Demi Moore

Demi Kutcher (born Demetria Gene Guynes on November 11, 1962) is an American actress. She is better known as Demi Moore, using the surname of her first husband, singer-songwriter Freddy Moore. (She pronounces her name "dem-EE," with the emphasis on the second syllable, just like it sounds in "Demetria"; this is often incorrectly pronounced "DEM-ee," with the emphasis on the first syllable.) She became well-known after a string of 1980s teen-oriented movies, and was one of the best known actresses of 1990s Hollywood. Moore is also known for her husky voice. She is married to actor Ashton Kutcher.

Early life

Moore was born Demetria Gene Guynes in Roswell, New Mexico, and spent much of her childhood years in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, a small town south of Pittsburgh. As a child, she had a difficult and unstable home life. Her biological father, Charles Harmon, left her mother, Virginia King (27 November 1943 – 2 July 1998), after a two-month marriage, before Moore was born. As a result, Moore had the surname of her stepfather, Danny Guynes (9 March 1943 – October 1980), on her birth certificate. Danny Guynes, who committed suicide in 1980, frequently changed jobs; as a result the family moved a total of forty times. Moore's parents were also alcoholics and often fought and beat each other. Moore was cross-eyed as a child, and wore an eye patch in an attempt to correct the problem until it was eventually corrected by two surgeries. During this time, she also suffered from kidney dysfunction.^[1]

Moore's family settled in Los Angeles in 1976. When Moore was sixteen, her friend, actress Nastassja Kinski, persuaded her to drop out of Hollywood's Fairfax High School, where her schoolmates included Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis and actor Timothy Hutton, to become an actress. In 1979, she met and married her first husband, songwriter Freddy Moore. Though they divorced in 1985, she kept the last name Moore.

Career

After quitting school, Moore went to work as a pin-up girl, modelled for European photographers, and worked at a collection agency. In the early 1980s, Moore posed for a series of photographs for Christopher Marrin featuring full frontal nudity. These photos went unnoticed until after she became a star, and were eventually published in a German magazine and later in North America. Moore's film debut was in the 1982 3-D science fiction/horror film, Parasite, which was a hit on the drive-in circuit, ultimately grossing $7 million.^[2] However, Moore was not widely known until she played the part of Jackie Templeton on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, from 1982-1983. Appropriately, she also had an uncredited cameo at the end of the 1982 spoof Young Doctors in Love.

In the mid-1980s, she appeared in the youth-oriented films St. Elmo's Fire and About Last Night, and she was often listed as one of the Brat Pack, a name the media dubbed a certain group of top young actors at the time. After the commercial success of Ghost, Moore was given more prominent roles in A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, Disclosure and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for which she was the first actress to reach the $10 million salary mark. She never duplicated the success of Ghost and had a string of flops like The Scarlet Letter and The Juror. She then took more risks like shocking her fans with several breast enhanced topless scenes in Striptease, and shaving her head for G.I. Jane. They too failed at the box office and garnered mixed reviews. Meanwhile, Moore's Passion of Mind co-star Joss Ackland lambasted Moore by describing her as being "not very bright or talented".^[3] At the same time she produced and starred in a TV mini-series called If These Walls Could Talk, written by Nancy Savoca. A three-part series on abortion, Savoca directed two segments, including the one in which Moore played a single woman in the 1950s seeking a back-street abortion. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for that role.

Demi Moore was a founding "celebrity investor" in the Planet Hollywood chain of international theme restaurants (modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe and launched in New York on October 22, 1991) along with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-husband Bruce Willis.

After a break from her acting career, Moore returned to the screen as a former member of Charlie's Angels gone bad in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. In 2006, she appeared in Bobby which featured an all-star cast including her husband Ashton Kutcher although they did not appear in any scenes together. On June 1, 2007, her most recent film, Mr. Brooks, was released. She appeared in Jon Bon Jovi's longform video "Destination Anywhere" as Janie.^[4]

In 2006, Demi became the new face of the prestigious Cosmetic brand Helena Rubinstein.

