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• "Jonas Brothers: The Concert Experience" released on DVD

  Seattle Times - Found Jun. 30, 2009 Joaquin Phoenix and Vinessa Shaw in 'Two Lovers.' The Jonas Brothers (who played the Tacoma Dome Sunday) can now be seen on DVD, with today's release ... Wonder Girls Emblazons Front of US Daily - Korea Times Jonases Cut Down To Size In Concert Video - Hartford Courant Fans go wild for Jonas Brothers in Vancouver - Vancouver Sun Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience - Deluxe Extended Movie ... - Coming Soon! Explore All

  Seattle Times

• 'Entourage' season five has good problems

  Detroit News - Found 23 hours ago ... suicidal Leonard, living at home with his parents when he's set up with a seeming Ms. Right, Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) at the same time he falls...

• Nuanced 'Lovers' makes sense of convoluted love affairs

  Philadelphia Daily News - Found Jul. 3, 2009 'Two Lovers' (R, 2008, Magnolia) Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) has a thing for Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), who recently endured watching his recent engagement ... Nuanced 'Lovers' makes sense of convoluted love affairs - Philadelphia Inquirer Explore All

• Jonases cut down to size

  Chicago Tribune - Found Jul. 3, 2009 ... s fantastic performance as a suicidal Brooklyn photographer trying to choose between a stable girlfriend (Vinessa Shaw) and a fragile kindred...

• 'Two Lovers' is Joaquin Phoenix's swan song

  Los Angeles Daily News - Found Jul. 1, 2009 Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) is the daughter of another dry cleaner who is thinking of buying her father's business. New Releases: DVD - Two Lovers plus three. /entertainment/ - Nerve.com EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: New Two Lovers DVD Clip - MovieWeb Explore All

  Los Angeles Daily News

• DVD Tuesday: street fighters, Jonas Brothers, and a love triangle

  Examiner.com - Found Jul. 1, 2009 ... torn between two women: one the good-girl daughter of one of his family?s close friends (Vinessa Shaw), the other the somewhat eccentric and...

• This week on DVD - June 30, 2009

  Examiner.com - Found Jun. 30, 2009 Two Lovers stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vinessa Shaw, and Gwyneth Paltrow and weaves a story surrounding a man who, after a recent heart-break, is...

• Review: Dysfunctional man, women court, spark in 'Two Lovers"

  San Jose Mercury News - Found Jun. 30, 2009 Not long after that, he encounters two women Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) and becomes interested in both. Experience These Action-Packed Comedies for the First Time on ... - Reuters Experience These Action-Packed Comedies for the First Time on ... - Houston Chronicle Sunshine Cleaning Sparkles on DVD and Blu-ray on August 25th - MovieWeb Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Two-Disc Special Edition) - IGN.com Explore All

  Geek.com

• New on DVD: Two Lovers and no clichés

  Houston Chronicle - Found Jun. 29, 2009 ... was promoting when he had his strange mumbling moment on Late Show with David Letterman Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) is the daughter of another dry...

• New on DVD:

  Houston Chronicle - Found Jun. 29, 2009 ... was promoting when he had his strange mumbling moment on Late Show with David Letterman Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) is the daughter of another dry...

Vinessa Shaw extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Vinessa Shaw
Vinessa Shaw as Lynn Carter in a promotional photo for The Hills Have Eyes.
Born	Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw July 19, 1976 (1976-07-19) (age 32) Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American actress and model. Shaw has starred in numerous motion pictures since the early 1990s, and is probably most well-known for her performances in the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's horror picture The Hills Have Eyes, as well as the 2008 romance film Two Lovers, in which she starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Contents 1 Childhood and early career 2 Film career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

Childhood and early career

Shaw was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Larry Shaw and actress Susan Damante-Shaw (née Susan Jean Damante).¹² Her family's original surname was "Schwartz".³ Her name, Vinessa, spelled with an "i" rather than the common "a', was a variation of her grandfather's name, Vincent. ⁴ Shaw made her first formal performance in a UCLA acting camp short at age 10, and subsequently toured with children's folk singer Peter Alsop at age 11. She also signed on with the Elite Models agency in 1989 at the age of 13 before beginning her acting career ⁵, and did a few modeling jobs and commercial work throughout her earlier career.

