Artist Biography

Lindsay Lohan (1986–)

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Actress, singer. Born Lindsay Dee Lohan on July 2, 1986, in New York City. Lohan's father, Michael Lohan, ran his family's pasta business and worked as an investment banker. Her mother, Donata "Dina" Sullivan, was a Wall Street analyst. Lohan grew up in the wealthy Long Island suburbs of Cold Spring Harbor and Merrick.

Stints as a child model and commercial actress brought Lohan into the spotlight at the age of three. The star of more than 60 television spots and 100 print ads for clients like Toys 'R Us and Duncan Hines helped Lohan land the film role of twin sisters in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. In the film, the sisters—one raised in England and the other in the U.S.—try to reunite their long-divorced parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The movie performed well at the box office, making more than $92 million globally.

Lohan's success resulted in more Disney film roles, including the remake Freaky Friday (2003) also starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Her next role with Disney, the pre-teen comedy, Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen (2004), brought mild success. But it was her starring role in Paramount's film Mean Girls, written by comedian Tina Fey, that turned Lohan into a bona fide star. The movie recieved both popular and critical success; it became the 24th highest grossing movie of 2004 and earned Lohan a Teen's Choice Award and an MTV movie award for her performance.

Lohan returned to Disney in 2005 to star in Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film in the Herbie the racecar series. The film earned $144 million worldwide and marked the actress' transition into more grown-up roles. in the meantime, Lohan also launched a music career. Thanks to her growing fan base, her first album, Speak, debuted in 2004 and hit platinum status. Her next album, A Little More Personal, hit stores in 2005 but didn't fare as well. Neither did her next two films, Just My Luck and A Prairie Home Companion, which made it to the big screen in 2006 to mild box office sales.

As her celebrity status grew, so did Lohan's attendance at New York nightclubs. Her wild party lifestyle made Lohan instant tabloid fodder in recent years, from her father's prison scandals to rumors of her own struggles with bulimia. On May 26, 2007, Lohan was arrested after crashing her Mercedes-Benz crashed into a tree in Beverly Hills. She was arrested again July 24 in Santa Monica after she allegedly engaged in a car chase with the mother of her former personal assistant. In both cases, Lohan was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine, below the .05 grams required for the more serious felony charges of drug possession, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office. After all her legal run-ins, Lohan was only charged with two counts each of driving under the influence, and a single count of reckless driving.

Tracie Rice, a woman who was a passenger in a car Lohan was accused of chasing on July 24, 2007, sued the star for assault and negligence. Lohan dodged felony charges when she reached a plea deal on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges on August 23. She got the minimum: four days in jail and credit for 24 hours already served. The sentence was then knocked down to one day in jail for doing 10 days of community service at a mortuary and in a hospital emergency room. That one day became 84 minutes because of overcrowding at the jail. Lohan turned herself in to the Los Angeles County women's detention center in Lynwood. She was searched, fingerprinted and put in a holding cell in the inmate reception area. She got to stay in her street clothes. Officials denied she received special treatment.

Her sentence also included mandatory rehab. In August, Lohan checked into the Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Sundance, Utah, her third stint in rehab in 2007. After checking out on October 5, she told OK! Magazine that the experience was "sobering and humbling" and her two main priorities are to stay sober and out of Los Angeles. True to her word, Lohan has kept a relatively low profile since the incident. She made headlines again in 2008, however, for revealing that she was in a long-term same-sex relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson.

In May 2008, Lohan appeared as a gust star on the television sitcom Ugly Betty. Most recently, Lohan has completed work on the film Labor Pains, which is slated to hit the small screen in late 2009. She is also currently at work on a new album, which is set for release on the Motown record label.

Madonna (1958–)

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Original name Madonna Louise Ciccone

Singer, performer, actress. Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958, to parents Silvio "Tony" Ciccone and Madonna Fortin. Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, was the first of his family to go to college, where he earned a degree in engineering. Madonna's mother, an x-ray technician and former dancer, was of French Canadian descent. After their marriage in 1955, the couple moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to be close to Tony's job as a defense engineer. Madonna was born three years later, during a visit with family in Bay City. The third of six children, Madonna learned early on how to handle her role as the middle child, admitting that she was "the sissy of the family" who often used her feminine wiles to get her way.

Her parents' strict observation of the Catholic faith played a large role in Madonna's childhood. "My mother was a religious zealot," Madonna explains. "There were always priests and nuns in my house growing up." Many elements of Catholic iconography-including her mother's statues of the Sacred Heart, the habits of the nuns at her Catholic elementary school, and the Catholic altar at which she and her family prayed daily-later became the subject of Madonna's most controversial works.

Another heavy influence on Madonna's early life was her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer during her pregnancy with Madonna's youngest sister. Treatment had to be delayed until the baby reached full term, but by then the disease had grown too strong. On December 1st, 1963, at the age of 30, her mother passed away. Madonna was five years old.

Her mother's death significantly affected Madonna's adolescence. Haunted by the memories of her mother's frailty and passive demeanor during her final days, Madonna was determined to make her own voice heard. "I think the biggest reason I was able to express myself and not be intimidated was by not having a mother," she says. "For example, mothers teach you manners. And I absolutely did not learn any of those rules and regulations."

She fought especially hard against the rules imposed by her stepmother, Joan Gustafson, who met Madonna's father while working as the family housekeeper. Madonna says Gustafson often made her take care of the younger children in the household, a task she greatly resented. "I really saw myself as the quintessential Cinderella," Madonna later said. "I think that's when I really thought about how I wanted to do something else and get away from all that." She rebelled against her traditional upbringing by turning her conservative clothing into revealing outfits, frequenting underground gay nightclubs, and rejecting her religious background.

But Madonna balanced this insubordinate side of her personality with a drive for perfectionism and high-achievement. She was a straight-A student, cheerleader, and disciplined dancer who graduated from high school a semester earlier than her peers. In 1976, her hard work earned her the attentions of the University of Michigan, which offered her a full scholarship to their dance program.

In 1977, during her undergraduate studies at Michigan, Madonna was awarded a six-week scholarship to study with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, followed by a rare opportunity to perform with choreographer Pearl Lang in 1978. At the urging of her dance instructor, the budding star dropped out of college after only two years of study in order to move to New York and further her dance career.

Once in New York, Madonna paid her rent with a handful of odd jobs, including nude art modeling, serving at the Russian Tea Room, and performing for the American Dance Center. In 1979, Madonna began dating Dan Gilroy, one of the founding members of a ska influenced pop-punk band called Breakfast Club. Gilroy introduced Madonna to the head of a vaudeville review in Paris, and she spent some time in France working as a showgirl. During this trip she fell in love with the combination of singing and performing. When she returned to the states in 1980, she joined Gilroy's band as its drummer and later became its lead singer. Madonna formed several different bands of her own over the next few years, including Madonna & The Sky, The Millionaires and Emmy.

In 1981, Madonna decided to go solo and hired manager Camille Barbone of Gotham Records, to help her get her singing career on track. Camille showed Madonna how to navigate the male-dominated world of the music business, and helped put together a studio band that accentuated the budding star's hip style. Friend Stephen Bray, a musician in her band, wrote her first hit, "Everybody", and Madonna used her brash business style to get the recordings to DJ and New York music producer Mark Kamins. Kamins then helped Madonna score a record deal with Sire Records. "Everybody" hit number one on the dance charts in 1982.

Using the success of the song as leverage, Madonna convinced Sire to produce the full-length album, Madonna, in 1983. The album was a slow but steady success, and included the hit singles "Borderline", "Lucky Star", and "Holiday." Soon, girls all over the country were imitating Madonna's distinct sense of fashion, which included fishnet stockings, lace lingerie, fingerless gloves and large crucifix necklaces. The song "Holiday" also earned the singer an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in 1984. During her interview on the show, she told Clark that her main ambition was "to rule the world."

This intensity and determination was apparent in her 1985 follow-up album, Like a Virgin, which hit number one on the Billboard Chart and went platinum within a month. She also starred in her first mainstream feature film, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), and performed its title track, "Crazy for You", which became an instant number-one hit. She then started her first music tour, The Virgin Tour and watched 17 consecutive songs climb into the Top Ten on the Billboard Chart.

In the next five years, Madonna's life was a whirlwind of activity. On August 16, 1985, she married actor Sean Penn and co-starred with him in the film Shanghai Surprise (1986). She then went on to star in three more movies during the 80's: Who's That Girl? (1987), Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) and Dick Tracy (1990). Madonna's soundtrack album I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by Dick Tracy resulted in two top-ten hits: "Vogue" and "Hanky Panky." She also produced four more hit albums: True Blue (1986), Who's that Girl? (1987), You Can Dance (1987), and Like a Prayer (1989).

