Catherine Zeta Jones Biography

Catherine Zeta-Jones hails from Mumbles, Wales (a tiny fishing village just outside Swansea in the UK), where she was born on September 25, 1969. Her name stems from two different grandmothers; one grandmother is named Catherine, while the other is "Zeta," named after a ship that Catherine's grandfather sailed on.

catherine zeta-jones does musicals

Although Catherine was not known in the U.S. until her role in The Mask of Zorro in 1998, she was a well-known star in her native UK. Catherine played the lead in a production of the musical Annie at age 11, and starred in a West End production of Bugsy Malone two years later.

At age 17, Catherine nabbed the lead role in 42nd Street after having moved to London in order to pursue an acting career. Once the show closed, Zeta-Jones traveled to France, where she received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's 1001 Nights (1990), her feature film debut.

Catherine's big break came upon her return to England in 1991, when she became a regular on the hugely popular British television series The Darling Buds of May. Her role as the eldest daughter of a farm family increased her star status in the UK, which of course, led to her becoming a tabloid favorite, becoming constantly hounded by the paparazzi. Once the intrusiveness of the media became unbearable, Catherine decided to take her life and career across the Atlantic.

catherine in titanic

Although a sex symbol and celebrity in the UK (she even dabbled in music, releasing an album in the UK in the early '90s), it took a while for Catherine to break into the Hollywood scene. In 1994, she landed the lead role in CBS' Return of the Native, and gave a remarkable performance in her role as "Catherine" in the miniseries Catherine the Great.

It wasn't until Catherine's role in the four-hour television docudrama Titanic -- one year before Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet starred in the big-screen version of the film -- that Americans would soon learn why she was famous across the pond.

zeta-jones in the mask of zorro

Steven Spielberg noticed her in the miniseries and thought she'd be perfect for the female lead in The Mask of Zorro (1998), which he was producing. Spielberg knew what he was talking about, and he wasn't the only one who was impressed; audiences and critics liked what they saw in the role opposite Antonio Banderas. Audiences probably wondered where this beauty popped up from, since they had never before heard of the Welsh star, who was often mistaken for Spanish.

At the 1998 Oscars, Catherine stood out on the red carpet, looking ravishing. If she wasn't yet noticed after The Mask of Zorro, her appearance at the Oscars turned heads.

In the summer of 1999, Catherine Zeta-Jones appeared opposite Sean Connery in the summer action film Entrapment. That same summer, Catherine also took on the role of Theo in The Haunting, Dreamworks' adaptation of the 1963 horror of the same name, joining cast members Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor.

catherine and michael douglas marry

Actor Michael Douglas first met Catherine at the Deauville Film Festival, and apparently told her that he wanted to father her children during their first date. This claim turned into a premonition when the couple had their first child, Dylan Michael, in August 2000.

The couple married in New York's famed Plaza Hotel in November 2000; apparently, Catherine arrived 10 minutes late, as a result of being held up by her troop of security guards. Their wedding made headlines again in 2002, when the power couple sued Hello! magazine for $815,000, for breach of security to get wedding shots and for publishing the poor quality, unauthorized photos. They won the suit and were awarded $26,000.

catherine zeta-jones stops traffic

After appearances in High Fidelity, starring John Cusack, and Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning Traffic (both in 2000), Catherine reunited with Cusack for America's Sweethearts in 2001, which also starred Julia Roberts. Though her role in Traffic made Hollywood take notice of her solid acting chops, it was Catherine's training in singing and dance that would help land the Welsh beauty her first Oscar.

In 2002, Catherine sang and danced her way to the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in the musical Chicago. And though an Oscar is always a great reward for hard work, her $8 million paycheck for the film didn't hurt.

catherine zeta-jones becomes a mega-star

Following her Oscar win, Catherine kept her face in the public eye with a series of high-profile projects on and off the silver screen.Firstly she starred in 2003's Intolerable Cruelty, with George Clooney, then moved onto the Steven Spielberg's romantic comedy The Terminal and the celeb-fest heist flick Ocean's Twelve (both released in 2004). Catherine finished out her post-Oscar film sprint by reprising her role Elena alongside Antonio Banderas in The Legend of Zorro (2005).

Besides her film work, Catherine Zeta-Jones also became the spokesperson for T-Mobile International, a leading global wireless service provider, as well as the face of cosmetics giant, Elizabeth Arden.

On the family front, she has built a seaside dream home in her hometown, determined that her children (Dylan Michael and daughter Carys) grow up aware of their Welsh heritage.

catherine zeta-jones: businesswoman

Although Catherine continues to work in the film industry as an actress -- such as in 2007's No Reservations and Death Defying Acts -- the real highlight of her future work will come as the owner of her production company, Milkwood Films. Her first movie as an exec. and an actress is 2007's Coming Out, a comedy about a struggling Welsh rugby team who takes on a cabaret singer as their coach.

Carolyn Murphy Biography

')" onmouseout="PrevHide()" href="http://supermodels.nl/carolynmurphy">Carolyn Murphy, born on August 11, 1975, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA, is an internationally acclaimed model.
She is featured on the cover of the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was VH1/Vogue's "Model of the Year" in 1998. She is currently the face of Estee Lauder, replacing Elizabeth Hurley as the company's primary female model.

Carolyn grew up throughout Northwest Florida spending most of her childhood in a trailer park in Panama City, Florida. At the age of 16 she was spotted by Mary Lou Nash, owner and operator of Mary Lou's Models, a modeling agency. Nash saw Carolyn's potential and soon she was modeling in local ads and magazines throughout Florida and Alabama.

