Who is Katherine Marie Heigl?

Who is Katherine Marie Heigl?The world knows her as Katherine Heigl, she is an Emmy Award-winning American actress best known for her roles in Roswell, Grey's Anatomy, Knocked Up and 27 Dresses.

Heigl was born November 24, 1978 in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Nancy, a personal manager, and Paul Heigl, a financial executive/accountant.[2] Heigl has German and Irish ancestry,[3] and was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[4][5][6] She is the youngest of four children (in addition to siblings Meg, Jason, and Holt).[7] Heigl lived in Virginia and then Denver before her family settled in Connecticut, where they moved into a large, old Victorian-style farmhouse in the wealthy town of New Canaan, where she spent most of her childhood.[8]
In 1986, her older brother Jason died of injuries suffered in a car accident, after being thrown from the back of a pickup truck while out for lunch with some of his high school classmates. Following his death, the family decided to donate his organs.[9] Afterward, their parents converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (prior to that her mother was Lutheran and her father Catholic).[7] Heigl is now a strong proponent of organ donation.[10] Although she is no longer a practicing Mormon, she remains positive on several aspects of the religion,[11] and has expressed interest in returning to her faith.[12]

When Heigl was nine, an aunt visiting the family decided to take a number of photographs of her. After returning to her home in New York, the aunt sent the photos to a number of modeling agencies, with the permission of Heigl's parents. Within a few weeks, Heigl was signed as a child model. Almost immediately afterwards, a client slated Heigl for use in a magazine advertisement where she made her debut. She was soon earning $75 an hour posing for Sears and Lord & Taylor catalogs. Television jobs soon followed, the first in a national spot for Cheerios cereal. She made her acting debut in the 1992 movie That Night. Heigl appeared as Christina Sebastian in Steven Soderbergh's Depression-era drama King of the Hill before being cast in her first leading role in the 1994 comedy My Father the Hero. During this time, Heigl continued to attend New Canaan High School, balancing her film and modeling work with her academic studies. Heigl dropped out of New Canaan High School after her sophomore year to pursue her career in Hollywood.

In 1995, she starred in the Steven Seagal action thriller Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Heigl portrayed his 16-year-old niece travelling on a train across a mountain pass (out of communications range) to visit the grave of her deceased father with uncle Casey Ryback (Seagal), an ex-SEALS counter-terrorist expert. The main plotline has the train hi-jacked by mercenaries in Colorado, keeping her as a hostage. Much of her work in the film was opposite Morris Chestnut, Sandra Taylor and Everett McGill.

Despite an increased focus on acting, she still modeled extensively, appearing regularly in magazines such as Seventeen. She took the lead role in Disney's made-for-television film Wish Upon a Star in 1996. Also in 1996, Heigl's parents divorced and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.[7] After her high school graduation in 1997, she moved with her mother into a four-bedroom house in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles, and her mother became her manager.
In 1998, she co-starred with Peter Fonda in a re-working of the classic Shakespearian play The Tempest, set during the American Civil War. Later that year, she starred in the horror film Bride of Chucky.

In 1999, Heigl turned her attention to television when she accepted the role of Isabel Evans on the science fiction TV drama Roswell, a role that was expanded in the show's second and third seasons. Heigl had auditioned for all 3 female leads on Roswell before she was finally cast as Isabel.[13]

Heigl was frequently featured in photo essays in magazines such as Life, TV Guide, and Teen as well as FHM. She appeared in the FHM and Maxim calendars, FHM's annual "100 Sexiest Women in the World", and was featured in the Girls of Maxim Gallery.[14] In May 2006, Maxim awarded her #12 on their annual Hot 100List as well as voted the 19th "Sexiest Woman in the World" by readers of FHM magazine. While Roswell was in production, Heigl worked on several films, including 100 Girls, an independent 2001 film, and Valentine, a horror film starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards.[15]

