TMZ.com is a celebrity news web site that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online (AOL) and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in the upper right corner. The letters ''TMZ'' stand for ''thirty-mile zone'', referring to the "studio zone" within a radius of the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles. Shooting within this zone is considered local. Locations outside this zone are subject to mileage and travel time charges by the talent and crew.

TMZ's managing editor is Harvey Levin, a lawyer-turned-journalist who got his start as a legal expert on LA's KCBS-TV. The site claims that it does not pay for stories or interviews; however, Levin has admitted that TMZ does "sometimes pay sources for leads on stories". Levin has stated that "everything is researched and vetted for accuracy." A companion TV series, ''TMZ on TV'', debuted on September 10, 2007. The site has received recognition as a rumour and gossip investigative agency, and was the first organization to break news stories such as the John Edwards affair love child scandal and Michael Jackson's death.

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Development

Seven months prior to the official launch of TMZ.com, America Online (AOL) had hinted that it was planning to launch a Hollywood- and entertainment-centric news site that would be produced in conjunction with Telepictures Productions and had shown interest in launching a website featuring a focus mainly on celebrities. At the time of the launch, AOL confirmed that the site would primarily feature and consist of Hollywood gossip, including interviews, photos and video footage of celebrities and information pertaining to industry news on movies, television shows, etc. The site was described as "an effort to further feed the current American obsession with celebrities". Mike Shields of MediaWeek.com wrote, "the site also boasts of an expansive collection of archived star photos and videos," allowing fans to "trace changing hairlines and waistlines of their favorites performers over the years".

Background

Since 2005, TMZ.com has signed Revlon, Chrysler, Hilton Hotels (ironically related to Paris Hilton, who is often mocked by the Web site) and New Line Cinema as charter advertisers to their Web site. The ''New York Times'' cited TMZ.com as "one of the most successful online ventures of the last few years." In October 2008, the ''New York Times'' reported that TMZ.com, at the time, was receiving more than 10 million viewers every month. Alexa.com ranked TMZ.com as the five-hundred-fifth most trafficked website worldwide and as the one hundred-fifty-fifth most trafficked website in the United States.

Levin has acknowledged that TMZ.com has passed on multiple notable coverage because he felt that, while the stories are true, he questioned how the sources obtained their information. Levin has acknowledged that TMZ.com pays source, but in the form of a "tip fee." Levin stated that TMZ.com pays for photos and for 'tips' and or leads on stories, and defended TMZ's position by stating that the sources and tips are verified before being used and or reported.

In November 2009, TMZ's revenue was publicly disclosed for the first time. Telepictures (which TMZ.com is operated by) stated: "Subject to certain performance adjustments and the reimbursement of expenses, revenues are split evenly between the parties [...] Telepictures received payments of $6.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2009, and $12.7 million, $9.6 million and $3.0 million in 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively." Based on released figures, TMZ's revenues for 2008 was $25.4 million and is projected to have less revenue in the 2009 year with the revenue of $12.4 million in first three quarters of the year—unlike the previous year, which was within the $15 million range.

Notable coverage

On July 28, 2006, TMZ.com was the first to report that actor Mel Gibson had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Along with releasing the story, TMZ also reported "exclusive details" about the case shortly after. In the report TMZ.com posted, it contained his transport to the station and time in custody, and quoted an 'anonymous law enforcement source' and published four pages of a handwritten arrest report, via a PDF file. TMZ stated that the documents they posted were part of the original eight-page report that was written by the arresting officer, before the officer was allegedly instructed, by his superiors, to omit the inflammatory details about Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic comments and behavior. On November 7, 2006, TMZ.com was the first to report that pop-singer Britney Spears had filed a petition for divorce from then-husband Kevin Federline. On May 3, 2007, TMZ was the first to break the story, and exclusively obtain documents, stating that socialite Paris Hilton would be sentenced to forty-five days in jail as her sentencing for driving with a suspended license after losing her license from driving under the influence alcohol four months prior.

On February 22, 2009, TMZ released what has been identified as a police evidence photo of pop-singer Rihanna after she was assaulted by now ex-partner Chris Brown. Shortly after the photo's release, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) announced that it was investigating the leak and 'possible sale of the photo of Rihanna with a bruised and battered face after TMZ published them because the photo had been considered evidence. TMZ has claimed it obtained the photo legally but has not said how it came into possession of the photo. In the aftermath of the release of the photo, in May of the same year, a 'law', referred to as 'Rihanna Law', entitled "STOParazzi", was made The 'law'; because of the "spurred" release of the photo, aims to prevent victim exploitation.

On February 24, 2009, TMZ.com was the first to break the story that, out of the $1.6 billion Chicago's Northern Trust Bank received in federal bailout money, recipients of the money subsequently spent millions of dollars on a series of lavish parties and concerts in Los Angeles at venues like the House of Blues that featured performances by Chicago, Earth Wind and Fire, and Sheryl Crow and gift bags from Tiffany & Co. Shortly after TMZ.com published the story, United States Congressman Barney Frank demanded that Northern Trust repay the money it received in the bailout. Northern Trust CEO Frederick Waddell sent a letter to members of the House Financial Services Committee, stating that the bank will repay the money "as quickly as prudently possible."

TMZ was the first to break the report of the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009. The report was treated with caution by mainstream media sources at the time, despite being cited on rolling news channels. TMZ's scoop beat the major broadcast and cable news outlets by almost 3 hours, until CNN finally confimed the story as well. Part of this delay was later explained as the other outlets' "stricter confirmation standards," but Levin said, during an interview with ''Huffington Post'', that TMZ.com, at the time of posting the subject, verified the story and sources. "Well, before it was officially announced. We really knew this significantly before even what was going on, but this was, you know, crossing every t. We were positive when we put it up. We put it up when we were 100% positive." TMZ were also the first to receive the coroner's report of the singer on February 8, 2010, proving Propofol dosage and negligence killed the pop legend.

TMZ was the first to break the report of the death of Brittany Murphy on December 20, 2009.

Legal problems

Contempt of court motion

On June 20, 2007, a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee filed an emergency motion requesting that the Web site be held in contempt for its publication of the entire manuscript of ''If I Did It'', O.J. Simpson's purportedly fictionalized account of the murder of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. The filing claims that TMZ's posting of the PDF of the entire book has "diminished or destroyed" the value, which the Goldman family eventually published as Simpson's confession to the murders.

Photographer altercation

While actor Woody Harrelson was at New York City's La Guardia Airport, he had an altercation with a photographer for TMZ.com. Harrelson defended himself stating that he'd at the time just finished filming his scenes from the horror film, that consists mainly of zombies, ''Zombieland'', and that he was "startled" by TMZ' photographer. "I wrapped a movie called Zombieland, in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character ... With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie."

Blocked in the UK

On December 24, 2010 the gossip blog Oh No They Didn't reported that TMZ.com began to block traffic from the United Kingdom, displaying the message: "Due to laws within your region, you are unable to view this website." Asked for further comment, TMZ.com responded that the blocking was due to "legal restrictions." The UK website Popbitch Board noted on December 31, 2010 that it is possible to get round the block by accessing the website through the Google Translate website. As of January 7, 2011, TMZ is accessible to the UK again as announced on Harvey Levin's Official Twitter account.

Branches

TMZ Live

TMZ Live is a live-chat program from TMZ.com., that features Levin and Charles, and occasionally "Mike" (with occasional fill-in(s) for one or the both of them) that consists of reviewing information TMZ is covering on the website. The live-chat takes place at the TMZ office. From Monday to Thursday the live-chat lasts for on average thirty minutes, but on Fridays it usually lasts forty minutes to one hour. TMZ Live lasts longer on Friday presumably because TMZ Live doesn't air for the next two days, so TMZ makes up for it by extending the time on the last live-chat for the week. As part of the live-chat, TMZ.com offers viewers who register and are currently logged into their site, the option to be able to ask the host(s) questions about any topic, mainly relevant topics and topics that are being covered on the site. As part of asking question(s), viewers leave their question(s) in the comments section of a post reminding viewers that TMZ Live will begin soon. During TMZ Live the host(s) answer specific questions they read off via a printer that is printing out all of the questions posted. On certain occasions TMZ Live has featured interviews with celebrities, doctors and people with helpful information, i.e. Dina Lohan (to talk about Michael video taping and releasing phone conversations of her and her daughter.), Dr. Arnold Klein (to talk about his client, Michael Jackson), and Ryan Seacrest (to talk about his stalker and the next season of ''American Idol'').

TMZ on TV

On September 10, 2007, TMZ.com launched an accompanying television series, entitled ''TMZ on TV''. The syndicated television series airs from Monday to Friday; excluding weekends, similar to TMZ Live. In the United States, the show airs in various timeslots on various stations, mainly either in early primetime or after late local news, with a 'best-of' program airing during weekends. The show covers stories similar to the website and TMZ Live, with the only difference being that TMZ on TV is only on TV and the other two branches are only on the web. TMZ.com offers viewers the option of being able to watch full episodes from the show on their website after the episode's air-date. Chris Persell, of TVWeek.com, stated that the show is a "complement [to] the Web site, with news updates added to later airings of the show." Levin and Jim Paratore serve as executive producers to the show, and the on-air cast includes Teresa Strasser, John Fugelsang, Ben Mankiewicz and Michael Hundgen. David Bianculli of ''The New York Daily News'' strongly criticized the television show, its topics, and its reporters' tactics and lack of professionalism.

Criticism

Since the launch of TMZ.com, the website has faced criticism, varying from attempted boycotts to criticism of its journalism tactics to its website's focus. The TMZ website has been criticized for its usage of photographs and videos obtained from paparazzi. Some have questioned the effect that aggressive and obtrusive photographers have on the subjects they cover. Many of their videos on the site show, in the footage, that their paparazzi chase people (mainly celebrities)—a practice that has been called dangerous and "creepy". Over the years, some have called for a boycott of TMZ.com and the accompanying show. Thane Burnett, of the ''Toronto Sun'', criticized TMZ.com's content of being more of a gossip site, rather than reporting on newsworthy items, stating: "Instead, on the TMZ site you'll find images of a favourite male celebrity peeing into bushes."

TMZ.com faced strong criticism for purchasing stolen items pertaining to the fourth Indiana Jones film; ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''. On October 2, 2007, IESB reported that a number of production photos and sensitive documents pertaining to the production budget had been stolen from Steven Spielberg's production office. Movie City News, who strongly criticized TMZ for purchasing stolen items, remarked that, the then-new website, 'wasn't getting off to a good start' and wondered if TMZ's reach would approach that of ''The New York Times''; even though they have yet to achieve that newspaper's credibility. According to IESB, TMZ.com had obtained some of the stolen property and was planning on running a story about the topic on their TV show, until the film's production company, Paramount Pictures, lawyers intervened. Shortly after IESB broke the story, TMZ broadcasted details about the ''Indiana Jones'' production budget on TMZ on TV on the October 3, 2007.

Tony Manfred of ''The Cornell Daily Sun'' strongly criticized TMZ.com in an article entitled "I Want My TMZ", in which Manfred criticizes various aspects of TMZ. Manfred described TMZ.com as being "a fusion of celebrity news blog and embarrassing video archive" and felt that the website had become "the poster child for the celebrity pseudo-news industry" and that the website has "distinct advantages" over "gossip magazines" because it can "show all the borderline pornographic clips that ''Entertainment Tonight'' and ''Access Hollywood'' can’t." Manfred also noted that he felt that the website was "balanced", remarking that: "And by balanced I mean they strike a perfect equilibrium between three distinct categories of trashy video clip. I’ll group these videos into the following categories: the 'Action Caused Either Entirely or More Than Partly By Alcohol,' the 'Celebrity Car Chase,' and the 'You’re Not Famous but You’re Near a Camera So Okay.'"

Jennifer Metz and David Muir of ABC News acknowledged that TMZ.com has long been criticized for their "aggressive tactics, antagonizing stars with video cameras" and noted that those "encounters, capturing at times violent celebrity confrontations with photographers, receive hundreds of hits online, and critics ask if entertainment reporters are crossing the line." Metz and Muir also questioned whether TMZ.com's tactics 'go too far'.

Ken Sunshine, publicist for Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio, stated that his clients disliked the website because it has a tendency to always be negative towards celebrities when reporting on them. "I hate that they have anything to do with trying to put celebrities into the worst light possible and that they play the 'gotcha' game". The website has been harshly criticized for having a personality cult of figures such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton – celebrities who are known more as targets for paparazzi than for the work they do. In defense for TMZ's coverage, Levin said that certain celebrities are main subjects on the Web site because of their 'relevancy' and because their relevancy helps draw viewership to the Web site. Liz Kelly, of ''Washington Post'', attacked both Levin and TMZ.com in an article, stating: "I know this is like spitting in the wind, but I have to say it: Harvey Levin, please stop it".

