soullesseyes

Kate Winslet Gallery Photo Is Cool

2011-08-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Keri Russell

2011-08-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Keri Russell

Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Russell has since appeared in several films, including Mad About Mambo (2000), We Were Soldiers (2002), The Upside of Anger (2005), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Waitress (2007), August Rush (2007), Bedtime Stories (2008) and Extraordinary Measures (2010).

Early life

Russell was born in Fountain Valley, California, the daughter of Stephanie (née Stephens), a homemaker, and David Russell, a Nissan Motors executive. She has an older brother, Todd, and a younger sister, Julie. Russell grew up in Coppell, Texas, Mesa, Arizona, and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, moving frequently because of her father's employment. Though she is best known for her acting, she started out at Starstruck dance studio in a suburb of Denver and it was her dancing, not her acting, that earned her a spot on the Mickey Mouse Club.[citation needed]

Career

[edit]1991–2002
Russell first appeared on television as a cast member of the All-New Mickey Mouse Club variety show on the Disney Channel.[2] She was on the show from 1991 to 1993 and co-starred with future pop stars Chasen Hampton, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling.[3]
In 1992, she appeared in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid alongside Rick Moranis and in 1993, had a role on the sitcom Boy Meets World as Mr. Feeny's niece. Keri had an appearance on Married with Children in a 1995 episode ("Radio Free Trumaine", production 9.24). Russell subsequently starred in several film and television roles, including the 1996 made-for-television film The Babysitter's Seduction.[citation needed] She also had a role on the short-lived soap opera series Malibu Shores the same year. In 1994, she appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always" with Jack Noseworthy.[citation needed] In 1997, she appeared in two episodes of Roar alongside Heath Ledger.[citation needed]
From 1998 to 2002, Russell starred as the title character on the successful WB Network series Felicity; she won a Golden Globe for the role in 1999. Russell's long and curly hair was one of her character's defining characteristics, and a drastic hairstyle change at the beginning of the show's second season was considered to be the cause of a significant drop in the show's television ratings.[4] During the show's run, Russell appeared in the films Eight Days a Week, The Curve, and Mad About Mambo, all of which received only limited releases in North America. Her next role was in the film We Were Soldiers, playing the wife of an American serviceman. The film was released in March 2002, two months before the end of Felicity's run.
[edit]2003–present

Russell at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
When Felicity ended, Russell took a break from acting. She moved to New York City and took two years off to avoid the business of Hollywood, spending time with friends.[citation needed] Russell subsequently made her off-Broadway stage debut in 2004, appearing opposite Jeremy Piven, Andrew McCarthy, and Ashlie Atkinson in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig.[5] In 2005, she returned to television and film, beginning with an appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Magic of Ordinary Days, theatrical film The Upside of Anger (alongside Kevin Costner, Joan Allen and Evan Rachel Wood), and the television miniseries Into the West.
Although a number of her Felicity co-stars went on to appear in producer J. J. Abrams' series, Alias, Russell declined invitations to be part of the show.[citation needed] In a seminar at the Museum of Television and Radio, Abrams said, "I've asked Keri if she would ever do it, and I usually get this, sort of like, giggle — and then she hangs up". In 2005, Abrams asked Russell to join the cast of Mission: Impossible III, a film he directed, and she accepted. The film was released on May 5, 2006. In the summer of 2006, Russell was chosen to be a celebrity spokeswoman for CoverGirl Cosmetics.[citation needed] Before she was in Mission Impossible: III, she was screen tested for the role of Lois Lane in Superman Returns but lost the role to Kate Bosworth.[citation needed]
She taped two episodes as a guest character on the NBC show Scrubs in 2007. She played Melody, a sorority sister and good friend of Elliot Reid played by Sarah Chalke. The first episode aired on April 26, and the second on May 3.[citation needed] She starred in Waitress, a well-reviewed independent film in which she played Jenna, a pregnant waitress in the American South; it was the fourth film in a row in which Russell had played a pregnant woman.[6] The film opened on May 4, 2007 and Russell's performance was positively received by critics,[7] with Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun writing that Russell's performance had "aesthetic character" and "welds tenderness and fierceness with quiet heat".[8] In the summer of 2007, Russell appeared in The Keri Kronicles, a reality show/sitcom sponsored by CoverGirl and airing on MySpace; the show was filmed at Russell's home in Manhattan and spotlighted her life.[7]
Russell next appeared in August Rush, a drama released in November, 2007. She also appeared on the cover of the New York Post's Page Six magazine on November 11, 2007.[citation needed] She has completed roles in Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (titled Rohtenburg for its German release), in which she plays Katie Armstrong, a graduate student who writes a thesis paper on an infamous cannibal murder case, and the thriller The Girl in the Park, opposite Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth and Alessandro Nivola.
Russell later appeared in Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler playing the lead.[9] In an appearance on The View on December 15, 2008, Russell said she got the part because Sandler's wife Jackie had seen Russell in Waitress and suggested her for the movie.
Russell portrayed Wonder Woman in a direct-to-video animated feature released March 3, 2009.[10] She starred alongside Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford in the Tom Vaughan-helmed Extraordinary Measures[11][12] for CBS Films. The drama, which started filming on April 6, 2009 and was released on January 22, 2010, was the first film to go into production for the new company.[citation needed] Russell played Aileen Crowley, a mother who tries to build a normal home life for her sick children while her husband, John (Fraser), and an unconventional scientist (Ford) race against time to find a cure.[13]
Russell played Emmy Kadubic in the premiere season of Running Wilde, a Fox comedy series cancelled in May 2011.[14]
[edit]Personal life

Russell and Shane Deary, a carpenter she met through mutual friends,[6] became engaged in 2006 and were married on February 14, 2007 in New York.[15] Russell gave birth to a boy, River Russell Deary, on June 9, 2007 in New York.[16] Russell had a midwife-assisted hospital birth;[17] she has described her pregnancy experience as "real great and easy".[18] On July 7, 2011, Russell announced her second pregnancy.[19]
As of 2007, Russell resides in Brooklyn, New York.[20][21]
[edit]Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1991–1993 The Mickey Mouse Club Various Television series
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Mandy Park
1993 Boy Meets World Jessica Feeny TV, 1 episode: "Grandma Was a Rolling Stone"
1993 Emerald Cove Andrea McKinsey Television series
1994 Daddy's Girls Phoebe TV, 3 episodes: "Pilot", "American in Paris... Cool" and "Keep Your Business Out of My Business"
1995 Married with Children April Adams TV, 1 episode: "Radio Free Trumaine"
1995 Clerks. Sandra Television film
1996 The Babysitters Seduction Michelle Winston Television film
1996 The Lottery Felice Dunbar Television film
1996 Malibu Shores Chloe Walker TV, 10 episodes
1997 Eight Days a Week Erica
1997 When Innocence Is Lost Erica French Television film
1997 7th Heaven Camille TV, 1 episode: "Choices"
1997 Roar Claire TV, 2 episodes: "Pilot" and "Banshee"
1998 The Curve Emma
1998–2002 Felicity Felicity Porter TV, 84 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama
Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress (1999, 2000, 2001)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress – Drama
1999 Cinderelmo Princess Television film
2000 Mad About Mambo Lucy McLoughlin
2002 We Were Soldiers Barbara Geoghegan
2005 The Upside of Anger Emily Wolfmeyer
2005 The Magic of Ordinary Days Olivia 'Livy' Dunn Television film
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2005 Into the West Naomi Wheeler TV, 1 episode: "Manifest Destiny"
2006 Mission: Impossible III Lindsey Farris Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama/Action Adventure
2007 Grimm Love Katie Armstrong
2007 Waitress Jenna Hunterson
2007 Scrubs Melody O'Hara TV, 2 episodes: "My Turf War" and "My Cold Shower"
2007 The Girl in the Park Celeste
2007 August Rush Lyla Novacek Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
2008 Bedtime Stories Jill
2009 Wonder Woman Wonder Woman/Diana Prince Voice
2009 Leaves of Grass Janet
2010 Extraordinary Measures Aileen Crowley
2010 Running Wilde Emmy Kadubic TV, 12 episodes
2011 Goats Judy Filming
References from Wikipedia.com

Cristiano Ronaldo Wallpaper

2011-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Salma Hayek

2011-08-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

Salma Hayek

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez-Pinault (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsalma ˈxaʝek]; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican actress, director and producer. She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Frida Kahlo in the movie Frida.

Salma Hayek on Letterman - Breasts

Salma Hayek on Ugly Betty

Early life

Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, the daughter of Diana Jiménez Medina, an opera singer and talent scout, and Sami Hayek Dominguez, an oil company executive who once ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos.[1][2][3][4] Hayek's father is of Lebanese descent, while her mother is of Spanish descent.[5][6] Her first given name, Salma, is Arabic for "safe".[7] Raised in a wealthy, devoutly Roman Catholic[8] family, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the age of twelve.[4] While there, she was diagnosed with dyslexia.[9][10] She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana.[4]

[edit]Career

[edit]Mexico

At the age of 23, Hayek landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico. In 1994, Hayek starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema.[citation needed] For her performance, Hayek was nominated for an Ariel Award.[11]

[edit]Early Hollywood acting work

Hayek moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study acting under Stella Adler.[12] She had limited fluency in English, which was attributed to her suffering from dyslexia.[13] Robert Rodriguez and his producer and then wife Elizabeth Avellan soon gave Hayek a starring role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's Desperado.[4]

Hayek had a starring part opposite Matthew Perry in the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In. She followed her role in Desperado with a brief role as a vampire queen in From Dusk Till Dawn, in which she performed a table-top snake dance. In 1999, she co-starred in Will Smith's big-budget Wild Wild West, and played a supporting role in Kevin Smith's Dogma.[4] In 2000, Hayek had an uncredited acting part opposite Benicio del Toro in Traffic. In 2003, she reprised her role from Desperado by appearing in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the final film of the Mariachi Trilogy.

[edit]Director, producer and actress

Around 2000, Hayek founded film production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and television projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba, Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.[14]

Frida, co-produced by Hayek, was released in 2002. Starring Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and Alfred Molina as her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, the film was directed by Julie Taymor and featured an entourage of stars in supporting and minor roles (Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, Geoffrey Rush) and cameos (Antonio Banderas). She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.[4]

In the Time of the Butterflies is a 2001 feature film based on the Julia Álvarez book of the same name, covering the lives of the Mirabal sisters. In the movie, Salma Hayek plays one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos plays the Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo whom the sisters opposed. Marc Anthony plays a brief role as Minerva's first love, and as the motivation for her later revolutionary activities.

In 2003, Hayek produced and directed The Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime movie based on the book of the same name, winning her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special.[15] In December 2005, she directed a music video for Prince, titled "Te Amo Corazon" ("I love you, sweetheart") that featured Mia Maestro.[16]

Hayek at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Hayek was an executive producer of Ugly Betty, a television series that aired around the world from 2006 to 2010. Hayek adapted the series for American television with Ben Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001. Originally intended as a half hour sitcom for NBC in 2004, the project would later be picked up by ABC for the 2006–2007 season with Silvio Horta also producing. Hayek guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Sofia Reyes, a magazine editor. She also had a cameo playing an actress in the telenovela within the show. The show won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007. Hayek's performance as Sofia resulted in a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.[17]

In April 2007, Hayek finalized negotiations with MGM to become the CEO of her own Latin themed film production company, Ventanarosa.[18] The following month, she signed a two year deal with ABC for Ventanarosa to develop projects for the network.[19]

Hayek is developing and producing La Banda, a Spanish-language romantic comedy set in Mexico, written by Issa Lopez.[citation needed]

Hayek had a guest stint on 30 Rock as Elisa, the nurse for Jack Donaghy's mother, for whom Jack falls.[citation needed]

Hayek stars as the wife of Adam Sandler in Grown Ups, which also co-stars Chris Rock and Kevin James.[20] Salma is set to co-star with Antonio Banderas in the Shrek spin-off film Puss in Boots as the voice of the character Kitty Softpaws, who serves as Puss' female counterpart and love interest.[21]

[edit]Singing credits

Hayek has been credited as a song performer in three movies. The first was Desperado for the song Quedate Aquí. In Frida she performed the Mexican folk song La Bruja with the band Los Vega. She also recorded Siente mi amor, which played during the end credits of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. She contributed to Happiness is a Warm Gun in Across the Universe as the singing nurses.[citation needed]

[edit]Promotional work

Hayek featured on the cover of Veronica magazine, as seen here on an SUV in Amsterdam

Hayek has been a spokesperson for Avon cosmetics since February 2004.[22] She formerly acted as spokesperson for Revlon in 1998.[citation needed] In 2001, she modeled for Chopard[23] and was featured in 2006 Campari adverts, photographed by Mario Testino.[24] On April 3, 2009, she helped introduce La Doña, a watch by Cartier inspired by fellow Mexican actress María Félix.[25]

Hayek was also featured in a series of Spanish language commercials for Lincoln cars.

[edit]In art

In spring 2006, the Blue Star Contemporary Art Center in San Antonio, Texas displayed 16 portrait paintings by muralist George Yepes and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez of Hayek as Aztec goddess Itzapapalotl.[dead link][26]

[edit]Personal life

Hayek is a naturalized United States citizen.[27] She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003, and then Josh Lucas in 2003. Hayek studied at Ramtha's School of Enlightenment,[28] and is a practitioner of yoga.[29] Her brother, Sami Hayek,[30] is a designer with his own line of products at Target[31] and clients that include Louis Vuitton, Brad Pitt, and the Mexican Government.[32]

On March 9, 2007, Hayek confirmed her engagement to French billionaire and PPR CEO François-Henri Pinault as well as her pregnancy. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. On July 18, 2008, Hayek and Pinault announced the end of their engagement.[33] They later reconciled and were married on Valentine's Day, 2009 in Paris.[34] On April 25, 2009, they were married a second time in Venice.[35]

[edit]Charity work

Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.[36][dead link] On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.[37] In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.[38] Hayek is a board member of V-Day, the charity founded by playwright Eve Ensler.[citation needed]

Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of the program.[39]

Hayek also advocates breastfeeding. During a UNICEF fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk.[40]

In 2010, Hayek's humanitarian work earned her a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Awards.[41]

Hayek is a member of the board of Global Green USA, with whom she works to fight global warming and to help provide clean drinking water to nearly 2.5 billion people who are without it. Her Los Angeles home is outfitted with solar panels, and she drives a fuel-efficient hybrid to help reduce CO2 emissions.[42][clarification needed]

[edit]Honors

Recipient of Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award in October 2001.[43]

Recipient of Producers Guild of America Celebration of Diversity Award in 2003.[44]

Recipient of Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year Award in February 2006.[45]

Recipient of Time magazine 25 Most Influential Hispanics in 2005.[46]

In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community.[47] That same month, a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe her".[48] In 2008, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television[49] In December of that year, Entertainment Weekly ranked Hayek number 17 in their list of the "25 Smartest People in TV."[50]

[edit]Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes

1993 Mi Vida Loca Gata

1994 Roadracers Donna

1995 El Callejón de los Milagros Alma (Midaq Alley) Spanish-language

Nominated—Ariel Award for Best Actress[11]

1995 Desperado Carolina Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress

Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Antonio Banderas)

1995 Fair Game Rita

1995 Four Rooms TV Dancing Girl

1996 From Dusk Till Dawn Santanico Pandemonium

1996 Follow Me Home Betty

1996 Fled Cora

1997 Fools Rush In Isabel Fuentes Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film

1997 Breaking Up Monica

1997 Sistole Diastole Carmelita

1997 The Hunchback Esméralda

1998 54 Anita Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film

1998 The Velocity of Gary Mary Carmen Producer

1998 The Faculty Nurse Harper

1999 Dogma Serendipity

1999 El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba Julia (No One Writes to the Colonel)

Producer; Spanish-language

1999 Wild Wild West Rita Escobar Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Action

Nominated—Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film

2000 Timecode Rose

2000 La Gran Vida Lola (Living it Up) Spanish-language

2000 Chain of Fools Sgt. Meredith Kolko Direct-to-video release

2000 Traffic Rosario uncredited

2001 Hotel Charlee Boux

2001 In the Time of the Butterflies Minerva Mirabel

2002 Frida Frida Kahlo Producer

Golden Camera for Best International Actress

Imagen Award for Best Actress - Film

Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress

Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominated—Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress

Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama

Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Francesca Giggles

2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico Carolina

2003 V-Day: Until the Violence Stops herself

2004 After the Sunset Lola Cirillo

2006 Ask the Dust Camilla Lopez

2006 Bandidas Sara Sandoval

2007 Lonely Hearts Martha Beck

2007 Across the Universe Bang Bang Shoot Shoot Nurses

2009 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Madame Truska

2010 Grown Ups Roxanne Chase-Feder

2011 Puss in Boots Kitty Softpaws (Voice)

Television

Year Title Role Notes

1988 Un Nuevo Amanecer Spanish-language telenovela

1989 Teresa Teresa Spanish-language telenovela

1993 The Sinbad Show Gloria Contreras recurring character

1994 Roadracers Donna

1994 El Vuelo del Águila Juana Cata Spanish-language telenovela

1997 The Hunchback Esmeralda Nominated—ALMA Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series in a Crossover Role

1999 Action Herself guest star

2001 In the Time of the Butterflies Minerva Mirabal Producer; feature

Nominated—ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor/Actress in a Made for Television Movie or Miniseries

Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association for Best Actress in a Picture Made for Television

2003 The Maldonado Miracle Feature; producer, director. Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special

2003 Saturday Night Live Guest Host March 15

2006–

2007 Ugly Betty Sofia Reyes Producer and guest star

Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series — 2007

Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series — 2007

Nominated—Producers Guild of America Television Producer of the Year Award

2009 30 Rock Elisa guest star

[edit]Event appearances

Was a member of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival jury.[51]

Co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert with Julianne Moore in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2005.[52]

References from Wikipedia.com

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2011-08-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

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Alesha Dixon

2011-08-07T22:52:00.000-07:00

Alesha Dixon

Alesha Anjanette Dixon (born 7 October 1978) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records. Dixon began recording her debut solo album, Fired Up in 2006, but due to poor record sales of her first two singles, "Lipstick" and "Knockdown", she was dropped from Polydor.
In 2007 Dixon became a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and eventually won. Her television exposure led to a successful comeback, which included her signing to Asylum Records, an offshoot of Warner Music Group. Dixon then released a second album, entitled The Alesha Show in 2008, which received platinum certification from BPI in the UK.
In September 2009 Dixon became a judge on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, replacing fellow judge Arlene Phillips. The replacement of Phillips by Dixon attracted criticism, as some questioned the extent of Dixon's dancing knowledge.[5] Dixon herself dismissed the criticism, describing it as a "storm in a teacup", and refused to stand down as judge.[6] In 2010 Dixon returned for the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing and released her third studio album, The Entertainer.

ALESHA DIXON - HD - The Boy Does Nothing

Alesha Dixon - 'Every Little Part Of Me' (Ft. Jay Sean) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Alesha - Radio [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - OUT NOW

Alesha Dixon - To Love Again - Official video *SINGLE OUT NOW*

Alesha - Drummer Boy: OUT NOW (Download on iTunes)

Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow [OFFICIAL VIDEO - ALTERNATIVE HD QUALITY VERSION

Early life

Alesha Anjanette Dixon was born in Welwyn Garden City on 7 October 1978, to an English mother, Beverly Harris, and Jamaican father, Melvin Dixon; she is mixed race. Dixon has five half-brothers called Adrian, Mark, John, Jeroame, Callum and one half-sister called Leyanne. She was educated at Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Dixon's mother and father split up when Dixon was four years old and Dixon's father moved away, resulting in Dixon later describing her family life as "very dysfunctional".[7] Between the ages of eight and ten, Dixon witnessed her mother suffer domestic abuse from her partner;[8] she only spoke publicly about the issue 21 years later, in 2010.[8] Dixon created a documentary for the BBC, Don't Hit My Mum, regarding the issue of domestic abuse from a child's perspective, and remarked upon her own childhood: "When I think about that time, I don't remember living in harmony, I don't remember any fun times, I suppose because the negativity has clouded it. The negative times and the scary times have blocked anything that was good [...] I believe that every child has the right to grow up in an environment where they feel secure and fearless going into the world, and I didn't really feel that".[8]
Her first job was at Ladbrokes,[9] although she aspired to become a PE teacher after leaving college. After completing a diploma course in sports studies,[9] she had planned to take up a place at Loughborough University,[10] but whilst at dance classes in London she was approached by a talent scout from a production company.[11] Whilst travelling back home on the train she was approached by another scout who was forming a band and asked if she was interested.[11] Dixon's musical hopes had previously been met with scepticism from Melvin Dixon, as he encouraged Alesha to follow a more academic career path.[12] Dixon explained that "his view was there weren't many black British musicians who were overly successful. I said, 'Dad, I can't base my decision on what people haven't done'".[12] Ignoring her father's advice, Dixon decided to pursue a career in music.
[edit]History

[edit]1999-05: Mis-Teeq
Dixon's career began in 1999 when she met Sabrina Washington when they both joined a dance school in Fulham, south west London.[13] Together they decided to form a band when Dixon and Washington, the two co-founders, spotted Su-Elise Nash, a girl auditioning for another band.[13] Dixon and Washington proposed that Nash join the group and together they formed a trio. They were soon signed to Telstar Records with the addition of a new member, Zena McNally, and became the popular UK garage/R&B girl band, Mis-Teeq.
After months of recording throughout 1999 and early 2000, Mis-Teeq released their debut single "Why?" in April 2000, however, it was not long before McNally left the band.[14] The band made a decision to remain a trio. In 2001, they released their debut album Lickin' On Both Sides, featuring hits "All I Want", "One Night Stand", "B with Me" and double A-side single "Roll On/This Is How We Do It". In 2002 Mis-Teeq performed and received a nomination at the BRIT Awards in Earls Court,[15] later in the year band won the MOBO Award for Best Garage Act.[16] After the success of their debut album, 2003 saw Mis-Teeq becoming the faces of JD Sports stores nationwide.[17][18]
In 2003, Mis-teeq released their second album Eye Candy, which included the singles "Scandalous", "Can't Get It Back" and "Style". In 2004, Mis-Teeq toured the United States and released their debut single Scandalous from their American self-titled debut, a compilation of the albums Lickin' On Both Sides and Eye Candy. They also released "One Night Stand" before coming back to Europe to start work with their third album however, Telstar Records went into administration.[19] The band was left with no choice but to release a Greatest Hits compilation under exclusive licences with Universal Records.
The last song Dixon recorded with Mis-Teeq was "Shoo Shoo Baby" for the Disney film Valiant. In March 2005, their Greatest Hits compilation was released and it was announced that they were separating to pursue solo careers.[20]
[edit]2006-08: Fired Up and record label departure
I never lost the desire to [want to] carry on in music – that's all I know, all I've ever dreamed of doing, it’s all I've ever wanted to do so, I think, never give up.
Alesha Dixon, discussing her thoughts on being dropped by her record label, Polydor.[21]
Dixon launched her solo career after Mis-Teeq's breakup and signed a £500,000, three-album deal with Polydor Records. She spent a year writing and recording her solo debut album, Fired Up, working with a wide range of producers including Richard X, Xenomania, Johnny Douglas, Brian Higgins, Estelle and Paul Epworth. During this period Dixon performed mononymously, known simply as "Alesha".
In June 2005, she announced her first solo single to be "Superficial". However, at the last minute, the song "Lipstick" was chosen as the first single.[22] "Lipstick" was released on 14 August 2006, and charted at 14 on the UK Single Charts. She released her second single "Knockdown" on 30 October 2006, which charted at 25 on the UK Download Chart. However on the official UK Singles Charts, the single peaked at number 45, falling down to 68 the following week.
On 6 November 2006, it was revealed that Dixon had been dropped by her label, Polydor Records.[21] Polydor gave her full rights to her unreleased debut album, Fired Up. Her first single from the album, "Lipstick", got to number 1 in Japan's international ringtone chart and number 2 in MTV Japan's hit list. Fired Up was officially released in Japan on 20 February 2008.[23]
[edit]2008-09: The Alesha Show

Dixon performing at the Christmas lights switch on in Leeds 6 November 2008.
After her victory on Strictly Come Dancing Dixon soon became at the centre of a bidding war between record labels, and even Polydor Records, the label that had dropped her months previously, put in an offer.[24] Dixon, however, chose to sign a four-album contract with Asylum Records in 2008.[25] Dixon's first new album as part of her contract, The Alesha Show was released in the UK on 24 November 2008 and 21 November in Ireland. The official first single from the album, "The Boy Does Nothing" became her first solo top ten hit[26] on the UK Singles Chart, following a 76 spot jump from 84 to 8[26] on the UK Singles Chart chart on downloads alone. The single eventually peaked at number 5. The song also fared well in continental Europe and is rising on the Australian Singles Chart. The second single from The Alesha Show was "Breathe Slow" and entered the UK Singles Chart at number thirty-nine solely on download sales.[27] The single rose for three weeks before breaking into the top ten at number six,[27] giving Dixon her second top ten hit in the UK from downloads alone, and eventually peaked at number 3 on the Top 40 UK Charts, giving Dixon her second consecutive top 5 single. She also put a song up on her website for free download on 19 October 2008 named "Colours of the Rainbow".
The third single from The Alesha Show, titled "Let's Get Excited" was physically released on 11 May and reached a peak position of 13 in the UK Singles Chart. "Let's Get Excited" became Dixon's first track from The Alesha Show not to chart inside the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. The song's presence in the charts boosted album sales and The Alesha Show rebounded at a new peak of 11. On 9 June it was announced on Dixon's official website that the album had received platinum certification from BPI, indicating sales of 300,000+ in the UK alone.[28]
The fourth single from The Alesha Show, called "To Love Again" was released on 15 November 2009.[29] The track, a ballad penned by Dixon and Gary Barlow, was the first single taken from the deluxe version, entitled The Alesha Show - Encore, released on 23 November.[30] Dixon also embarked upon a 17-date national tour, named The Alesha Show, which began on 20 October 2009 in Nottingham.
[edit]2010-11: The Entertainer and departure from Atlantic/Asylum Records
In early 2010, Dixon began work on her third studio album, The Entertainer, which she intended to release during the summer. In May 2010 the Daily Star claimed that Dixon has been working with producer Jim Beanz and that Beanz stated "We're going to build some up-tempo dance songs to take the UK and the US by storm".[31] She hopes to release the album in the US. Dixon's fansite also stated that Dixon had confirmed that she would once again be creating music with Xenomania, the producers who created "The Boy Does Nothing".[32] On 15 March Dixon flew to Denmark to begin recording with Soulshock & Karlin, the producers of Dixon's "Breathe Slow".[33] Dixon's fan site later reported that Dixon had secured a recording session with Rodney Jerkins, a record producer who has produced records for Michael Jackson's final studio album Invincible and most recently produced Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's "Telephone".[34]
Dixon herself later confirmed via a diary update not on her official site but her fansite that she had recorded 2 tracks with Soulshock & Karlin and also revealed she had just finished recording a new track named "Bionic".[35] Dixon described "Bionic" as "a powerful, fun, quirky song all about being strong when life tests you".[35] On 16 June Dixon revealed on a post on her fansite that the upcoming album is to be called Unleashed,[36] and on 30 June her fansite president revealed the lead single is a track called "Drummer Boy", produced by Haitian-American producer , Shama Joseph p/k/a "Sham" or "ShamRock".[37] Dixon has also announced that she has worked with Busbee, who wrote Alexandra Burke's "Bad Boys", on new tracks for her album, and has also announced that she and Gary Barlow have "become good friends" and he is to write for her new album.[38] On 5 August it was revealed that Dixon had decided to change the album name from Unleashed to The Entertainer.[39] On 16 September it was announced that Dixon has collaborated with Roll Deep, and features the band's forthcoming single "Take Control".[40] The second single from the album is "Radio". The third single was confirmed to be "Every Little Part of Me", which features guest vocals from Jay Sean. Other album cuts include "La La La" and "Cool with Me," which were written in part or full by another "Bad Boys" writer, Alex James.
Upon the release of The Entertainer, the album charted poorly only peaking at number eighty-four on the UK Albums Chart. The second single released with the album also charted lowly, only peaking at number forty-six on the UK Singles Chart. Subsequently, Alesha and her record label Atlantic/Asylum parted ways due to "artistic differences".
[edit]Other projects

Dixon performing in 2009.
In January 2008, less than a month after her profile was raised due to her victory on Strictly Come Dancing, Dixon signed a deal with Ford to endorse the new Ford Focus, an ad campaign featuring her was made, and a track called '4 U I Will' was recorded using real car parts. Dixon said, "When Ford first showed me the original TV ad and the incredible instruments I immediately wanted to get involved." Some of the instruments being used were the 'door harp', the 'clutch guitar' and the 'hatchback kick drum', in total 21 parts were taken from the car and transformed into unique looking instruments.[41] In February 2008 Dixon fronted a campaign for the Department of Health, promoting safe sex.[42] The sum of money she received was never disclosed despite calls to have the sum made public.[43][44] Later in 2008 Alesha became the face of a new Veet campaign.[45]
In May 2009, Dixon collaborated with clothing label Dune, selling limited edition necklaces, with all the profits being donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust. John Eagen, Dune’s CEO stated that "they are delighted to have Alesha support this cause". The necklace, which consists of three layers of gold, pewter and silver balls, was launched by Dixon to help raise awareness for the charity.[46]
In June 2009, Dixon fronted a new campaign for Toblerone chocolate, offering fans a free download of an exclusive new track called "Before the Sun Goes Down".[47] Fans were also able to enter a competition to win a pair of VIP tickets to see Dixon in concert and meet her. Jane Furze, Toblerone Marketing Manager said in a statement, "We're delighted to have Alesha on board - she's a great personality and the perfect fit with the brand".[48]
In November 2009, it was announced that Dixon had signed a signed a four-year profit sharing deal with LA Fitness, to become brand ambassador for the gym chain as part of their multi-million pound re-launch scheme.[49][50] Dixon's contract was described as "unique" by LA Fitness,[51] as Dixon is not only endorsing the gym chain, but taking on an advisory role. The pay Dixon receives is in direct correlation to the gym's success over the term of the deal,[52] meaning Dixon could earn up to £3 million in bonuses,[50][53] considerably higher than the flat-fee that endorsers usually receive.[50]
When asked by The Observer in 2010 whether celebrities have a responsibility to do good works, Dixon replied: "Absolutely. There are so many things you could reel off as negatives – your private life is exposed, every move is scrutinised – at the same time, you can think: 'Wow, I'm in a position to shine a light into these areas.' That's a powerful tool because, actually, it's quite a selfish job. It's a moral responsibility, I guess, I think I have."[54]
In 2009 Alesha climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania for Comic Relief. Joining her on the climb were Girls Aloud members Cheryl Cole and Kimberley Walsh, Ben Shephard, Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Fearne Cotton, Denise Van Outen, and Chris Moyles.[55] Together they raised over £3,500,000 towards helping combat malaria in Tanzania.[56] The whole team met Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street.[57] Dixon had previously been to Downing Street just months before the climb to meet with Sarah Brown in honour of the Cosmopolitan ultimate women of the year awards.[58] While discussing the malaria issue in Tanzania, Dixon said,
"I think people in England take things for granted, we complain about our NHS system and yes it’s not perfect but believe me it’s far better than what they've got there."[59]
Dixon backed Nickelodeon's 'See Something, Say Something' campaign which is the UK’s anti-bullying initiative.[60] The campaign aims to encourage children to speak out against bullies and help children gain the confidence to tell someone if they, or someone they know is being bullied. As the face of the campaign Alesha said: "Nickelodeon's See Something, Say Something campaign is extremely close to my heart, so I felt compelled to show my support. I was bullied as a child and know how important it is to tell someone about it".[61]
Dixon is also a patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT),[62][63] which is a voluntary charity, whose main aim is to increase the number of Black and Mixed Parentage people on the UK Bone Marrow Register. The members of the ACLT freely volunteer their time in attempting to raise awareness in the Black community; enabling potential donors to come forward and be involved in the process of offering hope and a healthy future to someone whose disorder may otherwise prove fatal.
In June 2009 Dixon was asked to become an official ambassador for the charity, 'Help a London Child'. In a statement Dixon said "I am very honoured that Help a London Child have asked me to be an ambassador and I have accepted. I have supported the charity for some time now and it makes sense to make my involvement more official. I am looking forward to continuing my support and I have already volunteered to run the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon to help raise funds for the charity!" Help a London Child Manager Kate Crabtree said, "This is fantastic news for Help a London Child and we are absolutely delighted. Alesha’s thoughtfulness and compassion make her the perfect ambassador and we look forward to her continued invaluable support."[64]
Speaking in August 2010 to noted UK urban writer Pete Lewis - Assistant Editor of Blues & Soul - about her all-round positive attitude towards her philanthropic work, Dixon said: "Being in the entertainment industry I do feel I have a responsibility that comes with my fame. And, while some celebrities may spend their time moaning about the negative things that come along with being famous, my thing is, if you are in the limelight then why not try to find positive things that come with it? And for me the most positive thing is shedding light on subjects that matter but don't normally get a look-in!"[65]
In May 2011, it has been rumoured that Dixon may possibly replace Cheryl Cole on the upcoming season of the British X Factor. However she turned down the role due to her commitment to Strictly Come Dancing.
In July 2011, Alesha Dixon was announced as associate producer for short film 'Victims' about domestic violence and its consequences, which has been nominated for the Film London Best of Borough Film Awards and is now online.[66]
[edit]Modelling and television career

