Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Gwyneth Paltrow

Born : Gwyneth Kate Paltrow, September 27, 1972 (1972-09-27) (age 36), Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active : 1991–present
Spouse(s) : Chris Martin (2003–present)

Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (IPA: [ˌgwɪnəθ'pæltroʊ]; born September 27, 1972) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and double Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American actress. She is married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
Early life
Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Blythe Danner, an actress, and the late Bruce Paltrow, a film and television director, writer, and producer. Paltrow's father was of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent and her mother is a Quaker of part Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. Paltrow was raised in Santa Monica, she attended Crossroads School before moving and attending Spence School, a private girls' school in New York City which was also attended by Emmy Rossum, Kerry Washington and Sally Pressman. Later she briefly studied art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before discontinuing her degree and committing herself to acting. Paltrow has a younger brother, Jake Paltrow, and is a cousin of actress Katherine Moennig, who is best known for her roles as Jacqueline "Jake" Pratt in Young Americans and Shane McCutcheon in The L Word She is an "adopted daughter" of Talavera de la Reina (Spain), where at age 15 she spent a month as an exchange student and learned Spanish. Paltrow was childhood friends with Saturday Night Live's Maya Rudolph.
Other work
In May 2005, Paltrow became the new face of Estée Lauder's Pleasures perfume. She appeared in Chicago on August 17, 2007, to sign bottles of the perfume, and on July 8, 2008, she promoted Lauder's Sensuous perfume in New York along with the company's three other spokesmodels. Estée Lauder donates a minimum of $500,000 of sales of items from the 'Pleasures Gwyneth Paltrow' collection to breast cancer research.
Paltrow serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City. In 2006 she became the new face for Bean Pole International, a Korean fashion brand. She starred along with actor Daniel Henney in several commercial films. In October 2007, Paltrow signed up for a PBS television series Spain... on the road Again with Mario Batali that showcases the food and culture of Spain.
Personal life
Paltrow is a descendent of a famous 17th century Polish rabbi David HaLevi Segal of Krakow, through the Russian rabbinical family, Paltrowitch, which produced thirty-three rabbis over several generations. The actress has said she is very proud of having Jewish ancestry and has attributed some of her father's warmth to his Jewish heritage:

My father had that incredible Jewish warmth, really bolstering us [his children] all the time. And when you're nine years old and you're hearing that you are the best person, it gets in there, and you think, 'OK, I'm not going to be afraid to try things, because I'm always loved no matter what.' That kills me, when I think about it. It totally breaks my heart, how lucky I am.

Paltrow had a much-publicized romance and engagement to Brad Pitt whom she dated from 1995 to 1997. She once stated that she regretted breaking up with Pitt, saying in an interview with Diane Sawyer that she wished Pitt well and could not believe he was with her when she was "such a mess".They were together for over three years. She has been linked romantically with Ben Affleck, Luke Wilson, Chris Heinz, and Robert Sean Leonard.
On turning 30, she said "I had the most incredible birthday weekend until my dad died on me like six days later," said Paltrow, who turned 30 on September 27, 2002. "It's been, in many ways, the worst year of my life and will continue to be." On December 5, 2003, she married Chris Martin of the British rock group Coldplay in a secret wedding ceremony in Southern California at a hotel; she had met him backstage at a concert. Paltrow gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Apple Blythe Alison Martin, five months later, on May 14, 2004, in London. One of Chris Martin's band associates already had a daughter named Apple and Gwyneth and Chris asked their friend if they could 'borrow' the same name for their daughter. Gwyneth further explained the unusual first name on Oprah, saying:

It sounded so sweet and it conjured such a lovely picture for me – you know, apples are so sweet and they're wholesome and it's biblical – and I just thought it sounded so lovely and … clean! And I just thought, "Perfect!"

The child's godfather is Simon Pegg, and Paltrow has stated Apple will use her middle name when beginning school. She currently divides her residence between New York and Belsize Park in London where they live in a house bought from Kate Winslet.
In January 2006, Paltrow announced that, "Since my daughter came along, I've not worked much through choice. And with another baby on its way, I don't think I will be doing a lot for the next year or so either." Her second child, a boy named Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, was born on April 8, 2006 in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital. Her son's first name was explained as the song that her husband wrote for her shortly before their secret wedding, called "Moses".
In May 2005, she publicly announced that she had suffered from depression after the death of her father. She practices yoga daily, and follows a macrobiotic diet, although she told People in 2005 that, "I'm not as stringent as I was in the past. Now I'll have cheese once in a while or white flour, but I still believe in whole grains and no sugar."
Paltrow earned the enmity of Sharon Stone due to her performance as Stone in a Saturday Night Live skit that poked fun at Stone and her then-husband, Phil Bronstein. Paltrow is good friends with Madonna, with whom she shares a personal trainer, and fashion designer Valentino. Steven Spielberg is a close family friend. She was best friends with Winona Ryder until her breakup with Ben Affleck.
On September 27, 2006, Paltrow sang a duet with rap artist Jay-Z during his concert at Royal Albert Hall. She sang the chorus for "Song Cry", from the rapper's album Blueprint. In an interview prior to her appearance she indicated she would be attending the concert, but did not mention she would perform. She was also quoted as saying "I'm a Jay-Z fan. He's my best friend." Her husband, Chris Martin, later performed the song "Beach Chair" with Jay-Z from the rapper's album Kingdom Come.

