![Foals - Total Life Forever Live [BBC Radio 6]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110524013802im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rr7jkULlh44/0.jpg "Foals - Total Life Forever Live [BBC Radio 6]")
![Bilingual road sign near Wrexham Central station in 2009. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which broadcasts 70% of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows[22] during peak viewing hours.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110524013802im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/9d/94/134c211e5f363c95ac81a4574c2e_grande.jpg "Bilingual road sign near Wrexham Central station in 2009. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which broadcasts 70% of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows[22] during peak viewing hours.")
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company. Internally, BBC Radio is now organised under the banner of BBC Audio & Music, which also oversees online audio content.
BBC Radios 1 to 7 are based in London, but programmes are also made in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester. All BBC Radio channels are available on DAB radio and also on the internet in Real Media and WMA streams.
The "main" radio stations, available via both analogue (FM and AM frequencies) and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), are:
The new digital-only (Internet Streaming/Sky/freesat/Freeview/DAB) radio stations are:
There are many BBC Local Radio services across England, often catering to individual counties.
They are also available on Digital Television sets in the UK, and archived programs are available for 7 days after broadcast on the BBC website; a number of trials are also underway of MP3 downloads and podcasting for selected shows—see bbc.co.uk#Streaming media.
For more BBC radio programmes see :Category:BBC radio programmes.
The original BBC stations which had been linked together to form the BBC Regional Programme were transformed into the BBC Home Service. A third part-time service was created under the name of the BBC Third Programme. For the history of these stations see Timeline of the BBC.
Beginning in 1964 the first in what became a fleet of 10 offshore pirate radio stations began to ring the British coastline. By 1967 millions were tuning into these commercial operations and the BBC was rapidly losing its radio listening audience.
The British government reacted by passing the Marine Offences Act, which all but wiped out all of the stations by midnight on 14 August 1967. Only Radio Caroline survives.
One of the stations called Radio London ("Big L") was so successful that the BBC was told to copy it as best they could. This led to a complete overhaul by Frank Gillard the BBC's Director of Radio of the BBC output creating the four analogue channels that still form the basis of its broadcasting today. The creator of BBC Radio One told the press that his family had been fans of Radio London.
The BBC hired many out-of-work broadcasting staff who had come from the former offshore stations. Tony Blackburn who presented the very first BBC Radio One morning show had previously presented the same morning show on Radio Caroline and later on Big L. He attempted to duplicate the same sound for BBC Radio One. Among the other DJs hired was the late John Peel who had presented the overnight show on "Big L", called The Perfumed Garden. Though it only ran for a few months prior to Big L's closure, The Perfumed Garden got more fan mail than the rest of the pop dj's on Radio London put together, so much that staff wondered what to do with it all. The reason it got so much mail was that it played different music, and was the beginning of the "album rock" genre. Big L's PAMS jingles were commissioned to be resung in Dallas, Texas so that "Wonderful Radio London" became "Wonderful Radio One on BBC".
BBC Radio 5 was launched on 27 August 1990 as a home for sport and children's programming, and was replaced and renamed on 28 March 1994 with BBC Radio Five Live, a dedicated news and sport network.
Note: the official title of this post has changed over the years. The most recent was in 2006 when it became "Director of Audio and Music" to reflect the BBC's online audio services.
* Category:Peabody Award winners Category:Radio during World War II Category:Internet radio in the United Kingdom
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Lady Gaga |
|---|---|
| Img alt | Portrait of a young, pale-skinned Caucasian female with blond hair |
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta |
| Born | March 28, 1986New York City, U.S. |
| Instrument | Vocals, piano, synthesizer, keytar |
| Genre | Pop, dance |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Label | Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope |
| Url |
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American pop singer-songwriter. She began performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side in 2003 and enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.
Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, accomplished positions within the top-ten worldwide, and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Achieving similar worldwide success, the follow-up EP The Fame Monster (2009), produced a further two global chart-topping singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and allowed her to embark on a second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release in 2011.
Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including two Grammy Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her as the Artist of the Year in 2010 and ranked her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
An avid thespian in high school musicals, Gaga portrayed lead roles as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure" as she told in an interview, "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate. Referring to her "expressive, free spirit", Gaga told Elle magazine "I'm left-handed!"
At age 17, Gaga gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics. Gaga felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll for Tisch if she was unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she said. Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", She also started the Stefani Germanotta Band with some friends from NYU. They recorded an extended play of their ballads at a studio underneath a liquor store in New Jersey, becoming a local fixture at the downtown Lower East Side club scene. Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury. He explained,
She was known thereafter as Lady Gaga. The pair began playing gigs at downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall, with their live performance art piece known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue." Billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. In August 2007, Gaga and Starlight were invited to play at the American Lollapalooza music festival. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.
Fusari sent the songs he produced with Gaga to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. She credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going." While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M; Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album The album peaked at number one in United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland, and the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. Worldwide, The Fame has sold over fourteen million copies. Its lead single "Just Dance" topped the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States – and later received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording. The following single "Poker Face" was an even greater success, reaching number-one in almost all major music markets in the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States. It won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards, over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The Fame was nominated for Album of the Year; it won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Although her first concert tour happened as an opening act for fellow Interscope pop group, the reformed New Kids on the Block, she ultimately headlined her own worldwide concert tour, The Fame Ball Tour, which was critically appreciated and began in March 2009; culminating in September of that year. The cover of the annual "Hot 100" issue of Rolling Stone in May 2009 featured a semi-nude Gaga wearing only strategically placed plastic bubbles. She was nominated for a total of nine awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, winning the award for Best New Artist, while her single "Paparazzi" won two awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. In October, Gaga received Billboard magazine's Rising Star of 2009 award. She attended the Human Rights Campaign's "National Dinner" the same month, before marching in the National Equality March for the equal protection of LGBT people in all matters governed by US civil law in Washington, D.C.
|alt= Profile of a young blond woman. Her hair falls in waves up to her shoulders. She wears a purple leotard with visible sequins attached. Ample bosom, arm and leg are visible.]] Written over the course of 2008–09, The Fame Monster, a collection of eight songs, was released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience while she travelled the world, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, Gaga became the first artist in digital history to have three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video. The album's second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number-one single while its accompanying music video, although controversial, was met mostly positive reception from contemporary critics: praising her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its idea and dark nature, but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they have made Gaga one of the first artists to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. Musically, The Fame Monster has also received abundant success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, The Fame Monster garnered a total of six – among them Best Pop Vocal Album and her second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year. The success of the album allowed Gaga to embark on her second headlining worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of The Fame Monster and months after having finished her first. Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished concert tour will have ran for over one and a half years. Additionally, Gaga has performed other songs from the album at international events like the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony.
Barbara Walters chose Gaga as one the "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" for her annual ABC News special. When interviewed by the journalist, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." Excited about bringing back Polaroid and "combining it with the digital era", Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic company in January 2010 with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products. Her production team, Mermaid Music LLC, was sued in March by Rob Fusari; claiming that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment, however, five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit. In April, Gaga was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the year. While giving an interview to The Times, Gaga hinted at having Systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly referred to as lupus, which is a connective tissue disease. She later confirmed with Larry King that she does not have lupus but "the results were borderline positive".
Lending her vocal talent elsewhere, Gaga also paired with Elton John to record an original duet for the soundtrack to the forthcoming animated Disney feature film Gnomeo and Juliet. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", is scheduled for release in February 2011.
Gaga's vocals have drawn frequent comparison to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. While reviewing her debut album The Fame, The Sunday Times asserted "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Lady GaGa evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now." Similarly, The Boston Globe critic Sarah Rodman commented that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Though her lyrics are said to lack intellectual stimulation, "[she] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B;-ish beats.
Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence. Her love of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." Entertainment Weekly put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."
Critical reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, trailblazer and fashion icon is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews, Her role as a self-esteem booster for her fans is also lauded, as is her role in breathing life into the fashion industry. Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; in particular, the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene in Manchester, England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Chris Rock later defended her flamboyant, provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?" She later returned to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a dress which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat—each fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named Time magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more widely known as the "meat dress", was made by Argentinian designer Franc Fernandez and received divided opinions—evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Gaga, however, later denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community.
Gaga's treatment of her fans as "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image. Camille Paglia wrote a cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" on September 12, 2010, in The Sunday Times in which she asserts that Gaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those."
Gaga's influence on modern culture and society has provoked the University of South Carolina into offering a full-time course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" in the objective of unravelling "the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga with respect to her music, videos, fashion, and other artistic endeavors".
Although declining an invitation to record a benefit song, Gaga held a concert of The Monster Ball Tour following the 2010 Haiti earthquake and dedicated it to the country’s reconstruction relief fund. This concert, held at the Radio City Music Hall, New York, on January 24, 2010, donated any received revenue to the relief fund while, in addition, all profits from sales of products on Gaga’s official online store on that same day were donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund.
Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS with the focus upon educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company’s campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick."
, October 11, 2009|alt=A blond woman speaking on a kiosk. She wears a white shirt and black glasses. Behind her, the balcony of a building is visible.]] Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a rising gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of The Fame, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.
After The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009, National Equality March rally on the national mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," At the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality. In September 2010, she spoke at a rally in favor of repealing the US military's Don't ask, don't tell policy, which prohibits lesbian, gay and bisexual people from serving openly, and released an online video urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to get the policy overturned. Editors of The Advocate commented that she had become the "fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians that future president Barack Obama had promised to be during his campaign.
Category:1986 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American dance musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Bisexual musicians Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Feminist artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Keytarists Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:Singers from New York Category:Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Category:Wonky Pop acts
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Taylor Swift |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Taylor Alison Swift |
| Birth date | December 13, 1989Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Instrument | Vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele |
| Genre | Country pop, pop, teen pop, country |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician, actress |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Label | Big Machine |
| Notable instruments | Custom-built Taylor acoustic guitars |
| Url | |
| Associated acts | Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose |
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop Fearless topped the Billboard 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album Speak Now on October 25, 2010 which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.
In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Forbes ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 28 million digital tracks sold. , she has sold over 16 million albums worldwide.
When she was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet". When Swift was 10, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. She was a victim of bullying, and often wrote songs to express her emotions. Swift also started performing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. When she was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. Swift attended Hendersonville High School but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high-school diploma.
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and her grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact you can make by "stretching boundaries".
After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention. Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.
When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.
guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars.]]
The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.
The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.
Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts, peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, , which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008.
HQ in 2007.]]
"Should've Said No" became Swift's second #1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at #2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.
In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.
The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached #2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.
The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.
She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.
Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.
in Prince Edward Island, Canada.]] In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.
As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier" for the of the feature film . At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.
Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones.
On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.
Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.
Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). and even by President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident.
On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46).
In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at #40 and #25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles.
Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the #1 and #2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.
In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana.
In mid-July 2010, Billboard revealed that Swift's new album is called Speak Now. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak.
Taylor Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010.
The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them."
The autobiographical nature of her songs has led some fans to research the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".
In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.
Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.
On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Taylor Swift has donated a pair of her shoes - a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole - to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.
In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.
Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players Category:American Christians
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| Name | Taio Cruz |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Born | April 23, 1983 |
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Genre | R&B;, electropop |
| Occupation | Producer, singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Label | Rokstarr Entertainment Division, Island, Republic, Mercury (US) |
| Url |
Taio Cruz ( ; born on 23 April 1983 in London) is a British singer, songwriter and music producer. In 2008 he released his debut album Departure. Written, arranged and produced by himself, it achieved initial success in the United Kingdom and earned him a MOBO Award nomination.
In June 2010, he released his follow up album Rokstarr, which includes his UK and U.S. #1 single "Break Your Heart" and the second single "Dynamite" which reached number two in the United States , number one in the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The song charted in the Top 10 in most European countries as well.
During 2009 he worked on his follow up album originally titled T.W.O. (This Way Out) but later changed to Rokstarr. It was released on 12 October through R.E.D Inc/Island Records and is entirely written and produced by Cruz, with co-writes and co-productions predominantly with UK producer Fraser T Smith. The album's lead single "Break Your Heart" was released on 14 September and reached number one in the UK, where it stayed for three weeks. In an interview for The Guardian it was stated that "Cruz was clever to have hooked up with a US rapper Ludacris on his breakthrough hit". The album spawned two other UK singles, "No Other One", and the top-ten hit "Dirty Picture" featuring American electropop singer Kesha. The album's fourth single (second in the US) titled "Dynamite" debuted at 26
Cruz has also been featured on the soundtrack of the TV series Jersey Shore.
Meanwhile, speaking again to Lewis in April 2010, Cruz revealed: "We're currently looking to expand the brand and possibly go into things like watches. I've also got a new subsidiary of Rokstarr called 'Rok By Rokstarr'. And we've just started doing things like jeans and T-shirts, and stuff that more of the fans of Taio Cruz can buy. Because with Rokstarr in itself being so expensive, a lot of the kids out there who want to buy Rokstarr things can't. So we're bringing in stuff that's a little bit more High Street and more affordable."
Category:2010s singers Category:2000s singers Category:British rhythm and blues singers Category:British pop singers Category:British male singers Category:Black British musicians Category:Musicians from London Category:British people of Nigerian descent Category:British people of Brazilian descent Category:1983 births Category:Living people
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| Name | Scott Robert Mills |
|---|---|
| Caption | Scott Mills performing a DJ set |
| Birth date | March 28, 1974 |
| Birth place | Eastleigh, Hampshire, United Kingdom |
| Residence | London |
| Known for | The Scott Mills Show |
| Employer | BBC |
| Occupation | DJ, Radio presenter |
| Salary | £130,000 (estimated) |
Mills moved from Power FM to GWR FM, staying with the station for two years,
Mills has provided various voice-overs, including the voice of the specialist of the in-store radio station Homebase FM, the voice-over for Blockbuster Inc.'s in-store infomercial channel Blockbuster TV, and recently the voice-over for The VH1 Album Chart on the UK television channel VH1.
In 2006, The Sun newspaper reported that Mills' salary was £130,000 a year for his work with Radio 1.
Features on the show have included Laura's Diary, Flirt Divert, Innuendo Bingo, Rate my Listener and Your Call. On Fridays, the show is modified with more music, in the form of the two features The Wonder Years, which features a different track from each sequential year to the present day, and Floor Fillers which is an hour of dance music.
Mills has a number of catch phrases, including "alright, treacle". On Fridays, he opens the show by using another catchphrase "it's only bley Friday" which is usually shouted very loudly in an incoherent manner to a backing of a random piece of classical music. The phrase was originally adopted from the previous afternoon show host, Sara Cox.
Mills did another Edinburgh Fringe show in 2010. He was challenged to do a one-man show, as was his co-host, Beccy, his producer, The One That Doesn't Speak, and his ex-co-host, Chappers. Mills did his show as 'The Bjorn Identity', the story of Jason Bjorn, essentially, the Bourne Identity to the music of ABBA.
Mills has appeared as a contestant or guest on programmes including Mastermind, Supermarket Sweep, Children in Need, Hollyoaks, Most Haunted and Never Mind the Buzzcocks,
He narrated the music TV show The Pop Years which, coincidentally, was also narrated by fellow BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman. He has presented high-profile programmes including the Wednesday night National Lottery draw on BBC 1 and his own pilot (featured on the radio show) of Reverse-a-Word. He also currently narrates Dating in the Dark on Living. In February 2008, he presented Upstaged on the newly re-launched BBC Three. He currently hosts a BBC Three television show called Radio 1 on Three, which is inspired by his radio show.
Scott told his listeners on 3 May 2008 that he was going to appear in Hollyoaks.
Scott appeared on the British comedy television show The Sunday Night Project alongside comedian Alan Carr and actor David Hasselhoff.
Mills appears in the first series of BBC3 comedy puppet show Mongrels.
Scott appeared at number 50 on the Independent on Sunday's Pink List for 2009. Mills was the 19th most influential gay person in Britain in the previous year. He has risen from 43rd place in 2006 and 41st in 2007.
Mills was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Southampton Solent University on 2 November 2009.
Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:People from Eastleigh Category:British radio DJs Category:English radio DJs Category:British radio presenters Category:BBC people Category:LGBT radio personalities Category:LGBT people from England Category:Sony Radio Academy Award Gold winners Category:English radio personalities
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| Name | Russell Brand |
|---|---|
| Caption | Brand performs stand-up at the London Roundhouse, 25 January 2008 |
| Birth name | Russell Edward Brand |
| Birth date | June 04, 1975 |
| Birth place | Grays, Essex, England, UK |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film, radio |
| Nationality | British |
| Active | 1994–present |
| Influences | Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, |
| Spouse | Katy Perry (2010–present) |
| Website |
Brand attended Grays School Media Arts College, a comprehensive. He made his theatrical debut at the age of 15 playing "Fat Sam" in a school production of Bugsy Malone, which prompted him to become an actor. He began working as an extra, and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the Academy in 1991, but was expelled during his introductory year for his behaviour and use of drugs. Afterward, Brand had small acting roles in the children's show Mud and in The Bill.
