vip™: May 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Preity Zinta In Blue Dress - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Preity Zinta Profile

Name: Preity Zinta

Birth Date: January 31, 1975

Birh Place: Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Age: 32

Occupation: Actress

Years active: 1998 - present

Spouse(s): None

Partner(s): Ness Wadia (2005 - present)

Official site: http://www.preityzinta.com

Preity Zinta Biography

Preity Zinta (born 31 January 1975) is an award-winning Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies. She is among the most popular actresses in the industry.

Making her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Dil Se (1998), Zinta had her first commercial success with Soldier in the same year, and won a Filmfare Best Debut Award for both of the films. She was widely recognized with her performance as a teenage single mother in Kundan Shah's hit Kya Kehna (2000). Following this she went on to demonstrate her versatility and flexibility as an actress, portraying a diversity of different characters, which were usually distinct from typical roles played by Indian actresses at that point of time.

After a number of critically and commercially successful films, Zinta received her first Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), as well as numerous other awards. She starred in the science fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), which turned out to be her biggest commercial success so far. She later won acclaim for her role as Zaara in Yash Chopra's romance Veer-Zaara (2004), and was praised for playing roles of Indian modern and independent women in international hits like Salaam Namaste (2005) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). This way, she has established herself as one of the most prominent leading actresses of Hindi cinema. According to the Indian box office, she is placed on the top in the list of the most successful actresses of this generation.

Zinta is widely known in the Indian media for her penchant for speaking her mind, being forthright about her personal views and expressing her outspoken opinions in public, which have occasionally been surrounded by controversy.

Salma Hayek @ Partouche Charity Poker Festival (Arrivals) - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Salma Hayek @ Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - Screening - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Salma Hayek Profile

Name: Salma Hayek

Birth Name: Salma Hayek Jimenez

Height: 5' 2"

Sex: F

Nationality: Mexican

Birth Date: September 2, 1966

Birth Place: Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico

Profession: Actress

Education: Catholic school in Texas
National University of Mexico (dropped out)
Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles, California

Relationship: Francois-Henri Pinault (businessman; engaged March 3, 2007), Josh Lucas (actor; born June 20, 1971; dated August 2003 - July 2004), Edward Norton (actor; born August 19, 1969; dated 1999 - 2003)

Father: Sami Hayek Dominguez (Lebanese; businessman)

Mother: Diana Hayek (Mexican; opera singer and talent scout)

Brother: Sami Hayek (younger)

Claim to fame: as Carolina in Desperado (1995)

Salma Hayek Biography

Salma Hayek Jimenez (born September 2, 1966) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated Mexican-American actress, Daytime Emmy-winning director, and an Emmy-nominated TV and film producer. Hayek has appeared in more than thirty films and performed as an actress outside of Hollywood in Mexico and Spain. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.

In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community. That same month a poll found Hayek to be the "sexiest celebrity" out of a field of 3,000 celebrities (male and female); according to the poll, "65 percent of the U.S. population would use the term 'sexy' to describe" her.

Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, the daughter of Diana Jiménez, an opera singer and talent scout, and Sami Hayek, an oil company executive. Hayek's father's side of the family is of Assyrian-Lebanese descent and her mother's family is of Spanish descent Reflecting her Assyrian heritage, her first name literally means ‘peace’ or ‘calm’ in Aramaic. Raised in a wealthy, devoutly Catholic family, she was sent to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau, Louisiana, at the age of twelve. She was also an accomplished gymnast aspiring to compete in the Olympics but her father prevented her from being recruited by the Mexican national team. The religious sisters running the Academy ejected Hayek citing behavioral problems, so she returned to Mexico. She was later sent to live with her aunt in Houston, Texas, where she stayed until she was seventeen. She attended college in Mexico City, where she studied International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana. To the surprise of her family, she dropped out to pursue a career as an actress.

Petra Nemcova @ 'Un Conte De Noel' Premiere - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Petra Nemcova Profile

Name: Petra Nemcova

Height: 5' 10''

Sex: F

Nationality: Czech

Birth Date: June 24, 1979

Birth Place: Karvina, Czech Republic

Profession: Model, Actress, Writer

Relationship: James Blunt (British musician; born on February 22, 1977; confirmed as couple on July 2006), Simon Atlee (British fashion photographer; drowned in Thailand by the tsunami on December 26, 2004)

Claim to fame: Featured on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Petra Nemcova Biography

Petra Nemcova (born June 24, 1979) in Karvina, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a fashion model and; founder and president of Happy Hearts Fund. In December 2004, she was injured in Thailand by a tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; her then-fiance, Simon Atlee, was killed in the tsunami.

Her father was a mason and her mother, a teacher. She became a model after being spotted at the age of 16 during a national talent search.

She was featured on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and has also modeled for Victoria's Secret, and for many other companies in the women's clothing market. In addition to working with world class photographers on her Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object/subject of Joanne Gair's body painting work. On June 3, 2004, she was one of the telecast judges during the 53rd annual Miss Universe competition in Quito, Ecuador.

During the Indian Ocean earthquake of December 26, 2004, Petra was at the Khao Lak resort in Thailand with her main photographer and fiance, Simon Atlee when the tsunami struck where they were staying. Initially, Atlee was presumed missing, but his body was found and identified on March 3, 2005, on the shores of Sumatra (near the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the Tsunami).

Atlee drowned, and Nemcova suffered a broken pelvis and serious internal injuries, but she managed to hold onto the top of a palm tree, reportedly for eight hours, until she was rescued by Thai civilians and airlifted to an inland hospital nearby. Petra spent three weeks in a Thai hospital, and then flew home to the Czech Republic, where she spent an additional three weeks in the hospital. Atlee's body was not found until over two months after the tsunami. Petra's first interview after her near-death experience was with Diane Sawyer on ABC's Primetime Live, on March 9, 2005. She has also spoken of her experiences on the "Larry King Live" program on CNN.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Aishwarya Rai With Bachchans @ Vicky Cristina Barcelona Premiere - 61st Festival De Cannes May 2008

Aishwarya Rai Profile

Name: Aishwarya Rai

Nick Name: Aishu

Born: November 1, 1973, Karnataka, India

Family: Mother-Brindya, Brother-Aditya

Star: Scorpio

Height: 5 ' 7 "

Eyes: Green

Family: Mother Brindya, Brother Aditya

Languages: English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil

Aishwarya Rai Biography

Aishwarya Bachchan Rai (born November 1, 1973), is an award-winning Indian actress. Rai, who won the Miss World title in 1994, made her film debut in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar (1997) and had her first critical and commercial success with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), with whom she repeated this success with Devdas (2002). Since then, she has acted in nearly forty Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English films. Today, she is considered to be one of the most popular actresses in India and the best-known Indian actress in the world. Rai is married to Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan and is daughter-in-law to Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.

Rai was born in Mangalore, in the South Indian state of Karnataka, to Krishnaraj Rai, a marine engineer, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. Her ancestors are from the Bunt community of Mangalore. Her family relocated to Mumbai (Bombay) after her birth. Rai has one elder brother, Aditya Rai who is in the merchant navy. Rai attended the Arya Vidya Mandir at Santacruz, Mumbai, then entered Jai Hind College, Churchgate, Mumbai for one year and then moved to Ruparel College, Matunga, Mumbai to finish her HSC. She was an A student and was on track to become an architect. Her mother tongue is Tulu. She also speaks Hindi, English, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil.

Rai began modeling on the side while pursuing for studies in Architecture, which did not materialise. In the 1994 Miss India contest, she was placed second behind Sushmita Sen, and went on to win the Miss World title that same year and the Miss Photogenic award. After the one year reign as Miss World in London, she then worked as a professional model, in advertising and Indian fashion magazines and later got into the Indian film industry.