1.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
–
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
3.
Jodie Foster
–
Alicia Christian Jodie Foster is an American actress and filmmaker who has worked in films and on television. She has often cited as one of the best actresses of her generation. Foster began her career at the age of three as a model in 1965, and two years later moved to acting in television series, with the sitcom Mayberry R. F. D. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she worked in several television series. Fosters breakthrough came in Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver, in which she played a teenage prostitute, the role garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award. She won her second Academy Award three years later for her role in the sleeper hit The Silence of the Lambs, where she played Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee investigating a serial murder case. Foster made her debut as a director the same year with the moderately successful Little Man Tate. The companys first production was Nell, in which she played the title role. Her other films in the 1990s included period drama Sommersby, Western comedy Maverick, science fiction film Contact, and period drama Anna and her second film direction, Home for the Holidays, was not well-received commercially, while critical reviews were mixed. She has focused on directing in the 2010s, directing the films The Beaver and Money Monster, as well as episodes for Netflix television series Orange is the New Black and she also starred in the film Elysium. In addition to her two Academy Awards, Foster has won three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Cecil B DeMille Award. Foster was born on November 19,1962 in Los Angeles, as the youngest child of Evelyn Ella Brandy and her father came from a wealthy Chicago family, whose forebears included John Alden, who had arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a Yale University graduate and a decorated U. S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and he had already been married once and had three sons from the union before marrying Brandy in Las Vegas in 1953. Brandy Foster was of German heritage and grew up in Rockford, Foster also has Irish roots, with ancestry that can be traced back to County Cork. Before Fosters birth, she and Lucius had three children, daughters Lucinda Cindy Foster and Constance Connie Foster, and son Lucius Fisher Buddy Foster. Their marriage ended before Foster was born, and she never established a relationship with her father, following the divorce, Brandy raised the children with her partner in Los Angeles. She worked as a publicist for film producer Arthur P. Jacobs, until focusing on managing the careers of Buddy. Although Foster was officially named Alicia, her siblings began calling her Jodie, Foster was a gifted child, and learned to read at the age of three
4.
Jamie Lee Curtis
–
Jamie Lee Curtis, Lady Haden-Guest is an American actress and author. She made her debut in 1978 by starring as Laurie Strode in John Carpenters Halloween. Curtis other notable films include Blue Steel and Freaky Friday, for which she received her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy. For her role in the television series Anything But Love, Curtis received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Curtis received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance in the television film, Curtis currently stars in the comedy horror series Scream Queens on FOX. Curtis is the daughter of the actress Janet Leigh and actor Tony Curtis and she is married to actor, screenwriter, and director Christopher Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest. Her 1998 book Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day made the best-seller list in The New York Times and she has appeared in advertisements and is a blogger for The Huffington Post. Curtis was born in Santa Monica, California, to actor Tony Curtis and her paternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants and two of her maternal great-grandparents were Danish. Curtiss parents divorced in 1962, after which her mother married Robert Brandt, Curtis has an older sister, Kelly Curtis, who is also an actress, and several half-siblings, Alexandra, Allegra, Benjamin, and Nicholas Curtis. Curtis attended Westlake School in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills High School, returning to California in 1976, she attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She considered majoring in social work, but quit after one semester to pursue an acting career, curtiss film debut occurred in the 1978 horror film Halloween, in which she played the role of Laurie Strode. The film was a success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time. Curtis was subsequently cast in several films, garnering her the title. Her next film was the horror film The Fog, which was helmed by Halloween director John Carpenter, the film opened in February 1980 to mixed reviews but strong box office, starting Curtis as a horror film starlet. Her next film, Prom Night, was a low-budget Canadian slasher film released in July 1980 and that year, Curtis also starred in Terror Train, which opened in October and was met with negative reviews akin to Prom Night. Both films performed well at the box office. Curtis had a function in both films - the main character whose friends are murdered, and is practically the only protagonist to survive. Curtis later appeared in Halloween II, Halloween H20,20 Years Later and Halloween, Resurrection, as well as giving a voice role in Halloween III
5.