In what The Smoking Gun called "a colossal screw-up", TMZ.com published an "exclusive" picture on their Web site of a man purporting to be John F. Kennedy on a ship with several naked women that could have "changed history" had it come out during his presidential campaign. Despite having a Photoshop expert proclaiming the picture as "authentic", the picture was later discovered to have not been of Kennedy at all. The photo was discovered to have been part of a ''Playboy'' photoshoot from November 1967, which was later confirmed by ''Playboy'' representatives.

Audience statistics

As of April 2011, TMZ.com was ranked as the second most popular Entertainment News property in the United States by comScore Media Metrix.

! comScore US Rank	! Entertainment News Web Properties	! March 2011 Readers
1	OMG! by Yahoo	23.7 million
2	TMZ	18.5 million
3	People Magazine	13.5 million
4	BuzzMedia Entertainment	12.8 million
5	CNN Entertainment	10.1 million
6	Zimbio	8.9 million
7	Entertainment Weekly	8.2 million
8	E! Online	7.5 million
9	GossipCenter Network	7.1 million
10	Mail Online	6.5 million

References

External links

TMZ TV (Official Myspace page)

Category:Entertainment websites Category:Infotainment Category:Time Warner subsidiaries

es:TMZ.com fr:TMZ it:TMZ.com pt:TMZ.com

Coordinates	42°17′17″N18°50′33″N
name	Ashton Kutcher
birth name	Christopher Ashton Kutcher
birth date	February 07, 1978
birth place	Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
occupation	Actor, producer, former fashion model, comedian, television host
yearsactive	1998–present
spouse	Demi Moore (m. 2005–present)
website	}}

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978), best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American actor, producer, former fashion model and comedian, best known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom ''That '70s Show''. He also created, produced and hosted ''Punk'd'', and played lead roles in the Hollywood films ''Dude, Where's My Car?'', ''Just Married'', ''The Butterfly Effect'', ''The Guardian'', and ''What Happens in Vegas''. He is also the producer and co-creator of the supernatural TV show ''Room 401'' and the reality TV show ''Beauty and the Geek''. It was announced in May 2011 that Kutcher would replace Charlie Sheen in the hit CBS sitcom ''Two and a Half Men''.

Early life

Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Larry Kutcher, a factory worker, and Diane (née Finnegan), a Procter & Gamble employee. Kutcher was raised in a conservative Roman Catholic family, with an older sister, Tausha, and a fraternal twin, Michael, who had a heart transplant when the brothers were young children. Kutcher attended Washington High School in Cedar Rapids for his freshman year before his family moved to Homestead, Iowa, where he attended Clear Creek Amana High School. In a 2010 interview on ''Late Night with David Letterman'', Kutcher claimed to be an all-state linebacker who averaged 15 tackles per game in high school. According to a former coach, however, Kutcher played sparingly as a wide receiver on a team that won only two games in his entire high school football career. Kutcher also appeared in school plays.

Kutcher's brother's cardiomyopathy caused his home life to become increasingly stressful. He has stated that "I didn't want to come home and find more bad news about my brother" and "kept myself so busy that I didn't allow myself to feel". Kutcher admitted that during adolescence, he contemplated committing suicide. At thirteen, he attempted to jump from a Cedar Rapids hospital balcony, with his father intervening in the incident. Kutcher's home life worsened as his parents divorced when he was sixteen. During his senior year, he broke into his high school at midnight with his cousin in an attempt to steal money; he was arrested leaving the scene. Kutcher was convicted of third-degree burglary and sentenced to three years' probation and 180 hours of community service. Kutcher stated that although the experience "straightened him out", he lost his girlfriend and anticipated college scholarships, and he was ostracized at school and in his community.

Kutcher enrolled at the University of Iowa in August 1996, where his planned major was biochemical engineering, motivated by the desire to find a cure for his brother's heart ailment. At college, Kutcher was kicked out of his apartment for being too "noisy" and "wild". Kutcher stated, "I thought I knew everything but I didn't have a clue. I was partying, and I woke up many mornings not knowing what I had done the night before. I played way too hard. I am amazed I am not dead." To earn money for his tuition, Kutcher worked as a college summer hire in the cereal department for the General Mills plant in Cedar Rapids, and sometimes donated blood for money. During his time at UI he was approached by a scout at a bar called "The Airliner" in Iowa City and was recruited to enter the "Fresh Faces of Iowa" modeling competition. After placing first, he dropped out of college and won a trip to New York City to the International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) Convention. Following his stay in New York City, Kutcher returned to Cedar Rapids before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Modeling career

After participating as a modeling contestant in an IMTA competition (losing to Josh Duhamel) in 1998, Kutcher signed with the Next modeling agency in New York, appeared in ads for Calvin Klein, modeled in Paris and Milan, and appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial.

Television and film career

After some success in modeling, Kutcher moved to Los Angeles and, after his first audition, was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series ''That '70s Show'', which debuted in 1998 and ended in 2006. Kutcher was cast in a series of film roles; although he auditioned but was not cast for the role of Danny Walker in ''Pearl Harbor'' (2001), (role went to Josh Hartnett), he starred in several comedy films, including ''Dude, Where's My Car?'' (2000), ''Just Married'' (2003), and ''Guess Who'' (2005). He briefly appeared in the 2003 family film, ''Cheaper By The Dozen'', playing a self-obsessed actor. His 2004 film ''The Butterfly Effect'' was an unusually dramatic role for Kutcher, playing a conflicted young man who fell in love with a girl named Kayleigh; the film received mixed to negative reviews, but was a box-office success.

In 2003, Kutcher produced and starred in his own series on MTV's ''Punk'd'' as the host. The series involved various hidden camera tricks performed on celebrities. Kutcher is also an executive producer of the reality television shows ''Beauty and the Geek'', ''Adventures in Hollyhood'' (based around the rap group Three 6 Mafia), and ''The Real Wedding Crashers'' and the game show ''Opportunity Knocks''. Many of his production credits, including ''Punk'd'', come through Katalyst Films, a production company he runs with partner Jason Goldberg.

Because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of ''The Guardian'', Ashton was forced not to renew his contract for the eighth and final season of ''That 70s Show'', although he did appear in the first four episodes of it (credited as a special guest star) and returned for the show's series finale.

