Amber Valletta

Amber Valletta first came to international attention as a fashion model within the pages of Elle and Vogue and for advertising campaigns for DKNY and Versace. Her ease in front of the camera led to television hosting duties on MTV, which would later pave the way for roles in several prominent movies, most notably “What Lies Beneath” (2000) and “Premonition” (2007).

Born on Feb. 9, 1974 in Tucson, AZ, Amber Evangelina Valletta decided on social work as her career path while still a teenager. But her mother noticed her striking Portuguese looks and 5’9” height, enrolling her in a modeling school in Tulsa, OK, where the family had relocated early in her childhood. Her earliest experience came at a local mall, where she did runway work, but not long after cutting her long blond locks, her modeling career took off like a rocket when she – the unknown model, succeeded supermodel Cindy Crawford as the face of Carpezio handbags in 1993. Smelling a killing, her Tulsa-based agency sent her to Milan, Italy, where she landed a job with Vogue. This was quickly followed by a cover shoot for French Elle in 1996, which ensured her status as a model on the rise. Soon afterwards, Valletta attained supermodel status thanks to countless magazine shoots and advertising campaigns for the likes of Calvin Klein, Gucci, and Valentino, circa 1999-2002. She also frequented the runways of Europe and America for designers like Chanel, Gaultier, Christian Dior, and Dolce and Gabbana. During this period, Valletta also took a swing at the married life in a brief union with writer Herve Le Bihan in 1994; the couple was divorced two years later.

Valletta’s film and television career was launched in 1995 when, like Cindy Crawford before her, she and close friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow co-hosted MTV’s “House of Style” (1995-2000) during the 1995-96 season. She made her acting debut four years later as the abused wife of a charismatic young actor in the independent drama “Drop Back Ten” (2000), which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. She also made her sole excursion behind the camera as executive producer of an enigmatic short film titled “Ticks” in 1999. This was followed by a key role as a young woman whose disappearance leads Michelle Pfeiffer to question the innocence of her husband (Harrison Ford) in Robert Zemeckis’ supernatural thriller “What Lies Beneath” (2000).

Subsequent movie roles required Valletta to do little more than look attractive and give her leading men a chance to act out Tex Avery-style reactions of lust – she was Nicolas Cage’s fantasy girlfriend in the dreary “Family Man” (2000), and the sole teacher on the side of Alex Linz’s new kid in school in “Max Keeble’s Big Move” (2001). Knowing she was lucky she was being taken seriously at all as a supermodel-turned-actress, Valletta took smaller roles opposite Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in the woeful Danny DeVito comedy “Duplex” and alongside Kate Hudson in Garry Marshall’s comedy “Raising Helen” (2004) – if for nothing more than continuing to fine tune her acting skills. Despite the steady on-screen roles, Valletta was still best known as a model, and for having dated Leonardo DiCaprio in the late 1990s, though she earned a reputation in philanthropy circles for her charity work, starting as far back as 1995 with a fashion show to benefit the Tulsa Community Food Bank.

She also lent her name and celebrity to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – where she was a member of the advisory board – and has participated in events for and contributed to the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research and the Oceana Seafood Contamination Campaign, among others. In 2003, Valletta put her modeling and acting careers on hold to marry Olympic volleyball player Christian “Chip” McCaw, with whom she had a son, named Auden, in 2000. She returned to the movies the following year with her best role to date – as the beautiful celebrity and love object of nebbish Kevin James in the charming comedy, “Hitch” (2005). This was followed by the supporting role of a mother of a kidnapped child in the action film “Transporter 2” (2005).

Valletta dropped out of public view again in 2006 to spend time at The Meadows, a rehabilitation facility in Arizona. According to the actress, her stay was not caused by alcohol or drug-related causes, but instead due to stress. She emerged from treatment that year and returned to movie work in two supernatural thrillers – “Dead Silence” (2007) from “Saw” (2004) director James Wan, and the Sandra Bullock picture “Premonition” (2007). In both films, Valletta impressed audiences with her fragile characterizations, but neither feature performed well at the box office.

Valletta is married to Olympic volleyball player Christian "Chip" McCaw with whom she has a son, Auden. Before this marriage, she dated Leonardo DiCaprio in early-1998. Her first marriage, in 1994, was to Hervé Le Bihan. They divorced in 1996. On August 24, 2006, her publicist announced that she was going into rehab for non-substance abuse issues related to stress and image problems.

Valletta also serves as the spokesperson for Oceana’s Seafood Contamination Campaign, where she brings awareness of the dangers of mercury poisoning in various kinds of seafood. The decision to join Oceana's campaign was prompted by the mercury-poisoning experience of a friend and the fact that she is a mother.