But, as always, Madonna mixed her drive for success with her penchant for scandalous behavior. It started with her controversial 1985 performance of her hit single "Like a Virgin" on the MTV music awards, which involved writhing around suggestively onstage in a wedding dress. Then came her marriage to Sean Penn, which was marred by reports of domestic violence and his assault of a photographer--behavior that landed him a month's jail time, and eventually led to the couple's very public divorce. This was followed by the debut of Madonna's1989 "Like a Prayer" video, which was to be aired on MTV as part of a lucrative Pepsi endorsement. The video featured interracial relationship themes, burning crosses, and a blending of sexual innuendo and religious ideologies. As a result of the video, the Pope John Paul II urged fans not to attend her concerts in Italy and Pepsi pulled their endorsement of the star.

Despite the public outcry, Madonna had become more popular than ever. By 1991, she had achieved 21 Top Ten hits in the United States and sold more than 70 million albums internationally, generating $1.2 billion in sales. Committed to controlling her career, Madonna helped found Maverick Records, a label under the Warner Music Group, in April of 1992.

She also continued to gain attention by pushing social boundaries. First came the documentary Truth or Dare (1991), a revealing documentary about her "Blonde Ambition" tour. This was followed by the publishing of Sex (1992), a soft-core pornographic coffee-table book featuring the pop star in a variety of erotic poses. Despite its controversial nature, Sex sold 150,000 copies on the day of its release in the USA alone. Three days later, all 1.5 million copies of the first edition were sold out worldwide, making it the most successful coffee table book ever released. The album, Erotica (1992), was unveiled at the same time and proved equally successful: by the end of 1993 it had reached double platinum status.

By 1996, Madonna had proven her versatility as a star in both film and music. She starred in the critically acclaimed film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita (1996). She won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, and the song, "You Must Love Me," earned her an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song. She also became a mother that same year, giving birth to Lourdes Maria (Lola) Ciccone Leon, whom she had with her lover and personal trainer, Carlos Leon.

She solidified her reinvention as the more mature, family-friendly Madonna when she married British director Guy Ritchie in 2000. She gave birth to their son, Rocco John Ritchie, the same year. She then made the move from the big screen to the London West End stage in the play Up for Grabs (2002), and wrote her first children's book, The English Roses, in 2003. Madonna was inducted into the inaugural UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. With the release of her 2005 album Confessions on a Dancefloor, Madonna became the artist with the most gold certified singles in the US, beating the Beatles' long-standing record.

On the eve of her 50th birthday, Madonna faced fresh challenges in her personal life. She spent much of the last year fighting allegations that she circumvented traditional Malawi laws to bring home her newly adopted son, David Banda, whom she had been raising since 2006. Critics accused Madonna of using her vast wealth to fast-track the adoption process, a charge she has vigorously denied. A coalition of 67 local rights groups had challenged the interim custody order on the grounds that existing laws in Malawi do not allow for international adoptions. Madonna’s application to permanently adopt the boy was approved by Malawai’s high court on May 28, 2008, the pop star’s lawyer said. "It's a beautiful and positive judgment," Alan Chinula told reporters."Finally the court has granted Madonna full adoption rights of the boy ... It's all over, thank God."

She also denied reports she was seeking a divorce from husband Guy Ritchie, and that she was romantically linked to baseball star Alex Rodriquez. In October of 2008, however, Madonna announced that she and Ritchie were officially splitting after eight years of marriage.

Yet her professional life continued to boom: In January she was named the world's wealthiest female musician by Forbes magazine, with estimated earnings of more than $72 million in the last year alone. Madonna earned much of this income from her H&M clothing line, a deal with NBC to air concert footage, and her Confessions tour-the highest-grossing tour for a female artist to date. She also continues to sing, act and manage a number of business interests, splitting her time between the UK and the USA. She was the writer and executive producer of I Am Because We Are, a documentary about the lives of Malawi's AIDS orphans, and the arthouse film, Filth and Wisdom. Her album Hard Candy was released in April, and she is currently performing in her Sticky and Sweet tour.

Christina Aguilera (1980-)

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Born Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York. The daughter of a military father and a musician mother, Aguilera appeared on Star Search at age 9 and was a cast member of the Mickey Mouse Club for two years before recording the hit duet "All I Wanna Do" in Japan with local pop star Keizo Nakanishi.

In 1998, the pop artist began her rapid ascent to stardom when she recorded "Reflection" for the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan. Her self-titled debut album followed shortly thereafter, with the single "Genie In A Bottle" becoming the biggest selling U.S. single of the year.

After winning a Grammy in 1999 for Best New Artist, Aguilera topped the charts again in January 2000 with "What A Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You).” The savvy release of a Spanish collection of hits titled Mi Reflejo and a cover version of LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack kept the star in the limelight.

In 2002, Aguilera unveiled a controversial sexually charged image for her second studio album, Stripped. The album's first single, "Dirrty," drew similar controversy for its decidedly steamy music video.

In 2006, Aguilera appeared somewhat more subdued when she released her third studio album Back to Basics. She considered it to be a modern spin on the jazz, blues, and soul music from 1920s to the 1940s. Though one track, "Still Dirrty," indicated that she was not completely shedding her sexy image.

In late 2007, rumors started to swirl around Aguilera about a possible pregnancy. Paris Hilton leaked the news at a September party in Las Vegas, saying “congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world” to Aguilera, according to a report in People magazine. Despite this public declaration, Aguilera remained mum on the subject of whether or not she was pregnant.

Aguilera finally confirmed the rumors in early November that she and her husband of two years, music executive Jordan Bratman, were expecting their first child. The singer told Glamour's U.K. edition that her plans for New Year's Eve involve a new baby.

"That'll be about the time I enter into mommy hood so I'm hoping to have started a beautiful family with my husband!" Aguilera is quoted in a story posted on the magazine's Web site. Later that month, a very pregnant Aguilera modeled her baby bump on the cover of Marie Claire magazine.

The couple welcomed Max Liron Bratman on January 12, 2008. On the day of his birth, Aguilera posted a message on her website to her fans. Here is a part of that message, expressing their delight over their new addition: “Today is a very joyful and special day for Jordan and I as we welcome our first son into this world.”
The next month Aguilera made her first public appearance since Max’s arrival. To promote her new DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under (2008), she signed autographs at an electronics store in West Hollywood, California.

Photographs of Aguilera and Max were featured in People magazine around the same time. Appearing on the talk show Ellen, Aguilera spoke very candidly to Ellen DeGeneres about nursing and her son’s bris.

During a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Aguilera talked her plans for the future. Fans should expect some changes from the pop diva. "I've been brainstorming for the last nine months of my pregnancy. This next album will have a whole new me," she said.

Justin Timberlake (1981-)

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Pop singer. Born Justin Randall Timberlake on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised a Baptist, Timberlake grew up singing in the church choir. From 1993 to 1995, he performed with The Mickey Mouse Club along with popsters Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and JC Chasez. Afterward, Timberlake and Chasez, along with Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, formed the all-male singing group 'N Sync. The boy band would go on to become one of the hottest pop groups of the 1990s, releasing No Strings Attached in 2000 and Celebrity in 2001.

In 2002, Timberlake decided to pursue a solo career, debuting with the hit song "Like I Love You." Later that year, he released his first solo album, Justified, which sold over seven million copies worldwide. He received two Grammy Awards in 2004 for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The wins came on the heels of a controversial Super Bowl performance with Janet Jackson in which Timberlake accidentally tore off a portion of Jackson’s costume revealing her bare breast.

As a solo artist, Timberlake has often collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas, receiving an Grammy nomination with the band for "Where Is The Love?" He has also worked with Nelly, Snoop Dogg and Nelly Furtado and started his own record company, JayTee Records, in 2005. The following year, he released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. The album's lead single, "SexyBack", spent several consecutive weeks at No. 1. In 2008, Timberlake helped make Madonna’s single, “4 Minutes,” a top ten hit. Not only did he provide some of the vocals, he was also a co-writer of the song. Timberlake also contributed to several other tracks on Madonna’s Hard Candy album.

Also pursuing an acting career, Timberlake has experienced limited success. While parts in Alpha Dog (2006) and Black Snake Moan (2006) garnered little notice, he did hit it big as the voice for a young King Arthur in 2007’s smash animated film Shrek the Third, which featured Mike Myers as the title character. Timberlake continues to seek out new roles. Reteaming with Myers, he appeared in the 2008 comedy The Love Guru. He will also appear in the upcoming drama The Open Road with Jeff Bridges and Mary Steenburgen. In addition to acting, Timberlake has also opened several restaurants, started a clothing line and participated in humanitarian efforts in his native Tennessee.

