The Celebrity Face

Rachel Hannah Weisz (born 7 March 1970) is an Academy Award-winning English actress. She became well-known after her role as Evelyn “Evie” Carnahan-O’Connell in the Hollywood films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and has since continued appearing in major film roles.

Early life

Weisz was born in London, England and grew up in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Her mother, Edith Ruth (née Teich), is a Vienna-born Austrian teacher turned psychotherapist. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born inventor whose family fled to England to escape Nazi persecution. Weisz’s father is Ashkenazi Jewish and her mother has been referred to as either Catholic, Jewish, or having Jewish ancestry. Weisz was raised in a cerebral Jewish household and refers to herself as Jewish. Weisz has a sister, Minnie Weisz, who is an artist.

Weisz was educated at North London Collegiate School. She was then sent to Benenden School and eventually settled in St Paul’s Girls’ School. She then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated with a 2:1 in English. During her university years she appeared in various student productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival for an improvised piece called Slight Possession.

Career

Her breakthrough role was that of Gilda in Welsh director Sean Mathias’s 1995 West End revival of Noel Coward’s 1933 play Design for Living at the Gielgud Theatre. Having already worked for television, with parts in major UK series such as Inspector Morse (1993), Weisz started her cinema career in 1995 with Chain Reaction and then appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty. She followed this work with more English films including My Summer with Des, Swept from the Sea, The Land Girls, and Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You. Although she received favourable critical recognition for her work to this point, her breakout into wide audience recognition came from a popular serio-comic horror movie The Mummy, in which she played the lead female role alongside Brendan Fraser. Since then she has starred in a number of films including The Mummy Returns (2001), which grossed higher than the original, as well as Enemy at the Gates (2001), About a Boy (2002), Runaway Jury (2003) and Constantine (2005). Her stage work includes the role of Catherine in a London production of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer and Evelyn in Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things at the Almeida Theatre (also film).

In 2005, Weisz starred in Fernando Meirelles’s The Constant Gardener, a film adaptation of a John le Carré thriller of the same title set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. For this role, Weisz won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. In her home country, she was recognised as a leading role for the film according to the nomination from the BAFTA awards and winnings from the London Critics Circle Film Awards and British Independent Film Awards.

In 2006 Weisz was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The same year, she starred in The Fountain and also provided the voice for Saphira in the much-criticized film Eragon. Her 2008 films include the Wong Kar-wai-directed drama My Blueberry Nights (in which she played an "anti-Southern belle") and director Rian Johnson’s upcoming The Brothers Bloom, in which she plays a wealthy American woman targeted by two con man brothers (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo).

On 7 July 2007, Weisz presented at the American leg of Live Earth.

She is signed to Independent Models in London.

Personal life

Weisz is engaged to American film-maker Darren Aronofsky. They have been dating since 2002. They have a son, Henry Chance, born on May 31, 2006 in New York City. The couple reside in the East Village in Manhattan. They are considering getting married in a traditional wedding ceremony at the oldest synagogue in New York.

Filmography

Rachel Weisz Interview

Actress Rachel Weisz has become a name to be reckoned with in Hollywood where she is now in the same league as other major British female power players such as Kate Winslet and Minnie Driver. The London-born actress first came to public attention in the BBC’s adaptation of Scarlet And Black in which her nude scenes with Ewan McGregor caused something of a stir.

Since then she has appeared in Chain Reaction, opposite Keanu Reeves, Second World War film The Land Girls and the re-make of The Mummy which sees her cast as an action heroine - a genre she is getting used to.

In her most recent film Enemy At The Gates, Weisz spent months being covered in mud and bruised while playing a sniper in the beleaguered Russian army during the siege of Stalingrad.

In The Mummy Returns she punches and kicks her way through the action - and even learned the Japanese sword-fighting martial art Sai, for her fight scenes with Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez, who plays the Mummy’s love interest.

"I suppose I’m doing things that aren’t traditionally feminine, whatever that means," admits Cambridge-educated Weisz. "It’s technically difficult and Patricia and I spent four or five months learning it, like in the mornings or after filming and in lunch breaks.

"As a child I was the best tree climber in our neighbourhood, I was like a little monkey. I’ve never been afraid of hurting myself or a little physical discomfort," Weisz says.

The fight scenes between the two women are reminiscent of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and although Weisz claims she enjoyed the filming, co-star Velasquez admits she and Weisz were not keen on it at first.

"When Rachel and I first read the screenplay and saw we had to fight we were not impressed," she smiles. "We thought it would be just gratuitous. Then we saw that what they had in mind was really quite spectacular."

Weisz smiles when she recalls reading the script which sees her once more teamed up with Brendan Fraser, as a librarian battling dark Egyptians forces. She admits even now she finds the concept amusing.

"I thought it was funny - a librarian in an action movie. Like someone stuck in the wrong genre," she says.

Despite her rise to fame, Weisz remains remarkably down to earth. She is ambitious but has resisted a permanent move to LA and, refreshingly for a Hollywood actress, confesses to having recently turned 30

"Turning 30 has come as something of a relief," she says. "I’ve felt a lot better as a person. The older you get the more capable you get at managing life."

Although Weisz appears to be managing her life just fine, she has never been entirely comfortable with life under the media spotlight. After enjoying high profile romances with Men Behaving Badly actor Neil Morrissey and American Beauty director Sam Mendes, she discovered for herself what it was to be the object of media interest.

"I think actors have a choice of drawing attention to themselves or living on the outskirts," she says firmly. "I prefer being as far from the centre of celebrity as possible."

She claims to be on good terms with her exes. She still talks to Morrissey, whom she met while filming the football comedy My Summer With Des, on the phone and says: "He’s one of the most good-hearted people I’ve ever met. I felt really sorry for him during that business with Les Dennis’s wife."

Weisz is currently single and with her current heavy workload she admits it would be difficult to give the time needed to a relationship.

Following on from The Mummy Returns, she will be returning to the London stage to play an art student in the black comedy The Shape Of Things.

"You get to do it from the beginning, to middle to end in one night," she says, reflecting on her love of the theatre. "You can’t go back on it. As an actor it’s very challenging and very powerful."

But after completing the run, she’ll be straight back in front of the cameras as Hugh Grant’s love interest in About A Boy and will star in the biopic Marlowe based on the life of Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe.

She is even about to lose her trademark dark locks - turning bottle blonde to play a Marilyn Monroe-esque gangster’s moll in the upcoming Beautiful Creatures, a small independent production being touted as a British Thelma And Louise.

"This character’s a huge disappearing act because I’m so not like her. She hides beneath her looks because she’s frightened. She’s an abused trophy girlfriend," she says.

And With Weisz currently calling the shots in Hollywood, playing second fiddle to a man is not something you could accuse her of.

