Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Biography

Birth Name: Elisabeth Filarski
Birth Place: Cranston, RI
Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: May 28, 1977, Gemini
Profession: TV host; reality-show contestant

This former shoe designer entered the entertainment biz through the reality backdoor — she was America's sweetheart when she competed on the second season of Survivor — and while she wasn't savvy enough to win, Hasselbeck did parlay what could have been 15-minutes of fame into a career. Because of her background in the fashion industry, she was a natural to host the Style Network series The Look for Less. In 2003, she got her big break when she guest-hosted The View and soon she became a full-fledged member of the all-female morning chatfest. Now married to her college sweetheart, NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, the formerly bubbly blonde became much blunter. An outspoken, pro-Bush, pro-life and pro-war conservative who spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Hasselbeck was a polarizing personality. And when über-liberal Rosie O'Donnell joined the series for a season, the two engaged in wildly heated political and social debates that often found their way onto YouTube. Initially, they claimed to be good friends off-camera but — after a particularly heated May 2007 spat that resulted in O'Donnell's premature departure from the show — the comedian claimed they weren't speaking. But no matter how outnumbered or outmatcthed Hasselbeck was, she always stood her ground.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Fast Facts:
Was captain of Boston College's Division I softball team.
An avid runner who has completed the Boston Marathon.
Suffers from Coeliac disease.
Due to a 2006 stalking incident, she became very upset when a character named "Elizabeth Hassenback" was raped and murdered on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Although the writers denied any wrongdoing, she saw it as a below-the-belt dig.
Has worked with numerous charity organizations, including Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Making Memories Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Relationships:
Elizabeth DelPadre - Mother
Grace Elisabeth Hasselbeck - Daughter
Ken Filarski - Brother
Kenneth Filarski - Father
Tim Hasselbeck - Husband

College:
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (1999)

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Tricia Helfer's Biography

While modeling, Helfer also worked as a correspondent reporter for Canada’s “Ooh La La” Fashion Television where she realized a passion for acting during an on-camera class. This prompted her move to Los Angeles in 2002 where she quickly landed the role of ‘Sarah,’ in the two-hour premiere of the Showtime series, “Jeremiah.” Helfer memorably guest starred as a model who tries to cut off her own face on the hit series “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation,” and the lead role of ‘Eva’ in the independent feature “White Rush.”
Helfer started 2003 off by starring in the Scifi miniseries “Battlestar Galactica” where she played the humanoid Cylon ‘Number Six’ and also filmed the lead role of ‘Farrah Fawcett’ in the “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels” on NBC. In 2004, Helfer reprised her role of ‘Number Six’ in the first season of “Battlestar Galactica.”
2005 was busy for Helfer as she filmed the lead role of ‘Stephanie Jacobs’ in the independent feature “Mem(o)re” opposite Dennis Hopper, guest starred on “The Collector” as ‘Janis’, filmed the mockumentary, “The Green Chain” as ‘Leila Cole’, filmed the independent feature “Spiral” as ‘Sasha’ with David Joel Moore and reprised ‘Number Six’ for the second season of the critically acclaimed series Battlestar Galactica.
Starting off 2006, Helfer filmed the lead role of ‘Ally’ in the independent feature “The Genius Club” and then headed into new territory, hosting and producing “Canada’s Next Top Model” before filming the third season of the award winning show “Battlestar Galactica,” where she again brought back the chilling ‘Number Six.’ Tricia finished off the year by playing ‘General Kilian Qatar’ in the video game, “Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.”
Tricia began 2007 by guest staring as ‘Molly McNamara’ on “Supernatural” and playing ‘Naomi’ in a new Fox pilot, “Them.” Tricia is currently filming an independent feature with LeeLee Sobieski, “Walk All Over Me” where she plays the role of ‘Celene’ before returning to her infamous role as the seductive ‘Number Six’ for the fourth season of “Battlestar Galactica.”

Tobey Maguire's Biography

Born: 27 June 1975
Birthplace: Santa Monica, California
Best known as: Spider-Man in the movies

Born a stone's throw from Hollywood, Tobey Maguire began acting in commercials as a boy and had his first film role in This Boy's Life (1994, with Leonardo DiCaprio). He went on to play confused and thoughtful teens in several films, including the trouble-in-suburbia classic The Ice Storm (1997, with Christina Ricci), the dreamy Pleasantville (1998, with Reese Witherspoon) and the literary campus comedy The Wonder Boys (2000, with Michael Douglas). In 2002 he had the high-swinging lead in the hit film Spider-Man, with Kirsten Dunst as his love interest Mary Jane. The actors reunited (along with James Franco and director Sam Raimi) for the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). Maguire also starred as jockey Red Pollard in the 2003 film Seabiscuit.

Kirsten Dunst's Biography

Born: 30 April 1982
Birthplace: Point Pleasant, New Jersey
Best known as: Mary Jane in the Spider-Man film series

Kirsten Dunst is known to mainstream movie audiences as Mary Jane in the 2002 super-hero flick Spider-Man. (She reprised the role in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007); all three movies starred Tobey Maguire as the web-spinner.) Dunst was only seven when she made her movie debut in the Woody Allen-directed portion of the trilogy New York Stories (1989). She made her mark as a young up-and-comer by playing the creepy tot Claudia in Interview With the Vampire (1992, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt). As the century turned she was suddenly grown up in a raft of movies including the drama The Virgin Suicides (2000, directed by Sofia Coppola), the battle-of-the-cheerleaders comedy Bring It On (2000, with Gabrielle Union) and the high school romance Get Over It (2001). Her other films include The Cat's Meow (2002), Mona Lisa Smile (2003, with Julia Roberts) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, starring Jim Carrey). She had the title role in the 2006 Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette.

Orlando Bloom's Biography

Born: 13 January 1977
Birthplace: Canterbury, Kent, England
Best known as: Legolas in The Lord of the Rings

The actor Orlando Bloom was classically trained at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Shortly after his graduation he was cast as the elf Legolas in the feature film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, directed by Peter Jackson and based on the hit fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. The role made him a star and a favorite pinup for teenage girls. His other films include Wilde (1997), Black Hawk Down (2001, starring Josh Hartnett), The Kelly Gang (2003, with Naomi Watts and Heath Ledger) and Elizabethtown (2006, with Kirsten Dunst). Bloom He starred alongside Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley in the swashbuckling adventures Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its sequels Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007).

Johnny Depp's Biography

Born: 9 June 1963
Birthplace: Owensboro, Kentucky
Best known as: Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies

Johnny Depp was first famous as a heartthrob cop on the teenybopper drama 21 Jump Street (1987-1990). Then he gave up TV for the movies, playing the fantastical title character in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990) and winning critical acclaim in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Depp became known as a handsome and thoughtful actor who craved variety; In the 1990s he took a wide range of roles, from the lead in Don Juan DeMarco (1995, with Faye Dunaway and Marlon Brando) to Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999, with Christina Ricci). In 2001 he played real-life cocaine trafficker George Jung in the movie Blow (co-starring with Penelope Cruz), and in 2003 he played the comically swaggering pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (co-starring Orlando Bloom), helping turn that movie into the summer's surprise hit. Two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, appeared in 2006 and 2007. Depp also took on the role of fictional chocolatier Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Extra credit: Depp owns the Viper Room lounge in Los Angeles... He turned down the lead role in Speed (1994), which was then taken by Keanu Reeves... Pirates of the Caribbean was loosely based on the Disneyland thrill ride of the same name... Depp's longtime companion is French pop singer and actress Vanessa Paradis. They began dating in 1998 and have two children together: daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (b. 1999) and son John Christopher Depp III (also known as Jack, b. 2002).

Penelope Cruz' Biography

Born: 28 April 1974
Birthplace: Madrid, Spain
Best known as: Star of the film Woman On Top

A sultry and sometimes playful Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz became famous internationally when she played the motion-sick heroine in the 2000 film Woman on Top. She was already a star in Spain: she had a major role in the Oscar-winning 1992 film Belle Epoque and then began a long association with the famed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Her films with Almodovar include Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999) and Volver (2006). In Hollywood her most prominent roles have been in the westerns The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and All the Pretty Horses (with Matt Damon, 2000), the druglord drama Blow (with Johnny Depp, 2001) and Vanilla Sky (2001), in which she co-starred with her real-life boyfriend at the time, Tom Cruise.

Extra credit: Cruz donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to Mother Teresa's charity... Cruz and Cruise dated from 2001 through 2004, when they announced through publicists that they were no longer a couple... Cruz is occasionally confused with the Mexican actress Salma Hayek.

