Mary-Louise Parker

Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American Tony-, Emmy - and Golden Globe-winning actress. Some of her better known works include Fried Green Tomatoes, Boys on the Side, Proof, The West Wing, Angels in America, and her current role on Showtime's television series Weeds.

Early life & 1980s

Parker was born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Her mother was Swedish and her father was a judge and served in the U.S. Army.^[1][2] Parker majored in drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She then got her start in a bit part on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York, where she got a job measuring feet at ECCO. After a few minor roles, she made her Broadway debut in a 1990 production of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, playing the lead role of Rita. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance and was nominated for a Tony Award. Parker also briefly dated her co-star Timothy Hutton during this time.

That same year, Parker was noticed by critics when she appeared in the movie adaptation of another Lucas play, Longtime Companion, one of the first movies to confront AIDS in the public arena. This role was followed by her appearance in 1991's Grand Canyon, which also starred Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard and Kevin Kline. Parker's next film was Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson.

[edit] 1990s

Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also built her reputation on the big screen, starring with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in The Client (1994); with John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and with Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg in Boys on the Side (1995), as a woman with AIDS. Her next role was in a movie adaptation of yet another Craig Lucas play, Reckless (1995), alongside Mia Farrow, followed by Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996), which also starred Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen, Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition, she appeared alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunter's The Maker (1997).

Parker's theater career continued when she appeared in Paula Vogel's 1997 critical smash How I Learned To Drive, with David Morse. After several independent film releases, she appeared in Let The Devil Wear Black and then a much-lauded^{[citation needed]} role in The Five Senses (1999).

[edit] 2001 – 2003

In 2001, Parker appeared alongside Larry Bryggman in David Auburn's Proof on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award. However, Parker again lost out when the play was made into a film and the role was given to Gwyneth Paltrow. During this period, she left the theater for three years to look for other roles: among them, Red Dragon and Pipe Dream (2002).

Next was a guest role on the NBC drama, The West Wing, as women's rights activist Amelia "Amy" Gardner, which soon became a recurring role as a love interest for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman and later becoming Chief of Staff to the First Lady. For this role, Parker was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. During the fifth season, however, Parker became pregnant and her character was written out of the series after appearing in four episodes.

On December 7, 2003, HBO aired an epic six-and-a-half hour adaptation of Tony Kushner's acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols. The miniseries — about a group of lost souls in New York during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s — was hailed with international critical acclaim. Parker played Harper Pitt, the Mormon Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For her performance, Parker received Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.

[edit] 2004 – 2006

In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved!, and a TV movie called Miracle Run, based on the true story of a mother of two sons with autism, as well as appearing in Craig Lucas' Reckless on Broadway. Parker took the lead role that had been Mia Farrow's on screen. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005.

Parker returned to The West Wing in several guest appearances in 2005 and 2006, the show's final season, portraying the Director of Legislative Affairs under the President-elect Matt Santos. She also starred with Tom Skerritt in the CBS television film Vinegar Hill as a down-on-her-luck schoolteacher who, with her family, moves in with her in-laws only to discover their bitter, loveless relationship.

In 2005, Parker took on the lead role in the television series Weeds, a Showtime comedy-drama. Parker's character, Nancy Botwin, is a suburban mother who, following the death of her husband, decides to sell marijuana to make money, while also attempting to maintain her community reputation. She stars alongside Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, her Saved! co-star Martin Donovan, and her Angels in America co-star Justin Kirk. The show's first season aired in 2005, with the second airing in 2006, and the third airing in 2007. As of November 2007, a fourth season has been picked up, and is scheduled to premiere June 16, 2008.^[3]

In November 2005, Parker was honored with an exhibition of her career at Boston University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the University's library. Parker received the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, for her lead role in Weeds. In that category, she defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives. She dedicated the award to the late John Spencer, best known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing. After receiving the award, Parker stated: "I'm really in favor of legalizing marijuana. I don't think it's that controversial."^[4]

[edit] 2007 - 2008

In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film The Robber Bride. Her next role, Zerelda Mimms, in the Andrew Dominik film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, opened in cinemas in September 2007. Parker appeared alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell and Garret Dillahunt. In August 2007, Parker continued her role in the third season of Weeds. In July 2007, Parker was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for playing Zenia Arden in The Robber Bride and the other for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds.