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Sophia Anna Bush (born July 8, 1982) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Brooke Davis in the CW series One Tree Hill and for portraying Grace Andrews in the horror remake The Hitcher.

Early life

Sophia Bush, an only child, was born and raised in Pasadena, California to Charles William Bush, an advertising and celebrity photographer, and Maureen, a photography studio manager. Bush has French-Canadian and Italian ancestry, and attended Westridge School for Girls (Pasadena), as well as the University of Southern California. She was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, where she served as Social Chair.

In 2000, she was the Tournament of Roses Parade Queen. Bush attended USC for three years before landing the role of Brooke Davis on One Tree Hill (2003).

Career

Bush made her first big screen appearance in the comedy Van Wilder as Sally (the freshman who seduces Van and doesn’t know who Air Supply is). Since then, she has made appearances in several television shows including Nip/Tuck, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Punk’d. She was cast as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but was replaced by Claire Danes because the director thought she was too young. In 2003, she won the role of Brooke Davis in the television series One Tree Hill.

In between seasons of One Tree Hill, Bush has been cast in several films, such as Supercross, Stay Alive, John Tucker Must Die, and the remake, The Hitcher.

Bush received a "Rising Star" award at the Vail Film Festival for her work in The Hitcher. She has also won three Teen Choice Awards for her work in John Tucker Must Die and The Hitcher.

On April 20, 2007, it was confirmed that Bush will star in Francois Velle’s The Narrows with Kevin Zegers, Eddie Cahill and Vincent D’Onofrio. It is reported that she will play the beautiful, intelligent and self-assured Kathy Popovich. Filming began in New York on April 24, 2007 and is due for a 2008 release date. Bush is also starring in the film Table for Three, which is set to have a late 2008 release. The story centers on a suddenly single young man, Scott Teller (Brandon Routh), who invites a "perfect couple," Mary and Ryan (Bush and Jesse Bradford), to share his large apartment. When Teller meets the girl of his dreams, Leslie (Jennifer Morrison), he believes that Ryan and Mary are intentionally sabotaging his chances with her because they desperately need him in their life to hold their dysfunctional relationship together.

Personal life

On April 16, 2005, Bush married actor Chad Michael Murray, her One Tree Hill co-star. They dated for almost two years before they were married in Santa Monica. But then they announced their separation on September 26, 2005 after five months of marriage when Bush filed court papers to have their marriage annulled. In December of 2006, Bush and Murray’s divorce was made final. Bush was in a relationship with Stay Alive co-star Jon Foster after her divorce until August 2007. Later, rumors surfaced that Bush and Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo were dating. They were reportedly seen together in Texas.

In December 2007, it was reported by Rush & Molloy in the New York Daily News that Bush had "now hooked up with co-star James Lafferty"; the report also mentioned that a rep for the actress has denied there is any romance. Recently, photos surfaced of Lafferty and Bush at LAX and LAX Baggage Claim together, which fueled rumors of a possible romance.

In February 2008, Bush made several appearances in Texas in support of the Barack Obama campaign in the Texas Presidential primary election. She was joined in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Waco by fellow actor Adam Rodriguez. Touring mostly college campuses, they urged young voters to get involved politically.

Filmography

Sophia Bush Interview

You may know her from One Tree Hill, or you may know her from her recently released thriller The Hitcher. However, one thing you’ll never know Sophia Bush as is a drunk and ditsy tabloid spectacle. Through trials and tribulations, breakups and breakdowns, Bush finally figured out the best way to keep from becoming Hollywood’s whipping girl: stay away.

You began working when you were still young, basically a kid. Year by year, as technology continues to progress, it seems as though American society has become more and more obsessed with its stars, especially younger ones who may or may not be getting into trouble, trouble that is almost immediately pointed out and posted on a blog. Has it been hard to grow up when your personal life is half-way posted on IMDb at any given moment?

I’ve been bitten by it, and I’ve also been very fortunate because, unlike a lot of the kids in my age range in this business, I don’t work in Hollywood. I have spent every summer on location and I shoot my show on location, so I am home little enough that people don’t know my schedule and where I go and what I do. If I get photographed, 90 percent of the time, it’s at an event. The small piece of my personal life that did become part of the news media was odd because you can’t control how long or how much they’re going to talk about something; you can’t control their accuracy. If anything, I’m thankful that I have had so much time outside of that machine on location, because I have definitely learned that lesson.

Like it or not, the world constantly has its eyes on hot, young female stars—the Lindsay Lohans of the land. Is it difficult to be taken seriously as a young actress when certain scandalous ladies out there in a very similar line of work are making a lurid spectacle of themselves?

What I think makes it difficult to not be taken seriously is falling on your face drunk all the time or running around without your underwear on. It’s not that difficult to get dressed, and it’s not that difficult to keep yourself under a level of control. I have nothing against going out and having a great night with friends. Everyone wants to go out and have a couple of cocktails and dance and be silly and take some time off. But I think you have to choose what your priorities are. When you don’t show up to work or when you show up late, it’s not just your reputation that gets affected, it affects the 10 grips on your show. If you show up four hours late, they are four hours late to come home and they can’t put their kids to bed. That is the part I don’t think a lot of people take into consideration. A movie or TV set is a cohesive machine, every part works together, and if one person is selfish enough to throw that off, it affects every other person there.

It sounds like it’s satisfying to not be a part of that “young Hollywood” crowd that carouses about the town half-cocked and half-naked all the time.

I appreciate that when I am considered part of “young Hollywood,” it’s because of my work, not my ability to shotgun beers. That is how I want to be represented, not by my social habits. I love my job, I love acting, I love making movies, I love becoming someone else for 10 hours a day for the joy of finding someone else’s psychology. If I plan on doing this for the rest of my life, if I plan to still be working until I’m 60, I can’t blow it now. I’d rather do it slowly and properly than explode for being a party girl and not have a career in two years, it’s not worth it for me.

When you take a look at all the party pictures online and the split second shots of debauchery all over the tabloids, it really feels as though a lot of these people are searching for something and don’t have a clue where to find it.

It’s one thing to see somebody a little tipsy coming out of a club and having a good time every once in a while. But it’s a whole other thing to see somebody completely wasted every time, every night, at every Hollywood hot spot. I think it becomes a desire to be part of the in-crowd or something like that. I’m amused by it because the people who others might see or read about partying every night, I almost always see them when I go out occasionally. You can go when you want to go, you don’t have to go every night to guarantee you’re going to be let behind the velvet rope. I think you’re right, I think it’s about a need to be validated. I’d rather be validated by a director telling me that we nailed it during filming than by feeling that I have access to anywhere I want to go.

Does it change the vibe on the set when you’re working with a tabloid spectacle? Does it force you to take them less seriously? Do you sympathize with their confusion and their plight at all?