As a model, Dixon is represented by Select Model Management and has appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, FHM, Arena, Company, Bliss and other magazines and in various other editorial fashion shoots. In 2008 a poll showed that Dixon had "Britain's sexiest legs" beating Alexandra Burke, Naomi Campbell, Tiana Benjamin, Lily Cole and others.[67] Dixon was cast as the lead female in the music video for "She Wants to Move" by N.E.R.D. Dixon has been featured in FHM's annual 100 sexiest women in the world poll on a number of occasions. She is managed by Malcolm Blair.[44]
Dixon has also presented many well-known shows in the UK, such as the MOBO Awards, CD:UK, ITV2's coverage of The Brit Awards and presented the Live From the Red Carpet show at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards for E!.[68] She has also been a guest on BBC One's current affairs programme This Week on two occasions, in November 2006 and December 2007. In 2009 it was reported that Dixon was in talks with television companies about a possible chatshow.[69] In 2009 she co-presented Children in Need alongside Terry Wogan and Tess Daly, she also presented 2008's coverage from BT Tower.
In March 2010, she presented the Mister World 2010 pageant, which took place in Incheon, Korea.
Dixon took part in series 5 of hit TV show Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, partnered with professional dancer Matthew Cutler. Dixon was at first hesitant to join, fearing that snobbery within the music industry would damage her career. In a later interview she said, "There’s always this preconceived idea that people do reality TV shows because they want to kick-start their careers whereas I was actually worried that it would affect it."[70] They had been the favourite from the third week, receiving the most points from the judges on numerous occasions. Dixon herself gained high appraisal from the judges, even being likened to a "young Josephine Baker" by Bruno Tonioli.[11] They received 4.5 million votes in the final, beating actor Matt Di Angelo and professional dancer Flavia Cacace to win the glitter disco ball.[71]
Dixon was dubbed the "British Beyoncé" by Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth,[72] Alesha later said "There's only one Beyoncé. When Bruce said that, I got embarrassed. It’s very sweet... but it’s not true."[73] Mis-Teeq were often cited as the British equivalent to Destiny's Child; the trio that first gave Beyoncé media attention.[74]
Dixon is currently the most successful contestant to ever take part in Strictly Come Dancing, with an average point score of 36.5/40, the highest average score from any contestant to ever take part in the show.
Week # Dance/Song Total Result
2 Rumba/Hurt 31(8,7,8,8) Safe
3 Jive/Shake a Tail Feather 36(9,9,9,9) Safe
4 American Smooth/Top Hat, White Tie and Tails 33(8,8,8,9) Safe
5 Foxtrot/Heaven 36(9,9,9,9) Safe
6 Salsa/Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 35(9,8,9,9) Safe
7 Waltz/A Time For Us 38(9,10,9,10) Safe
8 Cha Cha Cha/Crazy in Love 39(9,10,10,10) Safe
9 Tango/Jealousy[disambiguation needed]
Samba/Reach Out I'll Be There 38(9,10,9,10)
36(9,8,10,9) Safe
10 Viennese Waltz/Memory
Paso Doble/Toccata 38(9,9,10,10)
36(9,9,9,9) Bottom 2
11 Quickstep/Valerie
Argentine Tango/I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You 38(9,9,10,10)
38(9,9,10,10) Safe
12 Waltz/A Time For Us
Cha Cha Cha/Crazy in Love
Jive/We Love to Boogie 39(10,10,9,10)
38(9,9,10,10)
35(9,8,9,9) Winner
It was revealed in July 2009 that Alesha would be joining the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel in September 2009.[75] She replaced Arlene Phillips, 66, which led to the BBC being accused of ageism and sexism by the media,[76][77] and Dixon herself faced criticism by newspaper columnists such as Amanda Platell and Janet Street-Porter.[78][79] Dixon, having a conflicting schedule also had to rearrange three dates on her upcoming tour, The Alesha Show in order to do the show, which is broadcast live on Saturday nights.[80] The replacement of Arlene Phillips for Alesha Dixon even became dubbed "Alesha-gate" by some (the "-gate" suffix being a reference to the Watergate Scandal).[81]
Dixon's judging debut was met by criticism by some viewers, and 272 complaints were received by the BBC, according to The Guardian.[82] In response to the complaints, television critic Jim Shelley commented that "the lynch-mob was such you'd have thought she had strangled a kitten".[81] Despite the complaints, the BBC stated they were "delighted" with Dixon.[82] Arlene Phillips herself stated in response to the claims that "[The BBC] hired Alesha because they wanted a different opinion - a voice of the viewer - and that's what she does. She was never hired to give a technical viewpoint [...] It is very hard for her - she must be incredibly nervous. The judges had all worked together for six series and she is new and on her own."[83]
Fellow judge Bruno Tonioli accused critics of hypocrisy, saying "this time last year people were calling for Arlene to be sacked on the spot for being rude about John Sergeant [...] She was the Wicked Witch of the West, now all of a sudden she is Mother Teresa. What's going on here?"[84] However, despite Dixon's debut causing hundreds of complaints, critics praised some of her later judging as the series progressed, with Richard Simpson of the Daily Mail stating, "it seems Miss Dixon has finally found her voice and is making up for lost time on that point".[85]
[edit]Personal life

In June 2005, after a five-year relationship, Dixon married footballer MC Harvey, formerly of So Solid Crew, in a private ceremony at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire.[86] Dixon filed for divorce just over a year later after MC Harvey had an affair with Javine Hylton.[87] They have no children together.[88] She then dated Aston Villa and former Valencia CF Norwegian international John Carew; they split in 2008.[89]
After her marriage broke down and her record label dumped her within the space of two weeks, Dixon suffered from depression. In a later interview she said, "It was the lowest point of my life. I just kept thinking, 'What have I done to deserve this?' I didn't see the point in living."[90] She decided to move on and to turn around her life, saying "When you are knocked down you have two choices - stay down or get back up, stronger."[91] She said that Strictly Come Dancing helped her overcome her problems and gave her a "Zest for life"[92]
Dixon cut all contact with her older brother, Mark Harris, after he sold his story of their "terrible" childhood, claiming that they "often went to bed hungry" and that her mother, Beverley neglected them in favour of sometimes violent boyfriends, he also accused Dixon of turning her back on her family in the pursuit of fame and fortune.[93] In response to the comments about her mother, Dixon said, "I cherish her. If anyone is rude about her or says a bad word about her they won't be a part of my life. Unfortunately, that's how I feel about my brother."[94]
In February 2009, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Alesha spoke about her obsessive-compulsive behaviour:
"My friends call me Monica because she's the one in Friends who's obsessed with cleaning. I always think the house looks messy; a messy house can depress me. It can make me feel messy. If my house is clean and everything is in order, I feel better."[95]
She is currently living with her two dogs, a collie cross-breed called Roxy and a puppy called Daisy, both were adopted from an RSPCA animal centre.[96] Dixon has stated that she hates her own laugh, describing it as sounding like a "Crow" or "Sid James"[97] and saying "I'd change it if I could but it's become a trademark."[98] Dixon in an interview also said "somebody stole my laugh and made it into a ringtone".[99]
[edit]Discography

Main article: Alesha Dixon discography
See also: Mis-Teeq discography.
2006: Fired Up
2008: The Alesha Show
2010: The Entertainer
[edit]Tours

Headlining act
2009: The Alesha Show[100]
Supporting act
2009: Enrique Iglesias UK Tour
[edit]Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Award Nominated Work Result
2006 MOBO Awards Best UK Female[102] Herself Nominated
2008 Cosmopolitan Awards Ultimate Confidence Queen[103] Won
2009 MOBO Awards Best UK Act Nominated
Best Video "The Boy Does Nothing" Nominated
UK Music Video Awards Best Pop Video Nominated
Best Styling in a Video Nominated
2010 BRIT Awards British Single "Breathe Slow" Nominated
MOBO Awards Best Video[104] "Drummer Boy" Nominated
BT Visit London Awards Sound of London[105] Herself Won

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Nicolas Cage

2011-08-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Leonardo Dicaprio

2011-08-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Simon Cowell

2011-08-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur and celebrity. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.
As a judge, Cowell is known for his blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults and wisecracks about contestants and their abilities. He is also known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities. He was most recently featured on the seventh series of The X Factor and the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent. In September 2011, he will feature as a judge on the first season of the American version of The X Factor.
In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Cowell at number 41 in a list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".

Simon Cowls best insults

Funny Simon Cowell Insults - MUST SEE

Chris Sligh embarasses Simon Cowell & makes him look stupid

KARA DIOGUARDI SHARES THOUGHTS ON SIMON COWELL, THE X-FACTOR

Simon Cowell makes an unexpected Visit to the London X Factor Auditions at the O2

Simon Cowell Pokes Fun at Idol and Kisses Paula Abdul in First X-Factor Promo

Simon Cowell on Rebecca Black LOL

Early life

Cowell was born in Lambeth, London and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His father, Eric Philip Cowell (1918–1999),[2] was an estate agent developer and music industry executive; his mother, Julie Brett (née Josie Dalglish), is a former ballet dancer and socialite.[4] Cowell's paternal grandparents, Joseph Cowell and Esther Malinsky, were English Jews,[5] and his maternal grandfather was Scottish.[6] He has one brother and three half-brothers; younger brother Nicholas Cowell, half-brother John Cowell, half-brother Tony Cowell and half-brother Michael Cowell. Michael is the oldest, followed by John, Tony, Simon and Nicholas respectively.[citation needed]
Cowell attended Radlett Preparatory School and the independent Dover College as did his brother, but left after taking GCE O levels. He passed in English Language and Literature and then attended Windsor Technical College where he gained another GCE in Sociology.[7] At the age of 17, he dated model Paula Hamilton.[8] Cowell took a few menial jobs—including, according to Tony, working as a runner on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining[9]—but did not get along well with colleagues and bosses, until his father who was executive at the recording giant EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room.[10]
Career

Cowell's father's connections originally got him rehired as the assistant to an A&R man. From there onwards, Simon worked his way up and eventually got promoted to a music publishing[11] position but left during the early 1980s to form E&S Music with his boss at EMI, Ellis Rich (later Chairman of the Performing Right Society). The company had several hit records at one point with five singles in the UK top 40. The offices were in a converted gentleman's washroom in the NCP car park on Brewer Street in London's Soho district. Cowell left by mutual agreement a few years later. He worked for Iain Burton, manager of choreographer Arlene Phillips, co-founder of dance group Hot Gossip and of nascent independent record label Fanfare Records. Cowell worked with Burton for eight years at Fanfare where he achieved his first real success in the music industry, becoming a partner and building Fanfare into a highly successful 'indie' pop label. Fanfare had numerous top ten hits with various pop artists and particularly Sinitta, selling more than half a million of her debut single 'So Macho', and more than half a million albums of 'Rondo Veneziano'.[12] Next in 1984, Cowell and Burton met up with Pete Waterman for the first time.
Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman formed the songwriting and record producing trio known as Stock Aitken Waterman.[13] Stock Aitken Waterman helped Fanfare during the second half of the 1980s producing several hit singles for Sinitta and licensing The Hit Factory SAW Compilation Albums to Fanfare. Next in 1989, Fanfare's parent, Public Company, found itself in difficulties, forcing Fanfare into the hands of BMG, and an in-debt Cowell was forced to move back in with his parents. Later that year, he became an A&R consultant for BMG.
Subsequently, Cowell signed up a number of acts to S-Records that became successful, including Curiosity Killed the Cat, Sonia, Five, Westlife, Robson & Jerome, and Ultimate Kaos. He also released several novelty recordings featuring the likes of wrestlers of the World Wrestling Entertainment, Teletubbies,[14] Zig and Zag and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, that were huge successes.[3] Cowell set up another label, Syco Music, in 2002 which later became part of Columbia Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Artists such as Leona Lewis, Il Divo and contestants from The X Factor and America's Got Talent are released on Syco. Cowell explained, "There has to come a point when I will step down from being on camera and remain behind the scenes because you can't keep doing this forever...I think by [the end of my contract] that the public will be sick to death of me anyway and it will be time to go."[15]
In 2006, Cowell signed to two more record-breaking deals. In the USA, he agreed to remain as a judge on American Idol, earning £20 million (US$33 million) per season for another five years. He also has a deal with FOX which allows his production company to broadcast Got Talent and American Inventor on other networks, but he may not appear on them. In the UK, he signed a "golden handcuffs" deal with ITV, worth approximately £6.5 million a year for three years, which gave ITV rights to his talent show The X Factor, a British singing talent show, and Grease Is The Word, a musical talent show to find the stars of a Grease production in London's West End. In late 2005, he signed a new contract to remain working for Sony BMG.
In 2010, Cowell finalised a deal which secures the long-term business future of Syco with Sony Music Entertainment.[16] The deal will also see him launching a US version of X Factor on 11 September 2011.[17]
Idol franchise and Il Divo
Main article: Idol series
Cowell was given the role of judge on the first series of Pop Idol by then ITV Controller of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz[18] in 2001, he was then judge on the first season of American Idol in 2002. With his notoriously critical reputation, Cowell is likened to TV personalities, such as Judge Judy, and Weakest Link's Anne Robinson. Though comparable to Anne Robinson, Cowell has expressed his dislike for her and has commented in an interview, "I hate her and I hate her show because it's just an act".[19] Cowell's prominence grew, fed by his signature phrase, "I don't mean to be rude, but ...", inevitably followed by an unsparingly blunt appraisal of the contestant's talents, personality, or even physical appearance. A lot of these one-liners were the product of coaching that Cowell received from noted publicist Max Clifford.[20] Cowell also appeared on the one-off World Idol programme in 2003, where it became clear that each country's version of the Idol had attempted to come up with its own "Simon Cowell" type personality. In 2003, Cowell placed No 33 on Channel 4's list of the all-time 100 Worst Britons. Cowell's S Records signed the top two finishers of the first season of Pop Idol, Will Young and Gareth Gates, both of whom went on to have No 1 UK hits. Efforts begun in 2001 materialised in 2004, when Cowell returned to his group manufacturing roots with his latest brainchild, the internationally successful operatic pop group Il Divo,[21][22] consisting of three opera singers and one pop singer of four different nationalities. Inspired by the success of Il Divo, Simon created a child version, Angelis, beating competition from many similar groups emerging at Christmas 2006.
On 11 January 2010, Cowell's exit from American Idol was made official. The 2010 season was Cowell's last on the show. It was also announced that Fox has acquired the rights to an American version of Cowell's popular British show, The X Factor, which is slated to begin production in autumn 2011.[23][24]
The X Factor
See also: The X Factor.
In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British television music competition The X Factor, which he created using his production company, Syco. The X Factor was an instant success with the viewers and will begin its eighth series in 2011.
Leona Lewis, the winner of the third series of The X Factor, was signed to Cowell's label Syco and has gone on to become an international star,[citation needed] with number one singles and album sales around the world. Cowell returned for a fourth series on 18 August 2007 alongside Osbourne, Walsh and new judge, Dannii Minogue. Walsh had previously been sacked from the judging panel by Cowell for the fourth series, and was subsequently replaced by Brian Friedman, who was a judge on Grease Is the Word. Walsh was later brought back a week into the auditions by Cowell when he and Osbourne realised that they missed Walsh and that without him, there was no chemistry between the judges. Cowell returned for the fifth series in 2008, with Walsh, Minogue and new judge Cheryl Cole, as Sharon Osbourne decided to quit before the show began.[25][26]
The X Factor has been confirmed to return to Australian television in 2010 on the Seven Network with Kyle Sandilands, Ronan Keating, Guy Sebastian and Natalie Imbruglia as judges.[27] Matthew Newton will host the show.[28] Auditions will begin in May 2010.
Cowell will also launch the U.S. version of The X Factor in September 2011 on American broadcaster Fox. It was announced that he would be a judge both on the UK and US editions of the show, which will air at similar times of the year,[16][17] but MTV officially reported on 17 April 2011 that this was not true; Cowell will no longer be a judge in the UK version.,[29] but instead will be an enormous presence backstage.[30]
In October 2010, Cowell signed new three-year deals with ITV for both Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor.[31]
Got Talent franchise
Main articles: America's Got Talent, Britain's Got Talent, and Got Talent
Following the success of the Idol and X-Factor franchises, Cowell, his company Syco, and its business partners developed a talent show format open to performers of any kind, not only singers, but also dancers, instrumentalists, magicians, comedians, novelty acts, and so on. The origins of the Got Talent format can be traced to the British show Opportunity Knocks, which began as a radio programme in the 1940s and later transferred to television, where it was an ITV staple for several decades. Looking further back, Opportunity Knocks had its roots in the variety show traditions of British music hall and American vaudeville.
Cowell is the executive producer of America's Got Talent,[32] which debuted in June 2006, along with Fremantle producers of the Idol series, but he does not appear on the show due to the terms of his American Idol contract. The show was a huge success for NBC, drawing around 12 million viewers a week, and beating So You Think You Can Dance on FOX (produced by rival and Idol creator Simon Fuller).
Britain's Got Talent[33] debuted on ITV in June 2007. Cowell appears as a judge alongside Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. The show was a ratings success and second and third seasons followed in 2008 and 2009. The third series featured a publicity coup when Susan Boyle[33][34][35] made a global media impact with her regional audition performance comparable to that of any previous talent show series winner.
American Inventor
On 16 March 2006, Simon Cowell's next competition show, American Inventor,[36][37] debuted on ABC. Fledgling entrepreneurs from across the United States competed to see who could come up with the best new product concept. The 2006 winner, Janusz Liberkowski,[38][39] received $1 million and the opportunity to develop his idea into a business. The show returned one more time in 2007 for a second season.
Celebrity Duets
In 2006, Cowell executive-produced Celebrity Duets,[40] which was described as "an Idol show for Hollywood superstars." The show was hosted by Wayne Brady, and its judges were Marie Osmond, Little Richard[41] and David Foster.
Grease Is the Word
Cowell was also the executive producer of Grease Is the Word for ITV. This show set out to find performers to play Danny and Sandy in the 2007 West End revival of Grease. It was hosted by Zoe Ball and judged by Britons David Ian and Sinitta and Americans David Gest and Brian Friedman. The musical theatre casting concept had already been introduced by the BBC with the ratings hit How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, but Cowell's show was not the hoped for success. He himself said, "It has been slaughtered by the critics – and rightly so. It is far too similar to our other formats."[42]
Rock Rivals
Cowell collaborated with UK production company Shed Media to produce 2008 ITV drama series Rock Rivals, which is based on an X Factor type show.
Other activities
Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years.[43] He supports children from The Association Of Children's Hospices and invites them backstage to the screenings of The X Factor.[44] When he can, he stops by some of the hospices to visit the children.[44] He also supports animal rights and has appeared in a video for PETA in which he reminds drivers of the cruelty to animals that can occur when their pets are locked in cars in the summer.[45][46] In view of his charitable works, particularly the production of the charity single Everybody Hurts in aid of victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as his services to the music industry, there was considerable media speculation as to whether Cowell would receive a knighthood in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours, a proposal allegedly put forward by former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.[47] Cowell stated that he believed his chances of receiving the honour were "zero" following what he described as being a "royal row";[48] ultimately Cowell did not receive an honour in the list.
In December 2003, Cowell published his autobiography titled I Don't Mean to be Rude, but.... In it, he told the whole story of his childhood, his years working in music and experiences on Pop Idol, Pop Stars Rivals, and American Idol, and finally, his tips for being successful as a pop star.
Cowell has appeared as a guest voice in an episode of The Simpsons ("Smart and Smarter"), in which he gets beaten up by Homer Simpson (while criticising Homer's punches).[49][50] His voice was also heard on an episode of Family Guy ("Lois Kills Stewie"), in which he told Stewie that his singing was so awful that he should be dead.[51][52][53] He made an MTV Movie Award-winning cameo appearance as himself in Scary Movie 3, where he sits in judgment during a battle rap (and subsequently gets killed by gunfire for criticising the rappers). He also appears in the DVD version of Shrek 2 as a judge in Far Far Away Idol, and also provided the voice.[54]
He appeared on an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (the original British version) and Saturday Night Live in 2004. Cowell has also guest-starred (filling in for Regis Philbin) in the popular talk show Live with Regis and Kelly during American Idol's finalist week in early 2006. Cowell was once the fastest "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on BBC's motoring show Top Gear, driving a Suzuki Liana around the show's test track in a time of 1:47.1. When Top Gear retired the Liana along with its rankings after the eighth series, Cowell was the eighth fastest overall and the third fastest non-professional driver. On 11 November 2007 Cowell yet again appeared on Top Gear, achieving a time of 1:45.9 thus putting him ahead of Gordon Ramsay and back at the top of the table.[55] Cowell introduced entertainer Dick Clark at the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards. He was seen on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice where he donated £25,000 for a fun fair ticket. Cowell has also appeared on the MTV shows Cribs and Punk'd. On Punk'd, Ryan Seacrest and Randy Jackson set him up to believe his $400,000 Rolls Royce was stolen and had caused an accident by using a nearly identical car.[56]
Cowell was chosen as the first subject of the re-launched This Is Your Life in an episode broadcast on 2 June 2007. He was presented with the Red Book by Sir Trevor McDonald while presenting American Idol.[57]
On 1 July 2007 Cowell appeared alongside Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest as a speaker at the Concert For Diana, held at Wembley Stadium.
Simon Cowell was a partner in the Royal Ascot Racing Club, a thoroughbred horse racing syndicate which owned the 2005 Epsom Derby winner, Motivator.[58]
In May 2010, he portrayed himself again, in another episode of The Simpsons, "Judge Me Tender".
In December 2010, he was added as a new entry to the latest edition of Who's Who.[59]
Personal life

In late 2002, Cowell started dating longtime friend Terri Seymour. In November 2008, TV Guide reported that Cowell and Seymour had since broken up.[60]
Cowell is the godfather of pop singer Sinitta's adopted children.[61]
Upon his appearance on Top Gear, it was revealed that Cowell pays more than £21.7m per year in income tax, suggesting that his taxable income is over £54.25m per year with income tax at the time approximately 40%.[62][63] (NB: UK Income Tax 40% for earnings over £34,600). Cowell was estimated to have a fortune of £200 million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011, making him the sixth richest person in the British music industry.[64]
Cowell has admitted to using Botox.[65]
Cowell has a $22 million, 11,550 sq ft (1,073 m2) home in Beverly Hills.[66]
In May 2009, in the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper, Cowell revealed that he is often plagued by "dark moods and miserable thoughts". He claims that he has considered seeking therapy for this, stating that it would be a 'long session'.[67]
Cowell became engaged to make up artist Mezhgan Hussainy in February 2010. They met on the set of American Idol.[68]
Cowell endorsed David Cameron to be Prime Minister and claimed that he has the 'substance and the stomach to navigate us through difficult times'.[69] In the aftermath of the election, it was reported that he had fallen out with fellow X Factor judge Cheryl Cole (who had declared her support for Labour and Gordon Brown) in a telephone conversation about politics.

reference from Wikipedia.com

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Eva Green

2011-08-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Eva Green

Eva Gaëlle Green (born 5 July 1980) is a French actress and model.
Green performed in theatre before making her film debut in The Dreamers (2003), which generated controversy over her numerous nude scenes. She achieved greater fame for her parts in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, for which she won a BAFTA. She has also modeled for numerous brands.

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Eva Green and Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven

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Eva Green and Miss Jean Brodie sit to discuss their new movie, 'Cracks'

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Early life

Eva Green was born in Paris, the daughter of French actress Marlène Jobert and Swedish dentist Walter Green. Her mother, a Pied-Noir, was born in Algeria. Green's mother is Jewish.[2][3] Green was raised without religion;[4] she has said "I feel like a citizen of the world. Life and cinema don't have borders."[5] Green was born two minutes earlier than her fraternal twin sister, Joy.[6] She grew up in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Green has described her family as "bourgeois",[7] and has said that her sister is very different from her.[8] Green is a natural dark blonde; she dyed her hair black aged 15.[9][10] French-Swedish actress Marika Green is her aunt.
Green was raised in France, attended and graduated from the American School of Paris, an English-speaking institution,[9] and also spent time between Ramsgate, London and Ireland.[11] Green was quiet in school,[8] and developed an interest in Egyptology when she visited the Louvre at age seven.[12] At age 14, after seeing Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H., Green decided to become an actress. Her mother initially feared that an acting career would be too much for her sensitive daughter, but later came to support young Eva's ambitions.[11]
[edit]Career

At 17,[13] Green enrolled in St. Paul Drama School in Paris for three years, and then spent 10 weeks at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[1] Green stated that in drama school, "I always picked the really evil roles. It's a great way to deal with your everyday emotions."[14] Green trained at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in New York City,[15] before she returned to Paris, where she performed in several plays.[11] Green was nominated for a Molière Award for her performance in Jalousie en Trois Fax.[16]
Director Bernardo Bertolucci discovered Green in 2002, and described her as "so beautiful, it's indecent". She accepted his invitation to star in The Dreamers (2003), despite her parents' initial objections because of Maria Schneider's accounts of being traumatized while filming Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris.[11] In the film, Green performed extensive nude scenes, which she said felt natural on set;[17] she was embarrassed when her family saw the film, however.[11] Her performance was well-received, with some comparing her to Liv Tyler.[15] Green expressed surprise when a minute was cut from the film for the American market, stating, "[T]here is so much violence, both on the streets and on the screen. They think nothing of it. Yet I think they are frightened by sex."[11] Green's next film after The Dreamers was Arsène Lupin (2004), in which she portrayed Lupin's love interest, a light-hearted role she enjoyed, although she has stated that she generally prefers more complex characters.[16]
Her performance in The Dreamers convinced Ridley Scott to cast Green in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), a film about the Crusades where she played Sibylla of Jerusalem. Green performed six screen tests, and was hired with only a week before principal photography began.[1] Green found the atmosphere of coming onto a film so late tense and exciting, and also liked the film's ambiguity in approaching its subject matter.[14] To her disappointment, much of her screen time was cut.[1] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised her performance: "She doesn't quite know what to do with her character's stilted dialogue, but she carries herself so regally that you barely notice."[18] Nev Pierce of the BBC, however, called her character "limp".[19] Green was satisfied when her character's complex subplot was restored in the director's cut.[20] Total Film noted the new scenes completed her performance: "In the theatrical cut, Princess Sibylla sleeps with Balian and then, more or less, loses her mind. Now we understand why. Not only does Sibylla have a young son, but when she realises he's afflicted with leprosy just like her brother Baldwin, she decides to take his life shortly after he's been crowned king."[21]

Green at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in London's Royal Opera House (2007).
Green was considered for parts in The Constant Gardener (a role that went to Rachel Weisz) and The Black Dahlia.[11] She was cast at the last minute in the role of Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006).[12] Green was approached in mid-2005 but turned it down.[20] Principal photography was already underway, and director Martin Campbell noted casting the role was difficult because "we didn't have the final script and a Bond girl always had the connotation of tits 'n' ass." Campbell saw Green's performance in the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven,[22] and approached Green again. She read the script, and found the character of Vesper far deeper than most Bond girls.[20] Green's performance was well received: Entertainment Weekly called her the fourth best Bond girl of all time;[23] IGN named her the best femme fatale, stating "This is the girl that broke – and therefore made – James Bond";[24] and she won a BAFTA and an Empire award for her performance. Both awards were voted for by the British public.[25]
Green portrayed the witch Serafina Pekkala in the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass (which, coincidentally, also starred Casino Royale's Daniel Craig, although they did not have any scenes together). She found it difficult being flown on a harness because of her fear of heights, which led her to refuse to reshoot a scene on her last day of filming.[10] Green hoped the religious themes of the book would be preserved,[20] but references to Catholicism were removed from the film.[26] Green next appeared in Franklyn, as Emilia,[27] a schizophrenic woman[28] whose multiple personalities are split between tormented artist (which Green compared to real-life figures Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin)[29] and another, which she described as, "full of life, very witty, big sense of humor".[28] She also filmed Cracks, the directorial debut of Jordan Scott, Ridley Scott's daughter, where she plays a mysterious teacher at a girls' school named Miss G, who falls in love with one of her pupils.[10] In March 2009, she appeared in Womb, where she plays a woman who clones her dead husband. It is a collaboration between actor Matt Smith and director Benedek Fliegauf.[30]
She was considered for the lead female role in Un Secret (2007) before it was played by Cécile de France.[31]
She was initially approached for the female lead in Lars von Trier's controversial film Antichrist (2009). According to Trier, Green was positive about appearing in the film, but her agents refused to allow her. The unsuccessful casting attempt took two months of the film's pre-production process. Anglo-French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg was cast in the role.[32]
Green will star in the first, ten-part season of Starz's series, Camelot, as the sorceress Morgan le Fay.[33] Green stated, "This is such an iconic story and you have 10 episodes to explore a character. It's not a girlfriend role that you could have in a movie. It's a real ballsy character. She has some guts."[34]
In February 2011, Green was cast as Angélique Bouchard in Tim Burton's film adaptation of Dark Shadows.[35]
[edit]Modeling
In addition to her acting career, Green has modeled for Breil, Emporio Armani, Lancôme, Heineken,[12] and Christian Dior SA's "Midnight Poison" perfume, in an advert directed by Wong Kar-wai.[9]
[edit]Personal life

Green considers herself nerdy:[12] "When people first meet me, they find me very cold. I keep myself at a distance, and I think that's why I'm so drawn to [acting]. It allows me to wear a mask."[13] She moved to Primrose Hill, London in mid-2005.[6] She prefers the "village-like" atmosphere of the London neighbourhood: "I feel more centred when I'm [there]."[11] She lives alone, jokingly referring to her border terrier, Griffin, as her "husband".[12] She is an atheist.[4]
She dated New Zealand actor Marton Csokas after meeting him on the set of Kingdom of Heaven, but the couple announced their split in 2009.[36]
She followed in her mother's footsteps by supporting Unicef.[10] She has also expressed interest in returning to the theatre,[17] and has no plans to go to work in Hollywood because, "The problem with Hollywood is that the studios are super powerful, they have far more power than the directors. My ambition at this moment is just to find a good script."[37] She added she would probably just get typecast as a femme fatale there.[10]
She has no particular fitness regime, because, "I'm French and I'm lazy, which means I smoke and I don't exercise",[38] though she does run and she practices pilates. Green finds dieting too stressful.[37] She thinks of herself as an international actress:[16] she can speak both her native French and English fluently,[11] and is also learning Japanese[39] as well as perfecting an American accent.[16]
[edit]Filmography

Year Film Role Notes and Awards
2003 The Dreamers Isabelle Nominated – European Film Awards for Best Actress
2004 Arsène Lupin Clarisse de Dreux-Soubise
2005 Kingdom of Heaven Sibylla
2006 Casino Royale Vesper Lynd BAFTA Rising Star Award
Empire Award for Best Female Newcomer
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – National Movie Awards for Best Performance by a Female
Nominated – Irish Film and Television Awards for Best International Actress
2007 The Golden Compass Serafina Pekkala
2009 Franklyn Emilia
Cracks Miss G
2010 Womb Rebecca
2011 Perfect Sense Susan
Camelot Morgan Le Fay TV Series
2012 Dark Shadows Angelique Bouchard Collins Filming

References from Wikipedia.com

Margarita Levieva

2011-08-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Margarita Levieva

Margarita Levieva (born February 9, 1980) is an American actress. Born in the Soviet Union, she was a professional gymnast before going on to star in the films The Invisible, Adventureland and Spread.

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Personal life

Levieva, a Russian Jew, was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). At the age of three, she began the rigorous training program of a competitive rhythmic gymnast.[3] Levieva continued to train for the next 13 years, winning competitions in Russia and eventually going on to compete in the United States after emigrating.
When she was 11, Levieva's mother moved her and her twin brother to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in New York City.[3] She attended high school in Secaucus, New Jersey. Levieva majored in economics at NYU and worked as a fashion buyer.[3] Her continuing interest in acting led her to be accepted into the Meisner Training Program at the William Esper Studio.
In 2005, New York Magazine featured her as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in New York.

Career

Levieva made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Trial by Jury in 2005. In 2006, she starred in the Fox series, Vanished. Her feature film credits include The Invisible, the independent film Billy's Choice, and Noise starring Tim Robbins, Bridget Moynahan, and William Hurt.
In 2009, Levieva played Lisa P. in the comedy Adventureland. The same year, she made an appearance in the NBC drama Kings (in the episode "First Night") and starred in the play The Retributionists.[4]
She also stars in HBO's How to Make it in America.
[edit]Filmography

Year Film/Series Role
2004 Billy's Choice Julie Romano
2005 N.Y.-70 Cindy
Law & Order: Trial by Jury Stephanie Davis
2006 The Prince Isabelle
Vanished Marcy Collins
2007 David's Apartment DeeDee
The Invisible Annie Newton
Noise Ekaterina Filippovna
2009 Spread Heather
Kings Claudia
Adventureland Lisa P.
2010 How to Make It in America Julie
The Stand Up Veronica
2011 The Lincoln Lawyer Reggie Campo
Knights of Badassdom Beth

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Jeff Conaway

2011-08-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Jeff Conaway

Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway (October 5, 1950 – May 27, 2011), known as Jeff Conaway, was an American actor, best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the U.S. television series Taxi and Babylon 5. He directed the 1992 film Bikini Summer II. Conaway was on the hit TV show Celebrity Rehab. He died of pneumonia in May 2011.

'Taxi,' 'Grease' Star Jeff Conaway Dies at 60

Jeff Conaway's Last Interview He Sings & Talks Oscar on What's Up Orange County

Daniel Baldwin vs Jeff Conaway - Celebrity Rehab - "unbeknownst"

Jeff Conaway Talks To Cameras At Beso Restaurant

JEFF CONAWAY ("TAXI"): "BOBBY WHEELER" BREAKDOWN

JEFF CONAWAY ("GREASE")

Early life

Jeff Conaway was born in Manhattan, New York City, and raised in the Astoria, Flushing, and Forest Hills neighborhoods of the borough Queens. His father, Charles,[4] was an actor, producer and publisher.[5] His mother, Helen, an actress who went by the stage name Mary Ann Brooks,[4] taught music at New York City's Brook Conservatory.[5] They divorced when he was 3,[5] and Conaway and his two older sisters lived with his mother.[6] He also spent time living with his grandparents in South Carolina, which gave him enough of a Southern accent[6] that when he accompanied his mother to a casting call for director Arthur Penn's Broadway play All the Way Home, the 10-year-old Conaway landed a featured role as one of four boys.[5] The 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and ran 333 performances and one preview from November 29, 1960 to September 16, 1961.[7] Conaway remained for the entire run, then toured with the national company of the play Critic's Choice.[5]
Conaway worked as a child model, and attended high school at the Quintano School for Young Professionals.[5] After playing with the rock band 3 1/2 for a time, beginning at age 15,[5] he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts[5][8] and later transferred to New York University.[5]
[edit]Career

While at NYU, he appeared in television commercials and had the lead in a school production of The Threepenny Opera.[5] He made his movie debut in the 1971 romantic drama Jennifer on my Mind.[5]
[edit]Grease and Taxi
The following year, Conaway appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musical Grease, as an understudy to several roles including that of the lead male character, Danny Zuko, and eventually succeeded role-originator Barry Bostwick.[4][9] He played the role for 2 1/2 years while his friend John Travolta, with whom he shared a manager, later joined the show, playing Doody in the chorus.[4][10] The two would reunite in the 1978 motion picture musical Grease, in which Travolta played Zuko and Conaway his buddy Kenickie.[4]
After breaking into series television in 1975 with Happy Days, followed by other sitcom and drama appearances and three more movies including Grease, Conaway was cast as vain, struggling, but goodhearted actor Bobby Wheeler in the workplace comedy Taxi, which premiered in fall 1978. He had appeared in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show for the same producers, and, he said in 1987, was originally considered for the role of John Burns, which eventually went to Randall Carver:
But then one day I got the whole script and became real interested in the actor character, then called Bobby Taylor. And [the producers] said they had been thinking along the same lines, so I read again. Later I got a call from [original casting director] Joel Thurm, who says, 'Well, it's not good news, but it's not bad news either.' He says I'm the only choice for a white actor, but that they'd had a meeting and thought that maybe Bobby should be black and that now they're looking at black actors. ... So I went back to read, and it was me, Cleavon Little, and somebody else.... I ended up reading with [star] Judd [Hirsch] and it went really well."[11]
Conaway left Taxi after the third season. Part of the reason was his drug abuse after season one.[4]Taxi writer Sam Simon recalled in 2008 that during production of Simon's first script for that show, a missing Conaway was found in his dressing room too high on drugs to perform, and that his dialogue for that episode was divided between his co-stars Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd who delivered the jokes well enough so that Conaway's absence had little negative impact on the actual episode. This caused the show's producers to realize that he was expendable and contributed to Conaway's eventual firing.[12] But Conaway also felt creatively stymied:
I wanted to do things with Bobby, but as the show went on, I could see I wasn't going to get that chance. ... Lemme tell you – I loved Bobby, I identified with Bobby. So, yeah, I kind of took everything personally. I had a lot of meetings with [the producers] because I was unhappy. ... Sure, partially it was ego, but let me do what I do best. It was frustrating. I remember leaving the studio feeling guilty and unhappy. I just couldn't appreciate it and use it as just a job, as a learning experience. Instead I saw it as, 'Hey, anybody could do this character.' Like nobody else could do Louie or Jim, they were such defined characters. But Bobby – anybody could walk in and say, 'Hi, Alex.'"[13]
Conaway went on to star in the short-lived 1983 fantasy-spoof series, Wizards and Warriors. He made guest appearances on such shows as Barnaby Jones, George and Leo and in four episodes of Murder, She Wrote. He appeared in films such as Jawbreaker, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Do You Wanna Know a Secret?. From 1994–1999, he played Sergeant Zack Allan, on Babylon 5. From 1989–90, he was cast on The Bold and the Beautiful, in the role of "Mick Savage". In 1993, he appeared onstage in Real Life Photographs.[citation needed]
[edit]Music career
In addition to acting, Conaway also dabbled in music. In the mid-1960s, he was the lead singer and guitarist for a rock band, The 3 1/2. They recorded four singles for Cameo Records in 1966 and 1967:
"Don't Cry To Me Babe" / "R & B In C" (Cameo 425, 1966)
"Problem Child" / "Hey Mom Hey Dad" (Cameo 442, 1966)
"Hey Gyp" / "Hey Kitty Cool Kitty" (Cameo 451, 1967) (This single was produced by Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, who also wrote the B-side. The A-side is a song by Donovan.)
"Angel Baby (Don't You Ever Leave Me)" / "You Turned Your Back On Love" (Cameo 485, 1967)
In 1979, Conaway recorded a self titled debut album for Columbia Records. "City Boy" was released as a single. Bruce Springsteen's manager, Mike Appel, produced the album.
The CD Saints & Sinners, by Vikki and Kenickie, was released independently via the internet in 2008, featuring Conaway singing and rapping with Vikki Lizzi (Spinoza). They promoted the CD on The Howard Stern Show on April 2, 2008 and performed live shows in the Los Angeles area.
[edit]Personal life

[edit]Marriages
Conaway was married three times. His first short-lived marriage, at 21, to a dancer he had been seeing for two years, was annulled.[5] His second marriage, from 1980 until their divorce in 1985, was to Rona Newton-John, elder[14] sister of his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John. His third marriage was to Keri Young from 1990 until their divorce.[15]
[edit]Health problems
After experiencing a crisis in the mid-1980s, Conaway came to grips with the fact that he had a substance abuse problem. He underwent treatment in the late 1980s and often spoke candidly about his addictions.[citation needed]
By the mid-2000s however, he had relapsed. Conaway appeared in VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, but was forced to leave and entered rehab. In early 2008, Conaway appeared with other celebrities in the VH1 reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The show revealed that Conaway was addicted to cocaine, alcohol, and painkillers, and that he was in a codependent relationship with his girlfriend Vikki Lizzi,[16] also a user of prescription opiates. Conaway had suffered a back injury earlier in his career on the set of Grease while filming the "Greased Lightning" scene, which had been exacerbated more recently as a result of lifting boxes in his home.
Conaway's appearance on the show's first and second seasons drew much attention due to his severely crippled state, his constant threats of leaving the facility and his frequent inability to speak clearly. Upon arrival at the Pasadena Recovery Center (which was filmed as part of Celebrity Rehab's first episode) Conaway, using a wheelchair, arrived drunk, mumbling to Dr. Drew that the night previous he had binged on cocaine and Jack Daniel's whiskey.
During the second episode of Celebrity Rehab's first season, Conaway, fed up with his dorsalgia, withdrawal symptoms and the humiliation of having to be assisted while using the toilet, told Dr. Pinsky that he was thinking of killing himself. After Pinsky asked him to elaborate upon how he would carry out a suicidal act, Conaway glared at the mirror in his room and said "I see myself breaking that mirror and slicing my fucking throat with it." During group sessions, Conaway revealed "torture" from his childhood, as older boys in his neighborhood would put him into dangerous situations, tying him up and threatening him. When he was seven years old, he was a victim of pedophiles and child pornographers.[17] Conaway stated that he had been an addict since he was a teenager.[18]
With John Travolta's support, Conaway took courses and auditing from the Church of Scientology to cope with his drug problem and depression,[19] although he did not intend to become a Scientologist.[20][21][22]
In June 2009, Conaway and Vikki joined Celebrity Rehab cast mate Mary Carey at the premier of her spoof flick Celebrity Pornhab with Dr. Screw.[23]
In August 2009, Conaway was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight. In the interview, the actor claimed he was much better after a fifth back operation, and that he had yet to use painkillers again. He also discussed unscrupulous doctors and enablers.[24]
In March 2010, shortly after the death of actor Corey Haim, Conaway told E! News that he had warned Haim about dying due to prescription drug abuse.[25]
[edit]Death

On May 11, 2011, Conaway was found unconscious from what was initially described as an overdose of substances, believed to be pain medication, and was taken to Encino Tarzana Medical Center in Encino, California, where he was listed as being in critical condition and in a coma.[26] After the initial reports, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who had treated Conaway for substance abuse, said the actor was suffering not from a drug overdose but rather from "pneumonia with sepsis", for which he was placed into an induced coma.[27][28] Though his pneumonia was not directly caused by drugs, his use of them hampered his ability to recognize how ill he was, and prevented him from seeking treatment for pneumonia until it was too late.[29]
On May 26, 2011, Conaway's family took him off life support after doctors decided there was nothing they could do to revive him. Conaway died the following morning at the age of 60.[1][29] Pinsky attributed his death to his addiction, stating, "What happens is, like with most opiate addicts, eventually they take a little too much ... and they aspirate, so what's in their mouth gets into their lungs ... That's what happened with Jeff" - describing aspiration pneumonia.[30]
Conaway is survived by his sisters, Michelle and Carla.[31]
[edit]Awards

Golden Globe Award
1978 nomination, Best Supporting Actor, Comedy or Musical Series (for Taxi)[32]
1979 nomination, Best Supporting Actor, Comedy or Musical Series (for Taxi)[32]
[edit]Filmography

1971: Jennifer on My Mind — Hanki
1976: The Eagle Has Landed — Frazier
1977: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden — Lactamaeon
1977: Pete's Dragon — Willie
1978: Grease — Kenickie
1984: Covergirl — T.C. Sloane
1986: The Patriot — Mitchell
1988: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark — Travis
1989: Ghost Writer — Tom Farrell
1989: Tale of Two Sisters — Taxi driver
1989: The Banker — Cowboy
1990: The Sleeping Car — Bud Sorenson
1991: A Time to Die — Frank
1991: Total Exposure — Peter Keynes
1992: Almost Pregnant (direct to video) — Charlie Alderson
1992: Bikini Summer II — Stu Stocker (also director)
1992: Eye of the Storm — Tom Edwards
1992: Mirror Images — Jeffrey Blair
1993: Alien Intruder (direct to video) — Borman
1993: In a Moment of Passion — Werner Soehnen
1993: It's Showtime
1993: L.A. Goddess — Sean
1993: Sunset Strip — Tony
1994: 2002: The Rape of Eden — Reverend
1997: The Last Embrace — Jagger
1998: Shadow of Doubt — Bixby
1999: Jawbreaker — Marcie's Father
1999: Man on the Moon — Himself
2001: Dating Service
2001: Do You Wanna Know a Secret? — Agent Owen Sacker
2002: Curse of the Forty-Niner — Reverend Sutter
2002: The Biz — Gavin Elliot
2003: Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star — Himself[33]
2004: Pan Dulce — Gabriel Levine
2004: The Corner Office — Dick
2004: Y.M.I. — Digger's Dad
2005: From Behind the Sunflower — Leo
2006: Living the Dream — Dick
2006: The Pool 2 — Agent Frank Gun
2006: The Utah Murder Project — Sheriff Dan Patterson
2008: Wrestling — Franklin Conner
2010: Dante's Inferno - Abandon All Hope — Circles Introduction[34]
2010: Dark Games — Tom Doyle
2011: Dante's Inferno Animated — Circles Introduction
2011: Dante's Inferno Documented — Circles Introduction[35]
[edit]Television work

1975: Happy Days — Rocko (2 episodes, 1975–1976)
1975: Joe Forrester (1 episode, 1975)
1976: Barnaby Jones — Jeff Saunders (2 episodes, 1976–1977)
1976: Mary Tyler Moore — Kenny Stevens (1 episode, 1976)
1977: Delta County, U.S.A. — Terry Nicholas
1978: Kojak — Bert Gaines (1 episode, 1978)
1978: Taxi — Bobby Wheeler (50 episodes, 1978–1982)
1979: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — Roy Fletcher
1980: For the Love of It — Russ
1981: The Nashville Grab — Buddy Walker
1983: Making of a Male Model — Chuck Lanyard
1983: Wizards and Warriors — Prince Erik Greystone (10 episodes, 1983)
1984: Murder, She Wrote — Howard Griffin (4 episodes, 1984–1994)
1985: Berrenger's — John Higgins (11 episodes, 1985)
1985: The Love Boat — Andy Jackson (1 episode, 1985)
1985: Who's the Boss? — Jeff (1 episode, 1985)
1986: Matlock — Daniel Ward (2 episodes, in 1986 and 1993)
1987: Bay Coven — Josh McGwin
1987: Hotel — Eric Madison (1 episode, 1987)
1987: Mike Hammer — Harry Farris (2 episodes, in 1984 and 1987)
1987: Stingray — Ty Gardner (1 episode, 1987)
1987: Tales from the Darkside — Peter (1 episode, 1987)
1987: The Bold and the Beautiful — Mick Savage (unknown episodes, 1989–1990)
1988: The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission — Sgt. Holt
1989: Freddy's Nightmares — Buddy Powers (1 episode, 1989)
1989: Monsters — Phil (1 episode, 1989)
1990: Good Grief — Winston Payne (1 episode, 1990)
1990: Shades of L.A. — Richard (1 episode, 1990)
1994: Babylon 5 — Zack Allan (74 episodes, 1994–1998)
1995: Burke's Law — Dr. Alex Kenyon (1 episode, 1995)
1995: Hope & Gloria — Bud Green (1 episode, 1995)
1996: Mr. & Mrs. Smith — Rich Edwards (1 episode, 1996)
1997: George & Leo (1 episode, 1997)
1998: Babylon 5: The River of Souls — Zack Allen
1998: Babylon 5: Thirdspace — Zack Allen
1999: Babylon 5: A Call to Arms — Zack Allen
2000: L.A. 7 — Manager of Radio Station (1 episode, 2000)
2004: She Spies — Zachary Mason (1 episode, 2004)
2006: The John Kerwin Show — Guest (1 episode, 2006)

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Paul McCartney

2011-08-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.
McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the United Kingdom.
BBC News Online readers named McCartney the "greatest composer of the millennium", and BBC News cites his Beatles song "Yesterday" as the most covered song in the history of recorded music—by over 2,200 artists[4]—and since its 1965 release, has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio according to the BBC.[5] Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single.[6] Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history. As a performer or songwriter, McCartney was responsible for 31 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, and has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified albums in the US alone.
McCartney has composed film scores, classical and electronic music, released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and has taken part in projects to help international charities. He is an advocate for animal rights, for vegetarianism, and for music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt. He is a keen football fan, supporting both Everton and Liverpool football clubs. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs,[13] including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010.

Paul McCartney - Golden Slumbers - Live at Yankee Stadium, July 15, 2011

Paul McCartney "Hey Jude" II

Rowan Atkinson in car accident, Paul McCartney's phone hacked

Paul McCartney Ringo Starr happy beatles "happy birthday"

Say Say Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Wings/Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm Amazed (HQ)

Paul McCartney's double header

Childhood

Main article: Jim and Mary McCartney
McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where his mother, Mary (née Mohan), had worked as a nurse in the maternity ward.[15] He has one brother, Michael, born 7 January 1944.[16] McCartney was baptised Roman Catholic but was raised non-denominationally: his mother was Roman Catholic and his father James, or "Jim" McCartney, was a Protestant turned agnostic.[16]
In 1947, he began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary School. He then attended the Joseph Williams Junior School[17] and passed the 11-plus exam in 1953 with three others out of the 90 examinees, thus gaining admission to the Liverpool Institute.[18] In 1954, while taking the bus from his home in the suburb of Speke to the Institute, he met George Harrison, who lived nearby.[19] Passing the exam meant that McCartney and Harrison could go to a grammar school rather than a secondary modern school, which the majority of pupils attended until they were eligible to work, but as grammar school pupils, they had to find new friends.[20]

20 Forthlin Road now attracts large numbers of tourists.
In 1955, the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton.[21] Mary McCartney rode a bicycle to houses where she was needed as a midwife, and an early McCartney memory is of her leaving when it was snowing heavily.[22] On 31 October 1956, Mary McCartney died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer.[23] The early loss of his mother later connected McCartney with John Lennon, whose mother Julia died after being struck by a car when Lennon was 17.[24]
McCartney's father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s and encouraged his two sons to be musical.[25] Jim had an upright piano in the front room that he had bought from Epstein's North End Music Stores. McCartney's grandfather, Joe McCartney, played an E-flat tuba.[26][27] Jim McCartney used to point out the different instruments in songs on the radio, and often took McCartney to local brass band concerts.[27] McCartney's father gave him a nickel-plated trumpet, but when skiffle music became popular, McCartney swapped the trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar.[28][29] As he was left-handed, McCartney found right-handed guitars difficult to play, but when he saw a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert, he realised that Whitman played left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player.[29][30] McCartney wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") on the Zenith, and also played his father's Framus Spanish guitar when writing early songs with Lennon.[31] He later learned to play the piano and wrote his second song, "When I'm Sixty-Four".[32] On his father's advice, he took music lessons, but since he preferred to learn 'by ear' he never paid much attention to them.[32]
McCartney was heavily influenced by American Rhythm and Blues music. He has stated that Little Richard was his idol when he was in school and that the first song he ever sang in public was "Long Tall Sally", at a Butlins holiday camp talent competition.[33]
Musical career

Main article: Paul McCartney's musical career
1957–1960
At the age of 15, McCartney met John Lennon and The Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton on 6 July 1957.[34] He formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated writing many songs. Harrison joined the group in early 1958 as lead guitarist, followed in early 1960 by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. [35][36] By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "The Silver Beetles", playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They finally changed the name of the group to "The Beatles" in mid-August 1960 and recruited Pete Best at short-notice to become their drummer for an imminent engagement in Hamburg.[37][38]
1960–1970: The Beatles

McCartney (left) in 1964 with Beatles bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon
From August 1960, The Beatles were booked by Allan Williams,[39] to perform at a club in Hamburg.[40] During extended stays over the next two years, The Beatles performed as a resident group in a number of Hamburg clubs. On returns to Liverpool they played at the Cavern club. Prior to the end of the residency, Sutcliffe left the band, so McCartney, reluctantly, became The Beatles' bass player.[41] The Beatles recorded their first published musical material in Hamburg, performing as the backing group for Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie".[42] This recording later brought the Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success, Brian Epstein, who became their next manager.[43] Epstein eventually negotiated a record contract for the group with Parlophone in May 1962.[44] After replacing Best with Ringo Starr on drums, The Beatles became popular in the UK in 1963 and in the US in 1964. In 1965, they were each appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[45] After performing concerts, plays, and tours almost non-stop for a period of nearly four years, and giving more than one thousand four hundred live performances internationally,[46] The Beatles gave their last commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour.[47] They continued to work in the recording studio from 1966 until their break-up in 1970. In the eight years from 1962 to 1970, the group had released twenty-four UK singles and twelve studio albums, often released in different configurations in the USA and other countries (see discography).
Since 1970

McCartney during a Wings concert, 1976
After the break-up of The Beatles, McCartney continued his musical career, in solo work as well as in collaborations with other musicians. After releasing his solo album McCartney in 1970, he worked with Linda McCartney to record the album Ram in 1971. Later the same year, the pair were joined by guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell to form the group Wings, which was active between 1971 and 1981 and released numerous successful singles and albums (see discography). McCartney also collaborated with a number of other popular artists including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Eric Stewart, and Elvis Costello. In 1985, McCartney played "Let It Be" at the Live Aid concert in London, backed by Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend, David Bowie, and Alison Moyet.
In 1989, he joined forces with fellow Merseysiders including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers and Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood to record a new version of Ferry Cross the Mersey (originally recorded 25 years earlier by Gerry and the Pacemakers) to generate money for the appeal fund of the Hillsborough disaster, which occurred on 15 April that year and in which 96 Liverpool F.C. fans died as a result of their injuries.[48]
The 1990s saw McCartney venture into orchestral music, and in 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial.[49]
He collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio;[50] involving the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess,[51] Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral.[52] The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music[53] and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (2008).[54] Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and Ecce Cor Meum (2006). It was announced in the 1997 New Year Honours that McCartney was to be knighted for services to music,[55] becoming Sir Paul McCartney.[56] In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and in May 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. The 1990s also saw McCartney, Harrison, and Starr working together on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series.
Having witnessed the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac,[57][58] McCartney took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City. In November 2002, on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death, McCartney performed at the Concert for George.[59] He has also participated in the National Football League's Super Bowl, performing in the pre-game show for Super Bowl XXXVI and headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.

McCartney and Ringo Starr promoting The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009.

McCartney performing in Dublin, Ireland, on 10 July 2010
McCartney has continued to work in the realms of popular and classical music, touring the world and performing at a large number of concerts and events; on more than one occasion he has performed again with Ringo Starr. In 2008, he received a BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music[60] and an honorary degree, Doctor of Music, from Yale University.[61] The same year, he performed at a concert in Liverpool to celebrate the city's year as European Capital of Culture.[62] In 2009, he received two nominations for the 51st annual Grammy awards, while in October of the same year he was named songwriter of the year at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. On 15 July 2009, more than 45 years after The Beatles first appeared on American television on The Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and performed atop the marquee of Late Show with David Letterman.[63] McCartney was portrayed in the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about Lennon's teenage years, by Thomas Sangster.
On 2 June 2010, McCartney was honoured by Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show for the White House with performances by Stevie Wonder, Lang Lang and many others.[64]
McCartney's enduring popularity has helped him schedule performances in new venues. He played three sold out concerts at newly-built Citi Field in Queens, New York (built to replace the Shea Stadium) in July 2009. On 18 August 2010, McCartney opened the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[65]
McCartney has been touring since 2001 with guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr.
There are plans for an upcoming Paul McCartney tribute album with recordings of McCartney songs by Kiss, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, B.B. King and others.[66]
Creative outlets

During the 1960s, McCartney was often seen at major cultural events, such as the launch party for the International Times and at The Roundhouse (28 January and 4 February 1967 respectively).[67] He also delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists. McCartney later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London—John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica.[68][69] The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Barry Miles, whose underground newspaper, the International Times, McCartney helped to start.[70] Miles would become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1997).
While living at the Asher house,[71] McCartney took piano lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which The Beatles' producer Martin had previously attended.[72][73] McCartney studied composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio.[74] McCartney later wrote and released several pieces of modern classical music and ambient electronica, besides writing poetry and painting. McCartney is lead patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an arts school in the building formerly occupied by the Liverpool Institute for Boys.[75] The 1837 building, which McCartney attended during his schooldays, had become derelict by the mid-1980s.[75] On 7 June 1996, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the redeveloped building.[75]
Electronic music
After the recording of "Yesterday" in 1965, McCartney contacted the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale, London, to see if they could record an electronic version of the song, but never followed it up.[76] When visiting John Dunbar's flat in London, McCartney would take along tapes he had compiled at Jane Asher's house.[77] The tapes were mixes of various songs, musical pieces and comments made by McCartney that he had Dick James make into a demo record for him.[78] Heavily influenced by John Cage, he made tape loops by recording voices, guitars, and bongoes on a Brenell tape recorder, and splicing the various loops together. He reversed the tapes, sped them up, and slowed them down to create the effects he wanted, some of which were later used on Beatles' recordings, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows". McCartney referred to the tapes as "electronic symphonies".[79]
In the spring of 1966 McCartney rented a ground floor and basement flat from Ringo Starr at 34 Montagu Square, to be used as a small demo studio for spoken-word recordings by poets, writers (including William S. Burroughs) and avant-garde musicians.[80] The Beatles' Apple Records then launched a sub-label, Zapple with Miles as its manager, ostensibly to release recordings of a similar aesthetic, although few releases would ultimately result as Apple and The Beatles slid into business and personal difficulties.[80]
In 1995, McCartney recorded a radio series called "Oobu Joobu"[81][82] for the American network Westwood One, which he described as being "wide-screen radio".[83] During the 1990s, McCartney collaborated with Youth of Killing Joke under the name The Fireman,[84] and released two ambient electronic albums: Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993) and Rushes (1998). In 2000, he released an album titled Liverpool Sound Collage[85] with Super Furry Animals and Youth, utilising the sound collage and musique concrète techniques that fascinated him in the mid-1960s. In 2005, he worked on a project with bootleg producer and remixer Freelance Hellraiser, consisting of remixed versions of songs from throughout his solo career which were released under the title Twin Freaks.[86] The Fireman's third album Electric Arguments was released on 25 November 2008. Unlike the first two Fireman albums, this one was more song-based in its structure. McCartney told L.A. Weekly in a January 2009, "Fireman is improvisational theatre ... I formalise it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I’m about to do. I usually have a song, and I know the melody and lyrics, and my performance is the only unknown."[87]
Film
McCartney was interested in animated films as a child, and later had the financial resources to ask Geoff Dunbar to direct a short animated film called Rupert and the Frog Song, in 1981. McCartney was the producer, he wrote the music and the script, and also added some of the character voices.[88] McCartney wrote and starred in the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The film and soundtrack featured the popular hit "No More Lonely Nights", and the album reached No.1 in the UK, but the film did not do well commercially or critically.[89] Roger Ebert awarded the film a single star and wrote, "You can safely skip the movie and proceed directly to the sound track."[90] Dunbar worked again with McCartney on an animated film about the work of French artist Honoré Daumier, in 1992, which won both of them a Bafta award.[91] They also worked on Tropic Island Hum, in 1997.[92] In 1995, McCartney made a guest appearance in the Lisa the Vegetarian episode of The Simpsons, and directed a short documentary about The Grateful Dead.[93][94]
In May 2000, McCartney released Wingspan: An Intimate Portrait, a retrospective documentary that features behind-the-scenes films and photographs that Paul and Linda McCartney (who had died in 1998) took of their family and bands.[95] Interspersed throughout the 88 minute film is an interview by Mary McCartney with her father. Mary was the baby photographed inside McCartney's jacket on the back cover of his first solo album, McCartney, and was one of the producers of the documentary.[96]
Painting
In 1966, McCartney met art gallery-owner Robert Fraser, whose flat was visited by many well-known artists.[97] McCartney met Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Peter Blake, and Richard Hamilton there, and learned about art appreciation.[97] McCartney later started buying paintings by Magritte, and used Magritte's painting of an apple for the Apple Records logo.[98] He now owns Magritte's easel and spectacles.[99]
McCartney's love of painting surfaced after watching artist Willem de Kooning paint, in Kooning's Long Island studio.[100] McCartney took up painting in 1983.[101] In 1999, he exhibited his paintings (featuring McCartney's portraits of John Lennon, Andy Warhol, and David Bowie) for the first time in Siegen, Germany, and included photographs by Linda. He chose the gallery because Wolfgang Suttner (local events organiser) was genuinely interested in his art, and the positive reaction led to McCartney showing his work in UK galleries.[102] The first UK exhibition of McCartney's work was opened in Bristol, England with more than 50 paintings on display. McCartney had previously believed that "only people that had been to art school were allowed to paint"—as Lennon had.[102]
In October 2000, Yoko Ono and McCartney presented art exhibitions in New York and London. McCartney said, "I've been offered an exhibition of my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool where John and I used to spend many a pleasant afternoon. So I'm really excited about it. I didn't tell anybody I painted for 15 years but now I'm out of the closet."[103][104]
As an artist, Paul McCartney designed a series of six postage stamps issued by the Isle of Man Post on 1 July 2002. According to BBC News, McCartney seems to be the first major rock star in the world who is also known as a stamp designer.[105]
Writing and poetry
When McCartney was young, his mother read him poems and encouraged him to read books. McCartney's father was interested in crosswords and invited the two young McCartneys (Paul and his brother Michael) to solve them with him, so as to increase their "word power".[106] McCartney was later inspired—in his school years—by Alan Durband, who was McCartney's English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.[107] Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer's works.[108] McCartney later took his A-level exams, but passed only one subject—Art.[109][110]
In 2001 McCartney published 'Blackbird Singing', a volume of poems, some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York City.[111] Some of them were serious: "Here Today" (about Lennon) and some humorous ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer").[112] In the foreword of the book, McCartney explained that when he was a teenager, he had "an overwhelming desire" to have a poem of his published in the school magazine. He wrote something "deep and meaningful", but it was rejected, and he feels that he has been trying to get some kind of revenge ever since. His first "real poem" was about the death of his childhood friend, Ivan Vaughan.[111]
In October 2005, McCartney released a children's book called High in the Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail. In a press release publicising the book, McCartney said, "I have loved reading for as long as I can remember", singling out Treasure Island as a childhood favourite.[113] McCartney collaborated with author Philip Ardagh and animator Geoff Dunbar to write the book.[114]
Contact with fellow ex-Beatles

This section is about social and other general interactions. For creative collaborations, see Collaborations between ex-Beatles.
John Lennon
Although McCartney's post-Beatles relationship with John Lennon was troubled, they became close again briefly in 1974 and even played together for the only time since The Beatles split (see A Toot and a Snore in '74). In later years, the two grew apart again.[115] McCartney would often call Lennon, but was never sure of what sort of reception he would get,[116] such as when McCartney once called Lennon and was told, "You're all pizza and fairytales!" [116] McCartney understood that he could not just phone Lennon and only talk about business, so they often talked about cats, baking bread, or babies.[117] According to May Pang, during Lennon's "Lost Weekend" with her they planned to visit McCartney in New Orleans, where McCartney was recording the Venus and Mars album, but Lennon went back to Ono the day before the planned visit after Ono said she had a new cure for Lennon's smoking habit.[118]
In a 1980 interview, Lennon said that the last time he had seen McCartney was when they had watched the episode of Saturday Night Live (May 1976) in which Lorne Michaels had made his $3,000 cash offer[119] to get Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr to reunite on the show.[120] McCartney and Lennon had seriously considered going to the studio, but were too tired.[121] This event was fictionalised in the 2000 television film Two of Us. His last telephone call to Lennon, which was just before Lennon and Ono released Double Fantasy, was friendly. During the call, Lennon said (laughing) to McCartney, "This housewife wants a career!"[122] which referred to Lennon's househusband years, while looking after Sean Lennon.[123] In 1984, McCartney said this about the phone call: "Yes. That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn't have any kind of blow-up."[124] Linda McCartney, speaking in the same 1984 interview stated: "I know that Paul was desperate to write with John again. And I know John was desperate to write. Desperate. People thought, well, he's taking care of Sean, he's a househusband and all that, but he wasn't happy. He couldn't write and it drove him crazy. And Paul could have helped him... easily."[124]
Reaction to Lennon's murder
Main article: Death of John Lennon
On the morning of 9 December 1980, McCartney awoke to the news that Lennon had been murdered outside his home in the Dakota building in New York.[125] Lennon's death created a media frenzy around the surviving members of The Beatles.[126] On the evening of 9 December, as McCartney was leaving an Oxford Street recording studio, he was surrounded by reporters and asked for his reaction to Lennon's death.[127] He was later criticised for what appeared, when published, to be an utterly superficial response: "It's a drag". [128] McCartney explained, "When John was killed somebody stuck a microphone at me and said: 'What do you think about it?' I said, 'It's a dra-a-ag' and meant it with every inch of melancholy I could muster. When you put that in print it says, 'McCartney in London today when asked for a comment on his dead friend said, "It's a drag."' It seemed a very flippant comment to make."[128] McCartney was also to recall:
“ I talked to Yoko the day after he was killed and the first thing she said was, "John was really fond of you." The last telephone conversation I had with him we were still the best of mates. He was always a very warm guy, John. His bluff was all on the surface. He used to take his glasses down, those granny glasses, and say, "It's only me." They were like a wall, you know? A shield. Those are the moments I treasure.[129] ”
In 1983, McCartney said:
“ I would not have been as typically human and standoffish as I was if I knew John was going to die. I would have made more of an effort to try and get behind his "mask" and have a better relationship with him.'[129] ”
In a Playboy interview in 1984, McCartney said that he went home that night and watched the news on television—while sitting with all his children—and cried all evening.
McCartney carried on recording after the death of Lennon but did not play any live concerts for some time. He explained that this was because he was nervous that he would be "the next" to be murdered.[130][131] This led to a disagreement with Denny Laine, who wanted to continue touring and subsequently left Wings, which McCartney disbanded in 1981.[132] Also in June 1981, six months after Lennon's death, McCartney sang backup on George Harrison's tribute to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago", which also featured Ringo Starr on drums. McCartney would go on to record "Here Today", a tribute song to Lennon.
George Harrison
In 1977, Harrison had this to say about working with McCartney: "There were a lot of tracks though where I played bass...because what Paul would do, if he's written a song, he'd learn all the parts for Paul and then come in the studio and say, 'Do this.' He'd never give you the opportunity to come out with something. Paul would always help along when you'd done his ten songs—then when he got 'round to doing one of my songs, he would help. It was silly. It was very selfish, actually."[133] While being interviewed circa 1988, Harrison said McCartney had recently mentioned the possibility of the two of them writing together, to which Harrison laughed, "I've only been there about 30 years in Paul's life and it's like now he wants to write with me."[134]
In September 1980, Lennon said of Harrison and McCartney's working relationship: "I remember the day [Harrison] called to ask for help on "Taxman", one of his bigger songs. I threw in a few one-liners to help the song along, because that's what he asked for. He came to me because he could not go to Paul, because Paul would not have helped him at that period."[135] Despite this statement, McCartney did contribute to the song, playing the track's guitar solo.
In late 2001, McCartney learned that Harrison was losing his battle with cancer. Upon Harrison's death on 29 November 2001, McCartney told Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, Good Morning America, The Early Show, MTV, VH1 and Today that George was like his "baby brother". Harrison spent his last days in a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney.[136] On the day Harrison died, McCartney said, "George was a fantastic guy...still laughing and joking...a very brave man...and I love him like...he's my brother."[137] While guesting on Larry King Live alongside Ringo Starr, McCartney said of the last time he saw Harrison, "We just sat there stroking hands. And this is a guy, and, you know, you don't stroke hands with guys, like that, you know it was just beautiful. We just spent a couple of hours and it was really lovely it was like...a favourite memory of mine."[138] On the first anniversary of Harrison's death, McCartney played Harrison's "Something" on a ukulele at the Concert for George.[59]
Personal relationships

Main article: Personal relationships of Paul McCartney
One of McCartney's first girlfriends, in 1959, was called Layla, a name he remembers being unusual in Liverpool at the time.[139] Layla was slightly older than McCartney and used to ask him to baby-sit with her. Julie Arthur, another girlfriend, was Ted Ray's niece.[139]
Dot Rhone
McCartney's first serious girlfriend in Liverpool was Dot Rhone, whom he met at the Casbah club in 1959.[140] McCartney chose clothes and make-up for Rhone, and he paid for her to have her hair styled like Brigitte Bardot's.[141][142] When McCartney first went to Hamburg with The Beatles, he wrote to Rhone regularly, and she accompanied Cynthia Lennon to Hamburg when The Beatles played there again in 1962.[143] The couple had a three-year relationship, and were due to marry until Rhone's miscarriage.[144]
Jane Asher
McCartney first met the British actress Jane Asher on 18 April 1963, when a photographer asked them to pose together at a Beatles performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[145] The two began a relationship and McCartney took up residence with Asher at her parents' house at 57 Wimpole Street London, where he lived for nearly three years before the couple moved to McCartney's own house in St. John's Wood.[71] McCartney wrote several songs while at the Ashers', including "Yesterday" and several inspired by Asher, among them "And I Love Her", "You Won't See Me", and "I'm Looking Through You".[72] McCartney and Asher had a five-year relationship, and they planned to marry, but Asher broke off the engagement when she discovered McCartney had become involved with another woman, Francie Schwartz.[146][147] However, Schwartz stated that McCartney and Asher had already broken up before the incident.[148]
Linda McCartney

McCartney performing with wife Linda in 1976
In 1969, McCartney married American photographer Linda Eastman, whom he described as the woman who gave him "the strength and courage to work again" after the break-up of The Beatles.[149] The pair had met previously at a 1967 Georgie Fame concert at The Bag O'Nails club,[95][150] during her UK assignment to take photographs of "Swinging Sixties" musicians in London. Paul and Linda were both vegetarian and supported the animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.[151] They had four children—Linda's daughter Heather (who was adopted by Paul), Mary, Stella and James—and remained married until Linda's death from breast cancer in 1998.
Heather Mills
In 2002, McCartney married Heather Mills, a former model and anti-landmines campaigner. The couple had a child, Beatrice, in 2003. They separated in May 2006 and were divorced in May 2008.[152] Widespread animosity towards McCartney's wives was reported in 2004. "They [the British public] didn't like me giving up on Jane Asher", McCartney said. "I married a New York divorcee with a child, and at the time they didn't like that."[153]
Nancy Shevell
McCartney has been dating New Yorker Nancy Shevell since November 2007.[154] She is a member of the board of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority as well as vice president of a family-owned transportation conglomerate which owns New England Motor Freight.[155] On 6 May 2011, it was reported that McCartney would wed Shevell.[156][157]
Lifestyle

Drugs
McCartney's introduction to drugs started in Hamburg, Germany.[158] The Beatles had to play for hours, and they were often given "Prellies" (Preludin) by German customers or by Astrid Kirchherr (whose mother bought them). McCartney would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five.[159]
McCartney remembered getting "very high" and giggling when The Beatles were introduced to cannabis by Bob Dylan in New York, in 1964.[160] McCartney's use of cannabis became regular, and he was quoted as saying that any future Beatles' lyrics containing the words "high", or "grass" were written specifically as a reference to cannabis, as was the phrase "another kind of mind" in "Got to Get You into My Life".[161] John Dunbar's flat at 29 Lennox Gardens, in London, became a regular hang-out for McCartney, where he talked to musicians, writers and artists, and smoked cannabis.[78] In 1965, Barry Miles introduced McCartney to hash brownies by using a recipe for hash fudge he found in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook.[162] During the filming of Help!, he occasionally smoked a spliff in the car on the way to the studio during filming, which often made him forget his lines.[163] Help! director Dick Lester said that he overheard "two beautiful women" trying to cajole McCartney into taking heroin, but he refused.[163]
McCartney's attitude about cannabis was made public in the 1960s, when he added his name to an advertisement in The Times, on 24 July 1967, which asked for the legalisation of cannabis, the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession, and research into marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement was sponsored by a group called Soma and was signed by 65 people, including The Beatles, Epstein, RD Laing, 15 doctors, and two MPs.[164]
McCartney was introduced to cocaine by Robert Fraser, and it was available during the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[165][166] He admitted that he used the drug multiple times for about a year but stopped because of the unpleasant comedown.[167]
In 1967, on a sailing trip to Greece[168] (with the idea of buying an island for the whole group)[169] McCartney said everybody sat around and took LSD, although McCartney had first taken it with Tara Browne, in 1966.[170][171] He took his second "acid trip" with Lennon on 21 March 1967 after a studio session.[172] McCartney was the first British pop star to openly admit using LSD, in an interview in the now-defunct "Queen" magazine.[173] His admission was followed by a TV interview in the UK on ITN on 19 June 1967, and when McCartney was asked about his admission of LSD use, he said:
“ I was asked a question by a newspaper, and the decision was whether to tell a lie or tell him the truth. I decided to tell him the truth ... but I really didn't want to say anything, you know, because if I had my way I wouldn't have told anyone. I'm not trying to spread the word about this. But the man from the newspaper is the man from the mass medium. I'll keep it a personal thing if he does too, you know ... if he keeps it quiet. But he wanted to spread it so it's his responsibility, you know, for spreading it, not mine. ”
McCartney was not arrested by Norman Pilcher's Drug Squad, as had been Donovan, and several members of the Rolling Stones.[167] In 1972, however, police found cannabis plants growing on his Scottish farm.[174]
On 16 January 1980, Wings went to Tokyo for 11 concerts in Japan.[175] As McCartney was going through customs, officials found 7.7 ounces (218.3 g) of cannabis in his luggage.[175] He was arrested and taken to a Tokyo prison while the Japanese government decided what to do. McCartney had been previously denied a visa to Japan (in 1975) because he had been convicted twice in Europe for possession of cannabis.[167] Public figures called for McCartney to be put on trial for drug-smuggling. Had he been convicted, he would have faced up to seven years in prison.[175] The Wings Japanese tour was cancelled and the other members of Wings left Japan. After ten days in jail, McCartney was released and deported. He was told that he would not be welcome in Japan again, although a decade later he played a concert in Tokyo.[175] In 1984, Paul and Linda McCartney were both arrested for possession of cannabis.[176][177]
In an interview in 2004 he stated the he no longer smoked marijuana, He also admitted to taking Heroin, LSD and Cocaine but said his drug use was never excessive.[178]
Meditation
On 24 August 1967, McCartney met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton, and later went to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend a weekend 'initiation' conference, at which time he and the other Beatles learned Transcendental Meditation (TM).[179] "The whole meditation experience was very good and I still use the mantra. . . I find it soothing and I can imagine that the more you were to get into it, the more interesting it would get." [180] The time McCartney later spent in India at the Maharishi's ashram was highly productive, as practically all of the songs that would later be recorded for The White Album and Abbey Road were composed there by McCartney, Lennon, or both together.[181] Although McCartney was told that he was never to repeat the mantra to anyone else, he did tell Linda McCartney,[182] and said he meditated a lot while he was in jail in Japan.[180] In 2009, McCartney, along with Ringo Starr, headlined a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall, raising three million dollars for the David Lynch Foundation to fund instruction in Transcendental Meditation for at-risk youth.[183][184][185]
Activism
Paul and Linda McCartney became outspoken vegetarians and animal-rights activists. They said that their vegetarianism was realised when they happened to see lambs in a field as they ate a meal of lamb.[186] McCartney has also credited the 1942 Disney film Bambi—in which the young deer's mother is shot by a hunter—as the original inspiration for him to take an interest in animal rights.[187] In his first interview after Linda's death, he promised to continue working for animal rights.[188][189]

McCartney's campaign against landmines
In 1999, McCartney spent £3,000,000 to make sure Linda McCartney's food range remained free of GM ingredients.[190] In 2002, McCartney gave his support to a campaign against a proposed ban on the sale of certain vitamins, herbs, and mineral products in the European Union.[191] Following his marriage to Heather Mills, McCartney joined with her to campaign against landmines;[192][193] both McCartney and Mills are patrons of Adopt-A-Minefield.[192] In 2003, he played a personal concert for the wife of a wealthy banker and donated his one million dollar fee to the charity.[194] He also wore an anti-landmines t-shirt on the Back in the World tour.[193]
In 2006, the McCartneys travelled to Prince Edward Island to bring international attention to the seal hunt (their final public appearance together). Their arrival sparked attention in Newfoundland and Labrador where the hunt is of economic significance.[195] The couple also debated with Newfoundland's Premier Danny Williams on the CNN show Larry King Live. They further stated that the fishermen should quit hunting seals and begin a seal watching business.[196] McCartney has also criticised China's fur trade[197][198] and supports the Make Poverty History campaign.[199]
McCartney has been involved with a number of charity recordings and performances. In 2004, he donated a song to an album to aid the "US Campaign for Burma", in support of Burmese Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,[200] and he had previously been involved in the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Live Aid, and the recording of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (released 8 May 1989) following the Hillsborough disaster.[201][202]
In a December 2008 interview with Prospect Magazine, McCartney mentioned that he tried to convince the Dalai Lama to become a vegetarian. In a letter to the Dalai Lama, McCartney took issue with Buddhism and meat-eating being considered compatible, saying, "Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line." The Dalai Lama replied to McCartney by saying his doctors advised him to eat meat for health reasons. In the interview McCartney said, "I wrote back saying they were wrong."[203]
Football
The Beatles were advised by Epstein to make no comments about the football clubs they supported because it could alienate some fans, though it was well known that McCartney was a supporter of Everton Football Club, and that his father and relatives used to take him to matches.[204][205] His allegiance later shifted to Liverpool F.C.,[206][207] as on 28 July 1968, The Beatles were photographed in a photographer's studio at 192–212 Gray's Inn Road, with McCartney wearing a Liverpool F.C. rosette.[208][209] Linda McCartney later said: "We spent last night listening to Liverpool football team on the radio, wanting them to win so badly. Paul supports Liverpool. He was for Everton for a while because of his family — but it's all Liverpool now."[206][210][211]
Lennon and McCartney were present to watch the 1966 FA Cup Final at Wembley, between Everton and Sheffield Wednesday, and McCartney attended the 1968 FA Cup Final (18 May 1968) which was played by West Bromwich Albion against Everton.[212] After the end of the match, McCartney shared cigarettes and whisky with other football fans.[211] The ex-Liverpool player, Albert Stubbins, was the only footballer shown on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover.[205] McCartney tried to listen (on a radio) to the Liverpool v Manchester United 1977 FA Cup Final, while sailing in the Caribbean,[205] and the video for McCartney's "Pipes of Peace" (in 1983) recreated the 1915 football game played between German and British troops during World War I, at Christmas.[213][214]
At the end of the live version of "Coming Up" recorded in Glasgow in 1979 (later to become a US number one single) the crowd begins to sing "Paul McCartney!" until McCartney takes over and changes the chant to "Kenny Dalglish!", referring to the current Liverpool and Scotland striker. At the same concert, Gordon Smith, former football player who played for Rangers and Brighton & Hove Albion, met the McCartneys, and later accepted an invitation to visit their home in East Sussex in 1980. Smith later said that McCartney was "thrilled I knew Kenny Dalglish", to which Linda added: "I like Gordon McQueen of Man United", and Smith replied, "I know him too."[215]
McCartney attended the 1986 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Everton,[211] and in 1989, he contributed to the Ferry Cross the Mersey charity single that was recorded to aid victims of the Hillsborough Disaster, which happened during a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.[216] McCartney performed at the Liverpool F.C. Anfield stadium on 1 June 2008, as a part of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture year.[217] Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters sang with McCartney on "Band on the Run", and played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R.".[218] Ono and Olivia Harrison attended the concert, along with Ken Dodd, and the former Liverpool F.C. football manager Rafael Benítez.[219][220][221]
In an interview in 2008, McCartney ended speculation about his allegiance when he said:
"Here's the deal: my father was born in Everton, my family are officially Evertonians, so if it comes down to a derby match or an FA Cup final between the two, I would have to support Everton. But after a concert at Wembley Arena I got a bit of a friendship with Kenny Dalglish, who had been to the gig and I thought 'You know what? I am just going to support them both because it's all Liverpool and I don't have that Catholic-Protestant thing.' So I did have to get special dispensation from the Pope to do this but that's it, too bad. I support them both. They are both great teams, but if it comes to the crunch, I'm Evertonian."[222]
In 2010, there was heavy speculation surrounding McCartney that he was to head up a consortium launching a take-over bid for struggling Charlton Athletic. Links between the club and the famous musician go a long way back with Charlton's famous supporters anthem – Valley, Floyd Road – using the tune and a number of lyrics from the Wings song "Mull of Kintyre".[223]
Business

Main articles: Apple Corps, Northern Songs, and MPL Communications
McCartney is one of Britain's wealthiest musicians, with an estimated fortune of £750 million ($1.2 billion) in 2009,[224] although Justice Bennett, in his judgement on McCartney's divorce case found no evidence that McCartney was worth more than £400 million.[152] In December 1998, he was approached to purchase a stake in Everton Football Club by former school friend Bill Kenwright who wished to put a consortium together but McCartney chose to decline the offer.[225] In addition to his interest in Apple Corps, McCartney's MPL Communications owns a significant music publishing catalogue, with access to over 25,000 copyrights.[226] McCartney earned £40 million in 2003, making him Britain's highest media earner.[227] This rose to £48.5 million by 2005.[228] In the same year he joined the top American talent agency Grabow Associates, who arrange private performances for their richest clients.[229] Northern Songs was established in 1963, by Dick James, to publish the songs of Lennon/McCartney.[230]
The Beatles' partnership was replaced in 1968 by a jointly held company, Apple Corps, which continues to control Apple's commercial interests. Northern Songs was purchased by Associated Television (ATV) in 1969, and was sold in 1985 to Michael Jackson. For many years McCartney was unhappy about Jackson's purchase and handling of Northern Songs.[231]
MPL Communications is an umbrella company for McCartney's business interests, which owns a wide range of copyrights,[232] as well as the publishing rights to musicals.[233] In 2006, the Trademarks Registry reported that MPL had started a process to secure the protections associated with registering the name "Paul McCartney" as a trademark.[234] The 2005 films, Brokeback Mountain[235] and Good Night and Good Luck, feature MPL copyrights.[236]
In April 2009, it was revealed that McCartney, in common with other wealthy musicians, had seen a significant decline in his net worth over the preceding year. It was estimated that his fortune had fallen by some £60m, from £238m to £175m.[237] The losses were attributed to the ongoing global recession, and the resultant decline in value of property and stock market holdings.[237]
Critique, recognition and achievements

Main article: List of awards received by Paul McCartney

McCartney performing in Prague, 6 June 2004
McCartney is listed in The Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold discs,[3] "Sir Paul McCartney became the Most Successful Songwriter who has written/co written 188 charted records, of which 91 reached the Top 10 and 33 made it to No.1 totalling 1,662 weeks on the chart (up to the beginning of 2008)."[238]
In the US, McCartney has achieved thirty-two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including twenty-one with The Beatles,[8] one as a co-writer on Elton John's cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",[11] nine solo, with Wings or other collaborators,[9] and one as the composer of "A World Without Love", a number one single for Peter and Gordon.[10] In the UK, McCartney has been involved in more number-one singles than any other artist under a variety of credits, although Elvis Presley has achieved more as a solo artist. McCartney has twenty four number-one singles in the UK, including seventeen with the Beatles, one solo, and one each with Wings, Stevie Wonder, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Band Aid 20 and one with "The Christians et all".[239] McCartney is the only artist to reach the UK number one as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", The Beatles), quintet ("Get Back", The Beatles with Billy Preston), and as part of a musical ensemble for charity (Ferry Aid).[240]
McCartney was voted the "Greatest Composer of the Millennium" by BBC News Online readers and McCartney's song "Yesterday" is thought to be the most covered song in history with more than 2,200 recorded versions[4] and according to the BBC, "The track is the only one by a UK writer to have been aired more than seven million times on American TV and radio and is third in the all-time list. Sir Paul McCartney's Yesterday is the most played song by a British writer this century in the US."[5] After its 1977 release, the Wings single "Mull of Kintyre" became the highest-selling record in British chart history, and remained so until 1984.[241] (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so, in 1984, was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in which McCartney was a participant.)
On 2 July 2005, he was involved with the fastest-released single in history. His performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 was released only 45 minutes after it was performed, before the end of the concert.[242] The single reached number six on the Billboard charts, just hours after the single's release, and hit number one on numerous online download charts across the world.[243] McCartney played for the largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 people paid to see him perform at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 21 April 1990.[244]
McCartney's scheduled concert in St Petersburg, Russia was his 3,000th concert and took place in front of 60,000 fans in Russia, on 20 June 2004.[245] Over his career, McCartney has played 2,523 gigs with The Beatles, 140 with Wings, and 325 as a solo artist.[246] Only his second concert in Russia, with the first just the year before on Moscow's Red Square as the former Communist U.S.S.R. had previously banned music from The Beatles as a "corrupting influence", McCartney hired 3 jets, at a reported cost of $36,000 (€29,800) (£28,000), to spray dry ice in the clouds above Saint Petersburg's Winter Palace Square in a successful attempt to prevent rain.[247]
The day McCartney flew into the former Soviet country, he celebrated his 62nd birthday, and after the concert, according to RIA Novosti news agency, he received a phone call from a fan; then-President Vladimir Putin, who telephoned him after the concert to wish him a happy birthday.

McCartney receiving the Gershwin Award from President Barack Obama in the White House, June 2010
In the concert programme for his 1989 world tour, McCartney wrote that Lennon received all the credit for being the avant-garde Beatle,[70] and McCartney was known as "baby-faced", which he disagreed with.[248] People also assumed that Lennon was the "hard-edged one", and McCartney was the "soft-edged" Beatle,[24] although McCartney admitted to "bossing Lennon around."[249] Linda McCartney said that McCartney had a "hard-edge"—and not just on the surface—which she knew about after all the years she had spent living with him.[24][250] McCartney seemed to confirm this edge when he commented that he sometimes meditates, which he said is better than "sleeping, eating, or shouting at someone".[182]
The minor planet 4148, discovered in 1983, was named "McCartney" in his honour.[251]
On 18 June 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, a milestone that was the subject of one of the first songs he ever wrote, at the age of sixteen,[252] The Beatles' song "When I'm Sixty-Four". Paul Vallely noted in The Independent:
“ "Paul McCartney's 64th birthday is not merely a personal event. It is a cultural milestone for a generation. Such is the nature of celebrity, McCartney is one of those people who has represented the hopes and aspirations of those born in the baby-boom era, which had its awakening in the Sixties." ”
Discography

Main articles: Paul McCartney discography, Wings discography, and The Beatles discography
Tours

Main article: List of Paul McCartney concert tours

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Elizabeth Olsen

2011-08-06T05:08:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Olsen

Elizabeth Chase "Lizzie" Olsen (born February 16, 1989) is an American actress and is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She did theater as a child and has appeared in many of her sisters' productions. She is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and the Atlantic Theater Company. Olsen graduated from Campbell Hall School in 2007.

Elizabeth Olsen

2011 Sundance: Elizabeth Olsen

Sundance 2011: Juno Temple, Elizabeth Olsen, and Other Fresh Faces 2/3/2011

Sundance 2011: Elizabeth Olsen Stops by Silver Lounge

Career

Olsen's career began at the age of four when she acted in her sisters' first movie, Our First Video. She guest starred in Mary-Kate and Ashley's direct-to-video series titled The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley. She cameoed in How the West Was Fun, another of her sisters' productions.
Following in the footsteps of Mary-Kate and Ashley, Olsen starred in three movies, to be released in 2011 and 2012. She first acted in a movie titled Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding, in which she played the role of Zoe. She played the leading role in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)[6] as a woman who comes out of a cult and tries to live a normal life with her sister and brother-in-law. The movie is labeled as an "indie" drama. She has also acted in The Silent House, in which she played the role of Sarah. This film is in post-production. Olsen also appeared in the music video "The Queen" by Carlotta.[7] She is now in the middle of filming the movie Red Lights which is due to be released in 2012.[8] She is also going to be starring in Liberal Arts which is also going to be released in 2012.[9] She is set to star in "Very Good Girls" alongside Dakota Fanning which will be released in 2013.[10][11][12]
[edit]Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1993 Our First Video Herself Video
1994 The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of Thorn Mansion Herself Video
1994 How the West Was Fun Girl in Car TV movie
1995 The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Mystery Cruise Lizzie Video
1995 The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Christmas Caper Herself Video
1996 The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the U.S. Space Camp Mission Herself Video
2011 Martha Marcy May Marlene Martha Main role
2011 Silent House Sarah Main role
2011 Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding Zoe Completed
TBA Red Lights Sally Owen Post-production
2012 Liberal Arts Zibby Filming
[edit]See also

Mary-Kate Olsen
Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
List of American film actresses

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Deion Sanders

2011-08-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

Deion Sanders

Deion Luwynn Sanders (pronounced /ˈdiːɒn/; born August 9, 1967), nicknamed "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion", is a former National Football League cornerback and Major League Baseball outfielder who currently works as an NFL Network analyst. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Sanders is considered one of the most versatile athletes in sporting history because he played two sports at multiple positions. In the NFL, he played primarily at cornerback, but also occasionally as a wide receiver, kick returner, and punt returner. He played for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys. In baseball, he played for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants. He attended Florida State University, where he excelled at both football and baseball.

Snoop Dogg Announces Deion Sanders Hall of Fame Induction

Raw Video: Deion Sanders Leads Kids Football Practice

Deion Sanders Highlights

Deion Sanders on The Frank and Wanda Show

Deion Sanders (a true shutdown corner)

Biography

[edit]High school years
Sanders was born in Fort Myers, Florida. He attended North Fort Myers High School in North Fort Myers, Florida, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. He was an All-State honoree in all three sports. In 1985, Sanders was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team which selected the Top 33 players in the 100 year history of high school football in the state of Florida.
[edit]College career
Sanders was a star in three sports for Florida State: football, baseball, and track. Beginning his freshman year, he started in the Seminoles' secondary, played outfield for the baseball team that finished fifth in the nation, and helped lead the track and field team to a conference championship.
At Florida State University, under head coach Bobby Bowden, Sanders was a two time consensus All-American cornerback in 1986 and 1987, and a third team All-American in 1988, intercepting 14 passes in his career, including three in bowl games, and managed to return one interception 100 yards for a touchdown breaking Fred Biletnikoff's interception return record by one yard. He won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988. He was also a standout punt returner for Florida State, leading the nation in 1988 with his punt return average, and breaking the school's record for career punt return yards. Based on those accolades, his jersey at Florida State, #2, was retired in 1995.
While playing baseball under head coach Mike Martin, at Florida State, Sanders hit .331 in 1986; he was known more for base stealing, swiping 27 bags in 1987. Sanders was drafted while in college by the New York Yankees (He also was selected by the Kansas City Royals out of North Fort Myers High School, though he did not sign.)
Sanders once played the first game of a baseball doubleheader, ran a leg of a 4x100 relay, then returned to play another baseball game.
[edit]Personal life
Sanders has been married twice — to Carolyn Chambers, with whom he has two children (Deion Jr. and Deiondra), and Pilar Biggers with whom he has 3 children (Shilo, Shedeur and Shelomi). Deion appeared with his family on the NBC show Celebrity Family Feud which premiered on June 24, 2008.
Deion Sanders, along with J.M. Black, published his autobiography. Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life. World Publishing 1998. The book was inspired after he began counseling with Bishop T.D. Jakes. Sanders notes his agent Eugene E. Parker as another person who also influenced his life.
[edit]Other
Although Deion Sanders was ranked fourth on the NFL Network's Top 10 - Fastest Players in NFL History, Sanders lost to Willie Gault in the 1990 Super Stars Competition's 100 yard dash and half mile run.
Sanders became involved in a dispute with MLB catcher Carlton Fisk. Fisk, a baseball Hall of Fame catcher, confronted Sanders during a game at Yankee Stadium. Deion started by stepping up to the plate with 1 out and a runner on third, drawing a dollar sign in the dirt before the pitch and then failing to run to first base after hitting a routine pop fly to shortstop, trotting back to the dugout instead.[citation needed] The Yankee fans booed, and while Fisk was on the opposing team said, "Run the f*cking ball out you piece of sh*t." Sanders was "playing the game the wrong way" and tarnished the game of baseball. Deion replied, "The days of slavery are over." Fisk later stated, "He comes up and wants to make it a racial issue, there's no racial issue involved. There is a right way and a wrong way to play this game."[citation needed]The infamous incident was later recounted by Fisk on both ESPN Classic and a CNBC interview with Tim Russert on his show.
[edit]MLB career

Sanders played a nine-year, part-time baseball career, playing 641 games with 4 teams. He was originally drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 6th round of the 1985 draft, but did not sign with them. He was drafted again in the 30th round of the 1988 draft by the New York Yankees and signed with the team on June 22. Sanders later signed with the Atlanta Braves, and during his most productive year in the majors, the 1992 season, he hit .304 for the team, stole 26 bases, and led the NL with 14 triples in 97 games. During the 1989 season, he hit a major league home run and scored a touchdown in the NFL in the same week, the only player to ever do so. Sanders is also the only man to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Sanders is known in Braves lore as the player who brought the "tomahawk chop". It was adopted by those fans, as Sanders, himself a Florida State alum, was familiar with the Seminoles War Chant. The tomahawk chop continues to be a rally gesture for Braves fans to this day.
On July 31 of the 1991 MLB season, Sanders hit a key three-run homer to spark a comeback win against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the Braves' improbable run to the National League West Division title. However, he had to leave the Braves the very next day to report to the Atlanta Falcons because of a clause in his NFL contract and missed the postseason. Before the 1992 season, Sanders reworked his NFL deal whereby he still reported to the Falcons for training camp in August, but was allowed to rejoin the Braves for the postseason.
In four games of the 1992 World Series, Sanders batted .533 with 4 runs, 8 hits, 2 doubles, and 1 RBI while playing with a broken bone in his foot. Despite Sanders's performance, the Braves ultimately lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. In Game 3, he narrowly avoided being a victim of what would have been only the second triple play in World Series history (following Bill Wambsganss' unassisted triple play in 1920). With Sanders on second base and Terry Pendleton on first, David Justice hit a deep fly ball to center field that Blue Jays center fielder Devon White unexpectedly caught with a leaping effort. Pendleton passed Sanders on the bases for the second out, but umpire Bob Davidson called Sanders safe after he scampered back to second base. Replays showed that Toronto third baseman Kelly Gruber tagged him on the heel before he returned to second.[2]
In 1997, Sanders finished 2nd in the NL with 56 stolen bases in 115 games while with the Cincinnati Reds before leaving baseball for three years.
Sanders returned to the Reds in 2001, but was released after playing in only 29 games and batting just .173. Following his release from the Reds he signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays triple-A affiliate, Syracuse Chiefs. Sanders was hitting .337 for Syracuse before the Washington Redskins found a loophole in his contract that said he could miss training camp and the first few games of the season if he were playing Major League Baseball. Since he was not currently on an MLB roster, Sanders had to leave Syracuse and return to the Redskins so he would not violate his NFL contract. But before arriving at training camp, Sanders informed Redskins personnel he was retiring from professional baseball. In his final professional baseball game, Sanders hit a solo home run and had an RBI single in Syracuse's 12-6 win over the Toledo Mud Hens. [3]
[edit]NFL career

[edit]Atlanta Falcons
Sanders' professional football career started the same year as his baseball career, 1989. He was the fifth pick overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons,[4] where he played until 1993. Sanders returned his first career punt return for a touchdown. During his time in Atlanta, he intercepted 24 passes (including a career high 7 in 1993), three of which he returned for touchdowns. In 1992, he also led the league in kickoff return yards (1,067), yards per return (26.7) and return touchdowns (2). On October 11, 1992, Sanders played in a Falcons game at Miami and then flew to Pittsburgh, hoping to play in the Braves' League Championship Series game against the Pirates that evening and become the first athlete to play in two professional leagues in the same day.[5] Sanders ultimately did not, however, appear in the baseball game that night.[5][6] Over his five years with the Falcons, Sanders found his way to the end zone ten times (three defensive, three kick returns, two punt returns, and two receptions).
[edit]San Francisco 49ers
After five seasons Sanders signed on to play one season with the San Francisco 49ers, where he had arguably his best season as a professional football player, recording six interceptions and returning them for an NFL best 303 yards and three touchdowns. On October 16, 1994, Deion was the big story as he made his dramatic return to the Georgia Dome in a 49er uniform. After getting into a scuffle with his former Falcon teammate Andre Rison, Sanders intercepted a pass from quarterback Jeff George and proceeded to return it 93 yards while mockingly staring down the entire Falcons sideline before high-stepping into the end zone. Sanders was later voted the 1994 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and recorded an interception in the 49ers 49–26 win over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. After the season, Jerry Rice and Sanders publicly feuded — Rice fumed at the idea that the media felt Sanders was the missing link to the 49ers Super Bowl run and that it was not giving credit to the other 52 men in the locker room[citation needed].
[edit]Dallas Cowboys
Following his successful season with the 49ers, Sanders, along with his agent Eugene Parker, proceeded to court numerous teams in need of an All-Pro cornerback. The several teams in the "Deion Sweepstakes," as it was coined by the media, were the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, who had lost their starting cornerback Kevin Smith to injury for the rest of the season.
On September 9, 1995 (which happened to fall in Week 2 of that NFL season), Sanders signed a lucrative contract with the Dallas Cowboys (seven years, $35 million with a $12.99 million signing bonus), essentially making him, at the time, the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. Sanders later stated in his book Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life that the Oakland Raiders offered him more money than any other team, but he chose to play in Dallas for more time on the offensive side of the ball, a chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and because of his friendship with Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin. Arthroscopic surgery kept him sidelined until his debut in Week 9, which was once again in Atlanta against the Falcons, though this time Sanders' debut with his new team was not as dramatic as it was with the 49ers (the Cowboys won, 28 to 13). He went on to help the Cowboys win their third Super Bowl title in four years in Super Bowl XXX against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he returned a punt for 11 yards and caught a 47-yard reception on offense, setting up Dallas' first touchdown of the game and a 27–17 victory. Sanders proceeded to play four more seasons with Dallas, earning Pro Bowl berths in all of them, though the Cowboys would only win one playoff game (in 1996 against the Minnesota Vikings) during that time.
[edit]Washington Redskins
After five seasons with the Cowboys, new Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder pursued Sanders along with other high priced free agents Mark Carrier and Bruce Smith. Sanders played one season with the Redskins, having four interceptions before retiring in 2001. Late in the 2002 NFL season Sanders contemplated a return to the NFL, specifically to the Oakland Raiders. With his rights still the property of the Redskins, he lobbied and received his release from the team and was waived. The San Diego Chargers claimed Sanders' rights and placed him on their Reserve-Retired List. Sanders opted to stay retired.
During the 2002 season, Sanders was a frequent guest commentator on Monday Night Football. On an amusing note, during a Monday Night Football game between Dallas and Washington that year, it was mentioned that Sanders, who was part of the broadcast team for the game, was still collecting salaries from both teams as part of the contracts he had held with each.
[edit]Baltimore Ravens
In 2004, Sanders announced that he was going to end his retirement, after being lured back to football by Ravens cornerback Corey Fuller, linebacker Ray Lewis and best friend Joe Zorovich. He signed a 1-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens to be a nickelback. Sanders chose to wear the number 37, which matched his age at the time, to preemptively let people know that he was well aware of his relative senior status as an NFL player (additionally, the number 21, used by Sanders throughout his career, was already being worn by Ravens Pro Bowl cornerback Chris McAlister). Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 7 of 2004, Sanders scored his ninth career interception return touchdown, moving him into a tie for second place with Ken Houston and Aeneas Williams, and behind Rod Woodson (with 12) for all-time in the statistical category.
In January 2006, after playing two seasons for Baltimore in which the Ravens did not qualify for the postseason, Sanders once again retired from the NFL and became an analyst for the NFL Network.
[edit]Legacy
During his 14-year NFL career, Sanders was a perennial All-Pro and one of the most feared pass defenders to ever play the game. While critics argued that his tackling was poor and he was not much of a factor in run support, they could not deny his closing speed.
Sanders also occasionally lined up with his team's offense. During the 1996 season, Sanders skipped the baseball season by concentrating strictly on football and attended the first NFL training camp of his career to better familiarize himself with the nuances of the wide receiver position. He became the second two-way starter (after the Cardinals' Roy Green) in the NFL since Chuck Bednarik for the first half of the season due to Michael Irvin serving a five game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.
During his career, Sanders intercepted 53 passes for 1,331 yards (a 25.1 yards per return average), recovered four fumbles for 15 yards, returned 155 kickoffs for 3,523 yards, gained 2,199 yards on 212 punt returns, and caught 60 passes for 784 yards. Sanders amassed 7,838 all-purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns: nine interception returns, six punt returns, three kickoff returns, three receiving, and one fumble recovery. His 19 defensive and return touchdowns are an NFL record. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls in 1991--1994, 1996–1999. He was also awarded the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1994.
College Football News named Sanders #8 in its list of 100 Greatest College Football Players of All-Time.
The Sporting News named Sanders #37 in their Top 100 Football Players of the Century released in 1999.
ESPN named Sanders #74 in its list of the 100 Great Athletes of the Century released in 1999.
NFL.com named Sanders #34 on NFL's Top 100 list released in late 2010
On November 11, 2010 Sanders was inducted into the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor.
On February 5, 2011 Sanders was announced as a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in his first year of eligibility.
On May 17, 2011, Sanders was announced as a College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Sanders also had a rushing TD in the playoffs (against the Philadelphia Eagles in January 1996). This makes him (including post season) one of only two players in NFL history (Bill Dudley being the other) to score a touchdown six different ways (interception return, punt return, kickoff return, receiving, rushing, and a fumble recovery).
On February 6, 2011, at the Super Bowl XLV, Sanders performed the pre-game coin toss.
[edit]Media appearances and pop culture fame

Following his first Super Bowl victory with the San Francisco 49ers, Sanders was the host of Saturday Night Live, broadcast on February 18, 1995.
Sanders has been in numerous television commercials for Nike, Pepsi, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and American Express. He was most notable as the Road Runner in a Pepsi ad with Wile E. Coyote, and in a Pizza Hut commercial where he responds to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones questions ("Football or baseball?" and "Offense or defense?") with "both!!", including the question "So what'll it be, Deion? $15...20 million?" Sanders pauses to think it over, and says, "Umm...both.".[7] He also makes a cameo as himself in the film Celtic Pride.
Sanders, known for his custom-made showy suits and flashy jewelry, frequently capitalized on his image. On December 26, 1994 Sanders released Prime Time, a rap album on Bust It Records (MC Hammer's label) that featured the minor hit "Must Be The Money." "Prime Time Keeps on Tickin'" was also released as a single. Sanders, a friend of Hammer's, appeared in his "Too Legit to Quit" music video. His alter-ego "Prime Time" is also used in Hammer's "Pumps and a Bump" video. Hammer, a big sports fan, had launched a new enterprise during his career called Roll Wit It Entertainment & Sports Management (which released DRS' two-million-selling "Gangsta Lean") and had clients such as Evander Holyfield, Deion Sanders and Reggie Brooks.[1] In 1995, Hammer released "Straight to My Feet" (with Deion Sanders) from the Street Fighter soundtrack (released in December 1994). The song charted #57 in the UK.
After retiring from the NFL, Sanders worked as a sports pre-game commentator for CBS' The NFL Today until 2004, when contract negotiations failed. Sanders turned down a 30% salary increase demanding to be paid $2.5 million, the highest of any NFL TV analyst. He was replaced by Shannon Sharpe. During Sanders's run, he participated in several sketches. The first was "Primetime and 21st," a mock street corner where Sanders (not yet a regular panelist) would give his opinions. Another was his "Sanders Claus" persona, one of numerous sketches that involved young kids in football jerseys, representing NFL players, receiving a sarcastic gift from Sanders. Deion actually debuted as "Sanders Claus" in a set of Nike commercials. Still to this day Deion takes presents at Christmas time to local children's hospitals in his area dressed as "Sanders Claus".
Sanders frequently made guest appearances on ESPN, especially on the ESPN Radio Dallas affiliate, and briefly hosted a show called The New American Sportsman. He also hosted the 2002 Miss USA pageant.
Sanders also was co-host of the 2004 GMA Music Awards broadcast, taped in late April 2004, slated for an airing on UPN in May 2004. When negotiations with fellow Viacom property CBS failed (see above) two weeks before the broadcast, and he signed a deal with ESPN, UPN promptly canceled the broadcast, and the show aired on the i Network in December 2004 (both UPN and CBS are now owned by CBS Corporation).
Sanders currently works at NFL Network as an analyst on a number of the network's shows. Prior to the Sunday night game, Sanders, alongside host Rich Eisen and Steve Mariucci, breaks down all the action from the afternoon matchups on NFL GameDay Highlights. At the conclusion of all the action on Sunday, Sanders, Mariucci, Michael Irvin and host Fran Charles recap the day’s action on NFL GameDay Final with highlights, analysis and postgame interviews. For the 2010 season, Sanders joined Eisen, Mariucci and Marshall Faulk on the road for Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Lexus, NFL Network’s two-hour pregame show leading into Thursday Night Football. The group broadcasts live from the stadium two hours prior to all eight live Thursday Night Football games and returns for the Sprint Halftime Show and Kay Jewelers Postgame Show. Sanders also has a segment called "Let's Go Primetime" on NFL Network.
Sanders currently stars in his own reality show -- Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love -- centered around him, his wife, and their five children, all of whom live in the small town of Prosper, Texas.
[edit]"Prime Time" persona

Deion Sanders will often be remembered for sporting his famous "do-rag or bandana" and for his "High-Stepping" into the end zone followed by his touchdown dance celebrations. At the same time, Sanders will also be remembered for being one of the most visible and outspoken football players to ever take the field due to his alter-ego, Prime Time. A marketing ploy as much as an alternate personality as it was given to him by a friend and high school teammate, Florida Gators defensive back Richard Fain. The two played pickup basketball games together during the prime time television hour, and Sanders' athletic display during those games won him that title. Once in the NFL, Sanders felt he deserved to be paid as much as NFL quarterbacks and in 1995 he used the "Prime Time" strategy to sign a seven-year, $35 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys (the contract was essentially five years, but was given a seven-year length for an easier cap hit and the signing bonus was $12,999,999.99, one cent under $13 million due to a superstition of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones). At one point, he was the highest paid defensive player in the league and set the benchmark price-tag for future "shut-down corners". Prime Time was upset that he was placed #34 on the list of Top 100 NFL players and said that he should at least be in the top 10.
[edit]Other ventures

In addition to his sports career, Sanders has moved on to other ventures after his retirement. In 2003, Sanders took interest in Devin Hester, a return specialist from the University of Miami Hurricanes. Sanders mentored Hester, counseling and advising him during various points of his collegiate career. The Chicago Bears drafted Hester in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Since then, Hester has broken, tied, or approached many NFL return records. Hester has cited Sanders as one of his major inspirations and idols, and thanked him for his training and advice. Hester, also known as “Anytime,” occasionally performs Sanders’ signature touchdown dance and high-steps in homage to his mentor.[8][9][10]
Sanders also tried to adopt a high school running back, Noel Devine, who was one of the top recruits in 2007. Sanders was advised against this, but responded, "He doesn't have parents; they died. God put this young man in my heart. This is not about sports. This is about a kid's life." He now mentors Devine, and was a factor in Devine's extended wait to sign a letter-of-intent to West Virginia University. Devine eventually signed to play football for the Mountaineers. Sanders has also been the mentor to San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree, as well as Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant.
In January 2004, Sanders was hired as an assistant coach to the Dallas Fury, a women's professional basketball team in the National Women's Basketball League, even though Sanders had never played organized basketball either in college or the professional level.[11]
On September 2, 2005, in response to the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina, Sanders challenged all professional athletes in the four major sports to donate $1,000 each to relief efforts, hoping to raise between $1.5 and $3 million total. Sanders said "Through unity, we can touch thousands....I have friends and relatives that feel this pain. Help in any way you can."[citation needed] In April 2006, Sanders became an owner of the Austin Wranglers, an Arena Football League team.[12]
Sanders has occasionally served as a celebrity spokesperson, such as representing Monitronics, a security system firm, at an industry conference in the spring of 2010.
[edit]Discography

Year Album Chart Positions
US Hip-Hop US Heatseekers
1994 Prime Time 70 14
2005 The Encore Remix - -
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Alanis Morissette

2011-08-06T01:28:00.000-07:00

Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination.
Morissette began her career in Canada, and as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums, Alanis and Now Is the Time, under MCA Records Canada. Her first international album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill, released in 1995. Jagged has sold more than 33 million units globally and became the best-selling debut album in music history. Her following album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998 and was a success as well. Morissette took up producing duties for her subsequent albums, which include Under Rug Swept, So-Called Chaos and Flavors of Entanglement. Morissette has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide.

Alanis Morissette - Ironic (Video)

Alanis Morissette - Thank You (Video)

Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket

Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (Video)

Alanis Morissette - Uninvited

Alanis Morissette - Everything (Video)

Alanis Morissette - Unsent (Video)

Early life

Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein), a Hungarian-born teacher, and Alan Richard Morissette, a French-Canadian high school principal.[8] She has a twin brother Wade Morissette (also a musician) who was born 12 minutes after her.[9] Morissette's parents were devout Catholics.[citation needed]
Music career

1990–92: Alanis and Now Is the Time
In 1991 MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. Morissette co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. By the time it was released, she had dropped her stage name and was credited simply as Alanis. The dance-pop album went platinum,[10] and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top twenty on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top forty. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada;[11] comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice.[12] Morissette was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").[13]
In 1992, she released her second album, Now Is the Time, a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than Alanis and contained more thoughtful lyrics.[11] Morissette wrote the songs with the album's producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "people could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it ... people will like your next album if it's a suck-ass one."[12] As with Alanis, Now Is the Time was released only in Canada and produced three top forty singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" and "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". It was a commercial failure, however, selling only a little more than half the copies of her first album.[11][14] With her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract.
1993–97: Move to Los Angeles and Jagged Little Pill
In 1993 Morissette's publisher MCA Music Publishing introduced her to manager Scott Welch.[15] Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular voice", her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living at home with her parents. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people.[15] After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto.[11] Her publisher funded part of her development and when she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio.[11][15] The two wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and by the spring of 1995, she had signed a deal with Maverick Records. According to manager Welch every label they had approached had passed on Morissette apart from Maverick.[15]

"Ironic" (1996)

The two-time Grammy Award-nominated song is considered one of Morissette's signature tunes.
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Maverick Records released Jagged Little Pill internationally in 1995. The album was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation changed quickly when KROQ, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the album's first single.[16] The song instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics,[11] and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic.
After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hit singles helped send Jagged Little Pill to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand In My Pocket" followed, but the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, respectively, kept Jagged Little Pill in the top twenty on the Billboard 200 albums chart for more than a year. According to the RIAA, Jagged Little Pill sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S.; it sold 33 million worldwide,[17] making it the third biggest selling album by a female artist.[18][19] Morissette's popularity grew significantly in Canada, where the album was certified twelve times platinum[10] and produced four RPM chart-toppers: "Hand In My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head over Feet". The album was also a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom.[20][21]
Morissette's success with Jagged Little Pill was credited with leading to the introduction of female singers such as Shakira, Tracy Bonham, Meredith Brooks, Patti Rothberg and, in the early 2000s, Pink and fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne.[22] She was criticized for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, and her previous albums also proved a hindrance for her respectability.[11][23] Morissette and the album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album.[24] At the 1996 Grammy Awards, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.[25]
Later in 1996, Morissette embarked on an eighteen-month world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. Taylor Hawkins, who later joined the Foo Fighters, was the tour's drummer. "Ironic" was nominated for two 1997 Grammy Awards—Record of the Year and Best Music Video, Short Form[26]—and won Single of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards, where Morissette also won Songwriter of the Year and the International Achievement Award.[27] The video Jagged Little Pill, Live, which was co-directed by Morissette and chronicled the bulk of her tour, won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form.[28]
Following the stressful tour, Morissette started practicing Iyengar Yoga for balancing, and after the last December 1996 show, she headed to India for six weeks, accompanied by her mother, two aunts and two female friends.[29]
1998–2000: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Alanis Unplugged

"Thank U" (1998)

The most successful single from 1998's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie was written after a trip to India.
"That I Would Be Good" (1998)

A live version of this ballad was released to promote 1999's Alanis Unplugged.
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Morissette was featured as a guest vocalist on Ringo Starr's cover of "Drift Away" on his 1998 album, Vertical Man, and on the songs "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spoon" on the Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets. She recorded the song "Uninvited" for the soundtrack to the 1998 film City of Angels. Although the track was never commercially released as a single, it received widespread radio airplay in the U.S. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, it won in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.[30] Later in 1998, Morissette released her fourth album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, which she wrote and produced with Glen Ballard.
Privately, the label hoped to sell a million copies of the album on initial release;[31] instead, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 469,000 copies—a record, at the time, for the highest first-week sales of an album by a female artist.[32] The wordy, personal lyrics on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie alienated many fans, and after the album sold considerably less than Jagged Little Pill, many labelled it an example of the sophomore jinx.[11][33] However, it received positive reviews, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone.[34] In Canada, it won the Juno Award for Best Album and was certified four times platinum.[10][35] "Thank U", the album's only major international hit single, was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; the music video, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy.[31][36] Morissette herself directed the videos for "Unsent" and "So Pure", which won, respectively, the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Director and the Juno Award for Video of the Year.[35][37] The "So Pure" video features actor Dash Mihok, with whom Morissette was in a relationship at the time.[31]
Morissette contributed vocals to "Mercy", "Hope", "Innocence", and "Faith", four tracks on Jonathan Elias's project The Prayer Cycle, which was released in 1999. The same year, she released the live acoustic album Alanis Unplugged, which was recorded during her appearance on the television show MTV Unplugged. It featured tracks from her previous two albums alongside four new songs, including "King of Pain" (a cover of The Police song) and "No Pressure over Cappuccino", which Morissette wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley. The recording of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie track "That I Would Be Good", released as a single, became a minor hit on hot adult contemporary radio in America. Also in 1999, Morissette released a live version of her song "Are You Still Mad" on the charity album Live in the X Lounge II. For her live rendition of "So Pure" at Woodstock '99, she was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards.[38] During summer 1999, Alanis toured with singer/songwriter Tori Amos on the 5 And A Half Weeks Tour in support of Amos' album To Venus And Back.
2001–03: Under Rug Swept and Feast on Scraps
In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album Blowback. Morissette released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Under Rug Swept debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S.[10][39] It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year.[40] A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.
Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package Feast on Scraps, which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.[39][41]
2004–05: So-Called Chaos, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic and The Collection

Alanis Morissette, 2004

"Everything" (2004)

The first single from So Called Chaos showcased a more relaxed and self-evaluating Morissette and was a moderate success.
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Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-reveal incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.[42] Morissette released her sixth studio album, So-Called Chaos, in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S.[39] The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on adult top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top forty on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word asshole, American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word nightmare instead.[42] Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse commercially than "Everything", although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit.
Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.[43]
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jagged Little Pill, Morissette released a studio acoustic version, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, in June 2005. The album was released exclusively through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run. The limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV North America, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from sale for the duration of Starbucks's exclusive six-week sale.[44][45] As of November 2010, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic had sold 372,000 copies in the U.S.,[46] and a video for "Hand in My Pocket" received rotation on VH1 in America. The accompanying tour ran for two months in mid 2005, with Morissette playing small theatre venues. During the same period, Morissette was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[47]
Morissette opened for The Rolling Stones for a few dates of their A Bigger Bang Tour in the autumn of 2005.
Morissette released the greatest hits album Alanis Morissette: The Collection in late 2005. The lead single and only new track, a cover of Seal's "Crazy", was a U.S. adult top 40 and dance hit, but it achieved only minimal chart success elsewhere. A limited edition of The Collection features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette's 1996 Can't Not Tour: "King of Intimidation" and "Can't Not". (A reworked version of "Can't Not" had also appeared on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.) The DVD also includes a ninety-second clip of the unreleased video for the single "Joining You". As of November 2010, The Collection had sold 373,000 copies in the U.S., according to Soundscan.[46]
Morissette contributed the song "Wunderkind" to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.[48]
Alanis performed two songs with Avril Lavigne: Morissette's "Ironic" and Lavigne's "Losing Grip".
2006–09: Flavors of Entanglement/Leaving Maverick Records

Alanis during a live concert in Barcelona, June 2008
2006 marked the first year in Morissette's musical career without a single concert appearance showcasing her own songs, with the exception of an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January when she performed "Wunderkind".
On April 1, 2007, Morissette released a tongue-in-cheek cover of The Black Eyed Peas's selection "My Humps", which she recorded in a slow, mournful voice, accompanied only by a piano. The accompanying YouTube-hosted video, in which she dances provocatively with a group of men and hits the ones who attempt to touch her "lady lumps", had received 16,465,653 views on February 15, 2009.[49] Morissette did not take any interviews for a time to explain the song, and it was theorized that she did it as an April Fools' Day joke.[50] Black Eyed Peas vocalist Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson responded by sending Morissette a buttocks-shaped cake with an approving note.[51] On the verge of the release of her latest album, she finally elaborated on how the video came to be, citing that she became very much emotionally loaded while recording her new songs one after the other and one day she wished she could do a simple song like "My Humps" in a conversation with Guy Sigsworth and the joke just took a life of its own when they started working on it.[49]
Morissette performed at a gig for The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame, at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles in April 2007. The following June, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada", the American and Canadian national anthems, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks in Ottawa, Ontario.[52] (The NHL requires arenas to perform both the American and Canadian national anthems at games involving teams from both countries.) In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest.
Morissette's seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid 2008. She has stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth.[53] On October 3, 2008, Morissette released the video for her latest single, "Not as We".[54]
Morissette left Maverick Records after all promotion for Flavors was completed.
2010-present
Recently, Morissette has contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Morissette has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before".[55] Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording.[55]
In April 2010, Morissette released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time soundtrack.
On May 26, 2010, the season finale of American Idol, Morissette performed a duet of her song "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox.[56]
Acting career

In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actor: twenty episodes of the children's television show You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988.[57]
In 1993, she appeared in the film Just One of the Girls starring Corey Haim, which she described as "horrible".[clarification needed][citation needed]
In 1999, Morissette delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues, and had a brief role in the Brazilian hit soap opera "Celebridade" (Celebrity).
In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Charlie Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that Morissette would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 until May 28.[58]
She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.
In 2006, she guest starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary/documentary Pittsburgh as herself.
Morissette has appeared in eight episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin.[59] Her first episode aired in July 2009.
In early 2010 Morissette returned to the stage, performing a one night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell out. In April 2010 Morissette was confirmed in the cast of Weeds season six, performing again her role as Dr. Audra Kitson.[60]
It was announced on Morissette's website that she will be starring in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. Morissette will play Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. Morissette stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel[s] blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film".[61]
Personal life

Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier, 15 years her senior, for a short time in the early 1990s.[62] In a 2008 interview with the Calgary Herald, Coulier claimed to be the ex-boyfriend who inspired Morissette's song "You Oughta Know".[63] Morissette, however, has maintained her silence on the subject of the song.[64]
Morissette met Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and the couple began dating soon after.[65] They announced their engagement in June 2004.[63] In February 2007, representatives for Morissette and Reynolds announced they had mutually decided to end their engagement.[66] Morissette has stated that her album Flavors of Entanglement was created out of her grief after the break-up, saying that "it was cathartic".[67]
On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario “MC Souleye” Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home.[68] Their first child, Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway, was born on December 25, 2010.[69]
Morissette is a vegan.[70]
Discography

Main article: Alanis Morissette discography
Alanis (1991)
Now Is the Time (1992)
Jagged Little Pill (1995)
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
Under Rug Swept (2002)
So-Called Chaos (2004)
Flavors of Entanglement (2008)
Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1999 Dogma God
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back herself cameo
2004 De-Lovely unnamed singer sang "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"
2005 Fuck herself documentary
2010 Radio Free Albemuth Sylvie
2012 As Cool As I Am Herself
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 You Can't Do That on Television herself
2000 Sex and the City Dawn episode "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl"
2002 Curb Your Enthusiasm herself episode "The Terrorist Attack"
2002 Celebridade herself Brazilian soap opera
2004 American Dreams singer in the Lair episode "What Dreams May Come"
2005 Degrassi: The Next Generation principal episode "Goin' down the Road: Part 1"
2006 Lovespring International Lucinda
2006 Nip/Tuck Poppy three episodes
2009–2010 Weeds Dr. Audra Kitson
Stage
Year Title Notes
1999 The Vagina Monologues
2004 The Exonerated played Sunny Jacobs
2010 An Oak Tree
Tours

1991: Vanilla Ice tour (opening act)
1995: Jagged Little Pill/Intellectual Intercourse Tour
1996: Can't Not Tour
1998: Club Tour
1999: Junkie Tour
1999: Junkie Tour Australian Leg (with Garbage)
1999: 5 ½ Weeks Tour (with Tori Amos)
2000: One Tour
2001: Under Rug Swept Tour
2002: Toward Our Union Mended Tour
2003: All I Really Want/Feast on Scraps Tour
2004: So-Called Chaos/Au Naturale Tour (with Barenaked Ladies)
2005: Diamond Wink Tour
2008: Exile in America (with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath)
2008: Flavors of Entanglement Tour
2009: Flavors of Entanglement South American Tour
Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Alanis Morissette
See also

Music of Canada portal
Book: Alanis Morissette
Wikipedia Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.
Canadian rock
Music of Canada
Best selling music artists
List of diamond-certified albums in Canada
List of best-selling albums worldwide
List of best-selling music artists
Further reading

Rock on the Net
Canadian chart positions courtesy of the RPM 100 Singles chart listings.
"Alanis Morissette – Artist Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
"Alanis Morissette – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
"Alanis Morissette". Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
Rock Chicks:The Hottest Female Rockers from the 1960s to Now by Stieven-Taylor, Alison (2007). Sydney. Rockpool Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921295-06-5

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Pamela Anderson

2011-08-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P.
She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990.[1] For a time, she was known as Pamela Anderson Lee (or Pamela Lee) after marrying Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. She holds both United States and Canadian citizenship.

pamela anderson

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson in Baywatch

Pamela Anderson BANNED PETA commercial

Pamela Anderson naughty girl for radio

PAMELA ANDERSON hot pressing her ...

Pamela Anderson On The Ellen Degeneres Show

Jeff Ross-Pamela Anderson roast

TV Ad starring Pamela Anderson

Early life

Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia. the daughter of Barry Anderson, a furnace repairman, and Carol (née Grosco), a waitress.[3] Her great-grandfather Juho Hyytiäinen was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi, and left the Grand Duchy of Finland (which was a part of the Russian Empire at the time) in 1908,[4] changing his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson also has Russian ancestry on her mother's side.[5]
[edit]Career

After graduating from Highland Secondary School in 1985, Anderson moved to Vancouver and worked as a fitness instructor. During the summer of 1989, Anderson went with her friends to a BC Lions game at BC Place, and during the game she was shown on the stadium screen wearing a Labatt's t-shirt, causing the crowd to cheer for the 21-year-old Anderson. She was taken down to the field to receive an ovation from the crowd. Photographer and boyfriend Dan Ilicic produced the Blue Zone Girl poster on his own.[6] In October 1989 she appeared as the cover girl on Playboy magazine. At this stage in her modelling career, she had decided to live in Los Angeles to further pursue her career ambitions. She became a centrefold for Playboy when the magazine chose her to be their Playmate of the Month for their February 1990 issue. She then chose to get breast implants. Anderson has since appeared in Playboy several times in the 1990s and 2000s.
[edit]Acting and modeling

This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (August 2011)
After her move to Los Angeles, she won a minor role as the original "Tool Time girl" on the hit television sitcom, Home Improvement. She left the show after two seasons and won the role of C. J. Parker on Baywatch, a role she played between 1992 and 1997. Anderson was still modelling for Outdoor Life and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. In 1993 Pam appeared in a music video "Can't Have Your Cake" by Vince Neil to promote his first solo album "Exposed" in which Steve Stevens played all guitars for the recording of that project.
In 1994, she was cast in her first starring role in Raw Justice also known as Good Cop, Bad Cop, a film in which she costarred with Stacy Keach, David Keith and Airplane! star Robert Hays. The film won the Bronze Award at the Worldfest-Charleston in the category for dramatic theatrical films under the title Good Cop, Bad Cop. The notable cast was the focus of many reviewers. [7][8]
In 1996, she acted in the film Barb Wire playing Barbara Rose Kopetski, which was thought by some to be Anderson's real name. The movie, a thinly veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca, was not a commercial success. In April 1997, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live. She also appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy.
In September 1998, Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the Sony Pictures Entertainment hit syndicated show V.I.P. created by J. F. Lawton.[9] Blending action and humor in a fast-paced adventure series, with Anderson often poking fun at her tabloid image,[10] the show explored the exciting and sometimes treacherous lives of the rich and famous.[11] The series lasted through a successful four year run.[12]
In 1999, she appeared as a giantess in the music video for "Miserable" by California alternative rock band Lit.
Her role as C.J. Parker gave her more popularity and gained her attention from international viewers. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. She also appeared on The Nanny as Fran's rival, Heather Biblow.

Anderson aboard USS Ronald Reagan, (2004)
In early 2004, Anderson returned to the spotlight. In May, she appeared naked on the cover of Playboy magazine. It was the first time she had appeared naked on any magazine cover. Later, she posed naked for Stuff and GQ magazines.
Anderson became a naturalized citizen of the United States on May 12, 2004, while retaining her Canadian citizenship. She has lived in Southern California since 1989.
In 2004, she released the book Star, co-written by Eric Shaw Quinn, about a teenager trying to become famous. After this, she began touring the United States, signing autographs for fans at Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Her second book, the sequel Star Struck, released in 2005, is a thinly veiled look at her life with Tommy Lee and the trials of celebrity life.
In April 2005, Anderson starred in a new Fox sitcom Stacked as Skyler Dayton, a party girl who goes to work at a bookstore. It was cancelled on May 18, 2006, after two seasons, although some episodes had not been aired. On August 14, 2005, Comedy Central created the Roast of Pamela Anderson to honour the sex symbol for the past decade. During her final speech at the Roast, Anderson referred to her breasts as "Pancho and Lefty".
In December 2005, NBC cut off a video of Anderson pole dancing on Elton John's "The Red Piano." NBC said that the footage was inappropriate for prime time. The video was shown on huge screens during the event, while John played "The Bitch is Back".
In March 2006, it was announced that Anderson would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame thanks to her many years as a model and actress. She is only the second model to receive a star. In April 2006, Anderson hosted Canada's Juno Awards, becoming the first non-singer and model to do so.
Anderson was repeatedly referenced in the 2006 mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan as the title character seeks to kidnap and marry her. Anderson appears in person at the end of the film confronted by Borat in a staged botched abduction.[13]
She performed on February 13–14, 2008 in a Valentine's Day striptease act at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris.[14]
On July 9, 2008, Anderson entered the Australian Big Brother house for a three-day visit.[15] Her appearance on this show also marked Anderson's foray into reality television with a series of her own, Pam: Girl on the Loose, which debuted on August 3, 2008 on E! in the United States.
In December 2009, Anderson guest-starred as Genie of the Lamp in the pantomime Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre in Wimbledon, south-west London, England.[16][17] Anderson took over the role from comedienne Ruby Wax, with former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson and comedian Paul O'Grady also booked for the role.[18] In the spring of 2010, Anderson appeared as one of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars.
Anderson is due to star in a short film The Commuter directed by the McHenry Brothers to promote the Nokia N8 smartphone in the UK[19] Fans of Anderson, who won a Nokia UK run competition, will be starring alongside Anderson in the short film.[20]
In November 2010, Anderson appeared on season 4 of the Indian television reality show Bigg Boss as a guest. She stayed for three days for a reported sum of Rs. 2.5 crores (approx 550,000 USD). The show is inspired from the famous reality show Big Brother.[21]
[edit]Playboy career
Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson attending "The 6th Annual Hollywood Style Awards" Beverly Hills, CA on Oct. 10, 2009
Playboy centerfold appearance
February 1990
Preceded by Peggy McIntaggart
Succeeded by Deborah Driggs
Personal details
Born July 1, 1967
Measurements Bust: 36 in (91 cm)[1]
Waist: 22 in (56 cm)
Hips: 34 in (86 cm)
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Weight 105 lb (48 kg; 7.5 st)[1]
Anderson's Playboy career spans three decades (1989–2011), and she has appeared on more Playboy covers than anyone else.[22] She has also made appearances in the publication's newsstand specials. Anderson wrote the foreword in the Playboy coffee table book Playboy's Greatest Covers.
[edit]Pro wrestling
During an appearance at the World Wrestling Federation's Royal Rumble in 1995, Anderson promised that she would accompany the winner of the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania. Anderson returned for her appearance at the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania XI on April 2, but as the guest valet for WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel and not the Royal Rumble winner, his opponent Shawn Michaels; Michaels ended up being accompanied to the ring by Jenny McCarthy. After pinning Michaels, Diesel left with both Anderson and McCarthy.
In anticipation of her appearance at the Royal Rumble, several skits were produced featuring wrestlers fawning over Anderson. One commercial featured Anderson coming home and checking her answering machine. As Anderson strips down behind a curtain, messages from wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and Doink the Clown can be heard.
At the 2006 Canada's Walk of Fame induction ceremony, Anderson shared a kiss with WWE diva and fellow Canadian Trish Stratus.
She appeared on former Pro Wrestling commentator Mark Madden's Pittsburgh-based sports talk radio show in October, 2006.
[edit]Dancing with the Stars
Anderson was a contestant on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Damian Whitewood. The season premiered on Monday, March 22, 2010,[23] and after seven weeks, Anderson was eliminated.[24]
In 2011, she appeared on the eighth cycle of the Argentinian version of Dancing with the Stars, entitled Bailando por un sueño.[25]
[edit]Personal life

[edit]Relationships
In addition to her fame from modelling and acting, Anderson has received a great deal of press attention for her well-publicized personal life. Her relationships have made headlines in gossip magazines for years. Anderson married Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995, after knowing him for only 96 hours and the couple eventually had two sons, Brandon Thomas Lee (b. June 6, 1996) and Dylan Jagger Lee (b. December 29, 1997), named after Pamela's great grandfather Dale Jagger Grosco who fought in World War II. During this time, she was known professionally as Pamela Anderson Lee. Anderson filed for divorce from Lee twice and reconciled with him twice, before the couple finally broke up for good, however, she admitted to newspapers that she still often had sex with him since their divorce.[26] In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted the Hepatitis C virus from Lee (supposedly from sharing tattoo needles), and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she does not expect to live more than 10 or 15 years,[27] but this was misconstrued and taken seriously by many websites and tabloids.

Anderson and Kid Rock in 2003
Since her divorce, she was engaged to the model Marcus Schenkenberg and to the singer Kid Rock (Robert J. Ritchie). She broke up with Schenkenberg in 2001 and with Kid Rock in 2003. It was announced on July 18, 2006 that she would marry Kid Rock on July 29, 2006, on a yacht near St Tropez, France. "Feels like I've been stuck in a time warp," said Anderson in her blog entry. "Not able to let go of MY family picture ... it's been sad and lonely and frustrating ... I've raised my kids alone in hope of a miracle. Well my miracle came and went. And came back and back because he knew that I'd wake up one day and realize that I was waiting for nothing." "I'm moving on," she declared. "I feel like I'm finally free ... I'm in love." There was extensive unconfirmed media speculation that the marriage was pregnancy-related, but the theory was based only on Anderson's representative's refusal to comment on the question.[28]
On November 10, 2006, it was announced that Anderson miscarried while in Vancouver shooting a new film, Blonde and Blonder.[29] Seventeen days later, on November 27, 2006, Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court from Kid Rock, citing irreconcilable differences.[30] Some news reports have suggested that Kid Rock's outrage during a screening of Borat, in which she plays a cameo role, led to the filing for divorce two weeks later.[31]
Anderson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in September 2007 that she was engaged. On September 29, Anderson and Rick Salomon, applied for a marriage license in Las Vegas.[32] Anderson married Salomon between her two nightly appearances at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Hans Klok's magic show in a small wedding ceremony at The Mirage on October 6, 2007.[33] However, the couple separated on December 13, and on February 22, 2008, Anderson requested through the courts that the marriage be annulled citing fraud.[34]
[edit]Sex tapes
A sex tape of Anderson and Tommy Lee on their honeymoon was stolen from their home, and made a huge stir on the Internet. Anderson sued the video distribution company, Internet Entertainment Group. Ultimately, the Lees entered into a confidential settlement agreement with IEG. Thereafter, the company began making the tape available to subscribers to its Web sites again, resulting in triple the normal traffic on the site.[35]
A second tape, which was made before the Tommy Lee tape, involving Anderson and musician Bret Michaels from Poison was later announced, and an abridged version of less than 60 seconds appeared on the internet. Frames of the video first appeared in Penthouse magazine in March 1998. The tape was successfully blocked by Michaels, but a four-minute sex tape is still available on the Internet.
[edit]Charitable work and activism

Anderson promoting vegetarianism
Anderson is a vegan, an advocate for animal rights, and an active member of the animal protection organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), taking part in several campaigns for animal rights.[36][37] She became a vegetarian in her early teens when she saw her father cleaning an animal he had hunted.[38]
One of Anderson's campaigns as a member of PETA has been against the use of fur. In 1999, Anderson received the first Linda McCartney Memorial Award for animal rights protectors, in recognition of her campaign. In 2003, Anderson stripped down for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" advertising campaign. On June 28, 2006, Anderson posed naked with other protesters on a window display of the Stella McCartney boutique in London, England. It was a PETA gala event before the PETA Humanitarian Awards. Anderson went inside the boutique and said she would take her clothes off if the event raised enough money for PETA, which it did.
She has also campaigned against Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 2001, Anderson released a letter in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken, stating "What KFC does to 750 million chickens each year is not civilized or acceptable." She later made a video about KFC's treatment of chickens.[39] In January 2006, Anderson requested that the Governor of Kentucky remove a bust of Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, from display but her request was refused even when she offered her own bust in exchange. In February 2006, Anderson decided to boycott the Kentucky Derby because of its support for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
She has also campaigned against seal hunting in Canada. In March 2006, Anderson asked to speak to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the annual seal hunt but she was refused. In May 2006, she petitioned random individuals on the street for their opinion on the Canadian Seal Hunt. In December, 2009, Anderson, photographed in a t-shirt with a drawn picture of a seal pup on it, was featured in a new ad campaign for PETA. She appears next to the headline "Save the Seals" in the ad and urges the public to help end "Canada's annual seal slaughter."[40]
Anderson joined forces with PETA in a campaign for the boycott of fruit-juice maker POM. The "Pom Horrible Campaign"[41] has resulted in the company halting animal tests.
In March 2005, Anderson became a spokesmodel for MAC Cosmetics's MAC AIDS Fund, which helped people affected by AIDS and HIV. After becoming the official spokesmodel, Anderson raised money during events in Toronto, Tokyo, Dublin, and Athens.
Anderson became the celebrity spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation, and served as the Grand Marshal of the SOS motorcycle ride fundraiser.
She wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama urging the legalization of cannabis.[42]
Anderson became the center of controversy when she posed in a bikini nearly nude for a PETA ad that was banned in Canada on grounds that the ad was sexist. Anderson retorted saying, "In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest over the suffering of cows and chickens. In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole bodies with burqas – is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical." [43]
[edit]Filmography

[edit]Film
Year Title Role Notes
1990 Playboy: Sexy Lingerie II Herself Self – video
1991 Playboy Video Playmate Calendar 1991 Herself Self – video
1991 Playboy: Wet & Wild III Herself Self – video
1991 Playboy: Sexy Lingerie III Herself Self – video
1991 The Taking of Beverly Hills Cheerleader Action film
1992 Playboy Video Centerfold: Pamela Anderson Herself Self – video
1992 Playboy: The Best of Sexy Lingerie Herself Self – video
1992 Playboy: Playmate Bloopers Herself Self – video
1992 Playboy: Playmates in Paradise Herself Self – video
1992 Playboy: Playmate Private Pleasures Herself Self – video
1993 Snapdragon Felicity Thriller film
1994 Raw Justice Sarah Thriller film
1995 Naked Souls Britt Independent thriller film
1995 Baywatch the Movie: Forbidden Paradise C.J Parker Television film
1995 Playboy: The Best of Pamela Anderson Herself Self – video
1995 Edenquest: Pamela Anderson Herself Self – video
1996 Barb Wire Barb Wire Sci-Fi film
1998 Pam & Tommy Lee: Stolen Honeymoon Herself Self – video
1998 Playboy: Celebrities Herself Self – video
1998 A Taste of Playboy: Personalities Volume 1 Herself Self – video
1998 Playboy: Blondes, Brunettes, Redheads Herself Self – video
1999 Playboy: Sexiest Home Videos Herself Self – video
1999 Celebrities Caught on Camera: Volume 1 Herself Self – video
1999 Playboy: Playmate Profile Video Collection Featuring Miss February 1999, 1996, 1993, 1990 Herself Self – video
2001 Playboy Exposed: Playboy Mansion Parties Uncensored Herself Self – video
2002 Playboy: Prime Time Playmates Herself Self – video
2002 Playboy: The Ultimate Pamela Anderson Herself Self – video
2002 Scooby-Doo Herself Uncredited
2003 Scary Movie 3 Becca Comedy spoof film
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Herself Comedy/mockumentary film
2004 Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates Herself Self – video
2005 No Rules Herself Action movie
2006 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Herself Mockumentary
2008 Superhero Movie Invisible Girl Comedy film
2008 Blonde and Blonder Dee Twiddle Comedy film
2010 Costa Rican Summer Herself Comedy film
2010 Hollywood & Wine Herself Comedy film
2010 The Commuter Female Guest in Hotel Short action/comedy film
[edit]Television
Charles in Charge episode "Teacher's Pest" (1990)
Married... with Children episode "Al With Kelly" (1990)
Married... with Children episode "Route 666: Part 2" (1991)
Home Improvement (cast member from 1991–1993)
Baywatch (cast member from 1992–1997)
Days of our Lives (cast member in 1992)
Come Die with Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery (1994)
The Nanny episode "Danny's Dead and Who's Got the Will?" (1997)
The Nanny episode "The Heather Biblow Story" (1997)
V.I.P. (1998–2002)
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Less Than Perfect episode "All About Claude" (2003)
Stripperella (voice) (2003–2004)
Stacked (2005–2006)
Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (2005)
8 Simple Rules episode "C.J.'s Temptation" (2005)
8 Simple Rules episode "Torn Between Two Lovers" (2005)
MADtv (2005)
Pam: Girl on the Loose (2008)
The Sunday Night Project – Guest Host (2008)
Big Brother Australia – House Guest for 3 days (2008)
Dancing with the Stars (2010) – As contestant
Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff (2010) – As roaster
Magic Numbers (in the United Kingdom) (2010) – as guest
Bigg Boss India – House Guest for 4 days (2010)
Bailando 2011 (2011) – As contestant
Les Anges de la télé-réalité (France, season 2) (2011) - as guest in Miami house
[edit]In popular culture

'Newman House' in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Australia
Newman House is a pop architecture building constructed in 2003 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, which features a large image of Anderson's face. Sam Newman commissioned local architect Cassandra Fahey to design the building, and used the image with Anderson's permission. Permits were issued retroactively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIA Victorian Architecture Awards.[44]
Serbian comedy rock band Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi released the song "Lepa si, Pamela" (trans. "You're Beautiful, Pamela") on their 1998 album Seks, droga i Bodiroga (Sex, Drugs and Bodiroga). In the song the band's frontman Igor "Prljavi Inspektor Blaža" Blažević declares his love to Pamela and makes threats to Tommy Lee, and the album cover features an image of Anderson and Blažević in bed.[45] In 2009 Blažević met Anderson in Belgrade, presenting her with the Seks, droga i Bodiroga disc.
Anderson is also seen on the television series, Invader Zim, appearing in "Walk of Doom", "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", "Mortos de Soulstealer", and "The Girl Who Cried Gnome". However, she did not speak in her appearances on the show.[citation needed]

References from Wikipedia.com

Heather Locklear

2011-08-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

Heather Locklear

Heather Deen Locklear (born September 25, 1961) is an American actress best known for her television roles as Sammy Jo Carrington on Dynasty, Officer Stacy Sheridan on T.J. Hooker, Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place, and Caitlin Moore on Spin City.

Heather Locklear #1

Heather Locklear

TJ Hooker - Heather Locklear dances

Heather Locklear Interview On HS 2004 Part 1 Of 2

Heather Locklear vs Heather Thomas

HEATHER LOCKLEAR and AVA SAMBORA at "Never Say Never" Premiere

Early life

Locklear was born in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, the daughter of William Robert Locklear and Diane (née Tinsley). She was raised in Thousand Oaks, California and graduated from Newbury Park High School. Locklear is the youngest of four children. She is also of part Lumbee (Native American) descent.
[edit]Career

Heather attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and pledged Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta, but was never initiated into either sorority. While at UCLA, Locklear began modeling and working in commercials for the school store. She made her earliest screen appearances in the early 1980s with small roles in episodes of CHiPs, 240-Robert, and Eight Is Enough, before beginning a long-term collaboration with Aaron Spelling. Spelling cast her in the role of Sammy Jo Dean during the second season of his TV series Dynasty, and the following year he cast her in the cop show T.J. Hooker with William Shatner. Until the mid 1980s, Locklear appeared as a series regular on T.J. Hooker, while making semi-regular appearances on Dynasty. She was a full-time cast member on Dynasty from 1985 until its cancellation in 1989. In 1991, the cast of Dynasty (including Locklear) reconvened for the four-hour mini-series Dynasty: The Reunion.
Following Dynasty, Locklear had a starring role in the movie The Return of Swamp Thing (for which she won the satirical Razzie Award for Worst Actress,[5]) and also starred in the short-lived sitcom Going Places.
In 1993, she played her best known role, that of scheming vixen Amanda Woodward on Aaron Spelling's drama series Melrose Place, which was a spin-off of Beverly Hills, 90210. Spelling originally signed Locklear for a limited four-episode run, the first of which aired on January 27, 1993. Locklear became a full-time cast member (though she continued to be billed as "Special Guest Star" in the opening credits) until its cancellation in 1999.
Throughout her career, Locklear has appeared in eight television productions made by Aaron Spelling, these being Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, Matt Houston, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Hotel, Melrose Place, and the made-for-TV movie Rich Men, Single Women.
Locklear was the guest host on Saturday Night Live on May 14, 1994. Two of her best-known skits included her as an elderly Jewish woman on Coffee Talk with Mike Myers, and her acting as Amanda Woodward in a Wayne's World skit with Myers, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and Phil Hartman, where Wayne has a dream that he is a character on Melrose Place. Locklear also made a cameo in Wayne's World 2 in 1993. In 1996, she appeared as the main guest on Muppets Tonight, performing in a muppet-style spoof of Melrose entitled "Muppet Heights".
Locklear was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine on May 19, 1994 as Melrose Place reached the height of its popularity.[6] She was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People twice, first in 1994,[3] and again in 2001.[7] She was also the subject of a Lifetime Intimate Portrait special, and of an E! True Hollywood Story special.
After Melrose Place ended in 1999, Locklear was cast in the TV sitcom Spin City (initially opposite Michael J. Fox and later opposite Charlie Sheen). The series ended in 2002, but Locklear earned two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy.
In 2002, Locklear had a brief recurring role on the sitcom Scrubs. In 2003, she starred in a pilot for her own comedy series, Once Around the Park, but this was unsuccessful. The same year, Locklear appeared in the theatrical film Uptown Girls.
In 2004, Locklear made a guest appearance on the sitcom Two and a Half Men, which starred her former Spin City co-star Charlie Sheen. She then starred in the short-lived television drama series LAX set in the airport of the same name. She was also executive producer on the series, but it was cancelled after 11 episodes.
In 2005, Locklear appeared in the theatrical film The Perfect Man with Hilary Duff. The same year, she had a brief recurring role on the series Boston Legal, which starred her former T.J. Hooker co-star William Shatner. She was also featured in a Biography Channel special.
In 2006, Locklear starred in another television pilot, Women of a Certain Age, but this was unsuccessful.
In 2007, Locklear made another pilot for ABC, See Jayne Run, about a business woman who juggles a career with single motherhood, but this was also unsuccessful. She guest-starred on the series Hannah Montana and in the sitcom Rules of Engagement, and was placed 25 on TV Guide & Entertainment Weekly's "100 Greatest TV Icons" list.[8]
In 2009, Locklear joined the cast of The CW's updated version of Melrose Place. Beginning on November 17, 2009, she appeared in almost every episode, reprising her role as Amanda Woodward. Ten years after the end of the original Melrose Place, Amanda Woodward is now a partner in a PR firm, and is both mentor and tormentor to a young underling, Ella, played by Katie Cassidy.[9] However, despite Locklear's appearances (along with various other original series regulars), the new show was not a ratings success and was cancelled after one season.[10]
In 2011, Locklear starred in the TV movie He Loves Me on the Lifetime Channel.[11]
[edit]Personal life

[edit]Relationships

Locklear with Richie Sambora in 1994
Locklear was romantically linked with several Hollywood personalities including Scott Baio.[12] She was married for seven years to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee from May 1986 to August 1993.[13] After their divorce, she married Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora on December 17, 1994 in Paris.[14] She gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Ava, in 1997.[15] By 2010, Ava was already modeling.[16] Locklear filed for divorce from Sambora in February 2006.[17] The following month Sambora filed for joint custody of their daughter and enforcement of a prenuptial agreement.[17] Their divorce was finalized in April 2007.[17] In April 2007, Locklear began a relationship with fellow Melrose Place alum Jack Wagner.[18]
[edit]Legal issues
In September 2008, Locklear was pulled over and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence by a California Highway Patrol officer just outside Santa Barbara after she was seen driving erratically.[19] Police had been tipped off about Locklear's driving by Jill Ishkanian, a former reporter and editor at Us Weekly magazine, who saw Locklear outside a market in Montecito, California. Ishkanian photographed the incident and then sold the photos to celebrity news website TMZ.com for $27,500, though she claims it was entirely a chance meeting and denies following Locklear or setting her up in order to obtain photographs. Locklear was formally charged on November 17, 2008, with one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence.[20] A blood test detected no alcohol or illegal narcotics, but Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter stated that they believe the prescription medications she consumed for her anxiety and depression "could have impaired her ability to safely drive a motor vehicle".[21] On January 2, 2009, Locklear pleaded no contest to reckless driving, and in return the district attorney dismissed the DUI charges. Locklear will serve three years' informal probation, was fined $700 and must complete a DMV road and safety class.[22]
On April 21, 2010, Locklear was arrested on suspicion of hit and run, when a no parking sign was wrecked at 4 a.m. and vehicle debris was found. Police discovered that her car, parked in her garage, showed apparently matching damage. Her lawyer confirmed that Locklear had been cited for a traffic misdemeanor as the vehicle's owner, but said it was not clear who was driving at the time of the accident.[23][24] On May 26, 2010, the Ventura County District Attorney announced that no criminal charges will be filed because there was “insufficient evidence” to determine who was driving the car at the time of the collision.[25][26]
[edit]911 call
In March 2008, a 911 call was made by someone who claimed to be Locklear's doctor and said that Locklear was trying to commit suicide.[27][28][29] Emergency responders were dispatched to Locklear's home. Her publicist later said that Locklear had never requested any medical assistance and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department later stated that no further action was taken once they arrived at Locklear's Westlake Village home, as she appeared to be fine. They did, however, state that they believed the call to be genuine. On June 24, 2008, she checked into a medical facility in Arizona for psychological issues including anxiety and depression, and requested an in-depth evaluation of her medication in order to receive proper diagnosis and treatment.[30] Her agent confirmed that she was suffering from anxiety and depression.[31] On July 23, 2008, Locklear returned home after four weeks of treatment at the facility.[32]
[edit]Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards:
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for Melrose Place (1994) (Nominated)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for Melrose Place (1995) (Nominated)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for Melrose Place (1996) (Nominated)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for Melrose Place (1997) (Nominated)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for Spin City (2000) (Nominated)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for Spin City (2002) (Nominated)
First Americans in the Arts Awards:
Best Actress in a Television Series for Melrose Place (1994) (Won)
TV Land Awards:
Favorite Teen Dream - Female for Melrose Place (2004) (5th place)
Golden Raspberry "Razzie" Awards:
Worst Actress for The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) (Won)
[edit]Filmography

Year Title Role
1984 Firestarter Victoria 'Vicky' Tomlinson McGee
1989 The Return of Swamp Thing Abby Arcane
1991 The Big Slice Tanya
1993 Wayne's World 2 Herself (cameo)
1996 The First Wives Club Sharon (cameo)
1997 Double Tap Agent Katherine Hanson
Money Talks Grace Cipriani
2003 Looney Tunes Back in Action Dusty Tails
Uptown Girls Roma Schleine
2005 The Perfect Man Jean Hamilton
2006 Oranges Irene
[edit]Television work

Year Title Role
1979 Tales of the Unexpected Pat Ward
1980 CHiPs Teenager
1981 240-Robert Jean
Eight is Enough Ingrid
The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies Heather (uncredited)
Twirl Cherie Sanders
1981–1989 Dynasty Sammy Jo Carrington
1982 The Fall Guy June Edwards
Fantasy Island Lorraine Wentworth
Matt Houston Cindy McNichol
1982–1986 T.J. Hooker Officer Stacy Sheridan
1983 Hotel Miranda Harding
The Love Boat Patti Samuels
The Fall Guy Paige Connally
1984 City Killer Andrea McKnight
1988 Rock 'n' Roll Mom Darcy X
1990 Jury Duty: The Comedy Rita Burwald
Rich Men, Single Women Tori
1990–1991 Going Places Alexandra "Alex Burton
1991 Dynasty: The Reunion Sammy Jo Carrington
Her Wicked Ways Melody Shepard
1992 Batman: The Animated Series Lisa Clark (voice)
Body Language Betsy
Highway Heartbreaker Alex
Illusions Jan Sanderson
1993–1999 Melrose Place Amanda Woodward
1993 Fade to Black Victoria
1995 Texas Justice Priscilla Davis
1996 Shattered Mind Suzy/Bonnie/Ginger/Victoria/D.J.
1999–2002 Spin City Caitlin Moore
2000 King of the Hill Peggy Donovan (voice)
2002 Ally McBeal Nicole Naples
Scrubs Julie Keaton
2003 Once Around the Park (pilot) Alex Wingfield
2004 Two and a Half Men Laura Lang
2004–2005 LAX Harley Random
2005 Boston Legal Kelly Nolan
2006 Women of a Certain Age (pilot) Barb
2007 Angels Fall Reese Gilmore
Hannah Montana Heather Truscott
Rules of Engagement Barbara
See Jayne Run (pilot) Jayne Doherty
2008 Flirting with Forty Jackie Laurens
2009 Flying By Pamela
2009–2010 Melrose Place Amanda Woodward
2011 He Loves Me Laura
[edit]Producer

Melrose Place (1997–99) (as co-producer)
LAX (2004–2005)

References from Wikipedia.com

Ben Stiller

2011-08-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ben Stiller

Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
After beginning his acting career with a play, Stiller wrote several mockumentaries, and was offered two of his own shows, both entitled The Ben Stiller Show. He began acting in films, and made his directorial debut with Reality Bites. Throughout his career he has since written, starred in, directed, and/or produced over 50 films including Heavyweights, There's Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Dodgeball, Tropic Thunder and Greenberg. In addition, he has had multiple cameos in music videos, television shows, and films.
Stiller is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.1 billion domestically (United States and Canada), with an average of $73 million per film. Throughout his career, he has received several awards and honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis:
Ben Stiller

Extras (Ricky Gervais & Ben Stiller)

Ben Stiller Japanese CM

Sesame Street: Ben Stiller Sings About Friends & Neighbors

Early life

Stiller was born in New York City. His father, Jerry Stiller, is Jewish; his mother, Anne Meara, who is of Irish Catholic background, converted to Reform Judaism after marrying his father (though the family celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas).[4][5][6][7] Stiller's parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances, including an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show when he was six.[8] He admitted in an interview that he considered his childhood unusual: "In some ways, it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling, a lot of late nights—not what you'd call traditional."[9] His sister, actress Amy Stiller, has made appearances in many of his productions, including Reality Bites, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Zoolander.
He displayed an early interest in film making and made Super 8 movies with his sister and friends.[13] At 10 years old, he made his acting debut as a guest on his mother's television series Kate McShane. In the late 1970s he performed with the New York City troupe NYC's First All Children's Theater, performing in several roles, including the title role in Clever Jack and the Magic Beanstalk.[14] After being inspired by the television show Second City Television while in high school, Stiller realized that he wanted to get involved with sketch comedy.[14]
Stiller attended the Cathedral School and graduated from the Calhoun School in New York in 1983. He started performing on the cabaret circuit as opening act to the cabaret siren Jadin Wong. Stiller then enrolled as a film student at the University of California, Los Angeles. After nine months, Stiller left school to move back to New York City. He made his way through acting classes, auditioning, and trying to find an agent.[15]
[edit]Acting career

[edit]Early work
Stiller landed a role in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney; the production would garner four Tony Awards.[15] During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. His comedic work was so well received by the cast and crew of the play that he followed up with a 10 minute short called The Hustler of Money, a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money. The film featured him in a send-up of Tom Cruise's character and Mahoney in the Paul Newman role, only this time as a bowling hustler instead of a pool shark. The short got the attention of Saturday Night Live, which aired it in 1987, and two years later offered him a spot as a writer.[15] In the meantime, he also had a bit part in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.[16]
In 1989, Stiller wrote and appeared on a season of Saturday Night Live as a featured performer. However, since the show did not want him to make more short films for the show, he left after five episodes.[15] He then put together Elvis Stories, a short film about a fictitious tabloid focused on recent sightings of Elvis Presley.[17] The film starred friends and co-stars John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Mike Myers, Andy Dick, and Jeff Kahn.[17] The film was considered a success, and led him to develop another film titled Back to Brooklyn for MTV.[18]
[edit]The Ben Stiller Show
Main article: The Ben Stiller Show
MTV was so impressed with Back to Brooklyn that they offered Stiller a 13-episode show in the experimental "vid-com" format.[19] Titled The Ben Stiller Show, this series mixed comedy sketches with music videos and parodied various television shows, music stars, and films. It starred Stiller, along with main writer Jeff Khan and Harry O'Reilly with occasional appearances by his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and sister Amy Stiller.[19]
Although the show was canceled after its first season, it led to another show titled The Ben Stiller Show on the Fox Network in 1992. The Ben Stiller Show aired 12 episodes on Fox, with a 13th unaired episode broadcast by Comedy Central in a later revival.[20] Among the principal writers on The Ben Stiller Show were Stiller and Judd Apatow, with the show featuring the ensemble cast of Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick, and Bob Odenkirk.[21] Both Denise Richards and Jeanne Tripplehorn appeared as extras in various episodes. Throughout its short run, The Ben Stiller Show frequently appeared at the bottom of the ratings, even as it garnered critical acclaim and eventually won the Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program" after it was canceled.[20][22][23]
[edit]Directorial debut
After a few minor film roles in the early 1990s, such as Stella, Highway to Hell, and a cameo in The Nutt House, Stiller devoted his time to writing, fund raising, recruiting cast members, starring in, and directing Reality Bites.[15] The film was produced by Danny DeVito (who later directed Stiller's 2003 film Duplex and produced the 2004 film Along Came Polly).[24] Reality Bites debuted as the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and received mixed reviews.[25][26]
He joined his parents in the family film Heavyweights, in which he played two roles, and then had a brief uncredited role in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore.[27][28] Next, he had lead roles in If Lucy Fell and Flirting with Disaster, before tackling his next directorial effort with The Cable Guy which starred Jim Carrey. Stiller once again was featured in his own film as twins. The film received mixed reviews, but was noted for paying the highest salary for an actor up to that point. Jim Carrey received $20 million for his work in the film.[29] The film also connected Stiller with future Frat Pack members Jack Black and Owen Wilson.
Also in 1996, MTV invited Stiller to host the VH1 Fashion Awards. Along with SNL writer Drake Sather, Stiller developed a short film for the awards about a male model known as Derek Zoolander. It was so well received that Stiller developed another short film about the character for the 1997 VH1 Fashion Awards and finally remade the skit into a film.[15]
[edit]Comedy career
In 1998, Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary alongside Cameron Diaz, which accelerated Stiller's acting career. That year he also starred in several dramas including Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Permanent Midnight. Stiller was invited to take part in hosting the Music Video awards, for which he developed a parody of the Backstreet Boys and performed a sketch with his father, commenting on his current career.[30]
In 1999, he starred in three films, including Mystery Men, where he played a superhero wannabe called Mr. Furious. He returned to directing with a new spoof television series for Fox titled Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black, however, the show was not picked up by Fox after its pilot episode and the series was cancelled.[31]
2000 would be a better year for Stiller as he starred in three more films including one of his most recognizable roles, as a male nurse named Greg Focker in Meet the Parents opposite Robert De Niro.[32] The film was well-received by critics, grossed over $330 million worldwide, and spawned two sequels.[33][34] Also in 2000, MTV again invited Stiller to make another short film and he developed Mission: Improbable, a spoof of Tom Cruise's role in Mission: Impossible II and other films.[35]

Stiller signing autographs before a screening for Tropic Thunder at Camp Pendleton on August 3, 2008.
In 2001, Stiller would direct his third feature film, Zoolander, which focused on the character Derek Zoolander (played by Stiller) that he developed for the VH1 Fashion Awards. The film featured multiple cameos from a variety of celebrities including Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Lenny Kravitz, Heidi Klum, and David Bowie among others. The film was banned in Malaysia (as the plot centered on an assassination attempt of a Malaysian prime minister)[36] while shots of the World Trade Center were digitally removed and hidden for the film's release after the September 11 terrorist attacks.[37]
After Stiller worked with Owen Wilson in Zoolander, they joined together again for The Royal Tenenbaums.[37] Over the next two years, Stiller continued with the lackluster box office film Duplex and several cameos in Orange County and Nobody Knows Anything!.[38][39][40] He also guest-starred on several television shows, including an appearance in an episode of the television series King Of Queens in a flashback as the father of the character Arthur (played by Jerry Stiller).[41] He also made a guest appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE Raw.[42]
In 2004, Stiller appeared in six different films, all of which were comedies, and include some of his highest grossing films. They include Starsky & Hutch, Envy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, an uncredited cameo in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Along Came Polly, and Meet the Fockers. While Envy only grossed $14.5 million worldwide,[43] his most successful film of the year was Meet the Fockers, which grossed over $516.6 million worldwide.[44] In 2005, Stiller would begin his first attempt at a computer-animated film with Madagascar, which performed so well at the box office that it resulted in a sequel released in 2008.

