Angela Lansbury Biography

Angela Brigid Lansbury, CBE (born 16 October 1925) is an English-born US-naturalized actress and singer in theatre, television, and motion pictures. Her career has spanned eight decades and earned an unsurpassed number of performance Tony Awards (tied with Julie Harris and Audra McDonald), with five wins. Her first film appearance was in the film Gaslight (1944) as a conniving maid, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Among her other films are The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Anastasia (1997).

She expanded her repertoire to Broadway musicals and television in the 1950s and was particularly successful in Broadway productions of Gypsy, Mame and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Lansbury is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her twelve-year run starring as writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the American television series Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996). Her recent roles include Lady Adelaide Stitch in the film Nanny McPhee (2005), Leona Mullen in the 2007 Broadway play Deuce, Madame Arcati in the 2009 Broadway revival of the play Blithe Spirit and Madame Armfeldt in the 2010 Broadway revival of the musical A Little Night Music.

Lansbury has won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, and has been nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and nineteen Emmy Awards.

Angela Lansbury

Early life

Lansbury was born in Poplar, London, to Northern Irish-born actress Moyna MacGill and timber merchant and politician Edgar Lansbury, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and former mayor of the London Borough of Poplar. Her paternal grandfather was the Labour Party leader George Lansbury. She is the elder sister of twins Edgar Lansbury and Bruce Lansbury, both producers, and a cousin of the late English animator and puppeteer Oliver Postgate. Another cousin was the academic and novelist Coral Lansbury, whose son is former Australian federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

Her earliest theatrical influences were the teenaged actress Deanna Durbin, screen star Irene Dunne and Lansbury's mother, who encouraged her daughter's ambition by taking her to plays at the Old Vic. She attended South Hampstead High School for Girls, the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art from 1939–40, and the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York from 1940-42. Following her father's death from stomach cancer in 1934, her mother became involved with a Scotsman named Leckie Forbes, and the two merged their families under one roof in Hampstead. A former colonel with the British Army in India, Forbes proved to be a jealous and suspicious tyrant who ruled the household with an iron fist.

Angela Lansbury

Just prior to the London Blitz, Lansbury's mother took her children to New York City. They arrived in NY on August 25, 1940. When her mother settled in Hollywood following a tour of a Noël Coward play, Lansbury (and later her brothers) joined her there. Lansbury worked at the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. At one of the parties that her mother hosted for British émigré performers in their Laurel Canyon home, Lansbury met the casting director for the upcoming film Gaslight (1944), and he offered her the part of Nancy Oliver, Ingrid Bergman's conniving maid. This was the 18-year-old Lansbury's first film role. She was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and the following year gained another nomination for her performance as the doomed Sibyl Vane in the film The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

Angela Lansbury

Personal life

In 1945, Lansbury married American actor Richard Cromwell when he was 35 and she was 19. Cromwell was bisexual, and the marriage dissolved after a year, but the two reportedly remained friends. In 1949, Lansbury married British-born actor and businessman Peter Shaw. She had two children, Anthony Peter Shaw (born January 7, 1952) and Deidre Angela Shaw (born April 26, 1953). Shaw was instrumental in guiding and managing Lansbury's career. They were married for 54 years until his death in January 2003.

Lansbury became a naturalized US citizen in 1951.

She is the mother of two, stepmother of one and a grandmother. A fire destroyed the family's Malibu home in September 1970, prompting a move to a rural area of County Cork in Ireland. Her daughter and son-in-law, a chef, are restaurateurs in West Los Angeles. Her son Anthony Shaw, after a brief fling with acting, became producer/director of Murder, She Wrote and currently is a television executive and director.

Lansbury's half-sister Isolde was married to Peter Ustinov for some years, but they divorced in 1946. Lansbury and Ustinov appeared together once in Death on the Nile (1978). She is related by marriage to actress Ally Sheedy, ex-wife of her nephew David Lansbury. Both her brothers, twins Bruce and Edgar, are successful theatre producers: Edgar was instrumental in bringing Godspell to Broadway, and Bruce Lansbury was a television producer for such shows as The Wild Wild West and Mission: Impossible and Murder, She Wrote.

