Celebrity Biography

Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress, best known for her role as Kelly Bundy on the sitcom Married… with Children.

Born in Hollywood, California, her father, Robert Applegate, was a record producer. Her mother, Nancy Lee Priddy, was an actress-singer who survived breast cancer. Her parents split up after she was born and her father remarried.

Applegate quit school at age 17 to pursue acting. She still studies jazz and dance. She is friends with actresses Nicole Eggert and Gwyneth Paltrow. On October 20, 2001, she married longtime boyfriend Johnathon Schaech, in a small mixed-religion Palm Springs ceremony attended by family and close friends. She is a supporter of PETA.

From 1987 to 1997, she played Kelly Bundy on Married… with Children. From 1998 to 2000, she starred in her own sitcom called Jesse.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, she was nominated four times in the annual Youth in Film Awards, two of which she won.

While playing the title role in a revival of Sweet Charity, she injured her ankle, and it was announced that the musical would close in previews. She persuaded the producers to rescind their descision, and on May 4, 2005 she made her Broadway debut to moderately good reviews.

Filmography (actress)

Pretty Persuasion (2005)
Surviving Christmas (2004)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Employee of the Month (2004)
Grand Theft Parsons (2003)
Wonderland (2003)
View from the Top (2003)
Heroes (2003)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Sol Goode (2001) (uncredited)
Just Visiting (2001)
The Giving Tree (2000)
Out in Fifty (1999)
Jane Austen’s Mafia! (1998)
The Big Hit (1998)
Claudine’s Return (1998)
Nowhere (1997)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Vibrations (1995)
Wild Bill (1995)
Across the Moon (1995)
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991)
Streets (1990)
Beatlemania (1981)
Jaws of Satan (1981)

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Russell Crowe

Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is an Oscar-winning film actor born in Wellington, New Zealand of Welsh, Norwegian and 1/16th Maori extraction. Crowe currently resides in Australia at both his Sydney home and his rural New South Wales property.

Early life and career

When he was four years old, his family moved to Australia where his parents pursued a career in filmset catering. His maternal grandfather, Stan Wyemss, was a cinematographer whom Crowe says produced the first film by director Geoff Murphy. The producer of the Australian TV series Spyforce was his mother’s godfather, and Crowe at age 5 or 6 got hired for a line of dialogue in one episode, opposite series star Jack Thompson, whom years later played Crowe’s father in The Sum of Us.

Crowe attended Sydney Boys High School. When he was 14, his family moved back to New Zealand, where he then attended the Auckland Grammar School. He did not complete secondary school, leaving early to help his family financially. Crowe returned to Australia at 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. "I was working in a theater show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA," Crowe recalled. "I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA. He told me it’d be a waste of time. He said, ‘You already do the things you go there to learn, and you’ve been doing it for most of your life, so there’s nothing to teach you but bad habits’ " .

After appearing in the TV series Neighbours and Living with the Law, Crowe was cast in his first film, The Crossing (1990), a small-town love triangle directed by George Ogilvie. Before production started, a film-student protege of Ogilvie’s, Steve Wallace, hired Crowe for the film "Blood Oath," a.k.a. "Prisoners of the Sun" (1990), which though filmed later was released a month ealier.

Hollywood

After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. A three-time Oscar nominee, he won the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator, and he was also nominated for the Best Actor award for The Insider and A Beautiful Mind.

On March 9, 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on March 25, 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda (the September 11 attacks took place later that year) and was quoted as saying:

"You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they’re, like, absolutely full-on. ‘We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything. We have to have a discussion with you, Mr. Crowe.’" Crowe recalled that "it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers…it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilization plan."
Crowe was guarded by Secret Service agents for the next few months, both while shooting films and at award ceremonies (Scotland Yard also guarded Crowe while he was promoting Proof of Life in London in February 2001). Crowe said that he "never fully understood what the fuck was going on." The FBI confirmed Crowe’s statement (which is uncharacteristic of the agency in that it usually does not comment to the media).

Temperament

Russell Crowe, fighting ’round the worldCrowe has a reputation for bad temper and a predeliction for brawling. This was parodied in an episode of the cartoon South Park.

He won the Best Actor in the 2002 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for his portrayal of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. During the presentation for his award, he planned to read a piece of poetry called Sanctity by Patrick Kavanagh but was cut short to fit in the BBC’s tape-delayed broadcast. At the awards after party, he accosted producer Malcolm Gerrie. Crowe later apologised for his actions, but many believe this incident was responsible for depriving Crowe of the Oscar for Best Actor that year. A Beautiful Mind won four of the eight awards for which it was nominated, with the lone and conspicuous exception being Crowe’s nomination for Best Actor.

In March 2002, musician Moby alleged that Crowe had shoved him against the wall of a toilet in a Sydney night club and called him "American," but it was later revealed that Crowe was actually in Ecuador when the incident was alleged to have taken place.

The following month, a court heard charges against several men who were trying to sell a security tape featuring Crowe on the night of November 18, 1999 being involved in a melee, and later engaging in an argument with a couple.

In the early morning of June 6, 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York Police, in connection with an incident at the Mercer Hotel, SoHo, New York, in which a broken telephone was thrown at the hotel front desk, striking a hotel employee. He was further charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon i.e. the telephone.

Crowe released a statement saying he was jet-lagged, missing his family in Australia and became frustrated after having repeated difficulties making a phone call to his wife in Australia . The concierge, Nestor "Josh" Estrada, was treated for a facial laceration on his upper right cheek. A Crowe spokesperson has said a phone was thrown at a wall but no person was assaulted. Crowe has publically apologized to Estrada, saying the incident was a "low point in his life."

His attorney is Gerald Lefcourt. In mid-August 2005, the Daily Mail reported that Crowe settled out of court with Estrada, agreeing to pay him $10.8 million in damages; the paper also reported that the NYPD will not pursue criminal charges against Crowe. Crowe’s publicist later acknowledged that a deal had been reached, saying that "Both sides expressed satisfaction at the resolution." Australian tabloids claims that the true figure is about $100,000.

On November 18 2005, Crowe pleaded guilty to third-degree assault after throwing a telephone at a concierge at the Mercer Hotel. Crowe had said that the outburst was due to frequently being unable to get a telephone connection sp to contact his wife and child during his stay at the hotel. He was sentenced to conditional release on the basis that he not be arrested in the United States for a year and pay US$160 in court costs.

Family and general interests

On April 7, 2003, his 39th birthday, Crowe married the Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Their son, Charles Spencer Crowe, was born on December 21 that year. Crowe previously dated the American filmstar Meg Ryan, after they met while filming Proof of Life (2000).

Two of Russell Crowe’s cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe are former New Zealand cricket captains. Crowe is a major supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team.

Music Career

Crowe is also a singer and composer. He was the lead singer and guitarist of an Australian pub rock band, 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, which formed in 1992. The band had found neither critical nor popular success but had several releases including 1998’s Gaslight, 2001’s Bastard Life or Clarity and 2003’s Other Ways of Speaking, plus various CD releases now out of print. His early stage name was "Rus Le Roq" and he was billed as such while performing with the Australian production of Rocky Horror.

According to a message from Crowe on his band’s web site, the group has "dissolved/evolved" and his music would take a new direction. He continued with a collabortion with Alan Doyle of the Ca
nadian band, Great Big Sea, in early 2005. A new single, Raewyn, was released on April 19, 2005. Former members of his previous band have taken part in the new project. An album entitled My Hand, My Heart has been released for download on iTunes and includes a tribute song to the late actor, Richard Harris, who became a close friend when the two were making Gladiator.

According to Russell, there is no 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts without his longtime musical partner, Dean Cochran, who was absent for the recording of My Hand, My Heart. Though Dean was present for a mid-2000s show in Le Thor, France. and took part in the filming of a music video for the song Weight of a Man, the band was billed as Russell Crowe and Friends.

Filmography

Neighbours (TV Show) (1987)
The Crossing (1990)
Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
Hammers Over the Anvil (1991)
Proof (1991)
The Efficiency Expert (1992)
Romper Stomper (1992)
For the Moment (1993)
Love in Limbo (1993)
The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies (1993)
The Sum of Us (1994)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
No Way Back (1995)
Virtuosity (1995)
Rough Magic (1995)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Heaven’s Burning (1997)
Breaking Up (1997)
Mystery, Alaska (1999)
The Insider (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
Proof of Life (2000)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Texas (2002) (documentary) (also director and producer)
60 Odd Hours in Italy (2002) (short subject) (also director)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Cinderella Man (2005)
A Good Year (2006)

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Kate Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale (born July 26, 1973 in London, England) is an English actress.

