Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Kate Paltrow; born September 27, 1972) is an American actress, singer, and food writer. Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as the psychological thriller Seven (1995), opposite Brad Pitt and the period drama Emma (1996), opposite Ewan McGregor. Following starring roles in the romantic comedy-drama Sliding Doors (1998) and the thriller A Perfect Murder (1998), Paltrow garnered worldwide recognition through her performance in Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Outstanding Lead Actress and as a member of the Outstanding Cast. Paltrow has portrayed supporting, as well as lead roles, in films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), and Proof (2005), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama. Since 2008 she has portrayed Pepper Potts, the love interest of Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), and Iron Man 3 (2013). She also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011 for her role as Holly Holliday on the Fox hit TV show Glee in the episode "The Substitute". Following high-profile relationships with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck, Paltrow married Chris Martin, the lead vocalist of Coldplay, in 2003; they have two children. Paltrow and Martin announced their separation in March 2014. Paltrow has been the face of Estée Lauder's Pleasures perfume since 2005. Paltrow is also the face of American fashion brand Coach, owner of a lifestyle company, and author of two cookbooks. Early life and education Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and the late film producer/director Bruce Paltrow. Her father was Jewish and her mother is from a Christian background, and Paltrow was raised with "both Jewish and Christian holidays". Her father's Ashkenazi family immigrated from Belarus and Poland, while her mother's ancestry is Pennsylvania Dutch and white Barbadian. Paltrow's paternal great-great-grandfather, whose surname was "Paltrowicz," was a rabbi in Nowogród, Poland. Paltrow has a younger brother, Jake Paltrow, and is a half-cousin of actress Katherine Moennig, and a second cousin of former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08). Her uncle is opera singer and actor Harry Danner. Paltrow was raised in Santa Monica, where she attended Crossroads School, before enrolling in the Spence School, a private girls' school in New York City. Later, she briefly studied anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before dropping out to act. She is an "adopted daughter" of Talavera de la Reina (Spain), where at 15 she spent a year as an exchange student and learned to speak Spanish. Career Early acting work Her acting debut was in High (1989), a TV film her father directed, and after spending several summers watching her mother perform at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, Paltrow made her professional stage debut there in 1990. Her film debut followed with Shout (1991), starring John Travolta; and she was cast by Steven Spielberg in his film Hook (1991) as the young Wendy Darling. Paltrow's next roles were in the made-for-television movies Cruel Doubt (1992) and Deadly Relations (1993). Her first plum feature film role was in the noir drama Flesh and Bone (1993) as the much-younger girlfriend of James Caan. In 1995, she played Brad Pitt's wife in the hit thriller Se7en. Her performance earned her a Satellite Award nomination. Also in 1995, she appeared in Moonlight and Valentino and Jefferson in Paris. Breakthrough and film stardom In 1996, Paltrow played the title character in Emma to critical acclaim, particularly in the United Kingdom, where her perfection of the English accent was appreciated. She had leading roles in several films throughout 1998, including Sliding Doors and the adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations with Ethan Hawke, Robert De Niro, Anne Bancroft and Chris Cooper. She also appeared in two thrillers, Hush, opposite Jessica Lange, and A Perfect Murder, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder. In the latter film, Paltrow starred opposite Michael Douglas, playing Emily Taylor, who was based on Grace Kelly's character from the original film, though the film was met with mixed reviews. She was also considered for the role of Rose DeWitt Bukater in the 1997 film Titanic. In 1998, Paltrow starred in Shakespeare in Love, portraying the fictional lover of William Shakespeare, played by Joseph Fiennes. The film earned more than US$100 million in box office receipts in the United States, and Paltrow gained critical acclaim for her portrayal. Entertainment Weekly commented, "Best of all is Gwyneth Paltrow, who, at long last, has a movie to star in that's as radiant as she is." The New York Times summed up her performance as Viola thus: "Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great, fully realized starring performance, makes a heroine so breathtaking that she seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light." The award-winning Shakespeare in Love earned Paltrow the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and the Academy Award for Best Actress, among other honors. Her Pink Ralph Lauren dress worn at the 71st Academy Awards in collecting her Oscar was extremely popular and was credited for bringing pink back into fashion. Personal life At the age of 24, Paltrow was engaged for six months to actor Brad Pitt, whom she dated from December 1996 to June 1997. The engagement was called off, according to Paltrow, because she was not ready for marriage, and she later felt responsible for hurting Pitt since she was "such a mess" during that time in her life. Paltrow has since said that, as this was her first high-profile relationship with another celebrity, it taught her the need for public discretion about her romantic life; she told Biography magazine, "I said things about being in a relationship [with Brad Pitt] that felt wrong to me even as I was saying them." Paltrow had an on-off three-year relationship with actor Ben Affleck from 1997 to late 2000. Soon after their breakup, Paltrow persuaded Affleck to work in the film Bounce with her; during the making of the film, which was shot in mid-1999, the couple started dating again and eventually broke up in October 2000. In October 2002, Paltrow met Chris Martin of the British rock group Coldplay backstage three weeks after the death of her father, Bruce Paltrow. They married on December 5, 2003, in a ceremony at a hotel in Southern California. The couple have two children together: Apple Blythe Alison Martin (b. 2004) and Moses Bruce Anthony Martin (b. 2006). Paltrow explained Apple's very unusual first name on Oprah, saying: "It sounded so sweet and it conjured such a lovely picture for me – you know, apples are so sweet and they're wholesome and it's biblical – and I just thought it sounded so lovely and … clean! And I just thought, 'Perfect!'." She explained her son's first name came from the song, titled "Moses", that her husband wrote for her before their wedding.  Paltrow's father came from a long line of influential Eastern European rabbis, and that inspired Paltrow to raise her daughter and son in a Jewish environment. Paltrow has stated, "if you could see how much food I make – I am the original Jewish mother". Paltrow cut down on work after becoming a mother. She also suffered from postpartum depression after the 2006 birth of her son. In March 2014, Paltrow announced that she and Martin had separated after ten years of marriage, describing the process as "conscious uncoupling". In August 2014, Paltrow started dating Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk.