name	2012
alt	A Buddhist monk standing against a background of the Himalayan mountains while a mega tsunami is surging over them.
director	Roland Emmerich
producer	Harald KloserMark GordonLarry J. Franco
writer	Harald KloserRoland Emmerich
starring	John CusackChiwetel EjioforAmanda PeetThomas McCarthyZlatko BurićOliver PlattThandie NewtonDanny GloverWoody Harrelson
music	Harald KloserThomas Wanker
cinematography	Dean Semler
editing	David BrennerPeter S. Elliott
studio	Centropolis Entertainment
distributor	Columbia Pictures
released
runtime	158 minutes
country
language	English
budget	$200 million
gross	$769,679,473 }}

''2012'' is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver, although it was originally planned to be filmed in Los Angeles.

The plot follows Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) as he attempts to bring his children, Noah and Lilly (Liam James and Morgan Lily respectively), ex-wife Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet) and her boyfriend, Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy) to refuge and attempt to escape the heightened change in the elements. The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. Emmerich has announced that the film will be his last involving disasters.

After a prolonged marketing campaign comprising the creation of a website from the point of view of the main character, Jackson Curtis, and a viral marketing website on which filmgoers could register for a lottery number to save them from the ensuing disaster, the film was internationally released on 13 November 2009. It received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics and its worldwide theatrical revenue reached approximately $769 million.

Plot

In 2009, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American geologist, visits astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (Jimi Mistry) in India and learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase. Adrian gives a report on this to White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) who ends up taking Adrian to meet the President of the United States.

In 2010, President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) and other international leaders begin a secret project to ensure humanity's survival. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board "arks" that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas. At the same time, as the People's Liberation Army are gathering volunteers, a Buddhist monk named Nima (Osric Chau) is evacuated while his brother Tenzin (Chin Han) joins the workers in the Ark project. Additional funding for the project is raised by selling tickets to the private sector for €1 billion per person. By 2011, humanity's valuable treasures are moved to the Himalayas under the guise of protecting them from terrorist attacks with the help of art expert and First Daughter Dr. Laura Wilson (Thandie Newton).

In 2012, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for the Russian billionaire, Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Burić). Jackson's ex-wife, Kate (Amanda Peet) and their children Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily) live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy).

Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. After an encounter with Helmsley, they meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts a radio show from the park. Charlie plays a video of Charles Hapgood's theory that polar shifts and the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the 2012 phenomenon will occur. He has a map of the ark project in addition to information about officials and scientists from around the world who were murdered after planning to alert the public. The family returns home as seismic activity vastly increases along the west coast of the United States. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins, and they narrowly escape Los Angeles as the city slides into the Pacific Ocean.

As millions die in catastrophic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie stays behind to broadcast the eruption and is killed in the blast of the expulsion of an ash cloud. Learning that the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas to find a larger plane. They meet Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg (played by Alexandre and Philippe Haussmann), girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen), and pilot Sasha (Johann Urb). The group secures an Antonov 500 aircraft and they depart for China. Also heading for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Helmsley, and Laura Wilson. President Wilson remains in Washington, D.C. to address the nation one last time. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser assumes ''de facto'' leadership. President Wilson is later killed by a megatsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS ''John F. Kennedy'' crashing into the White House.

Arriving in China in a crash landing that kills Sasha, the group is spotted by the People's Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks, leaving Tamara and the others behind. They are picked up by Nima and are taken to the arks with his grandparents (Lisa Lu and Chang Tseng). They stow away on the ark with the help of Tenzin. As a megatsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged between the gears of the ark's Hydraulics Chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos Yuri, Gordon, and Tamara are killed, Tenzin is wounded, and the ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark before it can impact Mount Everest.

After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks travel to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the Drakensberg Mountains have risen in relation to sea level and become the tallest mountains in the world. Jackson is rejoined with his family, and Helmsley starts a relationship with Laura. The final scene shows the Earth as Africa and some land masses are above sea level.

Cast

John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a struggling writer who has to work as a limousine driver to make ends meet. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Dr. Adrian Helmsley, geologist and scientific advisor to the US President. He is also a fan of Curtis's work. Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis, a medical student and Jackson's ex-wife.

Liam James as Noah Curtis, Jackson and Kate's son.

Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter.

Thomas McCarthy as Dr. Gordon Silberman, Kate's current boyfriend, a plastic surgeon.

Danny Glover as Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States.

Thandie Newton as Dr. Laura Wilson, art expert and President Wilson's daughter.

Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser, White House Chief of Staff.

Zlatko Burić as Yuri Karpov, a Russian billionaire.

Beatrice Rosen as Tamara, Yuri's Russian girlfriend.

Alexandre and Philippe Haussmann as Alec and Oleg Karpov, Yuri's twin sons.

Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, a fringe science conspiracy theorist and radio talk show host.

Chin Han as Tenzin Sonam, a worker in Tibet.

Osric Chau as Nima, a Buddhist monk and Tenzin's brother.

Lisa Lu as Nima and Tenzin's grandmother.

Chang Tseng as Nima and Tenzin's grandfather.

John Billingsley as Professor Frederic West, an American scientist.

Ryan McDonald as Scotty, Dr. Helmsley's assistant.

Johann Urb as Sasha, a Russian pilot and Tamara's lover.

Blu Mankuma as Harry Helmsley, Adrian's father and Tony's music partner.

George Segal as Tony Delgatto, an elderly traveling musician and Harry's music partner.

Patrick Bauchau as Roland Picard, the curator of the Louvre.

Jimi Mistry as Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, an Indian scientist who helps discover the events causing the catastrophe.

Karin Konoval as Sally, President Wilson's secretary.

Stephen McHattie as Captain Richard Michaels, the captain of the ark that Jackson and his family stowaway on.

Henry O as Lama Yak La Rinpoche

Gerard Plunkett as Isaacs

;Cameo appearances

Zinaid Memisevic as Sergey Makarenko, the President of Russia

Merrilyn Gann as German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Parm Soor as the Prince of Saudi Arabia

Leonard Tenisci as Italian Prime Minister Antonioni

Lyndall Grant as Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger

Elizabeth Richard as Queen Elizabeth II

Dominic Zamprogna as a Medic at the White House

Jorgito Vargas, Jr. as a Chef

Doron Bell Jr. as an Air Force One Science Officer

David Orth as an Air Force One Lieutenant

Ty Olsson as an Air Force One Officer

Dean Redman as a Las Vegas Fireman

Mark Oliver as a Fundraiser Security

Production

The credits cite the bestselling book ''Fingerprints of the Gods'' by author Graham Hancock as inspiration for the film, and in an interview with the London magazine Time Out Emmerich states: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's ''Fingerprints of the Gods''."

Director Emmerich and composer-producer Harald Kloser had an extremely close relationship and also co-wrote a spec script entitled ''2012'', which was marketed to major studios in February 2008. Nearly all studios met with Emmerich and his representatives to hear the director's budget projection and story plans, a process that the director had previously gone through with the films ''Independence Day'' (1996) and ''The Day After Tomorrow'' (2004). Later that month, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the rights for the spec script, planning to distribute it under Columbia Pictures and was produced for less than budgeted. According to Emmerich, the film was eventually produced for about $200 million.

Filming was originally scheduled to begin in Los Angeles, California, in July 2008 but instead commenced in Kamloops, Savona, Cache Creek and Ashcroft in British Columbia, Canada. Due to the possible 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike, filmmakers set up a contingency plan for salvaging the film. Uncharted Territory, Digital Domain, Double Negative, Scanline, Sony Pictures Imageworks and others were hired to create computer animated visual effects for ''2012''.

Although the film depicts the destruction of several major cultural and historical icons around the world, Emmerich stated that the Kaaba was also considered for selection. Kloser opposed the idea out of fear that a fatwā might be issued against him.

Marketing

The film was promoted in a marketing campaign by a fictional organization, the "Institute for Human Continuity"; this entailed a fictitious book written by Jackson Curtis entitled ''Farewell Atlantis'', and streaming media, blog updates and radio broadcasts from the apocalyptic zealot Charlie Frost on his website ''This Is The End''.

On November 12, 2008, the new studio released the first teaser trailer for ''2012'' that showed a tsunami surging over the Himalayas and interlaced a purportedly scientific message suggesting that the world would end in 2012, and that the world's governments were not preparing its population for the event. The trailer ended with a message to viewers to "find out the truth" by searching "2012" on search engines. ''The Guardian'' criticized the marketing effectiveness as "deeply flawed" and associated it with "websites that make even more spurious claims about 2012".

The studio also launched a viral marketing website operated by the fictional Institute for Human Continuity, where filmgoers could register for a lottery number to be part of a small population that would be rescued from the global destruction. David Morrison of NASA received over 1000 inquiries from people who thought the website was genuine, and condemned it. "I've even had cases of teenagers writing to me saying they are contemplating suicide because they don't want to see the world end," he said. "I think when you lie on the internet and scare children to make a buck, that is ethically wrong." Another viral marketing website promotes ''Farewell Atlantis'', a fictional suspense novel by the film's lead protagonist, about the events of 2012.

