MSN Entertainment: Top Celebrities

Michael Jackson

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Throughout his long career, internationally acclaimed music superstar "Michael Jackson"sporadically made film appearances as an actor, notably in his first starring role in "The Wiz" (1978), but he was best known for producing cutting-edge feature-film quality music videos such as "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Black or White." He also produced films for Disney virtual rides, the first of which was the extremely popular "Francis Ford Coppola"-directed "Captain Eo" (1985), which ran at Disney World in Orlando... [more]

Farrah Fawcett

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

American actress "Farrah Fawcett" was an art student at the University of Texas before she deduced that she could make more money posing for pictures than painting them. A supermodel before that phrase had fallen into common usage, Fawcett moved from Wella Balsam shampoo ads into acting, making her first film "Myra Breckenridge" in 1970. She worked in TV bits and full supporting parts, obtaining steady employment in 1974 with a small recurring role on the cop series "Harry O", but true stardom was still some... [more]

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

A child performer who went on to become an adult actor in one of the more radical transformations in the history of the American entertainment industry, "Sarah Jessica Parker" has captained both a career and a public image that could be accurately classified under the heading Revenge of the Nerd. As a pubescent actor most famous for her roles in the acclaimed high school-set TV series Square Pegs and in the big screen's "Footloose" and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", Parker played the skinny girl with frizzy... [more]

Al Franken

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Comedy writer, author, and occasional actor "Al Franken" was one of the first alumni of the NBC network sketch comedy institution Saturday Night Live (1975) and spent most of his career closely associated with the series and its byproducts. He is also the author of the best-selling book Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. On television, he starred in the NBC sitcom "Lateline" (1997-1999).

Franken started out as a standup comedian in high school. While attending Harvard, he attempted to get onto the staff of... [more]

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Best known for his character Ali G, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was born in London in 1971 to a Welsh father and an Israeli mother. He first assumed the role on Channel 4's The Eleven O'Clock Show in 1999, embarrassing himself as well as clueless interviewees as a British hip-hop wannabe, acting as the "voice of da youth." The character was wildly popular, gaining Baron Cohen his own program, Da Ali G Show, in 2000, which was brought to the U.S. in 2003. Baron Cohen employed a comedic technique that consisted... [more]

Megan Fox

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

A slender, olive-skinned actress whose elegant beauty is somewhat offset by a collection of vivid tattoos (including a portrait of Marilyn Monroe on her right forearm and the King Lear quote "We all laugh at gilded butterflies" on her right shoulder blade), Megan Fox knew she wanted to be an actress from age three, and never once considered another line of work. A native of Memphis, TN, Fox began taking dance lessons when she was five years old and continued perfecting her graceful movements even after her... [more]

Robert Pattinson

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

London-born Robert Pattinson found his acting niche almost instantly, kicking off his career with a string of fantasy roles. After catching the acting bug through amateur theater, the young thespian made his first film appearance at the age of 18, appearing in 2004's Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King, based on a Nordic legend. He followed this up by joining the Harry Potter franchise the following year, playing Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire, as well as the subsequent movies. Having captured the hearts of many... [more]

Kristen Stewart

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

A fervent surfer who bears a striking resemblance to the young "Jodie Foster", "Kristen Stewart" was poised to become a preteen star with her role opposite Foster in "David Fincher"'s atmospheric thriller "Panic Room" (2002). A resident of Los Angeles, Stewart's nascent acting career got off to a promising start when she was cast in two vastly different films. Eschewing fluffy kids' movies, Stewart played troubled single mother "Patricia Clarkson"'s tomboy daughter in independent film darling "Rose Troche"'s... [more]

Heidi Montag

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

One of the many "instant celebrities" who achieved fame by virtue of the reality-television phenomenon that overtook Hollywood during the early years of the millennium, Heidi Montag attained stardom on The Hills (2006). This program -- a spin-off of the earlier Laguna Beach (2004) -- observed events from the lives of a couple of young L.A. socialites (Montag and Lauren Conrad) enduring the ups and downs of a melodramatic reality television life, with all of the inclusive breakups, ugly gossip, backbiting,... [more]

Angelina Jolie

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Next to "Liv Tyler", "Angelina Jolie" is the only actress of her generation who can thank her famous father for the lips that have become her trademark. The actress was born Angelina Jolie Voight to the pillow-lipped "Jon Voight" and actress Marcheline Bertrand on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles.

Raised mostly by her mother after her parents divorced while she was still a baby, Jolie moved around a lot with her mother and brother. She also did a fair amount of traveling as a professional model, living in such... [more]

Madonna

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Possessing one of the most distinctive voices in pop music and one of the most distressing résumés on the big screen, "Madonna" has proven that whatever the role -- screwball seductress, martyred Argentinian first lady, embittered single mom-cum-yoga instructrix -- her abilities as a performer will manage to undermine any production whose credits bear her name. Like "Elvis" before her, "Madonna" has proven that no matter how sterling a pop reputation an artist may have, success on the Billboard Top 100 does... [more]

Kim Kardashian

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Kim Kardashian, the wealthy daughter of the high-powered defense attorney Robert Kardashian and Kris Kardashian (and the stepdaughter of Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner), grew up in Beverly Hills, CA, and attended an exclusive all-girls Catholic high school in the City of Angels. As a young woman, Kardashian worked at her father's music marketing firm, Movie Tunes, then parlayed her entrepreneurial instincts into a successful career as a wardrobe stylist for television programs, magazine photo layouts, and... [more]

Britney Spears

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

Best known for her sultry image as a pop superstar, "Britney Spears" actually began her youthful career as an actress -- the singing came later. Spears was born December 2, 1981, in Kentwood, LA. A mere eight years later, she was auditioning for The Mickey Mouse Club, although she wouldn't be added to the cast for another three years. She spent summers schooling at New York's Off-Broadway Dance Center and the Professional Performing Arts School, and earned a role on the off-Broadway play Ruthless in 1991. A... [more]

Blake Lively

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:11 GMT

The daughter of longtime screen actor Ernie Lively and the junior member of a showbiz-savvy sibling collective that also includes brothers Jason and Eric and sisters Lori and Robyn, Tarzana, CA native Blake Lively possesses just the kind of wholesome good looks that the Hollywood lens seems to love. Of course, it wouldn't take a psychic to figure out what line of work the cheery and clean-cut blonde would go for, and even after suffering an early career setback at a Mrs. Doubtfire audition gone bad, Lively was... [more]