Angela Lansbury

Lansbury was a long-time resident of Brentwood, a neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California, where she supported various philanthropies. She had knee-replacement surgery on July 14, 2005. She had two hip replacement surgeries. In 2006, she moved to New York City, purchasing a condominium at a reported cost of $2 million. The following year, she returned to Broadway in Deuce, opposite Marian Seldes. Lansbury's papers are housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Angela Lansbury endorsed president Barack Obama for re-election saying that she will be voting for him.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Lansbury

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Angela Bassett Biography

Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress and comedienne. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X and Panther, Rosa Parks in The Rosa Parks Story, Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream,and Voletta Wallace in Notorious.

Angela Bassett

Early life

Bassett was born Angela Evelyn Bassett in Harlem, New York on August 16, 1958, the daughter of Betty Jane and Daniel Benjamin Bassett. After her parents' separation, she relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, where she and her sister D'nette were raised by their social worker/civil servant mother. As her interest in entertainment developed, Angela and her sister would often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music for their family. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a cheerleader and a member of the debate team, student government, drama club and choir.

Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. degree in African-American studies in 1980. In 1983, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, Bassett met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school. After graduation, Bassett worked as a receptionist for a beauty salon and as a photo researcher.

Bassett soon looked for acting work in the New York theater. One of her first New York performances came in 1985 when she appeared in J. E. Franklin's Black Girl at Second Stage Theatre. She appeared in two August Wilson plays at the Yale Repertory Theatre under the direction of her long-time instructor Lloyd Richards. The Wilson plays featuring Bassett were Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986). In 2006, she had the opportunity to work on the Wilson canon again, starring in Fences alongside longtime collaborator Laurence Fishburne at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Angela Bassett

Career

Television and film career

In 1985, Bassett made her first television appearance as a prostitute in the TV movie Doubletake. However, she made her official film debut as a news reporter in F/X (1986). Bassett moved to Los Angeles and gained recognition in the films Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). For her portrayal of Betty Shabazz, she earned an Image Award.

In 1992, Bassett played Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream. Later that year, Bassett was cast as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993). Bassett won a Golden Globe and earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Turner. She was the first African-American to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Angela Bassett

Bassett starred in three movies in 1995, which were released with varied reactions from critics: Vampire in Brooklyn, Strange Days, and Waiting to Exhale (where she worked with author Terry McMillan). In Strange Days, Bassett played Lornette "Mace" Mason, a chauffeur and bodyguard. In Vampire in Brooklyn, she played Rita Veder, a tortured cop with a dark secret. Bassett's character in Waiting to Exhale, Bernadine Harris, was betrayed by her husband and in revenge she set fire to his entire wardrobe and vehicle, then sold what was left for one dollar.

In 1998, Bassett starred in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, once again collaborating with McMillan. She played Stella, a 40-year-old American professional woman who falls in love with a 20-year-old Jamaican man. In 1999, Bassett starred in Music of the Heart, once collaborating with the horror icon Wes Craven. In 2000, Bassett turned down the lead role in Monster's Ball because of the script's sexual content; the role earned Halle Berry the Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 2003, she read from the WPA slave narratives in Unchained Memories. In the 1930s, about 100,000 former slaves were still living during the Great Depression, of which 2,300 were interviewed part of the Federal Writers' Project. The transcripts of the Slave Narratives collection of the Library of Congress is a record of slavery, bondage and misery.

Bassett joined the regular cast of ER for the show's final season (2008–2009). She portrayed Dr. Catherine Banfield, an exacting Chief of the ER who was also working to recover from the death of a son and to bring another child into her family. Bassett's husband Courtney Vance played her television husband on ER as Russell Banfield.

In 2010, Bassett lent her voice to portray First Lady Michelle Obama on an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Stealing First Base". Bassett was also cast in the superhero film Green Lantern, released in 2011, as notable DC Comics character Amanda Waller.

In 2011, Bassett co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in the play The Mountaintop a fictionalized depiction of the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (Jackson portrays MLK) while at the Lorraine Hotel. The critically acclaimed play by Katori Hall originally debuted in London's West End in 2009 and went on to win the Lawrence Olivier Award for Best New Play. The production opened on Broadway on October 13, 2011.