Steven Spielberg's Biography

Born: 18 December 1946
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
Best known as: The director of Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg directed many of the top-grossing films in Hollywood history, including the blockbusters Jaws (1975), E.T. (1982), and many more. His first TV movie, Duel (1971), was successful enough to earn a theatrical release. The shark thriller Jaws (1975) made Spielberg a hot property, and over the next 20 years he grew into the most successful movie mogul alive. His directing credits include hits like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, co-produced by

George Lucas), the cuddly-alien flick E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, the dinosaurs-on-the-loose classic Jurassic Park (1993), and War of the Worlds (2005). Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park each spawned two sequels and are among the most lucrative film series of all time. Spielberg's huge box office successes have allowed him to make more serious films as well, including The Color Purple (1985), Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Munich (2005). In 1994, with fellow Hollywood moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, he founded the studio Dreamworks SKG; the company was sold to Viacom in 2006. Spielberg went many years without winning an Academy Award, but he broke through with best director and best picture Oscars for Schindler's List, given in 1994. He also won a best director Oscar for Saving Private Ryan and was given the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1987 for his contributions to the industry.

Extra credit: Spielberg married actress Kate Capshaw in 1991. He was married to actress Amy Irving from 1985-89... He took over

Stanley Kubrick's long-planned film A.I. (2001) after Kubrick's 1999 death... Spielberg directed Joan Crawford in a 1969 episode of the TV series Night Gallery... Many of Spielberg's films have been scored by composer John Williams.

Oprah Winfrey's Biography

Born: 29 January 1954
Birthplace: Kosciusko, Mississippi
Best known as: Host of TV's Oprah

Orpah Winfrey is the most successful female talk show host in American TV history. She went into broadcasting in the early 1970s; after anchoring and reporting TV news in Nashville, Tennessee and Baltimore, Maryland, she landed a job on the morning show of A.M. Chicago in 1984. The next year she made her movie debut in The Color Purple (based on the Alice Walker book) and was nominated for an Oscar. In 1986 she launched The Oprah Winfrey Show, a TV talk show which featured celebrity interviews and discussions of social issues. The show was a smash hit and within a decade she was one of the richest women in the United States. "Oprah's Book Club," a feature of her show highlighting new books, became famous for its ability to create bestsellers. In 2000 she launched her own lifestyle magazine, O.

Extra credit: Winfrey launched the career of relationship specialist Dr. Phil, who became famous while making regular guest appearances on her show... Oprah's production company is named Harpo Productions -- "Oprah" spelled backwards... In a 1991 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey said that her name was spelled "Orpah" on her birth certificate, but that she has always been called Oprah instead.

Nicole Kidman's Biography

Born: 20 June 1967
Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii
Best known as: Oscar-winning star of The Hours

Nicole Kidman won the Academy Award as best actress for her portrayal of writer Virginia Woolf in the film The Hours (2002). Kidman was born in Hawaii but grew up in Australia, where she began acting in her teens. She married screen heartthrob Tom Cruise after they met while filming the race-car soap opera Days of Thunder (1990) and they were one of Hollywood's most talked-about couples throughout the '90s. Her films during that era included Gus Van Sant's To Die For (1995, based on the Pamela Smart case) and Stanley Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), in which she starred with Cruise. After a decade of marriage, Cruise and Kidman divorced, but her career soared as she continued to star in both mainstream Hollywood films and smaller, independent features. In 2001 she turned in an Oscar-nominated performance in Moulin Rouge and appeared in two other highly-acclaimed movies, Birthday Girl and The Others. She also starred in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003, with Renee Zellweger) and the comedy Bewitched (2005, co-starring Will Ferrell).

Extra credit: Kidman married country singer Keith Urban on 25 June 2006... Kidman and Cruise adopted two children while they were married: Isabella (in 1993) and Connor (in 1995).

Tom Cruise' Biography

Born: 3 July 1962
Birthplace: Syracuse, New York
Best known as: Star of the Mission Impossible movie series
Name at birth: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

Tom Cruise made a strong impression in the teen comedy Risky Business (1983) and then had his first box-office smash as the fighter jock Maverick in Top Gun (1986). Cruise and his cocky grin were propelled higher onto Hollywood's A-list thanks to a string of successful movies: Rain Man (1988, with Dustin Hoffman), The Color of Money (1986, with Paul Newman), A Few Good Men (1992, with Jack Nicholson) and Jerry Maguire (1996, with Cuba Gooding, Jr. saying "Show me the money!"). Cruise has remained one of Hollywood's busiest actors, taking on blockbuster franchises such as Mission: Impossible (Cruise played superspy Ethan Hunt in the original and two sequels in 1996, 2000 and 2006) as well as more diverse dramas such as Magnolia (1999), Vanilla Sky (2001) and the Steven Spielberg movies Minority Report (2002, co-starring Samantha Morton) and War of the Worlds (2005). Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes in 2005. Dubbed "TomKat" by the tabloids, they had a daughter, Suri, on 18 April 2006, and were married in Italy on 18 November 2006.

