Whilst researching, I know its a tough job but someone’s gotta do it, for this article I found out she was born in 1949 which makes her 62. Sixty two! She is back on our screens this time starring as Elaine Barrish, a divorced former First Lady and Governor of Illinois, as well as the current Secretary of State. Many have compared the character of Elaine Barrish to that of Hilary Clinton, whilst Weaver herself commented here

It would be logical to think of the Clintons.

I heard that before I got the script. I forgot it by maybe the second page. The characters, as written, may have been inspired by the particular circumstances of, not only the Clintons, but also the Bushes and the Kennedys and Roosevelts.

But it’s very much about families who have been in the White House and the price they’ve paid for being in the White House and the fact that families who have been in the White House often try to get back in the White House or continue to try and get in the White House, like the Romneys. I think there was something about these political families that [creator] Greg Berlanti was very interested in exploring.

The second episode aired last night and, as per, she owns the screen. Her background? Well, she was born in 1949 in New York and was named Susan Alexandra Weaver. According to imdb

In 1963, she changed her name to “Sigourney”, after the character “Sigourney Howard” in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (her own birth name, Susan, was in honor of her mother’s best friend, explorer Susan Pretzlik).

She was picked on from an early age in schools due to her height, she was 5′ 10″ at 13. She became a semi household name with the role of Ellen Ripley in Alien in 1979. But it was Aliens and the period after that she established herself as a leading lady. Picking up Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Aliens, she went on to star in perhaps her second most famous role as Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey. The same year she stared in Working Girl alongside Melanie Griffith as well as the Ghostbusters films. Most recently seen in the big screen in Avatar, the transition to the small screen wasn’t an automatic choice.

Still, the New York native, who has been nominated for three Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony Award, admits she was not really in the market for a television project at this point in her career. But Political Animals spoke to her, and not just because it offered such a juicy lead role.

“It was about a subject that I feel is important, which is leadership in American politics and particularly female leadership in American politics,” she says.

Random Trivia Fact:In the film Alien: Resurrection (1997) Sigourney actually managed to sink the basketball into the hoop backwards on the first take, even though she wasn’t supposed to or intended to. The shot was almost ruined because Ron Perlman broke character because he was so amazed.

I say 100% Alainn, what do you think?

Related posts:

1. Álainn or Appallin’: Regina Mills
2. Álainn or Appallin’: Kate Hudson
3. Álainn or Appallin’: Wanda Sykes

Although Sykes is known for her roles in high profile TV shows like The New Adventures of Old Christine , Curb Your Enthusiasm and of course, The Wanda Sykes Show, it is as a stand up that she really is one of the very best in the business for me.  I am not alone either, she was asked to speak at the 2009 White House correspondents dinner and she killed it.  I can literally watch her for hours and have to have a break from the pain in my stomach from laughing.  Her DVDs are classic, I’ma Be Me is my personal favourite but I highly recommend you check them all out.  Here’s a little taster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_wWJ-_4uSY

Of course, Ms Sykes is not backwards about coming forwards and anyone who saw her interview on The Ellen Degeneres Show earlier this year when she talked about her double mastectomy couldn’t have failed to be moved.  Wanda is also open about her sexuality having come out in 2008, she and her wife Alex have two children and this of course leads to more hilarity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guz9sHKQ4I

Wanda is not only a writer, comedian and actor though, she is also a wonderful activist.  She has taken part in campaigns such as the That’s So Gay initiative and in 2010 she deservedly won GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award.  Sykes has also been highly involved with the Marriage Equality issue in the states for many years, hosting fundraisers and speaking out on the issue in the media.

Here, lets have one more clip, why not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcauk_sB1V4

You can catch Sykes in theatres now as she lends her voice to Ice Age 4, I have seen it and she’s hilarious, yet again!  But what do you think?  Álainn or Appallin’?

Related posts:

1. Álainn or Appallin’: Regina Mills
2. Álainn or Appallin’: Sigourney Weaver
3. Álainn or Appallin’: Sue Perkins

Who is Regina Mills?

My wife. Oops, hello real-life wife, ahem. Regina Mills is an evil, conniving piece of work. She is the evil queen of the fairytale world, but living in our modern world, or the American small town version of our world.

See, back in fairytale land she is all down with the vengeance for losing the love of her life. She blames Snow White for his death, and gets all twisted as she has to watch as Snow White marry her own one true love. Not fair!

She does what anyone with magical fingertips would do, she conjures a spell to give her a chance to have her happy ending, all the while making Snow White miserable.

The spell brings everyone to Storybrooke, small town America, totally ignorant of the fact that they are Jiminy Cricket, Red Riding Hood, Granny, Snow White and so on. Only Regina Mills, now mayor of Storybrooke knows, and she rules everyone’s everyday life.

Why A or A?

I’m not used to drooling over evil characters. I’d like to say that I’m having mixed feelings, but I’m way too shallow and she’s way too hot. She has this way of smouldering; case in point

From the magnificent heartsways.tumblr.com

Just look into those eyes…no don’t you could die! Oh but do! See? She has this “Hello I’m a malevolent being, and you shall enjoy all I make you do” thing going on.

The actress who plays Regina, Lana Parrilla is fab in the role. Doing everything but twirling her metaphorical mustache. She revels in the complexities of Regina’s character just as Regina revels in her own darkness.

Lest you think she is all bad without a chink in her armour, let me reassure you that Regina was once an innocent young thing with a heart full of love, but this lady was scorned, scorned into the evil mayor she is; or seems to be. You see Regina loves someone; her son Henry. If there is any hope of true love making her into a better, more loving woman, it is her love for Henry. Until then, she will remain the baddest babe on television.

Am I right?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

heartsways.tumblr.com

Related posts:

1. In love with a fairytale
2. An Armada of Possibilities
3. Álainn or Appallin’: Sigourney Weaver

Are you the kind of person who like a cinematic challenge? Who likes to chat about a film all the way home, reading new things into it as you listen to your pal’s opinion? If so, avoid Haywire, maintaining the distance of at least a roundhouse kick. This is junk-food in film form, grand while you watch it but you’ve forgotten all about it an hour afterwards.

It stars Gina Carano, who was our second Álainn or Appallin’ all the way back, and is a bit of a  heroine to our kick-boxing webmistress.

Gina is Mallory, literally a kick-ass agent for a shady government-hired company of mercenaries. Her boss, Ewan McGregor, realises that she’s bigger than the company and sells her out. Or he tries to. She pummels seven shades of shite out of the bloke who’s supposed to kill her (Micheal Fassbender) and goes on a Bourne buzz, trying to figure it all out.

Personally, I’m an action movie fan, so I loved it. Major pluses are the fact that it’s obvious that Gina is actually doing all of the ass-kickery herself, and the fact that the director (Steven Soderberg) is obviously loving it. The fight scenes are realistically ouchie and impressive in equal measure.

To add to that, a large section of the film is set in Dublin (that’s Connolly station, left), which is a great distraction. Don’t worry, the accents are all ok, and there isn’t a hint of a leprechaun. Quite the opposite, the continuity is spot on and when Mallory is running around Dublin, it’s all geographically accurate – there’s no  turning a corner Temple Bar just to end up in the Phoenix Park.

The film hangs completely on Carano and she does ok. She looks gorgeous and fights like a pro, it’s just a pity she didn’t get a few more acting lessons. Any scene where she says more than one sentence is a step too far for her, but there are only a couple of them as Soderberg is aware of her short-comings and has her surrounded by excellent actors, including Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton and Antonio Banderas as well as McGregor and Fassbender.

Haywire is silly, but (wo)man is it fun. Here’s hoping there’s a sequel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFV0Uvzpz0o

Related posts:

1. Expendabelles: Who are your Expendable women?
2. Review: Pariah
3. Review: Wish Me Away

She began her journey in music from the age of seven, and at the age of eight entered an all-girl entertainment group named Girl Tyme, which went on to debut at Star Search (the biggest talent show on national TV at that time) but lost the competition due to the song performed not being up to standard. Naturally, Beyonce was heartbroken, but regained confidence and kept on going.

The group were renamed Destiny’s Child in 1993 and, in 1995, Knowles’ father resigned from his job to manage the group, resulting in much hardship and struggle for the family to make ends meet. It would later prove to be worth it.

After the group had several hits and the lineup was finally the one we all knew as Destiny’s Child, trouble began again with two of the original members of the older group filing a lawsuit for breach of contract, and Knowles falling into a depression, which she never spoke of because the group had just won a Grammy and she feared nobody would take her seriously.

She made it past the depression and kept on going, in true Beyonce fashion, and they went on to release chart-topping hits such as Independent Woman Part I (featured on the Charlie’s Angels OST), Bootylicious and Survivor, to name but a few.

After Destiny’s Child went on a hiatus to let the members pursue solo careers, Beyonce went on to acting, releasing a debut solo album Dangerously In love (which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100), winning several awards at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and went on her first solo concert tour in November of 2003.

Destiny’s Child regrouped in 2004 and went on to release their final album (November of that year) and complete their final tour in 2005.

Beyonce embarked again on her solo career but delayed the recording of her new album to appear in films Dreamgirls and The Pink Panther. Upon finishing the films, she co-wrote and co-produced nearly all of her songs on the album ‘B’Day’ and it was finished in just three short weeks. It was originally released in September 2006, then re-released in April 2007 and won the award Most Earthshattering Collaboration at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.

In 2008, she married long-time boyfriend Jay-Z (left) and released her third studio album I Am… Sasha Fierce in November of that year, which the widely-known and much loved hit Single Ladies came from. Upon the song’s release, it became a massive hit and the video achieved fame due to its amazing choreography, prompting parodies the world over and winning Video of the Year for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

In December 2008, Knowles starred as Etta James in Cadillac Records and performed the iconic song At Last at the Lincoln Memorial festivities in honour of the inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.

Knowles received ten nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and ultimately set the record for most Grammy awards won on a single night by a female artist when she won six awards from her ten nominations.

In January 2010 she revealed that she was planning to take a break from music for a while to

recharge my batteries.. I’d like to take about six months and not go into the studio. I need to just live life, to be inspired by things again.

She appeared on Lady Gaga’s track Telephone in February, and began work on her new album in November of 2010 entitled 4 and has released two tracks from it this year, but won’t release the album until June 28.

On top of her music career and acting, Beyonce has a clothing line with her mother called House of Dereon, which was released in 2005, and in May 2010 teamed up with clothing store C&A to release the clothing line labelled Dereon by Beyonce for C&A.

She also founded the Survivor Foundation with her family and ex-group member and longtime friend Kelly Rowland, set up to help provide transitional housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The woman is so much more than a role model. Despite the fact that she’s obviously a massive superstar and is possibly one of the most powerful people in the music industry, she is also a woman and knows her limits, yet keeps aiming to break them and rise to the top.

She’s pushed herself from the tender age of seven and kept on trucking, despite any setbacks, failures or defeats, and has managed to climb to the top, proving just how strong she truly was and is.

She provides women everywhere with a realistic role model; she’s got a healthy, beautiful body and celebrates her physique, she doesn’t rely on overt-to-the-point-of-skanky sexual prowess to get ahead, she pushes herself and reaps the benefits and is proud of who she is. She is a real woman. Not because of curves (don’t worry ladies, regardless of your size you are in fact a ‘real’ woman) or the fact that we know she has problems, like everyone else. She is a real woman because she doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer when it comes to something she wants and believes she can get to and believes she will work for.

She is a real woman because she admits to having an alter-ego that she’s displayed for her tours and stage performances, and ensures us all that this powerhouse of fierceness isn’t truly her all the time, it’s just another side amped up.

She is a real woman because she still tires and faces the fact that being on the go all the time does wear you out, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. She is tough, strong, unapologetic, intense and gives 100% to everything she does, and she does it all with a beautiful smile and a wonderful attitude. She’s accomplished so much in such a short space of time, but never brags or rests on her laurels. She takes it all in, then gets back up and keeps on going, in true Beyonce style.

Now tell me you can’t click the ‘Alainn’ button?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY

Related posts:

1. Álainn or Appallin’: Regina Mills
2. Álainn or Appallin’: Sigourney Weaver

1992 saw Kylie leave Stock Aitken Waterman and forge herself into an independent artist.  The 90′s saw Kyle release a host of hits, including Where The Wild Roses Grow with Nick Cave, from this she gained some much needed credibility and she has never looked back.  The last decade has seen Kylie reach the very top of the pop world, selling out venues all over the globe as well as releasing pop classics such as I Can’t Get you Outta My Head and Spinning Around.  All of these hits have lead to multiple awards and a legion of faithful fans.  She even has her own bronze statue at Melbourne Docklands.

In 2005 Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer and became a beacon for many women as she delayed her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour and fought the disease.  The Australian Prime Minister even added his voice to the heightened media interest by stating his support for the performer.  On the Ellen Degeneres Show Minogue explained how her cancer was initially misdiagnosed. French Cultural Minister Christine Albanel is quoted as saying

Doctors now even go as far as saying there is a ‘Kylie effect’ that encourages young women to have regular checks

Now there is something to be really proud of!

Kylie’s new album Aphrodite is accompanied by yet another tour that will have her fans screaming in the aisles.  It comes to these shores in March and will be much anticipated by gay boys from Donegal to Cork.  The album is available now.

No related posts.

