Who is Mary Lynn Rajskub

Who is Mary Lynn Rajskub (sometimes credited as Marylynn Rajskub)? She is an American actress, artist and stand-up comedian of Czech and Irish descent.

Rajskub's most notable role is CTU tech analyst Chloe O'Brian on 24, which she joined in 2003 at the start of the show's third season. Her character was a hit with viewers and critics and was one of the few cast members to return in the show's fourth season. After being a regular guest star for two seasons, Rajskub became a main cast member in the show's fifth season. She is now lead female, with top billing second only to Kiefer Sutherland. Rajskub and Sutherland appeared briefly as their 24 characters in a 2007 episode, "24 Minutes", of the FOX TV animated series The Simpsons.
She became one of the original cast members of Mr. Show, and also had roles on The Larry Sanders Show, Home Movies, Veronica's Closet, the US version of The Sketch Show, NewsRadio, and 24.
She appeared in Kelsey Grammer's The Sketch Show on Fox Television, King of Queens as a character named "Priscilla", a waitress at a pirate-themed kiddie restaurant in an episode of Newsradio ("The Secret of Management"), and in numerous films including Mysterious Skin, Legally Blonde 2, Sweet Home Alabama, Dude, Where's My Car?, Man on the Moon, Punch-Drunk Love, The Anniversary Party, Firewall, Little Miss Sunshine, music videos for Beck and Weezer, as well as portraying a blind girl in the film Road Trip.
She is also a skilled guitar player and was part of a comic duo (with Karen Kilgariff) called Girls Guitar Club. In 2006, she made a cameo appearance in "Partings", the 6th season finale of Gilmore Girls, where she played a troubadour looking for her big break. (Rajskub had previously appeared on Gilmore Girls as the female lead in A Film by Kirk, a short film made by the character Kirk Gleason).
Rajskub has volunteered as an actress with the Young Storytellers Program. She has an educational background as a painter, having attended the San Francisco Art Institute.
She has been nominated twice for a Screen Actors Guild Award; once in 2005, and again in 2007 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.


She was born June 22, 1971and raised in Trenton, Michigan, Rajskub later moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a waitress in a Hard Rock Cafe and as a ticket-taker at the Beverly Center movie theater before becoming an actress.
Her son, Valentine Anthony, was born on July 24, 2008, two weeks past Mary Lynn's due date weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces.
Rajskub dated the renowned music producer Jon Brion for 5 years until they broke up in the fall of 2002.

During her time on Mr. Show, she also dated David Cross, leaving the show when they broke up after the end of the second season. more

Who is Kate Elizabeth Winslet

Who is Kate Elizabeth Winslet? She is an English actress and singer. She is noted for having played a wide range of diverse characters over her career, but is probably best-known for her critically acclaimed performances as Juliet Hulme in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997), Iris Murdoch in Iris (2001), Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Sarah Pierce in Little Children (2006).
She has received the Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTA Awards, the Grammy Award and has been nominated for five Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes and an Emmy. At the age of 22, she broke the record for the youngest person to receive two Oscar nominations,[1] and each of her subsequent nominations has broken a further record: the youngest person to receive three, four, and five nominations. David Edelstein of New York Magazine hails Winslet as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".[2]

Kate Winslet was born 5 October 1975 in Reading, England, the daughter of Sally Ann (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming-pool contractor.[3] Both of her parents were also actors. Her maternal grandparents, Linda (Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory, and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver! Her sisters, Beth Winslet and Anna Winslet, are also actresses.
Winslet, raised as an Anglican, began studying drama at the age of eleven at the Redroofs Theatre School,[4] a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl and appeared in a television commercial for Sugar Puffs cereal, directed by Tim Pope. Throughout her adolescence, she was severely bullied for being overweight and having large feet (which she inherited from her mother).[5][6]

Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season in 1991. This was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV movie Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992 and an episode of medical drama Casualty in 1993, also for the BBC.
Her film career took off with praise and recognition in 1994 when she starred in a joint leading role, as Juliet Hulme in director Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed Heavenly Creatures, playing a vivacious and imaginative teen who helps her best friend (played by Melanie Lynskey) murder her mother, when they are not allowed to be together.
This role was followed by the successful film Sense and Sensibility (co-starring Emma Thompson), which made her well-known, especially in the UK. Winslet became famous worldwide after the 1997 release of Titanic, a massive hit which holds the record as highest-grossing film in history at more than US$1.8 billion in box-office worldwide. It went on to win 11 Academy Awards.[1]
She was also originally cast as Nola Rice in Woody Allen's movie, Match Point, but declined. She stated she had just finished two movies and wanted to spend time with her kids. The part went to Scarlett Johansson.
Winslet has been regarded as something of a critics' darling, generally receiving positive reviews for every one of her films. Despite Titanic's success, she has continued making lower-budget, independent films, including Hideous Kinky and Holy Smoke!; her roles in these smaller, more artistic films appear to be one of choice—she turned down the lead in Shakespeare in Love to make Hideous Kinky; ironically, she appeared as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. She was even considered for the role of Satine in "Moulin Rouge!". Throughout her career, she often turned down roles in high profile films, such as Anna and the King and Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She has also taken several roles in studio "period dramas" like Quills, Titanic and Finding Neverland. For a time, she was given the nickname "Corset Kate".
In 2005, Winslet appeared in a television commercial for American Express. As part of the "My Life, My Card" campaign, the ad shows Winslet strolling around Camden Lock, in London, as she makes references to all the events that have happened to her film characters: going to prison for murder (Heavenly Creatures), being penniless and heartbroken (Sense and Sensibility), almost drowning (Titanic), losing her mind (Hamlet), having her memory erased (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and being in Neverland (Finding Neverland). During the ad, she is shown holding items relating to her films; during the reference to Sense and Sensibility she thumbs through a copy of the book, and when she references Finding Neverland, she's holding a hook. When Winslet talks about nearly drowning at age 20 in Titanic, she is walking over a bridge with water underneath it, in reference to the iceberg and water seen in the film.

Winslet also appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras in August 2005, as a satirical version of 'herself'. She memorably told Andy and Maggie, the two characters who star in the series, that she was doing a film about the Holocaust because she was tired of losing out on Oscars, as at the time she had been nominated four times, and that everyone who does a film about the Holocaust wins an Oscar. She also (while dressed as a nun) was shown giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged Maggie. Ricky Gervais (who is a native of the same town as Winslet, Reading, as is her husband Sam Mendes) later said on NPR that she was his favorite guest star.[7] Her performance in the episode did lead to her being nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series, but she did not win.
As of March 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio signed to co-star in Revolutionary Road with Winslet as Frank and April Wheeler, a 1950s couple who appear content on the surface but are withering internally. The film will be the first to reunite the notable duo, who have remained close since their first pairing in Titanic.

There are also talks that Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes and his production company, Neal Street Productions, purchased the film rights to the long-delayed biography of circus tiger tamer Mabel Stark. Winslet has stated that she has been eager to portray this complex woman for three years now and is looking forward to working with her husband on bringing this to the screen. (See Mabel Stark's page for more information on the project.)


Winslet has also enjoyed a brief taste of success as a singer, with her single What If from the soundtrack of Christmas Carol: The Movie, which reached #1 in Ireland and #6 in the UK (she also filmed a music video for the song). She has also participated in a duet with "Weird Al" Yankovic on the Sandra Boynton CD Dog Train, and sang in the 2006 film Romance and Cigarettes. She also sang an aria from La Boheme, called "Sono andati", in her film Heavenly Creatures, which is featured on the film's soundtrack. She was considered for the lead in Moulin Rouge! (which eventually went to Nicole Kidman); had she taken the part, she would have sung the full soundtrack.

While on the set of Dark Season, Winslet started a five-year romance with actor and writer Stephen Tredre. They moved to London during their relationship.

After their romance, she began a relationship with Rufus Sewell. After filming Titanic, Tredre died of bone cancer. Winslet was not at the premiere of Titanic because she was attending his funeral in London. She is good friends with Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.[8]

On 22 November 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton. The two have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on 12 October 2000. After a divorce in 2001, Winslet began a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son, Joe Alfie Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003. On the Tonight Show on 15 December 2008 Kate said that Joe Alfie currently prefers to be called Travier.
The media, particularly in England, have enthusiastically documented her weight fluctuations over the years. Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to lose weight in order to conform to the Hollywood ideal. In February 2003, the British edition of Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine published photographs of Winslet which had been digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner than she really was; Winslet issued a statement saying that the alterations were made without her consent. GQ issued an apology in the subsequent issue.

Winslet and her husband Mendes currently reside in New York City. They also own a manor house in the tiny village of Church Westcote in Gloucestershire, England. Winslet and Mendes spent £3 million on the secluded Westcote Manor, a rambling Grade II-listed house with eight bedrooms, set in 22 acres. They have reportedly spent more than £1 million on interior renovations, as well as restoring the original water garden, mulberry garden and orchard, all of which fell into disrepair when the former owner, equestrian artist Raoul Millais, died in 1999. more

Who is Julianne Hough?

Who is Julianne Hough (pronounced huff)? She is an American professional ballroom dancer and country music singer. She is most-widely known for her repeated appearances on ABC's program, Dancing with the Stars, which she won twice. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for her choreography. ABC's 20/20 called her one of the "very best dancers on the planet."[1] Julianne's brother, Derek Hough, is also on Dancing with the Stars. Hough was signed to Mercury Nashville Records in December 2007. Her self-titled debut album was released May 20, 2008, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart and #3 on the Billboard 200. This season Hough was partnered with Cody Linley.

Hough was born July 20, 1988, she grew up one of five[2][3] children from an LDS (Mormon) family in Salt Lake City. Her brother Derek Hough is also a professional dancer. She has three sisters named Sharee, Marabeth, and Katherine. All four of her grandparents were dancers, and her parents met while on a ballroom dancing team in college in Idaho.
Her formal training began at the Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Orem, Utah, where she danced with Josh Murillo, among others, in Latin Ballroom; she began dancing competitively at nine. Her parents sent her and her brother to London for a year later to live and study with their coaches, Corky and Shirley Ballas, and to spare them the strife of divorce.[4] The Ballas' helped tutor the two Hough children alongside their own son, Mark, while schooling them at the Italia Conti Academy. They received training in song, theatre, gymnastics and many forms of dance, including jazz, ballet, and tap.[5][4] The three children formed their own pop music trio 2B1G ("2 Boys, 1 Girl") when Julianne was twelve,[6] performed at dance competitions in the U.K. and the U.S., and showcased in a UK television show.[7] At fifteen, Julianne Hough became the youngest dancer, and only American, to win both Junior World Latin Champion and International Latin Youth Champion at the Blackpool Dance Festival.
After five years in London, Hough returned to the U.S., first living with her mother for a year and attending Las Vegas Academy then returning to Utah to live with her father and graduating from Alta High.[8] She then moved on her own to Los Angeles to begin her career.

Hough's big break was when she appeared in the fourth season of the U.S. version of Dancing with the Stars, a televised ballroom dance competition. In her first season, she won with her partner, Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, making Hough the youngest professional dancer to win on the program. On November 27, 2007, Hough and her partner, two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves, became the winners of Season 5. Hough returned for season 6 with radio host/comedian Adam Carolla, but they were eliminated in the fourth week. In July 2008, Hough was nominated at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of "Outstanding Choreography" for her Mambo "Para Los Rumberos" (performed with partner Hélio Castroneves) on Dancing with the Stars,[9] but lost to choreographer Wade Robson.
On August 25, 2008, the cast of Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) was announced, and Hough was partnered with Hannah Montana actor Cody Linley.[10] She was feeling stomach pains during her jitterbug performance and was immediately rushed to a hospital following the encore performance of her jitterbug with Cody. She subsequently had surgery to have her appendix removed on October 28, and now Linley and Hough "turned the time over to" Edyta Śliwińska. Hough hoped for a quick recovery so she could begin dancing again. She began training Cody again, but they were ultimately eliminated in the Semifinals Competition. She also appeared on the November 12 results show dancing the jive to Great Balls of Fire with her brother, Derek Hough, for the "Design-A-Dance" contest. Julianne and Derek were selected the favorite pros on the show by an online vote at ABC.com and won the honor of doing this special audience designed dance.
On November 20, 2008, Julianne told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show she would not be returning for the foreseeable future to Dancing with the Stars in order to further her country music career.[11]
Hough's first country music single "Will You Dance With Me" was released to iTunes and Wal-Mart in May 2007 to raise money for the American Red Cross. The song peaked at #100 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart.[12] She later signed with Universal Music Group Nashville.
Her self-titled debut album was recorded in Nashville and produced by David Malloy, who has worked with Reba McEntire, Eddie Rabbitt, among others. Hough's album, which met with mixed reviews,[13][14] debuted at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart on May 31, and also peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200.[15] Hough's second single, and the first to be released to country radio, "That Song in My Head" debuted on the Country charts in March.
Hough joined Brad Paisley's 2008 Tour, along with Jewel and Chuck Wicks. Hough, Paisley and Willie Nelson appear in the video for the Snoop Dogg song "My Medicine".[16]
Later in 2008, Hough released an EP of Christmas music entitled Sounds of the Season: The Julianne Hough Holiday Collection, which is available exclusively at Target stores.
On November 18, she performed her second single "My Hallelujah Song" at Dancing With the Stars, with her brother, Derek Hough, Mark Ballas and Lacey Schwimmer dancing. She also was eliminated off the show, being in 4th place.


Hough was previously engaged to dancer Zachary Wilson; they ended their engagement in May 2007.[17] Despite various rumors linking her romantically with various Dancing With the Stars partners,[18] and public courting by Kevin Connolly of Entourage fame,[19] Hough's first public relationship after Wilson was with country singer Chuck Wicks.[20] On December 2. 2008, TV Guide reported that Hough is hoping that Wicks will propose in the near future.[21]

Julianne Hough was diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a common condition in which tissue from the uterus lining grows outside the uterus. It often causes painful cysts and possibly infertility. Hough, 20, had to undergo an appendectomy in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on October 28, 2008 to remove her appendix, a cyst on her ovary, and scar tissue that had formed on her bladder and fallopian tubes.[22] more