Rabu, 18 April 2012

NICOLE SCHERZINGER


Mini Biography
Nicole Scherzinger was born on June 29 in Honolulu, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. While attending a performing arts high school, she won the Coca-Cola Classic Talent Contest and performed in many plays at The Actors Theatre of Louisville. She then furthered her studies majoring in theater arts at Wright State University before entering the premiere season of the WB's television show, "Popstars" (2000/I), where she earned the role of lead vocalist in the female pop group, "Eden's Crush".

Outside of her work with The Pussycat Dolls, Nicole recently performed with Japanese superstar, Yoshiki Hayashi, at the Tokyo International Forum of Japan and had guest appearances on "My Wife and Kids" (2001) and "Wanda at Large" (2003). Nicole also has a single, "Breakfast in Bed", out on Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates (2004) soundtrack.
IMDb Mini Biography By: AlishaSquarePants

Trivia
Mother was a professional hula dancer.
Former member of teen pop group "Eden's Crush".
Attended Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio
Is a member of The Pussycat Dolls.
Her ethnic background is: Half-Filipino, a quarter Russian and a quarter Hawaiian. She was born in Hawaii to a Filipino father who comes from the Batanes Island, Philippines. She grew up in a Louisville, Kentucky.
Even though she is Hawaiian, Filipino, and Russian, she played a Puerto Rican in 2003's Chasing Papi (2003).

Has a younger sister named Ke'ala.
Her mother's name is Rosemary, and her step-dad's name is Gary.
Joined the infamous Burlesque group, The Pussycat Dolls, under the stage name, Nicole Kea.
Opened for *NSYNC on their "Pop Odessey Tour" as a member of Eden's Crush.
Toured with Days of the New as a female background vocalist.
Has worked with the The Black Eyed Peas, Busta Rhymes and Timberland.
Song "Don't Cha", with The Pussycat Dolls, went to number one in America.
She majored in theater during her college years and she's planning on going back to stage on Broadway.
She describes herself as a spiritual, hardworking and passionate person.
Her favorite bands are U2 and The Black Eyed Peas.
Her favorite movie is Napoleon Dynamite (2004).
Her favorite Pussycat Doll song from PCD is "Feelin' Good".
Ranked #22 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.
Often confused with Model/Actress Alexandra Cheron and vice versa because they look so much alike.
Auditioned for the musical, "Miss Saigon", because she was inspired by Lea Salonga. She did not know how she fared in the audition because by then, she was accepted as member of The Pussycat Dolls.

Personal Quotes

Once you stay true to just having a good time and being honest to your fans and your audience, you can't go wrong.
Dancing is another way to communicate. That's what separates The Pussycat Dolls from other groups.
Where Are They Now
(November 2006) Doing some final touches on her solo album due for release before Christmas
(October 2006) Working on The Pussycat Dolls' second album, that is due for release in the middle of next year.

Selasa, 17 April 2012

MARY KATE AND ASHLEY OLSEN

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) are American actresses, fashion designers, and businesswomen. Following their acting debut as infants on the TV series Full House, the twin sisters appeared together in a variety of TV, film and video projects throughout their child and teenage years. Through their company Dualstar, the Olsens joined the ranks of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age.

Early life and family
The twins were born in Sherman Oaks, California to David Olsen[1] (b. 1953) and Jarnette (Jarnie) Jones (b. 1954). Despite being very similar in appearance, they claim to be fraternal twins.They have an older brother, Trent, and a younger sister, Elizabeth, as well as two half-brothers, Taylor and Jake. The twins' parents divorced in 1995; Taylor and Jake are from their father's second marriage.

Mary-Kate and Ashley's sister Elizabeth became an actress as an adult, making an acclaimed film debut in 2011's Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Child and teen career
In 1987, at the age of six months, the twins were cast in the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House. They began filming at nine months old. In order to comply with child labor laws that set strict limits on how long a child actor may work, the sisters took turns playing the role. The Olsens continued to portray Michelle throughout the show's run, which concluded in 1995.

While starring on Full House, the Olsens also began appearing (as separate characters) in films for video and television. The first such film, To Grandmother's House We Go, debuted in 1992 and featured cameos from several other Full House actors. In 1993, the Olsens established the company Dualstar, which would produce the twins' subsequent films and videos, including that year's Double, Double, Toil and Trouble and 1994's How the West Was Fun. A series of musical mystery videos called The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley premiered in 1994 and continued through 1997.

In 1995, following the end of Full House, the Olsens made their feature film debut in It Takes Two, co-starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirstie Alley. In the same year, they introduced a second video series, You're Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's..., which continued to release new entries until 2000.

The twins returned to series television in 1998 with another ABC sitcom, Two of a Kind, co-starring Christopher Sieber as their characters' widowed father. The series lasted only one season, but aired in reruns on cable for several years afterward. 1998 also saw the release of Billboard Dad, the first of a new string of direct-to-video films starring the Olsens. The final such film, When in Rome, debuted in 2002.

In 2001, the sisters starred in two new series: So Little Time, a live-action sitcom on Fox Family (later ABC Family); and Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!, an animated series airing Saturday mornings on ABC. Both shows were cancelled after one season, although Mary-Kate received a Daytime Emmy Awards nomination for her performance on So Little Time.

In 2004, the twins starred in a second feature film, New York Minute. It would be their last film together, as well as Ashley's last acting role. Mary-Kate has continued to appear in film and television.

Dualstar
Mary-Kate and Ashley were popular figures in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their names and likenesses extended to clothes, books, fragrances, magazines, movies and posters, with a market share made up mostly of the tween demographic. Mattel also produced Mary-Kate and Ashley fashion dolls from 2000 to 2005.

The sisters became co-presidents of Dualstar on their 18th birthday in 2004.Upon taking control of the company, Mary-Kate and Ashley made moves to secure the future of the company by releasing products that appealed to the teen market, including home decoration and fragrances. The Dualstar brand has been sold in more than 3,000 stores in the United States and over 5,300 stores worldwide.

The Olsens have appeared on the Forbes "Celebrity 100" list since 2002; in 2007, Forbes ranked them (collectively) as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated net worth of US$100 million.

Fashion
As the sisters have matured, there has been greater interest in their fashion choices, with the New York Times declaring Mary-Kate a fashion icon for pioneering her signature (and now popular among celebrities and fans alike) "homeless" look.The style, sometimes referred to by fashion journalists as "ashcan" or "bohemian-bourgeois",is similar to the boho-chic style popularized in Britain by Kate Moss and Sienna Miller. The look consists of oversized sunglasses, boots, loose sweaters, and flowing skirts, with an aesthetic of mixing high-end and low-end pieces. The twins were tapped as the faces of upscale fashion line Badgley Mischka in 2006.

The Olsens have a clothing line for girls ages 4-14 in Wal-Mart stores across North America, as well as a beauty line called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real fashion for real girls". In 2004 they made news by signing a pledge to allow full maternity leave to all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh. The National Labor Committee, which organized the pledge, praised the twins for their commitment to worker rights.

The Olsens have also launched their own couture fashion label, "The Row", named after Savile Row in London. In 2007, they launched Elizabeth & James, a contemporary collection inspired by many of their unique vintage finds and pieces in their personal wardrobes. They have also released a women's clothing line for J.C. Penney, called Olsenboye, and a t-shirt line called "StyleMint".

In 2008, the sisters published the book Influence, a compilation of interviews with many of the most prominent people in the field of fashion.

KRISTEN JAYMES STEWART

Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room (2002), Zathura (2005), In the Land of Women (2007), The Messengers (2007), Adventureland (2009) and The Runaways (2010). She will star in three upcoming films in 2012: Snow White & the Huntsman, On the Road and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

Early life
Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox.Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a script supervisor originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart, and an adoptive brother, Taylor.Stewart attended school until the seventh grade and then continued her education by correspondence.She has since completed high school.