Heigl accepted a role in Ground Zero, a television thriller scheduled to be telecast that fall which was based on the bestselling James Mills novel The Seventh Power, in the spring of 2001. She co-starred as a brilliant and politically-concerned college student who helps to build a nuclear device to illustrate the need for a change in national priorities. The device ends up in the hands of a terrorist following betrayal by a fellow student. However, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the film was shelved when its plot was considered inappropriate. It reemerged in 2003 under the title Critical Assembly. After the attacks, Heigl recorded a public service announcement for the American Red Cross in an effort to help raise money for victims.
In 2003, Heigl appeared in three television movies. She returned to the horror genre with Evil Never Dies, a modern-day variation on the Frankenstein story co-starring Thomas Gibson. Love Comes Softly, for Hallmark Entertainment, found Heigl starring as Marty Claridge, a young, pregnant newlywed traveling west. (She reprised the role of Marty in the sequel Love's Enduring Promise the next year.) Heigl played Isabella Linton in MTV's modern revamp of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. In October 2003, Heigl was cast opposite Johnny Knoxville in The Ringer, a Farrelly brothers comedy that was released in December 2005. Heigl starred as Romy in the 2005 television movie Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, a prequel to the 1997 film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. In 2005 Heigl also starred in the low budget horror flick Zyzzyx Road.

In 2005, Heigl was cast in what would become her most high-profile role, as intern Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, an ABC medical drama. The show, originally introduced as a mid-season replacement, has become a huge ratings success. The same year, Heigl landed the starring role in the independent film Side Effects,[16] about marketing and the pharmaceutical industry. In late 2006, Heigl was nominated for a Golden Globe award in the category, Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series, or Motion Picture Made for Television for her work on Grey's Anatomy. Also in 2006, she filmed Knocked Up, a comedy from writer/director Judd Apatow, starring opposite Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and Apatow's real life wife, Leslie Mann. Upon its June 2007 theatrical release, the film received largely positive reviews from critics, and proved to be a box office success. She has been on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list twice as of 2007.
On September 16, 2007, Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzie Stevens. In her acceptance speech she acknowledged that even her mother did not believe she would win, and when her name was called, she had to be censored vocally by the telecast's producers, due to her saying "Shit!" when she reacted to the win.[17] Earlier, she had corrected telecast announcer Rebecca Riedy, who had been given an incorrect phonetic spelling of Heigl's name, when she mispronounced her name as Hi-jell before the presentation of the award with Kyle Chandler for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. She starred in the film, 27 Dresses which was released in January 2008, playing alongside James Marsden.

Katherine Heigl was announced the Most Desirable Woman of 2008, according to AskMen.com.[18]
There was some speculation that Katherine Heigl may be leaving Grey's Anatomy. This speculation revolves around her refusal to put her name in for Emmy Award consideration and the time she has devoted to producing a film version of Carolyn Jessop's book Escape.[19][20][21][22][23] However, despite some displeasure about the previous season, she decided to stay on Grey's Anatomy.[24][25] "Grey's" showrunner Shonda Rhimes said she was not insulted by Heigl's Emmy withdrawal, but also noted Izzy had less to do last season because Heigl asked for a light work schedule. [26]


Despite Heigl's constant reassurances that she is "quite boring... really,"[27] Movie Entertainment called Heigl a complex individual with many contrasts, referring to her as an "ex-model with a strong feminist streak" and an "actress known for her dramatic roles who really wants to do comedy."[28]
In the wake of widespread media attention to accusations of sexism (including articles in New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Guardian, Vanity Fair and People) against director and producer Judd Apatow and his film Knocked Up,[29][30][31][32][33][34] Heigl has been tagged as a potentially important and assertive modern proponent of women's rights.[32]

In a highly-publicized Vanity Fair interview, as one of the lead actors in the hit film Knocked Up, Heigl admitted that though she enjoyed working with Apatow and Rogen, she had a hard time enjoying the film itself. She called the movie "a little sexist," claiming that the film "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."[35][36] Following Heigl's controversial comments, an online survey of 927 individuals was performed by lifestyle publication Buzzsugar (a media product of Sugar Publishing) in which the majority (59%) of movie-goers agreed that Knocked Up was sexist or could be viewed as sexist (although 38% were not personally offended) while 37% of viewers saw the film as devoid of sexist aspects.[37] In his review for The Guardian, humorist Joe Queenan called Knocked Up "the latest in a new genre of romantic comedies in which an unappealing hero gets together with a gorgeous, successful woman."[38]
Heigl's comments spurred widespread reaction in the media, primarily consisting of personal attacks in which she was called "an ungrateful traitor," "hypocrite," and "assertive, impatient go-getter who quickly tired of waiting for her boyfriend to propose," in some cases debasing her religious beliefs and criticizing her private relationships.[39][40] Heigl clarified her remarks to People magazine, stating that, "My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously and to remember that it's a broad comedy," adding that, "Although I stand behind my opinion, I'm disheartened that it has become the focus of my experience with the movie."[41]
The Guardian noted that Heigl's comments "provoked quite a backlash, and Heigl was described as ungrateful and a traitor. Some people even suggested she would never work again," remarks which in retrospect were not only proved demonstratively wrong but the publicity and promotion in the wake of her comments may well have propelled Heigl's career.[42]
Following her newest film release, 27 Dresses, the New York Post expressed some disappointment with the mismatch of Heigl's talent with the "chick-flick" triviality of the film, suggesting that Heigl might be more compatible "with female directors such as Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) or Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)...."[43] On the other hand, her newest project, The Ugly Truth, has been touted as "a battle of the sexes."

Heigl dated Joey Lawrence in 1994[44] and Roswell costar Jason Behr during the run of the series.[45][7] In June 2006, she became engaged to singer Josh Kelley, whom she met on the set of his music video for "Only You."[46] They were married on December 23, 2007 in Park City, Utah. For their honeymoon they went to the Esperanza resort in Cabo San Lucas. In December 2007, Heigl and Kelley moved into a new home in Los Feliz, California.

At the end of 2007, Barbara Walters named Heigl one of "The 11 Most Fascinating People of 2007 " on an ABC program of that title. Heigl questioned her inclusion on the list, saying that in fact she is actually "quite boring.....not, just kidding, but really".[27]

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Who is Scarlett I. Johansson?

Who is Scarlett I. Johansson?[1] Johansson is an actress and singer of American and Danish citizenship.[2] Johansson rose to fame with her role in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and subsequently gained critical acclaim for her roles in Ghost World, Lost in Translation (for which she won a BAFTA), and Girl with a Pearl Earring, the latter two earning her Golden Globe Award nominations in 2003.
On May 20, 2008, Johansson debuted as a vocalist on her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, with cover versions of Tom Waits songs.

Johansson was born November 22, 1984 in New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was a screenwriter and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx.[3][4][5][6] Johansson's parents met in Denmark, where her mother lived with Johansson's maternal grandmother, Dorothy, a former bookkeeper and schoolteacher.[7] Johansson has an older sister, Vanessa, who is also an actress; an older brother, Adrian; a twin brother, Hunter (whose only film, Manny & Lo, starred Scarlett);[8] and a half-brother, Christian, from her father's re-marriage.
Johansson grew up in a household with "little money"[5] with a mother who was a "film buff".[9] Johansson began her theater training by attending and graduating from Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2002. She attended P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village for elementary school.


Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother began taking her to auditions.[5] She made her film debut in 1994's North. After appearing in several films during the late 1990s, including a very brief appearance in the Mandy Moore video for her single "Candy", Johansson garnered praise and widespread attention for her performance in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and 2001's Ghost World.
She won the "Upstream Prize" for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in 2003's Lost in Translation. The same year, she was nominated for two Best Actress awards at the Golden Globes, one for drama (Girl with a Pearl Earring) and one for comedy (Lost in Translation). She was also nominated for Best Actress for both films at the BAFTAs, and won Best Actress for Lost in Translation.
Johansson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2004.[10] In the same year, she starred in the films The Perfect Score, In Good Company and A Love Song for Bobby Long, the last of which earned her a third Golden Globe Award nomination. Johansson was involved for a short time with the film Mission: Impossible III, but was not officially cast because of scheduling conflicts, although a falling out with the film's star, Tom Cruise, had been both widely reported and publicly denied.[11] She was replaced by Keri Russell.
In July 2005, Johansson starred with Ewan McGregor in Michael Bay's The Island, making her debut as a female lead in a mainstream action film. In the same year, she starred in the Woody Allen-directed drama Match Point, which opened in December. Johansson received her fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role, but lost to Rachel Weisz.
Johansson's next film, Scoop, another collaboration with Allen, was released on July 28, 2006. The same year, she appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a film noir shot in Los Angeles and Bulgaria. Johansson has noted that she was a De Palma fan and had wanted to work with him on the film, even though she thought that she was "physically wrong" for the part.[12] Her reviews were mixed: CNN.com noted that Johansson "takes to the pulpy period atmosphere as if it were oxygen,"[13] whereas the Kalamazoo Gazette referred to Johansson as "miscast."[14]

On January 14, 2006, Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live. Also in 2006, Johansson starred in a short film directed by Bennett Miller and set to Bob Dylan's "When the Deal Goes Down...", released to promote Dylan's album, Modern Times.[15] Johansson also appeared in the Christopher Nolan thriller The Prestige, which opened on October 20, 2006. She made a return appearance on Saturday Night Live on April 21, 2007, during which she dueted with Andy Samberg for a version of Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About."


Johansson next appeared in 2007's The Nanny Diaries, starring alongside Laura Linney, and 2008's The Other Boleyn Girl, opposite Natalie Portman and Eric Bana.[16] She has filmed her third Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, in Spain.[17]
Johansson played femme fatale Silken Floss in Frank Miller's noir comedy adaptation of Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. The film was released in US theaters on December 25th, 2008. In 2009, she had a role as a yoga instructor in He's Just Not That Into You. Johansson will also portray Mary, Queen of Scots in a film.[18][19]


In 2005, Johansson was considered for the role of Maria[20] in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of The Sound of Music, though the role ultimately went to newcomer Connie Fisher after she won BBC's talent show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?[21] Released May 8, 2006, Johansson sang the track "Summertime" for Unexpected Dreams – Songs from the Stars, a non-profit collection of songs recorded by Hollywood actors. She also performed with The Jesus And Mary Chain for a special Coachella Reunion Show in Indio, California in April 2007.[22]
In 2007, she appeared as the leading lady in Justin Timberlake's music video for "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around," nominated in August 2007 for video of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards.[23] The filming of the video took place in Los Angeles.[24] The video sparked rumours of a romance between Johansson and Timberlake.[25]

In the summer of 2007, Johansson spent about a month in Maurice, Louisiana recording an album at Dockside Studio, a rural 12-acre (49,000 m2) complex. The album consists of one original song and ten cover versions of Tom Waits songs.[26][9] It was produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and features David Bowie, members from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs[27][28] and Celebration.[29][30] The record, entitled Anywhere I Lay My Head was released on May 20, 2008, through Atco/Rhino Records,[31][32] amid a negative "critical consensus, stretching from comments on Gawker.com to the pages of The New York Times."[33][34] Reviews of the album were mixed to somewhat positive.[35] Criticisms include her sub-par Ann Wilson-style vocal abilities and the perceived failure to add a new dimension to the well-established classics she chose to cover. Conversely, some critics found it to be surprisingly alluring,[36] brave in its eccentric selection,[37] and even brilliant.[38] The album was named the '23rd best album of 2008' by NME.[39] Of her album, what Johansson had to say was, “I had this golden opportunity to record and thought I would do maybe an album of standards, because I’m not a songwriter. I’m a vocalist.” [40] Johansson said for her recording she "wanted to have space and [she] wanted to be in a remote place where all of us could just be ourselves and not worry about anyone trying to listen in or get in on that." [41] Johansson said in an interview that she started listening to Tom Waits when she was 11 or 12. [42] Of Tom Waits, Johansson said in an interview, "his melodies are so beautiful, his voice is so distinct and I had my own way of doing Tom Waits songs." [43]