I don’t care what the press is about a person that I’m working with. I care about how they come to work every day. I don’t care who broke up with who or who is sleeping with who or who went out where. I don’t care what you do with your personal life. It’s when people take their personal lives into a space where it affects their performance at work, that’s when I would stop taking someone seriously.

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Marion Cotillard (born September 30, 1975) is a French actress who has appeared in over thirty films in France. Cotillard won her second César Award, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, Czech Lion, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as French chanteuse Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose

Biography

Cotillard began acting during her childhood, appearing on stage in one of her father’s plays.

Cotillard was born in Paris and grew up around Orléans, Loiret in an artistically-inclined, "bustling, creative household". Her father, Jean-Claude Cotillard, is an actor, teacher, former mime, and 2006 Molière Award-winning director of Breton descent (his mother Léontine Cotillard still lives in Plémet, Brittany). Her mother Niseema Theillaud, is also an actress and drama teacher. She has two younger twin brothers, Quentin and Guillaume. Quentin Cotillard is a sculptor and painter living in San Francisco, California with his Irish-American wife, Elaine O’Malley Cotillard, "a former Dutch National Ballet dancer who grew up in Marin County and is now a San Francisco fashion designer". Guillaume Cotillard is a writer.

Cotillard is currently in a relationship with French actor/director Guillaume Canet. They co-starred in the 2003 French film Love Me If You Dare. The couple’s relationship is widely reported in the French press, and they have been dubbed the French version of "Brangelina." Despite this, many reports say the couple prefers to live a simple lifestyle, and they are often spotting in cafes and shopping together in Paris. Cotillard is interested in environmental activism and has served as a spokesperson for Greenpeace allowing the organization to use her apartment to test products and being among the artists involved in "Desseins pour le climat" (Drawings for Climate), an album project that was released in 2005 and raised money for the environmental activist group. She is a fan of Radiohead, of Canadian singer Hawksley Workman as well and she has appeared in two of his music videos, most notably "No Reason to Cry Out your Eyes (On the Highway Tonight)". Workman even revealed in interviews about his last album Between The Beautifuls that he worked and wrote songs with Cotillard while they both were in Los Angeles during the movie awards season.

Career

After a few roles on television, her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s with small but noticeable roles in such films as Pierre Grimblat’s Lisa alongside the iconic Jeanne Moreau, Swiss novel-adaptation drama War In The Highlands, Coline Serreau’s comedy La Belle Verte, or Alexandre Aja’s anticipation fantasy Furia among other participations in established directors’ productions. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s when she was cast in the Luc Besson production Taxi (1998) as Lili Bertineau, a minor role that she reprised in two sequels. She then earned very good reviews and the attention of cinephiles via her portrayal of twins who exchange their lives after one of them dies in Les Jolies Choses/Pretty Things adapted from the work of subversive feminist novelist Virginie Despentes in which she sang live on stage a couple of songs she had co-written.

In 2003, she had a small role in Tim Burton’s film, Big Fish, which introduced her to English-speaking audiences. She also played Sophie Kowalski in Yann Samuell’s Jeux d’enfants (English title: Love Me If You Dare), in which she played a complex yet appealing modern romantic lead. She appeared in two critically successful films in 2004: A Very Long Engagement, where Cotillard further demonstrated the range of her abilities by playing the murderous Tina Lombardi (garnering the César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), and the drama mystery Innocence.

2005 saw Abel Ferrara offering her a small role alongside Forest Whitaker (who would present her the Oscar two years later) in his religious movie Mary while she also played in Burnt Out, Fabienne Godet’s study of social oppression and stresses of corporate culture. In 2006, she appeared in Ridley Scott’s A Good Year, Belgian comedy Dikkenek and learnt to play the cello for her role as a concertist in the satirical coming of age movie You and Me.

She was chosen by director Olivier Dahan to portray the iconic French singer Édith Piaf in the biopic La Môme (English title: La Vie En Rose) before he had even met her, saying that in the eyes of Édith Piaf he noticed a similarity with Marion’s own.. Producer Alain Goldman accepted and defended the choice even though distributors TFM reduced the money they gave to finance the film thinking Cotillard wasn’t "bankable" enough an actress. Her portrayal was widely praised, including by the eminent theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn, who described it as "one of the greatest performances on film ever." It was dubbed "the most awaited film of 2007" in France, where some critics said that she had reincarnated Édith Piaf to sing one last time on stage.

On February 10, 2008, Cotillard became the first French actress to be awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role since the BAFTAs in 1969 combined the Best British and Best Foreign actress award into one Best Actress category. She is also the first actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for a French language performance since Catherine Deneuve for Indochine in 1992. She is the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a foreign language performance since 1972, when Liv Ullmann won for The Emigrants. She is also the very first person to win a (Comedy or Musical) Golden Globe for a foreign language performance. As La Vie En Rose was also a Czech production (as she mentioned in her César acceptance speech), Marion Cotillard was nominated for the Czech Lion for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on February 21.

On February 22, 2008 she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress, and two days later she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. After Simone Signoret in 1959, Marion Cotillard is the second French cinema actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, though French expatriate Claudette Colbert was given an Oscar in 1934. She is the first Best Actress winner in a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren’s win in 1961. She is also the first and so far only winner of an Academy Award for a performance in the French language. In her Oscar acceptance speech, Cotillard proclaimed "thank you life, thank you love" (allegedly a reference to one of Piaf’s songs) and, speaking of Los Angeles, said "it is true, there is some angels in this city!"

On March 1, 2008, Cotillard won the Czech film industry’s highest acting honor, the Czech Lion Award for Best Actress. She could not attend the ceremony in Prague due to the filming of her next US film, Public Enemies. Her friend Pavlina Nemcova - who played the journalist in La vie en Rose - was there to accept the award on her behalf.

Cotillard has also been cast to play Luisa Contini in the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine.

Career

Washington made her screen debut in the ABC telefilm Magical Make-Over (1994). She was in the cast of the 1996 PBS sketch comedy-style educational series Standard Deviants, and she appeared in the short "3D" and the feature film Our Song in 2000. She went on to roles in several movies, including Save the Last Dance (2001), The Human Stain (2003), Spike Lee’s She Hate Me (2004), Ray (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Little Man & I Think I Love My Wife (2007), and, in a departure, an accented, period role as a wife of 1970s Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the UK historical drama The Last King of Scotland (2006). Washington has also appeared in the recurring role Chelina Hall on the ABC television series Boston Legal, and in several episodes of the A&E cable-TV series 100 Centre Street.

She is the new spokeperson for L’Oréal starring in commercials and ads alongside fellow actresses Scarlett Johansson and Eva Longoria, and model Doutzen Kroes.

She also co-directed and appeared in the music video for hip-hop artist Common’s song, "I Want You", the fourth single off of his album Finding Forever.

