Monica Keena

Monica C. Keena was born in New Jersey or Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the daughter of Mary, a nurse, and William Keena, a financial sales manager. [1] She was raised in Brooklyn, and has an older sister named Samantha. During her early childhood (and again at the end of high school), Monica attended Saint Ann's School (New York City), a progressive private school in Brooklyn Heights. Monica auditioned for acceptance into LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts at the age of thirteen. Although she chose the drama department as her preference, she was accepted in both the dramatic and the vocal arts departments. Soon after starting her classes at LaGuardia, Keena played in her first role in a short film entitled Burning Love.


Keena went on to portray the character Bertha in a stage reading of Strindberg's The Father with Al Pacino, and had her first starring role playing Snow White against Sigourney Weaver's wicked queen in the folktale-inspired Snow White: A Tale of Terror. She has appeared in numerous television and movie projects including the TBS Original Movie First Daughter and Crime and Punishment in Suburbia which appeared at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.

Monica appeared in the film While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock, The Simian Line with Harry Connick Jr. and Lynn Redgrave, and Bad Girls From Valley High with Julie Benz and Jonathan Brandis in his final film role before his death in 2003 (the film was eventually released straight to DVD in 2005). In 2003 she played the heroine, Lori Campbell, in Freddy vs. Jason. In 2006 she played Celia in the film Left in Darkness.

Keena had a recurring role as Abby Morgan on Dawson's Creek and a starring role on the short-lived Undeclared as the college student Rachel. Monica also had guest roles on series such as Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Homicide: Life on the Street, Feds, and Entourage. On the hit ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy, Monica appeared in an episode of the second season titled "Into You Like A Train," in which she played Bonnie, a patient who was severely injured in a massive train accident. Monica later reappeared in the third season episode "Some Kind of Miracle," reprising her role as Bonnie.

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Jaime King

Jaime King is an American film actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she went by the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents,[1] because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then-more famous model Jaime Rishar.King, because of the latter name, is sometimes referred to as the "Model with a man's name".

Called by Complex magazine "one of the original model-turned-actresses",King appeared in Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Harper's Bazaar, among other fashion magazines. Afterwards, she began taking small film roles. Her first larger role was in Pearl Harbor (2001). Jaime's first starring movie role in Bulletproof Monk (2003). She has gone on to appear as a lead in various other films, gaining more note after Sin City (2005), a role which she will perform in its sequel Sin City 2 (2009).

King was born in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of Nancy King, a beauty queen, and Robert King. She has an older sister, Sandra, and a younger brother, Barry.King was named after Lindsay Wagner's character, Jaime Sommers, of the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman.King's parents separated in 1994,eventually divorcing amicably in 1995. The two continue to work together in Omaha where they rent out low-income apartments. King had attended the modeling school Nancy Bounds's Studios and later dropped out of Westside High School in 1995 to pursue a modeling career in New York, afterwards enrolling in a home-study program run by the University of Nebraska.

She was discovered in November 1993, at the age of fourteen, while attending Nancy Bounds' Studios, a school for modeling. After being spotted at her graduation fashion show by New York model agent Michael Flutie, King was invited to New York to begin modeling professionally. She joined with Company Management, who already represented Jaime Rishar, a more established model at the time. To avoid confusion, King opted to go by her childhood nickname, James, for the duration of her modeling career and later, the beginning of her film career. In March 1994 she traveled to New York for test pictures and received enthusiastic responses, however, she did not return to New York until July 1994, after gaining a successful advertisement for Abercrombie & Fitch. Much of fall and spring 1994 were spent commuting between Omaha and New York.

King had a successful early career as a fashion model, and by age fifteen she had been featured in the fasion magazines Vogue, Mademoiselle, Allure, and Seventeen. At sixteen, King had graced the pages of Glamour and Harper's Bazaar. She was featured in the cover story of the New York Times Magazine published on February 4, 1996 and had walked the runway for Chanel and Christian Dior. In 1998, she began co-hosting MTV's fashion series, House of Style, with fellow model turned actress Rebecca Romijn. Despite her success, King noted that she "remember the times where I was so alone" and thought she was "never gonna be able to be a kid.She, along with Kate Moss, had been often cited as those who helped popularize the idea of heroin chic in the 1990s.

In 2004, King, along with Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, and Eva Mendes were chosen as spokesmodels for a high profile ad campaign for Revlon. The advertisements were featured in print, television, theatrical, outdoor and Internet venues,banking on their spokeswomen's "collective star power" to sell the cosmetics products. In 2006, King was chosen by Rocawear CEO Jay-Z to become the new face of the line; her advertisements were featured for the winter 2006 season.