Kutcher produced and starred in the 2010 action comedy, ''Killers'', in which he played a hitman.

In May 2011, Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on ''Two and a Half Men''. Kutcher's contract, which is for one year is believed to be worth nearly $20 million.

Other work

Kutcher was part of the management team for Ooma, a tech start-up launched in September 2007. Ooma is in the Voice over Internet Protocol business and Ashton's role was as Creative Director. He was spearheading a marketing campaign and producing viral videos to promote this service. Kutcher has also created an interactive arm of Katalyst called Katalyst Media with his partner from Katalyst Films, Jason Goldberg. Their first site is the animated cartoon ''Blah Girls''. Ooma revamped its sales and marketing strategy with a new management team in the summer of 2008, replacing Ashton Kutcher as their creative director. Rich Buchanan, from Sling Media, became Ooma's Chief Marketing Officer.

He currently advertises for Nikon cameras. In July 2011, Brazilian fashion label Colcci hired Kutcher and Alessandra Ambrosio to feature in a steamy denim advertisement.

Personal life

In 2003, Kutcher began dating actress Demi Moore. Moore and Kutcher married on September 24, 2005, in a private ceremony conducted by a Rabbi of the Kabbalah Center; the wedding was attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple, including Bruce Willis, Moore's ex-husband. In October 2010, Kutcher and Moore met with co-director of the Kabbalah Center Rabbi Yehuda Berg in Israel.

Kutcher has invested in an Italian restaurant, ''Dolce'' (other owners include Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama) and a Japanese-themed restaurant named ''Geisha House'' located in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York.

Kutcher is a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal. He is a student of Kabbalah; his co-star, Natalie Portman, stated in 2011 that Kutcher "has taught me more about Judaism than I think I have ever learned from anyone else".

On September 17, 2008, Kutcher was named the assistant coach for the freshman football team at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. However, he was unable to return in 2009 because he was filming ''Spread''.

Twitter presence

On April 16, 2009, Kutcher ("aplusk") became the first user of Twitter to have more than 1,000,000 followers, beating CNN in the "Million followers contest". Kutcher announced via Twitter that he would be donating $100,000 to a charity to fight malaria. However, there have been several reports that Twitter manipulated the contest's results by preventing users from "unfollowing" Kutcher or CNN.

Controversy

In April 2011, Kutcher and wife Demi Moore began a public service announcement campaign claiming that "Real Men" do not engage the services of child prostitutes who are the victims of human trafficking. Kutcher's claims that 100,000 - 300,000 American children were sold in to sexual slavery were criticized by newspaper the ''Village Voice'', which gave evidence refuting the claims. Kutcher represented a study referring to minors 'at risk' for sexual exploitation as referring to children actually being prostituted. Experts estimate the true numbers to be in the hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands. Kutcher reacted to the criticism by accusing the ''Village Voice'' of promoting child prostitution and using Twitter to request that ''Village Voice'' advertisers including American Airlines, Disney and Domino's Pizza withdraw their advertising from the publication.

Filmography

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1998–2006	''That '70s Show''	Michael Kelso	Seasons 1-7 (Regular); Season 8 (Recurring) 180 episodes
1999		Louie
	''Down to You''	Jim Morrison
''Reindeer Games''	College Kid
''Dude, Where's My Car?''	Jesse Montgomery III
	''Just Shoot Me!''	Dean Cassidy	1 episode
	George Durham
2002	''Grounded for Life''	Cousin Scott	1 episode
2003–2007	''Punk'd''	Himself/Host
	''Just Married''	Tom Leezak
''My Boss's Daughter''	Tom Stansfield
	Hank	Supporting role
2004	''The Butterfly Effect''	Evan Treborn	Main role
		Simon Green
''A Lot Like Love''	Oliver Martin
''Robot Chicken''	Various	Voice
		Fisher
	Jake Fischer
	Elliot	Voice
	''Miss Guided''	Beaux	1 episode
''What Happens in Vegas''	Jack Fuller	Lead role
		Nikki	Main role
''Personal Effects''	Walter	Main role
		Reed Bennet	Main role
	Spencer Aimes	Main role
		Adam Franklin	Main role
	Randy	Supporting role
	''Two and a Half Men''		Main roleSeason 9

As a producer

! Year	! Title	! Episodes	! Notes
2003–2007	''Punk'd''	69 episodes	Executive producer/host
2003	''My Boss's Daughter''		Co-producer
	''The Butterfly Effect''		Executive producer
''You've Got a Friend''	8 episodes	Executive producer
2005–2008	''Beauty and the Geek''	48 episodes	Executive producer
	''Adventures in Hollyhood''	8 episodes	Executive producer
''Miss Guided''	7 episodes	Executive producer
''Game Show in My Head''		Executive producer
''The Real Wedding Crashers''	7 episodes	Executive producer
''Room 401''	8 episodes	Executive producer
2008	''Pop Fiction''		Executive producer
2008–2009			TV series (Executive producer)
			Executive producer
''The Beautiful Life''	5 episodes
2005	''A Lot Like Love''
2010			Executive producer

Awards

Young Artist Award

* 1999 – Best Performance in a TV Series - Young Ensemble for ''That '70 Show'' (shared with Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Wilmer Valderrama and Danny Masterson)- Nominated

Kid's Choice Awards

* 2004 – Favorite Movie Actor for ''Just Married'', ''My Boss's Daughter'' and ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' – Nominated

* 2004 – Favorite Television Actor for ''That '70s Show'' and ''Punk'd'' – Winner

* 2005 – Favorite TV Actor for ''That '70s Show'' and ''Punk'd'' – Nominated

* 2006 – Favorite TV Actor for ''That '70s Show'' - Nominated

* 2007 – Favorite Voice in a Cartoon for ''Open Season'' – Nominated

People's Choice Awards

* 2010 – Favorite Web Celeb – Winner

Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award

* 2000 – Sierra Award Best Male Newcomer for ''Dude, Where's My Car?'' – Nominated

