Marilyn Monroe: Short Bio

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To call Marilyn Monroe as an actress is a great injustice done to the great acting legend. In fact she was the authority in acting and if we go on writing about her a library of books wouldn't be enough to describe her. Such was her influence on films and fashion during her era that she is remembered even today as the goddess of fashion and powerhouse of acting. Even today's teenagers look at her as the role model. Marilyn Monroe was a class in her own and created an identity that would never vanish. Though she would have been in her 80's now but she is still remains dream girl of every man and every man compares the beauty of the woman with the beauty of Marilyn Monroe. 

Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her

original name was Norma Jean Mortensen but for the millions of her fans she was "The Blonde Bombshell". This famous star had a very trouble childhood. Her mother was a film cutter at RKO, a widow and so insane that she abandoned her to foster home. Marilyn Monroe's misery didn't end there; she had a close brush with death at the age of 2 and was nearly raped at the age of 6. At the age of 9 she started doing kitchen work for church for a nickel a month. She used to work in an aircraft plant at the age of 16. She married a man who she used to call Daddy. She started modeling when he went into the military. But the marriage was short lived, as they got divorced in 1946. She amassed two hundred books of many great writers. She had a love for music and listened to Beethoven's music in particular. Also at the same time she joined acting classes at Hollywood's Actor's Lab. She also took literature classes at University of California, Los Angeles. 

While the actress had a relatively easy modeling career it was not the case with her acting career. She had to be content with many small roles and she starred in dozen B movies with secondary roles. She got a break with Twentieth Century Fox, which ended within a year. She then signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, which was also for only six months. She starred in a small role in "The Asphalt Jungle" in 1950 and also in "All about Eve". Her performance interested the Studio and they went on to sign a 7-year contract with her. It was in the year 1953 that her career skyrocketed to new heights when she starred as a sex symbol in "Niagara" and "Gentleman prefer Blondes". She again starred in a super hit movie "The Seven Year Itch" in 1955, the year which also saw her getting married to one of the greatest baseball player Joe DiMaggio. Monroe wanted to change her sex bomb image and wanted to try something serious. She wanted to have a change over; she thus consulted director Lee Strasberg and took some sessions of psychoanalysis. She did look a transformed person in her nee movie in 1956 called "Bus Stop" which also won her critical acclaim. She also married playwright Arthur Miller the same year to everyone's surprise. 

While her professional life was soaring her personal life was taking its toll on

her. After two miscarriages and a gynecological surgery she fell prey to alcohol and pills. She had an affair with Yves Montand during the same time. She was not able to complete the movie "The Misfits" which was written by her departing husband Arthur Miller due to frequent exhaustions, the movie also happened to be Clark Gable's last one when he died after a year due to heart attack. She was again dropped from the movie "Something's Got to Give" due to frequent no shows and drug abuse.  

Marilyn Monroe's life came to a tragic end on August 5, 1962 due to drug overdose at a young age of 36. Though Marilyn Monroe did only thirty movies in her life but her memorable movies would be remembered forever. 

Katharine Hepburn: A Short Bio

Born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, CT Katharina Houghton Hepburn was the best of the best actresses that Hollywood has seen.  She was born to a highly respectable family, the mother being a feminist and a suffragist. He father was a doctor who led a struggle against the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Both her parents endorsed the birth control. Katharine owes her life to her parents for her upbringing that gave her enough freedom to be adventurous in life. She had 5 siblings one elder to her and four younger than her. One of the traumatic experiences of life was when her elder brother Tom died hanging by her aunt's attic. The incident had left an indelible trauma, which haunted her for years. 

Hepburn went to Bryn Mawr College and she graduated in 1928 from there. She happened to meet Ludlow Smith in the college and she married him the same year she graduated. But the marriage didn't last too long and they got divorced in 1934. During her student days at the college she took active participation in theatre arts and she even appeared in 2 theatrical productions after her senior year in Baltimore, MD. Then she moved to New York and began training as an actor. She got her first break in theater in her first New York Production "The Big Pond". But that didn't go well and she was discontinued from the show only after one showing. But there was no dearth of work for her and she regularly worked in Broadway shows. 