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Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz

Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. In August, 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Diaz as the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She reportedly earned $50 million in the period of a year ending June, 2008, for her roles in What Happens in Vegas and in the third installment of Shrek.

Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie,an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz , who worked for the California oil company UNOCAL for twenty plus years, as a Field Gauger, and in the pipeline department, until he retired in 1998.Her father was a second-generation Cuban American and her mother is of English, German and Cherokee ancestry.She has one older sister, Chimene Diaz.She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dog.

At 16 she began her career as a fashion model. Diaz signed with top modeling agency Elite Model Management. After graduating from high school, she went to work in Japan and met video director Carlo de la Torre. On her return to the U.S., she moved in with him. For the next few years, her modeling took her around the world, working for contracts with major companies. She modelled for designers such as Calvin Klein and Levi's. She was featured on the cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen magazine.

At 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask, even though she had no previous acting experience.After obtaining the lead female role, she immediately started acting lessons. Over the next three years, she won roles in low-budget, independent films, such as The Last Supper, Feeling Minnesota, and She's the One. She then regained mainstream success with her roles in My Best Friend's Wedding and There's Something About Mary, a film for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for in the category of Best Actress - Musical or Comedy. She won critical acclaim for her performance in Being John Malkovich, which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA Awards and the SAG Awards.

Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon from 1995 to 1998. She is also the ex-fiancée of actor/musician Jared Leto. They had a low-profile relationship from 1998 to 2002. Reports have said that they broke up because Diaz was concentrating more on her acting as Leto was more concerned about his band. She then for a short while dated English singer / songwriter Julian Barry before they split due to career commitments.

Most recently, Diaz dated former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake, whom she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. The pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.

In October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with a tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in US Weekly. Representatives for the pair claimed that they were "ambushed" and acting out of self-defense.

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Liv Rundgren Tyler

Liv Rundgren Tyler

Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's frontman, Steven Tyler and model, singer Bebe Buell. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of fourteen, but quickly decided to focus on acting. Her first notable role was appearing alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's song "Crazy" in 1993.

At age seventeen she made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. Following her performance in Silent Fall, Tyler starred in her breakthrough performance in 1996's Stealing Beauty. In 1998, she starred opposite Ben Affleck in Armageddon, which became a summer blockbuster. Tyler then went on to portray elf princess Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. After a brief hiatus she returned to acting, starring in the horror-thriller The Strangers and portraying Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk.

Tyler was born Liv Rundgren at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.She is the first born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977 issue of TV Guide.At birth, Buell claimed that rock star Todd Rundgren was Tyler's biological father.Tyler discovered her true parentage at age nine.She discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia.When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed.The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name.Buell's alleged reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth. Since learning the truth about her paternity, Tyler and Steven have developed a close relationship.They have also worked together professionally, once when she performed in Aerosmith's video for "Crazy" and again when Aerosmith wrote and performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon, in which Tyler starred.

Tyler attended the Congressional School of Virginia, Breakwater Elementary and Waynflete schools in Portland, Maine, before returning to New York City with her mother at the age of twelve.She went to York Prep in New York City for Junior High and High School, graduating in 1995. One month later Tyler set off for Italy to star in Stealing Beauty.

Starting a career as a model at the age of fifteen, Tyler appeared on the covers of magazines and starred in commercials.[1][5] However, she became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started, and moved into acting.[5] She never took acting lessons.[6] Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's song "Crazy" in 1993.[1] Between the period of 1993 and 1996, she starred in seven films.

Tyler made her film debut in Silent Fall in 1994. Following the release of the film, she starred in Heavy in 1995; the filming of which was delayed until she became available.By the age of nineteen, she had already starred in several successful films, including her breakthrough role in 1996's Stealing Beauty directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the cult classic Empire Records, That Thing You Do! which was written and directed by Tom Hanks, and Inventing the Abbotts in 1997.

Tyler at the San Diego Comic-Con International Convention in 2007In 1998, she co-starred with Ben Affleck in Michael Bay's Armageddon, which raised her profile amongst cinemagoers and was coincidentally released on her twenty first birthday.The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by her father's band, Aerosmith.Tyler has also starred in Onegin in 1999, a film based on the 19th century Russian novel by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed Tatyana Larina and co-starred with Ralph Fiennes.She later appeared in two films by legendary director Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000).

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Natalia Vodianova

Natalia Vodianova

Natalia Vodianova was born on February 28, 1982.She is a Russian model.Born in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's fourth largest city), Vodianova, nickname 'SuperNova', had a difficult childhood. Her mother's abusive boyfriends and a tight financial situation dogged her throughout childhood. Having helped her mother with her fruit stall business from the age of 11, Vodianova moved into her own apartment with a friend at 15 and started her own fruit-stall business. She was thus able to help out her sisters, one of whom is disabled.

