Freida Pinto

Quotes

I'd have to say Jack Nicholson. He's the one person I've been dying to meet, I just haven't seen him anywhere.
- Freida Pinto

Why Is She Famous?

As print campaigns, she acts for De Beers , Hutch , Airtel , Uni Star Mobile , Renaissance , Azeem Khan , E Bay , Khadim Jewellers , Mother Dairy Ice Cream , Antara Spa , Parachute Jasmine Hair Oil (West Bengal only-2005) , International Print Shoot for Shakab Ltd. , Karishma , Baggit , Visa Card , Femina Girl , Beautiful People , Femina , Verve , Indiawali Brides , New Woman , Gurlz , FNL , BE, Westside. Start from 2005– present, she is working as an Artist/Model with ELITE MODEL MANAGEMENT INDIA and was seen as Magazine Cover of "Femina & Femina Girl, FNL"

Freida Pinto was born in Mumbai, India, on October 18, 1984. Her father is a banker, while her mother is the principal of a High School. Her sister, Sharon, is a producer at the Indian news channel, NDTV. Freida earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, and got recruited by the Elite model agency in India at age 20. She has then done campaigns for such companies as Chanel, Visa and eBay. In 2006-2007, she anchored the TV travel show Full Circle, and visited several Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Fiji, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Freida always knew she wanted to be an actress, professional or not. Though with the high standards of India’s response to Hollywood - Bollywood - it’s very difficult to get ahead. As Freida put it: “You have to be a child of an actor or actress, or have a godfather.”

Her one in a life time-chance came with Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which was to be filmed in the city of Mumbai, India. When Boyle saw Freida’s tape he immediately asked for her to come to the audition. But since she had no acting experience, they put her through an entire process of auditioning for six months. “The first time I read with the casting director and the second time on it was with Danny Boyle. I would go in probably once a month, sometimes twice a month and every time I’d go in for an audition Danny would say ‘Fantastic. I’ll see you again’. So every time he said that I’d say, ‘Okay, maybe in three days’. 30 days! He’d just keep me waiting for 30 days. I think every time I went in was fun. I’m not complaining because I think it was literally like going to an acting school and I think it was necessary because since I had absolutely no acting experience besides the amateur theatre that I’d done.”

Boyle followed his gut feeling and Freida was cast as Latika, the long-lost love interest of the movie’s main character, Jamal (played by the talented Dev Patel).“I put 23 years of research into this film, not knowing I was going to play this part”, Freida said. When Slumdog Millionaire premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, the movie and its stars received rave reviews. Viewers have described the movie with words as “a masterpiece” and “one in a million”. And it truly is.

Already at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, Freida received the “People’s Choice” award, and has since then been honored with a “Breakthrough Performance” award at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards as well as a BAFTA nomination for “Best Supporting Actress”. Slumdog Millionaire itself has been nominated for practically every major award at every ceremony, and won Golden Globes for “Best Motion Picture - Drama”, “Best Director”, “Best Original Screenplay” and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. It’s no wonder why it’s been surrounded by Oscar-buzz ever since the premiere.

“After this success, I still consider myself to be a regular Mumbai girl. I’m just one that has been extremely blessed.” Not knowing what the future holds for her, Freida recently signed with one of the leading talent agencies in the world - CAA. She dreams of one day star be able to work with seasoned actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp. “I think they are simply fantastic and so versatile. I would love to do a dark romantic film with Johnny Depp.” I think it’s safe to say that this rising star isn’t done yet.

Holly Hunter

Quotes

"Acting, for me, is the last vestige of doing something that I would like to feel really na?ve about."
- Holly Hunter

Why Is She Famous?

It's hard not to like a celebrity like Holly Hunter. Her infectious personality and spunky energy shine through in interviews, while her command of her craft permits her to keep those traits -- like all her others -- under control if the part she's portraying demands it.

Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia on March 20th, 1958, the daughter of Charles Edwin Hunter, a part-time sporting goods manufacturer's representative and part-time farmer with 250 acres, and Opal Marguerite Catledge, a homemaker. The youngest of seven children, Holly was encouraged by her parents to pursue her acting talent at an early age, and she landed her first gig as Helen Keller in a fifth-grade play. After a comfortable small-town upbringing, Holly ventured north for some serious acting training. She found it at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University under Jorge Guerra, and then hopped over to New York City to try to live the dream. Serendipity was on her side when the young talent found herself stuck in a stalled elevator with playwright Beth Henley.