In August 2006, the New York Daily News reported that Valletta completed a stint at The Meadow rehabilitation facility in Wickenburg, Arizona, for stress and non-substance-related issues. Valletta told People magazine, "As was correctly reported earlier this week, my stay at The Meadows had nothing to do with substance abuse or addiction; I am pleased to say I have seven years' sobriety. But I continue every day to heal and grow as a person".

In January, 2008, she participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by Will.I.Am called "Yes We Can" along with her son Auden, whom she was holding in her arms.

Heidi Montag

Heidi Blair Montag (born September 15, 1986) is an American singer, television personality, fashion designer, model, aspiring actress and is best known for being on The Hills, alongside Lauren Conrad. Montag, along with Spencer Pratt, have made a joint fortune of $3 million in the last two years alone thanks to TV salaries, club appearances, photo shoots, and business deals. Her last name is the German word for Monday.

In the summer of 2005, MTV began filming the lives of Laguna Beach cast member Lauren Conrad and her college friends for her spin-off reality show, The Hills. Montag's reality TV career began with a few appearances on season two of MTV's Laguna Beach. Montag's friendship with Conrad led to a featured role in The Hills, which premiered on May 31, 2006. Montag was featured in the series sharing an apartment with Conrad while studying at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. Montag left the Fashion Institute in fall of 2005 when she was hired at Bolthouse Productions. According to Montag, she dropped out because she "did not find the school challenging". Within two years, Montag was promoted to event planner at Bolthouse, before being fired and then re-hired.

Montag appeared in every episode of seasons one and two of The Hills, and appeared in season three, which aired on MTV on August 13, 2007. In the summer of 2006, Montag started dating fellow Hills cast member Spencer Pratt, a former manager of Brody Jenner. Season 2 of The Hills (which aired from January through April 2007) focused on Montag's relationship with Pratt and its effect on her friendships with Conrad and fellow Hills cast member Audrina Patridge. On the Season 2 finale, Montag moved out of her apartment with Conrad to live with Pratt. Although Conrad maintained the two were still friends after Montag moved out, the friendship soon ended when Conrad blamed Montag and Pratt for spreading rumors about a sex tape featuring her and ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler. In October 2008, the pair reportedly ended their feud.

In August 2008, Lauren Conrad expressed feelings that The Hills is "definitely reaching its end" and cited the privacy pitfalls. Montag and Pratt have expressed an interest in adopting Conrad's lead role and narrator. In a recent radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Montag said "I think that maybe Lauren is tired of [being on the show], but we’re just beginning," and that "We’re not even remotely sick of it." Whereas Pratt stated that, "sometimes the narrator has to throw their hate up on the wall and pass the mic", and expressed an interest in taking The Hills to a tenth season.

Montag has discussed taking acting classes, saying she hopes The Hills will help her jump start a film career. She has expressed a desire to have appearances in "some movies" in addition to "a couple of hit albums". In an interview with Blender magazine, Montag revealed her intentions of one day winning an Academy Award.

In November 2008, Montag, along with Spencer Pratt, shot scenes for an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The two appeared as themselves in an episode aired in January 2009.

In February 2007, Montag started work on an album with producer David Foster. It was also reported that Montag is on a one-song contract with Warner Bros., not a full studio contract as both Montag and her then-fiance, Spencer Pratt, had claimed. On August 16, 2007, Ryan Seacrest premiered Montag's song, "Body Language", featuring Pratt rapping, on his KIIS-FM radio show. Both Montag and Pratt denied the song was her intended first single with Pratt telling Us Weekly that the tune, "was a song Heidi and I were doing for fun. Never would I rap on her first single!" In December 2007, another track by Montag and produced by David Foster entitled "Touch Me" was leaked online.

On February 5, 2008, Montag's first single, "Higher" received an online-only release on iTunes. Along with the single, the accompanying video shot by boyfriend, Spencer Pratt, was also available to purchase. The song and the video received a negative response from websites and readers across the internet, to which Montag responded, "I appreciate people taking the time to write any comment." The following month, Montag released her second single, "No More", through iTunes. In June 2008, Montag released two songs, her first official single (her boyfriend/partner helped film it), "Fashion" and "One More Drink." Montag also revealed interest in releasing a Christian music album.

On August 18, 2008, Montag released a song titled "Overdosin'". On September 2, 2008 another song recorded by Montag called "The Party's Wherever I Am", was leaked onto the internet.

Montag debuted her fashion line, Heidiwood, named after erections of her adolescent fans, at a fashion show at the Hollywood and Highland shopping center in Hollywood on April 11, 2008. The designs since then have been dropped from all Anchor Blue Stores and will re-release the line in 2009. Shortly after, she promoted her line in New York City, at MTV's TRL, among other places.