Vanity Fair controversy

In August 1991, Moore appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair under the title More Demi Moore. Annie Leibovitz shot the picture while Moore was seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue, intending to portray "anti-Hollywood, anti-glitz" attitude.^[5] The cover sparked an intense controversy for Vanity Fair and Demi Moore, it was widely discussed on television, radio, and in newspaper articles.^[6] Some retailers pulled the issue from newsstands, while others only sold it in a brown paper bag. The frankness of Leibovitz' portrayal of a pregnant sex symbol led to divided opinions, ranging from complaints of sexual objectification to celebrations of the photograph as a symbol of empowerment.^[7]

The photograph was subject to numerous parodies, including the Spy magazine version, which placed Moore's then husband Bruce Willis' head on her body. In Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., Leibovitz sued over one parody featuring Leslie Nielsen, made to promote the 1994 film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. In the parody, the model's body was attached to what is described as "the guilty and smirking face of Mr. Nielsen appeared above". The teaser said "Due this March".^[8] The case was dismissed in 1996 because the parody relied "for its comic effect on the contrast between the original".^[8] Moore would in August 1992 again become an artistic subject on the cover of Vanity Fair for the world's leading body painting artist, Joanne Gair in Demi's Birthday Suit.^[9][10]

Relationship with her mother

Moore's relationship with her mother Virginia King Guynes was rocky at the best of times, stemming from Moore's unhappy and difficult childhood. Guynes would later talk of times when the pair shared a Hollywood flat together in 1980, where Rob Lowe, Sean Penn and Charlie Sheen would regularly come round for drinks. That era ended with Guynes checking into a drug-and-alcohol-recovery program. Guynes' recovery efforts failed and at Moore's 1987 marriage to Willis, she fell off the wagon with a champagne and vodka binge. The next day, she was picked up for drunk driving and Willis and Moore refused to bail her out.

In 1989, Guynes overdosed on pills and was again arrested for drunk driving. In 1990, Demi footed the bill for Guynes' eight month stay in rehab, but cut her off when Guynes sold the story of her recovery and tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Guynes embarrassed her daughter twice with pictorials in adult magazines, including her 1993 12-page spread in porn magazine High Society (after being turned down by Playboy). She posed in front of a potter's wheel, parodying Moore's sex scene with Patrick Swayze in Ghost, her translucent white panties glistening with wet clay. As well as the shoot, Guynes also alleged that her daughter's marriage to Willis was "in trouble" and that Moore called the shots. "The more famous she becomes", said Guynes, "the more bossy she becomes". She also posed in photos spoofing Moore's controversial Vanity Fair pregnancy and body paint covers and said "I don't want to hurt her. This is my story, my life."

In 1994 Guynes pleaded no contest to a charge of setting fire to the home of a bartender who caught her swiping drinks. She was fined and ordered to go to rehab. In November 1995, a tabloid tracked her down at her then-home, a rat-infested shack in Las Vegas with a beaten-up '88 Honda Prelude (a one-time brand-new birthday present from Moore and Willis) parked out front. She was surviving on $250 a month from social security and $85 a month in food-stamps. In 1996, she was located in New Mexico, where she died two years later in 1998 at the age of fifty-four from a brain tumor.

Moore later spoke of how her character in the Emilio Estevez drama Bobby made her draw on her own perception of Guynes. Her character called Virginia, like her mother, was an alcoholic.

"The fact that she was called Virginia grounded the part in something that was familiar," explained Moore. "And, although there were aspects of it that were painful, it was actually very liberating for me. Emilio knew my mother and she was a pained soul. But it was a great gift being able to go to the depths of the soul that lives underneath the pain of this character." She added, "I had an unusual childhood".

"I had a very young mother," Moore says. "But I know she tried to do the best she could and that in the mix of it all - and she was nutty, trust me - she really loved me. It wasn't always the kind of love I wanted but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't what I needed."

Personal life

Moore married singer Freddy Moore in 1980 before she was eighteen. They divorced in 1985 and in 1987 Moore met then Moonlighting star Bruce Willis. The two soon fell in love and married two months later. The star couple had three daughters together: Rumer Willis (b. 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (b. 1991) and Tallulah Belle Willis (b. 1994). The pair separated in 1998 and divorced in 2000, but remain friends to this day. In 2003, Moore started dating actor Ashton Kutcher, fifteen years her junior. After much press speculation and interest, the pair married in 2005. Moore's primary residence is in Hailey, Idaho, near the famous Sun Valley resort, although she spends much time in the Los Angeles area with Kutcher. She is a practicing follower of the Rabbi Philip Berg's trendy Kabbalah Centre religion, and initiated Kutcher into the faith, having said that she "didn’t grow up Jewish, but... would say that [she has] been more exposed to the deeper meanings of particular rituals than any of [her] friends ever did".^[11] Contrary to popular belief, Moore claims she has never been a raw foodist and dispels the vegan rumors by eating a hamburger in a recent Mario Testino photoshoot.^[12] Moore legally changed her last name to Kutcher two years after marrying husband Ashton Kutcher. However, she will continue to use Moore in her professional life and her acting roles.^[13][14][15]

