Angelina Jolie

BIRTHDAY

June 04, 1975

Los Angeles, California, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

From Hollywood wild-child to Academy Award winner to respected U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, actress Angelina Jolie underwent a series of metamorphic transformations over the course of her career. An exceedingly beautiful, strikingly talented performer, Jolie broke onto the scene in the mid-1990s, quickly gaining a reputation for both her on-screen work as well as her outrageous off-camera antics. Interestingly enough, however, within a decade, Jolie shed her reckless image and successfully managed to re-invent herself – not only as an artist, but also as a celebrity humanitarian of the highest order. Only half-chidingly dubbed by Esquire magazine as “the best woman in the world, in terms of her generosity, her dedication and her courage,” Jolie seemed intent on remaking her image on her own terms, even as the tabloids struggled to scandalize it. In the mid-2000s, Jolie’s public profile exploded into another stratosphere when she became romantically linked with the "sexiest man alive," Brad Pitt. After his then scandalous divorce from wife Jennifer Aniston, Pitt and Jolie slowly came out as a couple to the delight of the world’s paparazzi. Now one half of the “most gorgeous couple on earth,” Jolie used her celebrity to bring attention to a number of worthwhile causes – winning the grudging respect of even the most cynical of her critics.

The daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, Angelina Jolie (Voight) was born on Jun. 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, CA. Like her older brother by two years, director James Haven (Voight,) Jolie seemed destined for a career in the arts. At the age of 11, she began studying at the famed Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in NYC. Even before commencing her formal training, Jolie made her screen debut as a tyke in a bit part in the Hal Ashby-directed comedy "Lookin' to Get Out" (filmed in 1980; released 1982). While reviewers savaged the movie (which was co-scripted and co-produced by her father, Jon), its littlest thespian fortunately emerged unscathed. The experience briefly turned young Angelina off of show business – she even briefly considered going into funeral directing for a time – but because it was in her blood, she eventually bounced back.

With two extremely photogenic parents, it came as no surprise that Jolie inherited gorgeous good looks – most striking of all were lush lips which made her a standout from all other young girls. Her comeliness allowed her to segue back into show business, first as a professional model, and later, as an actress in music videos. In addition to appearing in five student films directed by her older brother, Jolie became a member of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Theatre Company, where she honed her craft alongside such veteran players as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Jolie made her return to the screen playing a heroic human-machine hybrid in the above-average direct-to-video sci-fi actioner, "Cyborg II: Glass Shadows" (1993), but the entry went virtually unnoticed by critics. Luckily, her flashy role as Kate (a.k.a. 'Acid Burn') in the cyber-thriller "Hackers" (1995) garnered her more attention and better notices. Paired with rising young British actor Jonny Lee Miller, Jolie played a teen computer whiz battling an evil genius. “Hackers” fizzled at the box office, but the romantic leads sizzled – both on-screen and off. Jolie and Miller’s chemistry eventually culminated in their wedding in 1996. Though the two would divorce just three years later, Jolie and Miller would remain close friends even after their break-up.

More film work readily followed for Jolie, initially in small-scale character-driven indies. In an indifferently received adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel "Foxfire" (1996), Jolie played a mysterious outsider named Legs Sadovsky – described in Variety as "sort of a female James Dean" – who helps some other teenaged girls stand up for their rights. In Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna's romantic comedy-drama "Love Is All There Is" (1996), Jolie displayed a humorous and innocent light as half of a pair of star-crossed lovers divided by their families' feud. That same year, the actress appeared in the high-minded suspense drama "Without Evidence,” playing a drug-addicted teen, and "Mojave Moon,” opposite Danny Aiello. Next came "Playing God" (1997), in which Jolie capably essayed a woman torn between her gangster boyfriend (Timothy Hutton) and a discredited doctor (David Duchovny) in his employ. While the films remained largely unseen by most moviegoers, Jolie received strong notices for each of these projects.

Unlike many feature stars, Jolie showed no compunction about working on the small screen. Case in point: during the late 1990s, the actress appeared in a handful of exceptional made-for-TV productions that effectively allowed her to strut her stuff on her own terms. In 1997, Jolie received top notices for her co-starring turn alongside Annabeth Gish and Dana Delaney as Texas pioneers in the 1997 CBS historical miniseries, "True Women." Jolie then brought a fiery passion to her portrayal of Cornelia Wallace, the politician's first wife, in the biographical miniseries "George Wallace" (TNT, 1997). But it was her dazzling turn as another real-life figure – the late supermodel Gia Carangi – that catapulted Jolie into the public consciousness. Jolie’s brave, sensitive performance as the drug-addicted, AIDS-stricken title character in HBO's excellent biopic "Gia" (1998) brought the beauty widespread critical acclaim. For her efforts, Jolie was twice Emmy-nominated in the supporting category for "George Wallace" (which she lost to co-star Mare Winningham) and in the leading category for "Gia" (which she ended up losing to Ellen Barkin). Fortunately, Jolie received more-than-adequate consolation for her Emmy losses by picking up two back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for both performances.

After this spate of acclaimed television appearances, Jolie found her way back into in films, landing roles that similarly showcased her acting strengths. In 1998, Jolie received special notice for her work in the comedy-drama "Playing By Heart" (1998), as Joan, an outgoing club kid smitten with the sullen Keenan (Ryan Phillippe). Vivid and engaging, Jolie easily held her own among an ensemble cast featuring such luminaries as Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery. The following year, the actress joined John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton in Mike Newell's Big Apple-set comedy about air traffic controllers, "Pushing Tin" (1999). Jolie later got her feet wet in the increasingly crowded crime-drama pond playing a tough rookie cop assisting a quadriplegic detective (Denzel Washington) in "The Bone Collector” (1999), a flawed, but well-acted serial-killer thriller directed by Philip Noyce. Jolie finally rounded out the year by landing the much sought-after co-starring role of the disturbed Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted.” Based on author Susanna Kaysen's best-selling memoir of her own two-year stay in a psychiatric hospital, Jolie’s showy turn as the sociopathic inmate netted Jolie a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

But public respect would come neither immediately nor easily for Jolie, even after winning Hollywood’s highest honor. Far more interested in her girl-gone-wild ways, the tabloids tended to dismiss her talents in favor of her more unorthodox personal life. Among the gossip fodder were her exotic tattoos, extensive collection of knives and her past “cutting” experiences, her provocative revelations and her intimations of a profoundly edgy sex life. The tabloids also made much hay out of Jolie’s close relationship with her look-alike brother, James Haven – a bond which raised many eyebrows after Jolie planted a passionate kiss on his lips in plain view of drooling paparazzi. It did not help matters when she declared she was “in love with her brother” upon accepting the Oscar. Media saturation would reach a boiling point, however, in mid 2000, when Jolie became the fifth wife of her “Pushing Tin” co-star – the equally eccentric and significantly older actor Billy Bob Thornton. A match made in tabloid heaven, the couple's constant declarations of love and erotic devotion to each other was capped by the wacky revelation that the two wore vials of one another's blood around each other’s necks and had sex in the car on the way to the “Pushing Tin” premiere.

Her off-screen quirks notwithstanding, the actress continued portraying tough young women on the big screen. In the flashy but unfulfilling car heist thriller "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), Jolie crackled in scenes even opposite notorious scene-stealing star, Nicolas Cage. Jolie’s next project was as the flesh-and-blood embodiment of the titular adventuress in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001). Based on the wildly popular “Tomb Raider” video game franchise, Lara Croft launched an Indiana Jones-style adventure series which failed to impress critics, but racked up a healthy box office take. The film also marked Jolie’s first adult collaboration with her father, Jon Voight, who played her character's father in the film. Shortly after their on-screen pairing, however, Voight made a series of disparaging comments regarding his daughter’s mental emotional stability (or lack thereof) to the American entertainment newsmagazine “Access Hollywood” (Synd., 1996-). Outraged by the insult, Jolie immediately responded by painting Voight as a philandering, self-righteous hypocrite who cheated on her mother. The resulting rift between father-and-daughter would last for several years and several on-camera pleas by Voight to give him another chance.

Meanwhile, back on the career front, Jolie – possibly distracted by her tumultuous personal crises – seemed a bit unfocused in her next two features. Starring opposite Antonio Banderas in the dismal noir-wannabe “Original Sin" (2001), Jolie came off less than committed, despite some steamy – and heavily hyped – erotic sequences. Her follow-up, the dramatic vehicle "Life or Something Like It" (2002) – in which she played a superficial, platinum blonde newscaster forced to examine her existence more closely – also died quickly. Jolie subsequently took a significant hiatus from film, but continued to make headlines in her personal life, divorcing Thornton in 2003 amid rumors of his infidelity (which he denied). It was also rumored that Jolie’s recent adoption of a baby boy from a Cambodian orphanage whom she named Maddox, did not help matters. The couple was allegedly at different points in their life and thus, split.

