Influenced by their mother’s own dreams of stardom, he and his brothers Ken and Glenn were child actors on television in the 1950s.Christian Bale
Christian Bale is the youngest of four children. His parents are entrepreneur, commercial pilot and talent manager David Bale and circus clown and performer Jenny James, both English.[6] Bale spent his childhood in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the United States.[7] He lived in a house boat for a small amount of time. In 1976, when Christian was two years old, the Bale family left Wales. Bale’s family settled for four years in Bournemouth, where he attended Bournemouth School and participated actively in rugby union.[7] Christian has described his childhood, with respect to his mother being in the circus, as interesting. He recalled his first kiss was with an acrobat named Barta.[7] As a child, he trained in ballet and guitar.[7] His sister Louise’s work in theatre also influenced his decision to become an actor.[7] David Bale was very supportive of Christian’s acting. He resigned from his job as a commercial pilot to travel and manage Christian’s burgeoning career.[7] David Bale later married feminist icon Gloria Steinem on September 3, 2000. He died on December 30, 2003, from brain lymphoma at the age of 62.
Christian Bale’s first foray into acting was a Lenor, or Downey, commercial in 1982, when he was eight years old.[8] He appeared in a Pac-Man cereal commercial playing a child rock star a year later[9] and in 1984 made his stage debut in the West End play The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson.
Christina Aguilera
Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York City, New York, to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time and Shelly Loraine Fidler, a Spanish teacher. Aguilera’s father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother is of Irish descent (Christina’s maternal grandmother emigrated from County Clare). Her father, Fausto, was stationed at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, Canada and Japan. Christina Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was seven years old. When Aguilera’s parents divorced, her mother took her, and her younger sister Rachel, to her grandmother’s home in Wexford, Pennsylvania, a White-collar suburb outside of Pittsburgh. According to both Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive.[11] She later wrote about her difficult childhood in the songs “I’m OK” in Stripped, and “Oh Mother” in Back to Basics. Although her father has written to Aguilera, she has ruled out any chance to reunite with him.[12] Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has changed her name to Shelly Kearns.
As a child, Aguilera aspired to be a singer. Her musical influences included Etta James,[14] Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston,[15] Nina Simone, and Madonna.[16] She also cites the musical The Sound of Music as an early inspiration for singing and performing.[17] As a child, she was known locally as “the little girl with the big voice”, singing in local talent shows and competitions.
According to VH1’s Driven, whenever competitors learned they would be up against her in any given week, they would immediately withdraw, prompting insiders to claim it was “like sending a lamb to the slaughter.” Her peers soon became jealous of her and would frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class, attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually, the family relocated to another suburb in the Pittsburgh area and took to secrecy about Aguilera’s talent lest another backlash occur.
On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing Etta James’ “A Sunday Kind of Love”, but lost the competition. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV’s Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song. People remarked that the then ten-year-old “sounded 20.”
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 when she joined the Disney Channel’s variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Rhona Bennett (who later became a member of En Vogue), Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, and Keri Russell. According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera’s Mickey Mouse Club co-stars called her “the Diva”. One of her most notable performances was of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.”[19] When the show was canceled 1994, Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed to a record label.
At the age of fourteen, Aguilera recorded her first song, “All I Wanna Do”, a hit duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi.[20] In 1997, she represented the United States at the “Golden Stag” International Festival with a two-song set which included Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross.
Christina Applegate
At the age of three months, Christina Applegate made her TV debut, appearing with her mother in the soap Days of Our Lives and later, at age five months, in a commercial for Playtex.
Christina landed on the big screen at age nine when she was seen in the 1981 films Jaws of Satan (a.k.a. King Cobra), and Beatlemania.
Applegate debuted in a television movie as Young Grace Kelly in the biopic Grace Kelly (1983, opposite Cheryl Ladd) and appeared on her first TV series in Showtime’s political comedy Washingtoon (1985), in which she played a Congressman’s daughter. She was also spotted as a guest in the shows Father Murphy (1981) and Charles in Charge (1984 and 1985).
