Brandon Lee

He was born on February 1, 1965 to Bruce Lee (Martial Arts idol) and Linda Lee. Brother to Shannon Lee. In 1965 they moved to Hong Kong where Brandon became fluent in Cantonese by the age of 8. He attended Boston's Art-Oriented Emerson College in Massachusetts. He studied Martial Arts and drama, like his father. In 1983 he was expelled from school because of misbehaviour, but received his diploma at Miraleste High school. He was in "Rapid Fire", "Showdown Little Tokyo", and a few more films, including "The Crow". He turned down offers to be in "Dragon: The Bruce Lee story". Bruce died (while filming) at the age of 32, of what is to be believed, a brain hemmorage. Brandon died at the age of 28 on the set of "The Crow". While filming one scene, where he gets shot repetitively, the cap of a blank (which shoots harmlessly) accidently got lodged in his spine after penetrating his abdomen. The doctors worked desperately for five hours, but it was no use. He was pronounced dead at 1:04 pm the next day. He was supposed to marry Eliza Hutton on April 17. His body was flown to Seattle to be buried beside his father in Lake View Cemetery.

Jim Carey

The youngest of four children born to Percy (an accountant and aspiring jazz saxophonist) and Kathleen, Jim Carrey was an incurable extrovert from day one. As a child he performed constantly, for anyone who would watch, and even mailed his résumé to "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967) at age 10. In junior high he was granted a few precious minutes at the end of each school day to do stand-up routines for his classmates (provided, of course, that he kept a lid on it the rest of the day). Carrey's early adolescence took a turn for the tragic, however, when the family was forced to relocate from their cozy town of Newmarket to Scarborough (a Toronto suburb). They all took security and janitorial jobs in the Titan Wheels factory, Jim working 8-hour shifts after school let out (not surprisingly, his grades and morale both suffered). When they finally deserted the factory, the family lived out of a Volkswagen camper van until they could return to Toronto. Back on firmer ground, Carrey decided to strike out into the comedy club scene. He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk's, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations (among them Michael Landon and James Stewart), and in 1979 worked up the nerve to move to Los Angeles. He finessed his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived sitcom "The Duck Factory" (1984); while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to pursue acting more vigorously. He scored the male lead in the ill-received Lauren Hutton vehicle Once Bitten (1985), and a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988). Impressed with Carrey's lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call to his brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the process of putting together the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" (1990). Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill- advised safety tips). Carrey's transformation from TV goofball to marquee headliner happened within the course of a single year. He opened 1994 with a starring turn in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character's trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie The Mask (1994), which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey's features could stretch. Finally, in December, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the Farrelly brothers' Dumb & Dumber (1994) (his first multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of Batman Forever (1995), replacing Robin Williams as The Riddler. He also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and inked a deal with Sony to star in The Cable Guy (1996) (replacing Chris Farley) for a cool $20 million--at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been offered to any comic actor. The movie turned out to be a disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced back the next year with the energetic hit Liar Liar (1997). Worried that his comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course. In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998). Playing a naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well--when it didn't materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey threw himself into his next role with abandon. After edging out a handful of other hopefuls (including Edward Norton) to play eccentric funnyman Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999), Carrey disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman -- and his blustery alter-ego Tony Clifton -- for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman's bongo drums, which he'd used during his audition for director Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again the Academy kept quiet. An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger). Carrey's real-life persona wound up falling for her too--a few months after the film wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then, Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy antihero of Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). He plans to take a break from the limelight after the holiday flick (as he puts it, "I'm looking forward to getting out of America's face"). Is there another Carrey reinvention in the works? If so, he's not talking.

Tommy Lee Jones

Born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Clyde C. and Lucille Marie (Scott) Jones, Tommy Lee Jones worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another scholarship.He roomed with future Vice President Al Gore and played offensive guard in the famous 29-29 Harvard-Yale football game of '68 known as "The Tie." He received a B.A. in English literature and graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1969.

Following college, he moved to New York and began his theatrical career on Broadway in "A Patriot for Me" (1969). In 1970, he made his film debut in Love Story (1970). While living in New York, he continued to appear in various plays, both on- and off-Broadway: "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1969); "Four on a Garden" (1971); "Blue Boys" (1972); "Ulysses in Nighttown" (1974). During this time, he also appeared on a daytime soap opera, "One Life to Live" (1968) as Dr. Mark Toland from 1971-75. He moved with wife Kate Lardner, granddaughter of short-story writer/columnist Ring Lardner, and her two children from a previous marriage, to Los Angeles.

