The biography of Dinara Safina

Dinara SAFINA Bio:

Residence:Monte Carlo, Monaco

Date of Birth: April 27, 1986

Birthplace: Moscow Russia

Height: 6' 1" (1.85 m)

Weight :154.5 lbs (70kg)

Plays: Right Handed (two handed backhand)

Status: Pro (2000)Coached by Zeljko Krajan; fitness trainer is Dejan Vojnovic.

Father, Michail, is director of a tennis club in Moscow; mother, Raouza Islanova, is a tennis coach and used to coach Dinara; brother, Marat, competes on men's tour and held No.1 ranking.
Most memorable week in tennis was winning her first Tour singles title at Sopot in 2002.
Enjoys Russian, Italian and Japanese cuisine. 
Hobbies include going to the cinema, listening to music and reading.
Became No.1 in the world for the first time on April 20, 2009, making her and Marat the first brother-sister combo to achieve the No.1 ranking.
Won Sony Ericsson WTA Tour 2008 Most Improved Player Award.
Won 2008 Olympus US Open Series.
Junior highlights include singles runner-up at 2001 Wimbledon (lost to Widjaja).

GRAHAM HAS THE MAGIC TOUCH - LITERALLY

Actress HEATHER GRAHAM has swapped her Boogie Nights for the Boogeyman after becoming a low-key white witch.

The star admits to dabbling with witchcraft, and she's so taken by magic potions and spells she had penned a spooky script about her interests. 
She says, "I have this group of friends and we get together and we call ourselves The Goddesses and we wish for things and then a lot of amazing things have happened to all of us. It's five girls and one guy... He's a witch. 
"We burn things... We did this thing where we were honouring the elements of earth, wind, air and fire... You do spells. 
"We did this thing where we were calling on the wind and the air and this whole storm started on my roof... It was amazing... It's empowering. 
"One of my friends, she didn't have a lot of money and she was like, 'I want a better apartment,' and we were doing these spells for her and then her dad just bought her an apartment." 
And Graham feels U.S. President Barack Obama owes her and her friends a huge debt of gratitude for helping him win last year's (08) election. 
She adds, "My friends really wanted Obama to be elected so we all did a spell... and then he got elected... It worked out good." 
And Graham even credits her witchy ways for landing her a good man. 
She explains, "I wanted, like, a serious boyfriend and I requested all these things, like, 'I want him to cook, I want him to turn me onto great music... and then I got that." 
And she admits her new man, filmmaker Yaniv Raz, is totally "into" her magical powers: "We'll do, like, good sex spells."

Nicole Kidman Biography

Hollywood Actress Nicole Kidman Biography

Once relegated to decorative parts for years and long acknowledged as the wife of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman spent the latter half of the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium earning much-deserved critical respect. Standing a willowy 5'11" and sporting one of Hollywood's most distinctive heads of frizzy red hair, the Australian actress first entered the American mindset with her role opposite Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), but it wasn't until she starred as a homicidal weather girl in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For that she achieved recognition as a thespian of considerable range and talent. 

Though many assume that the heavily-accented Kidman hails from down under, she was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 20, 1967, to Australian parents. Her family, who lived on the island because of a research project that employed Kidman's biochemist father, then moved to Washington, D.C. for the next three years. After her father's project reached completion, Nicole and her family -- which also included her RN mother and a younger sister -- harkened back to Aussie country. 



Raised in the upper-middle-class Sydney suburb of Longueville for the remainder of the 1970s and well into the eighties, Kidman grew up infused with a love of the arts, particularly dance and theatre. Trained in ballet from the age of three, she made her acting debut in a nativity play at six. By the age of ten, she was studying acting in drama school, and she subsequently trained at the St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne and at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre. 



An awkward, gawky teenager, teased relentlessly because of her height, Kidman took refuge in the theater, and landed her first professional role at the age of 14, when she starred in Bush Christmas (1983), a TV movie about a group of kids who band together with an Aborigine to find their stolen horse. Brian Trenchard-Smith's BMX Bandits (1983) -- an adventure film/teen movie -- followed , with Kidman as the lead character, Judy; it opened to solid reviews. Kidman then worked for the gifted John Duigan (The Winter of Our Dreams, Romero) twice, first as one of the two adolescent leads of the Duigan-directed "Room to Move" episode of the Australian TV series Winners (1985) and, more prestigiously, as the star of Duigan's acclaimed miniseries Vietnam (1987), produced by Kennedy-Miller In the latter, the actress won positive notices for her portrayal of an awkward 1960s schoolgirl who matures into an idealistic 24-year-old Vietnam war protester. 