The actress returned to familiar territory for her comeback screen vehicle, the sequel "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" (2003), a lackluster follow-up to a lackluster first outing. Reflecting their off-screen internecine tensions, Voight, did not reprise his role in this second follow-up. “Cradle of Life” was followed by a turn in the too-righteous political/romantic drama "Beyond Borders" (2003). After this came a dangerous foray into Ashley Judd territory with a starring role in the routine thriller "Taking Lives" (2004), in which Jolie played an FBI profiler caught up in dangerous and erotic intrigue. Signing up for another purely commercial vehicle, the actress adopted another rich accent as she winkingly played the eyepatch-sporting Captain Frankie Cook, the leader of an all-female amphibious attack squadron, in the retro action-adventure "Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow" (2004). Cast opposite Jude Law and fellow Oscar-winner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jolie joined the CGI-laden action-adventure battling giant robots in an Art Deco, 1930s-era environment. Jolie then lent her voice to the finny femme fatale, Lola, in DreamWorks' CGI-animated underwater underworld opus "A Shark’s Tale" (2004). Finally, Jolie closed out the year with a bizarrely seductive turn as Alexander's mother, Olympias, who raises her son to believe in his impressive destiny, in Oliver Stone's epic historical bomb, "Alexander the Great.”

Jolie's profile as both a movie star and public figure rose to even more epic proportions when she co-starred with the equally lovely actor Brad Pitt in the Doug Liman-helmed actionfest "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005). In it, the actors played a bored married couple who are actually rival assassins, each hired to kill the other. Almost from the get-go, spurious rumors abounded of an on-set romance between Jolie and Pitt – innuendo that contributed to Pitt's subsequent split from his high-profile marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston. Though both Pitt and Jolie initially refuted the rumors – the two later took a coyer stance after being photographed together numerous times post-Aniston separation. The intense media and public interest in their possible romance propelled “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” to huge box office receipts, thanks in large part to their palpable on-screen chemistry. Needless to say, the "are they or aren't they?" nature of the Jolie-Pitt coupling captivated star watchers and quickly became the most written-about celebrity story of 2005 – even prompting the coining of the term "Brangelina."

Taking a page from the playbook of the late Audrey Hepburn, Jolie began using her celebrity status to bring attention to such humanitarian causes as the plight of violence-torn nations. As their relationship gradually emerged in the public eye, Pitt began to accompany Jolie on her missions of mercy to third world nations and grow ever more attached to her son, Maddox. Away from the screen, Jolie expressed a dedication and commitment to increasing awareness and aid to counties devastated by internal and external conflicts, disease and third world conditions. In 2001, after the actress made several trips to the war-torn nations of Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan, Jolie had been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It was during one of these trips that in 2005, she adopted an infant daughter from an Ethiopian orphanage whom she named Zahara. Later that year, surprising the world at large, Pitt petitioned to adopt the two children as his own. A year later, on May 27, 2006, Jolie and Pitt welcomed their biological firstborn child into the world – a daughter named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. Clearly serious about starting a family, in March 2007 – Jolie and Pitt made headlines once again by adopting a fourth child – a three-year-old boy from Vietnam whom they named Pax. And no one was surprised when the couple gave birth to twins Vivienne and Knox in 2008.

Returning to the big screen later that summer, Jolie next starred as Marianne Pearl, the wife of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, in the gripping drama “A Mighty Heart” (2007). Though Jolie’s casting initially sparked a furor of controversy among minority groups, as Marianne Pearl was of Afro-Cuban/Dutch ancestry, much of the complaints dissipated upon the film’s release. Hailed by many as quite possibly the boldest performance of her career, Jolie’s portrayal of Marianne Pearl was rooted in dignity and reflected a tragic truthfulness free of exploitative sentimentality. Unfortunately, the serious film was released during the summer box office season, rendering it lost amidst all the big-budget special effect movies. Also that year, Jolie became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, then received the International Rescue Committee’s annual Freedom Award for her contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom.

Back on the big screen, Jolie starred in the high-action comic book thriller, “Wanted” (2008), playing a supersensory assassin who mentors an office-bound wimp (James McAvoy), turning him into a highly-skilled member of a centuries-old order of hit men. Following a leading voice role as Tigress in the blockbuster animated family comedy, “Kung Fu Panda” (2008), Jolie returned to Oscar-caliber form with “Changeling” (2008), a period thriller inspired by true events directed by Clint Eastwood. Jolie played a distressed mother taking on the Los Angeles Police Department in 1928 when her son mysteriously reappears after having gone missing. Sure that the boy is not her son and in search of answers, she fights a corrupt bureaucracy that tries to publicly declare her unfit and delusional. Jolie’s strong performance earned her nominations at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for Best Actress.

Michael Jackson

BIRTHDAY

August 29, 1958

Gary, Indiana, United States

DIED

June 25, 2009

BIOGRAPHY:

A star since the age of 12 when The Jackson Five registered four No. 1 hits in 1970, Michael Jackson parlayed his remarkable singing and dancing talents into mega-stardom, the likes of which few entertainers have ever known. By the time he released Thriller in 1982, which quickly became the best-selling album in the history of recorded music, Jackson was the biggest pop icon in the world. Yet at the very height of his fame, allegations of child molestation severely damaged his career, sending the "eccentric" performer into an even more reclusive posture than usual. The son of an abusive father who drove him and his brothers mercilessly to their success, he missed out on a normal childhood, forced not only to convey the composure of an adult in his little boy's body as the front man for the popular group, but also to branch out simultaneously as a solo artist. Jackson was more than equal to the task as his stunning accomplishments attested, but what price did he pay for a lifetime in the spotlight? It was not so farfetched that his penchant for surrounding himself with children was an attempt to vicariously experience the joys of a childhood sacrificed at the altar of the recording industry. But even that was subject to intense scrutiny when he was accused of sexual abuse of a child in 1993 and in 2004; the latter resulting in a media circus trial that ended in his acquittal. Regardless of his status – either as a pop icon or alleged child molester – there was no doubt that Jackson was the subject of endless public fascination. On June 25, 2009, his position as a tragic American icon was solidified when, during rehearsals for a series of comeback concerts in the UK, he collapsed and was rushed to an area L.A. hospital, where he was pronounced dead at age 50. The announcement sent shock waves around the world, as fans mourned the one and only King of Pop.

Born on Aug. 29, 1958 in Gary, IN, Jackson was one of nine siblings who joined his four older brothers in the act his father was presenting at various clubs in the Chicago area. When they first auditioned for Berry Gordy's Motown label, he had not yet reached his 10th birthday, but he was already a seasoned professional, displaying some dazzling footwork on James Brown's "I Got the Feeling" that would have made the Godfather of Soul proud. With Gordy's backing, The Jackson Five exploded into the national consciousness with "I Want You Back", "ABC," "The Love You Save" and “I'll Be There" all occupying the top spot on the Billboardchart before 1970 had run its course. Two years later, Michael enjoyed his first solo No. 1 hit with "Ben," from his second album. Chafing at the artistic restraints applied by Gordy, the brothers left Motown for Epic, changed their name and brought out The Jacksons (1976), containing Michael's first published song, "Blues Away". He made his feature debut in "The Wiz" (1978) at age 20, contributing some brilliant dance work in his role as the Scarecrow."

During the filming of "The Wiz," Jackson renewed an old acquaintance with producer Quincy Jones, and their subsequent collaborations would earn him the title he would claim the rest of his life – the 'King of Pop.' They warmed up with Off the Wall (1979), but really scored with their second effort, Thriller (1982), featuring three No. 1 hits ("The Girl Is Mine," "Billie Jean" and "Beat It"). Winner of seven Grammy Awards, it remains the best-selling album in the history of the recording industry and was still selling well over a million copies a year in 1995, 13 years after its release. In association with it, Jackson starred in John Landis' "Thriller" video, considered the best music video ever made. A teaming with Paul McCartney led to another No. 1 single, "Say, Say, Say" (1983), before he co-wrote (with Lionel Ritchie), "We Are the World" (1985), in an effort to raise the world's consciousness about the plight of famine-stricken nations in Africa. Produced by Jones with an all-star cast, it won the Song of the Year Grammy for 1985.

Jackson starred in the 3-D fantasy short, "Captain EO" (1986), a popular film with children shown at Disney's Epcot Center and Disneyland theme park, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by George Lucas. His last album with Jones, Bad (1987), yielded an unprecedented five No. 1 hits, and – as was the case with Thriller – every track was memorable. He released one more successful album, Dangerous (1991), before excessive media attention regarding his alleged misconduct would turn people against him.

In 1993, the singer had his first brush with controversy when he was accused of abusing a 13-year-old boy in his entourage. Having become friends the previous year, Jackson was reportedly a virtual member of the boy’s family. But the child – who first revealed the abuse to his father after being put under the influence of Amytal Sodium (a.k.a. “Truth Serum”) – told a psychiatrist, and later police, that Jackson had molested him. When the news broke, Jackson and his family strongly denied that he was a pedophile, while the King of Pop himself suffered a major blow to his popularity. After becoming dependant on drugs to alleviate the stress, he canceled the remainder of his tour and sought treatment overseas. Upon his return to the United States, Jackson was subjected to a 25-minute strip search after it became known that the boy claimed to be able to describe Jackson’s genitals. Not a definitive match, the description had strong similarities. Through it all, Jackson maintained his innocence in public. Eventually, he settled with the accuser’s family out of court for $22 million, while criminal charges were never filed due to lack of evidence after the boy’s father refused to testify.

