Top Celebrities and Sports Talent

Danica Patrick is a driver on the IRL circuit.

Danice began karting in 1992 at age 10. She moved to England at the age of 16 in order to advance her racing career; instead of finishing high school, she earned a GED.

Danica focused primarily on road racing with seasons in Europe, the Toyota Atlantic Championship and finally to the Indy Racing League.

In 2004, Patrick finished third in the Toyota Atlantic Championship for Rahal Letterman Racing.

May 29, 2005, Patrick became only the fourth woman to race in the Indianapolis 500. She posted the fastest practice speed of the month (229.880 MPH on May 15), but, made an error at the beginning of her qualifying attempt and failed to capture the pole position.

Danica Patrick became the first female driver to lead the race at Indianapolis when she stayed out one lap longer than her rivals during a set of green-flag pit stops. But, finished 4th.

Patrick also hosts several TV shows on Spike TV.

Danica has gotten an enormous amount of press coverage for the fact, she is woman in a man’s world, she is talented, and beautiful.
 

DeMato is the youngest of one sister and five brothers. Her mother, Joan, is a realtor at Remax in her home town and her father, Peter, owns Chase Equipment in New Milford. She is a 1997 graduate of Brookfield High School.

The buxom DeMato was heavily featured in coverage of the early rounds of American Idol, including the showing of drama with fellow singer Kimberly Caldwell during the "Hollywood" phase. She sang Dusty Springfield’s hit "Son of a Preacher Man" in the semi-finals. In the finals, she sang "Flashdance - What A Feeling" and "Where Did Our Love Go", before being voted off on March 26, 2003 after a rendition of Faith Hill’s "Breathe".

After the show, she had some success on the American Idol concert tour, singing "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. She also recorded a cover of "At Last" by Etta James on the American Idol 2 Love Songs CD. DeMato’s versions of these songs were well-regarded by fans and reviewers.

However, her brief musical career peaked with the CD and the concert tour, and further success eluded her. Later in 2003, she had a short stint as a judge for the Oxygen Network’s show Meow TV.

She was unable to secure a recording contract with an established company, but did record one song, "Let It Rain", with a company called Somme Music - an Internet storefront marketing that one song. Reaction to this song was mixed: some liked the vocals and also the music, while others had a problem with the composition and the negative tone of some of the lyrics (written by the head of Somme Music). No further songs were recorded.

Living in her home town of Brookfield, and working once more as a cosmetologist, she has given occasional concerts in that area of Connecticut, but has otherwise not been heard from.

On July 6, 2005, she and her fiancé, electrician Jim Polches, became parents of boy James Peter when she gave birth in Danbury, Connecticut. She and Polches planned to wed the following year.

In December, 2005, she made a brief return to the news when she was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine, as well as driving while intoxicated after failing a field sobriety test. At first, DeMato claimed it had all been a misunderstanding. While Connecticut has severe penalties against drunk driving, she was able to avoid a jail term and a criminal record by negotiating, through her lawyer, an alternative sentence involving community service and a program of drug and alcohol education.
 

After high school, Dennis, measuring 6′4" tall, was offered various sports scholarships, but instead he chose to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is the eighth of nine children.

Dennis Haysbert has been acting in film and television since 1979 with a guest role in The White Shadow. His television guest starring roles include "Lou Grant", Laverne & Shirley, The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., and Duckman. On film, Haysbert has appeared in Absolute Power, Random Hearts and Far From Heaven among others. In 1989, Haysbert portrayed Pedro Cerrano, a voodoo-practicing baseball player in the movie Major League, in which he uttered the memorable line: "It is very bad to steal Jobu’s rum. Very bad". In 1992, Haysbert co-starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in Love Field, a film about the assassination and funeral of President John F. Kennedy. In 1999, Haysbert starred with Eric Close in Now and Again, which was cancelled after its first season. In 2004, Haysbert began appearing in Allstate commercials during episodes of 24.

In 2001, Haysbert became more well-known when he was cast in 24 playing the African-American Senator (later President) David Palmer. He maintained his status as a cast member through seasons two and three. As a guest star, he appeared in the last six episodes of season 4 and the first episode of season 5.

In addition to television and film acting, Haysbert has also done voice work for various video games, most notably Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series and Call of Duty: Finest Hour.

Currently, Haysbert is the official spokesman for Allstate Insurance company. His repeated phrase for the company’s commercials is "Are you in good hands?" (The commercials’ final line was also "That’s Allstate’s stand". In the first flight of these commercials, some in the audience mistook him for saying "That’s Allstate, Stan". In later versions of the spots, Haysbert enunciated the "d" in "stand" more clearly) His subsequent television work includes the role of Jonas Blane in CBS’s special forces drama The Unit.

On March 4th, Haysbert guest starred on Saturday Night Live. He hosted a "Belated Black History Moment" segment, featuring fictional African-American cartoons which failed to make an impact in the 90’s.

In his biggest role to date, he will be playing Nelson Mandela in Goodbye Bafana (2006).

Gooding, Jr.’s first major film role was in director John Singleton’s 1991 film, Boyz N The Hood, a well-reviewed film about inner city youths. Prior to this, he had appeared in many TV shows, including a recurring role on MacGyver. Following the success of the film, he was cast in a series of roles, both leading and supporting, including the 1996 film, Jerry Maguire, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Cuba took his first shot at producing with long time manager and partner Derek Broes. Broes and Gooding tapped long time friend Rowdy Herrington as the writer director of the film A Murder of Crows. The film has gained cult status among murder mystery buffs. Broes later left Hollywood for the technology world and now sits in an executive chair at Microsoft Corporation.

Gooding, Jr.’s subsequent career has included box office successes like Men of Honor (in 2000), Snow Dogs (in 2002), and a supporting role as Navy Cross awardee Doris Miller in the 2001 film, Pearl Harbor.

In 2006, he appeared in the crime-drama, Dirty, which received a limited theatrical release, as well as the direct-to-dvd, 24-esque politcal drama End Game where he plays a Secret Service agent who uncovers a conspiracy after a Presidential assassination.

He also hosted the 37th Annual NAACP Image Awards.

After a string of comedies that were mostly disliked by critics, Gooding, Jr. has vowed to never appear in another comedy again, saying that he "thought people wanted me to make them laugh, but I was wrong on so many levels. I try to take all my energy and take it into comedy, and that’s when I’m terrible".

Gooding, Jr. is married to schoolteacher Sara Kapfer, whom he has known since 1986; they have three children, Spencer, Mason, and Piper.

He is a fan of hockey and in January 2006, Cuba made an appearance as a guest announcer for the Los Angeles Kings in one game. He also has a very minor part in Coming to America as the customer in the barbershop scene.