Who is Jude Law?

Who is Jude Law? Law is an English actor, film producer and director.

He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a BAFTA Award as "Best Supporting Actor" for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.
He is on the Top Ten List from the 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood.[1] In 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the French government; he was named a "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres".[2][3]

Jude Law was born 29 December 1972 in Lewisham, South London, as second child to teachers Maggie and Peter Law. He grew up in Blackheath, a village in the Borough of Lewisham[4] and he was educated at John Ball Primary School in Blackheath and Kidbrooke School in Kidbrooke, before attending the Alleyn's School in Dulwich.[5][6]

In 1987 Law began acting with National Youth Music Theatre.[7] He played various roles in the Edinburgh Fringe-awarded play The Ragged Child. One of his first major stage roles was Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's multi-award-winning The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les parents terribles, directed by Sean Mathias.
For this play he was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and he received the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer.
Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play was reworked and transferred to Broadway in 1995, where Law acted opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees and Cynthia Nixon.[8][9]
This role earned him a Tony Award nomination[10] and the Theatre World Award.[11] In 1989, Law got his first TV role in a movie based on the Beatrix Potter children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short The Crane, Law had his breakthrough with the British crime drama Shopping, which also featured his future wife Sadie Frost.
In 1997, he became more widely known with his role in the Oscar Wilde biopic Wilde. Law won the "Most Promising Newcomer" award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards, for his role as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde.[12] In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca he played the role of a disabled former swimming star living in a eugenics-obsessed dystopia. In Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil he played the role of the ill-fated hustler murdered by an art dealer, played by Kevin Spacey. He also played a mob hitman in Sam Mendes's 1930s period drama Road to Perdition.

Law is on the Top Ten List from the 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood, following the criteria of James Ulmer in the Ulmer Scale.[1] On 1 March 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the French government, in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.[2] He has been nominated for an Academy Award twice; once as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, and then again as Best Actor for Cold Mountain in 2003, both directed by Anthony Minghella.

For The Talented Mr. Ripley he learned to play saxophone and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination together with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano by Renato Carosone
and Nicola Salerno. He learned ballet dancing for the film Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001).[13][14]

Law, an admirer of Sir Laurence Olivier, used the famous actor's image in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Using computer graphics, footage of the young Olivier was merged into the film, playing Dr.Totenkopf, a mysterious scientific genius and supervillain.[15][16]
He portrayed the title character in Alfie, the remake of Bill Naughton's 1966 film, playing the role originated by Sir Michael Caine. He took on another of Caine's earlier roles in the 2007 film Sleuth adapted by Nobel Laureate in Literature Harold Pinter, while Caine played the role originated by Sir Laurence Olivier.[17]

Law is one of three actors taking the place of the actor Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Along with Law, actors Johnny Depp
and Colin Farrell will portray the "three separate dimensions in the film." [18][19] He will appear opposite Forest Whitaker in the dark sci-fi comedy Repossession Mambo and he'll star as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's upcoming adaption of Sherlock Holmes, alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Rachel McAdams.

Law stars as a celebrity supermodel in the film Rage.[20]
In May 2009, Law returned to the London stage to portray Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse West End season at Wyndham's. He was joined by Ron Cook, Peter Eyre,
Gwilym Lee, John MacMillan, Kevin R McNally,
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matt Ryan, Alex Waldmann
and Penelope Wilton. The production officially opened 3 June and runs through 22 August 2009.[21][22][23] A further production of the play is planned at Elsinore Castle in Denmark from 25 August - 30 August 2009.[24][25] Hamlet will run for twelve weeks at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York. Previews are scheduled to begin on 12 September and an official opening is slated for 6 October 2009.


Law is the face of the new male perfume of Dior, Dior Homme Sport.[26][27]
Since 2005, he has represented Dunhill as an "apparel ambassador" in Asia.[28] In 2008, he became the international face of Dunhill and appears in the worldwide advertising campaigns.[29]
In 2002, he directed a Respect for Animals anti-fur cinema commercial. The commercial, titled "Fur and Against", which uses music composed by Gary Kemp, includes appearances by Jude Law, Chrissie Hynde,
Moby, George Michael, Danny Goffey, Rhys Ifans, Sadie Frost, Helena Christensen, Paul McCartney, Mel C, and Stella McCartney.[30]


In spring 2007 Jude Law shot the Jason Martin-directed short film Realtime Movie Trailer at Borough Market, South London. Instead of promoting a film, this "trailer" which appeared amongst regular trailers in selected cinemas across London starting 19 November 2007, advertised a live event, Realtime Movie, by Polish artist Pawel Althamer. Hundreds turned up for this – unfilmed – re-enactment in real time of the sequence of events shown in Realtime Movie Trailer by the same actors, including Jude Law and Althamer as a Polish laborer, held at Borough Market on 30 November 2007. The performance was commissioned by Tate Modern as part of its The World as a Stage exhibition which explored the boundaries between arts and reality.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]

