MSN Entertainment: Top Celebrities

Tina Fey

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

As Saturday Night Live's first-ever female head writer, quick-witted comedian Tina Fey not only shattered the glass ceiling at SNL, but also succeeded in proving that she is one of the most talented comedy writers in the entertainment industry. The Upper Darby, PA, native quickly made her way to Chicago's famed Second City after finishing drama studies at the University of Virginia in 1992, maintaining her livelihood with a job at the local YMCA and rapidly excelling through Second City's exhausting course... [more]

Angelina Jolie

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 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]

Kim Kardashian

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 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]

Sharon Stone

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

Screen siren, opinionated diva, and one of the few actresses in Hollywood who can claim to be both a "Paul Verhoeven" muse and a MENSA member, "Sharon Stone" is nothing if not a legend in her own right. Beginning with her notorious disinclination to wear underwear during a police interrogation in "Basic Instinct", Stone went on to become one of the most talked about actresses of the '90s, earning both admiration and infamy for her on- and off-screen personae.

Almost as famous as Stone's glamorous image are... [more]

Janet Jackson

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

Of the many siblings of mega-star "Michael Jackson", "Michael"'s youngest sister Janet is one of the few with enough genuine talent to succeed without her family ties. "Jackson"'s fame rests largely on her successful, elaborately produced music videos, wherein the talented singer and dancer projects a more accessible, realistic image than her otherworldly brother. She is also a skilled and agreeable actress, as witness her series-TV stints on "Good Times" (1977-78), "Diff'rent Strokes" (1981-82) and "Fame"... [more]

Miley Cyrus

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

The daughter of country-music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus got her start in the entertainment industry on an episode of her father's PAX TV medical series Doc before appearing in Tim Burton's fantastical 2003 adventure Big Fish. A fateful appearance as the character Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed in 2006, and her character proved so popular that a spin-off series called Hannah Montana was launched shortly thereafter. In the series, Cyrus portrayed... [more]

Oprah Winfrey

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

"Oprah Winfrey" rose from poverty and a troubled youth to become the most powerful and influential woman in television and, according to Forbes Magazine, the world's most highly paid entertainer. Though primarily recognized as a talk show hostess, Winfrey also produces and occasionally acts in television movies and feature films.

Winfrey's parents, who never married, were teens when she was born in rural Mississippi. She was originally named Orpah after a woman from the Book of Ruth but a spelling mistake... [more]

Britney Spears

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 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]

Paul Newman

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

In a business where public scandal and bad-boy behavior are the rule rather than the exception, "Paul Newman" is as much a hero offscreen as on. A blue-eyed matinee idol whose career successfully spanned five decades, he was also a prominent social activist, a major proponent of actors' creative rights, and a noted philanthropist. Born January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, OH, Newman served in World War II prior to attending Kenyon College on an athletic scholarship; when an injury ended his sports career, he turned... [more]

Paris Hilton

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

At one point, it would have been hard to define Paris Hilton. "Career heiress" doesn't cut it; nor does "party girl" or "high-ranking socialite-cum-model-cum-actress," and "American royalty" was arguably too dramatic a label for a woman whose true breakout role cost less to film than a night in a budget room at the neighborhood Hilton hotel. Luckily, as lackluster economies are wont to do, the early 2000s looked toward the financial elite and borrowed heavily from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in hopes of... [more]

Heather Locklear

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

Blonde and buoyant actress "Heather Locklear" had the distinction of co-starring simultaneously in two weekly series within a year of her 1981 TV debut. Locklear played Steven Carrington's long-suffering wife Sammy Jo on "Dynasty", then went down the block to essay the role of ever-imperiled lady cop Stacy Sheridan on "T.J. Hooker". Since that time, Locklear has made several efforts to establish herself as a comedienne, ranging from a forgettable sitcom to her wiselipped heroine in Return of the Swamp Thing... [more]

Tyler Perry

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

As an actor, writer, producer, and director of films and stage plays, the New Orleans-born Tyler Perry began his career as a dramatist in 1992. When inspired by Oprah Winfrey to channel his creativity through writing, Perry put pen to paper as a method of healing the wounds that lingered from a painful childhood. His first production, entitled I Know I've Been Changed, hit the stage to rapturous reviews in 1997, and following a collaborative period with Bishop T.D. Jakes that resulted in the plays Woman, Thou... [more]