Ben Stiller in 2006, photographed by Jerry Avenaim
In 2006, Stiller had cameo roles in School for Scoundrels, and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, for which he served as executive producer. In December, Stiller starred in the lead role of Night at the Museum. Although not a critical favorite, it earned over $115 million in ten days.[45] In 2007, Stiller starred alongside Malin Åkerman in the romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid. The film earned over $100 million worldwide despite receiving mostly negative reviews.[46][47] Tropic Thunder, a film he directed, co-wrote, and co-produced, and in which he starred with Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, was released on August 13, 2008. In May 2009, he starred with Amy Adams in the sequel Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.[48] In 2010, Stiller made a brief cameo in Joaquin Phoenix's mockumentary I'm Still Here and played the lead role in the comedy-drama Greenberg. Stiller again portrayed Gaylord 'Greg' Focker in Little Fockers, the second sequel to Meet the Parents. Stiller had planned to voice a character in Megamind, but later dropped out while still remaining a producer.[49]
[edit]Upcoming projects

Stiller at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
For 2011, Stiller will join Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda in Tower Heist about a group of maintenance workers planning a heist in a residential skyscraper.[50] Filming began in November 2010.
[edit]The Frat Pack

Main article: Frat Pack
Stiller is the "acknowledged leader" of the Frat Pack, a core group of actors that has worked together in multiple films. The group includes Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd.[51][52] Stiller has been acknowledged as the leader of the group due to his multiple cameos and for his consistent use of the other members in roles in films which he produces and directs.[51] He has appeared the most with Owen Wilson, in eleven films including: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Heat Vision and Jack (1999 television pilot), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and "Little Fockers" (2010).[51][53] Of the 35 primary films that are considered Frat Pack films, Stiller has been involved with 20, in some capacity.[51] He is also the only member of this group to have appeared in a Brat Pack film (Fresh Horses).[16]
[edit]Personal life

Stiller in December 2008.
Ben Stiller dated several actresses during his early television and film career, including Jeanne Tripplehorn, Calista Flockhart, and Amanda Peet.[54][55] In May 2000, Stiller married Christine Taylor, whom he met while filming a never-broadcast television pilot for the Fox Broadcasting network called Heat Vision and Jack, which starred Jack Black.[56] The couple appeared onscreen together in Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Tropic Thunder. He and Taylor reside in Hollywood Hills[9] and have a daughter, Ella Olivia, born April 10, 2002, and a son, Quinlin Dempsey, born July 10, 2005.[57]
Stiller is a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated money to John Kerry's 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign.[58] In February 2007, Stiller attended a fundraiser for Barack Obama and later donated to the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns of Democrats Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton.[59] Stiller is also a supporter of several charities including Declare Yourself, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.[60] In 2010, Stiller joined Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Robin Williams, and other Hollywood stars in "The Cove PSA: My Friend is... ", an effort to stop the slaughter of dolphins and protect the Japanese population from the toxic levels of mercury found in dolphin meat.[61]
In a 1999 interview with GQ and later in a 2001 interview with Hollywood.com, Stiller stated that he has bipolar disorder, an illness he said that ran in his family.[23] In interviews in November and December 2006, Stiller claimed that this earlier interview's comment about the disorder was false.[62] In one interview he clarified, "I said jokingly in GQ that I was, like, crazy, and it came out as: Ben Stiller, bipolar manic-depressive!"[63]
Stiller frequently does impersonations of many of his favorite performers, including Bono, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, and David Blaine. In an interview with Parade, he commented that Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Jimmie Walker were inspirations for his comedy career.[9] Stiller is also a self-professed Trekkie and appeared in the television special Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond to express his love of the show, as well as a comedy roast for William Shatner.[64][65] He frequently references the show in his work, and named his production company Red Hour Productions after the original Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons".[66]
[edit]Filmography

[edit]Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1987 Empire of the Sun Dainty
Hot Pursuit Chris Honeywell
Shoeshine
1988 Fresh Horses Tipton
1989 Next of Kin Lawrence Isabella
Elvis Stories Bruce
That's Adequate Chip Lane
1990 Stella Jim Uptegrove
1992 The Nutt House Pie Thrower Cameo
Highway to Hell Pluto's Cook/Attila the Hun
1994 Reality Bites Michael Grates Also director
1995 Heavyweights Tony Perkis/Tony Perkis Sr.
1996 The Cable Guy Sam Sweet/Stan Sweet Also director
Flirting with Disaster Mel
If Lucy Fell Bwick Elias
Happy Gilmore Hal L. (Nursing Home Orderly) Uncredited
1998 Permanent Midnight Jerry Stahl
Your Friends & Neighbors Jerry
There's Something About Mary Ted Stroehmann
Zero Effect Steve Arlo
1999 Black and White Mark Clear
Mystery Men Mr. Furious
The Suburbans Jay Rose
2000 Meet the Parents Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Keeping the Faith Rabbi Jake Schram
The Independent Cop
2001 The Royal Tenenbaums Chas Tenenbaum
Zoolander Derek Zoolander Also writer and director
2002 Orange County The Firefighter Cameo
Run Ronnie Run Himself
2003 Nobody Knows Anything! Peach Expert Cameo
Duplex Alex Rose
Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself Cameo
2004 Meet the Fockers Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Arturo Mendes Cameo
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story White Goodman
Envy Tim Dingman
Starsky & Hutch David Starsky
Along Came Polly Reuben Feffer
2005 Danny Roane: First Time Director Himself
Madagascar Alex Voice only
Sledge: The Untold Story Commander
2006 Night at the Museum Larry Daley
In Search of Ted Demme Himself
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Guitar Center Guy Cameo and producer
School for Scoundrels Lonnie
2007 The Heartbreak Kid Eddie Cantrow
2008 Tropic Thunder Tugg Speedman Also writer and director
Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Alex Voice only
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Larry Daley
The Marc Pease Experience Jon Gribble
2010 Greenberg Roger Greenberg Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated — Comedy Film Award for Best Leading Actor
I'm Still Here Himself
Megamind Bernard Executive Producer
Voice-Role
Little Fockers Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
2011 The Trip (US Film Edit) Ben Stiller Exagerated Version of Himself, Cameo (uncredited)
Tower Heist Josh Kovacs
Bunnicula Edgar Allan Crow
2012 Madagascar 3 Alex Voice only
in production
[edit]Director and producer
Year Title Notes
1989 Elvis Stories Director/Writer
1994 Reality Bites Director
1996 The Cable Guy
1999 Heat Vision and Jack
2001 Zoolander Director/Producer/Writer
2003 Duplex Producer
Crooked Lines Executive producer
2004 Starsky & Hutch
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Producer
2006 Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Executive Producer
2007 Blades of Glory Producer
2008 Date School
Tropic Thunder Director/Producer/Writer
2009 The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story Executive Producer
2010 Megamind
2010 Submarine
2011 30 Minutes or Less Producer
[edit]Television work
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Miami Vice Fast Eddie Felcher Single episode
1990 The Ben Stiller Show Himself Director and writer
Working Trash Freddy Novak Television film
1992–1993 The Ben Stiller Show Himself Director, producer, and writer
1995 Duckman Harry Medfly Voice only; single episode
2 Stupid Dogs Tony Robbins-style character Voice Only
1996 NewsRadio Vic Single episode
1997 Friends Tommy
1998 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Strip Club DJ Director and executive producer
WWF Raw Is War Himself Special guest host
2000 Freaks and Geeks Secret Service Agent Single episode
2001 Undeclared Rex
2002 The Simpsons Garth Motherloving Voice only; single episode
Prehistoric Planet Narrator First season
The King of Queens Jerry Single episode
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself Three episodes
2004–2006 Arrested Development Tony Wonder Four episodes
2005 Extras Himself Single episode
2007 Family Guy Voice only; single episode (uncredited)
2008 Sesame Street Single episode
2010 Phineas and Ferb Khaka Peu Peu The Beak
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Himself Single episode
The Trip Himself Exagerated Version of Himself, Cameo (uncredited)
2011 Onion News Network Himself Single episode
[edit]Music videos
Year Title Artist Role
1999 "All Star" Smash Mouth Mr. Furious
2000 "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" Limp Bizkit Himself
"Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water"
2001 "Bad Boy for Life" Sean Combs P. Diddy's Neighbor
2002 "Tribute" Tenacious D Himself
2004 "Taylor" Jack Johnson
2006 Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! Beastie Boys
2007 "Closer" Travis Supermarket Manager
[edit]Awards and honors

Stiller was awarded an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program"for his work on The Ben Stiller Show.[23]
He has been nominated twelve times for the Teen Choice Awards and won once for "Choice Hissy Fit" for his work in Zoolander. He also was nominated by the MTV Movie Awards thirteen times and won three times for "Best Fight" in There's Something About Mary, "Best Comedic Performance" in Meet the Parents, and "Best Villain" in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.[67]
Princeton University's Class of 2005 inducted Stiller as an honorary member of the class during its "Senior Week" in April 2005.
On February 23, 2007, Stiller received the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.[69]
On March 31, 2007, Stiller received the "Wannabe Award" from the Kids' Choice Awards.[70]
On May 31, 2009, Stiller received the MTV Generation Award, at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. It is the ceremony's top honor.

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Jerry Lewis telethon

2011-08-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

Jerry Lewis telethon

The MDA Labor Day Telethon (previously known as The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon and The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon) is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). It has been held annually since 1966. As of 2009, the telethon had raised $2.45 billion since its inception. The telethon was hosted by actor and comedian, Jerry Lewis, from its 1966 inception until 2010.
Starting in 2011, it will be seen the Sunday evening before Labor Day for six hours; This edition, scheduled for syndication to approximately 160 television stations throughout the United States on Sunday, September 4, 2011, will also be the first edition without Jerry Lewis as host. Nigel Lythgoe, Jann Carl, Alison Sweeney and Nancy O'Dell, all who were originally tapped to co-host the telethon with Lewis, will share hosting duties in the 2011 edition.
From 1966 to 2010, the telethon was seen for up to 21½ hours, starting on the Sunday evening preceding Labor Day and continuing until late Monday afternoon. MDA calls its network of participating stations the "Love Network". The show has originated from Las Vegas for 28 of the 45 years it has aired.

Jerry Lewis pulled from telethon gig

Celine Dion - To love you more (Jerry Lewis Telethon, 1998)

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon 2010 - Opening

2010 MDA Jerry Lewis Telethon Final Total and Ending

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Reunion On The 1976 MDA Telethon Part One

History

Lewis began hosting telethons to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America in 1952 after a plea from a staff member who worked on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis' editions of the Colgate Comedy Hour. The shows first originated from a variety of locations in New York City in 1954, as local telethons seen exclusively on WABD-TV Channel 5 (later WNEW-TV, now WNYW). After Lewis conducted many four-hour shows in the New York area to benefit the organization, the idea of a big telethon came about. The organization (MDAA) approached Lewis to host the big event and he agreed. Organizers of the telethon chose Labor Day weekend as it was the only time available to hold the event. Many expected that the Labor Day broadcast would fail with many people out of town or away from their TVs on Labor Day weekend. Even New York City officials were skeptical that it would succeed, which made them reluctant to issue them a fund-raising permit.
[edit]1960s–1970s
Nevertheless, in 1966, the first Labor Day telethon—a nineteen-hour event held at the Americana Hotel (now the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers)—was so successful that Lewis had to paint a "1" on the 6-digit tote board when the final tote reached $1,002,114. The show repeated its success in 1967 raising $1,126,846. In 1968, after word of mouth of the success and stars appearing on the show, the "Love Network" was created when four other stations picked up the telethon – WHEC-TV in Rochester, WGR in Buffalo, WTEV in Providence and WKBG in Boston. However, they met some opposition from the Theater Authority, an organization that represented theatrical-related labor unions, in which their permission is required before the representing talent can perform without charge.
That year, permission was granted for talent to appear on the small telethon "network". The addition of the other stations helped raise the total to $1,401,876. While they originally intended for the entire telethon to be seen, with the obligatory local pauses for station identification, WHEC chose to break in a few minutes every hour to show local volunteers in Rochester taking calls, and, as a result, WHEC had higher proceeds than the other "Love Network" stations. This is how the local cutaway was born. From here on, every Telethon had cutaways and other telethon events used this formula as well. By 1970, the telethon was seen nationwide on 64 stations; that year's edition was also the first coast-to-coast telethon, when it added Los Angeles and San Francisco to its station roster.
It was also the year the Theater Authority lifted its ban on nationwide telethons. Proceeds this year came to $5,093,385. The show continued to gain popularity and huge stars throughout the next two years. Then, in 1973, with 150 "Love Network" stations in tow, the telethon moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where it originated at the Sahara Hotel. It was also the year the telethon broke the $10 million mark, with its final tote being $12,395,973. However, the tote board, which was operated on a solari board, only had seven digits (to just under $10 million), so Lewis repeated his 1966 stunt of painting the "1" on the left after Ed McMahon came on stage saying "I have a brush, and I have some paint...". The following year, an additional solari number flipper was added to the current seven digits, which would allow for displaying to just under $100 million. In 1976, the "Love Network" grew to 213 stations; it was also the year of the reunion of Jerry and his former partner, Dean Martin, which was arranged by a frequent telethon guest, Frank Sinatra.
[edit]1980s–1990s
During the telethon's Las Vegas years in the 1970s and 1980s, the show originated at the Sahara until 1982 when it moved to a bigger space at Caesars Palace. The show continued there until 1989 when it originated from the Cashman Center in Las Vegas - the only time it was transmitted from a non-hotel in Las Vegas. Lewis anchored the entire broadcast—which would eventually expand to 21½ hours—from its inception until 1983, when he rested for a few hours offstage, having undergone bypass surgery the year before. In 1990, the telethon originated from the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles, then returned to Las Vegas and the Sahara Hotel until 1995 when it moved again to Southern California, to CBS Television City for 9 years and then in 2005 to Beverly Hills. In 1998, MDA's all-star landmark show became the first to be broadcast on the Internet by RealNetworks on the association's website.
After the telethon, the site features a special highlights reel of the telethon for that year. Lewis still continued to host at least 16 hours of his telethon until 1999 (a year when he would suffer from various medical issues) when he would appear for the first five hours and the last five hours of the telecast, with an extended pre-recorded segment presented during late-night hours, and other celebrities filling in for Lewis and Ed McMahon during the morning hours. Co-hosts have included talk show host Larry King, comedians Norm Crosby, Elayne Boosler, Bob Zany, TV personalities Chad Everett, David Hartman, Casey Kasem, Jann Carl, Leeza Gibbons, John Tesh, veteran singers Tony Orlando, Julius LaRosa (who began co-hosting for Lewis in remote locations since 1975), Sammy Davis Jr., and many others.
[edit]2000s–2010s

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon logo, used during the 2000s through 2010.
The telethon returned to Las Vegas in 2006 at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa (which was the South Coast its first year there), and has remained there through the 2010 telethon. In 2009, the telethon extended its coverage to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, offering additional information and behind-the scenes material for followers of these services.[8] Beginning in 2010, viewers could also text their pledges for an automatic $10 donation, aside from texting charges. As of 2010, the national segments of the telethon were not broadcast in high definition, though some stations broadcast their local segments in HD.[citation needed] The 2010 edition was syndicated to approximately 190 Love Network affiliates throughout the United States.
[edit]Cutbacks
On October 6, 2010, the MDA announced that the telethon will be trimmed back considerably, to six hours, beginning with the 2011 edition to be televised Sunday, September 4, 2011. This new version of the telethon, to be broadcast from 6 pm to 12 midnight local time, was in response to lagging donations, stations showing only part of the telethon or dropping it altogether, and the less-than-stellar talent in recent telethons—as well as Lewis, now in his mid-80s, devoting less and less time to appearing on-air due his age and health. The telethon, to be seen live in the Eastern Time Zone and tape-delayed in the rest of the country, has been revamped in order to attract more stations to the Love Network (which had shrunk from its peak of 213 stations in 1976 to 190 in 2010), as well as to attract more top celebrities and talent to the show, resulting in more viewers and donations. The other aspects of the telethon, such as corporate donations, stories from those who relied on the MDA's help, and local segments, will remain,[3][9] though local segments will be restricted to two 7 to 8-minute segments every hour.[4] As of June 2011, stars confirmed for the first short-form version include Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride and Darius Rucker, in pre-taped segments from the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.[6] The 2011 edition will originate from its current home, the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas.[4]
[edit]Lewis steps down as host, chairman
On May 16, 2011, it was first announced by the MDA that the 2011 version of the telethon will be Lewis' last as host, and that he would continue as role as MDA's National Chairman,[5] still appearing at the close of each telethon, to sing his signature closing song, You'll Never Walk Alone.[10] But soon after this announcement, Lewis would deny that he ever said it would be his last telethon, would not elaborate on his role in the current telethon, and announced he would indicate his future plans the day after the telethon broadcast.[11]
On August 3, 2011, a tweet from CNN stated that Lewis would not only step down from his role as telethon host immediately, but also relinquish his role as chairman.[12] This news would later be confirmed by the MDA, who said that they would "not be replacing him as MDA national chairman, and he will not be appearing on the Telethon." [2] The MDA also confirmed that Lythgoe, O'Dell, Sweeney and Carl, all slated to be co-hosts under Lewis, will share hosting duties.[7] All parties refused to give any details as to why Lewis unceremoniously resigned from MDA and the telethon, but according to zap2it, during the annual Television Critics Association summer press tour, reporters asked Lewis on his role in the 2011 edition, to which he responded, "No... Because it's none of your business." Lewis then mentioned that he has planned a press conference to take place the day after the telethon, citing "I will have plenty to say about what I think is important."[7]
[edit]Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon was Lewis' long-time co-host. McMahon was involved with the telethon beginning in 1967 and co-hosted the show with Jerry from 1973 to 2008.[13] Similar to his regular position as co-host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, McMahon was Lewis' co-host, announcing the intros and outros of each segment, welcoming corporate and charitable sponsors with their donations, and of course, calling for a roll of a timpani drum for each million dollar mark passed on the tote board. The trend of taking a break during the telethon was started in 1985 by Ed. As with Lewis, McMahon would also appear only when Lewis appears, with his duties as co-host filled in by others. McMahon died June 23, 2009.[14] The 2009 edition of the telethon paid tribute to McMahon with a special video tribute narrated by Lewis, which played during the first hour of the show.[8] Following the tribute, Lewis introduced McMahon's wife, Pamela, who was in the audience. During the telethon for that year, Jann Carl assumed Ed's duties during Jerry's hours on-air, while announcer and KKGO (Los Angeles) deejay Shawn Parr billboarded the start and end of each segment.
[edit]Scheduling

Previously, the telethon ran live for 21½ hours, ending at 6:30 p.m. ET. During the 2000s, the telethon would end its national portion shortly before 6 p.m. ET, with any remaining time going to stations. In recent years, more "Love Network" stations over the years have opted not to show the entire telethon, opting to join the show in progress after the 11 pm / 10 pm local news, or even on Labor Day morning, after the network morning shows.
In 2010, the last year of the full-length telethon, the telethon ran live for 20½ hours, from 9 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET, though actual start and end times varied by station. However, the MDA still considered 21½ hours as the official length of the telethon, turning over the final hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET to its affiliate stations for local wrap-ups (some stations would elect to end at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. ET instead (or even later), depending on the option of the station).[15]
Effective September 4, 2011, the telethon will be shortened to six hours, and broadcast from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight local time in each time zone, with stations in the Eastern and Atlantic Time Zones broadcasting the event live.[3]
[edit]Conflicts with sports
Some stations break from the coverage during the afternoon to show sports, such as CBS' coverage of the US Open, and subsequently beginning in 2007 NBC Sports covering the second event of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup. One such station is Chicago's WGN-TV, which, since the 1970s, pre-empted the afternoon segment of the telethon for Chicago Cubs or Chicago White Sox baseball (except for the 1994 telethon, due to the baseball strike); incidentally, WGN-TV simulcasts the telethon (including the local telethon segments featuring WGN-TV personalities) nationally via its WGN America superstation feed.
In another case, some use a sister station affiliated with either The CW, MyNetworkTV or an independent to show the telethon start, and/or air the station's network programming while the telethon station continues to air the telethon; this is the case with CBS affiliate WDJT in Milwaukee and its independent sister station WMLW-CA, which in 2007 aired the first four hours of the telethon during CBS prime time, then aired U.S. Open coverage on Labor Day to allow WDJT to carry the telethon. In Pittsburgh, WPXI carried the telethon, while sending NBC's coverage of the Deutsche Bank Championship golf tournament to independent station WBGN-LP.[16]
[edit]Markets with no Love Network affiliate
In some markets, no local station carries the telethon for various reasons. In some cases, the MDA would refuse to renew a contract with a station, leaving a market with no Love Network affiliate, if another station is not found in time. During the last year of the old telethon format, 2010, one example was KAME-TV in Reno, Nevada, which was dropped by the MDA that year, due to economic conditions and a decrease in pledges.[17] Other notable markets with no Love Network affiliate in 2010 included Dothan, Alabama; Yuma, Arizona; Bakersfield, California; Augusta, Georgia; Rockford, Illinois; Tupelo, Mississippi; Lincoln, Nebraska; Greensboro, Greenville and Wilmington, North Carolina; and the Tennessee Tri-Cities.[18] Viewers in these markets could watch the telethon on WGN America or a station in a neighboring market, as well as online from MDA's site. In some areas, satellite and online are the only ways to view the telethon, as WGN America is not seen in all areas, and many cable systems carry only channels within their own market.
[edit]Affiliate changes for the 2011 reformat
While the new telethon format in 2011 was designed to attract new stations and markets into the Love Network fold, the MDA still found themselves dropping some stations—in May 2011, the MDA dropped WABI-TV in Bangor, Maine from the Love Network after 30 years, citing potential economic costs resulting from the new format.[19] The move will leave WGME-TV in Portland as the only Love Network affiliate for the state of Maine,[19] which is not available on Time Warner Cable in most parts of the Bangor market.[20]
Also, another longtime Love Network station, KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, announced that they will no longer carry the telethon, due to the station being an NBC owned and operated station, and the fact that the telethon would be pre-empting NBC's Sunday night schedule.[10] KTXA will be picking up the telethon and will use KTVT personalities for local segments.[21][10]
[edit]Theme songs

Since the show's inception, its theme has been Smile, a song from Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film, Modern Times.
The telethon's toteboard theme song is an instrumental version of Burt Bacharach's What The World Needs Now Is Love (1965). It was used from 1970 through 1989 in different arrangements. At the show's 25th anniversary in 1990, it was not used, but returned for the 1991 edition. In 1992, the song was replaced by various orchestral fanfares to give the show a fresh effect, but it returned in 1996 at Lewis' request. The 2008 and 2009 versions used the song only for the final tote while a generic fanfare marked the others; the 2010 edition used a generic fanfare for all totes, including the final tote, with What The World Needs Now Is Love relegated to a medley of songs that played during the closing credits.
The song Jerry Lewis perennially sings to conclude the event, You'll Never Walk Alone, was originally written for the 1945 Broadway musical play, Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Lewis has given conflicting accounts on the air as to the origin of his use of the song. According to his account at the end of the 2007 telethon, the song was suggested to him in 1964 by a disabled child, walking with a cane; it was suggested to Jerry as a song that would specifically represent physically disabled children. In the 2010 broadcast, however, Lewis mentioned that he knew the song by heart, and was singing it that year for the "59th time", which would mean he had been singing it annually since he began hosting MDA telethons in 1952. Also, a recording of Lewis singing the song for a poster child was released as a cardboard record in 1959.[22]
[edit]Canada

Through the 1980s, there were also Canadian "Love Network" affiliates, whose telethon presentations there benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada (MDC), an organization unrelated to the American MDA, but used Lewis's US telethon for fund raising. The telethon also helped launch a new station—in Winnipeg, CKND-TV's first program on August 31, 1975 was the MDA telethon.[23] Today, no Canadian station airs the telethon, though it is available on cable and satellite from WGN-TV, as well as from border US stations, such as WMYD in Detroit/Windsor (which lists Canadian phone numbers for viewers that want to pledge money). As of 2009, Muscular Dystrophy Canada continued to operate pledge call centers during the telethon to collect Canadian donations.[24] The corporate donation segments still occasionally mention their Canadian donors, and WGN's telethon includes a number for Canadians to call to make a pledge, 1-800-567-CURE, which connects to the pledge center in Toronto.[24] In 2010, WGN's telecast also included a texting address for Canadian viewers to text in their pledges to MDC for an automatic $10 donation, aside from texting charges; this coincided with the MDA's launch of their own text-to-pledge service. Most border stations would also show either the local pledge number for the Canadian portion of their viewing area (as WMYD does), or the national Canadian number.
The final Canadian-based local broadcasts of the telethon aired from Ottawa in 2001. After this, MDC officials canceled the local broadcasts claiming cost savings. The Ottawa broadcasts were first hosted by CFRA radio's Ken Grant, who expressed concern that there would be fewer donations due to the loss of local broadcast features. Ottawa's telethon broadcasts were conducted for 31 years, most of which originated from the Skyline Hotel (later known as the Citadel Inn).[25]
In French Canada, a province-wide telethon for MDA Canada was televised in Quebec in the late-1980s on the Radio-Québec network; first televised in 1987, this telethon was hosted by entertainer Michel Louvain.[26]
[edit]Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico, WKAQ-TV presents their own local telethon for MDA, Sentimiento Telemaratón, generally broadcast the first Sunday after Labor Day, usually from 11 pm to 9 pm AST.[27] As with the English version, the telethon features local and international celebrities, plus information on the organisation, the diseases and the people that rely on MDA's help.[28] While WKAQ does not show the Labor Day telethon, it is considered by the MDA as part of the Love Network.[18]
[edit]Hurricanes and other shortfalls

Telethon tote board pledges for 2004 were down nearly 2%, to $59,398,915 (from $60,505,234 in 2003). Hurricane Frances had struck through most of the Florida peninsula late on September 5, during the telethon, significantly reducing pledges from the southeast United States. As many Florida stations devoted their air-time to coverage of Hurricane Frances, most Love Network stations in Florida cancelled the local segments of the telethon and either showed only parts of the telethon, moved the telethon to a digital subchannel, or did not show the telethon at all. On a Saturday afternoon in early December 2004, some Florida Love Network stations showed a special three-hour telethon, as a way to recoup some of the lost pledges.[citation needed] Telethon pledges were down another 7.5%, to $54,921,586 in 2005 due to significant Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts in New Orleans and throughout the region. That year, Jerry and his guests urged telethon viewers to also give donations to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
The MDA itself donated $1 million to the Salvation Army for hurricane relief efforts. Prior to the hurricane-affected results of 2004 and 2005, the only other time the telethon raised less than the previous year was in 1982 ($28,400,000), during the recession of the early 1980s.[citation needed] One source said, however, that it was due to Jerry sitting out most of the telethon, due to his heart attack earlier (even though the heart attack did not occur until December of that year).[29] However the next year - 1983, the Telethon succeeded again in raising more money than its previous year and by 1984 was back to its record breaking pace. In 2006, the final tote board tally was $61,013,855 as 5 major regional stations knocked out during previous telecast came back online. It was the first time since 2003 that the telethon raised more money than the previous year. In 2007, the telethon again raised more than any previous year, closing the show with tote board pledges totaling $63,759,478.
On Labor Day in 2008 (September 1, 2008), Hurricane Gustav struck the coast of Louisiana. Some Love Network affiliates in the affected area cancelled the telethon for safety and informational purposes. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, the local telethon segments on WNOL-TV were also postponed, with WGNO, the local producer (as well as WNOL's co-owner) urging those wanting to give to do so through "the national telethon".[30] Nationally, Jerry Lewis mentioned Hurricane Gustav and wished those in the affected area, especially his "kids", luck.
Neither he nor his guests made pleas for donations to The Salvation Army, contrary to a press release that said he would,[31] although guest host Tom Bergeron did make a plea for donations to the Salvation Army during his hosting stint on the morning of September 1, as Gustav made landfall. However, with less than 10 minutes remaining in the 2008 telethon, the tote board update reflected an increase from the 2007 total, racking up $65,031,393 in donations, exceeding 2007's tote. Lewis had spoken about his concern at not making his goal of "one dollar more" due to economic conditions and Hurricane Gustav. When the tote board updated to show they'd gotten over 2007's total, he screamed three times, "I got it!" On Labor Day 2009 (September 7, 2009), the telethon only raised $60,481,231 in pledges, more than 2005, but lower than the final 2003 results. Lewis mentioned that the effects of the downfall of the American economy may have played a role in that year's shortfall, but was still amazed by the amount amassed nevertheless.[15] In addition, no hurricanes threatened the United States around Labor Day weekend that year.
The 2010 telethon saw a further reduction by several million dollars. The final tote was $58,919,838. Lewis noted, "I'm heartened by the unique ability of Americans to help others in need, when they themselves are likely struggling financially."[32]
[edit]Tote board