In 1995, Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. By this point he was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He was expelled in the final term of his last year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms because of poor reactions to one of his performances. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy, and began writing material with Karl Theobald, whom he met at Drama Centre. They formed a short-lived double act, Theobald and Brand on Ice.
In 2004, he took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live.
Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.
His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.
Brand began performing in the U.S., and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009. Brand began touring the UK, America and Australia from January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous. In October a further four dates that were performed in November were added to raise money for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand is a patron. Russell Brand: Scandalous was released on DVD on 9 November 2009.
After leaving MTV, Brand starred in , a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written, and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner on many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.
In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6, the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth. In a statement, Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show. Of his time presenting the show, he said, "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy".
Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand, in which Brand took a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house, in the E4 show . Brand next returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square, which initially aired at 8 pm on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 pm on Mondays, allowing for a more adult-oriented theme. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4. The first episode was broadcast on 24 November on Channel 4, and it ran for five weeks.
Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards. At the ceremony Bob Geldof, who was accepting an award from Brand, said at the podium, "Russell Brand – what a cunt", to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise [Geldof]'s such an expert on famine. He has after all been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years". Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the event. He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
On 12 December 2007, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road. Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discussed topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and continued for the next five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing more than a million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for four weeks, plus a Christmas special that aired in December.
Brand was later announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy. At one point, he said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era", referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]". He also said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney". Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a retarded cowboy fella", who, in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors". He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologised for the comments later in the show. These comments led to Brand receiving death threats by some offended viewers. Brand claimed that MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year. Brand hosted the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ratings for the 2009 show were the best since the 2004 VMA's.
In 2007, Brand appeared in Cold Blood for ITV, playing an ex-con called Ally. Brand played a recovering crack addict named Terry in the pilot for the ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks.
He voiced the Earth Guardian in Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.
Brand had a small role in the 2006 movie Penelope, though his first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He did not reprise the role for the sequel, .
His breakthrough role was in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow, and he revealed the character was changed from an author to a rock star because of his audition.
Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on Christmas Day 2008.
He reprised the role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill. He reunited with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film.
Brand will appear in Julie Taymor's version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest as Trinculo. Brand will also appear in an Oliver Stone film, and he is to play the title character in a remake of Arthur, written by Peter Baynham, and a remake of Drop Dead Fred.
Sandler has cast Brand in another film and will produce yet another, co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan, about a con-man posing as a priest; it is tentatively titled Bad Father.
In 2010, Brand voiced Dr. Nefario in the Universal movie Despicable Me and was offered a guest role in The Simpsons, which he accepted.
Brand co-hosted The Russell Brand Show beginning in April 2006 on BBC 6Music. In November 2006, the show transferred to BBC Radio 2 and aired on Saturdays from 9–11 pm The show regularly drew about 400,000 listeners. In an episode of the show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross made a series of phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs that crudely discussed Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. Sunday tabloid The Mail on Sunday broke the story and regarded the phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC due to the incident, and Brand resigned from his show. The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.
Brand returned to radio when he and Noel Gallagher hosted a football talk show on 19 April 2009 for talkSPORT which led to a 250% boost in web traffic.
Brand returned to talkSPORT in 9 October 2010, with a Saturday night show that will last 20 weeks. The show will feature clips and back-stage recordings from his Booky Wook 2 promotional tour. Brand will be joined by a host of guests, including the likes of Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.
Brand's autobiography, My Booky Wook, published by Hodder & Stoughton, was released on 15 November 2007 and received favourable reviews. The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame".
Brand signed a £1.8 million two-book deal with HarperCollins in June 2008. The first book was Articles of Faith, with the second being released on 30 September 2010.
Brand appeared on the 2010 version of 3 Lions alongside Robbie Williams.
Brand is a former heroin and sex addict and a recovering alcoholic. He has had numerous run-ins with the police, having been arrested 11 times. During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery. Brand was ejected from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, and he infamously introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time at MTV. He has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12. His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was instigated by his agent, John Noel, after Brand was caught taking heroin in a bathroom during his Christmas party. Brand regularly attends AA and NA meetings.
After a string of high-profile relationships, Brand developed a reputation in the media as a ladies' man. His dating life won him The Sun's Shagger Of The Year award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The award has been renamed "The Russell Brand Shagger Of The Year Award" in honour of Brand having won three years in a row. In January 2009, Brand and several other celebrities wrote to The Independent (as supporters of the Hoping Foundation) to condemn Israel's assault on Gaza, and the "cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza". In February 2009, Brand and several other entertainers wrote to The Times defending Bahá'í leaders then on trial in Iran. In April 2009, he attended the 2009 G-20 London summit protests and spoke to the press.
Brand first met American singer/songwriter Katy Perry in summer 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Brand and Perry began dating after meeting again in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." Perry claims she threw a bottle of water at Brand to get his attention and then they went clubbing together the same night. The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while on a holiday in India. The couple married on 23 October 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand proposed. They married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.
On 16 September 2010, Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked his and Perry's way to catch a flight at the Los Angeles International Airport. On 17 September 2010, he was released from custody after posting $20,000 bail. Footage of the incident was later sent to TMZ. Perry later defended Brand's actions, and offered an insight into the reasons for his outburst, posting on Twitter that, "If you cross the line & try and put a lens up my dress, my fiancé will do his job & protect me."
Category:1975 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London Category:Big Brother (UK TV series) Category:English comedians Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English game show hosts Category:English radio DJs Category:English radio personalities Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:English television writers Category:English vegetarians Category:Italia Conti graduates Category:Living people Category:People from Grays Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:The Guardian journalists
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| Name | Professor Green |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Stephen Paul Manderson |
| Born | November 27, 1983 |
| Origin | Hackney, London, England |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Genre | Grime, Hip Hop |
| Occupation | Rapper, Songwriter |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Label | Virgin |
| Associated acts | Ed Drewett, Lily Allen, Example, The Streets, Game, Labrinth, Emeli Sandé, Johnny Truant, Adam Deacon, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, Devlin, Giggs, Chipmunk, The Saturdays, Fink, The ThundaCatz |
| Url |
In 2006, at the age of 23, he released his first mixtape, Lecture #1. After his first record label, The Beats went under he produced on his own an EP called The Green EP. But after he toured with Lily Allen he was signed to Virgin Records and released "I Need You Tonight", based around INXS's "Need You Tonight" through the label. He also joined up with Lily Allen in "Just Be Good To Green" which is based around The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me".
Green released his debut album, Alive Till I'm Dead, on 19 July 2010, which features guest vocals from Lily Allen, Emeli Sandé, Fink and Labrinth.
He toured with the American rapper, The Game in London.
He was raised by his grandmother Patricia, from the age of one until around 15 years of age.
At the age of 15 he moved in with one of his aunts in central London. He stayed with her for two years along with his cousins Amy Shirley and Jack Shirley and he has said before how they are the only family he has left. His father, Peter, committed suicide in 2008 in Brentwood, Essex. Green has stated before though how he feels his father's death has made him a better person, saying: "I'd had a turbulent relationship with my dad. He was always in and out of my life and I was raised by my grandmother Patricia. Mum, who had me at 16, was there for the most part but my grandmother was the most influential. I last saw my dad alive on my 18th birthday. He came over to see me but after that we just stopped talking. There was no real reason. He hanged himself and I had to go and identify the body in the morgue."
Manderson said he "fell in to rapping accidentally" as he was at a party at a friends house, where everyone was free-styling, and he got put on the spot and he said it worked for him. He then started battling in competitions.He started off at lyric pad, and then moved on to JumpOff.
His album was released a week later, and peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom and #18 in Ireland. He released 'Monster' as the third single from the album. The track features UK rapper Example. Released on October 3, 2010 the single became a top 30 hit on the UK Singles Chart. His album has been certificated Gold with sales of over 100,000 in the United Kingdom.
On 10th September 2010, Professor Green joined Lily Allen on stage at Wembley Stadium whilst supporting Muse, to perform her number one hit 'Smile', and 'Just Be Good To Green'.
On 19 October 2010 Manderson released the video for his next single 'Jungle' which features Maverick Sabre. It was released on January 3 2011 and reached #33 in the UK Singles Chart.
Oh My God, featuring Labrinth is said to be the next single from the album.
Professor Green confirmed his 2nd album would be called The Myth, and said the album's first single is to be titled "Read All About It", a song of which that he is currently performing during his tour. He confirmed in an interview on December 15 that his second album will be released in August 2011. Green also confirmed that he will be touring with N-Dubz in 2011.