Timberlake once dated fellow pop singer Britney Spears and actress Cameron Diaz. He is currently romantically linked to actress Jessica Biel.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947 - )

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Professional bodybuilder, actor, California governor. Born on July 30, 1947, near Graz, Austria. Schwarzenegger first became famous as a bodybuilder. He began strength training in his teens and went on to become a world champion bodybuilder, winning numerous awards for his amazing physique. He won the Mr. Universe title five times and the Mr. Olympia title six times. He immigrated to the United States in the late 1960s.

After acting in a few small parts, Schwarzenegger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Stay Hungry (1976). He was also featured in Pumping Iron (1977), a bodybuilding documentary. With his intense physical strength and size, Schwarzenegger was a natural for action films. He became a leading figure in several popular 1980s action movies, including Conan the Barbarian (1982). Schwarzenegger also starred as a deadly machine from the future in The Terminator (1984). The science-fiction drama spawned two sequels—Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).

An audience favorite, Schwarzenegger made several more popular movies, such as True Lies (1994) and Batman & Robin (1997). He even tried his hand at comedy with some successes, including Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990), and Junior (1994). As the decade drew to close, Schwarzenegger's popularity appeared to be waning.

Besides his work in films, Schwarzenegger was a businessman and fitness advocate. He was an investor in the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain. Appointed by President George Bush, Schwarzenegger served as the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Education and Sports in the early 1990s. He has also supported the Special Olympics and Inner City Games for many years.

A vocal member of the Republican Party, Schwarzenegger campaigned to become governor of California in 2003. During his run for office, he was accused of sexual assault, but no charges were filed. Schwarzenegger went on to win the election. As governor, he worked to improve the state's financial situation, to promote new businesses, and to protect the environment. In 2006, Schwarzenegger won easily won his bid for re-election.

Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, in 1986. The couple has four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher.

Whitney Houston (1963–)

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Singer, actress. Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston (c.1930– ), she began singing in the local gospel choir, and became a backing singer for Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls (1933–2006), and others.

The album Whitney Houston (1985) won a Grammy award and included her first US number 1 hit single ‘Saving All My Love For You’. Her second album, Whitney (1987), entered the UK chart and became the first album by a female artist to debut at number 1. Later albums include My Love is Your Love (1999) and One Wish - The Holiday Album (2003). In 1988 she broke a US chart record with seven consecutive number 1 hits, overtaking the previous record of six achieved by The Beatles and The Bee Gees.

Houston also launched a film career, including The Bodyguard (1992) and The Preacher's Wife (1996).

In 1998, Houston’s fourth album, My Love Is Your Love, sold seven million copies worldwide on release. Though she signed the biggest record deal in history with Arista/BMG in 2001, the early 2000s saw a slump in Houston’s career. Her comeback album, Family First, was released in 2007.

Tina Turner (1939–)

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Originally Annie Mae Bullock

Singer. Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939 in Nutbush, Tennessee. Turner is of African American, Navajo, and Cherokee ancestry and was raised in St. Louis by her mother. It was there that she met rock and roll pioneer Ike Turner. The two achieved considerable success as a rhythm-and-blues vocal duo and became known for their electrifying stage and television performances. However, after years of abuse, the marriage and professional partnership was officially dissolved in 1976.

After a slow start, Turner’s solo career took off with a remake of Al Green’s “Let's Stay Together” in 1983. Her much anticipated solo album, Private Dancer, won four Grammy Awards and sold well over 20 million copies worldwide. Subsequent albums include Break Every Rule (1986), Tina Live in Europe (1988, Grammy for Female Rock Vocal Performance) and Foreign Affair, which included the hit single “(Simply) The Best.” In the 1990s, she released Wildest Dreams and Twenty Four Seven.

Turner also launched an acting career, appearing in the films Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdrome starring Mel Gibson and The Last Action Hero with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has also made several recordings for soundtracks, including "We Don't Need Another Hero," "Goldeneye," and "He Lives In You" for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. In 1993, Turner’s best-selling 1986 autobiography I, Tina was made into the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It? starring Angela Bassett. Her soundtrack for the movie went double platinum in the U.S.

In 1986, Turner moved to Europe to live with German-born EMI record company executive Erwin Bach. She now splits her time between England, Switzerland, and France.

Though she is now semi-retired, Turner does make rare appearances and recordings. She returned to the stage in 2008 to embark on her "Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour." It became one of the highest-selling ticketed shows of 2008 and 2009. She is currently on her European leg of the tour.

Mel Gibson (1956-)

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Actor, director, producer. Born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York. Gibson was the sixth of 11 children born to Hutton and Ann Gibson, who were Roman Catholics of Irish descent. Shortly after the onset of the Vietnam War, Hutton Gibson relocated his family to Australia for fear that his sons would be drafted into battle. Mel spent the remainder of his childhood in Sydney, where he attended an all-boys Catholic high school.

After Gibson's high school graduation, he considered becoming a chef or journalist. However, when his sister submitted an application on his behalf to The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he decided to audition. Without any prior acting experience, he was accepted and enrolled in the drama school. While there, he made his stage debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet, and his screen debut in the low-budget film Summer City (1977). Upon his graduation that year, Gibson joined the Southern Australian Theater Company, where he appeared in the title roles of classical productions, such as Oedipus and Henry IV.

After conquering the stage, Gibson tried his hand at television, landing his first role on the Australian series The Sullivans. In 1979, Gibson graduated to mainstream cinema with his role as a futuristic warrior in Mad Max, and as a mentally retarded man in love with Piper Laurie in Tim, for which he earned his first Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Actor. Furthermore, Mad Max became the biggest commercial success of any Australian film, grossing over $100 million worldwide.

Gibson received his second AFI Award for Best Actor for his performance as a patriotic idealist in Peter Weir’s World War I drama Gallipoli (1981). Later that year, he reprised his role as the leather-clad hero in Mad Max 2 (1981). The film was released in the U.S. as The Road Warrior in 1982, and its success established Gibson as an international star. His second collaboration with Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), featured the actor in his first romantic lead alongside Sigourney Weaver.

Gibson’s American film debut in The River (1984) was considered a success. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Sissy Spacek. In 1985, he returned to Australia to complete the Mad Max trilogy in the less impressive Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, which co-starred singer Tina Turner. Later that year, Gibson's popularity was confirmed when he was featured on the cover of People magazine as the first ever "Sexiest Man Alive."

After a brief hiatus, Gibson returned to the screen with the blockbuster hit Lethal Weapon (1987), playing volatile cop, Martin Riggs, opposite Danny Glover's by-the-book character, Roger Murtaugh. The success of Lethal Weapon inspired three sequels - Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), all of which featured Glover and Gibson in their respective roles as good cop and bad cop.

In Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990), Gibson gave a notable performance as the tormented prince. In addition, Hamlet was the first film produced by Gibson's newly formed production company, Icon productions. Other productions by Icon included the Beethoven biopic Immortal Beloved (1994), and the 1997 remake of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenia.

In the early '90s, Gibson appeared in a few poorly received films, including Air America (1990) and the sappy Forever Young (1992). He made his feature directorial debut with the 1993 tearjerker The Man Without a Face, in which he also played a severely disfigured burn victim.

In 1995, Gibson released his most passionate project to date, directing and starring as the 13th century Scottish nobleman, Sir William Wallace, in the medieval epic Braveheart. The film triumphed at the Oscars, winning top honors in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. Gibson diversified his range of characters later the same year, when he provided the voice of John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas (1995).

In the late '90s, Gibson starred in a handful of crime thrillers, including 1996's Ransom (with Renee Russo and Gary Sinise), 1997's Conspiracy Theory (with Julia Roberts), and the independent film Payback (1999). In 2000, he headlined the highly anticipated war saga The Patriot, in which he played a reluctant hero during the American Revolution. Also that year, he starred in the romantic comedy What Women Want, costarring Helen Hunt, Lauren Holly, and Bette Midler. In 2002, Gibson headlined another box-office hit, M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, where he plays a rural Pennsylvania farmer whose life takes a drastic turn when 500-foot crop circles appear in his cornfields.

Mel Gibson's next project put him back in the director's chair in an ambitious film about the final 12 hours of Jesus' life entitled The Passion of the Christ. Released in 2004, the unlikely blockbuster made headlines for its controversial adaptation of a biblical story. A devout Catholic, Gibson said that the Holy Spirit was making the film through him, "I was just directing traffic." His next historical epic, Apocalypto, focused on the decline of the Mayan civilization and was released in December 2006.

