Top Celebrities and Sports Talent

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Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on 23rd July 1989 in the London suburb of Fulham. From the tender age of five, Dan expressed an interest in acting, although his early experience was limited to playing a monkey in a school production. He became officially involved in the acting profession "by accident".

He had missed out on auditioning for a part in a television production of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist - his parents didn’t think it would be a very good idea - but he was destined to make his small screen debut as another of Dickens’ famous titular characters: David Copperfield, starring alongside Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins.

Dan followed up his appearance in "David Copperfield" by taking a small part, to gain some experience, in the film "The Tailor of Panama" released in March 2001. He played Mark Pendel, the son of Harry and Louisa Pendel, who were played by Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis. While the filming was taking place, a major talent search was underway in the UK to find someone to portray a certain popular literary character and Curtis was struck by a particular insight:

Photo: danielradcliffepictures.org

Radcliffe has also starred in the five subsequent Harry Potter film adaptations: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). He has signed on for the seventh, and eighth films (year seven is being made in two parts); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and II, expected in 2010 and 2011. Radcliffe is ‘very happy’ that the decision has been made to split the last film into two parts, as he doesn’t believe that anything should be cut out of the climactic book. The films continue to produce high box office results worldwide.

On 9 July 2007, Radcliffe and fellow Harry Potter cast members Rupert Grint and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It was announced in the New York Times on 28 December 2007 that Radcliffe will portray deceased photojournalist Dan Eldon in an upcoming biopic entitled Journey or The Journey is the Destination.

Eldon’s mother, Kathy, personally chose Radcliffe over other actors such as Heath Ledger, Ryan Phillippe and Joaquin Phoenix, noting Radcliffe’s "puckishness, sense of humour and energy" as similar to her son’s.

Sources: danradcliffe.com, wikipedia.org 

Hugh Dancy was born on 19 June 1975. He is an Emmy-nominated English actor. Dancy has a brother, Jack, and a sister, Kate. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Winchester College, and St Peter’s College, Oxford.

Dancy acted in the Winchester College Players production of Twelfth Night which was performed in both Winchester and at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall at the age of 18. Dancy’s first small-screen appearances were in Trial & Retribution II, Dangerfield, The New Adventures of Robin Hood and Kavanagh QC. He is fluent in French, and played a Frenchman fascinated by knights in Relic Hunter.

He played the lead in BBC’s Daniel Deronda (2002) which was an adaptation of George Eliot’s novel based on a young man learning about life, love and ultimately who he really is, Hallmark’s David Copperfield (2000), and Danny in two episodes of Cold Feet (1999).

He has also modeled for Burberry since 2004 and has been featured in three Burberry campaigns, alongside Kate Moss. In July 2006, Dancy received a Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries nomination at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards for his role in Elizabeth I.

In 2007, Dancy had a starring role on Broadway as Captain Dennis Stanhope in Journey’s End (Belasco Theatre). He portrayed the character of Adam in the 2009 indie, Adam, a man with Asperger’s Syndrome. Dancy also appeared in Savage Grace and the film adaptation of Confessions of a Shopaholic.

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Sam Worthington was born on 2 August 1976. He is an award-winning Australian actor. Samuel Worthington was born in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. He grew up in Rockingham, Western Australia, and won a scholarship to the John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle, and then studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

After graduating from NIDA in 1998, Worthington performed in a production of Judas Kiss for Company B at the Belvoir St Theatre.

He went on to act in a series of Australian movies and TV series; including a supporting role in Bootmen (2000) and leading roles in Dirty Deeds (2002), Gettin’ Square (2003), Somersault (2004) and a modern Australian retelling of Macbeth (2006). Worthington won the 2004 Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Lead Actor for his role in Somersault. He is well known in Australia for his role as Howard in the acclaimed Australian TV series Love My Way, where he played the main love interest of the female lead.

Worthington’s international film career began with a series of small roles in Hollywood productions such as Hart’s War (2002) and The Great Raid (2005), which was filmed in Australia. He was one of several actors who was under consideration to take over the role of James Bond from Pierce Brosnan for the 2006 film Casino Royale. Director Martin Campbell stated that only Worthington and Henry Cavill were in serious contention along with eventual winner Daniel Craig.