In 2004, Law launched a campaign to raise £2.5 million towards the Young Vic Theatre's £12.5 million redevelopment project.[38][39][40] He is currently Chair of the Young Vic committee and has said that he is proud to help make the Young Vic "a nurturing bed" for young directors.[41] He is an enthusiastic football fan and a supporter of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur.[42][43] In 2006, he joined Robbie Williams in the "Soccer Aid" celebrity football match to benefit UNICEF.[44]

In 2006, he starred in an anthology of Samuel Beckett readings and performances directed by Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella. With the Beckett Gala Evening at the Reading Town Hall more than £22,000 was donated for the Macmillan Cancer Support.[45] Also in 2006, Frost and Law directed a Shakespeare play in a South African orphanage. He travelled to Durban, South Africa, with Frost and their children in order to help children who have lost their parents to AIDS. In July 2007, as patron of the charity, he helped kick off the month-long tour of the AIDS-themed musical Thula Sizwe, by The Young Zulu Warriors.[46] Also in 2007, he encouraged the Friends of the Earth / The Big Ask campaign, asking British Government to take action against Climate change.[47][48][49]

Law also does charity work for organizations such as Make Poverty History, the Rhys Daniels Trust, and the WAVE Trauma Centre.[50] He supports the charity Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Pride of Britain Awards.[51][52][53][54] He is the chair of the Music For Tomorrow Foundation, to help rebuild Katrina-devastated New Orleans.[55][56][57]
Jude Law is an ambassador of HRH The Prince of Wales' Children & the Arts Foundation.[58][59]
He supports Breast Cancer Care,[60] and in December 2008 he supported the Willow Foundation with a small canvas for their campaign Stars on Canvas.[61][62] In April 2009 he supported the charity Education Africa by painting a mask, original hand painted and signed. The campaign was launched on eBay by Education Africa.[63]
Stars including Judi Dench and Jude Law have helped save St Stephen's Church in Hampstead. The celebrities supported the campaign, which raised £4.5 million to refurbish the Victorian church in north London. The building reopened in March 2009 as an arts and community centre.[64][65]

In July 2007, Jude Law and Jeremy Gilley were in Afghanistan over a period of 10 days to document peace commitments and activities there for an upcoming film and for marking the UN International Day of Peace.[66][67][68] Accompanied by UNICEF Representative Catherine Mbengue, they travelled and filmed in treacherous areas of eastern Afghanistan with a film crew, interviewing children, government ministers, community leaders and UN officials.[69][70] They also filmed at schools and visited various UNICEF-supported programmes inside and outside the capital Kabul.[71][72] The efforts of Peace One Day are coordinated in celebration of the annual International Day of Peace, on 21 September.[73][74] The film named The Day After Peace premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.[75][76][77][78][79][80] On 21 September 2008, the film was shown at a Gala screening at the Royal Albert Hall.[81]
On 30 August 2008, Law and Gilley returned to Afghanistan to help keep a momentum around Peace Day. They met President Hamid Karzai, top NATO and U.N. officials, and members of the aid community. They also screened the new documentary about the efforts in support of peace. The documentary features activities that took place throughout Afghanistan in 2007. It also highlights support from UNICEF and the WHO for the peaceful immunization of 1.4 million children against polio in insecure areas.[82][83][84][85][86][87][88]

Law's parents live in France, where they run their own drama school and theatre.[89][90] His sister Natasha is a well-regarded illustrator and artist, living in London.[91][92]
Law met Sadie Frost while working on the film Shopping. They married on 2 September 1997 and divorced on 29 October 2003.[93] He is the father of four children: Finlay Munro (stepson of Law, born 20 September 1990), son Rafferty (born 6 October 1996), daughter Iris (born 25 October 2000) and son Rudy (born 10 September 2002). more

Who is Ashley Tyler Ciminella?

Who is Ashley Tyler Ciminella? The world knows her as Ashley Judd, she is an American actress, well known for playing a number of strong women characters in films such as Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, and High Crimes.

