Monday, October 31, 2011

Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the Backstreet Boys

Brian Thomas Littrell (born February 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the Backstreet Boys. He is also a contemporary Christian recording artist and released a solo album, Welcome Home, in 2006. Brian has 4 Top 20 solo singles in the US Christian chart.

Littrell was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Brian Littrell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. He has one older brother and he is the cousin of former Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson. He first started to sing in the choir of his Lexington Baptist church. Music was always important to him, and originally planned on entering school to become a music minister. Littrell, while a senior in high school, changed plans and accepted the offer to join what would become the very successful new boy band, the Backstreet Boys.

Brian's cousin Kevin Richardson called on him to join the Backstreet Boys. After the joining of Brian Littrell, the quintet officially took shape. In the beginning, there was no success in the United States, even though the first single had been a hit on Orlando radio stations. The band manager Lou Pearlman marketed the Backstreet Boys in Europe, where they became commercially successful in 1995. They became hugely popular in Europe, Latin America and the United States in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. During this time they released four albums, Backstreet Boys, Backstreet's Back, Millennium and Black & Blue followed by a greatest hits album, The Hits: Chapter One. After a three-year gap, they released their comeback album, Never Gone followed by Unbreakable and This is Us.

In 1997 Littrell was instrumental in bringing a lawsuit against the group's managers Lou Pearlman and Trans Continental claiming that Pearlman has not been truthful about the earnings made by the group. In the following year, McLean, Richardson and Dorough joined the lawsuit which eventually resulted in a number of settlements, details of which were not disclosed.





Howie Dorough, American musician and member of American music group Backstreet Boys

Howard Dwaine "Howie" Dorough (born August 22, 1973) is an American musician and member of American music group Backstreet Boys.

Dorough was born in Orlando, Florida, where he met future friend and bandmate A.J. McLean. His mother, Paula Flores, is Puerto Rican, and his late father, Hoke Dorough, was Irish American. He is the youngest of five siblings. He came to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the Backstreet Boys.

Dorough worked as a producer for singer/song-writer George Nozuka and Katelyn Tarver as part of his management partnership with former 3deep member CJ Huyer, called HC Entertainment formed in 2004. In mid-2011 Howie's first solo album "Back to Me" is set to release in November 2011. The first single "100" received moderate success and airplay primarily in Canada."

Dorough guest-starred in the television series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch in the episode "The Big Head" as an egotistic rock star named Strum. He also guest-starred on an episode of Roswell, and voiced Santa Claus on the Nickelodeon preschool animated series Dora the Explorer in the Christmas episode "A Gift for Santa". In September 2002, Howie and the rest of The Backstreet Boys made special guest appearances on the children's cartoon Arthur. Howie Guest Starred on Saturday Night Live in a Sketch and Performed with The Backstreet Boys.

In 1998, Dorough's sister, Caroline Dorough-Cochran, died of Lupus. After her death, Dorough established the Dorough Lupus Foundation. The foundation helps raise awareness about the disease, financial support for those who cannot afford treatment, and money for research.

On December 8, 2007, Dorough married his longtime girlfriend Leigh Boniello in the traditional Catholic ceremony. They have one son named James.




A. J. McLean, American musician, singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer. He is a member of the Backstreet Boys.

Alexander James "A.J." McLean (born January 9, 1978) is an American musician, singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer. He is a member of the Backstreet Boys.

McLean was born in West Palm Beach, Florida to Bob and Denise (née Fernandez) McLean. He is of Cuban and German ancestry on his mother's side and Scottish, Irish and Portuguese on his father's side. His parents divorced and his father left the family when A.J. was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and her parents, Ursula and Adolph Fernandez. In January 1986 at 8 years old, he acted in his first role as Little Mike in the 1986 film Truth or Dare.

In 1990, he moved to Orlando, Florida with his mother and grandparents to concentrate on his acting and singing career. After numerous auditions for various Nickelodeon and Disney projects, including the Nickelodeon show GUTS, he landed a role in Nickelodeon's Welcome Freshmen, and in a comedy series called Hi Honey, I'm Home! on which he played a character named "Skunk".

