holly wood

John Joseph Travolta

2008-04-23T18:55:00.015+02:00

BIOGRAPHY

John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor, dancer, and singer, best known for his leading roles in films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Pulp Fiction, Hairspray, and Battlefield Earth.

During the last few years of the 1970s, John Travolta reigned as one of the most towering stars in Hollywood, second, perhaps, only to Burt Reynolds and Robert Redford as a top male box office draw. After a string of hits in films, on television, and on the radio, Travolta emerged as a seemingly unstoppable cultural phenomenon, defining tastes in music and fashion while dominating innumerable columns of newspapers and tabloids. Like so many other celebrities, Travolta's initial fame proved short-lived, however, and by the mid-1980s the media and the public alike began to regard him as an outmoded relic of his era.

Born February 18, 1954, in Englewood, NJ, to Salvatore Travolta, a former semi-pro football player, and Helen Travolta, an alumna of a radio vocal group called the Sunshine Sisters and high-school drama teacher -- Travolta was the youngest of six children in a family of entertainers; all but one of his siblings pursued showbusiness careers as well. By the age of 12 Travolta himself had already joined an area actors' group, and soon began appearing in local musicals and dinner-theater performances. He also took tap-dancing lessons from Gene Kelly's brother Fred. By age 16, he dropped out of high school to take up acting full-time, relocating to Manhattan to make his off-Broadway debut in 1972 in Rain. A minor role in the touring company of the hit musical Grease followed, and in 1973 Travolta appeared opposite The Andrews Sisters in the Broadway musical Over Here! In 1975, he took his film bow with a bit role in the best-forgotten horror picture The Devil's Rain, alongside Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner and Anton La Vey.

Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991, with whom he has two children.

FILMOGRAPHY

John Travolta have acted among others in over 50 films which are as follows:
1.The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
2.Old Dogs (2009) (post-production)
3.Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2009) (post-production) (voice) .... Dave
4.Bolt (2008) (post-production) (voice)
5. Hairspray (2007) .... Edna Turnblad
6. Wild Hogs (2007) .... Woody Stevens
... aka Blackberry (Philippines: English title: review title)
7.Lonely Hearts (2006) .... Elmer Robinson
... aka Lonely Hearts Killers (Germany)
8.Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005) (voice) .... Jim Irwin
9. Be Cool (2005) .... Chili Palmer
10.Ladder 49 (2004) .... Captain Mike Kennedy
11.A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) .... Bobby Long
12.The Punisher (2004) .... Howard Saint
... aka The Punisher (Germany)
13.Basic (2003) .... Hardy
14.Austin Powers in Gold member (2002) .... John Travolta as Gold member in 'Austinpussy'
aka Austin Powers: Gold member (USA)
15.Domestic Disturbance (2001) .... Frank Morrison
16.Swordfish (2001) .... Gabriel Shear
17.Lucky Numbers (2000) .... Russ Richards
aka Bon numéro, Le (France)
18.Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) .... Terl
aka Battlefield Earth (USA: short title)
19.The General's Daughter (1999) .... Warr. Off. Paul Brenner / Sgt. Frank White
aka Wehrlos -
20.Our Friend, Martin (1999) (V) (voice) .... Kyle's Dad
21.A Civil Action (1998) .... Jan Schlichtmann
22.The Thin Red Line (1998) .... Brig. Gen. Quintard
23.Primary Colors (1998) .... Governor Jack Stanton
24.Mad City (1997) .... Sam Baily
25.Face/Off (1997) .... Sean Archer / Castor Troy
26She's So Lovely (1997) .... Joey Germoni
aka Call It Love
27.Michael (1996) .... Michael
28.Phenomenon (1996) .... George Malley
29.Broken Arrow (1996) .... Maj. Vic 'Deak' Deakins
30.Get Shorty (1995) .... Chili Palmer
31White Man's Burden (1995) .... Louis Pinnock
aka White Man (France)
32.Pulp Fiction (1994) .... Vincent Vega
33.Look Who's Talking Now (1993) .... James Ubriacco
34.Shout (1991) .... Jack Cabe
35.Eyes of an Angel (1991) .... Bobby
aka The Tender (USA: TV title)
36.Chains of Gold (1991) (TV) .... Scott Barnes
37.Look Who's Talking Too (1990) .... James Ubriacco
38.Look Who's Talking (1989) .... James Ubriacco
... aka Daddy's Home
39.The Experts (1989) .... Travis
.. aka Experts, Les (Canada: French title)
40.Basements (1987) (TV) .... Ben (segment "The Dumb Waiter")
41.Perfect (1985) .... Adam Lawrence
42.Two of a Kind (1983) .... Zack
43.Staying Alive (1983) .... Tony Manero
44.Blow Out (1981) .... Jack Terry
45.Urban Cowboy (1980) .... Bud
"Welcome Back, Kotter" .... Vinnie Barbarino (62 episodes, 1975-1979)
- The Breadwinners (1979) TV episode .... Vinnie Barbarino
- Barbarino's Baby (1979) TV episode .... Vinnie Barbarino
- Bride and Gloom (1979) TV episode .... Vinnie Barbarino
- A Winter's Coat Tale (1978) TV episode .... Vinnie Barbarino
- Washington's Clone (1978) TV episode .... Vinnie Barbarino(57 more)
46.Moment by Moment (1978) .... Strip Harrison
47.Grease (1978) .... Danny Zuko
48.Saturday Night Fever (1977) .... Tony Manero
49.The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976) (TV) .... Tod Lubitch
50.Carrie (1976) .... Billy Nolan
51.The Devil's Rain (1975) .... Danny
52.The Tenth Level (1975) (TV)
"Medical Center”.... Danny (1 episode, 1974)
- Saturday's Child (1974) TV episode .... Danny
"The Rookies" .... Eddie Halley (1 episode, 1973)
- Frozen Smoke (1973) TV episode .... Eddie Halley
"Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law" (1 episode, 1972)
- A Piece of God (1972) TV episode
"Emergency!" .... Chuck Benson (1 episode, 1972)
aka Emergencia (USA: Spanish title)
aka Emergency One (USA: syndication title)
- Kids (1972) TV episode .... Chuck Benson

finally i love John he is just the best

Tom Cruise

2008-01-19T05:24:00.000+01:00

Tom CruiseFrom

Tom CruiseBirth name Thomas Cruise Mapother IVBorn July 3, 1962 (age 45)Syracuse, New YorkYears active 1981 – PresentSpouse(s) Mimi Rogers (1987–1990)Nicole Kidman (1990–2001)Katie Holmes (2006-)Children 3[show]Awards

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), more commonly known as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. He joins only Tom Hanks and Will Smith as actors with seven consecutive US$100 million plus blockbusters on their résumés. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006.