Category:1983 births Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:Grime artists Category:Living people Category:People from Hackney
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| Caption | Kermode (front right) playing with The Dodge Brothers at Marylebone station, July 2009 |
|---|---|
| Name | Mark Kermode |
| Birth name | Mark Fairey |
| Birth place | Barnet, North London, England |
| Birth date | July 02, 1963 |
| Residence | Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | British |
| Known for | Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews, The Culture Show, The Dodge Brothers |
| Education | PhD (English) |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Employer | BBC, The Observer, Sight and Sound |
| Occupation | Film critic, presenter, musician |
Mark Kermode (born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic who contributes to Sight and Sound magazine and The Observer newspaper. He reviews films with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons on BBC Radio Five Live, and co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show. He also discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review, and appears regularly on the BBC News channel. He also writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC. In The Screen Directory's chart of best ever film critics, Kermode appears at number 10. He won the 2010 Sony Award for Best Specialist Contributor for his work with Simon Mayo at BBC Radio 5 Live. He is 75th on the Guardian's Film Power 100.
Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his GP mother's maiden name by deed poll. (Neither of them are related to the literary critic Frank Kermode.)
He earned his PhD in English at the University of Manchester in 1991, writing a thesis on horror fiction.
Kermode now lives in Brockenhurst with his wife, Linda Ruth Williams, a professor who lectures on film at the University of Southampton and has written The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema and co-edited Contemporary American Cinema. In October to November 2004, they jointly curated a History of the Horror Film season and exhibition at the National Film Theatre in London.
Kermode also co-hosted an early 90s afternoon magazine show on BBC Radio 5 called A Game of Two Halves alongside former Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating.
He currently reviews and debates new film releases each Friday afternoon with Simon Mayo on Mayo's BBC Radio Five Live show, which is also available as a podcast (and previously also as a vodcast).
The programme won Gold in the Speech Award category at the 2009 Sony Radio Academy Awards on 11 May 2009. The judges' citation was:
The winner of the Gold Award made the judges laugh out loud. They found this programme witty and entertaining, cheeky and irreverent, and they admired the sustained passion and energy of its presenters who made listening an effortless and rollercoaster pleasure.
On the Radio Five Live show, Kermode is frequently referred to by nicknames including "The Good Doctor" and listeners also send in names for the double-act of Kermode and Mayo, such as Hinge and Bracket.
Kermode is also a resident film critic and presenter for Film Four and Channel 4 television, presenting the weekly Extreme Cinema strand. He also writes, researches and presents documentaries for Channel 4.
Kermode's autobiography, It's Only A Movie, was published in February 2010 by Random House and was accompanied by a UK tour.
Kermode is sometimes critical of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the censor for film in the UK, calling for horror films from abroad to be shown in their uncut versions. However, in recent years, he has stated on numerous occasions that the BBFC do a good job in an impossible situation, and expressed his approval of their decisions.
Kermode rarely watches television, calling it "trivial" and stating that "I have been doing my best to avoid [TV] for the last 20 years." On being challenged by The Observer to watch TV, he admitted "if there's one thing I've learned from agreeing to take up the Observer's TV challenge this summer, it's that an awareness of what's going on in television is probably helpful to an understanding of movies. Worse, it may even be essential". |- | 2009 | Sony Radio Academy Awards | Speech Award |style="background: #CFB53B"| Gold |}
Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester Category:English Anglicans Category:English film critics Category:English journalists Category:English double-bassists Category:English radio personalities Category:English television personalities Category:English vegetarians Category:Film historians Category:Old Haberdashers Category:People from Barnet Category:People from Brockenhurst Category:1963 births Category:Living people
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Ellie Goulding |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Elena Jane Goulding (born 30 December 1986), better known as Ellie Goulding, is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. She rose to fame after topping the BBC Sound of 2010 poll and winning the Critics' Choice award at the 2010 BRIT Awards. After signing to Polydor Records in 2009, Goulding released her first extended play An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, followed by her debut full-length studio album, Lights, in 2010. Later that year Goulding recorded a re-release of Lights entitled Bright Lights. Goulding is currently working on her second album. As of January 2011, Goulding has been nominated for two 2011 BRIT Awards for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Artist. |
| Name | Goulding, Ellie |
| Alternative names | Elena Jane Goulding |
| Short description | British singer |
| Date of birth | 30 December 1986 |
| Place of birth | Hereford, England |
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Caption | Eastwood in 2008 |
|---|---|
| Alt | An older man is at the center of the image smiling and looking off to the right of the image. He is wearing a white jacket, and a tan shirt and tie. The number 61 can be seen behind him on a background wall. |
| Nationality | American |
| Birth name | Clinton Eastwood |
| Birth date | May 31, 1930 |
| Birth place | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, director, producer, composer |
| Years active | 1953–present |
| Spouse | Maggie Johnson (1953-1984, divorced)Dina Ruiz (1996-present) |
| Partner | Sondra Locke (1975–89)Frances Fisher (1990–95) |
| Children | 7 |
Following his six-year run on the television series Rawhide (1959–65), Eastwood starred as the laconic Man With No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns in the 1960s, and as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films of the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, and several others as tough-talking, no-nonsense police officers, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture and received nominations for Best Actor for his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). These films in particular, as well as others, including Play Misty for Me (1971) (his directorial debut), High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Pale Rider (1985), In the Line of Fire (1993), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received critical acclaim and commercial success. He has directed most of his star vehicles, but has also directed films he did not act in, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations.
After graduating from high school in 1949, Eastwood intended to enter Seattle University and major in music theory. However, in 1950 he was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He was stationed at Fort Ord in California, where his certificate as a lifeguard got him appointed as a life-saving and swimming instructor.While on leave in 1951, Eastwood was a passenger in a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed in the ocean near Point Reyes. After escaping from the sinking fuselage, he and the pilot safely swam to shore.
Eastwood later moved to Los Angeles and began a romance with Maggie Johnson, a college student. He managed an apartment house in Beverly Hills by day and worked at a Signal Oil gas station by night. He enrolled at Los Angeles City College and married Maggie shortly before Christmas 1953 in South Pasadena.
In May 1954, Eastwood made his first real audition for Six Bridges to Cross but was rejected by Joseph Pevney. After many unsuccessful auditions, he was eventually given a minor role by director Jack Arnold in Revenge of the Creature, a sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In September 1954, Eastwood worked for three weeks on Lubin's Lady Godiva of Coventry, won a role in February 1955 as a sailor in Francis in the Navy, and appeared uncredited in another Jack Arnold film, Tarantula, where he played a squadron pilot. In May 1955, Eastwood put four hours' work into the film Never Say Goodbye. Universal presented him with his first television role on July 2, 1955, on NBC's Allen in Movieland, which starred Tony Curtis and Benny Goodman. Although he continued to develop as an actor, Universal terminated his contract on October 23, 1955.
Eastwood joined the Marsh Agency, and although Lubin landed him his biggest role to date in The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) and later hired him for Escapade in Japan, without a formal contract Eastwood was struggling. Eastwood met financial advisor, Irving Leonard, who would arguably become the most responsible for launching his career in the late 1950s and 1960s and whom Eastwood described as being "like a second father to me". Upon Leonard's advice, he changed talent agencies to the Kumin-Olenick Agency in 1956 and Mitchell Gertz in 1957. He landed several small roles in 1956 as a temperamental army officer for a segment of ABC's Reader's Digest series, and as a motorcycle gang member on a Highway Patrol episode. The following year he played a Navy lieutenant in a segment of Navy Log and in early 1959 made a notable guest appearance on Maverick opposite James Garner as a cowardly villain intent on marrying a rich girl for money.
Some interior shots for the film were done at the Cinecittà studio on the outskirts of Rome and then production moved to a small village in Andalusia, Spain. A Fistful of Dollars became a benchmark in the development of spaghetti westerns, with Leone depicting a more lawless and desolate world than in traditional westerns and challenging the stereotypical American notions of a western hero with a morally ambiguous antihero. Eastwood became a major star in Italy.
Leone hired Eastwood to star in For a Few Dollars More (1965), the second film of the trilogy and thanks to screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, the rights to the film and the final film of the trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were sold to United Artists for roughly $900,000 (US$}} in dollars).
