Camila Alves
Born	(1982-01-28) 28 January 1982 (age 30) Itambacuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Occupation	Model
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Dress size	6 / 8
Shoe size	8,5 US,39 EU,37 BR
Website
http://camila.mymuxo.com/

Camila Alves (born January 28, 1982)^[1] is a Brazilian model and television performer.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

She was born in Itambacuri Minas Gerais, Brazil and spent her childhood between the beaches of Bahia and the farmlands of Minas Gerais.^[1] She was raised by her mother, an artist and designer, and her father, a farmer.

Alves arrived in Los Angeles, California at the age of fifteen to visit her aunt, and never left. After working for four years as a house-cleaner and waitress, she successfully learned English and decided to make the United States her home.^[2]

Career[link]

At age 19, Alves moved to New York to pursue a career as a fashion model.^[3]

Alves and her mother design and create the Muxo line of handbags^[4] after experimenting for three years with styles and designs.^[5]

In 2010, Alves hosted the Bravo network's third season of its reality television show Shear Genius.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey, 2010

Alves lives in Austin, Texas with her partner, actor Matthew McConaughey, and their two children, son Levi Alves McConaughey (born 7 July 2008),^[7] and daughter Vida Alves McConaughey (born 3 January 2010).^[8] Alves and McConaughey are committed to McConaughey’s charity, the j.k. livin foundation, which is, "...dedicated to helping teenage kids lead active lives and make healthy choices to become great men and women." On Christmas Day 2011, Alves and McConaughey became engaged to be married.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Camila Alves

• Alves' Biography at My Muxo Handcrafted Leather Handbags
• j.k. livin foundation

Jô Soares
Jô Soares in 2006
Birth name	José Eugênio Soares
Born	(1938-01-16) January 16, 1938 (age 74) Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Medium	Talk show host, stand-up, television, author, actor, musician, comedian
Nationality	Brazilian
Years active	Since 1954
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, deadpan
Subject(s)	Self-deprecation, everyday life
Spouse	Teresa Austregésilo (1959–1979), Sílvia Bandeira (1980-1983), Flávia Junqueira (1987-1998)
Notable works and roles	Host of Programa do Jô (2000-Present), Jô Soares Onze e Meia (1988-1999), Viva o Gordo (1981-1987), Satiricom (1972-1975), Faça Humor, Não Faça Guerra (1970-1972)
Website	[1]

José Eugênio Soares, best known as Jô Soares (born January 16, 1938 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian comedian, talk show host, author, theatrical producer, director, actor, painter and musician. Soares was born in Rio de Janeiro. After being educated in Switzerland and the United States, Soares returned to Rio and worked at TV Rio in 1958, writing and performing in comedy shows for the station. He acted as an American in Carlos Manga's O homem do Sputnik. In 1970, Soares started working at Rede Globo.

In 1988, Soares moved to SBT, where he hosted a talk-show, Jô Soares Onze e Meia ("Jô Soares Eleven Thirty"), until 1999. In 2000, Soares took his show's format (very similar to David Letterman's) back to Rede Globo, where it was then called Programa do Jô, and presents the program until the present day.

He is known for his knowledge of culture and literature, and for speaking English, Spanish, Italian and French besides his native Portuguese.

His first novel O Xangô de Baker Street was written in 1995 and has already been published in several other countries; it was made into a film in 2000. He has put out various jazz CDs. He has also produced many plays including a recent version of Richard III.

Jô was married three times and has a son called Rafael, who has autism.

Books[link]

• O Xangô de Baker Street (A Samba for Sherlock) (1995)
• O Homem Que Matou Getúlio Vargas (Twelve Fingers) (1998)
• Assassinatos na Academia Brasileira de Letras (2005)
• As Esganadas (2011)

External links[link]

• Jô Soares at IMDB

Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray in 2007
Born	Rachael Domenica Ray (1968-08-25) August 25, 1968 (age 43) Glens Falls, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Television personality, businesswoman, author, celebrity chef[1]
Years active	2001–present
Spouse	John Cusimano (2005–present)
Website
"rachelray.com". http://www.rachaelray.com.

Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. Ray wrote cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2006. Ray's television shows have won two Daytime Emmy Awards.

Personal life[link]

Ray was born in Glens Falls, New York.^[2][3] Her parents are Elsa Scuderi, an Italian (Sicilian) American, and James Ray, who is of French, Scottish and Welsh descent.^[4] She moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts where her family owned four restaurants. When Ray was 8, her family moved to Lake George, New York. Her mother managed restaurants in upstate New York.^[2]

In 1995 Ray moved to New York City.^[5] One of her first jobs there was at the candy counter at Macy's, where she eventually managed the fresh foods department. She later helped open a New York City market. Moving back to upstate New York, Ray managed Mister Brown's Pub at The Sagamore, a hotel on Lake George. From there, she became a buyer at Cowan & Lobel, a gourmet market in Albany. Ray credits the concept of 30 Minute Meals to her experience working at the store, where she met people who were reluctant to cook. She taught a course in which she showed how to make meals in less than thirty minutes. With the success of her "30 Minute Meals" classes, WRGB (the local CBS TV affiliate) asked her to appear in a weekly segment on their newscasts. This, along with a public radio appearance and the publication of her first book, led to a Today show spot and her first Food Network contract in 2001.

On September 24, 2005, in Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy, Ray married John Cusimano, an American lawyer and lead singer of the rock band "The Cringe." She owns homes in Lake Luzerne, New York, and Manhattan's Greenwich Village.^[6][7]

Career[link]

Cooking[link]

Ray teaches simple recipes that she says can be completed in 30 minutes or less, although critics claim that her concept does not include preparation.^[8]

Ray says that her Sicilian maternal grandfather, Emmanuel Scuderi, and her Cajun ancestry serve as a strong influence on her cooking. She uses ingredients such as fresh herbs, garlic and chicken stock to boost flavors. She believes that measuring "takes away from the creative, hands-on process of cooking" and instead favors approximations such as "half a palmful". To critics of her shortcut techniques, Ray responds, "I have no formal anything. I'm completely unqualified for any job I've ever had."^[5] She acknowledges that she cannot bake because it requires measured ingredients, that she cannot make coffee, and that she burns bread under the broiler.

On her television programs, she has used catchphrases such as "E-V-O-O" (extra-virgin olive oil), "yum-o," "G.B." (garbage bowl), "Oh my gravy!", "entréetizer" (entrée-sized appetizer), "stoup" (cross between a soup and stew),^[9] and "choup" (thicker than a soup but thinner than a chowder).^[10] In 2007, The Oxford American College Dictionary announced the addition of the term EVOO, short for extra-virgin olive oil, which Ray had helped to popularize, and credited her with coining the phrase.^[11][12]

The set of 30 Minute Meals uses a yellow Model 61C Chambers stove from the 1950s, notable for its top-opening broiler, super-insulated oven, and unique Thermowell.

On November 12, 2006, Ray and Mario Batali defeated the team of Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis on an episode of Iron Chef America during which cranberries were the secret ingredient. On March 18, 2007, Food Network debuted a Rachael Ray episode of its special Chefography series, on which she stated that "the worst day of [her] life" was Iron Chef America, admitting to being anxious about it for weeks before. She also told commentator Alton Brown that she was "a cook, not a chef."

Television[link]

In 2005, Ray signed a deal with Oprah Winfrey and King World Productions to host a syndicated daytime TV talk show.^[13] The show, Rachael Ray, premiered on September 18, 2006. Recurrent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show were used to fuel the launch, much as Dr. Phil's show was spun off based on his own frequent visits to Oprah.^[14] The show tapes in New York City. In coordination with the syndication announcement, Ray said, "People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share."

