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He is best known for his turn as American psycho Patrick Bateman, Grammaton Cleric John Preston, and the masked vigilante Batman. Bale is also known for his versatility as an actor, including mimicking accents, harsh regimens of shedding and gaining weight (particularly for The Machinist and Batman Begins), and generally inhabiting the characters he plays. Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent film.

Bale first caught the public eye when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun at the age of 13, playing an English boy who becomes separated from his parents in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Since then, he has portrayed a wide range of characters. Bale is especially noted for his cult following. The tenth anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly hailed him as one of the "Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures of the Past Decade", citing his impressive cult status on the Internet. Entertainment Weekly also called Bale one of the "Most Creative People in Entertainment", after his performance in American Psycho.

Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the youngest of four children, to English parents, the businessman David Bale and circus performer Jenny James. Bale spent his childhood in several countries including the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the United States. David Bale was the driving force behind Christian Bale’s entry into acting, and his resignation from his job as a commercial pilot allowed him to fulfill a desire to travel the world and manage his son’s burgeoning career. The Bale family left Wales in 1976, when Christian Bale was two years of age. Having a mother who made her living at a circus was an interesting experience for him; he recalled receiving his first kiss from an acrobat named Barta. As a child, he trained in ballet and on the guitar. His sister Louise’s work in theatre also influenced his decision to become an actor. Bale’s family settled for four years in Bournemouth, where he attended the Bournemouth School for Boys and participated actively in rugby.

Bale’s first foray into acting was a Lenor commercial in 1982, when he was 8. He appeared in a Pac-Man cereal commercial playing a child rock star a year later. In 1984, he made his stage debut in the West End play The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson.

He made his film debut as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia in the made-for-television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna in 1986, which was followed by leading roles in the miniseries Heart of the Country and the fantasy adventure Mio in the Land of Faraway, in which he appeared for the first time with Christopher Lee.

Bale, an admirer of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, was cast as the voice of the title character, Howl, in the English language dub of the Japanese director’s fantasy anime adventure Howl’s Moving Castle, an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ children’s novel. Its profits in the United States made up a mere US$4,711,096 in of its staggering worldwide gross (US$230,458,788). Bale’s Howl, a wizard who lived in a spectacular walking castle, was debonair, princely and ostentatious, a quality shared with one half of Bale’s next role.

Bale had long been a contender to portray Batman, from as early as 2002. Earlier on, he had auditioned for the role of Robin in Batman Forever, but lost out to Chris O’Donnell. In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role and was set to star with the predominantly British cast of Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman and Cillian Murphy in the Christopher Nolan-helmed Batman Begins, a complete restart of the Batman mythos without any ties to the Burton or Schumacher visions. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition. (Evening the score, Bale lost the part of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead to Gyllenhaal. Still fresh from The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match the powerful physique of Batman. He was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining exactly one hundred pounds in six months. He then worked toward converting most of it into muscle.

Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batman costume. He dealt with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast in his portrayal. To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale perused various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the Dark Knight: “Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled side. The Batman creature [Wayne] creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a very haphazard way. He’s capable of enacting violence – and to kill – so he’s constantly having to rein himself in.” For Bale, the most grueling part about playing Batman was the costume. “You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the cowl,” he said. “But I’m not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman.” When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale retained Bruce Wayne’s American accent to avoid confusion with Batman being a Briton.

Batman Begins was released domestically on June 15, 2005 to wide critical, fan and public approval. Nolan was commended for choosing to film most of Begins more traditionally by opting for live-action special effects whenever possible in an age where CGI was economical and believable. The cast was praised for its effective portrayals, but Bale drew the most acclaim for his dual portrayal of both Batman and Bruce Wayne, the superficial billionaire playboy alter ego. He earned the Best Hero award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance.

Batman Begins was a domestic and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing approximately US$135,000,000 to produce and taking in over US$370,000,000 in returns worldwide. A sequel, yet untitled, is in production, with Bale set to reprise his role as Batman. It is expected to complete filming sometime in 2008. A Batman Begins video game was also developed for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable; Bale provided the voice of Batman.

Bale was cast as one of the two leads in the South Central David Ayer-hemled crime drama Harsh Times, co-starring with Freddy Rodriguez. Bale played Jim David, a grim Gulf War veteran afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, inexplicably approached by the Department of Homeland Security and hired as a federal agent. Harsh Times premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and is slated for wide release on September 8, 2006.