Career
Her whole family all worked behind the camera and Stewart thought she would become a writer/director, but never considered being an actor. "I never wanted to be the center of attention – I wasn't that 'I want to be famous, I want to be an actor' kid. I never sought out acting, but I always practiced my autograph because I love pens. I'd write my name on everything." Stewart's acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school's Christmas play.After a year of auditioning, Stewart's first role was a small nonspeaking part in the film The Thirteenth Year.Then, she had another part in the film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas as the "ring toss girl".She subsequently appeared in the independent film The Safety of Objects, in which she played the tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother (Patricia Clarkson). Stewart also played a tomboy in the film Panic Room, playing the diabetic daughter of a divorced mother (Jodie Foster). She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance.

After Panic Room's success, Stewart was cast in another thriller, Cold Creek Manor, playing the daughter of Dennis Quaid's and Sharon Stone's characters. She was again nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance. It was revealed that at about this time in her career, she had to be homeschooled due to her irregular schedule, which was affecting her grades. She said, "I started homeschooling because my teachers were failing me. I think it was just resentment – I made more work for them. But homeschooling is great; you can study what you want, which allows you to get more excited about what you're doing".

Her first starring role followed, in the children's action-comedy Catch That Kid, opposite Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu. Stewart also played the role of Lila in the thriller Undertow. Stewart starred in the Showtime television film Speak (2004), based on the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Stewart, 13 at the time of filming, played high school freshman Melinda Sordino, who stops almost all verbal contact after being raped.

 Stewart in November 2009
In 2005, Stewart appeared in the fantasy-adventure film Zathura, playing the role of Lisa, the irresponsible older sister of two little boys, who turn their house into a spacecraft hurtling uncontrollably in outer space by playing a board game. The film received praise by critics, but Stewart's performance did not garner much media attention, as it was noted that her character is immobilized during most of the film. The following year, she played the character Maya in Fierce People, directed by Griffin Dunne. After that film, she received the lead role of Jess Solomon in the supernatural thriller film The Messengers.

In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring Meg Ryan and Adam Brody. The film, as well as Stewart's performance, received mixed reviews. That same year, Stewart appeared in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed adaptation film Into the Wild. For her portrayal of Tracy – a teenage singer who has a crush on young adventurer Christopher McCandless – Stewart received mixed reviews. While Salon.com considered her work a "sturdy, sensitive performance", and the Chicago Tribune noted that she did "vividly well with a sketch of a role", Variety's critic Dennis Harvey said, "It's unclear whether Stewart means to be playing hippie-chick Tracy as vapid, or whether it just comes off that way." After Into the Wild, Stewart had a cameo appearance in Jumper and also appeared in What Just Happened, which was released in October 2008.She also co-stars in The Cake Eaters an independent film that has only been screened at film festivals.

On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play Isabella "Bella" Swan in the film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire romance novel of the same name.[19] Stewart was on the set of Adventureland when director Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which "captivated" the director.She stars alongside Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen, her character's vampire boyfriend. The film began production in February 2008 and finished filming in May 2008. Twilight was released domestically on November 21, 2008. Her performance garnered mixed reviews with some critcs calling her "the ideal casting choice" and praising her for conveying "Bella's detachment, as well as her need to bust through it"while others criticized her acting for being "wooden" and lacking variety in her facial expressions which they described as "blank".After the release of Twilight, Kristen Stewart was awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance for her portrayal as Bella Swan.

Stewart reappeared as Bella in the sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, once again receiving mixed reviews for her performance. Jordan Mintzer from Variety called Stewart "the heart and soul of the film" and praised her for giving "both weight and depth to dialogue...that would sound like typical chick-lit blather in the mouth of a less engaging actress, and she makes Bella's psychological wounds seem like the real deal" Manohla Dargis from The New York Times said Stewart's "lonely-girl blues soon grow wearisome" throughout the film and Billy Goodykoontz from The Arizona Republic stated "Stewart is a huge disapointment... She sucks the energy right out of the film".She reprised this role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

At the 2010 82nd Annual Academy Awards, Stewart and Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner presented a tribute in honour of the horror movie genr

 Kristen Stewart at the 2010 Academy Awards.
In 2009, Stewart starred in The Yellow Handkerchief, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was released into theaters in 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films. She also starred alongside James Gandolfini in Welcome to the Rileys, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010.

