Joan Baez Biography and Full Profile.

Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York, the second of three daughters to Dr. Albert Baez, a physicist, and Joan Bridge Baez. Her mother was English-Scotish, the daughter of an Episcopalian Minister and a professor of drama who had migrated to the United States, and her father was of Mexican parentage, the son of a minister. Her father's activities as a physicist, researcher and UNESCO consultant took him to many parts of the country, and Joan's childhood was spent first in the small town of Clarence Center, New York, and then in Redlands, California. She developed both her social consciousness and her love for music at a relatively tender age. Picking up the ukulele, Baez made her performing debut at a high school talent show when she was 14, performing "Honey Love."

There she began singing both for the high school choir and for herself, and learned to accompany herself on the guitar. When her father took a job at M.I.T. a few years later,the family moved to Boston, where for a short time she studied drama at Boston University. She enrolled at the university and soon began singing at the Boston coffee houses, colleges and later concert halls along the East Coast to increasingly large crowds. Then came her 1959 Newport Folk Festival debut. Baez signed with the then relatively small folk label, Vanguard, which first released her performances at the Newport Folk Festival, and then released her first album, Joan Baez, in 1960 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Her admirers transcend musical strata and national boundaries. Her growth as a musician and as a human being have proceeded hand in hand. Enrolling herself in the Civil Rights cause and the peace movement, a spokesman for non-violent resistance to and protest against immoral authority, she has refused to pay taxes that go to escalate the war in Vietnam, and has sung at almost every historic demonstration, and fosters a school for non-violent protest in California.

Mini Biography
Joan Baez was the middle daughter of Albert Vinicio and Joan Bridge Baez. At age 10, her father took a job (and the family) to Baghdad, Iraq, for a year, after which they moved to Palo Alto, CA, home of Stanford University. In 1956, she bought her first guitar and heard Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lecture on nonviolence; the following year, she heard Ira Sandperl, a Gandhian scholar, who also influenced her strongly. She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1958, failed with a demo album, and move the next year to Massachusetts where her father had taken a teaching position at MIT. She performed at Club 47, a folk music club in Cambridge, and participated in an album "Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square". The same year, she met Odetta and Bob Gibson while she was performing at Chicago's The Gate Of Horn. Bob invited her to perform July 11 at the Newport Folk Festival, which launched her fame as a folksinger. Her first album for Vanguard, "Joan Baez" (1960), was a huge success. The following year, she met Bob Dylan and released her second very successful album, followed the year later by many southern civil-rights performances and "Joan Baez in Concert" (a Grammy nominee). She launched a tax revolt as part of her protest of the Vietnam war, protested Pete Seeger's exclusion by ABC-TV, and joined in the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley and the civil rights march in Selma AL. In 1967, she spent two brief periods in jail for anti-war protests. In 1969, she gave birth to Gabriel Earl while his father, David Harris, was serving 20 months of a three year sentence for draft resistance. In 1971, her songs were featured in the films Sacco e Vanzetti (1971) (aka Sacco And Vanzetti) and "Celebration At Big Sur". A 1974 world tour included Japan, Australia, Israel, Lebanon, Tunisia and Argentina. The 1978 film Renaldo and Clara (1978) featured her performances in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder tours. In 1980, Antioch University and Rutgers University awarded her the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for her music and her activism. Next year, PBS aired the documentary "There But For Fortune: Joan Baez in Latin America". The albums, causes and concerts continue, far too numerous to list here.

American folk singer Joan Baez is recognized for her nonviolent, antiestablishment (against a nation's political and economic structure), and anti-war positions. She has used her singing and speaking talents to criticize violations of human rights in a number of countries.
Early life
 
Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941, in Staten Island, New York. Her father, Albert V. Baez, was a physicist who came to the United States from Mexico at a very early age, and her mother was of western European descent. Joan inherited her father's dark complexion, and the occasional racial prejudice (hatred of a race) she suffered as a child probably led to her later involvement in the civil rights movement, a movement that called for equal rights for all races. Although as an adult she claimed not to share her parents' strict religious faith, it undoubtedly contributed to what some called her keen "social conscience."

Baez was exposed to an intellectual atmosphere with classical music during her childhood, but rejected piano lessons in favor of the guitar and rock and roll. Her father's research and teaching positions took the family to various American and foreign cities. When Joan was ten, she spent a year in Iraq with her family. There she was exposed to the harsh and intensely poor conditions of the Iraqi people, something that undoubtedly had an affect on her later career as a singer and activist. Baez went on to attend high school in Palo Alto, California, where she excelled in music more than in academic subjects. Shortly after her high school graduation in 1958, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Baez's interest in folk music surfaced after visiting a coffee shop where amateur folk singers performed.
From Boston coffeehouses to Newport,
Rhode Island

Baez briefly attended Boston University, where she made friends with several semi-professional folk singers from whom she learned much about the art. In addition to simple folk songs, she began to sing Anglo American ballads, blues, spirituals, and songs from various countries. As she worked to develop her technique and range of songs, Baez began to perform professionally in Boston coffeehouses and quickly became a favorite of Harvard University students. She was also noticed by other folk singers, including Harry Belafonte (1927–), who offered her a job with his singing group.

In the summer of 1959 Baez was invited to sing at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. This performance made her a star—especially to young people—and led to friendships with other important folk singers such as the Seeger family and Odetta. Although the performance brought her offers to make recordings and concert tours, she decided to resume her Boston coffee shop appearances.

After Baez's second Newport appearance in 1960, she made her first album for Vanguard Records. Simply labeled Joan Baez, it was an immediate success. She was then such a "hot item" that she could choose her own songs and prop designs for her performances. In the following years Baez sang to capacity crowds on American college campuses and concert halls and on several foreign tours. Her eight gold albums and one gold single demonstrated her popularity as a singer.
Politics a source of controversy

While many critics agreed that Baez's untrained singing voice was unusually haunting, beautiful, and very soothing, they saw her spoken words, lifestyle, and actions as conflicting and sometimes anti-American. In the changing world of the1960s, Baez became a center of controversy (open to dispute) when she used her singing and speaking talents to urge nonpayment of taxes used for war purposes and to urge men to resist the draft during the Vietnam War (1965–73; when the United States aided South Vietnam's fight against North Vietnam). She helped block induction centers (which brought in new recruits) and was twice arrested for such violations of the law.

Baez was married to writer and activist David Harris in March 1968. She was pregnant with their son, Gabriel, in April 1969, and three months later she saw her husband arrested for refusing induction into the military forces. He spent the next twenty months in a federal prison in Texas.
 
In the early 1970s Baez began to speak with greater harshness. By the end of the decade she had offended dozens of her former peace-activist allies—such as Jane Fonda (1937–) and attorney William Kunstler—with her views on postwar Vietnam. As she had done in the case of Chile and Argentina (without public outcries from former associates), Baez called for human rights to be extended to those centers in the war-torn country.
Baez's career through the 1980s and 1990s

In later years Baez's singing career faltered despite various attempts to revive it. Her 1985 effort featured a more conventional
Joan Baez. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
Joan Baez.hairstyle and attire. Her supporters believed she would regain her prominence in the entertainment industry because her voice, although deeper, had the same qualities that made her so successful earlier. Meanwhile, she was quite busy throughout the world as the head of the Humanitas International Human Rights Committee, which concentrated on distracting (in any possible nonviolent way) those whom it believed exercised unauthorized power.

Baez has continued to make music and to influence younger performers. In 1987 Baez released Recently, her first studio solo album in eight years. She was nominated for a 1988 Best Contemporary Folk Recording Grammy Award for "Asimbonanga," a song from the album. Also in 1988 Baez recorded Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring in Bilbao, Spain. The album was released the following April. In 1990 Baez toured with the Indigo Girls and the threesome were recorded for a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) video presentation, "Joan Baez In Concert." In 1993 two more Baez recordings were released: Play Me Backwards, consisting of new material; and Rare, Live & Classic, a collection of her career from 1958 to 1989, featuring twenty-two previously unreleased tracks. Baez released Gone from Danger in 1997 and Farewell Angelina in 2002.

The singer's interest in politics and human rights has continued as well. In 1993 she was invited by Refugees International to travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to help bring attention to the suffering there. In September of that same year Baez became the first major artist to perform in a professional concert on Alcatraz Island (the former Federal Penitentiary) in San Francisco, California. It was a benefit performance for her sister Mimi Farina's organization, Bread & Roses. She returned to the island for a second benefit in 1996 along with the Indigo Girls and Dar Williams. She has also supported the gay and lesbian cause. In 1995 she joined Janis Ian in a performance at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Fight the Right fundraising event in San Francisco.

In 2001 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux released Positively Fourth Street by David Hajdu. The book is an intimate portrait that explores the relationships between Joan, Mimi Farina, Richard Farina, and fellow folkster Bob Dylan (1941–) during New York City's folk scene of the early 1960s.

Read more: Joan Baez Biography - life, family, childhood, parents, school, mother, young, son, book, information, born, college, husband, house, year, sister http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Baez-Joan.html#ixzz15p3p8Ku3

Joan Baez Biography and Full Profile.

Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York, the second of three daughters to Dr. Albert Baez, a physicist, and Joan Bridge Baez. Her mother was English-Scotish, the daughter of an Episcopalian Minister and a professor of drama who had migrated to the United States, and her father was of Mexican parentage, the son of a minister. Her father's activities as a physicist, researcher and UNESCO consultant took him to many parts of the country, and Joan's childhood was spent first in the small town of Clarence Center, New York, and then in Redlands, California. She developed both her social consciousness and her love for music at a relatively tender age. Picking up the ukulele, Baez made her performing debut at a high school talent show when she was 14, performing "Honey Love."

There she began singing both for the high school choir and for herself, and learned to accompany herself on the guitar. When her father took a job at M.I.T. a few years later,the family moved to Boston, where for a short time she studied drama at Boston University. She enrolled at the university and soon began singing at the Boston coffee houses, colleges and later concert halls along the East Coast to increasingly large crowds. Then came her 1959 Newport Folk Festival debut. Baez signed with the then relatively small folk label, Vanguard, which first released her performances at the Newport Folk Festival, and then released her first album, Joan Baez, in 1960 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Her admirers transcend musical strata and national boundaries. Her growth as a musician and as a human being have proceeded hand in hand. Enrolling herself in the Civil Rights cause and the peace movement, a spokesman for non-violent resistance to and protest against immoral authority, she has refused to pay taxes that go to escalate the war in Vietnam, and has sung at almost every historic demonstration, and fosters a school for non-violent protest in California.

Mini Biography
Joan Baez was the middle daughter of Albert Vinicio and Joan Bridge Baez. At age 10, her father took a job (and the family) to Baghdad, Iraq, for a year, after which they moved to Palo Alto, CA, home of Stanford University. In 1956, she bought her first guitar and heard Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lecture on nonviolence; the following year, she heard Ira Sandperl, a Gandhian scholar, who also influenced her strongly. She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1958, failed with a demo album, and move the next year to Massachusetts where her father had taken a teaching position at MIT. She performed at Club 47, a folk music club in Cambridge, and participated in an album "Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square". The same year, she met Odetta and Bob Gibson while she was performing at Chicago's The Gate Of Horn. Bob invited her to perform July 11 at the Newport Folk Festival, which launched her fame as a folksinger. Her first album for Vanguard, "Joan Baez" (1960), was a huge success. The following year, she met Bob Dylan and released her second very successful album, followed the year later by many southern civil-rights performances and "Joan Baez in Concert" (a Grammy nominee). She launched a tax revolt as part of her protest of the Vietnam war, protested Pete Seeger's exclusion by ABC-TV, and joined in the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley and the civil rights march in Selma AL. In 1967, she spent two brief periods in jail for anti-war protests. In 1969, she gave birth to Gabriel Earl while his father, David Harris, was serving 20 months of a three year sentence for draft resistance. In 1971, her songs were featured in the films Sacco e Vanzetti (1971) (aka Sacco And Vanzetti) and "Celebration At Big Sur". A 1974 world tour included Japan, Australia, Israel, Lebanon, Tunisia and Argentina. The 1978 film Renaldo and Clara (1978) featured her performances in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder tours. In 1980, Antioch University and Rutgers University awarded her the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for her music and her activism. Next year, PBS aired the documentary "There But For Fortune: Joan Baez in Latin America". The albums, causes and concerts continue, far too numerous to list here.

American folk singer Joan Baez is recognized for her nonviolent, antiestablishment (against a nation's political and economic structure), and anti-war positions. She has used her singing and speaking talents to criticize violations of human rights in a number of countries.
Early life
 
Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941, in Staten Island, New York. Her father, Albert V. Baez, was a physicist who came to the United States from Mexico at a very early age, and her mother was of western European descent. Joan inherited her father's dark complexion, and the occasional racial prejudice (hatred of a race) she suffered as a child probably led to her later involvement in the civil rights movement, a movement that called for equal rights for all races. Although as an adult she claimed not to share her parents' strict religious faith, it undoubtedly contributed to what some called her keen "social conscience."

Baez was exposed to an intellectual atmosphere with classical music during her childhood, but rejected piano lessons in favor of the guitar and rock and roll. Her father's research and teaching positions took the family to various American and foreign cities. When Joan was ten, she spent a year in Iraq with her family. There she was exposed to the harsh and intensely poor conditions of the Iraqi people, something that undoubtedly had an affect on her later career as a singer and activist. Baez went on to attend high school in Palo Alto, California, where she excelled in music more than in academic subjects. Shortly after her high school graduation in 1958, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Baez's interest in folk music surfaced after visiting a coffee shop where amateur folk singers performed.
From Boston coffeehouses to Newport,
Rhode Island

Baez briefly attended Boston University, where she made friends with several semi-professional folk singers from whom she learned much about the art. In addition to simple folk songs, she began to sing Anglo American ballads, blues, spirituals, and songs from various countries. As she worked to develop her technique and range of songs, Baez began to perform professionally in Boston coffeehouses and quickly became a favorite of Harvard University students. She was also noticed by other folk singers, including Harry Belafonte (1927–), who offered her a job with his singing group.

In the summer of 1959 Baez was invited to sing at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. This performance made her a star—especially to young people—and led to friendships with other important folk singers such as the Seeger family and Odetta. Although the performance brought her offers to make recordings and concert tours, she decided to resume her Boston coffee shop appearances.

After Baez's second Newport appearance in 1960, she made her first album for Vanguard Records. Simply labeled Joan Baez, it was an immediate success. She was then such a "hot item" that she could choose her own songs and prop designs for her performances. In the following years Baez sang to capacity crowds on American college campuses and concert halls and on several foreign tours. Her eight gold albums and one gold single demonstrated her popularity as a singer.
Politics a source of controversy

While many critics agreed that Baez's untrained singing voice was unusually haunting, beautiful, and very soothing, they saw her spoken words, lifestyle, and actions as conflicting and sometimes anti-American. In the changing world of the1960s, Baez became a center of controversy (open to dispute) when she used her singing and speaking talents to urge nonpayment of taxes used for war purposes and to urge men to resist the draft during the Vietnam War (1965–73; when the United States aided South Vietnam's fight against North Vietnam). She helped block induction centers (which brought in new recruits) and was twice arrested for such violations of the law.

Baez was married to writer and activist David Harris in March 1968. She was pregnant with their son, Gabriel, in April 1969, and three months later she saw her husband arrested for refusing induction into the military forces. He spent the next twenty months in a federal prison in Texas.
 
In the early 1970s Baez began to speak with greater harshness. By the end of the decade she had offended dozens of her former peace-activist allies—such as Jane Fonda (1937–) and attorney William Kunstler—with her views on postwar Vietnam. As she had done in the case of Chile and Argentina (without public outcries from former associates), Baez called for human rights to be extended to those centers in the war-torn country.
Baez's career through the 1980s and 1990s

In later years Baez's singing career faltered despite various attempts to revive it. Her 1985 effort featured a more conventional
Joan Baez. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
Joan Baez.hairstyle and attire. Her supporters believed she would regain her prominence in the entertainment industry because her voice, although deeper, had the same qualities that made her so successful earlier. Meanwhile, she was quite busy throughout the world as the head of the Humanitas International Human Rights Committee, which concentrated on distracting (in any possible nonviolent way) those whom it believed exercised unauthorized power.

Baez has continued to make music and to influence younger performers. In 1987 Baez released Recently, her first studio solo album in eight years. She was nominated for a 1988 Best Contemporary Folk Recording Grammy Award for "Asimbonanga," a song from the album. Also in 1988 Baez recorded Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring in Bilbao, Spain. The album was released the following April. In 1990 Baez toured with the Indigo Girls and the threesome were recorded for a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) video presentation, "Joan Baez In Concert." In 1993 two more Baez recordings were released: Play Me Backwards, consisting of new material; and Rare, Live & Classic, a collection of her career from 1958 to 1989, featuring twenty-two previously unreleased tracks. Baez released Gone from Danger in 1997 and Farewell Angelina in 2002.

The singer's interest in politics and human rights has continued as well. In 1993 she was invited by Refugees International to travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to help bring attention to the suffering there. In September of that same year Baez became the first major artist to perform in a professional concert on Alcatraz Island (the former Federal Penitentiary) in San Francisco, California. It was a benefit performance for her sister Mimi Farina's organization, Bread & Roses. She returned to the island for a second benefit in 1996 along with the Indigo Girls and Dar Williams. She has also supported the gay and lesbian cause. In 1995 she joined Janis Ian in a performance at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Fight the Right fundraising event in San Francisco.

In 2001 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux released Positively Fourth Street by David Hajdu. The book is an intimate portrait that explores the relationships between Joan, Mimi Farina, Richard Farina, and fellow folkster Bob Dylan (1941–) during New York City's folk scene of the early 1960s.

Read more: Joan Baez Biography - life, family, childhood, parents, school, mother, young, son, book, information, born, college, husband, house, year, sister http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Baez-Joan.html#ixzz15p3p8Ku3

Brendan Fraser Biography and Full Profile.

