Friday, May 25, 2012

Who is Mandisa Lynn Hundley?

Who is Mandisa Lynn Hundley? The entertainment and music world knows her as Mandisa, she is an American gospel singer and was the ninth-place finalist in the fifth season (2006) of American Idol.

Early life

Born Mandisa Lynn Hundley on October 2, 1976, she grew up in Citrus Heights, California, area.[2] After graduating from El Camino Fundamental High School, she attended American River College in Sacramento where she studied Vocal Jazz.[2] Then she studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and graduated with a bachelor's of music degree with a concentration in vocal performance.[2]

American Idol
She auditioned for the United States reality/talent show American Idol in Chicago. She referred to herself as "just Mandisa", and was billed simply as Mandisa, without a last name. She was a backup singer for famed Christian author and speaker Beth Moore. She has stated her musical influences run the gamut from Whitney Houston to Def Leppard.
Idol judge Simon Cowell made several comments about Mandisa's weight after her successful audition. He first quipped are we "going to have a bigger stage this year.[3] Then, when Paula Abdul commented that Mandisa had a "Frenchie" growl to her voice, Cowell responded that a more apt comparison would be to France itself.[3] These were among comments that drew the ire of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, (NAAFA) and would be one of the reasons Mandisa would entitle her 2007 album True Beauty.
When Mandisa presented herself to the judges prior to the final cut-down to the season's 24 semi-finalists, she told Cowell: "what I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody. I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you.[4] Cowell told Mandisa that he was "humbled" and apologized to her immediately.[4]
On the March 7, 2006, Idol show, she stated in her pre-performance video that she sucked her thumb until she was 24 years old. She performed a rendition of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" which drew praise from all three judges. She was among the 12 contestants chosen on March 9, 2006, as a finalist in Idol's fifth season.
Mandisa was eliminated from American Idol on April 5, 2006, in the Top 9, having never previously been in the Bottom 3 (she was there with Paris Bennett and Elliott Yamin, neither of whom had been in the bottom 3 either). Mandisa revealed that, when the first group of Taylor Hicks, Kellie Pickler and Chris Daughtry was sent back to safety, and Mandisa, Elliott and Paris were on the stage on one side and the other group of Ace Young, Katharine McPhee and Bucky Covington on the other side, she told Paris and Elliott that it was most likely their own group in the bottom three, as she remembered how the same thing had happened in American Idol (season 3), when the three divas landed in the bottom three, and was sure that it would probably be a "shocker" like that one as Ace, Katharine and Bucky had all been in the bottom three earlier. She, like most eliminated contestants, appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno one day later.

Performances

Week # Theme Song Choice Original Artist Order # Result
Audition Free Choice "Fallin'" Alicia Keys N/A Advanced
Hollywood Group Performance "Band Of Gold" Freda Payne N/A Advanced
Top 24 (12 Women) Free Choice "Never" Heart 1 Safe
Top 20 (10 Women) Free Choice "Cry" Faith Hill 10 Safe
Top 16 (8 Women) Free Choice "I'm Every Woman" Chaka Khan 7 Safe
Top 12 Songs of Stevie Wonder "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" Stevie Wonder 4 Safe
Top 11 Hits of the 1950s "I Don't Hurt Anymore" Dinah Washington 1 Safe
Top 10 21st Century Hits "Shackles (Praise You)" Mary Mary 5 Safe
Top 9 Country Music "Any Man of Mine" Shania Twain 2 Eliminated

Professional career
Mandisa performed the song "I Don't Hurt Anymore" at the TV talk show, Live with Regis and Kelly. Mandisa sang with Gladys Knight at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and collaborated with tobyMac and Kirk Franklin on tobyMac's recent album, Portable Sounds.[5]
Her book IdolEyes (with Angela Elwell Hunt) was published by Tyndale House in May 2007. She performed on American Idol Extra with her song "True Beauty".
Mandisa's first full-length album True Beauty was released on July 31, 2007. She released her first single, "Only the World," on May 22, 2007. The song had a successful debut on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, which tracks commercial single sales, debuting at #2 and reached #1 the following week. It is also getting major airplay on Christian radio stations. The track is available for purchase on ITunes along with the album track "True Beauty". Written by Matthew West, Sam Mizell and Clint Lagerberg, "Only The World" captures Mandisa’s joyful spirit well. “We all have difficult days we wish we didn’t have to go through, but it gives you so much peace and joy when you realize that it’s only the world we’re living in, and one day we’re going to go to a much better place,” she says of the song’s theme. West would go on to co-write three of the songs on True Beauty, as well as Mandisa's highest-ranking single to date, "Christmas Makes Me Cry".
True Beauty debuted at #1 on the Top Christian Albums charts, making it the first time a new female artist has debuted at #1 in the charts 27 year history.[6] It also debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200, an unusually high debut on that chart for a Christian artist. She also garnered a Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album nomination for True Beauty in December of the same year.[7] Showcasing Mandisa’s stylistic range was the task set before the five sets of producers who lined up to work with her on the album—top-notch names like Shaun Shankel (BeyoncĂ©, Natalie Grant); Brown Bannister (Amy Grant); Christopher Stevens (TobyMac); Drew Ramsey and Shannon Sanders (India.Arie, Johnny Lang); and Double Dutch, the team of Robert Marvin and Josiah Bell (Matt Kearney, Matt Redman). Mandisa also spent personal time with the album’s writers before the songwriting process began, sharing her vision for the project and what she hoped to communicate through the songs. The end result is a seamless flow of tracks that create a diverse landscape for messages of hope, inspiration and faith.
Mandisa's cover of "Shackles" features a horn section provided by LiveHorns.com with Tommy Vaughan on trumpet, Rodney Mills on trombone, and Shane Philen on sax. They also appear on Mandisa's performance of "The Right Thing" on the VeggieTales soundtrack for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
Her second single "God Speaking" was released to Christian radio in October 2007. A third single, "Voice of a Savior," written by West, was serviced to Inspo radio in mid-2008, where it peaked in the Top 5 of Radio and Records' Soft AC/Inspo chart.
In November 2007, Mandisa released a holiday EP, Christmas Joy EP, which features the song "Christmas Makes Me Cry", a duet with frequent collaborator Matthew West. Earlier that year, Mandisa also recorded "Christmas Day," a duet with Christian recording legend Michael W. Smith. "Christmas Makes Me Cry" peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Christian AC chart, stopped from reaching #1 by her duet with Smith,"Christmas Day." It was the first time in the history of the Christian singles chart that a solo female artist was featured on the top two singles at the same time.
On October 14, 2008, Mandisa released a full-length Christmas album, It's Christmas. All songs from the Christmas Joy EP were featured on It's Christmas, as well as several new tracks.[citation needed]
Her second album, Freedom was released on March 24, 2009.[8]
There have also been reports that Mandisa will be releasing "We Are Family" which is a Bonus Track on Napster on April 14, 2009. The song was available for a short time on Amazon.com added to Freedom labeled as "Freedom + Bonus Track."
Her third album, What If We Were Real, is slated to be released on April 5, 2011. In March 2011 she will be on tour with comedian Anita Renfroe promoting her new album. The first single from her new album is entitled "Stronger".

Personal life



Mandisa currently resides in the suburban Nashville community of Antioch, Tennessee. Since her appearance on American Idol in 2006, Mandisa has made efforts toward health and weight loss. The title of her second album, Freedom, was inspired by her experience of overcoming an "addiction" to food.[9] As of March 2009, she had reportedly lost 75 pounds and hoped to lose a total of 100 or more. As of February 2010, she has reached her goal and lost 100 pounds. [9]

In popular culture

When The Daily Show parodied President Bush's decision-making abilities by featuring him in a superhero comic book by R. Sikoryak called "The Decider," one of his decisions in the comic book was to vote for Mandisa because "she's a sure thing."[10]

 Awards

  • 2008: Grammy Award for Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year (for True Beauty) – nominated
  • 2008: GMA Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year – nominated
  • 2008: GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year – nominated
  • 2009: GMA Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year – nominated
  • 2010: Grammy Award for Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year (for Freedom) – nominated
  • 2010: Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year - nominated
  • 2010: Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, for My Deliverer - nominated
  • 2010: Dove Award for Short Form Video of the Year for tobyMac's Lose My Soul - nominated

Studio albums
EPs

Bibliography

  • IdolEyes – published on May 9, 2007

 

 

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Who is Julia O'Hara Stiles?

Who is Julia O'Hara Stiles? The entertainment and acting world knows her as Julia Stiles as an American actress.

After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet. Her film career has included both commercial and critical successes, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The Business of Strangers (2001). She is also known for playing the supporting character Nicky Parsons in the Bourne film series and the leading role in Save the Last Dance, and for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. She guest starred as Lumen Pierce in the fifth season of the Showtime series Dexter, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.