In addition, Kerry serves as the narrator of the critically-acclaimed 2008 documentary about the New Orleans-based teenage TBC Brass Band entitled From the Mouthpiece on Back, which also lists The Roots as one of the executive producers of the movie.

She has also been known as apart of the African American group ‘Negro Hunters’ that find troubled black students in schools across the west coast and try to help them regain their way into an education..

Controversy

On February 29, 2008, the website of French magazine Marianne published quotes of an excerpt of a television interview dating back to February 16, 2007, in which she said:

Cotillard: I have a tendency to often share the point of view of the conspiracy theory.

Paris Dernière: Are you paranoid?

Cotillard: No, no, it’s not a paranoid thing — because I think that we are told lies about lots of things.

Paris Dernière: Yeah?

Cotillard: Coluche, 9/11, all that. We can watch on the Internet all the films that, well…about 9/11, about — about the conspiracy theory. It’s fascinating. It’s even addictive after a while.

Paris Dernière: Let’s take 9/11, for example. What did disturb (sic) you more concretely?

Cotillard: You are shown that other towers of the same kind that were hit by planes, that burnt — there is a tower, I think that it’s in Spain, that burnt for twenty-four hours.

Paris Dernière: Before collapsing…?

Cotillard: It never collapsed! None of these towers collapsed. And, over there, in a few minutes, the thing collapses. And, then, after that, we’ll talk lengthily about it because there was — because the thing was filled with gold, the towers from 9/11. And then it was a money-sucker because they were finished, it seems to me, in ‘73, and to update all that, to modernize all the technology and everything, it was much more expensive to have work done, etc., than destroying them. Did man walk on the moon? I’ve seen quite a lot of documentaries about it, and I ask myself. But, in any case, I don’t believe everything that I’m told, that’s for sure.

She made this statement during a long conversation with host Xavier de Moulins in which La Vie En Rose Oscar-winning make-up artist Didier Lavergne—a close friend of the late Coluche, the controversy over whose death was mentioned just before in the discussion—intervened as well and it was edited into an approximately one hour show. At this particular moment, they were visiting the Catacombs, a famous underground ossuary, during a nocturnal walk in various places of Paris for Paris Dernière, a Paris by Night cultural television program.

A few days later Cotillard released the statement: "My statements on that program have been taken completely out context and been crafted into a story that has no merit." She stressed her deep apologies regarding how her statements or their misunderstanding could have hurt any people. Her attorney, Vincent Tolesano, said that "Marion never intended to contest nor question the attacks of September 11, 2001; and regrets the way old remarks have been taken out of context."

Filmography

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is a SAG Award- and Young Artist Award-nominated American actress.She has been called a scream queen, à la Jamie Lee Curtis, because of her roles in such horror films as Final Destination 3, Death Proof, and Black Christmas, but has branched out into other genres, including comedy (Sky High), drama (Bobby) and action (Live Free or Die Hard).

Early life

Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of Betty Lou (née Knight) and James Ronald Winstead. When she was five, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. Her interest in performing art also began to emerge with interests in ballet and acting. As a child, Winstead appeared in the Mountain West Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker. Hoping to become a ballerina, at the age of eleven, she received the opportunity to study dance in a summer program of the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. There, she studied ballet and jazz dance, but decided to also study acting. Winstead ended up appearing on Broadway during Donny Osmond’s successful run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also a member of the International Children’s Choir during her youth and honed her skills performing at her church.

Career

She began her acting career in the late 1990s, guest starring in episodes of the CBS dramas Touched by an Angel and Promised Land, before being cast as Jessica Bennett in the NBC soap opera Passions, a role she played from 1999 to 2000. She subsequently appeared in the short-lived CBS drama series Wolf Lake (2001-2002), and in the made-for-television film Monster Island (2002).

Trying her hand at comedy, she went the independent film route as the Jewish daughter of a large, zany family in the indie feature Checking Out, but her screen time fared better in the more mainstream Walt Disney Pictures confection Sky High, which was both financially and critically successful. She starred as Gwen Grayson, the in-disguise alter ego of the supervillain Royal Pain.

After the exposure Sky High provided, 2006 saw her forge a professional relationship with the creative team of James Wong and Glen Morgan, formerly best known for their memorable contributions to The X-Files. She and her co-star, Ryan Merriman, landed in the path of the grim reaper’s master plan in Final Destination 3. She had failed to land a part in the second film in the trilogy, but found her place in the third instalment, which to this day is the most successful of the trilogy. Morgan and Wong wanted to collaborate with her again and convinced her to appear in their sorority slasher Black Christmas. The film, however, failed with critics and viewers. One day, she inadvertently received a chance to lampoon horror scream queens when The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, unaware of who she was, knocked on her front door and included her in a comedy segment spoofing horror movies.

The same year, she appeared in Emilio Estevez’s Bobby, a valentine to the politics and morals of Robert F. Kennedy, which drew moderate critical attention, and became a minor box office success. The film’s cast included Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, and Sharon Stone, but most of her scenes were with Shia LaBeouf and Brian Geraghty. She and her co-stars were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 2007, she appeared in a pair of high-profile event films. Quentin Tarantino cast her as a well-intentioned but vapid and naïve actress in his high-speed segment of Grindhouse titled Death Proof, his half of a double-billed feature. The film failed to produce ticket sales, but drew critical acclaim. The same summer, hot off the heels of its release, Winstead received another shot at action as Lucy McClane in Live Free or Die Hard alongside Bruce Willis. The film earned over $130 million domestically and drew excellent reviews, making it the highest grossing film that features Mary Elizabeth.

She has recently screen tested for the role of Wonder Woman in the film adaption of Justice League.

She is due to star in Make it Happen, a dance film to be shot in and around Chicago and Winnipeg. It was also announced on May 16, 2008, that Winstead would co-star opposite Michael Cera in forthcoming comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Filming is due to start in the fall.

Filmography

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Interview

Death Proof could be Tarantino’s most violent film to date. How do you fit in?
I play Lee, an actress who’s out partying with some badass girls. We’re stalked by Stuntman Mike, who stages car crashes where all these girls are murdered. Every frame is pure heaven.

The cheerleader outfit you wear is pure heaven, too.
The uniform is yellow with black trim—an homage to Kill Bill. I was in that uniform for weeks. Wearing a short skirt is nerve-racking. When I sat down, it rode up. In one scene I get out of the car and the skirt’s at my waist. I’d be walking around in tiny white panties without realizing it.

Isn’t that how everyone dresses in L.A. anyway?
Well, I wear underwear. L.A. kids freak me out. Clubbing is fun every now and then, but I can’t understand people who go out every night to get their pictures taken. When I was 18, I went to clubs and did a lot of drinking for about a month. I got over it. Now it’s about ordering pizza at home.