In recent years, Mel Gibson has been accused of being anti-Semitic and racist. He has also openly acknowledged his battle with alcohol addiction. In 2006, he pled no contest to a drunk-driving charge and admitted to making anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest. He was sentenced to three years of probation, including mandatory AA meetings.

Gibson has kept a relatively low profile since this incident. He served as a producer on the 2008 PBS documentary Another Day in Paradise and as an executive producer for the related PBS miniseries Carrier.

After years of directing and producing, Gibson has stepped back in front of the cameras for the 2009 thriller Edge of Darkness. He stars as a police detective who investigates his daughter’s death.

In 1980, Gibson married Robyn Moore; they have seven children. His eldest daughter, Hannah, married musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd in 2006.

Jackie Chan (1954 - )

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Actor, director, producer. Born April 7, 1954, in Hong Kong, China. When his parents moved to Australia to find new jobs, the seven-year-old Chan was left behind to study at the Chinese Opera Research Institute, a Hong Kong boarding school. For the next 10 years, Chan studied martial arts, drama, acrobatics, and singing, and was subjected to stringent discipline, including corporal punishment for poor performance. He appeared in his first film, the Cantonese feature Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), when he was only eight, and went on to appear in a number of musical films.

Upon his graduation in 1971, Chan found work as an acrobat and a movie stuntman, most notably in Fist of Fury (1972), starring Hong Kong’s resident big-screen superstar, Bruce Lee. For that film, he reportedly completed the highest fall in the history of the Chinese film industry, earning the respectful notice of the formidable Lee, among others.

After Lee’s tragic, unexpected death in 1973, Chan was singled out as a likely successor of his mantle as the king of Hong Kong cinema. To that end, he starred in a string of kung fu movies with Lo Wei, a producer and director who had worked with Lee. Most were unsuccessful, and the collaboration ended in the late 1970s. By that time, Chan had decided that he wanted to break out of the Lee mold and create his own image. Blending his martial arts abilities with an impressive nerve—he insisted on performing all of his own stunts—and a sense of screwball physical comedy reminiscent of one of his idols, Buster Keaton, Chan found his own formula for cinematic gold.

A year after the release of his first bona fide hit, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978), Chan took the Hong Kong film world by storm with his first so-called “kung fu comedy,” the now-classic Drunken Master (1978). Subsequent hits such as The Fearless Hyena (1979), Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1980), and The Young Master (1980) confirmed Chan’s star status; the latter film marked his first with Golden Harvest, Lee’s old production company and the leading film studio in Hong Kong. Before long, Chan had become the highest-paid actor in Hong Kong and a huge international star throughout Asia. He exerted total control over most of his films, often taking charge of duties ranging from producing to directing to performing the theme songs.

In the early 1980s, Chan tried his luck in Hollywood, with little success. He starred in the Golden Harvest-produced The Big Brawl (1980), which flopped; he also had a small supporting role opposite Burt Reynolds in the disappointing ensemble comedy Cannonball Run (1982) and its equally mediocre 1984 sequel.

Back in Hong Kong, Chan’s star only rose throughout the 1980s, as he produced impressive action-comedies such as Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), and Armor of God (1986), and the hit period film Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989), a clever remake of Frank Capra’s 1961 film A Pocketful of Miracles. By that time, however, Chan was far more than a movie star—he was a one-man film industry. In 1986, he formed his own production company, Golden Way. He also founded a modeling/casting agency, Jackie’s Angels, in order to recruit talent for his films. During the filming of Police Story, so many stuntmen were injured that none would agree to work with Chan again; in response, he founded the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association, whose members he trained personally and paid their medical bills. For his part, Chan claims to have broken every bone in his body at least once while performing stunts. In 1986, during the filming of Armor of God, he fractured his skull after falling over 40 feet while attempting to jump from the top of a building and land on a tree branch below.

In the early 1990s, Chan broadened his range even more, turning in a rare dramatic performance in the melodramatic Crime Story (1993). He also made several sequels to his hits Police Story and Drunken Master. As one of the biggest international box office stars, his popularity in America was limited to the savviest filmgoers. Chan’s profile began a meteoric rise in the mid-1990s, however, when a series of events combined to bring him to the attention of a wider American audience.

In 1995, Chan created his own comic book character, the central figure in Jackie Chan’s Spartan X, a series that hit newsstands in both Asia and the U.S. That same year, newly anointed directing sensation Quentin Tarantino, fresh off the success of Pulp Fiction (1994), presented Chan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards (the admiring Tarantino reportedly threatened to boycott the ceremony if Chan did not receive the award). In 1996, New Line Cinema and Golden Harvest jointly released Rumble in the Bronx, Chan’s fifth English-language (dubbed) release but his first hit in America. The film grossed $10 million in its first weekend of release, shooting to No. 1 at the box office; its success prompted the American debut of two previous Chan films, Crime Story and Drunken Master II.

After two less successful efforts, Jackie Chan’s First Strike (1997) and Mr. Nice Guy (1998), Chan had another big box-office hit with Rush Hour (also 1998), an American-produced action-comedy. In Rush Hour, Chan employed his English-language skills as a Chinese police officer on an exchange program in the U.S. who is partnered with a streetwise Los Angeles cop, played by the rising comedian Chris Tucker. In 2000, Chan starred in Shanghai Noon, another crossover comedy-action film set in the Old West and co-starring Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu.

The following summer, Chan reteamed with Tucker for the smash hit sequel Rush Hour 2, for which the action star earned a hefty $15 million plus a percentage of the record-breaking box-office haul. In 2002, Chan costarred with Jennifer Love Hewitt in The Tuxedo, an action comedy about a taxi driver who receives special powers when he puts on his boss's tux. That same year, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored with the Taurus Award for best action movie star at the World Stunt Awards. Other recent films include Shanghai Knights, New Police Story and The Myth.

Chan is a noted philanthropist whose causes include conservation, animal treatment and disaster relief. In 2006, Chan announced that he would donate half of his assets to charity when he dies.

Chan has one son, J.C., with his estranged wife, the Taiwanese actress Lin Feng-Chiao.

Anna Nicole Smith (1967–2007)

2009-05-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Originally Vickie Lynn Hogan

Born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, in Mexia, Texas, Anna Nicole Smith rose to fame as a model for Guess jeans and for Playboy magazine. She was even named Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993. The curvy blonde has also appeared in a few films, such as Naked Gun 33 1/3 and The Hudsucker Proxy, both in 1994.

A high school dropout, Smith’s dramatic life began quietly in a small Texas town. She had a difficult childhood, growing up without her father who left the family. Smith married Billy Smith when she was only 17 years old. The couple had a son named Daniel in 1984, but the marriage later broke up. Not content with small-town life, Smith dreamed of becoming the next Marilyn Monroe.

Before her big break, Anna Nicole Smith worked numerous jobs, including as a waitress and later a dancer in a strip club. While working at a club in Houston, Smith met Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. They married in 1994. At the time, she was 26 and he was 89. The marriage ended with Marshall's death the following year. Smith spent years fighting his son, E. Pierce Marshall, in court over her husband's estate. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006. The court's decision opened the door to Anna Nicole Smith collecting some money from her late husband's estate.

Despite her legal woes, Smith stayed in the spotlight. With her Marilyn Monroe-styled hair and Texas accent, she was a fixture in celebrity magazines and tabloids. In 2002, television viewers got inside look at the life of this wacky, quirky celebrity with a new series. The Anna Nicole Show, a reality program, followed her through her daily activities. At times, the show was difficult to watch as Smith seemed disoriented or confused, but the audience continued to tune in to see what Smith might do or say next. She was often shown in the company of Howard K. Stern, her attorney. While the show went off the air in 2004, Anna Nicole Smith remained popular with the American public.

Having struggled with her weight on and off for years, Anna Nicole Smith became a spokesperson for a line of diet products. She lost a significant amount of weight and returned to acting with a starring role in 2006’s science fiction-comedy Illegal Aliens. Her son Daniel also worked on the project with her.

While her professional life appeared to be on the rise, Anna Nicole Smith experienced both joy and tragedy in her personal life. She announced that she was pregnant during the summer of 2006 and gave birth to a daughter on September 7 at a hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. She named her child Dannielynn, and was thrilled to be a mother again. But her happiness was short-lived. Her 20-year-old son Daniel died only three days later from an apparent drug overdose. Later reports indicated that the interaction of methadone and two different types of antidepressants may have caused his death. Anna Nicole Smith never truly recovered from the loss.

