Saturday, July 5, 2008

Cindy Crawford Biography



Born in DeKalb, Illinois to John Crawford and Jennifer Moluf, her trademark is a visible mole on her face (although most people refer to it as a "beauty mark").
A series of exercise videos that she made were successful — more so than her acting pursuits. She continues to provide celebrity endorsement for a variety of projects.

She was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then 16-year old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasselling corn and took a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modelling. Thanks to two summers of modelling, she was able to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University on a scholarship.

The former high school valedictorian achieved the same exceptional grades in college as in high school, but didn't complete her studies. She left school in order to pursue a full-time modelling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago and becoming a success, Cindy moved to New York City in 1986.

Career
From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host of MTV's House of Style. In 1992, roadside posters of her had to be removed in Norway when authorities noticed a 300% increase in the accident rate as motorists were distracted by them. In 1995 Crawford took her first movie role in Fair Game. Her performance was dismissed by critics, and the film was a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at the box office.

Crawford is just over 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall, has a slim, well-toned figure, with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34"-24"-35". She was the first modern supermodel to pose nude for Playboy magazine. She was ranked number 5 on Playboy's list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th century.

She has been featured on the cover of more than 600 magazines worldwide including Vogue, W, People, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE and Allure. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People magazine.

Personal life
Crawford's first marriage to actor Richard Gere lasted from 1991 to 1995. It was heavily rumoured that the marriage was a cover for their mutual homosexuality, but this was denied by both.
During their marriage, the rumors had been further fueled (and mocked) by Crawford when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in a semi-provocative pose with popular and openly lesbian singer k.d. lang in August 1993.
Crawford is currently married to Rande Gerber (club owner) with two young children, Presley, born July 2, 1999, & Kaia, born September 3, 2001. Crawford famously gave birth to both her children through natural home birth. Gere has also since become a father. Crawford now owns her own production company, Crawdaddy Inc.

Christina Aguilera Biography

Early years

Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, but grew up primarily in Wexford, Pennsylvania. Her father, Fausto Aguilera, is of Ecuadorian descent and her mother, Shelly Kearns, is from Newfoundland and of remote Irish descent; both are fluent in Spanish. They met while he was serving on Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador.

As a teenager, Aguilera (who also happens to be a Catholic) sang the National Anthem before Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates games. In 1990, she appeared on Star Search but she didn't win. Her breakthrough came in 1993 when she joined The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Britney Spears, as well as Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, who went on to join NSYNC, and Keri Russell, who would on to become the star of Felicity.

Her first song was recorded in Japan, but she only caught the attention of Americans when she released the song 'Reflection' for the Disney animated production of Mulan (1998). The video clip featured a young Christina with a bob hair cut. The song prompted RCA to offer her a contract.

'Genie in a Bottle': chart success

Aguilera on the cover of her 1999 debut album, Christina Aguilera.
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Aguilera on the cover of her 1999 debut album, Christina Aguilera.

Her self-titled album, Christina Aguilera, was released in 1999 and reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million albums in the US. 'Genie in a Bottle', 'What a Girl Wants' and 'Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)' all reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 and 2000 and 'I Turn to You' went top 5 in the US. Aguilera won the 'Grammy Award for Best New Artist' in the Grammy Awards of 2000.

In the year 2000 she emphasized her Latino heritage, following the Latino trend of the time, by releasing her first Latin album, Mi Reflejo. At this time she claimed to have been learning Spanish. This album was a version of her debut album in Spanish and reached number 27 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts. The single 'Falsas Esperanzas' from the album reached the top 40 in Argentina in 2001. Ricky Martin asked her to a duet with him on 'Nobody Wants To Be Lonely' on his Sound Loaded album released in late 2000. The song was released as the second single in 2001 going top 5 in the UK and Germany, top 40 in Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

The move towards a raunchier image was shown in her appearance in the video for 'Lady Marmalade' which showed her, Lil Kim, Pink and Mya dressed in lingerie. The track was produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott and appeared on the soundtrack for the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge!. The song, a remake of the 1975 hit by LaBelle, went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The song also topped in Australia with the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack being the best selling album of 2001 in that country.