Judging by Miss Portman’s latest role in Black Swan, it’s a far cry from Luc Besson’s classic. However it is refreshing to see her not go down the route of other child stars. She seems to have a sensible head on her young shoulders.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, as the only child of a doctor father and an artist mother. Did you know Portman is her stage name? Reportedly she first adopted it because of fears she would discredit her parents in case her performance in Leon was unsatisfactory. I didn’t and it will be a fact that will wow people at our next dinner party. Whether they want to know or not. Best save it for a discussion that actually involes Natalie otherwise you’re going to look a bit weird.

Natalie and her family lived in Jerusalem until she was 3 years old. Due to her father’s medical training and career advancements, the family then moved to Washington D.C. in 1984, and then on to Connecticut in 1988. They moved again to Long Island, New York in 1990. That’s where she lived until her acceptance to Harvard in 1999 which made her stay 4 years in Boston. She now lives in Soho, NYC.

She was discovered by an agent in a pizza parlor at the age of 11. She was pushed towards a career in modeling but decided that she would rather pursue a career in acting. She was featured in many live performances, but she made her powerful film debut in the movie Leon (1994) (aka “The Professional”). Following this role Natalie won roles in such films as Heat (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996).

She was a picky young actress, turning down roles often. She’d never, she said, appear in a horror movie, or a “Jennifer Love Hewitt-type” film. Among movies she decided she wanted no part in Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, Romeo and Juliet and The Horse Whisperer.

Then came Star Wars: Phantom Menace and Natalie became well know the world over as Queen Amidala. In fairnes she already had the stoic look down, I’m sure it didn’t take much to prepare for the role. From there she went onto to star with the always amazing Susan Saradon in Anywhere But Here. Reportedly Natalie had originally turned the part down, not wanting to play a nude scene. As Sarandon had co-star approval, she refused to continue without Natalie, so scenes were re-written. And Sarandon continued to laud Natalie after filming, saying “I felt at all times that I was working with an equal. She has a natural grace that doesn’t make her seem as if she’s of her generation”.

Next up was a teenage mom role in Where the Heart Is, but thankfully not the True-Life movie of the week type thing. This movie had Stockard “the goddess” Channing, Sally Field and lesbian fav Ashley Judd.

In 2000, she headed to college, Harvard to study psychology. Whilst studying, she did no more movies apart from the Star Wars movies which she was contracted to complete. In fairness, if you are going to do some movies to keep you ‘ticking over’ then Star Wars are the way to go

Finishing Harvard in 2003 with a degree in psychology, Portman jumped straight back into acting with roles in Cold Mountain and Garden State, starring opposite Zach Braff. For me, I can never see poor Zach in anything but blue scrubs. She received an Oscar nod for her role in Closer in 2004.

V for Vendetta opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.

Bit parts in between V for Vendetta and Black Swan include Wong Kar-wai’s road movie My Blueberry Nights, The Other Boleyn Girl and the Wes Anderson short film Hotel Chevalier.

It must be infuriating for Natalie, who as an actress throws herself 100% into a role to have Black Swan constantly be mentioned for that one scene. The lesbian one. However she does acknowledge the scene was key.

“Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie,” she told the magazine. “I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. Everyone wants to see that.”

Other bits of trivia if she comes up at a table quiz near you, she’s been a vegetarian since she was 8. Something about her father doing surgery on a chicken. She can speak two languages, Hebrew and English (her native languages), fluently. One of her fav TV shows is Ellen

No related posts.

Without further ado, I’m going to run through the ladies of the last 12 months and then you get to pick who’s your favorite. There’s a wide mix of them and in order to refresh your memory I will post a pic and a link to the original post, don’t want you going and voting without being fully informed

Jan got off to a good start with Rachel Maddow, she’s a huge fav with the lesbians in the US, not so much here but she racked up some votes.

Rachel Maddow

Next up, she broke our hearts in Xena, I still can’t talk about the ending, my therapist said it is something I will come to terms with, the lovely Lucy Lawless:

Lucy Lawless

Is she, isn’t she?! Ah who cares, when she appears on screen with that gun and the badge, I dare you not to swoon.

Mariska Hargitay

Is it just me or is getting hot in here? * takes off scarf *

Next up, the delectable Anne Hathaway, she is just so lovely!

Anne Hathaway

Susan Sarandon could make a tv commercial watchable.

Susan Sarandon

Getting us through the rest of cold March was Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah

Glee ruled this year and with the constant hand-holding, hugging and cuteness people asked what was going on with Lea Michele and Dianna Agron. Personally, I think they’re good mates and are a bit touchy feely.

faberry

Hal’s favorite lady,

Jennifer Beals

For me she’s always be Susan Trinder in Fingersmith, amazing actress

Sally Hawkins

Getting it on with Julieanne Moore in Chloe, Amanda is one lucky wench!

Amanda Seyfried

I’m now going to show my age by saying I do not have the foggiest who this lady is, I think she sings in some band.

Marina Diamandis

Stockard Channing. Legend.

Stockard Channing

She can twang my guitar any time, the lovely Chely Wright. AND she came out Breaking poor Brad’s heart, but sure he can write a song about it

Chely Wright

Click_here’s favourite lady, Lucy Kennedy.

Lucy Kennedy

In July CherryBomb raved about Joan Jett.

Joan Jett

Orange waxed lyrical about Kathryn Thomas:

Kathryn Thomas

Now, this woman’s voice does things to me as the lovely Hal pointed out in her post on Imelda. Going to see her live in 2 weeks, cannot wait.

Imelda May

She divided the lesbian lobby into two camps, Team Frankie and Team Sam.

Laura Fraser

Don’t get it but you all seem to like her judging from all the votes for her.

Heather Peace

and finally Annette Benning

Annette Bening.

There you have it folks! Who was your favourite? Anyone you want to see us do next year so to speak

No related posts.

Imelda is a local hero, her story the stuff of Hollywood movies. Girl from the tough part of town goes against the grain with her musical choices but makes good anyway, finding love along the way. The only thing is, she’s so down to earth she’d probably laugh and say that’s a load of auld shite. She worked her arse off to get where she is. Becoming successful takes hard work, iron-clad determination, a bucket-load of talent and a healthy does of luck. It also helps if you’re a babe.

Imelda grew up in the Liberties in Dublin, the youngest of five. It’s thanks to her brother that she heard the rockabilly music we’ve come to love:

My brother was a mad Elvis fan, and I found a tape in his room with Elvis, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. I thought the music was fantastic. [Then] I heard Billie Holiday, and that blew my mind.

She was nine. Seriously, when I was nine it was all AHA and Duran Duran. Indeed Imelda says on her website that she was the only one in her class not into Wet, Wet, Wet. She wasn’t just miming into a hairbrush though, she was singing out loud and proud.