Kidman also secured Hollywood representation at about this time, which opened quite a few doors of opportunity. In 1988, Kidman got another major break when she was tapped to star in Phillip Noyce's Dead Calm (1989). A psychological thriller about a couple (Kidman and Sam Neill) who are terrorized by a young man they rescue from a sinking ship (Billy Zane), the film helped to establish the then-21-year-old Kidman as an actress of considerable mettle. That same year, her starring performance in the made-for-TV Bangkok Hilton (which cast her as a young woman incarcerated in a Thai prison on false drug smuggling charges) further bolstered her reputation. 



By now a rising star in Australia, Kidman began to earn recognition across the Pacific. In 1989,Tom Cruise picked her for a starring role in her first American feature, Tony Scott's Days of Thunder (1990). The film, a testosterone-saturated drama about a racecar driver (Cruise), cast Kidman as the neurologist who falls in love with him. A sizable hit, it had the added advantage of introducing Kidman to Cruise, whom she married in December of 1990. 



Following a role as Dustin Hoffman's moll in Robert Benton's Billy Bathgate (1991), and a supporting turn as a snotty boarding school senior in the masterful Flirting (1991), which teamed her with Duigan a third time, Kidman collaborated with Cruise on their second film together, Far and Away (1992). Despite their joint star quality, gorgeous cinematography, and adequate direction by Ron Howard, critics quite rightly panned the lackluster film. 



Kidman's subsequent projects, My Life and Malice ( both 1993), were similarly disappointing, despite scattered favorable reviews. Batman Forever (1995), in which she played the hero's love interest, Dr. Chase Meridian, fared somewhat better, but did little in the way of establishing Kidman as a serious actress even as it raked in mile-high returns at the summer box office. 



Kidman finally broke out of her window-dressing typecasting when Gus Van Sant enlisted her to portray the ruthless protagonist of To Die For (1995). Directed from a Buck Henry script, this uber-dark comedy casts Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a television broadcaster ready and eager to commit one homicide after another to propel herself to the top. Displaying a gift for impeccable comic timing, she earned Golden Globe and National Broadcast Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress. Further critical praise greeted Kidman's performance as Isabel Archer in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. Now regarded as one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood -- as well as one half of its most high-profile couple -- Kidman starred opposite George Clooney in the big-budget action extravaganza The Peacemaker (1997) and opposite Sandra Bullock in the frothy Practical Magic (1998). Both films weren't remotely as interesting or successful as Kidman's concurrent return to the stage in London's Donmar Warehouse production of -The Blue Room. Cast as several characters, one of which required her to play a scene in the nude, Kidman inspired a sensation among both audiences and critics, the latter of whom were moved to write numerous lines of sweaty praise for the actress' full-bodied flirtation with nudity. The play enjoyed a sold-out run in both London and New York, and Kidman earned an Evening Standard Award and Olivier nomination for her performance. 



In 1999, Kidman starred in one of her most controversial films to date, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's -Traumnovelle and cloaked in secrecy from the beginning of its production, the film also stars Cruise as Kidman's physician husband. During the spring and summer of 1999, the media unsurprisingly hyped the couple's onscreen pairing -- and the alleged envelope-pushing sexual content -- as the two major selling points. However, despite an added measure of intrigue from Kubrick's death only weeks after shooting wrapped, Eyes Wide Shut repeated the performance of prior Kubrick efforts by opening to a radically mixed reaction. 



Meanwhile, as the new millennium arrived, problems began to erupt between Kidman and Tom Cruise; divorce followed soon after, and the tabloids swirled with talk of new relationships for the both of them. She concurrently plunged into a string of daring, eccentric film roles - edgier and chancer than anything she had done before --and seemed to relish greater and greater challenges as her career rolled on. 



Kidman began this trend with a role in Jez Butterworth's Birthday Girl (2001) as a Russian mail order bride, and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001), which cast her, in the lead, as a courtesan in a 19th century Paris hopped up with late 20th century pop songs. The picture - a carnivalesque whirligig of color, light, sound and kinesthesia -- dazzled some and alienated others, but once again, journalists flocked to Kidman's side. 