Name: Brendan Fraser
Born: 3 December 1968 (Age: 41)
Birth Stone:  Blue Topaz
Parents:  Peter J. & Carol G Fraser
City:  Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Siblings: Three  older brothers, Regan is 5yrs. older, Sean 6 yrs, and Kevin 8 yrs.
Eyes:  Blue
Married to:   Afton Smith, September 27th, 1998
Hobbies:  Photography, collecting old/antique Polaroid cameras, skiing, rock climbing.
Favorite Movie:   BladeRunner, The Director's Cut
Where: Indianapolis, USA
Height: 6' 3"
Awards: No major awards
In cinema, some reputations are hard to shake. Many, like Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy, have found it tough to escape their teen-movie past. Some, like Tim Allen, seem forever doomed to entertain an even younger audience. So the fact that Brendan Fraser has managed to have himself taken seriously as an actor is little short of miraculous. Breaking through in Encino Man and School Ties, then moving on to Airheads, George Of The Jungle and Dudley Do-Right, he could so easily have been trapped in one or both of the aforementioned cul-de-sacs. Yet suddenly there he was, up there next to Michael Caine and Ian McKellan, a bona fide thespian. How the hell did he DO that?

He was born Brendan James Fraser on the 3rd of December, 1968, in Indianapolis, to Canadian parents. The Frasers were an old Canadian family, with strong traditions in education and sport. Indeed, his uncle George had won a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. His father, Peter, had been a journalist and now worked for the Canadian Government's office of tourism. Mother Carol was a sales counsellor, and also looked after Brendan and his three older brothers - Kevin, Sean and Regan. Peter's job took the family all over the world, meaning that, by the age of 13, Brendan had lived in Ottawa, Detroit, Cincinnati, London, Rome, Switzerland, Wassenaar in Holland, and Seattle. While in Holland, aged 7, he hung out with the "army brat" kids of military personnel, and took to calling himself a "Brochure Brat".

By 12, he was in London, and this is where he first made contact with acting. Seeing a matinee of Oliver! in the West End, he was immediately taken with the thrill of it all. When his parents then chose to settle in Seattle, young Brendan quickly joined the chorus of a school production of Oklahoma! In the 8th Grade at the Sacred Heart school in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle, he would play Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. He remembers this as a real turning point. Making a grand entrance, he tossed his cape high in the air, only for it to land on his head. The audience, naturally, burst into laughter. What was he to do? Would he give in to embarrassment and walk off, or would he brave it out and continue? Recognising that, despite the laughter, he was having a great time, he went on. And has kept going on ever since.

At 13, Brendan had been sent to the Upper Canada College in Toronto, a prestigious boarding school. Here, though his academic averages were not good, he would work in the school's little theatre, appearing in plays and revues, and acting as stage manager and ticket seller. Before his final year, though, Peter opted to leave his government office, thus losing Brendan's tuition subsidy and bringing the boy back to Seattle.

A muscular, darkly handsome actor who defies easy categorization, Brendan Fraser has an enviable versatility that has allowed him to be equally convincing in comedies, dramas, and adventure films alike. The son of a Canadian tourism executive, Fraser was born in Indianapolis on December 3, 1968. Thanks to his father's job, Fraser and his family led a fairly peripatetic existence, living in locales as varied as Ottawa, London, Rome, and Seattle. During his time in London, Fraser became interested in theater and eventually enrolled in Seattle's Cornish Institute for training.
 
After an early appearance in Dogfight (1991), Fraser got his break in 1992's Encino Man as a Stone-Age man unfrozen in modern-day California. He went on to gain audience prominence in diverse roles such as a Jewish football player in an all-WASP environment in School Ties (1992), a grunged-out musician in Airheads (1994), a Harvard student who loses his thesis in With Honors (1994), and a quirky baseball phenom in The Scout (1994). Fraser has been quoted in one magazine article as saying that he seeks out roles combining "silliness and sexiness"; his work during the second half of the '90s certainly reflected this. Particular highlights were George of the Jungle (1997), a witty satire of jungle adventure films; Gods and Monsters (1998), the acclaimed rendering of the last days of director James Whale, for which Fraser earned particular praise in his role as Whale's strapping gardener; the romantic comedy Blast From the Past (1999); and a big-budget remake of The Mummy (1999) that effectively showcased Fraser as a hero well-suited to old-school adventure. So successful were the extravagantly computer generated exploits of the revived Mummy franchise that a sequel soon went into production, resulting in the decidedly Indiana Jones-flavored The Mummy Returns (2001). Pitting Fraser against not only the fearsome Imhotep but the dreaded Scorpion King (wrestling superstar The Rock) as well, The Mummy Returns upped the ante in terms of action and special effects, providing audiences with even more summertime chills and thrills than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for 2001's ill-received Monkeybone which, despite an energetic performance from Fraser, did not fare in the theaters as well as 20th Century Fox had hoped.
Luckily for him, Fraser's career remained intact despite Monkeybone and the equally mediocre Bedazzled (2000) with Elizabeth Hurley. In 2002, Fraser starred in the critically acclaimed The Quiet American, which featured the young actor as Alden Pyle, a naïve American who travels to Saigon as part of a medical mission. Fraser would rekindle his penchant for the silly in 2003, during which he made an appearance as himself in the David Spade vehicle Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and again in Looney Tunes: Back in Action with Steve Martin and Jenna Elfman.

Best-known for his roles in family-oriented adventure films like “The Mummy” franchise and “George of the Jungle” (1997), actor Brendan Fraser has enjoyed an unpredictable career that has taken him to the heights of art film greatness, as well as down to the depths of lowest common denominator comedy. It was from those depths that he began his career with “Encino Man” (1991), before going on to earn accolades for his clean-cut charisma in award-winning offerings like “Gods and Monsters” (1998), “The Quiet American” (2002) and the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Crash” (2005).

Born on Dec. 3, 1968 in Indianapolis, IN, Fraser’s father, who worked for Canada’s Office of Tourism, moved the family from place to place – all around Europe, the United States and Canada – during his youth. It was while in London that the elementary school boy saw his first live play – a West End production of “Oliver” – and became captivated by the theater. He jumped right into the school drama department and went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts in acting from the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, WA. He landed a one-line role in the River Phoenix film “Dogfight” (1991), which was shooting in Seattle, then decided to forego his graduate school plans and head to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. The 6’3” newcomer made an immediate impression, landing a series pilot and winning raves for his co-starring turn as Martin Sheen's son in the telefilm "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" (NBC, 1991).

By some miracle, Fraser’s first starring feature role as an unfrozen caveman unearthed by skateboarding valley teens in “Encino Man” (1992) failed to put the death knell on his fledgling career. He was subsequently cast as the lead in the drama "School Ties" (1992), effectively playing a new student at a private boarding school who encounters a backlash of anti-Semitism. The film was a great showcase of Fraser’s sensitive core and launched not only his career, but those of co-stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris O’Donnell. A string of respected indie films followed, including "Twenty Bucks" (1993), “Young and Younger” (1993) and the cult comedy classic "Airheads" (1994), where Fraser starred alongside Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi as a rock band that takes a radio station hostage to get their music played.

His strapping athletic physique was tapped for the baseball comedy "The Scout" (1994), which paired him with neurotic sports scout Albert Brooks. He then returned to drama as a Harvard student who falls into an odd relationship with a conniving homeless man (Joe Pesci) in the wildly improbable “With Honors” (1994). Fraser had a stronger turn as a backwoodsman who goes mad from unrequited love in the stylish thriller "The Passion of Darkly Noon" (1996), while the period romantic comedy “Mrs. Winterburne” (1996) was an out-and-out misfire. Despite wanting to be taken seriously, Fraser struggled in his early dramas, but managed to triumph in several very different roles. He made for a sweet and very human incarnation of the cartoon character "George of the Jungle" (1997) in Disney’s family blockbuster and also shined in an award-winning portrayal of a street performer who falls for a grifter in "Still Breathing" (1998).

But Fraser’s ringing artistic accomplishment was his co-starring role in "Gods and Monsters" (1998), where he played a handsome gardener befriended by a gay, aging film director (Ian McKellen). The film earned several Oscar nominations won for Best Adapted Screenplay, while Fraser’s stellar performance created murmurs that he finally might be in the league of art film leading men. But that glimpse of craftsmanship was quickly forgotten with his next role in the stoner comedy "Blast From the Past" (1999), where he played a 35-year old raised in a bomb shelter who emerges to discover the world of the late 1990s. He went on to appear in his most commercially successful role as Rick O'Connell, a dashing, heroic Indiana Jones-like figure who discovers an Egyptian tomb unleashing "The Mummy" (1999). The adventure blockbuster marked the beginning of a profitable franchise. Before Fraser reprised his role in “The Mummy Returns” (2001), he starred in another cartoonish matinee offering as the live-action embodiment of square-jawed Royal Canadian Mountie "Dudley Do-Right" (1999), then played a dweeb granted seven wishes by a hellaciously tempting Satan (Elizabeth Hurley) in Harold Ramis' "Bedazzled" (2000).

Following the resounding financial failure of multi-media comedy "Monkeybone" (2001), Fraser returned to dramatic fare with a starring role in a well-received London stage revival of "Cat on Hot Tin Roof" opposite Ned Beatty and "Bedazzled" co-star Frances O'Connor. He went on to co-star as an undercover CIA operative opposite Michael Caine’s reporter in the excellent, but underappreciated adaptation of Graham Greene’s Vietnam saga, "The Quiet American" (2002). Though Caine and director Philip Noyce earned multiple award nominations and widespread critical praise for their efforts, Fraser was noted for his subtle standout performance, ably playing a character who is not what he appears to be and reminding audiences of a range that extended beyond gimmicky comedies. But old loves die hard. Fraser leapt headfirst into another cartoon-centric role when he took on the part of security guard DJ Drake, the human leading man opposite Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and the rest of the Warner Brothers stable of characters in "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" (2003).
 
Returning to serious fare, Fraser joined the A-list acting ensemble of the racially charged, multi-plot drama "Crash" (2005) for a brief turn as a high-powered Los Angeles District Attorney whose carjacking by a pair of black men looms as both a political and personal liability. The film received multiple Oscar awards, including Best Picture of the year. Fraser stayed in the indie world for another go-round, starring opposite Michelle Geller in “The Air I Breathe” (2007), an episodic crime drama that told four divergent stories centering around an ancient Chinese proverb about the emotional cornerstones of life: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. The following year, Fraser starred in a pair of summer adventure releases, starting with an adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (2008), which was released in 3-D, then reprising the role of adventurer Rick O’Connell in “The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008).

Also Credited As:
      Brendan James Fraser
    * Born:
      Brendan James Fraser on December 3, 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
    * Job Titles:
      Actor

Family
    * Brother: Kevin Fraser. Born c. 1960
    * Brother: Regan Fraser. Born c. 1963
    * Brother: Sean Fraser. Born c. 1962
    * Father: Peter Fraser. Canadian; born c. 1936; worked for Canada s tourism office
    * Mother: Carol Fraser. Canadian; born c. 1936
    * Son: Griffin Arthur Fraser. Born Sep. 17, 2002; mother, Afton Smith
    * Son: Hudson Fletcher Fraser. Born Aug. 16, 2004; mother, Afton Smith
    * Son: Leland Fraser. Born May 2, 2006; mother, Afton Smith

Education
    * Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Milestones
    * 1991 Made feature debut in a bit part with one line in Nancy Savoca s Dogfight
    * 1991 TV acting debut in Guilty Until Proven Innocent (NBC)
    * 1992 First lead role, Encino Man
    * 1992 Played opposite Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O Donnell in School Ties
    * 1995 Appeared in the L.A. production of John Patrick Shanley s play Four Dogs and a Bone
    * 1995 Had small role of a Vietnam veteran in the 1970s flashback segments of Now and Then
    * 1996 Made uncredited cameo appearance in Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
    * 1997 Earned critical praise for his dramatic performance in Still Breathing
    * 1997 Had title role in the live-action, George of the Jungle
    * 1998 Portrayed the gardener who is befriended by film director James Whale in Bill Condon s Gods and Monsters
    * 1999 Cast as an Indiana Jones-like archeologist in the remake of The Mummy
    * 1999 Played a 35-year old who was raised in an underground bunker in the comedy Blast From the Past
    * 1999 Starred in the live-action adaptation of the cartoon Dudley Do-Right
    * 2000 Starred in the Harold Ramis remake of Bedazzled
    * 2001 Reprised role for the sequel The Mummy Returns
    * 2002 Co-starred in the drama feature The Quiet American
    * 2002 Made two-episode guest appearance on the NBC sitcom Scrubs
    * 2003 Starred as D.J. Drake in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
    * 2004 Revised his guest starring role on NBC s Scrubs
    * 2005 Starred in Paul Haggis directorial debut Crash ; a multicharacter study of L.A. race relations
    * 2007 Co-starred with Michael Keaton in The Last Time
    * 2008 Reprised role for the second sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
    * 2008 Starred in the 3-D adventure film, Journey to the Center of the Earth ; also executive produced
    * 2009 Starred in the adaptation of the hit children s book Inkheart
    * 2010 Portrayed American biotechnology executive John F. Crowley in Extraordinary Measures, which is based on the true story of his fight to save his children
    * 2010 Starred in the family comedy Furry Vengeance
    * Interned at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle after college
    * Raised in Europe and Canada

Brendan Fraser Biography and Full Profile.

Name: Brendan Fraser
Born: 3 December 1968 (Age: 41)
Birth Stone:  Blue Topaz
Parents:  Peter J. & Carol G Fraser
City:  Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Siblings: Three  older brothers, Regan is 5yrs. older, Sean 6 yrs, and Kevin 8 yrs.
Eyes:  Blue
Married to:   Afton Smith, September 27th, 1998
Hobbies:  Photography, collecting old/antique Polaroid cameras, skiing, rock climbing.
Favorite Movie:   BladeRunner, The Director's Cut
Where: Indianapolis, USA
Height: 6' 3"
Awards: No major awards
In cinema, some reputations are hard to shake. Many, like Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy, have found it tough to escape their teen-movie past. Some, like Tim Allen, seem forever doomed to entertain an even younger audience. So the fact that Brendan Fraser has managed to have himself taken seriously as an actor is little short of miraculous. Breaking through in Encino Man and School Ties, then moving on to Airheads, George Of The Jungle and Dudley Do-Right, he could so easily have been trapped in one or both of the aforementioned cul-de-sacs. Yet suddenly there he was, up there next to Michael Caine and Ian McKellan, a bona fide thespian. How the hell did he DO that?

He was born Brendan James Fraser on the 3rd of December, 1968, in Indianapolis, to Canadian parents. The Frasers were an old Canadian family, with strong traditions in education and sport. Indeed, his uncle George had won a gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. His father, Peter, had been a journalist and now worked for the Canadian Government's office of tourism. Mother Carol was a sales counsellor, and also looked after Brendan and his three older brothers - Kevin, Sean and Regan. Peter's job took the family all over the world, meaning that, by the age of 13, Brendan had lived in Ottawa, Detroit, Cincinnati, London, Rome, Switzerland, Wassenaar in Holland, and Seattle. While in Holland, aged 7, he hung out with the "army brat" kids of military personnel, and took to calling himself a "Brochure Brat".

By 12, he was in London, and this is where he first made contact with acting. Seeing a matinee of Oliver! in the West End, he was immediately taken with the thrill of it all. When his parents then chose to settle in Seattle, young Brendan quickly joined the chorus of a school production of Oklahoma! In the 8th Grade at the Sacred Heart school in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle, he would play Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. He remembers this as a real turning point. Making a grand entrance, he tossed his cape high in the air, only for it to land on his head. The audience, naturally, burst into laughter. What was he to do? Would he give in to embarrassment and walk off, or would he brave it out and continue? Recognising that, despite the laughter, he was having a great time, he went on. And has kept going on ever since.

At 13, Brendan had been sent to the Upper Canada College in Toronto, a prestigious boarding school. Here, though his academic averages were not good, he would work in the school's little theatre, appearing in plays and revues, and acting as stage manager and ticket seller. Before his final year, though, Peter opted to leave his government office, thus losing Brendan's tuition subsidy and bringing the boy back to Seattle.

A muscular, darkly handsome actor who defies easy categorization, Brendan Fraser has an enviable versatility that has allowed him to be equally convincing in comedies, dramas, and adventure films alike. The son of a Canadian tourism executive, Fraser was born in Indianapolis on December 3, 1968. Thanks to his father's job, Fraser and his family led a fairly peripatetic existence, living in locales as varied as Ottawa, London, Rome, and Seattle. During his time in London, Fraser became interested in theater and eventually enrolled in Seattle's Cornish Institute for training.
 
After an early appearance in Dogfight (1991), Fraser got his break in 1992's Encino Man as a Stone-Age man unfrozen in modern-day California. He went on to gain audience prominence in diverse roles such as a Jewish football player in an all-WASP environment in School Ties (1992), a grunged-out musician in Airheads (1994), a Harvard student who loses his thesis in With Honors (1994), and a quirky baseball phenom in The Scout (1994). Fraser has been quoted in one magazine article as saying that he seeks out roles combining "silliness and sexiness"; his work during the second half of the '90s certainly reflected this. Particular highlights were George of the Jungle (1997), a witty satire of jungle adventure films; Gods and Monsters (1998), the acclaimed rendering of the last days of director James Whale, for which Fraser earned particular praise in his role as Whale's strapping gardener; the romantic comedy Blast From the Past (1999); and a big-budget remake of The Mummy (1999) that effectively showcased Fraser as a hero well-suited to old-school adventure. So successful were the extravagantly computer generated exploits of the revived Mummy franchise that a sequel soon went into production, resulting in the decidedly Indiana Jones-flavored The Mummy Returns (2001). Pitting Fraser against not only the fearsome Imhotep but the dreaded Scorpion King (wrestling superstar The Rock) as well, The Mummy Returns upped the ante in terms of action and special effects, providing audiences with even more summertime chills and thrills than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for 2001's ill-received Monkeybone which, despite an energetic performance from Fraser, did not fare in the theaters as well as 20th Century Fox had hoped.
Luckily for him, Fraser's career remained intact despite Monkeybone and the equally mediocre Bedazzled (2000) with Elizabeth Hurley. In 2002, Fraser starred in the critically acclaimed The Quiet American, which featured the young actor as Alden Pyle, a naïve American who travels to Saigon as part of a medical mission. Fraser would rekindle his penchant for the silly in 2003, during which he made an appearance as himself in the David Spade vehicle Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and again in Looney Tunes: Back in Action with Steve Martin and Jenna Elfman.

