Born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio. Growing up with old parents (her father was 55, and her mother was 35 when she was born), she was exposed to death from a young age. Later she said that this had led her to appreciate life and use comedy as a therapy method. After graduating from Lima’s Central High School, she studied piano at the Sherwood Music Conservatory of Columbia College Chicago and then history, literature, philosophy, and psychology at Bluffton College. In Bluffton, she met Sherwood Diller, and the couple eloped in 1939. After the wedding, she dropped out of school, became a housewife, and cared for their five children. In 1952, after the family moved to Alameda, CA, Diller began to work at KROW radio in Oakland, CA. That same year, she filmed a series of 15-minute segments for the Bay Area TV station titled Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker, offering absurd advice to homemakers. In 1955, at 37, she worked as a vocalist for a music-review TV show called Pop Club. The hosts, Don Sherwood and Willard Anderson, found her hilarious and invited her to the show. Following her success, she debuted as a stand-up comedian at San Francisco’s The Purple Onion nightclub. Diller’s perfect timing, cackling laugh, and pin-point one-liners about suburban life captivated the audience, and the show ran for almost two years. With no female comedians as role models in a male-dominated industry, Diller’s first performances draw materials from her experiences as a housewife who reads advice columns. Over time, she developed a persona, presenting a caricaturist form of femininity. With baggy dresses, clownish hairstyles, and a fake cigarette, she ridiculed her lack of sex appeal and spoke about looks, ineptitude as a mother, and her made-up husband. Later, she also joked about her love of plastic surgery. In 1958, at 41, Diller made her first national television appearance on Groucho Marx’s show You Bet Your Life. Afterward, she got invited to various talk shows, including the Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, bringing her national fame; her performances were fully booked throughout the US, and she released multiple comedy albums. By the early 1960s, she began to perform alongside her mentor Bob Hope, appearing in more than 20 of his TV specials and working with him on several films, including Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! Eight on the Lam, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell. By then, Diller became a household name, regularly appearing on numerous television programs. She also furthered her acting career, performing in over a dozen movies and as a dubbing artist, utilizing her signature voice to portray a wide range of characters, from the Monster’s Mate in the 1967 film Mad Monster Party to the Queen in the 1998 animation A Bug’s Life. In 1966, 49 years old Diller received her own TV show, The Pruitts of Southampton, better known as The Phyllis Diller Show. There, she played a wacky widow who struggles to maintain an appearance of wealth despite being heavily in debt. During the next three decades, Diller continued to appear in many TV shows and to voice act in several series, including Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Cow and Chicken, Hey Arnold!, The Powerpuff Girls and Animaniacs. She was also an accomplished writer, publishing her first book, Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, in 1966 and her last, The Joys of Aging & How to Avoid Them, in 1981. By the end of the 1990s, while in her 80s, her health began to decline, and in 2002 she retired from stand-up. She continued to make TV appearances and was featured in talk shows and comedy specials such as The Aristocrats. Diller died at 95, after a 50-year-long career in which she published four books and appeared in 365 films and dozens of TV shows. As one of the first solo female comedians in the US, she inspired generations of stand-up comedians, such as Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Ellen DeGeneres, and Margaret Cho. Read more...

Viola Davis was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina, and grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The family often struggled to survive because her parents’ incomes were insufficient. She attended Central Falls High School, where she participated in school productions and theatre competitions. These performances earned her a scholarship at the Young People’s School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island. She continued studying theater at Rhode Island College and furthered her education at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. In 1992, while still in school, she starred in her first off-Broadway production, As You Like It, by William Shakespeare. Four years later, at 31, she made her Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, for which she earned her first Tony Award nomination. She continued to perform in various Broadway productions and had television guest appearances before landing the role of Nurse Lynnette Peeler in the TV drama City of Angels in 2000. A year after, Davis returned to Broadway to play Tonya in King Hedley II. For her portrayal of the married woman who advocates for her right to an abortion, she won her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. During the early 2000s, she played several small roles in films, mainly Steven Soderbergh’s, including Out of Sight, Solaris, and Traffic. In 2010, she performed in her third August Wilson Broadway play, Fences, which earned her second Tony Award, and made her the second African-American to win the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. Later, Davis played in the movie adaptation of the play, for which she won several more awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. By then, Davis had become an acclaimed actress, playing roles in various TV shows and films, including The Help, Beautiful Creatures, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. In 2014, she got her first leading TV role as Annalise Keating in Shonda Rhimes’ How to Get Away with Murder. This character not only made her a household name but also gained her an Emmy award, becoming the first African-American to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Over time, Davis took on various positions behind the camera. With her husband, in 2011, she established a production company named JuVee Production. By 2022 they have released more than a dozen feature films, documentaries, and TV shows, including the political docuseries Two-Sides which explores police brutality towards the African-American community, Emanuel about the mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church, and The Woman King about the warrior leader of the kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. Davis uses her fame and fortune to support and promote causes close to her heart. She donated funds for the public library in her hometown of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and for the theater program of her alma mater Central Falls High School; she also collaborates with the Hunger Is, a program for eradicating childhood hunger in the US. Davis in known for her strong voice, which she often uses to inspire and empower black women and men, communities struggling with poverty, and race and gender equality. Read more...