According to the New York Times, she is "the world's most high-profile doll collector", and among her favorites is the Gene Marshall fashion doll.^[16]

Brad Pitt

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt^[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor, film producer, and social activist. He became famous during the mid-1990s after starring in several major Hollywood films.^[2] Pitt received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for his role in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys.^[2]

Pitt is consistently cited by popular media as one of the most attractive men alive^[2][3][4][5] and is regarded as a Hollywood A-lister.^[6] His former marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston and current relationship with Angelina Jolie have been widely covered in the world media.^[2] He is the father of four children with Jolie, one biological, all of whom have also received media coverage. Since his connection with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues, both domestically and internationally.

Early life

Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner.^[7] Along with his brother Doug and sister Julie Neal, he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where the family moved soon after his birth. Pitt was raised a Baptist.^[8][9] He attended Kickapoo High School, where he was involved in sports, debating, student government, and acting. He attended the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.^[1]

Career

Moderate success

Brad Pitt, who has been named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine

In 1988, Pitt had his first starring role, in The Dark Side of the Sun, where he played a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The movie was shot in Yugoslavia in the summer of 1988. However, with editing nearly complete, war broke out and much of the footage was lost; the film was released years later.^[10] Pitt was then cast in the television movie Too Young to Die?, about an abused teenager given the death penalty for murder. Pitt played the part of a drug addict, Billy Canton, who took advantage of a runaway played by Juliette Lewis.^[10]

In 1991, Pitt starred, along with Vera Martins, as Joe Maloney in Across the Tracks, in which he portrayed a high school runner with a difficult criminal brother played by Ricky Schroder.^[10] Pitt attracted broader public attention from a supporting role in Thelma & Louise, where he played a small-time criminal drifter who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis, which showed Pitt topless and wearing a cowboy hat, has been referred to as "iconic", often cited as the moment that defined Pitt as a "sex symbol".^[1][10]

After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred alongside Catherine Keener and Nick Cave in the low budget, Tom DiCillo-directed 1991 film Johnny Suede, as an awkward dreamer who aspired to be a big-haired rock star.^[10] After appearing in Cool World,^[10] Pitt starred in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It in 1992, for which Pitt learned fly fishing by casting off of Hollywood buildings.^[10] In 1993 came Kalifornia, a road movie in which he played a scruffy serial killer alongside Juliette Lewis and X-Files actor David Duchovny.^[10]

1994-2000: Mainstream success and acclaim

In 1994, Pitt played vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the movie adaptation of Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire.^[10] The role of the eighteenth-century vampire required Pitt to endure several hours of make-up being applied every day to achieve the characteristic white skin; Pitt wore a pair of green contact lenses and vampire fangs to complete the appearance. Pitt's co-stars included the eleven-year-old Kirsten Dunst, Tom Cruise, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.^[10] He then starred in Legends of the Fall and Se7en.^[10] In Se7en, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman as the police detective David Mills who hunts a serial killer played by Kevin Spacey.^[10] Pitt was then nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Jeffrey Goines in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys.^[11]

In 1997, Pitt starred alongside Harrison Ford as the IRA terrorist Rory Devany in The Devil's Own, the first of several films where Pitt used an Irish accent in his performance.^[12] That same year he played the main role of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.^[10] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded a great deal of trekking and mountain climbing, by rock climbing in California and the Alps with his co-star, David Thewlis. Due to the themes of Tibetan nationalism in the film, the Chinese government banned Pitt and Thewlis from entering China for life.^[13][14]