[1] He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.[2]

His first leading role was 1983's Risky Business.

[3] After that, he starred in many top films and became a Hollywood celebrity, perhaps the most notable of these being the hugely successful 1986 film Top Gun.

Cruise is also known for his support of Scientology,

[4] and his criticism of psychiatry and anti-depressive drugs, which have attracted controversy and media interest.

Family and early life

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York,[5] the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer.[6] Cruise has German and Colonial English ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotte Louise Voelker; and purportedly Welsh ancestry from his paternal great-great-grandfather, Dylan Henry Mapother, who emigrated from Flint, Wales to Louisville, Kentucky in 1850.[7][8] His great-great-grandmother Mary Cruise married twice. Her first husband was Dillon Henry Mapother, by whom she had six children. She remarried after Dillon's death, to Thomas O'Mara. Their son Thomas O'Mara, enumerated as such in the 1880 Census, was later known as "Thomas Cruise Mapother". The reason(s) for him changing his name are not entirely clear. Thus, from his and his wife Anna Stewart Bateman, he has Irish and Colonial English ancestry, respectively. His maternal ancestry is half Irish and half German (including Alsatian).[9] Anna Stewart Bateman's great-grandfather was a third cousin of President George Washington and descended seven times from King Jean de Brienne of Jerusalem, once from King Louis VIII of France, once from King Henry III of England, twice from King Edward I of England and three times from King Edward III of England

When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.

Cities in which Tom lived included Ottawa, Ontario (where he attended Colonel By Secondary School), Louisville, Kentucky, Winnetka, Illinois and Wayne, New Jersey. In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati and aspired to become a Catholic priest. He eventually graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey in 1980.

Cruise has said that he suffered from abuse as a child. This was partially due to him suffering from dyslexia. He stated that when something went wrong, his father came down hard on him. He told Parade Magazine that his father was "a bully" and "a merchant of chaos." Cruise said he learned early on that his father was – and, by extension, some people were – not to be trusted: "I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well."

Having gone through fifteen schools in twelve years, Cruise, who dropped his father's name at age twelve, was also a victim of bullying at school.

Cruise started acting after being sidelined from his high school's wrestling team due to a knee injury. While injured, he successfully auditioned for a lead role in his high school's production of Guys and Dolls and decided to become an actor after his success in the role. His cousin William Mapother is also an actor most known for playing Ethan Rom on Lost.

Hollywood

Tom Cruise filmography

Acting career

1980s

Tom Cruise in 1989

Cruise's first film role came in 1981, when he had a small role in Endless Love, a drama/romance film starring Brooke Shields. Later that same year he had a more substantial role in the film Taps, appearing alongside George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. The film about military cadets was moderately successful. In 1983, he was one of many teenaged stars to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. The cast for this film included Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio, some of which were part of the Brat Pack. That same year Cruise appeared in the teen comedy Losin' It with Shelley Long. Also in 1983, Risky Business was released, widely thought to be the film that propelled Cruise to stardom. One sequence in the film, featuring Cruise lip-syncing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in his underwear, has become an iconic moment in film history. The film has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise".[14] A fourth film that was released in 1983 was the high-school football drama, All the Right Moves.

Cruise's next film was the 1985 fantasy film Legend directed by Ridley Scott.

Cruise was then selected as the first choice by producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson for an upcoming American fighter pilot film. Cruise at first apparently turned down the project, but helped to alter the script he was given and developed the film. After being taken for a flight with the Blue Angels, Cruise changed his mind and signed on with the project. The project was titled Top Gun and opened in May 1986, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, taking in US$353,816,701 in worldwide figures.

He also starred in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money along with Paul Newman that same year, which earned Paul a Best Actor academy award.

In 1988, he starred in the light hearted drama Cocktail. The film received mixed reviews and Cruise was subsequently nominated for a Razzie award in 1989. Later that year, Rain Man was released, which also starred Dustin Hoffman and was directed by Barry Levinson. The film was praised by critics and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

1990s

Cruise was welcomed with similar success the following year when he received Academy Award nominations for Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, which was based on the best selling autobiography of Anti-Vietnam War hero Ron Kovic. In 1990, Cruise starred as hot-shot race car driver "Cole Trickle" in Tony Scott's Days of Thunder. While filming Days of Thunder Cruise first met Australian actress Nicole Kidman, who was his co-star. Cruise's next film was Ron Howard's Far and Away where he again was starring with Nicole Kidman. After Days of Thunder he starred in the military thriller A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. This film was very well received and earned Cruise a Golden Globe and MTV nominations. The following year he starred in Sydney Pollack's The Firm along with Gene Hackman and Ed Harris. It was based on the best selling novel by John Grisham, and won Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards.

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best selling novel which was also very well received, although Rice was outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film. In 1996, Cruise starred in (as well as produced) Brian de Palma's Mission: Impossible. The film, a remake of the 1960s TV series, grossed US$456,494,803 worldwide, making it the third highest grossing film that year. That same year he played the title role in the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire. The film earned him an Academy Award Best Actor nomination as well as winning co-star Cuba Gooding, Jr. an Academy Award; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards in total. The film also included the line "Show Me the Money!" which became part of popular culture. Jerry Maguire saw Tom Cruise become the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed at least $100 million in domestic release.[citation needed][original research?] In 1999 he starred in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut which took two years to complete and was director Stanley Kubrick's last film. It was also the last film in which he starred alongside then spouse Nicole Kidman. But the film, which had a straightforward description of sex and a recondite story-telling style, raised great controversies. Cruise also played a misogynistic male guru in Magnolia (1999), which netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He was originally intended to play as Jericho Cane in the action horror film End of Days before Arnold Schwarzenegger assumed the lead role.

2000s

Cruise at the London Film Festival in October 2007

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his Gun fu Style, but it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost US$546 M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. The following year Cruise starred in the remake of the 1997 film Abre Los Ojos, Vanilla Sky. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip Dick; as well as The Last Samurai.