Kristen Bell

Bell was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. She is the daughter of Tom Bell, a television news director, and Lorelei "Lori" Bell, a registered nurse. Bell is of Polish and Scottish descent. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she has two half sisters, Sara and Jody, from her father's second marriage. Bell has a lazy eye which affects her right eye. She inherited it from her mother, who had it corrected as a child. Bell claims that if she does not get enough sleep, it furthers the ailment. She nicknames her right eye "Wonky".

At the age of four, Bell claimed she did not like her first name and opted to change it to "Smurfette" after the character in the The Smurfs however, her mother convinced Bell to go by her middle name of Anne instead; she used the name Annie until high school. She attended Burton Elementary school in Huntington Woods where she studied singing and tap dancing.

Just before her freshman year of high school, Bell's parents decided to pull her from the public school system. She then attended Shrine Catholic High School in nearby Royal Oak, where she took part in the drama and music club. During her time at the school, she won the starring role in the school's 1997 production of The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy Gale and also appeared in productions of Fiddler on the Roof (1995), Lady Be Good (1996), and Li'l Abner (1998). In 1998, the year she graduated, Bell was named the yearbook's "Best Looking Girl" by senior class vote.

When Bell was 17, her best friend Jenny DeRita, whom she met at age 11 during a Detroit community theater production, was killed in an automobile accident. Bell said that it was "both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me. [...] Once you learn not to take people for granted, you live a lot happier life."

Shortly after her high school graduation, Bell moved to New York and attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, majoring in musical theater. In 2001, during her senior year at New York University, Bell left a few credits shy of graduating to take a role in the Broadway musical version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

In 1992, Bell went to her first audition and won a dual role as a banana and a tree in a suburban Detroit theater's production of Raggedy Ann and Andy. Her mother had established her with an agent before Bell was 13, which allowed her to appear in newspaper advertisements for several Detroit retailers and television commercials. She also began private acting lessons. In 1998, she appeared with an uncredited role in the locally filmed movie Polish Wedding.

In 2001, Bell left New York University to take a key role as Becky Thatcher in the short-lived Broadway musical of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. That same year she made her credited film debut in Pootie Tang. However, her one line in the film was cut and her appearance exists only as a scene shown during the credit sequence. Additionally, she auditioned for the television series Smallville for the role of Chloe Sullivan, a part eventually won by Allison Mack. In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway revival of The Crucible with Liam Neeson, Angela Bettis and Laura Linney. Bell then moved to Los Angeles, California in 2002 because of her friendship with writers Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, and appeared in a handful of television shows as a special guest, finding trouble gaining a recurring role in a television series. Bell had "tested like eight times and booked nothing and every show [she] tested for got picked up," including auditions for Skin and a Norm Macdonald series. In 2003, she landed a role in the Hallmark Channel movie The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay.

In 2004, Bell appeared in the Lifetime television movie Gracie's Choice, which received one of the network's highest ratings. She made her debut in a theatrically released film, with David Mamet's Spartan, as Laura Newton, the kidnapped daughter of a high-ranking U.S. government official, acting alongside Val Kilmer. Bell also guest-starred on the HBO's drama Deadwood in a two-episode story arc ("Bullock Returns to the Camp" and "Suffer the Little Children").

She then won the role of the title character in UPN's drama Veronica Mars, which was launched in the fall of 2004. Created by Rob Thomas, Bell starred as the seventeen year old detective Veronica, which put her alongside actors Enrico Colantoni who played her father, Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs III and Ryan Hansen. Veronica Mars was described as "a little bit Buffy and a little bit Bogart." Bell noted the parallels between the character of Veronica and her own life - Bell's parents had divorced and her best friend had also died, like that of Veronica. The series earned positive reviews from television critics, as did Bell's performance. Some critics felt that she was overlooked, however, and deserved an Emmy Award nomination. As a writer at the tvaddict.com commented, "[Bell's] complete lack of Emmy recognition proves that voters don’t actually watch the tapes before they vote."

In 2005, Bell starred in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, reprising the role she played in the short-lived 2001 off-broadway musical. The musical was a spoof of the 1936 exploitation film of the same name. Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical debuted on the Showtime network on April 16, 2005. On September 18, 2005, Bell performed the theme song from Fame on the "Emmy Idol" portion of the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. She and the cast of Veronica Mars were nominated for two Teen Choice Awards in 2005: "Choice Breakout Actress" and "Choice Breakout TV Show".

In 2006, Bell won the Saturn Award for "Best Actress on Television" for her acting on Veronica Mars, while the series was nominated for "Best Network Television Show". Aside from working on Veronica Mars, in April Bell starred as Gracie in Fifty Pills, an entry for the Tribeca Film Festival. She appeared in a short independent film called The Receipt and the horror film Roman, which was directed by her The Crucible co-star Angela Bettis. Released on August 11, 2006, Pulse starred Bell as the lead Mattie. A remake of the Japanese horror film Kairo, the film grossed $27.9 million worldwide, however it garnered negative response from critics. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter commented, "despite the starring presence of Kristen Bell, [the] young actress has far less interesting material to work with here than she does as [the character] "Veronica Mars.""