The chance meeting led to collaborations between the two women -- first the stage production of The Miss Firecracker Contest, then with Hunter's 1982 Broadway debut, Crimes of the Heart. Following her second collaboration with Dreyfuss in Once Around (1991), Hunter once again garnered a wealth of critical appreciation for her work in three 1993 films, two of which resulted in her being nominated for Academy Awards as both Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress in that same year. Hunter's performance in The Firm won her a nomination for the former and her portrayal of a mute Scottish woman entangled in a treacherous affair with Harvey Keitel in Jane Campion's The Piano won her the latter. Unfortunately, over the next couple of years, Hunter found herself starring in vehicles that ranged from underrated to dreadful, with Home for the Holidays (1995) at one end of the spectrum and the thriller Copycat (also 1995) at the other. Her work in David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) did win her strong notices, but it was swallowed by the controversies surrounding the film, and her appearance as a sardonic angel in A Life Less Ordinary suffered a similar fate. However, the actress rebounded the following year with her portrayal of a recently divorced New Yorker in Richard LaGravenese's Living Out Loud. Starring alongside Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, and Martin Donovan, Hunter won overwhelmingly positive reviews for her performance, convincing critics and audiences alike that she was back in the saddle again. Hunter rounded out the 1990s with a minor role in the indie drama Jesus' Son and as a housekeeper torn between a grieving widower and Kiefer Sutherland's little-seen character-driven drama Woman Wanted (1999).

Hailing in the new millennium with a memorable performance in the Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), the talented actress took top billing in the same year's television production Harlan County War, a powerful account of labor struggles among Kentucky coal-mine workers. Hunter would continue her small screen streak with a role in When Billy Beat Bobby and as narrator of Eco Challenge New Zealand before returning to film work with a minor role in the 2002 drama Moonlight Mile. The following year found Hunter drawing favorable reviews for her role in the otherwisecritically maligned redemption drama Levity.

Zoe Saldana

Quotes

"You need 100% commitment; you have to be willing to wake up every morning knowing you're going to [practice] eight hours straight."
- Zoe Saldana

Why Is She Famous?

Zoe shivered our timbers as the lady swashbuckler in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean, but her onscreen time was all too brief. Fortunately, her gorgeous looks and expert dance moves will be showcased more and more as her fame rises. Wouldn't everyone love to loot her booty? Arrr!

Sharp and flirty, Zoe Yadira Zaldaa Nazario was born June 19, 1978, in New Jersey. She was raised in Queens until the age of 10, when her family moved to the Dominican Republic. The nimble and bouncy Zoe was a natural at dancing, and won a scholarship to the Ritmos Espacio de Danza Academy, where she studied ballet, jazz, and modern and Latin dance. After her sophomore year of high school, Saldana returned to the U.S. to finish her studies.

In New York she joined the educational improv theater group FACES Theater Company, whose skits about drug abuse, domestic violence and sexuality were aimed at teenagers. Her other theater troupe, the New York Youth Theater, put on a hit rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. An agent saw promise in Zoe and signed her on. She premiered to wide audiences in a 1999 episode of Law & Order. It was a massive leap to the big screen after that. Zoe Saldana made her Hollywood debut as Eva Rodriguez, an angry, foul-mouthed ballet student in the dance drama, Center Stage (2000). The following year she had a supporting role in the forgettable teen comedy, Get Over It, starring Kirsten Dunst and Mila Kunis. She tried her luck at the indie circuit, starring alongside rapper Nelly in the hip-hop action drama Snipes (2001), which was featured at the Toronto Film Festival. Having proven herself successful with young audiences, she was cast as Britney's best buddy, Kit, in the pop star's film debut, Crossroads (2002).

Zoe regrets that a hotel scene in which the three girls lift their tops was deleted from the movie. As do we, Zoe, as do we. Returning to independent film, her next project was Drumline (2002), a movie about a marching band. For that movie, she was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, shared with Nick Cannon. Though her next role wasn't her biggest, it was definitely one of the most memorable. She appeared as Anamaria in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; you might remember her as the fierce female pirate who could make Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow bend to her will. After starring in 2003's Temptation, a rock musical version of Faust, Zoe Saldana worked on no less than seven movies. One of these is 2004's The Terminal, Steven Spielberg's story of an Eastern European immigrant (played by Tom Hanks) who is denied entry to the United States.