Early life

She is the daughter of Judy Loe (a stage actress) and the late Richard Beckinsale, a well-known television actor who died in 1979, at the age of 31. Kate’s paternal great-grandfather was Burmese.

Beckinsale she won first prizes in several young writing competitions. After finishing school in London, she followed in the footsteps of her parents and began her acting career. Her first role was in One Against the Wind, a television film about World War II that was first aired in 1991. Beckinsale then began studying German, French and Russian at New College, Oxford University, though she did not complete her studies. She felt that a general university background would be better for her than attending a school of performing arts.

Film career

During her first year at Oxford, Beckinsale was offered a part in Kenneth Branagh’s big-screen film, Much Ado About Nothing, adapted from the Shakespeare play. She spent her last year of studies in Paris, after which she decided to quit university and concentrate on her acting career. She subsequently appeared in a few notable but low-profile films, including Cold Comfort Farm (1995) and The Last Days of Disco (1998). She also appeared in television films and in stage roles.

Her first major American film, Brokedown Palace (1999), was a not a commercial success. Soon after, Beckinsale was cast in the 2001 film Pearl Habor, which was one of the highest grossing films of its year. In the years following, she appeared in a series of American films that were high-profile but were given a poor critical reception, including Serendipity (2001), Underworld (2003) and Van Helsing (2004).

Beckinsale was selected by Hello Magazine as England’s #1 Beauty of 2002.

Private life

Beckinsale and Welsh actor Michael Sheen have a daughter, Lily, but they are no longer together. In June 2003, she became engaged to the director of Underworld, Len Wiseman, and the two were wed in May 2004 in Bel-Air, California.

Beckinsale speaks Russian.

Selected Filmography

Beckinsale in UnderworldClick (2006)
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
The Aviator (2004)
Van Helsing (2004)
Underworld (2003)
Laurel Canyon (2003)
Serendipity (2001)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
The Golden Bowl (2001)
Brokedown Palace (1999)
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
Shooting Fish (1998)
Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

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Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968 in Granada Hills, California) is an American actress. Her father is Michael Ciminella and her mother and sister are country singers, Naomi Judd and Wynonna Judd, respectively. Her birth name is Ashley Tyler Ciminella.

Early years

Her early years were without the comforts of what can be considered the bare necessities, such as running water, electricity, or a telephone.

She attended 12 schools in 13 years before college. She Left the University of Kentucky a semester short of a bachelor’s degree in French in 1990.

Actress

Her television appearances include the role of Lieutenant Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two 1991 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the part of Swoosie Kurtz’s daughter on the first season of the NBC drama Sisters.

Her film debut was a small part in Kuffs (1992) and her first major role was in Ruby in Paradise (1993), a hit independent drama. She had a role in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, but all the scenes she played in were cut from the final version of the film.

She found further critical acclaim in Smoke (1995) and publicity in Heat (1995).

By the end of the 1990s she managed to achieve significant fame and success as an actress. As a respected actor, she began to be offered leading roles in films that were bound to be successful at the box office, but still required acting skills, like Double Jeopardy (1999) and Someone Like You (2001).

Personal life

Whenever her schedule allows, she regularly attends UK basketball games, frequently sitting next to Donna Smith (wife of UK Coach Tubby Smith), or in the student section. She allowed her alma mater to release a calendar of her photos to help raise money for the sports programs. She is frequently sought out for celebrity camera shots during televised games (much like Jack Nicholson with the Los Angeles Lakers or Spike Lee with the New York Knicks).

She married Scottish Indy Racing League driver Dario Franchitti at Skibo Castle near Dornoch, Scotland in 2001.

Filmography

Bug (2006)
The Women (2006)
Norma Jean & Marilyn by HBO. She played Norma Jean.
De-Lovely (2004)
The Heart of America Tour (2004) (short subject)
Twisted (2004)
Frida (2002)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
High Crimes (2002)
Someone Like You… (2001)
Where the Heart Is (2000)
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Eye of the Beholder (1999)
Junket Whore (1998) (documentary)
Simon Birch (1998)
Kiss the Girls (1997)
The Locusts (1997)
Normal Life (1996)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Heat (1995)
Smoke (1995)
The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995)
Natural Born Killers (1994) (scenes deleted)
Ruby in Paradise (1993)
Kuffs (1992)

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Faith Hill

Audrey Faith Perry, later known as Faith Hill (born September 21, 1967 in Jackson, Mississippi), is an American country singer, known for her commercial success as well as her much-publicized marriage to country singer Tim McGraw.