At age 15, Vodianova enrolled in a modeling academy, and started going to castings. A scouting agent from Paris told her that she could have a great future if she learned English quickly. Convinced that her life would change for the better, Vodianova learned English in three months, moved to Paris and signed up with the Viva agency at age 17. Soon, Gucci made her the new face for their perfume line. After working at more than 40 runway shows, she was hired to appear in Calvin Klein's spring show. Around this time she also made a brief appearance in Roman Coppola's film CQ, with Billy Zane.

Vodianova has done campaigns for David Yurman, Louis Vuitton, L'Oreal, Marc Jacobs, Miss Sixty, Pepe Jeans, and Calvin Klein's collection and his fragrance, "Euphoria".

In July 2007, Vodianova was featured the cover of American Vogue as the solo subject, a considerable feat during an era that relies heavily on celebrity cover subjects to push sales. She first appeared on the cover along with eight other top models in September 2005. The only other models to have singularly graced the cover of US Vogue in between those two issues have been Linda Evangelista and Liya Kebede.

According to Forbes, Vodianova is ranked as the seventh highest-earning model in the world after Carolyn Murphy, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, Heidi Klum, Kate Moss and Gisele Bündchen. Her earnings for the past year were in the order of $4.5 million.

Her husband is British real estate heir, Justin Portman, a half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman, son of a Viscount and Scion of one of Britain's wealthiest real estate families, owning swatches in London. The couple had their first son, Lucas Alexander, on December 22, 2001. On September 1, 2002, Vodianova and Portman married in a lavish ceremony in Saint Petersburg. Their second child, daughter Neva (named after the Russian river Neva) was born on March 24, 2006, weighing 7 pounds. She posed with her baby in Vogue. Her third child, a boy named Viktor, was born on September 13, 2007; Viktor is named after Natalia's grandfather. Vodianova's husband and children often travel with her.

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Ai Takahashi

Ai Takahashi

Ai Takahashi is a Japanese pop singer associated with Hello! Project, best known as the current leader of Morning Musume and member of its popular subgroup, Mini Moni.

Ai Takahashi joined Morning Musume in 2001 as part of the group's fifth generation, along with Makoto Ogawa, Asami Konno, and Risa Niigaki. Her debut appearance with the group was on their single Mr. Moonlight Ai no Big Band, and her first appearance on a Morning Musume full-length release was their fourth studio album, the appropriately named 4th Ikimasshoi!. Her first appearance within a Hello! Project shuffle unit release was on the 2002 single "Shiawase Beam! Suki Suki Beam!" under the group name Happy 7.

In 2003, Takahashi replaced Mari Yaguchi in the Morning Musume spinoff group Mini Moni, first appearing in the group's movie Mini Moni ja Movie: Okashi na Daibōken! and its accompanying soundtrack. Her best-known nickname amongst non-Japanese fans, "Takitty", was derived from the cat suit which she wears in the movie.

Later in 2003, she was part of the Morning Musume splinter group Morning Musume Sakuragumi, which performed mainly slower numbers on the group's two EPs, "Hare Ame Nochi Suki" and "Sakura Mankai", and the shuffle group 7Air, an R&B-inspired septet.

Takahashi's vocals became more prominent on the second and final Mini Moni album, Mini Moni Songs 2 (2004), as well as on Morning Musume's singles from their Spring 2004 release "Roman My Dear Boy" onward. She also had a duet with Tsunku on the cover version of Tsunku and Ayumi Hamasaki's duet "Love ~since 1999~" on his solo album Take1.

In 2005, Morning Musume's first single release of the year, "The Manpower!!!", featured Takahashi in a prominent co-lead-vocal role, a role she has retained on subsequent singles since. In the summer of that year, she became part of the 2005 shuffle Group Elegies.

In 2006, Takahashi played the lead role, Sapphire, in the musical "Ribbon no Kishi The Musical" which was a collaboration work of Takarazuka Revue and Hello! Project. The musical was based on Tezuka Osamu's manga and also starred v-u-den, Nozomi Tsuji, Aya Matsuura, and Natsumi Abe, as well as Marcia and Kaoru Ebira of the Takarazuka Revue. Soon thereafter, Takahashi released her first and only solo single to date, "Yume Kara Samete".

Following then-leader Hitomi Yoshizawa's graduation from Morning Musume on May 6, 2007, the current sub-leader, Miki Fujimoto ascended to the leader position, with Takahashi becoming the new sub-leader of the group. However, on June 1, 2007, after Fujimoto's resignation,Takahashi took over as the new leader.