MTV Movie Awards

* 2001 – Breakthrough Male Performance for ''Dude, Where's My Car?'' – Nominated

* 2011 – Best Comedic Performance for ''No Strings Attached'' – Pending

Teen Choice Awards

* 2003 – Choice Reality Hunk for ''Punk'd'' - Winner

* 2003 – Choice TV Reality/Variety Host for ''Punk'd''- Winner

* 2003 – Choice TV Actor - Comedy for ''That '70s Show'' - Winner

* 2004 – Choice TV Personality - Winner

* 2004 – Choice Reality/Variety TV Star - Male for ''Punk'd'' - Winner

* 2004 – Choice TV Actor - Comedy for ''That '70s Show'' - Winner

* 2004 – Choice Movie Hissy Fit for ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' - Nominated

* 2004 – Choice Movie Liplock ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' (shared with Piper Perabo) - Nominated

* 2005 – Choice: TV Male Personality for ''Punk'd'' – Winner

* 2005 – Choice TV Actor: Comedy for ''That '70s Show'' - Winner

* 2005 – Choice Movie Actor: Comedy for ''Guess Who'' and ''A Lot Like Love'' - Nominated

* 2005 – Choice Movie Rockstar Moment for ''A Lot Like Love'' - Winner

* 2007 – Choice Movie Actor: Drama for ''The Guardian'' - Nominated

* 2008 – Choice: Movie Actor Romantic Comedy for ''What Happens In Vegas'' – Winner

* 2010 – Choice: Movie Actor Romantic Comedy for ''Valentine's Day'' – Winner

* 2011 – Choice: Movie Actor Romantic Comedy for ''No Strings Attached'' – Winner

Golden Raspberry Awards

* 2003 - Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple for ''Just Married'' (shared with Brittany Murphy) and ''My boss's Daughter'' (shared with Tara Reid) - Nominated

*2004 - Razzie Award for Worst Actor for ''Cheaper By The Dozen,'' ''Just Married'' and ''My Boss's Daughter'' - Nominated

* 2010 - Razzie Award for Worst Actor for ''Killers'' – Winner

References

External links

Category:1978 births Category:Actors from Iowa Category:American film actors Category:American male models Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American voice actors Category:Living people Category:Male pageant winners Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Category:Pranksters Category:Twin people from the United States Category:University of Iowa alumni

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Coordinates	42°17′17″N18°50′33″N
name	Justin Bieber
background	solo_singer
birth name	Justin Drew Bieber
birth date	March 01, 1994
birth place	London, Ontario, Canada
origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, percussion, trumpet
genre	Pop, R&B;, teen pop
occupation	Singer, musician, actor
years active	2009–present
label	Island, RBMG
associated acts	Usher
website	justinbiebermusic.com }}

Justin Drew Bieber ( , born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian pop/R&B; singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top ten in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP ''My World'', followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Bieber's first full-length studio album, ''My World 2.0'', was released in March 2010. It debuted at number one or within the top ten in several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby". The music video of "Baby" is currently ranked as the most viewed and most discussed YouTube video. Bieber followed-up the release of his debut album with his first headlining tour, the My World Tour, the remix albums ''My Worlds Acoustic'' and ''Never Say Never – The Remixes'', and the 3D biopic-concert film ''Justin Bieber: Never Say Never'' – which had an opening weekend gross that nearly matched the record for the biggest opening weekend for a concert-film. Bieber released his second studio album, ''Under the Mistletoe'' in November 2011, which debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. Bieber has received numerous awards, including Artist of the Year at the 2010 American Music Awards — and has been nominated for numerous awards, including Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Life and career

1994–2007: Childhood and youth

Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford, Ontario. Bieber's mother, Patricia Lynn "Pattie" Mallette, was 18 years old when she became pregnant with her son. Mallette, originally from Stratford, raised her son with the help of her parents, Bruce and Diane. Mallette worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father, Jeremy Jack Bieber, who married another woman and had two children. Bieber's paternal great-grandfather was a German immigrant to Canada. His mother's ancestry is French Canadian. Bieber attended French immersion school at Stratford school Jean Sauve.

During his childhood, Bieber was interested in hockey, soccer, and chess; he often kept his musical aspirations to himself. As he grew up, Bieber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, when he was twelve, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B; songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew. Chris Hicks, Bieber's A&R; at Island/Def Jam, explained the young artist's huge online following to HitQuarters by saying:

"He was doing something different. He was an attractive white kid singing very soulful R&B; hits. That set him apart immediately from anyone in his range because no one was covering or singing these kind of records. But equally important was that you believed in these songs – it was real. And you wanted to hear more."

2008–09: Discovery and ''My World''

While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette. Mallette was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label! ... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?" However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13, to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes. A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B; singer/songwriter Usher. Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was also reportedly in the running to sign Bieber, but lost the bidding war to Usher. Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact Antonio L.A. Reid of Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive Vice-President of Def Jam where he would be able manage Bieber's career at the label. At that point, Bieber and his mother moved to Atlanta temporarily, also the home of Usher and Braun, to record and get counseling from Braun. Braun became Bieber's manager.

Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009, and later peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. During fall 2009 it had success in international markets. The song was certified Platinum in Canada and the US and Gold in Australia and New Zealand. Bieber's first release, an extended play entitled ''My World'', was released on November 17, 2009. The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", and two promo singles, "Love Me", and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes store and charted within the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100. "One Less Lonely Girl" was later also released to radio and peaked within the top fifteen in Canada and the US, being certified Gold in the latter. ''My World'' was eventually certified Platinum in the US and Double Platinum in both Canada and the UK. To promote the album, Bieber performed on several live shows such as mtvU's VMA 09 Tour, European program ''The Dome'', YTV's ''The Next Star'', ''The Today Show'', ''The Wendy Williams Show'', ''Lopez Tonight'', ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', ''It's On with Alexa Chung'', ''Good Morning America'', ''Chelsea Lately'', and BET's ''106 & Park'' with Rihanna. Bieber also guest starred in an episode of ''True Jackson, VP'' in late 2009.

Bieber performed Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas" for U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House for ''Christmas in Washington'', which was broadcast on December 20, 2009, on U.S. television broadcaster TNT. Bieber was also one of the performers at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2009. Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of We Are The World (a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie) for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti was released. Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines.