There he began to get some roles on television: "Charlie's Angels" (1976) (pilot episode); Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976) (TV); and The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV). While working on the movie Back Roads (1981), he met and fell in love with Kimberlea Cloughley, whom he later married. More roles in television--both on network and cable--stage and film garnered him a reputation as a strong, explosive, thoughtful actor who could handle supporting as well as leading roles. He made his directorial debut in The Good Old Boys (1995) (TV) on TNT. In addition to directing and starring in the film, he co-wrote the teleplay (with J.T. Allen). The film, based on Elmer Kelton's novel, is set in west Texas where Jones has strong family ties. Consequently, this story of a cowboy facing the end of an era has special meaning for him.

Jet Li

Jet Li started training at the Beijing wushu academy at age eight (wushu is China's national sport, largely a performance version of various martial art styles), and won five gold medals in the Chinese championships, his first when he was only 11. In his teens, he was already a national coach, and before he was 20, he had starred in his first movie: _Shao Lin tzu (1979)_ (Shaolin Temple), which started the 1980s Kung-Fu boom in mainland China. He relocated to Hong Kong, where he was the biggest star of the early 1990s Kung-Fu boom as well.

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt was born in Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri. His mother's name is Jane Etta Hillhouse. His father, William (Bill) Pitt, worked in management at a trucking firm in Springfield. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt and a younger sister Julie Neal Pitt. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student government and school musicals. Pitt attended the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism with a focus on advertising. He occasionally acted in fraternity shows. He left college two credits short of graduating to move to California. Before he became successful at acting, Pitt supported himself by driving strippers in limos, moving refrigerators and dressing as a giant chicken while working for "el Pollo Loco."

Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan was born in Navan, County Meath, Ireland on May 16, 1953 and lived in Navan, County Meath until he moved to England, UK at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left the household when Pierce was a child and although reunited later in life, the two have never had a close relationship. His most popular role is that of British secret agent James Bond. The death, in 1991, of Cassandra Harris, his wife of eleven years, left him with three children - Christopher and Charlotte from Cassandra's first marriage and Sean from their marriage. Since her death, he has had two children with his second wife, Keely Shaye Smith.

Tim Allen

Timothy Allen Dick was born on June 13, 1953, in Denver, Colorado, USA. His father was Gerald Dick, a real-estate salesman who was killed in a collision with a drunk driver while driving his family home from a University of Colorado football game when Tim was 11-years-old. His mother was Martha Dick (AKA Marty Dick), a community-service worker who remarried her high-school sweetheart, an Episcopalian deacon, two years after Tim's father's death. Tim also has a total of eight siblings. When Tim was young, his family moved to Birmingham, Michigan. In high school, his favorite subject was shop, of course, and after high school, he attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a degree in Television Production in 1975. In 1978, he was arrested on drug charges and spent two years in jail. Upon his release, he had a new outlook on life and on a dare from a friend, started his comedy career at the Comedy Castle in Detroit. Later, he went on to do several cable specials, including, Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen (1988) and Tim Allen: Men Are Pigs (1991) (TV). In 1991, he became the star of his own hit television series on ABC called "Home Improvement" (1991). While continuing to film his television show throughout most of the '90s, he starred in a string of blockbuster movies including The Santa Clause (1994), Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), and Galaxy Quest (1999). In August of 1996, he developed and unveiled his own signature line of power tools, manufactured by Ryobi. On top of all that, he has his own racing team, Tim Allen/Saleen RRRRacing. In May of 1999, he ended his show "Home Improvement" (1991) after 8 seasons and in 2001, he filmed such movies as Big Trouble (2002) and Joe Somebody (2001).

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger or usually call arnie was born in Thal, Styria, Austria on July, 30, 1947.  Growing up in a small, isolated village in Austria, he turned to bodybuilding as his ticket to a better life. Prior to that he served a mandatory one year in the Austrian military (beginning in 1965). After conquering the world as arguably the greatest bodybuilder who ever lived, he went to America to make his name in motion pictures. Hampered by his impossible name and thick accent, success eluded him for many years. It wasn't until he found the tailor-made role of Conan that he truly came into his own as a performer. A succession of over-the-top action films made him an international box office star. By alternating violent action films with lighter, comedic fare, he has solidified his position as one of the most popular - if not the most popular - movie stars in the world. After his long, and successful movie career, he ran in the California recall. He is now the Governor of California, yet another celebrity to be elected to the position.