The heavily-hyped HIStory (1995) sold poorly, failing to recoup its promotional expenses, and he released Blood on the Dance Floor(1997) with little fanfare. Jackson debuted his controversial "Ghosts" video – a narcissistic defense of himself – in selected U.S. cities on Halloween 1996, but quickly withdrew it, though it surfaced again at Cannes the following May. Despite the negative scrutiny, Jackson and his brothers entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Always charismatic, Jackson transformed himself during the 1980s into an almost other-worldly icon, fond of wearing one glove, sparkling socks, tape on his fingers and military regalia. But the line between the performer and private man became blurred. Excessive cosmetic surgery to substantially alter his looks, public appearances wearing a surgical mask, and a preference for animals and children over adults earned him a reputation as a “Wacko Jacko.” Even fatherhood and two marriages – including a sort-lived, hard-to-comprehend union with Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie (made even more unpalatable by their unconvincing lip-lock at an MTV awards ceremony) and another one to his doctors' receptionist – have failed to dispel the notion that the singer was a freak, of sorts. To fully remove the tarnish from his crown, the King of Pop needed another hit, and if his excessive wealth had not totally estranged him from reality, then this perfection-obsessed artist might have surely delivered the goods again.

Meanwhile, Jackson released the album Invincible in 2001, which, for all intents and purposes, was a commercial flop. It was heavily promoted by Sony and cost a hefty $30 million to produce. The album spawned one moderate hit, "Butterflies," which was remixed with rapper Eve. In 2002, Jackson accused Sony of racism and said the label failed to adequately promote his album. Sony was shocked, saying they spared no expense in touting the album’s release. The accusations only served to further solidify Jackson's reputation as “out of touch" with reality. The weirdness of Jackson's self-created and possibly sordid world definitively overwhelmed both his prodigious talent and respected career in 2002 and 2003. The singer made headlines around the world after dangling his infant son Prince Michael II – with a blanket obscuring the child's face – over the balcony of his Berlin hotel room, prompting criticism of his unorthodox parenting skills and resurrecting the old allegations of child abuse.

Although he admitted his behavior was a mistake, Jackson swiftly escalated his erratic reputation by shocking fans with his public appearance at a civil trial in Santa Maria, CA. Jackson arrived at the courthouse on crutches and with his nose looking as if it were suffering – indeed, caving in – from an overabundance of plastic surgery. Next, an interview by British journalist Martin Bashir, who was granted unprecedented access to Jackson's private world, aired on "20/20" (ABC, 1978- ) newsmagazine and drew 27.1 million viewers, most of whom were shocked by the portrait of the singer's bizarre lifestyle. Jackson filed a complaint with television watchdog groups and claimed that the interview was edited to cast him in an unfavorable light. He subsequently backed out of a much-promoted "60 Minutes" (CBS, 1968- ) interview, instead offering his own privately crafted rebuttal to Bashir's report on the two-hour Fox special, "Michael Jackson, Take Two: The Interview They Wouldn't Show You."

The furor died down for several months, but the flames were fanned again in November 2003, just as Jackson's greatest hits package Number Ones was about to hit stores. Santa Barbara police descended on his Neverland Ranch to investigate claims that the musician had molested a 12-year-old boy on the premises. Amid a media furor, Jackson, who was filming a music video in Las Vegas, was required to surrender himself to authorities, prompting video images of the singer in handcuffs. Booked on suspicion of child molestation and released on $3 million bail, he subsequently called the allegations as "outrageous" and "false" and hired celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos to defend him. In the wake of his arrest, CBS indefinitely postponed a primetime Jackson network special that had been scheduled for Nov. 26, while devoted fans staged candlelight vigils protesting his innocence. Meanwhile, plans for finding a full-time performing home in Las Vegas evaporated; the Jackson family and celebrity friends such as Elizabeth Taylor publicly rushed to his defense; and doubts about Jackson's accuser, who previously accused others of child abuse – including own his father – began to surface.

Jackson's compilation album, with the ironically titled new single, "One More Chance," debuted to tepid sales in the United States, where his commercial appeal had dimmed considerably. But Jackson still managed to top other music charts in countries around the world where he was still considered a pop superstar. The stage was set for what promised to be the most sensational celebrity court case since the O.J. Simpson trial, and indeed a circus atmosphere prevailed: celebrities including Jay Leno, Chris Tucker and Macaulay Culkin were called to testify, while the not-so-lily-white past of the accuser's family was aired in court. Among the accusations, Jackson was accused of providing his sleepover guests with alcohol he allegedly called "Jesus Juice," as well as pornography. Throughout the entire sordid affair, Jackson made a spectacle of himself by wearing outrageous outfits into court and indulging in impromptu performances for the fans and gawkers who gathered outside the courthouse for a glimpse of the pop star.

Toward the end of the lengthy trial, however, Jackson appeared more and more haggard, allegedly suffering from ill health. Despite all of the sideshow distractions, in June 2005, jurors in the child-molestation trial found Jackson not guilty on all 10 counts against him, although some of the jurors said publicly their decision was based on reasonable doubt and that not all of them believed Jackson was entirely innocent. His attorneys vowed that Jackson would never again allow the children of others into his bed and make himself vulnerable to further accusations. Immediately on the heels of the verdict, the pop star was also reportedly offered a long term residency and $80 million to perform at the planned casino going up next to Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas.

Despite his acquittal, Jackson was not out of the tabloid woods yet. In 2006, reports of Jackson’s financial woes became more rampant, with the star being forced to close part of his Neverland Ranch in order to save money. Adding further weight to his financial problems, he was forced to take out two substantial loans, including one for $300 million from Sony in exchange for the media company having the option of buying half of Jackson’s stake in their jointly owned publishing company, leaving the pop star with a 25 percent share. After agreeing to joint custody of his children with ex-wife Debbie Rowe, Jackson solidified his financial standing when he bought the rights to songs by Eminem, Beck and others from Viacom in partnership with Sony. Meanwhile, he released Thriller 25 in celebration of that album’s 25th anniversary, which also contained some new cuts and remixes that reached moderate success, including “The Girl is Mine 2008” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008.”

Now on the verge of rehabilitating his image, Jackson released a compilation album called King of Pop – though not in the United States – while he was scheduled to perform 50 sold-out concerts at the O2 Arena in London. But the concerts – which would have drawn over one million people – were put on hold when the sudden news broke that Jackson was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital on June 25, 2009. According to various news sources, paramedics found him not breathing after a 911 call to his Bel Air home and had gone into cardiac arrest in the ambulance while en route to the UCLA Medical Center. When initial reports came in, an anonymous source close to the family was quoted as saying that the pop star was in “really bad shape.” His father, who was in Las Vegas at the time, soon confirmed that his son was “not doing well.” Within just a few hours, the sad news came that shocked the world – Jackson had died of a heart attack. He was just 50 years old.

Jenna Jameson

BIRTHDAY

April 09, 1974

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

As the self-described “most downloaded person on the Internet,” porn star Jenna Jameson has emerged from college dorm room stardom to become a household name. Contrary to popular belief, Jameson never used her profession as a stepping stone to mainstream acting or as a substitute for a career in entertainment gone bad. With the determination to become the most popular star in the industry, Jameson accomplished just that, becoming so famous that she wound up atop her own merchandising company with carte blanche to appear in any movie of her choosing—or none at all. Despite typifying the porn star cliché—she has been abused and was a drug addict—Jameson’s unabashed biography, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale, has only complicated rather than simplified the argument that porn either exploits or empowers women.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jameson lost her showgirl mother to skin cancer when she was 3 years-old. Left to her own designs by her well-meaning, but constantly working dad, Jameson and her brother, Tony, were free to roam and explore new things, like sex and drugs. While a young teen, she lost her virginity to a boy she liked while passed out drunk at a party. She was later gang-raped by several boys from another high school at a time when her family had moved to Montana—an experience Jameson was convinced she was not meant to survive. At 16, she feel in love with a tattoo artist who gave Jameson her trademark double-heart on her bum. After moving in together, she was encouraged to find work as a stripper. Her boyfriend took nude photos while Jameson shopped herself around Vegas for dancing jobs. One club told her to reapply after she had her braces removed—which she did that night with the help of her brother and a pair of needle-nose pliers. The next day she got the job.

Stripping at clubs like Crazy Horse Too led to posing for various magazines, including Penthouse and Hustler. Meanwhile, Jameson had developed an addiction to crystal meth—so crippling was her problem that she moved back in with her dad, who had moved to California, to cleanse her system. Then in 1993, Jameson began making softcore pornography, which soon segued into hardcore—surprisingly, with her father’s blessing. Her first video, “Up and Cummers 11,” was made in 1994. At first she only performed girl-on-girl scenes, but soon made her first film with a man, “Cherry Pie” (1994), in which she played a character called Betty Blueballs. After doing several films with Vivid Video, she signed an exclusive contract with Wicked Pictures, telling founder Steve Ornstein that “the most important thing…[was] to become the biggest star the industry has ever seen.”

Jameson quickly made good on her promise. At 21, she won Best New American Starlet at the Hot D’Or Awards in Cannes—the industry’s version of the Academy Awards. Meanwhile, she sent photos to radio Shock Jock Howard Stern and soon appeared regularly on his morning program. Stern was instrumental in boosting Jameson’s career, casting her—albeit for a brief nude scene—in his autobiography, “Private Parts” (1997). In 1999, Jameson was honored with two lifetime achievement awards: one from Adult Video News, the other from the Hot D’Or Awards. Meanwhile, her personal life began to brighten. After marrying and quickly separating from coworker Rodney Hopkins (a.k.a. Brad Armstrong), she met porn producer Jay Grdina, who proposed to Jameson while she was still technically married. Before the ink had dried on the divorce, Jameson and Grdina married and eventually bought a home in Scottsdale, AZ, where the two formed Club Jenna, a merchandising company that featured movies for download and a variety of products, including bobble head dolls, Got Jenna? T-shirts and a mold of her pelvic region—complete with lubricant and talcum powder.

