Hollywood Singer Actress - Britney Spears

Britney Spears Born Dec. 2, 1981 in the rural Louisiana town of Kentwood to parents Jamie and Lynne Spears, the young girl started training

for her future superstar status as a small child. A skilled dancer and gymnast - as well as a capable singer - Spears had the determination

and stamina to get to the top, starting her career in the entertainment industry early - too early, in fact - for producers of the revamped

"The Mickey Mouse Club" (The Disney Channel, 1989-1994). Producers of the star-making kiddie show turned down the talented youngster because

of her age when she first auditioned in 1990. Mindful of her potential, Spears was hooked up with an agent and temporarily moved with her

mother and baby sister to New York City the following year. Here, she starred in the off-Broadway production, "Ruthless," a stage comedy

loosely based on "The Bad Seed." Playing the evil but seemingly angelic child was an enjoyable role for the 10-year-old Spears, who next

wowed judges with her debut performance on the televised talent competition, "Star Search" (CBS, 1983-2004) in 1992. A year later, she was

finally welcomed into the cast of the "Mickey Mouse Club," becoming a part of an elite cast that included future TV star Keri Russell as well

as fellow teen pop luminaries Justin Timberlake and J.C. Chasez of *NSYNC and Christina Aguilera. As part of the ensemble, she could do all

the dancing, acting and singing her heart desired, but unfortunately, the show ended its run in the midst of only her second season.
Britney Spears - When "MMC" called it a day in 1994, the young star-in-the-making returned to Louisiana and attended a private junior/senior

high school in nearby McComb, MS, but missed the excitement of the entertainment world. In 1997, she signed with Jive Records, beginning a

partnership that would make Spears a household name. In 1998, she toured the malls of America a la teen pop star Tiffany did a decade

earlier, getting her bouncy, blonde image into the minds of the people while, at the same time, getting her promo tape into their stereos.

Her debut single "...Baby One More Time" was a smash hit in the last days of 1998, thanks, in part, to the provocative schoolgirl uniform-

sporting music video that accompanied the catchy and oddly edgy tune. While the fresh-faced teen sensation improbably crooned "My loneliness

is killing me," audiences of all ages were transfixed - from middle-aged men creepily fixating on the singer's short plaid kilt and midriff-

baring blouse, to seven-year-old girls hopping around the playground, strangely pleading "Hit me baby, one more time." Spears' debut album

went multi-platinum while her single stayed at the top of the charts in the first months of 1999. Upping her visibility, Spears'

controversial Rolling Stone cover (clad only in a bra and hot pants, surrounded by stuffed animals while talking on the phone) had parent

groups up in arms when the overtly sexy image hit stands in April - nearly eight months before the star's 18th birthday. Meanwhile, Spears

and her inner circle began a long-standing policy of sending mixed messages, proclaiming the star's commitment to Southern, church-going

values and remaining a virgin until she married.
Britney Spears - Appearances on a myriad of specials and awards shows and a guest stint on the ABC sitcom "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"

(ABC/WB, 1996-2003) helped keep her in the minds and hearts of the public in between record releases. When her follow-up effort, Oops!... I

Did It Again dropped in 2000, her audience welcomed it with open wallets. Another round of multi-platinum sales were made, and the video for

the lead-off title track won the performer more kudos, proving her dance talents with an eye-catching routine in a fetching red vinyl

catsuit. When Spears appeared at that year's "MTV Video Music Awards," tearing off a man's tuxedo to reveal a flesh colored body suit, her

sexy image was solidified. Indeed, it became central to her routinely controversial image, with fans and media debating over lurid topics

such as whether or not the young star had received breast implants. Spears' sex appeal was tempered for her more family value-minded fans by

her sweet and seemingly chaste relationship with longtime boyfriend (and former Mouseketeer) Justin Timberlake - by then, the lead singer of

the hugely popular boy band *NSYNC, which shared the same musical management as Spears. Expressing herself, showing her versatility and

growing up in the public eye while losing very few of her original preteen fans, the singer seemed poised to stand the test of time.
Britney Spears - Though potential roles in the TV series "Dawson's Creek" (WB, 1998-2003) and the feature "Scary Movie" (2000) came to naught

- reportedly due to her busy schedule - new projects with Spears' name attached sprung up frequently. Rumors of her co-starring with hot

Latin singer Ricky Martin in a sequel to the 1987 hit musical, "Dirty Dancing," were not realized, but the singer/dancer made another major

impression on TV viewers. Following a second erotically charged performance on the 2001 "MTV Music Video Awards," during which she undulated

in a barely-there harem outfit to her new song "I'm a Slave for U" while an albino python wrapped around her neck, viewers of both sexes were

blown away yet again by her brazen "barely legal" performance. Britney-mania continued with her saucy performance in the HBO live concert,

"Britney Spears: Live in Las Vegas" (2001) - a production that demonstrated her adult sex appeal as much as it did her propensity to lip-

synch. Not satisfied with just conquering the music market, Spears tried her hand at publishing, co-authoring with her mother the

autobiographical tome Britney Spears' Heart to Heart (2000) and the novel A Mother's Gift (2001) - the latter of which was turned into the

ABC Family Channel telepic, "Brave New Girl" (2004), which Spears and her mother co-executive produced.
Britney Spears - After much build-up, at last the young diva made her big-screen acting debut - with a healthy dash of the more proven skill,

singing - in "Crossroads" (2002). Directed by Tamra Davis, the critically panned flick focused on three childhood friends on a road trip of

self-discovery. Neither the mawkish film nor Spears' candy-coated, "aw-shucks" performance were exactly Oscar material, but it did appeal to

a certain audience of die-hard Spears fans - namely the preteen and teen female and occasional smitten male. A blight on an otherwise world-

conquering 2002 - including opening her own New York restaurant NYLA (which became a spectacular failure) and continuing to tour around the

globe -was Spears' very public break-up with Timberlake, amid sordid rumors of infidelity on her part. On the defensive, Timberlake rather

ungentlemanly confirmed to much feigned shock that he and Spears had, indeed, put an end to her much-discussed virginity (as well as latter

outing her as the cheater in his future solo hit single and video, "Cry Me a River"). Amidst all the professional solo triumphs and personal

set-backs, she found time for a brief cameo in the comedy hit, "Austin Powers: Goldmember" and to record songs for a variety of film

soundtracks.
Britney Spears - By 2003-04, the media saturation of Spears and her fellow teeny-bopper idols (including Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and

*NSYNC) resulted in the beginnings of the inevitable backlash, with the singer making news more for her personal escapades than professional

activities. In a move many saw as desperate for all parties involved, Spears made headlines when, during an appearance on the 2003 "MTV Music

Video Awards," she opened the show in a musical sequence opposite her idol Madonna and her reported rival Aguilera, in which she shared a

lip-lock with the Material Girl. That was followed by the release of her fourth album, In the Zone, in which the singer further pushed

provocative boundaries in an obvious attempt to establish herself as a grown-up artist and to capitalize on her always buzzed-about sexpot

charms. The album received a critical drubbing in most quarters and did not entirely live up to commercial expectations. The disc still

provided hit singles, including the ubiquitous dance floor favorite "Toxic" and its controversial, overtly sexy music video, which was

briefly relegated to late-night-only airings on MTV. Oddly, during the promotional period for the album, Spears appeared in many increasingly

provocative, skin-baring photographs, including a recreation of a 1960s-era Angie Dickinson shot with her bare bottom peaking out of a

strategically stretched sweater for the cover of Esquire, yet she claimed in interviews she did not approve the shots, still trying to

project - albeit, unconvincingly at this point - an innocent, girl-next-door persona.
Britney Spears - The wild child beneath the surface was bubbling over into her public persona, with the mainstream and tabloid press

endlessly chronicling every juicy aspect of her behavior - which allegedly included late night partying and hook-ups with celebrity lotharios

Fred Durst and Colin Farrell. The dam seemingly broke loose in January of 2004, when the singer shocked fans with a surprise marriage to her

childhood friend Jason Alexander in an apparently booze-fueled New Year's Eve wedding in Las Vegas - something she called "a joke that had

gone too far." The marriage was annulled within 55 hours (with a lucrative pay-off to Alexander), but that did not stop Spears' shocking

second rush to the altar later that same year - this time to seemingly gold-digging back-up dancer, Kevin Federline. This union was not

without its controversy either, as at the start of their romance, Federline was an expectant father involved in a relationship with actress

Shar Jackson - who had already bore him one child not long before. Their engagement was announced in June, with plans for a fall 2004

wedding. Somewhere between romances, Spears continued to self-promote with faux-revelatory documentary specials on MTV, ABC and E! networks,

and she performed a surprisingly uninspired live version of her universally panned Onyx Hotel tour for the HBO special "Britney Spears: Live

in Miami" (2004). The blonde idol pulled out of the final leg of her poorly received tour after injuring her knee in June of that year,

requiring surgery and four months of recuperation (she also admitted that her head "really wasn't into" the tour).
Britney Spears - As a newly married woman in September of 2004, Spears increasingly found herself the subject of snarky bloggers and tabloid

magazines. Much of it she brought on herself, as she was constantly photographed leaving gas station bathrooms barefoot and chowing down on

Cheetos while cruising around town in a number of luxury vehicles. Worse yet, she often looking disheveled and messy coming in and out of

seemingly every fast food restaurant in the greater Los Angeles area. And interestingly enough to the public - she seemed not to care what

people thought of her or her new husband. This was most apparent when Spears and Federline sold home movies taken during their courtship to

UPN, resulting in the May, 2005 premiere of their reality show, "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic" - complete with the questionable catchphrase: "Can

you handle our truth?" By this time, it seemed the answer was no - and that no one cared to. Critics were less than kind, to say the least.

In fact, the show made the couple an even bigger laughing stock than before, what with the constant stream of nonsensical baby-talk, mugging

close-ups and uncomfortable pawing of one another. But Spears seemed happy - especially after giving birth to her first child, Sean Preston

in September, 2005.
Britney Spears - In a summer of seemingly one train wreck after another, Spears started appearing in the press wearing a variety of hats with

wig attached, attacking a photographer with an umbrella, spontaneously frolicking in the ocean in her underwear, making out with a college-

age extra while skinny-dipping in a hotel pool and hitting clubs left and right - all while Federline began lining up witnesses for his

custody fight - including issuing subp nas covertly to many in his ex's inner circle, including assistants, nannies and her long-time

manager, Larry Rudolph. After a disastrous photo shoot with OK magazine in August - during which Spears reportedly seemed "out of it," went

to the bathroom with the door open, wiped her greasy fingers on expensive frocks and then took off with some of the pricey wardrobe provided

without even finishing the interview or shoot - things seemed to be reaching a boiling point for the girl who had cut out everyone in her

life who cared for her. When the singer was announced as the opening act of the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, public interest ran high - could

she pull it off? Performing her first single off her first studio album in some time, "Gimme More," Spears bombed so spectacularly - that

even she appeared to realize it, giving up mid-song. Her lip-synching was off, her dance moves lethargic and she even stumbled a bit just

walking through her routine. It did not help matters that she was poured into a sequined bikini that was not flattering to her figure.

Critics wasted no time slamming the singer, who reportedly left the stage in tears, for not only phoning it in, but for partying in Vegas

non-stop in the days leading up to the anticipated performance.