Stripped: career development

Aguilera on the cover of Stripped.
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Aguilera on the cover of Stripped.

Her second official English language album was Stripped. This features many interludes, one before the track 'Infatuation', which features her speaking Spanish, and a duet with Alicia Keys; however, Aguilera cannot speak Spanish fluently yet�even though she is learning Spanish�as she forgot the language while growing up.

By the year 2002, however, her previously heralded vocals were much overlooked as she began to change her fresh, youthful image into that of a highly sexualized woman with hip-hop and porn-star influences. After the release of that album, she has taken part in photo shoots for the magazines Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Cosmo Girl. Many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. At the same time, Aguilera began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the erotic emphasis better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated in 1999. She told German paper Netzeitung, 'I like having sex. It's fun....I love experimenting with my sexuality. I want to try out as much as possible. It would be wrong of me to hide this side of my personality. I have fun being sexy and tough at the same time.'

The video for her 2002 single 'Dirrty' featured her writhing with members of both sexes including a female-only shower scene in which she was wearing only a thong and a bra. As she puts it, 'I like the way I am. This is how I bring out my sexuality.'

The 'Dirrty' video also made the news when the government of Thailand banned the video from national television, because a pair of posters that appear in the background of the boxing ring advertise, in the Thai language, the sex tourism and underage girls of Thailand. The producers and director of the video claimed to be ignorant of the meaning of the posters. She is currently banned from entering Thailand as it is considered to have offended the Thai people.

Musical peers such as Shakira, Jessica Simpson, and Kelly Osbourne criticized the video, but Aguilera responded by pointing out, 'I may have been the naked-ass girl in the video, but if you look at it carefully, I'm also at the forefront. I'm not just some lame chick in a rap video; I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true

Ironically, the new raunchy image seems to have negatively affected the sales of the album at least in the US when released in late 2002. While the album debuted at number 2 on the UK album charts and number 3 in Canada, it made a low entry given the success of her debut album. However, the success of subsequent singles off the album meant that Stripped reached a peak of number 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2004. The staying power of the album was also shown in the UK when the album was consistently in the top 20 of the album charts between late 2002 and mid 2004. The album is quadruple platinum in Australia despite only reaching a peak of number 7 - again a reflection of its consistency between late 2002 and 2004.

There have been a number of hit singles from Stripped including:

  • 'Dirrty', the first single featuring rapper Redman went to number one in the UK, Ireland and was a top ten hit in the Netherlands, Spain and Australia - it only reached number 48 on the Billboard Hot100 reflecting the early sales backlash;
  • 'Beautiful' went to number 1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada as well as the US top 40 and adult contemporary charts - it reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100;
  • 'Fighter' went to number 20 in the US and reached top 5 on world airplay charts performing well in countries such as Canada, Australia and Argentina;
  • 'Can't Hold Us Down' another collaboration with Lil Kim was another top 5 hits on world airplay charts and reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100; and
  • 'The Voice Within' was another strong track on worldwide radio becoming the second most played track on European radio in early 2004 and reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.

'Beautiful' earned Christina Aguilera the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 2004. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) presented a special award for inclusion to her in February 2003 for the positive images of gay and transgender people.

Aguilera went so far as to condemn her work on her first album, telling an interviewer, 'I was playing a part dictated by my then manager and my record company. I hated who I was back then...' The Stripped album contains a number of songs based on personal development themes including 'Beautiful', 'Fighter' and 'I'm OK'.

In early 2003 Aguilera aroused much comment when she gained a noticeable amount of weight. Aguilera was quoted as saying, 'I couldn't care less about stupid diets. Eating is sensual and fun. I'm not going to let it be spoiled by calorie counting.' Whether she will be able to reconcile this attitude to her sexually-charged image remains to be seen.