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In 2007, James Cameron chose Worthington for a leading role in his science fiction thriller Avatar. On 12 February 2008 it was revealed he was cast, on Cameron’s recommendation, in Terminator Salvation as Marcus Wright.
 

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Vin Diesel was born on July 18, 1967. He is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. While he prefers to identify himself as a "multi-faceted" actor he has played a number of similar roles, as a result of early difficulties finding roles due to his very mixed heritage. He founded the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios, and Racetrack Records.

Diesel’s first film role was an uncredited appearance in the 1990 film Awakenings. He then produced, directed and starred in the 1994 short film Multi-Facial, a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process, because he is regarded as either "too black" or "too white", or not black or white enough. He made his first feature-length film, 1997’s Strays, an urban drama in which he was self-cast as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series.

He was then cast in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. He then earned critical acclaim for voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant (1999). He followed it up with a major role in Boiler Room (2000) and then got his breakthrough role as the anti-hero Riddick in Pitch Black (2000). He then attained action hero super stardom with the box office hits The Fast and the Furious (2001) and xXx (2002).

In 2004, he reprised his role as Pitch Black’s Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick which did only moderately well at the box office. In 2005 he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier which was a surprise box office success. In 2006 he attempted a dramatic role when he played real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he was critically acclaimed for his performance, the film bombed at the box office. Later that year he made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and The Furious. Diesel was originally offered the lead in 2 Fast 2 Furious but turned it down. He was also offered the chance to reprise his role from xXx in xXx: State of the Union but also turned it down. In March 2006, Diesel stated that he was working on a sequel to The Chronicles of Riddick which as of 2008 is still in pre-production stages.

In 2007, he was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled out from the role and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008 he stars in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D..

After seven years, he is reprising his role as Dominic Toretto in the fourth film of The Fast and The Furious series, titled Fast and Furious which will be released in June 2009.

Vin Diesel has a daughter, Hania Riley, born April 2, 2008, with his girlfriend, model Paloma Jimenez. Speaking to An tEolas, an Irish newspaper, Diesel spoke of how he has been seen as a hard man, but is in touch with his soft side as a proud father.

Find Vin Diesel Posters.

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Ralph Fiennes is an English actor. He has appeared in films such as Schindler’s List, Quiz Show, The English Patient, Oscar and Lucinda, Red Dragon, The Constant Gardener, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and the Harry Potter films. Most recently he appeared in The Reader. He is the only actor ever to have won a Tony Award for playing Hamlet on Broadway. In 2001, Fiennes received the William Shakespeare Award from the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C..

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is his full name, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park and, also during the late 1980s, the National Theatre before becoming a star in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and then made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, for which he received substantial acclaim and praise throughout Europe.

1993 was his "breakout year". He had a major role in the very controversial Peter Greenaway film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond. Though the film was poorly received, Fiennes’s career suffered no lasting consequences, and later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. For this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He did not win the Oscar, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role. His portrayal as Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institute’s list of top 50 movie villains. In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show, and in 1996 was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the World War II epic romance The English Patient. Fiennes’ work has ranged from thrillers (Red Dragon) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to campy nostalgia (The Avengers) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan) and offbeat dramedy (Oscar and Lucinda). Fiennes was cast as Lord Voldemort in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and has retained this role for both the 5th film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the 7th and 8th films Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which will be released in two parts in 2010 and 2011. Lord Voldemort does not appear in the book of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and so Fiennes will not appear in the film.

However, as Voldemort appears as an 11 year-old, Ralph’s nephew , Hero Fiennes-Tiffin will play him. The Constant Gardener was released in 2005 with Fiennes as the title role. The film is set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity.

His 2007 performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2006 Tony Award. In 2008 he reteamed with frequent collaborator director Jonathan Kent to play the title role in Sophocles’ Oedipus which will tour internationally in 2009. He will also appear in a 2010 West End revival of Uncle Vanya. He is also a UNICEF ambassador. Find Ralph Fiennes Posters.