Michelle Rodriguez Wallpapers and Photos

Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born July 12, 1978), better known as Michelle Rodriguez, is a US American actress, known for her role in the television series Lost and action films Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil and S.W.A.T..

Rodriguez was born in Bexar County, Texas, the daughter of Carmen Milady (née Pared), a native of the Dominican Republic, and Rafael Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican who served in the US military. She has a total of ten half-siblings or siblings.

She was raised by her devoutly religious maternal grandmother and was brought up in her mother’s Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. Rodriguez moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother when she was eight and lived in Puerto Rico when she was 11, later settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. She dropped out of high school at age 17 and later earned her GED.

Having run across an ad for an open casting call and attending her first audition, Rodriguez beat 350 other applicants to win her first role in the low-budget 2000 independent film, Girlfight. Rodriguez’s performance as Diana Guzman, a troubled teen who decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, was recognized by both critics and audiences, but despite major industry buzz of a possible Academy Award nomination, she did not receive the Oscar nod.

Rodriguez did however accumulate several other significant awards and nominations for the role in independent circles, including major acting accolades from the National Board of Review, Deauville Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, Las Vegas Film Critics Sierra Awards, and many others. The film itself took home top prizes at both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals.

Subsequently, she has had notable roles in other successful movies, including S.W.A.T., The Fast and the Furious and Resident Evil. In 2002, she was ranked #77 in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women In The World”, and #34 in Maxim’s “100 Sexiest Women”. That same year, Rodriguez portrayed Eden in the surfer girlpower flick Blue Crush.

In 2004, Rodriguez lent her voice to the video game Halo 2, playing a Marine. She also provided the voice of Liz Ricarro in the Cartoon Network series IGPX. From 2005 to 2006, she played tough cop Ana Lucia Cortez on the television series Lost during the show’s second season (the character’s first appearance was a flashback on season 1’s finale, Exodus: Part 1).

In 2006, Rodriguez was featured in her own episode of G4’s show Icons. Her latest film, Battle in Seattle, is released in the U.S. in March 2008. She recently wrapped filming in New Zealand for James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure Avatar, due out in December 2009.

In early 2000, Rodriguez broke off a near engagement to a Muslim boyfriend, citing opposition to religious requirements he demanded of her, which included covering herself completely. At one time, Rodriguez dated her The Fast and the Furious co-star, Vin Diesel. In 2006, she “had her eye on” Irish actor and S.W.A.T. co-star, Colin Farrell. In July 2006, Rodriguez told UK’s Cosmopolitan magazine that she was not gay, but had “experimented with both sexes”.

In November of 2006, her openly bisexual Bloodrayne co-star Kristanna Loken’s comments to The Advocate were widely interpreted and reported by the media as an admission that the two were in a relationship. Asked about the relationship in April 2007, Kristanna Loken said, “We’re great friends. She’ll always remain a great, close friend of mine. I’ll always love Michelle”.

In June 2007, Curve ran a cover describing her as a “bad bi girl” and considered by many to be trailing an interview in which Rodriguez would out herself. Rodriguez never did an interview with the magazine however, and therefore in response used her blog to express her feelings on the issue. In the July/August 2007 issue of Curve, editors responded to her criticism by stating: “If you read the article, you will see that the author did not, in fact, ‘out’ Rodriguez; rather, the article stated both that ‘Rodriguez has never publicly come out’ and ‘Rodriguez has said she is not a lesbian.” The editors stated that the misunderstanding arose when the Perez Hilton blog posted that she had come out in Curve after seeing her on the cover and assuming it was a coming out story.

In early 2007, Rodriguez was seen having dinner with Kylie Minogue’s ex Olivier Martinez at Chateau Marmont Hotel. Rodriguez reportedly spent the night at the hotel. The two had been spotted together two years earlier.

Legal troubles: In March 2002, Rodriguez was arrested for assault after getting into a fight with her roommate. The charges were later dropped after the roommate declined to press the allegations in court.

In November 2003, Rodriguez went to court to face eight misdemeanor charges based on two driving incidents including a hit and run and DUI. In June 2004, Rodriguez pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to three of the charges: [hit and run, drunken driving, and driving with a suspended license. She went to jail for 48 hours, performed community service at the morgues of two New York hospitals, completed a three-month alcohol program, and was placed on probation for three years.