Ben Affleck

Actor who's real name Benjamin Geza Affleck was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California, America but raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He was born to parents Tim Affleck, a social worker, who is now divorced from Ben's mother Chris Affleck, a school teacher. Ben also has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975. Ben wanted to be an actor ever since he could remember and his first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial, when he was on the PBS mini-series "The Voyage of the Mimi" (1984). It was also at that age when Ben met his lifelong friend and fellow actor, Matt Damon. They played little league together and took drama classes together. Ben's teen years consisted of mainly TV movies and small television appearances including Hands of a Stranger (1987) (TV) and "The Second Voyage of the Mimi" (1988). He made his big introduction into feature films in 1993 when he was cast in Dazed and Confused (1993). After that, he did mostly independent films like Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997) which were great for Ben's career, receiving renowned appreciation for his works at the Sundance film festival. But the success he was having in independent films didn't last much longer and things got a little shaky for Ben. He was living in an apartment with his brother Casey and friend Matt, getting tired of being turned down for the big roles in films and being given the forgettable supporting ones. Since Matt was having the same trouble, they decided to write their own script, where they could call all the shots. So, after finishing the script for Good Will Hunting (1997), they gave it to their agent Patrick Whitesell, who showed it to a few Hollywood studios, finally being accepted by Castlerock. It was great news for the two but Castlerock wasn't willing to give Ben and Matt the control over the project they were hoping for. It was friend Kevin Smith who took it to the head of Miramax who bought the script giving Ben and Matt the control they wanted and, in December of 1997, Good Will Hunting (1997) was released, making the two unknown actors famous. The film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for Ben and Matt. The film marked Ben's breakthrough role, in which he was given for the first time the chance to choose roles instead of having to go through grueling auditions constantly. He chose such roles in the blockbusters Armageddon (1998/I), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001).

Richard Gere

Actor who was born on August, 31, 1949 grew up in a pastoral farm setting in upstate New York. The second of five children in an artistic family, Gere attended the University of Massachusetts on a gymnastic scholarship following his graduation from high school in 1967. After two years of philosophy and drama studies he dropped out to launch an acting career. He acquitted himself well in a number of repertory productions on both coasts over the next couple of years before opting to strike out as a professional trumpet player. After settling in a commune of musicians in Vermont he soon left, finding the musicians more temperamental than actors. His next stop was New York City.

With an unsuccessful stage performance in the Big Apple, Gere crossed the pond to give the London theatrical world a try. There, he stepped into the role of macho gang leader Danny Zuko in Grease. Soon he returned to play the same role in the Broadway production of the musical. Gere followed that success with a starring role with the 1982 military-romance blockbuster An Officer and a Gentleman. During this same year he converted from his Methodist roots to the Tibetan school of Buddhism.

In 1984, Gere was able to draw on his trumpet-playing skills for Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club, but for the most part, the '80s did not do wonders for his movie career, as he blundered through a string of generally critically reviled and ego-deflating bombs like King David (1985), Power (1986) and Miles From Home (1988).
In 1990, Gere rode triumphantly back into Hollywood with the $455-million hit Pretty Woman. Soon after the film, he was chosen in People Magazine as one of the most beautiful people in the World. Also in this year he married supermodel Cindy Crawford, but their union went through a flurry of generally unpleasant tabloid skepticism and ended in divorce in 1995.

Through the 90's Richard has had a number of hit-and-miss films. Completing a full circle with Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman to the present, Runaway Bride. In 2002, he took on the role of tap-dancing lawyer Billy Flynn in the hit musical film Chicago and won a Golden Globe for his efforts. Also in 2002, he married actress Carey Lowell, and the couple have a son together. He enjoyed the dancing scenes in Chicago so much that he accepted another role that required dancing skill, starring opposite Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance? (2004).

In 2006, Gere was named Man of the Year by the Hasting Pudding Theatricals. He has a son with second wife, actress Carey Lowell.