Judd was born April 19, 1968 in Granada Hills, California, the daughter of Naomi Judd, a well known country music singer and motivational speaker, and Michael Ciminella, Jr., a marketing analyst for the horseracing industry.[1] Judd has a half-sister, Wynonna Judd, who is also a country music singer. At the time of her birth, her mother was working as a nurse, and did not become well-known as a singer until the early 1980s. Judd's parents divorced in 1972, and in 1974, her mother took her back to her native Kentucky, where Judd grew up.[2]
Judd attended twelve schools before college, including the Sayre School[3] in Lexington, Kentucky and Franklin High School in Tennessee.[4] She briefly tried modeling in Japan during school breaks. An alumna of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Kentucky, she majored in French and minored in anthropology, art history, theater and women's studies. She spent a semester studying in France as part of her major, a move that mirrored her role as Reed in the television series Sisters. She was in the UK Honors Program and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, but did not graduate with her class,[5] leaving the university early to drive cross-country in pursuit of an acting career in Hollywood, where she studied with well-respected acting teacher, Robert Carnegie, at Playhouse West. During this time, she worked as a waitress at The Ivy restaurant and lived in a Malibu, California house her sister bought her, which burned down during the great Malibu fires. On May 9, 2007, it was announced Judd had completed her bachelor's degree in French from the University of Kentucky.[6] In a May 2007 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Judd explained she had completed her degree requirements in 1990, but had mistakenly thought she was one class short. She only needed to "sign a piece of paper" in order to graduate. DeGeneres then surprised Judd by presenting her with her diploma, which DeGeneres had acquired from the university. Judd was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky on May 9, 2009

Judd began acting on television and appeared as Ensign Robin Lefler, a Starfleet officer, in two 1991 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Darmok" and "The Game". From 1991 to 1994, she had a recurring role as Reed, the daughter of Alex (Swoosie Kurtz), on the NBC drama Sisters. She made her feature film debut with a very small role in 1992's Kuffs. However, in 1993 Judd fought for and was cast in her first starring role playing the title character in Victor Nuñez's Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winning, Ruby in Paradise. She received rave reviews playing Ruby Lee Gissing, a young woman trying to make a new life for herself, and it was this performance that would launch her career as an actress. Oliver Stone, who had seen her in Nuñez's film, cast Judd in Natural Born Killers, but her scenes were later cut from the version of the film released theatrically. But the following year she gained further critical acclaim for her role as Harvey Keitel's
estranged daughter in Wayne Wang's Smoke and also as Val Kilmer's lover in Michael Mann's Heat. That same year she also played the role of Callie in Philip Ridley's dark, adult fairy tale, The Passion of Darkly Noon.

By the end of the 1990s, Judd had managed to achieve significant fame and success as a leading actress, after leading roles in several thrillers that performed well at the box office, including Kiss the Girls in 1997 and 1999's Double Jeopardy. Several of her early 2000s films, including 2001's Someone Like You and 2002's High Crimes, received only mixed reviews and moderate box office success;[7] although, she did receive positive recognition, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, for her performance in the 2004 biography of Cole Porter, De-Lovely, opposite Kevin Kline.
Judd is currently the magazine advertising "face" of American Beauty, an Estée Lauder cosmetic brand sold exclusively at Kohl's department stores, and H. Stern jewelers. In June 2007, Goody's Family Clothing announced they were going to be releasing three fashion clothing lines with Judd in the Fall to be called - "AJ", "Love Ashley" and "Ashley Judd." Regarding the clothing line, Judd said, "I'm thrilled to be involved in a clothing line that provides simple, lovely solutions for women's wardrobes. I've always loved items that you can throw on easily and know that you'll feel and look good. This line does just that, while keeping with the best of current styles and trends."[8]

Judd, as YouthAIDS Global Ambassador, speaks at an event in South Africa (January 2005)
During the 1990s, Judd dated baseball player Brady Anderson, singers Lyle Lovett and Michael Bolton, and actors Matthew McConaughey and Robert De Niro.
In December 1999, she became engaged to Scottish auto racer Dario Franchitti, who was at the time driving in Champ Car World Series (he has since raced in IndyCars and NASCAR). The two were married at Skibo Castle, near Dornoch, Scotland, on December 12, 2001. She and her husband divide their time between a home in Scotland and their farm outside Franklin, Tennessee.
Judd can be recognized in Gasoline Alley wearing a white hat, and was present at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 when her husband won.[9] When Dario wins a race, Ashley is the first to give an interview on the TV coverage, usually in form of split-screen.
When in Manhattan, Judd attends services at a charismatic missionary Baptist church. She also regularly attends University of Kentucky basketball games, frequently sitting next to Donna Smith (wife of former Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith),
or in the student section. Last year, Judd was a guest columnist for a local Kentucky newspaper, writing about the NCAA championships. She is frequently sought out for celebrity camera shots during televised games. Judd posed for a poster wearing only a hockey jersey for fundraising purposes for their alma mater's hockey team. She is also an avid practitioner of yoga, cooking and gardening.
In February 2006, Judd entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas and stayed for 47 days.[10] She was there because of personal issues, including depression and isolation.[11]
Judd is active in humanitarian and political causes. She was appointed Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an education and prevention program of the international NGO Population Services International (PSI), promoting AIDS prevention and treatment, and speaks and demonstrates at pro-choice events. On October 29, 2006, Judd appeared at a "Women for Ford" event for Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr.
A long-running feud between Judd and Indy race car driver Milka Duno took place throughout the 2007 Indy Racing League season. After the final race of the 2007 season, the actress stated to the assembled news media, "I know this is not very sportsmanlike, but they've got to get the 23 car (Duno) off the track. It's very dangerous. I'm tired of holding my tongue. She shouldn't be out there. When a car is 10 miles (an hour) off the pace, it's not appropriate to be racing. People's lives are at stake."[12]