As her popularity at video stores and online grew, she started crossing over to mainstream entertainment. She hosted episodes of E! Entertainment Television’s “Wild On” and provided household tips on “The Man Show” (Comedy Central, 1994-2004), while making appearances on “Entertainment Tonight” (Syndicated, 1981- ) and “Extra” (Syndicated, 1994- ). She also provided her voice on an episode of “Family Guy” (Fox, 1998- ) and had a recurring role as herself on the short-lived political drama, “Mister Sterling” (NBC, 2003). In 2003, E! Entertainment aired a two-hour “True Hollywood Story” in which she talked about overcoming her inner demons and her rise as the industry’s most powerful porn actress. Meanwhile, she appeared with other industry stars in the documentary, “Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy” (2001), then made her first mainstream feature film as a fictional character in the straight-to-video comedy about a slow-witted gumshoe (Danny Masterson), “Dirt Merchant” (2002). Jameson also crossed-over to the video game realm, providing the voice of the prostitute Candy Suxx in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She even made a cameo appearance—again as herself—in the Robert DeNiro-Billy Crystal comedy, “Analyze That” (2002).

Throughout her career, Jameson made upwards of fifty films, some of which were big sellers, including her most popular, “Brianna Loves Jenna” (2001), which sold 100,000 copies on video and DVD. Though warning prospective actresses about the perils of the industry, she has debated the merits of porn on society, most notably at the Oxford Union in London and on “The O’Reilly Factor (Fox News, 1996- ) with host Bill O’Reilly. Meanwhile, her popularity soared and her acceptance into the mainstream continued unabated. Her autobiography—ghost written by former New York Times music writer Neil Strauss—was well-reviewed and quickly became a best seller, debuting on the Times’ list at No. 9. Then in 2003, she inked an exclusive deal with Vivid Entertainment: a seven year contract that allowed her to direct and star in 15 videos—an unprecedented amount of control for a porn star. In 2006 Jameson lent her voice to "Samurai Love God," an animated series from Comedy Central delivered directly to mobile-phone users.

Mark Lester

BIRTHDAY
July 11, 1958

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

Robert Pattinson

BIRTHDAY

May 13, 1986

London, England, United Kingdom

BIOGRAPHY:

In the tried and true nature of all movie magic moments, it only took one film to turn Robert Pattinson from featured player to the idol of millions of teenaged girls around the globe. The British actor, who prior to 2008 was best known as the doomed Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005), was cast as Edward Cullen, the romantic vampire hero of “Twilight” (2008). The news of the casting sent shockwaves through the young adult community that worshiped the novels by Stephanie Meyer on which the film was based, and who quickly elevated Pattinson to favored pin-up status. The buzz around Pattinson seemed to solidify what the British press had ordained him in 2005 – a “Star of Tomorrow.”

Born Robert Thomas-Pattinson on May 13, 1986 in London, England, he was raised in the suburb of Barnes by his parents, Clare and Robert Pattinson. Acting captured his fancy at an early age and soon supplanted schoolwork as his sole focus. As a teenager, he joined the prestigious Barnes Theatre Club, which gave him an education in classic drama. A casting agent saw him in a production of “Tess of the D’urbervilles” and encouraged him to pursue performing as a career. He made his screen debut in 2004 in a German TV production of the epic fantasy “Ring of the Nibelungs,” which aired in the United States as “Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King” in 2006. Pattinson also landed a minor role as a younger version of James Purefoy’s character in Mira Nair’s adaptation of “Vanity Fair” (2004), but his scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

Immediately after returning from the South African set of “Nibelungs,” he was awarded the role of Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” for director Mike Newell. Diggory, the hero of rival wizard school Hufflepuff, was Harry’s opponent on both the Quidditch field and in romance, as he trumped Harry’s two wins at the TriWizard Tournament by squiring the young hero’s beloved, Cho Chang, to the Yule Ball. Diggory’s moment in the sun was short-lived, as both he and Harry faced down the sinister Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The villain’s henchman, Peter Pettigrew, dispatched Diggory, who was mourned by the entire school. The press, in its raves over Newell’s film adaptation, singled out Pattinson for his charismatic performance, and some went as far as to name him a “future Jude Law.” The Times Online also bestowed the “Star of Tomorrow” award upon him.

Pattinson’s sudden popularity afforded him some choice roles post-“Potter.” He was top-billed as a shell-shocked World War II airman in the supernatural thriller “The Haunted Airman” for BBC Four, and later played a nerdy student with a crush on his teacher (Catherine Tate) in the highly rated drama, “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” (2007) for ITV. That same year, he returned briefly to the wizard world with a flashback cameo as Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”

The year 2008 saw Pattinson return to features with “How To Be,” which earned him critical acclaim for his portrayal of a depressed young man who attempts to wrest some control over his spiraling life. Pattinson also tackled the role of legendary surrealist Salvador Dali in the arthouse effort, “Little Ashes,” which explored the friendship between Dali, filmmaker Luis Bunuel and poet Federico Garcia Lorca, as well as the unusual romance that developed between the former and the latter. However, both were overshadowed by the high-powered spotlight that shone on Pattinson after he was cast as Edward Cullen in Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of “Twilight.” A century-old vampire trapped in the body of a 17-year-old, Cullen falls madly in love with a human girl, Isabella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and later runs afoul of a malevolent fellow bloodsucker with designs on his new girlfriend. Massively popular with teenage girls, the news of Pattinson being cast as Edward was met with almost equal excitement as the reaction to the book-to-film adaptation in the first place. Internet fan sites quickly sprung up to celebrate him and debate his crushworthy status in great detail, including everything from his unique hairdo to his handsome profile.

Kristen Stewart

BIRTHDAY

April 09, 1990

Los Angeles, California, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

An exceptionally poised young film actress with a knack for challenging roles as troubled adolescents, Kristen Stewart got her big break playing Jodie Foster’s daughter in David Fincher’s hot-wired thriller, “Panic Room” (2002). As the teen’s profile rose over the following years, Stewart consistently impressed audiences and critics alike with her realistic performances and her choice of projects – which echoed Foster’s early career by straying far from family fare and jumping right into demanding adult dramas with aplomb.

Born April 9, 1990, Stewart was raised in Los Angeles, where her father worked as a stage manager, producer and director on numerous Fox television shows and her mother was a scriptwriter. Her performance in a grade school Christmas play caught the eye of a talent agent in the audience, so at the age of eight, Stewart began auditioning for film and television roles. She landed a bit role in the Disney Channel TV production, “The Thirteenth Year” (1999) and snared a more substantial part two years later in Rose Troche’s challenging independent drama “The Safety of Objects” (2001), in which she played the tomboyish daughter of troubled single mom Patricia Clarkson. Stewart found herself at the center of a major Hollywood production in 2002 when she was cast as the juvenile lead in David Fincher’s “Panic Room.” Despite the presence of such veteran actors as Jodie Foster – to whom the youngster bore a remarkable resemblance – Stewart held her own and delivered an assured performance that led some critics to compare her skills to Foster’s early style.

In 2003, Stewart signed on to play the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone in another suspenseful project, Mike Figgis’ “Cold Creek Manor” (2003). However, it fared poorly with audiences. Her first leading role came with “Catch That Kid” (2004), a breezy, teen-friendly caper, with Stewart as a young mountain-climbing aficionado who orchestrates a high-tech bank robbery to pay for an operation for her gravely ill father. A minor hit with ‘tweens, it allowed Stewart a chance to show a lighter side of her acting talents and finally showcase herself to family audiences. The same year, she appeared in the psychological drama “Undertow,” which despite a cast led by Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas and Dermot Mulroney, received almost no theatrical play.

“Speak” (Showtime, 2005), based on the best-selling novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, gave Stewart the opportunity to play both dark and light in the same project. She portrayed a high school freshman who stops almost all verbal communication after being raped by an upperclassman, but retains a vivid and often sardonic running commentary in her head. She handled the complexities of the character with her customary skill and segued into Jon Favreau’s underrated space fantasy “Zathura” (2005), which, despite requiring her to remain in a state of suspended animation for part of the film, gave her a showcase for her comic skills. In 2006, Stewart starred in the Canadian feature “Fierce People,” a drama by actor-director Griffin Dunne, about a troubled masseuse (Diane Lane) who arranges for a better life for her teenage son and herself, with unfortunate results.

Stewart had a starring role in the moderately successful supernatural film “The Messengers” (2007), and her career began to soar with no less than 10 film releases in the subsequent two years. She starred opposite Meg Ryan and Adrian Brody in the comic drama “In the Land of Women” (2007), and gave a bold performance as a teenage commune dweller who falls for an idealistic young drifter (Emile Hirsch) in Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” (2007), one of the top critics’ picks of the year. In Mary Stuart Masterson’s well-received directorial debut “The Cake Eaters” (2007), Stewart gave an excellent performance as a young woman with a debilitating disease, and in the Hollywood satire “What Just Happened?” (2008), she was memorable as the rebellious teenage daughter of a stressed-out studio executive (Robert De Niro).