You’re not one of those dressing-on-the-side girls?
I’m from North Carolina, where it’s all about greasy, fatty foods. I like having curves. It’s weird seeing girls who look like beanpoles. The more famous girls get, the smaller they get.

Besides your curves, what makes you feel sexy?
High heels, even though I’m over 5′8". When I go on auditions my agent tells me to wear flats because most male actors are like, 5′5". But I’m like, “Screw it.”

Did high heels help you snag your part in Death Proof?
We actually had to audition in cheerleading uniforms at Quentin’s house…

Did you guys party a lot?
There were lots of margaritas and a lot of staying out until 5 A.M. Quentin’s fun to be around, and when he gets a few drinks in him, it’s Quentin magnified. On weekends it was a free-for-all.

You also just wrapped Live Free or Die Hard with Bruce Willis. What’s next?
I could work for the sake of working, but I’d hate to go from Grindhouse to some straight-to-video high school movie. I feel so far beyond having a backpack and going to my locker

maxim

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Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter (born February 28, 1976) is a Saturn Awards-nominated American actress and former fashion model best known for her screen roles aimed at teenage audiences. Larter is currently starring on the hit television series Heroes. She has also had roles in successful Hollywood films including, Varsity Blues (1999), House on Haunted Hill (1999), Final Destination (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), and most recently Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).

Career

In November 1996, Larter portrayed the hoax model Allegra Coleman in Esquire magazine. The article published in the magazine told of the fictional model’s relationship with David Schwimmer, how Quentin Tarantino broke up with Mira Sorvino to date her, and Woody Allen’s overhaul of a film to have her star. Even after the hoax had been revealed, its effects lingered, and various talent agencies sought to represent the non-existent Coleman.

Larter landed her first professional roles in 1997, in which she appeared for one episode in the Brooke Shields’ television series, Suddenly Susan, and the short lived television series Chicago Sons. The roles were followed by a number of other appearances on Dawson’s Creek with James Van Der Beek, Chicago Hope and Just Shoot Me!

In 1999, Larter began her film career with an appearance in Varsity Blues which re-united her with Dawson’s Creek star Van Der Beek, and close friend Amy Smart. Varsity Blues drew a domestic box office gross of $53 million, making Larter’s first film a commercial success. Larters’ most infamous scene was one with her wearing nothing but whip cream (aka whip cream bikini) in attempts to seduce Van Der Beek’s character. Afterwards, Larter appeared in teen comedies, Giving It Up and Drive Me Crazy. That year as well, Larter starred in the horror remake House on Haunted Hill. Made for around $20 million, the movie was panned by the critics but grossed $15 million on its opening weekend and went on to earn over $40 million.

In 2000, Larter starred in the teenage audience aimed horror film Final Destination as the "final girl" Clear Rivers. The following year in 2001, she appeared in the comedy Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon, western American Outlaws with Colin Farrell and the Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. That year as well, Larter performed in the stage play The Vagina Monologues in New York City. The next year in 2002, Larter was ranked #40 in Stuff magazine’s "102 Sexiest Women in the World". In 2003, Larter reprised her role as Clear Rivers in the sequel to Final Destination, Final Destination 2. In 2005, Larter appeared in the independent film Confess and the romantic comedy A Lot Like Love alongside Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher.

2006 saw Larter in the biographical film Crazy based on guitarist Hank Garland. As of September 2006, Larter has been portraying Niki Sanders on the NBC Emmy Award-nominated science fiction drama television series Heroes, created by Tim Kring. The show includes an ensemble cast including Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia, Leonard Roberts, Masi Oka and Greg Grunberg. Larter’s character Niki Sanders, who is a wife and mother, is a former internet stripper from Las Vegas who exhibits superhuman strength and an alternate personality who goes by the name of Jessica. After completing half its first season, Heroes had already collected an assortment of honors and accolades, and Larter had been nominated for "Best Supporting Actress" for the 33rd Saturn Awards.

In 2007, Larter starred in the Bollywood Marigold as the title character alongside Salman Khan, which was released in August. She also joined the cast of the popular film franchise Resident Evil: Extinction portraying the character Claire Redfield in the horror film with Milla Jovovich. Her role sent her to Mexicali, Mexico for filming from May to late July in which she also dyed her hair a light red for the film. Larter explains on her character Claire, "She became the leader of this convoy. She’s incredibly strong, patient. I think she serves a role for everyone within this convoy, let it be a mother to someone, a buddy, a best friend." Larter also attended the 2007 Comic Con International, her second appearance at the event, to promote the film, which was released in theaters on September 21, 2007. This year as well, she will appear in the comedy Homo Erectus. Larter was also featured as #6 in Maxim’s Hot 100 for 2007.

In an interview for Resident Evil: Extinction, Larter had expressed interest in producing films in the future, saying, "I definitely have many ideas and different avenues that I want to take as my career goes on."

Larter has been revealed to be part of the cast of When Angels Fall, a film where 7 demons, each representing one of the deadly sins, are unleashed upon the world and enact their biblical vengeance for being banished to a prison-like dimension, it has been revealed that she will play Lustacia, the queen of lust and seduction.

In March 2008, it was announced that Larter would star opposite Beyonce Knowles and Idris Elba in the Screen Gems-produced film Obsessed, about an office worker (Elba) whose marriage to Knowles’ character is threatened by the aggressive interests of a co-worker, to be portrayed by Larter. Shooting is expected to begin Summer 2008.

Personal life

Ali Larter was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the daughter of Margaret, a homemaker, and Danforth Larter, a trucking executive. She attended Carusi Middle School and Cherry Hill High School West. She began modeling with Ford Models at the age of fourteen and traveled the world. At seventeen, Larter settled temporarily in Japan. A year later, in 1995, she accompanied her boyfriend in his move to Los Angeles, California. Soon after, she began taking acting classes, at a friend’s suggestion.

Larter is best friends with actress Amy Smart with whom she co-starred in Varsity Blues and Erick Alegria a Former Sam’s Kid. The two had previously been roommates before pursuing acting careers. Larter has also lived in Miami and then New York City after the spring of 2002. In January 2007, she moved to Los Angeles to take on the commitment of working on Heroes.

Larter is currently engaged to her longtime boyfriend, actor Hayes MacArthur.

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Ali Larter talks Heroes season 2

We’ll have to wait until September to find out what happens next on Heroes but the cast has been back at work throughout the summer for our entertainment. Many of them came to NBC’s annual summer press party to tease the upcoming episodes. Ali Larter looked more glamorous than any human being should with short shorts revealing most of her bronzed legs. Luckily you don’t have to be distracted by that while you read this interview.

CraveOnline: Where are you at in the season? How many have you read?