Comcast had also organized a "roadblock campaign" to promote the film, where a two-minute scene from the film was broadcast across 450 American commercial television networks, local English and Spanish language stations, and 89 cable outlets within a ten-minute window between 10:50 PM EDT/PDT and 11:00 PM EDT/PDT on October 1, 2009. The scene featured the destruction of Los Angeles and ended with a cliffhanger, with the entire 5-minute-38-second clip made available on Comcast's Fancast web site. The trade newspaper ''Variety'' estimated that, "The stunt will put the footage in front of 90% of all households watching ad-supported TV, or nearly 110 million viewers. When combined with online and mobile streams, that could increase to more than 140 million".

Soundtrack

name	2012: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
type	Film score
artist	Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander
cover	2012 Soundtrack.jpg
released	November 10, 2009
length	57:48
label	RCA Victor
reviews	}}

The original score for the film was composed by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander. Singer Adam Lambert contributed a song for the film titled "Time for Miracles" and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity in an interview with MTV.

The film's soundtrack consists of 24 tracks, and it includes the songs "Fades Like a Photograph" by Filter and "It Ain't the End of the World", performed by George Segal and Blu Mankuma, which were featured in the film. The trailer music was ''Master of Shadows'' by Two Steps From Hell.

Release

''2012'' was originally scheduled to be released on July 10, 2009. The release date was changed to November 2009 to move out of the busy summer schedule into a time frame that the studio considered to have more potential for financial success. According to the studio, the film could have been completed for the summer release date, but the date change would give more time to the production. The film was released on November 11, 2009. It was released on Friday November 13, 2009 in Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, India and the United States, and was released on November 21, 2009 in Japan.

The DVD and Blu-ray for ''2012'' were released on March 2, 2010. The 2-Disc Blu-ray Edition includes over 90 minutes of special features, including Adam Lambert's music video "Time for Miracles", and a Digital Copy for PSP, PC, Mac & iPod. The European release date of ''2012'' on DVD was March 26, 2010; it includes the same special features as the North American version.

Reception

Box office

''2012'' earned $166,112,167 in the USA and Canada and $603,567,306 in other territories for a worldwide total of $769,679,473. It is the 5th highest-grossing film of 2009 worldwide and the 37th highest grossing film of all time worldwide. It is Emmerich's second highest grossing film worldwide, behind ''Independence Day''. However, it surpassed Emmerich's previous disaster film ''The Day After Tomorrow'', which grossed $544.3 million worldwide. Worldwide on its opening weekend it made $230.5 million, marking the fourth-largest opening weekend worldwide for a 2009 film.

In North America, it grossed $65,237,614 on its first weekend, ranking number one and marking the 9th highest-grossing opening weekend for a film released in November. The film grossed $166,112,167 in total and earned $165.2 million overseas on its opening weekend marking the 7th largest opening weekend of all time. With $603,567,306 in total overseas earnings, just above the $600-million-mark, it marked the 4th highest-grossing 2009 film overseas. In Bulgaria, it earned $285,273 on its opening weekend, which is the 6th largest in the country, and it earned $856,915 in total to become the 8th highest-grossing film of all time. In Greece, it grossed $2,288,288 which is the second highest-grossing opening weekend of all time after ''300's'' opening with $3,087,500. In Malaysia, it made the second-largest opening weekend ($2,308,796) behind that of ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' ($2,546,774) and became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time. In Taiwan, it grossed the largest two-day weekend of all time ($2,790,845) and, in total earnings, it is third on the all-time chart.

Critical response

The film received generally mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 39% of ''2012'' critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.1 out of 10. Among the site's notable critics, 49% gave the film a positive write-up, based on a sample of 34. The site's consensus is that "Roland Emmerich's ''2012'' provides plenty of visual thrills, but lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics has a rating score of 49 based on 34 reviews.

Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' criticized the film by comparing it to ''Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen'': "Beware ''2012'', which works the dubious miracle of almost matching ''Transformers 2'' for sheer, cynical, mind-numbing, time-wasting, money-draining, soul-sucking stupidity." Roger Ebert was enthusiastic about the film, giving it 3½ stars out of 4, saying it "delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year". Both Ebert and Claudia Puig of ''USA Today'' called the film the "mother of all disaster movies".

Accolades

! Award	! Category	! Recipients and nominees	! Outcome
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Visual Effects
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Chiwetel Ejiofor
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Danny Glover
	Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature Film	Fernand Bos, Ronald J. Webb
Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film
		Paul N.J. Ottosson, Michael McGee, Rick Kline, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Michael Keller
	Volker Engel, Marc Weigert, Mike Vézina
	Barry Chusid, Elizabeth Wilcox
	David Brenner, Peter S. Elliot
	Volker Engel, Marc Weigert, Mike Vézina

North Korean ban

North Korea has reportedly banned possession or viewing of the film. The year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il-sung, and has been designated by the North Korean government as "the year for opening the grand gates to becoming a rising superpower". Thus, a movie which depicts the year in a negative light is found to be offensive by the North Korean government. Several people in North Korea have reportedly been arrested for possessing or viewing pirated copies of the movie and charged with "grave provocation against the development of the state."

Television spin-off

''Entertainment Weekly'' announced that there was a plan for a spin-off television series entitled ''2013'' that would have served as a follow-up to the film. Executive producer of ''2012'', Mark Gordon told ''EW'' that "ABC will have an opening in their disaster-related programming after ''Lost'' ends, so people would be interested in this topic on a weekly basis. There's hope for the world despite the magnitude of the 2012 disaster as seen in the film. After the movie, there are some people who survive and the question is how will these survivors build a new world and what will it look like. That might make an interesting TV series." However on March 2, 2010, it was announced that ABC decided to pass on the television spin-off of the film.

References

External links

Category:2009 films Category:2012 phenomenon Category:2012 in fiction Category:2000s science fiction films Category:Films set in 2009 Category:Films set in 2010 Category:Films set in 2011 Category:Films set in 2012 Category:American adventure films Category:American disaster films Category:American science fiction action films Category:Apocalyptic fiction Category:Canadian science fiction films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:D-BOX motion-enhanced films Category:English-language films Category:Films about technology Category:Films based on urban legends Category:Films directed by Roland Emmerich Category:Films shot in British Columbia Category:Films shot in Vancouver Category:Post-apocalyptic films

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Name	Nicki Minaj
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Onika Tanya Maraj
Birth date	December 08, 1982
Birth place	Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago
Origin	South Jamaica, Queens, New York, U.S.
Genre	Hip hop, R&B;, pop
Occupation	Rapper, singer-songwriter
Years active	2002–present
Label	Cash Money Records, Young Money Entertainment, Universal Republic Records, Universal Motown
Associated acts	Young Money
website	}}

Onika Tanya Maraj (born December 8, 1982), known by her stage name Nicki Minaj (), is a Trinidadian-born American musician. She was born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the New York City borough of Queens when she was five.

After releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009 and being signed to Young Money Entertainment in August 2009, Minaj released her debut album, ''Pink Friday'', in November 2010. It quickly became a commercial success, peaking at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 and being certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month after its release. She became the first female solo artist to have seven singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at the same time. Her second single, "Your Love", reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Rap Songs chart, making Minaj the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. She also became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List. Minaj was named the 2011 ''Rising Star'' by ''Billboard''. Her second studio album, ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' was released on April 3, 2012.

Early life

Maraj was born in 1982 in Saint James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city Port of Spain. Her parents are of mixed Indian and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry and she lived in Saint James with her grandmother until age five, because her parents were looking for a place to live in the Queens borough of New York City at the time. Her mother would occasionally visit, and one day, when Minaj was five, her mother picked her up to move to Queens. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.

She attended Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210, where she played the clarinet. She graduated from LaGuardia High School. At LaGuardia, a school specializing in music and the visual and performing arts, Minaj participated in the drama program. She had initially planned to sing at LaGuardia, but lost her voice on the day of the audition.

Career

2007–09: Mixtapes and Young Money

Minaj released her first mixtape in 2007 after releasing ''Playtime Is Over'' with ''Dirty Money Records''. She released another mixtape on July 7, 2008, titled ''Sucka Free'', under the label ''Be''. On April 18, 2009, Minaj released a third mixtape and appeared in ''XXL'' magazine. She won the Female Artist of the Year award at the 2008 Underground Music Awards. Minaj released ''Beam Me Up Scotty'', another mixtape, in April 2009 under the label of ''Trapaholics Records''; it received positive coverage on both BET and MTV.

In August 2009, Minaj signed a record deal with Young Money Entertainment, with distribution from Universal Motown Records, after fellow American rapper Lil Wayne discovered her and secured the record deal. She then had a solo rap verse in their single "BedRock," which became a commercial success, reaching #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Minaj also appeared on "Roger That", which charted at #56. The song, and in particular Minaj, received positive reviews from critics. Both songs were included in Young Money Entertainment's debut collaborative studio album ''We Are Young Money'', which was released in December 2009. The album charted in the top ten on the ''Billboard'' 200, reaching #9 and later receiving a Gold Certification by the RIAA. She was then chosen by Mariah Carey to be featured on her single and music video for "Up Out My Face". Critics praised her collaboration for helping to maintain Carey's feminine image and providing a polite track for the female R&B; singer.