Best-known for his roles in family-oriented adventure films like “The Mummy” franchise and “George of the Jungle” (1997), actor Brendan Fraser has enjoyed an unpredictable career that has taken him to the heights of art film greatness, as well as down to the depths of lowest common denominator comedy. It was from those depths that he began his career with “Encino Man” (1991), before going on to earn accolades for his clean-cut charisma in award-winning offerings like “Gods and Monsters” (1998), “The Quiet American” (2002) and the Oscar-winning Best Picture “Crash” (2005).

Born on Dec. 3, 1968 in Indianapolis, IN, Fraser’s father, who worked for Canada’s Office of Tourism, moved the family from place to place – all around Europe, the United States and Canada – during his youth. It was while in London that the elementary school boy saw his first live play – a West End production of “Oliver” – and became captivated by the theater. He jumped right into the school drama department and went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts in acting from the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, WA. He landed a one-line role in the River Phoenix film “Dogfight” (1991), which was shooting in Seattle, then decided to forego his graduate school plans and head to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. The 6’3” newcomer made an immediate impression, landing a series pilot and winning raves for his co-starring turn as Martin Sheen's son in the telefilm "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" (NBC, 1991).

By some miracle, Fraser’s first starring feature role as an unfrozen caveman unearthed by skateboarding valley teens in “Encino Man” (1992) failed to put the death knell on his fledgling career. He was subsequently cast as the lead in the drama "School Ties" (1992), effectively playing a new student at a private boarding school who encounters a backlash of anti-Semitism. The film was a great showcase of Fraser’s sensitive core and launched not only his career, but those of co-stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris O’Donnell. A string of respected indie films followed, including "Twenty Bucks" (1993), “Young and Younger” (1993) and the cult comedy classic "Airheads" (1994), where Fraser starred alongside Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi as a rock band that takes a radio station hostage to get their music played.

His strapping athletic physique was tapped for the baseball comedy "The Scout" (1994), which paired him with neurotic sports scout Albert Brooks. He then returned to drama as a Harvard student who falls into an odd relationship with a conniving homeless man (Joe Pesci) in the wildly improbable “With Honors” (1994). Fraser had a stronger turn as a backwoodsman who goes mad from unrequited love in the stylish thriller "The Passion of Darkly Noon" (1996), while the period romantic comedy “Mrs. Winterburne” (1996) was an out-and-out misfire. Despite wanting to be taken seriously, Fraser struggled in his early dramas, but managed to triumph in several very different roles. He made for a sweet and very human incarnation of the cartoon character "George of the Jungle" (1997) in Disney’s family blockbuster and also shined in an award-winning portrayal of a street performer who falls for a grifter in "Still Breathing" (1998).

But Fraser’s ringing artistic accomplishment was his co-starring role in "Gods and Monsters" (1998), where he played a handsome gardener befriended by a gay, aging film director (Ian McKellen). The film earned several Oscar nominations won for Best Adapted Screenplay, while Fraser’s stellar performance created murmurs that he finally might be in the league of art film leading men. But that glimpse of craftsmanship was quickly forgotten with his next role in the stoner comedy "Blast From the Past" (1999), where he played a 35-year old raised in a bomb shelter who emerges to discover the world of the late 1990s. He went on to appear in his most commercially successful role as Rick O'Connell, a dashing, heroic Indiana Jones-like figure who discovers an Egyptian tomb unleashing "The Mummy" (1999). The adventure blockbuster marked the beginning of a profitable franchise. Before Fraser reprised his role in “The Mummy Returns” (2001), he starred in another cartoonish matinee offering as the live-action embodiment of square-jawed Royal Canadian Mountie "Dudley Do-Right" (1999), then played a dweeb granted seven wishes by a hellaciously tempting Satan (Elizabeth Hurley) in Harold Ramis' "Bedazzled" (2000).

Following the resounding financial failure of multi-media comedy "Monkeybone" (2001), Fraser returned to dramatic fare with a starring role in a well-received London stage revival of "Cat on Hot Tin Roof" opposite Ned Beatty and "Bedazzled" co-star Frances O'Connor. He went on to co-star as an undercover CIA operative opposite Michael Caine’s reporter in the excellent, but underappreciated adaptation of Graham Greene’s Vietnam saga, "The Quiet American" (2002). Though Caine and director Philip Noyce earned multiple award nominations and widespread critical praise for their efforts, Fraser was noted for his subtle standout performance, ably playing a character who is not what he appears to be and reminding audiences of a range that extended beyond gimmicky comedies. But old loves die hard. Fraser leapt headfirst into another cartoon-centric role when he took on the part of security guard DJ Drake, the human leading man opposite Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and the rest of the Warner Brothers stable of characters in "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" (2003).
 
Returning to serious fare, Fraser joined the A-list acting ensemble of the racially charged, multi-plot drama "Crash" (2005) for a brief turn as a high-powered Los Angeles District Attorney whose carjacking by a pair of black men looms as both a political and personal liability. The film received multiple Oscar awards, including Best Picture of the year. Fraser stayed in the indie world for another go-round, starring opposite Michelle Geller in “The Air I Breathe” (2007), an episodic crime drama that told four divergent stories centering around an ancient Chinese proverb about the emotional cornerstones of life: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. The following year, Fraser starred in a pair of summer adventure releases, starting with an adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (2008), which was released in 3-D, then reprising the role of adventurer Rick O’Connell in “The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008).

Also Credited As:
      Brendan James Fraser
    * Born:
      Brendan James Fraser on December 3, 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
    * Job Titles:
      Actor

Family
    * Brother: Kevin Fraser. Born c. 1960
    * Brother: Regan Fraser. Born c. 1963
    * Brother: Sean Fraser. Born c. 1962
    * Father: Peter Fraser. Canadian; born c. 1936; worked for Canada s tourism office
    * Mother: Carol Fraser. Canadian; born c. 1936
    * Son: Griffin Arthur Fraser. Born Sep. 17, 2002; mother, Afton Smith
    * Son: Hudson Fletcher Fraser. Born Aug. 16, 2004; mother, Afton Smith
    * Son: Leland Fraser. Born May 2, 2006; mother, Afton Smith

Education
    * Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Milestones
    * 1991 Made feature debut in a bit part with one line in Nancy Savoca s Dogfight
    * 1991 TV acting debut in Guilty Until Proven Innocent (NBC)
    * 1992 First lead role, Encino Man
    * 1992 Played opposite Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O Donnell in School Ties
    * 1995 Appeared in the L.A. production of John Patrick Shanley s play Four Dogs and a Bone
    * 1995 Had small role of a Vietnam veteran in the 1970s flashback segments of Now and Then
    * 1996 Made uncredited cameo appearance in Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
    * 1997 Earned critical praise for his dramatic performance in Still Breathing
    * 1997 Had title role in the live-action, George of the Jungle
    * 1998 Portrayed the gardener who is befriended by film director James Whale in Bill Condon s Gods and Monsters
    * 1999 Cast as an Indiana Jones-like archeologist in the remake of The Mummy
    * 1999 Played a 35-year old who was raised in an underground bunker in the comedy Blast From the Past
    * 1999 Starred in the live-action adaptation of the cartoon Dudley Do-Right
    * 2000 Starred in the Harold Ramis remake of Bedazzled
    * 2001 Reprised role for the sequel The Mummy Returns
    * 2002 Co-starred in the drama feature The Quiet American
    * 2002 Made two-episode guest appearance on the NBC sitcom Scrubs
    * 2003 Starred as D.J. Drake in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
    * 2004 Revised his guest starring role on NBC s Scrubs
    * 2005 Starred in Paul Haggis directorial debut Crash ; a multicharacter study of L.A. race relations
    * 2007 Co-starred with Michael Keaton in The Last Time
    * 2008 Reprised role for the second sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
    * 2008 Starred in the 3-D adventure film, Journey to the Center of the Earth ; also executive produced
    * 2009 Starred in the adaptation of the hit children s book Inkheart
    * 2010 Portrayed American biotechnology executive John F. Crowley in Extraordinary Measures, which is based on the true story of his fight to save his children
    * 2010 Starred in the family comedy Furry Vengeance
    * Interned at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle after college
    * Raised in Europe and Canada

Amber Portwood Biography and Full Profile.

Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" is one of the teenage mothers featured on the MTV reality series. Previously, Amber was on "16 & Pregnant."Amber from "Teen Mom" is a self-declared teenage party girl who dropped out of high school and grew up fast when she got pregnant with her baby, Leah. While her fiancé, Gary, works 12-hour days to support the family, Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" stays at home alone with Leah all day, and the stress of being a full-time mom is starting to add up.
 