Smith found herself in the middle of media frenzy with reports on her son’s death appearing on entertainment news programs on an almost daily basis. She also became embroiled in a paternity lawsuit regarding her daughter. Her ex-boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead, claimed to be Dannielynn’s father. Smith stated that her attorney, Howard K. Stern, was the child’s father, and he is listed on the child’s birth certificate. In the midst of all this heartbreak and legal battles, Smith and Stern held a small commitment ceremony, after which they ate fried chicken and drank champagne. While the event symbolized their devotion to each other, it was not legally binding.

Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007, at the age of 39, after being found unconscious in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Authorities announced several weeks afterward that the cause of death was an accidental drug overdose. Smith had been taking nine different kinds of medication in the days before her death.

After her death in February 2007, there was much speculation regarding the paternity of her daughter, including one claim made by Prince Frederick von Anhalt, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband. He told the Associated Press that he had an affair with Anna Nicole Smith and believed that he was Dannielynn's father. In April 2007, it was determined by DNA test results that Larry Birkhead was the biological father of Dannielynn. Howard K. Stern did not contest this ruling and legal custody was granted to Birkhead.

In death as in life, Anna Nicole Smith made headlines around the world. As a tribute, Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner told the press at the time: “She was a very dear friend who meant a great deal to Playboy and to me personally.”

While ridiculed by some for her spacey persona, Smith was also admired for her rise to success despite so many personal obstacles. Perhaps the quintessential underdog, Smith had lots of fans rooting for her to overcome the recent tragedies. Unfortunately, that was not to be. After her death, she has been compared to many of Hollywood’s beautiful women who died too young, including Jean Harlow and Anna Nicole Smith’s personal favorite, Marilyn Monroe.

Cameron Diaz (1972-)

2009-05-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Actress. Born August 30, 1972, in San Diego, California. The daughter of Emilio Diaz, a second-generation Cuban-American oil company foreman, and his wife Billie, who is of Native American, Italian, and German descent, Diaz began modeling when she was 16 years old. Her successful modeling career took her to Japan, Australia, Morocco, and Paris, among other locales, landed her in such magazines as Mademoiselle and Seventeen, and in advertising campaigns for such companies as Calvin Klein, Coca-Cola, and Levi's.

In 1994, Diaz won her first film role in the blockbuster action-comedy The Mask, starring rubber-faced comic Jim Carrey. With no previous acting experience, she had originally auditioned for a supporting character in the film. Twelve callbacks later, however, she was hired to play torch-singing mob moll Tina Carlyle, the female lead. After the success of The Mask, Diaz was touted as the next big thing in Hollywood and wooed by a number of prominent filmmakers to appear in their projects.

While training to star in the live-action film version of the popular martial-arts video game Mortal Kombat, Diaz sustained a wrist injury, which caused her to back out of the film. Instead she made a string of smaller, independent films, including The Last Supper (1995); Feeling Minnesota (1996), costarring Keanu Reeves; She's the One (1996), costarring Ed Burns and Jennifer Aniston; and Head Above Water (1996), costarring Harvey Keitel. She made a successful return to mainstream movies in 1997, winning raves for her portrayal of a sweet bride-to-be opposite Julia Roberts in the playful comedy hit My Best Friend's Wedding.

After starring opposite Ewan McGregor in the uneven romantic comedy A Life Less Ordinary (1997), Diaz made the leap to A-list Hollywood stardom with her savvy comic turn in the unapologetically crude surprise summer blockbuster There's Something About Mary, costarring Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon, and written and directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. In 1999, audiences saw two very different sides of Diaz—first, she camouflaged her blond beauty to play a dowdy pet-shop worker and puppeteer's wife in the much talked-about existential comedy Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze and costarring John Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Malkovich. Later that year, she turned in a brazen performance as the glamorous, hard-nosed new owner of a professional football team in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, costarring Al Pacino and Dennis Quaid.

Despite her undeniable box office appeal, Diaz continued to appear in relatively low-budget independent film - including the black comedy Very Bad Things (1998), Malkovich, and the ensemble film Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000), which aired on Showtime cable television in 2001 and costarred Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, and Calista Flockhart—as well as more mainstream projects. In the fall of 2000, she starred alongside Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu as one of the three female detectives at the heart of the hit big-screen remake of Aaron Spelling's campy 1970s television show, Charlie's Angels.

Andy Garcia (1956-)

2009-05-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

Actor. Born Andrés Arturo García Menéndez, on April 12, 1956 in Havana, Cuba, where his father was a lawyer and landowner. Garcia has established himself as one of Hollywood's leading actors. He has starred in a number of popular films in the late 1980s and 1990s, including The Untouchables (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), The Godfather, Part 3 (1990), Internal Affairs (1990), and Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). Garcia has lived in the U.S. since he was a child, but his choice of film projects in the mid-1990s is indicative of his strong interest in his Latin American roots. In 1997, he starred as the early twentieth-century Spanish poet Federico García Lorca in The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca and as the legendary Cuban musician Arturo Sandoval in HBO's For Love or Country (2000).

Two years after Garcia was born, Cuba became embroiled in revolution, and in January 1959 Fidel Castro assumed power in that country. Garcia's father lost his property as a result of Castro's confiscation of land from private owners. In 1961 the U.S. government backed an invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro forces. That invasion effort failed and caused many Cuban residents to flee to Spain or the U.S. for safety. In the midst of this political turmoil, when Garcia was five years old, he and his family moved to Miami, Florida. Once in Miami, Garcia attended the local high school, where he played basketball for a time. After contracting mononucleosis, which he believed dulled his athletic edge, he discovered acting. He went on to study acting at Florida International University and performed in regional theater productions until 1978.

Like many other struggling actors who dream of stardom, Garcia was attracted to Hollywood, the hub of the movie industry. In 1978 he moved to what he referred to Hollywood. He worked as a waiter to earn a living while he auditioned for parts. In 1980 he secured a role with an improvisational group at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. It was there that a casting agent for the television series Hill Street Blues spotted him. That discovery enabled him to land a role as a gang member in the pilot episode of the show in 1981. That same year, Garcia married Maria Victoria, a Cuban American, with whom he has had three children.

In 1983 Garcia made his film debut in Blue Skies Again, a movie about baseball. That was followed in 1984 with The Mean Season, while in 1985 Garcia appeared in Eight Million Ways To Die. His big break came in 1987 when he landed a significant role in the blockbuster film The Untouchables, which starred Kevin Costner. Garcia, who played a cop-turned-government agent in the film, received his first critical acclaim for acting. The next year, he appeared in Blood Money: The Story of Clinton and Nadine, an original HBO film. He also appeared in American Roulette, a spy thriller, and Stand and Deliver.

Critics have long charged that Hollywood films often place Hispanic Americans into stereotypical roles. Breaking through this stereotype, Stand and Deliver was one of the first Hispanic-controlled films to achieve success in the American mainstream. The film, which starred Edward James Olmos, told the true story of Jaime Escalante, a Bolivian mathematics teacher living in Los Angeles who helped Chicano high school students learn calculus. Hispanics not only appeared in the film, but also controlled the script writing, directing and financing for the film, a unique state of affairs for Hollywood. Garcia's role in the film, while a relatively small one, was his first in a film that explored the cultural identity and struggles of people of his heritage.

In 1989 Garcia made two more films, The Sixth Family and Black Rain, in which he co-starred with Michael Douglas. In 1990 Garcia's portrayal of Vincent Mancini in The Godfather, Part 3 garnered him widespread critical appreciation and recognition. He received both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, Garcia co-wrote the script for and appeared in Internal Affairs, opposite Richard Gere. The National Association of Theater Owners, in recognition of his roles in those two 1990 films, awarded him their Star of the Year prize. He also was awarded the Harvard University Foundation Award for his outstanding contributions to American performing arts and intercultural relations.

Throughout the 1990s, Garcia has solidified his reputation as one of America's leading actors. In 1992 he co-starred with Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis in Hero. He also appeared in Jennifer 8 as a policeman who protects a blind witness. In 1994 Garcia starred with Meg Ryan in the drama When a Man Loves a Woman and made his directorial debut with the film Cachao ... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos (Cachao ... Like His Rhythm There Is No Other). The movie, a documentary about Israel "Cachao" Lopez (a Cuban mambo composer and bass player), received high praise from critics worldwide. Garcia also produced an album based on that film that was nominated for a Grammy award.

In 2001, Garcia teamed with an all-star cast, which included George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, for director Steven Soderbergh's remake of the caper film Ocean's Eleven. Three years later, most of the cast, including Garcia, returned for the sequel Ocean's Twelve. In 2005 he explored his Cuban heritage with The Lost City, a film about people caught in the Cuban revolution as Fidel Castro came to power.