In the 2004 Michael Mann's crime-thriller film Collateral, Cruise took a turn against his generic "good guy" role by playing the role of a sociopathic hitman. In 2005, Cruise starred in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. The film earned US$234 M and ultimately earned US$591.4 M worldwide. The film also earned three Razzie nominations including one for Cruise.

In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III, which was also a box office success and was more positively received by critics than its predecessor. He appeared in the 2007 drama Lions for Lambs and will star in the 2008 thriller Valkyrie.

Producing career

Cruise partnered with producer Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions which has co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer. He won a Nova Award (shared with Paula Wagner) for Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures at the PGA Golden Laurel Awards in 1997 for his work as a producer for the film Mission: Impossible.

His next project as a producer was the 1998 film Without Limits about famous American runner Steve Prefontaine. Cruise returned to work as a producer in 2000, continuing work on the Mission Impossible sequel. He then served as an executive producer for The Others which starred Nicole Kidman, also that year, he again worked as actor/producer in Vanilla Sky. He subsequently worked on (but did not star in) Narc, Hitting It Hard and Shattered Glass. His next project, which he also starred in, was The Last Samurai, he was jointly nominated for the Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award at the 2004 PGA Golden Laurel Awards. He then worked on Suspect Zero, Elizabethtown and Ask the Dust.

Tom Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess in the industry.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City about a real life serial killer at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

Breakup with Paramount

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Tom Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms.[20] Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise

However, Radar has claimed that the "personal conduct" complained of by Redstone was an allegedly Cruise-inspired attempt to intimidate Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount. According to Radar, when Grey was walking to his car one night after tense negotiations with Cruise over Mission: Impossible 3, he was "surrounded by more than a dozen Scientologists, who pressured him to ease up on the actor … Following a terse exchange, the visitors allowed Grey to get into his car and leave, but the message was clear." Grey reportedly stood his ground and convinced Cruise to accept a lower fee than the actor had initially demanded
Management of United Artists

According to an Associated Press report on November 2, 2006, Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they will be in charge of the United Artists film studio. Cruise will produce and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner will serve as UA's chief executive.

Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007,[25] opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception.

Popularity

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world.In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list

In 2006, Premiere magazine established Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor

On 16 June 2006, Forbes magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, which Cruise topped. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.

As of August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior” for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Tom Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40%. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. Tom Cruise came bottom with just 3 percent, while the winner was 'School of Rock' star Jack Black.

Relationships and personal life

Mimi Rogers

Cruise was married to Mimi Rogers (married on May 9, 1987, divorced February 4, 1990).[3] Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology.[28]

Nicole Kidman

Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990 and divorced on August 8, 2001.[3] He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (b. December 22, 1992) and Connor Antony (b. January 17, 1995).[3] They separated when Kidman was three months pregnant, just before their tenth wedding anniversary; she later miscarried.[29]

Penélope Cruz

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. In March 2004, he announced that their relationship had ended in January.[30]

Katie Holmes

In April 2005, Cruise began dating Katie Holmes, before announcing on 17 June 2005 that he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in ParisShe accepted his proposal, and the couple married in Bracciano, Italy on November 18, 2006.

On April 18, 2006 Katie gave birth to a baby girl named Suri at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.[32] Cruise stated that the name derives from the Hebrew word for "princess" or the Persian word meaning red rose. (See also Sarah.) She is the first child for Holmes and third for Cruise, who (as previously mentioned) has two adopted children with Nicole Kidman.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