2010–11: ''Pink Friday''

After a major record label bidding war, Young Money Entertainment announced on August 31, 2009 that Minaj had been released from a 360 deal with the label in which she retains and owns all of her 360 rights – including merchandising, sponsorships, endorsements, touring and publishing. In an interview with 95.8 Capital FM, Rihanna stated that after the two collaborated on "Raining Men" from her album ''Loud'' that the duo would be teaming up together for a possible second collaboration on Minaj's ''Pink Friday''. Hip-hop rap artist and producer Kanye West was also confirmed for the album. On August 3, 2010 Minaj revealed on a Ustream.tv channel that the album's name would be ''Pink Friday'', in reference to Black Friday.

''Pink Friday'' was released on November 19, 2010 in both standard and deluxe versions. A buzz single, "Massive Attack", was released in April. In August, Minaj released "Your Love" as the first official single from her debut album. The single peaked at 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, 7 on the Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart and topped the Rap Songs chart. Minaj became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List and the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. In October 2010, Minaj became the first artist to have seven songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart simultaneously. Minaj released a joint single with The Black Eyed Peas front man, will.i.am titled, "Check It Out", which is Minaj's most successful single to date in Europe. "Right thru Me" was released September 24, 2010; the music video was released in late October. "Moment 4 Life" was released as the fourth single. The track featured Canadian rapper Drake and was released on December 7, 2010, becoming a success on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The single peaked at number 5 on the Hot Rap Songs. The album gained a Platinum certification in the United States a month after the release. It was hinted by Simon Cowell that Minaj would join the judging panel of the American version of the ''The X Factor.'' Starting in June 2011, Minaj will be supporting ''Pink Friday'' by serving as an opening act along with Jessie and the Toy Boys and Nervo on Britney Spears' sixth concert tour, the Femme Fatale Tour, in support of her seventh studio album, ''Femme Fatale''. She also was featured on the official remix of Spears' track "Till the World Ends" along with Spears and singer Kesha, which charted at number 3 in the US in April 2011. "Super Bass" was released from ''Pink Friday'' in May 2011, the single charted within the top 10 in many countries including; United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada and more. The song gained positive reviews from critics. Minaj will voice a character in the 3D animated film, ''Ice Age: Continental Drift'', as an unknown character. Minaj is also featured on French DJ David Guetta's 2011 album, ''Nothing but the Beat'' on "Where Them Girls At" and "Turn Me On".

2011–present: ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded''

Minaj's second studio album, ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'', was announced through Twitter in November 2011 and was released on April 2, 2012. It has spawned four promotional singles as of April 2012: Roman in Moscow (which didn't make the final cut of the album), "Stupid Hoe," "Roman Reloaded," and "Beez in the Trap." The album's first single, "Starships", was released on February 14. The album also had another single, Right by My Side. On February 12, 2012, Minaj debuted her song "Roman Holiday" at the 54th Grammy Awards. The exorcism-themed perfomance drew a mixed response online.

She was featured on Madonna's twelfth studio album, titled ''MDNA'', alongside M.I.A. on its lead single "Give Me All Your Luvin'", for which a music video has been directed by Megaforce. The trio performed the song for the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. She was also featured on a song called "I Don't Give A", another track from the album.

Musical style and image

Image

In an interview with ''Vibe'' Minaj discussed her sexual image stating, "[w]hen I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot... and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing." In an interview with ''Interview'', Minaj commented on her sexual image again stating, "I made a conscious decision to try to tone down the sexiness, I want people—especially young girls—to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You’ve got to have something else to go with that.” Minaj has a tattoo in Chinese characters that reads "" (''shangdi yu ni chang zai'') on her left arm, meaning, "God is always with you."

Alter egos

While growing up, Minaj's home life was often chaotic, with her parents constantly fighting. As a means of escape, she would create characters and live her life through them. In an interview with ''New York'' she stated, "To get away from all their fighting, I would imagine being a new person. 'Cookie' was my first identity – that stayed with me for a while. I went on to 'Harajuku Barbie,' then 'Nicki Minaj'. Fantasy was my reality."

On November 18, 2010, Minaj assumed a different alter-ego named "Nicki Teresa". Wearing a colorful scarf around her head, she went around as the "healer to her fans" as she visited them at The Garden of Dreams Foundation at Fuse studios in New York City. Minaj made an appearance on ''Lopez Tonight'' on December 6, 2010 and presented a different alter-ego for the Spanish-inspired occasion, named "Rosa" (pronounced Rrrrrosa).

Roman Zolanski

For her debut album, Minaj created another alter-ego named "Roman Zolanski". She stated that in songs like "Bottoms Up" with Trey Songz it is not Minaj rapping, but instead Roman Zolanski, and claims that Roman is her "twin brother". She claims that he was born inside her, out of rage, and becomes him when she is angry. She has also said 'He is a demon inside her'. Roman has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on the song "Roman's Revenge" from ''Pink Friday'', Minaj and Eminem collaborate, using these alter egos. On the collaboration, she said "The new album is going to have a lot of Roman on it ... And if you're not familiar with Roman, then you will be familiar with him very soon. He’s the boy that lives inside of me. He's a lunatic and he's gay and he'll be on there a lot." Roman also has a "mother" called "Martha Zolanski", who also appeared on the song Roman's Revenge, with a British accent. Martha appears in the video for "Moment 4 Life" where she appears to be Minaj's magical Godmother. In songs such as "All I Do Is Win (Remix)" it is Minaj rapping. Minaj stated that on her debut album, fans will get to "meet" Nicki, Roman and Onika.

Influences

Minaj has stated that artists who have influenced her musical style include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Lil Wayne, Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Natasha Bedingfield, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott. She was also inspired by Janet Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Jones, M.I.A. and Cyndi Lauper.

Personal life

While some songs and interviews have implied that Minaj is bisexual, she has said that she does not date nor have sex with women, but added in an interview with ''Out'' magazine, "I don’t date men either." In an interview with ''Vibe'' she commented, "I just embrace all people of all lifestyles and I don’t tell them they are bad people. And I say girls are beautiful and girls are sexy and they need to be told that, and if they don’t have anyone to tell them that and mean it, I’m gonna tell them that. But I feel like people always wanna define me and I don’t wanna be defined." She reiterated her dislike of being labeled in an interview with ''Out'', saying: "The point is, everyone is not black and white. There are so many shades in the middle, and you’ve got to let people feel comfortable with saying what they want to say when they want to say it."

During an interview in the May 2010 issue of ''Details'', Minaj was asked if she felt hip-hop was becoming more gay-friendly. She responded, "I think the world is getting more gay-friendly, so hip-hop is too. But it's harder to imagine an openly gay male rapper being embraced, people view gay men as having no street credibility. But I think we'll see one in my lifetime."

In July 2011, Minaj's cousin Nicholas Telemaque was murdered near his home in Brooklyn, New York City.

Discography

''Pink Friday'' (2010)

''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' (2012)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Nicki Minaj

Notes

References

External links

Category:Nicki Minaj Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:African American female singers Category:African American rappers Category:American musicians of Indian descent Category:American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Category:Female rappers Category:Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Category:Hip hop singers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Queens Category:People from Port of Spain Category:Rappers from New York City Category:Singers from New York City Category:Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States Category:Trinidad and Tobago musicians Category:Trinidad and Tobago people of Dougla descent Category:Young Money Entertainment artists

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Name	Jesse Ventura
Order	38th
Office	Governor of Minnesota
Term start	January 8, 1999
Term end	January 6, 2003
Lieutenant	Mae Schunk
Predecessor	Arne Carlson
Successor	Tim Pawlenty
Office2	Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Term start2	1991
Term end2	1995
Birthname	James George Janos
Birth date	July 15, 1951
Birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Spouse	Terry Ventura
Children	Tyrel VenturaJade Ventura
Profession	US Navy UDTProfessional WrestlerColor commentatorActorTalk Show hostPoliticianAuthor
Party	Reform Party (1999–2000)Independence Party of Minnesota (2000–present)
Religion	Atheist
Branch	United States Navy
Serviceyears	1969–1975
Rank	Petty Officer Third Class
Unit	UDT 12SEAL Team 1 (Reserve)
Awards	National Defense Service MedalVietnam Service Medal }}

James George Janos (born July 15, 1951), better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host. As a professional wrestler, he is best known for his nickname, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and tenure in the World Wrestling Federation as a combatant and color commentator. In 2004, he was inducted into the company's Hall of Fame.

In the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998, running as a member of the Reform Party, he was elected the 38th Governor of Minnesota and served from January 4, 1999, to January 6, 2003, without seeking a second term.