In 2009, Judd appeared in a one-minute video advertisement for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, in which Judd condemned Alaska governor Sarah Palin for supporting aerial wolf hunting.[13] In response, Palin stated the reason these wolves are killed is to protect the caribou population in Alaska, and she called the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund an "extreme fringe group".[14] more

Who is Amanda Lee Rogers?

Who is Amanda Lee Rogers? The world knows Amanda Lee Rodgers as Portia de Rossi, she is an Australian actress, best known for her Marriage to Ellen DeGeneres and her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development.[1][2] She currently portrays Veronica Palmer on the ABC sitcom Better Off Ted.

De Rossi was born 31 January 1973 Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia; the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers.[3] She was raised in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong.[4] As a child, she modelled for print and TV commercials. She adopted the name Portia de Rossi at a young age:
When I was 15, I changed it legally. In retrospect, I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn’t fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name. I picked Portia because I was a Shakespeare fan (Portia is the character in The Merchant of Venice who comes to the rescue of Antonio and Bassanio in their time of need). De Rossi because I was Australian and I thought that an exotic Italian name would somehow suit me more than Amanda Rogers. When you live in Australia, Europe is so far away and so fascinating, so stylish and cultured and sophisticated.[5]
She studied at Geelong Grammar School and Melbourne Girls Grammar School, then the University of Melbourne Law School, but left before finishing the course to pursue an acting career.

De Rossi is openly lesbian.[5] She was married to (male) documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe from 1996 to 1999, in part as a plan to get a green card, but says that "it just obviously wasn't right" for her.[5] From 2000 to 2004, de Rossi dated singer Francesca Gregorini, daughter of actress Barbara Bach and stepchild of Ringo Starr.
De Rossi says most of her family and Ally McBeal castmates did not know she was gay until tabloid pictures of the couple were published.[5] She declined to publicly discuss the relationship or her sexual orientation at the time.
De Rossi and Gregorini broke up in late 2004 as de Rossi began dating talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, whom she met backstage at an awards show.[6] In 2005, de Rossi opened up publicly about her sexual orientation in interviews with Details and The Advocate. She and DeGeneres married in August 2008[7] and live in Beverly Hills, California. They are both vegan.[8]


She struggled with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa for four years while filming Ally McBeal,[9] at one point weighing as little as 82 pounds.[6]
Portia supports a variety of charitable organisations, including Locks of Love, a group that buys wigs for children with medical hair loss. Portia has also supported fundraising efforts for FXB International[10], an African AIDS relief organisation; and The Art of Elysium[11], an art foundation for terminally ill children.

Her first significant role was playing a young and impressionable model in the Australian 1994 film Sirens. Soon afterwards she moved to Los Angeles and had guest roles on several TV shows, and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, before landing a role in the film Scream 2. She attracted international attention when she joined the main cast of the Ally McBeal TV series in 1998 playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in 2002.
In 2001, she starred in Who is Cletis Tout? with Christian Slater. From 2003–2006, de Rossi starred as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on Fox Television's critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning series Arrested Development.

She also portrayed John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, in a made for TV movie.
From 2007-2008, de Rossi appears in Nip/Tuck's fifth season as Julia McNamara's girlfriend Olivia Lord.
She will reprise her role as Lindsay Bluth Fünke in 2010's film adaptation of Arrested Development[12].
De Rossi was named number 67 in Stuff's 100 Sexiest Women, 31 in Femme Fatales' Sexiest Women of 2003 list, 24 in Maxim's 100 Sexiest Women List in 2004, and in late 2006, the magazine Blender listed her as one of the hottest women of film and TV.[13] In May 2007, she was featured as one of 100 Most Beautiful in People Magazine special edition. TV Guide included de Rossi and DeGeneres in their Power A-List couples in 2007. more