Extra credit: Cruise is a prominent member of the Church of Scientology... Cruise proposed to Holmes at the Eiffel Tower after a highly-publicized whirlwind romance. He came in for a ribbing from pundits after he hopped up and down on the talk-show couch of Oprah Winfrey while proclaiming his love for Holmes... Cruise's marriage to Holmes is his third. He and actress Nicole Kidman were married in 1990, separated in 2000, and were divorced in 2001. They met while filming one of Cruise's few duds, Days of Thunder (1990), and appeared together in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). They adopted two children: Isabella (in 1993) and Connor (in 1995). Cruise also was married to actress Mimi Rogers, a fellow Scientologist, from 1986-1990... Cruise dated actress Penelope Cruz, his co-star in Vanilla Sky, from 2001-2004... Most sources say Cruise's height is 5'7".

Katie Homes' Biography

Born: 18 December 1978
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio
Best known as: The Dawson's Creek actress who married Tom Cruise

Katie Holmes starred as Josephine "Joey" Potter on the coming-of-age TV series Dawson's Creek. (Joey was the best chum and sometime love interest for Dawson, played by James Van Der Beek; the show ran from 1998-2003.) Holmes parlayed her TV fame into roles in films like The Ice Storm (1997, with Tobey Maguire), Go (1999), and the academic dramedy Wonder Boys (2000, with Michael Douglas). She also played the lead in Pieces of April (2003, with Patricia Clarkson and First Daughter (2004, with Michael Keaton, co-starred with Christian Bale in the big summer movie Batman Begins, and played an insatiable reporter in Thank You for Smoking (2005). She became engaged to actor Tom Cruise in June of 2005 after a much-publicized courtship and a proposal from Cruise at the Eiffel Tower. Their daughter, Suri, was born 18 April 2006. They were married at a medieval castle in Italy on 18 November 2006.

Jennifer Aniston's Biography

Born: 11 February 1969
Birthplace: Sherman Oaks, California
Best known as: Rachel on the TV series Friends

When the sitcom Friends hit the airwaves in 1994, Jennifer Aniston, as the goofy and sexy Rachel, quickly became the show's breakout star. Her distinctively curvy haircut was soon a popular craze, and she was a favorite of tabloids and celebrity gossip columns throughout the show's long run (1994-2004). She married actor Brad Pitt in 2000 in a union of Hollywood superstars; they divorced in 2005 amid a flurry of rumors that Pitt had become interested in actress Angelina Jolie. (The rumors proved true.) Late that year Aniston began dating actor Vince Vaughn, her co-star in the film The Break-Up (released in 2006). Aniston's feature films include the cult favorite Office Space (1999), the animated film The Iron Giant (1999, with Vin Diesel), Rock Star (2000, with Mark Wahlberg), The Good Girl (2002, with Jake Gyllenhaal), Along Came Polly (2004, with Ben Stiller), the post-Graduate comedy Rumor Has It (2005, with Kevin Costner) and the ensemble chick flick Friends With Money (2006).

Extra credit: Aniston's godfather was late actor Telly "Kojak" Savalas.

Pamela Anderson's Biography

Born: 1 July 1967
Birthplace: Ladysmith, B.C., Canada
Best known as: Blonde lifeguard C.J. Parker on Baywatch

Pamela Anderson first became a star in the cast of the TV show Baywatch, where she played lifeguard C.J. Parker from 1992-96. She also posed for Playboy magazine, adding to her notoriety and positioning her perfectly for the Internet pinup boom of the mid-1990s. Anderson's wild blonde mane and spectacular store-bought bosom made her one of the Web's most-requested and most-downloaded stars (as well as a dependable punch line for comedians and talk show hosts). Her on-again, off-again marriage to rock star Tommy Lee and later romantic relationship with music star Kid Rock also became favorite topics for tabloids. (She and Kid Rock were engaged in 2002, broke it off in 2003, and then reunited and were married on 29 July 2006.) Anderson's film appearances include Barb Wire (1996) and Scary Movie 3 (2003, with fellow bombshell Jenny McCarthy). She also starred in the short-lived TV series, V.I.P. in the late 1990s and provided the voice for the animated series Stripperella. In 2004 she published Star, a novel which seemed to be closely based on her own Hollywood career, and in 2005 she starred in her own comedy television series, Stacked. Anderson began dating pop singer Kid Rock in 2001, and after many public ups and downs in their relationship, she married him in July of 2006. Four months later, in November of 2006, she filed for divorce.

