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Liv Tyler - Biography |
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Liv Tyler (born Liv Rundgren, on
July 1, 1977, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York, is an
American actress. She is best known for her roles of Grace Stamper in
Armageddon and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Liv is the first born daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith,
and Bebe Buell, a model and singer. However, at birth Buell claimed that
rock star Todd Rundgren was her biological father. She spent most of her
childhood living with that understanding. Liv only discovered her true
parentage at age 9, after meeting Tyler at a Rundgren concert in Boston.
Then at another meeting in 1988, noticing that Tyler's other daughter,
Mia, looked very similar to herself, she asked her mother point blank. The
truth about her paternity however did not become public until 1991. She
then changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a
middle name. Buell's reason for the initial decision was that Tyler was
too heavily addicted to drugs at that time.
Liv's father was also rumored to be Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist of Deep
Purple and Rainbow. The rumor was started by Elissa Perry, the wife of
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who apparently wanted to put doubt into
Tyler's mind that he might be the father. Tyler has since denounced the
fabricated story as a lie on VH1's Behind The Music devoted to Aerosmith.
In 1979-80, when Liv was 2-3, Buell was romantically involved with Stiv
Bators. Bators lived with Liv and her mother in Portland, Maine, for a
portion of the period when Buell kept a house in the area.
Liv attended the Congressional School of Virginia, Breakwater Elementary
School and Waynflete School before returning to New York City with her
mother at the age of 12. She went to York Prep in NYC for Junior High and
High School, graduating in 1995. One month later Liv set off for Italy, to
star in Stealing Beauty.
After starting a career as a model (with a height of 5' 10", she quickly
moved into acting. She first became known to TV audiences when she starred
alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for the Aerosmith song,
Crazy, in 1993. The decision to cast her was based on the video's creators
having seen her in a Pantene commercial, with absolutely no knowledge that
her father was in the band.
Later, she was cast almost simultaneously for Silent Fall and Heavy; the
filming of Heavy was delayed until she became available. By the age of 20,
she had already starred in several successful movies, including Stealing
Beauty, That Thing You Do! and Inventing the Abbotts.
Her appearance in Armageddon, which was released on her 21st birthday,
brought her to the attention of a very wide public. This film incidentally
included the song, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", by her father's band.
However, she has proven herself capable of more sophisticated acting
challenges such as Onegin, based on the 19th century Russian novel by
Alexander Pushkin), in which she convincingly portrayed the character of
Tatyana Larina. She also appeared in two movies directed by Robert Altman,
Cookie's Fortune and Dr. T & the Women.
Her most successful role came in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which
she played Arwen Undómiel. In 2007 she was chosen to star alongside Edward
Norton in the upcoming Incredible Hulk trilogy.
Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People
in the World in 1997. She was also voted the 6th Sexiest Female Movie Star
in the Australian Empire Magazine in September 2002, and #2 in
TheAge.com's "Top 100: Natural Beauties of all time" in 2004.
On March 25, 2003, Liv married British musician Royston Langdon of the
band Spacehog. On December 14, 2004, she gave birth to a son, Milo William
Langdon, in a New York hospital.
Liv's ancestry is a combination of German on her mother's side, and
Italian, Russian and Cherokee Indian on her father's side. Liv's mother
named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann.
Liv dated actor Joaquin Phoenix from 1995 to November 1998. The couple met
on the set of Inventing the Abbotts.
The Lemonheads' song, C'mon Daddy, is written about the relationship
between Liv and her father. Lemonheads singer, Evan Dando, played a major
supporting role in James Mangold's film, Heavy, in which Liv starred. |
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Liv Tyler - Personal Quotes |
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"I have these slumber parties
with my father and when we can't sleep we stay up all night trading
beauty tips. He knows all about the good creams and masks."
{About her favorite smell] "Those smells that remind me of home. I
can smell my dad [Steven Tyler] from a mile away. I can smell it
whenever he's worn my clothes. He has this ambery smell that just
melts into him."
[on playing Arwen in "Lord of the Rings":] "It wasn't until I came
back home after such a long time away that I realized how much hype
there was about this. I get to play someone 3,000 years old. I'm 23,
so that's quite an acting challenge."
"I've been told that if I'd lose weight I'd have more work, but I
refuse to submit myself to those standards. To the rest of the
world, I'm slim, and I like the way I am."