Zoe stars as a tough INS agent. Zoe also reunites with Orlando Bloom (her Pirates of the Caribbean co-star) in 2004's Haven. She can also be seen in 2004's Constellation, Dirty Deeds and Blood on a Happy Face, as well as 2005's Lucy. Zoe Saldana lives in New York with her mother. If she has a boyfriend, she keeps him very well-hidden. Ranked #42 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

Eva Mendes

Quotes

"The celebrity world can be so ugly. Everyone seems to have slept with everyone else and it's some sort of strange weird cycle. I don't want to get into that."
- Eva Mendes

Why Is She Famous?

We have to bump cigars off the top of our "Favorite Cuban Exports" list now that Miss Mendes has appeared on the scene. With style, grace and best of all, tremendous sex appeal, she has become increasingly prominent in recent blockbusters and her stock is only on the rise. We'd go toe to toe with Castro himself in order to win the hand of this new Hollywood heartbreaker.

The youngest of four children, Eva Mendes was born in Houston, Texas on March 5, 1978. Her parents are both Cuban and contributed to an interesting childhood that saw Eva move to Miami and then Los Angeles, when she was still a young girl. Despite the glitz and glamour of the Californian coast, Mendes (or Mendez, as she is sometimes credited) gravitated toward interior design and marketing, not Hollywood. In fact, Mendes was majoring in marketing at California State Northridge and was comfortable with the direction her life was taking before fame struck. Her first taste of acting came when she appeared in a feature film to earn some money between university semesters, but opportunity struck when an agent noticed a picture of hers at the house of her photographer neighbor. Obviously, she had a certain je ne sais quoi because the agent convinced Mendes to stop studying and pursue acting full time. Soon appearing in an Aerosmith video and making her film debut in Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, Mendes worked her way through the gamut of aspiring actors to appear in such high-profile films as Urban Legends: Final Cut and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Dropping out of school soon after being randomly discovered by an agent, Mendes appeared in a few made-for-television productions and hammed it up with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in A Night at the Roxbury before being cast in a prominent role in Urban Legends: Final Cut. Working against typecasting despite her teen horror resumé, Mendes next took roles in Exit Wounds, Training Day, and All About the Benjamins. Mendes next began work on a children's book titled -Crazy Leggs Beshee in which she wanted to introduce art, history, vocabulary, and values to children in a fun and easily comprehendable medium.

In 2003, Mendes' career took off, with the actress taking on large roles in an ecclectic quartet of high-profile films. In 2 Fast 2 Furious she played a customs agent working with Paul Walker to bring down a Miami drug cartel. Out of Time found her reteaming with Training Day costar Denzel Washington. Flexing her comedic chops, Mendes was the love interest of half a pair of conjoined twins in the Farrelly brothers' Stuck on You. And in Once Upon a Time in Mexico she played another government agent, this time opposite Johnny Depp.

The year 2004 saw no signs of Mendes slowing down, with the Cuban-American beauty starring as the ex-girlfriend of Luke Wilson in The Wendell Baker Story, a film Wilson co-wrote with brother Owen Wilson and co-directed with sibling Andrew Wilson.

Hayden Panettiere

Quotes

"When the camera comes on, I am not Hayden any more, I am Lizzie!"
- Hayden Panettiere

Why Is She Famous?

Hayden Panettiere is mainly known for playing Claire Bennet on Heroes. She's also known for her roles in Remember the Titans, Joe Somebody and Raising Helen. She even acted on TV in shows including Ally McBeal, Malcolm in the Middle and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Hayden Leslie Panettiere (born August 21, 1989) is an American actress, singer, and Grammy Award nominee. She was born in Palisades, New York. daughter of Lesley Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Skip Panettiere, a fire department lieutenant. She has one younger brother, fellow actor Jansen Panettiere. Hayden began appearing in commercials at 11 months old, first appearing in an advertisement for Playskool She later landed a role as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1994- 1997) and later as the child Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light when she was eight years old (1997 - 2001).

In Guiding Light, for Hayden's character Lizzie's battle with leukemia, the show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers. Panettiere currently stars as Claire Bennet in the NBC series Heroes as a high school cheerleader with regenerative healing powers. Due to her role on Heroes, she has become a regular on the science fiction convention circuit, having been invited to attend many popular conventions around the world in 2007, including New York Comic-Con and Fan Expo Canada. In regards to the roles she has played, Panettiere admits that options are sometimes limited because "people look at as either the 'popular cheerleader' type or just 'the blonde.'"

She will later appear in the drama film Fireflies in the Garden as a younger version of Emily Watson's character Jane Lawrence. Coincidentally, George Newbern, who voiced Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II (alongside Panettiere) and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, will also appear in the film. In June 2007, she signed with the William Morris Agency to represent her in her endeavors. She was previously represented by United Talent Agency. Panettiere was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for A Bug's Life Read-Along . She is currently working on her debut album, which was originally planned for release on May 8, 2007.

The album, however, has been pushed back several times. It was first pushed back until August, then to December. Entertainment Weekly later confirmed that the album would now be released in 2008. Hayden is featured on the Soundtrack to Bring It On: All Or Nothing alongside with her co-star Solange Knowles. It is still unknown if a video for Your New Girlfriend will be filmed or that it has already been released. Neutrogena made her the cover girl for their new worldwide ad campaign; following in the footsteps of actresses Josie Bissett, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mandy Moore, Kristin Kreuk, Mischa Barton, Gabrielle Union and Jennifer Freeman.

Camilla Belle

Quotes

"You don't have to work hard to bring emotions. It all just comes naturally, you're there living it."
- Camilla Belle

Why Is She Famous?

Camilla Belle is familiar to film audiences as a prehistoric babe in 10,000 BC. You also know her as the brave babysitter fighting a psychotic intruder in When a Stranger Calls.

From a prolific childhood acting career in family entertainment and made-for-TV movies, Camilla Belle went on to become a star with edge-of-your-seat teen date offerings “When a Stranger Calls” (2006), and “The Quiet” (2005). But Belle simultaneously cultivated art house street cred with a mature performance opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” (2005), even as she rocketed into “It” girl status playing a cave woman in “10,000 B.C.” (2008) and a psychic government operative in the sci-fi thriller “Push” (2009). A radiant but natural beauty who avoided the trappings of young Hollywood, Belle entered her twenties with a string of dramatic, multi-dimensional leading characters – including the Virgin Mary – that suggested the actress had a long and promising career beyond multiplex entertainment.

Born Camilla Belle Routh in Los Angeles on Oct. 2, 1986, Belle was named after actress Renata Sorrah's character, Camila, on the Brazilian soap opera "Cavalo de Aço" (1973). Belle headed immediately for the spotlight herself, landing her first modeling gig for a national print ad at the age of nine months. The ambitious youngster segued smoothly into acting, appearing in minor roles in television movies such as "Trouble Shooters: Trapped Beneath the Earth" (NBC, 1993), “Empty Cradle” (ABC, 1993) and “Deconstructing Sarah” (USA Network, 1994). After a supporting role in the direct-to-video family feature “Annie: A Royal Adventure” (ABC, 1995), Belle hit the big screen playing a fellow orphanage-dweller of the beloved literary character “A Little Princess” (1995) in Alfonso Cuaron’s 1995 remake of the 1939 film classic starring Shirley Temple. The young actress found steady work with roles in “Poison Ivy 2” (1996) and the Jimmy Smits’ vehicle “Marshal Law” (Showtime, 1996), returning to theaters in her first major studio film, Steven Spielberg’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997). In the Nicole Kidman/Sandra Bullock chick-flick “Practical Magic” (1998), Belle had a plum role as the young version of Bullock’s character.

Meanwhile, Belle attended the elite, all-girls Marlborough school, taking time off to play Steven Seagal’s daughter in the HBO thriller “The Patriot” (1998). In her downtime, Belle studied classical piano and became actively involved in charities, including becoming an international spokesperson for “Kids With a Cause,” a program created to provide help for children suffering from poverty, hunger, neglect and abuse. She was in her late teens when she landed her next major film outing, starring in the critically acclaimed indie, “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” (2005), as the commune-dwelling daughter of a single father (Daniel Day-Lewis) whose nontraditional family lifestyle leads to complicated relationships. The same year, Belle portrayed another non-conformist teen in the dark ensemble comedy “The Chumscrubber” and took first billing in the campy horror thriller “The Quiet,” where she played a traumatized teen taken in by relatives who shakes up her adopted household.