Terrence Malick directed The New World, a period piece inspired by the stories of Pocahontas, and Bale was cast as John Rolfe, his second time participating in a dramatization of Pocahontas. He shared the screen with Colin Farrell and Q’Orianka Kilcher, who played lovers John Smith and Pocahontas. The majority of screen time was devoted to Farrell and Kilcher; Bale was a secondary character, and only appeared during the last third. The New World left critics to contend whether its indulgence and the dramatic liberties it took over historical accuracy made the film a champion or a dud. Opinions were extremely divided. Filmgoers were uninterested. ‘The film was a failure at the U.S. box office and its worldwide total (US$29,506,437) fell just short of turning a profit (the production budget was placed at US$30,000,000).

Bale has a trio of projects lined up for 2006. Rescue Dawn by German filmmaker Werner Herzog will have him playing a U.S. Fighter pilot who has to fight for his life after being shot down while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Bale left a strong impression on Herzog, with the director complimenting his acting abilities: "I find him one of the greatest talents of his generation. We made up our own minds long before he did Batman." In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale reunites with Michael Caine and Christopher Nolan, who is directing the film. The Prestige’s cast also includes Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I’m Not There, a film that sees Bale working again with Colin Farrell, is an artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan, and also includes Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as part of the cast.

On January 29, 2000, Bale married independent film producer Sibi Blazic (formerly a model, makeup artist, and personal assistant of Winona Ryder). He now lives with her in Los Angeles. Together they have a daughter who was born on March 27, 2005 in Santa Monica, California. Bale, notoriously private, has not publicly divulged her name.

Bale has three older sisters – Erin Bale, a musician; Sharon Bale, a computer professional; and Louise Bale, a theatre actress and director. The Bale family is deeply rooted in showbusiness, especially theatre. Bale is a distant relative of British actress Lillie Langtry, while his uncle, Rex Bale, and maternal grandfather were actors as well.

Like his father, Bale is known as a conservationist and an animal lover, and is a supporter of conservation and animal welfare groups like Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. Bale gained the famous feminist activist Gloria Steinem as a stepmother through his father’s marriage to her on September 3, 2000, before his death in 2003.
 

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After gaining fame for her starring role on the television show Lizzie McGuire, she has gone on to have a film career, with roles in high profile releases such as The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and A Cinderella Story. Duff has also expanded her repertoire into pop music, with three albums: 2003’s Metamorphosis, 2004’s Hilary Duff and 2005’s Most Wanted.

Duff was born in Houston, Texas, the second child of Robert Erhard Duff, owner of a chain of convenience stores, and Susan Colleen Cobb, a homemaker. Duff’s middle name of "Erhard" was the maiden name of her paternal grandmother, Mary Erhard, who was of part German descent.[1] After Duff’s mother encouraged her to take an acting class alongside her older sister, Haylie, both girls won parts in various local theatre productions. At the age of six, the Duff sisters participated in the ballet The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet Met in San Antonio. The siblings became more enthusiastic about the idea of acting professionally, and eventually relocated to California with their mother. Robert Duff stayed at the family home in Houston to maintain their business. After several years of auditions and meetings, the Duff sisters were cast in several television commercials and launched their careers.

Most of Duff’s first few acting roles were small, starting off with an uncredited appearance in Hallmark Entertainment’s western miniseries True Women (1997). She also served as an extra, again uncredited, in writer/director Willard Carroll’s ensemble comedy drama Playing by Heart (1998). Her first major part was as the star of the 1998 film Casper Meets Wendy, playing the young witch, Wendy, who encounters the animated character Casper. Like Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997), the second sequel to the successful Casper (1995), the film was released direct-to-video with generally unenthusiastic reviews.

Duff later appeared in a supporting role in the television movie The Soul Collector (1999), which was based on a Kathleen Kane novel, and starred Bruce Greenwood as an angel who helps out a female farmer (Melissa Gilbert) whose husband has recently died. Duff ended up winning a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress).

