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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Alice Braga

Born: April 15, 1983 (age 25) in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1998 - present

Alice Braga (born April 15, 1983) is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several films, most notably as Angelica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God. In 2007 her first U.S. blockbuster, I Am Legend, was released.

Early life:

Braga was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her exposure to the world of acting came at an early age. As both her mother, Ana Braga, and aunt, Sania Braga, are actresses, Alice often accompanied the two to film sets and it did not take long for her to develop an appreciation for all things theatrical. She started out her career by appearing in school plays and even a few commercials, but it wasn't until she was a teenager that she began seriously pursuing roles in television and movies.

Career:

Alice Braga nude in Lower City

In 1998, Braga made her debut in a Portuguese-language short called Trampolim, but quickly receded back into anonymity to finish her schooling. Braga's big break came in 2002 after she was cast as Angelica in the critically acclaimed smash City of God , for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize. She took more time off, and then attended university while making appearances in a pair of well-regarded South American films -- 2005's Lower City and 2006's Only God Knows -- and also took on a role on the popular Brazilian television program Carandiru, Outras Historias. Braga made her English-language debut in 2006 with a starring role opposite Brendan Fraser, Mos Def and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Journey to the End of the Night, which premiered at the 5th Annual Tribeca Film Festival and eventually went straight to video in North America.

Alexandra of DOMAI

In 2007, Braga was cast in the Will Smith blockbuster I Am Legend , and the drama Crossing Over (which stars Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and Ashley Judd). Additionally, she appeared in the 2008 David Mamet film Redbelt, in which she appears alongside Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Alice Braga nude in Lower City

Film:

Ana de la Reguera

Born: Anabell Gardoqui de la Reguera, April 8, 1977 in Veracruz, Mexico

Life and career:

Reguera was born in Veracruz, Mexico. She began her performance arts studies in the Instituto Veracruzano de Cultura and was the host of Pasarela on Televisa Veracruz. She left the Televisa's CEA, and then studied with Rosa María Bianchi, Patricia Reyes Spíndola and Rafael Miranau. She also studied with Raúl Quintanilla in the Centro de Formación Actoral de TV Azteca (CEFAC).

Her acting career began with her role in the Telenovela Azul (1996) followed by Pueblo chico, infierno grande (1997) for which she received the Heraldo award for best female acting, and Desencuentro which was her third telenovela under the direction of Ernesto Alonso.

Tentaciones (1998) marked her beginning with the production company Producciones Argos. She was immediately offered a role in Destino and Todo por amor, for which she received the Palmas de oro award.

Ana de la Reguera nude in Asi del precipicio

Cara o Cruz was the first telenovela co-production between Argos Comunicación and Telemundo, that was made exclusively for the Hispanic audience living in the United States. It was later rebroadcasted in Mexico, by independent channel CNI. She was also seen playing María in the telenovela Por tí for TV Azteca and the mini-series that followed up on Pedro El Escamoso, Como Pedro por su casa which was a co-production between Caracol from Colombia and Telemundo.

Reguera has been in many commercials and television shows in Mexico, such as: Mujer, casos de la vida real, Al derecho y al Dérbez, Íntimamente Shanik, Chiquitos pero picosos, La venta increíble, Llévatelo and Cómplices en familia.

Ana de la Reguera nude in Por la Libre

In theatre she has participated in El cartero directed by Raúl Quintanilla, for which she received two awards from the 'Mexican Association of Theatre Journalists.

Her introduction to film began in Por la Libre , under the direction of Juan Carlos de Llaca. Later she acted in the film Un Secreto de Esperanza and in 2003 Ladies Night, alongside Ana Claudia Talancón. In 2005 she played the starring role in Gitanas which aired on Telemundo in the United States.

She is perhaps best known world wide for her role as Sister Encarnación in Nacho Libre, a film by Jared Hess, director of Napoleon Dynamite. Throughout her career, Reguera has often been mistaken for Penolope Cruz.

Alexandra of DOMAI

In 2006, she hosted the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America along with Mexican alternative rock group Molotov.

Reguera can also be seen in recent movies including Sultanes del Sur and Paraiso Travel released in 2006, and A Happy Death due for release sometime in 2007.

She has never been married and has no children, she is currently dating Jorge Ramos, an anchor at Univision and in 2006 dated Austin Ryan Fuentes.

She is currently working with Argos Comunicación on the HBO Latin American series "Capadocia" along with Rebecca Jones and also serves as spokesperson for CoverGirl cosmetics.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Amy Yasbeck

Born: Amy Marie Yasbeck, September 12, 1962 (age 46) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

Occupation: Actress

Spouse(s): John Ritter (1999-2003) (his death)

Early life:

Yasbeck was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Dorothy, a homemaker, and John Yasbeck, a butcher and grocery store owner. She is of half Irish and half Lebanese descent. As a child, Yasbeck was featured on the package art for the Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven. Years later, in 2000, she was presented with a new Easy-Bake Oven on the show I've Got a Secret for which she was a regular panel member.

She spent her elementary, middle and high school years at two different Catholic schools: Summit Country Day School and Ursuline Academy. After losing both of her parents, her father from a heart attack and her mother from emphysema, Yasbeck moved to New York.

Career:

Amy Yasbeck has had starring roles in the sitcoms Wings, Alright Already, and Life on a Stick and in movies such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Pretty Woman , The Mask , and and also in the movie Dracula: Dead and Loving It (which shared several cast members with the 1993 Robin Hood parody). She also played the part of Madison the mermaid in the Disney TV movie Splash, Too in 1988. (The role Madison was originated by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 movie Splash.)

Amy Yasbeck nude in Robin Hood: Men in Tights

She played Olivia Reed for two years on the long-running daytime soap opera Days of our Lives. Yasbeck also appeared once on the hit DCOS That's So Raven as the mother of one of the main characters, Chelsea. The episode originally aired on September 22,2006.

In late 2007, plans surfaced of a potential That's So Raven spinoff featuring Yasbeck and her TSR daughter Chelsea Daniels (Anneliese van der Pol) and their life, with occasional appearances by Raven-Symone. The show was scrapped due to vander pol signing onto a new Broadway play, and Yasbeck wanting to take a break from acting to focus on her family.

Amy Yasbeck in Something About Sex a.k.a Denial

Personal life:

Yasbeck is the widow of actor John Ritter, with whom she had worked in several projects. She first met him at director Dennis Dugan's house during a read-through of their 1990 movie Problem Child. According to Yasbeck, Ritter forced her to eat a bagel and cream cheese because he thought she was too thin. He also thought she was too young to play his wife in the movie (Ritter was almost 15 years Yasbeck's senior).

Alena of DOMAI

Yasbeck and Ritter also starred together in Problem Child 2 (1991) and guest-starred together in an episode of The Cosby Show which aired in 1991. Ritter also guest-starred on Wings as Amy's estranged husband in the Season Seven episode "Love Overboard". The couple had a daughter, Stella Dorothy, in 1998, and married in 1999.

On September 11, 2003, Ritter died after collapsing on the set of his sitcom, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. The cause of death was an aortic dissection stemming from a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. The date of his death was their daughter's fifth birthday, the day before Yasbeck's forty-first birthday and six days before their wedding anniversary and his own birthday.

Amy Yasbeck in Something About Sex a.k.a Denial

Yasbeck gave her blessing to the continuation of the sitcom, 8 Simple Rules, where it was ultimately decided that Katey Sagal's character would assume the lead role as a widow.

Yasbeck appeared on Larry King Live on June 16, 2008, to discuss heart disease in the wake of television personality Tim Russert's death (presumably from the same condition).