Julia Roberts (1967–)

2009-05-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Full: Julia Fiona Roberts

Actress. Born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. Julia Roberts is one of the most popular film actresses in the United States. She caught the public’s eye as the wild, but vulnerable Daisy in Mystic Pizza (1988). The next year, she cemented her status as a rising star in Steel Magnolias (1989), appearing alongside such acting legends as Shirley MacLaine and Sally Field. Roberts earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work on the film.

After that, Roberts’ career really took off. One of her best known roles was a hooker who falls in love with a client played by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman (1990). Roberts then tackled a variety of dramatic and romantic roles in such films as The Pelican Brief (1993), Michael Collins (1996), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Stepmom (1998), and Notting Hill (1999) with varying degrees of success. In 2000, she made a dramatic breakthrough with her powerful performance in Erin Brockovich (2000). In the film, she played the title character, a gutsy, struggling single mom. Based on a true story, Brockovich helped lead the fight against a California power company that allegedly destroyed a small town’s water supply. Roberts won several awards for the project, including her first Academy Award.

Since then, Roberts has taken some light-hearted roles, appearing with George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Ocean’s Twelve (2004), as well as some emotionally challenging parts, such as Closer (2004) with Clive Owen and Jude Law. Roberts also made her Broadway debut in Three Days of Rain in 2006. Her most recent film, Charlie Wilson’s War, with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was released in late December 2007. Roberts received a Globe Globe nomination in the Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture category for her portrayal of an anticommunist Texas socialite. Her character encourages Congressman Charlie Wilson to support freedom fighters in Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet troops in their country. The film is based on a true story.

Roberts has been married to cameraman Danny Moder since 2002. In 2004, the couple welcomed twins—Phinnaeus Walter and Hazel Patricia and in 2007, their third child, Henry Daniel, was born. She was previously married to country singer Lyle Lovett from 1993 to 1995 and was once engaged to actor Kiefer Sutherland. Roberts has also been romantically linked to actors Benjamin Bratt, Matthew Perry, Jason Patric, and Liam Neeson.

Will Smith (1968–)

2009-05-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

Actor, musician. Born Willard Christopher Smith Jr., to mother Caroline, a school board employee, and father Willard C. Smith, the owner of a refrigeration company. His middle class upbringing saw him attend the strict—and Catholic—Overbrook High School, despite his family's observation of the Baptist faith.

His West Philadelphia neighborhood was a melting pot of cultures where Orthodox Jews co-existed with a large Muslim population. Smith was a good student whose charming personality and quick tongue were renowned for getting him out of trouble, a trait for which he soon gained the nickname "Prince.''

Smith began rapping at age 12, emulating heroes like Grandmaster Flash but tingeing his rhymes with a comedic element that would later become his trademark. At 16, Smith met a DJ at a party by the name of Jeff Townes. The pair became friends, and the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince was born.

The pair began producing music, but steered clear of the Gangsta Rap sound that was emerging on the West Coast in groups like Public Enemy and NWA. The Fresh Prince rapped about teenage preoccupations in a clean, curse-free style that middle America found safe and entertaining. The pair's first single, "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," was a hit in 1986. Their debut album Rock the House (1990) hit the Billboard Top 200, and made Smith a millionaire before the age of 18. His early success put any thoughts of attending college out of Smith's mind.

Early on it was reported that Smith had turned down a scholarship to Boston's elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but Smith later dispelled the rumor when he told an interviewer: "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."

In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince continued their success with the album He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper featuring the radio-friendly singles "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Brand New Funk," and "Nightmare on My Street." The album won the first ever Grammy Award for a Rap Performance. That album was followed by And In This Corner... which continued the pair's rise to stardom.

Two years later, Smith began his remarkable crossover into acting. Drawing on his experiences with fledgling stardom, NBC signed Smith to star in a sitcom about a street-smart kid from Philadelphia. On the show, the character is shipped off to California to live with wealthy relatives in Bel-Air, California. Playing on his rapper persona, and at times featuring his friend Towne, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air was a huge success that ran for six seasons.

Meanwhile, Smith and Towne kept producing music. The 1991 album Homebase produced the hits "Summertime" and "Ring My Bell." Their final album together, 1993's Code Red, was notable for "Boom! Shake the Room."

While still making The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith began a second crossover into movies. Small roles in the drama Where The Day Takes You (1992) and the comedy Made In America (1993) were followed by a critically acclaimed lead in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Smith played a charming street-wise kid moving among the wealthy elite, who was also a psychologically complex gay hustler. The film enjoyed moderate success, but its title idea has become a household term for the closeness of human society.

Smith's first steps into super-stardom came with his next film, Bad Boys (1995). The high-budget cop movie saw him team up with comic Martin Lawrence, breaking away from the black-cop-white-cop formula that had been so successful for Beverly Hills Cop and the Lethal Weapon series. The two black leads proved an instant success and Smith—playing the smooth, serious, cop to Lawrence's clown—was established as leading man material.

The 1996, epic sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day was his next assignment. The role confirmed Smith as a major player in Hollywood and the go-to guy for summer blockbusters. Smith played an air force pilot leading the counter-attack against the invading alien forces, and his comedic talents effortlessly transformed into the pithy one-liners all action heroes need to be able to drop while dispatching their enemies.

Smith fought aliens again in his next blockbuster, the comic sci-fi action film, Men In Black (1997). Playing opposite Tommy Lee Jones, Smith chewed up the screen as the new recruit to Jones's old hand. Smith sang the theme song, and its inclusion on his solo album, Big Willie Style (1997) brought the multi-talented actor another success. Another Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster followed with the slick conspiracy thriller Enemy of the State (1998), which earned Smith an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

The string of hits came to an end in 1999 with Wild Wild West, a sci-fi cowboy Western co-starring Kevin Kline. Despite the film's lackluster box-office performance, the track Smith cut for the film became a hit on his album, Willennium (1999). The golf movie The Legend of Bagger Vance was his next big film, with Smith playing the caddie to Matt Damon's out-of-sorts swinger.

In 2001 the biopic Ali, based on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, saw Smith return to critical acclaim. His turn as the charismatic boxing great saw Smith put in the performance of his life, training and disciplining himself to extraordinary lengths to do justice to the athleticism, and ego, of the films main character. The film under-performed at the box-office despite a record-breaking opening day. Smith's performance, however, was good enough to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

A number of sequels were next, with Smith reprising his roles in Men In Black and Bad Boys. Neither were flops, but they were both nowhere near as successful as their predecessors. Staying with the sci-fi action theme, Smith moved on to I, Robot in 2004. The Isaac Asimov adaptation saw Smith playing a cop in 2035 investigating a murder by a robot and then battling a robot insurgency. The film performed well, grossing more than $144 million in U.S. box offices.

Smith's smooth-talking charmer persona was put to use in the 2005 romantic comedy, Hitch. Smith played a ladies' man and dating consultant who helps luckless guys with their romantic moves. Smith penned the theme song, and included it on his album Lost and Found (2005). Hitch was a massive success, and was followed by another critical and financial hit, the 2006 rags-to-riches tale, The Pursuit of Happyness. Starring alongside his real-life son Jaden, Smith captivated audiences with the story of a single father who has to build a life from scratch. He received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance.

In 2007, Smith starred in I Am Legend, a remake of the Charlton Heston film Omega Man, where he battled blood-thirsty vampires. The film became a national and international hit.

The talented actor and musician has recently entered yet another arena, working as a film producer. Smith worked both sides of the camera for the film Hancock, in which he plays an alcoholic anti-superhero, and for Seven Pounds, about a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. He also helped produce the 2008 films Lakeview Terrace and The Secret Life of Bees. His most recent project, The Mark, is slated for release in 2009.

Smith has been married twice. His first marriage in 1992 lasted only three years but produced a son, Willard Smith III, who is also known as Trey. He has been married to actress Jada Pinkett Smith since 1997. The couple has a son, Jaden, who was born in 1998 and a daughter, Willow, born in 2000.

The Smith family has homes in Florida, Sweden and Philadelphia. Like many in Hollywood, Smith is politically liberal and has made donations to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. He is a fan of chess and video games and is known to take his mother on vacation every year, usually to the Canyon Ranch spa in Tucson, Arizona.

John Wayne (1907 - 1979)

2009-05-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

Originally Marion Morrison, nicknamed "Duke"

Actor. Born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. (Some sources also list him as Marion Michael Morrison and Marion Mitchell Morrison.) One of the most popular film actors of the twentieth century, John Wayne remains a popular American icon to this day. He was already a sizable presence when he was born, weighing around 13 pounds.

The oldest of two children born to Clyde and Mary “Molly” Morrison, Wayne moved to Lancester, California, around the age of seven. The family moved again a few years later after Clyde failed in his attempt to become a farmer.