McLean created a character, whom he named "Johnny NoName", to use as his alter ego. He uses it as his name when not performing with other members of the Backstreet Boys. The character has similarities to McLean; for instance, both had single mothers, and lived with their grandparents from a young age. There are also differences - Johnny has been to prison whereas McLean has not. McLean has occasionally performed in rock/metal clubs around New York as Johnny No Name. He established a foundation called the JNN Foundation to raise funds for diabetes research and other causes like keeping music programs in schools. McLean also did a nine-city tour to support VH1 Save the Music as Johnny No Name. Originally McLean's alter ego was named Johnny Suede. It shared its name with a character played by Brad Pitt and when the studio threatened to sue McLean, he changed the name to Johnny No Name.




Jason Schwartzman, American actor and musician, born in Los Angeles, California

Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Bewitched, Rushmore, Spun, I ♥ Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He currently releases music through solo-project Coconut Records; formerly, he was the drummer of the rock band Phantom Planet. Schwartzman is also the star of the HBO series Bored to Death, where he plays a writer who moonlights as an unlicensed detective, advertising himself on Craigslist.

Schwartzman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Talia Shire (née Coppola) and the late producer Jack Schwartzman. Many of his family members are involved in film; he is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola, cousin of actor Nicolas Cage, director Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola, and Christopher Coppola, and grandson of Italia Coppola (née Pennino) and Carmine Coppola. His brother is actor/musician Robert Schwartzman (vocalist for the band Rooney), and his paternal half-brother is cinematographer John Schwartzman. Schwartzman is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent on his father's side and Italian (Catholic) ancestry on his mother's side, and was raised without religion.

Schwartzman's acting career began when he was 17 years old when he starred in Wes Anderson's Rushmore in 1998. Prior to Rushmore, Schwartzman had no acting experience.

He is also known for his roles in the films The Darjeeling Limited, Shopgirl with Steve Martin, I ♥ Huckabees, Spun, Funny People and Slackers. In 2006, he starred in Marie Antoinette under the direction of his cousin, Sofia Coppola, in which he appeared as King Louis XVI with Kirsten Dunst in the title role.

He made a cameo appearance in the Judd Apatow-produced musician biopic spoof Walk Hard as Ringo Starr. In 2009, he appeared in Apatow's third directorial feature entitled Funny People, in which he played Mark, a C-list television star.

Schwartzman stars in HBO's TV show Bored to Death in which he plays a writer who moonlights as a private detective who puts himself up for hire on Craigslist. In 2010, he performed as Gideon Graves in the film, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the movie adaptation of the comics by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

In 2011, Schwartzman made a cameo appearance as Vincent Van Gogh in the Beastie Boys short film Fight For Your Right Revisited.

Prior to acting, he was the drummer and a songwriter for the band Phantom Planet. Despite leaving the band for an acting career, music remains one of Schwartzman's passions and pastimes. He appears in the music video for the rock remix of "It's All About the Benjamins" by Puff Daddy. He also contributed to Ben Lee's 2005 album Awake Is the New Sleep.

In 2007, he created the indie rock solo act Coconut Records. The first CD, entitled "Nighttiming" was produced by Mike Einziger of Incubus and features a cover photo from Roman Coppola. The album was first released on iTunes on March 20, 2007. Songs include "West Coast", "Nighttiming", and "This Old Machine". In 2009, the second album Davy was released on iTunes on January 20, 2009. The first single off of the CD was "Microphone".

In addition, Schwartzman has composed and performs the musical score for Funny People and the theme song for Bored to Death. He has also written tracks for Smallville and Slackers.




Saturday, October 22, 2011

Handsome Man - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist

Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–87). [1]

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the official film series, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.

Brosnan was born at Saint Mary's Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, and May (née Smith, born circa 1934), and was their only child. He lived in Navan, County Meath for 12 years and considers it his hometown. Brosnan's mother moved to London to work as a nurse after his father abandoned the family. According to Brosnan,

Childhood was fairly solitary. I grew up in a very small town called Navan in County Meath. I never knew my father. He left when I was an infant and I was left in the care of my mother and my grandparents. To be Catholic in the '50s, and to be Irish Catholic in the '50s, and have a marriage which was not there, a father who was not there, consequently, the mother, the wife suffered greatly. My mother was very courageous. She took the bold steps to go away and be a nurse in England. Basically wanting a better life for her and myself. My mother came home once a year, twice a year.