Duff’s first serious shot at fame came when she was cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Daddio (2000). Actor Michael Chiklis, co-star of Daddio, "After working with her the first day, I remember saying to my wife, ‘This young girl is going to be a movie star’. She was completely at ease with herself and comfortable in her own skin". Before the show had even aired, Duff was dropped from its cast lineup and became reluctant to continue her acting career. Her manager and mother spurred her on, and she successfully auditioned for the family comedy show Lizzie McGuire a week later.

Lizzie McGuire, which first aired on the Disney Channel in January 2001, was a ratings hit, drawing in 2.3 million viewers per episode, and became the career breakthrough Duff had been waiting for. Her participation in the show led to her becoming highly popular among children between the ages of seven and fourteen, with critic Richard Huff of the New York Daily News calling her "a 2002 version of Annette Funicello". After Duff fulfilled her entire sixty-five episode contract, as well as participated in a film spin-off entitled The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), Disney toyed with the idea of continuing the franchise in further films and a prime-time television series to be broadcast on ABC, but Duff refused the proposal.

Duff’s second role in a theatrical motion picture was in Human Nature (2002), an independent film first shown at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film follows a female naturalist, played by Patricia Arquette. Duff played the younger version of Arquette’s character.

Duff subsequently starred in the Disney Channel television film Cadet Kelly (2002), opposite Christy Carlson Romano and Gary Cole, which became the network’s most watched program in its nineteen-year history. Her first major role in a feature film was in Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz in 2003. The film was successful enough to spawn a sequel, in which Duff did not participate. After the commercially successful The Lizzie McGuire Movie was released in May of 2003, Duff played one of the twelve children of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt in the family film Cheaper by the Dozen, which remains her highest grossing film. She reprised her role in the sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), which failed to repeat the financial success of the original film and was panned by critics.

In 2004, Duff starred in the romantic comedy A Cinderella Story, a twenty-first century update of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Cinderella. The film became a moderate box office hit, and some critics were impressed by Duff’s performance, as well as her chemistry with co-star Chad Michael Murray. The movie earned a total of $66,068,046 worldwide and was a commercial success. Later that year, she starred in the film Raise Your Voice. While some critics praised Duff for appearing in a more dramatic role than she had previously been seen in, the film was heavily panned, with the Las Vegas Weekly writing: "Effortlessly combining Duff’s bad acting and bad singing with bad writing and bad direction, Raise Your Voice is an insulting waste of time that begs to be silenced". Reviews were, by and large, also negative to Duff’s vocals (several critics have pointed out what appears to be her digitally enhanced voice) and indifferent towards her acting performance. Duff received a Razzie award nomination for "Worst Actress" (in addition to her work in A Cinderella Story). The film also received a muted reception at the box office, where it became Duff’s least commercially successful film to date.

In Duff’s next film, The Perfect Man (2005), she played the eldest daughter of a divorced woman (Heather Locklear) who moves to New York City as she desperately searches for a man to settle down with. Reviews were uniformly negative, and the film was a box office failure. That year, Duff was again nominated for a Razzie Award, for both The Perfect Man and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Her next film is the satirical comedy Material Girls. The Martha Coolidge-directed film, co-produced by Madonna’s independent film production company Maverick Entertainment, stars Duff and her real-life sister Haylie Duff as wealthy siblings who must fight to reclaim their fortune following a scandal. It will be released in the U.S. on August 18, 2006. The Duff sisters are also due to lend their vocal talents to the computer animated comedy Foodfight!, to be distributed by Lions Gate Films in 2007. The film’s director, Larry Kasanoff, said that he is absolutely thrilled to have the Duff sisters as part of the cast.

After seeing her sister perform in a band, Duff decided that she wanted to become a singer as well. She recorded the song "I Can’t Wait" for the original television soundtrack for Lizzie McGuire in August 2002, and "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" for the first Disneymania compilation album released the following month. Her first album was Santa Claus Lane (2002), a collection of Christmas songs which included duets with Lil’ Romeo, Christina Milian, and her sister, Haylie. It peaked well outside of the top 100 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, and eventually achieved gold certification. The album’s title track was included on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2. Duff sang several tracks for the soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie, including "Why Not". Released as a single, "Why Not" became a modest top twenty hit in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Duff’s first non-holiday album, Metamorphosis (2003), included contributions by songwriter-producers such as The Matrix and was #1 on U.S. and Canadian charts. It became one of the biggest selling albums of the year in the U.S. and has since gone to sell over 3.7 million copies. The lead single, "So Yesterday", was a top ten hit in several countries, while "Come Clean" became Duff’s first top forty U.S. hit and reached the top twenty elsewhere. The final single, "Little Voice", was not released in the U.S. and was a minor hit in Canada and Australia.