Ray has appeared on The View, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, Nightline, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Larry King Live, Cake Boss, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and The Dr. Oz Show.

For Sesame Street’s 38th season, Ray appeared in an episode to present "pumpernickel" as the word of the day.

On January 12, 2008, Ray's television series Rachael's Vacation premiered on the Food Network.^[15] The show is a five-part food travelogue shot in various European countries.^[16]

In 2008, Ray became a television executive producer^[17] of a short-ran Latin cooking show on the Food Network called Viva Daisy!, starring Daisy Martínez.

In August 2009, Ray appeared as herself on Million Dollar Password for charity for Yum-O! and her own charity for animal rescue with Regis Philbin.

Ray also appeared on the hidden-camera show I Get That a Lot, pretending to be an employee at a dry cleaners.

In September 2010, a new show, her first new cooking show in eight years, Rachael Ray's Week In a Day began airing on the Cooking Channel.

In January 2012, Rachael will be one of the two team captains (along with Guy Fieri) in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.^[18]

Magazines[link]

In 2003, she posed for the men's magazine FHM. A writer for The New York Times wrote, "The shots feature Ray in short-shorts with an exposed midriff, licking chocolate off a big wooden spoon, eating a strawberry and sitting in a sink, laughing as suds cascade down her thighs."^[5] In a March 2009 interview with Nightline co-anchor Cynthia McFadden, Ray defended her decision to pose in the magazine.^[19]

The Reader's Digest Association launched Ray's eponymous magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray on October 25, 2005. The magazine featured seven issues in 2006, and increased to ten issues in 2007.

On October 12, 2011, it was announced that Meredith Corporation had reached an agreement to acquire Every Day with Rachael Ray. ^[20]

Product endorsements[link]

In November 2006, Ray became a spokeswoman for Nabisco crackers. She appears in commercials and on boxes for the many Nabisco products. Many boxes with Ray's picture have her recipes.

In February 2007, WestPoint Home launched sheets, blankets, and coverlets designed by Ray.^[21] Within six months, WestPoint expanded Ray's bed and bath line to include the "Moppine", a two-in-one dish towel/oven mitt, as Ray is often seen with a kitchen towel over her shoulder that doubles for her as an ersatz mitt.^[22]

In March 2007, the Dunkin' Donuts company announced Ray as its celebrity endorser, mainly of its coffee, since she had denied being able to make coffee herself.^[23] As part of a promotional campaign, Ray describes the company's coffee as "fantabulous."^[24] Celebrity chef and Travel Channel personality Anthony Bourdain, however, disparagingly referred to Ray's affiliation with Dunkin' Donuts as "evil," and went on to compare it to "endorsing crack for kids."^[25]

In May 2007, Ray's recipes were made available on AT&T cellular phones via the "Rachael Ray Recipes on the Run" feature.^[26]

In July 2008, Rachael Ray Nutrish pet food was introduced. The dog foods are created from recipes that Ray developed for her pit bull, Isaboo. All proceeds from the sale of these products go to Rachael's Rescue, a charity founded by Ray to help at-risk animals.^[27]

Awards and recognition[link]

Rachael Ray attending a high school social event in Enterprise, Alabama in 2007

• 2004: ranked #92 on "FHM-U.S.'s 100 Sexiest Women 2004"
• 2006: ranked #71 on "FHM-U.S.'s 100 Sexiest Women 2006"
• 2006: 30 Minute Meals received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show. Ray was also nominated for Outstanding Service Show Host
• 2006: named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. She was nominated by fellow Food Network star Mario Batali^[28]
• 2006: according to Forbes magazine, Ray earned about $6 million June 2005–June 2006^[29] from her books and television shows (excluding her new series, Rachael Ray)
• February 21, 2007, Ray announced on her show that a wax creation was made of her and that this wax figure will be on display at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York City
• 2007: nominated for Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Talk Show Host
• April 2007, Ray launched a charity, "The Yum-O! Organization", with help from Bill Clinton, to help children eat healthier^[30]
• June 2008, The Rachael Ray Show received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment^[31]
• June 2008, according to Forbes magazine, Ray earned about $18 million June 2007-June 2008^[32]
• June 2009, according to Forbes magazine, Ray earned about $15 million in the year ending June 2009, as well as naming her as the 79th most powerful celebrity in the world^[33]
• August 2009, The Rachael Ray Show received a second Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment^[34]
• January 2011, Ray won a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Chef, over fellow nominees Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, and Paula Deen