Angela Bassett

Personal life

Bassett married Courtney B. Vance in 1997. In the summer of 2005, they starred together in a production of His Girl Friday at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The couple's children – son Slater Josiah and daughter Bronwyn Golden - were born on January 27, 2006.

Bassett is an avid supporter of programs for the Arts, especially for youth. She annually attends events for children with diabetes and those in foster homes. She is an active Ambassador of UNICEF for the USA. Bassett is a big supporter of the Royal Theater Boys & Girls Club in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Club is one of the first all performing arts Boys & Girls Clubs in the country.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Bassett

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Andrea Roth Biography

Andrea Roth (born September 30, 1967) is a Canadian actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Janet Gavin, the wife of main character Tommy Gavin, on the FX television series Rescue Me (2004–2011).

Andrea Roth

Biography

Roth, a first-generation Canadian, was born in Woodstock, Ontario to a Scottish father and a Dutch mother.

Andrea Roth

She debuted in the Canadian horror film The Club, directed by Brenton Spencer. She appeared in numerous television series and TV movies before landing her role on Rescue Me. She also appeared in the Jet Li action film War, in 2007. Furthermore, she guest-starred on Blue Bloods and Ringer.

Andrea Roth

On March 29, 2010, Roth gave birth to a daughter named Ava Reese, with boyfriend Todd Biermann. Roth and Biermann married on October 7, 2011.

Andrea Roth

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Roth

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Andrea Bowen Biography

Andrea Lauren Bowen born March 4, 1990; Columbus, Ohio is an American actress who is best known for playing Julie Mayer on Desperate Housewives (2004–2012). She has won two SAG Awards.

Andrea Bowen

Biography

Bowen is of Welsh descent and made her Broadway debut in 1996 as Young Cosette/Young Eponine in Les Misérables. At six, she was the youngest actress to ever play the role. From 1996 to 2001 Bowen was a consistent presence on Broadway. She appeared in the original company of the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music as Marta, and in 2000, created the role of Adele in the musical version of Jane Eyre. Bowen was also a member of The Broadway Kids concert group. Several of Bowen's siblings have also been heavily involved in musical theatre, performing roles in various other Broadway shows.

Andrea Bowen

She briefly attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York alongside best friend Sarah Hyland.

Andrea Bowen

From 2004–2012 Bowen has portrayed Julie Mayer on Desperate Housewives. She currently models for Miss Selfridge. She has also had recurring or guest starring roles on such shows as One Tree Hill (with friend Sophia Bush), Boston Public and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In the film Red Riding Hood she appears as one of "The Three Ashleys." Most recently, she played the role of Candace in the esoteric adventure film Eye of the Dolphin. She also starred in the Lifetime Original film Girl, Positive, an experience that allowed her to help spread the message among youth that "HIV is something you can protect yourself from."  More recently, she has appeared in an episode of Ghost Whisperer during its fourth season.

Andrea Bowen

Bowen is the younger sister of Graham Bowen, Alex Bowen, Cameron Bowen, Jessica Bowen and Jillian Bowen, who are also actors.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bowen

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Ana Ortiz Biography

Ana Ortiz born January 25, 1971 is an American actress and singer. She is a native of Manhattan, but was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a regular cast-member on the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, in which she plays the title character's older sister, Hilda Suarez. The role earned her the ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2007.

Ana Ortiz

Life and career

Ortiz was born in Manhattan and is the daughter of Angel L. Ortiz, a former Philadelphia City Council member of Puerto Rican descent, and an Irish American mother.

As a child, Ortiz originally dreamed of becoming a ballerina, and she studied ballet for eight years, until the pain of dancing en pointe forced her to pursue a different artistic discipline.

Switching to singing, Ortiz attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City and later the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before making her professional stage debut in a regional theater production of Dangerous Liaisons. Her additional stage credits include portraying Chrissy in a European touring production of Hair, regional theater productions such as Dog Lady and the Cuban Swimmer and in the South Coast Repertory Theater's production of References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot.