Stewart most recently portrayed rock star Joan Jett in The Runaways, a biopic of the titular band from writer-director Floria Sigismondi.Stewart met with Jett over the 2008–2009 New Year to prepare for the role and ended up prerecording songs in a studio for the film.She received praise for her performance as the Metro Times wrote, "It turns out that Stewart is actually really good at capturing Jett's icy, tough-but-cool girl swagger, adding the needed touches of vulnerability that transform it into a pretty terrific performance... Stewart is a genuine rock star here."Also, A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted "Ms. Stewart, watchful and unassuming, gives the movie its spine and soul."

She has been cast in the role of Mary Lou in an upcoming film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's cult classic novel On the Road. Shooting began in August 2010.

Stewart was listed as the highest earning female actress in Hollywood in the "2010's Top Hollywood Top Earners List" compiled by Vanity Fair. Throughout 2010, Stewart earned an estimated $28.5 million for all her movie appearances.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was released on November 18, 2011. The film was successful in the box office making $283.5 million its opening weekend. Though the film received negative reviews, Stewart's performance was praised. Gabriel Chong called Stewart's performance "mesmerising" and said that she "makes [Bella's] every emotion keenly felt that runs the gamut from joy, trepidation, anxiety, distress and above all quiet and resolute determination"and the Village Voice's Dan Konis saying Stewart "beautifully underplays" the role. However, some critics found that despite Pattinson and Stewart's chemistry, the relationship came off like a "charade"or that none of the three leads were convincing in their roles.

In March 2011, it was confirmed that Stewart will playing Snow White in the film Snow White and the Huntsman.Filming began on August 15 and is set to be released on June 1, 2012.

On December 6, 2011, Stewart was named number one on Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck.
She was named the new face of an unnamed Balenciaga perfume on January 13, 2012.

Personal life
Stewart currently lives in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. She has expressed a desire to live and work in Australia, saying, "I want to go to Sydney University in Australia. My mom's from there."Apart from acting, she is also interested in attending college in the near future, saying, "I want to go to college for literature. I want to be a writer. I mean, I love what I do, but it's not all I want to do – be a professional liar for the rest of my life."In Vanity Fair, Stewart admitted that she was in a relationship with Michael Angarano, her costar from Speak.

Since meeting on the set of Twilight, Stewart has been romantically linked to co-star Robert Pattinson. Though they have never explicitly confirmed a relationship, paparazzi photographs and eyewitness accounts have driven intense media and fan speculation and attention, making "Robsten" the subject of wide media coverage. In an interview with GQ, when asked why she remained reluctant to talk about the relationship despite evidence of it being accessible online, Stewart replied, "Yeah, I know it is...So much of my life is so easily googled. I mean, it's like, come on guys, it's so obvious!"When asked why she refuses to talk about her life, Stewart replied "I'm selfish. I'm like, 'That's mine!' And I like to keep whatever is mine remaining that way. It's a funny little game to play and it's a slippery slope. I always say to myself I'm never going to give anything away because there's never any point or benefit for me. I guarantee whenever I get married or have a baby, everyone is going to want to know my kid's name and I'm not going to say it for ages."

JHONNY DEPP

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series, 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol. Dissatisfied with that status, Depp turned to film for more challenging roles; he played the title character of Edward Scissorhands (1990) and later found box office success in films such as Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Rango (2011) and the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2003–present). He has collaborated with director and friend Tim Burton in seven films, most recently with Dark Shadows (2012).

Depp has gained acclaim for his portrayals of people such as Ed Wood, in Ed Wood, Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco, Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, George Jung in Blow, and the bank robber John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Films featuring Depp have grossed over $3.1 billion at the United States box office and over $7.6 billion worldwide.He has been nominated for top awards many times, winning the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He also has garnered a sex symbol status in American cinema, being twice named as the Sexiest man alive by People magazine in 2003 and 2009. He has been listed in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid actor, with $75 million.