Kasturba Gandhi
–
Kasturbai Mohandas Kasturba Gandhi listen was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. In association with her husband, Kasturba Gandhi was a political activist fighting for civil rights, born to Gokuladas and Vrajkunwerba Kapadia of Porbandar, little is known of her early life. In May 1883, 14-year old Kasturba was married to 13-year old Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in an arranged marriage, according to the custom of the region. Recalling the day of their marriage, her husband said, As we didnt know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets. However, as was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend time at her parents house. When her husband left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their newborn son Harilal Gandhi and she had three more sons, Manilal Gandhi, Ramdas Gandhi, and Devdas Gandhi. Kasturba also had a son who died young and even though she had four sons later on. Perhaps because of their periodic, extended separations, Kasturba deeply cherished their time together, Kasturba Gandhi first involved herself with politics in South Africa in 1904 when she helped her husband and others establish the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. Then in 1913, she took part in protests against the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa, Kasturba and Gandhi then permanently left South Africa in July 1914 and returned to live in India. In spite of Kasturba’s chronic bronchitis - that had worsened in South Africa - she continued to part in civil actions. Moreover, she took her husbands spot if he was in prison. The majority of her time was dedicated to helping out and serving in ashrams, in 1917, Kasturba focused on helping improve the welfare of women in Champaran, Bihar where Gandhi was working with indigo farmers. She taught women hygiene, discipline, health, reading and writing, in 1922, Kasturba participated in a Satyagraha movement in Borsad, Gujarat. However, she could not take part in Gandhis famous Salt March in 1930, as a result, she was arrested and jailed on numerous occasions. In 1939, Kasturba took part in nonviolent protests against the British rule in Rajkot, Kasturba was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for a month. Her health worsened but Kasturba continued to fight for independence, in 1942, she was arrested again, along with Gandhi and other freedom fighters for participating in the Quit India movement. She was imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, by this time her health had severely deteriorated completely and she breathed her last at the detention camp in Pune. Kasturba considered her work above everything and Gandhi wrote about this in his biography, According to my earlier experience, in spite of all my pressure she would do as she wished
6.
Whoopi Goldberg
–
Caryn Elaine Johnson, known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is an American actress, comedian, author and television host. She has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television and is one of the few entertainers who has won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was the black woman in the history of the Academy Awards to win an acting Oscar. In the period drama film The Color Purple, her role was playing Celie. In the romantic fantasy film Ghost, Goldberg played Oda Mae Brown, in 1992, she starred as a pretend nun in the comedy Sister Act. From 1998 to 2002, she was co-producer of the game show Hollywood Squares. Since 2007, she has been the moderator of the television talk show The View. Caryn Elaine Johnson was born in Manhattan, New York City on November 13,1955, the daughter of Robert James Johnson, Jr. a clergyman, and Emma Johnson and she was raised in the Chelsea-Elliot Houses. Goldberg has described her mother as a stern, strong, and wise woman who raised her as a mother with her brother Clyde. She went to a local Catholic school, St Columbas when she was younger and her more recent forebears migrated north from Faceville, Georgia, Palatka, Florida, and Virginia. She dropped out of Washington Irving High School and she has stated that her stage forename was taken from a whoopee cushion, If you get a little gassy, youve got to let it go. So people used to say to me, Youre like a whoopee cushion, and thats where the name came from. According to the Jewish Chronicle, one suggests that her mother thought that the familys original surname was not Jewish enough for her daughter to become a star. According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols in Trekkies, a young Goldberg was watching Star Trek, theres a black lady on TV and she aint no maid. This spawned lifelong fandom of Star Trek for Goldberg, who would ask for and receive a recurring guest-starring role on Star Trek. Between 1979 and 1981, she lived in East Germany, working in a number of theater productions, during her travels, she would smuggle various items into the country for the artists she stayed with. Goldberg trained under acting teacher Uta Hagen at the HB Studio in New York City and she first appeared onscreen in 1982 in Citizen, Im Not Losing My Mind, Im Giving It Away, an avant-garde ensemble feature by San Francisco filmmaker William Farley. Goldberg created The Spook Show, a show composed of different character monologues in 1983
7.
Kate Winslet
–
Kate Elizabeth Winslet, CBE, is an English actress and singer. Winslet is the recipient of an Academy Award, an AACTA Award, three BAFTA Awards, a BIFA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is the youngest person to receive six Academy Award nominations, with seven nominations in total, in addition, she has won awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and European Film Academy, among others, and the Honorary César Award in 2012. Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood and began her career in British television in 1991 and she made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures, for which she received praise. She garnered recognition for her role in Sense and Sensibility before achieving global stardom with the epic romance Titanic. Winslets performances in Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, Revolutionary Road, The Dressmaker, in 2008, film critic David Edelstein described her as the best English-speaking film actress of her generation. Winslets greatest commercial successes since Titanic include the romantic comedy The Holiday, the animated film Flushed Away, in addition to acting, Winslet has narrated documentaries and childrens books. She was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000 for narrating Listen to the Storyteller and she has also provided her vocals to soundtracks of her films, including the single What If from Christmas Carol, The Movie. Divorced from two directors, Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes, Winslet is currently married to businessman Ned Rocknroll. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England to Sally Anne, a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet and she has two sisters, Beth and Anna, and one brother, Joss Winslet. Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School, a independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire. At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in an advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was there from the start, Winslet made her television debut with a co-starring role in the BBC childrens science fiction serial Dark Season. This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, in 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jacksons Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the role of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker. The film included Winslets singing debut, and her a version of Sono Andati. The film was released to reviews in 1994 and won Jackson. Winslet was awarded the Empire Award and London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance, the Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented, As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in
8.