Early life

Ventura was born James George Janos in Minneapolis, the son of Bernice Martha (née Lenz) and George William Janos, both of whom were World War II veterans. His father's parents were from what is today Slovakia, and his mother was of German descent. Ventura has described himself as Slovak. Ventura was raised a Lutheran. Ventura (then still using his legal name of Janos) attended the now-closed Cooper Elementary School and graduated from Minneapolis' Roosevelt High School in 1969.

Navy career

From September 11, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War era, Ventura served in the United States Navy. Ventura graduated with BUD/S class 58 in December 1970 and was part of Underwater Demolition Team 12 (UDT). The UDTs were merged with the US Navy SEALs in 1983, 8 years after Ventura had left the Navy.

Bill Salisbury, an attorney in San Diego and a former Navy SEAL officer, accused Ventura of "pretending" to be a SEAL and wrote that Ventura would be blurring an important distinction by claiming to be a SEAL when he was actually a frogman with the UDT. Compared to SEAL Teams, UDTs saw less combat and took fewer casualties. Following that, Governor Ventura's office confirmed that Ventura was a member of the UDTs. His spokesman stated that Ventura has never tried to convince people otherwise. Ventura stated: "Today we refer to all of us as SEALs; that's all it is."

Ventura has frequently referred to his military career in public statements and debates. He was criticized by hunters and conservationists for stating in an interview with the Minneapolis StarTribune in April 2001, "Until you have hunted men, you haven't hunted yet."

In January 2002, Ventura, who had never specifically claimed to have ''fought'' in Vietnam, disclosed for the first time that he did not see combat. He did not receive the Combat Action Ribbon, which was awarded to those involved in a firefight or who went on clandestine or special operations where the risk of enemy fire was great or expected.

Post Navy

In 1973, Ventura was released from active duty and enrolled with the Naval Reserves, at which point he was assigned to SEAL Team 1.

In the fall of 1974, Ventura left the bike club to return to Minnesota. Shortly after his leaving, the Mongols entered into open warfare with their rivals the Hells Angels.

In Minnesota Ventura attended North Hennepin Community College in the mid-1970s. At the same time, he began weightlifting and wrestling. He was a bodyguard for The Rolling Stones for a short time before he ventured into professional wrestling and changed his name.

Professional wrestling career

Name	Jesse Ventura
Names	Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Height	-
Weight
Birth date	July 15, 1951
Birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Billed	Brooklyn Park, MinnesotaSan Diego, California
Trainer	Eddie Sharkey
Debut	October 1975
Retired	1986
Website	}}

Early career

He created the stage name Jesse "The Body" Ventura to go with the persona of a bully-ish beach bodybuilder, picking the name "Ventura" from a map as part of his "bleach blond from California" character. As a wrestler, Ventura performed as a villain and often used the motto "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" Much of his flamboyant persona was adapted from "Superstar" Billy Graham, a charismatic and popular performer during the 1970s and '80s. Years later, as a broadcaster, Ventura made a running joke out of it claiming that Graham stole all of his ring attire ideas from him.

Singles and tag team success

In 1975, Ventura made his debut in the Central States territory, before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where he wrestled for promoter Don Owen as Jesse "The Great" Ventura. Sometime later, he adopted the more permanent nickname, "The Body". During his stay in Portland, Oregon, he had notable feuds with Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka and won the Pacific Northwest Wrestling title twice (once from each wrestler), and the tag team title five times (twice each with Bull Ramos and "Playboy" Buddy Rose, and once with Jerry Oates). He later moved to his hometown promotion, the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota, and began teaming with Adrian Adonis as the "East-West Connection" in 1979. The duo won the promotion's World Tag Team Championship on July 20, 1980 on a forfeit when Verne Gagne, one-half of the tag team champions along with Mad Dog Vachon, failed to show up for a title defense in Denver, Colorado. The duo held the belts for nearly a year, losing to "The High Flyers" (Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell).

Retirement and commentary

Shortly after losing the belts, the duo moved on to the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Although the duo was unable to capture the World Tag Team Championship, both Adonis and Ventura became singles title contenders, each earning several title shots at World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund.

Ventura continued to wrestle until September 1984, when blood clots in his lungs ended his in-ring career. Ventura claimed the blood clots were a result of his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. Ventura did return to the ring in 1985 forming a tag-team with "Macho Man" Randy Savage & Savage's manager Miss Elizabeth. Often after their televised matches Ventura would taunt and challenge fellow commentator Bruno Sammartino but nothing ever came of this. He also participated in a six-man tag team match in December 1985 as he, Roddy Piper, and "Cowboy" Bob Orton defeated Hillbilly Jim, Uncle Elmer, and Cousin Luke in a match which was broadcast on ''Saturday Night's Main Event''. After a failed comeback bid, he began to do color commentary on television for ''All-Star Wrestling'' (replacing Angelo Mosca) and later ''Superstars of Wrestling'' (initially alongside Vince McMahon and Sammartino, and with McMahon after Sammartino's departure from the WWF in 1988), hosted his own talk segment on the WWF's ''Superstars of Wrestling'' called "The Body Shop", and did color commentary on radio for a few National Football League teams (among them, the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Ventura most notably co-hosted ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' with Vince McMahon and the first six WrestleManias (1985–1990) and most of the WWF's pay-per-views at the time with Gorilla Monsoon (the lone exception for Ventura being the first SummerSlam, in which Ventura served as the guest referee during the main event). Following a dispute with Vince McMahon over the use of his image for promoting a Sega product, McMahon—who had a contract with rival company Nintendo at the time—released Ventura from the company in August 1990.

In February 1992 at SuperBrawl II, Ventura joined World Championship Wrestling as a commentator. His professional wrestling commentary style was an extension of his wrestling persona, as he was partial to the villains, which was something new and different at the time, but would still occasionally give credit where it was due, praising the athleticism of Dynamite Kid and Randy Savage (who was championed by Ventura for years, even when he was a fan favorite). The lone exception to this rule was the WrestleMania VI match between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. Since they were both crowd favorites, Ventura took a neutral position in his commentary; even praising Hogan's display of sportsmanship at the end of the match when he handed over the WWF Championship to the Warrior after he lost the title. The praise of Hogan's action was unusual for Ventura because he regularly rooted against Hogan during his matches. Hogan and Ventura were, at one point, close friends. Ventura, however, abruptly ended the friendship after he discovered, during his lawsuit against Vince McMahon, that Hogan was the one who had told Vince about Ventura's attempt to form a labor union in 1984. Ventura was released by WCW President Eric Bishoff for allegedly falling asleep during a ''WCW Worldwide'' TV taping at Disney MGM Studios in July 1994, though its been speculated the move may have had more to do with Hulk Hogan's arrival shortly before.

Litigation

In 1987, while negotiating his contract as a WWF commentator, Ventura waived his rights to royalties on videotape sales when he was falsely told that only feature performers received such royalties. In 1991, having discovered that other non-feature performers received royalties, Ventura brought an action for fraud, misappropriation of publicity rights, and quantum meruit in Minnesota state court against Titan Sports. Titan removed the case to federal court, and Ventura won an $801,333 jury verdict on the last claim. The judgment was affirmed on appeal, and the case,'' '' 65 F.3d 725 (8th Cir.1995), is an important result in the law of restitution.

Return to the World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

In mid-1999, Ventura reappeared on WWF television during his term as Governor of Minnesota, acting as the special guest referee for main event of SummerSlam held in Minneapolis. Ventura would continue his relationship with the WWF by performing commentary for Vince McMahon's short-lived XFL. On the March 20, 2003 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Ventura appeared in a taped interview to talk about the match between McMahon and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XIX. Less than a year later, he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 13, 2004 and the following night at WrestleMania XX, he approached the ring to interview Donald Trump, who had a front row seat at the event. Trump affirmed that Ventura would receive his moral and financial support were he to ever reenter the world of politics. Alluding to the 2008 election, Ventura boldly announced that "In 2008, maybe we oughta put a wrestler in the White House". On the June 11, 2007 episode of ''Raw'', Ventura appeared to give comments about Vince McMahon.

Ventura was guest host on the November 23, 2009 episode of ''Raw'' during which he retained his villainous persona by siding with the number one contender, Sheamus over WWE Champion John Cena. This happened while he confronted Cena about how it was unfair that Cena always got a title shot in the WWE while Ventura didn't during his WWE career. After that Sheamus attacked Cena and put him through a table. Ventura then made the match a Table match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. During the show, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Vince McMahon joined Ventura at ringside to provide match commentary together.

In wrestling

Finishing moves: ''Body Breaker'' (WWF) / Inverted bearhug (AWA) Nicknames:"The Great", "The Body", "The Mouth", "The Actor", "The Governor" World Wrestling Entertainment: WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)

Title History

American Wrestling Association: AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Adrian Adonis

Cauliflower Alley Club: Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1999)

Central States Wrestling: NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Central States version)'' (1 time) – with Tank Patton Continental Wrestling Association: AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

International Wrestling Institute and Museum: Frank Gotch Award (2003)

NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions: NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Steve Strong Pacific Northwest Wrestling: NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times),NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Bull Ramos (2), Buddy Rose (2) and Jerry Oates (1)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated: PWI ranked him #239 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003, PWI ranked him #67 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Adrian Adonis

Political career

Mayor of Brooklyn Park

Following his departure from the WWF, Ventura took advice from a former high school teacher and ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in 1990. Ventura defeated the city's 25-year incumbent mayor and served from 1991 to 1995.

