Sunday, February 27, 2011

Who is Mary Elizabeth Winstead?

Who is Mary Elizabeth Winstead?  The entertainment anc acting world knows her as an American actress. Winstead has been called a prominent scream queen because of her roles in the horror films Monster Island, The Ring Two, Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing. She has also branched out into other genre films, including Sky High, Bobby, Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0, Make It Happen and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. During her career, she has been nominated for a Young Artist Award, for her performance in Passions, and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as part of the cast of Bobby.


 Early life

Winstead was born November 28, 1984 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of Betty Lou (née Knight) and James Ronald Winstead. When she was five, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. Her interest in performing art also began to emerge with interests in ballet and acting. As a child, Winstead appeared in the Mountain West Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. Hoping to become a ballerina, at the age of eleven, she received the opportunity to study dance in a summer program of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. There, she studied ballet and jazz dance, but decided to also study acting. Winstead ended up appearing on Broadway during Donny Osmond’s successful run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also a member of the International Children's Choir during her youth and honed her skills performing at her church.

 Career

  Early work

Winstead began her acting career at age 13, guest starring in episodes of the CBS drama series Touched by an Angel and Promised Land, before being cast as Jessica Bennett in the NBC soap opera series Passions, a role she played from 1999 to 2000. She subsequently appeared in the short-lived CBS drama series Wolf Lake (2001–2002), and in the made-for-television film Monster Island (2002). Trying her hand at comedy, Winstead went the independent film route as the Jewish daughter of a large, zany family in the indie feature Checking Out, but her screen time fared better in the more mainstream Disney live-action film Sky High, which was financially and critically successful. She starred as Gwen Grayson, the in-disguise alter ego of the supervillain Royal Pain.

 2006–2007



After the exposure Sky High provided, 2006 saw her forge a professional relationship with the creative team of James Wong and Glen Morgan, formerly best known for their memorable contributions to The X-Files. She and her co-star, Ryan Merriman, landed in the path of the grim reaper’s master plan in Final Destination 3. (Winstead also starred with co-lead Ryan Merriman in 2005's The Ring Two.) The film also acts as the first feature she has a lead role in as well as being the highest-grossing film to date that she has had a lead role in. Morgan and Wong wanted to collaborate with her again and convinced her to appear in their sorority slasher Black Christmas, where she once again teamed up with fellow Final Destination castmate Crystal Lowe. They initially wanted her to play the lead, but afraid of being typecast, Winstead would only accept if she were cast in a supporting role. The film fared poorly with critics and viewers alike, but earned her a nomination for Scream Queen at the 2007 Scream Awards. One day, Winstead inadvertently received a chance to lampoon horror scream queens when The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, unaware of who she was, knocked on her front door and included her in a comedy segment spoofing horror movies; She and Riley parodied the Saw series. That same year, she appeared in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, a valentine to the politics and morals of Robert F. Kennedy, which drew moderate critical attention, and became a minor box office success. The film's cast included Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, and Sharon Stone, but most of her scenes were with Shia LaBeouf and Brian Geraghty. She and her co-stars were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture but won the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast.
In 2007, Winstead appeared in a pair of high-profile event films. Quentin Tarantino cast her as a well-intentioned but vapid and naïve actress in his high-speed segment of Grindhouse called Death Proof, his half of a double-billed feature. The film failed to produce ticket sales, but drew critical acclaim. Death Proof is the second film to feature Winstead with Kurt Russell (the first being Sky High). Winstead appeared in most of the films marketing campaigns, possibly due to her clothes which resemble Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill, Tarantino's earlier film. The same summer, hot off the heels of its release, Winstead received another shot at action as John McClane's estranged daughter Lucy in Live Free or Die Hard. The film earned over $130 million domestically, making it the highest grossing film that features Winstead.

 2008–present

In 2008, Winstead screen-tested for the role of Wonder Woman in the film adaption of Justice League. She starred in a lead role in Make It Happen, a dance film. The film went straight to DVD in the US, and gained a small collection in the UK, which eventually led to its financial failure. Nevertheless, the film proved a delight for Winstead to shoot, as she had always dreamed about becoming a dancer. It was also announced on May 16, 2008, that Winstead would co-star opposite Michael Cera in the comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, under the direction of Edgar Wright. Filming began in early March 2009 and wrapped on August 28, 2009. Also co-starring were Chris Evans and Brandon Routh. The film had a U.S. release on August 13, 2010. On February 2010, Winstead landed the lead role in the prequel to The Thing, which is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and tentatively set for an April 29, 2011 release.
Winstead has expressed interest in returning as Lucy McClane for the fifth installment of the Die Hard film series, although her involvement in the project is yet to be confirmed. She was also mentioned in news regarding the prequel to The Ring (tentatively titled The Ring 3D), though further information is yet unknown.
In August 2010, shortly before the release of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, news emerge regarding Winstead's potential upcoming project, a romcom penned by Elan Mastai, The F Word. Casey Affleck is set to star, while Winstead is up for the female lead, testing against Rebecca Hall, Rose Byrne and Deborah Ann Woll.

