Top Celebrities and Sports Talent

July 28, 2007

Katie Holmes

Filed under: Actress

Her part on the show, only her second professional role, made Holmes a star. Her movie roles have ranged from art house films such as The Ice Storm to thrillers such as Abandon to blockbusters such as Batman Begins, but she has not found the same success in films as she did on television and admits most of her films have been "bombs".

Weeks after ending her engagement with actor Chris Klein, Holmes began in early 2005 a highly publicized relationship with actor Tom Cruise, sixteen years her senior. In June, two months after they first met, she became engaged to Cruise. Their relationship has made Holmes the subject of international media attention, much of it highly negative, the press speculating the relationship was only a publicity stunt to promote the couple’s films. Many reports commented negatively about the interest of Holmes, born a Roman Catholic, in Cruise’s religion, Scientology. The couple announced Holmes was pregnant in October 2005; on April 18, 2006, Holmes gave birth to a baby girl, Suri Holmes Cruise. Since she began dating Cruise, Holmes has not worked as an actress.

Holmes was born in the northwestern Ohio city of Toledo, the youngest in a family of five children (four daughters, one son) of Kathleen and Martin Joseph Holmes, Sr. (born 1945), an attorney specializing in divorces. She lived in the Corey Woods section of Sylvania Township, Lucas County, in a brick 1862 Italianate home with a white picket fence. Her siblings are Tamara (born c. 1968), Holly (born c. 1970), Martin (born 1970), and Nancy (born c. 1975). Holmes, born a Roman Catholic, attended Christ the King Church and parochial schools in Toledo. Her high school was the all-female Notre Dame Academy, her mother’s alma mater, where Katie was a 4.0 student. At St. John’s Jesuit, a nearby all-male high school, she appeared in school musicals, playing a waiter in Hello, Dolly and Lola in Damn Yankees. She scored 1310 on her SAT and was accepted to Columbia University; her father wanted her to be a doctor. Holmes loved reading: "I never feel lonely in a bookstore," she said. A British writer profiling her in 2003 said "The way Holmes approached her unusual education was as American as apple pie: she went to cheerleading practice, got straight A grades, and made a pledge that she would remain a virgin until marriage." Holmes told her hometown paper The Blade that the three words best describing herself were "honest, determined, and imaginative."

The Associated Press reported that "Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s choice of a Hebrew-flavored name for their newborn daughter has speakers of the language scratching their heads" and quoted an Israeli television anchor saying "We seem to have learned a new Hebrew word—and from Tom Cruise, no less," while Reuters quoted a linguistics professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who said "I really don’t know what they were thinking when they chose this name. It’s a term that denotes expulsion, like ‘Get out of here’. It’s pretty blunt.

July 26, 2007

Kenneth Branagh

Filed under: Actors

book Kenneth Branagh

Branagh was born in Belfast, where he was educated at Grove Primary School, Belfast; but at the age of nine relocated with his family to Reading in England. He received a honorary doctorate in Literature (D.Litt.) from the Queen’s University of Belfast in 1990.

The actor achieved some measure of success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as the title character in the BBC’s Play for Today series known as the Billy Plays, written by Graham Reid (writer) and set in Belfast.

He has worked on both stage and screen. He received initial acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, including the title role in Hamlet. He is probably best known for his popular film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V in 1989 and including versions of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000) and Hamlet (1996). He has also starred in a number of other films unrelated to Shakespeare, some successful, some not. In recent years, he has branched out into made-for-TV films, none of which he has directed. One of his most acclaimed portrayals has been that of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film Warm Springs, the story of how FDR sought a cure for his polio by buying the rehabilitation institute at Warm Springs, Georgia, and turning it into one of the most famous rehab institutes in the world. It was nominated for sixteen Emmys and won five, though none for Branagh. Branagh did win an Emmy Award for his performance in the 2001 TV film Conspiracy which is the story of how the Nazis conceived the Final Solution. Branagh played Reinhard Heydrich in the film.

