Women Actors

Growing up in Liverpool as the entertainer of the family, impersonating neighbours to the delight of her friends and playing pranks on her unwitting mother (from which the poor carpet never recovered), the young Alison Steadman could never have imagined what the future had in store. But when she snuck off to London to audition for drama school in secret, Alison set in motion a series of events that would see her become one of the greatest character-actors of the age, and a national treasure to boot.

Much like her hit TV show, I Love Lucy, Americans in the 1950s fell in love with Lucy. Born in New York in 1911, Lucille Ball was always a natural performer. She danced in the chorus of Broadway shows and acted in small parts in Hollywood movies. But Ball's true gift was comedy. She found a way to showcase her gifts in 1951 when CBS gave her the chance to star in a sitcom.

Here's the unauthorized, best-selling biography of one of America's brightest—and most flamboyantly glamorous—stars. Elizabeth Taylor has beguiled audiences since National Velvet, and her many loves and peccadilloes have provided endless spice and interest for the movie-going and star-watching public. Biographer Kitty Kelley tells all—even the parts Liz would rather keep secret!—in this uncensored biography.

In Polish: A rascal with teenage beauty and the voice of Jan Himilsbach. She didn't really have to act. She appeared in the Polish cinema out of nowhere and became an instant phenomenon. At times, as told by her relatives in the book, she hurried as if she knew that everything wouldn't last very long, that she had to quickly start a relationship, start a family, and have kids in order to have time to enjoy all of that. It's the first biography of Anna Przybylska authorised by her family.

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" These famous lines from The Graduate (1967) would forever link Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) to the groundbreaking film and confirm her status as a movie icon. Along with her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in the stage and film drama The Miracle Worker, this role was a highlight of a career that spanned a half-century and brought Bancroft an Oscar, two Tonys, and two Emmy awards. In the first biography to cover the entire scope of Bancroft's life and career, Douglass K. Daniel reveals how, from a young age, Bancroft was committed to challenging herself and strengthening her craft.

Rebel Rising follows Rebel Wilson's incredible journey of "making it," constantly questioning "Am I good enough?", "Will I ever find love?" and "Will I ever change and become healthy?" Rebel writes for the first time about her most personal and important moments in her life—from fertility issues, weight gain and loss, sexuality, overcoming shyness, rejections and, well...okay there's at least one story thrown in about Brad Pitt! It's all here. This memoir shows us how to love ourselves, while making us laugh uncontrollably.

Sheila Hancock looked like she was managing old age. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. She had energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home. She could still remember her lines. So why, at 89, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones—50, 70 even 80—without a qualm, did she suddenly feel so furious? Shocking diagnoses, Brexit and bereavement seemed to knock her from every quarter. And that was before lockdown.

Yvonne De Carlo, Michael B. Druxman’s one-woman play, is set in 1974 when the actress is at an emotional crossroads. As she contemplates divorcing her husband of 18 years, she remembers the events that have brought her to this point in her life, beginning with a fatherless childhood in Vancouver, BC, and a destitute mother intent on making her daughter a ballet star. She further reminisces about the many men who have passed through her life, including romances with the likes of Howard Hughes and Aly Khan.

Asa Akira (28) has already had an extremely unusual life. Educated at the United Nations International School in Manhattan, she soon was earning a good living by stripping and working as a dominatrix at a sex dungeon. Akira has now built up a reputation for being of the most popular, hardworking, and extreme actors in the business, winning dozens of awards for her 330+ movies, including her number-one best-selling adult film series Asa Akira Is Insatiable.

Moviegoers know her as the housekeeper in White Christmas, the nurse in Now, Voyager, and the crotchety choir director in Sister Act. This audiobook, filled with never-published behind-the-scenes stories from Broadway and Hollywood, chronicles the life of a complicated woman who brought an assortment of unforgettable nurses, nuns, and housekeepers to life on screen and stage.

Trina would do anything to be an actress. When she gets her big break, there's only one little thing she'll have to do...go under hypnosis for an edgy part. But sexy showrunner Jean may have different ideas of what do do with an entranced actress!

