Anne Hathaway - Top American Actress

 Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries (2001). Over the next three years, Hathaway reprised that role for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and starred in family films, appearing as the title character in Ella Enchanted, both in 2004. Hathaway is also an Emmy winning actress for her voice-over performance in The Simpsons.

Hathaway had dramatic roles in Havoc and Brokeback Mountain, both in 2005. She starred in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and in Becoming Jane (2007) as Jane Austen. In 2008, she was acclaimed for her lead role in Rachel Getting Married, for which she won awards and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2010, she starred in the box office hits Valentine's Day and Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, as well as Love and Other Drugs. In 2011, she had a voice role in the animated film Rio and starred in Lone Scherfig's adaptation of One Day. She is scheduled to play Selina Kyle (Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

People magazine named her one of its breakthrough stars of 2001, and she first appeared on its list of the world's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2006.

 

Career

Hathaway's first role in a motion picture was opposite Christopher Gorham in Walt Disney's drama film The Other Side of Heaven (2001), inspired by John H. Groberg's memoirs In the Eye of the Storm. Before production of the film, she was cast alongside Julie Andrews in the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in another Disney production, the comedy film The Princess Diaries, based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name. Directed by Garry Marshall, Hathaway auditioned for the role of a princess-to-be during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand and garnered the role after only one audition. She won the role over 500 other girls. Released prior to The Other Side of Heaven in hopes that its success would increase interest in Heaven, The Princess Diaries became a major commercial success, grossing US$165 million worldwide. Many critics praised Hathaway's performance, with a BBC critic noting that "Hathaway shines in the title role and generates great chemistry." Also released in 2001, The Other Side of Heaven, directed by Mitch Davis, met with mostly negative reviews, but it performed well for a religion-themed film.

In February 2002, Hathaway starred in the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! in her New York City stage debut, receiving positive reviews for her portrayal of Lili. Also in 2002, Hathaway began voicing the audio book releases of The Princess Diaries and has since voiced the first three books of the series. She also provided the voice of the character Haru in the English version of Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns.

Hathaway continued to appear in family-oriented films over the next three years, subsequently becoming known in mainstream media as a children's role model. In 2002, she appeared in Douglas McGrath's comedy-drama Nicholas Nickleby, opposite Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell, which opened to positive reviews. The Deseret News said that the cast was "Oscar-worthy". Despite critical acclaim, the film never entered wide release and failed at the North American box office, totaling less than $4 million in ticket sales. Hathaway's next film role was as the titular character in the rom-com fantasy film Ella Enchanted (2004), a loose adaption of Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel of the same name, which opened to mostly indifferent reviews. Hathaway sang two songs in the film as well as three on the soundtrack, including a duet with singer Jesse McCartney.

In 2003, Hathaway dropped out of her role in Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera (2004), because the production schedule of the film overlapped with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which she was contractually obligated to make.[26] Disney began production on The Princess Diaries 2 in early 2004, and it was released in August of that year. The film opened to negative reviews, but made $95.1 million against a $40 million budget.

Relationship with Raffaello Follieri

In 2004, Hathaway began a relationship with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri. During their relationship, Hathaway took part in the development of the charitable Follieri Foundation, serving as a financial donor as well as a member of the foundation's board of directors until 2007. A Manhattan-based charity founded in 2003 focusing on programs such as providing vaccinations for children in Third World nations, the organization had come under investigation in June 2008 by the IRS, for failing to file the tax papers required from non-profit organizations. Citing the fear that this and other ongoing legal issues involving Follieri would become detrimental to her acting career, Hathaway ended her relationship with him in mid-June 2008.

Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme in which Follieri posed as the Vatican's point man on real estate investing. It was reported that the FBI confiscated Hathaway's private journals from Follieri's New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri's activities; however, Hathaway was not charged with any crime. On October 23, 2008, after earlier pleading guilty, Follieri was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

In the October 2008 issue of W Magazine, Hathaway spoke for the first time of the break-up and Follieri's subsequent arrest. She related that she "spent a week in shock" after Follieri's arrest, and credited the kindness of friends for her ability to keep working during such difficult times. That same month, during her turn as host of Saturday Night Live, Hathaway joked about the experience in her opening monologue.
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Posted in: American Celebrities