(1966)]] In January 1966, Eastwood met with producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-Western five-part anthology production named Le streghe (The Witches) opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano. Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment only took a few days to shoot. The performance was not met well by critics; one said "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike'". Two months later, Eastwood began on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the mysterious Man With No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach was hired as the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco. The storyline involves a search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. One day, during the filming of the scene in which the bridge is blown up with dynamite, Eastwood, suspicious of explosives, urged his co-star Wallach to retreat up to the hilltop, saying, "I know about these things. Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can". Just minutes later, crew confusion over the word "Vaya!" consummated in a premature explosion which could have killed him, resulting in the bridge having to be rebuilt. All the films were successful in cinemas, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which eventually collected $8 million (US$}} in dollars) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star. Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack". Newsweek described For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey" despite the fact that it is now widely considered to be one of the finest films in film history. While Time highlighted the wooden acting, especially Eastwood's, critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness playing the tall, lone stranger. Leone's unique style of cinematography was widely acclaimed, even by some critics who disliked the acting. A cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, the film brought him a salary of $400,000 (US$}} in dollars) and 25% of the net earnings. Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists. Filming began in June 1967 in the Las Cruces area of New Mexico and became a major success after release in July 1968, becoming the biggest United Artists opening in history and exceeding all of the James Bond films at that time. It was widely praised by critics, including Arthur Winsten of the New York Post, who described Hang 'Em High as "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement".
Meanwhile, before Hang 'Em High had been released, Eastwood had set to work on the film Coogan's Bluff opposite Don Stroud, about a lonely New York City Police Department deputy sheriff facing a psychopathic criminal (Stroud). The project reunited him with Universal Studios after he received an offer of $1 million (US$}} in dollars), more than double his previous salary. Coogan's Bluff also became the first of many collaborations with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy scores to Eastwood's films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, especially the Dirty Harry film series. Filming began in November 1967, before the full script had been finalized. The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence, and set the prototype for the macho cop that Eastwood would play in the Dirty Harry films.
Eastwood was paid $850,000 (US$}} in dollars) in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare. The film, about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the mountains, had Richard Burton playing the squad's commander and Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television series, but the series was canceled before filming could commence.
In 1969, Eastwood branched out by starring in his career's only musical, Paint Your Wagon. He and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin played gold miners who share the same wife (played by Jean Seberg). Production for the film was plagued with bad weather and delays and the budget—eventually exceeding $20 million (US$}} in dollars) —was extremely high for this period. The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
The script for Dirty Harry (1971) was written by Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink. It is a story about a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means. Dirty Harry is arguably Eastwood's most memorable character and has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop genre" that is imitated to this day. His lines (quoted) have been cited as amongst the most memorable in cinematic history and controversially has been attributed to increasing ownership in the United States of a .44 Magnum. After its release in December 1971, Dirty Harry proved a phenomenal success, earning some $22 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States and Canada alone. It was Siegel's highest-grossing film and the start of a series of films featuring the character of Harry Callahan. Although a number of critics such as Jay Cocks of Time praised his performance as Dirty Harry, describing him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character", the film was widely criticized and accused of fascism.
Eastwood was offered the role of James Bond following the departure of Sean Connery, but turned it down because he believed the character should be played by an English actor. Eastwood next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (1972), based on a character inspired by Reies Lopez Tijerina, who stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico in June 1967. Under John Sturges, filming began in Old Tucson in November 1971, but Eastwood suffered symptoms of a bronchial infection and several panic attacks during filming. Joe Kidd received a mixed reception. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times thought the film was unremarkable, with foolish symbolism and sloppy editing, but he praised Eastwood's performance.
In 1973, Eastwood directed his first western, High Plains Drifter, with a moral and supernatural theme which would be emulated later in Pale Rider. The plot follows a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) who arrives in a brooding Western town where the people hire the stranger to defend the town against three felons that are soon to be released. There remains confusion amongst viewers as to whether the stranger is the brother of the deputy whom the felons lynched and murdered or his ghost. Holes in the plot were filled in with black humor and allegory, influenced by Leone. The revisionist film received a mixed reception from critics, but was a major box office success. A number of critics thought Eastwood's directing was as derivative as it was expressive, with Arthur Knight of Saturday Review remarking that Clint had "absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society". John Wayne, who had declined a role in the film, sent a letter of disapproval to Eastwood some weeks after the film was released, saying that "the townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, the spirit that made America great.
Eastwood turned his attention towards Breezy (1973), a film about love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. During casting for the film, Eastwood met Sondra Locke for the first time, an actress who would play a major role in many of his films for the next ten years and was an important figure in his life. Kay Lenz was awarded the part of Breezy, due to Locke being too old at 26. The film, shot very quickly and efficiently by Eastwood and Frank Stanley came in $1 million (US$}} in dollars) under budget and finished three days ahead of schedule. The film was not a major critical or commercial success; it barely reached the Top 50 before disappearing and was only made available on video in 1998.
After the filming of Breezy had finished, Warner Brothers announced that Eastwood had agreed to reprise his role as Detective Harry Callahan in a sequel to Dirty Harry, Magnum Force (1973), about a group of rogue young officers in the San Francisco Police Force who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals. Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States alone—a new record for Eastwood—it was not a critical success. The New York Times critics Nora Sayre criticized the often contradictory moral themes of the film and Frank Rich believed it "was the same old stuff". Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but he was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eastwood was reportedly fuming at his own lack of Academy Award recognition and swore that he would never work for United Artists again.
The Eiger Sanction (1975) was based on a critically acclaimed spy novel by Trevanian. Paul Newman was originally intended for the role of Jonathan Hemlock which was later adopted by Eastwood, an assassin turned college art professor who decides to return to his former profession for one last sanction in return for a rare Picasso painting; he must climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland and perform the deed under perilous conditions. Once again he starred alongside George Kennedy. Mike Hoover taught Eastwood how to climb during several weeks of preparation at Yosemite in the summer of 1974 before filming commenced in Grindelwald on August 12, 1974. Despite prior warnings of the perils of the Eiger, the filming crew suffered a number of accidents including one fatality. Eastwood insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts, in spite of the danger. Upon its release in May 1975, The Eiger Sanction was a commercial failure, receiving only $23.8 million (US$}} in dollars) at the box office and was panned by most critics, with Joy Gould Boyum of the Wall Street Journal dismissing the film as "brutal fantasy". Eastwood blamed Universal Studios for the film's poor promotion and turned his back on them. He formed a long-lasting agreement with Warner Brothers through Frank Wells that would last for the next 35 years.
The western, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), was inspired by a 1972 novel by Asa Carter. The lead character, Josey Wales (Eastwood), is a rebel southerner who refuses to surrender his arms after the American Civil War and is chased across the old southwest by a group of enforcers. Eastwood cast his young son Kyle Eastwood, Chief Dan George and Sondra Locke for the first time, against director Philip Kaufman's wishes. Kaufman was notoriously fired under Eastwood's command by producer Bob Daley, resulting in a fine (reported to be around $60,000 (US$}} in dollars) from the Directors Guild of America, who subsequently passed new legislation reserving the right to impose a major fine on a producer for discharging a director and replacing him with himself. Upon release in August 1976, The Outlaw Josey Wales was widely acclaimed by critics with many critics and viewers seeing Eastwood's role as an iconic one that related to America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War.
Eastwood was offered the role of Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but declined as he did not want to spend weeks in the Philippines shooting it. He refused the part of a platoon leader in Ted Post's Vietnam War film, Go Tell the Spartans. The film, at 95 minutes, was considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry movie but was a major commercial success, grossing $100 million (US$}} in dollars) worldwide, becoming Eastwood's highest-grossing film to date.
In 1977, Eastwood directed and starred in The Gauntlet. He portrays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob. Although a moderate hit with the viewing public, critics were mixed about the film, with many believing it was overly violent. Eastwood's longtime nemesis , an uncharacteristic, offbeat comedy role. Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roams the American West searching for a lost love, accompanied by his brother and an orangutan. Upon its release, the film was a surprising success and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film at the time. Panned by the critics, it ranks high amongst those of his career to date, and was the second-highest grossing film of 1978.
In 1979, Eastwood starred in the atmospheric thriller Escape from Alcatraz, the last of his films to be directed by Don Siegel. It is based on the true story of Frank Lee Morris, who, along with John and Clarence Anglin, escaped from the notorious Alcatraz prison in 1962. The film was a major success and marked the beginning of a period of praise from critics for Eastwood, with Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic describing it as "crystalline cinema".
In 1984, Eastwood starred opposite his daughter Alison, Geneviève Bujold, and Jamie Rose in the provocative thriller Tightrope, inspired by newspaper articles about an elusive Bay Area rapist. Set in New Orleans (to avoid confusion with the Dirty Harry films), Eastwood starred as a single-parent cop, drawn into his target's tortured psychology and fascination for sadomasochism. Eastwood next starred in the period comedy City Heat (1984) with Burt Reynolds about a private eye and his partner who get mixed up with gangsters in the prohibition era of the 1930s. It grossed around $50 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically, but was overshadowed by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop and failed to meet expectations. In 1985, Eastwood made his only foray into TV direction to date with the Amazing Stories episode "Vanessa In The Garden", which starred Harvey Keitel and Sondra Locke. This was his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, who later produced Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Eastwood revisited the western genre, directing and starring in Pale Rider opposite Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress. The film is based on the classic 1953 western Shane; a preacher descends from the mists of the Sierras and sides with miners during the California Gold Rush of 1850. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the rider of a pale horse is Death, and shows similarities to his 1973 western High Plains Drifter in its themes of morality and justice and its exploration of the supernatural. Pale Rider became one of Eastwood's most successful films to date and was hailed as one of the best films of 1985 and the best western in years, with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarking, "This year (1985) will go down in film history as the moment Clint Eastwood finally earned respect as an artist".