 Filmography

Theatrical films
Year Title Role Notes Ref.







2005
Checking Out Lisa Apple supporting role (limited release)
Sky High Gwendolyn ‘Gwen’ Grayson supporting role
The Ring Two Young Evelyn minor role (cameo) (second film of the ’’Ring’’ series)







2006
Final Destination 3 Wednesday ‘Wendy’ Christensen lead role opposite Ryan Merriman (third film of the ’’Final Destination’’ series)
Bobby Susan Taylor supporting role
Black Christmas Heather Lee-Fitzgerald supporting role (remake to Black Christmas)
Factory Girl Ingrid Superstar minor role (cameo) (limited release)







2007
Live Free or Die Hard Lucy Gennero-McClane supporting role (fourth film of the Die Hard series)
Grindhouse: Death Proof Lee Montgomery supporting role (counterpart to Planet Terror)







2008
Make It Happen Lauryn Kirk lead role opposite Riley Smith







2010
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Ramona Victoria Flowers lead role opposite Michael Cera (adaptation of graphic novel Scott Pilgrim)







2011
The Thing Kate Lloyd lead role opposite Joel Edgerton (in production) (prequel to The Thing) (tentative title)
Films made for TV/video
Year Title Role Notes Ref.







1999
The Long Road Home Annie Jacobs supporting role







2004
Monster Island Madison supporting role
Television series
Year Title Role Notes Ref.







1997
Touched by an Angel Kristy episode 3.27: "A Delicate Balance" (minor guest)







1999
Passions Jessica Bennett series regular
2001 - '02 Wolf Lake Sophia Donner series regular







2005
Tru Calling Bridget Elkins episode 1.08: "Closure" (supporting guest)
Other
Year Title Role Notes Ref.







2010
Showing Up Herself documentary

 Cancelled projects

 Awards and nominations

Year Project Award Result Other notes
1999 Passions Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Daytime TV Series Nominated Lost to Brittany Snow (Guiding Light)
2006 Bobby Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Won
Nominated
Shared with the rest of the ensemble cast of Bobby
Lost to the cast in Little Miss Sunshine
Black Christmas Scream Awards for 2007 Scream Queen Nominated Lost to Kate Beckinsale (Vacancy)

 Personal life

Interviewed in 2006, Winstead said she was in a long-term relationship with Riley Stearns, an aspiring director from Austin, Texas. In 2008, they worked together in Stop/Eject – a short film he was making with Winstead's Final Destination 3 co-star Ryan Merriman, which is as of yet still in post-production. The project was shot on the weekends during the 2008 writers' strike. Winstead elaborates, "The whole short is 25 minutes long. We're currently working on post sound and music and we hope to show it at festivals."
On July 22, 2010, Winstead announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Riley Stearns during an interview with Spin.com. The wedding is to take place in October 2010 in Austin, Texas, where Stearns is from.
Winstead had stated that at one point, Final Destination 3 co-star Amanda Crew "stayed with [her] for a while". She has also called Lacey Chabert her "confidant" and in the same interview, says she is good friends with Death Proof co-stars Rosario Dawson and Sydney Tamiia Poitier. "I'm not a really "cliquish" type of person," she says of herself. "There's usually one person that I gravitate to, who I feel I relate to the most, and kind of stick to throughout the whole thing." While filming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Winstead made good friends with co-star Anna Kendrick. “The two of us, we were just sitting up there watching the first fight [scene] in the balcony together for a week and a half, and we were always talking about gossip, film news and just gabbing about everything!”
Winstead has been quoted saying she is a fan of the movies Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Sixth Sense and the television shows My So Called Life, Third Rock From the Sun, Just Shoot Me and Will & Grace. She also favors indie rock and alternative music. Her favorite novel is S. E. Hinton's 1967 The Outsiders. Winstead has also voiced her like for the music of Bat for Lashes, French pop songs, Alanis Morissette, mewithoutYou, The Shangri-Las, The Shirelles, Roy Orbison, Madonna, The xx and Ben E. King's Stand By Me.

