Emma Watson

Born: Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson

15 April 1990 (1990-04-15) (age 19)

Paris, France,

Occupation: Actress
Years active: 2001–present

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is a British actress who rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously only acted in school plays.From 2001 to 2009, she starred in six Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint; she will return for the final two installments: the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Watson's work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million.
In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million, and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed over US $70 million in worldwide sales.

Early life:
Emma Watson was born in Paris, the daughter of British lawyers Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson.Watson has one French grandmother, and lived in Paris until the age of five. She later moved with her mother and younger brother, Alex, to Oxfordshire, following her parents' divorce.[From the age of six, Watson wanted to become an actress, and for a number of years, she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing, and acting.By age 10, she had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince, but she had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film series", she stated in a 2007 interview with Parade; "if I had I would have been completely overwhelmed."

Career:
Harry Potter:
In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States), the film adaptation of British author J. K. Rowling's bestselling novel.Of importance to the casting directors were the lead role of Harry Potter and the supporting roles of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry's best friends. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher, and producers were impressed by her confidence. After eight auditions,producer David Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast for the roles of Hermione, Harry and Ron, respectively. Rowling supported Watson from her first screen test.
The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 was Watson's debut screen performance. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001.Critics praised the performances of the three leads, often singling out Watson for particular acclaim; The Daily Telegraph called her performance "admirable",and IGN said she "stole the show".Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.
A year later, Watson again starred as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second installment of the series. Although the film received mixed reviews, reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances. The Los Angeles Times said Watson and her peers had matured between films,while The Times criticised director Chris Columbus for "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular character.Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Bravo for her performance.
In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. Watson was appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played, calling her character "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play".Although critics panned Radcliffe's performance, labelling him 'wooden', they praised Watson; The New York Times lauded her performance, saying "Luckily Mr. Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry may show off his expanding wizardly skills ... but Hermione ... earns the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's deserving nose". Although Prisoner of Azkaban remains the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film as of April 2009, Watson's personal performance won her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from Total Film.With Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), both Watson and the Harry Potter film series reached new milestones. The film set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, a non-May opening weekend in the US, and an opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of Watson and her teenage co-stars; the New York Times called her performance "touchingly earnest".For Watson, much of the humour of the film sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing ... I think it's much more realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems."Nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, Watson won a bronze Otto Award.Later that year, Watson became the youngest person to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue, an appearance she reprised in August 2009.In 2006, Watson played Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.

The fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in 2007. A huge financial success, the film set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of $332.7 million. Watson won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance. As the fame of the actress and the series continued, Watson and fellow Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on 9 July 2007.
Despite the success of Order of the Phoenix, the future of the Harry Potter franchise became surrounded in doubt, as all three lead actors were hesitant to sign on to continue their roles for the final two episodes. Radcliffe eventually signed for the final films on 2 March 2007,but Watson was considerably more hesitant. She explained that the decision was significant, as the films represented a further four-year commitment to the role, but eventually conceded that she "could never let [the role of] Hermione go", signing for the role on 23 March 2007. In return for committing to the final films, Watson's pay was doubled to £2 million per film; she concluded that "in the end, the pluses outweighed the minuses". Principal photography for the sixth film began in late 2007, with Watson's part being filmed from 18 December to 17 May 2008.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered on 15 July 2009, having been controversially delayed from November 2008. With the lead actors now in their late teens, critics were increasingly willing to review them on the same level as the rest of the film's all-star cast, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a comprehensive guide to contemporary UK acting". The Washington Post felt Watson to have given "[her] most charming performance to date" while The Daily Telegraph described the lead actors as "newly-liberated and energized, eager to give all they have to what’s left of the series".
Watson's filming for the final installment of the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, began on 18 February 2009. The film, divided into two parts filmed back-to-back for financial and scripting reasons, is scheduled for release in November 2010 and July 2011.
Other work:
Watson's first non-Harry Potter role was in the 2007 television film Ballet Shoes. She said of the project, "I was all set to go back to school after finishing Harry Potter [and the Order of the Phoenix] but couldn't resist Ballet Shoes. I really loved it." A BBC adaptation of Noel Streatfeild's novel of the same name, the film stars Watson as aspiring actress Pauline Fossil, the eldest of three sisters around whom the story revolves.Director Sandra Goldbacher commented, "Emma was perfect for Pauline ... She has a piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her."Ballet Shoes was broadcast on Boxing Day in the United Kingdom,to an estimated audience of 5.2 million (22% of the viewing total).The film received generally poor critical reviews, with The Times describing it as "progress[ing] with little emotional investment, or magic, or dramatic momentum".However, the performances of its cast were generally praised; The Daily Telegraph wrote that the film "was certainly well done, not least because it confirmed how good child actors are these days".Watson also took a role in the animated film The Tale of Despereaux, a children's comedy starring Matthew Broderick and Tracey Ullman which was released in December 2008.She voiced the character of Princess Pea in the film.
Watson's other media work has been limited, taking second place to the completion of higher education. Despite a storm of rumour in April 2008, linking her to the role of 'Betsy' Bonaparte in an anticipated film Napoleon and Betsy, the production never materialised.Equally, suggestions that she was to replace Keira Knightley as the face of the fashion house Chanel were flatly denied by both parties, despite being presented as a fait accompli by a major British newspaper. In April 2009, rumours emerged of a similar deal with Burberry;the contract was eventually confirmed on 9 June 2009; Watson modelling Burberry's Autumn/Winter 2009 collection for an estimated six-figure fee.As she has grown older, Watson has become something of a budding fashion devotee, saying that she sees fashion as very similar to art, which she studied in school. In September 2008, she told a blogger, "I've been focusing on art a lot, and fashion's a great extension of that On 16 September 2009, Watson announced her involvement with People Tree, a fair trade fashion brand. Watson says she has been working closely with People Tree to create a spring line of clothing (due to be released in February of 2010). The line will feature styles inspired by Southern France and the City of London.