She got her first paid gig when she was just 14, in a Findus Fish Finger ad. Look I could insert a lesbian joke here but it’s just too easy, so I’ll leave it out if that’s ok. Her line was

Betcha never put your finger on a crunchier crumb!

Too. Many. Jokes.

From there she never looked back. She sang in different groups, including a Burlesque troupe in which she would sing off-stage as the girls danced. She was too young to be on stage and too young to go to some of her own concerts, getting barred for being underage. According to her website:

I was getting tips from the best musicians in Dublin.  One of them said, ‘Your voice is great, but it needs to roughen.” It was around this time, when driving a tearful Imelda to a gig, that her father asked her “Is your heart broken? Excellent. Now you can sing the blues”.

Man, can she sing the blues. That voice. It drips sultry, rich, smokey tones. If it was a food it would be a rich, chocolate souffle; just enough bitter, just enough sweet, a combination to make you purr.

It was from here that she also developed her look. She imbues the 50s; a real woman with curves like a racetrack and a fabulous do.

Her music is full on rock and roll, and has garnered many celebrity fans. She supported Jools Holland who fell in love with her music style and asked her to appear on Later. She was on the same night as Jeff Beck, Elbow and Roots Manuva and, according to the site, afterwards Beck made a point of telling Holland that he was only there to see Imelda. Later, he asked her to perform with him at the Grammys.

In a music world of sugary sameness, Imelda shimmied her way in and took our breath away. It’s impossible to have her in the background, the music grabs you. In face, I’ve been told that I’m not allowed listen to her in work as I can’t help but drum the desk, bop my head and squeal the occasional “Ow!”.

Her first album was a huge success. Can you believe that she was the first woman to be number one on the Irish charts in 20 years? Twenty years! See how much we need her?

Imelda May’s website

Cherry Bomb’s review of Mayhem

No related posts.

Thomas first broke into broadcasting while studying Arts in UCD (English, Sociology and Information Studies). After an open competition, she landed her first presenting job on children’s programme, Rapid. Shortly after, she progressed to the enviable position of travel-show host on No Frontiers, which was an impressive achievement for the then 21-year old. After ten years at the helm, Thomas’ tenure on No Frontiers appears to have come to an end (The show is on hiatus for one year and whether it will be resumed will be re-evaluated in 2011) but there appears to be no sign of her slowing down. She is currently in triathlon tr-43nbgs90hy… sorry, I dropped my keyboard…*ahem*… triathlon training. As for her wanderlust? Well, that shows no signs of abating. Her most recent project, The Festival Roadshow, was a three-part series which took her and co-host, Rob Ross, on the summer festival circuit around Ireland. The programme kicked off at the Galway Arts Festival, then beetled down to the Killarney Summerfest, before finally wrapping up and at its final destination, the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Over the past few months, Thomas has occasionally stepped in for Ryan Tubridy on Radio One’s The Tubridy Show (Weekday mornings, 9.00am). Her first stint in radio has been well-received; and probably due to her immensely likeable and outgoing personality which would find a snug fit in the leisurely, jovial timbre of The Tubridy Show. And her dulcet-sometimes-gravelly voice was certainly a welcome addition to my morning wake-up routine. What’s next for Thomas? It’s anyone’s guess but the Montrose rumour-mill speculates that she may be a late-summer addition to The Afternoon Show. Thomas herself however is keeping tight-lipped about her future:

When people ask me where I see myself in five years time I’m so bad at answering that type of question, because I’ve always been somebody that lives from day to day. To have worked on No Frontiers for the last ten years has really been my dream job, so I’ve already achieved that. For me it’s not about having the ‘chat show’ or ‘day time show’ it’s about working to my strengths, and for me those strengths are working with people.

So, delectable or detestable: what say you of Kathryn Thomas?

No related posts.

Ever since fans of Xena: Warrior Princess invented slash (lady-lady) fanfiction (I am open to correction there), any show loved by lesbians and our bi sisters, has had writers of varying talent scribbling stories dyking-up the main characters. We had Xena and Gabs, the whole female cast of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Scully and various ladies in The X-Files and Sam and Brooke in Popular all vying for a piece of the action. The fanfiction world as exploded since, slash along with it, and you can find any number of stories out there. At the moment, the slashers are all aout Faberry, Rachel Berry and Quin Fabray in Glee.

Now I realise that these are fictional characters, but indulge me.

A lot of the energy between the characters is very like the beginning of the Sam/Brooke (right) relationship in Popular, also made by Ryan Murphy. There is a Popular story called A Thin Line and this notion of the passions between love and hate runs through the Rachel/Quin dynamic. They hate each other, sure. But it only takes a whisper and that passion can change sides.

Also echoing the Sam/Brooke characters is the notion of popular versus unpopular; the only difference is that Sam was popular within her own group, whereas Rachel isn’t liked by anyone.

There seems to be a general rule in slash fanfic – brunette do not belong together. Most, if not all, of the couples are blonde/redhead or blonde/brunette. Here, our girls fit nicely.

To throw a nice musical theatre log on the fire, Faberry are a lovely extension of Elphie and Glinda in Wicked. There has been reference to this in some of the fic out there, but, personally I think it’s deliberate on the part of Ryan Murphy. It’s just too deliciously apt; popular girl (Glinda) who hides her brain behind her giggles, hates/loves the annoying weirdo (Elphie) she is forced to spend time with. It’s Elphie, though, who she can rely on, who is there for her. Conversely, Glinda surprises Elphie with her strength and intelligence. Sound familiar? The fact that Kristin Chenoweth, the definitive Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, was a guest star on Glee (as April Rhodes), just cements the fact that Murphy has to know what he’s doing.

There is, however, one enormous difference between Faberry and all of the other couples. In the real world, these actresses know about the slash and encourage it. Lea Michele and Dianna Argon are bessie mates and shared an apartment while filming the first few episodes. This isn’t a case of two people who work together being told to lez it up; this is two mates loving the fact that the characters they play are hitting a nerve. Plus, man they’re hot.

Check out the Facebook page dedicated to the pair

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The daughter of a police officer and a school teacher Latifah was born and raised in New Jersey. The name Latifah was given to her by her cousin when she was eight years old, it means delicate. Her older brother became a cop and being part of a policing family had an influence on her philosophy. Sadly he passed away in an accident on the motorcycle Latifah bought for him, she still wears the motorcycle key around her neck.

Wrath of My Madness was her debut single, it was released when she was 18 years old and our queen never looked back. She has gone on to cement herself as not only a rapper but an accomplished singer, her albums The Dana Owens Album and Trav’lin’ Light show her wonderful vocal range and include duets with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Christian McBride.

The American television sitcom Living Single was Latifah’s first acting role, it aired for five seasons from August 1993 until January 1998 and it would seem it lead to her catching the acting bug.  She went on to not only have her own talk show but to also act in movies such as Juice and Jungle Fever.

