California

A gregarious actor with a smile that lights up the screen, Cuba Gooding, Jr. experienced the highs and lows of show business growing up as the son of his famous singer father. As he explained to the Los Angeles Times on January 5, 1997: "We lived in a big house and had chauffeurs, we'd go backstage at the concerts and then in the fifth grade . . . bang! Rock bottom." When his parents divorced, he moved with his mother, brother and sister out of the limelight and began facing financial hardships, which included stretches of being evicted and living in a car, as well as time on the welfare rolls. While the family was staying in a cheap motel in suburban Orange County, Gooding befriended future personal assistant Shawn Suttles and production company partner Derek Broes, and the three perfected their breakdancing moves, christening themselves the Majestic Vision Breakdancers.

Whether it was a sexy role in “Summer School” (1987), a smart role on “Ally McBeal” (Fox,1997-2000) or a troubled role on “Melrose Place” (Fox 1992-97), earthy blonde beauty Courtney Thorne-Smith delighted fans for almost twenty years, providing her own wit, depth and charm to “good girl” parts, which in lesser hands, could have come across as thankless and bland.

Thorne-Smith was born on Nov. 8, 1967 in San Francisco, CA and later graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, CA. She realized her love of acting while performing in a kindergarten production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Her father, a computer market researcher, and her mother, a therapist, divorced when she was seven years old, leaving her to live with one or both of them at different stages of her childhood and teenage years. She began her career with the Ensemble Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA while still a student in high school.

While some music sensations plunge into movies with fanfare, Courtney Love was as hot as hot could be on the music scene, but decided not to take the spotlighted route of Madonna and Whitney Houston, instead easing her way into the medium with independent pictures. After a handful of small roles, the lead singer of the group Hole found herself in the spotlight when Milos Forman cast her as Althea Leasure in the biopic "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996).

While some music sensations plunge into movies with fanfare, Courtney Love was as hot as hot could be on the music scene, but decided not to take the spotlighted route of Madonna and Whitney Houston, instead easing her way into the medium with independent pictures. After a handful of small roles, the lead singer of the group Hole found herself in the spotlight when Milos Forman cast her as Althea Leasure in the biopic "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996).

CoCo Lee, née Ferren Lee, was born in Hong Kong on the 17th of January 1975. Although she was born in Hong Kong, CoCo was raised in San Francisco where she grew up with her mother, stepfather and two older sisters (her father passed away when she was young). She shared her singing talent with her two older sisters and her mother, who was a doctor. Although the mother of the Lee sisters wanted her daughters to pursue more practical careers, the youngest CoCo knew at a young age that she would become a singer.
During her free time, CoCo would practice her singing abilities by singing material from her favorite pop artists, such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, George Michael and Debbie Gibson.

A tall, soft-spoken and leathery leading man who, since the 1960s, has diversified into directing and producing after achieving iconic status, Clint Eastwood arose from the world of television westerns to become the number-one box-office star in the world, and subsequently earned critical acclaim as a director. His production company, Malpaso, has crafted moderate-budget features that range from mainstream fare to personal and ambitious endeavors. Eastwood is not entirely part of the Hollywood establishment—his business is run out of Carmel, California, on the Monterey Peninsula, where he has also served as mayor and ran a restaurant.

Since her debut in the little seen "Little Witches", (1996) prolific actress Clea DuVall has racked up an impressive number of film credits in a short time. The sandy-haired, freckled player gave a spirited comic performance as the star of the quirky independent feature "How to Make the Cruelest Month", which made the festival circuit in 1998. As Bell Bryant, a young woman desperate to fall in love and determined to quit smoking who reaches a crossroads in her life that coincides with the new year, DuVall won acclaim for her work as the intensely neurotic heroine. Generally cast in roles that downplay her average looks, DuVall, like many enduring actresses before her, has made a name based on her skill and dynamic presence rather than her pretty face.

With her sensuous lips, high forehead, and piercing eyes, Claire Forlani is a stunning beauty, and the London native, who moved with her family to Northern California just shy of her 21st birthday, has had a quick rise up the pecking order in Hollywood. Forlani made eight films in four years before being chosen for the plum female lead opposite Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins in "Meet Joe Black" (1998). Her first role of note in a Hollywood film came in 1994's "Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow" in which she played an interpreter for the visiting cops. She went on to play Brandi, the girlfriend to Jeremy London who ditches plans to travel with him in order to appear on a TV dating show in Kevin Smith's uneven "Mallrats" (1995) and had a small but memorable role as Sean Connery's angry daughter in "The Rock" (1996).

To look upon the face of Claire Danes is to discover an exquisitely expressive canvas for all the emotional colorings of life. This remarkably self-possessed young performer brought startling authenticity as well as intelligence and complexity to her starring role in the landmark high school/family drama "My So-Called Life" (ABC, 1994-95). Danes' often heartrending portrayal of a fifteen-year-old coping with the rigors of adolescence contributed to the cult series' avalanche of kudos and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nod for its rising star. The low-rated, short-lived program counted Steven Spielberg and Winona Ryder among its followers.

Internationally known as the ‘Queen of the Internet,” blonde bombshell Cindy Margolis achieved a level of fame she could never have foreseen, thanks in no small part to earning the title of most downloaded celebrity on the net. A smart business woman, Margolis parlayed her assets into numerous gigs, including talk show host, actress, spokesperson, producer, author and philanthropist.

Born on Oct. 1, 1965 in Los Angeles, CA, Margolis’ entrepreneurial spirit began in college when she launched her own greeting card line for a business class assignment. All blonde, bosomy and beautiful, Margolis served as cover model for the cards, which in no time, began attracting attention. Agents started looking for this greeting card cover girl, and in no time, the stereotypical L.A. girl began modeling for Reebok, Vidal Sassoon, Coors, Hanes, and Sunkist.

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