dogma, featuring Damon and Affleck; also reprised role of Silent Bob, the role he portrayed in his three previous directorial efforts
    * 2000 Executive produced, wrote and voiced character of Silent Bob on the animated Clerks (ABC)
    * 2001 Directed and co-starred in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    * 2004 Helmed Jersey Girl, which starred Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler
    * 2006 Returned to direct Clerks ll, the sequel to his first film, 1994 s Clerks ; reprised the role of Silent Bob
    * 2007 Co-starred in Richard Kelly s ensemble film, Southland Tales
    * 2007 Co-starred with Jennifer Garner in Catch and Release ; the directorial debut of Susannah Grant
    * 2007 Helmed Zack and Miri Make a Porno starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks
    * 2010 Directed the buddy-cop comedy, Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan
    * Formed production company, View Askew