2007-09-27T11:23:00.000+02:00

Early life
Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, a city bordering the Styrian capital Graz, and was christened Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. His parents were the local police chief Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907–1972), and his wife, the former Aurelia Jadrny (1922–1998). They were married on October 20, 1945—Gustav was 38, and Aurelia was a 23-year-old widow with a son named Meinhard. According to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were "very strict". "Back then in Austria it was a very different world—" he says, "if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not sparred [sic].It was a Roman Catholic family who attended Church every Sunday. Gustav signed up for the Nazi party after the 1938 Anschluss. Still, after the war, in 1947, Gustav was allowed to work as a police officer as there was no evidence he had committed war crimes. He had a preference for Meinhard, the elder of the two sons. Gustav’s favouritism was “strong and blatant”, which stemmed from unfounded suspicion “that Arnold wasn’t his child.” Schwarzenegger has said his father had “no patience for listening or understanding your problems…there was a wall; a real wall.” Schwarzenegger had a good relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death.[ Schwarzenegger has reportedly disavowed Nazi views. In later life, Schwarzenegger commissioned the Simon Wiesenthal Centre to research his father's wartime record, which came up with no evidence of atrocities. At school, Schwarzenegger was apparently "in the middle" but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humoured and exuberant" character. Money was a problem in the household; Schwarzenegger has recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator.
As a boy, Schwarzenegger played many sports—heavily influenced by his father. He picked up his first barbell in 1960 when his soccer coach took his team to a local gym. At the age of 15 Schwarzenegger chose body-building over a career as a soccer player. Schwarzenegger has responded to a question asking if he was age 13 when he started weight-lifting: "I actually started weight training when I was fifteen but I'd been participating in sports, like soccer, for years so I felt that although I was slim, I was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start Olympic lifting. However, his official website biography claims: "At 14, he started an intensive training program with Kurt Marnul, studied psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career." During a speech in 2001 he said: "My own plan formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he was. My mother wanted me to go to trade school." Schwarzenegger took to visiting a gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local cinemas to see bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves, and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen. "I was inspired by individuals like Reg Park and Steve Reeves."[5] When Reeves passed away in 2000, Schwarzenegger fondly remembered him: " As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible when others around me didn't always understand my dreams ... Steve Reeves has been part of everything I've ever been fortunate enough to achieve In 1961 Schwarzenegger met former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul who invited him to train at the gym in Graz. He was so dedicated as a youngster that he was known to break into the local gym on weekends, when it was usually closed, so that he could train. "It would make me sick to miss a workout … I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it." Schwarzenegger was asked about his first movie experience as a boy, he replied: "I was very young, but I remember my father taking me to the Austrian theaters and seeing some newsreels. The first real movie I saw, that I distinctly remember, was a John Wayne movie."
In 1971, his brother Meinhard died in a car accident. Meinhard had been drinking and was killed instantly, Schwarzenegger did not attend his funeral. He was due to marry Erika Knapp and the couple shared a three-year-old son Patrick; Schwarzenegger would pay for Patrick's education and a life in America Gustav died the following year from a stroke. In Pumping Iron, Schwarzenegger claimed that he did not attend his father's funeral because he was training for a bodybuilding contest. Later, he and the film's producer both stated that this story was taken from another bodybuilder for the purpose of showing the extremes that some would go to for their sport, and to make Schwarzenegger's image more cold and machine-like to fan controversy for the film.[17] Barbara Baker, his first serious girlfriend has said he informed her of his father's death without emotion and never spoke of his brother. Over time, he has given at least three versions of why he did not attend his father's funeral.
In a candid interview with Fortune Magazine in 2004, Schwarzenegger told how he suffered what "would now be called child abuse" at the hands of his father. "My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform and whose will could not be broken. Therefore I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, 'you can't do this,' I said, 'this is not going to be for much longer, because I'm going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody'.
Early adulthood
Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of service required of all 18-year-old Austrian males at the time He won the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965. Schwarzenegger went AWOL during basic training so he could compete in the competition and spent a week in an army jail: "Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I didn't carefully think through the consequences. When I got to Stuttgart, I was all confused. I forgot my posing routine, I had to borrow posing trunks, but still I won Contrary to popular belief, it was not Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding debut, which had occurred two years earlier at a minor contest in Graz, at Steirer Hof Hotel (where he had placed second).
"The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America—the land of opportunity where I could become a star and get rich Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966, attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London. He would come in second in the Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle "definition" of American winner Chet Yorton. He would win the title for the first time in 1967 (he invented new exercises to separate and define his muscle groups), becoming the youngest-ever Mr. Universe at the age of 20. He would go on to win the title an additional four times. Schwarzenegger then flew to Munich, training for four to six hours daily, attending business school and working in a health club, returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr. Universe trophy. He was still to win the Mr. Olympia title.
Move to the U.S.
Schwarzenegger, making his third and most significant journey of his life, moved to the United States in September 1968 at the age of 21, speaking little English.[13][4] He confirms his poor grasp of English: "Naturally when I came to this country, my English was very bad, and my accent was also very strong which was an obstacle as I began to pursue acting. There he trained at Gold's Gym in Santa Monica, California, under the patronage of Joe Weider. From 1970–1974, one of Schwarzenegger's weight training partners was Ric Drasin, the bodybuilder and professional wrestler who designed the original Gold's Gym logo in 1973. Schwarzenegger also became good friends with professional wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham. In 1970, age 23, he captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title a total of seven times. In 1969, Schwarzenegger met Barbara Outland Baker, an English teacher he went out with until 1974. Schwarzenegger talked about Barbara in his memoir in 1977: "Basically it came down to this. She was a well-balanced woman who wanted an ordinary, solid life, and I was not a well-balanced man and hated the very idea of ordinary life Baker has described Schwarzenegger as "a joyful personality, totally charismatic, adventurous and athletic" but claims towards the end of the relationship he became "insufferable—classically conceited—the world revolved around him Baker published her memoir in 2006 entitled "Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak Although Baker, at times, paints an unflattering portrait of her former lover—Schwarzenegger actually contributed to the "tell-all" book with a "foreword" and also met with Baker for three hours Baker claims for example, that she only learned of his being unfaithful after they split and talks of a turbulent and passionate love life. Schwarzenegger has made it clear that their respective recollection of events can differ. The couple first met six to eight months after his arrival in the U.S.—their first date was watching the first Apollo Moon landing on television. They shared an apartment in Santa Monica for three-and-a-half years, and having little money, would visit the beach all day or cook barbecues in the back yard Although Baker claims that when she first met him, he had "little understanding of polite society" and she found him a "turn-off", she says: "He's as much a self-made man as it's possible to be—he never got encouragement from his parents, his family, his brother. He just had this huge determination to prove himself, and that was very attractive ... I'll go to my grave knowing Arnold loved me
Schwarzenegger met his next love, Sue Moray (a Beverly Hills hairdresser assistant) on Venice Beach in July 1977 According to Moray, the couple led an "open relationship": "We were faithful when we were both in LA...but when he was out of town, we were free to do whatever we wanted Schwarzenegger met Maria Shriver at the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in August 1977 and went on to have a relationship with both women until August 1978 when Moray (who knew of his relationship with Shriver) issued Schwarzenegger with an ultimatum Around this time, Schwarzenegger was prematurely greying and began to dye his hair, afraid of growing old—steroids were also still part of his life
Schwarzenegger has said his "big dream" was to move to the U.S. from the age of 10.
He questioned what he was doing "on the farm" in Austria, and believed bodybuilding was his "ticket to America": "I’m sure I can go to America if I win Mr. Universe."[24] LA Weekly said in 2002 that Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant in America, who "overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s."
Bodybuilding career
In 1970, Arnold Schwarzenegger was known as the World's Strongest Man. He had long planned to move from bodybuilding into acting, as many of his idols had done, such as Reg Park. Initially he had trouble breaking into films due to his long surname, "overly" large muscles, and foreign accent, but he was nevertheless chosen to play the role of Hercules (as both Reg Park and Steve Reeves had done) in Hercules in New York (1970).
Credited under the name "Arnold Strong", his accent in the film was so thick that producers feared he would not be easily understood by audiences, and had his lines dubbed after production.[29] His second film appearance was as a deaf and mute hit-man for the mob in director Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), which was followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best New Male Star. Schwarzenegger has discussed his early struggles in developing his acting career. "It was very difficult for me in the beginning—I was told by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird,' that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. You name it and they told me I had to change it. Basically everywhere I turned I was told that I had no chance."[5]
Schwarzenegger drew wide attention and boosted his profile in body-building film Pumping Iron (1977),[13][12] elements of which were dramatized. In 1991, Schwarzenegger purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and associated still photography.[25]
Arnold also appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann Margaret in the 1979 comedy, The Villain. Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was the "mythical epic" Conan the Barbarian in 1982, which was a box office hit.[12] This was followed by a sequel, Conan the Destroyer in 1984, which performed disappointingly.[30] Later, he appeared on the cover of High Times magazine dressed as "Conan The Barbarian".[31]
In 1983 Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the promotional video "Carnival in Rio".[32]
As an actor, he is best-known as the title character of director James Cameron's influential science fiction film The Terminator (1984) and its sequels.[13][12][33] Following The Terminator, Schwarzenegger made Red Sonja in 1985 which "sank without a trace".[30]
He also made a mark for injecting his films with a droll, often self-deprecating sense of humor (including sometimes famously bad puns), setting him apart from more serious action heroes such as Sylvester Stallone. Schwarzenegger's alternative-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day which, in that alternate universe, had Sylvester Stallone as its star; a similar in-joke in Twins suggested that the two actors might one day co-star, something which has yet to come to pass. During the 1980s audiences had a large appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone becoming international stars.[13]
Following his arrival as a Hollywood superstar, he made a number of successful films: Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), and Red Heat (1988). In Predator (1987), another successful film, Schwarzenegger led a cast which included future Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Ventura also appears in Running Man as well as in the film Batman & Robin which Schwarzenegger also starred in) and future Kentucky Gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham.
Twins, (1988) a comedy with Danny DeVito, was a change of pace and also proved to be successful. Total Recall (1990), at that time the most expensive film ever, netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the gross, and was a widely praised, thought-provoking science-fiction script (based on the Phillip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"). Kindergarten Cop (1990) was another comedy which reunited him with director Ivan Reitman who also directed him in Twins.
Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV series Tales from the Crypt, entitled "The Switch", and then with the 1992 telemovie Christmas in Connecticut. He has not directed since.
Schwarzenegger's critical and commercial high-water mark was the sequel to his 1984 hit The Terminator titled Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991 which was one of the highest grossing film of the year and surpassed the original film's success. In 1993 the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the Decade".[4] His next film project, the 1993 self-aware action comedy Last Action Hero had the misfortune to be released opposite Jurassic Park, and suffered accordingly. Schwarzenegger's career never again achieved quite the same prominence, his aura of box-office invincibility suffering, although True Lies in 1994 was a highly popular send up of spy films, and saw Schwarzenegger reunited with director James Cameron, whose own career had taken off with The Terminator.
Shortly thereafter came another comedy Junior in 1994, which reunited him once again with Ivan Reitman as well as Danny DeVito. This film also brought Schwarzenegger his second Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actor—Musical or Comedy. It was followed by the popular, albeit by-the-numbers action thriller film Eraser in 1996, and the comic-book based Batman & Robin in 1997 where he played villain Mr Freeze. This was his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the failure of Batman & Robin, Schwarzenegger's film career and box office prominence went into decline.
Several film projects were announced with Schwarzenegger attached to star including the remake of Planet of the Apes, a new film version of I Am Legend, and a World War II film scripted by Quentin Tarantino that would have seen Schwarzenegger finally play an Austrian.
Instead he returned after a hiatus with the supernatural thriller End of Days in 1999 — an unsuccessful and atypically dark attempt to broaden his acting range. Schwarzenegger later starred in the action films The 6th Day in 2000 and Collateral Damage in 2002, none of which came close to recapturing his former prominence. In 2003 he reprised his most famous role in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines which was the long-awaited sequel to the 1991 film, which went on to earn over $150 million domestically.

