Curated playlist

Actresses from Los Angeles

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,…
Kate HudsonKate Hudson reached the end of a long awards season in 2025 with a striking comparison. Her first brush with acclaim, she said, had felt like a "shock entrance, or invitation, into this world." This time was different. When you have been…
Kristen StewartKristen Stewart is an American actress and filmmaker who says she was never the child who dreamed of fame. She was not, in her words, the "I want to be famous, I want to be an actor" kid. Still, one small habit of celebrity came to her…
Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
Marilyn MonroeAn unimpressed studio head signed Marilyn Monroe specifically to keep her away from a rival studio.
Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynnMary Elizabeth McGlynn won a 2007 award for voicing Major Motoko Kusanagi.
Natalie PortmanNatalie Portman turned down a $2,000,000 prize in 2018. She skipped the Genesis Prize ceremony, and it was canceled.
Mila KunisMila Kunis was seven years old when she started school in Los Angeles without knowing a word of English. She has described how fast it all happened. "We arrived in New York on a Wednesday and by Friday morning my brother and I were at…
Brie LarsonBrie Larson's 2005 album Finally Out of P.E. sold only 3,500 copies. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
Meghan, Duchess of SussexMeghan, Duchess of Sussex, was eleven years old when she first tried to change how a major company addressed the public. She and her classmates wrote a letter to Procter & Gamble. They urged the company to make a dishwashing-soap…
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…
CherCher, the American singer and actress born Cheryl Sarkisian, first reached radio in 1964 with a record that programmers misjudged. The single was “Ringo, I Love You,” produced by Phil Spector and released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.…
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…
Kim KardashianIn November 2025, Kim Kardashian announced that she had failed her first attempt at the California Bar Exam. The news travelled quickly, because she is the eighth-most-followed individual on Instagram and the thirteenth-most-followed on…
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…
ZendayaAt 24, Zendaya became the youngest person ever to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She took the prize at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020, for her work in the HBO series Euphoria. Zendaya…
Margot RobbieMargot Robbie, born in Queensland on the 2nd of July 1990, owes the start of her career to a switchboard mistake. As a teenager she phoned the production company FremantleMedia every day. Then, as she told the story on The Graham Norton…
Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera sang "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the television contest Star Search in 1990 and was eliminated in the semi-final round. That loss decided nothing. She would go on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide, and…
Elizabeth OlsenElizabeth Olsen is an American actress who once considered dropping her surname. Her middle name, Chase, was the alternative she had in mind. The reason was simple. Her older sisters, the twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, were already…
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…
Zoey DeutchZoey Deutch is an American actress and producer, and her surname is pronounced DOYTCH. At the 2025 Cannes Film Festival she played the actress Jean Seberg in Nouvelle Vague. Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood called her terrific in the…
Lupita Nyong'oAfter her Oscar, Lupita Nyong'o says she was offered another slave role, this time on a slave ship.
Zoë KravitzZoë Kravitz was only two years old when her father put her name on a record. The song is called "Flowers for Zoë," and it appears on Mama Said, the second album by the musician Lenny Kravitz. He wrote it as a tribute to his young daughter.…
Zooey DeschanelZooey Deschanel was named after a character in a book. That character is Zooey Glass, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger's 1961 novella Franny and Zooey. The real Zooey was born on the 17th of January 1980 and grew up to become an American…
Catherine O'HaraCatherine O'Hara, the Canadian and American actress and comedian, became the first woman to win an individual Actor Awards trophy after her death. The prize honored her work on the Apple TV+ series The Studio, and the show's co-creator,…
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…
Nicole ScherzingerIn August 2003, Nicole Scherzinger walked into the Arista Records office in New York carrying a demo CD of songs she had written herself. She was performing under her Hawaiian family name, Nicole Kea, and she wanted a solo recording…
Jodie FosterJodie Foster was a teenager when she acted as a French interpreter at a press conference during the Cannes Film Festival. The film was Taxi Driver, which won the Palme d'Or that year, and the journalists in the room came away impressed. By…
Brenda SongBrenda Song was six years old when she and her mother left Carmichael, California, for Los Angeles. The move was meant to support her acting career. The rest of the family followed two years later. Song had been born in that Sacramento…
Olivia MunnOlivia Munn learned to perform as a way of protecting her siblings. When her stepfather was screaming in the living room, she hustled everyone into her bedroom and launched into imitations of teachers and scenes from movies. The act pulled…
Hailee SteinfeldHailee Steinfeld once ran a swear jar on a film set. During the making of True Grit, the harshest word cost its speaker five dollars, and other vulgarities cost a dollar each. Steinfeld fined herself fifty cents whenever she said the word…
Sydney SweeneySydney Sweeney is an American actress who once handed her parents a five-year business plan. The plan had one purpose: to win their permission for her to act. That detail says a lot about how she works. She treats a career as something to…