From a young age Brosnan was largely brought up by his grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith. After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live with a woman named Eileen. Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic family and educated in a local school run by the Christian Brothers while serving as an altar boy Brosnan has expressed contempt for his education by the Christian Brothers. In spite of this, Brosnan still attends Mass, but adheres to his own spiritual beliefs. When asked in a 2008 Reader's Digest interview if he still practiced Catholicism, Brosnan replied, "I was an altar boy. That never leaves you. So when there are churches around, I go to church. I just went yesterday. I also love the teachings of Buddhist philosophy. It's my own private faith. I don't preach it, but it's a faith that is a comfort to me when the night is long."

After graduating from the Drama Centre in 1975, Brosnan began working as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre Royal, making his acting debut in Wait Until Dark. Within six months, he was selected by playwright Tennessee Williams to play the role of McCabe in the British première of The Red Devil Battery Sign. His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy". In 1977 he was picked by Franco Zeffirelli to appear in the play Filumena by Eduardo De Filippo opposite Joan Plowright and Frank Finlay.

He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals, Murphy's Stroke, and Play for Today. He became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America. He followed this with his 1982 Masterpiece Theatre documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw II garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.




Cute Man - Jimmy Lin, Taiwanese singer, actor and professional race car driver

Jimmy Lin Chih-Ying (born 15 October 1974) is a Taiwanese singer, actor and professional race car driver. [1]

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, on the 15 October 1974, Lin was the second child in a family of five children. He graduated from Zhong Xiao Primary School and Huai Sheng Secondary School. At the age of 16, while he was studying Drama and Photography in Hwa Gang, Lin was discovered during a performance in school. During this time, he was the star of the campus. At first, he declined his first manager's offer to enter the entertainment industry but later took up the offer. In 1992, at the age of 17, he became a superstar overnight at the release of his debut album, "Not Every Love Song has Fond Memories". His sweeping fame across Asia and even the United States gained him the nickname "Little Whirlwind". He was also known as one of the "Little Four Heavenly Kings" in Taiwan. Lin became the youngest singer ever to hold a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, being only 18 years old and the first singer to hold a concert within the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth, Singapore, in 1999. He went on to release 13 albums, including special editions and compilations, and has since filmed many movies and series, as well as endorsed many products. Throughout his singing career, he also received many awards for his hit songs and albums.

Lin enjoyed great popularity until 1994, when he had to serve compulsory military service. Despite knowing it would affect his career tremendously, he did not seek special treatment from the government. In October that year, he entered the military like any other ordinary male of his age. Despite his fame, Lin did not have an easy life in the military. In a 2005 talk show, Jimmy revealed that in addition to the arduous training, he was bullied by seniors, and was expected to perform better than other soldiers. Although he did not expect star treatment, Jimmy was shocked to be treated badly for being a celebrity. In spite of all these, Lin performed well as a soldier, and received awards for excellent performance. He served primarily in the entertainment section of the military. After 2 years in the military, he returned to acting and singing career in 1996.

Lin's career as an actor and singer was momentarily postponed by his compulsory military service and upon his return, he was overshadowed by many newcomers. Despite the difficulties he faced in re-entering showbiz, he worked hard and even set up his own company, Jimmy Creative, which produced his recent 5 albums under the music label "Forward". The most noteworthy album was "Scarecrow" (1999), which contained a song of the same title. His best friends were Zach and Bailey as they tought him how to sing and act.

In 1997, Lin decided to realize his dream of car racing. In one of the races that year, he encountered a crash which nearly cost him his life. Seconds after limping out of the wreck, the car exploded. The only reminder of the accident now is a few metal plates in the foot that was crushed. Despite the accident, Lin did not give up on racing, and constantly strove to better himself. With regard to this, he often says, "When I race, I am not racing against others, but against myself." Today, Lin is one of the top 10 rally racers in Mainland China. In 2005, he signed a contract with Hong He, the top team in China, as a racer. He trained under top racing coach Ma Jun Kun. Lin hopes to become a Formula 3 racer someday, and become a full-time professional racer. In 2005 he and two friends founded the Ping Tzuo Racing Advisory Company at the ZhuHai International Circuit. On 23 October 2005, Lin hosted the first "Jimmy Cup", a racing event where mainly male celebrities race. The event's aim was to increase the awareness of traffic safety to the masses and to promote the love of car racing. In 2006 he formed the Jimmy Lin Rally Team to compete in the China Rally Championship. His team won Overall 3rd place in the 2006 China Rally Championship. On 26 October 2008 he was formally inducted into the China F1 TianRong Powerboat Racing team in ShenZhen, China. He will train with the team in 2009/2010 in order to get his F1 powerboat racing license.