Personal life:
Watson's extended family has grown as her divorced parents each have new partners. Her father has a son, Toby, and identical twin girls, Nina and Lucy. Her mother's partner has two sons (Watson's stepbrothers), who "regularly stay with her". Watson's full brother, Alexander, has appeared as an extra in two Harry Potter films, and her half-sisters were cast as the young Pauline Fossil in the BBC's Ballet Shoes adaptation.
After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, Watson attended The Dragon School, an independent preparatory school, until June 2003 and then moved to Headington School, an independent school for girls, also in Oxford. While on film sets, Watson and her peers were tutored for up to five hours a day; despite the focus on filming she maintained high academic standards. In June 2006, Watson took GCSE examinations in 10 subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades; she was a target of friendly ridicule on the Harry Potter set because of her straight-A exam results. She received A grades in her 2008 A level examinations in English Literature, Geography and Art, and in her 2007 AS (advanced subsidiary) level in History of Art.
After leaving school, Watson took a gap year to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows beginning in February 2009, but said she "definitely want[ed] to go to university". Despite numerous contradictory news stories, some from highly-reputable sources, claiming that she would 'definitely' attend Trinity College, Cambridge, Columbia UniversityBrown University or Yale University, Watson was reluctant to publicly commit to any one institution, saying that she would announce her decision first on her official website. In interviews with Jonathan Ross and David Letterman in July 2009, she confirmed that she was planning to study liberal arts in the United States, saying that – having missed so much school as a child for filming – the "broad curriculum" of American higher education appealed to her more than British universities, "where you have to just choose one thing to study for three years". In July 2009, after a second storm of rumour, The Providence Journal reported that Watson had "grudgingly admitted" that she had chosen Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. Watson defended her attempts to avoid announcing her choice of university – accidentally slipped by Daniel Radcliffe and producer David Heyman, during interviews publicising the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and finally confirmed in September 2009 after the university's academic year had started – saying that she "want[ed] to be normal... I want to do it properly, like everyone else. As long as I don’t walk in and see Harry Potter posters everywhere, I’ll be fine".
Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has earned her more than £10 million, and she has acknowledged she will never have to work for money – in March 2009 she was ranked 6th on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars". However, she has declined to leave school to become a full-time actress, saying "People can’t understand why I don’t want to ... but school life keeps me in touch with my friends. It keeps me in touch with reality" She has been positive about working as a child actress, saying her parents and colleagues helped make her experience a positive one. Watson enjoys a close friendship with her fellow Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, describing them as a "unique support system" for the stresses of film work, and saying that after working with them for the ten years of the film series, "they really are like my siblings".
Watson lists her interests as dancing, singing, field hockey, tennis, art, and fly fishing, and she donates to WTT (Wild Trout Trust She describes herself as "a bit of a feminist", and admires fellow actors Johnny Depp and Julia Roberts

Salma Hayek

Born: Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez

September 2, 1966 (1966-09-02) (age 43)

Occupation: Actress/producer
Years active: 1988–present
Spouse(s): François-Henri Pinault (2009 - present)

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez (born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican actress, director, and television and film producer. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.
Hayek is the first Mexican national to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She is one of the most prominent Mexican figures in Hollywood since silent film actress Dolores del Río. She is also, after Fernanda Montenegro, the second of three Latin American actresses (the other being Catalina Sandino Moreno) to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community.That same month, a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe her". In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked Hayek number 17 in their list of the "25 Smartest People in TV.

Early life:
Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, the daughter of Diana Jiménez Medina, an opera singer and talent scout, and Sami Hayek Dominguez, an oil company executive who once ran for mayor of Coatzacoalcos.Hayek's father is a Mexican of Lebanese descent who emigrated to Mexico City, while her mother is Mexican and of Spanish descent.Her first given name, Salma, is Arabic for "safe". Raised in a wealthy, devoutly Catholic family, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the age of twelve.While there, she was diagnosed with dyslexia. She was also an accomplished gymnast aspiring to compete in the Olympics, but her father prevented her from being recruited by the Mexican national team. The religious sisters running the Academy ejected Hayek, citing behavioral problems, so she returned to Mexico. She was later sent to live with her aunt in Houston, Texas, where she stayed until she was 17 years old. She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and married her first husband Cameron Switzer. To the surprise of her family, she dropped out to pursue a career as an actress.

Mexico:
At the age of 23, Hayek landed the title role in Teresa (1989), a successful Mexican telenovela that made her a star in Mexico. In 1994, Hayek starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros (Miracle Alley), which has won more awards than any other movie in the history of Mexican cinema. For her performance, Hayek was nominated for an Ariel Award.

Early Hollywood acting work:
Bikini-clad Salma Hayek, as Santanico Pandemonium, performs an erotic dance with a snake in this promotional still for From Dusk Till Dawn.
Hayek moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study acting under Stella Adler.She had limited fluency in English, which was attributed to her suffering from dyslexia. Robert Rodriguez and his producer wife Elizabeth Avellan soon gave Hayek the break she needed, a starring role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's Desperado.The movie caught Hollywood's attention, as moviegoers proved to be dazzled by Hayek as Rodriguez had been. Due to Hayek's loyalty to the director, she would later decline playing the role Catherine Zeta-Jones eventually took in The Mask of Zorro after Rodriguez abandoned the project. She also appeared in the Spy Kids trilogy.
Hayek had a starring part opposite Matthew Perry in the romantic comedy Fools Rush In. She followed her success in Desperado with a brief but memorable role as a vampire queen in From Dusk Till Dawn, in which she performed a table-top snake dance. In 1999, she co-starred in Will Smith's big-budget Wild Wild West, and played a supporting role in Kevin Smith's Dogma.In 2000, Hayek had an uncredited acting part opposite Benicio del Toro in Traffic. In 2003, she reprised her role from Desperado by appearing in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the final film of the Mariachi Trilogy.

Director, producer and actress:
Around 2000, Hayek founded film production company Ventanarosa, through which she produces film and television projects. Her first feature as a producer was 1999's El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba, Mexico's official selection for submission for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.
Frida, co-produced by Hayek, was released in 2002. Starring Hayek as Frida Kahlo, and Alfred Molina as her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, the film was directed by Julie Taymor and featured an entourage of stars in supporting and minor roles (Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, Geoffrey Rush) and cameos (Antonio Banderas). She earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.This made Hayek, along with Katy Jurado and Adriana Barraza, one of only three Mexican actresses to have been nominated for an Academy Award. The film earned two Oscars.
"In the Time of the Butterflies," is a 2001 feature film based on the Julia Álvarez book of the same name, covering the lives of the Mirabal sisters.
In the movie, Salma Hayek plays one of the sisters, Minerva, and Edward James Olmos plays the Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo whom the sisters opposed. Marc Anthony plays a brief role as Minerva's first love, and as the motivation for her later revolutionary activities.
In 2003, Hayek produced and directed the The Maldonado Miracle, a Showtime movie which won her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special.In December 2005, she directed a music video for Prince, titled "Te Amo Corazon" ("I love you, sweetheart") that featured her good friend Mia Maestro.
Hayek is an executive producer of Ugly Betty, a television series airing around the world since September 2006. Hayek adapted the series for American television with Ben Silverman, who acquired the rights and scripts from the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea in 2001. Originally intended as a half hour sitcom for NBC in 2004, the project would later be picked up by ABC for the 2006–2007 season with Silvio Horta also producing. Hayek guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Sofia Reyes, a magazine editor. She also had a cameo playing an actress in the telenovela within the show. The show quickly became a ratings hit and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series in 2007. Hayek's performance as Sofia resulted in a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.
In April 2007, Hayek finalized negotiations with MGM to become the CEO of her own Latin themed film production company, Ventanarosa.The following month she signed a two year deal with ABC to develop projects for the network through her production company, Ventanarosa.
Hayek is developing and producing La Banda, a Spanish-language romantic comedy set in Mexico, written by Issa Lopez.
Hayek recently had a guest stint on 30 Rock as Elisa, the nurse for Jack Donaghy's mother, for whom Jack falls.
Hayek will star as the wife of Adam Sandler in Grown Ups, which also co-stars Chris Rock and Kevin James.

Personal life:
Hayek is a naturalized U.S. citizen.She dated actor Edward Norton between 1999 and 2003, and then Josh Lucas in 2003. She is a good friend of Spanish actress Penélope Cruz and co-starred with her in the 2006 film Bandidas. Hayek studied at Ramtha's School of EnlightenmentHer brother, Sami Hayekis a designer with his own line of products at Target and clients that include Louis Vuitton, Brad Pitt, and the Mexican Government.
On March 9, 2007, Hayek confirmed she was expecting her first child with PPR CEO François-Henri Pinault. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. On July 18, 2008, Hayek and Pinault announced the end of their engagement. They later reconciled and were married on Valentine's Day, 2009 in Paris.On April 25, 2009, they were married a second time in Venice
Advocacy:
On July 19, 2005, Hayek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. In February 2006, she donated $25,000 to a Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, shelter for battered women and another $50,000 to Monterrey based anti-domestic violence groups.
Since the birth of her daughter, Hayek has worked to help mothers in developing nations worldwide, teaming up with Pampers and UNICEF to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. She is a global spokesperson for the Pampers/UNICEF partnership 1 Pack = 1 Vaccine to help raise awareness of the program.
Hayek also advocates breastfeeding, because of its benefits, including building stronger infant immune systems. During a UNICEF fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone, she breastfed a hungry week-old baby whose mother could not produce milk.
Honors:
Recipient of Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award in October 2001.
Recipient of Producers Guild of America Celebration of Diversity Award in 2003.
Recipient of Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year Award in February 2006.
Recipient of Time Magazine 25 Most Influential Hispanics in 2005.

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline wedding pictures

Britney Spears was first wed to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander on January 3, 2004. The marriage took place in Las Vegas at The Little White Wedding Chapel. This wedding was promptly annulled two days later.
In July of the same year (2004) Britney announced her engagement to Kevin Federline, three months after they met. Other wise known as “K-Fed”. They were married September 18, 2004 at a residence in Studio City, California.
The world waited with baited breath for the divorce announcement which finally arrived in November 2006. Rumour has it Britney text messaged Kevin with the news.Federline had recently been in a relationship with actress Shar Jackson, who was eight months pregnant with their second child.

Alyssa Milano Married David Bugliari

We’re sorry for those who looked at Alyssa Milano as at a sort of a real life version of Mary in There’s Something About Mary. It’s true that you guys, had every reason to adore her as she has always been the perfect woman - the pretty girl next door who’s totally into sports and her family. However, she’s officially off the market now so there’s no chance for one of you to become her Prince Charming.Milano married her own Prince Charming, boyfriend of three years and Hollywood agent, David Bugliari, in New Jersey on Saturday. According to People magazine, the couple were married in a traditional ceremony at his family’s estate in New Jersey on the weekend. The couple exchanged traditional vows under a wrought-iron gazebo decorated with willow, calla lilies and roses. Among the guests was actor Bradley Cooper, a friend of the groom.

“We wanted a wedding that was reflective of who we are as a couple” says Charmed star Milano, 36, who calls meeting her husband in 2006 “a lovely gift.”“My Italian family still eats Sunday dinner together every week,” she told People.“We wanted to capture the same feeling with people passing around beautiful bowls of food and talking and laughing.”At the reception, Milano, who wore a custom gown by Vera Wang and holding a bouquet of lily of the valley flowers, walked down an aisle strewn with cream-colored rose petals and natural grass, walked down the aisle to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and then tweeted, “Happiest. Day. Of. My. Life.” But while Milano wore a Vera Wang gown and had a custom-made engagement ring, the ceremony itself was rustic (and put together by celeb event planner Colin Cowie). Following the ceremony, wooden signs directed guests to the cocktail area, decorated with rattan furniture and hay bales serving as cocktail tables. The reception was family style, with everyone seated at farmhouse tables under a tent.The newlyweds met in 2006 and got engaged in December, when Bugliari, an agent at the Creative Artists Agency, proposed to his Princess with a ring he designed and made by Jim Lavi at Daniel Jewelry in La Jolla, Calif.This is Milano’s second marriage. She was briefly married to musician Cinjun Tate in 1999.

Aishwarya Rai

Born on November 1, 1973 in Manglore, India, Aishwarya Rai was born into a well-educated family and raised by her mother, who held a teaching degree, and her father, a marine engineer.
At age 4 Aishwarya, along with her older brother, moved with their parents to Bombay where she would eventually major in architecture at the Rachana Institute.
With natural beauty, charm and intelligence, Rai also modeled professionally - which led to her entering beauty contests and, ultimately, winning the title of Miss World in 1994.
A series of modeling assignments followed when Bollywood inevitably beckoned. Rai soon landed her first film role in the critically acclaimed Iruvar in 1997.
From Miss World to Bollywood
Pronounced Ush-war-ya Rye (or Ash as she is popularly known), Aishwarya Rai has been a major international star ever since her role in Rahul Rawail's Aur Paar Ho Gaya won her the Best Female Debutante Award.
She also has been awarded Best Actress by FilmFare and Zee Cine for her work in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and nominated for performances in Mohabbatein and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai.

Worldwide acclaim finally came in 2002 with her appearance opposite Shahrukh Khan in Devdas, the first Bollywood picture to receive a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival, which later broke box-office records in India and the United States.
Today, Aishwarya Rai is the actress that Julia Roberts calls "the most beautiful woman in the world." Rai has graced the covers of magazines worldwide, including the India edition of TIME Magazine as well as appearances in publications ranging from The Rolling Stone to the UK's Hello! Magazine

From Bollywood to Hollywood
Can Aishwarya Rai Get Any Sexier?

Rai's inevitable debut in Hollywood came with a starring role appearance in Bride and Prejudice, a re-working of the Jane Austin novel directed by Bend It Like Beckham director, Gurinder Chadha, which had its U.S. release in Feburary, 2005.
In her claim to Tinsel Town stardom, Rai appeared on American TV in a nationally televised interview on '60 Minutes' and on The Late Show with David Letterman.
In 2005, the actress was followed everywhere by paparazzi when she made a surprise appearance at the opening of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and was a major focus of attention on the Oprah Winfrey June 2005 special, Women Across the Globe.
Meanwhile, Rai wrapped up filming on her biggest Hollywood film to date playing a Byzantine warrior princess in The Last Legion, co-starring with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley.
Another recent film, Provoked, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May followed by a critically acclaimed worldwide release.
One Scandal... and a Wedding
Aishwarya RaiYahoo! Photo Gallery
Back in Bollywood in 2007, the actress was at the center of controversy when a kissing scene in "Dhoom 2" so outraged lawyer Shalendra Dwivedi that he filed a criminal case against the actress and co-star Hrithik Roshan for public lewdness and obscenity.
However, that news was quickly eclipsed by wedding plans to actor Abhishek Bachchan with whom Rai co-stars in Guru.
The official wedding day finally arrived on April 20 when a quiet, private ceremony was attended by close friends and family. The wedding was preceded by a tradtional Sangeet (music) celebration and a mehendi (henna) ceremony.
By Hollywood standards, the nuptials were successfully guarded from an anticipated media circus, dramatically punctuated by one bizarre incident in which a fledgling actress - claiming to be groom's secret lover - publicly slit her wrists in protest.
Zee News:Abhi & Ash

Abhishek Bachchan, son of superstar Amitabh Bachchan, was at one time engaged to former actress Karisma Kapoor. It was the first marriage for both Bollywood stars.
In February, Ash's fortunes continued to rise when she won the Star of the Year Award (female) at the Max Stardust Awards held in Mumbai for her performance in Dhoom 2, the same role in which she was nominated as Best Actress at the annual FilmFare Awards.
In August, Rai was photographed on the streets of Paris shooting her next Hollywood vehicle, Pink Panther 2, and in 2008 is about to open in another Bollywood blockbuster, Jodhaa Akbar, co-starring with Hrithik Roshan. The film marks the widest distribution of any Hindi film to date, released in more than 115 theaters in the United States alone, setting the stage for Ash's triumphant return to the international silver screen.