When she graduated from high school Murphy moved to Milan to further her modeling career. Her career kicked into high-gear when she bleached her hair platinum blond for a photo shoot ruining her hair and causing it to fall out.
Because of this she had to get a boyishly short hair cut which made her popular with many top photographers and soon she was in major magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and was named VH1's "Model of the Year" at the 1998 Fashion Awards.

She also started an acting career with the role of Dubbie the Blonde in Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights in 1999.
Murphy married surf shop owner Jake Schroeder whom she met on vacation. She gave birth to their daughter Dylan Blue on 28 December 2000 and the three posed for Vogue magazine as Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, and Frances Bean Cobain. The couple split in 2001 and Murphy began seeing Brandon Boyd of the band Incubus.

Carla Bruni Biography

Carla Bruni was born in Turin on December 23, 1968. Girl of a mother pianist of a father type-setter, Carla is rocked in the music since her more tender childhood. She begins like mannequin very early, and becomes one of the women most photographed in the world. She ravels for largest, she is the egery many houses of haute couture. But pretty young woman with the face angelica hides behind this figure perfect a gold voice.

This subtle, and even sensual stamp decorated of a simple guitar and texts enjôleurs form an ideal unit that it delivers to us in 2002 on the album "Somebody said to me"
But beautiful Italian is not that interprets, it is also an author. Julien Clerc in addition fell under the charm from his delicate feather, remember "If I were it". Eh yes, surprising is not this?! But it is indeed marvellous Carla which is mom of this small jewel. Four long years after "Some has to Me Dit", beautiful Carla returns with a new album ("No Promised") all in English or with the wire of the eleven titles, blues rock'n'roll and folk elegantly mixes with the soft and sensual voice of Carla Bruni always also enchanter. In December 2007, the media french unveil a series of photographs of Carla Bruni and the President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy. On February 02, 2008, the lovely Carla Bruni became the first woman from marrying in France Nicolas Sarkozy.

Calista Flockhart Biography

Birth Name
Calista Kay Flockhart
Date of birth (location)
11 November 1964
Freeport, Illinois, USA

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A long-time favorite of discriminating theatergoers, Calista Flockhart acted in several Off-Broadway plays (e.g., "All for One", "Sophistry", "Wrong Turn at Lungfish") before triumphing on Broadway in the role of Laura, opposite Julie Harris, in a 1994 revival of "The Glass Menagerie". It was while appearing to great praise in the stage production of "The Loop" that she came to the attention of Mike Nichols, who gave the actress her breakthrough screen role as the daughter of a conservative politician engaged to the son of a gay man in "The Birdcage" (1996), a loose remake of "La Cage aux Folles". Flockhart's rather ordinary countenance and somewhat mousy demeanor was often an antidote to the high powered antics of stars Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane and Dianne Wiest.

The daughter of a Kraft Foods executive, Flockhart led a peripatetic childhood, living in Iowa, Minnesota and upstate New York before the family finally settled in New Jersey. After completing her studies at Rutgers, she relocated to NYC to pursue a career. Between work in regional theater and on the boards in Manhattan, she accepted occasional film and TV roles. Her feature debut was in the tiny part of a college student in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" (1994). "Drunks" (1995; released in 1997) afforded her a showy opportunity but she was overshadowed by her better known co-stars like Faye Dunaway, Dianne Wiest and Parker Posey. In "Milk and Money" (1996), a failed attempt at magic realism, she played the lackluster girlfriend of the lead character and she lent an aura of authenticity to her blue collar worker who becomes the object of a teenager's crush in "Telling Lies in America" (1997).

Although she had several TV roles to her credit (including the title role in "The Secret Life of Mary-Margaret: Portrait of a Bulimic" (HBO, 1992), it was as the title character in the David E Kelley-created "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997- ) which vaulted her to stardom. As the a Boston lawyer prone to fantasies and coping with being a single working woman, Flockhart delivered a dead-on performance that treaded carefully between comedy and pathos. The character, who often bemoaned the state of her romantic life, touched a nerve with viewers. Either you loved Ally or hated her. Everything from her short skirts to her constant search for Mr. Right was grist for the discussion mill. That was also a position in which the actress found herself. There was constant speculation over her love life and, more controversially, her weight. A petite, slender woman, the actress was rumored to be suffering from either an eating disorder or a drug problem. No amount of spin could stop the rumors--not even her going on "The Late Show with David Letterman" where she pronounced that those critical of her size could "kiss my skinny, white ass."

Capitalizing on Flockhart's newfound fame, earlier projects that had been languishing in distributor limbo began turning up on screens, notably "Jane Doe" (filmed in 1996; screened at festivals in 1999). As the titular character, she offered a compelling turn as a charismatic drug addict who falls for a shy writer. On the more mainstream front, Flockhart undertook the role of the headstrong Helena in Michael Hoffman's screen adaptation of "William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999). Along with Christian Bale (as Demetrius), Anna Friel (as Hermia) and Dominic West (as Lysander), she rounded out the quartet of young lovers at the core of the play and further demonstrated her versatility deftly handling the comedy and the iambic pentameter.

Instead of capitalizing further on her "Ally McBeal" persona (as the Fox network planned with "Ally", a half-hour sitcom version culled from new and existing footage set to premiere in fall 1999) or seeking a leading role in a Hollywood studio flick or a quality indie, Flockhart opted to return to her theatrical roots in the summer of 1999, headlining two-thirds of an evening of one-acts written by filmmaker Neil LaBute produced under the collective title "bash: latter day plays". She earned raves for her two characterizations--one an intense portrayal of a woman recounting an affair with a teacher and its tragic aftermath, the other as a Mormon woman visiting NYC with her boyfriend--and her mere presence guaranteed that the limited Off-Broadway production was sold out.