Early life

Hill was raised in Star, Mississippi and began singing at a very early age. After graduating high school, Hill went to college briefly before dropping out and moving to Nashville in an attempt at starting a singing career.

Hill is adopted and met her biological mother in the early 1990s. She was married to a music executive named Dan Hill from 1988 to 1994. Working as a secretary in a music publishing company, Hill’s singing was noticed as she sang to herself one day. She soon signed to Warner Brothers Records.

Country success

Hill’s debut album was Take Me As I Am (1993); sales were strong, buoyed by the chart success of "Wild One". A version of Janis Joplin’s "Piece of My Heart", also went to the top of the country charts. She was delayed in the recording of her second album by surgery on her vocal cords. It Matters to Me finally appeared in 1995 and was another success, with the title track becoming her fourth #1 country single.

Hill began seeing country singer Tim McGraw. When he proposed marriage to her in one of his tour trailers, he had to go perform right then, so she took a permanent marker and wrote her answer on the mirror. Hill began touring with McGraw and married him on October 6, 1996. The couple has three children together: Gracie Katherine, Maggie Elizabeth and Audrey Caroline.

Pop crossover

Faith Hill’s Album BreatheHill’s 1998 album, Faith, moved her closer towards a mainstream, pop-oriented sound, which lost her many of her long-time fans. "This Kiss" became a #1 country hit, and went to #7 on the pop charts.

Hill’s fame grew rapidly as she signed an endorsement deal with CoverGirl makeup and released Breathe, an even more successful pop hit that became one of the biggest albums of 2000. The title track "Breathe" was the #1 pop airplay song that year and has become Hill’s signature song; especially notable is the power and control she shows in her lower register during the song. "The Way You Love Me" hit the top ten as well (#7), and becoming one of the longest running singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 (57 weeks). The album won Hill three Grammy Awards including Best Country Album.

By the holidays she had contributed "Where Are You Christmas?" to the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the following summer she recorded the Diane Warren penned "There You’ll Be" for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack.

In 2002, Hill released Cry. Though the album debuted at #1 on Billboard magazine’s pop and country album charts, its singles (including the title track, written and originally performed by Angie Aparo) received much less radio airplay than her previous smashes. In fact, country radio pretty much ignored the songs, considering them "too pop". The album did win one Grammy Award.

In the summer of 2004, Hill co-starred with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick in director Frank Oz’s remake of the 1975 thriller The Stepford Wives.

She references this sojourn in Hollywood as well as the chilly reception of Cry in the 2005 country release "Mississippi Girl", the first single from her back-to-roots album Fireflies. It worked, as the song restored her to the top of the country charts. She performed this song along with "Breathe" and "Piece of My Heart" at the Live 8 concert in Rome on July 2, 2005, where McGraw also performed.

Discography

Albums

Fireflies (2005) #1 US (Platinum)
Cry (2002) #1 US (2X Platinum), #29 UK
Breathe (1999) #1 US (8X Platinum), #19 UK
Faith (1998) #7 US (6X Platinum)
It Matters to Me (1995) #29 US (4X Platinum)
Take Me As I Am (1993) #59 US (3X Platinum)

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Alyson Hannigan

Alyson Hannigan (born Allison Lee Hannigan March 24, 1974) is an American actress best known for playing Willow Rosenberg in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also appeared in films including, as Michelle Flaherty, American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).

Born in Washington, DC to an Irish-American father and a Jewish-American mother, her first film role was in My Stepmother is an Alien (1988). Before that she had done a little television work, mostly commercials, and she went on to do a good deal more including Almost Home, Picket Fences, Roseanne and Touched by an Angel before being chosen for Buffy in 1997. By the final season she was earning $250,000 an episode.

It was announced in October 2003 that she had signed a deal with NBC to appear in a comedy, expected to debut in fall 2004. Reports indicated that it was likely to be titled Americana, but the pilot was not part of NBC’s 2004 fall lineup.

In early 2004, Hannigan made her West End debut starring in a stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, opposite Luke Perry.

She owns a home in Sacramento, California and married actor Alexis Denisof (who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the Buffy franchise) on October 11, 2003. Previous relationships include actor Steven Sutphen and Marilyn Manson drummer Ginger Fish.

In 2005, Hannigan is one of several Buffy cast returning to television - others being David Boreanaz, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters - as part of the cast of the new TV series "How I Met Your Mother", as well as a recurring guest role on Veronica Mars.

Hannigan’s somewhat unstereotypical looks and specific acting style have led her, for the most part, to choose somewhat quirky characters. Her best known roles in BtVS and the American Pie series are clear examples of this.

Filmography
Date Movie (2006)
How I Met Your Mother (2005) (TV series)… Lily
Veronica Mars (2005) (TV series)… Trina Echolls
American Wedding (2003)… Michelle Flaherty
Beyond the City Limits (2001)… Lexi
American Pie 2 (2001)… Michelle Flaherty
Boys and Girls (2000)… Betty
American Pie (1999)… Michelle Flaherty
Hayley Wagner, Star (1999) (TV)… Jenna Jakes
Dead Man on Campus (1998)… Lucy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) (TV series)… Willow Rosenberg
For My Daughter’s Honor (1996) (TV)… Kelly
A Case for Life (1996) (TV)… Iris
The Stranger Beside Me (1995) (TV)… Dana
Switched at Birth (1991) (TV)… Gina Twigg
Free Spirit (1989) (TV series)… Jessie Harper
My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)… Jessie Mills
Impure Thoughts (1985)… Patty Stubbs

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Katherine Heigl

Katherine Marie Heigl (b. November 24, 1978) is an American actress, best known for her roles on the TV series Roswell and Grey’s Anatomy.

Early life

Heigl was born in Washington, D.C. to parents Nancy and Paul, of Irish and German descent; she was raised a Mormon. The family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut a short time later. Tragedy struck her family when her older brother Jason died in 1986 of brain injuries suffered in a car accident. He had been thrown from the back of a pickup truck, and doctors determined Jason was brain-dead. Despite their grief, the family decided to donate his organs. This has motivated Katherine to become a strong proponent of organ donation.

Career

When she was nine years old, an aunt visiting the family decided to take a number of photographs of the young Heigl. After returning to her home in New York, the aunt sent the photos to a number of modelling agencies, all with the permission of Katherine’s parents. Within a few weeks, Heigl had been signed as a child model.

Almost immediately, a client slated her for use in a magazine advertisement. Television jobs soon followed, the first in a national spot for Cheerios breakfast cereal. It was not long until she landed her first big-screen debut in the 1992 movie That Night. After meeting such fast success and enjoying her new-found career, she realized that acting was her passion.

Heigl then appeared as Christina Sebastian in Steven Soderbergh’s Depression-era drama King of the Hill before landing her first leading role as Nicole in the 1994 comedy My Father The Hero. During this time, Heigl continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her film and modeling work with her academic studies.

She then played opposite Steven Seagal in the role of Sarah Ryback in in 1995 action thriller Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Despite an increased focus on acting, she still modeled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as Seventeen. She took the lead role in Disney’s Wish Upon a Star in 1996. It was also in 1996 that Heigl’s parents divorced. After her high school graduation in 1997, she and her mother moved into a 4-bedroom house in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles. Heigl’s mother then became her manager.

In 1998 she co-starred with Peter Fonda in a re-working of the classic Shakespearian play The Tempest, set during the American Civil War. Later in 1998 Heigl was featured in the 1998 films Bug Buster and Bride of Chucky. In 1999, Heigl turned her attention to television when she accepted the role of Isabel Evans on the science fiction TV drama Roswell, a modest role that was expanded in the show’s second and third seasons.

To publicize her role on Roswell, she appeared on the covers of magazines such as TV Guide, Maxim, and Teen as well as appearing in FHM. She later appeared in the FHM and Maxim calendars and FHM’s annual 100 sexiest women in the world. While Roswell was in production, Heigl worked on several films, including, 100 Girls, an independent 2001 film in which she played competitive tomboy Arlene, and Valentine, a horror film starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards in which she played medical student Shelley Fisher.

In the spring of 2001, Heigl accepted a role in Ground Zero, a television thriller scheduled to be telecast that fall, which was based on the bestselling novel, The Seventh Power, by James Mills. She co-starred as a brilliant and politically-concerned college student who helps to build a nuclear device to illustrate the need for a change in national priorities, but which ends up in the hands of a terrorist following betrayal by a fellow student. After September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, however, the film was shelved when its plot was considered too inappropriate, and it re-emerged in 2003 under the title Critical Assembly. After the terrorist attacks, Heigl recorded a passionate public service announcement for the American Red Cross in an effort to help raise money for victims.