Anna May Wong remains one of Hollywood’s best-known Chinese American actors. Between 1919 and 1960, Anna May Wong starred in over fifty movies, sharing billing with stars such as Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Ramon Novarro, and Warner Oland. Her life, though, is the prototypical story of an immigrant’s difficult path through the prejudices of American culture. In a narrative that recalls the pathos of life in LA's Chinese neighborhoods and the glamour of Hollywood’s pleasure palaces, Graham Russell Gao Hodges recovers the life of a Hollywood legend.

In the final chapter of Confessions of an Adult Film Star, Ned and Stacy leave the comfort of their jobs to produce and star in a brand new series. Their departure comes at a gamble as romance generally doesn’t have a place in their industry. Will their risk produce dividends or will their investment sour? A Brand New Start is book 9 of the Confessions of an Adult Film Star erotica series. This standalone romantic interracial WWBM/ AWBM short story can be read with or without reading the other stories in the series. It is 4,300 words long and is for mature readers only.

He was my childhood crush. Now he's a movie star.When Sam Balfer comes back to Australia twelve years later, he asks me to walk the red carpet as his date. I'm an engineer--not exactly date material for Hollywood's hottest star--and I'm skilled at tripping over air. But it's Sam! Of course I accept. It doesn't mean anything, so I shouldn't get too excited. But a girl can dream...Then a furtive kiss ends up splashed all over the tabloids, and my childhood fantasy is thrown onto the world stage. But Sam has to return to LA and his glamorous life there. We live in two separate worlds--he's ...

Told with humor and flair, this is the autobiography of one transsexual's wild ride from boyhood as Alfred Brevard ("Buddy") Crenshaw in rural Tennessee to voluptuous female entertainer in Hollywood. Aleshia Brevard, as she is now known, underwent transitional surgery in Los Angeles in 1962, one of the first such operations in the United States. (The famous sexual surgery pioneer Harry Benjamin himself broke the news to Brevard's parents.)

Whoever thought that getting your big break would be so stressful? Ever since Jill started casting her indie masterpiece, "Moon Over Mud Nation," she hasn't slept a wink. If only a leading lady would appear. If only Jill could finally relax. When she meets hot young star Audrey, both of her wishes will come true...with a heaping side-helping of hypnotic obedience!

Audrey Hepburn was not your usual movie star. She was the highest paid actress of her day, yet she never took a formal acting lesson. A child of war, and the daughter of a Fascist sympathizer, she spent her last years helping children of other wars. An Academy Award-winner for her first major film role (Roman Holiday), Hepburn continued her storybook career with such classic movies as Sabrina, Funny Face, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, My Fair Lady and Wait until Dark. Her two marriages ended in divorce.

Returning to her parents’ birthplace in 1994, Pamela Nomvete became a household name as Ntsiki Lukhele, “the bitch”, on a South African soap opera called Generations. Dancing to the Beat of the Drum details the traumatic personal crisis Pamela went through as her success grew—a crisis which took everything she had worked for from her—and how she came to re-evaluate her priorities and reconnect with the spiritual side of her life, something she had long neglected.

"We're calling her Marilyn Monroe." Those were the words 12-year-old Jane Lawrence remembered when she was asked to head the up-and-coming blonde starlet's fan club at 20th Century Fox under the supervision of studio head Darryl Zanuck. Jane was no stranger to movie sets or movie stars, being that her father, Sidney Lipsitch, headed RKO's legal department. She spent many Saturday afternoons at her home with the likes of Robert Mitchum, Lucille Ball, and Ethel Merman, but helping launch the career of one of the world's most legendary sex symbols was a task beyond Jane's wildest dreams.

Since the early 20th century, film has been embraced as arguably the preeminent international art form. Not only is Hollywood cinema immensely popular around the world, but other nationalities (Bollywood being the greatest current example) have their own thriving industries. Major actors and actresses are not only icons in their parent countries but reach tremendous international fame.