Amber Portwood's parents aren't able to help, and they can't afford childcare, so she does it alone. Amber from "Teen Mom" doesn't have time or energy to see her friends, and when she tries to go out, Leah cries all the time. Gary doesn't understand, and they fight constantly about taking care of the baby. Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" wants to finish high school and realize her dreams of opening her own beauty salon—but juggling high school, adult responsibilities, and a baby proves to be a lot harder than she thought.
Amber Portwood – find more information about it. Articles, pictures, videos and more. Amber Portwood Facebook Sign Up Sign up for Facebook to connect with Amber Portwood. Amber Portwood.amber portwood All World News amber portwood . September 29 2010 by itartass Leave a Comment. Teen Mom Season 2 Episode 10: Farrah Abraham Kassy Underwood discuss baby’s father who died. Teen Mom Season 2 Episode 10 aired Tuesday on MTV . On Teen Mom reunion special which premiered on Tuesday, Amber Portwood got the viewers wondering when she revealed that she might be pregnant again. On the evening, viewers got . Is Teen Mom Amber Portwood Pregnant Amber Portwood

Amber Portwood Teen Mom Star lost an impressive 65 Pounds The Indiana-born MTV star Amber Portwood told the magazine about her post-baby body. The 5ft-4inch Amber Portwood lost a huge 65 Lbs and now weighs 118 Lbs. MySpace profile for Amber Portwood. Find friends, share photos, keep in touch with classmates, and meet new people on MySpace. Amber Amber Portwood MySpace

VIDEO Is Amber Portwood from Teen Mom pregnant again Having her . News Databank :: Latest News :: Amber Portwood Daily News Compilation Amber Portwood: MTV’s ‘Teen Mom’ delivers at Sevierville resort It’s not the stork this time. It’s MTV. The channel’s hit series Teen Mom, which chronicles the life of four underage mothers, is shooting an . Amber Portwood has suffered multiple pregnancy scares since giving birth to baby Leah.

The story centers on teen mother Amber Portwood of Indiana. According to one source, Portwood came to Sevierville with her boyfriend and their 2-year-old child on the invitation of her brother, who rented a place at the resort for a few . Amber Portwood Teen Mom – Amber Portwood Pictures, Biography, News Amber Portwood Teen Mom – Get Amber Portwood Teen sex Mom pictures, biography, dating, movies, tv shows, height, latest news, forum and more. Amber Portwood from Teen Mom is . Daily News Compilation Amber Portwood
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Amber Portwood Biography and Full Profile.

Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" is one of the teenage mothers featured on the MTV reality series. Previously, Amber was on "16 & Pregnant."Amber from "Teen Mom" is a self-declared teenage party girl who dropped out of high school and grew up fast when she got pregnant with her baby, Leah. While her fiancé, Gary, works 12-hour days to support the family, Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" stays at home alone with Leah all day, and the stress of being a full-time mom is starting to add up.
 
Amber Portwood's parents aren't able to help, and they can't afford childcare, so she does it alone. Amber from "Teen Mom" doesn't have time or energy to see her friends, and when she tries to go out, Leah cries all the time. Gary doesn't understand, and they fight constantly about taking care of the baby. Amber Portwood from "Teen Mom" wants to finish high school and realize her dreams of opening her own beauty salon—but juggling high school, adult responsibilities, and a baby proves to be a lot harder than she thought.
Amber Portwood – find more information about it. Articles, pictures, videos and more. Amber Portwood Facebook Sign Up Sign up for Facebook to connect with Amber Portwood. Amber Portwood.amber portwood All World News amber portwood . September 29 2010 by itartass Leave a Comment. Teen Mom Season 2 Episode 10: Farrah Abraham Kassy Underwood discuss baby’s father who died. Teen Mom Season 2 Episode 10 aired Tuesday on MTV . On Teen Mom reunion special which premiered on Tuesday, Amber Portwood got the viewers wondering when she revealed that she might be pregnant again. On the evening, viewers got . Is Teen Mom Amber Portwood Pregnant Amber Portwood

Amber Portwood Teen Mom Star lost an impressive 65 Pounds The Indiana-born MTV star Amber Portwood told the magazine about her post-baby body. The 5ft-4inch Amber Portwood lost a huge 65 Lbs and now weighs 118 Lbs. MySpace profile for Amber Portwood. Find friends, share photos, keep in touch with classmates, and meet new people on MySpace. Amber Amber Portwood MySpace

VIDEO Is Amber Portwood from Teen Mom pregnant again Having her . News Databank :: Latest News :: Amber Portwood Daily News Compilation Amber Portwood: MTV’s ‘Teen Mom’ delivers at Sevierville resort It’s not the stork this time. It’s MTV. The channel’s hit series Teen Mom, which chronicles the life of four underage mothers, is shooting an . Amber Portwood has suffered multiple pregnancy scares since giving birth to baby Leah.

The story centers on teen mother Amber Portwood of Indiana. According to one source, Portwood came to Sevierville with her boyfriend and their 2-year-old child on the invitation of her brother, who rented a place at the resort for a few . Amber Portwood Teen Mom – Amber Portwood Pictures, Biography, News Amber Portwood Teen Mom – Get Amber Portwood Teen sex Mom pictures, biography, dating, movies, tv shows, height, latest news, forum and more. Amber Portwood from Teen Mom is . Daily News Compilation Amber Portwood
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Christina Aguilera Biography and Full Profile.

Born Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York. The daughter of a military father and a musician mother, Aguilera appeared on Star Search at age 9 and was a cast member of the Mickey Mouse Club for two years before recording the hit duet "All I Wanna Do" in Japan with local pop star Keizo Nakanishi.

In 1998, the pop artist began her rapid ascent to stardom when she recorded "Reflection" for the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan. Her self-titled debut album followed shortly thereafter, with the single "Genie In A Bottle" becoming the biggest selling U.S. single of the year.
After winning a Grammy in 1999 for Best New Artist, Aguilera topped the charts again in January 2000 with "What A Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You).The savvy release of a Spanish collection of hits titled Mi Reflejo and a cover version of LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack kept the star in the limelight.

In 2002, Aguilera unveiled a controversial sexually charged image for her second studio album, Stripped. The album's first single, "Dirrty," drew similar controversy for its decidedly steamy music video.

In 2006, Aguilera appeared somewhat more subdued when she released her third studio album Back to Basics. She considered it to be a modern spin on the jazz, blues, and soul music from 1920s to the 1940s. Though one track, "Still Dirrty," indicated that she was not completely shedding her sexy image.

In late 2007, rumors started to swirl around Aguilera about a possible pregnancy. Paris Hilton leaked the news at a September party in Las Vegas, saying "congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world" to Aguilera, according to a report in People magazine. Despite this public declaration, Aguilera remained mum on the subject of whether or not she was pregnant.

Aguilera finally confirmed the rumors in early November that she and her husband of two years, music executive Jordan Bratman, were expecting their first child. The singer told Glamour's U.K. edition that her plans for New Year's Eve involve a new baby.

"That'll be about the time I enter into mommy hood so I'm hoping to have started a beautiful family with my husband!" Aguilera is quoted in a story posted on the magazine's Web site. Later that month, a very pregnant Aguilera modeled her baby bump on the cover of Marie Claire magazine.

The couple welcomed Max Liron Bratman on January 12, 2008. On the day of his birth, Aguilera posted a message on her website to her fans. Here is a part of that message, expressing their delight over their new addition: "Today is a very joyful and special day for Jordan and I as we welcome our first son into this world."
The next month Aguilera made her first public appearance since Max s arrival. To promote her new DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under (2008), she signed autographs at an electronics store in West Hollywood, California.

Teen pop diva Christina Aguilera was born December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, NY; the careers of her military father and musician mother ensured that the family traveled the globe before finally settling in Wexford, PA. By the time she was five, Christina knew all the songs from The Sound of Music and performed them at neighborhood block parties. It wasn't long before Christina Aguilera was performing the National Anthem at professional sporting events in the area. The youngster first began performing in area talent shows. At age eight, Aguilera appeared on the syndicated television series Star Search.

At ten she sang the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins. When Christina Aguilera was 10, she also went to an open audition for The Mickey Mouse Club. She didn't make the cut, but two years later Disney invited her back. She got a part and became a Mouseketeer working with now-famous co-stars like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez (of *NSYNC ) and Keri Russell from Felicity. Christina Aguilera sang, danced and performed her heart out during her two years on the show.
During her Mouseketeer days, Christina Aguilera caught the eye of manager Steve Kurtz, who requested a demo tape to send to RCA exec, Ron Fair. Amazed by her voice and beauty he offered her a record deal when she was 15. As luck would have it, around the same time he received a call from a friend who worked at Disney who was looking for someone to sing Reflection, the lead song in the upcoming animated Mulan flick. His first thought was his new singer Christina Aguilera. She got the gig and the song was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

After two years on the show, Christina traveled overseas to further hone her musical skills. She recorded the duet "All I Wanna Do" with Japanese pop star Keizo Nakanishi. Aguilera's first pop music success came in Japan thanks to a smash duet "All I Wanna Do".