Sean Penn

Actor who's born on august, 17, 1960 in Burbank, California has good perfomance that earned him reputation for dramatic intensity, but to many filmgoers he will always be remembered as Jeff Spicoli, the teenage stoner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Penn made his movie debut in 1981's Taps (alongside Tom Cruise) and became known as a serious dramatic actor during the '80s, in films such as Bad Boys (1983) and At Close Range (1986, with Christopher Walken). His marriage to Madonna (1985-89) thrust Penn further into the spotlight, and he went from being known as an intense young actor to being known as an intense young actor who punched photographers (he even spent a brief time in jail for assault in 1987). In the '90s Penn tried to give up acting in favor of writing and directing; he made The Indian Runner (1991) and two films starring Jack Nicholson: The Crossing Guard (1995) and The Pledge (2000). He returned to the screen in 1993 to co-star with Al Pacino in Carlito's Way, then starred in Dead Man Walking (1995) and earned an Oscar nomination. He went on to be nominated again for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and for I Am Sam (2001, with Dakota Fanning), and in 2004 he won his first Best Actor Oscar for Mystic River (2003, co-starring Tim Robbins). Among his other films are 21 Grams (2003) and All The King's Men (2006).

Penn married actress Robin Wright in 1996. They have two children: a daughter Dylan (b. 1991) and a son Hopper Jack (b. 1993)... Sean Penn's younger brother, Christopher Penn (1965-2006), was also a film actor, and his older brother, Michael Penn (b. 1958), is a singer and songwriter.

Will Smith

Actor, rapper. Born Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. on September 25, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Smith began rapping at age 12 and became known as the Fresh Prince when he teamed with Jeff Townes (a.k.a. D.J. Jazzy Jeff) to create a popular combination of pop and hip-hop in the 1980s. They won the first ever Grammy in the Rap category in 1988.
Smith parlayed his recognition as a musician into real fame when he starred on the hit television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990. He then made his dramatic film debut in 1993’s Six Degrees of Separation, followed by the first of many action adventure films, Bad Boys costarring Martin Lawrence. After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Smith concentrated exclusively on films and music.

Smith starred in a slew of blockbusters during the 1990s, including Independence Day (1996) and Men in Black (1997), the latter of which remains one of his most memorable roles to date. Other notable films include Enemy of the State, the comedy Hitch, and the title role in Ali, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

In 2006, he switched gears to star in a heartwarming drama opposite his young son, Jaden, in The Pursuit of Happyness. The performance earned him a Golden Globe nod.

Smith’s music career has been less successful, buoyed by hit singles related to his films, including "Men in Black,” "Just the Two of Us" and "Switch."

Smith was married to Sharee Zampino from 1992 to 1995; they have a son, Trey. He married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997; they have two children, Jaden and Willow.

Tom Cruise

In 1976, if you had told 14 year old Franciscan seminary pupil Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be considered one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, NY, was destined to become Tom Cruise, one of the maximal paid and most sought after actors in screen history. The single boy (among 4 kids) of nomadic parents junior Tom spent his boyhood eternally on the move and by the time he was 14 he had attended fifteen different schoolhouses in the United States and Canada. He at last settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, he developed a concern in roleplaying and gave up his programmes of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He created his movie debut on a little role in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.

Though below average height and not in particular better-looking in the conventional sense, within five years Tom Cruise was leading in a few of the top grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s he was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996) - for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughful man familiar for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the film community. He was got married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth.

Bruce Willis

Germanic birthed, New Jersey raised America role player and player familiar for his cinema shows as wise cracking or hard edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD placing him in the top ten stars in terms of box office receipts. The young Willis picked up an interest for the dramatic arts in high school, and was allegedly "discovered" whilst working in a café in NYC and then appeared in a couple of off-Broadway productions.

After countless auditions, Willis imparted small cinema appearances, commonly uncredited, before landing the role of private eye "David Addison" alongside sultry Cybill Shepherd in the hit romantic funniness television serial "Moonlighting" (1985). The series firmly established Bruce Willis as a hot new talent, and his sarcastic & wise cracking PI was in effect a dry run for the role of hard boiled, NYC detective "John McClane" in the monster hit of 1988, Die Hard (1988). This superbly paced action film balanced laconic humor and wholesale destruction as Willis' character single handedly battles a gang of ruthless international thieves in a Los Angeles skyscraper. Willis reprized the role of tough guy cop "John McClane" in the eagerly anticipated sequel Die Hard 2 (1990) set at snow bound Washington's Dulles International Airport as a group of renegade Special Forces soldiers seek to repatriate a corrupt South American general. Excellent box office returns demanded a further sequel Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) this time as well star Samuel L. Jackson as a cynical Harlem shop owner unwittingly thrust into assisting McClane during a terrorist bombing campaign on a sweltering day in NYC.