In the fall of 2008, Stewart co-starred in the highly anticipated film adaptation of “Twilight,” Catherine Hardwicke’s acclaimed novel about a teenage girl who falls in love with a handsome vampire. Finally featured in a youth-oriented mainstream release, Stewart earned legions of new fans through her work in the goth love story. The 18-year-old began to segue into young adult roles with the independent film offerings “Adventureland” (2008), a comedy about employees of an amusement park, and the domestic drama “Welcome to the Rileys,” starring James Gandolfini.

Megan Fox

BIRTHDAY

May 16, 1986

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

A statuesque actress who flaunted a “bad girl” attitude both on and off the screen, Megan Fox was one of the more popular performers of the new millennium, thanks to major roles as spunky girlfriends and love interests in features like “Transformers” (2007) and numerous, provocative layouts in men’s magazines. After a successful stint as a model, she eventually graduated to television with recurring roles on “Hope and Faith” (ABC, 2003-06). But it was her breakout role via Michael Bay’s summer blockbuster “Transformers” which helped position her as the “new Angelina Jolie.” She certainly had the attitude, looks and tattoos for it. The media blitz helped her graduate to leading lady status with significant tough and sexy roles in a number of features, including the inevitable “Transformers” sequel, “Jennifer’s Body” (2009) for Oscar winner Diablo Cody, and “Jonah Hex” (2010), among others – all of which virtually assured her status as one of the most popular and publicized members of 21st century Young Hollywood.

Born Megan Denise Fox in Rockwood, TN on May 16, 1986, she was the daughter of a former tourism director for Roane County, and though a self-confessed tomboy, began exploring acting and dance at the age of five. After relocating to St. Petersburg, FL, she continued her training throughout high school, and soon added modeling to her list of endeavors. A string of wins at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention convinced her to launch her acting career, so she wasted no time moving to Los Angeles while only 16. Fox made her screen debut as a bratty heiress in the Olsen Twins feature “Holiday in the Sun” (2001), where she was billed under her full name in the closing credits.

Television was her exclusive domain for the next few years, most notably on a Swedish-produced soap opera, “Ocean Ave.” (Syndicated, 2002-03). But she returned to films with a supporting role as Lindsay Lohan’s chief rival in the bubbly comedy “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” (2004). Not realizing movie stardom was right around the corner, she revisited television as the ditzy but sweet-natured daughter of Faith Ford on the sitcom “Hope and Faith” (ABC, 2003-06). The recurring role earned her a Young Artists Award nomination in 2005.

In 2007, Fox was suddenly catapulted to stardom as the female lead of the Steven Spielberg-produced “Transformers,” based on the popular toy line and animated television series of the early 1980s. Cast opposite fellow newcomer Shia LaBeouf, Fox played yet another in her long line of popular girls, although this one offered some character wrinkles in the form of extensive automotive knowledge, which later came in handy during the film’s climactic battle. Director Michael Bay sought to blunt Fox’s fragile screen persona by requiring her to gain ten pounds of muscle prior to shooting, and bolstered the physical exhaustion required of her character by continually announcing long night shoots. The approach – though draconian – appeared to work. Critics found her a believable action heroine, and she netted several pop movie award nominations, including a 2008 nod from the MTV Movie Awards for Breakthrough Performance.

“Transformers’” key audience – young adult males – was also taking notice of Fox, though not for her acting ability. The buzz surrounding her appearance in the film led to a barrage of photo shoots for male-oriented magazines like Maxim, GQ and FHM – the latter of which named her the “Sexiest Woman in the World” in 2008 – and all of which devoted numerous pages to Fox in various states of undress, highlighting her growing collection of tattoos. The inevitable comparisons to another raven-haired actress with full, pouty lips, tattoos and a wild side were inevitable. In fact, such were the comparisons to Angelina Jolie, Fox was rumored as the replacement for the globe-trotting actress in the “Tomb Raider” film franchise, though reports from 20th Century Fox would dismiss the claim. Her comments in interviews – like her revelation that she had pursued a relationship with a female stripper while still in her teens – certainly helped to fan the publicity fire building around her, as did provocative paparazzi shots with her longtime boyfriend, “Beverly Hills, 90210” (Fox, 1990-2000) actor Brian Austin Green.

However, Fox’s return to acting after the explosive response to “Transformers” was somewhat anticlimactic. “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” (2008), based on the best-selling memoir of Toby Young’s tenure at Vanity Fair, cast Fox as a model and lust object for Young’s stand-in (Simon Pegg). The film opened to strong box office in England, but disappeared quickly after a brief stint in North American theaters. Still, Fox’s strong presence in the media kept interest on a steady boil, and her participation in several high profile projects quickly raised the temperature. “Transformers: Rise of the Fallen” (2009) was the most obvious of these, but other action-oriented features seemed to indicate that Fox and her handlers were seeking to push her away from the glossy roles of her past. “Jonah Hex,” based on the cult Marvel Comics series, cast her as a gun-toting mistress of the Old West, while “Fathom” (2010) another feature inspired by a graphic novel, cast her as a young amnesiac recruited by the American military for her underwater abilities. The feature also served as her debut in the producer’s chair. Meanwhile, the Diablo Cody-penned “Jennifer’s Body” offered her another about-face as the title character, a cruel cheerleader who begins picking off the local boys in her small town after becoming possessed by a blood-drinking demon.

Scarlett Johansson

BIRTHDAY

November 22, 1984

New York City, New York, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

In the mid-2000s, when gossip stories about twenty-something actresses behaving badly dominated headlines, Scarlett Johansson was nowhere to be found. Johansson was certainly one of the most respected actresses of her generation, having made an impact in a number of roles as intriguing young muses to older men in crisis, but she preferred to limit her dramatic behavior to movie screens. For her physical allure and intelligence, the born-and-bred New Yorker was courted by creative filmmakers like Robert Redford – who gave her a breakout role in “The Horse Whisperer” (1998) – the Coen Brothers, Frank Miller and Woody Allen, who cast her in his late-career hits “Match Point” (2005) and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008). Johansson’s translucent skin, curvy figure and flair for distant melancholy made her well-suited for period dramas like “Girl with the Pearl Earring” (2003) and “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2008), but the versatile actress also connected with young adult audiences for personifying the complex modern woman in films like “Ghost World” (2001) and “Lost in Translation” (2003), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. Johansson’s number of intellectual pursuits outside of Hollywood also suggested that the poised performer would still be going strong when others her age had long since burnt out.

Johansson – and her twin brother, Hunter – were born in New York City, NY on Nov. 22, 1984. Raised in Manhattan where her father was an architect and her mother a producer, she was singing, dancing and acting from the time she was very young. Her movie buff mother cooperated by taking her to auditions where she was so un-childlike that commercial directors passed her over but film and theater directors were captivated. She studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and made her stage debut at age eight in 1993's "Sophistry" at Playwrights Horizons Theatre. When Johansson was 10, she launched her film career in Rob Reiner's disastrous "North" (1994), a family film about a boy who seeks emancipation and travels the world searching for a new family. The following year, Johansson’s instinctively natural acting skill came to attention in the legal thriller "Just Cause" (1995), where she played the daughter of a couple (Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw) who are terrorized by a convicted rapist (Blair Underwood). While attending the Children’s Professional School in New York, the focused young actress carried on full steam ahead with a film career, appearing in two films in 1996. She earned notice as one of Eric Schaeffer's wise charges in "If Lucy Fell" and took a co-starring role in the understated independent "Manny & Lo" (1996). Johansson's finely crafted portrayal of a rather sensible 11-year-old who escapes from a foster home and runs away with her 16-year-old sister earned her critical praise and led directly to her casting in the high profile but disappointing 1997 release, “Home Alone 3."

Johansson was the subject of great buzz again the following year with Robert Redford’s blockbuster romance "The Horse Whisperer" (1998), where she took the role of a youngster whose debilitating riding accident is responsible for a romance between her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) and a horse trainer (Robert Redford), and turning what could have been little more than a two-dimensional plot device into a full-fledged character. All but disappearing after this high profile role, a teenage Johansson resurfaced three years later in-demand by some of the independent film world’s most respected directors. Terry Zwigoff cast Johansson in "Ghost World" (2001), where she starred alongside Thora Birch as the more pragmatic of two cynical, outcast best friends newly graduated from high school. Snarky but less edgy than her black-haired buddy, Johansson did not get the screen time of her co-star but nonetheless impressed in her smaller role as a teen facing an unknown future. Adding to her resume of complex, three-dimensional teen roles that downplayed her blossoming beauty in favor of a sophisticated naturalism, Johansson was cast by the Coen Brothers as a teenager who fancies an aloof barber (Billy Bob Thornton) caught in a blackmail scheme in the acclaimed period noir, "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001). Later that year, she played a young Hungarian girl left behind when her refugee family flees their homeland during a Cold War political climate in "An American Rhapsody."

Johansson's star-making performance came with "Lost in Translation" (2003), writer-director Sophia Coppola's stylishly hip film about an emotionally adrift young married tourist left to her own devices in Tokyo. While her self-involved photographer husband is working, she forms a complex relationship with an equally disaffected 50-something Hollywood actor (Bill Murray). The actress – only 18 during filming – was a revelation in the picture, displaying a rare, multilayered chemistry with Murray that fueled the movie and carried many scenes; some without dialogue. Her subtle, knockout performance was wildly praised by critics. Hot on the heels of that role, Johansson dazzled audiences in "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (2003), a speculative account of the life of the 16-year-old maid who posed for Johannes Vermeer's (Colin Firth) most famous painting. As a result of her two strong 2003 performances, at the young age of 19, Johansson received a pair of Golden Globe nominations – one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama (for "Girl With a Pearl Earring") and another for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (for "Lost In Translation"). “The Perfect Score" (2004), a limp teen caper made before Johansson’s big breakout, was thankfully little-seen and she was better served with a pair of challenging roles released simultaneously in 2004.