In 1998, Pitt starred as the main character in the film Meet Joe Black, where he played a personification of Death inhabiting the body of a young man in order to learn what it is like to be human.^[10] The film gave Pitt another chance to work alongside Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, with whom he had previously worked on Legends of the Fall.^[10] In 1999, Pitt starred in Fight Club, an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel. Directed by Se7en's David Fincher, Pitt portrayed the highly complex and colorful character of Tyler Durden.^[10]

In 2000, Pitt played the role of Mickey, an Irish Gypsy boxer in the gangster movie Snatch, alongside Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Benicio del Toro. The film was a wild caper involving a diamond heist, the Russian and American mafia and the shady underground world, that saw Pitt brought in as a ringer by two failing promoters. The movie saw him moving on from the Northern Irish accent he attempted in The Devil's Own; Pitt created a just-barely-intelligible accent suggesting the Irish Gypsies, referred to as Pikeys in the movie. Pitt continued to train for the role, and honed his boxing skills at Ricky English's gym in Watford.^[15]

2000s: Ascension to the A-list

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

In 2000, Pitt filmed the Cold War thriller Spy Game in which he starred alongside veteran actor Robert Redford, who played the role of his mentor.^[16] In 2001, Pitt worked with long-time friend Julia Roberts in the comical road movie The Mexican.^[17] At the end of the year, Pitt finished filming Ocean's Eleven with George Clooney and Matt Damon, a remake of the 1960s version which starred Frank Sinatra.^[18]

Since then, he has starred in numerous films, including Ocean's Twelve^[18] and the epic Troy, based on the Iliad, in which he portrayed the legendary hero Achilles. During film production of Troy, Pitt injured his Achilles tendon, delaying production for several weeks.^[19] In 2005, Pitt starred in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which he and Angelina Jolie played husband and wife assassins.^[20]

In March 2006, it was announced that Paramount had purchased the rights to The Sparrow for Pitt's production company, Plan B, and that Pitt would be playing the lead role of Sandoz.^[21] In June 2006 it was announced that Paramount and Plan B will be working on a new zombie film called World War Z, based on the book of the same name by Max Brooks.^[22]

Pitt made his return to Hollywood in late 2006 with Alejandro González Iñárritu's critically acclaimed Babel, starring alongside Cate Blanchett.^[23] The movie garnered a total of seven Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, one of which was a Golden Globe nomination for Pitt as Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.^[24] That same year, he also produced the eventual Best Picture winner, The Departed.^[25] In 2005, he produced and starred in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, directed by Andrew Dominik, but the film was not released until late 2007.^[26]

Other projects

Brad Pitt signing autographs for troops during his December 7, 2001 visit to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey

Pitt has appeared in television commercials designed for the Asian market, advertising such products as Edwin Jeans.^[27] He also appeared in a Heineken commercial which aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who directed Pitt in the feature films Se7en and Fight Club.^[28]

Together with Jennifer Aniston and Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey, Pitt founded the production company Plan B.^[29] Aniston is no longer a partner in the company, although she is still attached to many projects that were set up before her divorce from Pitt.^[30] The company produced the blockbuster Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, as well as The Departed and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.^[31]

Pitt made a guest appearance in an eighth-season episode of Friends, as a man who has a grudge against Aniston's character Rachel Green,^[32] lent his voice on an episode of King of the Hill, where he played Boomhauer's brother, Patch Boomhauer,^[33] and appeared on an episode of MTV's Jackass, in which he took part in a staged abduction of himself. In a later Jackass episode, he and several cast members ran wild through the streets of Los Angeles in gorilla suits.^[34]

Pitt has been an active supporter of research into diseases such as AIDS. He is the narrator of the acclaimed Public Television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge,^[35] which discusses current important global health issues.^[35] Pitt is behind Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur, along with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub.^[36]

Pitt is also a knowledgeable fan of architecture, particularly that of Frank Lloyd Wright, and has helped the National Trust for Historic Preservation raise money.^[37]

Personal life

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pitt dated several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head Of The Class),^[38][39][40] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),^[40] Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who at sixteen was ten years his junior when they started dating,^[38][41][40] and Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en),^[38][40] with whom he had a much-publicized engagement. Pitt also dated actresses Sinitta and Thandie Newton.^[40]

