HE daughter of free-lovin', counterculture types who named her after the Minnesota town in which she was born (and she's the lucky one—her siblings are named Yuri, Sunyata, and Jubal), Winona Horowitz enjoyed what you'd call an unorthodox childhood—the Horowitz clan's idea of family bonding was a good-and-rowdy protest against Agent Orange. It will come as no surprise then, that her godfather was the late L.S.D. guru, Dr. Timothy Leary (Winona's father, Michael, formerly served as Leary's archivist and ran a bookstore called Flashback Books—need we say more?), or that Beat poet Allen Ginsberg rounded out her parents' circle of friends. Winona hastens to explain when asked about her rather nontraditional upbringing that her parents are politically active intellectuals, and not acid-dropping, Grateful Dead-dogging clichés. Leary himself summed them up as "hippie intellectuals and psychedelic scholars," a judgment bolstered by the fact that the couple collaborated on a book detailing Aldous Huxley's psychedelic experiences, and then co-authored a book alleging that Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women while dosed up on opium. Growing up in a house where a high value was placed on reading, Winona's bible became J.D. Salinger's coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye. With a world view shaped by such iconoclastic parents and an idol the likes of Holden Caulfield, it's little wonder that Winona would one day prove so deft at portraying offbeat characters.When she was 7 years old, Winona's family repaired to an upscale commune located on a 300-acre plot of land in the northern California town of Elk, where they coexisted with seven other families and a bunch of horses. The kids obviously didn't have televisions (after all, they had no electricity in their homes), but Winona's mother operated a movie theatre in an old barn, where she screened the classic films that provided her enthralled daughter with the key to her future. After a year of living in the sticks, the family moved back to the relative civilization of Petaluma, California. During her first week at her new school, Winona, a fresh-off-the-commune tomboy, was jumped by a gang of pubescent thugs who proceeded to trounce her good for being such an obvious wuss. ("They thought I was a gay boy," she has offered by way of explanation.) The unfortunate thrashing yielded fortunate results: Ryder earned a stint of home study, but more importantly, her parents let her enroll in acting classes at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where bullies were few and far between. Talent scouts spotted her on the A.C.T. stage and had her test for the role of Jon Voight's daughter in Desert Bloom. She didn't get the part, but her audition was impressive enough to gain her representation by Triad Artists, which set her up with a role as a poetry-loving teen in Lucas (1986). When the credits rolled, Winona Horowitz officially became Winona Ryder; her new surname was inspired by a Mitch Ryder album belonging to her father.Ryder's memorable performance in the generally unmemorable film led in turn to a role in the treacly and little-heeded Square Dance (1987); her next role as an anti-war activist in the critically reviled 1969 was certainly nothing to write Petaluma about, either. Ryder's career tide finally turned for the better with Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988), in which she played a death-courting, black-garbed teen named Lydia, who understandably has more in common with the ghosts in the attic (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) than with her own truly insufferable parents. She again plumbed the darker teenage impulses in the black-as-coal comedy Heathers (1989)—to date, the favorite film of her prodigious career—which had her conspiring with a preternaturally sardonic Christian Slater to murder members of high school cliques and then make the deaths appear to be suicides. That same year, she turned in a fine performance (in a not-so-fine movie) as the 13-year-old bride and first cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, in Great Balls of Fire! Her next few films flopped, as well, but one thing was becoming certain: Ms. Ryder had the warped teen thang pretty well nailed. For Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, she donned an ill-conceived blonde wig to play a more conventional teen—a cheerleader no less—swept up in an unconventional beauty-and-the-Beast attraction with a bizarre creature played winningly by Ryder's then-fiancé, Johnny Depp. While the film certainly was the most auspicious outing of her career up to that point, the fact remained that Ryder was fed up with playing a teenager, forever poised tremulously on the cusp of maturity.Independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch helped bridge the generation gap somewhat by writing a special part for Ryder in his anthology Night on Earth, in which she played an L.A. cabbie who dreams of becoming a mechanic. On the maturity scale, the film was a baby step, to be sure. Ryder would have made a far greater stride in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Part III, but she was forced to withdraw from the production due to a respiratory infection brought on by exhaustion; her departure from the project led to a particularly unfortunate casting choice of the director's daughter Sofia, an inexperienced and ultimately inept substitute.Luckily, Ryder and Coppola's dealings were far from completed. After signing with Creative Artists Agency, where she had the foresight to reserve the right to review all scripts submitted to the agency, Ryder latched onto a promising screenplay based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. She approached Coppola with the script, and the rest is movie history. Coppola's decadent and erotic Bram Stoker's Dracula provided Ryder with the break she had been looking for: finally, for the first time in her career, she was playing a mature woman, and what's more, the woman in question was the object of the immortal count's blood-soaked desire. Ryder also managed a fairly convincing British accent (the same could not be said for co-star Keanu Reeves), but not everyone was convinced that she pulled the role off. If critics were divided on the ultimate effectiveness of Ryder's performance in the film, they were in absolute agreement over her Oscar-nominated supporting turn as May Welland in The Age of Innocence, a film adapted from Edith Wharton's merciless portrait of 19th-century New York aristocracy.In 1994, Ryder stepped out of her crinolines to achieve iconic status as the quintessential Gen-Xer in Reality Bites, held her own in a cream-of-the-crop cast in the butchered adaptation of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, and then capped off the year with an Oscar-nominated (this time in the Best Actress contest) performance as Jo March in Little Women. Ryder dedicated the latter film to Polly Klaas, a young girl from Ryder's hometown who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in 1993. (At the time of the crime, Ryder put up a $200,000 reward for information leading to the child's attacker, and she continues to be a strong supporter of the Polly Klaas Foundation.) With the delicate, ethereal beauty of a consumptive heroine of yore, and an impressive range, Ryder has already proven herself to be one of the most luminous and successful interpreters of the 19th century. But considering her card-carrying Generation-X status, her well-publicized love history (which includes steamy chapters titled "Johnny Depp," "Christian Slater," "Daniel Day-Lewis," "David Pirner," "David Duchovny," "David Pirner, Part II," "Matt Damon," "Chris Noth," and "Beck"), and her equal virtuosity at playing latter-day leads (as evidenced in 1995's How To Make an American Quilt), Ryder is undoubtedly very present in the present. In 1996, she rounded out the star-studded cast of Al Pacino's Looking for Richard, playing lady Anne in Al Pacino's documentary about performing William Shakespeare's Richard III; and she reunited with her Age of Innocence co-star and ex-flame Daniel Day-Lewis in an adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Ryder next tested the limits of time, space, and believability, with Alien Resurrection, in which she aids Sigourney Weaver's reanimated Ripley in battling aliens, and 1998 brought a role as an irresponsible actress in Woody Allen's Celebrity and another high-profile romance, in the person of Matt Damon. James Mangold's 1999 adaptation of the Susanna Kaysen novel girl, Interrupted earned Ryder both a headlining role and an executive producer credit.

Yamila was born in Argentina and is the daughter of a physician father and her mother is a health care manager. She is of Lebanese and Spanish descent, and Yamila has two sisters, Maria and Yael. Yamila was raised in Argentina, with no original intention to become a model. Everything changed for her when she was spotted by a modeling agent in Buenos Aires, where Yamila was an Economics student. Yamila as the young Argentinean, has gone from an unknown beauty frolicking on an Uruguayan beach in 1996, to one of World's prettiest, sought after models. She is the new spokesperson for Cover girl, and is a regular in the most recent Victoria's Secret catalogues. Yamila has been a cover girl for Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Glamour and Elle. She was the first Latina spokesperson in Cover girl history. Since it was luck that got her to where she is, Yamila has never allowed herself to develop the diva attitude many models are known for, despite the glamorous life she now leads. It took a while for the exotic beauty to break through, and she started off by doing department store catalogues for several years. After her work in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar in 1999, Yamila skyrocketed to supermodel status. Everyone from Glamour to Cosmopolitan took notice, as did the people at Victoria's Secret. After Yamila modeled lingerie for their provocative catalogue, it was no secret that Yamila would appear on the cover of magazines worldwide. Since Yamila's swimsuit and lingerie modeling stint, she has graced the covers of Marie Claire, Elle, the European editions of Max, GQ and Shape. Yamila has also joined the beautiful models for the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. In addition to her work with the Newport News catalogue, Yamila has recently appeared as one of the newest "Cover girl" models, joining Niki Taylor, and has also appeared in ads for Replay jeans, Ungaro's "Fleur de Diva" perfume, and Italian cosmetics "Bio-Etyc". Yamila currently resides in Manhattan, with her boyfriend, Italian artist, Giuliano Trivia.

Erika Eleniak was born on 29 September, 1969 in a small suburb of Los Angeles called Glendale. Her great grand-father who was of Ukrainian descent, gave her, her name. Her parents divorced soon after her birth. When Erika Eleniak was around ten years old, her father (whose dreams of becoming an actor proved unsuccessful) was going out with a woman who worked in film production. She helped Erika on the way to becoming an actress, and Erika started out by modelling for a children's clothing label. When she moved into adolescence she was appearing in advertisements for shampoo and motorcycles. But Erika Eleniak was slowly beginning to get in the alcohol and drugs scene. Erika's chance of salvation from this cycle came at seventeen when she met Steve Ferguson by chance on a Santa Monica beach. When she was eighteen, Steve signed her up to Alcoholics Anonymous and even helped her through detoxification. However Steve and Erika's relationship became complicated when Steve's father Robert married Erika's mother. There was talk of Erika marrying Steve, but she never did. In 1989 when Erika Eleniak was twenty she asked Steve to put her in contact with a Playboy photographer, as she wanted to appear in Playboy. The photographer accepted Erika Eleniak, and she appeared in the July 1989 issue of Playboy in a series of provocative photos on nautical studies. The year of 1989 proved to be a very important year in Erika's life. She won the role of Shauni McClain in the Baywatch television series which would bring her international fame. While working on the series, Erika Eleniak met Billy Warlock who played Eddie Kramer on the show. Neither of them were single, but their friendship began to slowly turn into love. In fact, he was the reason that Erika left the show after only two seasons. But their relationship eventually fizzled out, perhaps because Billy confessed: "I can't bear anyone else to see her body". Erika's return to the movie scene was impressive. In 1992, she was once again bought to public attention in the movie "Under Siege" with Steven Seagal. The film was a major success. Erika Eleniak was later seen in "Chasers", with a scene that seemed to make an impression on most of the male population of the United States. Her partner in this film, William McNamara, was also her partner in life at the time. Erika soon filmed another movie with William called "A girl in the Cadillac". After Erika and Williams relationship ended, she was quoted as saying: "I go out a lot with many different friends, but there isn't one that I would want to marry. Yet, I would like to get married. I can easily imagine myself living on a ranch in Montana with a family." Meanwhile, Erika was still filming. She was in "Bordello of Blood", "Panic in the Park" and "87th Precinct: Heatwave". Then in 1997 she met Philip Goglia and the two got married in the beginning of March, 1998. Erika's latest films are Second to Die where she played Sara, and The Opponent in which she played Patty. Both movies were released in 2000.

