Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (née Aishwarya Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 1994. During her career, Rai has acted in over 40 movies in Hindi, English, Tamil and Bengali, which include a number of international productions.

Often cited by the media as the most beautiful woman in the world, Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar (1997) and had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie Jeans (1998). She came to the attention of Bollywood in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her performance in the film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. In 2002 she appeared in Bhansali's next project, Devdas (2002), for which she won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

After a low phase in her career during 2003–2005, she appeared in the blockbuster Dhoom 2 (2006), which turned out to be her biggest Bollywood commercial success. She later appeared in films like Guru (2007), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and Enthiran (2010) which were commercially and critically successful. Rai has thus established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in the Indian film industry. In 2009, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

On October 1, 2010, she appeared with Rajinikanth in the Tamil film Enthiran, directed by S. Shankar. which has become the biggest blockbuster in India ever. She appeared in Vipul Shah's Action Replay opposite Akshay Kumar which received mixed reviews from critics. On November 19, 2010, she appeared with Hrithik Roshan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish which opened to positive reviews from critics. She will appear in Abhinay Deo's next film produced by Farhan Akhtar and Vishal Bharadwaj's next directorial venture.



In 2009 Rai was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions to Indian cinema.In the same year she refused to accept the second-highest Order Of France, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as her father was suffering from serious illness, and she wanted her whole family to attend the award function. She is only the fourth Indian actor after Amitabh Bachchan, Nandita Das and Shahrukh Khan to be chosen for an Order Of France. In June 2009, she was declared the Female Star of The Decade at the tenth International Indian Film Academy Awards held in Macau.

Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley ( born 26 March 1985) is an English film actress and model. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2003 after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Two years later she again was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Atonement.

In 2008, Forbes claimed Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood, having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on the list of highest paid actresses.

Knightley is filming under the direction of David Cronenberg in the feature film A Dangerous Method, where she plays the role of Sabina Spielrein, the real-life psychoanalyst who worked with people like Sigmund Freud and primarily Carl Jung. Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel will be co-starring. She is slated to appear in The Emperor's Children with Eric Bana and Richard Gere. The film, reportedly a dark comedy, will be directed by Noah Baumbach.

Knightley will star in London Boulevard with Colin Farrell, written by William Monahan, who will also make his directing debut. She successfully auditioned for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Columbia Pictures planned remake of the stage musical My Fair Lady to be produced by Cameron Mackintosh, although no release date has yet been scheduled.

In 2008, she was attached to play Cordelia in a big screen adaptation of King Lear, which was subsequently abandoned.Knightley has confirmed that she will not be starring in the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

On November 11, 2010, it was confirmed that Knightley along with six other actresses will meet with director, Christopher Nolan to audition for one of the two female leads in the upcoming film, The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final film in Nolan's Batman trilogy. One of the roles will be as the love interest to Bruce Wayne while the other will be as a villain.

Keri Russell

Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Russell has since appeared in several films, including We Were Soldiers, The Upside of Anger, Mad About Mambo, Wonder Woman, Mission: Impossible III, Waitress, August Rush, Bedtime Stories, and Extraordinary Measures.

Russell portrayed Wonder Woman in a direct-to-video animated feature released March 3, 2009.She starred alongside Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford in the Tom Vaughan-helmed Extraordinary Measures for CBS Films. The drama, which started filming on April 6, 2009 and was released on January 22, 2010, was the first film to go into production for the new company. Russell played Aileen Crowley, a mother who tries to build a normal home life for her sick children while her husband, John (Fraser), and an unconventional scientist (Ford) race against time to find a cure. Robert Nelson Jacobs (The Water Horse) penned the screenplay, which was inspired by a Wall Street Journal article and subsequent book, The Cure, by Geeta Anand. Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher produced alongside Carla Shamberg. Ford was an executive producer.
Russell plays Emmy Kadubic on Running Wilde, a comedy television series airing on Fox's 2010 Fall schedule on Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c.

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films such as Panic Room (2002), Zathura (2005), In the Land of Women (2007), The Messengers (2007), Adventureland (2009) and The Runaways (2010). She has won various awards in three consecutive years.

Stewart most recently portrayed rock star Joan Jett in The Runaways, a biopic of the titular band from writer-director Floria Sigismondi. Stewart met with Jett over the 2008–2009 New Year to prepare for the role, and ended up prerecording songs in a studio for the film. She received nearly unanimous praise for her performance. Josh Tyler of Cinema Blend pronounced her to be "a modern day James Dean. She gives the kind of performance in The Runaways that hasn’t been seen on screen since his death. The Runaways is her Rebel Without a Cause ... she’s absolutely brilliant as Joan Jett." The Metro Times wrote, "It turns out that Stewart is actually really good at capturing Jett's icy, tough-but-cool girl swagger, adding the needed touches of vulnerability that transform it into a pretty terrific performance... Stewart is a genuine rock star here." Also, A.O. Scott of The New York Times noted "Ms. Stewart, watchful and unassuming, gives the movie its spine and soul."