Marriage to Jennifer Aniston

Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her during an enclosed wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.^[1][42] The couple ensured that the ceremony would be a private affair by hiring hundreds of guards to block any attempts of invasion by the paparazzi; just one wedding picture was released to the media.^[43] Not long after the wedding, Pitt sued Damiani International, the company which had made the wedding ring he gave Aniston, for selling replica "Brad and Jennifer" rings. According to Pitt, the ring was his design and was to be exclusive. Under the settlement reached in January 2002, Pitt would design jewelry for Damiani that Aniston would model in ads, and the company would stop selling the copies.^[44][45]

Though their marriage was for years considered the rare Hollywood success, rumors of marital problems began circulating, and the Pitts announced their separation on January 7, 2005.^[42] As Pitt's marriage to Aniston drew to a close, he and actress Angelina Jolie were involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal in which Jolie was often painted as the "other woman", largely due to their chemistry during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. While Jolie and Pitt both denied any claims of adultery, speculations continued to mount throughout 2004 and early 2005. In an interview with Ann Curry in June 2005, Jolie explained, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife."^[46]

In early 2005, the concept of a "troubled marriage" - and arguably his own - inspired Pitt to cooperate with photographer Steven Klein for a photoshoot entitled "Domestic Bliss" for W magazine.^[47] The spread showed Pitt and Jolie as a 1963 married couple with children. Pitt expressed the desire to tell a darker, truer tale, one that explored the "unidentifiable malaise" that often haunts a seemingly happy couple. "You don't know what's wrong", he remarked, "because the marriage is everything you signed up for."^[47] For her part, Aniston later cited the shoot as evidence that Pitt has "a sensitivity chip that's missing."^[48]

Aniston filed for divorce on March 25, 2005;^[49] the divorce was finalized on October 2, 2005.^[50]

Relationship with Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in an event in September 2007

One month after Aniston filed for divorce, in April 2005, a set of paparazzi photos emerged that seemed to confirm the rumors of a relationship between Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie. The photos, which were reportedly sold for $500,000, showed Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya.^[51] During the summer, the pair were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". Two months later, the highly anticipated July 2005 issue of W magazine hit newsstands, featuring Pitt and Jolie posed as a couple.^[47]

In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia,^[52] where Jolie adopted her second child, a six-month-old girl named Zahara;^[52] later Jolie indicated that she and Pitt made the decision to adopt the child together.^[53] In December 2005, it was confirmed that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children as his own; per the legal requirements, classified advertisements in the Los Angeles paper Daily Commerce announced the name change request.^[54] On January 19, 2006, a judge in California approved this request, and the children's legal surnames were formally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".^[55]

On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People magazine that she was pregnant with Pitt's child.^[56] On May 27, 2006, Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia by a scheduled caesarean section. Pitt confirmed that their newly-born daughter will have a Namibian passport, and Jolie decided to offer the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images herself, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these extremely valuable snapshots. People paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million; the total rights sale earned up to $10 million worldwide – the most expensive celebrity image of all time.^[57][58] All profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it was the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.^[59]

On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, (originally Pax Thien Jolie). Since the orphanage does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, with Pitt later adopting him as his son domestically.^[60][61]

Following media reports suggesting Jolie might be pregnant again, she attended the Independent Spirit Awards 2008 in a close-fitting dress, indirectly confirming those rumors. People quoted a source who confirmed her pregnancy.^[62] In May 2008, Jolie confirmed on the Today show that they were expecting twins.^[63]

Life in New Orleans

The family divides its time between Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, Louisiana.^[64] In an interview with the Times-Picayune, while filming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pitt said:

“

I can't describe why we're allowed to live a more normal life (in New Orleans). Living in the French Quarter is a thrill for us. We have some semblance of real family life. People have been very, very gracious with us. If we're on the front deck, people go by and say, 'Hi.' Then they go on their way, very friendly.[65]

”

In December 2006, Pitt gathered a group of housing professionals together in the Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans to begin planning a project that Pitt calls Make It Right, with the goal of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.^[66] The houses are being designed with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability, with the hope that the project can and will be replicated throughout the city. Thirteen architectural firms are involved in the project, many of which are donating their services. Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed to matching $5 million in donations.^[67]

Religious views

In an October 7, 2007 interview, Pitt told PARADE that he is no longer a fundamentalist Christian.^[68] In this interview, Pitt said:

“

I always had a lot of questions about the world, even in kindergarten. A big question to me was fairness. If I'd grown up in some other religion, would I get the same shot at Heaven as a Christian has? My mom would come into my room and talk to me. I was very fortunate to have that dialogue with her, but in high school I started to realize that I felt differently from others.

”

Popular esteem

In 1995, Pitt was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history. Pitt has also twice been named the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.^[2]

Pitt was also prominently featured in the December 2006 Art Issue of Vanity Fair. He appears on the cover in nothing but a pair of white boxers. The cover promotes an article on the Robert Wilson video portraits, a production of LAB HD that includes numerous celebrities and noted personalities. This cover has drawn criticism from Pitt because, although he had signed a release for the image, he did not expect it to end up on the cover of Vanity Fair more than a year later. The video portrait, which represents Pitt's first effort in avant-garde cinema, was exhibited at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.^[69]

In 2007, Pitt was listed among artists and entertainers as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. He was credited, along with his best friend Tiago Miranda Paulo, with using "his star power to get people to look at places and stories that cameras don't usually catch."^[70]

Keanu Reeves

Date of Birth

2 September 1964, Beirut, Lebanon

Birth Name

Keanu Charles Reeves

Nickname

The Wall (due to his position in ice hockey)
The One

Height

6' 1¼" (1.86 m)

Mini Biography

One of the most inscrutable actors to ever hit it big, Keanu Reeves has been by turns adored, reviled, and grudgingly respected by the movie-going public. As the controversy over his talent rages on, his career choices and paychecks show him inching toward A-list status. Reeves, whose first name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1964. His mother, Patricia, was a showgirl; his father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, a geologist. After their marriage dissolved, Keanu moved with his mother and younger sister Kim to New York City, then Toronto. Stepfather #1 was Paul Aaron, a stage and film director - he and Patricia divorced within a year, after which she went on to marry (and divorce) rock promoter Robert Miller and hair salon owner Jack Bond. Reeves never reconnected with his biological father, who is now in prison on charges of cocaine possession. In high school, Reeves was lukewarm toward academics but took a keen interest in ice hockey (as team goalie, he earned the nickname "The Wall") and drama. He eventually dropped out of school to pursue an acting career.

After a few stage gigs and a handful of made-for-TV movies, he scored a supporting role in the Rob Lowe hockey flick Youngblood (1986), which was filmed in Canada. Shortly after the production wrapped, Reeves packed his bags and headed for Hollywood. Reeves popped up on critics' radar with his performance in the dark adolescent drama River's Edge (1986), but his first popular success was the role of totally rad dude Ted Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). The wacky time-travel movie became something of a cultural phenomenon, and audiences would forever confuse Reeves's real-life persona with that of his doofy on-screen counterpart. Over the next few years, Reeves tried to shake the Ted stigma with a series of highbrow projects. He played a slumming rich boy opposite River Phoenix's narcoleptic male hustler in My Own Private Idaho (1991), an unlucky lawyer who stumbles into the vampire's lair in Dracula (1992), and Shakespearean party-pooper Don Jon in Much Ado About Nothing (1993).

In 1994, the understated actor became a big-budget action star with the release of Speed (1994/I). Its success heralded an era of five years in which Reeves would alternate between largely unwatched small films, like Feeling Minnesota (1996) and The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), and unwatched big films like Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Chain Reaction (1996). After all this Reeves did the unthinkable and passed on the Speed sequel, but he struck box-office gold again a few years later with the Wachowski brothers' cyberadventure The Matrix (1999). Despite his deadpan delivery style and reputation as an oaf, Reeves continues to reel in choice roles and fat paychecks. Whatever he knows, he's not telling the public--his self-deprecating interview tactics and mysterious private life provide little insight into his artistry. As far as Reeves is concerned, it seems, he's just a regular guy who rides a motorcycle, plays in a band (Dogstar), and shows up every now and then for a movie shoot.

IMDb Mini Biography By: IMDb Editors

Trivia

Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. [1995]

Ranked #23 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Arrested in Los Angeles; charged with drunk driving. [May 1993]

Loves ballroom dancing.

He owns at least two Norton Commando motorcycles whose engines were available in both 750cc and 850cc capacities, the high-compression version being the Combat Commando.

Sister, Kim (born in Australia in 1966). Through his mother he has a half-sister named Karina Miller (born 1976 in Toronto). Through his father he has a half-sister named Emma Reeves (born 1980 in Hawaii).

Named after his uncle Henry Keanu Reeves. "Keanu" is a derivation of Reeves' great-great-uncle Keaweaheulu, whose name means "the soft breeze raising" in Hawaiian.

Stepson of film and stage director Paul Aaron.

Had job sharpening ice skates.

Was nicknamed "the wall" by high school hockey team De La Salle College "Oaklands".

His father Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr. (b. 1942) is Chinese and Hawaiian. His mother Patricia Taylor is English, making him Eurasian like fellow actors Andrew Johnston, Brandon Lee, Rob Schneider, Russell Wong, Anthony Begonia, Michael Wong and actresses Jessica Anderson, Devon Aoki, Moon Bloodgood, China Chow, Kelly Hu, Traycee King, Kristin Kreuk, Jaymee Ong, Maggie Q, Nicole Scherzinger and Monica Young.

Father left the family when Keanu was very young.

Is left-handed.

Was manager of a pasta shop in Toronto.

He loves to play ice hockey (goalie position).

His father was a geologist who served time in prison. He was paroled after serving two years of a ten-year sentence for selling heroin at Hilo Airport in 1992.

His mother, Patricia Taylor, was a costume designer for rock stars such as Alice Cooper.

His 1974 motorcycle is among his most prized possessions.

His name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian.

In Hawaiian, "ke" means "the" and "anu" means "cool or coolness"; hence "the coolness" or (very) interpretively, "the cool winds over the mountain."

Dropped out of high school when he was 17 to become an actor.

Hobbies include horseback riding and surfing (both inspired from movie roles).

Was MVP on his high school hockey team, where he was a goalie.

Keanu got his abdominal scar from a motorcycle wreck in Topanga Canyon. He was on a "demon ride" (no headlights at night) when he crashed into the side of a mountain. He was hospitalized for a week with broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. When the paramedics came to get him, an emergency medical technician trainee picked up one end of the stretcher ... then dropped it by mistake! "It made me laugh, but I couldn't breathe!"

When trying out for the parts of Bill and Ted in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), each actor was paired up with another. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter were paired up, Reeves trying out for the part of Bill while Winter tried out for the part of Ted. They were cast opposite what they auditioned for.

His first name, Keanu, is pronounced "keh-ah-noo.".

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#17). [1995]

In November 1999, the baby girl he was expecting with girlfriend Jennifer Syme was stillborn, just a few weeks shy of the actual delivery date. They had planned to name her Ava Archer Syme-Reeves.

His estranged girlfriend Jennifer Syme was killed when her Jeep Cherokee careered onto the wrong side of a Los Angeles road near Highway 101 and smashed into three parked cars. The force of the crash flipped the car over and she was thrown through the windshield. She was killed instantly. [2 April 2001]

Maintains Canadian citizenship and passport.

Has appeared in three films whose title contains a US state: Feeling Minnesota (1996), My Own Private Idaho (1991) and The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) and his character in Point Break (1991) was named John Utah.

Was set to reprise his role as Jack Traven in the sequel to Speed (1994/I)--Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)--but dropped out.

Deferred part of his salary on The Replacements (2000) so Gene Hackman could be cast.

Keanu resides in Toronto, Canada where he grew up.

Learned over 200 martial arts moves for The Matrix Reloaded (2003).

Musically Keanu is currently playing (bass) in "Becky" - also featuring Robert Mailhouse (drums), Paulie Kosta (guitar) and Rebecca Lord (vocals).

Was originally offered the role of Pvt. Chris Taylor in Platoon (1986). Keanu turned it down and the role went to Charlie Sheen.

Was originally cast as Chris Shiherlis in Heat (1995) but later backed out of the project, and the part went to Val Kilmer.

He went to high school at North Toronto, where his drama teacher was Paul Robert. Mr. Robert then moved to teach at Northern Secondary as a drama teacher, but recently left. He pops in as a substitute teacher now and again, but lives freely in the wilderness otherwise.

Shares a birthday with actress Salma Hayek, heavyweight boxer Lennox Lewis and NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson.

Frequently plays man either strapped or sitting in a chair while some type of procedure is performed on him. All three Matrix films, Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Feeling Minnesota (1996), Dracula (1992) and Constantine (2005).

Although left-handed, plays bass with his right.