Jennifer Aniston

Most recently at the center of a swirl of rumors about her breakup with boyfriend singer John Mayer, Jennifer Aniston is the daughter of Days of Our Lives soap star John Aniston.
Jennifer Aniston was born in California, but spent most of her childhood in New York where she attended the High School of Performing Arts.
Off-Broadway roles were the kickoff of her professional career, moving on to TV with short-lived performances in a variety of doomed comedy-variety shows and sitcoms such as The Ben Stiller Show in 1993.
Aniston's big career break finally came with her role as Rachel Green in a newly planned sitcom, Friends Like These in what would eventually became known as Friends by the time it aired in 1994.
Not only was the show a mega-hit, it scored a huge following for Aniston herself, whose hairstyle on the show became a popular rage among young 20-somethings.
Today, Jennifer Anniston's hair continues to enthrall fans as she sports a straight-down style, obtained with a flat iron and which has brought the "Sedu" iron style into the popular lexicon.
Marriage to Brad Pitt & The Big Break Up
Aniston next tried her hand at film, racking up critical acclaim in such romantic comedies as She's the One, Picture Perfect, and The Object of My Affection. Along the way, she met actor Brad Pitt and Hollywood's new 'golden couple' were married in 2000.In 2002, Aniston took the lead part in The Good Girl alongside Jake Gyllenhall and appeared with Jim Carrey in the critically acclaimed comedy, Bruce Almighty in 2003.
The official news of the rumored breakup between Aniston and husband Brad Pitt was announced in January, 2005. Since then, rumors have have been reported directly linking actress Angelina Jolie to the much gossiped-about breakup. (Pitt and Jolie reportedly began their romance on the set of, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in which they both starred).
Following her separation from Pitt, Aniston officially filed for divorce in March, 2005.
The actress soon after responded with wit and good humor about the famous Anniston-Pitt breakup and gently poked fun at her ex in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine.
Aniston's most current love interest was, until late 2006, actor Vince Vaughn who according to a front cover story by US Weekly, had asked Aniston to marry him.
The report was soon countered by a firm denial by Aniston's publicists, followed by official news reported in People Magazine that the Aniston-Vaughn relationship was over in December. That apparently ended months of rumors about the couple, who ironically met in 2005 on the set of their film The Break Up.
Most recently, the most talked about item in the tabloids is Aniston's breakup with long-time boyfriend and pop rocker John Mayer

Julia Robert

One of the highest paid actresses in Hollyood was born October 28, 1967 in Smyrna, Georgia, showing an early interest in acting that she shared with her older brother, actor Eric Roberts.
Roberts' first major film appearance was a memorable role as a small town waitress in Mystic Pizza in 1989, quickly followed by her Oscar-nominated performance in Steel Magnolias that same year.
Roberts' breakthrough role came in 1990, with her acclaimed prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold performance in Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere.
In the mid-90's, the actress also showed her dramatic acting chops alongside Denzel Washington in the Pelican Brief and in an equally-tense thriller, Conspiracy Theory, co-starring Mel Gibson. Offscreen, Roberts wed and divorced singer Lyle Lovett in a short-lived marriage that ended in divorce in 1995.

