Alyssa Milano Full Biography

About 

Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress, producer and former singer. She is known for portraying Samantha Micelli on the ABC sitcom series Who's the Boss? (1984–92), Jennifer Mancini on the Fox soap opera Melrose Place (1997–98), and Phoebe Halliwell on The WB series Charmed (1998–2006). Since 2013, she has starred as Savannah Davis in ABC drama Mistresses. 

Career 

Milano began her career at age eight after winning a role in an open audition for a national tour of Annie. She was one of the four picked out of an audition with over 1,500 girls. She appeared in off-Broadway productions and television commercials, the latter of which she hated doing because of the long hours. Alongside the theater productions, she played a supporting role in the low-budget independent film Old Enough, which she recalled as a "great" way for "starting out". 

At age 11, she won her first major acting role in the television sitcom Who's the Boss? with Tony Danza, Judith Light, Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond. She co-starred as Samantha Micelli, the daughter of Danza's character. After Milano won the role, she and her father relocated from Staten Island to Hollywood. The rest of the family followed a year later, because her mother was initially unwilling to give up her home life "for a show that wasn't a guarantee." Although born and raised in Brooklyn, Milano had trouble getting this accent right because she worked to lose it to land more roles in the theater, including in a stage adaption of Jane Eyre. Throughout Who's the Boss?, Milano felt a strong connection with co-star Danza. 

As a teen, Milano reportedly inspired two Disney animators, Glen Keane and Mark Henn to create the look and personality of Ariel in the 1989 film The Little Mermaid. On stage, she starred in Tender Offer, a one-act play written by Wendy Wasserstein, All Night Long by American playwright John O'Keefe, and the first American musical adaptation of Jane Eyre. She returned to the theater in 1991, when she starred in and produced a Los Angeles production of Butterflies Are Free from December 26, 1991 to January 19, 1992. 

In 1985, Milano was in the film Commando as Jenny Matrix, the daughter of John (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Appearing at age 12 in an R-rated action film, Milano admitted she was sometimes "freaked out" by the weapons on set. A few years later this film was shown in Japan, prompting a producer to offer Milano a five-album record deal. Milano's albums, which she described as "bubblegum pop", scored platinum in the country, though she in later life showed her discontent in its musical quality. Subsequently, she appeared opposite John Gielgud in the children's film The Canterville Ghost (1986). The film did not achieve much praise or attention, and Variety magazine noted in its review: "Milano as the catalyzing daughter Jennifer adapts to the ghostly Sir Simon without a qualm; that, of course, is the true charm of the story, but Milano doesn't exhibit enough presence to match the droll, charming Gielgud". 

By the late 1980s, Milano was established as a teen idol, appearing in made-for-television teen films such as Crash Course and Dance 'til Dawn (both 1988). Both projects allowed her to work alongside close personal friend Brian Bloom. Bloom and his brother Scott worked with Milano in episodes of Who's the Boss. This working camaraderie would later expand in 1993 when Milano made a cameo appearance in Bloom's film The Webbers. She produced a teen workout video in 1988 called Teen Steam and achieved some fame outside the USA with her music career, which lasted until the early 1990s. Even though she scored platinum in Japan, Milano had no interest to pursue a music career in the United States, explaining: "I'm not interested in crossing over. I'd much rather have it released where it's appreciated than laughed at." Simultaneously, she wrote a weekly column called "From Alyssa, with love" for the teen magazine Teen Machine. In 1991, Milano wanted to quit acting to pursue an academic career, but was unable to gain release from her contract. 

Instead, she auditioned for the female lead role as a homeless teenager in the independent film Where the Day Takes You. Although the crew was reluctant to sign a former child star, she was given a small role as a prostitute in the production, which she filmed in the summer of 1991. Even though she feared that viewers would only recognize her as "the girl from Who's the Boss?", she was noticed by the media, that helped her land the controversial role of Amy Fisher in the high profile TV movie Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story. Milano said that her portrayal of Amy Fisher was more based on Joey Buttafuoco's point of view, and that the film "was the least 'Alyssa' of anything [she had] done." The film was shot in the fall of 1992. By then, her role on Who's the Boss had ended, and she feared having trouble obtaining other roles, aware of the fate of many grown-up child stars in that period. Nevertheless, she was excited when she found out the show was cancelled, being ready "to move on", and enthusiastic to "showcase" what she was able to do. Looking back on eight years of playing the same role, Milano commented, "Creatively, it's been very frustrating. I gave her more of a personality. I changed her wardrobe, cut her hair, anything to give her new life." 

Milano put her plans to pursue academic goals on hold, due to her negative prospect of having to be in class for four more years after experiencing eight structured years on a set. Instead, she auditioned for nearly every film role in her age bracket, including B movies[14] and finally tried to shed her "nice girl" image by appearing nude in several erotic films targeted at adults, such as Embrace of the Vampire (1994), Deadly Sins (1995), and Poison Ivy II: Lily (1996). Milano said the nude appearances taught her to begin requiring a nudity clause in her contracts giving her "full control" over all her nude scenes. In a 1995 interview, she explained her motivation for some explicit scenes in Embrace of the Vampire: "I'm not going to say that I was manipulated into doing things that I didn't want to do. I did it because it was a woman director and I felt protected. And I learned a lot as far as knowing where the camera is and what coverage they need so that it's not all explicit." 

Simultaneously, Milano continued her work for television. In 1994, she was considered to replace Shannen Doherty in the successful teen series Beverly Hills, 90210. She played the lead in several made-for-TV films, such as Candles in the Dark (1993), Confessions of a Sorority Girl (1994), The Surrogate (1995), To Brave Alaska (1996) and Fear (1996), which did not receive very positive reviews, although the Los Angeles Times called Milano "very good" in the production.

Amy Poehler Full Biography

About 

Amy Meredith Poehler (/ˈpoʊlər/; born September 16, 1971) is an American actress, comedian, voice artist, producer and writer. Raised in Burlington, Massachusetts, she graduated from Boston College in 1993 and moved to Chicago, Illinois, to study improv at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. In 1996, she moved to New York City after becoming part of the improvisational comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, which later developed into an eponymous television show that aired on Comedy Central for three seasons. Poehler was also one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 1999. 

Career 

Poehler was a cast member on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she became the co-anchor of the Weekend Update sketch along with her friend and colleague Tina Fey. Poehler's work on SNL earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Since 2009, she has starred as Leslie Knope in the sitcom Parks and Recreation, and received the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series. She is also an eight-time Emmy Award nominee. 

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

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

In 2011, Poehler was included on TIME's "100 most influential people in the world". She also delivered the Class Day address to Harvard University's class of 2011.

Jared Leto Full Biography

About 

Jared Leto (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, musician, director, producer, activist, philanthropist, photographer and businessman. After starting his career with television appearances in the early 1990s, Leto achieved recognition for his role as Jordan Catalano on the television series My So-Called Life (1994). He made his film debut in How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in Prefontaine (1997). Leto played supporting roles in The Thin Red Line (1998), Fight Club (1998) and American Psycho (2000), as well as the lead role in Urban Legend (1998), and earned critical acclaim after portraying heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream (2000). He later began focusing increasingly on his music career, returning to acting with Panic Room (2002), Alexander (2004), Lord of War (2005), Lonely Hearts (2006), Chapter 27 (2007), and Mr. Nobody (2009). He made his directorial debut in 2012 with the documentary film Artifact. 

Leto's performance as a transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) received critical praise and earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, among numerous other accolades. Leto is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is also known to be selective about his film roles. 

Leto is the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter for Thirty Seconds to Mars, a band which he formed in 1998 in Los Angeles, California with his older brother Shannon Leto. Their debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), was released to critical acclaim but only to limited success. The band achieved worldwide fame with the release of their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). Their following releases, This Is War (2009) and Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), received further critical and commercial success. As of May 2013, the band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide. Leto has also directed music videos, including the MTV Video Music Award–winning "The Kill" (2006), "Kings and Queens" (2009), and "Up in the Air" (2013). 

Career 

In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career, intending to take acting roles on the side. He found minor roles on television shows but his first break came in 1994, after he was cast opposite Claire Danes as Jordan Catalano, her love interest, in the short-lived but well-reviewed ABC teen drama My So-Called Life. The show was praised for its portrayal of adolescence and gained a strong cult following, despite being canceled after only one season. The same year, he made his television film debut starring alongside Alicia Silverstone in Cool and the Crazy. Leto landed his first film role in the 1995 drama How to Make an American Quilt. He later co-starred with Christina Ricci in The Last of the High Kings (1996) and got a supporting role in Switchback (1997). 
In 1997, Leto starred in the biopic Prefontaine in which he played the role of Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine. For the preparation of the role, Leto immersed himself in the runner's life, training for six weeks and meeting with members of his family and friends. He bore a striking resemblance to the real Prefontaine, also adopting athlete's voice and upright running style. His portrayal received positive reviews from critics and is often considered his breakthrough role. Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle noted how Leto played the athlete with raw vitality; "With hypnotic blue eyes and dirty blond hair, Leto captures the rock-star style Prefontaine affected, and he looks natural in fiery performances on the track, as well as off, where Pre affected a brash, confrontational style." 

After landing the lead role of a British aristocrat in the 1998 drama Basil, Leto starred in the horror Urban Legend. The film was poorly received by most movie critics, however, it was a financial success. The same year, Terrence Malick cast Leto for a supporting role in the war film The Thin Red Line alongside Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. It garnered mostly positive reviews and was a moderate success in the box office. It received multiple awards and nominations, including seven Academy Award nominations, with Leto sharing a Satellite Award with the rest of the cast. In 1999, Leto played a gay high school teacher who attracts the attentions of Robert Downey, Jr. in Black and White, and got a supporting role in the drama Girl, Interrupted, an adaption of the memoir of the same name by Susanna Kaysen. He then portrayed Angel Face in Fight Club (1999), a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher. 

Leto played Paul Allen, a rival of Patrick Bateman, in the psychological thriller American Psycho (2000). Though the film polarized audiences and critics, Leto's performance was well received. The same year, he starred as heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream, an adaptation of Hubert Selby, Jr.'s novel of the same name, directed by Darren Aronofsky and co-starring Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. To prepare for his role, Leto lived on the streets of New York City and refrained from having sex for two months prior to shooting. He starved himself for months, losing 28 pounds to realistically play his heroin addict character. After the shooting of the film, Leto moved to Portugal and lived in a monastery for several months to gain weight. His performance received critical acclaim by film critics who notably praised the actor's emotional courage in portraying the character's physical and mental degradation. Peter Travers from Rolling Stone commented that Leto "excels by going beyond Harry's gaunt look to capture his grieving heart. His scenes with Ellen Burstyn as Sara, Harry's widowed mother, achieve a rare poignancy as son and mother drown in delusions." 

Leto next appeared in the independent film Highway. Set in 1994, Leto is caught with the wife of his employer, a Vegas thug, and flee to Seattle with his best friend Jake Gyllenhaal in the week preceding Kurt Cobain's suicide. Filming finished in early 2000, but the film was not released until March 2002 on home video formats, although originally scheduled for a theatrical release. 

During this period Leto focused increasingly on his music career, returning to acting in 2002 with the thriller Panic Room, which marked his second teaming with director David Fincher. He played the supporting role of Junior, a burglar who terrorizes Jodie Foster. The film was well received by movie critics and became a financial success, grossing nearly US$200 million worldwide. Leto's next film was the 2004 biographical film Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone. He portrayed Hephaestion, the closest friend of Alexander the Great. The film failed in the United States, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with worldwide revenue of US$167 million. 

The following year, Leto starred together with Nicolas Cage in the political crime thriller Lord of War. He played Vitaly, the younger brother of illegal arms dealer Yuri Orlov. The film was officially endorsed by the human rights group Amnesty International for highlighting the arms trafficking by the international arms industry. It was positively received by movie critics and was a moderate commercial success. In 2006, Leto appeared in the neo-noir crime drama Lonely Hearts, the true story of the notorious "lonely hearts killers" of the 1940s, Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck. Playing Fernandez, he co-starred with Salma Hayek who played the role Beck. The film received mixed reviews from critics; however, Leto's acting was widely praised, with Heather Huntington from Reelz writing that his "layered performance as the nattily dressing dandy with no remorse is truly impressive." 

In 2007, Leto starred in the biographical film Chapter 27. He portrayed Mark David Chapman, a fanatic fan of The Beatles and the murderer of John Lennon. Leto prepared for his role by relying on interviews with Chapman and on audiotapes recorded by a librarian which the actor met during a visit to the inmate's hometown. Leto gained 67 pounds to approximate the killer's physique. The abruptness of his weight gain gave him gout. He was forced to use a wheelchair due to the stress of the sudden increase in weight put on his body. After the shooting of the film, he quickly went on a liquid diet. Chapter 27 premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole, Leto's performance was widely praised. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly considered his acting "a genuine transformation, as the actor submerges himself in Chapman's couch-potato flab and red-rimmed eyes [...] Leto disappears inside this angry, mouth-breathing psycho geek with a conviction that had me hanging on his every delusion." 

Leto's next film was the 2009 science fiction drama Mr. Nobody, directed by Jaco Van Dormael. He portrayed the title role of Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth after the human race has achieved quasi-immortality. His role required him to play various versions of his character, from 34 to 118 years old, spending six hours daily for the full make-up and adopting the voice of an old-aged man. Mr. Nobody premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Critical response praised the film's artistry and Leto's performance. Boyd van Hoeij from Variety felt that "his acting talent really comes into full view in his scenes as the last dying man on Earth. Despite too much old-age makeup, Leto nevertheless infuses the character with some real raw emotional power;" while Bruce Kirkland of Toronto Sun claimed that Leto gave "a marvelously full-blooded, brain-spinning, tour-de-force performance." 

After a five years hiatus from filming, Leto returned to act in the drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. Leto portrayed Rayon, a drug addicted trans woman with AIDS who befriends McConaughey's character Ron Woodroof. In order to accurately portray his role, he lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body. He stated the portrayal was grounded in his meeting transgender people while researching the role. During filming, Leto refused to break character. Dallas Buyers Club received widespread critical acclaim and became a financial success, resulting in various accolades for Leto, who was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and a variety of film critics' circle awards for the role. The film earned him his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ashton Kutcher Biography

About 

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (/ˈkʊtʃər/) (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, and former model. He is known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. He also created, produced, and hosted Punk'd and had lead roles in the Hollywood films Jobs, Dude, Where's My Car?, Just Married, The Butterfly Effect, The Guardian, and What Happens in Vegas. 

Kutcher currently stars as Walden Schmidt on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, since Charlie Sheen's firing from the show in 2011. 

Career 

Modeling career 

After participating in an IMTA competition (losing to Josh Duhamel) in 1998, Kutcher signed with Next modeling agency in New York, appeared in ads for Calvin Klein, and modeled in Paris and Milan. 

Television and film career 

After his success in modeling, Kutcher moved to Los Angeles after his first audition, was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series That '70s Show, from 1998 and to 2006. Kutcher was cast in a series of film roles; although he auditioned but was not cast for the role of Danny Walker in Pearl Harbor (2001) (the role went to Josh Hartnett), he starred in several comedy films, including Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Just Married (2003), and Guess Who (2005). He appeared in the 2003 family film, Cheaper By The Dozen, playing a self-obsessed actor. His 2004 film The Butterfly Effect was a dramatic role for Kutcher, playing a conflicted young man who time travels; the film received mixed to negative reviews, but was a box office success. 

In 2003, Kutcher produced and starred in his own series, MTV's Punk'd, as the host. The series involved hidden camera tricks performed on celebrities. He is also an executive producer of the reality television shows Beauty and the Geek, Adventures in Hollyhood (based around the rap group Three 6 Mafia), The Real Wedding Crashers, and the game show Opportunity Knocks. Many of his production credits, including Punk'd, come through Katalyst Films, a production company he runs with partner Jason Goldberg. A 2004 interviewer described Kutcher as a "hunky young actor [who] is heading in all different directions at once", including "the hot L.A. restaurant Dolce": 
"If anything, I'm a trier," says Kutcher between puffs of filtered Lucky Strikes. "I think, more than anything, it comes from the fact that my father always had several irons in the fire. Also, I don't want to fail. If something doesn't work out—if That '70s Show got canceled or if I wasn't going to have a film career—I always wanted to have backup contingency plans. So I just started doing other things; and on a half-hour sitcom, you're really only working for 30 hours a week. It allows a lot of time for sitting around, which I always kind of filled with work." 

Because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of The Guardian, Kutcher was forced not to renew his contract for the eighth and final season of That '70s Show, although he did appear in the first four episodes of it (credited as a special guest star) and returned for the series finale. Kutcher produced and starred in the 2010 action comedy, Killers, in which he played a hitman. In May 2011, Kutcher was announced as Charlie Sheen's replacement on the series Two and a Half Men. Kutcher's contract was for one year and was believed to be worth nearly $20 million. His debut as the character Walden Schmidt, entitled "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen ratings company reported that figure was more than any episode in the show's first eight seasons, when Sheen starred in it. As of August 2013, Kutcher earns $750,000 an episode.