Following this success (the picture gleaned a Best Picture nod but failed to win), Kidman gained even more positive notice for her turn as an icy mother after the key to a dark mystery in Alejandro Amenabar's spooky throwback, The Others. When the 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards finally arrived, Kidman received nominations for her memorable performances in both films. Though her emotionally fragile performance in The Others lost out to Sissy Spacek's performace in Todd Field's In the Bedroom (2001), Kidman's upbeat performance in the lively Moulin Rouge found the versatile actress taking home a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy in addition to the Oscar nomination for Best Actress. 



Though it couldn't have been any further from her flamboyant turn in Moulin Rouge, Kidman's camouflaged role as Virginia Woolf in the following year's The Hours (2002) (she wears little makeup and a prosthetic nose), for which she delivered a mesmerizing and haunting performance, kept the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations steadily flowing in for the acclaimed actress. The fair-haired beauty finally snagged the Best Actress Oscar that had been so elusive the year before. 



After the elation that followed the Oscar ceremony, Kidman continued to take on challenging work under the aegis of intensely cerebral directors. She played the lead, Grace - a woman on the run from gangsters who holes up in a 1930s western town -- in Lars von Trier's Dogville, although she declined to continue in Von Trier's planned trilogy of films about that character. She swung for the Oscar fences again in 2003 as the female lead in Cold Mountain, but it was co-star Renee Zellweger who won the statuette that year. Kidman did solid work for Jonathan Glazer in the Jean-Claude Carriere-penned Birth, as a woman revisited by the incarnation of her dead husband in a small child's body, but stumbled with a pair of empty-headed comedies, Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives and Nora Ephron's Bewitched (both 2005), that her skills could not save. She worked with Sean Penn in the political thriller The Interpreter in 2005. In 2006 Kidman's personal life took a turn for the better when she married country singer Keith Urban. 



For the most part, Kidman continued to stretch herself with increasingly demanding and arty roles throughout 2006. In Steven Shainberg's Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Kidman plays controversial housewife-cum-photographer Diane Arbus --a role that plunges the actress into a bizarre, fictionalized romance with the freakishly hirsute paramour Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.). In Happy Feet, fellow Aussie Dr. George Miller's live action Babe follow-up about a penguin who learns to tap dance to impress a crush, Kidman voices one of several talking Arctic animals. 



Meanwhile, Kidman returned to popcorn pictures by playing Mrs. Coulter in Chris Weitz's massive, 150-million fantasy adventure The Golden Compass (2007), adapted from Philip Pullman's -His Dark Materials series of books. She also signed on to headline the sci-fi thriller Invasion for Warner Brothers, a loose remake of the classic Invasion of hte Body Snatchers directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Kidman plays a psychiatrist who, during a global epidemic that begins changing human behavior en masse - infers that an alien invasion is responsible. Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT AND KENNEDY SETS WEDDING DEADLINE

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT has given boyfriend JAMIE KENNEDY an engagement ultimatum - she wants a ring on her finger by June next year (09) or they will have "a situation".

The actress has been dating her Ghost Whisperer co-star since December (08) after calling off her marriage to fiance Ross MCCall. 

But the star has not been put off by her broken engagement and is ready to commit to a future with Kennedy. 

The couple sparked reports of an impending wedding at the end of last month (May09) when they were spotted jewellery shopping together. 

Hewitt has dismissed the claims - but admits questions about their future together has put Kennedy on the spot.

 She says, "A rumour has come out that Jamie and I supposedly got engaged. The poor guy was on fire. He was like, 'No, no, no. That's not true!' I was like, 'God, would that be the worst thing in the world?!'" 

And Hewitt admits she's set a deadline to determine whether the relationship will last: "By this time next year, if we're not planning something, then there's a situation."

Former fashion model Kimora Lee Simmons gives birth to baby boy

It's a boy for former fashion model Kimora Lee Simmons and actor Djimon Hounsou.

Simmons announced the birth Saturday on her Twitter feed. A representative for Simmons says both she and her newborn son are doing great. No further details were immediately available.

The 34-year-old Simmons has two daughters with 51-year-old hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, whom she divorced in 2008 after seven years of marriage.

The newborn's name had not yet been publicly announced.

"Kimora and Djimon are the proud parents of a new baby boy. Both mother and child are doing great," Simmons' representative told TV's "Access Hollywood."

Simmons also has two daughters with her ex-husband.

Eli Roth says ,Brad Pitt doesn’t have time to shower

Brad Pitt told his ''Inglourious Basterds'' co-star Eli Roth that he doesn’t have time to take a shower. 



While shooting for the film, Pitt told Roth that he is so busy with six kids that he hardly gets time to take a bath, and often resorts to baby wipes. 


"Brad had to get next to me for a close-up shot, and he said, ''Damn, you're ripe.’ I said, ''I didn’t have time to shower.'' He said, ''Baby wipes, man, baby wipes," Fox News quoted Roth as telling People magazine. 


Roth said Pitt explained: "Man, (with six kids) I'm getting pissed on all day. I don't have time to take a shower." 


Roth is the director of horror movies ‘Hostel’ and ‘Cabin Fever’, and his role in Quentin Tarantino's ‘Inglorious Basterds’ is his first big break. 


The project is about a group of Jewish soldiers who go on a Nazi-murdering spree.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Megan Mylan sees film's positive impact

Filmmaker Megan Mylan her maiden Oscar this year by a short film about a poor Indian girl with a cleft lip fetched, and now she can't wait to do more films that could help improve people's lives.

Her 39-minute "Smile Pinki" documentary shows how the life of its outcast heroine, Pinki Sonkar, changes after she is taken to a hospital that provides free surgery to fix the deformity for thousands of children.

The film also helped increase awareness about the condition, gave Sonkar the chance of a better education and brought improvements to her remote village.

The documentary premieres Wednesday on HBO. Speaking from San Francisco, Mylan told Reuters that she plans a limited release of the film in five Indian cities.

"It has sort of turned it upside down, but probably not in the way people would expect. Careerwise it's not a game-changing thing. Documentary filmmaking is such a small field anyway. I'm not swamped with offers, and I'm not terribly surprised, either. It's a wonderful recognition of the fact that I'm not lousy at what I do."

Biography of hot actress Reese Witherspoon

Biography & Profile of hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon 

Date of Birth

22 March 1976, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 

Birth Name
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon 

Height
5' 1½" (1.56 m) 

Mini Biography

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 at Southern Baptist Hospital (now Memorial Medical Center) in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the second child born to Dr. John Witherspoon and Betty Reese. Her father was a military surgeon specializing in the ear, nose and throat. Her mother was a Registered Nurse who later became a Ph.D in pediatric nursing. Reese spent the first four years of her life in Wiesbaden, Germany where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army reserves. Shortly after, John moved the family back to the States, settling in Nashville, Tennessee.

Reese was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. At age 7, she began modeling. This led to appearances on several local television commercials. At age 11, she placed first in a Ten-State Talent Fair.

In 1990, she landed her first major acting role in Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon (1991). Her role as a 14-year old tomboy earned her rave reviews. Roles in bigger films such as Jack the Bear (1993) and A Far Off Place (1993) followed shortly after.

Following high school graduation in 1994 from Harpeth Hall, a Nashville all girls school, Reese decided to put her acting career on hold and attend Stanford University where she would major in English literature. However, her collegiate plans were shortly dashed when she accepted roles to star in two major motion pictures: Fear (1996) alongside Mark Wahlberg and Freeway (1996) with Kiefer Sutherland. Although neither film was a huge box-office success, they did help to establish Reese as a rising starlet in Hollywood and open the door for bigger and better film roles. Those bigger roles came in movies such as Pleasantville (1998), Election (1999) and Cruel Intentions (1999).

Her breakthrough role came as Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde (2001). The movie was huge box-office smash and established Reese as one of the top female draws in Hollywood. The next year, she scored a follow-up hit with Sweet Home Alabama (2002) which went on to gross over $100 million dollars at the box office. In 2006, she took home the best actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (2005).

Off the screen, she was married to Ryan Phillippe from 1999 to 2007. They met at her 21st birthday party and subsequently worked together in Cruel Intentions (1999). They have two children: a daughter, Ava Elizabeth (born 9 September 1999) and a son, Deacon (born 23 October 2003).

IMDb Mini Biography By: SteveG 

SpouseRyan Phillippe (5 June 1999 - 13 June 2008) (divorced) 2 children


Trivia

Majored in English Literature at Stanford University; on leave from her studies as of 1998.

Shortly after she started acting she had an audition for a role in Cape Fear (1991). She was supposed to meet with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese for the audition, but at the time didn't really know who they were. On the plane she was talking to the man next to her about her audition, and the man started to rave to her about De Niro and Scorsese. This made her so nervous that she completely blew the audition and the role eventually went to Juliette Lewis.

daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe born [9 September 1999]

Refused the lead roles in two horror movies, Scream (1996/I) and Urban Legend (1998).

Was considered for the role of Juliet in Romeo + Juliet (1996).

One of her ancestors, John Witherspoon, signed the Declaration of Independence. In the movie 1776 (1972), the role of Dr. John Witherspoon was played by James Noble.

Her mother, Betty, has a Ph.D. in pediatric nursing and her dad, John, is a surgeon.

Named one of People Magazine's "25 Most Intriguing People of 2001"

Named one of E!'s "Top 20 Entertainers of 2001".

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002.

Went to Harpeth Hall School, a private school for girls in Nashville, Tennessee

She runs a production company called "Type A Films" with Debra Siegal

Appears in Entertainment Weekly's Most Powerful List sitting at #22

At the young age of 11 she won the "Ten State Talent Award"

She was a cheerleader in high school and a debutante.

Reese is her mother's maiden name.

Has moved her production company, Type A Films, to Universal Pictures. Has signed a two-year first-look production pact with Universal. The studio has already picked up a romantic comedy pitch, Sports Widow (2010), for her to star in and produce.

She appeared in a television commercial when she was 7 for a local Nashville florist.

Has been named one of Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" along with Eminem and Kelly Osbourne.

She lived in Wiesbaden, Germany, as a young child.

Her Gap ad appeared on a six-story-high building on Sunset Blvd,.

Named one of E! 2002 "Entertainers of the Year".

Her daughter, Ava, is named after Ryan's grandmother.

Steve Dontanville from the William Morris Agency is still her agent. They got together after The Man in the Moon (1991).

She can trace her family all the way back to Scotland, UK. John Witherspoon, her Gifford-born "favourite ancestor", who attended Haddington Grammar School, obtained a Master of Arts from Edinburgh University in 1739, and was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Her wedding ring is an early 1990s Neil Lane, Asscher-cut-diamond, and there are only a few like it in the world.

Has an older brother, John D. Witherspoon

Ranked #1 on E!'s Hollywood's Hottest Blondes (2003)

Son Deacon Reese Phillippe was born [October 23rd, 2003].

As extra credit for a high school class, she worked as an office production assistant for the film Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). Director Carl Franklin paid homage to her by featuring Legally Blonde (2001) in the film Out of Time (2003/I).

She collects antique linens and is crazy about old embroidery.

Ryan proposed to her in December of 1998 while the couple was vacationing at The Planter's Inn in Charleston, South Carolina.

As a child she appeared in her local Sunday paper modeling kids' track suits and such. She said that it was creative for her. She was paid $50 a day.

Started children's acting classes at a community college at the age of 7. By the age of 9 she was taking adult acting classes.

Her son is named after former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Deacon Phillippe, a distant relative of her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

Gymnast for 7 years

Named 'Favorite Female Film Star' by People Magazine (2004)

Neither she nor her ex-husband, actor Ryan Phillippe, use their real first names - Reese's first name is Laura, Ryan's first name is Matthew.

Was the first person to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975) after the September 11th terror attacks.

Was approached by a few companies to record music after she provided her own singing voice for Walk the Line (2005).

Has appeared in four movies bearing the names of songs: Jack the Bear (1993), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Just Like Heaven (2005) and Walk the Line (2005).

Friend of Renée Zellweger.

She donated many items to Rocky Stone to be given to less fortunate kids as part of the Toy Mountain Campaign.

The year she won her Oscar for Walk the Line (2005) her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe appeared in the movie that won "Best Picture": Crash (2004/I) .

Her performance as Tracy Flick in Election (1999) is ranked #45 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Dyed her hair brown for her role in Walk the Line (2005)

Named #40 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Is the second actress to win the best actress Oscar for portraying a female singer in a biography; the first was Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980).

The dress she wore at the Golden Globes in 2006 was also worn by Kirsten Dunst at the Golden Globes in 2003

Distant cousin of Daniel Morton

Named #34 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Announced on October 30, 2006 that she has separated and would file divorce papers against her husband, Ryan Phillippe, after seven years of marriage.

Best friends with Selma Blair.

Was originally cast in the lead role in Bunny Lake Is Missing (2012), but backed out a few weeks before shooting began.