Veronica Mars continued on UPN until the third season, in which the show was renewed and returned on the newly created The CW. On January 19, 2007 CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff announced that, while she was pleased with the gradual improvement of Veronica Mars's ratings, the series would be put on hiatus after February sweeps to air a new reality series, Pussycat Dolls Present. On May 17, 2007 Ostroff announced the cancellation of the series. The two-hour series finale aired in the United States on May 22, 2007, and on June 11, 2007 Thomas officially announced in an email to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello that Veronica Mars had been canceled by the CW. A Veronica Mars feature film and comic book series continuation had been discussed, and for a short time there was talk of another collaboration between Bell and creator Thomas that would be unrelated to the Veronica Mars series.

Following the cancellation of Veronica Mars, Bell had voiced interest in appearing on Heroes because she was a fan previous to being cast. On July 29, 2007, during a train ride back to Los Angeles from the San Diego Comic-Con with Heroes actors Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka, and writers from the series, the writers had mentioned that if she "ever want[ed] to come on Heroes, give us [writers] a call", to which Bell said she would love to. She was also spoken to about a role on Lost, but was not offered one despite speculation that she was to portray Charlotte Staples Lewis. Announced in August 2007, Bell was to portray Elle Bishop, a "mysterious young lady" with an "awesome power". She did not have to audition for the role of Elle, who made her first appearance in an October 2007 episode, and will appear in at least thirteen episodes during the run of the series. The casting of Bell, as Heroes creator Tim Kring explains, "was not easy to pull off", but because of the large ensemble cast of the series and multiple story arcs, "we found a way to jump into a small window in [Bell’s] schedule." Concurrently with filming on Heroes, she narrates as title character in the CW series Gossip Girl.

Shortly after the cancellation of Veronica Mars in early 2007, Bell filmed on location in Hawaii for her starring role as the title character in the Judd Apatow comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She noted that the improvisational comedy in the film was "a lovely experience". The film, written by and also starring Jason Segel was released theatrically on April 18, 2008. Bell lent her voice and likeness to the video game Assassin's Creed which was released on November 13, 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and April 8, 2008 for the PC. In the spring of 2006, she finished filming the Star Wars-themed comedy Fanboys, which recently had its release date pushed to January 14, 2008. This was due to additional funding given to director Kyle Newman to shoot new scenes, however, the busy schedules of the actors only allowed for filming in September 2007, thus moving the release date to accommodate that. Bell will voice the character of Marybelle in the animated feature Sheepish, which also has a 2008 release date. She will also star in the comedy Serious Moonlight, alongside Meg Ryan. The film is in post-production and has an estimated 2009 release date. On March 31, 2008 Bell began shooting for the Mark Steven Johnson-written Disney film When in Rome in locations in Rome and New York. On October 15, 2008, TV Guide reported that Bell has signed on to co-star in Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort. Jason Bateman will play her husband.

Bell has also said that when she is free from film and television roles, she would like to perform on stage again.

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Charleston, South Carolina on James Island, the youngest of eleven children in an Irish Catholic family.The Colbert children, in order from oldest to youngest, are Jimmy, Eddie, Mary, Billy, Margo, Tommy, Jay, Lulu, Paul, Peter and Stephen.

His father, James Colbert, was the vice president for academic affairs at the Medical University of South Carolina. His mother, Lorna Colbert, was a homemaker. In interviews, Colbert has described his parents as devout people who also strongly valued intellectualism and taught their children that it was possible to question the Church and still be Catholic. The emphasis his family placed on intelligence and his observation of negative stereotypes of Southerners led Colbert to train himself to suppress his Southern accent while he was still quite young. As a child, he observed that Southerners were often depicted as being less intelligent than other characters on scripted television; to avoid that stereotype, he taught himself to imitate the speech of American news anchors.

Colbert sometimes comedically claims his surname is French, but his family is actually of Irish descent. Originally, the name was pronounced [ˈkoʊɫ.bɚt]; Stephen Colbert's father, James, wanted to pronounce the name [koʊɫˈbεɹ], but maintained the [ˈkoʊɫ.bɚt] pronunciation out of respect for his own father (Stephen's grandfather). However, James offered his children the option to pronounce the name whichever way they preferred. Stephen started using [koʊɫˈbεɹ] later in life when he transferred to Northwestern University, taking advantage of the opportunity to reinvent himself in a new place where no one knew him. Stephen's brother Ed, an intellectual property attorney, retained the [ˈkoʊɫ.bɚt] pronunciation; this was shown in a February 12, 2009 appearance on The Colbert Report, when his youngest brother asked him, "[koʊɫˈbεɹ] or [ˈkoʊɫ.bɚt]?" Ed responded "[ˈkoʊɫ.bɚt]", to which Stephen jokingly replied, "See you in Hell."