Footprints and handprints of Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
In tribute to Schwarzenegger in 2002, Forum Stadtpark, a local cultural association, proposed plans to build a 25-meter (82-foot) tall Terminator statue in a park in central Graz. Schwarzenegger reportedly said he was flattered, but thought the money would be better spent on social projects and the Special Olympics.[34]
His latest film appearances included a cameo (3 second) appearance in The Rundown (aka 'Welcome to the Jungle') with The Rock and the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, notable for featuring him on-screen with action star Jackie Chan for the first time.
Schwarzenegger has stated in many interviews he never regrets doing a role and he feels really bad when he turns down a role. There are however conflicting reports that Schwarzenegger will be starring in the next Terminator installment—Terminator 4.[35] [36] However, it is currently widely reported that Schwarzenegger will have a brief role in Terminator 4.
Schwarzenegger voiced Baron von Steuben in Episode 24 ("Valley Forge") of Liberty's Kids.
Actor and comedian Robin Williams famously said: "Arnold Schwarzenegger's acted in plenty of movies but spoken less dialogue than any actor, except maybe Lassie."[7]
In the 2006 Pixar movie Cars, Schwarzenegger was parodied as a yellow Hummer, similar to the one he is known to own, and is complete with him standing in front of California's State Capitol and his famous accent.
In 2007, The Simpsons Movie parodied Schwarzenegger as the President of the United States. Schwarzenegger is portrayed by Rainier Wolfcastle's model, who is himself a parody of Schwarzenegger.
In the 1993 film Demolition Man set in the future, 2032, Lieutenant Huxley informs Detective John Spartan that Arnold Schwarzenegger became President of the United States after a Constitutional amendment was passed to allow foreign-born citizens to become President.
Schwarzenegger appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "Werewolf vs Unicorn" voiced by Patrick Pinney. He is seen making a political announcement about illegal aliens from Mexico. When a border guard asks him how he got into this country, Arnold flies away

Bruce Willis

2007-09-05T18:41:00.000+02:00

Date of Birth:19 March 1955, Idar-Oberstein, West Germany.

Mini Biography:German born, New Jersey raised US actor and musician well known for his... more

Trivia:Lives in Hailey, Idaho, where he owns The Mint bar and the Liberty Theater... more

Awards:Won Golden Globe. Another 12 wins & 20 nominations more

Alternate Names:Bruno Radolini / W.B. Willis

Early life

Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, Germany to David Willis, an American soldier, and a Kassel-born German mother, Marlene, who worked in a bank.[3] Willis was the oldest of four children (his siblings are Florence, David, and Robert). After being discharged from the military in 1957, Willis's father took his family back to Penns Grove, New Jersey, where he worked as a welder and factory worker.[4] His parents separated in 1971 while Willis was in his early teens.[3] He was always an outgoing youngster, although he grew up with a stutter.[5] Finding it easy to express himself on stage and losing his stutter in the process, Willis began performing on stage and his high school memberships were marked by such things as the drama club and school council president.[6]

After graduating Penns Grove High School, Willis farmed sheep in a mining village in Alabama, transporting work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey. He decided to quit after a colleague was killed on the job, and thereafter became a regular at several bars. Willis also discovered an innate knack for playing harmonica and joined an R&B band called Loose Goose.[6] After a stint as a private investigator (a role he plays in his 1991 film, The Last Boy Scout), Willis returned to his original passion of acting. He enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Jack Prince as Big Daddy, William Applegate as the doctor, and Kevin J. Lynch as the Rev. Tooker. Willis left school during his junior year and moved to New York City.[3]

Willis returned to the bar scene, only this time for a part-time job and as a way to meet New York celebrities. He is rumored to have been 'discovered' while working at the Museum Cafe on New York's Upper West Side. After countless auditions, Willis made his theater debut in the off-Broadway production of Heaven and Earth. He gained more experience and exposure in Fool for Love, a stint on television's Miami Vice, and in a Levi's commercial.[7]

Career
Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for several television shows.[3] He auditioned for the TV series Moonlighting (1985–89), while competing against 3,000 other actors for the position and was selected to play David Addison Jr.[7] The starring role helped to establish him as a comedic actor, with the show lasting five seasons. During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products. The memorable ad campaign paid the rising star between five and seven million dollars over two years. In spite of that, Willis decided not renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking in 1988.[8]One of his first major film roles was in the 1987 Blake Edwards film "Blind Date" alongside Kim Bassinger and John Laroquette.

However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the film Die Hard that catapulted him to fame. He performed most of his own stunts in the film,[9] and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide.[10] Due to its box office success, the film would eventually tender three more sequels, with the most current film, Live Free or Die Hard, released in June 2007. He also provided his voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking and its sequel.

In the late-1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues entitled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself",[11] promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times.

In the early 1990s, Willis' career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance and a film he co-wrote entitled Hudson Hawk, among others. However, in 1994 he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.[12] He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys and The Fifth Element. However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide.[13] The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse.[14]

In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and helped to increase interest in his acting career. He once had to appear in the hit sitcom Friends without pay, because he lost a bet to Matthew Perry, his co-star in The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards. He won a 2000 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend). He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album. In Ocean's Twelve (2003), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. He recently appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis' second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.

Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest.[15] He interviewed Dan Rather in what he would later call "the most serious conversation of my entire life". On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only 20 seconds. On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig.[16] His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary entitled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth).[17]

Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials,[18] optimizing the car for sale, with the backing music of Jade from Sweetbox, "Addicted" and "Hate Without Frontiers". Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in four movies with Samuel L। Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before dropping out। Willis also worked alongside his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he recently finished the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, and marked his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard.

Upcoming films

With the third sequel to Die Hard, Live Free or Die Hard having been released in June 2007, Willis' future projects will include three other films that will debut between 2007 and 2009। The Last Full Measure is a drama film based on a true story about a Vietnam War veteran, and 2008's The Sophomore is a comedy where he will be a Catholic school principal and his real-life eldest daughter, Rumer, will star as a student investigating missing SAT scores।[19] The 2009 film will be the drama Morgan's Summit, where he will depict a late night radio host who promotes kindness, but changes his demeanor after a brutal crime causes him to seek revenge।

JULIA FIONA ROBERTS

2007-09-01T17:51:00.000+02:00

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American film actress and former fashion model. She shot to fame during the early 1990s after starring in the romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, opposite Richard Gere. Her career includes films such as Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, and Ocean's Eleven, which have collectively earned box office receipts well over $2 billion. She won the Best Actress Academy Award in 2001 for her critically praised turn as the title character in Erin Brockovich after two previous nominations during the 1990s.
Since then, Roberts has become the highest-paid actress in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual power list of top-earning female stars for four consecutive years (2002-2005). An unprecedented $25 million was paid to Roberts for her role in 2003's Mona Lisa Smile. As of 2007, Roberts' net worth was estimated around US$140,000,000.
Roberts was also the first actress to appear on the cover of Vogue and the first woman to land on the cover of GQ. She has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" a record-setting eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001 Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, beating out then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush.[

Biography

Early life
It is commonly mistaken that Julia's birth name is "Julie," however, Julia has said in interviews that "Julie" was a nickname given to her by classmates in elementary school, and she never took well to it. Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia. Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, was a vacuum cleaner salesman of Irish, Scottish, English and Welsh ancestry, and her Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou Bredemus, was a one-time church secretary and a real estate agent of Swedish, German and Norwegian ancestry.[4] Her parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Georgia; the two divorced in 1971. Her mother later re-married to Michael Motes and had another daughter, named Nancy Motes who was born in 1976. Roberts' father died of cancer when she was ten. Her older brother and sister, Eric Roberts (from whom she was estranged for a while) and Lisa Roberts Gillan, are also actors. Roberts wanted to be a veterinarian as a child, but soon after graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School,[5] and after attending Georgia State University, she headed to New York to join her sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and pursue a career in acting. Once there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting classes. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she found that there was already a "Julie Roberts" registered with the Screen Actors Guild.
Her niece Emma Roberts, who she used to take to the sets when she was younger, has joined her father and aunts in the acting business. Recently, she gained a starring role on the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous and has appeared in the films Blow (2001), Aquamarine (2006) and Nancy Drew (2007).

Career

1986—1989, Early career
Roberts made her film debut playing a supporting role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (she gets just two words of dialogue), which, although completed in 1986, was not released until 1989. She once appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, demonstrating her ability to change emotions. Roberts first caught the attention of moviegoers with her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988; the same year she had a role in the last episode of season four of Miami Vice. The following year she was featured in Steel Magnolias as a young bride battling diabetes and garnered her first Oscar nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) for her performance.

1990—2000, Breakout role and eventual success
Roberts first catapulted to worldwide fame when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella story Pretty Woman in 1990. Roberts was able to win the role after the first two choices for the part, Molly Ringwald and Meg Ryan turned it down. The role also earned her a second Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress. Her next box office success was the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, playing a battered wife who escapes her demented husband and starts a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, which was followed by a two-year period of no acting roles other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story asking, "What Happened to Julia Roberts?"
In 1993, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in the successful The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. She also starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. Over the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, primarily because she was cast in roles that strayed too far from her film persona. She broke her losing streak with the hugely popular comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), and eventually regained her earlier reputation as an actress who could open a movie and guarantee box office success. She then starred with Hugh Grant in the popular 1999 film Notting Hill. In that same year she also starred in Runaway Bride, another movie with the famous Julia Roberts-Richard Gere duo.

2001—2006, continued success
In 2001, she won critical acclaim and finally received a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. Whilst presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year she made a gaff when she said she was glad Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti who tried to hasten the conclusion of her speech the previous year but named the British actor instead.[6] Subsequently, Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal, and Ocean's Twelve.