Governor of Minnesota

Ventura ran for Governor of Minnesota in 1998 as the nominee for the Reform Party of Minnesota (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when the Reform Party broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky adman Bill Hillsman, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $300,000) and was a pioneer in his using the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.

He won the election in November 1998, narrowly (and unexpectedly) defeating the major-party candidates, St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III (Democratic-Farmer-Labor). After his victory, bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the slogan "My governor can beat up your governor" appeared in Minnesota. The nickname "Jesse 'The Mind (from a last-minute Hillsman ad featuring Ventura posing as Rodin's ''Thinker'') began to resurface sarcastically in reference to his frequently controversial remarks. Ventura's old stage name "Jesse 'The Body (sometimes adapted to "Jesse 'The Governing Body) also continued to appear with some regularity.

After a trade mission to China in 2002, he announced that he would not run for a second term. He accused the media of hounding him and his family for personal behavior and belief while neglecting coverage of important policy issues. Ventura later told a reporter for ''The Boston Globe'' that he would have run for a second term if he had been single, citing the media's effect on his family life.

Governor Ventura sparked media criticism when, nearing the end of his term, he suggested that he might resign from office early to allow his lieutenant governor, Mae Schunk, an opportunity to serve as governor. He further stated that he wanted her to be the state's first female governor and have her portrait painted and hung in the Capitol along with the other governors. Ventura quickly retreated from the comments, saying he was just floating an idea.

Political positions

As Minnesota Governor, Ventura succeeded in several initiatives. One of the most notable was the rebate on Sales tax. In each year of his administration, Minnesotans received a tax-free check in the late summer. The state was running a budget surplus at the time, and Ventura believed that the money should be given back to the public. In political debates, he often admitted that he had not formed an opinion on certain policy questions. Ventura frequently described himself as "fiscally conservative and socially liberal." He selected teacher Mae Schunk as his running mate.

Later, he came to support a unicameral (one-house) legislature, property tax reform, gay rights, and abortion rights. In an interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'', he affirmed his support of gay rights, including gay marriage and gays in the military, humorously stating he would've gladly served alongside homosexuals when he was in the Navy as they would've provided less competition for women. While funding public school education generously, he opposed the teachers' union, and did not have a high regard for the public funding of higher education institutions. Additionally, Ventura supported the use of medicinal marijuana, advocated a higher role for third parties in national politics, and favored the concept of instant-runoff voting.

Ventura was elected on a Reform party ticket, but he never received support from Ross Perot's Texas faction. When the Reform party was taken over by Pat Buchanan supporters before the presidential elections of 2000, Ventura left the party in February 2000, referring to it as "hopelessly dysfunctional". However, he maintained close ties to the Independence Party of Minnesota, which also broke from the Reform party around the same time.

Despite being a supporter of third parties in the past, in 2010 Ventura advocated that all political parties, including third parties, be abolished. Feeling that the two-party system has corrupted the government, Ventura has expressed concern that if a third party became as successful as the Republicans and Democrats, it "will likewise have to corrupt itself. If you already have a two-headed monster, why would you need three?"

Lacking a party base in the Minnesota House and Senate, Ventura's policy ambitions had little chance of being introduced as bills. Initially, the residents of Minnesota feared Ventura's vetoes would be overturned. He vetoed 45 bills in his first year, and only three of those vetoes were overridden. The reputation for having his vetoes overridden comes from his fourth and final year, where six of his nine vetoes were overturned. He vetoed a bill to require recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

During the first part of his administration, Ventura strongly advocated for land-use reform and substantial mass transit improvements, such as light rail. He made the light rail project a priority, obtaining additional funding from the Minnesota state legislature to keep the project moving. The Hiawatha Line was completed in 2004.

During another trade mission to Cuba in the summer of 2002, he denounced the economic sanctions of the US against that country.

====Wellstone memorial==== Ventura greatly disapproved of some of the actions that took place at the 2002 memorial for Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and others who died in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. Ventura said, "I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that [the memorial ceremony] turned into a political rally". He left halfway through the controversial speech made by Wellstone's best friend, Rick Kahn. Ventura had initially planned to appoint a Democrat to Wellstone's seat, but he instead appointed Dean Barkley to represent Minnesota in the Senate until Wellstone's term expired in January 2003.

Political criticisms

After the legislature refused to increase spending for security, Ventura attracted criticism when he decided not to live in the governor's mansion during his tenure, choosing instead to shut it down and stay at his home in Maple Grove. Critics pointed to the loss of jobs for several working-class people at the mansion and the extra cost of reopening the mansion later.

In 1999, a group of disgruntled citizens petitioned to recall Governor Ventura, alleging, among other things, that "the use of state security personnel to protect the governor on a book promotion tour constituted illegal use of state property for personal gain." The petition was denied.

During his tenure as Governor, Ventura drew frequent fire from the press in the Twin Cities. He referred to reporters as "media jackals," a term that even appeared on the press passes required to enter the governor's press area. Shortly after Ventura's election as governor, author and humorist Garrison Keillor wrote a satirical book about the event, spoofing Ventura as "Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente," a self-aggrandizing former "Navy W.A.L.R.U.S. (Water Air Land Rising Up Suddenly)" turned professional wrestler turned politician. Initially, Ventura responded angrily to the satire, but later, in a conciliatory vein, said that Keillor "makes Minnesota proud". During his term, Ventura appeared on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'', in which he responded controversially to the following question: "So which is the better city of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis or St. Paul?". Ventura responded, "Minneapolis. Those streets in St. Paul must have been designed by drunken Irishmen". He later apologized for the remark, adding that it was not intended to be taken seriously.

Acting career

Ventura acted in the 1987 movie ''Predator'', whose cast included future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Kentucky Gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham. He appeared in two episodes of ''Zorro'' filmed in Madrid, Spain, in 1991. He had a starring role in the 1990 sci-fi movie ''Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe'', and supporting roles in ''The Running Man'', ''Thunderground'', ''Demolition Man'', ''Repossessed'', ''Ricochet'', ''The Master of Disguise'' (in which he steals the Liberty Bell), and ''Batman & Robin'' – the first two and last of these also starring Schwarzenegger. Ventura also made a cameo appearance in ''Major League II'', as "White Lightning". He also appeared as a self help guru (voice only) in ''The Ringer'' trying to turn Johnny Knoxville into a more confident worker. Ventura also had a cameo in ''The X-Files'' episode "Jose Chung's ''From Outer Space''" as a Man in Black alongside fellow 'MiB' Alex Trebek. In 2008, Ventura filmed the independent comedy ''Woodshop'', starring as a high school shop teacher named Mr. Madson. The film was released September 7, 2010.

Other media

In 1989 Ventura co-hosted the four episodes of the DiC Entertainment children's program ''Record Breakers'' along with Gary Apple. In 1991, the pilot episode for "Tag Team", a television program about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers, starred Ventura and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Between 1995 and his run for governor in 1998, Ventura had radio call-in shows on (KFAN 1130) and (KSTP 1500) in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. Jesse had a brief role on the television soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' in 1999.

Ventura has been criticized for privately profiting from his heightened popularity. He was hired as a television analyst for the failed XFL football enterprise, served as a referee at a World Wrestling Federation match, and published several books during his tenure as governor. On his weekly radio show, he often criticized the media for focusing on these deals rather than on his policy proposals.

Media parodies

Ventura has been portrayed frequently by comedian James Adomian since 2009 on the popular Earwolf podcasts Comedy Bang Bang and Sklarbro Country, with the "Ventura" character uncovering a wide range of absurd conspiracies. Adomian also played Ventura in a YouTube parody of Conspiracy Theory, investigating the secret truth behind professional wrestling.

Ventura has been parodied on the KXXR (93X) "Half assed morning show" by hosts Nick Born and Josh in segments called the "Fish Police" and "Pics with Bits" in both he is described with his famous deep voice saying non-sense phrases like, "I'm busy carrying these two sacks".

Post-gubernatorial life

Show name	Jesse Ventura's America
Starring	Jesse Ventura
Location	Saint Paul, Minnesota,
Network	MSNBC
First aired	October 4, 2003
Last aired	December 26, 2003
italic title	no }}

Ventura was succeeded in his office by Republican Tim Pawlenty. He began a cable television show in October 2003, on MSNBC called ''Jesse Ventura's America''. The show was broadcast once a week, on Saturdays, unlike many MSNBC shows which are on five nights a week (this show was originally planned for five nights a week as well, but MSNBC executives changed their minds). At the time of its airing, ''Jesse Ventura's America'' was the only national television show filmed in Minnesota. Among his guests were Charles Barkley, Gray Davis, Arianna Huffington, Rob Kampia, and Kathy McKee.

