Wednesday, January 28, 2009

ELISHA CUTHBERT BIOGRAPHY




SA former child star whose flame continued to burn bright into her teen years, blonde beauty Elisha Cuthbert has successfully carried the success from Popular Mechanics for Kids and Are You Afraid of the Dark? into a featured role on the hit FOX series 24 and a successful film career.

A Calgary native who landed her first modeling job at the tender age of seven, it was a mere four years later that Cuthbert instinctively knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her days in front of the lens.

Following an appearance in the 1997 feature Dancing on the Moon, Cuthbert landed a job as a field correspondent for the acclaimed Canadian television series Popular Mechanics for Kids, and her reporting proved so effective that she caught the attention of first lady Hillary Clinton, who invited Cuthbert to Washington for a meeting.


Though she spent the majority of her youth in Montreal, Cuthbert moved to Los Angeles at age 17 in order to pursue an acting career.

Featured roles as a reluctant pilot in Airspeed (1998) and a time traveling teen in Time at the Top (1999) were soon to follow, and by the time Cuthbert joined the cast of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? in 1999, it was obvious that her talent was growing.

Her role in the made-for-Canadian-television feature Lucky Girl only furthered her reputation as a dramatically capable rising starlet, and her distinct onscreen facial expressions and convincing performance soon caught the eyes of producers who were preparing a new thriller series for FOX.

Cast as Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) damsel-in-distress daughter, Kimberly, in the breakout hit 24, Cuthbert's character suffered through multiple kidnappings and a mountain lion attack over the course of the series' first two seasons. In the episode of 24 in which she shared a scene with the mountain lion, Cuthbert made news when the beast actually attacked her on the film set, sending the frightened actress on a trip to the hospital with an injured hand.

On the heels of 24, Cuthbert took a supporting role in the comedy Old School before appearing in the subsequent romantic comedies Love Actually (2003) and The Girl Next Door (2004), the latter of which found her taking the lead as an ex-porn star who becomes the object of affection to a lonely suburban boy unaware of her past.



Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Britney Spears



One of the last teenage superstars of the millennium, Britney Spears enjoyed her breakthrough success at the end of 1998.

Britney Spears appeared in local dance revues and church choirs as a young girl, and at the age of eight auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club.

Although Britney Spears was too young to join the series, a producer on the show gave her an introduction to a New York agent.

Britney Spears subsequently spent three summers at the Professional Performing Arts School Center.

She appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions as a child actor, including Ruthless (1991). She returned to the Walt Disney Channel for a spot on The Mickey Mouse Club, where she was featured for two years between the ages of 11 and 13.

Britney Spears began to audition for pop bands in the New York area, her demo tapes eventually landing on the desk of Jive Records' Jeff Fenster. ''Her vocal ability and commercial appeal caught me right away,'' he recalls.

She was expensively groomed by Jive, who put her in the studio with Eric Foster White (producer and writer for Boyzone, Whitney Houston and others).

They employed top R&B writer Max Martin (of Backstreet Boys fame) to produce her debut single, ''... Baby, One More Time'', and an album of the same title.

They also set up a promotional free phone number where fans could listen to Spears' music and interviews throughout the summer of 1998.

Britney Spears toured American venues for a series of concerts sponsored by US teen magazines, eventually joining 'N Sync on tour. The careful planning paid off when her debut album and single went on to top the American charts at the start of 1999.

The album and single enjoyed similar success in the UK and Europe. The ballad ''Sometimes'' and the funky ''(You Drive Me) Crazy'' were also substantial transatlantic hits. ''Born To Make You Happy'' topped the UK charts in January 2000.

The demand for new Spears material was satisfied when her sophomore set, Oops! ... I Did It Again, was released in May.

The album contained the expected quota of well-produced, expertly crafted pop songs alongside a risible cover version of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.