2006—present, hiatus
Roberts recently enjoyed her Broadway debut as Nan in Three Days of Rain opposite Alias and Kitchen Confidential star Bradley Cooper, and The 40 Year Old Virgin star, Paul Rudd, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Although the play grossed nearly one million dollars in ticket sales its first week out and continued to be a commercial success throughout its limited run, most critics have heavily criticized Roberts' performance and the play itself. The New York Times' critic Ben Brantly, a self proclaimed 'Juliaholic', described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stage design categories, but took home neither prize. Julia Roberts did, however, receive a Broadway.com audience award (a minor theatrical prize) for her performance.

Influence
As of February 25, 2007, Roberts's films have grossed $2,203,765,451 at the American box office making her the biggest female movie star in history and reaching this feat with only thirty films to her name. She was also placed at the pinnacle of the Ulmer Scale, a comprehensive guide to the global star power of actors and directors in independent and studio films created by James Ulmer, ahead of such other luminaries as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks. This was partly owing to her ability to attract filmgoers solely on the basis of her name's appearance above the title and without the support of a male co-star, something few other actresses are able to do.

funny pictures

2007-08-17T16:24:00.000+02:00

Just laugh!!!!!!!

Mr. Bean the comedian

2007-08-17T15:44:00.001+02:00

   Rowan Atkinson hails from Newcastle and took a degree in electrical engineering at Newcastle University before studying at Oxford for an MSc, where he met Richard Curtis.

Although he'd first appeared at Edinburgh when he was 17, Atkinson was spotted at the 1976 Festival by television producer John Lloyd, who went on to produce him in his first starring role - as one of the four members of the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch team. This was followed by the huge success of Blackadder and its sequels which propelled Atkinson to star status.

He then went on to create Mr Bean. A walking disaster, Bean was purely physical comedy, the opposite of Edmund Blackadder's polished dialogue. This clumsy character was a huge success and became another national treasure.

Atkinson made his big-screen debut in 1983's unofficial James Bond picture Never Say Never Again. Despite this film receiving mixed reports, he has continued to juggle TV and film roles. In 1997 Bean came to the big screen, and Scooby Doo topped the US box office in 2002. This was followed by spoof Bond feature Johnny English in 2003.

As a long-time collaborator with writer Richard Curtis, he has regularly contributed to Comic Relief. He even played the 9th Doctor, in the 1999 Doctor Who spoof The Curse Of Fatal Death.

2007-08-17T14:07:00.001+02:00

2007-08-12T21:29:00.000+02:00

greatest black actor

Biography
Respectfully labeled as one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, Jackson is an undisputed star as demonstrated in the fact that his films have grossed the most money in box office sales than any other actor in the history of filmmaking.

Jackson made an indelible mark on American cinema with his portrayal of 'Jules', the philosophizing hitman, in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." In addition to unanimous critical acclaim for his performance, he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor as well as a Best Supporting Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

samuel & The Rock.
Jackson most recently topped the opening weekend box office charts with the success of the Paramount Pictures film, "Coach Carter." Jackson portrayed real-life high school basketball coach, 'Ken Carter', a dedicated role model and advocate for students succeeding in the classroom as well as on the basketball court. "Coach Carter" was screened as the opening night film of the prestigious Palm Springs Film Festival and at the Festival, Jackson received the Career Achievement Award for Acting at the closing night gala. Jackson "appeared" as the character 'Frozone' in the Disney animated action-adventure film, "The Incredibles" which was released to record box office results this past November. The film was directed and written by Brad Bird and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture as well as two Academy Award nominations. Jackson most recently starred in the independent film for Sony Classics, "In My Country," based on the best-selling novel by South African writer, Antije Krog. Jackson portrays an American reporter who must cope with the aftermath of apartheid as his newspaper assigns him to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Trials, established by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that expose the worst cases of torture, abuse and violence. "In My Country" was directed by John Boorman and produced by Bob Chartoff and Mike Medavoy. Juliette Binoche co-stars

Currently, Jackson plays 'Mace Windu' in the final episode of the Star Wars trilogy, "Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith." Jackson also reprises his role as 'Agent Augustus Gibbons' in "XXX: State of the Union" for Sony Pictures. The film was directed by Lee Tamahori. In Fall 2005, Jackson stars alongside Eugene Levy in New Line Cinema's comedy adventure, "The Man." Directed by Les Mayfield, "The Man" tells the tale of a clueless traveling salesman (Eugene Levy) who finds himself in the middle of an ATF sting, spearheaded by an unsympathetic Agent Vann (Jackson). At the end of this year, Jackson will be on the big screen in "Freedomland," directed by Joe Roth for Revolution Studios. Julianne Moore plays a distraught, single mother whose son disappears and is believed to be dead. She blames an African-American man from the projects for the kidnapping, creating a racial controversy. "Freedomland" will have a limited release in Decemeber and opens wide on January 13, 2006. Newline's "Snakes on a Plane," directed by David R. Ellis, has wrapped and is expected to be released in August 2006. Jackson is currently filming "Black Snake Moan," written and directed by Craig Brewer who brought us the acclaimed film, "Hustle and Flow".

In 2003, Jackson starred in "S.W.A.T" for Columbia TriStar. Directed by Clark Johnson, "S.W.A.T." is about an arrested drug kingpin who is transported by a Los Angeles Police Department S.W.A.T. team and led out of the city and into Federal custody. Plans go awry when the kingpin offers $100 million to anyone who can free him. Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez are also in the film.

In 2002, Jackson starred with Ben Affleck in the box office and critical success, Paramount's "Changing Lanes." Jackson delivered an intense yet sympathetic performance of a father who was down on his luck, but intent on getting even with the man that wronged him. Also in 2002, Jackson starred and executive produced the Sony/ Screen Gems film "Formula 51," with Robert Carlyle; co-starred in the sci-fi thriller, "XXX"; and reprised his role as 'Mace Windu' in the second installment of George Lucas' "Stars Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones."

In 2001, Jackson starred in Jersey Franchise/Universal's "Caveman's Valentine." Directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film followed the story of a homeless man in New York City who discovered a murder. Jackson also served as an executive producer on the project, which was the most successful independent film of this year. This was Jackson's second project with Kasi Lemmons with the first being the applauded, "Eve's Bayou," which he also produced.