2010: ''My World 2.0'' and continued success

"Baby", the lead single from his debut album, ''My World 2.0'', which features Ludacris, was released in January 2010 and became his biggest hit thus far, charting at number five in the U.S. and reaching the top ten in seven other countries. Two promo singles "Never Let You Go", and "U Smile" were top thirty hits on the U.S. Hot 100, and top twenty hits in Canada. According to review aggregator Metacritic, the album has received "generally favorable reviews". It debuted at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since Stevie Wonder in 1963. ''My World 2.0'' also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, Irish Albums Chart, and Australian Albums Chart, and the New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top ten of fifteen other countries. To promote the album, Bieber appeared on several live programs including ''The View'', the 2010 Kids Choice Awards, ''Nightline'', ''The Late Show with David Letterman'', ''The Dome'' and ''106 and Park''. Bieber collaborated with Sean Kingston on his single "Eenie Meenie" which also appeared on Bieber's debut album. The song reached the top ten in the United Kingdom and Australia, and the top-twenty of most other markets. thumb|left|Bieber performing at the Conseco Fieldhouse, in August 2010 On April 10, 2010, Bieber was the musical guest on ''Saturday Night Live''. On July 4, 2010, Bieber performed at the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular in New York City. The second single from ''My World 2.0'', "Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor Usher. The single reached number ten in Canada, number fifteen in the United States, and the top twenty in multiple international countries.

On June 23, 2010, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, the My World Tour, starting in Hartford, Connecticut, to promote ''My World'' and ''My World 2.0''. In July 2010, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched for celebrity on the Internet. That same month his music video, "Baby", surpassed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" to become the most viewed, and most disliked YouTube video ever. In September 2010, it was reported that Bieber accounted for three percent of all traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.

Bieber began recording his second album in July 2010 in New York City. At this point, because of puberty, his voice was deeper than it was when he recorded his first album. In April 2010, the singer discussing his vocals remarked, "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world. [...] Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit anymore. We have to lower the key when I sing live." British singer/songwriter Taio Cruz confirmed in July 2010 that he is writing songs for Bieber's next album. Hip hop producer Dr. Dre produced two songs with Bieber in July 2010 but it is unknown if they were made for the album, which is currently due for a 2011 release. Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother", who is also a serial bomber. Bieber was also in a subsequent episode which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed. Bieber performed a medley of "U Smile", "Baby", and "Somebody to Love" and briefly played the drums at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would release an acoustic album, called ''My Worlds Acoustic''. It was released on Black Friday in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a completely new song titled "Pray".

2011–present: ''Never Say Never'' film, ''Under the Mistletoe'' and ''Believe''

A 3-D part-biopic, part-concert film starring Bieber entitled ''Justin Bieber: Never Say Never'', was released on February 11, 2011, directed by ''Step Up 3D'' director Jon Chu. It topped the box office with an estimated grossing of $12.4 million on its opening day from 3,105 theaters. It grossed $30.3 million for the weekend and was narrowly beaten by the romantic comedy ''Just Go With It'', which grossed $31 million. ''Never Say Never'' is said to have exceeded industry expectations, nearly matching the $31.1 million grossed by Miley Cyrus's 2008 3-D concert film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which holds the record for the top debut for a music-documentary. The film is accompanied by his second remix album, ''Never Say Never – The Remixes'', released February 14, 2011, and features remixes of songs from his debut album, with guest appearances from Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others.

On February 27, 2011, Bieber attended the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party with American actress and singer Selena Gomez, confirming several months of media speculation about a romantic relationship between the pair.

In June 2011, Bieber was ranked number 2 on the Forbes list of Best-Paid Celebrities under 30. He is the youngest star and 1 of 7 musicians on the list raking in with $53 million earned in a 12 month period. On November 1, 2011, Bieber released ''Under the Mistletoe'', his second studio album. It debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 210,000 copies in its first week of release. Bieber is currently recording his third studio album entitled ''Believe''. Kanye West and Drake are confirmed to be featured on the album.

Image

''The Observer'' newspaper in the UK published a report indicating that Justin Bieber is more influential in the social networking sphere than Barack Obama or The Dalai Lama. According to Jan Hoffman of ''The New York Times'', part of Bieber's appeal stems from his YouTube channel. Long before he released his EP, ''My World'', in mid-November, the YouTube videos attracted millions of views. Braun recognized the appeal. Prior to flying him to Atlanta, Braun wanted to "build him up more on YouTube first" and had Bieber record more home videos for the channel. "I said: 'Justin, sing like there’s no one in the room. But let's not use expensive cameras.' We'll give it to kids, let them do the work, so that they feel like it's theirs", recalled Braun. Bieber continues to upload videos to the same channel and has opened a Twitter account, from which he interacts with fans regularly; his account was reported in November 2010 to have over 6 million followers. Since then he has been consistently gaining followers at an average of 24,000 per day. The accounts also serve marketing purposes; for example, Bieber's music video for "One Time" only began selling quickly after it was uploaded to YouTube. Usher comments that while he and Bieber were both signed at the same age, "I had the chance to ramp up my success, where this has happened to Bieber abruptly." As a result, Usher, Braun, Bieber's bodyguard Kenny, and other adults surrounding Bieber constantly coach him on handling fame and his public image. After signing Bieber, Usher appointed one of his former assistants, Ryan Good, to be Bieber's road manager and stylist. Good, once nicknamed Bieber's "swagger coach", created a "streetwise look" for the singer which consisted of baseball caps, hoodies, dog chains and flashy sneakers. Amy Kaufman of ''The Los Angeles Times'' comments, "Though a product of a middle-class suburban upbringing in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber's manner of dress and speech ("Wassup man, how you doin'?" or "It's like, you know, whateva' ") suggest he's mimicking his favorite rappers."

Bieber is often featured in teen magazines such as ''Tiger Beat'', and has been labeled as a "teen hearthrob". Bieber has released a collection of nail varnishes to raise awareness for charity. Wax statues of Bieber are on display at Madame Tussauds wax museums in New York, Amsterdam and London. His change of hairstyle in 2010, and the consequent alterations to Bieber products, led to it being called 'the most expensive musical haircut of all time; one company spent $100,000 to fix its dolls for the 2011 Christmas season.

Bieber has been criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age, his teen-pop music, image, and frequent media attention. He has been a frequent target of Internet bloggers and message board posters, notably by users of Internet message board 4chan and users of YouTube. Nick Collins of ''The Daily Telegraph'' speculated that "Bieber's character also appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics, with many remarks commenting on his youthful appearance, his teen-pop songs, his image as a heart-throb to young teenage girls and his manner of speech".

Personal views

Bieber is a Christian, and said he has a relationship with Jesus, talks to him and that "he's the reason I'm here".

