Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Synopsis

Born on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift started crafting songs at age 5, and at age 16, released her debut album. Hits like "Love Song" and "You Belong With Me" appealed to country and pop fans alike and helped fuel the multiplatinum success of her albums, with Fearless the 2009 top-seller. She has won many awards, including several Grammys, and modeled for Cover Girl.

Country Crooner

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years on her family's Christmas tree farm. Her grandmother had been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There she co-wrote songs, and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Swift and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Swift's career.

A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Records. She released her first single, "Tim McGraw," in 2006, and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, selling more than 2.5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including "Our Song," a No. 1 country music hit. "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture to Burn," and "Should've Said No" were also successful tracks.

In addition to commercial success, Swift received a lot of critical praise for her debut effort. She won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. Swift next released Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in 2007. Her renditions of "Silent Night" and "Santa Baby" were modest hits on the country charts.

Pop Stardom

In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category, and won the Academy of Country Music's "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award, the American Music Awards "Favorite Female Country Artist" award, and the American Music Association's "Horizon" award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album, Fearless (2008), which hit the top of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

In 2009, Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards. On September 13, 2009, Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," making her the first country music star to win an MTV Video Music Award. The win stirred controversy when rapper Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift's speech, took the microphone, and declared that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won Swift's award. The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for "Best Video of the Year" later in the show, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately, and made a public apology on TheJay Leno Show.

If possible, the attention has made Swift an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets now sell out in less than two minutes, and she is currently ranked as the 69th most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine, with more than $18 million in earnings this year alone. She recently made her second appearance on comedy show Saturday Night Live, this time as both the host and musical guest. She has also been tapped for four CMA nominations in 2009—"Female Vocalist", "Music Video of the Year", "Best Album" and "Entertainer of the Year"— as well as six American Music Award nominations.

During much of 2008, reports circulated that Swift was dating Joe Jonas from the popular musical group The Jonas Brothers. Neither Swift nor Jonas has ever acknowledged the relationship. "He's an amazing guy, and anyone would be lucky to be dating him," Swift said at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Whatever their relationship, it seemed to turn sour by the time Fearless was released. The song, "Forever & Always," is reportedly about Jonas. Swift was romantically linked to actor Taylor Lautner, one of the stars of the successful Twilight saga. The pair reportedly met while filming Swift's big screen debut Valentine's Day, which hit theaters in February 2010.

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Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is a singer/songwriter currently signed under Atlantic Records. Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, before moving to Framlingham, Suffolk. He learned guitar at a very young age, and began writing songs during his time at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. Many of his early childhood memories that he referred to in a interview on the Zane Lowe show included listening to Van Morrison on his countless trips to London with his parents and going to an intimate gig with Damien Rice in Ireland when he was 11.

Sheeran began recording in 2005, which led to the release of his first EP, The Orange Room EP. Sheeran also released two albums, a self-titled one in 2006 and Want Some? in 2007. He moved to London in 2008 to play gigs, starting off in very small venues, playing every day. Also in 2008, Sheeran auditioned for ITV 1′s “Britannia High”. He was unsuccessful, despite the tutors and judges being impressed with him.

In 2009, he played 312 gigs. Ed said that he read an interview with James Morrison that said that James had done 200 gigs in a year, so Ed said he wanted to beat him on this number. When he ran out of money, he left his flat he was renting and started ‘sofa surfing’ around London, he has been doing this ever since, even after he signed his deal. Also in 2009, he released another EP, You Need Me, just before going on tour with Just Jack, and in February 2010 began to get noticed after he posted a video through SB.TV, which led to mainstream rapper Example asking Sheeran to tour with him. Also in February 2010 he released his second indie release, his critically acclaimed Loose Change EP, which features one of his most popular songs “The A Team”. A video was made for the song, and famously cost only £20 to make.