On June 4, 2003, she joined Justin Timberlake on his final portion of his international 'Justified' tour, held in the United States. The tour became a co-headliner called the 'Justified & Stripped' tour. In the 4th quarter of that year, Christina continued to tour internationally without Justin, and changed the name of the tour to only 'Stripped' tour. During the tour she dyed her hair black. The tour was completely sold out, and was one of the top grossing tours of the year. It also was named by Rolling Stone readers as the best tour of the summer.

2003 through 2004

Aguilera opened up a new vein of controversy in Autumn 2003 by viciously attacking fellow teen-pop musicians. She told Blender magazine, 'Look at people like Beyonc� or Britney. They're desperate to come across as sweet, good little girls, but then you see them in photo shoots that are extremely sexual�tight little booty shorts, and not much else. So why do they try to be virginal in interviews?' Concerning her most formidable rival, Britney Spears, she claimed, 'These people aren't artists; they're just performers�fake and superficial...I was up for kissing Britney, but Britney wasn't. She was....she seemed very distant, even during rehearsals. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her�well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. I wanted to reach out to her, because I feel she needs somebody in her life right now to help guide her.'

She eventually received UK's Glamour magazine's Woman Of The Year, beating other strong contenders. Throughout the course of 2003 and early 2004, Christina received many awards that recognised the efforts that she had put into producing Stripped.

In a January 2004 interview with ZOO Magazine, it was revealed that Aguilera is possibly gay or bisexual. In the interview, she said that she enjoys kissing women, and that looking at women arouses her more sexually than looking at men. 'I love to see a girl with a good booty,' she said.

Aguilera decided to take on a more mature image; this move was widely praised by critics everywhere, who used punchlines like 'from crass to class'. She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde. Aguilera recorded a jingle, 'Hello', for a Mercedes-Benz ad, and became the new face of Mercedes-Benz. Shortly after, she dyed her hair blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is believed by many of her fans to be one of the front-runners of the bringing back of the old Hollywood look trend, along with Gwen Stefani and Ashley Judd. She also appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards to premiere her new single with Nelly.

Christina Aguilera hosted Saturday Night Live on February 21, 2004. She was praised for her impersonation of Kim Cattrall's Sex and the City character Samantha. Then, in April, Christina was forced to cancel her upcoming US summer tour. Many critics shouted that the tickets were selling poorly and therefore Christina decided to cancel it. But Christina struck back that it was because of her doctor's instructions to rest her strained voice. Later, Christina admitted that the real reason for cancelling the tour was because she didn't like the set-up. She said it was too much like the 'Stripped' tour and didn't see any point in doing another tour exactly the same.

In the run-up to the 2004 election, Aguilera was featured on billboards for the 'Only You Can Silence Yourself' online voter registration drive run by the nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign, Declare You

In late summer, she released, almost consecutively, two singles. The first one, 'Car Wash', was taken from the soundtrack of the hit movie Shark Tale. It is a collaboration with popular rapper, Missy Elliott, and is a cover version of Rose Royce's disco hit. The second is also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double release albums, Sweat, titled 'Tilt Ya Head Back'. Both singles flopped in US, but did considerably well in other parts of the world; the latter reached number 1 in a few countries. 'Tilt Ya Head Back', formerly rumored to be 'Tilt Cha Head Back', was well-received in the US at first, but quickly deteriorated mainly due to its lack of promotion. 'Tilt...' recently turned platinum in Australia, for selling over 70,000 singles, while 'Car Wash' was Gold for selling more than 35,000 copies of the single.

After much delay, Christina's first live recording DVD was released in November, excluding her performance of Make Over. In late December, she officially released a new perfume, Xpose, which has only been available in a few selected European countries.