Branagh has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including two for directing and acting in Henry V and another for the screenplay of Hamlet. Branagh was also nominated for the Worst supporting actor "Razzie" in 1999 for his work in the film Wild Wild West.

He starred several times with his then wife, Emma Thompson; they were married in 1989, and divorced in 1995. For several years he was in a well-publicised relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he also starred. He married again, in 2003, to film art director Lindsay Brunnock, who had been introduced to him by Carter in 1997, although they did not begin seeing each other seriously until 2002. ([1])

He also narrated the book The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis for Harper Audio.

July 25, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Lindsay Lohan says she’s innocent.

Filed under: News

By SANDY COHEN


 
The 21-year-old actress was arrested and released on bail for investigation of misdemeanor driving under the influence and with a suspended license, and felony cocaine possession, early Tuesday in Santa Monica, less than two weeks after completing her second trip to rehab.

"I am innocent … did not do drugs they’re not mine. I was almost hit by my assistant Tarin’s mom I appreciate everyone giving me my privacy," Lohan wrote in an e-mail to "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush, the show reported on its Web site Tuesday night.

Police found cocaine in one of Lohan’s pockets during a pre-booking search, Sgt. Shane Talbot said. Police initially said Lohan was also being booked for investigation of transporting a narcotic but later said she was not.

Police received a 911 call from the mother of Lohan’s former personal assistant saying that Lohan was chasing her in an SUV, said Lt. Alex Padilla. The assistant had quit hours before, he said.

Authorities found Lohan and the woman in a "heated debate" in the parking lot of Santa Monica’s Civic Auditorium at about 1:30 a.m.

Lohan’s arrest comes as she still faces DUI allegations connected to a Memorial Day weekend hit-and-run crash in Beverly Hills. The actress completed more than six weeks in rehab less than two weeks ago, and had checked into a recovery clinic in January.

She had worn an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet since her July 13 release from rehab and was tested daily to support her sobriety, her attorney, Blair Berk, said. She said Lohan had relapsed and was receiving medical care at an undisclosed location. Lohan’s publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, had no comment.

Lohan joins a long list of young actors who have battled problems with drugs, alcohol, or both. They include River Phoenix, Drew Barrymore, Corey Feldman, Anissa Jones, Danny Bonaduce and Macaulay Culkin.

Phoenix, who starred in "Stand By Me" as a teen, died outside a Hollywood nightclub in 1993 from a lethal combination of cocaine and heroin. He was 23. Feldman, his "Stand By Me" co-star, also battled addiction and was arrested for heroin possession when he was 19.

Jones, who played Buffy on TV’s "Family Affair," was just 18 when she died of a drug overdose in 1976. Bonaduce found fame at 10 as a star of "The Partridge Family," only to struggle with addiction and homelessness as a teenager. Culkin, best known for his starring turn in the kid-friendly "Home Alone" films, was busted in his early 20s for possession of pot and Xanax.

Barrymore, 32, has fared best. After going to rehab for drugs and alcohol at 13, she is a sought-after actress and filmmaker with her own production company, Flower Films.

Dr. David Deitch, an addiction specialist for more than 40 years and director of Phoenix House, a national nonprofit provider of substance-abuse treatments, said the glitter and glamor of Hollywood could be partly to blame.

"That life is all about the excitement, drama and peak performance followed by a letdown that gets medicated with entertainment and medication," he said.

Deitch said the average age at which children start using drugs has dropped every decade since the 1960s, and that today’s youngsters start experimenting with drugs about age 12.

"The earlier the age of onset of chronic drug-taking, the greater the prognosis is for long-term problems," he said.

The actress was chastised last summer for repeatedly arriving late to the set of "Georgia Rule," and her latest legal troubles may cost her movie roles. She was set to start shooting "Poor Things," a comedy featuring Shirley MacLaine, when she entered rehab in May. The film’s producers, who previously had supported Lohan, would not say Tuesday whether she would be part of the production.

