Curated playlist

21st-century American women writers

Cameron DiazCameron Diaz had never acted a day in her life when she auditioned for The Mask at the age of 21. The part was Tina Carlyle, a jazz singer, and she won it. Only after the casting did she begin taking acting lessons. Diaz was born in 1972,…
Lady GagaLady Gaga's name may have come from a phone typo. Producer Rob Fusari said autocorrect turned "Radio Ga Ga" into "Lady".
BeyoncéOn the 13th of December 2013, Beyoncé released a complete album on the iTunes Store with no warning and no promotion. Within six days it had sold one million digital copies, a record for any album on iTunes at the time. The artist behind…
Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
Retha WarnickeHistorian Retha Warnicke argues Anne Boleyn was born in 1507, not 1501. Most historians long assumed the earlier date.
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
Joan WaughHistorian Joan Waugh has spent her career defending Ulysses Grant's reputation. She teaches Civil War history at UCLA.
Anna FarisAnna Faris, the American actress and comedian, spent part of her childhood imagining that her orthodontic retainer could talk to her. She pictured herself on talk shows, explaining that talking retainer to the host. Today her films as a…
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie has appeared in films that grossed more than $6.9 billion worldwide, and Hollywood has named her its highest-paid actress several times. As a teenager, though, she took at-home courses on embalming because she hoped to…
Andrea BartzAndrea Bartz is an American writer of mystery and thriller novels. Her name now appears in a courtroom fight over how machines learn to write. The case turned on a simple question with a hard answer. Can a company teach its software by…
Alanis MorissetteAlanis Morissette recorded a demo cassette in August 1989 and sent it to Geffen Records. The tape has never been heard. It was stolen, along with other records, in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989. Whatever it held is…
Paris HiltonParis Hilton became so inescapable in 2007 that parts of the American press tried to stop mentioning her. The Associated Press attempted to leave her out for the week of the 19th of February 2007. On the 26th of June 2007, host Mika…
Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis accepted a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in September 2021, and she did not sound like a person winding down. "I feel so alive, like I'm this 14-year-old person just…
Miley CyrusMiley Cyrus was eight years old when she grabbed her father's arm in a Toronto theatre. In 2001 the family lived in Toronto while Billy Ray Cyrus filmed the television series Doc. He took her to see a Mirvish production of Mamma Mia! at…
Cardi BCardi B reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated the 25th of September 2017, with a song called "Bodak Yellow." No solo female rapper had topped that chart since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998. The woman behind…
Stevie NicksStevie Nicks, born Stephanie Lynn Nicks on the 26th of May 1948, could not pronounce her own name as a toddler. The best she could manage was "tee-dee", and that slip turned into the nickname Stevie. Decades later, Rolling Stone placed her…
Dolly PartonDolly Parton refused to give Elvis Presley half the publishing rights to "I Will Always Love You."
Megyn KellyMegyn Kelly stood on a rally stage in Pittsburgh on the 4th of November 2024, one day before the presidential election, and endorsed Donald Trump. She told the crowd he would be a "protector" of women. Afterward she posted a selfie with…
Julia AngwinFive of Julia Angwin's seven editorial colleagues quit when she was dismissed from her own newsroom.
Joan BaezJoan Baez was singing at a music festival called Bratislavská lýra in Communist Czechoslovakia in May 1989 when someone cut off her microphone. From the stage, she had just greeted members of Charter 77, a dissident human-rights group.…
Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor Greene walked onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on her first day in office wearing a face mask that read “Trump Won.” Donald Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. The mask told…
Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
Courtney LoveCourtney Love walked on stage at the Reading Festival on the 26th of August 1994 as the singer of Hole. It was her first public performance since the death of her husband, the Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. MTV called the set "by turns…
Sally RideSally Ride quietly passed along the key clue to what caused the Challenger explosion.
Diane KeatonDiane Keaton was born Diane Hall, but she gave up that surname before her career took off, because another actress was already registered under it. She chose her mother's maiden name instead. The new name would be credited in films across…
Gillian AndersonGillian Anderson was arrested on her graduation night. She had broken into her own high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hoping to glue the locks of its doors shut. Her classmates had voted her "class clown," "most bizarre girl" and "most…
Leslye HeadlandLeslye Headland once served as Harvey Weinstein's personal assistant. She later turned that job into a play, Assistance.
Kristi NoemKristi Noem left college at 22 to run her late father's ranch. She later became South Dakota's governor.
Angela DavisAngela Davis was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, then acquitted by an all-white jury.
Elinor OstromUCLA rejected Elinor Ostrom's economics application for lacking math. She later won a Nobel Prize in economics.
Melissa DellMelissa Dell compared Peruvian communities on either side of an old forced-labor boundary. Gaps lasted centuries.
Lisa Marie PresleyLisa Marie Presley was nine years old in August 1977 when her father, Elvis, died and left her a share of his estate. The will made her a joint heir beside two much older relatives: her 61-year-old grandfather, Vernon, and her 87-year-old…
Daryl HannahDaryl Hannah, born in Chicago on the 3rd of December 1960, once chained herself to a walnut tree and stayed there for three weeks. The tree stood on a farm in South Central Los Angeles. Most audiences knew her from the screen instead. She…
Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt sings harmony on Under African Skies, a track on Paul Simon's album Graceland, and its second verse contains a line written for her. The line reads, "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona...." Simon's tribute suits a…