CELEBRITIES OF THE YEAR: FROM THE MOST BORING TO THE MOST TALENTED
MOST TALENTED AND LUCKIEST CELEBRITIES
PENELOPE CRUZ
People
magazine declared her one of their "50 most beautiful folks of 2000". "She can
actually stop traffic", claims producer Alan Poul. "When you see her in
motion, you can't help but stare." Her big break came at the age of 17, when
she was cast in "Jamon, Jamon" (Ham, Ham in English) and "Belle Epoque". Set
in pre-Franco Spain, Penelope portrayed one of four daughters of a wealthy
man. Penelope filmed "La Nińa de Tus Ojos", in a role that would earn her a
1999 Best Actress Goya. Next, she appeared in a Hollywood feature, "The Hi-Lo
Country". Her role in the film "All About Mother" by Pedro Almodovar that
brought her to the attention of Hollywood. She won the roles in "Women on Top"
and "All the Pretty Horses", which are sure to win the hearts of audiences.
She has already captivated the producers and directors with her dark eyes and
impossibly sultry figure. Penelope, now a worthy starlet, completely disposed
of her first official Hollywood paycheck in a very unique manner. Unlike any
starlet, she donated her earnings to Mother Theresa's children's sanctuary in
Calcutta, India. This sexy brunette celebrity is hardly sitting around waiting
for offers to pour in. Penelope confessed to Vanity Fair, "Not everybody can
do what they want to do and still eat. I'm very lucky", adding, "And it's
getting better and better". Penelope supports a organization called the Sabera
Foundation. Together with Nacho Cano and other Spanish entertainers, they have
set up a home, a school and a clinic for homeless girls and people suffering
from tuberculosis in Calcutta. Two documentary programs have already been made
for Spanish TV on this project and one is being prepared in English for the US
market. Penelope has been romantically linked to former co-stars Matt Damon
and Nicolas Cage, but is presently involved with her "Vanilla Sky" co-star,
Tom Cruise.
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Name:
Rachael Leigh Cook. Height: 5' .2''. Nationality: American.
Date: October 4, 1979. Birth Place: Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Occupation: Actress. Education: Laurel Springs School.
Relationship: Vincent Kartheiser (actor; broke up), Shane West (actor;
broke up), Ryan Alosio (actor; starred opposite Cook in The Hi-Line-1999).
Brother: Ben Cook (born 1982). Quotes: I'm not small, I'm
space-efficient. You have this preconceived notion of him as a big, tough guy,
but he speaks four languages and he likes to watercolor. [on Sly Stallone]
Awards: Rachael Leigh Cook won Blockbuster Entertainment Award for
Favorite Actress - Newcomer (Internet Only) in 2000 for SHE IS ALL THAT and
Moxie! Award at Santa Monica Film Festival in 2000 for THE HI-LINE. Agent:
Rachael Leigh Cook, 4750 Van Nuys Blvd. Box# 171, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403, USA.
Rachael
has been quoted as "sweet, funny, and quick with a quip" by many teen
magazines. Around age 10, Rachael started modeling. With her parents' help,
Rachael got an agent and soon started landing modeling and commercial gigs.
She also appeared in school musicals. Rachael modeled for local ads in the
Minnesota area which led to more ads that appeared in national publications
too. Before catching the eye of the nation, she was a model for print ads for
about four years. Her spots in the Target Stores ad and on the cover of a
Milkbone dog biscuit box are probably her best known ones. Rachael lives some
of the year in Minnesota with her parents, younger brother Ben, two cats, and
a dog. 
Ben
is five years younger, and they get along great. "He is totally awesome" is
how she describes him. Her acting career started with commercials and a part
in the independent short film '26 Summer Street'. She obtained management
through her modeling agency in Minneapolis which led to an appearance in the
The Baby Sitters Club. Since then, Rachael has gone on to make 11 movies in
just 3 years, including Carpool, Living Out Loud and Strike. She tells Moxie
Girl magazine, "I look forward to all kinds of roles...playing more adult
parts, preferably ones written for people over 16 years of age." If you're a
casting agent looking to fill a part, look no further...she's the one...and
she's all that, too! Rachael was the first person to be cast in She's All
That. She was drawn to the script's humor. "Very few things make you laugh out
loud when you're by yourself. But when I read the script, I was laughing my
head off in the middle of the night all alone", she recalls. "I just wanted to
grab someone and say, 'This is really funny! I want to do this!'" In addition,
she had another chance to work with Freddie Prinze, Jr. who appeared in The
House of Yes with her. Other films that she has done recently include Hi-Line,
an independent film, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, a teen drama set in a
hospital that also stars Elijah Wood, and The Naked Man, a comedy about sumo
wrestling written by Ethan Coen. 
Rachael
enjoys reading, writing, drawing, tennis, roller blading, and shopping for
clothes. In a magazine, Rachael says that most of the wardrobe in her closet
is mostly black and brown. Rachael's favorite color is black. Her favorite
authors include, Shirley Jackson (I suggest We Have Always Lived in the
Castle), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Franz Kafka. Someday, she even hopes to do some
screenwriting. The bands Rachael likes are Indigo Girls, The Who, That Dog,
and U2. Rachael's favorite TV shows include "American Gladiators", "3rd Rock
From the Sun", and "Fraiser". Rachael doesn't like spiders, power tools, and
rollercoasters. Some media and magazines that Rachael has appeared in include
Moxie Girl, Launch CD-ROM, Movieline, Teen People, Entertainment Weekly,
Bikini, and In Style.
Name:
Reese Witherspoon. Birth Name: Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon.
Height: 5'. 2". Nationality: American. Birth Date: March 22,
1976. Birth Place: Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Occupation:
Actress. Education: Harpeth Hall, Nashville, TN, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA (majored in English Literature). Husband: Ryan Phillippe
(actor; married on June 5, 1999 in Charleston, North Carolina). Father:
John Witherspoon (doctor). Mother: Betty Witherspoon (doctor;
professor). Brother: John Draper Witherspoon (born in 1973).
Daughter: Ava Elizabeth Phillippe (born on September 9, 1999). Claim to
fame: as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions (1999). Agent: C/O
International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, Ca
90211, USA.
The photogenic Witherspoon
began appearing in commercials and taking on modeling jobs at age seven until,
at age 11, she won a 10-state talent search and left her hometown of
Nashville, Tennessee, to accept a significant part in 1991's The Man In The
Moon. She was immediately cast in the 1991 TV movie Wildflower, then Desperate
Choices: To Save My Child (TV - 1992), Jack the Bear (1993) and SFW (1994).
Education subsequently became Witherspoon’s priority as she entered Stanford
University to major in English literature. Until that time she had studied
mostly via correspondence on film sets. Films won out, when two years later,
in 1996, the Stanford degree was put on hold for Fear, Freeway (for a
Catalonian International Film Festival Best Actress award), and Overnight
Delivery. High profile roles in Twilight (1998), Pleasantville (1998 -
Movieline Young Hollywood award), Cruel Intentions (1999) and Best Laid Plans
(1999) followed. Witherspoon briefly returned to television to make a guest
appearance on the primetime comedy, Friends, but it was another return, this
time to modeling, that made her “very big” in Hollywood when her six-story
high image in a GAP advertisement graced Sunset Boulevard. Literal largeness
aside, the actor’s most recent film role, in Election (1999), has earned her
by far the most acclaim -- the National Society of Film Critics’ Best Actress
award, a Golden Globe nomination, a Los Angeles Film Critics’ award
nomination, an Online Film Critics’ Society award, a National Society of Film
Critics’ award, and an Independent Spirit award. Busy with all of that
on-camera, 1999 was a banner year off-camera, as well, as Witherspoon wed
fellow actor Ryan Phillippe and gave birth to daughter, Ava. The couple
appeared opposite one another in Cruel Intentions, but first met in 1997 at
Witherspoon’s 21st birthday party. Coming up are opportunities for Witherspoon
to take her career to yet another level. There are acting roles, of course,
(in Desert Blue and American Psycho) and she is slated to not only star in,
but produce Slow Motion. Her hope is to one day be a screen writer. Moviegoers
can look forward to an eclectic and high caliber mix from this likeable star.