Ali Larter: We are shooting the third right now and they’re amazing. They’re introducing new characters. The writers on our show are so creative and they just are unleashed I feel like in the writer’s room, so it’s great.

CraveOnline: How are things between Nikki and D.L. now?

Ali Larter: They are interesting. They’re interesting. You’re going to find a lot out this year about their past and what happened.

CraveOnline: Will the Nikki/Jessica dynamic continue at all?

Ali Larter: They’re coming into one character. It’s only Nikki and I think the writers are so smart on this show that they really looked at what worked and what didn’t. To be able to focus on the one character is I think going to be the best move.

CraveOnline: How is the work different this year, only playing one character?

Ali Larter: I really am enjoying it. We went down a lot of different roads last year and it was really creative for me that I got to do those scenes where I was in jail and some of the stuff with my son. Playing Jessica, some of the stunt stuff, I feel like I actually jumped through genres at times within the season last year. So I think it was really fun. I think we took risks and chances. I think some worked. I think some didn’t. I think this year, the writers are going to look at all that and focus it. I think it’ll be great.

CraveOnline: How difficult was that to shift in mid scene?

Ali Larter: That was one of the fun challenges that I was talking about being scared of. It could have looked like a soap opera. Not that soap operas are bad but in my work, I try to go for a little bit more realism. So it was challenging but it was such a great year all around, honestly, I feel like most of the cast must be saying that. We were all pushed different ways creatively. The response that we had in the States and around the world is just incredible.

CraveOnline: What do you want to see happen for Nikki?

Ali Larter: You know what? What I love about the show is when they let the characters breathe. I love the action packed side of it but I like the dialogue. I’m an actor so I love the dialogue. I love just moments that you can have between actors so I just hope that there’s always room for that within all the

CraveOnline: Have they told you where the character will go?

Ali Larter: Yes. I’ve heard a little bit La Femme Nikita.

CraveOnline: Are you happy about that?

Ali Larter: Absolutely. I’m happy about most things they give me on the show. What’s different about television for me because it’s my first show, I’m used to a film where you have a beginning, middle and an end, and with this, once they get to know you, they kind of find your strengths, the things that maybe you’re not so great at and focus on it. So I’m excited to see where they’re going but I’m not past script three.

CraveOnline: What was your reaction to the final episode when Hiro went back in time?

Ali Larter: It was shocking an amazing but if we can do that stuff and push the envelope of what you can see right now on television, how great. Let’s keep doing it. I hope that the show keeps taking risks, risks that don’t always work but that’s going to be something fresh.

CraveOnline: What do you think worked and didn’t work last year?

Ali Larter: I don’t look at it as much in the realm of the show as I look at things that challenged me and that I feel like I was able to do to the best of my ability.

CraveOnline: Are more you confident playing the character now after a successful first year?

Ali Larter: Absolutely not. I think the day that happens, I’ll hand in my card. A part of for me, is not being sure and always trying to figure it out. That’s what I hope I always feel for a lifetime in this industry.

CraveOnline: Is this the role you’re the most proud of so far?

Ali Larter: I guess you could say that. They gave me some cool stuff to do and I didn’t work for a couple years and I really had some life experience and I’m a woman now, so I think that there’s more complicated things that I’ve been through in my life and I’m able to put that into my work. I think things just get more interesting as you get older.

CraveOnline: Do you do any training because of the show or for the show?

Ali Larter: I think we’re going to be getting into a little of that. I haven’t yet. That’s the hard thing about television too, you don’t have enough leeway. They don’t really have things locked until days before sometimes. On film you really have the chance to learn a different language if you need to or you have that couple months to really get in shape.

CraveOnline: How do you do it without a trainer?

Ali Larter: You go for it. Absolutely. I will jam it into three days if I have to, absolutely because coming from the film world, there’s a certain expectation I have of myself.

CraveOnline: What is different about being back this year?

Ali Larter: I just think everything’s on a grander scale. I think that’s most of all, we made it, we got it. Now let’s just try to hold onto the integrity of what made it so special.

CraveOnline: What seems grander? Tim said the budget isn’t bigger.

Ali Larter: Well, there are different actors coming on so they’re introducing different storylines. For me, it just feels that way. Everything feels just a little bit bigger.

CraveOnline: Does Nikki still have Jessica’s strength?

Ali Larter: That is something that is definitely being explored second season.

CraveOnline: What have you done over the summer?

Ali Larter: Well, we only had about four weeks off and I spent that time with my nephews outside of Indianapolis. That was amazing to see how fast the kids grow. I got a chance to go to Hawaii which was amazing and now we’re back at work. So it goes like this, bop, bop, bop.

CraveOnline: You didn’t want to do a movie? Just rest?

Ali Larter: You know what? We didn’t have enough time off to really get anything going. With films, you need really about two to three months and even if you’re doing small parts, they still want to hold you for a certain amount of time and it just didn’t work out this year with the show, but small, small price to pay.

CraveOnline: How do you keep your fantastic movie star body?

Ali Larter: Aw, please. You’re just being sweet. I’m at the gym. Nothing comes for free.

CraveOnline: You took a few years off before Heroes. Are you different now because of that?

Ali Larter: Absolutely. I feel really lucky that I did take a couple years to live in New York and just step away from the business to define myself without the pressures of this industry. It worked out for me. I’m so lucky in getting Heroes. I wasn’t sure I was going to get anything again so it was a time in my life that was filled with a lot of not insecurity and not indecision but instability maybe you could say within my career.

CraveOnline: Does Hollywood see you differently now that you’re back and in Heroes?

Ali Larter: I don’t know. You’d have to tell me that. I don’t know.

CraveOnline: Where are you going on the Heroes world tour?

Ali Larter: Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

CraveOnline: Have you been there before?

Ali Larter: Yes, yes, yes, and I lived in Tokyo just before I turned 18 and it was amazing, so it will be very interesting to go back.

CraveOnline: Do you speak the language?

Ali Larter: Conichiwa, arigato. That’s about it.

CraveOnline: You can learn from Masi.

Ali Larter: Yes, I’m so excited to go with him. Masi, Sendhil, Greg and Tim.

CraveOnline: What does your family think of the show and the character?

Ali Larter: They love the show, they love my character. My sister calls it straight to me. She wants to see certain things but for her, I’ve been in the business for a while so she’s just excited that I’m happy. original

Filmography

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Ashlee Nicole Wentz (born Ashley Nicole Simpson on October 3, 1984), who is professionally known as Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, is an American pop rock singer-songwriter, and occasional actress. Simpson-Wentz, who is the younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson, rose to prominence in mid-2004 through the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the accompanying reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. Simpson-Wentz received widespread criticism when she used a pre-recorded vocal track on Saturday Night Live in October 2004. Following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson-Wentz released a second number-one album, I Am Me, in October 2005. Her third album, Bittersweet World, was released in April 2008

Early life

Simpson-Wentz was born in Waco, Texas, and raised in Richardson, Texas. She is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her manager) and Tina Ann Drew.

Ashlee attended Prairie Creek Elementary. An accomplished dancer, Simpson began studying classical ballet at the age of three, and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of eleven. Around that time, she suffered from an eating disorder; the condition lasted about six months, and she dropped to about 31 kg (70 pounds) at 159 cm (5 ft 2 in), but her parents then stepped in and got her to eat more. After her sister Jessica Simpson landed a record deal, the Simpson family decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where Ashlee began appearing in television commercials.

Career

When Jessica became a star after releasing her first album, Ashlee became one of her backup dancers. Later, Ashlee began appearing in films and television series, including an episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002 film The Hot Chick and a recurring role, 39 episodes from 2002-2004, on the family drama series 7th Heaven.

In the summer of 2003, Ashlee recorded a song titled "Just Let Me Cry" for the soundtrack of the film Freaky Friday. Eventually, Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.

Simpson-Wentz’s first album, Autobiography, debuted at number one in the U.S. in July 2004 with first week sales numbering around 398,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum in September 2004. Simpson co-wrote all of the album’s tracks and described it as "very true to my emotions" in one interview, but critical reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone magazine’s Peter Relic characterised Autobiography as a "mundane melange of Avril-ish brat pop and Sheryl Crow cod rock". E! Online wrote "Even if it doesn’t wow you, Autobiography may surprise you." The single that preceded the album, "Pieces of Me," was one of the biggest hits of the summer in the U.S. and sold well elsewhere. However, the follow-up singles "Shadow" and "La La" were less successful.

Simpson-Wentz occasionally appeared on Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a reality show about the married life of Jessica and her then-husband Nick Lachey. To accompany the beginning of her own music career, she got her own MTV reality show entitled The Ashlee Simpson Show, which aired in a subsequent time slot to Newlyweds. It ran in the U.S. for eight weekly episodes over the summer of 2004, and a second season of ten episodes aired from January to March 2005. The show dealt with the process of writing, recording, and performing Simpson-Wentz’s music as well as aspects of her personal life.

When appearing for live performances, Simpson-Wentz performs live with a backing band. During the period from 2004 to 2006, the band consisted of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Joey Kaimana (bass guitar—from 2004 to 2005 Zach Kennedy filled this role), Chris Megert (keyboards and vocals—from late 2004 to 2005 Lucy Walsh filled this role), and Chris Fox (drums).

In addition to her own first album, Simpson-Wentz sang "Christmas Past, Present, and Future" on the 2004 holiday album Radio Disney Jingle Jams and a duet of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" with her sister Jessica for the album Rejoyce, which they had sung together during the ABC variety hour special Nick & Jessica’s Family Christmas.

At the Teen Choice Awards on August 8, 2004, Simpson-Wentz received the "Song of the Summer" Teen Choice Award for "Pieces of Me," as well as the "Fresh Face" award. In addition, she also won a Billboard Award for New Female Artist of the Year in December, and in the same month she was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Breakout Stars of 2004. Simpson-Wentz also co-hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve along with Regis Philbin (in Dick Clark’s absence) at the end of the year, hosting the West Coast portion of the show and performing three songs.

The Saturday Night Live incident
Simpson-Wentz crying due to vocal difficulties after a rehearsal for her controversial Saturday Night Live appearance in 2004.

Simpson-Wentz appeared as a musical guest on Episode 568 of Saturday Night Live (October 23–24, 2004), and as is customary for the show’s format, she was scheduled to perform two songs. Her first song, "Pieces of Me", was performed without problems. However, when she began her second song, "Autobiography", the vocals for the song "Pieces of Me" were heard again—before she had raised the microphone to her mouth. Simpson-Wentz began to dance and then left the stage, while the band (not a recording) continued playing. During the closing of the show Simpson-Wentz appeared with the guest host Jude Law, and said "I’m so sorry. My band started playing the wrong song, and I didn’t know what to do, so I thought I’d do a hoe down."

On October 25, Simpson-Wentz called in to the music video show Total Request Live and explained that due to complications arising from "severe" acid reflux (which had previously been seen in The Ashlee Simpson Show) she had completely lost her voice and her doctor had advised her not to sing. She said that because of the acid reflux, her father wanted her to use a vocal guide track for the performance. She said of the incident, "I made a complete fool of myself." According to Simpson-Wentz, the drummer hit the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be played. During the October 25 Radio Music Awards broadcast, Simpson-Wentz pretended, as a joke, to make the same mistake as she did in the SNL incident, but then began to perform "Autobiography" without using a pre-recorded vocal track as she had done during the prior SNL performance. On October 31, the CBS news program 60 Minutes aired footage from Simpson-Wentz’s rehearsals before the SNL performance in which Simpson-Wentz is shown to be disturbed by voice trouble.

Jeanette Walls compared the impact of the SNL incident to the 1990 Milli Vanilli incident in which their guide track skipped during a live MTV performance, revealing that they were lip-synching.

The New York Times said the much-viewed clip of Simpson-Wentz’s SNL appearance "may just be this year’s best music video," but dismissed its significance: "one of 2004’s most popular new stars had been exposed as … As what, exactly?"

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Film, second album, and theater (2005–2006)

Simpson-Wentz had a supporting role as an aspiring actress named Clea in Undiscovered (originally titled Wannabe), an independent film that was released in theaters in August 2005. Simpson filmed her scenes in late 2004. While Simpson’s performance was met with acceptable reviews, the film itself was trashed by critics and placed outside of the top ten in its opening weekend, earning just $676,048. Her performance in the film earned her a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

Simpson-Wentz’s second album, I Am Me, was released in the U.S. on October 18, 2005. Simpson said that she had wanted to incorporate the feel of music from the 1980s on the album, and that unlike her debut it would focus less on relationships and more on herself. I Am Me debuted at number one with roughly 220,000 copies sold, but sales quickly deteriorated; by April 2006, it had sold a little less than 900,000 copies. Its first single, "Boyfriend", became a top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and performed similarly elsewhere. The second single, "L.O.V.E.", reached the U.S. top twenty-five, its success aided by a remix by R&B/hip-hop producer Missy Elliott and MTV’s heavy rotation of the single’s music video (it has been her most successful video to date on Total Request Live).

Simpson began a concert tour in late September in Portland, Oregon and appeared on the October 8, 2005 episode of SNL to promote the album. The first of Simpson’s two performances on the show was of the ballad "Catch Me When I Fall", which was written about her previous SNL experience, and she thanked the crowd after her second performance. In mid-December, Simpson collapsed after performing in Japan, possibly due to exhaustion. She was briefly hospitalized, and consequently cancelled an appearance at the Radio Music Awards.

Simpson and her sister Jessica were scheduled to appear in Rolling Stone magazine in a shoot shot by photographer David LaChapelle in 2005. Upon hearing the concept, both sisters were said to be uncomfortable with LaChapelle’s raunchy ideas and cancelled, outraging the photographer. He ranted to the press in early 2006, calling them "everything that’s wrong with music." Furthering his statement, LaChapelle said he was just trying to "make the Simpsons look cool. I realize now that is an impossible task." LaChapelle planned to have the sisters "down and dirty" and appearing with snakes.

Simpson appeared on the December 2005/January 2006 cover of Teen People with her sister Jessica, and could also be seen on the December 2005 issue of Blender, Cosmopolitan magazine’s January 2006 edition, the March 2006 issues of Seventeen and ELLE, the April 2006 issue of JANE, the June/July 2006 issue of Teen People (in which she was named one of its "25 hottest stars under twenty-five"), the July 2006 issue of Marie Claire and the September 2006 issue of CosmoGirl.

Simpson won a Kelly Slater/MTV celebrity surfing invitational competition, which also featured celebrities such as Meagan Good, Jack Osbourne (her main competitor during the competition), Ashley Parker Angel and Tony Hawk, as part of an MTV-sponsored ‘Spring Break’ Special in March 2006. On April 12, 2006 she hosted and performed at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards, where she won "Best Female Artist" and "Best Pop Video" (for "Boyfriend"). A new single, "Invisible", was released in mid-2006 and reached the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Initially it was said that the song would appear on a re-released version of I Am Me, but this never occurred. Simpson began a summer tour on June 5, 2006 with Ashley Parker Angel as an opening act; initially The Veronicas also opened but quit the tour after the first few shows due to a problem with one of their singers’ vocal cords.

Simpson said that after this tour, which ended in late July, she would be going on vacation, that she would take her time making her third album, and that she would look at movie scripts and continue her acting career.

Simpson played the role of Roxie Hart in the London stage production of Chicago to rave reviews, from September 25 to October 28, 2006. One reviewer called Simpson’s performance in the show "dazzling and near flawless".

Image and personal life

When Simpson first broke onto the music scene in 2004, she was set apart from her sister’s already established image by a different musical style, different fashion choices, and a more assertive personality. Simpson’s songs have been characterized by rock elements absent from her sister’s music, and, particularly during the time of her initial stardom, Simpson would often wear outfits highlighting a more rock or punk-influenced sense of style. Her fingernails and toenails have often been painted black. Over time, Simpson has moved toward more typically feminine styles. In March 2008, she said that "I like to get dressed up now, and that’s something I’ve never been into before" and "I like to be feminine and sexy." According to Simpson, in her sense of style she tends to "mix and match".

Previously blonde like Jessica, she dyed her hair dark during the recording of the MTV reality show after she finished filming for the 7th Heaven television series. In November 2004, she debuted a shorter haircut with the same dark color. Following the end of her Autobiography tour, in early May 2005 she moved back to a blonde color; she remained blonde until January 2008, when she appeared with a red hair color.

She has seven tattoos: a star on one wrist, two cherries on her ankle, the word "love" on her other wrist, the number "3" added to one wrist in 2007, and a large peony flower on one wrist in early March 2008.

Simpson and her sister were tied for third on oft-quoted celebrity-fashion critic Mr. Blackwell’s list of the worst-dressed celebrities of 2004. Blackwell quipped that "from gaudy to grim to downright frenetic these two prove that bad taste is positively genetic."

Simpson’s relationship with actor Josh Henderson lasted for nearly two years and was shown ending in the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. Soon after, she began dating fellow musician Ryan Cabrera. That relationship was also featured on the show, and Simpson appeared as Cabrera’s love interest in the music video for his song "On the Way Down". The two were reported to have split in August 2004 due to their hectic schedules, but they resumed their relationship for a while afterward, before ending it again in early 2005. Simpson said afterward that they were still friends, although rumors suggested that Simpson did not like the fact that Ryan had moved on to Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas.

At the beginning of her music career, Simpson said that she would not discuss her sex life, in contrast with her sister, who had openly stated her intention to practice sexual abstinence until marriage. "I decided that I didn’t want to talk about that because it’s super personal," Simpson said of the situation.

In 2005, rumors began circulating that Simpson had stolen Wilmer Valderrama from Lindsay Lohan. Simpson’s single "Boyfriend" was reported to be about the situation, but she said that the song "is about every girl out there sometimes thinks you stole her boyfriend. It’s just making fun of that." Valderrama subsequently said on Howard Stern’s radio program that he had sex with Simpson, but claimed the incident was unrelated to his break-up with Lohan. Later that year, rumours arose that Simpson was secretly dating another Joe Simpson-managed actor, Viva La Bam’s Chris Raab. In February 2006, she told Seventeen magazine that she was dating bandmate Braxton Olita and went on a 10-day vacation with him to Hawaii.

In November 2005, eTalk Daily broadcast a video of a late-night visit made by Simpson to a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in Toronto, Canada. Simpson appeared to be intoxicated in the video, and was shown arguing with an employee, as well as rejecting a customer’s attempt to get an autograph from her because he wouldn’t kiss her feet. According to Simpson in a 2006 ELLE interview, she was "a little tipsy", and the customer had first called her "gross" before he had realized who she was, at which point he asked her for an autograph. She said that she told herself to "grow up" after the incident.

In February 2006, Simpson was honored by MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL), as the "Bounce-Back" artist. The award was given to her for being able to recover from the negative moments of her career and release another #1 platinum album.

Simpson reportedly had a nose job in April 2006. When asked about it in an interview in May, Simpson neither confirmed nor denied it. In the May 2007 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, she said that she was not insecure about her appearance and had not been beforehand. She said that plastic surgery was a "personal choice" that one should only decide to do for oneself and not for others. Joe Simpson said of the surgery in a September 2007 interview that "there was a real problem with her breathing and that was cured". In March 2008, she said that "as long as people have two eyes" they could determine whether she had a nose job.

In the June 2007 edition of Cosmopolitan, Simpson said that she hasn’t lip synched since her Saturday Night Live incident, that she has "a little crush on Christian Slater", feels sexiest in bed, and that you can and can’t have a good relationship without amazing sex.

Simpson was ranked as one of the "Hottest Women in Pop/R&B" by Blender magazine in January 2007. She was later voted as number 16 in Maxim’s 2007 Hot 100 list.

In June 2006, it was reported that Simpson seriously considered but later turned down a $4 million offer to pose nude for Playboy.

In early September 2006, Us Weekly reported that Simpson and Braxton Olita had split up. Simpson’s rep said that the couple "broke up about a week ago. They have decided to take a break."

Filmography

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