In December 2006, Paltrow was reported on the Internet to have told Notícias Sábado, the weekend magazine supplement of Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias, that she thought British people were more civilized and intelligent than Americans. Paltrow denied making the statements attributed to her and told People that she never gave an interview to a Portuguese publication, but did a press conference in Spain where she tried to say in Spanish that Europe was an "older culture" and Americans "live to work".Diário de Notícias later clarified in their December 6, 2006 edition that they had not obtained the quotes from an original interview or foreign press conference, but rather from previous English-language articles which are still referenced online. Paltrow insists she was misquoted, telling an interviewer in 2007:

I love America, and I'm an American through and through. But the conservative media won't let it go…. People love to give you a moniker and then, you know, they've designed this hole for you that you have to fit in."

In the May 2008 issue of Vogue, Paltrow revealed that she suffered from post-partum depression after giving birth to her second child, Moses. She stated that she felt "out of her body", "disconnected, "down" and "pessimistic”.
In a 2007 interview, Paltrow explained that she wasn't sure if she wanted more children. "My husband really wants to adopt," she told the interviewer, "So I don't know; I'm sort of open for anything."
Source :
en.wikipedia.org

Cameron Diaz

Born : Cameron Michelle Diaz, August 30, 1972 (1972-08-30) (age 36), San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation : Fashion model (1988-1993), Actress (1993-present)
Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) an American actress. In August, 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Diaz as the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She reportedly earned $50 million in the period of a year ending June, 2008, for her roles in What Happens in Vegas and in the third installment of Shrek.
Early life
Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie (née Early), an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz, a white Cuban American (1949-2008), who worked for the California oil company UNOCAL for twenty plus years, as a Field Gauger, and in the pipeline department, until he retired in 1998. Her father was a second-generation Cuban American and her mother is of English and German ancestry. She has one older sister, Chimene Diaz, (born June 5, 1970, San Diego). She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg.
Relationships
Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon from 1995 to 1998. She is also the ex-fiancée of actor/musician Jared Leto. They had a low-profile relationship from 1998 to 2002. Reports have said that they broke up because Diaz was concentrating more on her acting as Leto was more concerned about his band. She then for a short while dated English singer / songwriter Julian Barry before they split due to career commitments.
Most recently, Diaz dated former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake, whom she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. The pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.
Following the split with Justin Timberlake, she is reported to have dated Djimon Hounsou in Feb 2007
In October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with a tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in US Weekly. Representatives for the pair claimed that they were "ambushed" and acting out of self-defense.

Personal life
Diaz has publicly admitted that she has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), is deeply germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening doors to clean them that the original paint fades afterwards. She says she washes her hands and floors "many times" each day and uses her elbows to push open doors. Diaz commented on her progress with the disorder on May 10, 2007, saying, "I think I've made my peace with it".
Diaz received "substantial" defamation damages from suing American Media Incoporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake. Diaz also sued successfully to stop the publication of bondage-themed nude photos taken of her before she became famous.
When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said:
I go, "God, you know, it all sounds so familiar. I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly." I didn't grow up in a Cuban or Latin community. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third generation. I'm of Cuban descent, but I'm American.
Diaz is currently represented by Creative Artists Agency.
In September 2004, Diaz created some controversy after her appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show in question, concerned celebrities encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. While Diaz was sitting next to her Charlie's Angels co-star Drew Barrymore, singer Christina Aguilera, and hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, Diaz gave the ominous warning "Women have so much to lose. I mean, we could lose the right to our bodies. We could lo--if you think that rape should be legal, then don't vote. But if you think that you have a right to your body, and you have a right to say what happens to you and fight off that danger of losing that, then you should vote." Several pundits like talk show host Laura Ingraham alleged that Diaz was trying to disguise her scare tactic-like statement as another way of saying that if you didn't vote for Democratic challenger John Kerry, a victorious President George W. Bush would somehow try to ban the right to have a legal abortion.
The actress was vocal in her support for Al Gore in 2000. Diaz went so far as sporting a t-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making publicity for Charlie's Angels."
On April 15, 2008, her father, Emilio Diaz, died of pneumonia, aged 58.

Source :
en.wikipedia.org