In April 2010, after leaving his old management company, he bought a ticket to LA, with no contacts other than one poetry night. He played open mic nights all over LA, before being spotted at ‘The Foxxhole’ by Jamie Foxx, who invited him to stay at his house and record for the rest of his stay. Throughout 2010, Sheeran began to be seen by more and more people over the internet through YouTube and his fan-base grew incredibly, with him also getting credit from The Independent newspaper, England football captain Rio Ferdinand and even Elton John.

Sheeran released three more EPs in 2010, including Ed Sheeran: Live at the Bedford, a live EP and Songs I Wrote With Amy which is a collection of love songs he wrote in Wales with fellow singer songwriter Amy Wadge. On 9 January 2011, Sheeran released his final independent EP, No.5 Collaborations Project featuring appearances by grime artists including Wiley, JME, Devlin and Ghetts. With this EP, Sheeran gained mainstream attention for reaching number 1 in the iTunes chart without any promotion or label, selling over 7,000 copies in its first week. He was listed as a ‘special guest’ on Devlin’s 2011 Bud, Sweat and Beers mini-tour alongside Griminal and Tinchy Stryder

On 12 April 2011, Ed put on a free show to fans at the Barfly in Camden. Over 1000 fans turned up to see the show, so Ed Sheeran ended up playing 4 different shows to make sure everyone saw a gig, including a gig outside on the street after the venue had closed. Sheeran underestimated the amount of people that turned up and was overwhelmed.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Synopsis

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947, near Graz, Austria. He rose to fame as the world's top bodybuilder, launching a career that would make him a giant Hollywood star. After years of blockbuster movie roles, Schwarzenegger went into politics, becoming governor of California in 2003. In 2012, he returned to his acting career, starring with Jean-Claude Van Damme,

Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone in the film The Expendables 2. Within just one week, the movie had climbed to the No. 1 spot at the box office, bringing in nearly $28.6 million.

Early Years

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947, near Graz, Austria. Schwarzenegger's childhood was far from ideal. His father, Gustav, was an alcoholic police chief and one-time member of the Nazi Party, who clearly favored Arnold's brother over his gangly, seemingly less athletic younger son.

Gustav is reported to have beaten and intimidated Arnold and, when he could, pitted his two boys against one another. He also ridiculed Schwarzenegger's early dreams of becoming a body builder. "It was a very uptight feeling at home," Schwarzenegger later recalled. So uptight and uncomfortable, in fact, that Schwarzenegger would later refuse to attend the funeral of his father, who died in 1972, or his brother, who was killed in a car crash in 1971.

As an escape, Arnold turned to the movies, in particular Reg Parker, a body builder and star in B-level Hercules movies. The films also helped propel Schwarzenegger's own obsession with America, and the future he felt awaited him there. Getting to his new country was the issue. Schwarzenegger found his answer in Joe Weider, the man behind the International Federation of Body Building, an organization that sponsored contests such Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia.

Weider loved Schwarzenegger's bravado, sense of humor, and the potential he saw in the young body builder. Weider's instincts couldn't have been more dead-on. In all, Schwarzenegger would win an unprecedented five Mr. Universe titles and six Mr. Olympia crowns during his bodybuilding career.

Equally significant, Schwarzenegger, who had immigrated to the United States in 1968, helped propel the sport into the mainstream, culminating in the 1977 documentary, Pumping Iron, which tells the tale of Schwarzenegger's defense of his Mr. Olympia crown.

Making it in Hollywood

Since his first foray to the local movie house in his hometown of Graz, Arnold had dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. With his ascension to the top of the bodybuilding world, it was only a matter of time before he'd move over to the big screen.

After acting in a few small parts, Schwarzenegger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Newcomer for his performance in Stay Hungry (1976). With his intense physical strength and size, Schwarzenegger was a natural for action films. He became a leading figure in several popular 1980s action movies, including Conan the Barbarian (1982). Schwarzenegger also starred as a deadly machine from the future in The Terminator (1984). The science-fiction drama spawned two sequels—Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).Off-screen he continued his remarkable story, marrying into the Kennedy family by tying the knot with Maria Owings Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her husband R. Sargent Shriver.

Schwarzenegger's American story sounded improbable, except to those who knew him. "This is a man of bottomless ambition," said George Butler, producer and director of Pumping Iron, in a 2003 interview. "It's always been there ... He sees himself as mystically sent to America."

The 'Governator'

In 2003, Schwarzenegger again showed his resolve to succeed when he threw his hat into the ring for the California governor's race and won a seat in a special election. In a state that was mired in severe budget woes, the newly elected Republican governor promised to bring economic stability to his adopted state.

As expected, Schwarzenegger brought his own unique brand of confidence to his new job. "If they don't have the guts, I call them 'girlie-men,'" he said of Democrats, early in his first term. "They should go back to the table and fix the budget."

Still, as governor, he worked to improve the state's financial situation, promote new businesses, and protect the environment. In 2006, Schwarzenegger won easily won his bid for re-election.

His second term in office did not run as smoothly, however. Schwarzenegger struggled to help the state through difficult financial times. After leaving office in January 2011, he sought to revive his career in the entertainment industry. In March of that year, Schwarzenegger announced plans to work with famed comic book creator Stan Lee on a new animated series inspired by his time in office.

Only a few months after leaving office, Schwarzenegger made another announcement. He and Maria Shriver made their decision to separate public in May. The news followed Schwarzenegger's acknowledgement that he'd fathered a baby with a member of the family's household staff. Schwarzenegger and Shriver have four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher.

Recent Publicity

In 2010, Schwarzenegger starred alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone in the film The Expendables. In August 2012, he reunited with the film's cast for a follow-up film, The Expendables 2. Just one week after the film's premiere, it had climbed to the No. 1 spot at the box office, bringing in nearly $28.6 million.

Schwarzenegger made headlines again later in 2012, when he admitted for the first time to having an affair with his Red Sonja co-star, actress Brigitte Nielsen, in the mid-1980s—while he was dating and living with Maria Shriver, whom he later married. Nielsen had written about the adulterous relationship in her 2011 memoir, You Only Get One Life, but Schwarzenegger didn't publicly confirm Nielsen's account until the fall of 2012, when his memoir, Total Recall, was published.

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Will Smith

WILL SMITH

Synopsis

Will Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 25, 1968. At 16, Smith met a DJ at a party. The pair became friends, and the rapping duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince was born. In 1990, Smith moved into acting with his role in the TV show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. in 1992 Smith crossed over into movies. He has been starring in popular films ever since.

Early Life

Actor, musician. Born Willard Christopher Smith Jr., to mother Caroline, a school board employee, and father Willard C. Smith, the owner of a refrigeration company. His middle class upbringing saw him attend the strict—and Catholic—Overbrook High School, despite his family's observation of the Baptist faith.

His West Philadelphia neighborhood was a melting pot of cultures where Orthodox Jews co-existed with a large Muslim population. Smith was a good student whose charming personality and quick tongue were renowned for getting him out of trouble, a trait for which he soon gained the nickname "Prince.''

Smith began rapping at age 12, emulating heroes like Grandmaster Flash but tingeing his rhymes with a comedic element that would later become his trademark. At 16, Smith met a DJ at a party by the name of Jeff Townes. The pair became friends, and the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince was born.

Rap Success

The pair began producing music, but steered clear of the Gangsta Rap sound that was emerging on the West Coast in groups like Public Enemy and NWA. The Fresh Prince rapped about teenage preoccupations in a clean, curse-free style that middle America found safe and entertaining. The pair's first single, "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," was a hit in 1986. Their debut album Rock the House (1990) hit the Billboard Top 200, and made Smith a millionaire before the age of 18. His early success put any thoughts of attending college out of Smith's mind.

Early on it was reported that Smith had turned down a scholarship to Boston's elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but Smith later dispelled the rumor when he told an interviewer: "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."

In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince continued their success with the album He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper featuring the radio-friendly singles "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Brand New Funk," and "Nightmare on My Street." The album won the first ever Grammy Award for a Rap Performance. That album was followed by And In This Corner... which continued the pair's rise to stardom.

Crossover into Acting

Two years later, Smith began his remarkable crossover into acting. Drawing on his experiences with fledgling stardom, NBC signed Smith to star in a sitcom about a street-smart kid from Philadelphia.

On the show, the character is shipped off to California to live with wealthy relatives in Bel-Air, California. Playing on his rapper persona, and at times featuring his friend Towne, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air was a huge success that ran for six seasons.

Meanwhile, Smith and Towne kept producing music. The 1991 album Homebase produced the hits "Summertime" and "Ring My Bell." Their final album together, 1993's Code Red, was notable for "Boom!Shake the Room."

While still making The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith began a second crossover into movies. Small roles in the drama Where The Day Takes You (1992) and the comedy Made In America(1993) were followed by a critically acclaimed lead in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Smith played a charming street-wise kid moving among the wealthy elite, who was also a psychologically complex gay hustler. The film enjoyed moderate success, but its title idea has become a household term for the closeness of human society.

Smith's first steps into super-stardom came with his next film, Bad Boys (1995). The high-budget cop movie saw him team up with comic Martin Lawrence, breaking away from the black-cop-white-cop formula that had been so successful for Beverly Hills Cop and the Lethal Weapon series. The two black leads proved an instant success and Smith—playing the smooth, serious, cop to Lawrence's clown—was established as leading man material.

Hollywood Star

The 1996, epic sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day was his next assignment. The role confirmed Smith as a major player in Hollywood and the go-to guy for summer blockbusters. Smith played an air force pilot leading the counter-attack against the invading alien forces, and his comedic talents effortlessly transformed into the pithy one-liners all action heroes need to be able to drop while dispatching their enemies.

Smith fought aliens again in his next blockbuster, the comic sci-fi action film, Men In Black (1997). Playing opposite Tommy Lee Jones, Smith chewed up the screen as the new recruit to Jones's old hand. Smith sang the theme song, and its inclusion on his solo album, Big Willie Style (1997) brought the multi-talented actor another success. Another Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster followed with the slick conspiracy thriller Enemy of the State (1998), which earned Smith an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

The string of hits came to an end in 1999 with Wild Wild West, a sci-fi cowboy Western co-starring Kevin Kline. Despite the film's lackluster box-office performance, the track Smith cut for the film became a hit on his album, Willennium (1999). The golf movie The Legend of Bagger Vance was his next big film, with Smith playing the caddie to Matt Damon's out-of-sorts swinger.

In 2001 the biopic Ali, based on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, saw Smith return to critical acclaim. His turn as the charismatic boxing great saw Smith put in the performance of his life, training and disciplining himself to extraordinary lengths to do justice to the athleticism, and ego, of the films main character.

The film under-performed at the box-office despite a record-breaking opening day. Smith's performance, however, was good enough to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

Film Roles

A number of sequels were next, with Smith reprising his roles inMen In Black and Bad Boys. Neither were flops, but they were both nowhere near as successful as their predecessors. Staying with the sci-fi action theme, Smith moved on to I, Robot in 2004. The Isaac Asimov adaptation saw Smith playing a cop in 2035 investigating a murder by a robot and then battling a robot insurgency. The film performed well, grossing more than $144 million in U.S. box offices.

Smith's smooth-talking charmer persona was put to use in the 2005 romantic comedy, Hitch. Smith played a ladies' man and dating consultant who helps luckless guys with their romantic moves. Smith penned the theme song, and included it on his album Lost and Found (2005). Hitch was a massive success, and was followed by another critical and financial hit, the 2006 rags-to-riches tale, The Pursuit of Happyness. Starring alongside his real-life son Jaden, Smith captivated audiences with the story of a single father who has to build a life from scratch. He received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance.