In 1986, Applegate won the role of Robin Kennedy (1986-1987), a cop’s daughter, on the police drama series Heart of the City. Meanwhile, she was also seen guest starring in the sitcoms All is Forgiven, Still the Beaver, Amazing Stories, and Family Ties.
Applegate eventually scored her most memorable role of ditzy Kelly Bundy in Fox’s comedy series Married… with Children. She portrayed her character for ten years (1987-1997) in the successful sitcom. While working on the series, Applegate was seen in Dance ‘Til Dawn (1988, NBC) and in Streets (1990), in which a teenage drug addict is stalked by a psychotic police officer.
Applegate guest-starred in 21 Jump Street (1988), Top of the Heap (1991, as Kelly Bundy), and hosted Saturday Night Live (May 1993) and Mad TV (1996).
The character of Sue Ellen Crandell in the comedy feature Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991) was Applegate’s first starring role. She followed it up with films like Vibrations (1995), Across the Moon (1995), Wild Bill (1995), Mars Attacks! (1996), and Nowhere (1997).
After the sitcom Married… with Children was canceled in May 1997, Applegate starred as Claudine Van Doozen in the independent feature Claudine’s Return (a.k.a. Kiss of Fire), was cast in the action-comedy The Big Hit, and played the fiancee of a Mob descendant in the Mafia satire Jane Austen’s Mafia (1998).
In that same year, NBC handed her the leading part of “Jesse” in their sitcom with the same title. The series debuted in 1998, received rave reviews, and brought Applegate a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV series and the TV Guide Award for Star of a New Series as well as a nomination at the Golden Globe for Lead Actress in a Comedy. Though the series gained praise, it was canceled in 2000.
“This was a major commitment. I really had to sit and think about it. I eventually came to the conclusion that it came into my life for a reason.” Christina Applegate (on accepting her role in the sitcom Jesse).
The new millennium saw Applegate playing the dual role of a 12th-century noblewoman, Princess Rosalind, and her 21st-century descendant, Julia Malfete, in the time-travel comedy Just Visiting (2001). After gaining wide notice for playing Cameron Diaz’s level-headed best friend, Courtney Rockcliffe, in The Sweetest Thing (2002), Applegate continued to win roles in such movies as Heroes (2002), the airplane comedy View from the Top (2003), Wonderland (2003), Grand Theft Parsons (2003), Surviving Christmas (2004) and Employee of the Month (2004). Behind the screen, she was the executive producer of Comforters, Miserable (2001).
As for her television work, Applegate won the 55th Annual Prime Time Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy after she guest starred as Amy Green, Jennifer Aniston’s sister, in the hit series Friends in November 2002 and October 2003. On the silver screen, she portrayed TV anchorwoman Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the DVD bonus film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (an alternative film comprising alternate takes and deleted scenes and story elements).
Adding to her screen work, Applegate has performed on stage in such productions as The Axeman’s Jazz, Nobody Leaves Empty Handed, The Runthrough, as well as John Cassavetes’ The Third Day (co-starring Gena Rowlands). In 2004, she debuted on the Broadway stage playing the title role of Charity Hope Valentine in a revival of the 1966 musical Sweet Charity. She eventually took home the 2005 Theatre World Award and was nominated for a 2005 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Applegate was one of the founding members of the Pussycat Dolls, which debuted at the Viper Room on Sunset Strip, Los Angeles in 1995.[2] [3] Applegate emceed for the Dolls when they moved to The Roxy in 2002.
While playing the title role in a revival of Sweet Charity, she broke her foot, and it was announced that the musical would close during previews. She persuaded the producers to rescind their decision, and on April 18, 2005, she made her Broadway debut.[4] Sweet Charity ended its Broadway run on December 31, 2005. She also guest-starred on two episodes of Friends, in the ninth and tenth seasons, titled “The One with Rachel’s Other Sister” and “The One Where Rachel’s Sister Babysits” as Amy Green, Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) younger sister. She won an Emmy for her performance in “The One with Rachel’s Other Sister”. In 2006, she appeared in an advertising campaign for Hanes title “Look who we’ve got our Hanes on now”. The campaign started in 2005 but she, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Kevin Bacon were added to the ads in 2006.
In 2006, Applegate appeared in Jessica Simpson’s music video “A Public Affair”, alongside Eva Longoria, Ryan Seacrest and Christina Milian.
Christina is currently starring in the ABC comedy, Samantha Who?. Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito, and Melissa McCarthy are co-starring. The series is about a 30-year-old who, after a hit-and-run accident, develops amnesia and has to rediscover her life, her relationships and herself.
Christina Milian
In 2000, Christina Milian made her first official musical appearance on Ja Rule’s second studio album Rule 3:36, performing guest vocals on his song “Between Me and You”. Released as the album’s lead single in 2001, the track managed to peak at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in the top 30 of the UK singles chart, building Milian’s reputation as a singer. Milian also appeared in Mya’s video for “Best of Me” playing a friend. In the meantime Milian co-wrote and provided extensive backing vocals for the track “Play” for Jennifer Lopez’s 2001 album J. Lo which became another success. Milian would later pass down the song to Lopez because of already having a club song with “AM to PM” as promotion. She also went on to co-write “Same Ol’ Same Ol”, the first single from girl group PYT’s debut album Down With Me.
In 2001, Milian eventually released her first solo single, “AM To PM”, off her self-titled debut album. The song became a worldwide hit reaching the top 5 in the UK and Denmark, top 10 in the Netherlands, and top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and in Australia. The success of “AM To PM” sparked the international release of the Christina Milian album which she co-wrote and produced, although not in the United States. The second single “When You Look At Me” was another international hit reaching the top 5 in the UK, Netherlands, and Ireland and making the top 40 in Denmark, Germany, Australia, and France. Although a music video for the album’s third single “Get Away” (another collaboration with Ja Rule) was filmed in Paris, the single wasn’t released officially.
Afterwards Milian also was featured on the track “It’s All Gravy”, a duet with British Rapper Romeo of the UK garage group So Solid Crew. While the song was another UK top ten hit single in 2002, Milian provided the theme song for the hit Disney series Kim Possible, “Call Me Beep Me” later that year. In 2002, she also collaborated with Hilary Duff on her Christmas album Santa Claus Lane, on the song “I heard Santa On the Radio.”
Christina Ricci
In 1997, Christina Ricci began to appear in more adult roles, beginning with her role as the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. Ricci subsequently appeared in films like the independent hit Buffalo ‘66 (in which she played Vincent Gallo’s unwitting abductee-turned-girlfrien>d), John Waters’ Pecker, and Don Roos’ The Opposite of Sex (as the acid-tongued, manipulative Dede). For her performance as Deedee, Ricci won acclaim and was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival’s 1998 “It” Girl.[citation needed] Although she missed out on an Oscar nomination, Entertainment Weekly honored her well-received performance as one of the “Worst Oscar Snubs Ever”.[7]
Later films included Sleepy Hollow (alongside Johnny Depp), Monster, and Prozac Nation (which featured her first on-screen nude scene). Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in Go because of scheduling conflicts; the role eventually went to Sarah Polley. Ricci was turned down four times for the role of Dolores Haze in Lolita, and the role eventually went to Dominique Swain. Ricci was originally slated to play the lead in Ghost World (2001), but by the time it was filmed she was too old for the part and had moved on to other projects. Thora Birch (Ricci’s co-star in Now And Then) took over the role. Ricci also turned down a role in Loser. Ricci made a cameo appearance on Beck’s successful Guero, providing the cameo voice on Hell Yes.
In February 2006, Ricci made a guest appearance as a paramedic in the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy, for which she was nominated for an Emmy award. She was a guest star for seven episodes in the last season of Ally McBeal in 2002 as Debbie ‘Liza’ Bump, a lawyer who worked at Cage & Fish and married Richard Fish in the last episode. It was initially hoped that Ricci and several other noted guest star appearances would boost Ally McBeal’s then declining ratings.[8]
On December 4, 1999, she appeared as the guest host on Saturday Night Live. She performed parodies of Britney Spears and the Olsen Twins. During one of her skits, she accidentally punched actress Ana Gasteyer in the face. The skit was a parody of the Sally Jessy Raphael show, in which she played a 13-year-old run-a-way who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Gasteyer, but accidentally ended up really hitting Gasteyer in the eye. Although Gasteyer initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she quickly fell back into character.