Settling in Glendale, California, Wayne received his distinctive nickname “Duke” while living there. He had a dog by that name, and he spent so much time with his pet that the pair became known as “Little Duke” and “Big Duke,” according to the official John Wayne website. In high school, Wayne excelled in his classes and in many different activities, including student government and football. He also participated in numerous student theatrical productions.

Winning a football scholarship to University of Southern California (USC), Wayne started college in the fall of 1925. He joined the Sigma Chi fraternity and continued to be a strong student. Unfortunately, after two years, an injury took him off the football field and ended his scholarship. While in college, Wayne had done some work as a film extra, appearing as a football player in Brown of Harvard (1926) and Drop Kick (1927).

Out of school, Wayne worked as an extra and a prop man in the film industry. He first met director John Ford while working as an extra on Mother Machree (1928). With The Big Trail (1930), Wayne received his first leading role, thanks to director Raoul Walsh. Walsh is often credited with helping him create his now legendary screen name, John Wayne. Unfortunately, the western was a box office dud.

For nearly a decade, Wayne toiled in numerous B movies—mostly westerns—for different studios. He even played a singing cowboy named Sandy Saunders among his many roles. During this time period, however, Wayne started developing his man of action persona, which would serve as the basis of many popular characters later on.

Working with Ford, he got his next big break in Stagecoach (1939). Wayne portrayed the Ringo Kid, an escaped outlaw, who joins an unusual assortment of characters on a dangerous journey through frontier lands. During the trip, the Kid falls for a dance hall prostitute named Dallas (Claire Trevor). The film was well received by movie goers and critics alike and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Ford’s direction. In the end, it took home the awards for Music and for Actor in a Supporting Role for Thomas Mitchell.

Reunited with Ford and Mitchell, Wayne stepped away from his usual Western roles to become a Swedish seaman in The Long Voyage Home (1940). The film was adapted from a play by Eugene O’Neill and follows the crew of a steamer ship as they move a shipment of explosives. Along with many positive reviews, the movie earned several Academy Award nominations.

Around this time, Wayne made the first of several movies with German actress and famous sex symbol Marlene Dietrich. The two appeared together in Seven Sinners (1940) with Wayne playing a naval officer and Dietrich as a woman who sets out to seduce him. Off-screen, they became romantically involved, though Wayne was married at the time. There had been rumors about Wayne having other affairs, but nothing as substantial as his connection to Dietrich. Even after their physical relationship ended, the pair remained good friends and co-starred in two more films, Pittsburgh (1942) and The Spoilers (1942).

Wayne started working behind the scenes as a producer in the late 1940s. The first film he produced was Angel and the Badman (1947). Over the years, he operated several different production companies, including John Wayne Productions, Wayne – Fellows Productions, and Batjac Productions.

Wayne’s career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). The western drama provided Wayne with an opportunity to show his talents as an actor, not just an action hero. Playing the conflicted cattleman Tom Dunson, he took on a darker sort of character. He deftly handled his character’s slow collapse and difficult relationship with his adopted son played by Montgomery Clift. Also around this time, Wayne also received praise for his work in John Ford’s Fort Apache (1948) with Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple.

Taking on a war drama, Wayne gave a strong performance in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also appeared in more two westerns by Ford now considered classics: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) with Maureen O’Hara.

Wayne worked with O’Hara on several films, perhaps most notably The Quiet Man (1952). Playing an American boxer with a bad reputation, his character moved to Ireland where he fell in love with a local woman (Maureen O’Hara). This film is considered Wayne’s most convincing leading romantic role by many critics.

A well-known conservative and anticommunist, Wayne merged his personal beliefs and his professional life in 1952’s Big Jim McLain. He played an investigator working for the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, which worked to root out communists in all aspects of public life. Off screen, Wayne played a leading role in the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and even served as its president for a time. The organization was a group of conservatives who wanted to stop communists from working in the film industry, and other members included Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan.

In 1956, Wayne starred in another Ford western, The Searchers, and again showed some dramatic range as the morally questionable Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards. He soon after reteamed with Howard Hawks for Rio Bravo (1959). Playing a local sheriff, Wayne’s character must face off against a powerful rancher and his henchmen who want to free his jailed brother. The unusual cast included Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson.

Wayne made his directorial debut with The Alamo (1960). Starring in the film as Davy Crockett, he received decidedly mixed reviews for both his on- and off-screen efforts. Wayne received a much warmer reception for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) with Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin and directed by John Ford. Some other notable films from this period include The Longest Day (1962) and How the West Was Won (1962). Continuing to work steadily, Wayne refused to even let illness slow him down. He successfully battled lung cancer in 1964. To defeat the disease, Wayne had to have a lung and several ribs removed.

In the later part of the 1960s, Wayne had some great successes and failures. He co-starred with Robert Mitchum in El Dorado (1967), which was well received. The next year, Wayne again mixed the professional and the political with the pro-Vietnam War film The Green Berets (1968). He directed and produced as well as starred in the film, which was derided by critics for being heavy handed and clichéd. Viewed by many as a piece of propaganda, the film still did well at the box office.

Around this time, Wayne continued to espouse his conservative political views. He support friend Ronald Reagan in his 1966 bid for governor of California as well as his 1970 re-election effort. In 1976, Wayne recorded radio advertisements for Reagan’s first attempt to become the Republican presidential candidate.

Wayne won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for True Grit (1969). He played Rooster Cogburn, an eye-patching drunkard and lawman, who helps a young woman named Mattie (Kim Darby) track down her father’s killer. A young Glen Campbell joined the pair on their mission. Rounding out the cast, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper were among the bad guys the trio had to defeat. A later sequel with Katherine Hepburn, Rooster Cogburn (1975), failed to attract critical acclaim or much of an audience.

Wayne portrayed an aging gunfighter dying of cancer in his final film, The Shootist (1976), with Jimmy Stewart and Lauren Bacall. His character, John Bernard Books, hoped to spend his final days peacefully, but got involved one last gunfight. In 1978, life imitated art with Wayne being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Wayne died on June 11, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He was survived by his seven children from two of his three marriages. During his marriage to Josephine Saenz from 1933 to 1945, the couple had four children, two daughters Antonia and Melinda and two sons Michael and Patrick. Both Michael and Patrick followed in their father’s footsteps—Michael as a producer and Patrick as an actor. With his third wife, Pilar Palette, he had three more children, Ethan, Aissa, and Marisa. Ethan has worked as an actor over the years.

Shortly before his death, the U.S. Congress approved a congressional gold medal for Wayne. It was given to his family in 1980. In the same month as the Duke’s passing, the Orange County Airport was renamed after him. He was later featured on a postage stamp in 1990 and again in 2004 and was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2007.

In honor of his charitable work in the fight against cancer, Wayne’s children established the John Wayne Cancer Foundation in 1985. The organization provides support to numerous cancer-related programs and to the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

Angelina Jolie ( 1975 - )

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Actress, humanitarian. Born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, to actor Jon Voight and French actress Marcheline Bertrand. She rose to stardom in the 1990s. She began acting at a young age, studying at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute while in her early teens. Jolie later attended New York University.

In the 1990s, Angelina Jolie became a popular actress. She gave a star-making performance in the 1998 television film Gia based on the short, tragic life of model Gia Marie Carangi, which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

Another great dramatic role in Girl, Interrrupted (1999) brought Jolie her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has continued to take on a variety of interesting roles, such as an adventurer in the Lara Croft films, a FBI profiler in Taking Lives (2004), an assassin in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), and a neglected, troubled socialite wife in The Good Shepherd (2006).

In 2007, Jolie gave a brillant performance as Mariane Pearl, the pregnant widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, in A Mighty Heart. The film was based on Mariane Pearl's account of her husband's abduction and murder.

Jolie has drawn Oscar buzz for Clint Eastwood's missing-child drama Changeling, due for release October 24, 2008.

A devoted humanitarian, Angelina Jolie was made a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency in 2001. She has made headlines for her work to obtain aid for refugees in Cambodia, Darfur and Jordan, to name just a few.

In 2005, Jolie received the Global Humanitarian Action Award from the United Nations Association of the USA for her activism on behalf of refugee rights. She continues to travel the world to drawing attention to global issues.

Famous for her off-screen romances, Angelina Jolie has been married twice. She married Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller in 1995. The couple divorced in 1999. The next year Jolie married Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton. That union lasted until 2003.

In 2002, Angelina Jolie adopted a son from Cambodia and named him Maddox. Three years later, she adopted a daughter, Zahara, and later in 2005, actor Brad Pitt filed paperwork to adopt both of Jolie’s children.