She knows how to pick ‘em.
Name: Salma Hayek.
Birth Name: Salma Hayek Jiminez. Height: 5'.'7". Nationality:
Mexican. Birth Date: September 2, 1966. Birth Place:
Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Occupation: Actress. Education:
Catholic school in Texas National University of Mexico (dropped out),
Stella Adler Conservatory, Los Angeles, California. Relationship:
Edward Norton (actor; a couple since October 1999), Edward Atterton (actor;
met during filming of The Hunchback; dated 1997; broke up in 1999), Richard
Crenna Jr. (actor; met 1991 in an acting class). Father: Sami Hayek
Dominguez (Lebanese; businessman). Mother: Diana Hayek (Mexican;
opera singer and talent scout). Brother: Sami Hayek (younger) .
Claim to fame: As Carolina in Desperado (1995). Agent: C/O
William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019-4701,
USA.
Salma Hayek, over parental
protests, began her acting career in local theatre, bewitching a young
audience as the female lead in Aladina y la Lampara Maravillosa (Aladdin and
His Marvellous Lamp). She went on to commercial work, then joined the cast
of popular daytime TV serial Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn) in 1988. It was her
second soap opera role, in Teresa, that shot the twenty-year-old to instant
sensational popularity in Mexico. Along with the public acclaim, she
received Premio TV y Novela (Emmy equivalent) and Heraldo awards for Best
Actress and Best Newcomer. She continued to do theatre work, with 1990's Las
Visitas Tienen Suerio, but after three years on a pedestal as a celebrated
soap queen, she left for the bright lights of Hollywood. Hayek spent 1991 as
a “nobody” learning the ropes in her new country -- taking English lessons,
acting lessons and driving lessons. In 1992/93 the newcomer appeared on the
American television shows, Nurses, Dream On, and The Sinbad Show. Also in
1993 she was cast in the movie, Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life). That role led
to Roadracers (TV - 1994) and Midaq Alley (1995). Her breakthrough came that
year with a lead role in the mainstream feature film Desperado. Her
U.S./Mexican movie career continued with Four Rooms (1995), Fair Game
(1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), El Jorabadode Notre Dame (voice - 1996),
and Fled (1996). Hayek was lauded as one of People Magazine’s 50 Most
Beautiful People in 1996, and, that year, received an Ariel (Mexican Academy
Award) nomination for her Midaq Alley role. She went on to The Hunchback (TV
- 1997), Fools Rush In (1997), Follow Me Home (1997), Quien Diablos Es
Juliette? (1997), and Sistole Diastole (1997). Even her wardrobe received
recognition that year when she was named to Mr. Blackwell’s 1997 list of the
Ten Most Stylish Women. In 1998, her fame was well-established, and her
movies were big ones: The Faculty, Breaking Up, 54, and The Velocity of
Gary. 1999 brought lead roles in Wild Wild West and Dogma, and a return to
Mexico for El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba. Hayek has three films set
for release in 2000 -- Chain of Fools, Shiny New Enemies and Frida -- and
her own (Ventana Rosa) production label. Predictably, the American media
describes her using their “fire” list of south-of-the-border female
entertainer labels -- “Latin firecracker”, “sultry spitfire” and “fiery
bombshell” -- but this is one star who’s anything but predictable. Who knows
what she may try (and succeed at) next? 
Name: Sandra Bullock.
Birth Name: Sandra Annette Bullock. Height: 5'.7 1/2''.
Nationality: American. Date: July 26, 1964. Birth Place:
Arlington, Virginia. Occupation: Actress, director, writer, producer.
Education: Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, VA (graduated in
1982), East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina (majored in drama;
B.A.) . Neighborhood Playhouse, New York (studied with Sanford Meisner).