On September 11, 1974, when Colbert was ten years old, his father and two of his brothers, Peter and Paul, were killed in the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 while it was attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were en route to enroll the two boys at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. Shortly thereafter, Lorna Colbert relocated the family downtown to the more urban environment of East Bay Street in Charleston. By his own account, Colbert found the transition difficult and did not easily make new friends in his new neighborhood. Colbert later described himself during this time as detached, lacking a sense of importance regarding the things with which other children concerned themselves. He developed a love of science fiction and fantasy novels, especially the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, of which he remains an avid fan. During his adolescence, he also developed an intense interest in fantasy role-playing games, especially Dungeons & Dragons, a pastime which he later characterized as an early experience in acting and improvisation.

Colbert attended Charleston's Episcopal Porter-Gaud School, where he participated in several school plays and contributed to the school newspaper but, by his own assessment, was not highly motivated academically. During his time as a teenager, he also briefly fronted a Rolling Stones cover band. When he was younger, he had hoped to study marine biology, but surgery intended to repair a severely perforated eardrum caused him inner ear damage. The damage was severe enough that he was unable to pursue a career that would involve scuba diving. The damage also left him deaf in his right ear. For a while, he was uncertain whether he would attend college, but ultimately he applied and was accepted to Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where a friend had also enrolled. There he continued to participate in plays while studying mainly philosophy; he found the curriculum rigorous but was more focused than he had been in high school and was able to apply himself to his studies. Despite the lack of a significant theater community at Hampden-Sydney, Colbert's interest in acting escalated during this time. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University's School of Communication to study performance, emboldened by the realization that he loved performing even when no one was coming to shows.

Stephen Colbert started his career in comedy by joining the reknowned Second City improv group in Chicago. There he met actress/comedian Amy Sedaris (sister of author and NPR favorite David Sedaris ) and comic Paul Dinello . Together, they developed the short-lived (but critically acclaimed) HBO sketch comedy series Exit 57 , which won five Cable ACE awards in 1995 for best writing, performing, and comedy series.

In 1996, he was hired to write and perform sketches for The Dana Carvey Show (aka the "Mug Root Beer" Dana Carvey Show , aka the "Taco Bell" Dana Carvey Show ). This was also a short-lived endeavor, but Colbert stood out as a Phil Hartman -like everyman capable of exuding both exuberance and despair in a single take. From there, he worked with Robert Smigel as the voice of Ace for Saturday Night Live's animated shorts Ace & Gary: The Ambiguously Gay Duo . Colbert has also contributed his vocal talents as Reducto and Phil Ken Sebben on Adult Swim's Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law and several characters on Crank Yankers .

Colbert, Sedaris and Dinello struck a collaboration again in 1999, and developed Strangers With Candy for Comedy Central. Colbert has one dramatic role to his credit: on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent he portrayed an antiquarian document forger who lives with his crazy mother. The storyline for this episode appears to be "ripped" nearly frame by frame from an episode of CourtTV's Masterminds .

Since 1997, Stephen Colbert has been best known as a fake senior correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart . He worked alongside Steve Carell , who does the voice for Gary, the other half of the aforementioned Ambiguously Gay Duo . Colbert left the Daily Show in 2005 to create the spinoff The Colbert Report , satrizing the self-obsessed, hardboiled news commentators on Fox News and CNN. On 29 April 2006, Colbert was invited to speak at the annual White House Press Corps awards dinner, using the event to skewer both the assembled journalists and the attending politicians, among them sitting President George W. Bush .

Alexis Bledel

Bledel was born in Houston, Texas. Her mother, Nanette, is Mexican, and her father, Martin Bledel, is Argentine; her father's family were Danish immigrants to Argentina. She has one younger brother, Eric, born 1986. Her first language is Spanish, and she did not learn English until she began school. In fact, her Sisterhood co-star America Ferrera was surprised during an interview with a Spanish magazine when Bledel started speaking Spanish.[citation needed] Bledel's mother encouraged her to try community theater when she was a child to overcome her shyness.[3] She subsequently appeared in local productions of Our Town and The Wizard of Oz before being scouted at a local mall and given work as a fashion model. She attended St. Agnes Academy in Houston and is Roman Catholic. She went to Page Parkes Center for Modeling and Acting and majored in film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for one year. She previously had appeared in the film Rushmore as an extra in four scenes.