In 2004, Harvard graduate student and fellow Navy veteran Christopher Mora promoted the idea that the academic establishment had failed to reach out to citizens experienced in public service, but who did not fit the traditional idea of a politician. He successfully lobbied for the selection of Ventura, who started teaching a study group at Harvard University for the Spring 2004 semester as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics (IOP). His 90-minute study group focused on third party politics, campaign finance, the war on drugs, and other relevant political issues. Ventura scheduled multiple famous friends to appear for his seminars including Dean Barkley and Richard Marcinko.

On October 22, 2004, with Ventura by his side, former Maine Governor Angus King endorsed John Kerry for President at the Minnesota state capitol building. Ventura did not speak at the press conference. When prodded for a statement, Governor King responded, "He plans to vote for John Kerry, but he doesn't want to make a statement and subject himself to the tender mercies of the Minnesota press".

In November 2004, an advertisement began airing in California featuring Ventura. In it, Ventura voices his opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies regarding Native American casinos. Ventura is serving as an advisory board member for a new group called Operation Truth, a non-profit organization set up "to give voice to troops who served in Iraq." “The current use of the National Guard is wrong....These are men who did not sign up to go occupy foreign nations”.

In August 2005, Ventura became the spokesperson for BetUS, an online Sportsbook. In 2005, Ventura repeatedly discussed leaving the United States. In September 2005, Ventura announced on ''The Mike Malloy Show'' that he was leaving the U.S. and planned to "have an adventure". In late October 2005, he went on ''The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch'' and reiterated that he was leaving the U.S. due to, among other things, censorship. He has since moved to Baja California, Mexico.

In September 2006, Ventura endorsed and campaigned with independent Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, and Independence Party of Minnesota's gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson and Team Minnesota. He revealed he now spends much of his time surfing near his home in Mexico.

In April 2008, a book authored by Ventura, titled ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'', was released. In it, Ventura describes a hypothetical campaign in which he is a candidate for President of the United States in 2008, running as an independent. In an interview with the Associated Press at the time of the book's release, however, Ventura denied any plans for a presidential bid, stating that the scenario is only imaginary and not indicative of a "secret plan to run". On MinnPost.com, Ventura's agent, Steve Schwartz, describes the book thus: "[Ventura is revealing] why he left politics and discussing the disastrous war in Iraq, why he sees our two-party system as corrupt, and what Fidel Castro told him about who was really behind the assassination of President Kennedy."

However, in an interview on CNN's ''The Situation Room'' on April 7, Ventura hinted that he was considering entering the race for the United States Senate seat then held by Norm Coleman, his Republican opponent in the 1998 Gubernatorial race. A poll commissioned by Twin Cities station Fox 9 put him at 24 percent, behind Al Franken at 32 percent and Norm Coleman at 39 percent in a hypothetical three-way race. However, Ventura announced on ''Larry King Live'' on July 14, 2008 that he would not run.

He spoke at former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic", organized by the Campaign for Liberty, on September 2, 2008. At the event, Ventura implied a possible future run at the U.S. Presidency. Ventura stated before a live audience that "If America proves itself worthy, in 2012 we'll give them a race they'll never forget!"

Bush/Cheney administration and torture

In a May 11, 2009 interview with Larry King, Ventura twice stated that George W. Bush was the worst president of his lifetime, adding "President Obama inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression." On the issue of waterboarding, Ventura added:

I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders. ... If it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. [It] could do a whole bunch of stuff to you. If it's done wrong orit's torture, Larry. It's torture.''}}

Ventura then stated that he had no respect for Dick Cheney because he is "a guy who got five deferments from the Vietnam War. Clearly, he's a coward. He wouldn't go when it was his time to go. And now he is a chickenhawk. Now he is this big tough guy who wants this hardcore policy. And he's the guy that sanctioned all this torture by calling it 'enhanced interrogation'." Ventura also expressed interest in being appointed ambassador to Cuba should U.S. relations with Cuba continue to improve. On a May 18, 2009 appearance on ''The View'', Ventura asked Elisabeth Hasselbeck if waterboarding is acceptable, why were the Oklahoma City bombers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, not waterboarded. "We only seem to waterboard Muslims." Comparing the waterboarding of detainees to the North Vietnamese torture of American P.O.W.s, Ventura asserted, "We created our own Hanoi Hilton in Guantánamo. That's our Hanoi Hilton." "'Enhanced interrogation' is Dick Cheney changing a word. Dick Cheney comes up with a new word to cover his ass." On May 20, 2009, Ventura appeared on ''Fox & Friends''. When Brian Kilmeade told Ventura that he would stop supporting waterboarding when "they're dead", Ventura responded, "Really? Have you enlisted? Have you enlisted or are you just talking?... Go walk the walk, don't talk the talk."

Questions regarding 9/11

In April and May 2008, Jesse Ventura, in several radio interviews for his new book, ''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me'', expressed concerns about what he described as some of the unanswered questions of the September 11 attacks. His remarks about the possibility that the World Trade Center was demolished with explosives were also repeated in newspaper and television stories following some of the interviews.

Ventura was interviewed on the Alex Jones radio show on April 2, 2008 where he said that he felt that many unanswered questions remain, and he believes that World Trade Center Building 7, which was not struck by a plane, collapsed on the afternoon of 9/11 in a manner which resembled a controlled demolition Ventura stated:

''}}''

He also states the Twin Towers appeared to be pulverized to dust, that they fell at virtually free-fall speed, and that no other massive steel-framed buildings had ever collapsed in this manner due to fire before.

On May 18, 2009, when asked by Sean Hannity of Fox News, how George W. Bush could have avoided the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ventura answered, "Well, you pay attention to memos on August 6'th that tell you exactly what bin Laden's gonna do."

''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''

In August 2009, it was announced that Ventura would host TruTV's new show ''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura''. "Ventura will hunt down answers, plunging viewers into a world of secret meetings, midnight surveillance, shifty characters and dark forces," truTV said in a statement. On the program, which debuted on December 2, 2009, Ventura travels the country, investigating cases and getting input from believers and skeptics before passing judgment on a theory's validity. According to TruTV, the first episode drew 1.6 million viewers, a record for a new series on the network.

The second season of the series debuted in October 2010 and aired 8 episodes through December 2010.

''American Conspiracies''

''American Conspiracies'' is a book Ventura wrote with Dick Russell, published by Skyhorse Publishing in 2010 which discusses conspiracy theories related to several notable events in United States history.

''Lawsuit Against the TSA''

In January 2011, Jesse Venutra filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration for being subject to controversial pat-downs. Ventura has claimed that these pat-downs violate his Fourth Amendment rights. Ventura's attorney has claimed that while he is not seeking any monetary compensation, Ventura wants an acknowledgment from the court that his rights were violated and that the TSA halt future pat-downs on him.

Personal life

Family

In 1975, Ventura married his wife Terry. The couple have two grown children: a son, Tyrel (b. 1980), who is a film and television director and producer, and a daughter, Jade (b. 1983).

Currently, Ventura and his wife live in Mexico, "There are no newspapers down where I live. Where I live, I'm an hour from pavement and an hour from electricity. I'm completely off-the-grid."

Steroid use

During his wrestling days, Ventura used anabolic steroids. He admitted this after retiring from competition, and went on to make public service announcements and appear in printed ads and on posters warning young people about the potential dangers and potential health risks of abusing steroids.

Health problems

In 2002, Ventura was hospitalized for a severe blood clot in his lungs, the same kind of injury that ended his wrestling career.

Religion

In a ''Playboy'' interview, he said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business." In his 1999 best-selling memoir ''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed'', Ventura responded to the controversy sparked by these remarks by elaborating on his views concerning religion: "I’d like to clarify [my comments published in ''Playboy''] about religious people being weak-minded. I didn’t mean all religious people. I don’t have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That’s why the Founding Fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves. But I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn’t accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That’s what I find weak and destructive."

Ventura endorsed equal rights for religious minorities, as well as people who don't believe in God, by declaring July 4, 2002, "Indivisible Day". Ventura proclaimed October 13–19, 2002 as "Christian Heritage Week" in Minnesota.

Ventura identified himself as an atheist on April 5, 2011, on ''The Howard Stern Show'' and stated that he had been convinced to become an atheist by watching George Carlin. Ventura stated he had been a Lutheran before.

Electoral history

1998 election for Governor

*Jesse Ventura (Ref.), 37%

*Norm Coleman (R), 34%

*Hubert H. Humphrey III (DFL), 28%

Books

''I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up'' (May 1999) ISBN 978-0-375-50332-0

''Do I Stand Alone? Going to the Mat Against Political Pawns and Media Jackals'' (September 2000) ISBN 978-0-7434-0586-7

''Jesse Ventura Tells it Like it Is: America's Most Outspoken Governor Speaks Out About Government'' (September 2002, co-authored with Heron Marquez) ISBN 978-0-8225-0385-9

''Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!'' (March 2008, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-60239-273-1

''American Conspiracies'' (March 2010, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-60239-802-3

''63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read'' (April 2011, co-authored with Dick Russell) ISBN 978-1-61608-226-0

Notes

References

deFiebre, Conrad. "Record-high job approval for Ventura; Many Minnesotans like his style, don't mind moonlighting." ''Star Tribune'' 22 July 1999: 1A+.

deFiebre, Conrad. "Using body language, Ventura backs Kerry." ''Star Tribune'' 23 October 2004: 1A+.