In early 2003, Heigl returned to the horror genre with Evil Never Dies, a modern-day variation on the Frankenstein story co-starring Thomas Gibson. She played the role of Eve, the professor’s assistant whose intentions are unclear. Love Comes Softly, a telefilm for Hallmark Entertainment in 2003, found Heigl starring in the role of Marty Claridge, a young, pregnant newlywed travelling west. In October 2003, Heigl was cast opposite Johnny Knoxville, as the leading lady in The Ringer, a Farrelly brothers comedy that was later released in December 2005. Heigl was then cast as Isabella Linton in MTV’s modern revamp of Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights.

Heigl was cast in the role of Romy in the 2005 movie Romy and Michele: In The Beginning, a prequel to the 1997 movie, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Heigl is currently starring in Grey’s Anatomy, a medical drama on ABC.

Personal life

Heigl had dated her former Roswell co-star, Jason Behr, for several years. However, in interviews such as in the November 2004 FHM, she indicated that the relationship had come to an end. She also told FHM she did not lose her virginity until she was 22.

Credits

Grey’s Anatomy (TV) 2005
Romy & Michele: In The Beginning (TV) 2005
Love’s Enduring Promise (TV) 2004
Wuthering Heights (TV) 2003
Evil Never Dies (TV) 2003
Descendant 2003
Love Comes Softly (TV) 2003
The Twilight Zone (TV) 2002
Critical Assembly (Ground Zero) (TV) 2001
Valentine 2001
100 Girls 2000
Roswell (TV) 1999
The Tempest (TV) 1998
Bride Of Chucky 1998
Bug Buster 1998
Stand-Ins 1997
Prince Valiant 1997
Wish Upon A Star 1996
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory 1995
My Father The Hero 1994
King Of The Hill 1993
That Night 1992

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Denise Richards

Denise Lee Richards (born February 17, 1971) is an American film actress.

Richards was born in Downers Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, to a Welsh father and a Croatian mother. She later moved to California, and graduated from El Camino High School in Oceanside, California.

She is most famous for her appearance as Bond Girl Christmas Jones in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999), as well as her appearances in films such as Wild Things (1998), Starship Troopers (1997), and the slasher flick Valentine (2001) alongside David Boreanaz and Katherine Heigl. In addition to her film work, Richards has made regular appearances in the situation comedy Spin City and in 1993 (at the age of 21 years) played a 15 year old girl who distracts George Costanza with her cleavage in an episode of Seinfeld. In December 2004, she posed in a nude pictorial for Playboy magazine. Richards has been named as the Sexiest Mom of 2005 by In Touch magazine.

Richards married actor Charlie Sheen in 2002, but filed for divorce in March of 2005, but have reportedly reconciled and seeking marriage counciling to further mend their relationship. The couple have two daughters: Sam Katherine, who was born on March 9, 2004 and weighed 7lbs. 3oz., and Lola Rose, who was born on June 1, 2005 and weighed 6lbs. 10oz.

Selected filmography

A Private War (2005)
Sex, Love & Secrets (2005)
Elvis Has Left the Building (2004)
Whore (2004)
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Love Actually (2003)
You Stupid Man (2002)
The Third Wheel (2002)
Undercover Brother (2002)
Empire (2002)
Good Advice (2001)
Valentine (2001)
Tail Lights Fade (1999)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Lookin’ Italian (1998)
Wild Things (1998)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Nowhere (1997)
P.C.H. (1995)
Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)
Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)

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Drew Barrymore

Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975 in Culver City, California) is an American film and television actress and producer.

Her family

She is the granddaughter of stage actor John Barrymore, and the great-niece of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore. Her father, John Drew Barrymore, and half-brother, John Blyth, are also actors (although they haven’t experienced the critical or commercial success the other Barrymores have enjoyed). "Drew" was the maiden name of her great-grandmother, Georgiana; "Blythe" was the original surname of the dynasty founded by her great-grandfather, Maurice. Drew’s mother is Hungarian-born actress and model, Ildiko Jaid Mako (b. 1944).