In 2005, while filming Lost in Hawaii, Rodriguez was pulled over by Honolulu police multiple times; she was cited for driving 83 mph in a 55 mph zone on Oahu on November 1, and was fined $357, paid a $300 fine for driving 90 mph in a 35 mph zone on October 20, was fined $197 for going 80 mph in a 50 mph zone on August 24.

On December 1, 2005, Rodriguez and her Lost co-star, Cynthia Watros were separately pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. Rodriguez pleaded not guilty when arraigned, but on the day of her trial in April 2006, she pleaded guilty to one charge of driving under the influence. She chose to pay a $500 fine and spend five days in jail instead of doing 240 hours of community service.

Rodriguez cited her high doses of allergy-relieving steroids as part of the reason for her erratic behaviour. The fact that her and Watros’ characters were killed off (appropriately enough, in an episode titled “Two for the Road”) led some fans to believe that it was a result of the arrests, however Rodriguez and producers said their exit from the show had been planned before the season began and the arrests were just coincidental. Her hiatus from movie roles from 2003 to 2007 also led fans to believe she was being temporarily blacklisted for her legal troubles.

Because the Kailua incident was a violation of her Los Angeles probation, Rodriguez was sentenced to 260 days in jail, a 30 day alcohol rehabilitation program and another 30 days of community service, including work for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, by a judge in Los Angeles on May 1, 2006. Because of overcrowding, she was released from jail on the same day she entered it. As of June 2006, she will still have to serve the community service. She wrote about the experience on her blog.

In September 2007 however, Rodriguez allegedly violated her probation by not completing her community service and not following an alcohol education program. It was reported that Rodriguez originally submitted a document stating she performed community service on September 5, 2006, but later admitted she was actually in New York City that day. Her lawyer claimed it was a clerical error.

On October 10, 2007, following a hearing, she was sentenced to 180 days jail time after agreeing to admit to violating her probation, stemming from her earlier charges. The judge in the case ordered that Rodriguez not be granted a work furlough, early release or home confinement and must remain in jail for the entire 180 days.

On December 23, 2007, she turned herself in and began a 180-day jail term in the Century Regional Detention Facility located in Lynwood, CA. This stems from an earlier probation violation. On the evening of January 9th 2008, Rodriguez was released after serving 18 days of her 180 day sentence.

Links:

• Michelle Rodriguez Website: http://www.westlord.com/michelle-rodriguez/
• Michelle Rodriguez Wallpapers and Photos: http://www.snoron.com/michelle-rodriguez/

Christine Taylor Biography and Photos

Christine Joan Taylor (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. Taylor was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania to Joan, a homemaker, and Skip Taylor, an owner of a security company. She grew up in neighboring Wescosville, Pennsylvania. Taylor has a brother, Brian, and attended Allentown Central Catholic High School.

Taylor began her acting career in 1989 at the age of 18 on the Nickelodeon Network children’s television series Hey Dude where she played the lifeguard Melody Hanson. She continued in that role through 1991 while making various guest appearances on other programs. In 1996, Taylor was awarded the lead role in the television series Party Girl, based on the 1995 film of the same name. The title character is a self-destructive rave party organizer who indulges in drugs and all-night partying.

Following Party Girl, Taylor’s career advanced rapidly, highlighted by guest television appearances on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, FOX’s Arrested Development, and NBC’s Friends and Seinfeld. She also played Drew Barrymore’s cousin, Holly Sullivan in the 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer and made several successful comedic guest appearances on Ellen. In 1995, in what was to be perhaps her break-through role, Taylor was cast as Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel the following year in which she displayed a dead-on impersonation of original actress Maureen McCormick. Taylor’s physical resemblance to Maureen McCormick helped her with the role of Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie.

Comedic actress Christine Taylor was best known for her 1995 portrayal of Marcia Brady in “The Brady Bunch Movie,” which quickly generated buzz, what with her dead-on impression of 1970s TV icon Maureen McCormick. After many supporting roles in films and sitcoms, Taylor’s 2000 marriage to actor-director Ben Stiller raised her profile even higher and she co-starred opposite her husband in “Zoolander” (2001) and “Dodgeball” (2004). In 2006, the couple inked a deal to star in a domestic sitcom for CBS but while the project experienced delays, Taylor appeared in the 2007 indie filmfest fave, “Kabluey.”