31st January 2005: Honoured with a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

Read the script of Constantine (2005) while filming The Matrix Revolutions (2003).

His first theater work was with Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts in "The Tempest."

He learned to surf for his role in Point Break (1991)

Is very good friends with his Bill & Ted co-star, Alex Winter and has remained in contact with him. Keanu has also contributed cameo appearances and helped with a number of Winter's film projects.

His best friend is his sister.

He has recently left the band "Becky" with former "Dogstar" band mate Robert Mailhouse, due to scheduling conflicts.

Auditioned for the Etobicoke School of the Arts in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; but was rejected.

His parents names are Patricia Taylor and Samuel Nowlin Reeves.

Replaced Val Kilmer as "Johnny Mnemonic" in Johnny Mnemonic (1995) when Kilmer left the project upon being offered the role of "Batman" in Batman Forever (1995). Ironically, Kilmer later replaced Reeves as "Chris Siherlis" in Heat (1995).

His best friend was actor River Phoenix. He is also friends with River's brother Joaquin Phoenix.

His parents married in Hawaii and divorced in 1966. His mother later remarried Paul Aaron (divorced in 1971) and Robert Miller (between 1976 and 1980).

The character of Jimbo Jones on "The Simpsons" (1989) is based on his character from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).

Lent one of his basses (a yellow Fender) to be used in the music video 100% by Sonic Youth to bassist Kim Gordon.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#28). [2007].

Has played a former quarterback from The Ohio State University in two movies Point Break and The Replacements.

Personal Quotes

What would happen if you melted? You know, you never really hear this talked about much, but spontaneous combustion? It exists!...[people] burn from within...sometimes they'll be in a wooden chair and the chair won't burn, but there'll be nothing left of the person. Except sometimes his teeth. Or the heart. No one speaks about this, but its for real.

My name can't be THAT tough to pronounce!

When I don't feel free and can't do what I want I just react. I go against it.

[when told he'd have to "bite the bullet"] Yes, but I don't have to eat the whole rifle.

I'm a meathead, man. You've got smart people, and you've got dumb people. I just happen to be dumb.

I'm sorry my existence is not very noble or sublime.

[On being a star] It can still be very surreal. It's easy to become very self-critical when you're an actor. Then you get critiqued be the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgment on you.

[On drugs] I've had wonderful experiences. I mean really wonderful. In teaching. Personal epiphanies. About life. About a different perspective -- help with different perspectives that you have. You know what I mean? Relationships to nature. Relationships with the self. With other people. With events.

[when asked if he had any fears] I used to have nightmares that they would put "He played Ted" on my tombstone.

I'm Mickey Mouse. They don't know who's inside the suit.

Here comes 40. I'm feeling my age and I've ordered the Ferrari. I'm going to get the whole mid-life crisis package

It's always wonderful to get to know women, with the mystery and the joy and the depth. If you can make a woman laugh, you're seeing the most beautiful thing on God's Earth.

[On River Phoenix] You can't blame Hollywood for what happened to River. Kids are doing drugs everywhere in the world. He had his own very personal problems I will never discuss with the press. They're just way too personal. River had a self-destructive side to his personality. He was angry and hurt that he couldn't have a private life once he became famous. He just couldn't deal with having his private life on the front page all the time.

[On River Phoenix] River was a remarkable artist and a rare human being. I miss him every day.

[On River Phoenix and My Own Private Idaho (1991)] We were doing I Love You to Death (1990), and we got the Idaho script. We were driving in a car on Santa Monica Boulevard, probably on the way to a club, and were talking really fast about the whole idea. We were excited. It could have been like a bad dream, a dream that never follows through because no one commits, but we just forced ourselves into it. We said, "Okay, I'll do it if you do it. I won't do it if you don't." We shook hands. That was it.

Salary

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)	$15,000,000 + 15% of the gross
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)	$15,000,000 + 15% of the gross
The Replacements (2000)	$12,500,000
The Matrix (1999)	$10,000,000 + 10% of the gross
The Devil's Advocate (1997)	$8,000,000
Youngblood (1986)	$3,000

Where Are They Now

(February 2004) Beverly Hills

(March 2008) Recently wrapped The Day the Earth Stood Still and is riding his motorcycle around LA before he starts filming The Secret Life of Pippa Lee.