María Eva Duarte de Perón was born in Los Toldos, Argentina. Her parents were not married, and her father had another family. Her legal and societal status as an illegitimate child followed her in her life. Her mother struggled financially, and the situation worsened after her father died in a car accident when she was seven years old. In 1930, the family moved to Junín, where she developed her love for the stage. She began to perform in various community theater productions and aspired to become an actress. At 15, she ran away from home to Buenos Aires to pursue her dream. Soon after her arrival, she joined a theater company and landed numerous radio parts. In 1937, at 18, she had her film debut and later acted in a series of B-movies. In 1942, she signed a five-year contract to participate in a radio program called Great Women of History to voice prominent historical women, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great. By the age of 23, she was the highest-paid radio actress in the nation, earning six thousand pesos a month. This year, she co-founded the Argentine Radio Syndicate, a union of broadcast performers, and was elected its president. In 1944, she was invited by the Secretary of Labor, Juan Perón, to a benefit gala to support the victims of an earthquake that occurred in San Juan. From the moment they met, they were unseparated, establishing their marriage a year later. She was 24, and he was 49. In 1946, her husband, who gained political power and support from the public, especially after being arrested by his political opponents, decided to run for president. She was a leading figure in her husband’s campaign, using her radio program to dramatize his accomplishments and traveling with him throughout the country. Her approachable attitude toward the people and empathy for the working class increased his popularity when he was elected president. Perón did not hold an official position in the government, but she was the de facto minister of health and labor, which allowed her to increase the wages of workers’ unions. She used her position as the first lady to advocate for various causes, improving the living conditions of the poor and women’s suffrage. Thanks to her effort, Argentinian women were granted equal political rights and universal suffrage in 1947. Two years later, she founded the Female Peronist Party, the first large female political party in the country. Perón also founded and headed the Eva Perón Foundation. Supported by the government, unions, and private businesses, the foundation established thousands of schools, hospitals, elderly housing, and orphanages. In 1950, 31 years old Perón was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. Despite her health condition, she continued to be active in both philanthropy and politics, and in 1951 she was chosen by her husband to run for vice president. The opposition from the military and upper-class citizens led her to decline her candidacy. Despite the various medical procedures she went through, her cancer has spread, and she died at the age of 33. Three years after her death, Perón’s husband got overthrown from the presidency, and her embalmed body was stolen and hidden in Italy under the name “María Maggi.” Sixteen years later, her body was exhumed and sent to her husband’s exile home in Spain. In 1973, he returned to Argentina, serving as president until his death a year later. His third wife, Isabel Perón, returned Evita Perón’s body to Argentina and displayed it beside her husband. Later, her remains were reburied in the Duarte family crypt. Read more...

Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in poverty after her father left the family when she was only a few months old. At the age of 8, she started working as a domestic servant for white families to support her family. Later on, she lived on the streets and earned money as a street performer. At 13, she began to work as a waitress at the Old Chauffeur’s Club, where she met Willie Wells. The couple got married but divorced only a few months later. She joined a street performance group, and in 1923, at the age of 16, she moved with them to NYC, leaving her second husband, William Howard Baker, whom she married the previous year. In NYC, she performed at the Plantation Club while auditioning for serval productions, finally landing a role in the chorus line of the Broadway revue Shuffle Along. Her comic touch made her stand out as an audience favorite, and soon, she booked her next Broadway role in the course line of The Chocolate Dandies. In 1925, at 18, Baker moved to Paris to dance in La Revue Nègre at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she introduced to the French audience her danse sauvage (savage dance), wearing nothing but a skirt made of a string of bananas. Her star was on the rise, and she became one of the most popular entertainers in France, being admired by artists such as Ernest Hemingway, Jean Cocteau, and Picasso, who drew paintings of her. After a successful European tour in 1929, she acted in numerous films. With the money she earned, Baker bought an estate in the South of France called Château des Milandes. In the mid-30s, she sailed back to the US, trying to establish herself as a performer in her home country, but left after being scrutinized by the critics and receiving racist reactions from the crowd. On her return to France, she married her third husband, the French industrialist Jean Lion, and gave up her American citizenship to become a French citizen. When WW2 erupted, Baker was recruited by the Deuxième Bureau, the French military intelligence agency. As an entertainer, she traveled across occupied Europe and socialized with German politicians and high-rank officials to gather information. When Nazi Germany invaded France, she moved to her estate in the south, joined the Red Cross, and worked for Free France – the exiled French government. Later, she relocated to the French colony in Morocco, smuggling hidden messages in music sheets while entertaining the troops in North Africa and the Middle East. After the war, she received numerous honors for her work with the resistance. In 1947, Baker married her fourth husband, the French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon, returning to Paris and the stage, more popular than ever for her performance and tribute to the war effort. In 1951, she was invited to perform in the US and was appalled by the racial discrimination she had encountered. Though no longer an American citizen, she began to work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and by refusing to perform in segregated venues, she helped to integrate live shows in Miami and Las Vegas. Baker could not get pregnant because of a hysterectomy due to complications of a stillbirth she had during the war. In the early 1950s, she began adopting children from different ethnicities and religions, calling her family The Rainbow Tribe. They lived on her estate in Southern France, which included a farm, rides, and numerous hotels. She charged an entrance fee for guests to use the facilities and watch her children sing, dance, and view her “experiment in brotherhood.” In 1968, at the age of 62, after a few years off the stage, she realized that her popularity had declined. In 1973, she made a comeback when performing at Carnegie Hall in NYC and was greeted with a standing ovation. In Paris, two years later, she had 50 years in business revue financed by Princess Grace and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The sold-out show was attended by A-listers such as Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, and Diana Ross. Four days later, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was found in her bed surrounded by newspapers with raving reviews of her show. She died in the following year at the age of 68. Read more...

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey. Already as a child, she sang in church and received vocal lessons from her mother, the gospel singer Cissy Houston. At 11, she began to perform as a soloist in her junior gospel choir, and by the age of 14, she performed with her mother in various clubs and venues. At the age of 15, a photographer discovered her, and she went on to become a successful teen model, appearing in magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Young Miss and was one of the first Black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. While modeling, she continued to develop her music career, singing backup for artists such as Chaka Khan and Herbie Mann. Her vocal work for the funk band Material caught the attention of various record producers, including Clive Davis of Arista Records. In 1983, at the age of 19, Houston signed with the label, where she stayed for the rest of her career. In that same year, she made her TV debut, singing Home from the musical The Wiz on The Merv Griffin Show. In 1985, after two years of tireless work, she released her first album, Whitney Houston, which included three number-one singles – Greatest Love of All, How Will I Know, and Saving All My Love for You. The album stayed at the top of the charts for 14 non-consecutive weeks, became the biggest-selling album by a debut artist, and earned Houston her first Grammy. Following her success, she embarked on her first world tour. In 1987, at 24, she released her second album, Whitney, with four more number one hits. It became the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts and awarded Houston her second Grammy for the single I Wanna Dance with Somebody. In 1992, at the age of 29, she married the singer Bobby Brown. That same year, she made her film debut, starring with Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard. The movie theme song, her cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, became her biggest hit ever, remaining number-one for 14 weeks and earning her three Grammys – the record of the year, the album of the year, and best female pop vocal performance. In the next decade, her acting career flourished, and she appeared in numerous films, including Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife, recording the soundtracks of both. In 1998, she released her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love, for which she received another Grammy award. Since 1993, both Houston and Brown struggled with substance abuse, and she suffered emotional and domestic violence from Brown. By the early 2000s, this destructive way of life and abusive relationship affected her career, and she canceled many concerts. Despite her troubles, she continued to record, releasing two more albums, Just Whitney in 2002 and the holiday album One Wish in 2003. Over the next few years, Houston took some time off to reconstruct her life. She tried to overcome her drug addiction, and in 2007 she divorced Brown and won a custody battle of their daughter Bobbi Kristina. In 2009, at 46, she had a comeback with her last studio album, I Look To You, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 300,000 copies. Afterward, she revived her acting career, working on the remake of the musical film Sparkle. In early 2012, at the age of 48, Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hills hotel due to accidental drowning. Over her career, she released seven studio albums, three soundtrack albums and won more than 400 awards. Read more...

