Ali Larter

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, House on Haunted Hill, Final Destination, Legally Blonde, and most recently Resident Evil: Extinction.

Ali Larter was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to parents 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. 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.

In November 1996, Larter portrayed the hoax model Allegra Coleman in Esquire magazine which 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 on the cover of Esquire portraying the fictional Allegra Coleman.
Larter on the cover of Esquire portraying the fictional Allegra 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. 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. The series went on for a third installment without Larter as her character was killed off in the second installment of the series. 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 along side 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."[4] 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.

Ali Landry

Ali Germaine Landry (born July 21, 1973) is a former Miss USA (1996), model and actress. She is recognized as the Doritos Girl from her popular 1998 Super Bowl commercial. In 1998, she was named by People magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world.
Landry grew up in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. This southern region of Louisiana is referred to as "Acadiana," the heart of Cajun country. Landry is of French and Spanish (Cajun) descent. She graduated from Cecilia High School in 1991. She attended the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and was majoring in Mass Communications. She is a sister member of Kappa Delta Sorority.

Her first foray into pageantry came in 1990 when she was crowned Miss Louisiana Teen USA, becoming the first representative from Louisiana directed by RPM Productions. She represented Louisiana in the Miss Teen USA 1990 pageant held in Biloxi, Mississippi in July 1990, where she place seventh.

In 1995, Landry won the Miss Louisiana USA 1996 title, becoming the first former Miss Louisiana Teen USA to win the Miss title. She went on to compete in the Miss USA 1996 pageant, which was broadcast live from South Padre Island, Texas in February 1996 — she placed third highest after the preliminary competition and second highest on average during the final event. She was the highest placed of the finalists and eventually went on to win the Miss USA 1996 title, the first former Miss Teen USA delegate to win the title (although her predecessor Shanna Moakler, previously Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1992, had inherited the Miss USA title from Chelsi Smith the year before.

Landry went on to compete in the 1996 Miss Universe pageant held in Las Vegas in May that year. She placed highest on average after the presentation show, and was ranked second in the evening gown and interview events during the final competition, however only placed seventh in swimsuit. She was second going in to the final round of six delegates, but fell to sixth after the judge's panel questions.

Until 1999, Landry was the only former Miss Teen USA delegate to compete at Miss Universe. Her record at all three pageants were not surpassed until 2000 when Miss USA 2000, Lynnette Cole made the top 5 at all three pageants.

Landry has done much modeling for photographers and magazines. As a spokeswoman for the Doritos chips brand, she appeared in celebrated TV commercials airing during the 1998, 1999 and 2000Super Bowl football games. She was named by "People" magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998.

In 2002, she hosted the second season of the hidden-camera series Spy TV. From 2003 to 2006, she was a regular cast member of the UPN sitcom Eve.

Landry has participated in the show Fear Factor, and was runner up. She is an avid athlete and also participated in the Boston Marathon.

Landry met actor/TV personality Mario Lopez when he emceed the 1998 Miss Teen USA pageant and she was a commentator. They were engaged during the summer of 2003 and married on April 24, 2004, but two weeks later she had the marriage annulled over alleged infidelities committed by Lopez during the relationship.

She was married to film director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde on April 8, 2006 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Their daughter Estela Ines Monteverde was born on July 10, 2007.

Victoria Silvstedt

Karen Victoria Silvstedt (born September 19, 1974 in Skelleftehamn, Sweden) is a Swedish fashion model and actress and sex symbol. Silvstedt was a member of the Swedish National Ski Team, ranking as high as fourth among her Olympic teammates in the Super-Giant Slalom. Silvstedt claims that when she was 16, she competed in a Best Fake Orgasm contest at a local bar. The contestants were Silvstedt and 10 guys, and the winner got a brand-new TV. When she came home, she told her mother she won it at a game of Bingo.

Silvstedt claims as a sports person she was a bit of a tom-boy who supposedly had never worn high heels, but after a shoulder injury ended her skiing career at 16, her mother and sister secretly entered her into the 1993 Miss Sweden Beauty Pageant. Silvstedt was the first runner-up in Miss Sweden, and went on to represent Sweden in the Miss World contest in South Africa, reaching the final eight contestants. She was then signed by a Parisian modeling agent and began a career in high fashion, working for various companies including Chanel, Christian Dior, Loris Azzaro, Givenchy, Valentino, and Giorgio Armani.

After being approached by Hugh Hefner, she appeared as a centerfold in the December 1996 issue of Playboy and was subsequently named Playmate of the Year in 1997. As a European, not being aware of the wider distribution and publicity effect of Playboy, she suddenly broke into the North American market. She has been featured in countless magazines, including GQ, Maxim, FHM, Gear and Nuts, where in 2005 she came second to actress Jennifer Ellison in a competition to find the Sexiest Blonde in the World.

Alessandra Ambrosio

Alessandra Corine Ambrósio (born April 11, 1981) is a Brazilian supermodel. Her last name is spelled Ambrósio, but the diacritic mark is omitted in her modeling work. She was described by retired supermodel Tyra Banks as "The future of the modeling world". She is best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret and was chosen as their first spokesmodel for Victoria's Secret PINK line. She is currently one of Victoria’s Secret Angels. and the face for the UK company Next and Armani A|X. Aside from modeling work, she represents as the National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ambrosio was also selected by AskMen.com as Number 6 out of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women for 2007.

Ambrosio was born in a small town of Erechim, Brazil on April 11, 1981 to petrol station-owner parents. She is of Italian and Polish descent. She was just eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a model, after seeing a picture of top covergirl Karen Mulder in a magazine. "I wanted to be like her," she recalls. However, she felt insecure about her appearance, particularly of her large, obvious ears. So at 11, she had cosmetic surgery done to get her ears pinned back. Unfortunately, she had complications from the surgery for the two years following. On 2006 The Tyra Banks Show, she admitted that the surgery had been a bad experience for her and that she is discouraged from having plastic surgery again.

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-born actress, sex symbol, glamour model, producer, TV personality, and author. She holds both American and Canadian citizenship. For a time, she was known as Pamela Anderson Lee after marrying the drummer for Mötley Crüe, Tommy Lee.

Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, 90 km northwest of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, to Carol, a waitress, and Barry Anderson, a furnace repairman. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi, and left Finland in 1908.
The newborn Anderson won fame as the nation's "Centennial Baby", as she was thought to have been the first baby born on Canada's Centennial Day (she was born at 4:08 in the morning). However, the Campbell River Upper Islander of July 5, 1967 reported a baby born two hours earlier on the same Canada Day. After her birth, her parents, Barry and Carol, and her brother, Gerry Anderson, moved to the town of Comox with Pamela.

Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer (born August 25, 1970) is a German supermodel and actress, who reached the height of her popularity during the 1990s. Schiffer is one of the world's most successful supermodels, appearing on over 500 magazine covers and is thought to be one of the wealthiest German women of her time, with Forbes estimating Schiffer to be worth £38 million in 2002. Claudia Schiffer was born in Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is a small town just outside Düsseldorf. She was born to Gudrun Schiffer and her lawyer father Heinz Schiffer. She has two brothers, Stefan and Andreas, and one sister called Ann Carolin.

During her school life, Schiffer commented that she was quite popular but felt socially overshadowed by the other girls in her year, who all acted like stars and were very dominant. She has revealed that because she was so tall, she became very shy and did not want to be noticed. She was also subjected to jealousy by others as she came from a wealthy family that were well-known locally in the area. Schiffer became fluent in French and English as well as in her home language of German. Schiffer originally wanted to become a lawyer and work in her father's law firm. She later dropped these aspirations when she was spotted in a nightclub in Düsseldorf by Michel Levaton in October 1987 at seventeen, the boss of Metropolitan Model Agency who signed her up to become a model.

Caprice Bourret

Caprice Valerie Bourret (born October 24, 1971) is an American lingerie model and sometime actress, television personality and businesswoman. Much of her career has been in the United Kingdom where she is often known by her first name.

Bourret (pronounced Bour-Ray) was born in Hacienda Heights, California to working class parents Dale Bourret and Valerie Pion; her family is Jewish[2] and originates from a French-speaking area of Canada. After growing up in Whittier, California she moved to the United Kingdom in 1996 to further her career in modelling. An appearance in a revealing dress at the 1996 British National Television Awards ceremony helped gain her public recognition.

Yamila Diaz

Yamila Díaz-Rahi (born March 9, 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a professional Argentine supermodel of Lebanese and Spanish descent. She goes by Yamila Diaz. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a health care manager. While studying Economics in Buenos Aires in 1996, she took a holiday in Uruguay where she was discovered by a scout from a Milan modeling agency.