The second Disneymania disc was released in January 2004, and contained a duet with her sister, Haylie, "The Siamese Cat Song". Another song, "Circle of Life", featured Duff and other Disney Channel Stars. Duff and her sister also recorded a cover of The Go-Gos’ "Our Lips Are Sealed" for the soundtrack to A Cinderella Story.

Duff has stated that her second album, the self-titled Hilary Duff, had an edgier, rock feel to it. It was released on her seventeenth birthday (in September 2004) and debuted at number two in the U.S. and number one in Canada. The album has sold over 1.3 million copies in the U.S. to date, but the songs "Fly" and "Someone’s Watching over Me" failed to achieve substantial success apart from reaching the Australian top forty.

Duff’s third album, Most Wanted (2005), consisted of a selection of her favourite tracks from her previous two albums, alongside new songs inspired by rock musicians such as The Killers and Muse. Duff had more creative control over the album compared to her previous releases, co-writing and co-producing all of the new material with boyfriend Joel Madden. The lead single, "Wake Up", became Duff’s highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 and her highest peaking single in the U.S. The second single, "Beat of My Heart", was far less successful. The album itself debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became her third number one debut in Canada. By March 2006, it had sold 1.3 million copies in the U.S.

Duff has recorded three new songs for the soundtrack of her upcoming film, Material Girls, including a cover version of Madonna’s "Material Girl". The track was produced by Timbaland. The film’s soundtrack is going to be released on August 22, 2006.

There has been speculation regarding whether or not Duff performs live. She has said in an interview that she and her band are all live, but she was alleged to have lip synced a performance at MTV’s New Year’s Bash 2004.

Duff began dating singer Aaron Carter in 2000. The relationship lasted a year and a half, after which Carter left Duff for actress Lindsay Lohan, before reuniting with Duff. Carter further claims he cheated on Duff with her best friend, and has said that Duff "got her heart broken" and that he is "sorry" for his actions. Duff and Lindsay Lohan were later reported to have been involved in a "feud" with each other, over their relationship with Carter. As of 2006, the two have reportedly still not reconciled, and Duff has stated "Sometimes I feel like I really hate her [Lohan], which is pretty extreme for me".

Duff is currently dating Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden. The two announced their relationship in June of 2005, after a long period of tabloid speculation. In June of 2006, Duff announced that she is still a virgin. "Virginity is definitely something I like about myself. It doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to fit in."

Duff is involved with several charities, is an animal rights enthusiast, a member of "Kids with a Cause", and has donated US$250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She launched a clothing line, "Stuff by Duff", on March 12, 2004, with clothes distributed through Target in the United States, Kmart in Australia and Zellers in Canada. Playmates Toys also released a celebrity doll of her that year.

In August 2005, Duff said she received veneers because she chipped off one of her front teeth on a microphone during a concert. In late 2005, Duff took a month off from work as a belated eighteenth birthday present. She said that she wanted to take a short break after releasing Most Wanted and writing three new songs for it, shooting three films, and embarking on her U.S. "Still Most Wanted Tour". By 2005, Duff also appeared to have lost weight, leading the media to speculate that she had developed an eating disorder, although Duff has denied this claim. Duff was interviewed on the Australian current affair show Today Tonight and stated that she lost weight by living a more healthy lifestyle.

In June of 2006, she made headlines by calling Madden’s home town of Waldorf, Maryland "ghetto," site unseen. They are scheduled to visit the town together in the summer of 2006.

Farrell was born prematurely weighing just 1 pound and 6 ounces[citation needed] in Castleknock, Dublin to Rita Monaghan and Eamonn Farrell, who is an FAI Cup winner and played with, as well as managed, Shamrock Rovers FC; he has two sisters, Claudine and Catherine, and a brother, Eamonn Jr.

Farrell was educated at Castleknock College and Gormanstown College. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a promising young soccer player for Dublin side Castleknock Celtic, playing as a goalkeeper. Farrell attended The Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out and was cast in the part of "Danny Byrne" on Ballykissangel, a popular BBC television drama set in Ireland. Farrell appeared on the show from 1998 until 1999.