In August 2007, she posed nude for an ad for the third season of Weeds. In the ad, she appears as Eve in the Garden of Eden, with a snake draped around her body and a cannabis leaf behind her ear.^[5]

On November 9, 2007, Parker was honored as the Entertainer of the Year by Out Magazine at the Out 100 Awards, which were celebrated in New York City.^[6]

Parker appeared in 2008's The Spiderwick Chronicles and in off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons in the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by Sarah Ruhl, alongside Drama Desk Award Winner Kathleen Chalfant.^[7]

[edit] Personal life

On January 7, 2004, Parker gave birth to her first child, William Atticus Parker. The boy's father is actor Billy Crudup, whom Parker met when they co-starred in a 1996 revival of the William Inge play Bus Stop. After nearly eight years together, the couple split when the actress was seven months pregnant, after Crudup left her for actress Claire Danes, whom he met on the set of Stage Beauty. Parker has also dated Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Timothy Hutton.^[8]

In December 2006, Parker began dating actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom she met on the set of Weeds.^[9] In March 2007, Parker stated that the relationship was "going great."^[10] The two briefly split in June 2007, but later reconciled.^[9] On February 12, 2008, Parker and Morgan announced their engagement only to break up again in April 2008.^[11]

In September 2007, Parker adopted a baby girl, Caroline "Ash" Aberash Parker, from Africa.^[

Natalie Gulbis

Natalie Gulbis
Natalie Anne Gulbis (born January 7, 1983 in Sacramento, CA) is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.

Golf career

Gulbis started finding interest in the game at the early age of 4. By the time she reached 7 years old she had won her first tournament. In three years when she was only 10 years old, she was breaking par.

Gulbis is of Latvian descent, her last name meaning swan in Latvian, and was born in Sacramento, California, and played in her first LPGA tour event as an amateur at the age of 14 (handicap of 2). She attended Granite Bay High School and graduated when she was 16. She turned professional at age 18 after playing for one season on the women's golf team at the University of Arizona.

Gulbis did not win a tournament in the first five years of her professional career but still finished sixth on the LPGA money list in 2005 with over $1 million (U.S.) in earnings and played on the winning United States Solheim Cup team. She placed in the top-10 in four consecutive major championships from the 2005 LPGA Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Gulbis' first professional win came in 2007 at the Evian Masters where she defeated Jeong Jang in a playoff to claim the winner's share of the $3,000,000 purse.

[edit] Personal life, business and media

Gulbis is considered to be a sex symbol in the LPGA. When she released a calendar for 2005 just before the 2004 U.S. Women's Open, which featured her in different pictures showing her playing golf, in addition to striking poses in swimwear, the United States Golf Association (USGA) barred it from being sold at the event, deeming it inappropriate. The calendar was sold very openly at Golf Canada. The USGA was criticized for overreacting. Gulbis also posed for the November 2004 issue of the magazine FHM, an issue that also gave away a chance to play golf with her at her home course, the Lake Las Vegas Resort, where her calendar photo shoot took place. Gulbis has said that she likes the attention she gets, even if it is for her appearance; she has endorsement deals with TaylorMade Golf, Adidas, Canon, Raymond Weil geneve, Amstel Light, SkyCaddie, Payment Data Systems, MasterCard, Winn Golf Grips and Lake Las Vegas Resort. Gulbis was romantically linked to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, 2005.