Ava Marie DuVernay was born and raised in California. She studied English literature and African-American studies at the University of California. While at college, DuVernay was interested in broadcast journalism and interned for CBS News during the O.J. Simpson trial. Following been assigned to look through the trash of the jury, DuVernay decided to change her career path and get into public relations. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree, she began to work as a junior publicist at several production studios and PR agencies. In 1999, when she is 27 years old, she opened her PR firm, The DuVernay Agency, working on campaigns for films such as Shrek 2, Dreamgirls, and Collateral. At the time, she also launched numerous lifestyle and promotional networks, including the Urban Beauty Collective for African-American beauty salons and barbershops and HelloBeautiful for millennial women of color. As a PR agent, DuVernay frequently visited film sets, observing filmmakers on the job, figuring that she can be one as well. She bought books on the art of screenwriting, and in 2003 she began to work on her first script. In the following year, at the age of 32, DuVernay directed her first short film, Saturday Night Life, based on her mother’s experiences in a discount grocery store. At 38, DuVernay released her first narrative feature, I Will Follow, about a woman who losses her aunt to cancer. The film was the official selection of several film festivals, including the American Film Institute Fest and the Chicago International Film Festival. A year later, DuVernay’s film Middle of Nowhere premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won Best direction, making her the first African-American woman to receive the award. In the following years, she continued creating movies and TV series, winning awards as the first African-American woman. In 2018, she made history again by becoming the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a budget higher than $100 million in the movie A Wrinkle in Time, featuring Oprah Winfrey. Between one feature film to another, DuVernay directed many TV documentary films, music videos, and commercials. She also founded the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) to support films made by black artists, later rebranded as ARRAY, expanding the movement’s mission to women artists. She also co-founded the Evolve Entertainment Fund, promoting inclusion and providing opportunities for under-served communities in the entertainment industry. Read more...

Lucille Désirée Ball was born in Jamestown, New York. When she was 3 years old, her father had died, and she moved with her mother and little brother to her grandparents’ house in Celoron, New York. At the age of 12, while auditioning for the chorus line of her stepfathers’ Shriner’s organization, Ball discovered her passion for performing, realizing that this was a great way to earn praise and recognition. At 17, Ball came to NYC, auditioning for various productions while working as a house model for Hattie Carnegie. At 21, after two years of hiatus due to rheumatoid arthritis, she landed some chorus work on Broadway, using the name Diane Belmont. Afterward, she moved to Hollywood and acted in various minor movie roles. In 1937, at the age of 26, Ball was cast in her first credited part, starring alongside Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn in the film The Three Musketeers. During the 1940s, Ball became known as the current “Queen of the B’s” for starring in numerous B-movies. One of them was the musical Too Many Girls, where she and Desi Arnaz, who already played together in her previous movie, became a couple. They got married that same year. Between one acting job to another, Ball gained exposure working in radio shows, including The Phil Baker Show and CBS’s My Favorite Husband. Ball’s portray of the wacky wife caught the attention of the producers, who asked her to develop a TV show. Insisting on working with her real-life husband, the network rejected the pilot, claiming that the audience will not believe that a Cuban and a red-haired Caucasian is a couple. Instead, Ball and Arnaz created a vaudeville act, in which she played a housewife who wants to get into her husband’s show. In light of the act’s successes, I Love Lucy got into the CBS lineup. The show was produced by Desilu – the production company that Ball and Arnaz had founded, for which Ball became the first woman to head a TV production company. In I Love Lucy, Ball played a witty housewife who finds creative ways to leave the house. Ball charmed the audience with her range, physical comedy, and timing. Premiered on October 15, 1951, the show immediately became the #1 watched sitcom, with a record of an overall of 67.3 on Nielsen ratings over its six years course. The show was innovative in television broadcasting, being the first production to film before a live studio audience and to use three cameras. While I Love Lucy was on the air, Ball was also teaching a comedy workshop at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. During the show’s time off, she and Arnaz starred together in two films and produced various movies and TV shows, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, and Star Trek. In 1957, after the show ended, 46 years old Ball returned to Broadway and the radio, hosting a radio talk show called Let’s Talk to Lucy. She continued to star in two more successful sitcoms – The Lucy Show (1962-1968) and Here’s Lucy (1968-1974). In 1960, she and Arnaz got divorced, and in the following year, she married her second husband, Gary Morton, who was 13 years younger than her. During the 1980s, Ball performed in various television specials and had a TV comeback with the sitcom Life with Lucy. Ball died at the age of 78 from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, leaving behind her a legacy of joy and laughter, inspiring many comediennes and actresses to follow her path. Read more...

