Biography of Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow was born on September 28, 1972, in Los Angeles, California. Raised in the City of Angels by her parents, actress Blythe Danner and television producer and director Bruce Paltrow, it was no surprise that the blue-eyed blonde would pursue a career in acting.
The Paltrows moved to Manhattan, New York, when Gwyneth was 11 years old, and she spent much of her adolescence watching her Tony award-winning mother perform at theater festivals.
While her mother was performing in summer stock theater in Berkshires, Massachusetts, Gwyneth became more than an audience member; she began to participate, and even costar with her mother in a couple of productions. After making her debut starring role in a production of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, she knew that acting was exactly what she was meant to do.
Gwyneth returned to Los Angeles in order to attend the University of California in Santa Barbara as an art history major. But the aspiring actress eventually traded in her textbooks and classroom lectures for the dream of becoming a full-time actress.
While her first film role was in the 1991 film Shout with John Travolta, her big break came along when she went out one night with her father and family friends Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw. Big-league director Spielberg was in the process of casting for his 1991 film Hook and he offered Gwyneth the role of Wendy, which she instantly accepted.
After her role in Hook, which also starred Robin Williams and Julia Roberts, she was cast as the lead in the 1992 mini-series Cruel Doubt, while her mother was offered a costarring role.
The budding actress' resume was soon filling up with roles in Malice (1992), Flesh and Bone (1993), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), and Jefferson in Paris (1995).
Although audiences were beginning to take notice of Gwyneth, the film that threw her into the spotlight was her role as Brad Pitt's girlfriend in the thriller Se7en, which is where the highly photogenic couple met and fell in love.
Gwyneth's star was on the rise, but she decided to opt for roles in smaller, less mainstream films rather than big-budget blockbusters. She costarred with David Schwimmer in 1996's The Pallbearer, and that same year took on the title role in the period piece Emma. Next up were Hard Eight (1996) and Great Expectations (1998), where she shone. Unfortunately, not many people caught her performances.
Rounding off a busy 1998, in which she starred in Sliding Doors and Great Expectations, Gwyneth costarred with Michael Douglas in A Perfect Murder. This was an odd match since Douglas, who was cast as Gwyneth's husband, is really a friend of her parents. Although most of her female counterparts were portraying younger characters in teen movies, Gwyneth was being cast and choosing to play older, more mature characters.
Then came the role that turned Gwyneth from actress to Academy Award winner. In 1998's Shakespeare in Love, she played an aspiring stage actress, who was forced to disguise herself as a male since the stage was no place for a woman in Elizabethan times.
She took home the 1999 Academy Award for Best Actress thanks to her impeccable British accent and her excellent portrayal as Shakespeare's cross-dressing love interest. This was the year she was also voted one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
Gwyneth may have broken her engagement with Brad Pitt, but her career was still on the rise. After a brief hiatus, Gwyneth returned to the big screen in top form in the beautifully shot The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) as Jude Law's good-hearted girlfriend.
She continued to appear in films, including 2000's Duets, 2001's Shallow Hal, 2002's Possession, and 2003's Sylvia.
After dealing with the tragedy of her father's death in 2002, Gwyneth found love with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The two wed in a secret ceremony in Southern California in 2003.
Five months later, Gwyneth welcomed her daughter, Apple, into the world. Her second child, Moses, was born in 2006.
Since becoming a mother, Gwyneth has stayed out of the spotlight, taking up residence in London. While she cut down on the number of films she stars in, she did appear in the 2006 films Infamous and Running with Scissors, 2007's The Good Night, and 2008's Dirty Tricks and Iron Man.
WANT MORE CELEBS - CLICK HERE!
|