Takahashi is also captain of the Hello! Project kickball team, Metro Rabbits H.P..

In 2008 Takahashi became a member of Hello Project's new unit High-King,a group created to promote Morning Musume's upcoming Cinderella the Musical, in which Takahashi will play the main character.

It was announced in July 2008, that Takahashi and fellow Morning Musume member Risa Niigaki would play the 80s J-Pop duo Pink Lady in the TV Drama Hitmaker Aku Yuu Monogatari.

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Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an internationally renowned Indian actress. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model, and gained fame after winning the Miss World contest in 1994.

Often acclaimed as the most beautiful woman in the world,Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar. She had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie Jeans, and came to the attention of Bollywood in the Hindi movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her performance in the film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award, and she successfully performed in Bhansali's next project, Devdas, for which she won her second Best Actress Award at the Filmfare. Since then, she has acted in over forty movies in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English, including the international productions, Bride & Prejudice , Mistress of Spices and The Last Legion in English.

Aishwarya Rai was born in Mangalore to Krishnaraj Rai, a marine biologist, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. Her family belongs to the Bunt community of Mangalore. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy and also co-produced one of Rai's movies, Dil Ka Rishta.

After she was born, her parents moved to Mumbai where she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir high school in Santa Cruz. Rai then entered Jai Hind College at Churchgate for one year, and then moved to Ruparel College in Matunga to finish her "HSC" studies. She did well in school and planned to become an architect.

She can communicate in several languages, including Tulu, Hindi, English, Marathi and Tamil .While pursuing her studies in architecture, Rai began modeling on the side. In the 1994 Miss India contest, she won the second place, and went on to win the Miss World title the same year, where she also won the Miss Photogenic award. She abandoned her studies after winning the pageant and spent one year reigning as Miss World in London. Rai then started working as a professional model and then moved on to her current profession as an actress

She went on to appear in many Bollywood films; a few successful films of her career include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which earned the actress her first Filmfare Best Actress Award and Taal, which gave her another nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare; her performances in both the films were lauded.In 2000, she played a supporting role in the hit films Mohabbatein and Josh. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, which won her positive reviews.

In 2002, Rai appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bansali's lavishly produced Devdas. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival.It was during this time that she garnered the attention of the West as an Indian actress and went on to appear in a few Hollywood projects. Devdas went on to become the highest grossing film of the year both in Indiaand overseas,earning the actress her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

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Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and Academy Award-nominated Englishfilm and television actress. She began her career as a child actress, and came to international prominence in 2003, after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Knightley has since become a notable lead actress, having appeared in several Hollywood films and earning an Academy Award nomination for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Knightley was born in Teddington, Middlesex England, the daughter of Sharman Macdonald, a Scottish award-winning playwright, and Will Knightley, an English theatre and television actor. She has an elder brother, Caleb, who was born in 1979. Knightley lived most of her life in Richmond, attending Teddington School and Esher College. Knightley has dyslexia, but nevertheless was successful in school and was thus permitted to acquire a talent agent and pursue an acting career. She required for an agent as early as the age of three but got one when she turned six, from her mother as a reward for studying hard. Knightley has noted that she was "single-minded about acting" during her childhood.

Knightley appeared in several made-for-television films in the mid to late 1990s, before being cast as Sabé, Padme Amidala's decoy, in the 1999 science fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Knightley was cast in the role due to her close resemblance to Natalie Portman, who played Padmé; the two actresses' mothers had difficulty telling their daughters apart when the girls were in full makeup.Knightley's first starring role followed in 2001, when she played the daughter of Robin Hood in a made-for-television Walt Disney Productions feature, Princess of Thieves. During this time, Knightley also appeared in The Hole, a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the United States. She appeared in a mini-series adaptation of Doctor Zhivago that first aired in 2002 to mixed reviews but high ratings.

Knightley's breakthrough role was in the football-themed film, Bend It Like Beckham, which was a success in its August 2002 UK release, grossing $18 million, and in its March 2003 U.S. release, grossing $32 million.After Bend It Like Beckham's UK release raised her profile, she was cast in the big budget action film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (along with Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp) which was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and opened in July 2003 to positive reviews and high box office grosses, becoming one of the biggest hits of summer 2003 and cementing Knightley as the new "It" girl.

Knightley had a role in the British romantic comedy Love Actually, which opened in November 2003. Though charismatic, her performance was overlooked in the crowded A-List cast. Her next film, King Arthur, opened in July 2004 to negative reviews. In the same month, Knightley was voted by readers of Hello! magazine as the film industry's most promising teen star. Additionally, Time magazine noted in a 2004 feature that Knightley seemed dedicated to developing herself as a serious actress rather than a film star.

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