Bledel made her TV debut on The WB series Gilmore Girls in 2000. She portrayed Rory Gilmore, the daughter of single mother Lorelai Gilmore. Initially, Rory was a high school student living with her mother, but later moved on to college at Yale University, where she, among other things, worked as the editor of the Yale Daily News. Bledel has said that she feels she can relate in some ways to Rory, both when it comes to some personal traits and her relationship to her own parents. She also sees the family structure and mother-daughter relationship on the show as something to which many people can relate. In 2002, Bledel was voted one of Teen People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25". She appeared as the main character in the video for Less Than Jake's "She's Gonna Break Soon", lead single from their 2003 album Anthem. The single charted at number 39 on the UK charts. In 2005, she starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants based on the book by Ann Brashares. She played Lena Kaligaris, a talented artist on a journey with her three best friends, linked over the summer by a pair of magical jeans.

In 2005, Bledel made a shift from previous TV and film characters while portraying Becky, a prostitute, in the movie Sin City. "She's a very professional prostitute. She carries a gun and she kicks ass," said Bledel of Becky. Sin City is shot almost entirely in black-and-white, with splashes of color here and there, such as a red dress, blood or an entirely yellow evil character. In Becky's case, it was her eyes that kept their color, as director Robert Rodriguez claimed that he found Bledel's eyes to be "so amazing I had to keep them blue in the picture."

In the summer of 2007, Bledel wrapped filming of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants sequel. It has been announced that Bledel will star in The Post Grad Survival Guide as Ryden Malby. She has recently been cast in a new movie entitled The Letters, which is anticipated to be released in 2009. The Letters is a drama / thriller film by director Todd Fjelsted and is currently in pre-production. Bledel is set to star opposite Scott Porter in the upcoming film The Good Guy, also due for a 2009 release. In this, Porter plays a Wall Street businessman whose life begins to fall apart when he helps out a new salesman. Bledel will play Beth, Porter's girlfriend. Anna Chlumsky of My Girl will play her friend.

Bledel enjoys reading, hiking, taking photographs and spending time with her family and friends. She also likes to play the piano. Between scenes on Gilmore Girls, she headed to her trailer to play her keyboard. She also works with First Book, a nonprofit organization, which gives books to the poor. After drinking so much coffee due to her character Rory's strong appreciation for it on the first season of Gilmore Girls, she became sick of it. When Rory "drinks coffee," Bledel is drinking tea or Coca-Cola instead. She was ranked #87 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2005. She dated her Gilmore Girls co-star Milo Ventimiglia for three and a half years, beginning around December 2002, before separating sometime before July 2006.

During an appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, on April 25, 2006, Bledel revealed that she loves traveling to Europe, and that she has already been to the Tuscany region of Italy and loved it. In that same appearance, she also stated that she likes all types of foods, from gourmet cuisine to fast food specialities. In an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, she revealed that she plays recreational soccer. Her team is called "The Hustlers". Although she admits to not being so athletic in the past, she said that this soccer team was a fun way to stay in good shape and have fun at the same time.

Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam is one of the greatest female golfers ever - many would say she's the best ever. Combining a cool efficiency with a passionate desire to win, Sorenstam was among the best players on Tour from her debut in the mid-90s through the remainder of the decade. But as the century turned, Sorenstam went on a run of success that rivals or surpasses anything else ever seen on the LPGA Tour.Sorenstam preferred tennis in her childhood, but took up golf at age 12. She quickly became good enough to start winning, but was very shy. She's said that she sometimes blew shots in order to finish second and avoid having to talk to anyone after a win.Sorenstam attended the University of Arizona where she was a two-time All-America selection and co-player of the year in 1991. She won the 1991 NCAA Championship and the 1992 World Amateur Championship.

Sorenstam turned pro in 1993 and was Rookie of the Year on the Ladies European Tour. She moved up to the LPGA in 1994 and, although she didn't win, was Rookie of the Year there, too. That first win finally came at the 1995 U.S. Women's Open, and Sorenstam took off on what might be the best career in LPGA history. From 1995 through 2006, Sorenstam won eight money titles and never finished lower than fourth. She won 69 tournaments and 10 majors in that span. Sorenstam was one of the best players throughout the mid- to late-90s, winning three times in 1997, six in 1997, four in 1998, twice in 1999, and five times in 2000. Then she rededicated herself to being the best, hitting the gym to add strength - and yards to her drives. She befriended Tiger Woods and picked up some of Woods' practice habits; she improved her chipping and putting.

Sorenstam's domination from 2001-2005 was complete: she was money leader, low scorer and Player of the Year every year. Her win totals included 11 in 2002 and 10 in 2005. She became one of the longest hitters on the tour without losing any of her pinpoint accuracy. Along the way, she became much more comfortable in front of the cameras, her public demeanor becoming more confident, and won over many more fans. At the 2003 Colonial, Sorenstam became the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias to play on the PGA Tour. Sorenstam shot 71-75 and missed the cut, but earned plaudits for her play and the way she handled the publicity circus. The instructional book Golf Annika's Way was released in 2004.