The telethon's toteboards varied from year to year; in the 1970s it was operated on a Solari-board, consisting of seven (later eight) number flippers using a white background and black numbers. Instead of using blank numbers, all flippers began with zeros. This tote board was discontinued after 1989 and replaced with a new tote board, first operated with the "eggcrate" display common on game shows, then later to an LCD-type "vane" display. By 2003, the tote board was changed to a screen display.
Elgin Watches was the sponsor of the telethon's toteboard as the "Official Timekeeper of the Telethon" in the late-1960s and early-1970s, at least during the telethon's New York years.[33] From the mid-1970s to the early-1980s, Helbros was the toteboard sponsor. Since the early-1980s, the tote board had no dedicated sponsor, though some local stations continue to have a sponsor for their local tote boards.
Figures are from the final tote board number at the end of each telethon. For years 1967 on, increase or decrease is given compared to the previous year and to the previous record. As of 2010, the telethon has broken its previous record every year except 1982, 1983 (still better than the previous year), 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010.
The final totes do not take into account any pledges that are made after the final tote is announced live—many stations would continue with their local segments afterward, with some stations delaying the final national tote until the very end of the telethon.
MDA Telethon Final Tote Board Numbers
Year Amount Change From Record Notes Source
1959 $575,208 [34][unreliable source?]
1966 $1,002,114 First modern telethon [34]
1967 $1,126,846 +12.45% +12.45% [citation needed]
1968 $1,401,876 +24.41% +24.41% First year of the Love Network [citation needed]
1969 $2,039,139 +45.46% +45.46% [34][35][unreliable source?]
1970 $5,093,385 +149.78% +149.78% Love Network enters Los Angeles, San Francisco [34][35]
1971 $8,125,387 +59.53% +59.53% [34]
1972 $9,200,754 +13.23% +13.23% [citation needed]
1973 $12,395,973 +34.73% +34.73% First telethon to originate from Las Vegas [34][35]
1974 $16,129,213 +30.12% +30.12% [34]
1975 $18,868,499 +16.98% +16.98% [34][35]
1976 $21,723,813 +15.13% +15.13% Jerry Lewis reunites with Dean Martin [35]
1977 $26,841,490 +23.56% +23.56% $26,841,419[34] or 490[35]
1978 $29,074,405 +8.32% +8.32% [34][35]
1979 $30,691,627 +5.56% +5.56% [35]
1980 $31,103,787 +1.34% +1.34% [36][unreliable source?]
1981 $31,498,772 +1.27% +1.27% [citation needed]
1982 $28,415,339 -9.79% -9.79% Recession [citation needed]
1983 $30,691,627 +8.01% -2.56% [36]
1984 $32,074,566 +4.51% +1.83% [36]
1985 $33,181,652 +3.45% +3.45% [citation needed]
1986 $34,096,773 +2.76% +2.76% [36]
1987 $39,021,723 +14.44% +14.44% [36]
1988 $41,132,113 +5.41% +5.41% [36]
1989 $42,737,219 +3.90% +3.90% [34][36]
1990 $44,172,186 +3.36% +3.36% Telethon moves to Los Angeles [36]
1991 $45,071,657 +2.04% +2.04% Return to Las Vegas [36]
1992 $45,759,368 +1.53% +1.53% [36]
1993 $46,014,922 +0.56% +0.56% [36]
1994 $47,105,396 +2.37% +2.37% [citation needed]
1995 $47,827,221 +1.53% +1.53% Return to Los Angeles [citation needed]
1996 $49,146,555 +2.76% +2.76% [citation needed]
1997 $50,475,055 +2.70% +2.70% [citation needed]
1998 $51,577,023 +2.18% +2.18% [34]
1999 $53,116,417 +2.98% +2.98% [citation needed]
2000 $54,610,289 +2.81% +2.81% [citation needed]
2001 $56,780,603 +3.97% +3.97% [citation needed]
2002 $58,276,118 +2.63% +2.63% [34]
2003 $60,505,234 +3.83% +3.83% [34]
2004 $59,398,915 -1.83% -1.83% Florida Hurricanes [citation needed]
2005 $54,921,586 -7.54% -9.23% Hurricane Katrina [34]
2006 $61,013,855 +11.09% +0.84% Return to Las Vegas [34]
2007 $63,759,478 +4.50% +4.50% [citation needed]
2008 $65,031,393 +1.99% +1.99% [citation needed]
2009 $60,481,231 -7.52% -7.52% Ed McMahon's death; recession [15]
2010 $58,919,838 -2.58% -9.40% Last year of long-form telethon; Lewis' final telethon as host [32]
[edit]Criticism

The MDA and Jerry Lewis have been criticized by disability rights activists for their tendency to paint disabled people as, "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."[37] Critics argue that focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" disabled people fails to address issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, employment opportunities and other civil rights for the disabled.[38]
[edit]Miscellaneous

Don Francisco, the host of Sábado Gigante, is MDA's spokesperson on behalf of Hispanics with neuromuscular diseases—he generally appears in the telethon in a pre-recorded message, appealing to Hispanics in Spanish to donate. Don Francisco is also known in his native Chile as host of that country's Teletón, for handicapped children.
Game show announcer, Johnny Olson was the telethon's announcer for the first five years, from 1966 to 1970 before Ed McMahon took over the role and held it until his death in 2009.
7 Up was the telethon's first corporate sponsor, in which they would raise money through special promotions and issue checks in installments to Jerry during the course of the telethon. 7 Up is also the longest corporate sponsor (under current owner Dr Pepper Snapple Group), supporting the telethon since 1974. Prior to that year, sponsorship was generally limited to trade unions and civic organizations—the most durable being the International Association of Fire Fighters, who supported the MDA since 1954, and appeared on the telethon since 1966.
Another notable sponsor was 7-Eleven, who was a sponsor from 1976 to the early-2000s. Early on, Jerry Lewis would appear in commercials urging 7-Eleven shoppers to "Keep The Change" for his Kids.[39] During the late-1970s and early-1980s, Jerry also appeared in commercials for 7-Eleven, promoting its stores and products.
In 1980, a strike by AFTRA and SAG prevented many guest stars from performing. Instead, they simply walked onstage, shook hands with Lewis, handed him a personal check, and encouraged viewers to make a donation.
Jerry was also the host of the first edition of the French Téléthon in 1987, which benefits the muscular dystrophy charity in France, L'Association française contre les myopathies. Jerry also co-hosted the 1991 edition. The French MD telethon is generally televised on France 2 on the first weekend in December, with the 2007 edition taking in €96,228,136 (US$141,089,693) in pledges, down from its 2006 total of €101,472,581 (US$136,389,286). (The value in US dollars against Euros are as of the telethon's broadcast for that particular year.)
Today, of the charter affiliates of the "Love Network", WHEC-TV and the present-day WGRZ and WLNE-TV still carry the telethon. WLNE's carriage was not continuous, however, as WPRI-TV carried the program for some years until WLNE picked up the telethon again in 1994.
What is now WLVI-TV (the former WKBG) has since dropped the event, which has since moved to WCVB-TV.
Today's WNYW (the former WNEW) dropped the telethon after 1986, which moved to WWOR-TV in 1987. Ironically, both WNYW and WWOR are now under the common ownership of the Fox Television Stations Group.

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Alec Baldwin

2011-08-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Alec Baldwin

Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.
Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons (6 and 7) before his character was killed off. The series aired on CBS from 1979 to 1993. He has since played both leading and supporting roles in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), Final Fantasy The Spirits Within (2001), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). His performance in the 2003 film The Cooler garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Since 2006 he has starred as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He has received two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and six Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the oldest of the Baldwin brothers working in Hollywood.

Alec Baldwin - Best performance

Hulu's Superbowl Commercial - 60sec

New Era Commercial - The Trash Talking Begins

Alec Baldwin on Tracy Morgan and Kim Jong-il

Inside The Actors Studio - Alec Baldwin (second visit)

New Era Commercial - One Hitter

Early life

Baldwin was born in Nassau Shores, Massapequa, New York,[1] the son of Carolyn Newcomb (née Martineau) and Alexander Rae Baldwin, Jr., a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach. Baldwin was raised in a Roman Catholic family of Irish, English, and French descent. He has three younger brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen, who also became actors. Baldwin has two sisters, Beth Baldwin Keuchler (born 1955), and Jane Baldwin Sasso (born 1965).[citation needed]
Baldwin attended Alfred G. Berner High School in Massapequa, Long Island, and played football there under Coach Bob Reifsnyder, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. He worked as a busboy at the famous New York City disco Studio 54. Baldwin attended George Washington University from 1976 to 1979. He then transferred to New York University to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under Elaine Aiken and Geoffrey Horne.[1] He returned to NYU in 1994 and graduated with a BFA that year. On May 12, 2010, he again returned to New York University, this time as a commencement speaker and to receive a Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa.

Career

Stage
Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986, in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside theater veterans Zoë Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher and Charles Keating. This production closed after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a highly acclaimed revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in the latter garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at the Public theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century with Anne Heche.
On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis, alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile. The production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane. In 2010, Baldwin starred opposite Sam Underwood in a critically acclaimed revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton at Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY.
[edit]Television
Baldwin's first major acting role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In the fall of 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter to Houston. He then co-starred in the television series Knots Landing from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered gay classmate.[6] The film was adapted by Gore Vidal from the novel by Lucian Truscott.
Between the years of 1998 and 2002, Baldwin was the U.S. narrator for the children's show Thomas and Friends, narrating all 52 episodes of seasons 5 and 6. Baldwin appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2000, competing against Jon Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Vivica A. Fox and Norm Macdonald. He won $250,000 for PAWS, and used Kim Basinger as one of his "phone-a-friend" partners.
In 2002, Baldwin appeared on two episodes of Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of episodes in seasons 7 and 8 of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm – a 'top secret agent' and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of Law & Order entitled "Tabloid", which aired in 1998. He played the role of Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck.
On July 7, 2007, Baldwin was a host at the American leg of Live Earth, which was broadcast on NBC.[citation needed]
Baldwin stars in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which first aired October 2006. Baldwin met his future co-stars Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan while appearing on Saturday Night Live. He has received two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role. Baldwin received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009. Since season 3, Baldwin has been credited as producer of the show.
Baldwin joined TCM’s The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March 2009.[7][8]
Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010.[9] He has hosted Saturday Night Live 15 times as of May 15, 2010, currently sharing the title of most frequent host with Martin.[10]
[edit]Film

Baldwin with Kim Basinger at the 1994 César Awards ceremony in Paris.
Baldwin made his film debut with a minor role in the 1987 film Forever, Lulu. Also in 1988, he appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl. He gained further recognition as a leading man with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990).
Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger when they played lovers in the 1991 film The Marrying Man. He appeared with Basinger again in The Getaway, a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name. Next, in a brief role, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play. Later that year, he starred in Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.[11]
In 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title character in The Shadow. The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, Baldwin continued to work in several thrillers including The Edge, The Juror and Heaven's Prisoners.
Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with Pearl Harbor in 2001. He played Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the film, which, with a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains the highest grossing film Baldwin has appeared in his acting career.[12] Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler.[1] He appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006).[1] In 2006, he starred in the film Mini's First Time, alongside Nikki Reed and Luke Wilson. Baldwin performed opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the 2007 romantic comedy, Suburban Girl. In 2009, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin.
Baldwin directed and starred in an all-star version of The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001.[13] The then-unreleased film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the movie was in production. The film eventually was acquired by The Yari Group without Baldwin's involvement.[14] In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring and cable film network Starz! announced they had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008. Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".[15]
Baldwin has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.As of March 2011 Baldwin has signed on to star alongside Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julianne Hough, and Mary J. Blige in the film adaptaion of the jukebox hit musical Rock of Ages. Baldwin will play Dennis Dupree, the aging owner of a Sunset Strip rock club, when production begins in May 2011.
[edit]Radio
On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic.[16] He has recorded two nationally distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee Club.[17]
[edit]Personal life

In 1990, he met his future wife, actress Kim Basinger, when they played lovers in the film The Marrying Man. They married in 1993 and had a daughter, Ireland, in October 1995. In January 2001, they filed for divorce, which was finalized in February 2002.[18]"
Baldwin and his family are Catholic. [19] [20] Baldwin is a life-long fan of the New York Yankees.
[edit]A Promise to Ourselves

In 2008 Alec Baldwin and Mark Tabb published A Promise to Ourselves, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a part of his daughter's life.[21][22]
Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim Basinger, endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss parenting,[23] blocking visitation,[24] not providing telephone access,[25] not following court orders,[26] not dropping their daughter off for reasons of it being inconvenient,[27] and directly lobbying the child.[28] He contends she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.[29]
Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome.[30] Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists" and has characterized Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."[31]
Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars,[32] has had to put time aside from his career,[33] has had to travel extensively,[34] and needed to find a house in California (he lived in New York),[35] so he could stay in his daughter's life.[21]
Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call in which Baldwin called his daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig." [36] He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ, which released the recording despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents.[37] Baldwin admitted he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment.[38] He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voice mail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, [ex-wife Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."[39]
During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his experiences related in it.[40][41][42][43]
[edit]Political views

Baldwin in 2008 with Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA.
Baldwin serves on the board of People for the American Way. He is a vegetarian, animal rights activist and a strong supporter of PETA,[44][45] for which he has done work that includes narrating the video entitled Meet your Meat.[46]
During his appearance on the comedy late night show Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 12, 1998, eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached, Baldwin said, "if we were in another country ... we would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families, for what they're doing to this country."[47] Baldwin later apologized for the remarks, and the network explained it was meant as a joke and promised not to rerun it.[48]
Regarding the possibility of getting involved in electoral politics, Baldwin said in a 2006 interview with the New York Times that if he did, his preferred office would be the Governor of New York. When asked if he was qualified for the office, Baldwin responded that he considered himself far more qualified than then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[49] In June 2011, TheDaily.com reported that Baldwin was mulling a 2013 run for Mayor of New York City, in the wake of a potential early race shakeup after candidate Congressman Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal. [50]
In February 2009, Baldwin spoke out to encourage state leaders to renew New York's tax break for the film and television industry, stating that if the "...tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse and television production is going to collapse and it's all going to go to California."[51]
[edit]Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Forever, Lulu Buck
1988 She's Having a Baby Davis McDonald
1988 Beetlejuice Adam Maitland
1988 Married to the Mob Frank de Marco
1988 Working Girl Mick Dugan
1988 Talk Radio Dan
1989 Great Balls of Fire! Jimmy Swaggart
1989 Tong Tana Narrator Documentary
1990 The Hunt for Red October Jack Ryan
1990 Miami Blues Frederick J. Frenger Jr.
1990 Alice Ed
1991 The Marrying Man Charley Pearl
1992 Prelude to a Kiss Peter Hoskins
1992 Glengarry Glen Ross Blake
1993 Malice Dr. Jed Hill
1994 The Getaway Carter 'Doc' McCoy
1994 The Shadow Lamont Cranston/The Shadow
1995 Two Bits Narrator
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Narrator Documentary
1996 The Juror Teacher
1996 Heaven's Prisoners Dave Robicheaux Also Executive Producer
1996 Looking for Richard Clarence Documentary
1996 Ghosts of Mississippi Bobby DeLaughter
1997 The Edge Robert Green
1998 Thick as Thieves Mackin, The Thief
1998 Mercury Rising Lt. Col. Nicholas Kudrow
1999 The Confession Roy Bleakie Also Producer
1999 Notting Hill Jeff King
1999 Outside Providence Old Man Dunphy Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
1999 Scout's Honor Todd Fitter Short film
2000 The Acting Class Himself
2000 Thomas and the Magic Railroad Mr. Conductor
2000 State and Main Bob Barrenger Also Executive Producer
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2000 Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo
2001 Pearl Harbor Lt. Col. James Doolittle
2001 Cats & Dogs Butch Voice
2001 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Capt. Gray Edwards Voice
2001 The Royal Tenenbaums Narrator Voice
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash M.Z.M.
2003 The Cooler Shelly Kaplow Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003 Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
2003 The Cat in the Hat Lawrence "Larry" Quinn
2003 Walking with Cavemen Narrator Documentary
2003 "Brighter Days" Himself Short film
2003 Channel Chasers 30-year-old Timmy Turner Voice
2004 Along Came Polly Stan Indursky
2004 Double Dare Documentary
2004 The Last Shot Joe Devine
2004 The Aviator Juan Trippe Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Dennis (Plankton's hired hitman) Voice
2005 Elizabethtown Phil DeVoss
2005 Fun with Dick and Jane Jack McCallister
2006 Mini's First Time Martin
2006 The Departed Capt. George Ellerby National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
2006 Running with Scissors Norman Burroughs
2006 The Good Shepherd Sam Murach
2007 Suburban Girl Archie Knox
2007 Brooklyn Rules Caesar Manganaro
2007 Shortcut to Happiness Jabez Stone Also Director
2008 My Best Friend's Girl Professor Turner
2008 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Makunga Voice
2008 Lymelife Mickey Bartlett Also Producer
2009 My Sister's Keeper Campbell Alexander
2009 It's Complicated Jacob Adler National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
2012 Rise of the Guardians Santa Claus Filming
2012 The Bop Decameron pre production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1982 The Doctors Billy Allison Aldrich
1983 Cutter to Houston Dr. Hal Wexler
1984 Sweet Revenge Major Alex Breen
1984–1986 Knots Landing Joshua Rush Cast Member Seasons 6 & 7: 40 Episodes
1985 Hotel Dennis Medford Episode: Distortions
1985 Love on the Run Sean Carpenter
1986 Dress Gray Rysam 'Ry' Slaight TV miniseries
1987 The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory Colonel William B. Travis
1990–2010 Saturday Night Live Host/various roles Tied with Steve Martin for most hosting appearances (15)
1995 A Streetcar Named Desire Stanley Kowalski Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998 The Simpsons Himself Episode: "When You Dish Upon A Star"
1998–2003 Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Himself Narrator
2000 Nuremberg Justice Robert H. Jackson TV miniseries
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2000–2001 Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo 6 Episodes
2002 Friends Parker Episodes: "The One in Massapequa," "The One with the Tea Leaves"
2002 Path to War Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense TV movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2003 Walking with Cavemen Himself Episodes: "Blood Brothers," "First Ancestors," "Savage Family," "The Survivors"
2003 Second Nature Paul Kane
2003 Dreams & Giants Himself Host
2004 The Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers Adult Timmy Turner Voice role
2004 Nip/Tuck Dr. Barret Moore Episode: "Joan Rivers"
2004 Las Vegas Jack Keller Episodes: "Degas Away with It," "Hellraisers & Heartbreakers"
2005 The Simpsons Dr. Caleb Thorn Episode: "Bonfire of the Manatees"
2005 Will & Grace Malcolm Episodes: "The Hole Truth," "Seems Like Old Times," "The Old Man and the Sea," "Alive and Schticking," "Friends with Benefits," "Kiss and Tell"
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series (2005, 2006)
2006 Great Performances Luther Billis Episode: "'South Pacific' in Concert from Carnegie Hall"
2006–present 30 Rock Jack Donaghy Produced five episodes
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2008, 2009)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006, 2008, 2009)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2007, 2010, 2011)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2007, 2010)
2010 The Marriage Ref Guest Judge Episodes: "Pilot," "Episode 5"
[edit]Awards

List of awards
Year Award Category Title
1985 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding New Actor in a Prime Time Serial Knots Landing
1992 Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor Glengarry Glen Ross (shared with cast)
2000 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Maverick Tribute Award
2000 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Acting by an Ensemble State and Main (shared with cast)
2003 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2006 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Ensemble The Departed (shared with cast)
2001 Gemini Award Best Dramatic Mini-Series Nuremberg
2001 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Ensemble Cast State and Main (shared with cast)
2001 Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Ensemble State and Main (shared with cast)
2004 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2004 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The Cooler
2004 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2005 Hamptons International Film Festival Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement
2007 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2007 Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Comedy 30 Rock
2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2010 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2010 Satellite Awards Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2011 Hollywood Walk of Fame Star No. 2,433

Reference from Wikipedia.com

Miranda Kerr

2011-08-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Miranda Kerr

Miranda May Kerr (born 20 April 1983) is an Australian model best known as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels since mid-2007. She is the first Australian to participate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and also represents Australian fashion chain David Jones. Kerr began modeling in the fashion industry when she was 13, starting at Chaay's Modelling Agency, and soon after winning a 1997 Australian nationwide model search hosted by Dolly magazine and Impulse fragrances.
She is married to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a son, Flynn.

Miranda Kerr - Victoria's Secret Sexy Lingerie Commercial

Miranda Kerr 2011.05.11

Miranda Kerr On Carson Daly

Get on Miranda Kerr sexy list

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show(2007)-Miranda Kerr Profiled

Miranda Kerr Hottest Photoshoot For GQ Magazine

Miranda Kerr's Sunday Night interview

Early life and family

Kerr was born in Sydney,[5] and raised in the small town of Gunnedah, New South Wales.[6] Her parents are Therese and John Kerr, and she has a younger brother named Matthew (born 1985). In an interview, Kerr stated she is of English, French and Scottish descent. During her childhood, Kerr "raced motorbikes and rode horses on her grandmother's farm." She describes her early life in the Australian countryside as "very grounding ... there wasn't any pretentiousness and no one really cared what you were wearing. You could just be you."[7] Her family moved to Brisbane to allow Kerr and her brother to experience city life, where she graduated from All Hallows' School in 2000. Kerr originally went on to study Nutrition and Health Psychology before pursuing modeling.[8]
[edit]Career

[edit]Dolly magazine and early work, 1997-2006
At age 13, Kerr entered and won the 1997 annual Dolly Magazine/Impulse Model Competition. She was flown to Sydney a week before her 14th birthday to shoot for the magazine. Upon Kerr's win, local media expressed "concerned outrage" at her young age. The controversy raised concerns about the glorification of young girls within the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries.[7] Some conservative media outlets claimed her Dolly shoot (including images of a 14-year-old Kerr in bathing suits) constituted a form of child pornography. Of the press, Kerr said: "In the media at the time they were trying to cling on to anything remotely to do with paedophilia. Dolly is a magazine for teenage girls, not for old men. And I was fully clothed! Doing a winter shoot! They just made something out of nothing."[3]
Kerr signed to Chic Management's Sydney division. She received considerable commercial exposure after a series of beachwear ads predominantly for Australian surf chain Billabong, in which Kerr modeled surf brands Tigerlily, Roxy, Billabong Girls, and One Teaspoon. This increased her profile in the Australian and Asian markets, after which Kerr relocated to New York.[3][7]

Miranda Kerr in 2004 for Ober Jeans.
Once in New York, Kerr had a multitude of runway appearances and then signed with NEXT Model Management in early 2004. From there, she was booked for runway and print campaigns for major labels, including Alex Perry, Baby Phat, Lisa Ho, Voodoo Dolls, Levi's, Bettina Liano, Nicola Finetti, L.A.M.B., Heatherette, Betsey Johnson, Trelise Cooper, Jets, John Richmond, Blumarine Swimwear, Neiman Marcus, Seafolly Swimwear, Anna Molinari, Rock and Republic, Roberto Cavalli, and Ober Jeans.[2]
Kerr was also booked for print in magazines such as Elle, Australian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and was featured in television advertisements for brands like Portmans, Bonds, and Veet.[3][7]
In early 2006, Kerr appeared in the finale episode of the TV show Project Runway, modeling clothes for contestant Daniel Vosovic's final collection. She was the first woman to walk down the catwalk.
In 2006, Kerr broke into the United States market when she signed a lucrative cosmetics contract with Maybelline New York. The campaign ran in a series of internationally sold women's beauty magazines, including Cosmopolitan, CLEO, and Elle, and was eventually featured in Victoria's Secret catalogues.[7] She (along with several other Victoria's Secret and Next agency models) was also featured in a music video for the American hip-hop single "Number One" by artists Kanye West and Pharrell.[3]
[edit]Victoria's Secret and beyond, 2007-present
Following her success with Maybelline,[7] Kerr became the first Australian model to be offered a contract with Victoria's Secret in 2007, replacing Gisele Bündchen. Upon her acceptance, she became the first ever Australian Victoria's Secret Angel[9] joining the stable of models already signed to the lingerie giant, including Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolína Kurková, Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, and Heidi Klum. Before becoming an Angel in 2007, Kerr was already picked to become the successor of Alessandra Ambrosio as the face of PINK in 2006. Kerr's popularity continued to increase as one of the globally recognized Angels when she appeared in the Victoria's Secret 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 televised runway shows, which aired on four continents.[7]
In 2007, Kerr had signed on as the face of Californian fashion retailer Arden B. After debuting in their Spring and Summer ad campaigns, Kerr returned for their Fall 2007 campaign, shot by fashion photographer Diego Uchitel.[3] Following her modeling success with Victoria's Secret, Kerr made a small guest appearance in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother alongside fellow Angels: Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller, Alessandra Ambrosio, Heidi Klum, and Selita Ebanks.[3] She also became the new face of Clinique Happy and signed a lucrative six-figure deal to be the new face of Australian department store David Jones, replacing model Megan Gale.[10] In 2008, having earned an estimated $3.5 million in the past 12 months, Forbes placed Kerr tenth in the list of the world's top-earning models.[11]
Since 2009, Kerr has been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Australia magazine, Harper's Bazaar Australia, CS magazine, Sunday Magazine, Tempo magazine Turkey, Cosmopolitan magazine Spain and GQ Germany magazine.[2][12] Kerr has also been featured in the Pirelli Calendar 2010 and editorials for XOXO Spring/Summer 2009 collection, V Magazine, Vogue Japan, Russian Vogue, Glamour magazine Germany, Numero Magazine, US Vogue and Harper's Bazaar Australia.[12]
Kerr also made an appearance in the spring/summer runway show for Balenciaga, her first designer fashion show, aside from Victoria's Secret, since 2007.[2]
She was chosen to be in the 2010 Pirelli Calendar photographed by Terry Richardson in Bahia, Brazil. The calendar was launched that January.[13] In 2010, Kerr walked for design company Prada for their Fall 2010 collection in Milan Fashion Week alongside fellow Angels Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio[14] and subsequently got booked for the Prada Fall/Winter-campaign alongside Angela Lindvall. Kerr also received an Ad Campaign for top fashion label, Jil Sander.
In May 2010, Kerr was listed number 9 on the Forbes Top 10 Earning Models. She also ranked in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll as #36 in 2010 and #56 in 2009.[15]
In September 2010, Kerr landed two editorials and one feature in US Vogue's September Issue. She recently[when?] became the first ever pregnant Vogue cover girl when landing the cover of Vogue Australia while six months pregnant.[16]
At models.com, she is ranked at number 4 on the Top 20 sexiest models[17] and 6 most in demand.[18]
She is currently signed with IMG Models,[19] Next Model Management Paris, Traffic Models and Chic Management. In March she hit the catwalk for Balenciaga's Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear collection as part of Paris Fashion Week, this came just two months after giving birth.[20]
[edit]KORA Organics
In October 2009, Kerr launched an organic skincare line, called KORA Organics,[21] in Australia with co-founder George Moskos. Kerr's mother Therese has been the General Manager of KORA Organics since February 2010.[22] The company is based in Sydney. Kerr's brother Matt also works for the company.
[edit]Public image

Miranda Kerr in 2009
Kerr's model trademark are her dimples.[7] Celebrity photographer Russell James said of Kerr, "The US has fallen in love with her. We love her because she has the most incredible girl-next-door look and she's also insanely beautiful. It means women are not intimidated by her looks and guys think they might be able to talk to her. It's a fantastic combination ... people want to be around her; she's fun on a shoot … and she's not stupid, which can be a very annoying trait among some models." Model agent Ursula Hufnagl described Kerr as "the perfect endorsement", citing her ability to "truly sell a product."[7]
Kerr's charitable work includes Wildlife Warriors Worldwide and Children International.[23] In June 2009, Kerr posed naked, chained to a tree, for the Australian issue of Rolling Stone magazine, in order to attract public attention for the koala.[24]
In early February 2010, Kerr inadvertently became the subject of global headlines when David Kiely, a banker at Macquarie Bank in Sydney, was caught viewing "racy" photos of the model on his computer while in the background of a colleague's live television interview with Channel 7. Within days, a clip of the interview uploaded onto YouTube received over 1.3 million hits.[25] When Kiely was suspended and an internet campaign launched on his behalf, Kerr herself gave him her backing: "I am told there is a petition to save his job, and of course I would sign it." The episode prompted a 100% increase in the number of Google searches for Kerr's name.[26] A few days after the incident, Macquarie Bank announced that Mr Kiely would keep his job.[27]
[edit]Personal life

Kerr practices Nichiren Buddhism and believes "we have a responsibility to bring peace and harmony to our lives and the world." As part of her Nichiren beliefs, Kerr reportedly chants every morning and night for 20 minutes, practices yoga, meditates, and reads widely on spirituality.[7] She maintains her physique through daily yoga, light jogging, and a diet of steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, and fish.[28]
According to a Victoria's Secret profile on Kerr (posted on the CBS YouTube page), she described her take on life as "enjoying wherever it is [I am] and trying to be in the moment as much as possible". As reported in 2007, Kerr was writing an inspirational self-esteem, self-help book called Treasure Yourself aimed at the female teenage demographic. Kerr says, "Basically, it's a whole lot of information that I've found, that has helped me. If I can help one girl by doing this then I've completed my purpose."[23]
In 2003, Kerr began dating finance broker Adrian Camilleri. Following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation, Camilleri was found guilty on five counts of fraudulent behaviour from February 2003 to February 2004. Kerr subsequently ended the relationship. A 2007 newspaper report claims that Kerr suffered financially "after taking her boyfriend's financial advice" but chose not to take legal action.[29]
She was formerly in a long-term relationship with Jay Lyon (formerly known as Brent Tuhtan), the lead singer of the band Tamarama, who has made appearances on season one of the MTV series The City. Kerr was featured in Tamarama's video clip for "Everything To Me". The two dated for approximately four years but ended on mutual terms in mid-2007.
In late 2007, Kerr began dating actor Orlando Bloom,[31] who also is an SGI member. On 12 February 2009, Kerr and Bloom participated in the "Australia Unites" fundraiser to raise money for the victims of the Australian bushfires on 7 February 2009.[32]
In 2009, the Bling Ring broke into Bloom's home. The group stole luxury brand clothing and jewelry. In this case, the ringleader allegedly wanted Kerr's Victoria's Secret lingerie.[33]
The couple's engagement was announced on 21 June 2010.[34] Kerr released a statement on 22 July 2010, announcing that she and Bloom had married in "an intimate ceremony."[35] On 19 August 2010, Kerr announced that she and Bloom were expecting their first child.[36] Kerr gave birth to a son, Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom, on 6 January 2011 in Los Angeles. The middle name 'Christopher' is named after Kerr's ex-boyfriend,[39] Christopher Middlebrook[40] who died in a car accident in 1998, when he was 15. The two were still dating at the time.

References from Wikipedia.com