In 1986, Eastwood co-starred with Marsha Mason in the military drama Heartbreak Ridge, about the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada. He portrays an aging United States Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Korean War veteran. The production and filming of Heartbreak Ridge was marred by internal disagreements between Eastwood and long-time friend and producer Fritz Manes, and between Eastwood and the United States Department of Defense, who expressed contempt for the film. A commercial rather than a critical success (only viewed more favorably in recent times), the film was released in 1,470 theaters, and grossed $70 million domestically.
Eastwood's fifth and final Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool, was released in 1988. It co-starred Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, and a young Jim Carrey. The Dead Pool grossed nearly $38 million, relatively low takings for a Dirty Harry film. Eastwood began working on smaller, more personal projects, and experienced a lull in his career between 1988 and 1992. Always interested in jazz, Eastwood directed Bird (1988), a biopic starring Forest Whitaker as jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and Spike Lee, son of jazz bassist Bill Lee and a long term critic of Eastwood, criticized the characterization of Charlie Parker, remarking that it did not capture his true essence and sense of humor. Eastwood received two Golden Globes for the film: the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifelong contribution, and the Best Director award. However, Bird was a commercial disaster, earning just $11 million, which Eastwood attributed to a declining interest in jazz amongst black people.
Carrey would again appear with Eastwood in the poorly received comedy Pink Cadillac (1989) alongside Bernadette Peters. The film is about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing an innocent woman, who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film was a disaster, both critically and commercially, earning barely more than Bird and marking the lowest point in Eastwood's career in years.
In 1993, Eastwood played Frank Horrigan, a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent in the CIA thriller In the Line of Fire, co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Eastwood's character, Horrigan, is haunted by his failure to react in time to save John F. Kennedy's life. As of 2011, it is the last time he acted in a film he did not direct himself. The film was among the top 10 box office performers in that year, earning a reported $200 million (US$}} in dollars) in the United States alone. Later in 1993, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in the 1960s-set A Perfect World. Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked that the film was the highest point of Eastwood's directing career, and it has since been cited as one of Eastwood's most underrated directorial achievements.
In May 1994, Eastwood attended the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was presented with France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal. Eastwood continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the love story The Bridges of Madison County (1995). Based on a best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, it relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for National Geographic, who has a love affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife in Iowa named Francesca (Streep). The film was a hit at the box office and highly acclaimed by critics, much to their surprise; the novel was not viewed favorably and the subject matter was deemed a potentially disastrous one to produce on film. Roger Ebert remarked that "Streep and Eastwood weave a spell, and it is based on that particular knowledge of love and self that comes with middle age." The Bridges of Madison County was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and Streep was also nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe.
In 1997, Eastwood then directed and again starred alongside Gene Hackman in the political thriller Absolute Power, in which he plays a veteran thief who witnesses the Secret Service cover up a murder. The film received a mixed reception from critics and was generally viewed as one of his weaker efforts. Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide remarked, "The plot turns are no more ludicrous than those of the average political thriller, but the slow pace makes their preposterousness all the more obvious. Eastwood's acting limitations are also sorely evident, since Luther is the kind of thoughtful thief who has to talk, rather than maintaining the enigmatic fortitude that is Eastwood's forte. Disappointing." Later in 1997, Eastwood directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, based on the novel by John Berendt and starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. The film received a mixed response from critics.
In 1999, Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime, which also featured his young daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood. Eastwood plays Steve Everett, a journalist recovering from alcoholism, given the task of covering the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (Isaiah Washington). The film received a mixed reception. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "True Crime is directed by Mr. Eastwood with righteous indignation and increasingly strong momentum. As in A Perfect World, his direction is galvanized by a sense of second chances and tragic misunderstandings, and by contrasting a larger sense of justice with the peculiar minutiae of crime. Perhaps he goes a shade too far in the latter direction, though."If some reviews for True Crime were positive, commercially it was a box office bomb, earning less than half its $55 million (US$}} in dollars) budget, and easily became his worst performing film of the 1990s (White Hunter Black Heart having only a limited release).
In 2003, Eastwood directed the crime drama Mystic River, a film about murder, vigilantism, and sexual abuse. Starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins, Mystic River was lauded by critics and viewers alike. The film won two Academy Awards, Best Actor for Penn and Best Supporting Actor for Robbins, with Eastwood garnering nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. The film grossed $90 million (US$}} in dollars) domestically on a budget of $30 million.
In 2004, Eastwood found further critical and commercial success when he directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. Eastwood played a cantankerous trainer who forms a bond with a female boxer (Hilary Swank) he is persuaded to train by his lifelong friend (Morgan Freeman). The film won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (Freeman). Effectively at age 74, he became the oldest of eighteen directors to have directed two or more Best Picture winners. Eastwood also received a nomination for Best Actor and received a Grammy nomination for the score he composed. A. O. Scott of The New York Times lauded the film as a "masterpiece" and the best film of the year.
at Changelings premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival]] In 2006, Eastwood directed two films about the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The first, Flags of Our Fathers, focused on the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi. The second one, Letters from Iwo Jima, dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote to family members. Letters from Iwo Jima was the first American film to show a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy. Both films were highly praised by critics and garnered several Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture for Letters from Iwo Jima.
On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Eastwood into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts. In early 2007, Eastwood was presented with the highest civilian distinction in France, Légion d'honneur, at a ceremony in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac told Eastwood that he embodied "the best of Hollywood".
In 2008, Eastwood directed Changeling, which is based on a true story set in the late 1920s. It starred Angelina Jolie as a woman who is reunited with her missing son—only to realize he is an impostor. After releasing in several film festivals, the film grossed over $110 million (US$}} in dollars), the majority of which came from foreign markets. The film was highly acclaimed, with Damon Wise of Empire describing Changeling as "flawless". Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed" and stated that Changeling was a more complex and wide-ranging work than Eastwood's Mystic River, saying the characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation". Film critic Prairie Miller said that in its portrayal of female courage the film was "about as feminist as Hollywood can get", whilst David Denby argues that rather than "an expression of feminist awareness", the film—like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby—is "a case of awed respect for a woman who was strong and enduring". , July 17, 2008]] After four years away from acting, Eastwood then ended his "self-imposed acting hiatus" with Gran Torino, which he also directed, produced, and partly scored with his son Kyle and Jamie Cullum. Biographer Marc Eliot called Eastwood's role "an amalgam of the Man with No Name, Dirty Harry, and William Munny, here aged and cynical but willing and able to fight on whenever the need arose." Eastwood has said that the role will most likely be the last time he acts in a film. It grossed close to $30 million during its wide release opening weekend in January 2009, the highest of his career as an actor or director. Gran Torino eventually grossed over $268 million (US$}} in dollars) worldwide in theaters, becoming the highest-grossing film of Eastwood's career so far without adjustment for inflation.
In 2009, Eastwood directed Invictus, based on the story of South Africa at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain François Pienaar. John Carlin, author of the book on which the film is based, sold the film rights to Freeman.
In 2010, Eastwood directed Hereafter, a thriller starring Matt Damon as "a reluctant psychic", with co-stars Cécile de France and Lyndsey Marshal. The film had its world premiere on September 12, 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and was given a limited release on October 15, 2010. Hereafter received mixed reviews from critics, with critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes being, "Despite a thought-provoking premise and Clint Eastwood's typical flair as director, Hereafter fails to generate much compelling drama, straddling the line between poignant sentimentality and hokey tedium." Also in 2010, Eastwood collaborated with Bruce Ricker as an executive producer for a Turner Classic Movies (TCM) documentary about legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, , to commemorate Brubeck's 90th birthday in December.
Eastwood married swimsuit model Maggie Johnson on December 19, 1953, six months after they met on a blind date. During his marriage to Johnson, Eastwood had an affair with Roxanne Tunis, an extra on Rawhide which produced a daughter, Kimber, born on June 17, 1964, although it was not made public until 1989. Eastwood and Johnson had two children together: Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) and Alison Eastwood (born May 22, 1972). They separated around 1976, when Eastwood began living with actress Sondra Locke, but the $25 million (US$}} in dollars) divorce settlement was not finalized until May 1984.
