Tag Archives: actress

Jennifer Lopez: Bronx Star Shining Bright

Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born in the Castle Hill section of the South Bronx, New York, on July 24, 1969. Her father, David, is a computer specialist, her mother, Guadalupe, a kindergarten teacher. She is the middle of three musically inclined daughters, and her parents were born in Puerto Rico but did not meet until both came to America. Jennifer’s paternal grandparents were Europeans who settled on the island of Puerto Rico. Her parents infused a work ethic in all their children very early in their lives and Jennifer began taking singing and dancing lessons from the tender age of … Continue reading →

Liza Minelli: A Rise Above

Liza Minelli once said: “reality is something you must rise above.” For the daughter of the late Judy Garland and Vincent Minelli who was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 12, 1946, this phrase could not reflect more truth. Named after Ira Gershwin’s song, “Liza (All The Clouds’ll Roll Away)”, she was practically raised at the MGM studio where her parents worked, and she made her debut at the tender age of 14 months in the musical “In the Good Old Summertime” (1949). In 1951, her world came crashing down when her parents divorced and her mother quickly remarried … Continue reading →

Patty Duke: Star Still Shining Bright

Anna Maria Duke was born on December 14, 1946 in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. Her father, John P. Duke, was Irish-American and her mother, Frances Mac Mahon, was Irish and German. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother who suffered from mental illness, was prone to violence. At the age of eight, Anna Maria was turned over to John and Ethel Ross who recognized her talent and promoted her as a child actress. But they were unscrupulous people who padded her resume with false credits and billed her as two years younger than she was. They were ultimately not … Continue reading →

Heather Locklear: Quiet Talent and Beauty

Heather Deen Locklear was born on September 25, 1961, in Westwood, California, the youngest of four children of Bill and Diane Locklear. She has two sisters, Laurie and Colleen, and a brother, Mark. Her ancestry is mostly Scottish, but she has Lumbee Native American roots on her father’s side. (The surname Locklear is quite common among the Lumbee.) Her father was the dean of the School of Engineering at UCLA and after graduation from Newbury Park High School (where, believe it or not, she was rejected by the cheerleading squad) she herself attended UCLA. It was while she was attending … Continue reading →

Angela Bassett: Gifted and Captivating

Angela Bassett was born in New York City on August 16, 1958. She and her sister, D’nette grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida where they lived with their single mother, Betty. A social worker, she stressed the importance of education to both of her children. Through the urgings of a high school teacher, Angela applied for and got a scholarship to Yale University. There she spent a total of seven years, receiving a B.A. in African-American studies in 1980. Three additional post-graduate years were spent studying at the Yale School of Drama, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts … Continue reading →

Sharon Stone: American Beauty Rose

Sharon Vonne Stone was born on March 10, 1958, to Irish-American parents in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her strict father was a factory worker and her mother a homemaker. She was the second of four children (she has two brothers and one sister), and extremely bright, entering the State University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15. Her IQ is 154, and she was told at an early age that she would fare very well as an attorney. Her first love, however, was the black and white cinema of bygone eras. She loved Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and was mesmerized by … Continue reading →

Reese Witherspoon – Actress and Mother of Two

Who hasn’t heard of Reese Witherspoon? She is one of the top paid actresses in Hollywood. Winning the hearts of America with starring roles in Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama. She also recently won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line. For many young actresses the idea of being a mother was unthought of because it would ruin their figure and interfere with their career. But Reese had other ideas and her first child was born when she was 23. Her kids come first. Reese Witherspoon is a mom after my … Continue reading →