After joining LAByrinth Theatre Company, she appeared off-Broadway in In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings, which also co-starred Puerto Rican actress Liza Colón-Zayas and was directed by Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and named one of the 10-best plays of 1999 by the magazine Time Out New York.

Ana Ortiz

Career

On television, Ortiz's resume includes NYPD Blue, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Commander In Chief, Boston Legal, ER, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Over There, her first full-time series role, Kristin and Everybody Loves Raymond. Ortiz also had a guest-starring role on Army Wives during its second season as a waitress named Sandi.

In addition to her current role on Ugly Betty, she is active in films, which include starring roles King of L.A., Tortilla Heaven and the 2009 TV movie Labor Pains co-starring her former Ugly Betty co-star, Lindsay Lohan.

Ortiz is one of two Philadelphians who are regulars on Ugly Betty, the other being Mark Indelicato, who plays her son Justin. Another connection to the city is co-star Becki Newton (who plays Amanda Tanen), who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Originally, Ortiz had auditioned for the Betty Suarez role, but it went to America Ferrera instead. Ortiz said in 2008, "I was super plain. I just put on some glasses and kept my hair kind of flat and layered on the clothing", describing what she wore when auditioning for the role of Betty. "I just wanted them to remember me, so that I could be involved in the future".

Ortiz also appeared in the 2010 music video for Enrique Iglesias and Juan Luis Guerra's "Cuando me enamoro".

Ana Ortiz

Personal life

Ortiz graduated from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Ortiz lives in New York City. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, horseback riding, softball, and water sports, and writes poetry. She married musician Noah Lebenzon on June 9, 2007 in Rincón, Puerto Rico. The couple were expecting their first child on June 25, 2009. On Saturday, June 27, 2009, Ana and Noah welcomed a daughter, named Paloma Louise Lebenzon. Paloma was born at 4:25 p.m. and weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces.  The second child, a son named Rafael, was born on September 24, 2011.

Ana Ortiz

Ortiz is active in raising awareness against domestic abuse, citing her own experiences when she was in her 20s and involved in a romantic relationship that turned physically abusive. In an article for USA Today, Ortiz notes that the final scene from the Ugly Betty episode "How Betty Got Her Grieve Back", in which Hilda sat on her bed staring at the bathroom after realizing that Santos had died, was drawn from that experience: "I used some of that subconsciously ... It's something that is always with me".

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_Ortiz

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Amy Yasbeck Biography

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Amy Marie Yasbeck (born September 12, 1962) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.

Amy Yasbeck Pictures

Early life

Yasbeck was born in Blue Ash, Ohio, the daughter of Dorothy Murphy (1922–1984), a homemaker, and John Yasbeck (1921–1982), a butcher and grocery store owner. She is of half Irish and half Lebanese descent. As a child, Yasbeck was featured on the package art for the Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven. Years later, in 2000, she was presented with a new Easy-Bake Oven on the show I've Got a Secret, for which she was a regular panel member.

She spent her elementary, middle, and high school years at two different Catholic schools: Summit Country Day School and Ursuline Academy. After losing both of her parents, her father from a heart attack and her mother from emphysema, Yasbeck moved to New York.

Amy Yasbeck Pictures

Career

Yasbeck has had starring roles in the sitcoms Wings, Alright Already, and Life on a Stick and in movies such as House II: The Second Story, Pretty Woman, Problem Child, Problem Child 2,and The Mask. She has twice worked with Mel Brooks, in 1993's Robin Hood: Men in Tights and 1995's Dracula: Dead and Loving It. She also played the part of Madison the mermaid in the Disney TV movie Splash, Too in 1988. (The role of Madison was originated by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 movie Splash.)

She played Olivia Reed for two years on the long-running daytime soap opera Days of our Lives. Yasbeck also appeared once on the hit DCOS That's So Raven as the mother of one of the main characters, Chelsea. The episode originally aired on September 22, 2006.

In late 2007, plans surfaced of a potential That's So Raven spinoff featuring Yasbeck and Anneliese van der Pol, who portrayed her daughter, with occasional appearances by Raven-Symone. The show was scrapped due to van der Pol signing onto a new Broadway play, and Yasbeck wanting to take a break from acting to focus on her family.

She was a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? in 2010.

Amy Yasbeck Pictures

Personal life

Yasbeck is the widow of actor John Ritter, with whom she had worked in several projects. She first met him at director Dennis Dugan's house during a read-through of their 1990 movie Problem Child. According to Yasbeck, Ritter forced her to eat a bagel and cream cheese because he thought she was too thin. He also thought she was too young to play his wife in the movie (Ritter was almost 14 years Yasbeck's senior).

Yasbeck and Ritter also starred together in Problem Child 2 (1991) and guest-starred together in an episode of The Cosby Show which aired in 1991. Ritter also guest-starred on Wings as Yasbeck's estranged husband in the season seven episode "Love Overboard". The couple had a daughter, Stella Dorothy, in 1998, and married in 1999.

On September 11, 2003, Ritter died after falling ill on the set of his sitcom, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. The cause of death was an aortic dissection stemming from a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect.

Amy Yasbeck Pictures

Yasbeck gave her blessing to the continuation of the sitcom, 8 Simple Rules, where it was ultimately decided that Katey Sagal's character would assume the lead role as a widow.

Yasbeck appeared on Larry King Live on June 16, 2008, to discuss heart disease in the wake of television personality Tim Russert's death.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Yasbeck

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Amy Winehouse Biography

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Amy Jade Winehouse 14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011 was an English singer and songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

In 2007 she won a Brit Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She won the Ivor Novello Award three times: once in 2004 for Best Contemporary Song (musically and lyrically) for "Stronger Than Me", once in 2007 for Best Contemporary Song for "Rehab", and once in 2008 for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game".

Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. Her album Back to Black subsequently became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century. In 2012, Winehouse was listed at number 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music.

Amy Winehouse Pictures

Early life

Amy Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of North London to Jewish parents. Part of her mother's family originated in Russia. Her parents influenced her interest in jazz. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a taxi driver, her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), a pharmacist. Her grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and she had an older brother, Alex (born 1979). Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to young Amy, who also took to a constant habit of singing to the point that teachers found it difficult keeping her quiet in class. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine.

When Winehouse was nine years old, her grandmother Cynthia suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School for furthering her vocal education. She attended the Earnshaw school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School; however, Winehouse was allegedly expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose. (Sylvia Young herself has denied this – "She changed schools at 15 – I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy.") She also appeared in an episode of The Fast Show, 1997, with other children from the Sylvia Young School and later attended The Mount School, Mill Hill, the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, Southgate School and then Ashmole School.

Amy Winehouse Tattoo Pictures

Personal life

With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency (Big Pictures) under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the resultant court order banning them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the home of her friends and family. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.

Amy Winehouse Tattoo Pictures

Death

Winehouse's bodyguard said that he arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she was somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days. He observed her "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 am the day of her death". According to the bodyguard at 10 am he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard shortly after 3 pm he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before leading to a further check in which he concluded she was not breathing and had no pulse. He claimed he subsequently called emergency services. At 3:54 pm BST on 23 July 2011, two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died. After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse’s residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside. Police recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room.

A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 mg per decilitre at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."

Amy Winehouse Pictures

Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Mutya Buena, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the American punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy." Family and friends attended Winehouse's funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friend Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. Winehouse's parents set up a foundation in her name, to help those affected by drug addiction.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse

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Amy Smart Biography

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Amy Lysle Smart born March 26, 1976 is an American film and television actress and former fashion model.

Amy Smart Beautiful Pictures

Early life

Smart was born in Topanga, California. Her mother, Judy Lysle (née Carrington), worked at a museum, and her father, John Boden Smart, was a salesman. Amy Smart studied ballet for ten years.

Amy Smart Pictures

Career

While modelling in Italy, Smart met fellow model Ali Larter and the two "became instant friends", according to Larter. Whilst in Los Angeles, the two took acting classes together.

Smart's first film role was in director Martin Kunert's film Campfire Tales, followed by a small role as Queenie in the 1996 rendition of John Updike's short story, "A&P". She had a minor role in the 1997 film Starship Troopers as the co-pilot for (and friend of) Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards). She had a starring role in the mini-series The 70s, playing a young woman from Ohio. In 1999, Smart played the girlfriend of a popular American football player (played by James Van Der Beek) in the film Varsity Blues, re-uniting her with close friend Ali Larter.