In 2006, the actress finally got a profile boost when she was cast in the remake of the 1979 slasher classic “When a Stranger Calls (2006), in which she gave an appropriately sympathetic portrayal of a young babysitter being harassed on the phone by an unknown killer who is closer proximity-wise than she knows. The film opened at No. 1 at the box office. The 20-year-old acting veteran went on to star as a kidnapped cave girl opposite Steven Strait in Warner Bros. “10,000 B.C.” (2008), a critically lambasted but money-making prehistoric epic directed by Roland Emmerich and starring many a computer animated dinosaur. “Push” (2009), a sci-fi thriller about a group of paranormally gifted subjects trying to overthrow the government agency that controls them, was similarly dismissed by critics but also failed to bring in big box office. That year, the low-key, spotlight-shunning actress uncharacteristically wound up in the gossip blogs when she was spotted at a number of events with teen heartthrob Joe Jonas, after having appeared in a music video of Jonas’ pop band, The Jonas Brothers.

Amid rumors about relationships with Jonas and “Twilight” (2009) heartthrob Robert Pattinson, Belle began to break away from broad genre pics with a starring role in Bruce Willis’ directorial debut “Three Stories About Joan” (2009), a romantic drama co-starring Owen Wilson and Kieran Culkin. In 2010, Belle was a surprising casting choice to play the title character in “Mary, Mother of Christ” (2010), a historic chronicle of the life of Mary co-starring heavy-hitting thespian Peter O’Toole and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Amy Adams

Quotes

"I have worked with some of the meanest people in the world. You can't do anything to intimidate me."
- Amy Adams

Why Is She Famous?

Amy Adams always manages to light up the screen with her bubbly presence, cute looks and terrific sense of humor.

Amy Lou Adams was born on August 20, 1975, on the U.S. military base in Vincenza, Italy, where her father was stationed with the U.S. Army, and raised in Castle Rock, Colorado. She worked at the local Hooters Restaurant part-time while attending high school, all the while dreaming of a career in show business. Following graduation, she trained for a career as a dancer, and eventually found work in a prominent Denver dinner theater. In 1996, Adams relocated to Minnesota after a producer hired her to replace one of the girls at his dinner theater in Chanhassen, outside of Minneapolis. There, she honed her singing, dancing and acting skills, appearing in a number of productions, including Brigadoon and Good News. While the Midwest location may not have been as ideal as New York or L.A., she landed a lucky break when she was cast in the 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, co-starring Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards, which happened to be set in Minnesota. Adams' positive experience in making Drop Dead Gorgeous helped her change her mind about doing dinner theater, and at the urging of her co-star Kirstie Alley, she moved out to Los Angeles. Within a few weeks of her arrival, she landed a leading role on the FOX TV series Manchester Prep, based on the movie Cruel Intentions. The show never aired due to its risqu? sexual content; instead, it was released in 2000 as Cruel Intentions 2, a direct-to-video feature film. Despite this minor setback, Adams continued to find steady acting gigs. In 2000, she appeared in episodes of such TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Providence, Charmed, and That '70s Show, as well as in independent films like The Chromium Hook and Psycho Beach Party. In 2001, she guest starred in an episode of Smallville, and appeared in an episode of The West Wing the following year. Adams padded her movie role resume in 2002 with appearances in Serving Sara, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Matthew Perry, and Pumpkin with Christina Ricci. That same year, she had a small but memorable part as Leonardo DiCaprio's fianc?e in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. Her sole screen appearance in 2003 was in the drama The Slaughter Rule with Ryan Gosling. Adams reemerged in 2004, co-starring with Fred Savage in the comedy The Last Run. She lent her voice to a couple of episodes of the animated series King of the Hill, and co-starred with Rob Lowe on Dr. Vegas, a CBS series that failed to find an audience and was quickly canceled. 2005 became the breakthrough year for Adams. She played Debra Messing's half-sister in the romantic comedy The Wedding Date, and landed the recurring role of Katy on the popular TV sitcom The Office. However, the highlight of her year was her poignant and very funny portrayal of Ashley in Junebug -- a pregnant Southern belle, who despite not being the central character in the film, emerged as the most memorable. After wowing audiences at Sundance, her performance went on to win acclaim from several critics' associations. Adams was cast alongside Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen (otherwise known as Ali G) in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and in the musical Moonlight Serenade (2006). Adams next appeared in the major production Charlie Wilson's War (2007), and in the independent film Sunshine Cleaning (2008) which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Her recent role in Doubt (2008/I) secured her with her second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.