However, it was her role as Matron “Mama” Morton in the screen version of Chicago that got her the recognition her acting deserved.  It was for this role that she received her Oscar nod, losing out to co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Latifah has gone on to star in a host of movies with a very broad appeal.  She can currently be seen at your local cinema in Valentine’s Day.  I love her as the voice of Ellie in the Ice Age films.

This is a lady who is ready to take on just about anything and to do so with style, never compromising herself.  In 2003 she has breast reduction bringing her from an F to an DD, on the subject she says

I didn’t quite want them to be this small… I was pretty big. Now I’m like a DD. I wanted to be a triple. They took one D too many! So that was hard to deal with. … I missed my old look.

There are people who love (plastic surgery) and want to cut and chop anything. I’m like, ‘Y’all are crazy!

Why would she want to do any more, she’s gorgeous!  The title of her autobiography, which was published in 1999 says it all, it is entitled:  Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman. There have been rumblings of her putting the company of ladies first. It’s a rumour that has dogged her since 2007 when gossipers that Queen Latifah was about to come out of the closet and announce her engagement to her personal trainer Jeanette Jenkins (with Lafifah, right). She shrugged it off, denying the rumour but it persisits.

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Born Susan Tomalin back in 1946 and graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1968, earning a BA in drama. While at The Catholic University, she worked with legendary drama coach Father Gilbert Hartke, the man who pretty much singlehandedly brought drama to Catholic schools and colleges. She also met and married fellow actor Chris Sarandon.

The year after she graduated, Susan accompanied Chris to an audition for a part in Joe, he didn’t get it but Susan was picked out to play the role of a teenager who gets caught up petty crime. She kept working through the early 70s in soaps and bit parts of films, until she got the part no one wanted as Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was a huge cult hit abut not for another few years and Susan worked constantly, if unremarkably, throughout the 70 and early 80s. She and Chris divorced, amicably, in 1978.

It was in 1983 that she made the film most lesbians will remember with a fluttering heart, The Hunger, seemed like your run-of-the-mill lesbian vampire film, but with Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve in it how could it be ordinary? Susan famously asked them to change the love scene so that her character stays sober:

You wouldn’t have to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve, I don’t care what your sexual history to that point had been.

The film was a flop at the box office but, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, made a mint in the video market. Why? Well….

She started creating some Hollywood heat over the next couple of years, garnering an Oscar nomination for 1981′s Atlantic City, but it was in 1988 starring opposite Kevin Costner in Bill Durham, that she hit the big-time. It was also where she met Tim Robbins, the man with whom she would spend the next 21 years of her life. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for the role. Even though she doesn’t see herself as a great actress:

I think the only reason I remain an actor is that you can never quite get it right. So there is a challenge to it.

Sarandon has a total of five best actress Oscar nominations: Atlantic City (1981), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo’s Oil (1992), and The Client (1994), winning in 1995 for Dead Man Walking. Apparently she keeps the Oscar in the loo.

She told About.com what if felt like to win:

I felt like it was for my body of work and when I saw everybody leap to their feet that way I felt, in a way, like I’d come home somehow. Like all of these nominations over a period of time were just leading me to that moment. Really, it felt like the class trophy because it was really for Sean [Penn], it was really for Tim, it was really for everybody. Sister Helen [who she played in the film] was there. So of all the films that I could have gotten it on, this was by far the best one to do it on. It just meant so much so that when it happened then I really didn’t know if it would happen.

Along with Dead Man Walking, the film that is Susan Sarandon for a lot of people is Thelma & Louise. In it she plays Thelma, street-wise waitress with a shady past who just wants a weekend away with her BFF, Louise played by Geena Davis. It was a huge hit, so much so that they thought about making a sequel. Spoiler! How could they, when they die at the end:

They actually had an idea that we did die and came back as ghosts. For a sequel. We’d go around helping women leave their husbands.

Thankfully that never happened.

I was surprised that the film struck such a primal nerve. I knew when we were filming that it would be different, unusual and hopefully entertaining. But shocking? I guess giving women the option of violence was hard for a lot of people to accept.

Not content with entertaining us over the past 20 years, Susan always strives to educate us on social issue:

People probably think of me as Debbie Downer. I have become kind of a joke in terms of activism for some people. But it is like worrying if your slip is showing when you’re fleeing a burning building. You have to prioritize.

She is an very active supporter of progressive and liberal political causes, but refuses to define herself as a feminist:

I thought the whole point of feminism is that you’re not supposed to be defined by gender. I don’t understand the reasoning behind that, because I wouldn’t vote for Condoleezza Rice, and I hated Margaret Thatcher.

Even though she says things like:

The thing that’s bad about breasts is that you have to choose between having a mind and having breasts. It’d be nice if you could have both. Anyway, I think my breasts have been highly overrated.

You have to be careful not to be upstaged by your breasts. I’ve gotten curvier as I’ve gotten older. Directors cast the men they want to be and the women they want to have.

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Anne was born in Brooklyn but grew up in New Jersey with her two brothers and her lawyer Dad and actress mother. The whole family was Catholic with what she considered “really strong values,” she even thought about becoming a nun at one stage. That all changed when she was 15 and her brother came out to the family.

I disagree with a couple of the stances of the Catholic Church. My older brother is gay and it’s important for me to be able to love him completely and freely and it’s important for me to spread beliefs in the world that are not going to limit people in their love. I can’t support a religion that doesn’t support my brother. Why should I support an organisation that has a limited view of my beloved brother?

During this time, Anne was appearing in school plays and winning local acting awards as well as performing at Carnegie Hall in the 1998 and 1999 with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus. Not just a pretty face and an excellent actress with an open mind, but a great singer too.

In 1999, aged just 17, Anne began acting in front of a camera on the short-loved TV show Get Real. When the show ended she took the first role to change her life; Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries. The story of a normal girl who finds out that she’s the princess to a small European state, the Disney film was a huge hit. Her brand of bright-eyed girl next door was employed the following year in another Disney feel-good film, Ella Enchanted. Anne was making money but decided to go to college and studied English and Women’s Studies at Vassar College before transferring to NYU.

College is such a unique time because you’re learning a little bit how to be an adult. You’re learning how to take care of yourself without parental influence, and you’re exposed to so many great minds. I feel like I didn’t even know how to think until I got to college

After spending some time at college, Anne decided to tackle her film career head-on and hired her bother (the quare one) to be her assistant. Her first job was to get rid of the Disney image and show she could act in an adult role. She went to the extreme and took the part of Allison in Havoc, a film which required her to get her kit off and get with erotic. She denies this was to turn the tables on her image but sorry, Anne, I don’t believe ya.