Jackson also co-starred opposite Bruce Willis in writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's suspense drama, "Unbreakable" for Disney. Jackson's character, 'Elijah Price,' a highly suspicious and wheelchair bound man with a far-fetched theory, holds the key to the film's underlying question of, "Are You Unbreakable?" Jackson starred in John Singleton's "Shaft" in the title role opposite Christian Bale and Vanessa Williams. Jackson also starred in Paramount's courtroom drama "Rules of Engagement" where he played Col. Terry Childers, a military officer on trial for ordering his soldiers to open fire on civilians. Directed by William Friedkin, the film co-starred Tommy Lee Jones. Both "Shaft" and "Rules of Engagement" were screened at the 2000 Deauville Film Festival, where Jackson was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jackson starred in Warner Bros. "Deep Blue Sea" for director Renny Harlin, and in Francois Girard's "The Red Violin." Jackson also made a cameo appearance in George Lucas' highly successful and popular "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace."

Jackson also starred in "The Negotiator" and "Jackie Brown," his second film with director Quentin Tarantino. For the latter he received a Golden Globe nomination and the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor in a Comedy at the Berlin Film Festival.

Jackson starred opposite Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey and Kevin Spacey in Joel Schumacher's 1996 film of the John Grisham novel "A Time to Kill." For his performance Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and an NAACP Image Award. He also starred opposite Bruce Willis in "Die Hard with a Vengence," the top-grossing movie internationally in 1995.

Jackson made movie history with his portrayal of a crack addict in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" when he was awarded the first and only Best Supporting Performance Award ever given by the judges at the Cannes Film Festival. He also won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for that performance. His other film credits include "Twisted," "187," "Sphere," "The Long Kiss Goodnight," "Hard Eight," "Kiss of Death," "Losing Isaiah" and "Amos and Andrew." Additional film credits include: "Ragtime," "Sea of Love," "Coming to America," "Ray," "Do the Right Thing," "School Daze," "Mo' Better Blues," Goodfellas," "Strictly Business," "White Sands," " Patriot Games," "Jumpin' at the Boneyard," "Father and Sons," "Juice," "Fresh" and "True Romance."

On television, Jackson starred in John Frankenheimer's Emmy Award-winning "Against the Wall" for HBO. His performance earned him a Cable Ace nomination as Best Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries, as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Jackson's career began upon his graduation from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a degree in dramatic arts. He went on to perform in numerous stage plays, including Home, A Soldier's Play, Sally/Prince and The District Line. He also originated roles in two of August Wilson's plays at Yale Repertory Theatre. For the New York Shakespeare Festival, Jackson appeared in Mother Courage and Her Children, Spell #7, and The Mighty Gents.

Filmography

1408 (2007) (pre-production) .... Mr. Olin                                    Resurrecting the Champ (2007)
                                                                                                               (pre-production)
Farce of the Penguins (2006) (filming) (voice) .... Narrator    Home of the Brave (2006)
Home of the Brave (2006) (post-production)                            Afrosamurai (2007)                                                                                                             (announced) ...No. 2
Black Snake Moan (2006)                                                             Snakes on a Plane (2006) (post Freedomland(2006) .... Lorenzo Council                                     prodution) .... Nelville Flynn
2004: A Light Knight's Odyssey (2006) (filming) (voice) .... Fear
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) ....         The Man (2005) .... Vann
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (VG) (voice) ....       Basic (2003) - West
In My Country (2005) - Langston Whitfield
Coach Carter (2005) - Coach Ken Carter
XXX: State of the Union (2005) - Augustus Gibbons
Kill Bill: Vol.2 (2004) - Rufus
Twisted (2004) - John Mills
The Incredibles (2004) - Lucius Best/Frozone    S.W.A.T. (2003) - Sgt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) - Mace Windu Changing Lanes (2002) -   Doyle Gipson
Xxx (2002) - Agent Augustus Gibbons
Formula 51 (2002) - Elmo McElroy, Executive Producer
The Caveman's Valentine (2001) - Romulus
Rules of Engagement (2000) - Colonel Terry L. Childers
Shaft (2000) - John Shaft
Unbreakable (2000) - Elijah Price
Deep Blue Sea (1999) - Russell Franklin
Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace (1999) - Jedi Knight Mace Windu, Jedi Knight Mace Windu
The Red Violin (1999) - Charles Morritz
Sphere (1998) - Dr. Harry Adams
Out of Sight (1998) - Hejira--Uncredited
The Negotiator (1998) - Danny Roman
Hard Eight (1997) - Jimmy
One Eight Seven (1997) - Trevor Garfield
Eve's Bayou (1997) - Louis Batiste, Producer
Jackie Brown (1997) - Ordell Robbie, Ordell Robbie
The Great White Hype (1996) - Reverend Fred Sultan, Reverend Fred Sultan
A Time to Kill (1996) - Carl Lee Hailey
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) - Mitch Henessey
The Search for One-Eye Jimmy (1996) - Colonel Ron
Trees Lounge (1996) - Wendell
Assault at West Point (1996) - Richard Greener
Losing Isaiah (1995) - Kadar Lewis
Kiss of Death (1995) - Calvin
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) - Zeus
Fluke (1995) - Voice of Rumbo
Fresh (1994) - Sam
Hail Caesar (1994) -
Pulp Fiction (1994) - Jules Winfield
The New Age (1994) - Dale Deveaux
True Romance (1993) - Big Don
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) - Wes Luger
The Meteor Man (1993) - Dre
Menace II Society (1993) - Tat Lawson
Jurassic Park (1993) - Arnold
Amos & Andrew (1993) - Andrew Sterling
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992) - Mr. Simpson
Patriot Games (1992) - Robby Jackson
Fathers And Sons (1992) - Marshall, Marshall
Juice (1992) - Trip
White Sands (1992) - Greg Meeker
Johnny Suede (1992) - B-Bop
Strictly Business (1991) - Monroe
Jungle Fever (1991) - Gator Purify
A Shock to the System (1990) - Ulysses
Def by Temptation (1990) -
Betsy's Wedding (1990) - Taxi Dispatcher
Mo' Better Blues (1990) - Madlock
The Exorcist III (1990) - Dream Blind Man
Goodfellas (1990) - Stacks Edwards
The Return of Superfly (1990) - Nate Cabot
Do the Right Thing (1989) - Mister Senor Love Daddy
Sea of Love (1989) - Black Guy
School Daze (1988) - Leeds
Coming to America (1988) - Hold-up Man
Ragtime (1981) -
Together for Days (1972) - Stan