Eva Mendes, also given credit as Eva Mendez was born in Houston, Texas on March 5, 1978. He parents are both Cubans, and contributed to an interesting childhood that saw Eva move to Miami and then Los Angeles, when she was still a young girl. A fiercely independent actress who refuses to be pressed into a conventional mode or typecast, Eva Mendez was studying marketing in the late '90s when an agent stumbled across her photo while perusing Mendez's neighbor's portfolio. Eva Mendes kicked off her acting career in an Aerosmith video. The 25-year-old resident of Los Angeles hadn't considered acting as a career until two and a half years ago, and has never taken an acting class. As the classic Hollywood story goes, she was discovered because her neighbour, a photographer, had her photo in his portfolio and it caught the eye of an agent. Dropping out of school soon after being randomly discovered by an agent, Mendez appeared in a few made-for-television productions and hammed it up with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in A Night at the Roxbury before being cast in a prominent role in Urban Legends: Final Cut. She was thrilled about the opportunity to play a lesbian Latina, but she is still seeking the role that will challenge her as well as her viewers. After spending the last part of the 1990s in TV roles, music videos and small parts in movies such as A Night at Roxbury and Exit Wounds (both 1998), Eva Mendes had a career breakthrough co-starring with Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001, with Ethan Hawke). Since then she's been one busy, sexy actor in half a dozen movies, including 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003, starring Paul Walker), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003, with Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp) and Out of Time (2003, also with Denzel Washington) and Stuck on You (2003, with Matt Damon). Recently Eva played an FBI agent in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). She is writing a children's book, "Crazy Leggs Beshee." Inspired by her nieces and nephews, she wants to introduce vocabulary, art, history and values through a medium kids understand.

Eva Herzigova was born on March 10, 1973, in Litvinov of the Czech Republic. Her mother was a secretary and her father worked as an electrician in a mining company. Both parents stressed the importance of hard work, dedication and perseverance. Even after Eva Herzigova landed her modeling contract, they encouraged her to have something to fall back on, just in case modeling did not work out for her. Growing up in a Northern Czechoslovakian village, modeling was the furthest thing from Eva's mind. She was active in many sports, such as gymnastics, basketball, track, and cross-country skiing. Ironically, Eva Herzigova always felt that her sister was the one destined to become a model. On a visit to Prague with her parents, the 16-year-old Eva met a friend who told her about a modeling contest organized by Metropolitan Models, a French modeling agency. Since her sister was not interested, Eva entered the contest herself. She went on to win the contest, marking the start of her illustrious career. Within six months, she was whisked off to Paris and from from that point on, modeling became her focus in life. Initially, the adjustment was quite difficult. Eva Herzigova had never taken any modeling lessons and had no experience. To make matters worse, she never had much exposure in fashion magazines in her hometown, making her future even more uncertain. She felt quite uncomfortable during her early photo sessions and did not like that the stylists, make-up artists and camera crew would stare at her for hours. Nonetheless, the past few years have been kind to Eva Herzigova, as she has found a home in front of the camera, preferring photo sessions to fashion shows. "I love photo sessions. I'm alone, I'm the queen, everyone's taking care of me," she says, laughing. Eva has been referred to as the Marilyn Monroe of the 90's and advertisers have been quick to use this to their advantage. She followed in the footsteps of Claudia Schiffer as the Guess? girl in 1992, which garnered her worldwide exposure. Next on her list was a cover for Elle magazine and the opportunity to become the spokesperson for Wonderbra. This career move, along with her perfect figure, have made her internationally famous. One of her most renowned ads, in which she appears scantily clad, has the tag line "Look Me In The Eyes"." If you have ever seen the ad, you would agree that this is easier said than done. She has also done work for Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated. Not only is Eva Herzigova beautiful and very likeable, she is intelligent and speaks four languages: English, Czech, Russian, and French. Her hobbies include pottery, horseback riding, reading, going to the movies, and riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle. She says she is lucky that she doesn't have a sweet tooth, but she loves French, Italian and Japanese cuisine. She hopes to pursue an acting career in the near future. Eva Herzigova has appeared in Jean-Marie Poire's film Les Anges Gardiens, starring Gerard Depardieu. She also appears in Ellen von Unwerth's film, Inferno.

Gwen Renee Stefani born October 3, 1969 is an American singer and the frontwoman of the band No Doubt. Stefani was born in Fullerton, California. Her brother Eric founded No Doubt in 1986 with John Spence, but eventually left the band to pursue a career on "The Simpsons". Gwen became the group's lead singer after original frontman John Spence committed suicide in December of 1987. Following the success of the band's 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, Stefani became highly popular and recognizable; the tension this produced with the other members of the band was touched on by their video for the song "Don't Speak". Many of the album's songs, including "Don't Speak", were inspired by her relationship and breakup with fellow band member Tony Kanal. On September 17, 2002, Stefani married Bush guitarist Gavin Rossdale. Thus far, her solo career has been most recognized for a pair of popular 2001 duets, the "Southside" remix with techno artist Moby and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with rapper Eve. In fact, Stefani became the first artist in history to win both Best Male video and Best Female video awards at the MTV VMA's, for "Southside" (credited as "Moby featuring Gwen Stefani") and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" (credited as "Eve featuring Gwen Stefani") respectively, both in 2001. Stefani is currently working on a solo record titled Love Angel Music Baby, scheduled for release on November 22nd/23rd in 2004. Gwen created a sucessful fashion line, named L.A.M.B, which showcases clothing which Gwen would wear herself. The line also includes handbags and purses. girls and young women who imitate Stefani's distinctive and trendsetting style of dress are sometimes referred to as "Gwenabees."

One of the most typically beautiful Italian girls, but also one of the last emerging Italian actresses especially in the fiction world, she became famous when she introduced the Sanremo Festival with Pippo Baudo, the king of Italian presenters. She is famous also for the TV series "Carabinieri" (2002), broadcast by Italian private television. Former top-model, who has dated Italian football star, Francesco Totti.

Lucy was born Lucille Frances Ryan on March 29, 1968, in Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand; she was the 5th of 7 children, of Frank (formerly the mayor of Mount Albert, is now the Chairman of Finance for Auckland City) and Julie Ryan (homemaker and an active volunteer in their community). Lucy enjoyed acting and appeared in many plays in high school. Later, she attended Auckland University and studied German, Italian and French for a year. She studied acting at the William Davis Center for Actors in Vancouver, Canada in 1991, under the direction of actor William Davis, also known as the "Cigarette Smoking Man" from the hit T.V. series The X-files. Lucy was chosen Mrs. New Zealand in 1989. She did a "really bad, cheesy commercial for travel" which led to her first real acting job in a New Zealand comedy troupe show called "Funny Business." Later, Lucy landed the job as co-host for Air New Zealand Holiday, a travel magazine. Lucy worked in numerous television and film productions. Finally, she got her breakout role of Lysia in "Hercules and the Amazon Women" (1994) (TV). Shortly thereafter, the producers needed someone to play Xena. Lucy, tall (5' 10-1/2"), athletic, with brown hair and blue eyes, was perfect for the part. But there was a snag: at first, the producers (what do they know?) did not want Lucy for the part of Xena-- after all, she had played a different character already. So, Lucy dyed her light hair a dark brown, making her look a bit different, and history was about to be made! Lucy, in her leather outfit and armed with her mighty Chakram, was thus cast in her signature roll of Xena in 3 episodes of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" (1995)-- "The Warrior Princess"; "The Gauntlet" and "The Unchained Heart"-- that would lead to her own spin-off series, "Xena: Warrior Princess" (1995). Although "Xena" immediately got a huge fan following in America, ironically "Xena" was not being shown in her native New Zealand, so Lucy did not achieve her tremendous popularity in her homeland until a bit later. Lucy made her Broadway debut playing Betty Rizzo in "Grease" from September to October, 1997. She has since appeared on The X-Files, The Bernie Mac Show, Just Shoot Me and Spiderman. She has done extensive charity work in support of breast cancer research, the prevention of child abuse, the acceptance of breast feeding, and the Starship Hospital Foundation, of which she is a board member. Recently, she retuned to her singing roots and embarked on a New Zealand performance tour with musician David Dobbyn. Lucy married executive producer Robert G. Tapert in Santa Monica, California on March 28, 1998. On October 16, 1999, they had a son, Julius Robert Bay Tapert, born in New Zealand. Although "Xena" has been canceled after a fantastic 6-year run, millions of Lucy Lawless fans know it is still just the beginning for her.