Top Stars: March 2011

Thursday, March 24, 2011

penelope cruz spanish actress

Penélope Cruz Sánchez born April 28, 1974 better known as Penélope Cruz, is a Spanish actress who was signed by an agent at age 15. She made her acting debut at 16 on television, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón (1992), to critical acclaim. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Open Your Eyes (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). Cruz achieved recognition for her lead roles in Vanilla Sky and Blow. Both films were released in 2001 and were commercially successful worldwide.
In the 2000s she has appeared in films from a wide range of genres, including the comedy Waking Up in Reno (2002), the thriller Gothika (2003), the Christmas movie Noel (2004), the action adventure Sahara (2005), the animated G-Force and the musical drama Nine. Her most notable films to date are Volver (2006), for which she earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), for which she received an Academy Award. She was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award.
Cruz has modeled for companies such as Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal. Cruz and her younger sister Mónica Cruz have designed items for Mango. She has donated both her time and money to charities. Cruz has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working for Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission.
Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Acting career
o 2.1 Early work, 1989–1996
o 2.2 Early critical success, 1997–2000
o 2.3 Breakthrough, 2001–2005
o 2.4 Worldwide recognition, 2006–present
* 3 Public image
* 4 Philanthropy
* 5 Personal life
* 6 Filmography
* 7 References
* 8 External link
Early life
Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic.She was raised Roman Catholic. Throughout her childhood, Cruz lived in Alcobendas, a working-class city, although she spent "a lot" of time at her grandmother's apartment. Cruz is the oldest of three siblings; she has a younger brother, Eduardo, who is a singer, and a younger sister, Mónica, who is an actress. She has said that she had a happy childhood, and Charlie Rose of 60 Minutes described Cruz's childhood as a "simple life" In 2000, Cruz stated that as a child she would throw herself on the floor and "start kicking and breaking things" when she did not get her way. Initially, Cruz had no ambition to be an actress and focused on dance, having studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory. She received three years of Spanish ballet training and four years of theater at Cristina Rota's New York school.
When Cruz was a teenager, she began having an interest in acting after seeing the film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.She began doing casting calls for an agent, but was rejected multiple times because the agent felt that she was too young. Cruz commented on the experience that "I was very extroverted as a kid. [...] I was studying when I was in high school at night, I was in ballet and I was doing castings. I looked for an agent and she sent me away three times because I was a little girl but I kept coming back. I'm still with her after all these years. In 1989, at the age of 15, Cruz won an audition at a talent agency over more than 300 other girls.In 1999, Katrina Bayonas, Cruz's agent, commented, "She was absolutely magic [at the audition]. It was obvious there was something very impressive about this kid. [...] She was very green, but there was a presence. There was just something coming from within.

penelope cruz

diana zubiri filipina actress

Rosemarie Joy Garcia born April 15, 1985, better known by her screen name Diana Zubiri, is a Filipina actress.
She was discovered by Seiko Films when she was 15 years of age soon after applying for work in Japan. She then started on sexy roles on various films by Seiko. In October 2002, Zubiri became widely known in the Philippines after posing on the EDSA-Shaw flyover in Mandaluyong City. In 2005, Zubiri moved away from sexy films and focused on becoming a TV actress on the GMA Network. One of her notable roles was portraying Danaya in the Encantadia fantasy series.
She was also a regular cast in the sketch-comedy program, Bubble Gang and starred on drama series like Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita and Danny Zialcita's Gaano Kadalas Ang Minsan?.
Contents
* 1 Personal life
* 2 Acting career
* 3 Later career
* 4 Back to Career
* 5 Filmography
o 5.1 Television shows
o 5.2 Films
* 6 Awards and recognition
o 6.1 FHM ranking
* 7 References
* 8 External links
Personal life
Zubiri, when she was at about eight years old, together with her elder sister were left in the sole care of their mother when her father left them at Olongapo City. The family later transferred to a rented home in Fairview, Quezon City, where Diana spent her child life. Zubiri was a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo but converted to Roman Catholicism during her early years in showbiz. She is now studying at MIRIAM COLLEGE and is at present not so active in her showbiz career.
Acting career
Zubiri started her showbiz career at the age of 15 after applying for work as an entertainer in Japan. She met Jimmy Mercado, a Seiko Films employee, who was working part-time as an interviewer for wannabe-performers for Japan. At that time, Assunta de Rossi had just finished the sexy film Sisid. In 2001 at the age of 17, she signed her Seiko contract and was launched in 2002 in the sexy film Itlog, opposite Rodel Velayo. She then returned to the Philippines and started to appear in sexy movies such as Bakat and Kasiping.
Later career
After a few sexy flicks, Zubiri became a GMA Network artist, appearing as a regular cast in Bubble Gang, a sketch comedy television program. She also appeared in Encantadia as Danaya, the diwata that holds the Jewel of the Earth. She later reprised that role in Etheria and Encantadia: Pag-ibig Hanggang Wakas.
Zubiri co-starred as "Ingrid" on Asian Treasures alongside Angel Locsin, Robin Padilla, and Marvin Agustin. She is also a cast member on GMA7's Bubble Gang, and previously dated Bubble Gang co-star Wendell Ramos. Zubiri is now considered a full-pledged TV-movie celebrity. While Zubiri is a contract star of Seiko Films, she signed a contract in Regal Films and she recently appeared in Shake, Rattle & Roll X, an 34th MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival) entry which included her film One Night Only.