I spent a lot of time in the early part of my career staying within the same realm with a lot of my film choices. I don’t regret that, considering that my first movie was … a very popular film. So, all of a sudden, I had opportunities, I had attention, I had buzz and heat and all those things that people tell you you are supposed to work for and I didn’t know if I could act.

After Havoc she landed the second of her career-changing roles, as Lureen Newsome in Brokeback Mountain,a film she says she is, “more proud of than anything I have created”. The world opened its eyes and saw a young actress who could be serious and carry a scene. The following year, came the third of those career-defining films, when in 2006, Anne got to act with her heroine, Meryl Streep.

She is just divine. As a human being, she has basically accomplished everything that I want to do … It’s not that she just gets inside the character, she’s just absolutely at the center of all of her choices, of the truth of the character.

The Devil Wears Prada was a unique experience for Anne. She not only got to work with one of the industry’s greats but earned a best mate in Emily Blunt who calls Anne “my rock”. The two may have played characters who hated each other but behind the scenes they bonded on the contractual requirement that they stay thin.

I basically stuck with fruit, vegetables and fish. I wouldn’t recommend that. Emily and I would clutch at each other and cry because we were so hungry.

This part of the process stuck with Anne and she has remained outspoken about the dangers of Hollywood’s obsession with skinny actresses.

I’ll be honest with you, it really, really, really annoys me, the image that’s put out there for women. These tiny, tiny bodies, with absolutely no fat at all on them. It’s unhealthy, plain and simple, and there are only a handful of women in the world who are naturally like that. It makes me sick.

‘I’ve had directors say to me, ‘You’re the best actress for the role, but you’ve put on weight recently.’ If people can’t understand you’ve put on five pounds, I don’t want to deal with them. In Hollywood you have to be careful if you go above a six, then you’re considered fat. I’m considered to be, I hope, an actress, and you can get away with a couple of extra pounds if you are trading on your talent instead of your sex appeal. I don’t have time to be tortured about my weight.

Since The Devil Wears Prada, Anne starred as Jane Austen in Becoming Jane and just lost out on the part of Johanna in Tim Burton’s reworking of Sweeney Todd. She wasn’t too disappointed, though, as she got the part of Kym in Rachel’s Getting Married, and landed an Oscar nomination for her performance, completing her transition to serious lead actress material. Tim Burton didn’t forget her, either, and has cast her as the White Queen in his upcoming remastering of Alice In Wonderland.

During this time she also made the pretty awful Bride Wars, which is worth watching for one scene only.

If things have been chugging along nicely on the professional font, Anne has had it tough where romance is concerned. She tries desperately, and understandably, to keep her private life private but, in 2004 she began a relationship with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri. According to Wikipedia:

During their relationship, Hathaway took part in the development of the charitable Follieri Foundation, serving as a financial donor as well as a member of the foundation’s board of directors until 2007. The organisation came under investigation in early June 2008 by the IRS, reportedly for failing to file tax papers required from non-profit organizations.

Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme involving purchasing Catholic Church properties in the U.S. for redevelopment. Court papers state that Hathaway was an unwitting beneficiary of the stolen money, which had in large part paid for Follieri’s opulent lifestyle of jet-setting, shopping sprees, and fine dining. It was reported that the FBI had confiscated Hathaway’s private journals from Follieri’s New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri’s activities; however, Hathaway was never implicated in any wrongdoing from the events.

She said afterwards that she left Follieri as soon as she realised something was up and “spent a week in shock” after the allegations came out. Since then, Anne is usually seen in public with either of her parents or brothers and not with any romantic interest.

On screen, as well as Alice in Wonderland, Anne will opposite her Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal, in Love and Other Drugs. The one I’m excited about though, is Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, which she will star in as the one and only Judy.

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It must be pretty sweet for Mariska these days; finally she’s known for her work and not her mother. Jayne Mansfield, right, was a sex-bomb actress in the 1950′s and 1960′s. She was only 34 when she died in a car crash in 1967, with her three kids in the back seat. Mariska was just three so probably has no memory of the woman who would over-shadow her early acting career.

Mariska majored in theater at UCLA but left as she left the best way to learn about acting was to act. To grab attention she entered and won the Miss Beverly Hills 1982 pageant. It worked and her first film was Ghoulies, in1985, the film which she credits with making her realise she couldn’t act. Determined to keep learning, Mariska decided to ply her trade on television and starred in the ill-fated cop show Downtown in 1986 and 1987, a few episodes of  Falcon Crest in 1988, a few in Tequila and Bonetti in 1992 and dozens of made-for-tv films in-between. This has always been one hard-working actress.

Mariska was delighted to get a bit part as a hooker in the excellent Leaving Las Vegas (1995), which garnered a Best Actor Oscar for Nicholas Cage, giving her the chance to watch the best in the business in action.

She hungered for more and continued to work on television, a year on Can’t Hurry Love in 1995, played another detective on a couple of episodes of Prince Street in 1997 and then finally got her break. The hugely popular medical drama ER was looking for someone to play working-class receptionist Cynthia. Her first, dramatic, scene was opposite Julianna Margulies and Anthony Edwards. She knocked it out of the park, so good that she got a standing ovation from the crew.

Julianne looked at me and said, “Just so you know, they don’t do this”.

Finally, after 12 years learning on the job, it seemed Mariska had learned how to act. She was so good, and her character so popular, that the bit-part was extended to a recurring role throughout the 1997 season of the show. In the meantime, her agent had handed her a script for another detective show. She didn’t want to do it which is surprising considering the failure of the cop shows in her past, and it would also mean leaving her family in LA and moving to New York.

Mariska’s family life has always been a huge part of her life. Her father and mother were divorced when Mansfield died and Mickey Hargitay was remarried, to Ellen Siano, the woman he would spend the rest of his life with. The Hungarian ex-bodybuiler immediately put his kids first and the pair raised the kids. He was a sometimes actor and they grew up in Beverly Hills so the industry was always around them, but Mickey’s poor, European childhood grounded him and, by extension, his children. In the Soviet Union, Mickey and his Hargitay family had an acrobatic act that they performed in the large opera houses throughout Hungary. This was a man who new the underside of a so-called glamorous industry. During Mariska’s life he was a successful real-estate investor and contractor. Throughout her early, patchy career, her parents had been there for her and now it seemed, just as a new venture was beginning, she would be without them. Her Dad convinced her to give it a go and come home if she hated it. The decision changed her life.

When they were down to the last four actors auditioning for the parts of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler, Christopher Meloni said:

I watched her and thought, “she’s got it”. I didn’t know if I had so I worked hard to match her. I knew she was Olivia

From the first episode of Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit in 1999, the rating were huge and the network knew that had a hit. However, Olivia was as lonely as hell in New York. For the first year she struggled but she knew SVU was something special so she stuck with it. Her hard-working ethic stood to her – she not only fell in love with the city, but met the man she would marry on the set of SVU. Add to that the small fact that she was nominated for a Screen Guild Award in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010, nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series every year since 2004 (winning in 2006), as well as two Golden Globes nominations.

When she finally won the Golden Globe in 2006, it was a hugely emotional time for Mariska. Her father had been ill with cancer for some time and died just months before she accepted the award.

Fifty years ago my mother stood on this stage accepting this award. She was fortunate enough to have my dad with her. Fifty years later, I’m fortunate enough to have my dad with me. I love you, dad.

When she had her son in 2006, she called him August Miklós Friedrich after her dad.

One of the results of her amazing portrayal as Olivia Benson in SVU, is that victims of sexual assault often approach her in the street. It’s something she wasn’t prepared for when she started, but over the years she’s educated herself with the information these people need. There is one famous story about when she was walking in New York and noticed a pregnant woman collapse. Everyone ignored the woman but Mariska went into Olivia-mode and sorted out the situation. This contact has also lead her to start a non-profit organisation to aid the victims of rape – The Joyful Heart Foundation.

Mariska has always been a friend of the gays. She became close friends with Maria Bello when she acted on ER and the pair were often photographed looking pretty close, shall we say (right). She has always laughed off such things, commenting that she won’t deny it as there’s nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, she’s happily married with a child so that’s that ladies.

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I’m in a bit of a quandary here. Where do I start? Can I write this without having a geekgasm? I’ll give it a go, wish me luck.

Lucille Frances Ryan was born back in 1968 in Auckland, New Zealand, the fifth of seven children. With five brothers, she was always going to be a bot of a tomboy and Lucy was always up to her neck in it with them; riding horses, climbing trees and enjoying the Kiwi outdoors.

She started acting in school, but discovered that she was a great singer and ended up studying opera for three years in university. As a teen, Lucy suffered with an eating disorder (bulimia) but credits her family and college life with helping her heal.

As well as opera, while in college  she studied foreign languages for a year, including German, Italian and French. After giving up on singing arias, she studied violin and jazz.

While still in college, at just 19, Lucy married Garth Lawless and they had a baby, Daisy. During this period, Lucy was appearing in bit-parts such as Nurse 1 and Undercover Policewoman but has recurring roles in New Zealand’s The Ray Bradbury Theatre and The Black Stallion. Then, in 1994, she landed the part of Lysia in Hercules and the Amazon Women. When the tester-movie was received well, a series was created and Kevin Sorbo’s silly hair was with us for years.

The actress made an impression on the producer and he brought her back to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in a recurring role as Xena, a warrior woman on her own journey, to save her soul. The character, and Lucy’s portrayal, peaked the interest of Hercules’ producer, Robert Tapert, and he started working on a spin-off involving Xena.

In 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess aired and was an instant hit, overtaking Hercules in the ratings and creating a character who would be adored by millions all over the world.

I won’t go on about Xena too much as that’s a post in itself, but it catapulted Lucy into the big time. Just as her professional life was taking over, however, her personal life was going through a rough patch as she divorced her husband. Three years later, in 1998, she married Xena producer Tapert and they have two sons.

Since then, she’s become the Midas of geek TV, appearing in Battlestar Gallactica and The L Word among others. Her husband is hoping this success will continue with Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a new show which starts on the US TV channel STARZ, on the 22nd of January.

Lucy has also continued with her singing, she appeared in  Celebrity Duets and made her onstage debut at the Roxy in Hollywood on the 13th January, 2007, selling out every concert.

There have been rumours that Daisy, Lucy’s eldest child, is gay but either way, Lawless has always been a friend of the friends of Dorothy.

She told AfterElton

So if people of any ethnicity want to think it’s nothing to do with them, I want to tell you, gay is here, and it’s always been here. Do you want your children hiding, to feel they can’t live out in the open? You want them to be afraid and disenfranchised? That’s just a tragedy. Who wants to bring up your babies like that?

Spartacus: Blood and Sand looks pretty cool in a six-pack and gore kind of way, and gas been getting some excellent previews, plus apparently our Lucy gets it on with some females. What’s not to like?

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A Stanford and Oxford educated former Rhodes Scholar, Rachel spent her early years as an activist for HIV positive prisoners, even doing her doctoral dissertation comparing British and American prison policies.

She became interested in activism surrounding HIV/AIDS and the San Francisco gay community even before she figured out that she was a lesbian at age 17. She later went on to work with ACTUP on issues involving HIV positive prisoners.

I had a very acute sense that something was happening [HIV/AIDS] to ‘my’ people even before I knew I was gay. I was very moved by what was going on. Growing up in the Bay Area as a gay kid was devastating. It defined the world in a very serious way for me, in a life-or-death sort of way. I had a lot of older friends and many of them died. There was a sense of: look, your life is happening now. This may be all you get.
from The Guardian

Rachel has lived in California, Massachussetts, New York and London. Of her time in London, she says it was, “a bar life… crazy, like Shane on The L Word.” Much like Shane, Rachel also eschewed the U-Haul lifestyle and claims her 11-year relationship with artist Susan Mikula, is the first monogamous relationship she has ever had, or wanted. The two met when Susan shook the lesbian phone tree looking for a “yard boy” to help with the gardening. Rachel is what fell out.

I drove out there, she answered the door, and it was love at first sight. I had never had a monogamous relationship. I had never wanted to. But this was different. We both had to extricate ourselves from other things. Fortunately it was mutual.
from The Guardian

Starting in local morning talk radio, moving to national liberal radio station Air America and then to her own prime-time news show on the run up to the 2008 presidential election, Rachel has been a woman on a mission to raise the level of debate and discussion in American politics, and it appears to be working. Rumours abound that Dr. Maddow is the heir apparent to host the prestigious weekly roundtable, Meet the Press, if David Gregory leaves.

While she is legendary for her interview take-downs of fake-grassroots (astroturf) organisers, who create popular followings for the causes of big industry and an ex-gay therapist who added fuel to the fire that was Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill, she is also appreciated for her segments where she explains complicated policy in ways we can all understand. In this video, she explains the connection between Richard Cohen’s ex-gay ideas and Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill, and then destroys him like whoa. (Yes, it’s almost 20 minutes long, but it is worth it.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It’s easy to see why she took it personally. Although she says they are now supportive, her parents are conservative Catholics and didn’t take it well when they found out she was gay. Unfortunately someone sent them a clipping from the student newspaper reporting how then freshman Rachel had posted a coming out letter in her dorm. She had been planning to go home that weekend and tell them herself.

Those of us whose religious parents reacted badly to our coming out absolutely dread the spectre of someone telling them we can change. It’s not worth having that argument again, is it?