First, she added depth to a supporting role as the daughter of a middle-aged ad salesman (Dennis Quaid) who becomes involved with her father's young boss (Topher Grace) in writer-director Paul Weitz's comedy "In Good Company." Following that moderate box office success, she gave a Golden Globe-nominated (but little-seen) performance as a headstrong teen who returns to her late mother's home to unexpectedly share it with a pair of booze-soaked intellectual boarders (John Travolta and Gabriel Macht) in the Southern-influenced character drama "A Love Song for Bobby Long." In both films, Johansson's potent combination of adolescent freshness and wise-beyond-her-years maturity helped breathe a compelling realism into her roles. Off-screen, her male admirers were disappointed to find out that the young sex symbol had her own leading man, Josh Hartnett, with whom she began a two-year relationship in 2004. In an unfortunate introduction into the sci-fi action genre, Johansson was cast as the lead in director Michael Bay’s misfire "The Island" (2005), as a woman living in a post-Apocalyptic world only to discover it is a façade for something much more sinister. As expected from an actress who generally shone under the employ of more artful auteurs, Johansson fared better in Woody Allen's serious-minded "Match Point" (2005), playing a sensual but struggling American actress in London who takes up with her ex-beau's brother-in-law (Jonathan Rhys-Myers), forcing him to choose between her and his comfortable, status-granting marriage. The result was another Golden Globe nomination and one of Allen's best works in years. Johansson would, in fact, become a kind of muse for the director, who would cast her in several more of his films.

The writer-director quickly drafted Johansson to star as an American student in London who becomes involved with an aristocrat (Hugh Jackman) in "Scoop" (2006), though that follow-up came and went without much fanfare. Her next outing was “The Black Dahlia” (2006), Brian De Palma’s take on James Ellroy’s complicated and richly-textured noir thriller about two hard-edged cops (Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart) who descend into obsession, corruption and sexual degeneracy while investigating the infamous brutal murder of a would-be actress (Mia Kirshner). Again, Johansson was believable as a sensual, smart woman able to woo men against their better judgment, but the film was not well received. She rebounded with the well-reviewed blockbuster “The Prestige” (2006), a Victorian-set supernatural thriller about two stage magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) in an ongoing feud that takes them both to the top of their careers, but with terrible consequences. Fast-forwarding to the 1930s, Johansson co-starred in the unsuccessful attempt to bring Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan to the screen with “A Good Woman” (2006). While the actress was now a presence in the Top Ten lists of men’s cheesecake magazines like Maxim and FHM, the well-grounded actress hardly took her new sex symbol status seriously, and continued with a run of decidedly non-male oriented films, starting with the surprisingly commercial comedy “The Nanny Diaries” (2007). The adaptation of the bestseller did not survive its reinvention as a screen comedy and underperformed at the box office.

In 2008, Johansson married film star Ryan Reynolds and co-starred with friend and fellow brainy babe Natalie Portman in the relatively successful “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2008), where she leant intelligence and wit to her portrayal of Mary Boleyn, sister of famed Henry VIII mistress, Anne. The film was the most widely-seen of Johansson’s film releases that year, though her re-teaming with Woody Allen in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008), another European-set love triangle, was a hit with critics and perfectly utilized the actress’ talent for intelligent, melancholy romance. She followed up with a pair of very different but similarly commercial-minded features — the adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic “The Spirit” (2008) and a screen version of the cheeky self-help bestseller, “He’s Just Not That Into You” (2009). Johansson played an aspiring singer in the film, which dovetailed with her new off-screen interest in music and the release of her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008), a reinterpreted collection of songs by Tom Waits.

Miley Cyrus

BIRTHDAY

November 23, 1992

Franklin, Tennessee, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

International pop culture phenomenon Miley Cyrus rocketed to fame almost instantly after being added to the Disney Channel’s stable of wholesome teenage entertainers in 2006. As “Hannah Montana” (2006- ), Cyrus won over ‘tween audiences by playing a perky, charming middle-school student who happens to lead a secret double life as a pop singer. While the premise was the definition of hokey TV fabrications, it was actually not too far removed from Cyrus’ own life as a decidedly normal young girl from Nashville, who also happened to be the daughter of 1990s country music chart-topper, Billy Ray Cyrus. Upon the success of her fictitious pop singing persona, Cyrus naturally launched her own lucrative singing career – to say nothing of the successful “Montana”-based feature films and the expected Disney avalanche of cross-promotional items – all of which secured her status as one of the most popular entertainers of her generation.

Born Destiny Hope Cyrus on Nov. 23, 1992, Cyrus was the middle child of six and was dubbed Smiley – shortened to Miley – due to her sunny outlook and beaming grin when she was a baby. Cyrus got an early taste of the performer’s lifestyle, thanks to her country star-turned-actor father, Billy Ray, who topped the charts in the 1990s with the best-selling single, “Achy Breaky Heart.” As a toddler, she frequently appeared onstage at his concerts and performed a song or two with her dad. When the elder Cyrus transitioned into acting, his daughter caught the bug and was granted a few guest appearances on his TV series “Doc” (PAX, 2001-04). This led to a small role in Tim Burton’s fantasy feature, “Big Fish,” (2003) for which she was billed as Destiny Cyrus.

Bolstered by these appearances, Cyrus began pursuing an acting career in earnest, and at age 11, caught the eye of Disney Channel producers who were scouring the nation for the star of a new series in development, then tentatively titled "Alexis Texas.” Concerns over her age (then 12) and height (then 5’ 4”) were dismissed once execs saw Cyrus’ way with a comic line and heard her surprisingly mature voice. By the time she turned 13, the multi-talented girl had been cast in her own Disney Channel series. Making it a true family affair, her dad joined her on the show as her father-manager who would dole out countrified advice and to lend the exceptionally manic series a moment or two of quiet.

“Hannah Montana” debuted on The Disney Channel on March 24, 2006, to record ratings and became an instant network hit, with legions of ‘tweens tuning in faithfully to indulge in the fantasy of living a secret double life – one that involved glamour and fame. For playing a teen idol, Cyrus reached teen idol status herself and became a teen magazine mainstay whose likeness sold all manner of merchandise – from accessories and clothing to decorative items and video games. In 2007, Cyrus won a Kids Choice Award and a Teen Choice Award for Best Actress. The following year, she debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts with the show’s soundtrack, singing eight songs “in character” as Montana and one duet as herself with her father. The album produced a number of moderately charting singles but sold over four and a half million copies worldwide. The same year, Cyrus also contributed a version of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” to the fourth volume of the Disney Mania CD series and rolled out her first live performance as Hannah Montana at Disney World.

While the show maintained its position as an anchor for the network and Cyrus was hailed as a wholesome role model for kids, she furthered her musical career by signing a four-album deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records. The double CD, Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus was released in June of 2007 and helped the starlet establish her own identity, with one disc containing songs from season two of the television show performed “in character,” and the second disc performed under Cyrus’ own name with the majority of the tracks co-written by the teen herself. The album debuted again at number one in the album charts and launched Cyrus’ first top ten single, “See You Again.” The subsequent 69-date "Best of Both Worlds" tour, in which Cyrus performed both as herself and her alter ego, sold out astronomically. It was, simply, the tour of the year, both dollar and hype-wise, with endless stories told of parents paying top dollar online and through scalpers to get their teens in to the sold out dates.

In February of 2008, a 3-D filmed version of the “Best of Both Worlds” concert was released in theaters and the franchise raked in an additional $70 million dollars. However, only two weeks after Cyrus performed two fan-friendly numbers on Fox's "American Idol Gives Back" charity special and the same week she graced the cover of People magazine, the teen sensation found herself in a firestorm of controversy for the first but not last time in her young career. The PR meltdown resulted from a photo shoot Cyrus did with legendary photographer Annie Liebovitz in the pages of Vanity Fair, in which the 15-year-old posed with only a white sheet held in front her. The artful, backless photos of the Disney cash cow instigated mainstream media discussions about whether children, particularly young girls, were growing up too fast and too sexual. Having thought Cyrus was a suitable role model for their kids, outraged mothers took to blogs and TV talk shows to voice their disappointment while Disney panicked about the potentially fatal blow to their major moneymaker.

For her part, the openly devout Christian superstar immediately issued an apology, proclaiming the shots were supposed to be "artistic," and that she never meant to offend the millions of ‘tweens who looked up to her. Cyrus stayed out of the spotlight for a period and in typical Hollywood fashion, the scandal was forgotten in the face of a new season of her top-rated show and another CD release. Breakout marked Cyrus’ first non-“Montana”-related album and proved that her own persona could draw in just as large an audience as her television one. The album produced a number of charting singles, including “7 Things” and “Fly on the Wall.” Cyrus also took home Teen Choice and Kids Choice Awards for both her acting and singing. The following year, the budding songwriter was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for “I Thought I Lost You,” which she co-wrote and performed with John Travolta in the Disney animated feature, “Bolt” (2008).

Cyrus returned to theaters in 2009 as the star of “Hannah Montana: The Movie” (2009). The film adaptation, which found the TV teen forced to choose between a “normal” life or one full of show business pressure, opened at No. 1 at the box office, going on to earn over $50 million. Off screen, Cyrus showed no signs of retreating from her superstardom and her popularity showed no signs of letting up, with the actress taking home another Kids Choice Award for Favorite Female Singer in 2009.

Mike Keeler

Jennifer Aniston

BIRTHDAY

February 11, 1969

Sherman Oaks, California, United States

BIOGRAPHY:

Thanks to a rare combination of winsome girl-next-door charm and vulnerability, as well as wholesome sex appeal and whip-smart comic timing, actress Jennifer Aniston found television stardom playing Rachel Green, the spoiled rich girl making her way in life as a waitress and fashion buyer on the hit sitcom, "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004). Perhaps one of the most popular television actresses of her era, Aniston emerged from relative obscurity after toiling in the backwater of television on several comedy series that failed to survive long enough to make an impression. But with “Friends,” Aniston suddenly found herself at the top of the celebrity heap while dominating much of the publicity of an ensemble cast that boasted the likes of Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry. Meanwhile, she began a strong second career in features that allowed her to display a wider array of talent. Aniston essayed both dramatic and comedic roles in films like “The Object of My Affection” (1998), “Office Space” (1999) and “The Good Girl” (2002), which confirmed that she was not to be confined by mere sitcoms. But aside from her career, she was the subject of sometimes unfortunate tabloid coverage – mainly over her very public divorce from husband Brad Pitt, as well as her shorter relationships with Vince Vaughn and John Mayer – confirming that Aniston was in a celebrity class all her own.

Born on Feb. 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, CA, Aniston was raised in New York City by her father, longtime daytime soap actor John Aniston, and her mother, Nancy, a former model-actress turned photographer. Despite her father’s television career, Aniston was actively steered away from watching TV, though she found ways around the prohibition. When she was six, Aniston began attending the Rudolf Steiner School, a Waldorf educational school that applied the Rudolf Steiner philosophy of integrating artistic and analytic learning to fulfill a child’s unique and untapped destiny. In perhaps a sign of thing to come, Aniston’s father left her mother for another woman when she was nine. Meanwhile, after discovering acting at 11 while attending Rudolf Steiner, Aniston enrolled at the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, where she joined the school’s drama society. After graduating, she began performing in several off-Broadway productions, including “For Dear Life” at the Public Theater, while working as a bicycle messenger – among other odd jobs – to pay the rent.

Following a stint as a regular on Howard Stern’s terrestrial radio show, Aniston moved to Los Angeles and immediately began landing supporting roles on several short-lived sitcoms, mainly playing the spoiled or bratty sibling on the likes of "Molloy" (Fox, 1989) and "Ferris Bueller" (NBC, 1990-91). After making her television movie debut in “Camp Cucamonga” (NBC, 1990), Aniston had a short stint on the Fox variety sketch series "The Edge" (1992-93), which helped to further hone her comedic chops, especially in a memorable skit as a member of the paranoid, weapons-toting “Armed Family.” Though she was landing enough roles to qualify as a working actress – including episodes of “Quantum Leap” (NBC, 1988-1993), “Herman’s Head” (Fox, 1991-94) and “Burke’s Law” (CBS, 1993-95) – by the time she appeared in the widely-rejected film “Leprechaun” (1993), Aniston was prepared to call it quits. But when an agent suggested she drop 30 pounds – which apparently was preventing her from landing better roles – Aniston decided to continue making the push. Her persistence paid off when in 1994 she landed the role of Rachel Green on a new sitcom called “Friends.”

No one who was a part of the “Friends” phenomenon could have ever predicted beforehand the show’s unbridled success and substantial influence on the cultural zeitgeist. From the first season until its last a decade later, “Friends” was one of the most watched and discussed sitcoms on television. The show focused on six close-knit Gen-X friends struggling to make good in Manhattan: Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), a would-be chef with an obsession for neatness and order; Rachel Green (Aniston), Monica's pampered best friend from high school who walks out on her groom; Ross (David Schwimmer), Monica's older brother and a paleontologist with an age-old crush on Rachel; Chandler (Matthew Perry), a lovable wiseguy who works as a corporate numbers cruncher; Joey (Matt LeBlanc), a struggling actor and resident airhead; and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), an offbeat folk singer and massage therapist. Throughout the course of the show’s 10 seasons, Aniston’s Rachel – one of the standout characters – went from being a pampered daddy’s girl to an assured, self-reliant woman whose on-again, off-again romance with Ross was the hot topic around office water coolers. But perhaps the character’s greatest influence in the first few seasons was her shag hairdo – known simply as The Rachel” – that was widely copied by young women in the mid-1990s.

In 1995, her mother went on national television and divulged personal childhood information that infuriated Aniston to the point of cutting off communication. Four years later, her mother exacerbated the estrangement by publishing a book, From Mother and Daughter to Friends (1999), which documented their strained relationships while detailing her own life’s ups and downs. Meanwhile, Aniston reveled in the success of “Friends,” which helped launch a second career in mainly independent feature films. She landed a supporting turn as the unhappily married wife of a womanizing stockbroker in Edward Burns' "She's the One" (1996), then had an acerbic cameo as an overwhelmed young woman juggling career and motherhood in the otherwise forgettable "'Til There Was You" (1997). Her first lead, playing an ambitious advertising executive who creates a fake boyfriend to insure her climb up the corporate ladder, in "Picture Perfect" (1997) proved both a critical and box-office disappointment. But Aniston bounced back in the more dramatic role of a pregnant woman who forms a bond with her gay roommate (Paul Rudd) in the modest hit, "The Object of My Affection" (1998).

To the delight of film geeks everywhere, Aniston had a memorable supporting role in “Office Space” (1999), Mike Judge’s hilarious satire on the drudgery and absurdity of corporate life. Aniston played Joanna, a dissatisfied waitress who meets a bored office drone (Ron Livingston) acting out his inner slacker fantasies after a mishap with a hypnotist. Meanwhile, in 1998, Aniston became romantically linked to Hollywood’s resident golden boy, Brad Pitt, which immediately became the obsession du jour of tabloids around the world. In fact, the two were Hollywood’s reigning “It” couple for the next several years, especially after they were married in fairy tale-like fashion in July 2000. For a spell, they were considered a Hollywood oddity – a down-to-earth married couple who seemed destined to remain together for the rest of their lives. Despite their constant appearances together in the public eye, the couple worked together professionally only once when Pitt appeared on a 2001 episode of "Friends" as a formerly fat high school classmate with a long-simmering resentment of Rachel. Meanwhile, Aniston’s film career continued unabated, as she appeared as the love interest of a salesman (Mark Wahlberg) who joins a heavy metal band in "Rock Star" (2001), anchoring the lightweight, high-concept film as its most convincing and emotional presence.

In 2002, Aniston had an impressive turn on the indie-film scene in "The Good Girl," playing a bored and forlorn Midwestern housewife dissatisfied with her life and pot-smoking husband (John C. Reilly), who discovers that bucking her staid life is harder than she imagined. For her subtly measured performance, Aniston rightly earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. The following year, Aniston paired with Jim Carrey for the hit comedy feature "Bruce Almighty" (2003) as the girlfriend of a man gifted with God's powers. She fared even better in her follow-up, "Along Came Polly" (2004), playing against type as a free spirit who teaches her risk-fearing new beau (Ben Stiller) how to take chances. That year, Aniston and company made their final bows on “Friends.” A hit during its first few seasons, “Friends” lagged a bit in the middle, only to make a dominant resurgence in the latter seasons, exiting the airwaves at the top of its ratings and comedic game. Meanwhile, the role made Aniston a superstar, earning her four consecutive Emmy nominations (2000-03) – twice as Best Supporting Actress and twice as Best Lead Actress – which led to a win in the Lead Actress category in 2002, as well as a Golden Globe the following year.

As she moved on to her next projects, Aniston found herself in the center of a media tempest when she announced her separation from husband Brad Pitt, who allegedly began a romance with actress Angelina Jolie on the set of their film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005) – a rumor that later proved to be true. The drama played out in the entertainment media for several months, with Aniston finally giving a teary-eyed interview to Vanity Fair that – while taking some pains to play fair and amicable – decidedly cast her as the unsuspecting victim, Pitt as the cad and Jolie as the home wrecker. As the media story took shape, Aniston soon became ridiculed by some who saw her as desperately holding on to Pitt’s flame, while her ex – they finalized their divorce in October 2005 – traipsed around the world with Jolie, donating to world relief efforts and adopting children from impoverished countries. Some of her friends like Cox and singer Sheryl Crow rose to her defense, claiming the media portrayal was unfair – and in some cases misogynist – but by then, the damage was done to Aniston’s reputation.

Ironically, during the media firestorm surrounding her painful public split from Pitt, Aniston was shooting "The Break-Up" (2006) in Chicago with actor Vince Vaughn, playing a couple struggling to continue to cohabitate in the condo both refuse to leave, despite having ended their relationship. Rumors swirled of a budding relationship between the two stars, and despite denials, they did appear to be a couple by fall of 2005 when Aniston had two films hitting theaters – "Derailed," which cast the actress and Clive Owen as two married business executives who are blackmailed by a violent criminal after they have had an affair; and Rob Reiner's "Rumor Has It," which starred Aniston as a woman who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film "The Graduate" (1967). Meanwhile, more rumors swirled that her and Vaughn were engaged, but by October 2006, it was clear the couple was no longer together. In April 2008, Aniston was then linked to songwriter and notorious playboy, John Mayer, who later hinted to reporters that the rumors were indeed true. Four months after Aniston and Mayer were no longer together, back-and-forth stories over who dumped who plagued the tabloids, as Aniston was again unfairly portrayed as the “desperate girl” who was unlucky in love.

