It has been customary for most celebrities to come from a certain point of origin. This point of origin where they originally came from would usually be the immediate foundation of their illustrious career. For Beyonce Knowles, she will always be best known for being a part of the famous singing group Destiny�s Child.

Outside the obvious talent in singing, her beauty and looks are other assets that make Beyonce a diva in her own right. In 2001, the group decided to try out solo careers and this surely became the opportunity for Beyonce Giselle Knowles to shine. Her natural talent in music since age seven sprung to new heights and this can be seen with her various accomplishments when she ventured out into stardom on her own.

Among her accomplishments included that of her first hit single �Work It Out�. She also gained prominence when she became the first African-American female artist and second woman ever to win the annual ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award. She has also appeared in the big screen in movies such as Austin Powers: Goldmember in 2002 and The Pink Panther in 2006.

[tags]Beyonce Knowles, destiny’s child, diva[/tags]

Originally making waves as a professional wrestler of the World Wrestling Entertainment, the Rock has obviously made the right choice in jumping to Hollywood and trying out his acting skills on the big screen. The Rock, also known as Dwayne Douglas Johnson, is a third generation wrestler who has quite a following in the wrestling industry. His father was another famous wrestler during his time, Rocky Johnson.

The Rock made waves of being a colorful and animated wrestler in the WWE, holding the championship belt on several occasion. While everyone knows that everything is scripted, this has helped hone the Rock�s skills and allowing him to take it to the big screen. He was soon offered various roles in mini-sitcoms until his first motion picture debut on the Scorpion King catapulted his on-screen value leading to other lead roles. Other major roles that he has starred in include that of Walking Tall, The Rundown and the last of which was Doom.

[tags]wwe, wrestling, the rock, wrestlemania, raw, smackdown, scorpion king[/tags]

Popular action star Mel Gibson has been often faced criticism for the movies that he has produced and it seems that the trend will continue to go on. After facing some violent reactions towards “Passion of the Christ” where he was severely questioned for its basis, he is at it again with his new film “Apocalypto”.

Apparently, Gibson was entertaining questions at the California State University when one professor from the Central American studies, Alicia Estrada questioned the misrepresentation of the Mayan culture from the movie. Gibson traded words with Estrada who was later on escorted out for her supposed misconduct and heckling barbs at the famed Hollywood actor-producer.

If there is one thing that differs from acting and directing, it is that of consistency with the races to which Gibson has been catering to. Known to be one of the hot male actors of his time in such flicks as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Patriot”, Gibson has been always the center of controversy with his film releases.

[tags]mel gibson, apocalypto, lethal weapon[/tags]

Used to be when a movie doesn’t do well in the box office, production houses shrug their shoulders and move on to the next film. Apparently those days are gone. Now they sue the author of the book on which they based the movie - at least that’s what mogul Philip Anschutz has done.

Anschutz has taken Clive Cussler to court over the disappointing results of the production “Sahara“. He says that Cussler did not live up to his side of the contract. Cussler publicly put down the movie causing viewers to lose interest in the film and he also exaggerated how many copies of the book were actually sold. All of this resulting in the poor performance of the film.

Cussler has countersued. He says that Anchutz did not follow his recommendations in either script revision or casting. He also says that the poor performance of the film reflects badly on his other works.

In reality we all know that one has little effect on the other. Many books are great but translate poorly into films just as the good performance of a film does not guarantee instant popularity of any book though it can boost its ratings a bit.

So who is reaping the benefit of all this? The lawyers. No matter who wins, the lawyers will bring home very fat paychecks.

We’ve had the story of Robinhood told any number of ways. It’s been made into plays, there are cartoon versions of it - Disney’s version even uses animals, and of course there are the movie versions. Who can forget Kevin Costner’s Robinhood: Prince of Thieves or the comedy version Robinhood Men In Tights.

Always though the story has been about the thief and the sheriff is the evil villain. As we all know however there are two sides to any story and at last a version is in the works from the opposite point of view. This time the sheriff is the star of the show.

The film is called Nottingham and it will star the gorgeous Russell Crowe as the Sheriff of Nottingham. He’s getting quite a hefty fee to play this part; $20 million against 20% according to CanMag.com. This film will reunite Crowe with Imagine Entertainment. He previously worked under their banner with Cinderella Man and a Beautiful Mind.

The film is produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment.

The search is on for the new Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski. The names don’t ring a bell? These are the lead characters played by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in the movie “Grease”. Now, a different kind of audition and one of the biggest casting calls has taken place to bring in the new leads for the original high school musical.

Talk about American Idol meets Broadway. You’re The One That I Want is reality TV show that is the biggest casting call for the lead role of the hit musical. The 12 finalists were chosen from among thousands of hopefuls. Everyone from teenagers to housewives; in fact anyone who wants to get on Broadway, had musical talent and loved the show has tried out. There’s a very real gem of a prize at the end - performing on Broadway and not just a trophy and cheque.

The only female judge for the show is Kathleen Marshall, who is the Director and choreographer for the upcoming production. She is joined by co-creator of the musical, Jim Jacobs and David Ian, the theatrical producer. The show will be hosted by Billy Bush of Access Hollywood” and British Star Denise Van Outen.

Olivia Newton John is scheduled to guest on the first two episodes of the show as well.

[tags] Grease,reality TV,Broadway, Olivia Newton-John [/tags]

Oprah has two new projects in the works. Her latest venture: feel good reality TV. The shows are titled “Oprah Winfrey’s Big Give” and “Your Money or Your Life” and will be produced by Harpo and ABC.

“Oprah Winfrey’s Big Give” is all about charity. The shows 10 participants are given money (and resources) which they have to increase. They have to be creative and ingenuous in order to mulitply the amount they have. The amount that they raise is given to others. As with most reality shows, one contestant is elminated each week. The winner gets his or her wildest dream granted.

“Your Money or Your Life” on the other hand features family in crisis. A team of experts will be coming in to help each family as they try to change in order to avert disaster; that in itself is already a gift to the family.

The point of these reality TV shows is changing lives for the better and making wishes come true. Oprah is just opening up more shows that will hopefully help people and still make great TV. There is word yet on whether Oprah will do the actual hosting for either show.

[tags] reality TV,Oprah Winfrey,HARPO,charity,family [/tags]

Anyone who watched RockStar:Supernova’s finale last night will agree that the obvious favourite of the band was the young Toronto native, Lukas Rossi.

After his electrifying performances of Cold Play’s “Fix You” and his original broody accoustic compsition “Headspin”, judges and audience alike were showering the black nailed rocker with glowing compliments like the devlish Dave Navarro saying that he’d pay good money to watch Lukas perform, to G n’ R guitarist’s Clarke calling it “fearless” and Tommy Lee’s “Cooler than hell”.

With Paula Abdul’s standing ovation and a frenzied audience, one would wonder why a small (?) but significant peice of news did not hamper the party atmosphere - that Clarke, Lee and Newsted’s band was BANNED from being called Supernova.

This was due to the band’s “original” members/owners, Mitchell, Lawerence and Collins sued CBS, Mark Burnett productions and the famous trio from using the name in every capacity saying that it was still in their posession, meaning that whoever Burnett and co bought it from was a fake.

So the question to ask perhaps is not whether Lukas does wins the coveted lead role, but what’s the band called?

Its about everything and everyone on Hollywood!