Smart played a recurring character the series Felicity from 1999 to 2001 — Ruby, a former girlfriend of Scott Foley's character. She co-starred in the films Road Trip (2000), Rat Race (2001),[9] Starsky & Hutch (2004), and The Butterfly Effect (2004).

In 2005, Smart co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in the romantic comedy film Just Friends, which had a total domestic box office gross of $32,619,761, and a total worldwide box office of $50,817,598.

In 2003 Smart also had a small role in the American sitcom Scrubs, playing Jamie Moyer (aka "Tasty Coma Wife"), one of main character J.D.'s love interests.

In 2005, Smart starred as Sarah in a British independent film called The Best Man. Seth Green was her co-star. She also appeared in the 2006 film Crank, portraying the girlfriend of the lead character, Chev Chelios (played by Jason Statham). She reprised the role in the sequel, Crank: High Voltage, released in 2009.

Smart was a regular cast member in the short-lived 2006 CBS television series Smith. She also has voiced some of the characters in the animated series Robot Chicken, created by Seth Green. Smart appeared as Joy in the 2006 movie Peaceful Warrior, starring Scott Mechlowicz and Nick Nolte. She stars as Melissa in the 2008 independent film Seventh Moon.

Amy Smart Pictures

In 2011, Smart joined the Showtime drama/comedy Shameless as the recurring character Jasmine Hollander. She continues to guest star in season two, which began airing January 8, 2012.

Amy Smart Hot Pictures

Personal life

Smart married Carter Oosterhouse from HGTV on September 10, 2011, in Traverse City, Michigan.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Smart

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Amy Ryan Biography

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Amy Ryan born November 30, 1969 is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone (2007) and is also known for her roles in HBO's The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; HBO's In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and NBC's The Office, playing human resources representative Holly Flax.

Amy Ryan Pictures

Early life

Ryan was born in Queens, New York City. Ryan is her mother's maiden name.She is of English, Irish, and Polish descent.

Growing up in the 1970s, Ryan and her sister delivered the Daily News by bike. At a young age, Ryan attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Center in upstate New York. At 17, she graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts. Hired for the national tour of Biloxi Blues right out of high school, Ryan worked steadily off-Broadway for the next decade.

Amy Ryan Pictures

Theatre

Ryan made her off-Broadway debut in the Westside Theatre's 1987 production of A Shayna Maidel, playing the role of Hanna. The following year she was seen in the Second Stage Theatre Company's revival of The Rimers of Eldritch. Additional off-Broadway credits include As Bees In Honey Drown, Crimes of the Heart and Saved. She also worked in regional theater, where she originated roles in new plays by Neil LaBute, Arthur Miller and Neil Simon. On Broadway she has appeared as Tess in The Sisters Rosensweig, Natasha in the 1997 revival of The Three Sisters, and Peggy in the 2001–2002 revival of The Women.

Ryan has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play twice: in 2000, for her portrayal of Sonya Alexandrovna in Uncle Vanya, and in 2005, for her performance as Stella Kowalski opposite John C. Reilly in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Amy Ryan Pictures

Television

Following a brief stint playing a runaway on As the World Turns, Ryan was cast in television series such as I'll Fly Away, in which she played a high school temptress, and Brooklyn Bridge, where she played Marion Ross's character in flashbacks.[15] After roles on ER and Chicago Hope, Ryan became a series regular on The Naked Truth as Téa Leoni's spoiled stepdaughter. In 1993, she made her first appearance on NBC's Law & Order, appearing in several episodes over the years.

By 2001, director Sidney Lumet cast her in 100 Centre Street playing three different roles (Ellen, Paris and Rebecca). Ryan went on to feature prominently in the second season of HBO's The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell. She appeared for a six-episode arc on The Office as dorky HR rep Holly Flax. She reprised her role on The Office in seasons 5 & 7.

Ryan joined the cast of HBO's In Treatment for its third season, playing the therapist of Dr. Paul Weston.