Lohan is still set to appear in the film "Dare to Love Me," which is to begin shooting this summer, said Michael Sands, a consultant for production company Bowline Entertainment.

"The producers have compassion and kindness for her, so for now she’s insured and still with the movie," he said. "She hasn’t been convicted of any crimes."

All Hollywood productions need insurance, and troublesome or troubled actors can often stand in the way of that requirement.

"I don’t see how she’s employable for the next 18 months," said longtime publicist Michael Levine, who does not represent Lohan. "Who’s going to insure her?"

Lohan’s latest film, "I Know Who Killed Me," is set to open Friday.

July 24, 2007

John Cusack

Filed under: Actors

Book John Cusack

His father Dick Cusack, as well as his siblings Ann, Bill, Joan, and Susie have also been actors. His mother, Nancy, is a former teacher and political activist.

Cusack began acting in childhood. He attended the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago and he did many voice-overs for commercials and appeared in some stage productions by the age of 12. His first film was the comedy Class in 1983. Later, he was given the role of John Bender in John Hughes’ film The Breakfast Club but was replaced by Judd Nelson. In 1988, he founded a theatre group ("The New Criminals"), for which he has directed several productions.

After success at an early age as the star of several teen-oriented films, Cusack has generally sought roles which cast him as an ethically conflicted everyman. He is often cast as an anti-hero who can be very neurotic, but has played a wide variety of characters. He frequently appears in films with members of his family (particularly his older sister, Joan) and with long-time best friend Jeremy Piven, whose parents, Byrne and Joyce Piven, founded and continue to run the Piven Theatre Workshop.

After playing mostly character roles for a number of years, Cusack became an A-list star in 1997 with the widely acclaimed black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (which he also co-wrote and produced) and the action movie Con Air, both of which were very commercially successful. He continues to choose roles in movies outside the mainstream, however, such as Being John Malkovich and High Fidelity, which is largely considered to be a definitive role for the actor, as a troubled record store owner with too many relationship hangups. Among some of the films he has turned down include Indecent Proposal, Crash and Apollo 13. He will next appear in the horror film 1408, based on the Stephen King short story about a supernatural writer who gets something to really write about when the notorious hotel room he’s staying in, is actually haunted.

Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, reasoning that he had "too much fire in [his] belly."

Since May 2005 he’s been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

He is not married, but has been romantically linked to a number of women. Cusack is fiercely protective of his private life and rarely makes public appearances between his films or events. He has said that "celebrity is the worst thing that can happen to an actor."

July 20, 2007

Jennifer Aniston

Filed under: Actress

Book Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston’s big break came when she moved to Los Angeles and seized the opportunity to audition for a TV pilot called "Friends".  Jennifer was given the role of Rachel and the TV series was a huge success.  She soon became a household name along with her costars — Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox Arquette, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow.

Jennifer Aniston’s stardom was confirmed when she was included among People magazine’s list of "Most Intriguing People" of 1995 and 1996.  Her layered hairstyle, adopted in the early years of the show, became an overwhelming trend with American women.  She was named "America’s First Hairdo" by the popuplar magazine "Rolling Stone".

Jennifer has appeared in several films. These fun-hearted movies include, "She’s the One" with Edward Burns and Cameron Diaz, "Picture Perfect" and "The Object of My Affection".

The cast of  "Friends" finished their last season in 2004, but it still remains one of the most popular sitcoms on television.  Jennifer and her cast members negotiated an estimated one million dollars per episode and the show has won several Emmys.

Jennifer received a Best Actress Emmy for her role as Rachel in 2002.  Since her very public marriage and divorce to heartthrob actor Brad Pitt, Jennifer has most recently starred in the blockbuster hit "The Breakup" starring alongside her current boyfriend, Vince Vaughan.
 



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