Willis found time out from all the action mayhem to allow for the voice of "Mikey" the baby in the very best-selling home comedies Look Who's Talking (1989), and its sequel Look Who's Talking Too (1990) also starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Over the next decade, Willis starred in some very successful films, some very offbeat films and some unfortunate ticket office flops. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Hudson Hawk (1991) were both large scale financial tragedies that were savaged by the critics, and both are arguably best left off the CVs of all the actors involved, however Willis was still popular with film audiences and distributing lot of theater ticket* with the hyper violent The Last Boy Scout (1991), the darkly humored Death Becomes Her (1992) and the mediocre police thriller Striking Distance (1993). On the nineties, Willis as well appeared in some independent and low budget productions that won him fresh lovers and praise from the critics for his intriguing performances working with some very diverse cinema directors. He appeared in the oddly appealing North (1994), as a cagey prize fighter in the Quentin Tarantino directed mega-hit Pulp Fiction (1994), the Terry Gilliam directed apocalyptic thriller Twelve Monkeys (1995), the Luc Besson directed sci-fi opus The Fifth Element (1997) and the M. Night Shyamalan directed spine tingling epic The Sixth Sense (1999).

Willis following starred in the mobster funniness _Whole Nine Yards, The (2000)_qv), acted once again with "hot" director M. Night Shyamalan in the less gripping Unbreakable (2000), and in two military dramas, Hart's War (2002) and _Tears of the Sun (2003)_qv) that both failed to really fire with movie audiences or critics alike. However, Willis bounced back into the spotlight in the critically applauded Frank Miller graphic novel turned movie Sin City (2005), the voice of "RJ" the scheming raccoon in the animated hit Over the Hedge (2006) and "Die Hard" fans rejoiced to see "John McClane" return to the big screen in the hi-tech Live Free or Die Hard (2007) aka "Die Hard 4.0".

Willis was got married to actress Demi Moore for about thirteen years and they partake in custody to their 3 kids.

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born on January 2, 1968, in The Bronx, New York. His father, Cuba Gooding, was the lead vocalist for the R&B group The Main Ingredient, which had a hit with the song "Everybody Plays The Fool". His mother, Shirley, was a backup singer for The Sweethearts. His father moved the family to Los Angeles in 1972, only to leave them a few years later. Despite this setback, Cuba was able to maintain a positive outlook and overachieved throughout school. He attended four different high schools and was elected class president in three of them. While at high school, Cuba met and fell in love with Sara Kapfer, whom he later lived with for seven years before tying the knot in March 1994.

Following high school, Cuba studied Japanese martial arts for three years before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like "Hill Street Blues" (1981) and "MacGyver" (1985). His first major role was in the 1991 box office surprise Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with supporting roles in major films like A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994) and Outbreak (1995).

In 1996, Cuba was cast as an arrogant but loyal football player in the Tom Cruise-Cameron Crowe film Jerry Maguire (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned Cuba an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the movie became a nationwide catchphrase. The role elevated him to superstar status, as many of Hollywood's top producers began to "show him the money" to appear in their films.

Since Jerry Maguire (1996), Cuba has managed to keep busy with a wide range of roles alongside many of Hollywood's biggest stars. Most recently, he won critical support for his portrayal of a mentally handicapped man in the heartwarming film Radio (2003), another movie about football. In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Currently, he resides in Studio City, California with Sara, now a school teacher, and their two sons.

Jackie Chan

Actor who was born on 7 April 1954, Hong Kong has birth name Kong-sang Chan. Jackie is his nick name in Hollywood but many people in Hongkong call him Y'uen Lo, Sing Lung or Pao Pao.

Chan began his film career at age eight in the Cantonese feature "Big and Little Wong Tin Bar" (1962). He went on to appear in a number of HK singing films. Chan is said to have been in more than 25 films by age ten. He graduated at age 17 and, using the name Chen Yuan Long, found work as a stunt man, martial arts fighter and extra at the Shaw Brothers studios. Chan was gratified to receive a compliment from Bruce Lee while serving as the stunt double for the dreaded Mr. Suzuki in "Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection" (1971). Chan successfully executed what was reportedly the highest fall ever attempted in a HK film, duly impressing Lee.