Jolie and Pitt met during the making of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2004. The couple’s first biological daughter, Shiloh, was born in the African country of Namibia in 2006. Jolie, Pitt, and their children had traveled there to avoid the media frenzy that seemed to follow them wherever they went.

After the joy of welcoming her third child to the world came great sadness for Jolie. She experienced a great personal loss in the beginning of 2007—her mother died of cancer after fighting the disease for many years.

In March 2007, Angelina Jolie added a new member to her family. She adopted a three-year-old boy from a Vietnamese orphanage. Her son is named Pax Thien.

Jolie gave birth to twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12, 2008, in a seaside hospital in southern France. The rights for the first images of the twins were sold to People and Hello! magazines for $14 million. The photos are the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken.

In October of 2008, Jolie appeared in the Clint Eastwood-directed thriller, The Changeling. Jolie played Christine Collins, a mother whose son reappears after his kidnapping. Collins is sure the returned boy is not the one to which she gave birth, and her fight reveals a police conspiracy. In 2009, Jolie received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for the role.

Elvis Presley ( 1935 - 1977 )

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He will forever be remembered as the "King of Rock-n-Roll" but Elvis Presley wasn't born into fame and fortune. He was born in 1935 to his parents Vernon and Gladys, in Mississippi. He was one of two twin boys but his brother was stillborn and Presley was raised an only child.

It is said that Presley grew up in poverty but that isn't entirely true. For the era and for his family's location in the US, Elvis would have been considered a boy living within his family's means. They didn't have money for entertainment or extras but he didn't know what it was like to go to bed hungry.

Elvis Presley was fond of his parents but close to his mother. His father, some would have said, was quite lazy and not as ambitious as his son would later become. At the age of ten, Presley sang at a state fair and won second prize for the performance. In 1946, he received his first guitar and in 1948, the Presley family made their way to a permanent home in Memphis. It provided a turning point for Presley.

Elvis was made fun of by some of the children because he ran around with his guitar on his back. Soon, Elvis was playing music to help support the family and to help bring in a little extra income. His sideburns grew out and he emulated some of the more well known singers from Beale Street.

Presley picked up music wherever he could and eventually learned from the greats like B.B. King and Rufus Thomas and others he would find on Beale Street. Since Elvis didn't read or write music, he had to rely on others and he had to rely a lot on what he heard. He played guitar by ear.

In 1953, Elvis Presley began to play for Sun Records making his first recording for the label then. By 1954, he was playing on the Grand Ole Opry. His breakout year wouldn't happen until 1956. His record "deal" had happened in November the previous year but by the time 1956 was in full gear; Presley was getting many other contracts, albums, and deals. One deal included a two-week stint at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

Elvis Presley recorded many records during his lifetime and captured countless awards most of them still on display at his estate in Memphis. From That's Alright Baby to Hound Dog, Presley sang and people listened. He would go on to be a father, a husband, and an actor and few, if anyone, would ever understand or live the successful life that Elvis Presley made into a legacy that lives on today.

Presley is buried at Graceland in Memphis. His ex-wife has continued to capitalize on her dead ex-husband's empire and his daughter Lisa Marie has been one that hasn't escaped public attention. A talent vocal voice in her own right, Lisa Marie Presley was married to Michael Jackson for a short period of time and today has her own music gaining its rightful notoriety.

Michael Jackson ( 1958 - N/A )

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Considered one of the top pop stars of all time, Michael Jackson has been known for various music recordings such as Bad and Dangerous. Numerous other songs would push Jackson into the fame that few will ever own as their own but his best selling album Thriller would be remembered as a Jackson hit that made music video history.

Michael Jackson is pop culture and in the eighties, there wasn’t anyone who could claim the kind of success that Michael Jackson possessed. His dance and moves were talked about throughout the world by every teenager that loved his music. The moonwalk and the robot became exciting moves that made it to the hip hop clubs throughout the country while his music blared through radios and car stereos around the globe.

Jackson would move on to claim thirteen Grammy Awards and the World Music Awards would later announce in 2006 that Michael Jackson sold over 750 million music units worldwide. With his charitable contributions and his active pursuits for humanitarian movements Jackson even earned a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination.

Michael Jackson was one of ten children and would later become the brother who would carry the early work of the Jackson Five to fame in 1966. It was in 1968 that the band gained the attention of Berry Gordy and Motown Records.

Michael Jackson took the lead with the Jackson Five until they departed Gordy’s Motown. After turning to CBS Records, Michael Jackson stepped out entirely on his own choosing a solo career that truly launched with his album Off the Wall. The album would later win Michael his first awards as a stand alone artist at the American Music Awards in 1980.

Michael Jackson’s career has been one of trials and tribulations covered with career highs and lows. He’s faced scrutiny with documentaries like Living with Michael Jackson while the media has followed his every move including a baby dangling incident when he held one of his children off of a balcony in Berlin.

Michael Jackson is said to be the biggest musical success since Elvis Presley which is ironic because Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s only child, did marry Michael Jackson and remained his wife for two years. After the Presley-Jackson divorce, Jackson married Debbie Rowe who he later divorced in 1999.

Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation in 1993 and in 2003. Jackson was acquitted on all child molestation charges brought against him in 2005. Still, the stigma follows Michael Jackson who is a hands-on parent but ready to step back into the music business with a new entertainment project in the works. Unfortunately, his beloved California Neverland Ranch faces foreclosure while he remains at his rented home in Washington DC.

Brad Pitt

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In 2007, he was listed on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list of affluent individuals. That’s not the only list that Brad Pitt has graced. He was elected to the select group of only three men when he was voted not once but twice as People Magazine’s "Sexiest Man Alive".

Brad Pitt is one of those men who could likely step into the role of a politician at any point and be well received. However, if he isn’t careful, he’ll be walking in his partner’s shadows. Joined without wedding bells ringing in the distance, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a couple. They have four children together and the couple has been able to raise their family in New Orleans and California without too many unconventional pressures.

Brad Pitt, is now a father first. However, no one would know or care if it wasn’t for his quick rise to claim the fame he earned. Brad Pitt went to the University of Missouri at Columbia before he became a Hollywood A-lister. He trained under the notorious Roy London when he first found his place in Beverly Hills.

With small roles on Head of the Class, Another World, 21 JumpStreet and other television parts, Pitt was on his way. As success began to call his name, he found parts in the popular movies Thelma and Louise and Too Young to Die.

Soon, Legends of the Fall and the movie Seven would turn Mr. Pitt into a mega-star. By the time Oceans Eleven and Mr. and Mrs. Smith rolled around, Brad Pitt was a household name.

Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston and the couple seemed like the All-American poster couple for matrimony. However, Mr. and Mrs. Smith changed things for Mr. and Mrs. Pitt. Soon, Jennifer Aniston filed for divorce and Brad Pitt was spotted vacationing with Angelina Jolie. However, Jolie came out publicly denying that an affair was already underway prior to Pitt’s separation. Still, the evidence was clear. Brad and Angelina were an item.

Today, Brad Pitt and his family are hot media topics when they travel. Brad Pitt and his family enjoy their role in philanthropy efforts and work hard to make a significant difference for better lives. He continues to act in films but thanks to his film credits, he can be a little choosy when accepting roles.

Jessica Simpson

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She is considered on of the biggest music stars and is continually in the public eye in one facet or another. She is a pop singer, actress, and philanthropist. She was even someone’s wife for a time but now Jessica Simpson is her own person and she has emerged into stardom with grace and class. Something than many in her profession could learn from, if they were so inclined.

Jessica Simpson was born in 1980 and quickly grabbed fame for her own. She climbed to the top of her career in the late 1990s and secured three gold and two multi-platinum records without a lot of waiting to do it.

Her marriage to Nick Lachey was an open-book because the couple decided to be married publicly and live it out on the MTV reality show dubbed Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. The show didn’t portray Jessica in a positive light overall and the couple ultimately ended their marriage with a divorce. After the marriage ended, the house where the MTV show was filmed sold for 3.75 million dollars.

Life for Jessica since her star-power took over has been a whirlwind of busy engagements. She appeared on The View in 2006. She also hosted the Teen Choice Awards in August of 2006. Her film, Blonde Ambition is due out in 2008.

Following in the footsteps of various entertainment pros, Jessica Simpson launched her own line of products. Simpson’ hair and beautifying products can be found on HSN which of course is short for Home Shopping Network.

As for her personal life, Jessica Simpson dated John Mayer soon after the Nick Lachey break-up. She’s also been associated with other musical talents too but no one has held the keys to her heart since Lachey.

Jessica Simpson keeps busy with Operation Smile and plans to one day adopt. For now, her busy schedule includes singing engagements, commercials and a full dance card whenever she’s out and about.