Sense and Sensibility (film)
–
Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British-American period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austens 1811 novel of the same name. Actress Emma Thompson wrote the script and stars as Elinor Dashwood, the story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek security through marriage. Actors Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors, the film was released on 13 December 1995 in the United States and on 23 February 1996 in the United Kingdom. Producer Lindsay Doran, an admirer of Austens novel, hired Thompson to write the screenplay. The actress spent five years drafting numerous revisions, continually working on the script between other films as well as production of the film itself. Studios were nervous that Thompson – a first-time screenwriter – was the credited writer, though initially intending to have another actress portray Elinor, Thompson was persuaded to take the role. Thompsons screenplay exaggerated the Dashwood familys wealth to make their later scenes of poverty more apparent to modern audiences and it also altered the traits of the male leads to make them more appealing to contemporary viewers. Elinor and Mariannes different characteristics were emphasised through imagery and invented scenes, Ang Lee was selected as director, both due to his work in the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet and because Doran believed he would help the film appeal to a wider audience. Lee was given a budget of $16 million and it earned seven Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Actress. Thompson received the Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and screenwriting. Sense and Sensibility contributed to a resurgence in popularity for Austens works and it persists in being recognised as one of the best Austen adaptations of all time. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood tells his son from his first marriage, John, to care of his second wife. Fanny invites her brother Edward Ferrars to stay with them, Elinor and Edward soon form a close friendship, but Fanny haughtily tells Mrs. Dashwood that Edward would be disinherited if he married someone of no importance with no money. Mrs. Dashwood understands her meaning completely, sir John Middleton, a cousin of the widowed Mrs. Dashwood, offers her a small cottage house on his estate, Barton Park in Devonshire. She and her daughters move in, and are frequent guests at Barton Park, the Dashwoods meet the older Colonel Brandon, who falls in love with Marianne at first sight. However, Marianne considers him an old bachelor, incapable of feeling love or inspiring it in another, one afternoon, Marianne takes a walk with Margaret and slips and falls in the rain. She is carried home by the dashing John Willoughby, with whom Marianne falls in love and they spend a great deal of time together, but on the morning she expects him to propose marriage to her, he instead leaves hurriedly for London
9.
Steve Jobs (film)
–
Steve Jobs is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. Co-founder Steve Jobs, with each act taking place prior to the launch of a key product – the Apple Macintosh, the NeXT Computer. Jobs is portrayed by Michael Fassbender, with Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, development on the project began in 2011 after the rights to Isaacsons book were acquired. Sorkin wrote the screenplay with filming beginning in January 2015, a variety of actors were considered and cast before Fassbender eventually took the role. Editing was extensive on the project, with editor Elliot Graham noting that he was working on existing footage while the film was still shooting, daniel Pemberton served as the films composer, with a focus dedicated to dividing the score into three distinguishable sections. Steve Jobs premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival on September 5,2015 and it opened nationwide in the U. S. on October 23,2015 to critical acclaim. Individuals close to Jobs such as Steve Wozniak and John Sculley would praise the performances, but the film also received criticisms for its structure. In 1984, the Apple Macintosh 128Ks voice demo fails less than an hour before its unveiling at Flint Center, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs demands engineer Andy Hertzfeld fix it, threatening to publicly implicate him in the presentations credits if he does not. Hertzfeld finally suggests faking the demo using the prototype Macintosh 512K computer, Brennan arrives with Lisa to confront him – she is bitter over his denials and his refusal to support her despite his wealth. Jobs bonds with Lisa over her MacPaint art and agrees to more money. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak asks Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team in his presentation, by 1988, following the apparent failure of the Macintosh, Jobs has founded a new company, NeXT. Wozniak arrives and predicts the NeXT will be another failure, Jobs confronts him about his public criticism of him, and Wozniak questions Jobs contributions to computing history. Jobs defends his role as that of a conductor, who directs musicians like Wozniak, Jobs lambasted the decision and dared them to cast a final vote on his tenure, despite Sculleys warnings. After Hoffman and Jobs discuss NeXTs unclear direction, she realizes that Jobs has designed the computer to entice Apple to buy the company and reinstate him. By 1998, Apple has fired Sculley, purchased NeXT, and named Jobs CEO and he is delighted by Hoffmans strong commercial forecasts, but furious that Lisa has allowed her mother to sell the house Jobs bought for them. Hoffman reminds Jobs that he threatened to withhold Lisas college tuition – Hertzfeld admits that he paid Lisas tuition, Wozniak again asks that Jobs credit the Apple II team during the presentation, and again he refuses. Sculley arrives in secret and the two make amends, Jobs and Sculley discuss Jobs life as an adopted child, and Jobs admits that his need for control stems from his feelings of powerlessness in being given up. At the behest of Hoffman, Jobs apologizes to Lisa for his mistakes, Lisa watches her father take the stage to introduce the iMac
10.
Juliette Binoche
–
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 60 feature films, been recipient of international awards. Coming from a background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, for her performance in Lasse Hallströms romantic comedy Chocolat, Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. During the 2000s she maintained a career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostamis Certified Copy making her the first actress to win the European Best Actress Triple Crown. In 2008 she began a tour with a modern dance production in-i devised in collaboration with Akram Khan. Binoche was born in Paris, the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Yvette Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. Her father, who is French, also has one eighth Portuguese-Brazilian ancestry, juliettes mother was born in Częstochowa, Poland. Binoches maternal grandfather, Andre Stalens, was born in Poland, of Belgian and French descent, both of them were actors who were born in Częstochowa, the German Nazi occupiers imprisoned them at Auschwitz as intellectuals. When Binoches parents divorced in 1968, four-year-old Binoche and her sister Marion were sent to a boarding school. During their teens, the Binoche sisters spent their holidays with their maternal grandmother. Binoche has stated that this perceived parental abandonment had an effect on her. She was not particularly academic and in her years began acting at school in amateur stage-productions. At 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play and she studied acting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur dArt Dramatique, but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum. In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a troupe, touring France, Belgium. Around this time she began lessons with acting coach Vera Gregh, after this Binoche secured her first feature-film appearance with a minor role in Pascal Kanés Liberty Belle. Her role required just two days on–set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film, Binoches early films established her as a French star of some renown
11.
Judi Dench
–
Dame Judith Olivia Dench CH DBE FRSA, known as Judi Dench, is an English actress and author. Dench made her debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she performed in several of Shakespeares plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Although most of her work during this period was in theatre, she branched into film work. She drew strong reviews for her role in the musical Cabaret in 1968. Over the next two decades, Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She achieved success in television during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and she has also received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Special Olivier Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute, Dench is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Dench was born in Heworth, North Riding of Yorkshire and her mother, Eleanora Olive, was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, was born in Dorset, England, and later moved to Dublin and he met Denchs mother while he was studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Dench attended The Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York and her brothers, one of whom was actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley, Lancashire. Her niece, Emma Dench, is a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University. In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the period, primarily through her work in theatre. She has more than once been named one in polls for Britains best actor. Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre and her father, a physician, was also the GP for the York theatre, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress. Actors often stayed in the Dench household, during these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in the 1950s. In 1957, in one of the last productions in which she appeared during this period, she played the role of the Virgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens. Though she initially trained as a set designer, she became interested in school as her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech
12.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
–
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE is a Welsh actress. Born and raised in Swansea, Zeta-Jones aspired to be an actress from a young age, in her early teens, she played roles in the West End productions of the musicals Annie and Bugsy Malone. She studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London and her screen debut came in the unsuccessful French-Italian film 1001 Nights, and she went on to find greater success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May. Dismayed at being typecast as the pretty girl in British films. Zeta-Jones initially established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro, critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago. The latter won her Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress, parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to stage and portrayed an ageing actress in A Little Night Music, winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, starring in the psychological thriller Side Effects and she supports various charities and causes, and is a prominent celebrity endorser of brands. Her struggle with depression and bipolar II disorder has been well-documented by the media and she is married to the actor Michael Douglas with whom she has two children. Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, on 25 September 1969 to David Jones, the owner of a factory, and his wife Patricia. Her father is Welsh and her mother is of Irish Catholic descent and she was named after her grandmothers, Zeta Jones and Catherine Fair. She has a brother, David, and a younger brother, Lyndon. Zeta-Jones was raised in the area of Mumbles. Because Zeta-Jones was a child, her mother sent her to the Hazel Johnson School of Dance when she was four years old. She was educated at the Dumbarton House School, a school in Swansea. The family came from a modest background, but their fortunes improved when they won £100,000 in a competition, allowing them to pay for Zeta-Jones dance. Zeta-Jones participated in stage shows from a young age and gained local media attention when her rendition of a Shirley Bassey song won a Junior Star Trail talent competition. As part of a troupe, she routinely took trips to London. At the age of nine, she was selected to one of the orphan girls in a West End production of the musical Annie
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