In 2006, Gulbis began writing a monthly golf advice column in FHM. In November 2005, a reality television show, The Natalie Gulbis Show, made its debut on The Golf Channel. The show had its second season premiere on October 18, 2006. Gulbis has also appeared on the 2007 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour by EA Sports along with fellow professionals Annika Sörenstam, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald, among others. Ironically, in August 2007 Gulbis appeared on the August/September cover of Sactown Magazine in an article that profiled the rising star's busy life of product endorsements and photo shoots, though frustratingly enough, no pro win. Gil Ozir, Vice President of Marketing for Raymond Weil (a luxury watchmaker and one of Gulbis' many endorsement deals) was quoted as saying, "Once she starts winning, she's going to be a megastar." Mere days later, Gulbis won the Evian Masters, her first professional LPGA title.

[edit] Professional wins (1)

Nadia Bjorlin

Nadia Bjorlin
Nadia Alexandra Björlin (credited as Bjorlin) (born August 2, 1980) is an American actress.

Early life

Björlin was born in Newport, Rhode Island, but lived in Sweden until the age of 7. Her father was the Swedish composer and conductor Ulf Björlin (1933-1993). Her mother, Fary, whose background is Persian, is an interior decorator. Nadia speaks Swedish, Persian (Farsi), English and can sing in other languages as well. She is also renowned for her soprano voice. When her family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, she attended the Palm Beach County School of the Arts (now Dreyfoos School of the arts) along with her brothers Ulf and Jean Paul, where she excelled in music and theater. All three siblings have found success in show business since graduation.

Björlin once competed in pageants. In 1998, she placed as Second Runner-Up in Miss Florida Teen USA.

[edit] Career

Nadia Björlin's major exposure has been on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, where she first appeared as the character Chloe Lane in December 1999. At first, Chloe was portrayed as a nerdy and geeky kind of girl with big glasses. Eventually, her character developed into a quiet beauty who could also sing and she fell in love with rich, popular Philip Kiriakis, portrayed by actor Jay Kenneth Johnson. Soon, their romance turned rocky, and she developed a crush on Brady Black, portrayed by actor Kyle Lowder.

Björlin originally left Days in June 2003 to concentrate on her singing career. Her character moved to be an opera star. Bjorlin returned on a recurring basis in November 2004 after her character supposedly had a disfiguring car accident and eventually married Brady Black. In September 2005, Björlin left Days of Our Lives again and joined the cast of the UPN series Sex, Love & Secrets. The show was canceled by the network, but Björlin continued to make guest appearances on television series such as Jake in Progress and Out of Practice. During the summer of 2005, Björlin made guest appearances on the Fishbowl radio program 'Coming Out with Reichen,' hosted by Reichen Lehmkuhl. The Fishbowl Radio Network is an Internet radio station for reality television alumni.

Since leaving Days, Björlin has appeared in the independent feature film, If I Had Known I Was a Genius, starring Markus Redmond, Whoopi Goldberg, Sharon Stone, and Tara Reid. The film was screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Björlin was also cast as the female lead of the Chicago Pictures' feature film, Redline. The film starred Eddie Griffin and Nathan Phillips, and was released in theaters on April 13, 2007. Björlin portrays Natasha Martin, a young automobile fanatic and lead singer of a still unsigned West Coast band. The character finds herself caught up in illegal street-racing competitions organized for the pleasure of a bunch of bored multi-millionaires. The movie was released on DVD on August 21, 2007.

Björlin returned to Days of our Lives as Chloe on November 29, 2007.

[edit] Personal life

Nadia was previously engaged to Daniel Sadek and was in a relationship with actor James Stevenson. Björlin is currently in a relationship with former Days co-star Brandon Beemer.^[1]

Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980 in Portland, Oregon), better known as Katee Sackhoff, is an American actress best known for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. In May 2006, she won the Saturn Award for the same role.


Sackhoff grew up in St. Helens, Oregon. Her mother Mary is an ESL program coordinator and her father Dennis is a land developer. She graduated from Sunset High School in Beaverton in 1998. She participated in swimming and ballet until her right knee was injured, which led her to begin practicing yoga, which she continues today.[1] Sackhoff has three tattoos: One, on the back of her neck, is a Chinese symbol ('choice'). Another, a cross, is covered with bandages whenever her shoulder is uncovered during shooting because there is no Christianity in the Battlestar Galactica universe. The third is on her right forearm and reads "bona fiscalia," meaning "good qualities" (blessings) in legal Latin. This tattoo is visible in numerous episodes.[2] Other elements from Sackhoff's life have been incorporated into the show: a ring she wears on her thumb has been described as Starbuck's engagement ring from Zak Adama, and the actress's decision to quit smoking between seasons two and three was mirrored by her character.

[edit] Career

[edit] Television

[edit] Starring Roles

Battlestar Galactica - Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Katie Sackhoff's most famous role is as the Colonial Fleet fighter pilot Starbuck, in the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica . In the original Battlestar Galactica, the Starbuck character was male, portrayed by Dirk Benedict. Creator Ronald D. Moore's decision to change the character's gender for the contemporary remake was originally controversial with fans of the original series, but most of them have come to accept Sackhoff's take of the hot-shot pilot. In preparing for the part she found it difficult to imagine a strong woman role model so she chose her brother as her model. [3]

Bionic Woman - Sarah Corvus
Sackhoff was cast as the evil cyborg Sarah Corvus in the short-lived NBC series. Corvus was, according to the show, the "first" bionic subject who had succumbed to temptations of its power.[4].

The Education of Max Bickford - Nell Bickford

Nip/Tuck - Dr. Theodora Lowe
Sackhoff will join the sixth season of the hit FX series Nip/Tuck, playing a new doctor who becomes a threat to Sean and his work. Sackhoff is scheduled for 4 episodes. [5]

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954), often referred to simply as Oprah, is an American television host, media mogul, and philanthropist. Her internationally-syndicated talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, has earned her multiple Emmy Awards and is the highest-rated talk show in the history of television.^[2] She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award-nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century,^[3] the most philanthropic African American of all time,^[4] and the world's only black billionaire for three straight years.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.^[10][11][12]

Born in rural Mississippi to a poor unwed teenaged mother, and later raised in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, Winfrey was raped at the age of nine, and at fourteen, gave birth to a son who died in infancy.^[13] Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19.^[14] Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place,^[6] she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.

Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication,^[15] she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized^{[16][17][18][19]} the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue,^[18] which a Yale study claimed broke 20th century taboos and allowed gays, transsexuals, and transgender people to enter the mainstream.^[20] By the mid 1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing confession culture^[19] and promoting controversial self-help fads, she is generally admired for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.^[21]

Early life

Oprah Winfrey (originally Orpah after the Biblical character in the Book of Ruth), was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to unmarried parents. She later explained that her conception was due to a single sexual encounter that her two teenaged parents had; they quickly broke up not long after. (see Jill Nelson, "The Man Who Saved Oprah Winfrey," Washington Post, 14 December 1986; p. W30) There are conflicting reports as to how her name became “Oprah.” According to a 1991 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey claimed that her family and friends' inability to pronounce “Orpah” caused them to put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate.^[22] However, there is the account that the midwife transposed letters while filling out the newborn's birth certificate.^[23] Her parents were unmarried teenagers.^[24] Her mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid, and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman. Winfrey's father was in the Armed Forces when she was born. After her birth, Winfrey's mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee who was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, causing the local children to make fun of her. (Paul Harris. "The Observer Profile: Oprah Winfrey." The Observer (London, UK), 20 November 2005, p.27) On the other hand, it was her grandmother who taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.^[25]

At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid. (Jill Nelson. "The Man Who Saved Oprah Winfrey." Washington Post, 14 December 1986, p. W30) Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old (Lee Winfrey, "Praise from All Corners for New Talk Show Host," Syracuse Herald Journal, 9 September 1986, p. 44), something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed. (Thomas Morgan. "Troubled Girl's Evolution into an Oscar Nominee." New York Times, 4 March 1986, p. C17)

Despite her dysfunctional home life, Winfrey skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin^{[citation needed]}. Although Winfrey was very popular, she could not afford to go out on the town as frequently as her better-off classmates^{[citation needed]}. Like many teenagers at the end of the 1960s, Winfrey rebelled, ran away from home and ran to the streets^[26]. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but the baby died shortly after birth.^[23]Also at that age, her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 18, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. (Lee Winfrey, "Praise from All Corners for New Talk Show Host," Syracuse Herald Journal, 9 September 1986, p. 44) She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.

That Oprah Winfrey chose a career in media did not surprise her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself." (Mel Novit. "Oprah: Talk Show Dynamo Treats the Audience Like a Friend." Syracuse Post-Standard, 14 September 1986, p. A9)

Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well.^[27]

Career and success

Kristin Cavalleri

Kristin Cavalleri
Kristin Elizabeth Cavallari (born January 5, 1987^[1]) is an American actress and has appeared on United States reality television. She is best known for her feature appearances on the MTV reality TV series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.

Early life

Kristin Cavallari was born in Denver, Colorado, the younger of two children. When her parents divorced, her older brother moved with their father to Laguna Beach, California, while she moved with their mother to Barrington, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. After having trouble adjusting to a new life with a stepfather and stepbrother, Cavallari moved to California to be with her dad and brother, and was enrolled at Santa Margarita Catholic High School her freshman year of high school. After attending a Driver's Education course through Laguna Beach High School, her father enrolled her in LBHS.^[2]

[edit] Career

Cavallari was in her junior year of high school when the first season of Laguna Beach began production. At the time, she was involved in an on-and-off relationship with senior Stephen Colletti. Cavallari's romance with Colletti caused a rivalry with another cast member, Lauren Conrad. The love triangle became one of the series' central plotlines.^[1]

After her stint on Laguna Beach, Cavallari headed to L.A. and briefly enrolled at Loyola Marymount University. She then landed a hosting gig on UPN's Get This Party Started. The series drew low ratings and was canceled after only two episodes.^[3] Cavallari continued to pursue a career in acting, landing a guest role on Veronica Mars, and a lead role in Teddy Geiger's music video, "For You I Will (Confidence)".^[4] She has also starred in the new Gavin Degraw video for the song "I'm In Love With A Girl".

In September 2007, Cavallari began shooting the film, The Green Flash. She also has roles in two upcoming films; Fingerprints and Spring Breakdown, both set for release in 2008.^[4]

[edit] Modeling and charity work

In addition to film and tv work, Cavallari has also modeled. She was featured in ads for Bongo jeans, and has appeared in Seventeen, Teen People, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, Blender and GQ.^[5]In 2006, Maxim named her #23 on its annual Hot 100 List, and was also featured as part of its "Hottest Women of Reality TV" later that year.^[6]

[edit] Personal life

During the filming of Laguna Beach, Cavallari dated fellow cast member Stephen Colletti. After the end of her relationship with Colletti in 2004, Cavallari began dating Brody Jenner, son of Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner. The couple broke up in 2006.^[10]

Cavallari has also been romantically linked to Nick Lachey^[11], New York Islanders forward Mike Comrie, and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.^[10]

Cavallari dated actor Nick Zano from 2006 until December of 2007. She has been seen with Matt Leinert early this year.^[12]

Sarah Chalke

Sarah Louise Christine Chalke (born August 27, 1976) is a Canadian-American television and movie actress, best known for portraying Dr. Elliot Reid on the NBC sitcom Scrubs , the second Becky Conner Healy on Roseanne and Stella in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. ^[1]

halke was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the middle of the three daughters of Douglas and Angie Chalke. Her mother is originally from Rostock, Germany. According to a Scrubs commentary track, she used to attend the German school in her hometown twice a week. Her first language is English, although she speaks French fairly well and German fluently. Chalke graduated from Handsworth High School in North Vancouver in 1994.