Personal life

After a failed relationship with Latin dancer, Jorge, which she chronicles in her song 'Infatuation' from her sophomore album 'Stripped', she started dating music executive Jordan Bratman. After dating him for almost 2 years, their engagement was announced in February 2005. 1

Claire Danes Biography


Since 1994, audiences have watched as Claire Danes has matured from awkward teen to one of the most popular actresses of her generation. Whether portraying the angst-ridden Angela Chase on My So-Called Life or trailer park trash in Oliver Stone's U-Turn, Danes has consistently displayed an uncommon maturity and insight in her performances that belies her relative inexperience. Her ability has won over countless critics and fans and has allowed her the opportunity to work with luminaries ranging from Jeanne Moreau to Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola.

Claire Catherine Danes was born April 12, 1979 in New York City and began acting shortly thereafter. With the support of her artistically-inclined parents (a painter mother and photographer father), Danes enrolled in an acting class at the Lee Strasberg Studio when she was nine years old. After attending the Professional Performing Arts School for the sixth and seventh grade, she went to Los Angeles in the hopes of being cast in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (Danes had previously appeared in an episode of Law and Order and in Dreams of Love, an obscure film produced by Milos Forman). While she was waiting for Spielberg's decision, serendipity struck in the form of the makers of a new TV show called My So-Called Life, who wanted Danes to star in their production. Danes agreed to do the show after turning down the role that Spielberg had decided to give her. Always someone interested in learning, Danes rejected Spielberg's offer because she wouldn't be able to receive schooling in Poland, where the movie was to be filmed.

Premiering in 1994, My So-Called Life lasted only a couple of seasons, but garnered critical praise and a cult following during its brief lifetime. Moreover, it made Danes, if not a star, then a star in the making. Hollywood opened its bleary eyes and took notice, and soon Danes was being touted as the Next Big Thing. During the run of My So-Called Life, Danes starred as the saintly, sickly Beth in Gillian Armstrong's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic Little Women (1994). The film was a success, and allowed Danes to perform in the company of such well-respected actors as Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, and Gabriel Byrne (who would later play her father in Polish Wedding).

Danes followed up Little Women with How to Make an American Quilt (1995), which, despite a stellar cast including Anne Bancroft, Alfre Woodard, and the great Jean Simmons, failed to make much of a critical or popular impression. Danes' next project, Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays, met with a similar fate, but afforded Danes the chance to work with Foster, who became a sort of mentor to the young actress.

After making two more films, which continued Danes' pattern of starring in movies that behaved badly at the box office despite having bankable actors (Jeanne Moreau in the straight-to-video I Love You, I Love You Not (1996) and Michelle Pfeiffer in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)), Danes hit it big with Baz Luhrmann's wildly popular William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996). Her portrayal of Juliet broke the hearts and opened the tear ducts of many, while her pairing with Hot Young Thing Leonardo DiCaprio undoubtedly caused mass swooning incidents in theatres the world over.

The critical and commercial success of the film meant that Danes was soon in great demand, as evidenced by the people she was able to work with over the next couple of years. After Romeo + Juliet, Danes worked with Oliver Stone on the lunatics-in-a-small-desert-town picture U-Turn (1997), a film that caused consternation among critics and at the box office. Danes' turn as Joaquin Phoenix's trashy girlfriend represented a departure from her previous, more innocent roles, something that she embellished upon in both Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, where she played Andrew Shue's abused wife, and A Polish Wedding (1998), in which she portrayed the rebellious Hala. Neither movie was particularly successful, an unfortunate bit of luck that continued with Danes' next two efforts, Les Miserables (1998) and The Mod Squad (1998), the latter of which, despite the high anticipation surrounding its release, was panned by critics who complained it looked more like a Diesel ad than a movie, and largely ignored by the public.

Through it all, Danes has remained in the media spotlight, appearing on countless magazine covers and as the object of speculation for many. Aside from the bad publicity surrounding remarks she made about the Phillipines during the making of Brokedown Palace (1999), and her subsequent banning from that country, she has continued to attract positive attention for everything from her enrollment at Yale University in 1998 to her boyfriends, who include the Australian rocker Ben Lee.