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken was born Ronald Walken (named after actor Ronald Colman) into a Methodist family in Queens, New York. His mother, Rosalie, was a Scottish immigrant, and his father, Paul Walken, was a German immigrant.[6] Both of his parents were bakers. Throughout his youth, Walken worked after school in the family bakery, Walken’s Bakery, which was situated on Broadway and 30th Street in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York. Walken often worked alongside a young immigrant girl interested in learning all about the food business, Lidia Motika, who grew up to become acclaimed restauranteur and TV cooking show host Lidia Bastianich; the two have remained close ever since[7].
Influenced by their mother’s own dreams of stardom, he and his brothers Ken and Glenn were child actors on television in the 1950s. Walken studied at Hofstra University on Long Island but did not graduate. Walken initially trained as a dancer in musical theatre before moving on to dramatic roles in theatre and then film.
Cindy Crawford
Born in DeKalb, Illinois, to John “Dan” Crawford and Jennifer Sue Walker Crawford in 1966, Cindy Crawford’s trademark is a visible mole (or “beauty mark”) on her upper lip. She is so closely associated with this physical feature that she appeared in an advertising campaign for chocolates featuring commercials wherein she “licked off” her own mole. During the beginning of her career, the mole was removed from many of her earlier modeling pictures, including her first Vogue cover.
She was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then-16-year-old Cindy at work during her summer job of pollinating corn and took a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modeling. She entered the John Casablancas Look of the Year contest and was the runner up.
Crawford graduated from DeKalb High School in 1984, as valedictorian [1] with a 4.0 GPA.[citation needed] She won an academic scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University, which she attended for only one quarter. She dropped out in order to pursue a full-time modeling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, Cindy moved to Manhattan in 1986.
Her brother died at a young age from leukemia, and Crawford has made childhood leukemia a focal point of her charity work, donating proceeds of her calendars to medical research.
Cindy Margolis
Cindy Margolis was born in Los Angeles, California of Jewish heritage. According to an interview in Playboy, her career began with a business class project on greeting cards at California State University, Northridge, where she produced cards with a photograph of herself wearing lingerie and including her phone number.[4] Her modeling career took off when agents started asking about the woman on the cards. She has modeled in advertising for companies such as Reebok, Vidal Sassoon, Coors, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Hanes, and Sunkist. She was Miss Makita Power Tools 1986 and did appearances at woodworking trade shows.
Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a young boy, Aiken sang in the Raleigh Boychoir and as a teenager, he sang in school choirs, church choir, musicals and local theatre productions.[6] . After high school he sang lead with a local band, Just By Chance,[7] and cohosted and performed with the band at “Just by Chance and Friends” shows in Dunn, NC. He was also emcee and performer at the Johnston Community College Country Showcase in Smithfield, NC, and at the North Carolina Music Connection and Hometown Music Connection shows in Garner and Benson, NC. He performed the national anthem numerous times for the Raleigh Ice Caps and the Carolina Hurricanes.[8] Three demo albums of Aiken’s vocals were created before American Idol with the aid of studio time given as a birthday gift by his mother: a cassette called Redefined,[9] a CD titled Look What Love Has Done, and a CD that combined songs from both demos, titled “Look What Love Has Done, Vol 2.”[10]
Clay Aiken attended Raleigh’s Leesville Road High School and took courses at Campbell University before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He found his interest in special education while directing YMCA children’s camps as a teenager, and at age 19 he served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism at Brentwood Elementary School in Raleigh. While attending college in Charlotte he took a part-time job as an assistant to a boy with autism, and it was this child’s mother, Diane Bubel, who urged him to audition for American Idol. Although his American Idol activities temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Aiken completed his course work while on tour and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in special education in December of 2003.
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film in a minor role. Starring Brian O’Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances. Clerks was the first of Smith’s “View Askewniverse” films. It introduces several characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob, who reappear in his later works.
Coldplay
Coldplay are an English rock band. Formed in 1998 in London, the group comprises vocalist/pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with their 2000 single “Yellow”, followed by the success of their debut album, Parachutes, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Coldplay went on to be nominated for this prestigious award on two further occasions, once in 2003 and again in 2005. Coldplay have been one of the most commercially successful acts of the new millennium, selling over 30 million albums. The band are also known for hit singles, including “In My Place” and the Grammy Award-winning “Clocks”.
Coldplay’s early material was compared to acts such as Jeff Buckley and Radiohead,[1] while also drawing comparisons to U2[2] and Travis. Since the release of Parachutes, Coldplay have also drawn influence from other sources, including Echo and the Bunnymen[3] and George Harrison[4] on A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) and Johnny Cash and Kraftwerk for X&Y (2005).[5] Both of these albums were released to great critical acclaim and commercial success. In 2002, A Rush of Blood to the Head was named as NME’s Album of the Year.
Coldplay have been an active supporter of various social and political causes, such as Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International. The group has also performed at various charity projects such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, and the Teenage Cancer Trust.[6]
Since December 2006, the band have been working with producer Brian Eno on a fourth album, expected to be released in the first half of 2008.
Colin Farrell
Farrell was born in Castleknock, Dublin, the son of Rita (nee Monaghan), a homemaker, and Eamon Farrell, who operates a health food store and was a footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers FC.[1][2] Farrell has three siblings, two sisters, Claudine (who is his personal assistant)[3] and Catherine, and a brother, Eamon Jr.
Colin Farrell was educated at St. Brigid’s National School in Castleknock followed by Castleknock College and Gormanston College. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a promising young football player for Dublin team, Castleknock Celtic, as a goalkeeper and dated Angie Miller. Farrell auditioned for the Irish group Boyzone when he was still unknown.[4] Farrell attended The Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out and was cast in the part of Danny Byrne on Ballykissangel, a BBC television drama. Farrell appeared on the show from 1998 to 1999.
Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox was born Courteney Bass Cox in Birmingham, Alabama to a wealthy Southern family. Her mother, also named Courteney (nee Bass) and her late father, Richard Lewis Cox, was a contractor.[1] Cox has two older sisters (Virginia McFerrin and Dottie Pickett), an older brother (Richard, Jr.) and nine half-brothers and half-sisters. Her parents divorced in 1974, and her father eventually wound up in Panama City, Florida, where he opened a company called Cox Pools, while Cox grew up with her mother and her stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland.
Cox was raised in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Alabama where she was known as CeCe. She attended Mountain Brook High School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. Upon graduation, Cox went to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College for Women. She dropped out after a year to pursue a modeling career, after being signed by the Ford modeling agency in New York City.Третий While modeling, she also took acting classes and acquired a Northern accent.
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Harrison was born in San Francisco, California to a family of Irish and Jewish descent[3] . Love’s biological family broke apart rapidly while she was still very young. During a child custody case following Love’s parents’ divorce, both her mother and one of her girlfriends presented letters to the court implying her father had given the child, then three years old, LSD.[4] Harrison denies this allegation[5] and has passed polygraph tests; however, these allegations led to full custody being awarded to Love’s mother.
Courtney Love then spent a troubled childhood with her mother as she wandered through three husbands and as many hippie communes in Oregon, and various schools including a boarding school in Nelson, New Zealand.[6] Before arriving in New Zealand, Love had been left in the United States with a therapist, while her mother, the new husband and her half-sisters went on ahead; when she was sent for, Love was sent to the boarding school in Nelson.
D Angelo
D’Angelo (born Michael Eugene Archer, February 11, 1974), is a Grammy Award winning American soul singer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. D’Angelo is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences, Marvin Gaye, and Prince. He has himself influenced the sound of modern R&B, particularly neo-soul. D’Angelo has a son named Michael by former girlfriend R&B singer Angie Stone. Rock critic Robert Christgau has described him as “R&B Jesus”
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