 Singing

Winstead has expressed her interest in singing, but does not plan on pursuing it as a career. "I wasn't ever really going to be a singer, but it's just something I've always loved." For his part of the Grindhouse film, Tarantino had Winstead sing an a cappella cover of The Shirelles' hit recording Baby It's You. She was asked impromptu to perform the song and the cast were reportedly "gob-smacked" by her singing. The clip can be found in the second disc of the 2-disc Death Proof DVD.
In 2009, Winstead and music producer Thai Long Ly worked on a song he wrote, "Warmth of Him". Although first rumored to be a pre-release single, Winstead has since then confirmed that she was just exploring her interest and does not plan on releasing any music albums.

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Who is Marco Antonio Rubio?

Who is Marco Antonio Rubio  The political world knows him as Marco Rubio, he is the junior United States Senator from Florida and member of the Republican Party. At the age of 39, he is the second youngest current U.S. Senator, being only one week older than Mike Lee of Utah.[2]

Rubio was the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions. He was first elected to the Florida House on January 25, 2000, from the 111th district.

Early life


Rubio was born May 28, 1971, he is the second son and third child of Cuban exiles Mario Rubio (1927–2010)[3] and Oria Garcia (born 1931), and was born in Miami, Florida. His siblings are: Mario (born 1950), Barbara (born 1960) and Veronica (born 1972). Rubio identifies himself as Catholic having been baptized, confirmed, and married in the Catholic Church,[1][4][5] Rubio is fluent in Spanish. His father was a bartender and his mother worked as a hotel housekeeper in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rubio lived in Las Vegas from 1979 to 1985, before his family returned to Miami in the summer of 1985.

Education
Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School and graduated in 1989. He then attendedTarkio College for one year on a football scholarship from 1989 to 1990, before enrolling atSanta Fe College, and then the University of Florida. He earned his B.A. degree in political science from the University of Florida in 1993, and his J.D. degree cum laude from theUniversity of Miami in 1996.


Political career
Marco Rubio served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives for the 111th district in a special election on January 25, 2000. He has won each of his re-election bids.[6] In November 2006, he was elected Speaker of theFlorida State House for the 2006–08 term.



He is the author of the book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future. This book was compiled from Rubio's travels around the state to gather ideas from citizens. This was done through what Rubio calls "Idearaisers". Many of the issues that he pushed for in his first year as speaker came from ideas in this book. During 2007, Marco Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system. He argued it would reduce property taxes and decrease the size of government.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign


 On May 5, 2009, Rubio announced on his website that he planned to run for the United States Senate in 2010 for the Republican seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez, who had resigned and been replaced by George LeMieux. Prior to the announcement, he had been meeting with fundraisers and supporters throughout the state.[7] Initially trailing by double-digits against the incumbent Governor of his own party, Charlie Crist, Rubio eventually surpassed Crist in polling for the Republican nomination.[8][9]


On April 28, 2010, Crist announced he would be running as an independent, effectively ceding the Republican nomination to Rubio.[10] Several of Crist's top fundraisers, as well as Republican leadership, refused[11][12] to support Crist after Rubio won the Republican nomination for Senate.[13]


On November 2, 2010, Marco Rubio won the senatorial election with 48.9% of the vote to Crist's 29.7% and Democrat Kendrick Meek's 20.1%.[14]


Senator

Upon taking office, Rubio hired Cesar Conda, former lobbyist and "top domestic policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney" as his Chief of Staff.[15] He has been assigned to the Senate Commerce, Small Business, Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.[15]

Presidential election 2012

As did a number of other successful Republican candidates in the 2010 midterm election nationwide, Rubio soon became the subject of otherwise unsupported media driven speculation as a potential GOP candidate for the presidential election of 2012.[16][17] Rubio stated shortly after taking office that he has no interest in running for president or vice president in 2012.[18]


Personal life


Rubio married Jeanette Dousdebes, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader, in 1997. She is of Colombian descent, and together they have four children named Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic.[19] Rubio and his family live in West Miami, Florida.[1][20] While Rubio regularly attends Catholic Mass,[21] he has also attended and donated to the Christ Fellowship Church in West Kendall, Florida since 2004.[4][22] This church, one of the largest in the United States,[23] describes itself as non-denominational but is affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention.[21] Some observers have speculated that his attendance at both Catholic and Protestant churches despite their incompatible theologies is an attempt to court Hispanic voters, some of whom have embraced Protestantism as against a more established tendency among Hispanics to adhere to Catholicism.[24]

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Who is Crystal Renn?

Who is Crystal Renn? The entertainment and Fashion world know her as an American fashion model and author.[2]

Personal life

Renn was born June 18, 1986 in Miami, Florida, she started her modeling career in high fashion at the age of 14 after being spotted by a professional scout in her hometown in Clinton, Mississippi.[3] Renn was told she would need to lose almost a third of her total body weight if she wanted to become a model. Later, after years of anorexia nervosa, Renn reassessed her diet and exercise habits.[3] After gaining 70 pounds (32 kg) and re-emerging as a U.S. size 12, she was re-marketed by her agents as a plus-size model. Renn has authored a book, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, about her experiences in the fashion industry in relation to her several body type transformations.
On June 30, 2007, Renn married her longtime boyfriend Gregory Vrecenak at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan, New York. Fashion portraits of her wedding were taken by photographer Brian Boulos. In mid-2009 the couple ended their marriage. Renn currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
In November 2010, Renn said she had lost weight through hiking and yoga, and that her dress size dropped to a US 8-10.[4]

Career

In addition to working repeatedly with notable fashion photographers Ruven Afanador and Steven Meisel and being the only plus-size model to appear on a Harper's Bazaar cover and appearing in four international Vogue editions. Renn has enjoyed lucrative contracts with many high-profile plus-size clothing manufacturers such as Lane Bryant, Evans and Torrid, and has also appeared on the runway for Vena Cava, Heatherette, Elena Miro, and most notably for Jean-Paul Gaultier in his Spring/Summer prêt-à-porter 2006 collection in Paris, garnering favorable and extensive media interest. Recently, she walked in the Chanel Resort 2011 runway show. She recently appeared in the F/W 2010 Jean Paul Gautier campaign and has appeared in campaigns for H&M, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Saks Fifth Avenue, Jean Paul Gautier, Jimmy Choo, Dsquared, and Nordstrom. She has also appeared in editorials for American, Italian, French, German, and Teen Vogue, Italian Elle, Russian and American Harpers Bazaar, Glamour, V, i-D and Vanity Fair.[5]
Renn is also notable for appearing in back-to-back campaigns in 2007 wearing regular-sized (not specifically plus-size) clothing for Spanish retailer Mango; her photos appearing amid those of smaller models and without notation regarding her larger size, a rare occurrence in conventional apparel advertising.
In 2011, Renn became the face of the spring/summer campaign for Jimmy Choo[6] and the spring/summer MR Denim Collection by Marina Rinaldi, a plus-size jeans collection.[7]
Renn's first book, Hungry, was co-authored by Marjorie Ingall and released on September 8, 2009.[8] During an on-camera interview at an Australian industry function, Renn's agent Gary Dakin noted that her total income would now be "close to 7 figures".
Renn reported for Glamour at New York Fashion Week 2010 on the fall collections.[10]


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Who is Donata Sullivan?

Who is Donata Sullivan? The entertainment and acting world knows her as Dina Lohan? Lohans is a television personality and occasional actress who rose to fame as the mother and manager of actress/pop singer Lindsay Lohan, and Lindsay's younger sister Ali Lohan, with whom Dina co-stars in the reality show Living Lohan.


Personal life

She was  born September 15, 1962  and raised in New York City.
Dina and her younger daughter Ali began a reality show, Living Lohan, which debuted on May 26, 2008 on the cable television network E!. Dina is also one of the executive producers of the series.

Controversy

Lohan has been the subject of media scrutiny for making her daughter Ali the star of a reality television program, and for her regard to daughter Lindsay's recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. She has responded to the latter matter by insisting that Lindsay's problems were not her fault, nor those of Lindsay's friends, but were the result of personal choices, for which Lindsay would have to take responsibility, and that Lindsay was in the process of rebuilding her life. She has also been accused of capitalizing on Lindsay's fame and personal struggles in order to launch her own career, having been criticized for bringing cameramen from the entertainment newsmagazine series Entertainment Tonight to film her visiting Lindsay in drug rehabilitation, to the ire of her daughter and the facility staff.
Lohan's claimed career as a Radio City Rockette has also been questioned. According to The New York Post a spokesperson for Radio City asserted that there was no record of Lohan ever being a Rockette, and to executives at Cablevision, which owns Radio City, were indignant that Lohan would claim otherwise.
On August 5, 2008, Anderson Cooper appeared as a guest co-host on the ABC talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, during which he stated, in reference to Living Lohan, "I can't believe I'm wasting a minute of my life watching these horrific people", and remarked that Ali Lohan appeared to be a sixty-year-old. In an interview with OK! magazine, Dina Lohan responded, "people are just cruel...This is bad karma for him". Cooper did not respond directly to Lohan's comments, but clarified that while he felt bad for Ali Lohan, he opined that she should be living the conventional life of a teenager, and not be made to star in a reality television show. Michael Lohan also responded to Cooper's comments, telling Access Hollywood, "I think Anderson Cooper is an opinionated, hypocritical idiot who should be an adult and keep his opinion to himself...He is the last person to judge anyone, when he and his own family have their own issues."

Appearances

Magazines

Filmography

Films

Year Film Role Notes
1998 The Parent Trap Woman in Airport uncredited
2003 Freaky Friday Woman Dancing in the Wedding uncredited
2004 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Woman Walking on the Street uncredited

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Friday, February 25, 2011

Who is Gregory Efthimios Louganis?

Who is Gregory Efthimios Louganis? The sports and entertainment world knows him as Greg Louganis, he is an American Olympic diver and author. He received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) in 1984 as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.

Early life

Louganis was born January 29, 1960 is of Samoan/Swedish descent. He was raised in California by his adoptive parents, a Greek-American couple. He attended Santa Ana High School and Valhalla High School in El Cajon, California.

Diving career

At sixteen Louganis took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where
he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian sport legend Klaus Dibiasi. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event. In 1978, he accepted a diving scholarship to the University of Miami where he studied theater, but in 1981 transferred to the University of California, Irvine, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.
Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but an American boycott of the games prevented him from participating. Louganis won two world diving titles in 1982. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, with record scores and leads over his opponents, Louganis won gold medals in both the springboard and tower diving events.
After winning two more world championship titles in 1986, he repeated his 1984 feat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although not without difficulties: he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the springboard during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2½ pike. He completed the preliminaries despite his injury, and went on to repeat a similar dive during the finals, earning the gold medal. In the 10m finals he won the gold medal performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning in total 638.61 points, surpassing silver medalist Xiong Ni by only 1.14 points. His comeback earned him the title of ABC's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.








Personal life

Greg Louganis is openly gay and tested positive for HIV in 1988.[1] He recounted his story in a best-selling book Breaking the Surface co-written with Eric Marcus. The book spent five weeks at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. His story was also documented in the 1996 Showtime movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story with Mario Lopez playing the lead and Louganis narrating.

He also produced a video diary called Looking To the Light, which picked up where Breaking the Surface left off. In the years since his diagnosis was made public, Louganis has been an outspoken HIV awareness advocate.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he took on a number of roles in movies, including Touch Me in 1997 and David Oliveras' debut movie Watercolors in role of Coach Brown, a swimming instructor in a high school.
In September 2000, he appeared on Hollywood Squares as a member of famous Olympic gold medalists "Dream Team", competing in a special week of the nationally-syndicated game show series, broadcast as a tribute to the 2000 Summer Games. The episodes marked the first time that all these champions came together for this kind of television competition.

Dog agility

Louganis currently competes actively in dog agility competitions with his dogs, Dr. Schivago, Captain Woof Blitzer, and Dobby. Most of his current competitors are named for characters in the Harry Potter series.[2] He published his book For the Life of Your Dog co-written with Betty Sicora Siino.

Coaching

Since November 2010, Louganis has been coaching divers of a wide range of ages and abilities in the SoCal Divers Club in Fullerton, CA.[3]






Filmography

Films in which Greg Louganis has appeared:
  • Dirty Laundry (1987) as Larry
  • Inside Out III (1992) as Max in the segment "The Wet Dream"
  • Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story (narrator)
  • It's My Party (1996) as Dan Zuma
  • Broken Record (1997 TV movie) as Coach Hill
  • Touch Me (1997) as David
  • Watercolors (2008) as Coach Brown

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Who is Luigi "Geno" Auriemma?

W ho is  Luigi   " Geno "   Auriemma? The college basketball world recognizes him as the most successfull division 1  college bas...