Drew Barrymore Biography (1975-)

Actress. Born Drew Blythe Barrymore, on February 22, 1975, in Los Angeles,California. The daughter of actor John Drew Barrymore Jr. and Ildiko Jaid, Barrymore’s great-grandparents were actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, and her grandparents were actors John Barrymore and Dolores Costello. The director Steven Spielberg is her godfather.

Barrymore, a talented young actress, has been as well known for…

Cameron Diaz Biography (1972-)

Actress. Born August 30, 1972, in San Diego, California. The daughter of Emilio Diaz, a second-generation Cuban-American oil company foreman, and his wife Billie, who is of Native American, Italian, and German descent, Diaz began modeling when she was 16 years old. Her successful modeling career took her to Japan, Australia, Morocco, and Paris, among other locales, landed her…

Tia Carrere Biography (1967-)

Actress, singer. Born Althea Janairo on January 2, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii. With a Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino background, Tia Carrere was a popular actress in the 1990s. She got her first big break from a chance meeting as a teenager. Carrere was approached in a Honolulu grocery store about appearing in a film, which turned out to be…

Kate Bosworth Biography (1983-)

Actress. Born Catherine Anne Bosworth on January 2, 1983 in Los Angeles. Bosworth grew up on the East Coast, eventually moving back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Her first supporting role was in Robert Redford’s 1998 film The Horse Whisperer, for which she received positive reviews.

Her first starring role was in the surf movie Blue…

Charlize Theron Biography (1975-)

Actress, philanthropist. Born on August 7, 1975, in rural Benoni, South Africa, to co-owners of a road construction company, Charles and Gerda. The Afrikaans-speaking family lived on a working farm outside of Johannesburg, and although Theron’s childhood chores included tending livestock, her passion for dance became evident early on. To foster her artistic leanings, Theron began ballet lessons at…

Jennifer Love Hewitt Biography (1979-)

Actress, singer. Born February 21, 1979, in Waco, Texas. The daughter of two medical professionals who divorced when their daughter was just six months old, Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of those rare child song-and-dance stars who’s managed to navigate the tricky road to adult success as a film and television actress.

Hewitt—who got her first name from her eight-year-old…

Angelina Jolie Biography (1975-)

Actress, humanitarian. Born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, to actor Jon Voight and French actress Marcheline Bertrand. She rose to stardom in the 1990s. She began acting at a young age, studying at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute while in her early teens. Jolie later attended New York University.

In the 1990s, Angelina Jolie…

Katharine Hepburn Biography (1907-2003)

(born May 12, 1907, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.—died June 29, 2003, Old Saybrook, Connecticut) indomitable American stage and film actress, known as a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity. She introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. As an actress she was noted for her brisk upper-class New England…

Naomi Campbell Biography (1970-)

Supermodel and actress Naomi Campbell was born May 22, 1970, in London, England. The daughter of a Jamaican-born dancer and unnamed father, Naomi Campbell attended Dunraven School and the London Academy for Performing Arts as a youngster.

She studied at Italia Conti Academy stage school and appeared in music videos for Bob Marley and Culture Club before signing…

Penelope Cruz Biography (1974-)

Actress. Born Penélope Cruz Sanchez on April 28, 1974 in San Sebastain de los Reyes, Madrid, Spain to Eduardo, a car mechanic and Encarna, a hairdresser. Cruz was the eldest of three: her brother Eduardo, is a singer, and her sister Mónica is both an actress and a flamenco dancer. A natural performer, Penélope amused her family as a…

Reese Witherspoon Biography (1976-)

Actress. Born Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon on March 22, 1976, in Nashville, Tennessee. The daughter of a physician and a nurse, Witherspoon grew up in Nashville, where she was a debutante and attended Harpeth Hall, a private all-girls high school.

On a whim in 1991, Witherspoon answered a call for extras in her hometown newspaper. She wound up…