Career

Barrymore’s career began at the age of 11 months, when she appeared in a dog food commercial. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers feared litigation, though Barrymore merely laughed the incident off. She shot to fame as a child actor when she co-starred in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of 7, on November 20, 1982, Barrymore became the youngest ever guest host of the weekly TV program Saturday Night Live. She performed in a skit where she revealed that she had killed E.T.

Drew Barrymore on the cover of Playboy, January 1995

Biography

In the wake of this sudden stardom, she endured a notoriously troubled childhood, drinking alcoholic beverages by the time she was 9, smoking marijuana at 10, and snorting cocaine at 12. Barrymore later described this early period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. Though overcoming her substance abuse problems by the time she entered adulthood, Barrymore maintained her "bad girl" image, and in fact leveraged her new found role as a sex symbol to stage a career comeback in the 1990s, playing a teenage seductress in Poison Ivy, and posing nude for the January 1995 issue of U.S. magazine Playboy. Steven Spielberg, Barrymore’s godfather, gave her a quilt for her 20th birthday with a note that read "Cover yourself up". Enclosed was a copy of her Playboy appearance, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. At that time she had also appeared nude in her last five movies. During a 1995 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore shocked the normally unflappable host by climbing onto his desk and flashing her breasts at him (but with her back to the camera), as part of a dance for his birthday. She also modelled in a series of Guess? jeans advertisements during this time.

Drew Barrymore on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1995, immediately after notoriously flashing the host on-air for his birthday.Barrymore has continued to be a highly bankable movie actress. Though her playful sex appeal has undoubtedly helped her remain in the media spotlight, she has also established a substantial career behind the scenes, despite never finishing high school. She has produced several films, including the highly successful Charlie’s Angels movie adaptation and its sequel. In addition to the light-hearted romantic comedies that she has typically starred in, she has also recently explored more dramatic roles in movies such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and the cult favorite Donnie Darko, of which she was also the executive producer. Barrymore has started to receive more notice both as a serious actress and a savvy Hollywood "player", though without losing her reputation as a sex symbol and (occasional) hellraiser.

Barrymore’s career makes for colorful copy. In the words of Yahoo! Movies:

Heir to a Hollywood dynasty, child star, prepubescent drug and alcohol abuser, teenage sexpot, and resurrected vessel of celluloid purity, Drew Barrymore is nothing if not the embodiment of the rise and fall of Hollywood fortunes, self-reinvention, and the healing powers of good PR.
On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Barrymore was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner, Jeremy Thomas, from March 20 to April 28, 1994, and to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002 (Green filed for divorce in December 2001). She is currently dating drummer Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes. Barrymore has also publicly declared herself to be bisexual, revealing that she had slept with many women as a teenager and is still very interested in women sexually.

Trivia

Barrymore was delivered by Dr. Paul Fleiss, father of Heidi Fleiss (interview on The Tonight Show, January 22, 2003).
She is the godmother of Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of musicians Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.
She has 6 tattoos: a crescent moon on her big toe, a cross with ivy on her lower leg, a butterfly on her stomach, a daisy on her hip, and 2 angels on her lower back (one has a banner with her mother’s name, Jaid, and the other has the name James–a tribute to her then-boyfriend Jamie Walters).

Selected filmography by date

Barrymore (right) with Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angels (2000)Altered States (1980)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Firestarter (1984)
Cat’s Eye (1985)
Poison Ivy (1992)
Wayne’s World 2 (1993) (Cameo)
Bad Girls (1994)
Boys on the Side (1995)
Mad Love (1995)
Batman Forever (1995)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Scream (1996)
Wishful Thinking (1997)
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Ever After (1998)
Home Fries (1998)
Never Been Kissed (1999) (also producer)
Titan A.E. (2000) (voice)
Charlie’s Angels (2000) (also producer)
Donnie Darko (2001) (also executive producer)
Freddy Got Fingered (2001) (Cameo)
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) (also producer)
Duplex (2003) (also producer)
50 First Dates (2004)
Fever Pitch (2005) (also producer)
Curious George (2006) (voice) (currently filming)
Lucky You (2006)