Becoming the highest paid film artist in Hong Kong and cultivating an international following, Chan has surpassed the prematurely deceased Lee to become the biggest box-office draw in Japan and the rest of Asia. He has repeatedly set and broken box-office records with some of the most lavish productions in Asian cinema. Chan is also a sensation as a pop recording star; many of his films feature him singing the themes and performing numbers.

Beginning with "The Big Brawl" (1980), Chan also made several attempts to cross over to fame on the American screen with limited success: as part of the large comedy ensembles headed by Burt Reynolds in the two "Cannonball Run" racecar movies (1980, 1983) and as an unlikely NYC cop opposite Danny Aiello in "The Protector" (1985). Chan did not have creative control over these efforts nor did he coordinate the stunts. Though there was a devoted cult following in the English-speaking world familiar with his superlative HK productions developed, most Americans were not given a genuine chance to sample his creative wares. Chan avoided these pitfalls with "Rumble in the Bronx" (1996), his fifth English-language release.

Teamed with former stunt man/precision driver-turned-director Stanley Tong (who had helmed Chan's 1992 "Police Story III: Supercop") and pop star-actress Anita Mui (sometimes described as "the Asian Madonna"), Chan had creative control over "Rumble in the Bronx". Shot in Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, this joint venture between Hong Kong's Golden Harvest and the US's New Line Cinema served up an old-fashioned story with state-of-the-art stunts bolstered with a major marketing campaign. Chan had arrived, turning up in numerous publications, getting keys to various cities and chatting on TV with David Letterman and Jay Leno. In the film, he portrayed a vacationing HK cop dealing with gangs and the mob in a quirky and rather quaint Bronx of the imagination. The nonsensical story provided an excellent showcase both for Chan's peerless athleticism and his engagingly boyish personality. Despite some unconvincing dubbing, reviewers and audiences were charmed and astounded. Raking in a quick $10 million, the modestly budgeted ($6 million) "Rumble" became the number one film of its opening week. America had finally discovered Jackie Chan. Executives promptly scrambled to bring in more of Hong Kong's most famous export.

While his next few films stumbled at the box office (i.e., "Mr. Nice Guy" 1998), "Rush Hour" (also 1998) proved to be a crowd pleaser, teaming the martial artist with rising comic actor Chris Tucker and led to the inevitable sequel (2001's "Rush Hour 2"). The immense popularity of the "Rush Hour" films set the tone for the next stage in Chan's U.S. career -- instead of being called on to carry a picture on his own, he would be teamed with a popular sidekick in action-oriented buddy comedies. The actor's next successful outing was with Owen Wilson in "Shanghai Noon" (2000), a highly amusing comedy-Western casting Chan as the Chinese Chon Wang (sounds like "John Wayne") seeking a kidnapped princess in the Old West with the help of Wilson's scalawag Roy O'Bannon. Once again Chan showed real charm as a fish-out-of-water, and provided a great foil for an up-and-coming comic actor.

In 2002, Chan joined with the less-comedically gifted Jennifer Love Hewitt in the action comedy "The Tuxedo," which was made with some verve and ingenuity but didn't lure large audiences; and in 2003, he rejoined Wilson for the sequel "Shanghai Knights" which took the two leads to London for a further dose of slapstick action. That same year, Chan starred in the English language Hong Kong actioner "The Medallion," playing a detective who suffers a fatal accident involving a mysterious medallion and is transformed into an immortal warrior with superhuman powers. Most critics found the film to be a fairly standard Chan outing, with a few eye-popping action stunts and a potent dose of Chan's charms, but otherwise unexceptional.

Chan next appeared headlining the all-star ensemble of "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004), a loose, comedic version of the classic Jules Verne novel in which Chan played Phileas Fogg's traveling companion, Passepartout--repositioned this time as the true star of the story, a Chinese thief traveling incognito and defending the eccentric Fogg from a variety of menaces and bizarre situations.

