Movie Stars

Whichever business you get into, the fact remains that it's tough to mark your spot and get noticed. Even in Hollywood, a good resume is an actor's most powerful tool in snagging the best roles. Being called "Academy Award Winner" could bring glitter to an actor's resume. Everybody just wants to join the ranks of Merryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. But throughout history, contrary to what is expected, there were quite a number of actors whose career suffered a major setback after winning an Oscar. Critics are calling it the "Oscar Jinx."

We were all impressed with Hilary Swank's daring performance as a woman living a man's life in Boys Don't Cry. After bagging an Oscar Best Actress for the role, Swank was elevated as one of the best actresses of her generation. The only memory I had of her prior to Boys Don't Cry was in the movie The Next Karate Kid over a decade ago. She was supposed to have to great career after the Oscar win, but ended up portraying "nowhere" roles in The Gift, The Affair of the Necklace, The Core, and Insomnia. Thank God for Clint Eastwood, she was again honored by the Academy for Million Dollar Baby. But Clint had her play a boxer in the movie, basically a another guy role. What's with Swank and guy roles?! I know she has a face of a guy, but with her acting prowess she should not be typecasted in guy roles. Good thing Daniel Craig was there. Swank was so good in guy roles she can play James Bond, and could even win an Oscar.

Over the past four decades, only two Bond Girls went on to win an Oscar. Kim Basinger was in the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again opposite Sean Connery. She won an Oscar for playing a Veronica Lake look-alike prostitute in LA Confidential. But after that, she starred in forgettable films like I Dreamed of Africa, Bless the Child, and Cellular. Even re teaming with her LA Confidential director Curtis Hanson for the movie 8 Mile failed to revive her career. She was Eminem's mother, for Pete's sake! Same was the case with Halle Berry. She was the first African-American Oscar Best Actress, winning for the film Monster's Ball. Then we learned that Halle can act, apart from being sexy and pretty, which obviously was her ticket to becoming a Bond Girl in Die Another Day opposite Pierce Brosnan. But she has yet to find a role that would showcase her acting talent the way Monster's Ball did. Too bad for Halle, because of Catwoman, she turned from Oscar winner to Razzie winner. Sometimes, winning an Oscar can do more harm than good to an actor's career.

A child star with genuine mature acting prowess, that's how I describe Dakota Fanning. Well, I am just her number one fan. Considered to be one of Hollywood's finest actors, Dakota is today's most sought-after child performer. Catch the film "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story," which also features Kurt Russel, and you would see what I mean. You surely can't help but be moved by this child's rousing and sensitive acting.

Dakota's first acting career experience is on the location of NBC's primetime drama, "ER". Her role here was a child with leukemia and indeed, her co-actors immediately saw the potential of the child as the next big thing in Hollywood. She got her first acting award because of the film, "I Am Sam", with Sean Penn as his opposite star. Critics truly admire up to now the child's amiable and witty personality.

This child wonder had also worked with a lot of big personalities in the film industry. Besides Kurt Russel and Sean Penn, she had also starred opposite Denzel Washington in "Man on Fire" and then, worked with director Steven Spielberg in the blockbuster, "War of the Worlds". Her next movie is the remake of the novel "Charlotte's Web," which also features actress Julia Roberts.

After winning an Academy award last March, Reese Witherspoon becomes the highest paid actress of all time in Hollywood, a record previously held by superstar and fellow Oscar-winner Julia Roberts.

Witherspoon, 30, just commanded a whopping $29 million (£17 million) talent fee to play the lead part in the upcoming horror film OUR FAMILY TROUBLE. The film is currently in production and is set for 2007 release to which she will play a mother fighting demonic disturbances. In addition to starring, she will also co-produce the said movie. The last to be the highest paid movie actress was Julia Roberts who was paid $24 million for starring as a 1950's free-thinking art professor in the 2003 movie Mona Lisa Smile.

Roberts, 38, won a Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for her title role in Erin Brockovich. She's very well known in movies like the romantic comedies Pretty Woman and My Best friend's Wedding, and the blockbusters Notting Hill, American Sweethearts, Ocean's 11, and it's sequel Ocean's 12. On the other hand, Witherspoon was named this year's Best Actress by the Academy for her portrayal of the late country music icon June Carter in the movie Walk The Line, to which she co-starred with Joaquin Phoenix who played Carter's music partner and husband, Johnny Cash. She's also noted for other films namely Legally Blonde and its sequels, Vanity Fair, and Just Like Heaven.

Have you ever wondered what films raked in the most profits in the history of the United States? Some films actually didn't have to be excellently produced but considering the economic factor of say, the Depression era compared to the affluence of the 1990s there's no wonder that the top ranking moneymakers are just products of the last decade.

Titanic made it to the top. Young and old have marveled at the cinematic effects, have been amazed at the teasing trailers and were captured emotionally by the drama of this tragic film. It grossed some $600 M. It was followed by Star Wars (1977), Shrek 2 (2004), E.T (1982), Star Wars Episode I- The Phantom Menace (1999), Spiderman (2002), Star Wars Episode 3 (2005), Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Spiderman 2 (2004) and the Passion of the Christ (2004) on the Top Ten spots respectively.