Farrell subsequently had a number of small parts in various TV shows and movies, until 2000, when he was cast in the part of "Private Roland Bozz" in Tigerland, an American film directed by Joel Schumacher. Although the film received only a limited release in the United States, Farrell has since been cast in a number of high-profile productions, and is considered one of Ireland’s rising stars in Hollywood. Farrell’s first American films, "American Outlaws" (2001) and Hart’s War (2002), were not commercially successful, but his 2003 films, including The Recruit, S.W.A.T. and Phone Booth, were well received and were box office successes, cementing Farrell as a commercial draw. Although he has a thick Irish accent, Farrell uses a western accent in both American Outlaws and his breakthrough role Tigerland. Farrell is also a proven supporting actor, given his performances as a cop who chases after potential criminal Tom Cruise in Minority Report (2002) and as the villain Bullseye in Daredevil (2003).

In 2004, Farrell appeared in several films that received only a limited theatrical release, including Intermission and A Home at the End of the World, both of which received some positive reviews. According to press reports, Audiences at a test screening of "World" were visibly distracted (with audible gasps) by a brief frontal nude scene of Farrell, during which he walked naked down a hallway. The film’s producers claimed to have deleted this scene due to the threat that it might distract viewers from the real content of the film. The removed clip was later leaked to the internet.

Farrell appeared in the title role of 2004’s Alexander, which was considered a financial and critical disaster. Farrell’s performance as Alexander the Great was heavily criticized, with particular attention given to his peroxided hair and strong Irish accent. His next film was 2005’s The New World, also a historical epic that was met with mixed reviews. The film was released on a limited number of screens and had a low box office gross.

Farrell was married to English actress Amelia Warner from July 2001 to November 2001. He later had a son, James (born September 12, 2003), with Los Angeles-based native Kim Bordenave.

Farrell is sometimes known for his reported sexual promiscuity, habitual use of profanity, extreme heavy drinking, and chain smoking. Crew and cast members of Phone Booth reported him smoking over six packs of cigarettes a day. His heavy use of profanity during interviews is often edited from his talk show appearances. He is rumoured to be dating up-and-coming actress Lake Bell.

In December 2005, Farrell voluntarily checked into a treatment center for dependency to prescription painkillers. His publicist commented that Farrell was originally given pills for dealing with back injury pain. He was released in January 2006. In May 2006 Colin started attending AA meetings.

Farrell maintains a home in Ringsend in his native Ireland while not travelling frequently for work. He often says that "Ireland is home" and that "all [his] friends are there".

Farrell sparked gay rumors in 2005 when he was caught giving a relatively brief kiss to Argentinian soccer player Diego Maradona, on the mouth, in a Buenos Aires bar. He got tongues wagging when he was photographed with and rumored to have hooked up with a drag queen named Elaine Lancaster.

In July 2005, Farrell sued his former girlfriend, Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain, adult Internet company Internet Commerce Group (ICG), and porn producer David Hans Schmidt over the rights to a nearly-fifteen minute sex tape that Farrell had made with Narain in 2003. The tape was made at Narain’s apartment and features the two engaged in intercourse and oral sex. Farrell claims he understood the tape as being "strictly private and confidential between them," but it was leaked to Schmidt and ICG who tried to release it publicly. A Los Angeles judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the sale, distribution, or display of the tape. In the past, Schmidt had distributed or tried to distribute nude material of other celebrities, including Tonya Harding, Paula Jones, and Fred Durst.

Narain claimed that she did not give the tape to anyone and was not sure if or how copies were taken from her. She had originally said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that it remained private, but Farrell claimed the opposite, and said Narain was trying to release it along with Schmidt, a claim Narain denies. Part of the conflict may have also come when Narain refused to grant full ownership of the tape to Farrell. Later in an appearance on MSNBC, Narain said that she and Farrell should commercially release the tape together themselves to "take control of the situation" after parts were leaked to the Internet.

In January 2006, the tape surfaced on a website called dirtycolin.com. The site was shut down on the same day because of server overload, but re-opened a week later. The tape was then pirated through BitTorrent and other file sharing systems. Both Farrell’s and Narain’s lawyers denounced the site, which was shut down again a few days later for unknown reasons. Farrell’s legal team said it would take legal action against sites that hosted the tape. A trial date for the Narain lawsuit was set for July 17th, 2006, but the judge allowed Farrell and Narain to mediate until April 20th. On April 16th, the two reached a settlement with confidential terms. However, Farrell’s lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date set for July 21th.

