Man Crush Monday: Ed Sheeran

          He is Edward Christopher Sheeran, also known as Ed Sheeran. He is  is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Hebden Bridge, raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he moved to London in 2008 to pursue a musical career. In early 2011, Sheeran released an independent extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of both Elton John and Jamie Foxx. He then signed to Asylum Records. His debut album, +, containing the singles “The A Team” and “Lego House“, was certified quintuple platinum in the United Kingdom. In 2012, he won two Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. “The A Team” won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

           Sheeran began to become known abroad in 2012, in the United States he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift‘s fourth studio album, Red, and wrote songs for One Direction. “The A Team” was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards and he performed the song in duet with Elton John during the ceremony. He spent much of 2013 touring North America as the opening act for Swift‘s The Red Tour. His second studio album titled x (read as “multiply“) was released worldwide on 23 June 2014, charting at number one in the UK and US. He was nominated for Best New Artist at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

          Sheeran was born in Hebden Bridge near Halifax, West Yorkshire but moved to Framlingham, Suffolk as a child. His father, John Sheeran, is an art curator and lecturer. His mother, Imogen Lock, is a culture publicist-turned-jewellery designer. His parents ran the independent art consultancy, Sheeran Lock, from 1990 to 2010. Sheeran, the younger of two boys, has an older brother, Matthew, who is a classical composer and postgraduate music student.

           Sheeran‘s paternal grandparents were Irish and he was raised as a Roman Catholic. He sang in a local church choir from the age of four, learned guitar at a very young age, and began writing songs during his time at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. His early childhood memories include listening to Van Morrison during his trips to London with his parents and going to an intimate Damien Rice gig in Ireland when he was eleven. In addition to Rice, he has also cited The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Nizlopi and Eminem as his biggest musical influences. He is a patron of the Youth Music Theatre UK. He was accepted at the National Youth Theatre as a teenager.

          In 2012, Sheeran purchased a farm near Framlingham, Suffolk, which is currently undergoing renovation. He has stated that he hopes to raise a family there.  Sheeran lived between Hendersonville, Tennessee and Los Angeles for the duration of 2013. Sheeran is the second cousin of broadcaster Gordon Burns.

To know more about Ed Sheeran, just go here: http://www.edsheeran.com/splash/x-buy-us

Man Crush Monday: Ansel Elgort

          He is Ansel Elgort. He is an American actor, music producer, and DJ under the name “Ansølo“. As a film actor, he is known for playing Tommy Ross in Carrie (2013), Caleb Prior in Divergent (2014), and Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

           Elgort was born in New York City. His parents are Arthur Elgort, a photographer who has worked for Vogue, and Grethe Barrett Holby, an opera director. His father is of Russian Jewish descent, and his mother is of English, German, and Norwegian ancestry. His maternal grandmother, Aase-Grethe, was in the Norwegian resistance during World War II, and saved Norwegian Jewish children by moving them into neutral Sweden; because of these activities, she was imprisoned in a concentration camp.

           Elgort has two older siblings, Warren, a film editor, and Sophie, a photographer. At the age of nine, his mother took him to try out for School of American Ballet. He attended The Professional Performing Arts School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and Stagedoor Manor summer camp. Elgort started taking acting classes at the age of twelve and starred in his high school’s productions of Guys and Dolls and Hairspray.

           Elgort‘s acting career began through professional stage acting, in Regrets, by Matt Charman. His on-screen debut was a secondary role in the 2013 remake of Carrie. His first highly publicized role was in Divergent as Caleb, the brother of the protagonist, Tris, played by Shailene Woodley. The film, based on a popular young adult novel by Veronica Roth, was released on March 21, 2014.

          In May 2013, immediately after the filming of Divergent was completed, it was announced that Elgort would play Augustus Waters in the film adaptation of John Green‘s novel The Fault in Our Stars, opposite Woodley who would play Hazel Grace Lancaster. The film followed the story of Hazel, a teenage cancer patient, who is forced by her parents to attend a support group, where she subsequently meets and falls in love with Waters, an ex-basketball player and amputee. The film, directed by Josh Boone, was released on June 6, 2014.