Kahn, Joseph P. "The Body Politic." ''The Boston Globe'' 25 February 2004. Accessed April 28, 2004.

Olson, Rochelle and Bob von Sternberg. "GOP demands equal time; Wellstone aide apologizes; Ventura upset." ''Minneapolis Star-Tribune'' 31 October 2002: 1A+.

External links

Jesse Ventura Official Website

WWE Hall of Fame Profile

Ventura "on the issues"

Analysis of Jesse Ventura's ''Playboy'' interview by Aubrey Immelman

Jesse Ventura – Media Man Australia profile

Election Of Bonapartist Figure Ventura In Minnesota Is Danger To Working People – article in ''The Militant'' 1998.

Radiotapes.com Recordings of Jesse Ventura for Governor commercials from 1998 (scroll down to Misc Recordings).

Larry King Live: Jesse Ventura CNN April 1, 2008

"Jesse's back! New Ventura book 'Revolution' will cover political waterfront" from Minnpost.com

The Jesse Ventura Forums

Jesse Ventura on Wrestling-Radio.com

Jesse Ventura interview, Diaday.com

Jesse Ventura on The Young Turks Show.

http://images.radcity.net/5163/2969012.mp3

Category:1951 births Category:Actors from Minnesota Category:American actor-politicians Category:American atheists Category:American athlete-politicians Category:American film actors Category:American memoirists Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:American people of Slovak descent Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television sports announcers Category:American people of German descent Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Governors of Minnesota Category:Independence Party of Minnesota politicians Category:Independent politicians in the United States Category:Former Lutherans Category:Living people Category:Mayors of places in Minnesota Category:Mongols (motorcycle club) Category:Radio personalities from Minneapolis, Minnesota Category:Professional wrestling announcers Category:Reform Party of the United States of America politicians Category:Minnesota Vikings broadcasters Category:Tampa Bay Buccaneers broadcasters Category:United States Navy sailors Category:WWE Hall of Fame

bg:Джеси Вентура cs:Jesse Ventura de:Jesse Ventura es:Jesse Ventura fa:جسی ونچورا fr:Jesse Ventura it:Jesse Ventura he:ג'סי ונטורה nl:Jesse Ventura ja:ジェシー・ベンチュラ pl:Jesse Ventura pt:Jesse Ventura ru:Джесси Вентура fi:Jesse Ventura sv:Jesse Ventura vi:Jesse Ventura zh:傑西·溫圖拉

name	Colin Farrell
birth name	Colin James Farrell
birth date	May 31, 1976
birth place	Dublin, Ireland
occupation	Actor
years active	1996–present
spouse	Amelia Warner (2001; divorced)
partner	Kim Bordenave (2002–03; 1 child)Alicja Bachleda-Curus (2009–2010; 1 child)
website	Official site }}

Colin James Farrell (born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor, who has appeared in films including ''Tigerland'', ''Daredevil'', ''Miami Vice'', ''Minority Report'', ''Phone Booth'', ''The Recruit'', ''Alexander'', ''S.W.A.T.'', and ''In Bruges''.

Early life

Farrell was born in Dublin, the son of Rita (née Monaghan), a housewife, and Eamon Farrell, a footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers FC and owned a company importing and exporting canned goods in Dublin City. He was raised Roman Catholic. His uncle Tommy Farrell also played for Rovers. Farrell has two sisters, Claudine (who is his personal assistant) and Catherine, and a brother, Eamon Jr. When he was ten, the Farrells moved to Castleknock, a Dublin suburb. Farrell was educated at St. Brigid's National School Castleknock followed by Castleknock College and Gormanston College. Farrell unsuccessfully auditioned for the Irish group Boyzone when he was still unknown. Farrell attended The Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out and was cast in the part of Danny Byrne on ''Ballykissangel'', a BBC television drama. Farrell appeared on the show seven times from 1998 to 1999.

Career

Farrell had small parts in television shows and films, including the BBC drama ''Ballykissangel'' in 1998, and his film debut in Tim Roth's ''The War Zone''. In 2000, he was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in ''Tigerland'', an American film directed by Joel Schumacher. Farrell's next American films, ''American Outlaws'' (2001) and ''Hart's War'' (2002), were not commercially successful, but his 2003 films, including ''Phone Booth'', ''S.W.A.T.'', and ''The Recruit'' were well-received box office successes. Although he has a pronounced Irish accent, Farrell uses an American accent in some of his films including ''American Outlaws'' and his breakthrough role, ''Tigerland''.

Farrell roles as a supporting actor include his performances as an ambitious cop who chases after a potential criminal, played by actor Tom Cruise, in ''Minority Report'' (2002), and as the skilled villain Bullseye in ''Daredevil'' (2003). Matt Damon was originally offered the ''Minority Report'' role but he turned it down to appear in ''Ocean's Eleven''. Farrell said "he had no problem" that people knew he was the producer's fall back pick after Damon declined. The character of Bullseye is that of an assassin with perfect accuracy and deep-rooted pride of it. Farrell was attached to this role in December 2001, though initially he was considered for the lead role as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, until Ben Affleck signed. Farrell was encouraged to keep his Irish accent as this version of Bullseye is from Ireland. Farrell had to read into Frank Miller's Daredevil comics to understand Bullseye "because the expression on the character's faces in the comic books, and just the way they move sometimes, and the exaggerations of the character I'm playing […] he's so over-the-top that you do draw from that. But it's not exactly a character you can do method acting for... you know, running around New York killing people with paper clips."

In late 2003, Farrell starred as a criminal who plots a bank heist with Cillian Murphy in the comedy ''Intermission'', which held the record as highest-grossing Irish independent film in Irish box office history until 2006. In 2004, Farrell appeared in several independent films that received only a limited theatrical release in most countries, including ''A Home at the End of the World'', which received some positive reviews. Farrell appeared as a bisexual character in ''A Home at the End of the World''.

Farrell appeared in the title role of Alexander the Great in Oliver Stone's 2004 biopic ''Alexander'', which, while receiving some favorable reviews internationally, received mostly mediocre and negative reviews in the United States. It was marked by controversy for portraying the ancient conqueror as bisexual, and received criticism from some historians for its portrayal of the ancient Persians, though others praised it for its accuracy in these regards as well. The movie grossed a total of $167 million worldwide, despite its poor showing within the United States, just exceeding its budget of $155 million.

Farrell's next film was 2005's Academy Award-nominated ''The New World'', also a historical epic that was met with mixed reviews. Farrell played the leading role of captain John Smith, the founder of 17th century colonial Jamestown, Virginia who falls in love with a beautiful Native American princess, Pocahontas, played by Q'Orianka Kilcher. The film received positive reviews, despite being released in only 811 theaters worldwide and having a relatively low box office gross.

''The New World'' was followed by ''Ask the Dust'', a romance film set in period Los Angeles and co-starring Salma Hayek. It received a very limited theatrical release and was not a financial success. 2006 brought more success in Farrell's career, as he appeared opposite Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann's action-crime film ''Miami Vice''. The film was a box office success grossing a total of US $164 million worldwide. Farrell was next seen in Woody Allen's ''Cassandra's Dream'', which premiered in 2007 and was distributed in the U.S. in early 2008. Farrell's next film, Martin McDonagh's ''In Bruges'', opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2008; Farrell received his first Golden Globe nomination and win for his role as Ray, a hired hitman. Shortly thereafter, he appeared in ''Kicking It'', a documentary following six homeless men from different countries as they attempt to qualify for the Homeless World Cup. Farrell appeared on screen and provided narration. The film released simultaneously in theaters and television, airing on ESPN2 with a very short window to DVD release. Farrell received positive press for his involvement in the heartwarming true-life tale, and enthusiastic reviews for the two dramatic roles that preceded it.

On 11 January 2009, he won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy for his role in ''In Bruges'', in which he co-starred with Brendan Gleeson. The same year, he starred in Terry Gilliam's film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'', alongside Christopher Plummer. He was one of the actors, along with Johnny Depp and Jude Law, who helped complete the late Heath Ledger's role after he died before filming ended. They all played "Imaginarium" versions of Ledger's character Tony. He also took a supporting role as Tommy Sweet in ''Crazy Heart'', alongside Academy Award-winning Jeff Bridges.

2010 saw the release of ''Ondine'', a fantasy-drama directed by Neil Jordan, which stars Farrell as a fisherman. It also saw him star opposite Keira Knightley in the crime / romance ''London Boulevard''. The film was directed by William Monahan, screenplay writer of ''The Departed'' and ''Body of Lies''.

Farrell starred in the 2011 comedy movie ''Horrible Bosses'', with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis, directed by Seth Gordon. The film focuses on a trio of employees who plot to murder their titular tyrannical supervisors. Later that year, Farrell played the lead role in the ''Fright Night'' remake. Farrell joined Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, and Toni Collette in this story about a charismatic vampire who moves in next to a high school student. The film was released by Dreamworks, with Craig Gillespie having directed.