Selected filmography alpabetically

50 First Dates -2004
Altered States -1980
Bad Girls -1994
Batman Forever -1995
Boys on the Side -1995
Cat’s Eye -1985
Charlie’s Angels -2000 (also producer)
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle -2003 (also producer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind -2002
Curious George -2006 (voice)
Donnie Darko -2001 (also executive producer)
Duplex -2003 (also producer)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial -1982
Ever After -1998
Everyone Says I Love You -1996
Fever Pitch -2005 (also producer)
Firestarter -1984
Freddy Got Fingered -2001 (Cameo)
Home Fries -1998
Lucky You -2006
Mad Love -1995
Never Been Kissed -1999 (also producer)
Poison Ivy -1992
Riding in Cars with Boys -2001
Scream -1996
The Wedding Singer -1998
Titan A.E. -2000 (voice)
Wayne’s World 2 -1993 (Cameo)
Wishful Thinking -1997

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Melissa Hart

Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress who is best known for playing the title roles in two successful television series, Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

Personal history and family

Hart was born in Smithtown, New York, on Long Island, and grew up in Sayville, New York. Her full name is Melissa Joan Catherine Hart, Catherine being the name she chose for her confirmation in eighth grade.

Her immediate Irish-American family includes father William Hart and mother Paula Hart. Her stepfather is television executive Leslie Gilliams. She has eight sisters, three of whom are stepsisters, and one brother. Most of her siblings have acted, among them Elizabeth Hart, Brian Hart, Emily Hart, and Alexandra Hart-Gilliams. Sister Trisha Hart has worked as a producer.

In 2003, Hart married musician Mark Wilkerson, a member of the band Course of Nature. The preparations for the ceremony, which took place in Florence, Italy, were documented in a TV miniseries entitled Tying the Knot, produced by Hart’s production company, Hartbreak Films.

In June 2005, Hart announced that she and her husband are expecting their first child in January 2006.

Career

Hart’s career began early on. When she was still a baby, she made her first TV commercial for a bathtub toy called Splashy. From then on, she appeared regularly in commercials, making 25 of them before the age of five. Other early TV work included a small role in the miniseries Kane & Abel in 1985, a guest-starring role in an episode of The Equalizer in 1986, and a starring role alongside Katherine Helmond in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Christmas Snow, also in 1986.

In 1989, she auditioned for a Broadway production of The Crucible starring Martin Sheen, becoming an understudy to three of the young girls in the play. This paved the way for her to land the title role in the TV show Clarissa Explains It All. The Nickelodeon series, a comedy about a teen girl in everyday situations, became a big hit and aired for five seasons. The show brought her four consecutive Young Artist Award nominations, of which she won three, and made her a household name among American teenagers.

Hart also recorded an album as Clarissa entitled This is What ‘Na Na’ Means. It was mostly a novelty product and did not sell well, receive critical attention, or place in any charts.

After the series was canceled, she attended New York University. She did not complete her degree as she resumed her acting career in 1994 when she got the lead role for the TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which eventually led to her also starring as Sabrina in a television series which lasted seven seasons. In between, she also worked on the series Touched by an Angel and starred in several TV movies.

In 1998, Melissa landed a small part in a movie named Can’t Hardly Wait, and then starred in Drive Me Crazy, a movie that includes "(You Drive Me) Crazy", a number-one hit by Britney Spears, on its soundtrack. Hart also appeared in the music video for this song. She has appeared in other movies since Drive Me Crazy, but none has brought her as much recognition.

Controversy

Hart appeared in lingerie in a series of photos featured in the October 1999 issue of the men’s magazine Maxim, as well as in similarly revealing pictorials in Bikini and Movieline magazines around the same time. This caused problems for both Hart and ABC (the network broadcasting Sabrina the Teenage Witch) since the copyright holder of the series, Archie Comics, regarded the series as a show for children and pre-teens, and believed that the Maxim photos and the accompanying article hurt the show’s wholesome image (Hart also discussed her sex life and Sabrina drinking games that could be played when watching the series at home). Michael Silberkleit, the chairman and co-publisher of Archie Comics, demanded that Hart either apologize or be fired from the series. She neither apologized nor was fired.

Filmography and TV work

Jesus, Mary and Joey (2003)
Rent Control (2002)
Hold On (2002)
Backflash (2001)
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
The Voyage to Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) (TV)
The Specials (2000)
Sabrina, Down Under (1999)
Drive Me Crazy (1999)
Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998)
Can’t Hardly Wait (1998)
Silencing Mary (1998) (TV)
Two Came Back (1997) (TV)
The Right Connections (1997) (TV)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996) (TV)
Sabrina, the Animated Series (1999) (TV)
Twisted Desire (1996) (TV)
Clarissa (1995) (TV)
Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare (1995) (TV)
Clarissa Explains It All (1991) (TV)

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