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Film

Because of the deletion of the scene wherein she played Eric Stoltz's wife in Allison Anders's Grace of My Heart, Ryan made her 1999 movie debut in Roberta. She then appeared in You Can Count on Me with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, and the mystery/thriller Keane. Albert Brooks chose her to play his wife in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World in 2005, and 2007 brought both Dan in Real Life and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Her role as a star-struck sheriff's wife in Capote earned her positive reviews, but it was playing a hardened welfare mom in Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone that finally brought her national attention.

After being voted Best Supporting Actress for Gone Baby Gone by the National Board of Review, as well as the critics circles in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC, Ryan's performance was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting role at the 80th Academy Awards.

Ryan appeared in Changeling (2008), directed by Clint Eastwood, and opposite Matt Damon in Paul Greengrass's Green Zone (2010). In September 2010, she completed filming a role in Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial film debut, Jack Goes Boating, taking over the role of Connie originally played by Beth Cole in the stage version.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Ryan

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Amy Poehler Biography

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Amy Meredith Poehler born September 16, 1971 is an American actress, comedian, producer and writer. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she had a minor role in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is currently the lead of NBC's comedy Parks and Recreation. She has been nominated twice for both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Saturday Night Live, and for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in Parks & Recreation. For the latter series she also received a 2012 Golden Globe Award nomination.

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Early life

Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of Eileen Frances (née Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler, both teachers. She is a distant cousin of author Stephen King and U.S. senator Scott Brown, through shared New England ancestry. Poehler was raised Catholic.

A 1993 graduate of Boston College, Poehler was a member of America's oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe, "My Mother's Fleabag." After graduating from college, Poehler moved to Chicago, where she studied improvisational theatre at Second City, with friend and future co-star Tina Fey. She also studied with Del Close at ImprovOlympic, going on to become part of the touring company as well as teaching classes at IO.

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Film career and other work

Poehler has appeared in the films Wet Hot American Summer, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, Blades of Glory, Envy, Shrek the Third, Mr. Woodcock, and Hamlet 2. She is producing a digital series with two of her friends, Meredith Walker and Amy Miles, Smart Girls at the Party, available through ON Networks. The show is focused on interviews with young women who are "changing the world by being themselves". The first season of 'Smart Girls at the Party' premiered online November 17, 2008, with Mattel's Barbie signed on as the lead sponsor. Smart Girls at the Party is returning to production in 2012 as part of Google's 100 Channel YouTube initiative to create new content. The new Smart Girls at the Party YouTube Channel will go live on July 2, 2012 and include new episodes of Smart Girls at the Party along with additional shows by Amy, Meredith, and Amy.

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She appeared in various comedy segments on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, often playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's little sister Stacy, and as a recurring character in two episodes of the college dramedy Undeclared. She appears in the film Southland Tales, which premiered on May 21, 2006 at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, she appeared in Horton Hears a Who!, Hamlet 2, Baby Mama, and Spring Breakdown. She has also co-created an animated series for Nickelodeon called The Mighty B!, about Bessie Higgenbottom, a "sweet, merit-badge-obsessed girl scout", to which she lends her vocal talents. In 2009, Poehler earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Series.

In 2011 Poehler received the honor of being named one of TIME magazine's "100 most influential people in the world". She also delivered the Class Day address to Harvard University's class of 2011.

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Personal life

Poehler married Will Arnett of the Fox comedy Arrested Development on August 29, 2003, and had a recurring role in the series as the wife of Arnett's character George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II. Poehler and Arnett also played a quasi-incestuous brother-sister ice skating team in the 2007 film Blades of Glory, and appeared together in Horton Hears a Who!, On Broadway, Spring Breakdown, and Monsters vs. Aliens, along with Arnett having a guest appearance on Poehler's NBC comedy Parks and Recreation and both did voice acting on The Secret World of Arrietty. On October 25, 2008, Poehler gave birth to her first child, son Archibald William Emerson "Archie" Arnett, just hours before the Saturday Night Live telecast. Poehler gave birth to her second son, Abel James Arnett, on August 6, 2010. She is a supporter of Planned Parenthood.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Poehler

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