Relationship: Benjamin Bratt (actor), Guy Forsythe (blues guitarist;
reportedly involved summer 1999), Matthew McConaughey (actor), Tate Donovan
(actor). Father: John Bullock (voice coach). Mother: Helga
Bullock (German opera singer; died April 4, 2000). Sister: Gelsine
Bullock (law student). Claim to fame: as Annie Porter in Speed (1994).
Agent: 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA. 90212, USA.
BIOGRAPHY
SYNOPSIS:
Don’t let the ‘overnight’ success of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s career fool you:
this babe has been kicking show business butt since she was about four years
old. Discovered by an agent in a restaurant with her mom, Gellar started down
the road to stardom by playing Valerie Harper’s daughter in An Invasion of
Privacy (1983). Within a short time, she had more than 100 commercial credits,
including some for the Burger King chain, and parts in popular shows like
Spenser: For Hire. Her first really substantial role was a young Jaqueline
Bouvier (Kennedy-Onassis) in an NBC miniseries (1991); not long after that,
she joined the cast of All My Children as a seriously evil dudette in the
daytime soap. As Erica Kane’s long lost daughter, she faked a pregnancy, shot
someone, broke up Kane’s and attempted suicide – and won an Emmy for all that
hard work. Of course we all know and love her as Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(1996), the cult-hit TV series based on the 1992 movie (Kirsty Swanson, Luke
Perry). A typical teen suffering through the perils of high school by day, she
spends her evenings slicing and dicing the town’s never ending stream of
supernatural baddies. She’s parlayed her TV success into a string of hit movie
roles, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, and more recently,
Cruel Intentions. 
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BIOGRAPHY
SYNOPSIS: Sophie
Marceau’s career defies definition. Born Sophie Maupu, she started out as a
true overnight success -- after being cast for the first part for which she
auditioned, at 14, she became an instantly famous and valuable commodity in
her native France. The rocket-to-the-top role was in the teen movie, La Boum
(1981), which led to La Boum 2 (1982) and a Cesar award from the French
Academy of Cinema. As a hot studio property, she was then cast in Gaumont
Pictures’ Joyeuses Paques! (1984), Fort Saganne (1984) and Police (1985). That
last year she met director and future husband, Andrzej Zulawski, and was
required to buy back, for one million francs, her contract with Gaumont.
Zulawski cast her in L’Amour Braque (1985), and his subsequent Mes Nuits Sont
Plus Belles Que Vos Jours (1989) and La Note Bleue (1991). In between, she
starred in Descente Aux Enfers (1986), Chouans! (1988 - for an International
Film Festival award),
L'
Etudiante (1988), Pacific Palisades (1990), and Pour Sacha (1991). Marceau
then debuted on stage with Euridyce and netted a Moliere award for Most
Promising Newcomer. A variety of French films followed -- FanFan (1993), La
Fille de d’Artangnan (1994), and Par-Dela Les Nuages (1995). Although
immensely famous in France and wildly popular in Asia, international (read:
American) stardom began 15 years into her career with the Hollywood
blockbuster, Braveheart. The lovely European went on to a cross-Atlantic
career, making Marquise (1997), Anna Karenina (1997), Firelight (1998), Lost
and Found (1999), William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) and
The World Is Not Enough (1999 - a James Bond flick that resulted in two Movie
Brazil award nominations and a Blockbuster nomination for the actor). Not
content with one career only, Marceau dabbled in recording for children (her
own son was born in 1995) with Pierre et le Loup (1994) and Histoire de Babar
(1994). As well, she directed and wrote the screen play for the nine-minute
Cannes hit film L’Aube a l’Envers, and published the semi-autobiographical
novel Menteuse (Liar) in 1997. Coming up for Marceau, on screen, are the
movies Fidelite and Belphegor, and any number of other projects -- she seems
most interested in furthering her writing career. Internet shrines enthuse
about the actor’s intelligence, elegance, charm and sensuality. Industry peers
and critics are no less flattering. They would agree that Marceau, highly
talented in a broad range of artistic disciplines, has what it takes to endure
in show business. Her career -- whatever career she chooses -- is sure to
remain extraordinary.