Charity work[link]

In 2006, Rachael Ray launched a nonprofit organization called Yum-O! The mission of Yum-O! is to “empower kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. This is achieved by teaching families to cook, feeding hungry kids, and funding cooking education”.^[35]

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachael Ray

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rachael Ray

• Official website
• Rachael Ray at the Internet Movie Database

Jason Wu
Wu at opening night of the 2009 Metropolitan Opera
Born	(1982-09-27) September 27, 1982 (age 29) Taipei, Taiwan
Education	Parsons The New School for Design
Occupation	Fashion designer and fashion blogger

Jason Wu (Chinese: 吳季剛; pinyin: Wú Jìgāngg; Wade–Giles: Wú Chì-Kāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Gô͘ Kùi-Kong; born September 27, 1982) is a Manhattan-based Taiwanese Canadian fashion designer.

Biography[link]

Born in Taiwan, Wu moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at age nine and attended Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts and Loomis Chaffee, in Windsor, Connecticut.^[1][2] He learned how to sew by designing and sewing for dolls, and went on to study sculpture in Tokyo. Wu continued this career path at sixteen by learning to create freelance doll clothing designs for toy company Integrity Toys under the lines "Jason Wu dolls" and later "Fashion Royalty".^[1] The following year, he was named creative director of Integrity Toys.^[3] He decided to become a fashion designer while spending his senior year of high school in Rennes^[4] before graduating from The Loomis Chaffee School in 2001, and studied at the Parsons The New School for Design at The New School. He later interned with Narciso Rodriguez.

Fashion[link]

Wu launched his ready-to-wear line of clothes with earnings from his years of doll designs.^[1] His first full collection debuted in 2006 and won the Fashion Group International's Rising Star award in 2008.^[5] Jason Wu's dresses were photographed underwater by Howard Schatz for Delta Faucet Company's Brizo branded faucet campaign in 2006.^[6] In 2008 he was nominated for the Vogue Fashion Fund award.^[1] Bruce Weber shot the designer for W magazine's "Summer Camp" portfolio last July.^[3]

Wu's early clients included Ivana Trump, January Jones, and Amber Valletta.^[7] He also worked extensively with drag queen RuPaul, ultimately designing six RuPaul dolls.^[8]

Wu collaborated with CND (Creative Nail Design) for his Spring 2011 collection to create a set of four nail polish colours set to hit stores in May 2011. ^[9]

Wu will debut a women's clothing and accessories collection through Target starting February 5, 2012. Wu's collection will be launched into stores and online for a limited time, from February 5 through March 6, 2012. It will feature his signature styles for women and a selection of accessories such as scarves and handbags. Prices range from $19.99 to $59.99 while accessories will most likely be $19.99 to $49.99.^[10]

Michelle Obama[link]

Michelle Obama is a noted Jason Wu customer.^[11]

She was introduced to Wu by André Leon Talley, Vogue Magazine's editor-at-large, who had been advising the current First Family on their appearance. She bought four dresses from Wu early in the year, wearing one of them for a segment on Barbara Walters Special shortly before the November 2008 election, prompting many in the media to consider her his "career-launcher".^[12] She wore another, a custom-designed one-shoulder, floor-length white chiffon gown, at the inaugural balls on the night of President Barack Obama's inauguration.^[13]