And later, Christina almost caused a riot at Romania's Golden Stag Festival when she waded into the crowd of 10,000 while performing her two-song set on a bill which included Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross.

Upon returning to the States in early 1998, Christina auditioned to sing "Reflection," a track which appears on her debut album, for Disney's animated film "Mulan." The film makers needed someone "who could hit a high E above middle C" according to Christina, who then cut a one-take demo in her living room singing to a karaoke tape of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Run To You." The demo was rushed to Disney, and within hours, Christina was in a Los Angeles studio recording "Reflection." That same week, RCA Records signed her to a record contract. "Mulan" premiered in America in June 1998, and "Reflection" became a Top 15 US single.

On her self-titled debut album for RCA in 1999, Christina showcased her many talents. From the sparkling upbeat dance-pop of the "Genie In A Bottle" to the soulful gospel strains of "So Emotional" and the awe-inspiring ballad "I Turn To You," Christina's powerful voice intertwined themes of finding one's own identity with the uncertainties of growing up. The album, which Christina says was very scripted for her, leaving her with little real involvement, fitted in with the popular music of the time to reap high sales.

October 2000 saw the release of "My Kind Of Christmas," a soulful collection of sacred carols, holiday pop classics, and newly written songs for the season. Said Christina, "I wanted to bring a real R&B edge to some of these songs. Making the album really unleashed the soul in me. I'd say it's an all-around feel-good album."

Christina was established fully in the industry, having three top 50 US albums, including a massive selling #1, and she said at the time, "It's been quite a roller-coaster ride but I think I've grown and learned a lot about myself. In this business, it's often all about hype, record sales, and parties, and it can be easy to get lost in believing in all that. But I try to monitor myself on a regular basis. The greatest thing is being able to touch peoples' lives. I know that's a greater accomplishment than selling records. I simply love what I'm doing everyday".

However, this joy was not to be for long and after having her heart broken for the first time and experiencing a close to breakdown stage in her life through stress, Christina went off and decided to be normal and rebuild her life. In that time she wrote as a way of relaxing and as therapy and set about recording a new album in 2002. The product, which was postponed and postponed as it was not "perfect" was finally released in October. With a very strong promotional campaign, the lead single "Dirrty" managed to be a worldwide hit. Combining a killer hip-hop hook and R&B chorus, the track hit #1 in the UK, and the only country where it underperformed was in America, where the single did not take off at radio, only reaching #48 in the national Billboard charts. Unbroken by the lack of love America was showing "Dirrty," Christina released "Stripped," her first album in over 2 years where it debuted at #2.

Aguilera topped the pop charts with the single "Genie in a Bottle." Christina Aguilera sold over 10 million copies worldwide in just under a year and turned its namesake into a superstar. She followed this successs with performances at the Super Bowl XXXIII Halftime Show and for President Clinton, and won a Best New Artist Grammy. Just over a year after she released her debut album, Aguilera released Mi Reflejo, a collection of Spanish-language songs, as well as a holiday album.

"Mi Reflejo," Christina's first Spanish language album, was a recording project very close to her heart. Her second album, produced by Latin music master Rudy Perez (Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias) and recorded in Miami, the album included several new songs as well as five smash English language hits of Christina's, translated and re-recorded especially for the new album. Executive producer Ron Fair, producer Rudy Perez, and Christina sifted through more than 300 songs before making their final selections. Said Christina, "It's very cool for me personally, because it gives me a chance to explore my Latin side, something I've wanted to do for a long time, even before I was signed. I love the Spanish language, which opens up a whole new musical arena for me. This will make my grandparents proud."

Christina Aguilera has had a huge impact on the international music scene since 1999. A huge American story (three #1 smash hit singles, performing for the US President, taking home a Grammy for Best New Artist and a mammoth summer/autumn 2000 tour) has been reflected in her worldwide, and more specifically, her UK profile. Her debut album "Christina Aguilera" has sold thousands, peaking at #14 in the UK album charts, and produced some hugely enjoyable singles, including the two top 3 hits "Genie In A Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants," and it is of course near impossible to avoid the ludicrous media circus which follows her around.

"When you're seventeen years old, green and inexperienced, you're grateful for any guidance and direction you can get." Says Christina on her rocket sled ride to the top following the 1999 release of her eponymously-titled debut album, with its string of consecutive chart toppers, including "Genie In A Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants." It was a feat she would repeat the following year with Mi Reflejo, the smash Spanish language version of her debut, followed by her hit holiday release, My Kind Of Christmas.

Christina is an eclectic, seasoned artist and every single from "Stripped" - in fact every single song on the album - is different, reflecting this. From the jazz soul of "Walk Away" to the rock of "Fighter," to the beautiful ballad "Cruz" and the neo-soul of "Impossible," not to mention the R&B of "Get Mine, Get Yours," no two tracks sound the same. Feeling more "real" and safe inside her own skin, Christina's new image is her most personal and most real.

The sixteen new tracks that comprise Stripped, including her sensational debut single, "Dirrty," showcases an unadorned, unfettered and fearlessly outspoken artist who has liberated herself, her soul and her music on an album that is as much a declaration of independence as it is a convincing demonstration of her fierce and original talent. Simply put, this is the real deal.

Recorded over an eighteen-month stretch, with Christina firmly at the helm every step of the way, Stripped slowly but surely took shape, not only as an exercise in breathtaking stylistic diversity but as a resonant and revealing look into the mind and emotions of a young woman on the verge of personal and professional liberation.

The result is resonant and revealing original tracks that decisively shred Christina's squeaky clean persona, even as they set the stage for a career that, millions of albums and concert tickets later, is only now just getting started.

The proof is all over Stripped, from the opening notes of "Impossible," the smoky ballad by Alicia Keys, to the romantic revelations of "Can't Hold Us Down," featuring the persuasive production of Scott Storch; from the soaring affirmations of "Beautiful," to blistering licks of "Make Over," to the superheated funk of "Dirrty," featuring Redman and Rockwilder. "I loved 'Let's Get Dirty,'" Christina reveals, "So I asked Rockwilder to put something together kind of like that for me." She laughs. "What I got was a little too close, but then I figured, 'Why not?' The track is like an answer song to the original, only from a female point of view."

As much excitement and surprise as a first listening to Stripped might generate, there are other textures, urgent, honest and unguarded, that emerge with time. "Everything I sing about in 'I'm OK' is real," she asserts. "I took it right out of my life and I'm singing it right to my Dad." While another Stripped standout, "Can't Hold Me Down," may at first sound like payback to a certain superstar rapper, for Christina that's hardly the point. "I haven't got time for all that," is her retort. "I'm more interested in helping girls stand up for themselves. That's what the song is about - double standards and how we're supposed to look and act a certain way just to please men. If I have any influence as an entertainer, I want it to be optimistic and uplifting, to make this world a little better place to live."

For Christina Aguilera, it all begins by getting real. "This music is who I am," she confidently asserts. "You can take it or leave it, but I'm not going to change, not for anyone." In the end, she says, it's a tribute to the millions of worldwide fans who have made her a household name. "Fans grow up, too," she smiles. "We're all reaching out for something more real and if we really want it, we're going to find it. This album is for anyone who really wants it."

Christina Aguilera Biography and Full Profile.

Born Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York. The daughter of a military father and a musician mother, Aguilera appeared on Star Search at age 9 and was a cast member of the Mickey Mouse Club for two years before recording the hit duet "All I Wanna Do" in Japan with local pop star Keizo Nakanishi.

In 1998, the pop artist began her rapid ascent to stardom when she recorded "Reflection" for the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan. Her self-titled debut album followed shortly thereafter, with the single "Genie In A Bottle" becoming the biggest selling U.S. single of the year.
After winning a Grammy in 1999 for Best New Artist, Aguilera topped the charts again in January 2000 with "What A Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You).The savvy release of a Spanish collection of hits titled Mi Reflejo and a cover version of LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack kept the star in the limelight.

In 2002, Aguilera unveiled a controversial sexually charged image for her second studio album, Stripped. The album's first single, "Dirrty," drew similar controversy for its decidedly steamy music video.

In 2006, Aguilera appeared somewhat more subdued when she released her third studio album Back to Basics. She considered it to be a modern spin on the jazz, blues, and soul music from 1920s to the 1940s. Though one track, "Still Dirrty," indicated that she was not completely shedding her sexy image.

In late 2007, rumors started to swirl around Aguilera about a possible pregnancy. Paris Hilton leaked the news at a September party in Las Vegas, saying "congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world" to Aguilera, according to a report in People magazine. Despite this public declaration, Aguilera remained mum on the subject of whether or not she was pregnant.

Aguilera finally confirmed the rumors in early November that she and her husband of two years, music executive Jordan Bratman, were expecting their first child. The singer told Glamour's U.K. edition that her plans for New Year's Eve involve a new baby.

"That'll be about the time I enter into mommy hood so I'm hoping to have started a beautiful family with my husband!" Aguilera is quoted in a story posted on the magazine's Web site. Later that month, a very pregnant Aguilera modeled her baby bump on the cover of Marie Claire magazine.