Let it not be said she only uses her powers against conservatives. In her Air America days, Rachel produced some podcasts. Here, she summarily trounces the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) for being “cowed and lame” and um, stupid.

Rachel Maddow has also never shied away from using the word butch to describe herself. Of her relationship with Susan, she’s said, “Well, you’ve seen Susan and me, very different women! A butch-femme thing going on, which I love!” and on her appearance, “It’s not like I’m trying to be girly and failing.”

She says she can’t cook, so when they’re at home, Susan cooks and Rachel prepares pre-prohibition era cocktails.

This wan one is delicious.

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I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python, or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners.

She decided she wanted to be a comedienne by the time she was 12, even doing a study on comedy for school. She was a bit of a swot too – an honor student, in the choir, drama club, and the tennis team as well as co-editor of the school newspaper. How many hours were in the day?

After college, Tina moved to Chicagoand joined the comedy troupe,  The Second City, and was as happy as a pig in poo.

I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I’d been put on this earth to do, and I would have done anything to make it onto that stage.  I would have been perfectly happy to stay at Second City forever.

In 1997, she landed a job as a writer for the American comedy institution Saturday Night Live and was on her way. She eventually joined the cast and started doing sketches while still writing for the show. She was on the staff of writers when they won  a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL’s 25th anniversary special as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. Nice.

In 2006, having been in SNL for 9 years, Tina left to develop 30 Rock, a sit-com about the head writer of a variety show and her relationships with the show’s star and executive producer. The first season got lukewarm review and a mild reception but the second season was a huge hit. In2007, the show won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and Tina was nominated for Best Actress. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. This year, she again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Although Tina had offically left SNL, she still popped in and out doing cameo sketches. In 2008, she went internet-viral with her portrayal of Sarah Palin, vice-prez nominee for the Republicans. Her pitch-perfect impersonation is a killer – right on the mark and side-splittingly funny. It turned Tina into an international star and enabled her to make a go of her movie career as well as expand the appeal of 30 Rock.

After making her debut as writer and co-star of  Mean Girls, in 2004. In 2008, She starred with her SNL cohort, my Poehler,  in the oh-my-god-that’s-so-lesbian film, Baby Mama.

Speaking of lesbians, Tina has been voted in the top tens of many mags and websites’ Most Beautiful People lists, but it was winning AfterEllen‘s 2008 list that really made her day. She told Empire magazine

I take it all with a grain of salt. I think I’m a bit of a token on the People list, like when they put the odd scientist on there. But the AfterEllen one is flattering. I think those girls take more of a 3-D picture before they decide they like somebody.

Yes we do Tina, yes we do.

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It was from the public vote that Cole joined Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding to make up the group Girls Aloud.  The band hit number one in the UK with their first attempt, the surpirisinhly good single Sound of the Underground, and it was a sign of things to come – of their first 20 singles all but one made it to the top 10.

Cherly Tweedy became Cheryl Cole when she married professional soccer player Ashley Cole in 2006.

In 2009 the girls decided to take a year out to pursue solo projects and recently Cheryl has released her first album, 3 Words, which went platinum within a couple of weeks.  The single Fight for This Love is the fastest-selling single of 2009 in the UK.  It seems there really is nothing stopping this woman.

However, Cole became a household name, exposed to a much wider audience when she became a judge on the X Factor (the UK’s version of American Idol).  When Sharon Osbourne left after season four, Cole stepped into her shoes and has done a wonderful job.  She even mentored the winning act that year, Alexandra Burke.  This season Cole has been given the boys category, and my favourite contestant, Joe Mc Elderry.

Cheryl has more than held her own with the other judges, even going toe to toe with the ever-vocal Simon Cowell and held her own.  Her exploits on the X Factor have lead the media to christian her “the nation’s new sweetheart” and she looks ready to keep her career moving in the right direction with a contribution to a Girls Aloud biography as well as a cover spread on British Vogue.

So what do you think of this geordie lass?

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Nobody fits into the frame that typical Hollywood young actresses do, but they try to. They try to be this thing. Try to memorize answers and make everybody happy. That’s so horrifying and scary to me. So when you’re not that, you get criticized for it. You get criticized for being honest and criticized for being nervous.

Stewart’s acting career began at the age of eight when she had a bit-part in The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas. Not exactly the most illustrious of beginnings, but she didn’t stay at that level for long. In 2001, at the age of 11, she played young tomboy, Sam, in The Safety of Objects, directed by lesbian director, Rose Troche. Next, she worked with another lesbian (are we allowed say that yet), Jodie Foster. In The Panic Room, she played Jodie’s daughter (right) but said that she only got the part because she looked like a young Foster. Her modesty is touching as she shared the screen with Jodie in all of her scenes never looking out of her depth – and she was only 12.

After getting some excellent reviews for The Panic Room, she appeared next with Denis Quaid and Sharon Stone in Cold Creek Manor. However, it was a made-for-tv film called Speak, a film she made when she was only 13, that really put her on the map. In it, Kristen plays a rape victim whose trauma manifests itself as silence; she refuses to speak at all only keeping a commentary in her head. She was enthralling, managing to get across the pain her character was in while keeping the audience laughing with her acerbic wit in the voice-over. Did I mention she was just 13? This level of complexity is something older actors dream of, and, as she gets older, Kristen is only going to get better.

I don’t want to make movies for kids, and I don’t want to make movies for adults either.

Over the next few years, she kept low-key appearing in bit-parts and getting a reputation for showing up and stealing the film with her performances. At the age of 17, she was ready for the next level. Enter Bella Swan.

For those of you who have been visiting Mars recently (welcome back!), Bella Swan is the main character in a series of books called The Twilight Saga. She is a young woman who falls madly in love with a moody bloke who turns out to be a vampire (left). Hate it when that happens.

Twilight has pushed a rather embarrassed Kristen into the limelight. As a California girl, you’d think she’s love it, but this is a shy, serious young woman who doesn’t want to be famous, she wants to be a good actor. Weird these days eh?

I’m not so interested in being a Hollywood star. It’s a job, you know. When you wake up at six in the morning every day for a week, it feels like hard work. A lot of actors think that what we do is so important, like we’re saving people’s lives or something.

She’s contracted to the Twilight series for a few years and could be playing Bella well into her 30s but there is more that Bella Swan to this lady.

She will soon be playing Joan Jett (right)  in the highly-anticipated Runaways, a bio-pic which stars Dakota Fanning as well as K-Stew, showcasing some great future talent. She will also be starring in her mother’s directorial debut, K-11. In it, she will be playing a bloke, interestingly.

This weird thing happens when you’re in a movie that has some level of success. People start offering you all kinds of things, and they just expect you to do them because they’ll be good for your career. It’s not about the project’s integrity or anything like that. It’s about raising your profile and all that crap.

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