            Elgort co-stars in the comedy film Men, Women & Children, directed by Jason Reitman and due to be released in October, 2014. On June 23, 2014, Deadline announced that Elgort had been cast in the titular role in Van Cliburn. Based on the biography by Howard Reich, the film will depict Van Cliburn‘s rise to fame in 1958 when, in the midst of the Cold War, Cliburn won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in piano – an extraordinary event, since Cliburn was from the USA. The adaptation will be produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, who also produced The Fault in our Stars.

         Elgort will reprise his role as Caleb Prior in Insurgent, the second film of the book series Divergent. Filming began on May 27, 2014, with a scheduled release date of March 20, 2015.

           Elgort is repped by CAA and Brookside Artist Management’s Emily Gerson Saines.

          Under the name “Ansølo“, Elgort created a SoundCloud account to publish electronic dance music, and he has remixed songs such as “Born to Die” by Lana del Rey. In a livestream in February 2014 he stated he had signed a record deal with Tom Staar‘s new label Staar Traxx.

           His first record “Unite” was released on April 21, 2014, and May 5, 2014 on iTunes. His second record, “Totem“, was released July 21 on Beatport and iTunes.

To know more about Ansel Elgort, just go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Elgort

Throwback Thursday: Rupert Grint

          He is Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint, also known as Rupert Grint. He is an English actor who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron Weasley at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group. From 2001 to 2011, he starred in all eight Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.

            Beginning in 2002, Grint began to work outside of the Harry Potter franchise, playing a co-leading role in Thunderpants. He has had starring roles in Driving Lessons, a dramedy released in 2006, and Cherrybomb, a small budgeted drama film of limited release in 2010. Grint co-starred with Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt in Wild Target, a comedy. His first project following the end of the Harry Potter series was the 2012 anti-war film, Into the White, in which he has a supporting role. In 2013, Grint‘s new film CBGB was released and he has been cast in CBS‘s new pilot Super Clyde. Grint made his stage debut in Jez Butterworth‘s Mojo in October 2013 at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

             Grint was born in Harlow, Essex, England. His mother, Joanne Grint (née Parsons), is a housewife, and his father, Nigel Grint, is a memorabilia dealer. Grint is the eldest of five siblings. He attended St Joseph’s Primary School, a Roman Catholic primary school in Hertford. While there, Grint took an avid interest in theatre. He started performing in school productions and joined the Top Hat Stage and Screen School, a local theatre group that cast him as a fish in Noah’s Ark and a donkey in another nativity play. He continued performing in school plays as he moved to Richard Hale School. However, Grint had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. At the age of 16, he left school to focus on his acting career. “I didn’t really like school that much,” the actor later commented.

             Like his character, he has arachnophobia, a fear of spiders. Grint bought an ice cream van as a way to fulfill a childhood desire from the money he made through acting. He is also involved with charity, having donated items such as clothes to charity auctions, as well as participating in the Wacky Rally in 2010 with James and Oliver Phelps, which raised money for Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He was one of more than 40 participants to produce designs for Chrysalis Collection for Keech Hospice Care in London. His piece, a painted butterfly, was auctioned off on eBay.com in March 2010.

           In May 2011, along with other celebrities, Grint took part in the ad campaign for “Make Mine Milk” to promote daily milk drinking. His ads can be seen on thousands of bus sides and posters across the United Kingdom. Grint supports Little Star Award since 2011 in support of Cancer Research UK, joining Leona Lewis among others. “I think that it’s wonderful that Cancer Research UK is helping to bring a little bit of magic to the children’s lives in this way,” said Grint.

To know more about Rupert Grint, just go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Grint

Throwback Thursday: Emma Watson

             She is Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson, also known as Emma Watson. She is an English actress and model. She rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series; she was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. She starred in all eight Harry Potter films, alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Watson‘s work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million. She made her modelling debut for Burberry‘s autumn/winter campaign in 2009. In October 2013, she was voted Sexiest Female Movie Star in a worldwide poll conducted by Empire magazine. In May 2014, BuzzFeed dubbed her the “most flawless woman of the decade“.