The couple welcomed Max Liron Bratman on January 12, 2008. On the day of his birth, Aguilera posted a message on her website to her fans. Here is a part of that message, expressing their delight over their new addition: "Today is a very joyful and special day for Jordan and I as we welcome our first son into this world."
The next month Aguilera made her first public appearance since Max s arrival. To promote her new DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under (2008), she signed autographs at an electronics store in West Hollywood, California.

Teen pop diva Christina Aguilera was born December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, NY; the careers of her military father and musician mother ensured that the family traveled the globe before finally settling in Wexford, PA. By the time she was five, Christina knew all the songs from The Sound of Music and performed them at neighborhood block parties. It wasn't long before Christina Aguilera was performing the National Anthem at professional sporting events in the area. The youngster first began performing in area talent shows. At age eight, Aguilera appeared on the syndicated television series Star Search.

At ten she sang the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins. When Christina Aguilera was 10, she also went to an open audition for The Mickey Mouse Club. She didn't make the cut, but two years later Disney invited her back. She got a part and became a Mouseketeer working with now-famous co-stars like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez (of *NSYNC ) and Keri Russell from Felicity. Christina Aguilera sang, danced and performed her heart out during her two years on the show.
During her Mouseketeer days, Christina Aguilera caught the eye of manager Steve Kurtz, who requested a demo tape to send to RCA exec, Ron Fair. Amazed by her voice and beauty he offered her a record deal when she was 15. As luck would have it, around the same time he received a call from a friend who worked at Disney who was looking for someone to sing Reflection, the lead song in the upcoming animated Mulan flick. His first thought was his new singer Christina Aguilera. She got the gig and the song was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

After two years on the show, Christina traveled overseas to further hone her musical skills. She recorded the duet "All I Wanna Do" with Japanese pop star Keizo Nakanishi. Aguilera's first pop music success came in Japan thanks to a smash duet "All I Wanna Do".

And later, Christina almost caused a riot at Romania's Golden Stag Festival when she waded into the crowd of 10,000 while performing her two-song set on a bill which included Sheryl Crow and Diana Ross.

Upon returning to the States in early 1998, Christina auditioned to sing "Reflection," a track which appears on her debut album, for Disney's animated film "Mulan." The film makers needed someone "who could hit a high E above middle C" according to Christina, who then cut a one-take demo in her living room singing to a karaoke tape of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Run To You." The demo was rushed to Disney, and within hours, Christina was in a Los Angeles studio recording "Reflection." That same week, RCA Records signed her to a record contract. "Mulan" premiered in America in June 1998, and "Reflection" became a Top 15 US single.

On her self-titled debut album for RCA in 1999, Christina showcased her many talents. From the sparkling upbeat dance-pop of the "Genie In A Bottle" to the soulful gospel strains of "So Emotional" and the awe-inspiring ballad "I Turn To You," Christina's powerful voice intertwined themes of finding one's own identity with the uncertainties of growing up. The album, which Christina says was very scripted for her, leaving her with little real involvement, fitted in with the popular music of the time to reap high sales.

October 2000 saw the release of "My Kind Of Christmas," a soulful collection of sacred carols, holiday pop classics, and newly written songs for the season. Said Christina, "I wanted to bring a real R&B edge to some of these songs. Making the album really unleashed the soul in me. I'd say it's an all-around feel-good album."

Christina was established fully in the industry, having three top 50 US albums, including a massive selling #1, and she said at the time, "It's been quite a roller-coaster ride but I think I've grown and learned a lot about myself. In this business, it's often all about hype, record sales, and parties, and it can be easy to get lost in believing in all that. But I try to monitor myself on a regular basis. The greatest thing is being able to touch peoples' lives. I know that's a greater accomplishment than selling records. I simply love what I'm doing everyday".

However, this joy was not to be for long and after having her heart broken for the first time and experiencing a close to breakdown stage in her life through stress, Christina went off and decided to be normal and rebuild her life. In that time she wrote as a way of relaxing and as therapy and set about recording a new album in 2002. The product, which was postponed and postponed as it was not "perfect" was finally released in October. With a very strong promotional campaign, the lead single "Dirrty" managed to be a worldwide hit. Combining a killer hip-hop hook and R&B chorus, the track hit #1 in the UK, and the only country where it underperformed was in America, where the single did not take off at radio, only reaching #48 in the national Billboard charts. Unbroken by the lack of love America was showing "Dirrty," Christina released "Stripped," her first album in over 2 years where it debuted at #2.

Aguilera topped the pop charts with the single "Genie in a Bottle." Christina Aguilera sold over 10 million copies worldwide in just under a year and turned its namesake into a superstar. She followed this successs with performances at the Super Bowl XXXIII Halftime Show and for President Clinton, and won a Best New Artist Grammy. Just over a year after she released her debut album, Aguilera released Mi Reflejo, a collection of Spanish-language songs, as well as a holiday album.

"Mi Reflejo," Christina's first Spanish language album, was a recording project very close to her heart. Her second album, produced by Latin music master Rudy Perez (Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias) and recorded in Miami, the album included several new songs as well as five smash English language hits of Christina's, translated and re-recorded especially for the new album. Executive producer Ron Fair, producer Rudy Perez, and Christina sifted through more than 300 songs before making their final selections. Said Christina, "It's very cool for me personally, because it gives me a chance to explore my Latin side, something I've wanted to do for a long time, even before I was signed. I love the Spanish language, which opens up a whole new musical arena for me. This will make my grandparents proud."

Christina Aguilera has had a huge impact on the international music scene since 1999. A huge American story (three #1 smash hit singles, performing for the US President, taking home a Grammy for Best New Artist and a mammoth summer/autumn 2000 tour) has been reflected in her worldwide, and more specifically, her UK profile. Her debut album "Christina Aguilera" has sold thousands, peaking at #14 in the UK album charts, and produced some hugely enjoyable singles, including the two top 3 hits "Genie In A Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants," and it is of course near impossible to avoid the ludicrous media circus which follows her around.

"When you're seventeen years old, green and inexperienced, you're grateful for any guidance and direction you can get." Says Christina on her rocket sled ride to the top following the 1999 release of her eponymously-titled debut album, with its string of consecutive chart toppers, including "Genie In A Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants." It was a feat she would repeat the following year with Mi Reflejo, the smash Spanish language version of her debut, followed by her hit holiday release, My Kind Of Christmas.

Christina is an eclectic, seasoned artist and every single from "Stripped" - in fact every single song on the album - is different, reflecting this. From the jazz soul of "Walk Away" to the rock of "Fighter," to the beautiful ballad "Cruz" and the neo-soul of "Impossible," not to mention the R&B of "Get Mine, Get Yours," no two tracks sound the same. Feeling more "real" and safe inside her own skin, Christina's new image is her most personal and most real.

The sixteen new tracks that comprise Stripped, including her sensational debut single, "Dirrty," showcases an unadorned, unfettered and fearlessly outspoken artist who has liberated herself, her soul and her music on an album that is as much a declaration of independence as it is a convincing demonstration of her fierce and original talent. Simply put, this is the real deal.

Recorded over an eighteen-month stretch, with Christina firmly at the helm every step of the way, Stripped slowly but surely took shape, not only as an exercise in breathtaking stylistic diversity but as a resonant and revealing look into the mind and emotions of a young woman on the verge of personal and professional liberation.

The result is resonant and revealing original tracks that decisively shred Christina's squeaky clean persona, even as they set the stage for a career that, millions of albums and concert tickets later, is only now just getting started.

The proof is all over Stripped, from the opening notes of "Impossible," the smoky ballad by Alicia Keys, to the romantic revelations of "Can't Hold Us Down," featuring the persuasive production of Scott Storch; from the soaring affirmations of "Beautiful," to blistering licks of "Make Over," to the superheated funk of "Dirrty," featuring Redman and Rockwilder. "I loved 'Let's Get Dirty,'" Christina reveals, "So I asked Rockwilder to put something together kind of like that for me." She laughs. "What I got was a little too close, but then I figured, 'Why not?' The track is like an answer song to the original, only from a female point of view."

As much excitement and surprise as a first listening to Stripped might generate, there are other textures, urgent, honest and unguarded, that emerge with time. "Everything I sing about in 'I'm OK' is real," she asserts. "I took it right out of my life and I'm singing it right to my Dad." While another Stripped standout, "Can't Hold Me Down," may at first sound like payback to a certain superstar rapper, for Christina that's hardly the point. "I haven't got time for all that," is her retort. "I'm more interested in helping girls stand up for themselves. That's what the song is about - double standards and how we're supposed to look and act a certain way just to please men. If I have any influence as an entertainer, I want it to be optimistic and uplifting, to make this world a little better place to live."

For Christina Aguilera, it all begins by getting real. "This music is who I am," she confidently asserts. "You can take it or leave it, but I'm not going to change, not for anyone." In the end, she says, it's a tribute to the millions of worldwide fans who have made her a household name. "Fans grow up, too," she smiles. "We're all reaching out for something more real and if we really want it, we're going to find it. This album is for anyone who really wants it."