Her father is a lawyer in private practice in Vancouver. Her parents also operate an adoption agency that specializes in placing foreign orphans (primarily Chinese) with Canadian families. Her older sister Natasha is also a lawyer, and she has a younger sister named Piper. In April 2008 Chalke became a naturalized American citizen. She is currently engaged to Jamie Afifi.^[2]

[edit] Acting career

Chalke's acting career began at the age of eight when she began appearing in musical theater productions. At 12, she became a reporter on the Canadian children's show KidZone. In 1993, she took over the role of Becky (Conner) Healy on Roseanne from Lecy Goranson; she also made a cameo appearance as a different character in the Roseanne episode "Halloween: The Final Chapter" (#178, originally aired October 31, 1995). She returned briefly to Canada where she starred in the CBC Television drama Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy (1998-1999).

[edit] Activism

Chalke lost her aunt and grandmother to breast cancer that was undiagnosed while in its early stages.^[5] Chalke has since encouraged breast cancer awareness, and starred in the Lifetime movie Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy.^[6]

Alyson Hannigan

Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Emilie Posner, a real estate agent, and Al Hannigan, a truck driver.^[1][2] Hannigan is Jewish on her mother's side,^[3] and also has Irish ancestry.^[4] Her parents divorced a year after her birth and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta.

Although Hannigan had appeared in an industrial film for "Active Parenting" as a baby, as well as starred in a commercial for the Duncan Hines cookie mix in 1978, it was not until she moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1985 that she formally began her acting career. Living with her mother and attending North Hollywood High School, she successfully auditioned for agents while visiting her father in Santa Barbara. After attending North Hollywood High School she attended California State University, Northridge.

[edit] Career

Hannigan outside the stage door after When Harry Met Sally... in London, in May of 2004.

Hannigan's first major film role was in My Stepmother Is an Alien, a science fiction comedy released in 1988; one of her co-stars in the film was actor Seth Green, who would later join her in the regular cast of Buffy as her on-screen boyfriend. Then in 1989, her first regular role on a TV series came when she was cast in the short-lived ABC sitcom Free Spirit. Throughout most of the early 1990s, she appeared in commercials and supporting roles on television shows, including That 70's Show, Picket Fences, Roseanne and Touched by an Angel.

In 1997, Hannigan was cast to play Willow Rosenberg, Buffy's best friend, on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (replacing Riff Regan, who played Willow in the unaired 25-minute pilot). The show became a success, and Hannigan gained recognition, subsequently appearing in several notable films aimed at teenage audiences, including American Pie, American Pie 2, Boys and Girls, and American Wedding. By the time Buffy had ended in 2003, Hannigan was earning a $250,000 salary for each episode. She also had a guest spot on the Buffy spin-off, Angel, reprising her role of Willow in a few episodes (including most notably "Orpheus", during the fourth season of Angel and the seventh season of Buffy), but none after Buffy finished production.

In early 2004, Hannigan made her West End debut, starring in a stage adaptation of When Harry Met Sally... at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, opposite Luke Perry.

In 2005, Hannigan returned to starring in a regular television series, appearing in the hit comedy, How I Met Your Mother, as Lily, and also playing a recurring guest role on Veronica Mars as Trina Echolls.

In February 2006, Hannigan starred as Julia Jones in Date Movie, a parody on romantic comedies.

[edit] Personal life

Hannigan and husband Alexis Denisof

She married actor Alexis Denisof (who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the Buffy/Angel franchise) at Two Bunch Palms Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California on October 11, 2003. They bought a house together in Santa Monica, California.

[edit] In popular culture

In March 2008, the satirical website The Onion released a satirical news video titled "FCC Okays Nudity On TV If It’s Alyson Hannigan."^[5] The clip, internally titled "Understanding the FCC's Obscenity Guidelines," features a fictitious FCC spokesman repeatedly stressing that the FCC would not consider Hannigan taking her top off during a TV episode to be an obscene act.