Eastwood's relationship with Locke lasted 14 years, during which she had two abortions and then a tubal ligation. The couple separated acrimoniously in 1989. She filed a palimony suit against Eastwood for evicting her from the home which they shared and sued him for a second time for fraud. Locke and Eastwood resolved the dispute with a non-public settlement in 1999.
During his cohabitation with Locke, Eastwood had an affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves. According to biographers, they met at the premiere of Pale Rider and conceived a son, Scott (born March 21, 1986), the same night. They also had a daughter, Kathryn (born February 2, 1988), although the identity of both was not publicly known until years later.
Actress Frances Fisher moved in with Eastwood after he broke up with Locke. They met while filming Pink Cadillac in 1988. They co-starred in Unforgiven and had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (born August 7, 1993). The couple ended their relationship in early 1995, but remain friends, and later appeared together in True Crime.
in 2007]] Eastwood met anchorwoman Dina Ruiz in an interview in 1993, and they married on March 31, 1996, when Eastwood surprised her with a private ceremony at a home on the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. She is 35 years his junior. The couple's daughter, Morgan Eastwood, was born on December 12, 1996.
A keen golfer, Eastwood owns the Tehàma Golf Club, is an investor of the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links, and donates his time every year to charitable causes at major tournaments. Eastwood was a licensed pilot and often flew his helicopter to the studios to avoid traffic.
|- ! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;"|National Board of Review |-
Category:1930 births Category:Actors from California Category:Akira Kurosawa Award winners Category:American actor-politicians Category:American actors of English descent Category:American actors of Scottish descent Category:American aviators Category:American composers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American firefighters Category:American libertarians Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American restaurateurs Category:American television actors Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:California Republicans Category:César Award winners Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Eastwood family Category:English-language film directors Category:Fellini Gold Medalists Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Restaurateurs Category:Living people Category:Mayors of places in California Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Category:People from Oakland, California Category:People from Piedmont, California Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award Category:Spaghetti Western actors Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:Western (genre) film directors
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| Name | Angelina Jolie |
|---|---|
| Caption | Jolie at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010 |
| Birth name | Angelina Jolie Voight |
| Birth date | June 04, 1975 |
| Birth place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, humanitarian |
| Years active | 1982; 1993–present |
| Spouse | Jonny Lee Miller (1996–1999) |
| Partner | Brad Pitt (2005–present) |
| Parents | Jon VoightMarcheline Bertrand (deceased) |
| Children | 3 sons, 3 daughters |
| Height | 5' 8" (1.73 m) |
Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved wider fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).
Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, as well as three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York. As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting; she had not been influenced by her father. When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to Los Angeles and Jolie decided she wanted to act and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.
At the age of 14, she dropped out of her acting classes and dreamed of becoming a funeral director. During this period, she wore black clothing, dyed her hair purple and went out moshing with her live-in boyfriend.
She later recalled her time as a student at Beverly Hills High School (and later Moreno High School), and her feeling of isolation among the children of some of the area's more affluent families. Jolie's mother survived on a more modest income, and Jolie often wore second-hand clothes. She was teased by other students who also targeted her for her distinctive features, for being extremely thin, and for wearing glasses and braces.
Jolie was estranged from her father for many years. The two tried to reconcile and he appeared with her in (2001). In August of the same year, Voight claimed that his daughter had "serious mental problems" on Access Hollywood. Jolie later indicated that she no longer wished to pursue a relationship with her father, and said, "My father and I don't speak. I don't hold any anger toward him. I don't believe that somebody's family becomes their blood. Because my son's adopted, and families are earned." She stated that she did not want to publicize her reasons for her estrangement from her father, but because she had adopted her son, she did not think it was healthy for her to associate with Voight. In February 2010, Jolie publicly reunited with her father when he visited her while filming The Tourist in Venice.
She appeared as Gina Malacici in the 1996 comedy Love Is All There Is, a modern-day loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set among two rival Italian family restaurant owners in the Bronx, New York. In the road movie Mojave Moon (1996) she was a youngster, named Eleanor Rigby, who falls for Danny Aiello's character, while he takes a shine to her mother, played by Anne Archer. In 1996, Jolie also portrayed Margret "Legs" Sadovsky, one of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond in the film Foxfire after they beat up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. The Los Angeles Times wrote about her performance, "It took a lot of hogwash to develop this character, but Jolie, Jon Voight's knockout daughter, has the presence to overcome the stereotype. Though the story is narrated by Maddy, Legs is the subject and the catalyst."
In 1997, Jolie starred with David Duchovny in the thriller Playing God, set in the Los Angeles underworld. The movie was not received well by critics and Roger Ebert noted that "Angelina Jolie finds a certain warmth in a kind of role that is usually hard and aggressive; she seems too nice to be [a criminal's] girlfriend, and maybe she is." She then appeared in the television movie True Women, a historical romantic drama set in the American West, and based on the book by Janice Woods Windle. That year she also appeared in the music video for "Anybody Seen My Baby?" by the Rolling Stones.
In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi. The film depicted a world of sex, drugs and emotional drama, and chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a result of her drug addiction, and her decline and death from AIDS. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed." For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award. In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie reportedly preferred to stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and as a result had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with. While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'"
Following Gia, Jolie moved to New York and stopped acting for a short time, because she felt that she had "nothing else to give". She enrolled at New York University to study filmmaking and attended writing classes. She described it as "just good for me to collect myself" on Inside the Actors Studio.
Jolie returned to film as Gloria McNeary in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen, and later that year appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe and Jon Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews and Jolie was praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie, working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble." Jolie won the Breakthrough Performance Award by the National Board of Review.
In 1999, she starred in Mike Newell's comedy-drama Pushing Tin, co-starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Jolie played Thornton's seductive wife. The film received a mixed reception from critics and Jolie's character was particularly criticized. The Washington Post wrote, "Mary (Angelina Jolie), a completely ludicrous writer's creation of a free-spirited woman who weeps over hibiscus plants that die, wears lots of turquoise rings and gets real lonely when Russell spends entire nights away from home." She then worked with Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector (1999), an adapted crime novel written by Jeffery Deaver. Jolie played Amelia Donaghy, a police officer haunted by her cop father's suicide, who reluctantly helps Washington track down a serial killer. The movie grossed $151 million worldwide,
Jolie next took the supporting role of the sociopathic Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999), a film that tells the story of mental patient Susanna Kaysen, and which was adapted from Kaysen's original memoir of the same name. While Winona Ryder played the main character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead marked Jolie's final breakthrough in Hollywood. She won her third Golden Globe Award, her second Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Variety noted, "Jolie is excellent as the flamboyant, irresponsible girl who turns out to be far more instrumental than the doctors in Susanna's rehabilitation".
In 2000, Jolie appeared in her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, ex-girlfriend of car-thief Nicolas Cage. The role was small, and the Washington Post criticized that "all she does in this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy, pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth." She later explained that the film was a welcome relief after the heavy role of Lisa Rowe, and it became her highest grossing movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally. The movie was an international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide, In 2002, she played Lanie Kerrigan in Life or Something Like It, a film about an ambitious TV reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award–winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."
Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in in 2003. The sequel, while not as lucrative as the original, earned $156 million at the international box-office.
at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007]]
In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour." She also provided the voice of Lola, an angelfish in the animated DreamWorks movie Shark Tale (2004) and she had a brief appearance in Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot with actors entirely in front of a bluescreen. Also in 2004, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, Oliver Stone's biographical film about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States. The movie earned $478 million worldwide, one of the biggest hits of 2005.
, November 2007]]
In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures the life in 27 locations around the globe during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and is intended to be distributed through the National Education Association, mainly in high schools. Jolie starred as Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007), about the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. The film is based on Mariane Pearl's memoirs of the same name and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving", played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent." The film earned her a fourth Golden Globe Award and a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Jolie also played Grendel's mother in Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf (2007) which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Mark Millar. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $342 million worldwide. It is based on the true story of a woman in 1928 Los Angeles who is reunited with her kidnapped son — only to realize he is an impostor. The Chicago Tribune noted, "Jolie really shines in the calm before the storm, the scenes [...] when one patronizing male authority figure after another belittles her at their peril." Jolie received her second Academy Award nomination, and also was nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award.
It was confirmed that Jolie would star as Cleopatra in the remake of Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra: A Life, based on the book by Stacy Schiff.
Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries. Asked what she hoped to accomplish, she stated, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon." In 2002, Jolie visited the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand and Colombian refugees in Ecuador. Jolie later went to various UNHCR facilities in Kosovo and paid a visit to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya with refugees mainly from Sudan. She also met with Angolan refugees while filming Beyond Borders in Namibia.
In 2003, Jolie embarked on a six-day mission to Tanzania where she traveled to western border camps hosting Congolese refugees, and she paid a week-long visit to Sri Lanka, meeting Tamil refugee orphans in Jaffna. She later concluded a four-day mission to Russia as she traveled to North Caucasus. Concurrently with the release of her movie Beyond Borders she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicle her early field missions (2001–2002). During a private stay in Jordan in December 2003 she asked to visit Iraqi refugees in Jordan's eastern desert and later that month she went to Egypt to meet Sudanese refugees.
On her first U.N. trip within the United States, Jolie went to Arizona in 2004, visiting detained asylum seekers at three facilities and the Southwest Key Program, a facility for unaccompanied children in Phoenix. She flew to Chad in June 2004, paying a visit to border sites and camps for refugees who had fled fighting in western Sudan's Darfur region. Four months later she returned to the region, this time going directly into West Darfur. Also in 2004, Jolie met with Afghan refugees in Thailand and on a private stay to Lebanon during the Christmas holidays, she visited UNHCR's regional office in Beirut, as well as some young refugees and cancer patients in the Lebanese capital.
In 2005, Jolie visited Pakistani camps containing Afghani refugees, and she also met with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; she returned to Pakistan with Brad Pitt during the Thanksgiving weekend in November to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In 2006, Jolie and Pitt flew to Haiti and visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. While filming A Mighty Heart in India, Jolie met with Afghan and Burmese refugees in New Delhi. She spent Christmas Day 2006 with Colombian refugees in San José, Costa Rica where she handed out presents. In 2007, Jolie returned to Chad for a two-day mission to assess the deteriorating security situation for refugees from Darfur; Jolie and Pitt subsequently donated $1 million to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur. Jolie also made her first visit to Syria and twice went to Iraq, where she met with Iraqi refugees as well as multi-national forces and U.S. troops.
at World Refugee Day, June 2005]]
Over time, Jolie became more involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level. She has regularly attended World Refugee Day in Washington, D.C., and she was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005 and 2006. Jolie also began lobbying humanitarian interests in the U.S. capital, where she met with members of Congress at least 20 times from 2003. Jolie also pushed for several bills to aid refugees and vulnerable children in the Third World. Jolie also co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, founded at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2006, which helps fund education programs for children affected by conflict.
Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work. In 2003, she was the first recipient of the newly created Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, and in 2005, she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA. Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country on August 12, 2005; she has pledged $5 million to set up a wildlife sanctuary in the north-western province of Battambang and owns property there. In 2007, Jolie became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and she received the Freedom Award by the International Rescue Committee.
After she and Pitt donated $1 million to relief efforts in Haiti following a devastating 2010 earthquake, Jolie visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic to discuss the future of relief efforts. She also donated $100,000 to the United Nations for the 2010 August flood relief operations in Pakistan.
On March 28, 1996, Jolie married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, her co-star in the film Hackers (1995). She attended her wedding in black rubber pants and a white shirt, upon which she had written the groom's name in her blood. Jolie and Miller separated the following year and subsequently divorced on February 3, 1999. They remained on good terms and Jolie later explained, "It comes down to timing. I think he's the greatest husband a girl could ask for. I'll always love him, we were simply too young." Jolie and Thornton divorced on May 27, 2003. Asked about the sudden dissolution of their marriage, Jolie stated, "It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it's scary but... I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself yet."
at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2007]]
Jolie has said in interviews that she is bisexual and has long acknowledged that she had a sexual relationship with her Foxfire (1996) co-star Jenny Shimizu, "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her." In 2003, asked if she was bisexual, Jolie responded, "Of course. If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it's okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!"
In early 2005, Jolie was involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal when she was accused of being the reason for the divorce of actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. The allegation was that she and Pitt had started an affair during filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). She denied this on several occasions, but admitted that they "fell in love" on the set. In an interview in 2005, she explained, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife." In September 2010, Jolie said in an interview with Sanjay Gupta on CNN that Brad Pitt was the only one she could really talk to.
On March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan.
Jolie adopted a six-month-old girl from Ethiopia, Zahara Marley, on July 6, 2005. Zahara was born on January 8, 2005. She was originally named Yemsrach by her mother, and was later given the legal name Tena Adam at an orphanage. Jolie adopted her from Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Addis Ababa. Shortly after they returned to the United States, Zahara was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition. In 2007, media outlets reported Zahara's biological mother, Mentewabe Dawit, was still alive and wanted her daughter back, but she later denied these reports, saying she thought Zahara was "very fortunate" to be adopted by Jolie. On January 19, 2006 a judge in California approved Pitt's request to legally adopt Jolie's two children. Their surnames were formally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, in Swakopmund, Namibia, by a scheduled caesarean section, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly born daughter would have a Namibian passport, and Jolie decided to sell the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images herself, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these valuable photographs. People paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million. All profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it was the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien, who was born on November 29, 2003 and abandoned at birth at a local hospital, where he was initially named Pham Quang Sang. Jolie adopted the boy from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. She revealed that his first name, Pax, was suggested by her mother before her death.
Following months of tabloid speculation, Jolie confirmed, at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, that she was expecting twins. She gave birth to a boy, Knox Léon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline, by caesarean section at the Lenval hospital in Nice, France, on July 12, 2008. The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to People and Hello! for $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The money went to the Jolie/Pitt Foundation.
Jolie consciously furthers her children understanding not only what is going on in their home countries, but also the nature of the states their siblings come from. and plans to familiarize them with all faiths (in particular Christendom, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism) so that they would be able to decide themselves which religion they want to choose. She is also engaged on familiarizing all of her children with the French language.
Jolie appeared in the media from an early age due to her famous father Jon Voight. At seven she had a small part in Lookin' to Get Out, a movie co-written by and starring her father, and in 1986 and 1988 she attended the Academy Awards with him. However, when she started her acting career, Jolie decided not to use "Voight" as a stage name, because she wished to establish her own identity as an actress. She quickly became a tabloid's favorite, since she presented herself as very outspoken in interviews, discussing her love life and her interest in BDSM openly, it was also noted that her association with Brad Pitt had "accentuated" the frequency of requests for Jolie's looks. The media speculated that Jolie is a Buddhist, but she said that she teaches Buddhism to her son Maddox because she considers it part of his culture. When asked in 2000 if there was a God, she said, "For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me."
in February 2009]]
Starting in 2005, her relationship with Brad Pitt became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her pregnancy in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the point of insanity" as Reuters described it in their story "The Brangelina fever". Trying to avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ", as it had been described. Two years later, Jolie's second pregnancy again fueled a media frenzy. For the two weeks she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.
Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31% of respondents in the United States said Jolie was familiar to them, by 2006 she was familiar to 81% of Americans. Jolie was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2006 and 2008. She was described as the world's most beautiful woman in the 2006 "100 Most Beautiful" issue of People, voted the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British Channel 4 television show The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols in 2007, She also topped Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list in 2009; she had previously been ranked No. 14 in 2007, and No. 3 in 2008. Jolie was named one of the 50 People Who Matter 2010 by New Statesman Magazine.
Jolie's numerous tattoos have been the subject of much media attention and have often been addressed by interviewers. Jolie stated that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, the large number of tattoos on her body have forced filmmakers to become more creative when planning nude or love scenes. Make-up has been used to cover up the tattoos in many of her productions. Jolie has thirteen known tattoos, among them the Tennessee Williams quote "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages", which she got together with her mother, the Arabic language phrase "العزيمة" (strength of will), the Latin proverb "quod me nutrit me destruit" (what nourishes me destroys me), and a Yantra prayer written in the ancient Khmer script for her son Maddox. She also has six sets of geographical coordinates on her upper left arm indicating the birthplaces of her children. Over time she covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including "Billy Bob", the name of her former husband Billy Bob Thornton, a Chinese character for death (死), and a window on her lower back; she explained that she removed the window, because, while she used to spend all of her time looking out through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.
Category:United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassadors Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Female aviators Category:American aviators Category:Bisexual actors Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:American film producers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:American female models Category:American writers Category:Armenian philanthropists Category:American humanitarians Category:Actors from Los Angeles, California Category:American actors of German descent Category:American people of Slovak descent Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:People of Iroquois descent Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:American actors of French descent
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![Bilingual road sign near Wrexham Central station in 2009. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which broadcasts 70% of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows[22] during peak viewing hours.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110524013802im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/9d/94/134c211e5f363c95ac81a4574c2e_thumb.jpg "Bilingual road sign near Wrexham Central station in 2009. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which broadcasts 70% of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows[22] during peak viewing hours.")