After working in Milan for a few years, in 1999 she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and made the cover in 2002. She also appeared on the cover of magazines such as GQ, Glamour, Maxim, Elle, Shape and many more.

She has also appeared in the Victoria's Secret catalog and print ads for bebe, Swish jeans and many more. She was the first Latina spokesmodel in CoverGirl history. She has also appeared in the 1999 Italian film Il pesce innamorato.
She currently resides in Manhattan and was until recently involved with Italian artist Giuliano Trivia for the past 7 years.

Jamelia

Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981), known professionally as Jamelia, is an English R&B singer, songwriter and sometimes model and actress. She is also a four-time MOBO Award-winning and four time BRIT Award-nominated artist. She made her breakthrough with the single "Money" in 2000 and had her biggest hit in 2003, with the single "Superstar".

Jamelia was born in Smethwick, West Midlands to a Jamaican mother and a Zimbabwean father and raised in the Winson Green area of Birmingham. She was signed to Parlophone at the age of fifteen, after impressing record executives with self-written a cappella songs. Jamelia attended the The City Technology College in Kingshurst.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie (born June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She is often cited by popular media as one of the world's most beautiful women and her off-screen life is widely reported. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award.

Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Jolie achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of videogame heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best known and highest paid actresses in Hollywood. She had her biggest commercial success with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, and a biological child, Shiloh. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through UNHCR.

Madonna

Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16, 1958), better known as Madonna, is an American dance-pop singer-songwriter, dancer, record, film producer and actress. She is noted for her ambitious music videos and stage performances as well as using political, sexual, and religious themes in her work.

Since her debut in 1982, Madonna has released many chart-topping albums, and has become one of the best-selling artists in popular music, with more than 200 million albums sold. In 2001 Guinness World Records lists her as the most successful female recording artist of all time. Also Madonna has been crowned the World’s Most Successful Female Musician by the Guinness Book Of Records.

She has also appeared in several movies over the decades, including Evita, as well as contributing to their soundtracks. Madonna has had many worldwide tours. Billboard reported that her 2006 Confessions Tour held the record for the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist. According to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, and Billboard Magazine, she is the top earning female singer. Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at $325 million. On September 27, 2007, she was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American pop and R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, and actress. Her debut was in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and she became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she is the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.

Carey took much more control over her image and music following her separation from Mottola in 1997, and she introduced elements of hip hop into her album material. Her popularity was in decline when she left Columbia in 2001, and she was dropped by Virgin Records the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, and the poor reception of Glitter; her film and soundtrack project. In 2002, Carey signed with Island Records, and after an unsuccessful period, she returned to the forefront of pop music in 2005.

Carey was named the best selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards. She has recorded the most number-one singles for a female solo artist (seventeen) in the United States, where she is the third best-selling female recording artist of all-time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to her commercial accomplishments, she has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register. However, some critics have said Carey's efforts to showcase her vocal talents have been at the expense of communicating true emotion through song.

Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known simply as Shakira is a Colombian-Lebanese singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, dancer and occasional actress who has been a major figure in the pop music scene of Latin America since the mid-1990s. In 2001, she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over fifteen million copies worldwide. A two-time Grammy Award-winning and eight-time Latin Grammy Award-winning artist, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. She is also the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, the United World Chart and the UK Singles Chart. Shakira is also known for having an IQ of 140.

According to the United World Chart, Shakira is as of 2007 the fourth most successful artist so far from the 2000s. She is also the only artist to have two songs in the top ten of the most successful singles since 1999. Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is the only child of Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado, a Colombian of Catalan-Italian descent, and William Mebarak Chadid, an American of Lebanese descent. Her father also had eight children with his former wife. Shakira means "grateful" or "thankful" (شاكِرة) in Arabic. Her second name, Isabel, is also that of her paternal grandmother. She spent much of her youth in Barranquilla, a city located in northern Colombia.

Shakira wrote her first poem, entitled "La Rosa De Cristal" ("The Glass Rose") when she was only four years old. After receiving a typewriter as a gift, she began to write poems constantly. Her poems eventually evolved into songs. At the age of eight, after an older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident, Shakira became inspired to write her first song. When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic music and which typically accompanied belly dancing.

Before she knew it, Shakira was dancing barefoot on the table, as restaurant patrons responded by clapping enthusiastically. It was then that Shakira said she knew she wanted to be a performer. She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school but in the second grade was rejected for the school choir because her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded "like a goat". At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as she would demonstrate a number she learned every Friday at school. "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.