Barbara Joan Streisand was born in Brooklyn, NY, to a Jewish family. When she was a year old, her father had died, and her mother had struggled financially, working as a low-paid bookkeeper. Streisand received her early education in Jewish institutes. She was a shy child, been rejected by other children because of her looks, and spending much of her time watching TV and going to the movies. At 13, while on vacation at the Catskills, Streisand and her mother, a soprano in her youth, recorded songs on tape. That was the first time that she thought of herself as an artist. In the following year, after watching her first Broadway play, The Diary of Anne Frank, she decided to become an actress. She began to explore the profession, reading plays, acting theories, and biographies of stage actresses. At 15, she got her first job in the business as backstage assistance at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. At 16, after graduating from Erasmus Hall High School with honors, Streisand moved by herself to the Theater District, sleeping with friends while trying to get roles on the stage. At 18, Streisand won a talent contest at the Lion nightclub and started to sing at clubs in the area. During that time, she began to develop her stage persona, creating emotional characters, working on her singing range, and speaking to the audience between songs. In 1962, after two years of performing in various nightclubs, Streisand landed her first role in a Broadway production, playing Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. It got her the first Tony nomination and her first husband, Elliott Gould. Their marriage lasted for 6 years, and they had a son together. Becoming an immediate sensation, Streisand made her first television appearance on The Tonight Show, and later on The Judy Garland Show and The Garry Moore Show, where she sang for the first time her signature song “Happy Days Are Here Again.” In 1963, Streisand released her first album, the Barbra Streisand Album, for which she won three Grammy Awards. In the following year, she returned to Broadway, playing Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, a role she played again in the movie adaption in 1968, receiving an Academy Award for her performance. During the 60s and 70s, Streisand established her status as a multi-talented performer, releasing a series of award-winning albums, such as Stoney End, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, and Guilty, while starring in various box-office hits, including Hello, Dolly!, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Way We Were, and A Star Is Born. In 1972, she founded the Barwood Films production, making her directorial debut in the movie Yentl in 1983, for which she became the first woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director. She continued to produce, direct and star in the films The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces. In 1985, Streisand released The Broadway Album, which reached No. 1 in the Billboard chart for three weeks, earning her quadruple platinum and her 8th Grammy award for Best Female Vocalist. Between 1986 – 1991 she released three more albums, including a four-disc box set, Just for the Record. For many years, Streisand avoided live performance, but in the 90s, she returned to the stage. Started as a two-night New Year’s event, her show turned into a multi-city tour with ticket prices reaching $1,500, making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history and earning her five Emmy awards. At the age of 55, after almost 10 years, Streisand released an album of new songs, titled Higher Ground, once again reaching the top of the Billboard chart and earning her two Grammy nominations. In 2004, after a leave of 8 years, Streisand returned to film acting in the movie Meet the Fockers. She continued to appear in various guest roles in many TV shows and TV specials, recording soundtracks and releasing singles and records, including her 2018 protest album, Walls. Streisand uses her fame and fortune to promote political and social causes, raising millions of dollars through live performances. She donated a building to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gifted $5 million to the Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and with the Streisand Foundation she founded in 1988, she contributed more than $16 million to organizations that promote the preservation of the environment, civil rights, women’s issues, civil liberties, and nuclear disarmament. Throughout her career, she has recorded 50 studio albums and 10 live records. She appeared in 19 films, directed 3 movies, and produced approximately 30 projects. She received 52 gold albums, 31 platinum albums, and 13 multi-platinum albums, becoming the most decorated recording artist in history. Read more...

Born Edith Claire Posener in San Bernardino, California. Her parents got divorced, and she grew up in Searchlight, Nevada, and Los Angeles, California. Head studied French at the University of California at Berkeley and then romance languages at Stanford University. At 23, she worked as a French teacher at the Hollywood School for Girls. To earn a higher salary, she took another position at the school as an art teacher. Having no formal education in arts, she took evening drawing lessons at the Chouinard Art College and Otis Art Institute. In 1923, at the age of 26, she married Charles Head, and though the marriage did not last long, she kept using Head as her surname. At 27, Head was hired by Paramount Pictures as a sketch artist for silent films. Her first design appeared in 1925 in the movie The Wanderer. She worked her way up, and within a few years, she became one of the leading costume designers in Hollywood. In 1938, at the age of 41, Head was appointed chief designer at Paramount pictures, becoming the first woman to head the design department of a major studio. During the 1940s, Head gained public attention after designing Ginger Rogers’s top mink-lined gown in the film Lady in the Dark. In 1950, after winning her first Academy Award for The Heiress, Head became the most wanted and successful custom designer in Hollywood. Head was the favorite designer of many leading actresses, such as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, and the first pick for designing the costumes for the biggest movies of the era, including Samson and Delilah, All About Eve, and Sabrina. In 1967, when she is 70 years old, Head left Paramount for Universal Studios. There, she won her first Academy Award for outfitting male stars in the film The Sting. She began designing costumes for TV productions, such as Bewitched and the mini-series Little Women. In the late 1970s, she designed the women’s uniform for the United States Coast Guard, for which she received the Meritorious Public Service Award. At the age of 83, Head worked on her last film project, the comedy, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. She died in the following year, a few days before her 84th birthday. Throughout her career, Head was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, winning 8 times – setting the record for the most honored costume designer in Academy Award history.   Read more...

Born Rachel Meghan Markle in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is African-American, and her father is Caucasian. When she was 6 years old, her parents got divorced. Markle attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and then the all-girl Immaculate Heart High School. At 18, Markle began to study theatre and international studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In 2002, at 21, after earning her bachelor’s degree, she returned to LA to develop her acting career. As a biracial actress, Markle had difficulties getting roles, not being black enough for black roles and not white enough for white ones. To support herself financially, she taught bookbinding and worked as a calligrapher. Markel’s first TV appearance was as a nurse in the soap opera General Hospital. Then she landed guest roles in various TV shows, such as 90210, CSI: NY, and CSI: Miami, as well as leading roles in movies, such as Random Encounters and Anti-Social. In 2011, at the age of 30, Markel had her big break in the TV show Suits, playing the role of Rachel Zane. At 33, Markle founded a lifestyle blog called The Tig, in which she wrote about fashion, food, traveling, beauty, and highlighting inspirational women. In 2016, at 35, Markle was appointed global ambassador for World Vision Canada. In this role, she traveled to Rwanda, promoting the Clean Water Campaign, and India, advocating for raising awareness for women’s issues, and debunking stigmatization regarding menstrual health. In June 2016, Markle was introduced to Prince Harry, a member of the British royal family, by a mutual friend, and soon they became a couple and got engaged in the following year. As a future member of the British royal family, Markle retired from acting and closed her blog. The wedding took place on May 19, 2018, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Afterward, Markle was given the title Duchess of Sussex and took on various royal duties. She served as vice president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and as the patron of numerous charities and organizations, including London’s National Theatre, The Royal Foundation, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Using her fashionista status, Markle collaborated with British stores and fashion houses to launch the Smart Set capsule collection to raise money for the Smart Works charity. Markle and Prince Harry also established the Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which later was renamed Archewell Inc. On May 6, 2019, at the age of 38, Markle gave birth to her first son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, the 7th in line of succession to the British throne. In January 2020, after years of suffering public pressure, endless tabloid rumors, and scrutinizing, in addition to race issues raised by the royal members about her and her son, and with no support or protection from the crown, Markle and Prince Harry announced of their retirement from their royal duties and of their plan to become financially independent. Within six months, they settled in LA, where they continue to support and advocate for charities and organizations that promote social issues, such as mental health, women’s rights, animal welfare, and education access. Read more...