Thankfully, Aniston had no shortage of projects lined up to take her mind off of personal tribulations. The often cruel blog press took gleeful delight in the title of her next project, “He’s Just Not That Into You” (2009), based on the best-selling guidebook for women in bad relationships, written by former “Sex and the City” (HBO, 1998-2004) scribe, Greg Behrendt. Beating the romantic comedy into the theaters was Aniston’s turn in the tender love story of a man and his dog, again based on a bestseller, “Marley & Me” (2008), co-starring Owen Wilson. Back on the small screen, Aniston earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for an episode of “30 Rock” (NBC, 2006- ), in which she played the former roommate of Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) who develops a stalker-like obsession with Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).

Salma Hayek

BIRTHDAY
September 02, 1968
Coastzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico

BIOGRAPHY:

Salma Hayek first scorched stateside cineplexes as the fiery border town bookseller who romances Antonio Banderas' vengeful "mariachi" in "Desperado" (1995). A favorite of the film’s renegade writer-director Robert Rodriguez, the former telenovela star from Mexico gained a foothold in the American movie business in independent film and as a favorite on men’s magazines “Sexiest” lists. Spokesmodel work for cosmetics companies further banked on her hourglass figure and smoldering on-screen charisma, but Hayek proved to have far bigger ambitions than to be another piece of Hollywood eye candy. Among her biggest box office hits was a leading role in the Will Smith summer blockbuster “Wild Wild West” (1999), though her most acclaimed performance was her Academy Award-nominated starring role as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo in “Frida” (2002), which Hayek, as producer, worked for years to bring to the big screen. She went on to earn significant respect for executive producing the ABC comedy “Ugly Betty” (2006- ), which she helped adapt from its original format as a daily Columbian soap, and earned a Daytime Emmy for directing the family film “The Maldonado Miracle” (2003) for Showtime. Hayek valiantly tried to translate both her looks and intelligence into worthy film roles with varying degrees of success. However, it was her instincts as producer and director which earned consistent accolades.
Born Salma Hayek Jimenez on Sept. 2, 1966, the actress was raised in the Mexican port city of Coatzacoalcos, Vera Cruz. Hayek’s oil executive father was of Lebanese descent and her opera-singing mother of Spanish descent. With her exotic racial makeup, her distinctive looks were turning heads even when she was just, by her own words, a “flat girl.” Hayek spent part of her childhood in the United States, including two years at a Catholic boarding school in Louisiana from which she was ejected and several teen years living with her aunt in Houston, TX. She returned to Mexico to attend Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, but eventually drifted away from her International Relations courses to pursue acting. In 1989, she won the hearts of her countrymen when she landed the title role of the comely bad girl protagonist on "Teresa," an extremely popular primetime telenovela. Fearing that Mexican audiences valued her looks more than her thespian skills, Hayek left Mexico at the height of her television fame in 1991 and headed for L.A. where she studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio and made a concerted effort to improve her English, which proved a challenge considering the actress’ teen diagnosis of dyslexia. It was also upon her arrival that she famously cold-called the William Morris Agency for representation, asking to speak to the long-deceased William Morris, himself.

The newcomer began to make a dent in Hollywood in 1993, landing a recurring character role on "The Sinbad Show" (Fox, 1993-94), and a small supporting role in Allison Anders' well-regarded indie feature "Mi Vida Loca” (My Crazy Life) (1993) while eschewing stereotypical offers to play explosive mistresses and sexy maids. Up-and-coming writer-director Robert Rodriguez helped fuel her career when he cast her opposite Antonio Banderas in the stylish but violent cult favorite “Desperado” (1995), the sequel to Rodriquez’ 1992 acclaimed low-budget marvel "El Mariachi." After the moderate box office hit and big Hollywood buzz, Hayek returned to Mexico to shoot the Spanish language art film "Midaq Alley/El Callejon de los Milagros" (1995). She had an unremarkable supporting role in Cindy Crawford's lambasted film debut "Fair Game" (1995), but Rodriguez continued to give Hayek her most interesting opportunities, with a cameo in his segment of the ill-conceived feature "Four Rooms" (1995) and a role as a blood-sucking snake-dancer in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted vampire outing, "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996), directed by Rodriguez.

While now known on the indie film circuit, Hayek had yet to truly go wide in a mainstream picture and was struggling to find a niche in Hollywood. Under the assumption that her drop-dead gorgeous looks might make sense in romantic pairings, she was cast opposite Matthew Perry in the underperforming romantic comedy "Fools Rush In" (1997). Playing a Mexican woman who hastily marries an American and then proceeds to fall in love with him, Hayek made a valiant effort, but critics and audiences were not impressed. She was next paired with Russell Crowe in "Breaking Up" (1997), a film about a couple who constantly separate and reconcile, which was deemed lackluster enough to be released directly to home video. She fared somewhat better as the fiery gypsy dancer Esmeralda to Mandy Patinkin's "The Hunchback" (1997) in the TNT TV-movie. In 1998, Hayek seemed positioned to become a huge name with her starring role as a coat check girl and aspiring singer in “54,” a chronicle of the notorious 1970s New York discotheque. Eleventh hour re-shoots and changes to the love-triangle storyline cut Hayek’s screen time short, and the resulting film proved to be a homogenized disappointment to audiences and critics alike.

While Hayek sought to be known primarily for her acting, her exotic looks and curvy figure continued to earn the most renown, and in 1998 she made a rather historic mark as one of the first Latinas signed as a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics. Hot on the heels of that honor, she finally enjoyed a blockbuster breakout with a leading role in “Wild Wild West” (1999), the sci-fi Western anchored by Will Smith. Her indie film street cred was tapped by director Kevin Smith, who cast her as a muse in his controversial ensemble comedy "Dogma” (1999), and the same year Hayek produced her first theatrical feature, a Spanish language adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “El Coronel No Tiene Quien le Escriba” (1999) in which she also starred. Hayek played a Playboy model-turned-cop in the straight to video comic heist “Chain of Fools” (2000) but followed up with a commitment to more serious fare, taking a small role in Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed anti-drug drama "Traffic" (2000) and appearing as a sexually controlling actress in Mike Figgis' experimental multi-screen drama, "Timecode" (2000).

Hayek starred in and produced the Showtime feature “In the Time of Butterflies” (2001) and the following year, “Frida” (2002), her labor-of-love production about Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, hit screens and cemented the producer and star’s reputation as a serious talent. Reaction to the beautifully shot film – directed by avant garde auteur Julie Taymor and co-starring Alfred Molina as Kahlo’s artist husband Diego Rivera – was mixed, but Hayek's passionate performance was roundly praised and she was finally able to transcend both her sex symbol status and the limits of her ethnicity to receive an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She reunited with director Rodriguez first in a humorous cameo in his family film hit "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003) and then to reprise her role as Carolina in the successful third outing in his El Mariachi series, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico” (2003). The actress-turned-producer next turned director with “The Maldonado Miracle” (Showtime, 2003), earning a Daytime Emmy award for deftly handling the family film that addressed such delicate subjects as immigration and the existence of miracles. Returning to the big screen, Hayek demonstrated highly combustible chemistry with co-star Pierce Brosnan in the cliché caper comedy "After the Sunset" (2004).

The entertaining period adventure “Bandidas” (2006), co-starring Hayek and Penelope Cruz as gun-wielding turn-of-the-century Robin Hoodettes, never made it to theaters. The disappointing screen adaptation of John Fante’s classic “Ask the Dust” (2007), where Hayek co-starred opposite Colin Farrell as the forbidden immigrant love of a Depression-era Los Angeles novelist, should have been shelved but hit a limited release long enough to rack up negative reviews. However Hayek’s big screen missteps were overshadowed by enormous prime time success with “Ugly Betty" (ABC, 2006- ), an American adaptation of the popular Colombian telenovela “Betty La Fea” (RCN, 1999-2001) which was executive-produced and adapted for American audiences by Hayek. The hour-long comedy about a working class young woman (America Ferrara) navigating the sophisticated and catty world of a New York fashion magazine instantly captured the public’s attention. Hayek’s guest-starring appearances as the magazine’s editor helped boost its first season ratings and earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Hayek’s film acting career remained hit-or-miss, with a co-starring role as a real-life 1940s career criminal in “Lonely Hearts” (2007), barely hitting theaters despite generally positive reviews. The same year she was tapped by “Frida” director Julie Taymor to showcase her singing in the popular Beatles-based musical “Across the Sea” (2007), Hayek gave birth to a daughter in the fall, though by the following spring her engagement to French executive Francois-Henri Pinualt was called off. “Ugly Betty” was renewed again in 2008 with Hayek making a guest appearance on another popular female-helmed comedy, “30 Rock” (NBC, 2006-) and in 2009 she returned to film in an adaptation of a popular children’s book series, “Cirque du Freak” (2009), in which she played a bearded woman in a traveling freak show.