Stewart will star in a film called K-11 with Jason Mewes. The film, which is being directed by Stewart's mother, takes place in a dorm of the Los Angeles County Jail, and will feature Stewart as a male character. She has also been cast in the role of Mary Lou in an upcoming film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's cult classic novel On the Road. Shooting began in August 2010.

Stewart was listed as the highest earning female actress in Hollywood in the "2010's Top Hollywood Top Earners List" compiled by Vanity Fair. Throughout 2010, Stewart earned an estimated $28.5 million for all her movie appearances.

Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell (born February 10, 1974), known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy. Since then, she has been well-known for her roles in Definitely, Maybe, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, W., Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer, The Uninvited and the Spider-Man franchise. Banks has also portrayed roles as guest star in television shows through her career, including the role of Dr. Kim Briggs, Zach Braff's love interest in the television sitcom Scrubs, and her role as Avery Jessup, Jack Donaghy's love interest in 30 Rock.

In 2009, Banks appeared in the thriller The Uninvited, a remake of the Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters. The film was about an intrusive stepmother who makes life miserable for the teen daughters of her new husband. Banks based her character, Rachel, on Rebecca De Mornay's character in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". "It was very important to me that every line reading I gave could be interpreted two ways," says Banks of her role, "So that when you go back through the movie you can see that".

Banks is a frequent co-star of actor Paul Rudd, the two having appeared in four films together to date (Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and Role Models). "There was a David O. Russell movie that I really wanted to make with Vince Vaughn that ended up falling apart", said Banks, referring to the film H-Man Cometh, in a January 2009 interview.


On December 8, 2009, it was announced that Banks would appear in at least four episodes of the Emmy-winning sitcom 30 Rock as a love interest for Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). She went on to appear in nine episodes of the fourth season. Banks is set to star alongside Leslie Mann in What Was I Thinking?, based upon the book by Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal ( born November 16, 1977) is an American stage and screen actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (née Achs) and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. She made her screen debut when she began to appear in her father's films. Gyllenhaal later achieved recognition in a supporting role in the indie cult hit Donnie Darko (2001). She made her break-through role in the 2002 sadomasochistic comedy Secretary, for which she received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination.

Gyllenhaal has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the indie film Sherrybaby (2006), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe, the romantic comedy Trust the Man (2006) and big-budget films such as World Trade Center (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008). She next starred in the 2009 musical-drama Crazy Heart, for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Gyllenhaal has also appeared in theatrical plays, including Closer (2000) and television productions including Strip Search (2004).

Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter Sarsgaard since 2002. In 2006, the two became engaged and Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter, Ramona, on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009, she married Sarsgaard in Italy. She is a politically active Democrat and, like her brother and parents, supports the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq she participated in anti-war demonstrations. Gyllenhaal drew criticism in 2005 for her opinion that America was "responsible in some way" for the 9/11 attacks. She is actively involved in human rights, civil liberty, and anti-poverty campaigns.

In February 2011, Gyllenhaal starred in another Anton Chekhov production as the character Masha in Austin Pendleton's Three Sisters at the Classic Stage Company. The play focuses on the Prozorov sisters (Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, and Juliet Rylance) "unlucky in love, unhappy in the provinces and longing to return to Moscow" as summarized by Bloomberg's Jeremy Gerard. The Off Broadway production began preview performances on January 12 with limited engagement through March 6.

Cameron Diaz

Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She gained fame in the 1990s with roles in the blockbuster films The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other notable film credits include Charlie's Angels, and voicing Princess Fiona in the Shrek series. Diaz received Golden Globe nominations for her performances in There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, and Gangs of New York.

In 2003, Diaz received another Golden Globe nomination for Martin Scorsese's epic Gangs of New York, and became the third actress (after Wedding costar Julia Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Her next films were In Her Shoes (2005), and The Holiday (2006). She was set to team up again with The Mask co-star Jim Carrey in the film Fun with Dick and Jane, but dropped out to star in In Her Shoes. Diaz reportedly earned $50 million in the period of a year ending June 2008, for her roles in What Happens in Vegas opposite Ashton Kutcher, and the Shrek sequels. In 2009, she starred in My Sister's Keeper and The Box.

In 2010, Forbes Magazine ranked Cameron Diaz as the richest Hispanic female celebrity, ranking number 60 among the top 100. Also that year, Diaz was cast as the female lead in a live action/animation hybrid film version of The Smurfs, and as well as voicing Princess Fiona in Shrek Forever After, also reunited with her Vanilla Sky co-star Tom Cruise in the action/comedy Knight and Day.