She later closed out the decade starring in huge box office successes - including Runaway Bride, Notting Hill (with Hugh Grant) and most notably in My Best Friend's Wedding featuring a young fledgling actress, Cameron Diaz.
In 2000, Roberts followed up with a powerhouse performance in Erin Brockovich for which she was paid an astronomical $20 million and walked off with the Best Actress Oscar, and the title of Highest Paid Actress in Hollywood.
Other notable appearances include co-starring alongside good friend George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven and with Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst in Mona Lisa Smile.
In 2004, the actress appeared with Jude Law in Closer and re-teamed with the Ocean's Eleven crew in the sequel, Ocean's Twelve.
Offscreen, Roberts gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl named Phinnaeus and Hazel in Los Angeles on November 28, 2004 with current husband, Danny Moder, at her side. The infants' television premiere occured when the actress shared pictures of the twins with Oprah Winfrey (screen shot, upper right) in February 2005.
In 2006, Julia Roberts turned her considerable talents to stage acting, in what was predicted to be a ticket sell-out on Broadway with a limited run appearance in Three Days of Rain.
Roberts was most recently heard in voiceover in two animated features, Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web and made tabloid headlines on June 18 when she gave birth to her third child - a son named Henry Daniel weighing in at 8 lbs. 8 ounces.
Offscreen, Roberts is also joining the fight against AIDS in 2007 by designing for her favorite designer, Giorgio Armani, a commemorative bracelet for World AIDS Day planned as "a visible reminder of the part that we can all play in fighting AIDS in Africa."
The actress, and mother of three, was also recently in the news for lecturing photographers who were apparently chasing her by car on a road near a school zone in LA.
Julia Roberts co-starred with Tom Hanks in the Mike Nichol's directed political drama Charlie Wilson's War which opened in late 2007. She next stars in the drama Fireflies in the Garden with actor Willem Dafoe opening in September 2008

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Born April 14, 1977 in New York City, Sarah Michelle Gellar has become sort of a pseudo 'feminist' for her generation, although she cringes at the word herself. But her role as a beautiful female who kicks ass on television certainly has made herself a role model to her female generation. While many of Gellar's scenes as Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer use stunt double Sophia Crawford, Gellar does carry a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do. Sarah was seen on TV as early as three years old, where she played Valerie Harper's daughter in An Invasion of Privacy, a made for TV movie. At four, she was part of the infamous burger wars playing in a commercial for Burger King which mocked the size of McDonald's burgers. Afterwards, she appeared in scores more commercials, which also helped land her roles in movies like Over The Brooklyn Bridge, Funny Farm, High Stakes, and TV's Spencer for Hire. Further roles include A Woman Named Jackie and Swan's Crossing. At the age of 16, Gellar played as a 22 year old (!) in All My Children. She played as Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) daughter, and was in a role which had her seduce her stepfather, break up her mother's marriage, shooting people, and faking pregnancies! The role got her something Susan Lucci almost never did, an Emmy in 1994 for Outstanding Younger Actress. Perhaps that award played a role in Lucci's despising of the young star, which comes as a shock since Gellar is supposedly the only person on the All My Children cast which Lucci clashed with. 1996 Brought on her most well known roll, cast as Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was based on the movie that starred Kristy Swanson. Buffy has become sort of a cult favorite and gets decent ratings despite being relegated to the WB Network. Her starring role has helped her land jobs in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream. In 1999 she played in the comedy Simply Irresistible. Its ironic given that Gellar is apparently anything but irresistible according to gossip which suggests she has running feuds with not only Lucci, but Neve Campbell, former lover Matthew Perry, Julia Roberts, and The Spice Girls (we can forgive her for that!). The latest feud apparently exists with fellow WB star Kerri Russell, whom Gellar says she's sick about hearing Russell's story of losing her virginity in the press, a statement we'd wholeheartedly agree with!
You probably can also add actress Ingrid Quinn to that list, who's marriage to David Boreanaz was supposedly terminated due in large part to a reported affair he had with his then Buffy co-star (he played Angel, recently spun off). It also has been widely reported that Gellar has had an on and off battle with anorexia, and with a 5'3 frame at a reported 98 pounds, its easy to understand why those rumors persist. Besides her romantic ties to Mathew Perry and Boreanaz, Gellar has also been linked to ex-Slider star Jerry O'Connell and has dated tennis player Jan Michael Gambill. The latest man involved with Sarah is Freddie Prinze Jr., who publically was slobbering all over Prinze at the MTV Movie awards, where Sarah landed two awards for Best Kiss (with Selma Blair) and Best Female Performance in the film Cruel Intentions. There have been alot of stories of Sarah's controlling behavior around Freddie that has resulted in concerns amongst his friends (according to tabloids, anyways). But before we get too rough on Sarah, it should be noted that she is not the wild party type and in fact spends so much time working she hasn't had much time for relationships, often working 15 hour days on the Buffy set.

Heather Graham

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and posessing a certain bodacious je ne sais quoi, Heather Graham has had one of the more inspiring career trajectories of the 1990s. After debuting in the 1988 License To Drive, which featured the Two Coreys and little else, Graham worked in relative obscurity for years before hitting it big in a string of successful films, including Swingers, Boogie Nights and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Originally hailing from the Midwest, Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 29, 1970. The oldest of two girls (younger sister Aimee is also an actress), Graham led a fairly itinerant childhood thanks to her father's job with the FBI. A quiet, unpopular girl by her own account, Graham became interested in acting at a young age. She had her first role as Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz, and remained active in the theatre throughout high school, winning the title of "Most Talented" from her peers. After high school, Graham packed up and headed to Los Angeles, where she discovered that talented as she may have been, it was no guarantee of employment. She worked a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as an usher at the Hollywood Bowl, before making her 1988 film debut in License to Drive as the object of Corey Haim's desire. The following year, Graham's career began to travel in a more auspicious direction when she was cast as a doomed drug addict in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy. Despite winning raves for her performance, Graham eluded stardom, as her subsequent film roles were largely incidental. However, she did win a recurring role on the long-running TV miniseries Twin Peaks in 1990, and the following year starred in the widely celebrated made-for-TV movie O Pioneers!.
In 1992, Graham had a supporting role in Diggstown, the most notable effect of which was a relationship with co-star James Woods, who was twice her age. After appearing in a few more films of varying quality (Six Degrees of Separation (1993) being at one end of the spectrum, 1994's Don't Do It, which paired her with Drugstore boyfriend James LeGros at the other), the actress finally got a break with the 1996 hit Swingers, appearing in a small but memorable role as the girl of Jon Favreau's dreams. The part marked the beginning of an upswing in Graham's career: the following year she had a bit part in the movie-within-a-movie in Scream 2, which led to her inclusion on a Rolling Stone cover featuring the movie's assorted Hot Young Things, and also had her breakthrough role in Boogie Nights. As Rollergirl, an under-dressed, over-sexed coke-snorting young porn actress, Graham made an indelible impression on audiences everywhere. 1997 continued to be the best year of the actress' career thus far: she also starred in Gregg Araki's Nowhere, in which she did little except have copious amounts of sex with the similarly golden-tressed Ryan Phillippe, and Two Girls and a Guy, a critically acclaimed piece that featured her as one of the title's two girls opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s guy.
Unfortunately, Graham's first big-budget undertaking, the 1998 sci-fi film Lost in Space, was swallowed in a deep pit of critical and commercial quicksand. The actress more than rebounded the following year, however, earning top billing in two films, the Steve Martin comedy Bowfinger and the eagerly-awaited Austin Powers sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The same year Graham earned the 1999 ShoWest convention's "Female Star of Tomorrow" title, further assuring what looked like a very bright future for the young actress.
Playing Dorothy in her grade school's theatrical production of "The Wizard of Oz" whetted Heather's desire to be an actress. So at Agoura High School, Heather took drama classes and appeared in the school's theatrical productions. While there, she impressed many of her schoolmates with her talent. After high school, she headed out to Hollywood. She started doing TV, and landed her first movie role as Mercedes, Les' (Corey Haim) love interest, in the 1988 indie flick "License to Drive." She followed that with "Drugstore Cowboy" (1989).
Heather then enrolled in UCLA with a major in English. However, after two years, she could no longer resist the lure of showbiz and dropped out of school to pursue acting again. She got roles in notable movies such as "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993) and "Swingers" (1996) before "Boogie Nights" (1997) came along. In this movie about the porn industry, she played the dim-witted, but sexy Rollergirl. The movie got people talking - and looking too. Her next big movie was "Lost in Space" (1998) where she played Judy Robinson. The movie was a disappointment at the box office but it was Heather's first big budget movie. She plays opposite Mike Myers in the runaway hit "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) as Felicity Shagwell. In her personal life, Graham is romantically involved with actor Ed Burns. Though she's abandoned her Catholic roots, she regularly practices Transcendental Meditation, and in addition to her film work, has a modeling contract with Emanuel Ungaro. Not that Graham needs the additional income - she's poised to make the most of her 15 minutes of fame. She nabbed a starring role in one of summer 1999's most wildly anticipated sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and hot on its heels will come the Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy starrer Bowfinger, a Hollywood satire penned by Martin.

Killing Me Softly (2001)

Say It Isn't So (2001)

Sidewalks of New York (2001)

Committed (2000)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Bowfinger (1999)

Kiss and Tell (1999)

Two Girls and a Guy (1998)

Boogie Nights (1997)

Nowhere (1997)

Scream 2 (1997)

Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996)

Swingers (1996)

Terrified (1996)

Desert Winds (1995)

Don't Do It! (1995)

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)

The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)

Diggstown (1992)

Shout (1991)

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)