Harrison Ford

Actor who was born on July,13 1942, Chicago, Illinois, USA had father from Irish, his mother Russian-Jewish. He was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and TV ("Ironside" (1967), "The Virginian" (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar. He also maintains an 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Tom Hanks

Born in California, Tom Hanks grew up in what he calls a 'fractured' family. His parents were pioneers in the development of marriage dissolution law in that state, and Tom moved around a lot, living with a succession of step-families. No problems, no abuse, no alcoholism, just a confused childhood. He had no acting experience in college, and in fact credits the fact that he couldn't get cast in a college play with actually starting his career - he went downtown, auditioned for a community theater play, was invited by the director of that play to go to Cleveland, and there his acting career started. He met his second wife, actress Rita Wilson on the set of the his television show Bosom Buddies, she appeared in one episode in the second season (1981)- they have two children and Tom has another son and daughter by his first wife. In 1996 he made his first step behind the camera, directing as well as starring and writing the film That Thing You Do! (1996).

Johnny Depp

Born John Christopher Depp in Owensboro, Kentucky, on June 9, 1963, Johnny Depp was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the hopes of becoming a rock musician. He fronted a series of garage bands including The Kids, which once opened for Iggy Pop. Depp got into acting after a visit to Los Angeles, California, with his former wife, Lori Anne Allison (Lori A. Depp), who introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage. He made his film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). In 1987 he shot to stardom when he replaced Jeff Yagher in the role of undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the popular TV series "21 Jump Street" (1987).

In 1990, after numerous roles in teen-oriented films, his first of a handful of great collaborations with director Tim Burton came about when Depp played the title role in Edward Scissorhands (1990). Following the film's success, Depp carved a niche for himself as a serious, somewhat dark, idiosyncratic performer, consistently selecting roles that surprised critics and audiences alike. He continued to gain critical acclaim and increasing popularity by appearing in many features before re-joining with Burton in the lead role of Ed Wood (1994). In 1997 he played an undercover FBI agent in the fact-based film Donnie Brasco (1997), opposite Al Pacino; in 1998 he appeared in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), directed by Terry Gilliam; and then, in 1999, he appeared in the sci-fi/horror film The Astronaut's Wife (1999). The same year he teamed up again with Burton in Sleepy Hollow (1999), brilliantly portraying Ichabod Crane.

Depp has played many characters in his career, including another fact-based one, Insp. Fred Abberline in From Hell (2001). He stole the show from screen greats such as Antonio Banderas in the finale to Robert Rodriguez's "mariachi" trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). In that same year he starred in the marvelous family blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), playing a character that only the likes of Depp could pull off: the charming, conniving and roguish Capt. Jack Sparrow. Now Depp is collaborating again with Burton in a screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Off-screen, Depp has dated several female celebrities, and has been engaged to Jennifer Grey, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. He was married to Lori Anne Allison in 1983 but they divorced her in 1985. Depp is living with French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children: Lily-Rose Melody, born in 1999 and Jack, born in 2002.

Mel Gibson

He is one of my favourite actor, Mel Gibson or Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York, USA as the sixth of eleven children to parents Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Ann Gibson, who was born in Australia and died in December of 1990. Though born in the US, Mel and his family moved to New South Wales, Australia. After high school, Mel studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, performing at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts alongside future film thespians Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush. After college, Mel had a few stints on stage and starred in a few TV shows. Eventually, he was chosen to star in Mad Max (1979) and in a movie called Tim (1979), co-starring Piper Laurie. The small budgeted movie Mad Max (1979) made him known worldwide, while Tim (1979) garnered him an award for Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute (equivalent to the Oscar). Later, he went on to star in Gallipoli (1981), which earned him a second award for Best Actor from the AFI. In 1980, he married Robyn Moore and, as of today, they are still together and have seven children. In 1984, Mel made his American debut in The Bounty (1984), which co-starred Anthony Hopkins. Then in 1987, Mel starred in what would become his signature series, Lethal Weapon (1987), in which he played "Martin Riggs". In 1990, he took on the interesting starring role in Hamlet (1990/I), which garnered him some critical praise. He also made the more endearing Forever Young (1992) and the somewhat disturbing The Man Without a Face (1993). 1995 brought his most famous role as "Sir William Wallace" in Braveheart (1995), for which he won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. From there, he made such box office hits as The Patriot (2000), Ransom (1996), and Payback (1999/I). Today, Mel remains an international superstar mogul, continuously topping the Hollywood power lists as well as the Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists. His $25 million paycheck for The Patriot (2000) is the latest milestone for actor's salaries.