When I did Stealing Beauty (1996), I was just a kid. I'd done a
couple of movies, but I'd never been to an acting class in my life.
But what I took away from it more than anything was the sense that,
even though I was the central character, it was my job to get
completely lost in the film. I had a real awareness of Bernardo
Bertolucci as a filmmaker, not just a director, painting a canvas in
which I was just one element.
Subtlety is my favourite thing in cinema. It lets you dream. When
everything is on the nail and on show, it leaves no questions in
your mind. I find that so boring.
Clothes have become too important and films are saturated with
fashion. So you find yourself wearing designer clothes that aren't
relevant to your character. I'm always so intrigued by Christopher
Guest and his movies, like Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind
(2003). He hires the actors and they all come up with the story and
the concept, improvise. And they are all responsible for their own
hair and make-up. They buy their own clothes, are in control of
creating their characters. I would love to do that.
"Life excites me. I'm not talking about appearing in movies or doing
interviews, but just little, normal, everyday things. Getting out of
bed. Getting dressed. Making food. I find it all exciting, you
know?"
"I don't live a very posh life. There are no drivers waiting or
people doing everything for me. I pretty much live like a normal
person. . . . It's not good to have a life without responsibilities,
you know?."
"It's cool to be compared to her [Elizabeth Taylor], but honestly
who gives a damn?".
"There were times when I would get mad at him (Viggo Mortensen)
because he would push me harder. There was a weekend when I got
really sick and had a horrible flu, and that was my one and only day
to sleep and recover and not work. We were supposed to go horseback
riding together and I cancelled it because I wasn't feeling well,
and Viggo gave me a really hard time about it. So I went, and it was
one of the greatest days of my life. It was actually the one time,
while I was riding, that I really broke through to the other side
with the canter and becoming more comfortable on the horse. I had a
beautiful day and am incredibly grateful to Viggo for pushing me
further. He taught me so much about that, about really being willing
to submit and submerge yourself into making the film and the
character work."
"My mom was so amazing. She was a singer and she'd been a model so
she had all these beautiful clothes and makeup, and in the bathroom
all her jewelry was pinned to the wall...it was more than a little
girl could ever dream of! When she went out, she would always say,
"Don't get into my stuff!" and the first thing I would do was go mad
dressing up." |
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Liv Tyler - Filmography |
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The Incredible Hulk (2008)
.... Betty Ross
Smother (2007) .... Clare Cooper
The Strangers (2007) .... Kristen
Reign Over Me (2007) .... Angela Oakhurst
Lonesome Jim (2005) .... Anika
Jersey Girl (2004) .... Maya
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) .... Arwen
... aka Herr der Ringe: Die Rückkehr des Königs, Der (Germany)
... aka The Return of the King (USA: short title)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) .... Arwen
... aka Herr der Ringe: Die zwei Türme, Der (Germany)
... aka The Two Towers (USA: short title)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) .... Arwen
... aka The Fellowship of the Ring (USA: short title)
... aka The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The
Motion Picture (USA: promotional title)
One Night at McCool's (2001) .... Jewel Valentine
Dr T and the Women (2000) .... Marilyn
... aka Dr. T and the Women (Germany) (USA: alternative spelling)
Onegin (1999) .... Tatyana Larina
Cookie's Fortune (1999) .... Emma Duvall
Plunkett & Macleane (1999) .... Lady Rebecca Gibson
Armageddon (1998/I) .... Grace Stamper
Can't Hardly Wait (1998) (voice) (uncredited) .... Gum Girl
U Turn (1997) .... Girl in Bus Station
... aka U Turn - Ici commence l'enfer (France)
Inventing the Abbotts (1997) .... Pamela Abbott
That Thing You Do! (1996) .... Faye Dolan
Stealing Beauty (1996) .... Lucy Harmon
... aka Beauté volée (France)
... aka Dancing by Myself (USA: alternative title)
... aka Io ballo da sola (Italy)
Empire Records (1995) .... Corey Mason
... aka Empire
... aka Rock & Fun
Heavy (1995) .... Callie
Silent Fall (1994) .... Sylvie Warden
Aerosmith: Amazing (1993) (TV) .... Girl |
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Liv Tyler - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Liv Tyler
YouTube: Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler at Celebs, Inc.
Liv Tyler at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
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