Singers Britney Spears and Nelly Furtado and actress Lucy Liu are celebrating their birthdays today, December 2.
Britney Spears, 33
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Singer and actress Britney Spears turns 33 today. As a child, Spears performed acting roles in stage productions and television shows. At 8 years old, Spears went for an audition in the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club but was rejected for being too young to join the series at the time. Spears appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. In 1992, she was finally selected to be a part of The Mickey Mouse Club.
Spears signed with Jive Records in 1997. She released her first studio album, ...Baby One More Time, in 1999. Her second album, Oops!... I Did It Again, was released the next year. both albums became international successes. Her songs "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her self-titled third studio album, Britney, and in 2002, she played the starring role in the film Crossroads.
Spears went on to release five more studio albums, In the Zone (2003), Blackout (2007), Circus (2008), Femme Fatale (2011) and Britney Jean (2013). She also served as a judge during the second season of the American version of The X Factor. Spears began a two-year residency show, Britney: Piece of Me, at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Spears became the best-selling teenage artist of all time and was titled the "Princess of Pop." Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award, six MTV Video Music Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and over 100 million singles, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Spears has two sons from her former marriage to Kevin Federline. She is currently dating television producer Charlie Ebersol.
Nelly Furtado, 36
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Singer and songwriter Nelly Furtado turns 36 today. Furtado first gained fame in 2000 with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which contained the successful singles, "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light." "I'm Like A Bird" won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2003, Furtado released Folklore, which produced three international singles, "Powerless (Say What You Want)," "Try" and "Forca."
She released her third studio album, Loose, in 2006, and it became a worldwide commercial success with 10 million copies sold. The album contained four number-one hits, "Promiscuous," "Maneater," "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)." Furtado released her first full-length Spanish album, Mi Plan, in 2009 and Furtado received a Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, Furtado released her fourth English-language studio album, The Spirit Indestructible.
Throughout her career, Furtado has sold 20 million albums worldwide and more than 20 million singles, bringing her total sales to over 40 million records around the world. Furtado's work has earned her numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, 10 Juno Awards, three MuchMusic Video Awards and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
Furtado has a daughter from a previous relationship and is currently married to sound engineer Demacio Castellon.
Lucy Liu, 46
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Actress, model, artist, film producer and director Lucy Liu turns 46 today. Liu became well known after playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal from 1998 to 2002. Her performance earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.
In 2000, Liu was cast as Alex Munday in the movie version of Charlie's Angels alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. She reprised her role for the sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle in 2003. She also starred with Antonio Banderas in Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. She went on to play O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. She won an MTV Award for Best Movie Villain for her role. She went on to appear in Chicago, Domino and Lucky Number Slevin. Liu voiced the role of Viper in the Kung Fu Panda series.
In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the TNT series Southland for which she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress. She played the lead in the short-lived ABC sitcom Cashmere Mafia. Liu currently plays Joan Watson in the CBS drama Elementary.