Handsome Man - Ashmit Patel, born in Mumbai, India, Bollywood actor

Ashmit Patel (born 13 January 1978 in Mumbai, India) is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood films. [1]

Ashmit Patel is the son of Amit Patel and Asha Patel, the younger brother of Amisha Patel, and the grandson of the famous lawyer-politician Barrister Rajni Patel who was the Congress Pradesh Committee President of Bombay. His birth name is a blend of the first three letters of his mother's name Asha and the last three letters of his father's name Amit.

He studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and later attended the University of Texas at Austin in United States, from which he received a bachelors degree in Business in 2000. After graduation he worked in his father's business for a while, but later decided to act in films like his sister.

He started his career as an assistant director and worked with Vikram Bhatt in the making of his films, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (2002), Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Raaz (2002) and Footpath (2003). He made his acting debut with the film Inteha directed by Vikram Bhatt. In 2004, he appeared alongside Mallika Sherawat and Emraan Hashmi in the thriller Murder, a Bollywood inspiration of Unfaithful. The film was his first commercial success.

In 2005, Patel starred in Soni Razdan's thriller Nazar and Khalid Mohammed's multi-starrer Silsilay. Both the films were unsuccessful at the box office. In 2006, he played supporting roles in Dil Diya Hai, Banaras and Fight Club. In 2007, he starred in the comedy Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana alongside Mahima Chaudhary and Rekha. His next film Toss was released in 2009.

Patel featured as one of the finalists in the fourth season of the Indian television reality show Bigg Boss. He is currently hosting a show Superstud on UTV Bindass.




Thursday, October 20, 2011

Top Handsome Man - Brad Pitt, born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention. [1]

Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances, including a role on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas in 1987. He later gained recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995 he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter securing him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. He then starred in the major international hit as Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his title role performance in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has generated wide publicity. He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include the 2007 Academy Award winning Best Picture, The Departed.

The son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Along with his siblings Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969), he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where the family moved soon after his birth. He was raised as a conservative Southern Baptist.

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, tennis and swimming teams. He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals. Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising. As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, he acted in several fraternity shows. As graduation approached, Pitt saw his friends getting jobs but did not feel ready to settle down himself. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided he would go to where they were made. Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.

While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London. He took on various occasional jobs, spending some time as a chauffeur and dressing up as an El Pollo Loco chicken to pay for acting lessons.

Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero. His television debut came in November of the same year with a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall). Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay." Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before." Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.

In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. However, the film was shelved on the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was released only in 1997. Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together; the second a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters. He made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.




Top Handsome Man - Jude Law, English actor, film producer and director

David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972), known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director. [1]

He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.

In 2006, he was one of the top ten most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In April 2011, it was announced that he would be a member of the main competition jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Law was born in Lewisham, South London, the second child of comprehensive school teachers Margaret Anne (née Heyworth) and Peter Robert Law; his father later became, according to Law, "the youngest headmaster in London". He has a sister, Natasha. Law was named after a "bit of both" the book Jude the Obscure and the song Hey Jude. He grew up in Blackheath, an area in the Borough of Lewisham, and was educated at John Ball Primary School in Blackheath and Kidbrooke School, before attending the Alleyn's School.

In 1987, Law began acting with National Youth Music Theatre. He played various roles in the Edinburgh Fringe-awarded play The Ragged Child. One of his first major stage roles was Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les Parents terribles, directed by Sean Mathias. For this play, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and he received the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play was reworked and transferred to Broadway in 1995, where Law acted opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees, and Cynthia Nixon. This role earned him a Tony Award nomination and the Theatre World Award. In 1989, Law got his first television role, in a movie based on the Beatrix Potter children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short The Crane, Law had his breakthrough with the British crime drama Shopping, which also featured his future wife, Sadie Frost.

In 1997, he became more widely known with his role in the Oscar Wilde bio-pic Wilde. Law won the "Most Promising Newcomer" award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his role as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde. In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca, Law played the role of a disabled former swimming star living in a eugenics-obsessed dystopia. In Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, he played the role of the ill-fated hustler murdered by an art dealer, played by Kevin Spacey.

For The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, he learned to play saxophone and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno.