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For some actors, success just seems to come naturally. In the case of talented stage and screen beauty Kristen Bell, it wasn’t so much a matter of if she was going to be a star after realizing her dream during an early performance as a banana in Raggedy Ann and Andy at the tender age of 12 — but when she would finally make the big time. Paralyzed with stage fright as she waited for her cue off-stage, Bell was offered a word of encouragement by her supportive mother that would ultimately give her the drive to realize her life’s calling. A native of Detroit whose early stage experiences eventually led her to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bell saw her early dreams of on-stage success begin to come true when she was chosen to portray Becky Thatcher in a Broadway production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer shortly after arriving in the Big Apple.

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A beguiling dark-eyed beauty with a statuesque figure, Catherine Bell rose to prominance on the military-themed television series “JAG” (1995 -2005) as Maj. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie. Born in London, Bell emigrated to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two and began acting and modeling as a child. After a stint as a fashion model in Japan, Bell first got a foothold in Hollywood as a body double, performing a nude scene for Isabella Rossellini in director Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her” (1992). Small roles in TV movies, C-level action flicks, sydicated fare including “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and racy TV series such as HBO’s risque comedy “Dream On” and the erotic cable anthology “Hot Line”–which made great advantage of her enviable physique–followed.

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In the tradition of British female singer-songwriters Annie Lennox and Dido, Natasha Bedingfield brings lyrical honesty and vocal clarity to her music: not surprisingly, record buyers throughout Europe and beyond have responded to those qualities in droves. Album Unwritten – which Natasha described as ‘anthemic, quirky mixture of pop and soul’ – achieved triple platinum status in the UK, has gone double platinum in Ireland and gold in Singapore and South Africa while the infectious single These Words has been a major hit in almost a dozen countries from Australia to New Zealand (her parents native land). Natasha is also nominated for four coveted BRIT awards this year in the categories of British Female Solo Artist, British Breakthrough Artist, Best single and Best Pop Act.

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Petite and pretty, with dark hair, pale skin and flashing eyes, Kate Beckinsale made a strong film debut as the virginal Hero in Kenneth Branagh’s sun-dappled adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing” (1993). Although she was a screen novice, the actress projected the requisite intelligence and star quality that deemed her one to watch. As the daughter of comic Richard Beckinsale (who died when she was five years old) and actress Judy Loe, it was perhaps inevitable that she would eventually find her way to the limelight. Beckinsale, however, spent a good portion of her teen years struggling with an eating disorder (of which she has spoken frankly in interviews) before she decided to try her hand at acting. After a bit part in the BBC mystery “Devices and Desires” (1991), she landed the pivotal role of the rebellious daughter of a British woman (Judy Davis) involved with the French Resistance during WWII in “One Against the Wind” (CBS, 1991). Once she had become established as an ingenue with “Much Ado About Nothing”, Beckinsale carefully crafted a career path that would not find her typecast.

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Initially cast for her extraordinary beauty, Emmanuelle Béart has emerged over the years as one of France’s preeminent actresses. The blonde, sapphire-eyed Béart first gained notice for her starring role in Manon des Sources, for which she won a Best Supporting Actress César, and went on to gain further respect with her roles in such films as La belle noiseuse, Un Coeur en Hiver, and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud.

The daughter of pop singer and poet Guy Béart, Béart was born on August 14, 1965 in the small southern town of Gassin, near St. Tropez. Following her parents’ divorce when she was very young, Béart and her siblings were raised by her mother in a small mountain village in Provence. Béart began acting at a young age and had her first substantial role as one of a group of children struggling to survive after a nuclear holocaust in Demain les Momes (1976). A subsequent stint as an au pair in Montreal led to a chance meeting with director Robert Altman, who wanted the unknown actress to appear in one of his upcoming films and encouraged her to continue acting. The planned collaboration never came to fruition, and, after returning to France, where she began taking drama classes, Béart won her breakthrough role as the vengeful daughter of the late Jean de Florette in Manon des Sources (1986). Following the film’s success and her César win, she sought to avoid typecasting, taking on a number of diverse roles in films of varying quality. In 1989, she played a drug addict in Les Enfants du Desordre, while two years later she gained some of her strongest notices as an artist’s model in Jacques Rivette’s La belle noiseuse.