Despite a series of misses during the late 90's, Danes came back with several small but critically acclaimed roles. In Igby Goes Down (2002), she played the confused love interest of the title character, starred alongside Sean Penn in director Thomas Vinterburg's It's All About Love (2002), and took part in the Academy-Award winning The Hours (2002). While her performance in The Rage at Placid Lake (a 2003 Australian production featuring her boyfriend Ben Lee) went largely unnoticed, mainstream audiences got their chance to see Danes butting heads on screen with Arnold Schwarzenegger and newcomer Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

In 2005, Danes joined Steve Martin in the adaptation of Martin's bestselling novella, Shopgirl. That same year, she could be seen as Sarah Jessica Parker's sister in the dysfunctional-family comedy The Family Stone. Dane's career continued to build momentum in 2007, when she appeared in an eclectic trio of projects: the romantic drama Evening, the adventure fantasy Stardust, and the taut thriller The Flock, which cast her as the law-enforcement protege of a veteran played by Richard Gere. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Christy Turlington Biography

Name :Christy Turlington

Birth date : 2 January 1969

Birth Place : Walnut Creek, California

Height : 5'10

Weight : 54 Kg

Bust-Waist-Hips : (in) 34-23-34

Nationality : American

Hair / Eyes Color : Brown/ Green

Profession : Model

Agencies : Los Angeles - United Talent Agency, London - Elite Premier

Best Known As : Calvin Klein model

Born on January 2nd, 1969, in Walnut Creek, California, Christy's initial interest was not in the fashion industry, but rather, she had an undeniable passion for horses and horseback riding. By the age of 13, her encouraging father entered young Christy in local competitions. She continuously trained in Coral Gables, the location where she grew up with her two sisters. It was around this time that a man named Dennie Cody discovered the immature beauty.

Cody took notice of Christy's beauty although she didn't realize what a potential celebrity she could become. As with most protective parents, Christy's mom and dad were somewhat hesitant to let Christy venture into the world of modeling, but after some urging, they finally gave their consent. She was hired instantly by a local agency and her first shoot was for a succession of advertisements for a store chain called Emporium Capwell. It wasn't long before more jobs came pouring in for the American Beauty.

Miami's fashion world familiarized itself with Christy's flawless face in no time and fashion agencies were demanding Christy's for their shoots. It wasn't long before word about Christy reached New York and Eileen Ford (modeling's top scout) offered Christy a job in Paris. Her first high status photo shoots in Europe were not successful and Christy returned to the US immediately. It was at about the same time that models like Stephanie Seymour Cindy Crawfordand Linda Evangelistabegan getting noticeable attention. It was evident that after years of the "blonde" look, brunettes had finally become the "in" thing in the fashion industry.

In 1985, when Christy was still only 16 years old, Eileen Ford, who refused to give up on Christy's potential for stardom, sent the budding babe to New York's most noted magazines and photographers. After appearing in Vogue magazine in the US, Christy returned to high school to complete her education before continuing her career as a model. It was in 1987 when her modeling career finally shot into high gear after she did a cover shot for Vogue Italy.

After she graced the cover of that magazine, the best photographers in the world began knocking on Christy's professional door. Designers such as Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Gianni Versace, and Azzedine Alaia were requesting the new fresh face for their fashion shows. By this time, Christy was considered a supermodel, and in 1989, she signed a contract with Calvin Klein and began representing his perfume Eternity. Soon after that, Maybelline asked Christy to represent their cosmetics line.

Christy is an advocate for helping poverty-stricken individuals as she donates all the proceeds from her calendar to the American Foundation for El Salvador, an organization that helps the poor in the small Central American country that was her mom's homeland. As well, Christy also participates in a number of other volunteer organizations including Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

Education-wise, Christy attended UCLA and the Gallatin School at New York University in which she received her degree in philosophy and literature, with a specialization in Eastern philosophy. In her personal life, Christy most notably dated actor Jason Patric, and is still seen in advertisements all over the world. It's evident that Christy is a classic beauty that won't soon fade out of the spotlight.

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