In December 2008, MTV reported Johansson plans to follow-up Anywhere I Lay My Head with an album of all original music, telling MTV, “I don’t think I’d do covers, so it’d be a project that I have to dedicate myself to. I feel like that’s something for the future.”[44]
In 2009, Johansson covered Jeff Buckley's Last Goodbye for the soundtrack of He's Just Not That Into You.[45]

[Johansson does not discuss her personal life with the press, saying "it's nice to have everybody not know your business." This has not stopped Johansson from sharing "select" opinions and personal details.[46] Johansson's ex-boyfriend (and member of the band Steel Train), Jack Antonoff, wrote lyrics that refer to Johansson in the song "Better Love."[47] Antonoff alludes to Johansson in the song "2 O'clock." She has been linked to many famous men, including Derek Jeter,[48] Benicio del Toro,[49] Jared Leto,[48] Justin Timberlake[50] and her Black Dahlia co-star Josh Hartnett. They dated for about two years until the end of 2006, with Hartnett citing their busy lives as the reason for the split.[51]

She started dating Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds in 2007,[52] and on May 5, 2008, it was reported that the two were engaged.[53]
On September 27, 2008, Johansson and Reynolds were married at a quiet ceremony outside Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[54][55] Johansson has expressed a concern about the potential conflict between the nature of human beings and the concept of monogamy. However, she has also stated "contrary to popular belief... [I am] not promiscuous" and that she works "really hard" when she's in a relationship "to make it work in a monogamous way."[56] She gets tested for HIV twice a year, and has said "it's part of being a decent human" and it is "disgusting" and "irresponsible" when people do not do so.[57]

Johansson is close to her twin brother Hunter, and often gives him advice on women and dating.[58]
She has criticized the media and Hollywood for promoting an image that causes unhealthy diets and eating disorders among women, saying "that being ultra-thin is not sexy at all. Women shouldn't be forced to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body images that the media promote."[59] Johansson appeared on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Vanity Fair in the nude alongside actress Keira Knightley and fashion designer Tom Ford.[60] In March 2006, she topped the U.S. edition of FHM's poll of the sexiest women alive (in the UK edition Johansson was third). In 2007, Maxim named Johansson #3 in their Hot 100 issue.[61] In November 2006, Johansson was named "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire.[62] In February 2007, she was named the "Sexiest Celebrity" of the year by Playboy.[63]

About her religious affiliation, Johansson says: "That's a very personal question. I would rather not answer." She celebrates a "little of both" referring to Christmas and Hanukkah.[64] She dislikes when celebrities thank God or Jesus in their award acceptance speeches.[65] She described herself as Jewish when she was talking about Woody Allen. "I just adore Woody," she says. "We have a lot in common. We're New Yorkers, Jewish. We have a very easygoing relationship."[66]

Johansson is a Global Ambassador for the aid and development agency, Oxfam.[67] On March 14, 2008, a UK-based bidder by the name of Bossnour paid £20,000 for a 20 minute date with Johansson on an online auction for Oxfam on eBay. The bidder paid for a hair and make up treatment and the chance to accompany Johansson on her July premiere of He's Just Not That Into You.[68]
She is a fan of the children's television show SpongeBob Squarepants. She supplied the voice of Mindy the Mermaid in The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie.
Together with Michael Caine, she co-hosted the 2008 Nobel Peace Concert.

Johansson is a Democrat. In 2004, she campaigned for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.[9] She was quoted as saying of George W. Bush's re-election, "[I am] disappointed. I think it was a disappointment for a large percentage of the population."[69] Johansson campaigned for Barack Obama in Iowa on January 2, 2008; her efforts were targeted at small groups of younger voters, including Cornell College students[70] and students at St. Paul Central in Minnesota on Super Tuesday. Johansson appeared in the 2008 music video for Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am's song, "Yes We Can", directed by Jesse Dylan. The song was inspired by Obama's speech following the 2008 New Hampshire primary. According to the FEC's website, she donated the maximum allowed amount of $2300 to the Obama campaign on May 8, 2008.
Johansson has also taken part in the anti-poverty campaign ONE which was organized by U2 lead singer Bono.[9]

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