Filed for divorce against husband Ryan Phillippe, also demanding sole custody for their children Ava and Deacon, on 8th November 2006.

Is a vegetarian.

Mentioned in the song High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup, as "the prom queen".

Named the first-ever Avon Global Ambassador and will serve as the Honorary Chairman of the Avon Foundation [August 1, 2007].

Was named highest-paid actress in Hollywood by The Hollywood Reporter in 2007.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $7 million.

The last place her great great grandfather John Witherspoon lived was Paisley in Scotland UK, before he moved to the States where he was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Is one of six actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (2000), Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain (2003), Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006),Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006) and Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008).

Campaigned for the role of Christine Collins in Changeling (2008), but lost the part to Angelina Jolie.

Personal Quotes

[on having a baby]: "Obviously, this isn't the time in my life that I would have chosen to do this, but I feel like life gives you these challenges for a reason. I feel so happy and glad to be in the place that I am. I really feel blessed. This is something I need to face and take control of."

[talking about how she choose the films she will be in]: "I have a weird process, but the main thing is like this: I hear her voice in my head. There are a lot of wonderful scripts my agents can't believe I pass on, but I do because I can't hear the voice. It doesn't appeal to me then. I'm really careful. Unless I hear the voice, I can't do it."

[talking about Ryan Phillippe]: "I'm lucky to find a person to share my life, and the best friend I'll ever have."

[Talking about motherhood and her baby]: "I feel good, I'm proud of Election (1999) and very proud of this [her child]. It couldn't be a better time. It's always the right time when it happens. You make it the right time".

[talking about Pleasantville (1998)]: "We were thrilled for just the three nominations we got, but obviously it's a little sad. I went through so many press junkets with people saying they loved it. And Joan Allen was robbed but she can't get nominated every year. She's an inspiration for every young actress. She has that calm and reserve about herself and makes you think she appreciates the normal things of everyday. Then she transforms into this character that's so different."

[talking about the movie business]: "The battles that we face in this business aren't financial, but they are moral. And I certainly think that the longer you can keep your values, and your morality intact, and keep your head on your shoulders about what is important at the end of the day, you can get the most out of this business and really emerge with something wonderful."

"I grew up in Tennessee. We didn't know what Louis Vuitton was. I had to order all my prom outfits out of catalogs".

People want to try and move you into a place where you can be easily identifiable by every woman in America - to be this very likable woman in a romantic comedy. And it's really hard for me. I just don't see myself as the girl that everybody likes. I never have been and I don't know how to be that person.

As far as being in the spotlight and under public scrutiny, a lot of that's about how much you put yourself out there. It's not like we go to every premiere and every celebrity function and every charity auction. We really just try to maintain our privacy and never let our public persona get out of hand.

I'm not perfect! I'm human. I make mistakes. But I try to be as conscious as I can about things I should be. If I'm going to do something commercial and mainstream and made for the masses, I just believe you can make those kinds of films with quality - and good ideas and good intentions. There's a lot of negativity out there.

"While making Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), I had like 50 outfit changes. It was great! I'm real into the whole "girlie" thing, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it".

Attending an all-girls school has its advantages, there are no inhibitions. You can walk to school with your zit cream on and your hair in rollers and nobody cares.

"It's nice to come home to what's real." - E! "Revealed with Jules Asner" (2001).

[On husband Ryan Phillippe] "I don't think I can imagine a better guy than the one I've ended up with".

"There's something timeless and important about making people laugh, about being the right spot in their day." - as quoted in the Dec 7, 2004 issue of Woman's World

I was thinking about why I make movies, and I know why. Life is hard. It's nice to go escape and have a good time at the movies. If I can give people a movie about hope, love and the future, then I've done my job.

I do think things were meant to happen. I'm just this little girl from Tennessee, and here I am today. I think a lot of things are just out of your hands.

[Asked about the ways she is discriminated against] "I get discriminated against in three ways: I get discriminated against because I'm blond, I get discriminated against because I'm an actress and I get discriminated against because I'm from the South."

I did. I called my attorney. My agent. My manager. I said "You know y'all, you're serious about this? I'm really.. I gotta get out of this. Like can't they call 'Leann Rimes'? I mean she's good." - On trying to get out of the part of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005).