           In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in The Tale of Despereaux and the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes, which was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million. The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed more than US$86 million in worldwide sales. In 2012, she starred in Stephen Chbosky‘s film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and in 2014, she played Ila in Darren Aronofsky‘s biblical epic Noah.

          Watson was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2014. She helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for “gender equality“.

            After leaving school, Watson took a gap year to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows beginning in February 2009, but said she “definitely want[ed] to go to university”. The Providence Journal reported that Watson had confirmed that she had chosen Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. In March 2011, after 18 months at the university, Watson announced that she was deferring her course for “a semester or two.” Watson was a “visiting student” at Worcester College, Oxford, for the 2011–12 academic year. Watson told Ellen DeGeneres in March 2014 that she was “about to graduate” from Brown in May. She noted that it took five years to graduate instead of four because, due to her acting work, she “ended up taking two full semesters off”. On 25 May 2014, Watson graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and released a cap-and-gown photo on her Twitter account.

          In 2013, Watson became certified to teach yoga and meditation. She told Elle Australia that an uncertain future meant finding “a way to always feel safe and at home within myself. Because I can never rely on a physical place.”

          In January 2014, Watson began dating Oxford rugby player Matt Janney. Photographs published in September showed Watson moving items out of her London home with Janney‘s help.

           Watson joined Judi Dench, Robert Downey Jr., Mike Leigh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mark Ruffalo as recipients of the 2014 Britannia Awards, presented on 30 October in Los Angeles. Watson won for British Artist of the Year and dedicated her award to Millie, her pet hamster who died as Watson filmed Philosopher’s Stone.

            Watson has promoted education for girls, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia to do so. In July 2014, she was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. In September that year, she delivered an address to a standing ovation at UN Headquarters in New York City, helping launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for gender equality. In that speech she said she knew she was a feminist at age eight when she was called “bossy” (a trait she has attributed to her being a “perfectionist”) whilst boys were not, and at 14 when she was “sexualised by certain elements of the press”. Watson‘s speech also called feminism “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities” and declared that the perception of “man-hating” is something that “has to stop”. Also in September Watson made her first country visit as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador to Uruguay, where she gave a speech that highlighted the need for women’s political participation.

To know more about Emma Watson, just go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Watson

Throwback Thursday: Daniel Radcliffe

           He is Daniel Jacob Radcliffe, also know as Daniel Radcliffe. He is an English actor who rose to prominence as the title character in the Harry Potter film series. He made his acting debut at 10 years of age in BBC One‘s 1999 television movie David Copperfield, followed by his film debut in 2001’s The Tailor of Panama. At age 11, he was cast as Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter film, and starred in the series for 10 years until the release of the eighth and final film in 2011.

           Radcliffe began to branch out to stage acting in 2007, starring in the London and New York productions of Equus, and in the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He starred in the 2012 horror film The Woman in Black, and played beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the 2013 independent film Kill Your Darlings. He has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children’s Hospice and The Trevor Project. He also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011, he was awarded the Trevor Project‘s “Hero Award.”

           In 2008, Radcliffe revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder developmental coordination disorder. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. “I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent,” Radcliffe commented. In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.

           In a 2012 interview, Radcliffe stated, “There was never [religious] faith in the house. I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I’m English.” He says that although he wasn’t brought up in the Jewish faith, “we were Christmas tree Jews”. He says that he was circumcised “as a baby, and it ended there”, that “my dad is also circumcised”, and that “even if my kids aren’t Jewish, I think I would have them circumcised”. Radcliffe has also stated that he is “very proud of being Jewish”. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked him Number 10 on its list of “the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish men in the world.” He has also said, “I’m an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation”, and in a separate interview, he stated; “I’m very relaxed about it [being an atheist]. I don’t preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch”

            Radcliffe is a supporter of the Labour Party. Until 2012 Radcliffe had publicly supported the Liberal Democrats, and before the 2010 general election, Radcliffe endorsed Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader. In 2012, however, Radcliffe switched his allegiance to Labour, citing disappointment with the performance of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems in government, and approving of the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. He is a supporter of a British republic. At the age of sixteen, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG). On 13 April 2006 his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre; it was then moved to the NPG where it resides.