Christine Taylor was born on July 30, 1971, in working-class Allentown, PA. She was raised in a conservative environment, attending a small Catholic school, but also took classes at the Allentown Theater School and got her acting feet wet in local productions of “Grease” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” With the help of an enthusiastic stage mother, Taylor found acting work in commercials as a kid and teenager, and when she was a senior in high school, landed her big break with a role on one of Nickelodeon’s earliest live action series, “Hey Dude” (Nickelodeon, 1989-1991).

Taylor stayed with the show for its two year run before moving to Los Angeles, where she easily found guest work on sitcoms like “Life Goes On” (ABC, 1989-1993), “Saved by the Bell”(NBC, 1989-1993), and “Blossom” (NBC, 1991-95). In 1992, she joined the cast of the now-legendary stage spoof “The Real Live Brady Bunch” at the Westwood Playhouse, in a role that people had been telling her she was born to play all her life – due in no small part to her striking physical similarity to original Marcia, Maureen McCormick.

Taylor made her feature film debut the following year (as Christine Joan Taylor) in “Calendar Girl” (1993) with Jason Priestly, as well as appeared in “Showdown” (1993) and “Night of the Demons II” (1994) before she learned of casting for a feature film based on the iconic series, “The Brady Bunch” (ABC, 1969-1974). Thanks to her “Real Live” stage time, she had nailed the oldest Brady sister’s mannerisms to a tee, right down to the punctuating flip of her very blonde hair. Not surprisingly, she won the role of Marcia. The film was healthy at the box office, with critics singling out newcomer Taylor’s performance as the best in the bunch.

In another nod to sitcom history, Taylor also assumed the role of Marilyn, the niece of Herman and Lily Munster, in the Fox TV-movie “Here Come the Munsters” later that same year. With 1996’s “A Very Brady Sequel” (1996), Taylor seemed dangerously close to being typecast forever in retro TV roles, but she quickly recovered with a supporting role in the teen goth thriller “The Craft” (1996) and in the title role of an extravagant raver in “Party Girl” (1996), a Fox sitcom based on the film starring Parker Posey.

Taylor swiftly built up career momentum with a series of well-executed turns in high-profile comedies, both big and small screen: playing Jerry’s “too perfect” girlfriend on “Seinfeld” (NBC, 1989-1998), Drew Barrymore’s best friend Holly in “The Wedding Singer” (1998), and Ross’ love interest whom Rachel talks into shaving her head bald on “Friends” (1994-2004). In 1999, she was fortunate to land a starring role as a no-nonsense sheriff in the unaired but now legendary TV pilot “Heat Vision and Jack” (1999) starring Jack Black. Taylor met and began dating the show’s director, Ben Stiller, and the two subsequently married in 2000. Not long afterwards the couple played opposite one another in the huge hit “Zoolander” (2001), with Taylor acting as the buttoned-up investigative reporter researching the vapid supermodel (Stiller) and eventually falling for him.

In 2001, Taylor gave birth to the couple’s first child, Ella Olivia Stiller, so she decided to spend a year and a half out of the spotlight undertaking the important duty of raising possibly a third generation of comic genius that had begun with her husband’s parents, legendary comics Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. In 2004, she returned to the big screen again opposite Stiller – really opposite him — as a fierce sports competitor in “Dodge Ball” (2004). The couple followed up their second successful screen pairing with the birth of a second child in 2005 and plans to develop an “alternative” single-camera comedy along the lines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO, 2000- ), on which Taylor had guested several times.

On February 9, 2006, Taylor guest-starred on NBC’s My Name Is Earl. The episode titled “The Professor” featured her as a sexy and beautiful college professor. Earl becomes infatuated with her after attempting to return a laptop that he stole from her. In July 2006, Ben Stiller announced he would be directing a comedy starring Taylor in the lead role. The show will be featured on CBS and will use a single camera format. Stiller will make several cameos as husband to his wife’s character.

In the 1990s, Taylor dated actor Matthew Lillard. On May 13, 2000, she married actor, writer, and director Ben Stiller whom she met while filming Heat Vision and Jack. Taylor has since appeared opposite Stiller two films: Zoolander (2001) and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). On April 10, 2002 Taylor and Stiller had their first child, a daughter named Ella Olivia Stiller. They had a second child, a son named Quinlin Dempsey Stiller, on July 10, 2005.

In 2006, the Taylor-Stillers signed a contract with CBS for a self-referential sitcom where Taylor would play a small town girl-turned-movie star, with Stiller slated to direct and also appear as her husband Ben Stiller. Independent of the burgeoning family business, Taylor continued to establish her talent with a performance in the oddball independent film “Kabluey” (2007), which received rave reviews at film festivals throughout the country.

Rachael Ray Photos and Biography

Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968 in Glens Falls, New York) is an two-time Emmy-nominated television personality and author, who currently hosts the syndicated talk/lifestyle program Rachael Ray and two Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals and Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels.

Ray has also written a series of cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2005. Prior to the launch of her talk show, Ray hosted three other Food Network shows, 30 Minute Meals, $40 a Day, and Inside Dish.

Television: In late 2005 Ray signed a deal with Oprah Winfrey and King World Productions to host a syndicated daytime TV talk show. The show, Rachael Ray, premiered on September 18, 2006. Recurrent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show were used to fuel the launch, much like Dr. Phil’s show was spun off based on his own frequent visits to Oprah. The show tapes in New York City. Ray said, in coordination with the syndication announcement, “People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share.”

In addition to Oprah, Ray has appeared on The View, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Larry King Live. For Sesame Street’s 38th season, Ray appears in an episode to present “pumpernickel” as the word of the day.

On December 18, 2007, Food Network and Rachael Ray inked a deal for yet another show “Rachael’s Vacation” which follows her to various vacation spots while she samples local cuisine.

Cooking: Ray teaches simple recipes that she claims can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. She uses ingredients such as garlic and chicken stock as simple ways to boost flavors. She often uses recipes that include her Italian and Cajun heritage, as well as fresh herbs, whenever possible. She believes that measuring “takes away from the creative, hands-on process of cooking” and instead favors approximations such as “half a palmful”. On her television programs she has used catch phrases such as “E.V.O.O.” (extra-virgin olive oil), “yum-o,” “so delish,” “G.B.” (garbage bowl), “Oh my gravy!”, “stoup” (cross between a soup and stew), and “how good is THAT?”

She states: she cannot bake (because you have to measure ingredients), she cannot make coffee, and is notorious for burning bread under the broiler. Ray says her Sicilian maternal grandfather, Emmanuel Scuderi, served as a strong influence on her cooking. To critics of her shortcut techniques, Ray responds, “I have no formal anything. I’m completely unqualified for any job I’ve ever had.”

The retro look of the set she uses on the Food Network features a yellow 1950’s Model C Chambers stove. While this stove is rarely used on her program, it is noticed by viewers so much so that people selling them often refer to Chambers ranges as “the Rachael Ray stove”. This has led to an increased interest in saving and restoring these stoves, inspiring two online discussion forums and fan websites, as well as numerous references to them in the media.

On November 12, 2006 Mario Batali and Rachael defeated the team of Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis on an episode of the program Iron Chef America which featured the use of cranberries as the secret ingredient.

On March 18, 2007, Food Network debuted a Rachael Ray episode of its special Chefography series. In 2007, The Oxford American College Dictionary announced the addition of the term EVOO, short for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to its dictionary, a term which Rachael Ray has helped popularize.

Awards, recognition, charity work:

• 2004, ranked #92 on “FHM-U.S.’s 100 Sexiest Women 2004″
• 2006, ranked #71 on “FHM-U.S.’s 100 Sexiest Women 2006″
• 2006, 30 Minute Meals received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show. Ray was also nominated for Outstanding Service Show Host, but lost to Suze Orman.
• 2006, named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. She was nominated by fellow Food Network star Mario Batali.
• 2006, according to Forbes magazine, Ray earned about $6 million June 2005-June 2006 from her books and television shows (excluding her new show, Rachael Ray).
• February 21, 2007, Ray announced on her show that a wax creation was made of her and that this wax figure will be on display at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in New York City.
• 2007, nominated for Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Talk Show Host
  April 2007, Ray launched a charity, “The Yum-O! Organization”, with help from former US President Bill Clinton, to help children eat healthier. 

Magazines: In 2003, she posed for the men’s magazine FHM. The New York Times wrote, “The shots feature Ray in short-shorts with an exposed midriff, licking chocolate off a big wooden spoon, eating a strawberry and sitting in a sink, laughing as suds cascade down her thighs.”

Reader’s Digest launched Ray’s eponymous magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray on October 25, 2005. The magazine featured seven issues in 2006. It will increase to ten issues in 2007.

Product endorsements: Ray has endorsed products for Price Chopper supermarkets, and promotes a “Best in Fresh with Rachael Ray” recipe section on the company’s website.

Ray has endorsed for Burger King, and has appended her name to a line of cookware and cutlery. Her knife of choice was the Wüsthof and as a result, Wusthof’s sales rose dramatically. She now endorses her own line of modified santoku knives made in China by Australian based cutlery company Füritechnics.

In November 2006, Ray became a spokesperson for Nabisco crackers. She appears in commercials and on boxes for the many Nabisco products. Many boxes with Ray’s picture have recipes written by her.

In February 2007, WestPoint Home launched sheets, blankets, and coverlets designed by Ray. Within six months, WestPoint expanded Ray’s bed and bath line to include the Moppine, a two-in-one dish towel/oven mitt, as Ray is often seen with a kitchen towel over her shoulder that doubles for her as an ersatz mitt.

In March 2007, Dunkin’ Donuts announced Ray as its new pitchwoman. Ray describes Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee as “fantabulous”.

In May 2007, teamed with LimeLife, Inc and AT&T Inc., formerly Cingular Wireless, AT&T subscribers can now download Rachael Ray recipes on their cellular phones thanks to the new “Rachael Ray Recipes on the Run” feature.

Bibliography:

• 30 Minute Meals (1999)
• Rachael Ray’s Open House Cookbook (2000)
• Comfort Foods (2001)
• Veggie Meals (2001)
• 30-Minute Meals 2 (2003)
• Get Togethers: Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals (2003)
• $40 a Day: Best Eats in Town (2004)
• Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals: Cooking ‘Round the Clock (2004)
• Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals for Kids: Cooking Rocks! (2004)
• Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Get Real Meals : Eat Healthy Without Going to Extremes (2005)
• Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (2005)
• Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds (2006)
• Rachael Ray’s Express Lane Meals (2006)
• Rachael Ray: Just In Time (2007)

Criticisms: Some have criticized Ray’s “perky” demeanor as well as her lack of a formal chef’s education and perceived lack of seriousness about cooking. Celebrity chef and Travel Channel personality Anthony Bourdain, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, has referred to her as a “bobblehead”. Bourdain has also referred to Ray’s affiliation with Dunkin’ Donuts as “evil” and is like “endorsing crack for kids”.

In a Slate article defending Ray, Jill Hunter Pellettieri summarized some of these criticisms by writing:

“ Ray’s ditzy demeanor also makes her easy to dismiss. She giggles off-cue and constantly praises her own cooking. “Smells awesome already!” she says, making her Snapper in a Snap. “I am so psyched about that.” She employs cute abbreviations—EVOO means “extra virgin olive oil”, and gives her dishes nicknames, such as “You-Won’t-Be-Single-for-Long Vodka Cream Pasta”. The acknowledgments in her $40 a Day cookbook read like a high-school yearbook: “Don …You are the tallest man we’ve ever had on crew, and yet you pack the smallest bag—ever! Cool.” And, it didn’t boost her credibility when she posed for pinup shots in FHM. (One featured Ray licking chocolate off a spoon.) When the magazine hit newsstands, she said, “I think it is kinda cool for someone who is goofy, and a cook, just a normal person to be thought of in that way.”

The 30 Minute Meals concept has also been criticized because Ray does not account for certain preparation times in the signature half-hour cooking time. Many of these preparations, such as pre-washing herbs and vegetables, are not meal-specific, and Ray counsels they should be done ahead of time. In the Slate article that otherwise mostly complimented her, author Pellettieri went through several of Ray’s “30 Minute Meals” recipes and was unable to complete any meal in under half an hour.

Ray has indicated on her cooking show that it may take others over 30 minutes but the point being that it’s still fast and simple. The New York Times Magazine has noted that one of the prices of her popularity has been an “anti-fan site,” a LiveJournal community titled “Rachael Ray Sucks.” The community’s founder acknowledges that it was created partially in jest. Posters in the community regularly discuss annoyance and disgust at topics such as Ray’s constant spasmodic hand motions, her fixated smile, her overused catch phrases and the perceived inedibility and poor aesthetics of many of her recipes. The community has over 1,800 members.

Personal life: Ray presently lives in the Adirondacks with her husband, John M. Cusimano, and mother, Elsa Scudero. She also has a brother, Emmanuel (Manny) and a sister, Maria. Ray moved to upstate New York when she was six years old. Her family owned several restaurants called the Carvery, in and around Falmouth and Mashpee, Massachusetts.