Sorenstam dominated the LPGA Tour again in 2005, but her play slipped in 2006 - with "only" three wins, she was surpassed by Lorena Ochoa at the top of the LPGA pecking order. Sorenstam suffered a neck injury in 2007 that limited her schedule, and at the end of the year she had recorded only her second winless season on the LPGA. By early 2008, however, Sorenstam was back, with three wins early in the season. However, on May 13, 2008, Sorenstam announced it would be her final season on the LPGA Tour - she would leave competitive golf at the end of the year.

Winona Ryder

Born Winona Laura Horowitz on October 29, 1971, in Winona, Michigan. While in her early teens, Ryder was enrolled in the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She made her film debut in the coming-of-age drama Lucas (1986). In many of her early films, she played a variety of roles. She was the eccentric, gothic Lydia in 1988's horror comedy Beetlejuice directed by Tim Burton. Ryder soon appeared as teenager who falls for the unusual title character in Edward Scissorhands (1990) with then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. In the dark comedy Heathers (1989), she played a high school girl battling for her place in the popularity food-chain.

Ryder graduated to more grown-up roles with Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Her work on The Age of Innocence (1993) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received another nod from the academy with a Best Actress nomination for her role as Jo in Little Women (1995). While she gave a strong performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) as a young woman in a mental institution, Ryder made several forgettable films around this time, including the box office dud Autumn in New York (2000).

Ryder found herself under intense public scrutiny in December 2001 after she was charged with shoplifting more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, California. Several types of prescription medication were found in her possession at the time of the arrest. Every step of Ryder's journey through the judicial process made the news. Despite pleading not guilty, she was convicted of vandalism and grand theft in November 2002. Ryder was sentenced to 480 hours of community service and three years' probation. She was also ordered to pay several fines and undergo counseling.

Since then, Ryder has kept a relatively low profile and appeared in only a handful of films. In 2006, she had a leading role in A Scanner Darkly, the animated adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel. The futuristic story explores the impact of Substance D, a mysterious, addictive drug, on its main characters. That year, Ryder also had a lead role in the independent film The Darwin Awards, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

In a recent interview, Ryder stated that she has decided to be very selective about new projects. She told Entertainment Weekly in 2006 that she'd rather not work than do a bad film. Ryder has an eclectic mix of works-in-progress, including The Ten, a satirical look at the ten commandments, and Sex and Death 101, written and directed by Daniel Waters, the screenwriter of Heathers. Waters and Ryder have also discussed creating a sequel to Heathers sometime in the future.

During her more than 20 years as a performer, Ryder has been romantically linked to several different actors and musicians, including Johnny Depp and Dave Pirner from the band Soul Asylum. She and Depp were even engaged for a time in 1990s, and he had her name tattooed on his arm.

Kristen Stewart

Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she currently lives with her family. Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox. Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a scriptwriter originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia. She attended school until the seventh grade, and then continued her education by correspondence. She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart, and is a guitar player. A fan of rock music, her favorite bands include Van Morrison, Radiohead, U2, The Beatles, The Specials, Laura Marling, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Beck. In a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, Kristen confirmed she is dating actor Michael Angarano. She is also very close friends with her Twilight co-stars Robert Pattinson and Nikki Reed. Stewart has expressed a desire to live and work in Australia, saying, "I want to go to Sydney University in Australia. My mom's from there." Apart from acting, she is also interested in attending college in the near future, saying, "I want to go to college for literature. I want to be a writer. I mean, I love what I do, but it's not all I want to do—be a professional liar for the rest of my life."

Stewart's acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school's Christmas show. Stewart's first role was a short, nonspeaking part in the Disney Channel TV production The Thirteenth Year. She subsequently appeared in the independent film The Safety of Objects, in which she played the tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother (Patricia Clarkson). Stewart had a major role in the Hollywood film Panic Room, playing the sullen, diabetic daughter of a divorced mother (Jodie Foster). The film received generally positive reviews, and Stewart garnered positive notices for her performance.

After Panic Room's success, Stewart was cast in another thriller, Cold Creek Manor, playing the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone's characters; the film generally failed at the box office. Her first starring role followed, in the children's action-comedy Catch That Kid, opposite Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu. Stewart also played the role of Lila in the thriller Undertow. To date, Stewart's most critically acclaimed role may be in the television film Speak (2004), based on the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Stewart, thirteen at the time of filming, played high school freshman Melinda Sordino, who stops almost all verbal contact after being raped and who deals with enormous amounts of emotional turmoil. Stewart received great praise for playing the character, who had only a few speaking lines, but kept up a dark-witted commentary inside her head throughout the film.