            In November 2007 Radcliffe published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon – a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother’s maiden name Gresham – in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine. He has a close friendship with his Harry Potter co-stars Tom Felton and Emma Watson, and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.

                   Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe began filming public service announcements in 2009 for The Trevor Project, promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention. He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. “I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it,” he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career and, for his work for the organisation, he was given the “Hero Award” in 2011.

             Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed the Cu-Bed for Habitat‘s VIP Kids range (a cube made of eight smaller ones which can be made into a bed, chaise-longue or chair) with all the royalties from the sale of the bed going directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children’s Hospice in Sittingbourne, Kent. Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations, in lieu of Christmas presents to him, to the charity’s Candle for Care program. In 2008 he was among several celebrities who donated their old glasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust. During the Broadway run of Equus he auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for “thousands of dollars”, as well as other items worn in the show, for the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS “a New York-based nonprofit HIV/AIDS grant-making organisation”. He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.

           Sources disagree about Radcliffe‘s personal wealth; he was reported to have earned £1 million for the first Harry Potter film and around £15 million for the sixth. Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK. In March 2009 he was ranked number one on the Forbes “Most Valuable Young Stars” list, and by April The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK. Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England later that year. In February 2010 he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes ’​s December list of Hollywood’s highest-grossing actors with a film revenue of US$780 million, mainly due to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released that year.

           Radcliffe maintains a home in the West Village of Lower Manhattan in New York City. As of October 2012, Radcliffe has been dating Erin Darke, whom he met on the set of Kill Your Darlings.

To know more about Daniel Radcliffe, just go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Radcliffe

Man Crush Monday: Ed Westwick

           He is Edward Westwick, also known as Ed Westwick. He is  is an English actor and musician, known for his role as Chuck Bass on The CW‘s teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2012). He has also appeared in films such as S. Darko (2009), Chalet Girl (2011), J. Edgar (2011), and Romeo and Juliet (2013).

           Westwick fronted the British indie rock band The Filthy Youth, composed of himself, Ben Allingham, Jimmy Wright, Tom Bastiani, and John Vooght. The band, formed in 2006, was inspired by the Rolling Stones, The Doors and Kings of Leon. The songs “Come Flash All You Ladies” and “Orange” were both featured in an episode of Gossip Girl.

           Keen on football, Westwick is a Chelsea F.C. supporter. He is friends with footballer Charlie Henry.

           He shared an apartment with Gossip Girl co-star Chace Crawford in Chelsea, Manhattan at the beginning of the series in 2007 until July 2009 when Crawford moved out.

           What I loved about Ed Westwick was his nose, his jaw and his arrogant gay look. I just find him attractive by that.

To know more about Ed Westwick, just go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Westwick

Flashback Friday: Amy Winehouse

           She was Amy Jade Winehouse, aslo known as Amy Winehouse. She was an English singer-songwriter known for her deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul), rhythm and blues, jazz and reggae. Winehouse‘s 2003 debut album, Frank, was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to five 2008 Grammy Awards, tying the record at that time for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the general field “Big Four” awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

           Winehouse won three Ivor Novello Awards: in 2004, Best Contemporary Song for “Stronger Than Me“; in 2007, Best Contemporary Song again, this time for “Rehab“; and in 2008, Best Song Musically and Lyrically for “Love Is a Losing Game“. She won the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female artist, having also been nominated for Best British Album, with Back to Black.

           After years of abusing drugs, then alcohol, Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. Her album Back to Black posthumously became the UK’s best-selling album of the 21st century, at that point. In 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26^th on VH1‘s 100 Greatest Women In Music. The BBC has called her “the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation“.

           Her father published a biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter, in 2012 and all proceeds are donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the book’s introduction, he explained: “Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out.”

          A report in April 2013 announced that Winehouse will be the subject of a documentary to be directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

             An exhibit of Winehouse‘s personal items, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the London Jewish Museum until 15 September 2013. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions that were written by Winehouse‘s brother.

           There was talk in late 2011 of Amy‘s former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, developing a film about the late singer, but Amy‘s father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to Amy‘s music, said he would keep the songs from being included.

To know more about Amy Winehouse, just go here: http://www.amywinehouse.com/