Upcoming films

Farrell is involved in a film adaptation of Flann O'Brien's metafictional novel ''At Swim-Two-Birds'' alongside Cillian Murphy and Gabriel Byrne. Actor Brendan Gleeson will direct the film, which was scheduled for release in 2010. In October 2009, however, Gleeson expressed fear that, should the Irish Film Board be abolished as planned by the Irish State, the production may fall through.

Additionally, Farrell began filming Columbia Pictures' ''Total Recall'' remake in May 2011, and will film until the end of September 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Len Wiseman will direct the film, a new take on the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi picture about a sleeper agent who is compelled to travel to a colony on Mars. Kurt Wimmer (Salt) wrote the script, which like the original is based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale."

Farrell has also been announced to be starring alongside Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke and Christopher Walken in ''Seven Psychopaths'', written and directed by Martin McDonagh (''In Bruges'').

Personal life

Colin Farrell was married to English actress Amelia Warner from July 2001 to November 2001. On his left ring finger, he has the name "Millie" tattooed. This tattoo was dedicated to Amelia.

Colin and US model Kim Bordenave became parents of James Padraig Farrell, who was born on 12 September 2003, in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. James was born weighing 7 lbs 9 oz. In October 2007, Farrell revealed that his son has Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, speech impediment, sleep disturbance, seizures, hand flapping movements, and frequent laughter/smiling.

It was announced on 14 September 2009, that Farrell and ''Ondine'' co-star Alicja Bachleda-Curus were expecting a child. Their son, Henry Tadeusz Farrell, was born on 7 October 2009 and was baptised in the Catholic Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Krakow, Poland. It was reported on 15 October 2010 that Farrell left Bachleda a couple of months prior. Soon it was officially confirmed.

Friendship with Elizabeth Taylor

Farrell had reportedly grown very close to Elizabeth Taylor shortly before her death and was one of the few non-family members to attend her private funeral. He recited the poem ''The Leaden Echo and The Golden Echo'' by Gerard Manley Hopkins at her funeral, requested by Elizabeth herself.

Alleged proposition for sex

In 2005, Dame Eileen Atkins – who was 70 at the time – revealed on ''Loose Women'' that a "stunningly gorgeous big film star" spent nearly three hours propositioning her for "sex with no strings". The "star" was later revealed to be Farrell, whom Atkins had acted alongside in the film ''Ask the Dust''. Atkins claimed she was tempted, but turned him down because he is 42 years her junior. Farrell did not comment initially, although since he has admitted to and joked about it on chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''.

Drug addictions

In December 2005, Farrell voluntarily checked into a rehabilitation treatment center for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers. His publicist commented that Farrell had started taking painkillers due to a back injury. He was released in January 2006. In May 2006, Farrell started attending rehabilitation meetings.

Sex tape

In July 2006, Farrell filed a lawsuit suing his former girlfriend, ''Playboy'' model Nicole Narain, and the Internet Commerce Group (ICG) over the unauthorised public distribution of a 14-minute sex tape that Farrell made with Narain in 2003. Farrell claims he understood the tape as being "strictly private and confidential and will take legal court actions to anyone who tries to distribute it", but it was leaked to Schmidt and ICG who tried to release it publicly. A Los Angeles judge issued an injunction barring the sale, distribution, or display of the tape.

Narain claimed that she did not give the tape to anyone and was not sure if or how copies were taken from her. She originally said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that it remained private, but Farrell said that Narain, along with Schmidt, was trying to release it in order to damage his acting career and "make money out of it", which Narain denies.

In January 2006, the tape surfaced on a website named dirtycolin.com. The site was shut down on the same day because the server overloaded, but re-opened a week later. The tape was then pirated through file sharing systems. Both Farrell's and Narain's lawyers denounced the site, which was shut down again a few days later for unknown reasons. Farrell's legal team said it would take legal action against sites that hosted the tape. A trial date for the Narain lawsuit was set for 17 July 2006, but the judge allowed Farrell and Nicole to mediate until 20 April. On 16 April, the two reached a settlement with confidential terms. However, Farrell's lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date set for 21 July 2006.

Dessarae Bradford's accusations

Farrell has been sued twice for alleged harassment and sending foul messages to telephone sex worker Dessarae Bradford. The lawsuits were later dismissed due to a lack of evidence provided by Bradford. Bradford, who has announced that she is "waging war on Colin Farrell", has recorded a song entitled "Colin Farrell is My Bitch" and has self-published a book called ''Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy''.

Bradford took a lie detector test on an i TV program in an attempt to support her claims and stories. She failed the test.

On 20 July 2006, as Farrell was being interviewed by Jay Leno on the set of ''The Tonight Show'', Bradford evaded security, walked on stage as cameras were rolling, confronted Farrell, and threw her book on Leno's desk. In front of a silent, stunned audience, Farrell escorted her off the stage himself, told the camera crew to stop filming, and handed her over to security. As Bradford was led out of the studio, she shouted "I'll see you in court." Farrell's response was, "Darling, you're insane!" Outside the studio, NBC security handed her to Burbank police, who eventually released her. After Farrell apologised to the audience, describing Bradford as "my first stalker", the show then continued filming and the incident was edited out of the broadcast aired that night. The following day, Farrell obtained a restraining order against Bradford.

Celebrity status

Farrell was named one of ''People'' magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2003. He was also voted sixth in the World's "Sexiest Man" contest by ''Company'' magazine that same year.

In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities including Bruce Willis, Muhammad Ali, Eva Mendes, Vanessa L. Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger to become an official games spokesman for the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China.

Filmography

''Falling for a Dancer'' ''Family Guy''

colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;"	Film
		! Film	! Role	! Notes
1996	''The Disappearance of Finbar''	Extra	Uncredited
1997	''Drinking Crude''	Click
1999	''The War Zone''	Nick	credited as Colin J. Farrell
	''Ordinary Decent Criminal''	Alec
''Tigerland''	Pvt. Roland Bozz
2001	''American Outlaws''
	''Hart's War''	Lt. Thomas W. Hart
	Danny Witwer
	Stu Shepard	Theatrical release was delayed due to the Beltway sniper attacks in October 2002.
	''The Recruit''	James Douglas Clayton
	Tattooed Boy	CameoBased on true story of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin
	Jim Street	Based on the 1970s television series ''S.W.A.T. (TV series)
	Lehiff	Nominated: [[European Film Awards
		Bobby Morrow (1982)	Based on the novel ''[[A Home at the End of the World'' (1990) by Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
	[[Alexander the Great	Directed by Oliver Stone
2005			Directed by Terrence Malick
		Arturo Bandini	Based on the novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) by John Fante.
	Det. James "Sonny" Crockett
2007	''Cassandra's Dream''	Terry	Directed by Woody Allen.
	''In Bruges''	Ray	Debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008.Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated: British Independent Film Award for Best ActorNominated: Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor
	Narrator (Himself)	Documentary
	Jimmy Egan
		Syracuse
	Mark Walsh	(Released on DVD in Europe under the title ''Shell Shock''.) Based on the novel ''Triage (novel)
''[[Crazy Heart''	Tommy Sweet
''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus''	Tony (3rd Transformation)	Cast alongside Johnny Depp and Jude Law after the death of Heath Ledger to play different portrayals of Tony, Ledger's character.
	''The Way Back''	Valka	Directed by Peter Weir
''London Boulevard''	Mitchell	An ex-con from East London (Colin Farrell) is employed as a handyman for a reclusive actress Keira Knightley in a crime drama from William Monahan.
	''Horrible Bosses''	Bobby Pellitt
	Jerry Dandridge
		Doug Quaid / Hauser	Filming
colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;">Television
		! Title	! Role	! Notes
1998–1999	''Ballykissangel''	Danny Byrne
	1998	|	Daniel McCarthey	Adaptation of the Deirdre Purcell novel
rowspan="2">2005
''Saturday Night Live''	Himself
2005, 2007	|	Himself	Season 4, episode 8: Interviewed by Stewie during a cutaway gag.Season 6, episode 3: Murdered by Stewie during a cutaway gag.

Awards

Year	Award	Result	Category	Film
2000	Boston Society of Film Critics Awards		Best Actor	''Tigerland''
2002	Shanghai International Film Festival		Best Actor	''Hart's War''
	Irish Film and Television Awards		Best Actor in a Film (Public vote)	-
London Critics Circle Film Awards		British Newcomer of the Year	''Tigerland''
Teen Choice Awards		Choice Movie Villain	''Daredevil''
2004	MTV Movie Awards, Mexico		Best Actor in a Movie	''S.W.A.T.''
2009	Golden Globe Award			''In Bruges''
2010	Irish Film and Television Awards		Best Actor in a Film	''Ondine''

References

External links

Colin Farrell – biography, filmography

Category:Irish expatriates in the United States Category:Irish film actors Category:Irish television actors Category:People from County Dublin Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics

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