Early life


Stiles was born in March 28, 1981, New York City, the daughter of Judith Stiles, a potter, and John O'Hara, a businessman.[3] Her father is of Irish descent and her mother is of half Italian and half English ancestry.[4] She started acting at age 11, performing with New York's La MaMa Theatre Company.[5]

Career


Film career


Stiles' first film was a non-speaking part in I Love You, I Love You Not (1996), with Claire Danes and Jude Law. She also had small roles as Harrison Ford's daughter in Alan J. Pakula's The Devil's Own (1997) and in M. Night Shyamalan's Wide Awake (1998). Her first lead was in Wicked (1998), playing a teenage girl who might have murdered her mother so she could have her father all to herself. Critic Joe Balthai wrote she was "the darling of the 1998 Sundance Film Festival"[6] and Internet movie writer Harry Knowles said she was the "discovery of the fest", but the film was not commercially released in the U.S. and went direct-to-video.


In 1999, she portrayed Kat Stratford, opposite Heath Ledger, in Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You, an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew set in a high school in Tacoma, Washington. She won an MTV Movie Award for "Breakthrough Female Performance" for the role, and the Chicago Film Critics voted her the most promising new actress of the year. Foreign critics applauded her work as well, including Adina Hoffman, who praised her as "a young, serious looking Diane Lane"[7] and Martin Hoyle, who commented that Stiles played Kat "with bloody-minded independent charm from the beginning with hints of wistfulness beneath the determination."[8]

Her next starring role was in Down to You (2000), which was panned by critics, but earned her and her co-star Freddie Prinze, Jr. a Teen Choice Award nomination for their on-screen chemistry. She subsequently appeared in two more Shakespearean adaptations. The first was as Ophelia in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000), with Ethan Hawke in the lead. The second was in the Desdemona role, opposite Mekhi Phifer, in Tim Blake Nelson's O (2001), a version of Othello set in a private boarding school. Neither film was a great success; O was subject to many delays and a change of distributors, and Hamlet was an art house film shot on a minimal budget.

Stiles' next commercial success was in Save the Last Dance (2001), as an aspiring ballerina forced to leave her small town in downstate Illinois to live with her struggling musician father in Chicago after her mother dies in a car accident. At her new, nearly all-black school, she falls in love with the character played by Sean Patrick Thomas, who teaches her hip-hop dance steps that get her into The Juilliard School. The role won her two more MTV awards for "Best Kiss" and "Best Female Performance", and a Teen Choice Award for best fight scene for her battle with Bianca Lawson. Rolling Stone pronounced her "the coolest co-ed," putting her on the cover of its April 12, 2001 issue. She told Rolling Stone that she performed all her own dancing in the film, though the way the film was shot and edited might have made it appear otherwise.[9]

In David Mamet's State and Main (2000), about a film shooting on location in a small town in Vermont, she played a teenage girl who seduces a film actor (Alec Baldwin) with a weakness for young girls. Stiles also appeared opposite Stockard Channing in the dark art-house film The Business of Strangers (2001) as a conniving, amoral secretary who exacts revenge on her boss. Channing was impressed by her co-star: "In addition to her talent, she has a quality that is almost feral, something that can make people uneasy. She has an effect on people."[10] Stiles also had a small but crucial role as Treadstone operative Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons in The Bourne Identity (2002), a role that was enlarged in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), then greatly expanded in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).

Between the Bourne films, she appeared in Mona Lisa Smile (2003) as Joan, a student at Wellesley College in 1953, whose art professor (Julia Roberts) encourages her to pursue a career in law rather than become a wife and mother. Critic Stephen Holden referred to her as one of cinema's "brightest young stars,"[11] but the film met with generally unfavorable reviews.

Stiles played a Wisconsin college student who is swept off her feet by a Danish prince in The Prince and Me (2004), directed by Martha Coolidge. Stiles told an interviewer that she was very similar to the character, Paige Morgan. Critic Scott Foundas said while she was, as always, "irrepressibly engaging," the film was a "strange career choice for Stiles."[12] This echoed criticism in reviews of A Guy Thing (2003), a romantic comedy with Jason Lee and Selma Blair. Critic Dennis Harvey wrote that Stiles was "wasted,"[13] and Stephen Holden called her "a serious actress from whom comedy does not seem to flow naturally".[14]

In 2005, Stiles was cast opposite her Hamlet co-star Liev Schreiber in The Omen, a remake of the 1976 horror film. The film was released on June 6, 2006.[15]

She returned to the Bourne series with a much larger role in The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007, and to this day it is her highest grossing film. Producer Lynda Obst said that Stiles was "turning into the next Meryl Streep."[16] Stiles also appears in the 2008 film Gospel Hill. She portrayed a woman who falls in love with her stalker in the 2009 thriller The Cry of the Owl, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.[17]

Julia Stiles is to begin filming on her latest project Between Us in May 2011 with co-stars Taye Diggs, David Harbour and Melissa George. Between Us is the screen adaptation of the Off-Broadway play by the same name.[18]