Extra credit: Anderson once played the "Tool Time Girl" on the TV sitcom Home Improvement... In 2002, Anderson announced that she had hepatitis C, saying she had picked up the disease by sharing a tattoo needle with Tommy Lee... She was briefly engaged to actor Scott Baio... She has two sons with Lee: Brandon (b. 1996) and Dyla (b. 1997)... Other stars who got a career boost from Baywatch include Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Gena Lee Nolin and Brooke Burns.

Jessica Albas Biography

Born: 28 April 1981
Birthplace: Pomona, California
Best known as: Star of TV's Dark Angel

Jessica Alba is best known as TV's Dark Angel (2000-02, produced by James Cameron) and as Sue Storm in the movie version of The Fantastic Four (2005, starring Michael Chiklis). Alba began working in front of the camera in the mid-1990s, appearing in television commercials and small roles in feature films. She had a recurring role in the Nickelodeon series The Secret World of Alex Mack, followed by her first starring role in the 1995 series Flipper. In 1999 she scored a double whammy with appearances in the teen-friendly films Never Been Kissed and Idle Hands, and filmmaker Cameron cast her as one of the leads in his project for television, Dark Angel. Since then she has worked mostly in feature films, usually playing a tough-but-vulnerable babe, as in Honey (2003, with Lil' Romeo) and in the film version of Frank Miller's Sin City (2005, with Bruce Willis). Alba's other films include The Sleeping Dictionary (2003) Into the Blue (2005, with Paul Walker) Fantastic Four: Surf Silver(2007)

Ben Affleck's Biography

Born: 15 August 1972
Birthplace: Berkeley, California
Best known as: Actor and co-writer of Good Will Hunting

Ben Affleck and his childhood friend

Matt Damon wrote and starred in the 1998 film Good Will Hunting. The resulting Oscar for best original screenplay catapulted both to stardom. Affleck has appeared in independent films such as Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999), but has also shown a taste for playing heroes in big-budget action movies such as Armageddon (1998, with Bruce Willis), Pearl Harbor (2001, with Josh Hartnett) and Daredevil (2003, with his future wife Jennifer Garner). In 2002 Affleck starred in The Sum of All Fears, becoming the third star to play Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan; the CIA superstud was played by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin in previous films. He also starred in Paycheck, the 2003 sci-fi adventure based on a story by Philip K. Dick. Affleck married Jennifer Garner on 29 June 2005; the couple's first child, a daughter, was born on 1 December 2005. In 2006 he played actor George Reeves in the movie Hollywoodland, part of an all-star cast that included Diane Lane and Adrien Brody.

Extra credit: Affleck became engaged to singer and actress Jennifer Lopez in 2002. The couple were dubbed "Bennifer" by tabloids, but broke up in January 2004... Affleck previously was known for his extended sometimes-romantic friendship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow... His brother Casey Affleck is also an actor... In August of 2001, Ben Affleck announced he had checked himself into a Malibu alcohol rehabilitation clinic, where he joined comedian Paula Poundstone and actor Robert Downey, Jr.

Drew Barrymore's Biography

Born: 22 February 1975
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Best known as: Star of the movie Charlie's Angels and E.T.

Drew Barrymore was seven when she snagged a role in Steven Spielberg's hit film E.T. (1982). She was already a member of the famous Barrymore acting clan; her great-uncle Lionel tormented Jimmy Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life, and her great-aunt Ethel and grandfather John Barrymore also were popular thespians earlier in the century. For Drew, early success bred excess: by age 10 she was using alcohol and marijuana, by 13 she was in rehab, and by 17 she was posing nude for Interview magazine. She described this troubled period in a 1990 memoir, Little Girl Lost. Despite her tabloid-fodder personal life, in her twenties Barrymore became a prolific and respected actress in films like Boys on the Side (1995, with Matthew McConaughey), The Wedding Singer (1998, with Adam Sandler), Never Been Kissed (1999, with Jessica Alba) and Fever Pitch (2005, based loosely on a book by Nick Hornby). She also starred with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), spoofy homages to the 1970s TV series.

Extra credit: Barrymore was married briefly to barkeep Jeremy Thomas in 1994... She married comedian and MTV personality Tom Green in July 2001; Green filed for divorce in December 2001 and the marriage ended the next year.