Appearing on the cover of Vogue, Obama once again wore a Wu design, a magenta silk dress.^[14] Upon her arrival in London during the First Lady and President Barack Obama's first official European trip, Obama wore a chartreuse silk sheath dress designed by Wu; the next day she wore a Wu coat during her visit with the Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.^[15] On April 2, Obama paired a "traditional looking" teal Wu dress with a blue-patterned cardigan designed by Junya Watanabe on her visit to the Royal Opera House.^[16]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jason Wu autumn/winter 2011-12 collection
• Official Website
• integritytoys.com - official website for Jason Wu dolls

Matthew McConaughey
McConaughey at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011
Born	Matthew David McConaughey (1969-11-04) November 4, 1969 (age 42) Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1991–present
Partner	Camila Alves (2007–present; 2 children)

Matthew David McConaughey ( /məˈkɒnəheɪ/;^[1] born November 4, 1969) is an American actor.

After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused (1993). He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall. McConaughey is best known more recently for his performances as a leading man in the romantic comedies The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Fool's Gold.

Early life[link]

McConaughey, the youngest of three boys, was born in Uvalde, Texas. His mother, Mary Kathleen "Kay" (née McCabe), was a kindergarten teacher, and his father, James Donald McConaughey, was a gas-station owner who ran an oil pipe supply business and once played football for the Green Bay Packers.^[2][3][4] McConaughey has Irish ancestry^[5] and had a Methodist upbringing.^[6][7][8] McConaughey's mother and late father had a very stormy relationship, so much so that they divorced and re-married each other several times.^[9]

McConaughey moved to Longview, Texas — located east of Dallas, where he attended Longview High School. While in high school, he was voted most handsome in the Longview Lobo Yearbook. He lived for a year in Warnervale, New South Wales, Australia, as a Rotary exchange student in 1988.^[10] McConaughey attended the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, where he joined Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity and lived at The Castilian residence hall.^[11] He began in fall of 1989 and graduated in the spring of 1993 with a B.S. degree in Radio-Television-Film.^[12]

Career[link]

McConaughey began his acting career in 1991, appearing in television commercials, before being cast in Richard Linklater's film Dazed and Confused, which became a critical success, garnering largely positive reviews.^[13] After appearing in some smaller roles in Angels in the Outfield, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Boys on the Side, the television series Unsolved Mysteries, and as the male lead in the Trisha Yearwood music video for the song Walkaway Joe, McConaughey's big break came as the lawyer "Jake Brigance" in the 1996 film A Time to Kill, based on the John Grisham novel of the same name.^{[citation needed]}

McConaughey was cast in leading roles in many more movies: Contact, Amistad, The Newton Boys, EDtv, and U-571. By the early 2000s, he was frequently cast in romantic comedies, including The Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, both of which were successful at the box office. During this period, he appeared as a firefighter in the low-budget film Tiptoes, opposite Rene Russo, in Two For The Money as a protege to Al Pacino's gambling mogul, and in Frailty, cast against type as a serial killer, opposite Bill Paxton. On September 10, 2000, he appears as himself on the show Sex and the City on HBO, talking with Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) about optioning her columns to make a movie.^[14]

McConaughey starred in the feature film Sahara, along with Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz. Prior to the release of the movie, he promoted it by repeating some trips he took in the late 1990s, including sailing down the Amazon River and trekking to Mali.^{[citation needed]} That same year, McConaughey was named People magazine's “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2005.^[15]

In 2006, he co-starred with Sarah Jessica Parker in the romantic comedy Failure to Launch, which was reasonably successful at the box office. McConaughey also provided voice work for an ad campaign of the Peace Corps in late 2006. Matthew's production company, j.k. livin, is currently in development on projects with Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. McConaughey starred in the football drama We Are Marshall. He also appeared in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, replacing Owen Wilson after Wilson's suicide attempt.^[16]

On January 21, 2008, McConaughey became the new spokesman for the national radio campaign, "Beef: It's What's For Dinner", replacing actor Sam Elliot.^[17][18]