Bieber's comments in a February 2011 profile in ''Rolling Stone'' sparked controversy. Asked whether a person should wait until marriage to have sex, Bieber responded, "I don't think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them." Asked about his opinion on abortion, Bieber said he does not "believe in abortion" and that it is "like killing a baby". When asked about abortion in cases of rape, he said, "Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that." In the same interview, Bieber talked about homosexuality, stating that "It's everyone's own decision to do that. It doesn’t affect me and shouldn't affect anyone else", and ''Rolling Stone'' commented, "It is not clear whether he intended to label homosexuality as a lifestyle choice." However, Bieber has also contributed to the It Gets Better Project, a project started in response to the suicide of Billy Lucas, a teenager who was the target of anti-gay bullying.

Bieber has said he is not interested in obtaining United States citizenship, praising Canada as being "the best country in the world", citing its health care system as an example.

Discography

''My World 2.0'' (2010)

''Under the Mistletoe'' (2011)

''Believe'' (2012)

Tours

2009: Urban Behavior Tour

2010–2011: My World Tour

Filmography

rowspan="4" ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' Himself

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
rowspan="2"	2009	''True Jackson, VP''	>rowspan="3"| Guest star
''My Date With...''
	Silent Library (MTV series)>Silent Library''
''School Gyrls (film)	School Gyrls''	Cameo
''Saturday Night Live''
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Jason McCann
''Hubworld''	Guest star
''The X Factor (UK)''	Performer
rowspan="9"	2011	|	Guest star
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Jason McCann
''Khloé & Lamar''	|Episode:The Father In Law (uncredited) Himself playing the NBA Celebrity All Star Game
''Saturday Night Live''
''Justin Bieber: Never Say Never''	Himself
''Dancing With The Stars''	Guest star
''So Random!''	Himself
''Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade''	Guest star
''The X Factor (UK)''	Performer

Awards and nominations

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1994 births Category:Canadian child singers Category:Canadian Christians Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Canadian Internet personalities Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian people of French descent Category:Canadian people of German descent Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian rhythm and blues singers Category:Child pop musicians Category:Hip hop singers Category:Island Records artists Category:Musicians from Ontario Category:People from Stratford, Ontario Category:Living people

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Coordinates	42°17′17″N18°50′33″N
Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. 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, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, 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 Swift's 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 that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

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.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. 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 No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.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 No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' 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 No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.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 No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.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.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 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. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. 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 No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.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 No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.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. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. 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 No.1 and No.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 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 soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. 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 No.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). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" 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''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. 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 No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.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 No.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 No.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 No.40 and No.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 No.1 and No.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.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. 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. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

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." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched 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".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

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. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

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. 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.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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Coordinates	42°17′17″N18°50′33″N
name	Kim Kardashian
birth name	Kimberly Noel Kardashian
birth date	October 21, 1980
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
nationality	American
net worth	$35 million
years active	2007–present
occupation	Businesswoman, socialite, television personality, model, actress
height
measurements	35D-26-40
television	''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''''Kourtney and Kim Take New York''
spouse	(separated)
parents	Robert Kardashian (father)Kris Jenner (mother)Bruce Jenner (stepfather)
relatives	Kourtney Kardashian (sister)Khloé Kardashian (sister)Robert Kardashian Jr. (brother)Kylie Jenner (half-sister)Kendall Jenner (half-sister)
website

Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, television personality, model, actress and businesswoman. She is known for starring in ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'', the E! reality series that she shares with her family, and its spin-offs including ''Kourtney and Kim Take New York''. Prior to the development of her career as a reality television star, Kardashian gained notoriety as the subject of a sex tape that subsequently resulted in a court awarding her $5 million. She has been involved in the production of several lines of clothing and fragrances. In 2010, she was the highest earning reality star, with estimated earnings of $6 million.

In August 2011, Kardashian married basketball player Kris Humphries in a widely publicized ceremony. In October 2011, Kardashian filed for divorce, 72 days after the wedding.

Biography

Early life

Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of attorney Robert Kardashian and his wife Kris Kardashian (née Houghton). Her father was a third generation Armenian American, and her mother is of Dutch and Scottish descent. Kardashian has two sisters, Kourtney and Khloé, and one brother, Robert. She has stepbrothers Burton Jenner, Brandon Jenner, and reality TV star Brody Jenner, step-sister Casey Jenner, and half-sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. She attended Marymount High School.

In 2000, Kardashian married music producer Damon Thomas; their relationship ended in divorce in 2004. Subsequently she dated R&B; singer Ray J, NFL star Reggie Bush and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin. She also dated model Gabriel Aubry.

2003–07: Controversy and reality television

In February 2007, a home sex video that she made with singer Ray J in 2003 was leaked. Vivid Entertainment bought the rights for $1 million and released the film as ''Kim Kardashian: Superstar'' on February 21. Kardashian sued Vivid for ownership of the tape. In late April 2007, Kardashian dropped the suit and settled with Vivid Entertainment for $5 million.

Kardashian was a friend of Paris Hilton, who introduced her to the socialite scene. Her first acting role was in the television series ''Beyond the Break''. In October 2007, along with her two sisters, mother, brother, half-sisters, and stepfather she starred in the E! television series, ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''. As of October 2011, the series has aired 69 episodes over six seasons.

2007–2010: Modeling and retail

Kardashian co-owns a clothing boutique called D-A-S-H with her sisters Kourtney and Khloé. In December 2007, Kardashian posed nude for ''Playboy''. In February 2008, Bongo Jeans announced that she would be their face model. She has also modeled for Carl's Jr., Sugar Factory lollipops, and various other products.

Kardashian starred in the 2008 disaster film spoof ''Disaster Movie'' as Lisa, and appeared in the ''How I Met Your Mother'' episode "Benefits". She also appeared on the Season 3 premiere of the series ''90210'' with her sisters Khloé and Kourtney; they all played themselves. Kardashian was a guest hostess of WrestleMania XXIV and appeared as a guest judge during Cycle 13 of ''America's Next Top Model''. On December 16, 2009, Kardashian made a guest star appearance on CBS's ''CSI: NY'' with Vanessa Minnillo. In 2009 she had a cameo as club bouncer in the 2009 porn film spoof ''Deep in the Valley''

Kardashian was one of 13 participants on the seventh season of ''Dancing with the Stars''. She was partnered with Mark Ballas and was the third contestant voted off the show on September 30, 2008, finishing in 11th place overall. Sanford Siegal, the creator of the Cookie Diet, sued Kardashian, claiming she defamed him on Twitter. According to Siegal, Kardashian tweeted in October 2009 that he was "falsely promoting" that she was on the cookie diet. Siegal filed a claim in a Florida state court claiming the statements are false and defamatory. He also alleges that Kardashian was on QuickTrim's payroll when she posted the tweet. Kardashian's tweet appears to stem from an article on CookieDiet.com, that named Kardashian as one of many celebrities who saw positive results on the diet. Kardashian sent a cease-and-desist order to Siegal, demanding the link be removed.

Kardashian released her own fragrance product in 2010. In March 2009, Kardashian launched an endorsement with ''ShoeDazzle'' shopping, of which she is the co-founder and chief fashion stylist. The following month on April 9, 2009, Kardashian released a workout DVD series, ''Fit In Your Jeans By Friday,'' with trainers Jennifer Galardi and Patrick Goudeau. In September 2009, Fusion Beauty and Seven Bar Foundation launched "Kiss Away Poverty", with Kardashian as the face of the campaign. For every LipFusion lipgloss sold, $1 went to the Foundation to fund women entrepreneurs in the US.

She has also been featured in numerous international editions of ''FHM'', including the cover of the April 2010 Australian edition and the UK March 2011 edition. Famous Cupcakes, a Los Angeles bakery, created a vanilla cupcake mix for Kardashian. The cupcake flavor is called Va-Va-Va-Nilla. Kardashian has also created jewelry along with her sisters, Khloé and Kourtney. They produced a collection for ''Virgins, Saints, and Angels'' in 2010.

Again with her sisters, Kardashian has released various clothing lines. One called K-Dash was to be sold on QVC in 2010, and in the same year they produced a range for Bebe. As of August 2011 they are creating another for Sears, called the ''Kardashian Kollection''. In addition, Kardashian and her sisters created a sunless tanner called Kardashian Glamour Tan in 2010. On July 1, 2010, the New York City branch of Madame Tussauds revealed a wax figure of Kardashian.

2010–present: marriage, divorce and other ventures

Kardashian is the producer of ''The Spin Crowd'', a reality television show about ''Command PR'', a New York City public relations firm, run by Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck. The show follows them as they settle into their new offices in Los Angeles. Kardashian is friends with both, specifically Cheban, and frequently appears on her reality shows. She also appeared at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010. She also appeared in and was the subject and judge of a task on the ninth episode of Season 10 of ''The Apprentice'' in 2010; the two teams had to create an in-store display for her new perfume line, to be sold at Perfumania. Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé wrote an autobiography entitled ''Kardashian Konfidential'', which was released in stores on November 23, 2010. In April 2010, Kardashian sparked controversy over the way she held a cat for a photograph. The same year, animal rights organization PETA criticized Kardashian for repeatedly wearing fur coats, and named her as one of the five worst people or organizations of 2010 when it came to animal welfare. In June 2010, ''The Guardian'' commented on her ability to attract payments of up to US$10,000 from sponsors for each tweet that she broadcasts.

In December 2010, Kardashian filmed a music video for a song titled "Jam (Turn It Up)". The video was directed by Hype Williams; Kanye West makes a cameo in the video. Kardashian premiered the song during a New Year's Eve party at TAO Las Vegas on December 31, 2010. The song was produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart. When asked if an album is in the works, Kardashian replied: "There's no album in the works or anything – just one song we did for ''Kourtney and Kim Take New York'', and a video Hype Williams directed, half of the proceeds we're giving away to a cancer foundation, because The-Dream's and one of my parents passed away from cancer. It's just all having fun – with a good cause". Jim Farber, writing for the ''Daily News'', called the song a "dead-brained piece of generic dance music, without a single distinguishing feature," and suggested that the single made Kardashian the "worst singer in the reality TV universe."

Kardashian's 2010 earnings were the highest among Hollywood-based reality stars, being estimated at $6 million.

Kardashian has supported the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on numerous occasions and has encouraged Barack Obama and the United States government to consider its acknowledgement. On April 21, 2011, a few days before the 96th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, she wrote about the issue on her blog in an effort to put it under spotlight and also sent a tweet to her fans urging its recognition.

Kardashian began dating NBA player Kris Humphries of the New Jersey Nets in October 2010. They became engaged in May 2011, and married on August 20, 2011 in Montecito, California. A two-part TV special showing the preparations and the wedding itself aired on ''E!'' in early October 2011, amidst what the ''Washington Post'' called a "media blitz" related to the wedding. After 72 days of marriage, Kardashian filed for divorce from Humphries on October 31, 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. After filing for the divorce, Kardashian asked the court to order Humphries to pay his own legal expenses. On December 1, 2011, Humphries filed his response to Kardashian's petition, requesting an annulment on the grounds of fraud or if the court will not grant an annulment, a decree of legal separation rather than Kardashian's requested divorce.

Several news outlets have surmised that Kardashian's marriage to Kris Humphries was merely a publicity stunt to promote the Kardashian family's brand and their subsequent television ventures. Her former publicist has also claimed that her short-lived wedding was indeed staged and a ploy to generate money. Kardashian has since filed suit against him, saying his claims were untrue. A widely circulated petition asking to remove all Kardashian related programing off the air has been followed since their split.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007–present	''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''	Herself	Reality Show
2008		Herself
2008	''Disaster Movie''	Lisa Taylor
2009	''CSI: NY''	Debbie Fallon	Season 6, 1 episode
2009–2010	''Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami''	Herself	Guest Star, 5 episodes
2009	''America's Next Top Model''	Herself	Cycle 13, 1 episode
2009	''Deep in the Valley''	Summa Eve
2009	''How I Met Your Mother''	Herself	Season 4, 1 episode
2009	''Beyond the Break''	Elle	Season 3, 4 episodes
2010		Herself	Season 3, 1 episode
2011	''Khloé & Lamar''	Herself	Guest Star, 3 episodes
2011–present	''Kourtney and Kim Take New York''	Herself	Reality Show
2011	''America's Next Top Model''	Herself	Cycle 17, 1 episode
2012	''Drop Dead Diva''	Nikki	Season 4, 1 episode
2012		Herself	Season 1, 1 episode
2012		Ava

References

External links

Kardashians join forces with Australian designer at Mediasearch

Category:1980 births Category:American female models Category:American film actors Category:American people of Armenian descent Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American television actors Category:American women in business Category:American socialites Category:Businesspeople in fashion Category:Kardashian family Category:Living people Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Los Angeles, California

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