Gwyneth Paltrow
☼ Born on 27 December 1972, in Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of noted producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her father was from a Jewish family, while her mother is of mostly German descent. When Gwyneth was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where her father began working in summer stock productions in the Berkshires. It was here that she received her early acting training under the tutelage of her parents. She graduated from the all-girls Spence School in New York City and moved to California where she attended the UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Art History. She soon quit, realizing it was not her passion. She made her film debut with a small part in Shout (1991) and for the next five years had featured roles in a mixed bag of film fare that included Flesh and Bone (1993); Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994); Se7en (1995); Jefferson in Paris (1995); Moonlight and Valentino (1995); and The Pallbearer (1996). It was her performance in the title role of Emma Woodhouse in Emma (1996) that led to her being offered the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which she was awarded the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her roles have also included The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Proof (2005), Iron Man (2008), Two Lovers (2008), and Country Strong (2010). She has two children  (click to expand) with her former husband, English musician Chris Martin.


In the role of actor

WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn – Hot Docs 2021 (04/05/2021)

The rise and fall of WeWork CEO Adam Neumann is recounted in WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn. When it was founded in 2010, Adam Neumann described his shared workspace company WeWork as the world’s first “physical social network.” Preferring to call themselves a technology company over real estate, the estimated […]

Hal (19/01/2019)

The career of filmmaker Hal Ashby is revisited in Hal. Beginning his film career as film editor, which included winning an Oscar for his friend Norman Jewison’s 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, Hal Ashby began his directorial career with the racially charged drama The Landlord in 1970. He followed this up with the controversial cult romance Harold and Maude in […]

Spider-Man: Homecoming (10/07/2017)

The webcrawler officially enters the Marvel cinematic universe in Spider-Man: Homecoming. After assisting Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) during Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is desperate to become a full-time Avenger. However, Stark would prefer than Peter focus on his high school studies. However, when he finds out that a criminal named Adrian Toomes […]

Iron Man 3 (08/05/2013)

The second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with Iron Man 3.  Taking place sometime after the events of last year’s The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been feeling the effects of PTSD and spends his time working on his Iron Man suits, while becoming increasing distant from girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth […]

Contagion (06/10/2011)

I initially missed Contagion when it was released a month ago, since it conflicted with the Toronto Film Festival.  However, I managed have some free time today, so I finally checked it out. In this film, an American woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) is infected with a new type of virus while on a trip to Hong Kong. […]

Iron Man 2 (09/05/2010)

There is nothing much that I can say about Iron Man 2 other than that it was an entertaining summer action film.  There is always the pressure with film sequels to follow-up the original, however I am not going to nitpick on little details (like a slow middle act) and just say that I was […]

Iron Man (04/05/2008)

While some may consider Iron Man a secondary Marvel hero, I was already a fan thanks to an animated series from the mid-90s. This was definitely the most star-studded of the Marvel comic adaptations and that probably really helped the film. This film was a very fun ride from beginning to end and it really […]