In 2007, Smith starred in I Am Legend, a remake of the Charlton Heston film Omega Man, where he battled blood-thirsty vampires. The film became a national and international hit.

The talented actor and musician has recently entered yet another arena, working as a film producer. Smith worked both sides of the camera for the film Hancock, in which he plays an alcoholic anti-superhero, and for Seven Pounds, about a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. He also helped produce the 2008 films Lakeview Terrace and The Secret Life of Bees. His most recent project, The Mark, is slated for release in 2009.

Personal Life

Smith has been married twice. His first marriage in 1992 lasted only three years but produced a son, Willard Smith III, who is also known as Trey. He has been married to actress Jada Pinkett Smithsince 1997. The couple has a son, Jaden, who was born in 1998 and a daughter, Willow, born in 2000.

The Smith family has homes in Florida, Sweden and Philadelphia. Like many in Hollywood, Smith is politically liberal and has made donations to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. He is a fan of chess and video games and is known to take his mother on vacation every year, usually to the Canyon Ranch spa in Tucson, Arizona.

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Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake

Synopsis

Born on January 31, 1981, Justin Timberlake began his career on The New Mickey Mouse Club, starring with Britney Spearsand Christina Aguilera. In 1995, he became a teen heartthrob with the pop group 'N Sync. Timberlake went solo in 2002, releasing his own album, Justified.

Early Life

Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised a Baptist, Timberlake grew up singing in the church choir. From 1993 to 1995, he performed onThe New Mickey Mouse Club, along with pop stars Britney Spears,Christina Aguilera and JC Chasez. Afterward, Timberlake and Chasez, along with Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, formed the all-male singing group 'N Sync. The boy band would go on to become one of the hottest pop groups of the 1990s, releasingNo Strings Attached in 2000 and Celebrity in 2001.

Solo Career

In 2002, Timberlake decided to pursue a solo career, debuting with the hit song "Like I Love You." Later that year, he released his first solo album, Justified, which sold over 7 million copies worldwide. He received two Grammy Awards in 2004 for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The wins came on the heels of a controversial Super Bowl performance with Janet Jackson in which Timberlake accidentally tore off a portion of Jackson's costume revealing her bare breast.

Successful Collaborations

As a solo artist, Timberlake has often collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas, receiving an Grammy nomination with the band for "Where Is The Love?" He has also worked with Nelly, Snoop Doggand Nelly Furtado and started his own record company, JayTee Records, in 2005. The following year, he released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. The album's lead single, "SexyBack", spent several consecutive weeks at No. 1. In 2008, Timberlake helped make Madonna's single, 4 Minutes", a top ten hit. Not only did he provide some of the vocals, he was also a co-writer of the song. Timberlake also contributed to several other tracks on Madonna's Hard Candyalbum.

Acting Pursuits

Also pursuing an acting career, Timberlake has experienced limited success. While parts in Alpha Dog (2006) and Black Snake Moan(2006) garnered little notice, he did hit it big as the voice for a youngKing Arthur in 2007's smash animated film Shrek the Third, which featured Mike Myers as the title character. Timberlake continues to seek out new roles. Reteaming with Myers, he appeared in the 2008 comedy The Love Guru. He will also appear in the upcoming dramaThe Open Road with Jeff Bridges and Mary Steenburgen, plans to reprise his role as Artie in the fourth Shrek movie, and is in talks to play Green Latern in an upcoming DC Comics film remake.

In addition to acting, Timberlake has also opened several restaurants, started a clothing line and participated in humanitarian efforts in his native Tennessee.

Timberlake once dated fellow pop singer Britney Spears and actressCameron Diaz. In 2007, he began dating actress Jessica Biel. He and Biel finally married in October 2012, in Puglia, Italy, later issuing the following statement to People magazine: "It's great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends."

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