Alba was born in Pomona, California to Mark Alba and Cathy Jensen. Her father is a Mexican American, while her maternal grandfather was of Danish descent and her Canadian maternal grandmother was of French, English and Italian descent. Alba was raised in an Air Force family, her brother Joshua Alba and her grandparents until she was sixteen. She grew up a sports fanatic. Her father’s Air Force career took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas, before they settled back in California when she was nine. Alba’s early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies; she suffered collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, a burst appendix, a cyst on her tonsils and asthma. This served to isolate her from other children at school because, as she claims, she was in the hospital so often that no one knew her well enough to befriend her. She also revealed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child. Her health improved, however, when her family moved to California, though occasionally she still exhibits some symptoms of OCD.

Alba had expressed interest in acting since the age of five. She took her first acting class at age twelve, and she was signed by an acting agent nine months later.

Alba’s first appearance in film was a small role in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere as Gail. She was originally hired for two weeks but her role soon turned into a two month job when the actress in one of the more prominent roles in the film dropped out; Alba was picked to replace her because her hair matched that of the original actress.

Young Alba appeared in two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C. Penney; she was later featured in several independent films. She branched out into TV in 1994 with a recurring role as the insufferable young snob, Jessica, in three episodes of the Nickelodeon comedy series The Secret World of Alex Mack. She then performed the role of Maya in the first two seasons of the TV series Flipper. Under the tutelage of her lifeguard mother, Alba learned to swim before she could walk, and she was a PADI-certified scuba diver, skills which were put to good use on the show, which was filmed in Australia. In 1995, she appeared in the film Venus Rising as Young Eve.

After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Alba studied acting with William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, at the Atlantic Theater Company, which was developed by Macy and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and film director, David Mamet.

In 1998, she appeared as Melissa Hauer in a first-season episode of the Steven Bochco crime-drama Brooklyn South, as Leanne in two episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and as Layla in an episode of The Love Boat: The Next Wave. In 1999, she appeared in the Randy Quaid comedy feature P.U.N.K.S..

Alba rose to greater prominence in Hollywood in 1999 after appearing as a member of a snobby high school clique in the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, and as the female lead in the 1999 comedy-horror film Idle Hands, opposite Devon Sawa. But her big break came when writer/director James Cameron picked Alba from a pool of 1,200 candidates for the role of the genetically-engineered super-soldier, Max Guevera on the Fox sci-fi TV series Dark Angel. Co-created by Cameron, Alba was the definitive star in the series which ran for two seasons before being canceled in 2002. Since then her most notable roles have been as an aspiring dancer/choreographer in Honey, exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in Sin City and as the classic Marvel Comics character Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four. Jessica then went on to hosting the 2006 MTV Movie Awards and did sketches spoofing King Kong, Mission Impossible 3, and The Da Vinci Code.

She once told Dark Angel producer, James Cameron, that she did not want to direct because it appeared to be too difficult an undertaking, but he responded with the prediction that she would end up directing sooner than she expected.

Apparently, Alba fears being typecast as a sex kitten. However, she admits, "Somehow, I don’t think this is happening to Natalie Portman." In the interview, Alba says she wants to be taken seriously as an actress but believes she needs to do movies that she would otherwise not be interested in to build her career, stating that eventually she hopes to be more selective in her film projects [citation needed].

Alba suffered anorexia and a kidney infection in 2001. She also now suffers from motion sickness, which developed after childhood.

Alba was engaged to her Dark Angel co-star Michael Weatherly, but it was called off. In January 2005, she began dating Cash Warren, a director’s assistant on Fantastic Four, whom she met when filming that movie.

Fred Couples, nicknamed "Boom Boom" because of his long drives, is a professional golfer on the PGA Tour.  Couples began playing golf in Seattle on public courses and eventually took his game to the University of Houston.

Throughout Fred’s professional career, he was won a total of 15 PGA Tour victories.  Of those 15 victories, only one is a major championship.  Couples’ has been named the PGA Tour Player of the Year twice and has been named to the United States Ryder Cup team five times.