In 2005, Stewart appeared in the fantasy-adventure film Zathura, playing the role of Lisa – an irresponsible older sister of two little boys, who turn their house into a spacecraft hurtling uncontrollably in outer space by playing a board game. The movie received praise by critics, but Stewart's performance didn't garner much media attention as it was noted that her character is immobilized during most of the movie. The following year, she played the character Maya in Fierce People, directed by Griffin Dunne. After that film, she received the lead role of Jess Solomon in the supernatural thriller movie The Messengers.

In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring Meg Ryan and The O.C. star Adam Brody. The movie, as well as Stewart's performance, received mixed reviews. That same year, Stewart starred in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed adaptation film Into the Wild. For her portrayal of Tracy – a teenage singer who has a crush on young adventurer Christopher McCandless – Stewart received generally positive reviews. Salon.com considered her work a "sturdy, sensitive performance", and the Chicago Tribune noted that she did "vividly well with a sketch of a role." Meanwhile, Variety magazine's critic Dennis Harvey commented skeptically, "It's unclear whether Stewart means to be playing hippie-chick Tracy as vapid, or whether it just comes off that way." After Into the Wild, Stewart had a cameo appearance in Jumper and also appeared in What Just Happened, which was released in October 2008. She also co-stars in The Cake Eaters and The Yellow Handkerchief, both independent films that have only been screened at film festivals.

On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play Isabella "Bella" Swan in the movie Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire/human romance novel of the same name. Stewart was on the set of Adventureland when director Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which "captivated" the director. She stars alongside Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen, her character's vampire boyfriend. The film began production in February 2008 and finished filming in May 2008. Twilight was released domestically on November 21, 2008. Stewart will be reprising her role as Bella in the sequel, New Moon, in 2009.

During a radio interview with Big O and Dukes of WJFK 1067, Jason Mewes stated that he is doing a movie called K-11 with Stewart and Nikki Reed, also of Twilight. The film, which is being directed by Stewart's mother, takes place in a dorm of the Los Angeles County Jail, and will feature both Stewart and Reed as male characters. Stewart was also cast to portray Joan Jett in The Runaways, a rock 'n' roll biopic of the titular band from writer-director Floria Sigismondi.

David Cook

David Cook is an American Alt-rock, Post-Grunge singer-songwriter. He was born in Houston, Texas, raised in Blue Springs, Missouri, and currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His parents are Beth and Stan Cook. He is the middle of three brothers.

Cook's interest in music began early in life. He began singing in second grade, when his elementary school music teacher gave him a solo in a school choir performance. He proceeded to perform in virtually every Christmas and PTA program. He received his first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, at the age of 12. He also participated in choir and drama programs in middle school and high school. At Blue Springs South High School, he performed in musicals, including The Music Man, West Side Story, and Singin' in the Rain. In addition to this, he was an active member in the Blue Springs South High School National Forensics League (or NFL), where he qualified for the national tournament twice for duo interpretation, an event that relies on performance and interpretation of a literary work.

He was also an avid baseball player during high school. After losing interest in sports, he focused more on music. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Central Missouri, but he abandoned theater after two semesters, graduating from the school in 2006 with a degree in graphic design. After his college graduation, he relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pursue a career in music.

Cook was the lead singer and guitarist of the band Axium from 1999 until 2006. He formed Axium in his junior year of high school with drummer Bobby Kerr. One of the band's songs, "Hold", was picked up by AMC Theatres Movie Tunes and was played before previews on over 20,000 screens nationwide. Axium was also named one of the top 15 independent bands in the country in the "Got Milk?" independent band contest, and it was chosen as the best band in Kansas City in 2004.

In 2006, after the breakup of Axium, Cook relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and joined the regional touring band Midwest Kings (MWK), playing guitar, bass, and singing backup vocals. He recorded one EP, Incoherent with Desire to Move On, with the band in 2006.

Cook released a solo independent album, Analog Heart, in 2006, for which he also designed the artwork. The album was chosen as the fourth-best CD released in 2006 by website Music Equals Life. Cook also won the Urban Tulsa Weekly's "Absolute Best of Tulsa" award for "Best Locally Produced, Independent Album" in 2007. He had completed recording his sophomore album before his appearance on American Idol. His musical influences include Our Lady Peace, Alice in Chains, Big Wreck, Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell, Switchfoot Bon Jovi and Collective Soul.

Cook won the seventh season of American Idol on May 21, 2008, receiving 56% of the votes, with 12 million votes over David Archuletaas the runner-up. Cook then sang "The Time of My Life", the winning song of the 2008 American Idol Songwriter's Competition.