Stage career


Stiles' first theatrical roles were in works by author/composer John Moran with the group Ridge Theater, in Manhattan's Lower East Side from 1993–1998. She later performed on stage in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, in the summer of 2002 and appeared as Viola, the lead role in Shakespeare in the Park's production of Twelfth Night with Jimmy Smits. Reviewing the production, Ben Brantley of The New York Times saluted Stiles as "the thinking teenager's movie goddess" who put him in mind of a "young Jane Fonda."[19]

In the spring of 2004, she made her London stage debut opposite Aaron Eckhart in a revival of David Mamet's play Oleanna at the Garrick Theatre.[20]

She reprised the role of Carol in a 2009 production,[21] directed by Doug Hughes and co-starring Bill Pullman at the Mark Taper Forum. On June 30, 2009, it was announced that this production would be transferring to Broadway's John Golden Theatre, with previews beginning Sept. 29 before an October 11 opening night.[22]

Stiles will play Jeannie in a production of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig directed by the playwright beginning in April 2011.[23]

Other work


On March 17, 2001, Stiles hosted Saturday Night Live and, eight days later, she was a presenter at the 73rd Academy Awards. She returned to Saturday Night Live on May 5 appearing as then-President George W. Bush's daughter Jenna Bush in a skit that poked fun at the two first daughters being arrested for underage drinking.[3] MTV profiled her in its Diary series in 2003,[25] and she was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher at a Washington DC museum in the spring of 2004.[26]

Stiles made her writing and directorial debut with Elle magazine's short Raving starring Zooey Deschanel.[27] It premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.[28]

In May 2010 Stiles was cast in a major role in the Showtime series Dexter[29] and signed for 10 episodes.[30] For this role Stiles received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.[31]

Personal life


Stiles graduated from Columbia University in 2005, with a degree in English literature. She received a John Jay Award in 2010, the annual honorary award given to five alumni by the Columbia College Alumni Association for professional achievements.[32]

Stiles has also worked for Habitat for Humanity, building housing in Costa Rica,[33] and has worked with Amnesty International to raise awareness of the harsh conditions of immigration detention of unaccompanied juveniles; Marie Claire, in January 2004, featured Stiles' trip to see conditions at the Berks County Youth Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania.[34][35]

She is an ex-vegan, occasionally eating red meat.[36] She says she gave up veganism after she developed anemia and found it difficult to get proper nutrition while traveling. Stiles has described herself as a feminist and wrote on the subject in The Guardian.[20]

An avid baseball fan, she supports the New York Mets.[37] She threw the ceremonial first pitch before their May 29, 2006 game.[38]

 Filmography

Year↓Title↓Role↓Notes
1993GhostwriterEricaTV series, episode: "Who Is Max Mouse?: Part 1"
1994TV series, episode: "A Crime of Two Cities: Part 1"
1996I Love You, I Love You NotYoung Nana's Friend
1996Promised LandMegan WalkerTV series, episode: "The Secret"
1997Chicago HopeCorey SawickiTV series, episode: "Mother, May I?"
1997The Devil's OwnBridget O'Meara
1997Before Women Had WingsPhoebe JacksonTV movie
1998WickedEllie Christianson
1998Wide AwakeNeena Beal
1999The '60sKatie HerlihyTV movie
199910 Things I Hate About YouKat StratfordChicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress
MTV Movie Award for Female Breakthrough Performance
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Breakout Performance in a Film
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Sexiest Love Scene in a Film (shared with Heath Ledger)
Nominated—YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film
2000Down to YouImogenTeen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (shared with Freddie Prinze Jr.)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress in a Film
2000HamletOphelia
2000State and MainCarlaFlorida Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Ensemble Cast
Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best Ensemble Cast Performance
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble
2001Save the Last DanceSaraMTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Sean Patrick Thomas)
Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress in a Film
Teen Choice Award for Choice Fight Scene (shared with Bianca Lawson)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
2001The Business of StrangersPaula MurphyNominated—Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama
2001ODesi Brable
2002The Bourne IdentityNicky Parsons
2003A Guy ThingBecky
2003CarolinaCarolina Mirabeau
2003Mona Lisa SmileJoan BrandwynNominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Drama/Action Adventure
2004The Prince and MePaige Morgan
2004The Bourne SupremacyNicky Parsons
2005EdmondGlenna
2005A Little Trip to HeavenIsold
2006The OmenKatherine ThornNominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Scream in a Movie
2007The Bourne UltimatumNicky Parsons
2008Gospel HillRosie
2009The Cry of the OwlJenny Thierolf
2009PassageEllaShort film
2010DexterLumen PierceTV series, 10 episodes
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2012The Bell JarEsther GreenwoodPre-production

 



 

 

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