The director came to us and he said "No, I really want you guys to learn to sing. To learn to play instruments and I want you to record an album". and that is what... and I just absolutely was just gob-smacked and I said .. "I don't know. I can't do that." And he said "Well I want you to try." Now that's the thing for me. If someone asks me to try, I will always try. - On doing her own singing in Walk the Line (2005).

"Life isn't just about you: It's about family and friends and giving back." quoted in Woman's World magazine 2-21-06

About dual careers and marriage: "Marriage and family come before everything. You don't want to make a movie at the cost of your relationship."

I feel like there's a race being run for some unattainable goal - to be the best, the skinniest, the most beautiful. I just admit that's what I'll never be.

What gets me is how many women - young women - give up their power and sense of self. Thinking they're going to get more out of life if they take off their clothes and objectify themselves, instead of functioning on the principle that they're smart and capable, that you can be an actress and not be on the covers of T&A magazines. I'm flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do that. It blows my mind.

(Part of Oscar Speech) I am so blessed to have my family here tonight. My mother and my father are here. And I just want to say thank you so much for everything, for being so proud of me. It didn't matter if I was making my bed or making a movie. They never hesitated to say how proud they were of me. And that means so very much to a child. So thank you, Mom and Dad. I want to say thank you to my wonderful husband and my two children who should be going to bed. And thank you for loving me so much and supporting me. And I want to say that, my grandmother was one of the biggest inspirations in my life. She taught me how to be a real woman to have strength and self respect, and to never give those things away. And those are a lot of qualities I saw in June Carter Cash. People used to ask June how she was doing, and she used to say -- 'I'm just trying to matter'. And I know what she means. You know, I'm just trying to matter, and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody. And you have all made me feel that I might have accomplished that tonight. So thank you so much for this honor".

I think everyone has their own set of problems, and sometimes I feel I'm in the middle of the biggest challenge of my life just trying to maintain normalcy in a kind of crazy lifestyle.

I'm pretty conservative or old-fashion, I should say, it's how I grew up. I think you have to let your children be individuals, but you have to set boundaries. Ryan and I have similar ideas about all of it, you really have to support you partner in the things that are important to them and hold the line together.

Many people worry so much about managing their careers, but rarely spend half that much energy managing their lives. I want to make my life, not just my job, the best it can be. The rest will work itself out.

I have cellulite. I have stretch marks. I feel intimidated by Victoria's Secret. Hollywood is one of those endless competitions, but it's like running a race toward nothing. There's no winning. You're never going to win the pretty race. I just want to be the best version of myself that I can be.

I feel like there's a race being run in Los Angeles for some unattainable goal -to be the best, the skinniest, the most beautiful. I just admit that that's what I'll never be. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I don't think these women are stupid. I think they're selling a personality that's very marketable: Wouldn't it be fun if we were all gorgeous and didn't have a care? But creating a cultural icon out of someone who goes, "I'm stupid, isn't it cute?" makes me want to throw daggers at them! I want to say to them, "My grandma did not fight for what she fought for, and my mother did not fight for what she fought for, so you can start telling women it's fun to be stupid." Saying that to young women, little girls, my daughter? It's not OK. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I feel there are certain people who are systematically ripping [feminism] down because of their lack of regard and their ignorance about what the women before us had to go through. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

What gets me is how many women - young women - give up their power and their sense of self. Thinking they're going to get more out of life if they take off their clothes and objectify themselves, instead of functioning on the principle that they're smart and capable, that you can be an actress and not be on the covers of T&A magazines. I'm flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do that. It blows my mind. (Marie Claire - September 2005)

I'm wary of what goal I set, because then I'll have to accomplish it. (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

Since when is self-improvement a negative? Why wouldn't I be interested in psychology? I like to read a lot of psychology books. I'm obsessed with child behavior; I would love to be a child psychologist. [On being criticized after admitting she and then-husband Ryan Phillippe have gone to couples therapy.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

I've learned the art of ignoring people. When people give you some piece of direction you don't like, you just nod and ignore it. Just don't do it! Most people want to be heard and acknowledged, anyway. Just do what you want to do. [On how she handles people who disagree with her.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

Even now, people want to marginalize me. They want to attribute all my success to teenagers seeing my movies. I really resent it when people say, "It's just a genre film; it's a teen comedy." It takes a lot of work to make these things have heart and resonance so they're not just empty, disposable confections. But I don't give a damn about other people's perceptions, because I'll show them. For women in this business, ascendancy is always a battle. It's scrape and claw. I just try to stick to my guns and respect myself. I want to take the ingenues aside and say, "Value yourself! It's O.K. if you have opinions!" [On struggling to be taken seriously in the industry.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

They want people they can push around. I was the girl who was always asking, "Why? Yeah, I know you want me to do that - but why?" I always thought people wanted to hear my opinions. [Grins] But I gave them anyway. It's just blind self-confidence. I get like a little terrier about things. My mother says I should have been an attorney. [On asserting herself, even with her employers.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

It's one of those endless competitions, but it's like running a race toward nothing. "There's no winning. You're never going to win the thin race. You're never going to win the pretty race. You're never going to win the smart race. You're never going to win the funny race. I just want to be the best version of myself I can be. [About the harsh standards placed on women by Hollywood.] (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

I like work. If it's not hard enough, I try to make it harder. I like the process of being daunted by it, tackling it, and knowing I can do it. (Vanity Fair - September 2004 - "Regally Blonde" by Leslie Bennetts)

{On roles resembling the title character in 'Penelope'] I like this girl because she is a bit of a bad-ass. I grew up watching movies with people like Barbara Stanwyck, and sometimes I get frustrated that there aren't a lot of great female characters out there that young women can look at and go, 'I want to be like that'. I go to movies and yell at the women on-screen, 'Shoot him; just shoot him.' I mean, why why does the guy always have to shoot him?

Ex-'American Idol' finalist Jennifer Hudson is pregnant

JENNIFER Hudson's dramatic year continues, with reports that the Oscar-winning star, whose family was rocked by tragedy, is now seven months pregnant.

 
The Sunday event reported by the unidentified source comes despite a lack of confirmation by Hudson, 27, and her fiance, reality TV star David Otunga, that she is pregnant. The singer's publicist, whose identity was not reported, denied the rumors in April.
Actress Felicia Fields, a long-time friend of the Dreamgirls star, said: 

"It was a baby shower, a quiet gathering of friends and mostly family. They're really trying to keep it kind of quiet. It was a nice time that we had." 

Although Felicia has refused to say when the baby is due, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reports Hudson has just two months left before she gives birth.

The 27-year-old star – who has been seen wearing a series of loose-fitting tops – first sparked pregnancy speculation in April when she postponed concert dates with Robin Thicke, citing vocal cord strain. Her management insisted she wasn’t expecting a baby.

Susan Boyle admitted in a clinic

After the  crushing defeat on Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle was admitted to a private clinic in London Sunday for treatment of exhaustion, according to Britain's Daily Mail.

 

Police were summoned to Boyle's hotel in the British capital, where the Scottish singing sensation exhibited symptoms of "emotional breakdown" following the show's Saturday finale, the paper reports. 

"We were called about 6 p.m. on Sunday to a central London hotel to doctors assessing a woman under the Mental Health Act," a police spokesperson tells the paper. 

"Police attended at the request of ambulance personnel and the woman was taken voluntarily to a clinic. No one was arrested and there were no allegations of crime." 

A spokeswoman at London's Priory Clinic – where Boyle was reportedly rushed – would not confirm or deny whether the star had been admitted, the paper reports. 

Britain's Got Talent producers released the following statement: "Following Saturday night's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained. She has been seen by her private GP who supports her decision to take a few days out for rest and recovery ... We offer her our ongoing support and wish her a speedy recovery."

Britney Spears goes all posh at the polo for new video

Demurely dressed in a vintage Givenchy frock with a matching wide-brimmed hat, Britney Spears could have easily passed for one of the society girls who frequent polo matches.

But the popstar, who's normally seen in jogging bottoms and tight-fitting tops, hasn't suddenly ditched her trailer trash fashion inclinations for a new image.

The singer was just playing pretty for her latest video filmed in Santa Barbara for new single Radar.

In the video Britney, 27, enjoys a polo match with a group of friends.

Victoria Beckham is so shaken by LA earthquake tremors she is having lessons in a simulator

Victoria Beckham has been so shaken by the recent spate of earth tremors in LA that she and her family are having lessons in a simulator to learn how to deal with a full-blown earthquake.

The Beckhams’ mansion lies on the Newport-Inglewood Fault – a 47-mile rock fracture caused by shifts in the earth’s crust that has long been of concern to seismologists. 

‘Victoria and the boys had a lesson in a simulator when she moved to LA, but she didn’t realise the tremors would be so regular,’ says a source.