The turning point in her life came when she did a Broadway show in 1932 called "The Warrior's Husband" in which her performance was greatly appreciated and thus led her to many screen tests. She eventually ended up getting a role in the film "A Bill of Divorcement" released in 1932. She won rave reviews for her role in the film and there was no looking back for her after that. Many production houses lined up at her home to cast them in their movies. She had an excellent run of movies in 1930's which included her first Academy Award winning movie "Morning Glory" in 1933 for which she won the award for best actress.  What better start can an actor get, being only a year old and winning an Oscar.  


In the same year i.e. 1933 she again returned to New York Theater and

worked in the Broadway Production "The Lake". The show didn't do many wonders to her career in fact the show was rejected by both the audience and the critics. She returned to Hollywood again in 1935 but with little success. Until the year 1938 she only had two successes, one in "Alice Adams" released in 1935 and other in "Stage Door" released in 1937, which also gave her second Oscar nomination. But then this period included more flops than hits so much so that everybody started calling her "box office poison". She was no more an actress in demand and was deemed as a commercial failure, which led her to return to Broadway again. She starred in "The Philadelphia Story" in 1938, which rehabilitated her career again. She gained the film rights of the show and made a movie by the same name and story in 1940 and that was a box office hit and also won her third Oscar nomination. She was back in business one more time. Her next movie was "Woman of the year", her first with Spencer Tracy. This was just a beginning of the long association they had there after which lasted for 8 more movies and twenty-five years of romantic love affair. She was once again nominated for the best actress award for this movie. 

She continued to appear in movies in 1940's and 1950's which resulted in her winning seven Oscar nominations and two Oscars awards for best actress for movies "Guess who's coming" and "The Lion in Winter". She also worked in Shakespeare plays from 1955 to 1960. In 1970's she started making television movies and also appeared in several of them. She even won an Emmy for her role "Among the Ruins" in 1975 with Laurence Olivier. She was befittingly awarded with Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. She won another Oscar Award for best actress for her role in "On Golden Pond" released in 1982. Her last film was "Love Affair" in 1994 in which she had a guest appearance.

Although she was romantically linked with many men but she didn't marry any of them. The only longest romance was with Spencer Tracy, which Hepburn admitted. Hepburn became less and less social in her last years of life and she remained home mostly. Katharine Hepburn passed away on June 29, 2003 at her home giving the world glorious 96 years she lived. 

Kate Winslet: A Short Bio

Kate Winslet was born in Reading, U.K. on October 5, 1975 to Roger Winslet and Sally Bridges-Winslet. Her birth name was Kate Elizabeth Winslet. Having Blonde hair and hazel eyes Kate Winslet has proved herself to be one of the most beautiful and talented actresses to be around these days. The actress is popular for portraying courageous and straightforward pretty girl roles. The actress has built quite an impressive resume with movies ranging from Shakespearean tragedy to

mystic movies to erotica. Acting was not difficult for her as she born in the family of stage actors. Her parents were stage actors, her maternal grandparents ran a theater and her uncle was a fixture in London's West End Theater. So, naturally it was easy for Kate to get into acting after having realized her acting talent at an early age. She started off doing gigs and she did her first gig at the age of eleven for kid's cereal. She took acting classes around the same age and also got formal training in a performing arts school. She kept doing regular stage shows for next few years. Ultimately this landed her into sitcoms doing bit roles. 

Kate Winslet's first break in movies came at the age of seventeen when she took the role of an obsessive teenager in "Heavenly Creatures" released in 1994. Although the film got a lukewarm response at the box office it was highly acclaimed by the critics. Still a novice to Hollywood she attended a cattle call audition for Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995. Kate Winslet who outperformed hundreds of other aspirants immensely impressed the film's star Emma Thompson. She played the character of plucky Marianne Dashwood. She was rewarded for hard work with a British Academy Award and also an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and she holds the distinction of being nominated at the youngest age. Her string of impressive performances continued and she worked in two more period movies "Jude" in 1996 and "Hamlet" in 1996.

The turning point of Kate Winslet's career was her role as Rose DeWitt Bukater in the record-breaking movie "Titanic" in 1997. The role won her an Oscar nomination again for the best actress once again creating a record to get nominated twice in Oscars at the youngest age. Winslet was over the cloud nine after the resounding success of Titanic, which made her the star in demand. She played the role of adventurous soul searchers in "Hideous Kinky" in 1998 and "Holy Smoke" in 1999. Her association with period never seems to be over when she was back with a period film again in 2000 in "Quills". There was no dearth of Oscar nominations for Winslet as she was nominated to Oscar for best actress for the movie "Iris" but the luck eluded her once again and she lost it to Jennifer Connelly for "A Beautiful Mind". Winslet struggled at box office in 2003 but had a better year in 2004 with Jim Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" for which she got nominated again for the best actress. Kate Winslet seems to have a particular liking for period films when she starred again in a period film called "Finding Neverland" in 2005. 

In 2006 she gave her voice to animated movie "Flushed Away" and also starred in "All the King's Men" opposite Sean Penn. She was also part of the extremely successful "Little children" which won her an Oscar nomination again for the best actress. 

 Apart from being a successful person Kate Winslet is known to be a good person who plays mischievous pranks and is
extremely devoted. She got married to James Threapleton with a daughter in 1998, but the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 2001. She got

married for the second time with director Sam Mendes in 2003 and also gave birth to a son. With the amount of talent this actress has one would hope that she is rightly rewarded with an Oscar at least this time.

How to find an agent?

You may have the talent and skills to make it big in the show business but the attempts to break into the industry are futile without an agent and to be precise a right agent. A good agent is critical to the success of your efforts to get into show business. There are many agents who advertize to get candidates, some look out for them on the roads and malls promising a bright future to the prospective actors. But beware of these agents. Reputed agents never advertize to get actors. They

already have a bee-line at their door and thus would never be required to advertize, their hands are always full with aspiring actors willing to get a break in this fantastic industry.

But before working with an agent question yourself what you are looking for in an agent. Decide whether you want a union or a non-union agent. Also important is to do a self check of your desires, your talents and decide what type of agent you need at this juncture of your career. It is well understood fact that though not impossible but actors seldom sticks with one agent during their career. Also many a times agents provide only extra work to the aspiring actors instead of principal roles due to their limited reach to the well known directors. Also look out to see if the agent has a big list of names or only few. The fewer the clients he may have the lesser the demand or popularity of that agent. 

But how do you find a good agent? Locating a good agent is not so easy. While few out of business may advertize but the fact is majority of the agents do not advertize and are thus very difficult to locate even on yellow or white pages and the fact is good agents do not need to advertize. One of the legitimate places to find a right talent agent is actingland.com which is a very popular website for online acting community where you can find many talent agents and their contact details. It

has the list of all the agents affiliated to Screen Actors Guild and also American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. These agents are also called acting union affiliated agents as they follow the code of conduct putt forth by these two unions and stay away from non-scrupulous practices. All major cities have agents affiliated with these unions which are also called franchised agents. The reason why franchised agents are important to the success of aspiring actors is they put their client’s interest above their own and go that extra mile to ensure their success. Not only that they also work towards better pay for their actors and help make actors smart decisions. 

You can also contact Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to get the names and addresses of their affiliated agents. Once you get a list of talent agents you should start mailing them your resume and headshot copies. If you live or plan to work in a big city you can start out with few at a time and then continue on likewise. One of the other ways to find

a good agent is to get noticed by working in plays in your area and never forget to have a copy of your resume and headshot handy when you travel. Also social networking helps a lot in finding a right agent. Attend local events and make friends with other aspirants to broaden your knowledge about the industry and its current affairs. One of the key to finding an agent is to be patient as you may not find a good agent at the first go but in fact it may take several meetings with the agents until you find a right one. Once you find a right agent your problem is nearly half solved.

Into the Show BIZ?

How do I break into SHOW business?

Many people have the dream of breaking into Show Business one day in their life. While many have the inborn talent to make it big some may have to work hard to polish it. But irrespective of whatever everybody has to plan and take a right approach to get a break in Showbiz. But remember success doesn't come overnight; you have to work hard and even harder to make it big in the Show business. So the first lesson to learn is stay away from agents who promise you to make a big star overnight. 

The first and foremost thing to know before entering the Show Business is that you should analyze yourself whether you have it in you to break into Show Business. Somebody can teach you acting but cannot make you an actor unless you have it in you called the desire. Question yourself whether you will be able face the challenges like different work environment, different style of living, new people, new places and many more that might come in your way and the tough competition ahead. A lot depends on how flexible and adaptable you are. If you have a rigid personality then forget about getting a break as this industry demands you to work with people having different kinds of personalities and the possibility of differences creeping in cannot be ruled out.

Once you analyze yourself and you are confident you must be willing to pack your bags and get started. But a piece of advise here, do not quit your job or even if you quit your job to move to a different place keep working part time to keep yourself financially supported. Do not wait until the time you are broke. Many big actors kept working until they made it big. Find a job which is flexible and doesn't come in the way of your auditions or plan things in such a way that you get to attend at least one audition a day. 

Talking about auditions, do not go to the auditions unprepared. Best thing to do is join some classes which offer training in whatever area of Showbiz you want to get into. One of the benefits of joining the classes is that they will help you polish your skills according to the needs of the market you are intending to work in. Further they will help you market yourself better by making your resume work to the modern day requirements. The marketing part is important because you cannot do anything with all the talent you have unless you know how to market your talent and skills.

You should be prepared for the interviews and also to give confident answers to the questions. Attend workshops organized by many artists. Be prepared to meet new people and socialize with the people who are in this business. Social networking is very important in this industry for the people to take note of your talents. Make it a point to attend events related to what you are pursuing. 



The best thing to break into Show Business is to start with local market and then move to the big market. So find a good agent who knows the local market very well. Do not get into the trap of fraudulent agents. Good agents never ask for money upfront instead they work on commission i.e. they get money only when you are hired and start earning.

You should research the market well to find a good agent if possible try to audit the agent and call his/her previous customers. Make a good portfolio and have some good photographs in it. It is important that you style you hair according to the demands of the market you will be going to work, so spend your money on getting a good hair stylist. 
A person who gets all these things right and with a right attitude would have nobody stopping him/her on the way to making it big in Show Business.

History of Warner Bros

Based in Burbank, California Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. is one of the largest producers of television programs and films. The other companies which are a part of Warner Bros. are Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Animation, The CW Television Network and DC Comics. The founders of the studio were the Warner Brothers - Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Sam Warner and Jack L. Warner. The first three brothers started with projecting movies in the Ohio and Pennsylvania. They bought their first theater the Cascade in 1903. They also founded Duquesne Amusement and Supply Company for distribution purpose in Pittsburg.

They began film production by the onset of World War I and they soon opened the Warner Bros. studio in 1918. Sam and Jack Warner were into film production and the other two brothers handled finance and distribution. Their first big success came after the creation of the character "Rin Tin Tin". It became so popular that it was used in twenty six subsequent movies. They bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company, which had presence all over the nation, with the help of loan taken from Goldman Sachs. They also took over many radio stations and also constructed many theaters.  They incorporated music and special effects in their production and were the first ones to start talking pictures. 

The Warner Bros. bought the Stanley Company and gained shares and control of the First National Pictures and the merger was named as A Warner Bros. - First National Picture. After the merger their first all-talking and all-color film caused the whole industry to change overnight. They made many musicals after that and after a point of time, the audience wanted a change. The production head Darryl F. Zanuck now concentrated on making more serious and realistic productions. These productions were said to be encourage gangsters and thus faced many censorships. The studios then changed their course of direction to historic dramas, melodramas and adaptation of best sellers to avoid scissors of censor. Though the Warner Bros. were ruling the industry for a while, MGM slowly took over them after some time.

In 1930s, Warner Bros. took a plunge into cartoons with Looney Tones cartoons. They launched their own Warner Bros. Records in 1958 but by 1960s the motion pictures were on a decline. Finally they decided to sell the studio to Seven Arts Productions and the company was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Steve Ross purchased this company later and made Ted Ashley as the head of the studio and renamed it as Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. joined with Columbia Pictures for film distributions till 1988 and then made a joint venture with Walt Disney Pictures till 1993. Along with Tribune Company of Chicago they launched The WB Network in 1995. 

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Dawson's Creek"," Smallville", "7th Heaven" and" Charmed" caught the eye of millions of people. 7th Heaven went for eleven seasons making it the longest running family drama and Charmed went for eight seasons making it the longest running drama with actresses in the lead. CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. replaced The WB Network with The CW Television Network. They obtained rights to produce the famous Harry Potter series in the end of 1990s and the first Harry Potter movie was released in 2001 and till date a total of four Harry Potter movies have been released.

History of Universal Studios

Universal Studios or Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios is one of the largest American film studios. It was established in 1906 when Carl Laemmle started his first theater in Chicago. He started by playing short silent movies. He later switched to production and distribution. To start the production of his own films, he opened the Independent Moving Picture Company in New York in 1909. His first work, Hiawatha, was released in the same year. 

Laemmle's dream was to make his presence felt all over America. His next target was the west where he bought the Nestor Studio in Hollywood. He formed the Universal Film Manufacturing Company on June 8, 1912. This company which was New York based, incorporated the already existing Independent Moving Picture Company and five other companies into it. By that time he had already conquered the east and the west coast of

America and now he decided to centralize his production companies. He asked Isadore Bernstein to buy plots in Los Angeles. The two hundred and thirty acre land bought became the Universal City, the entertainment center of the world. Although film production here began in 1914 and in 1915 it was officially inaugurated on March 15, 1915. The first production of this studio was Damon and Pythias. Many films were released after the studio opened including comedies, drama, action, and adventure. 

Some of the popular movies that were produced in this studio are "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Dracula", "Bride of Frankenstein"," The Phantom of the Opera", "The Mummy", and "All Quiet on the Western Front". Laemmle developed a habit of inviting guests to watch the movie making procedure and to give suggestions to improve them. It then became a tradition at Universal studios, and later temporarily visitors were banned because of the disturbances on the sets.  

Carl retired in 1936 and sold the company to Standard Capital Company. In
1946, Universal merged with International and it was named as Universal-International. In 1947, the company produced "Hamlet" which won the Best Picture Academy Award. In 1952, Universal-International was sold to Decca Records. Decca Universal gave many hits in Milt Rackmil.  Music Corporation of America, Inc. bought the Universal City studio and shifted its studio there and both the companies merged officially in 1962. Jules Stein was the founder of MCA, Inc., who was later joined by Lew Wasseman in 1936. At first this company prepared bands to perform in clubs and parties. Later it became the leading talent agency and conquered the entertainment world. They made motion pictures and also serials for television. Later they also ventured into the world of musical entertainment around 1960s to 1980s. The tradition of tours was started once again. 

The company was taken over by Matsushita Electrical Industrial Company Ltd. in 1991. The Seagram Company Ltd. Bought large number of shares in 1995 and MCA Inc. was finally named as Universal Studios on December 10, 1996. The Universal International television operations merged with USA Networks in 1998. At the end of the year the company took over PolyGram and Universal Music Group became the largest music company in the world.  The Seagram collaborated with Vivendi and Canal in June 2000 and today Universal Studios is a part of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.