Film roles
Depp's first major role was in the 1984 classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the boyfriend of the heroine, Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) and one of Freddy Krueger's victims. Depp was the first choice and was cast to star in the 1986 American skater drama film Thrashin', chosen and cast by the director but ultimately rejected by the film's producer. In 1986, he appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. In 1990, he undertook the quirky title role of the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film's success began his long association with Burton.

Depp, a fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the writer's pseudobiographical novel of the same name. Depp accompanied Thompson as his road manager on one of the author's last book tours. In 2006, Depp contributed a foreword to Gonzo: Photographs by Hunter S. Thompson, a posthumous biography published by ammobooks.com. In 2008, he narrated the documentary film Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Depp paid for most of Thompson's memorial event, complete with fireworks and the shooting of Thompson's ashes by a cannon, in Aspen, Colorado, where Thompson lived. He returned to Thompson's work with a film adaptation of the novel The Rum Diary, released in 2011.

Critics have described Depp's roles as characters who are "iconic loners."[18] Depp has noted this period of his career was full of "studio defined failures" and films that were "box office poison,"[19] but he thought the studios never understood the films and did not do a good job of marketing. Depp has chosen roles which he found interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office.

Depp wearing a mustache and goatee similar to the style used in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The 2003 Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a major success,in which Depp's performance as the suave but shambling pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was highly praised. Studio bosses were more ambivalent at first, but the character became popular with the movie-going public.According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was a major draw for audiences.The film's director, Gore Verbinski, has said that Depp's character closely resembles the actor's personality, but Depp said he modeled the character after The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland. Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a major success at the box office and earning him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

Depp returned to the role of Jack Sparrow for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened on July 7, 2006 and grossed $135.5 million in the first three days of its U.S. release, breaking a box office record of the highest weekend tally.[The next sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End, was released May 24, 2007. Depp has said that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me", and he wants to play the role in further sequels.Depp voiced Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp's swashbuckling sword talents as developed for the character of Jack Sparrow, were highlighted in the documentary film Reclaiming the Blade. Within the film, Swordmaster Bob Anderson shared his experiences working with Depp on the choreography for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Anderson described in the film Depp's ability as an actor to pick up the sword to be "about as good as you can get."

Depp and Gore Verbinski were executive producers of the album Rogues Gallery, Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys. Depp played the title role of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Depp thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and praised Tim Burton for his "unwavering trust and support."

Depp played the former Heath Ledger character in the 2009 film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus along with Jude Law and Colin Farrell. All three actors gave their salaries from the film to Ledger's daughter, Matilda.He portrayed the Mad Hatter in Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and the titular character in Rango.

VIN DIESEL

Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent; July 18, 1967) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx. He founded the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios and Racetrack Records.

Los Angeles Laker


The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, which they share with their local NBA rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.[1] The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 championships, their last being in 2010. As of 2012, the Lakers are the most valuable NBA franchise according to Forbes, having an estimated value of $900 million.[2]

The franchise started with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the NBL. The new team began play in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Lakers in honor of the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes".[3] The Lakers won five championships in Minneapolis, propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's "first superstar".[4] After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four time MVP Wilt Chamberlain to play center, and after losing in the Finals in 1969 and 1970, they won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired another center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s. The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985. This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson's retirement, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its first "three-peat". After losing both the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two more championships by defeating the Orlando Magic in 2009 and Boston in 2010.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak (33), set during the 1971–72 season.[5] Sixteen Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant—have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Awards for a total of eight awards

Manchester United

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.

The 1958 Munich air disaster claimed the lives of eight players. In 1968, under the management of Matt Busby, Manchester United was the first English football club to win the European Cup. The current manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has won 37 major honours since he took over in November 1986.[3][4]

Manchester United has won many trophies in English football, including a record 19 league titles, a record 11 FA Cups,[5] four League Cups and a record 19 FA Community Shields. The club has also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup. In 1998–99, the club won a Treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, an unprecedented feat for an English club.

Manchester United is one of the wealthiest and most widely supported football teams in the world.[6][7][8][9] As of July 2011, the club is number one in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams, valued at $1.86 billion.[10] After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was purchased by Malcolm Glazer in May 2005 in a deal valuing the club at almost £800 million.[11]