diana zubiri

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Anna Chapman Russian star

Anna Vasil’yevna Chapman Russian: А́нна Васи́льевна Ча́пман; born Anna Vasil’yevna Kushchyenko Russian: А́нна Васи́льевна Кущенко; 23 February 1982 is a Russian national, who while living in New York, United States was arrested along with nine others on 27 June 2010, on suspicion of working for the Illegals Program spy ring under the Russian Federation's external intelligence agency, the SVR (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki). Chapman pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General, and was deported back to Russia on 8 July 2010, as part of a prisoner swap.
Contents
* 1 Biography
o 1.1 London: 2001–2006
o 1.2 New York: 2006–2010
o 1.3 Russia: 2010–present
* 2 Illegals Program and arrest
o 2.1 Arrest
o 2.2 International exchange
o 2.3 Revocation of UK citizenship
* 3 Media coverage and popular reaction
* 4 References
* 5 External links
Biography
Chapman was born Anna Vasil’yevna Kushchyenko in Volgograd, according to U.S. authorities, and her father was employed in the Russian embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. According to Chapman's British ex-husband, her father, Vasily Kushchenko, was also a senior KGB official, although this is unsubstantiated.
London: 2001–2006
Chapman moved to London in 2000/1, working at NetJets, Barclays Bank and allegedly at a few other companies for brief periods.
She met Alex Chapman at a London Docklands rave party in 2001 and they married shortly thereafter in Moscow; as a result she gained dual Russian-British citizenship, and a British passport. After Anna was arrested in New York, Alex engaged media publicist Max Clifford, and sold his story to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
New York: 2006–2010
She took up residence at 20 Exchange Place, one block from Wall Street in Manhattan.Alex has stated that Anna told him the enterprise was continually in the red for the first couple of years, and then suddenly in 2009, she had as many as 50 employees and a successful business Her LinkedIn social networking site profile identified her as CEO of PropertyFinder LLC, a website selling real estate internationally.
She is reported to have been dating Michel Bittan, a prominent New York restaurant owner. She later described her time in the US with the Charles Dickens quote, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times".
Russia: 2010–present
Late December 2010 Chapman was appointed to the public council of Young Guard of United Russia.According to the organization she "will be engaged in educating young people.
On 21 January 2011, Chapman began hosting a weekly TV show in Russia called Secrets of the World for REN (TV channel).

Anna Chapman

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

tyra banks occasional singer

Tyra Lynne Banks born December 4, 1973 is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, and businesswoman.She first became famous as a model in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, and New York, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
In 2009, she was honored by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) with the Excellence in Media Award.
Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Career
o 2.1 Modeling
o 2.2 Move into television and film
o 2.3 Music
o 2.4 Books
* 3 Filmography
* 4 Further education
* 5 Philanthropy
* 6 References
* 7 External links
Early life
Tyra Banks was born in Inglewood, California, the daughter of Carolyn (née London), a fashion manager and NASA photographer, and Donald Banks, a computer consultant. The couple divorced in 1980, when Banks was 6 years old. However, the relationship between her parents, and between her and her brother Devin Banks (born 1968), stayed friendly. Later, Carolyn married Clifford Johnson; she now goes by Carolyn London-Johnson. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. She was accepted by USC and UCLA but declined to attend, instead pursuing a career in modeling.
Career
Modeling
Banks began modeling in the 11th grade.She later went to Paris, France to do some runway modeling. Within Banks' first week in Paris, designers were so entranced by her presence on the runway that she was booked for an unprecedented twenty-five shows – a record in the business for a newcomer.[citation needed] She has done extensive print and/or runway work for fashion/advertising giants, such as Anna Sui, Coors Light, CoverGirl, Badgley Mischka, Bill Blass, Cynthia Rowley, Chanel, Christian Dior, Victoria's Secret, and Yves Saint Laurent. She has appeared on the covers of high-fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and Elle.
Banks was the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. 1997, she received the VH1 award for Supermodel of the Year. That same year, she became the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog.
Banks retired from modeling in May 2005 to concentrate on her television career. She walked the runway for the final time at the 2005 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.[citation needed]
In 1998, Banks authored a book entitled Tyra's Beauty, Inside and Out. The book was advertised as a resource for helping women to make the most out of their natural beauty.
In 2010, Banks re-signed with her former modeling agency IMG Models.