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Hardly a flash in the pan, the dark and gorgeous Jennifer Beals has worked steadily since roaring to stardom her freshman year at Yale as the ripped sweatshirt wearing, welder-turned-dancer of the implausible but popular “Flashdance” (1983). Not one to court the Hollywood mainstream, she has yet to match that initial success, but her exotic looks, the result of her mixed racial heritage, have afforded her a diversity of roles. Cast as an 18th Century woman brought back to life by Sting in “The Bride” (1985), she laid a “Vampire’s Kiss” (1988) on Nicolas Cage and traveled abroad to work with European directors like Carlo Vanzini (“La Partita” 1988), Claude Chabrol (“Docteur M.” 1989) and Alexandre Arcady (“Le Grande Pardon II” 1992). She even uncharacteristically fought like hell for the femme fatale role of “The Devil in a Blue Dress” (1995), her biggest role in a major movie since “Flashdance”, only to hear some critics complain of the one-dimensionality of her beguiling turn opposite the film’s star Denzel Washington.

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A British stage actress who migrated to the USA to play the bitchy Sable Coolly on “Dynasty II: The Cloys” (ABC, 1985-87), Stephanie Beacham has often been cast in roles that vary between nasty vixens and cool, take-charge women. The London native began her career on stage in Liverpool in 1964 where she was a founding member of the Everyman Theatre. She debuted there in “The Servant of Two Masters” and as the First Witch in “Macbeth”. By 1970, Beacham was working on the London stage in “The Basement” and later appeared opposite Ian McKellen in “Venice Preserved” (1985) and Jeremy Irons in “The Rover” (1988). She belatedly made her Broadway debut in 1996 in a production of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband”.

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Kylie Bax was born January 5, 1975, in Thames, New Zealand. She grew up on her parents’ horse-breeding farm, a far cry from the New York/LA glamour girl she is today. Having inherited her mother’s genes (Kylie’s mum was a model in her day), Kylie was discovered in a New Zealand shopping mall by an agent from Clyne Model Management.

She discovered her modeling potential in New Zealand, but left for New York in order to make it big as a model. Kylie became Karl Lagerfeld’s protégée, as he convinced her to crop her hair short and dye it blonde. With her new “boyish looks” (yet still very feminine), Kylie went to study with Steven Meisel.

While Hollywood has always been about looks, talent sometimes wills out. For Kathy Bates, it took some twenty years before she truly broke through in films playing the deranged fan of a mystery writer (James Caan) in the screen adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery” (1990), directed by Rob Reiner. After copping a Best Actress Oscar, she continued to offer a series of finely detailed character roles as well as developing a burgeoning secondary career as a director.

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This likable performer of 1980s sitcoms and TV-movies branched out from light juvenile roles to more demanding work on stage and cable TV in the 1990s. Still best known as the academic underachiever and dedicated shopper Mallory Keaton on the hit sitcom “Family Ties” (NBC, 1982-89), Bateman entered show business after her younger brother Jason joined the final season of “Little House on the Prairie”. She went to her brother’s agency and soon found work in commercials by age 15. After initially reading for a small part in the pilot of “Family Ties”, Bateman began her seven season stint as a sitcom regular in 1982. She garnered two Emmy nods for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in the 1985/86 and 1986/87 seasons. While the character of Mallory did grow in complexity over the course of the series’ run, Bateman displayed greater diversity in her outside projects.

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This regally beautiful stage-trained black performer has distinguished herself on stage, TV and film, often playing intelligent but long-suffering women who exhibit strength, patience and quiet elegance. Bassett has played opposite some of contemporary Hollywood’s most illustrious black leading men including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy. She has also worked with such notable black filmmakers as Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and John Singleton. Bassett, however, has not been confined to “black subjects” as she has also been featured prominently in diverse TV projects and in film collaborations with writer-directors John Sayles and Wes Craven.

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Kim Basinger started her career as an Amazonian blonde sexpot, but has since proven her acting ability when given good material (a situation that has happened all too infrequently). The Georgia native moved to NYC after high school and landed a contract with the Ford modeling agency. After five years as a cover girl, Basinger made the segue to acting, beginning with a guest appearances on shows like “Starsky and Hutch” and “Charlie’s Angels”. She landed the regular role of a cop in the short-lived ABC series “Dog and Cat” (1977) before scoring in the title role of the NBC TV-movie “Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold” (1978). The same network tapped her for the role of Lorene Rogers (originated on the big screen by Donna Reed) in the 1979 miniseries remake of “From Here to Eternity” and its short-lived spin-off the following year. Despite additional roles in TV-movies, Basinger never seemed to click on the small screen.

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