Sunday, February 14, 2010

Felicity Huffman Biography


* Birth Place: Bedford, NY
* Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 12/09/1962, Sagittarius
* Profession: Actor

The energetic Huffman began her career off-Broadway with the prestigious Atlantic Theater Company, cofounded by playwright David Mamet and actor William H. Macy. Both men ended up playing important roles in Huffman's life. Mamet cast her in her first film (1988's Things Change) and Macy became her husband and frequent collaborator. In the '90s the versatile actress worked consistently (if somewhat anonymously) in dramas and comedies on stage and screen, notably the cult sitcom Sports Night. But in 2004 she became a household name playing a high-strung mom on Desperate Housewives and won an Emmy for her efforts. The very next year, Huffman proved that she was also a formidable film talent with her turn as a pre-op transsexual in the indie hit Transamerica, which earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nod.Felicity Huffman Fast Facts:

* Was Madonna's understudy and eventual successor in the David Mamet-penned 1988 Broadway play Speed-the-Plow.
* After confessing to Oprah Winfrey that her dream was to be a back-up singer, the wish-granting talk-show host surprised Huffman with the chance to sing back-up for her idol, Tina Turner, in February 2005.
* Despite having a 101-degree fever, completed the 2005 Malibu Triathlon, raising funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
* Has talked openly about her struggles with eating disorders and her own negative self-image, but offered a more joyful and nostalgic tone in her acceptance speech at the 2005 Emmy Awards: "I would like to thank the incomparable William H. Macy for taking a chunky 22-year-old with a bad perm and glasses out into a cow pasture and kissing me and making me his wife."

* Felicity Huffman Relationships:
* Georgia Grace Macy - Daughter
* Grace Ewing Huffman - Mother
* Sophia Grace Macy - Daughter
* William H. Macy - Husband

Faith Hill Biography



Faith Hill (Audrey Faith Perry) was born on Sept. 21, 1967, in Jackson, Miss. Adopted at only a week old, she grew up in the small town of Star. She sang in church growing up and moved to Nashville at 19 to pursue a country music career. Hill's first Music City job was selling T-shirts at Fan Fair. She later landed an office job with singer-songwriter Gary Morris' Nashville company. Morris heard her singing along with the radio and asked her to perform on demo tapes. Hill's first professional gig was singing backup for songwriter-musician Gary Burr, who would later become her co-producer. She was discovered by a Warner Bros. executive while singing with Burr at Nashville's famed Bluebird Cafe.

Warner Bros. Nashville released Hill's debut album, Take Me as I Am, in 1993. She made country music history in January 1994 when her debut single "Wild One" held the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks on Billboard's country singles chart. Hill was the first female country singer to accomplish the feat with a debut single since Connie Smith's "Once a Day" in 1964. The album was eventually certified triple-platinum.

The title track from 1995's album It Matters to Me gave Hill her third chart-topping hit and the album went on to sell 4 million copies. Tim McGraw and Hill married shortly after teaming up for the Spontaneous Combustion tour in 1996. Her first duet with McGraw, "It's Your Love," lodged itself at No. 1 for six weeks and brought Hill's first CMA award, for 1997 vocal event. It remained No. 1 for six weeks.


Hill's 1998 album Faith produced the crossover hit "This Kiss," which went to No. 1 on Billboard's country singles chart and peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. The video for "This Kiss" earned a 1998 CMA award. On the strength of additional singles like "Let Me Let Go" and "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" (another McGraw duet), Faith sold more than 6 million copies.

Her 1999 album Breathe debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 and country albums charts and sold more than 8 million copies. The title track stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and reached the top of the adult contemporary and Top 40 charts as well. The steamy music video, in which she rolls around under a white bed sheet, gained Hill attention outside the world of country.

She earned three Grammy awards in 2000 -- for female country vocal performance, best country album and for country collaboration with vocals, for the McGraw duet, "Let's Make Love." The couple embarked on the co-headlining Soul 2 Soul tour in 2000. The outing raked in $49.6 million, making it the top country tour of the year. Hill was named female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards in 2000.

Cry, her 2002 album, sold 2 million copies, and she filmed an NBC-TV Thanksgiving special to promote it. The title track won a 2003 Grammy for best female country vocal performance. She landed a supporting role in The Stepford Wives film in 2004 (aside Nicole Kidman and Bette Midler).

Hill released the album Fireflies in 2005, which rejuvenated her career. The first single, "Mississippi Girl," quickly reached No. 1 and she and McGraw launched the Soul2Soul2 Tour in 2006, which sold more than a million tickets. They also scored another hit duet, "Like We Never Loved at All."

Hill has performed at several high-profile events, including Super Bowl XXXIV, the 1996 Summer Olympics, VH1 Divas Live 2000 and the 2000 Academy Awards, where she stepped in at the last minute for an ailing Whitney Houston. Her image has graced the covers of countless national magazines, including People, US Weekly, Glamour, TV Guide, Redbook, Country Music and Country Weekly. She also has landed lucrative endorsements with CoverGirl, Pepsi and ALLTEL.

The Faith Hill Family Literacy Project, designed to help combat illiteracy worldwide, launched in 1996. Hill's concern for family literacy is a result of her own family's firsthand experience with the issue. Her father, one of 14 children, never learned to read after being forced to quit school in order to help support his family. Hill's dream is that "someday every person will be able to read."

Blake Lively Biography


Blake Christina Lively (born August 25, 1987) is an American actress.Lively was born in Los Angeles to actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. She was raised as a Southern Baptist.[1] The youngest of five siblings,[2] Lively has a brother, Eric, two half-sisters, Lori and Robyn, and a half-brother, Jason. Both of her parents and all of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry.[3] During Lively's childhood, her parents would take her with them to acting classes that they taught because they didn't want to leave her with a babysitter.[3] Lively stated that watching her parents teach acting classes helped her learn the "drills" of acting and gain confidence as she got older.[2][3] Lively stated that as a child, her mother would bring her to Disneyland twice a week as an opportunity "to have some extra time to bond"; Lively stated that due to all the time she spent there, she felt that she "grew up at Disneyland."[2]

Lively's mother, who was a former model from Georgia, inspired Lively to have an interest in clothes when she was a child.[4] During Lively's childhood, her mother would sew clothes and dress her with garments from boutiques and vintage stores. She also tailored adult clothes to fit her. Lively has stated, "She just did that because she was so creative and because she didn't want me to be dressed in big T-shirts cinched with a plastic clip like all the rest of the kids."[4] Lively has stated that, due to her wardrobe, when she attended a private school in Los Angeles in second grade for the first and only time in her life she did not fit in. "It was the only school where people were just downright mean to me [...] They would make fun of my clothes because I dressed differently than the other kids."
Some girls grow up dreaming of a career in Hollywood. Others, like Blake Lively, have to be dragged into it by their brothers. Blake’s parents were both talent agents in L.A., so she had nothing but doors open. Still, she resisted Tinseltown’s siren call. So, brother Eric went behind her back and secretly signer her up with his agent. Unbeknownst to Blake, her career path had been laid out for her.
blake lively goes traveling
Imagine, a young Blake Lively trying to focus on her school (she was trying to get into Stanford) while being inundating with calls from her new “agent” with auditions and interviews. Not wanting to disappoint her brother, she said yes and joined the legions of hot, blond girls lining up for roles.

Blake got her first big role by bucking the traditional audition routine. It was for Sisterhood of Traveling Pants. Poor Blake was nervous beyond belief. Instead of reading her lines, she passed her headshot to the producers and awkwardly shuffled off. Luckily for her, the character she was auditioning for was equally awkward and she won the part.

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