He is sometimes called "Mr. Skins" because of his dominance in the Skins Game. He has won the event five times winning over $3.5 million in this format alone. 

Fred Couples is considered to be one of the most laid-back, easygoing players on the PGA Tour.  He currently lives in Santa Barbara, California with his girlfriend Kathy Masters.

His trademark crooked nose was caused by having his nose broken once in high school and again in college during a flag football game at the University of Texas.

Owen landed minor roles in big budgeted movies very quickly such as The Cable Guy which was directed by Ben Stiller. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Owen got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. After the success of Rush Hour, producers thought the buddy formula could work again with Jackie Chan being paired with a white man this time. And they were right. The film was a success, grossing nearly $100 million dollars worldwide.

Owen returned to the buddy comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring this time with Eddie Murphy. The big screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003), teamed up with Ben Stiller in the movie remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004), and partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million dollars in the US alone.

In 2001, Wilson and Anderson wrote their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, and Danny Glover. Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as a Professor-turned-bestseller "Eli Cash." It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson’s roles have varied between small, quirky comedy collaborations with Anderson and bigger budget box office fare. Wilson, along with Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, and Steve Carell are considered members of the Frat Pack. He is the first "Frat Pack" member to receive an Academy Award nomination.

He has been in seven movies with Ben Stiller, up to this date. They are The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Meet the Parents (2004).

GLENDALE, Calif. - A continuance has been granted in Nicole Richie’s driving under the influence case.

Superior Court Commissioner Steven K. Lubell on Tuesday set a new date of July 11 at the request of a defense attorney.

That means the trial could start on that date or within the following 10 days, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for prosecutors.

Richie, the 25-year-old daughter of pop singer Lionel Richie, was arrested Dec. 11. She pleaded not guilty in February to misdemeanor driving under the influence.

In addition to the single count, the case contains an allegation that Richie had a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction in June 2003.

The California vehicle code says if convicted of DUI twice within 10 years, a person can be sentenced to between 90 days and a year in jail and have his or her driving privileges suspended.

Her publicist didn’t respond Tuesday to an e-mail seeking comment.

Richie stars in "The Simple Life" reality show on Comcast Corp.’s E! Entertainment Television with Paris Hilton, who is serving a 45-day sentence for violating her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Earlier this month, Richie told CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman that she’s worried about landing in jail, but is "willing to face whatever consequences come my way, and I take responsibility for what I’ve done."

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Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey, the youngest of the six children of Salvatore Travolta (an Italian American semi-professional football player of Sicilian descent who later turned tire salesman) and Helen Cecilia Burke (an Irish American actress and singer who had appeared in radio vocal group The Sunshine Sisters, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher). After dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. He landed roles in the touring company of Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers’ song "Dream Drummin’". Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business.

Travolta gained his first major movie role as Billy Nolan, a sadistic bully who taunted Sissy Spacek’s Carrie White in the horror film Carrie (1976). Around the same time he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack’s mother).

Around this time he also had a hit single called "Let Her In", peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the next few years, he appeared in some of his most memorable screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978). His mother appeared as an extra in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen appeared as an extra in Grease. Travolta performed several of the songs on the Grease soundtrack album, that eventually went on to sell more than 10 million copies. In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film, Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.

After Urban Cowboy came a string of flops that sidelined his acting career (some suggest that he was typecast as a disco stud or 1970s icon could be the reason why his agent has intervened on several occasions to either turn down an acting role). During that time he was offered, but turned down, the lead role for what would become a series of box office hits, including American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, and Splash. His only hit film during this period was alongside Kirstie Alley and a baby voiced by Bruce Willis in Look Who’s Talking. However, it wasn’t until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s hit Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, and he was inundated with offers. Ironically, before Travolta took the role, he had first visited Tarantino who was living in a ramshackle apartment in Los Angeles, the same apartment that Travolta had been living in when he got his start. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), an FBI agent in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998) and a military detective in The General’s Daughter (1999).
Travolta dancing with Princess Diana at a White House dinner on 9 November 1985
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Travolta dancing with Princess Diana at a White House dinner on 9 November 1985

Travolta also starred in Battlefield Earth (2000) (which is based on a work of science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard), in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did poorly at the box office. Travolta, who converted to Scientology in 1975 and endorses the teachings of the late Hubbard, had hoped that the film would be well received and be the first in a series of Hubbard film adaptations. In fact, the film won a Razzie Award for Worst Film of the Year at the 2000 awards.

Travolta’s affiliation with Scientology has caused some controversy. In 1998 he was named in a lawsuit involving a former member who claimed that he was promised that his homosexuality could be cured. The lawsuit alleged that the organization frequently cited Travolta as proof that the organization could in fact change a person’s sexual orientation. A lawyer for Travolta replied, "This looks like complete hogwash. Travolta is a happily married man, which proves he isn’t gay" (see [1]).

There has also been widespread speculation that Travolta’s son Jett does not have Kawasaki syndrome, as he and wife Kelly Preston have claimed, but is autistic, and the Travoltas are denying him treatment because autism is not recognized by Scientology. This is primarily because the triggers listed by Preston (various environmental toxins) have not been linked to Kawasaki Syndrome in the past, and because this illness is primarily found in Japanese children under the age of five. [2] To date, however, this claim has not been confirmed.[3] [4] On April 10th, 2006, Hollywood, Interrupted made a public plea to Travolta and Preston to treat their son properly, and claimed that five reliable sources–including representatives from Cure Autism Now and The Autism Perspective, had confirmed Jett Travolta’s affliction with autism. [5]

Questions have also been raised regarding what kind of agreements were made between Travolta and then President Bill Clinton, regarding how Travolta would portray Clinton in the movie Primary Colors and whether Clinton would pressure the German government to remove its ban on Scientology. Travolta was quoted about the issue in May 1998 issue of George magazine:

    The next day, I met with Clinton. He told me: "Your program sounds great. More than that, I’d really love to help you with your issue over in Germany with Scientology." I was waiting for the seduction that I had heard so much about. I thought, "Well, how could he ever seduce me?" And after we talked, I thought, "Bingo!" He did it. Scientology is the one issue that really matters to me.

In another interview [6], Travolta admitted that his portrayal of Clinton was much more kind than that in the book Primary Colors. The next year, in November 1998, Clinton sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to urge German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel to grant Scientology the status of a registered religion (see [7], [8]).

Travolta was previously involved with actress Diana Hyland, who died of breast cancer (reportedly in Travolta’s arms) in 1977.

Travolta is a qualified pilot and owns five airplanes, including a former Qantas Boeing 707-138. The plane bears the name Jett Clipper Ella in honor of his son Jett and his daughter Ella. Pan Am was a large operator of the 707 and used Clipper in their names. His house in Jumbolair, Florida has its own runway and taxiway right to the door. In 1993, Travolta successfully performed an emergency landing of a plane with electric trouble at Washington National Airport, now known as Reagan Washington National Airport.

In 1992, he wrote and illustrated a short children’s book entitled Propeller One-Way Night Coach about the fictional journey of an 8-year-old boy named Jeff across the USA in the 1950s.

Travolta has had a song written about him by country music artist Cledus T. Judd. Livin’ Like John Travolta, and is a parody of Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin.

He celebrated with the Australian national football team in their dressing room following their qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup

He is currently writing his autobiography, which will be out soon.

LOS ANGELES - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a rule change allowing a best picture Oscar winner to have more than three producers in rare circumstances.

Academy President Sid Ganis said the change was among a handful of refinements in the rules approved Tuesday for the 80th Academy Awards.

The Academy imposed a rule in 2000 that limited each nominated film to three credited producers who could claim statuettes. That led to bickering and lawsuits from people who felt they were denied        Oscars for pictures that won.

Bob Yari sued the Academy and the Producers Guild claiming he wrongly lost out on a producer credit for "Crash," which won best picture in 2006. The Academy also denied Brad Grey, now chairman of Paramount Pictures, and Brad Pitt producing Oscars for this year’s best picture, "The Departed."

The rules still say that "three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions" will be considered eligible nominees, but now a provision allows the Producers Branch Executive Committee to "name any additional qualified producer" in "what it determines to be a rare and extraordinary circumstance."

"It’s very important to have a limit on the number of producers who can be nominated and potentially receive an Oscar statuette," Ganis said. "But we also recognize that a truly unique situation could arise, and we want to have just enough flexibility to allow for that rare occurrence."

Another change involves defining an animated feature film as one that is at least 70 minutes long and uses a frame-by-frame technique to create characters’ movements.