Film career

Shaw made her film debut in a little-known-of 1981 slasher film called Home Sweet Home, which dealt with a serial killer at Thanksgiving time. She then landed parts in a handful of television roles. She played a considerably large role in Walt Disney's 1993 Halloween family film Hocus Pocus alongside Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, and a young Thora Birch. Shaw completed roles in various independent films for the remainder of the 1990s.

In 1999, she was cast in a small yet significant role by the legendary Stanley Kubrick in his final film Eyes Wide Shut, playing an HIV-positive prostitute who is encountered by Tom Cruise. In a 2008 interview, Shaw stated that director Kubrick was "very influential" to her and that he "was the first person who encouraged her to continue acting". ⁶ Following her role in Eyes Wide Shut, Vinessa played parts in a handful of films including the independent 2000 mystery-drama The Weight of Water with Sarah Polley and Sean Penn; the slapstick comedy Corky Romano alongside Chris Kattan; the romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights, playing the fiesty ex-girlfriend of Josh Hartnett; and a very small role in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda.

More low budget and independent films consumed Shaw's time until 2006, where she returned to the big screen in Alexandre Aja's remake of Wes Craven's exploitation-horror film The Hills Have Eyes, playing a young mother on a camping trip with her family who is attacked by bloodthirsty mutants in the California desert. Director Aja had wanted to cast her in the film after seeing her performance in Eyes Wide Shut. Asked why she wanted to act in a horror film, Shaw responded "Well, I guess I could be good in it since I'm so frightened of those kinds of concepts. But this one in particular really attracted me because of the filmmakers. I really thought that they had a great stance on it. Like it's very different, very heartfelt, [and] heartbreaking because of the characters involved. So that's kind of what made the difference. It was more of an actor's piece, if you can believe that, in a horror movie." ⁷ Shaw was featured on the official one sheet promotion poster for the film ⁸, which was a box-office success.

Most recently, Vinessa has been seen in the 2007 remake of the classic Western film 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, the indie drama film Garden Party, as well as a leading role in Two Lovers alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was released theatrically in February 2009.

Personal life

Shaw dated late actor Jonathan Brandis whom she met while filming Ladybugs in 1992, and later dated actor Oliver Hudson, brother of Kate Hudson and son of Goldie Hawn. She attended the famed Barnard College in New York, but dropped out to pursue acting. Shaw was attending the college when she was approached by Stanley Kubrick for her role in Eyes Wide Shut.

She is also a practicing Buddhist⁹, and is a facilitator of the SGI-USA Buddhist Association for Peace, Culture, and Education.¹⁰ Shaw mentioned her practicing of the religion in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in February 2009. Shaw has been engaged to behind-the-scenes film Kristopher Gifford since 2008. ¹¹

Filmography

• Home Sweet Home (1981) .... Angel
• Long Road Home (1991) .... Clara Tarpin
• Ladybugs (1992) .... Kimberly Mullen
• Country Estates (1993) .... Heather Calhoun
• Hocus Pocus (1993) .... Allison
• McKenna (1994) .... Cassidy McKenna (pilot only)
• Coyote Summer (1996) .... Callie Carpenter
• L.A. Without a Map (1998) .... Barbara
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999) .... Domino
• Wayward Son (1999) .... Cordelia
• The '70s (2000) .... Eileen Wells
• The Weight of Water (2000) .... Anethe Christenson
• Corky Romano (2001) .... Agent Kate Russo
• 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002) .... Nicole
• Melinda and Melinda (2004) .... Stacey Fox
• Bereft (2004) .... Molly
• Fathers and Sons (2005) .... Nell
• The Hills Have Eyes (2006) .... Lynn Carter
• Badland (2007) .... Nora
• 3:10 to Yuma (2007) .... Emmy Nelson
• Stag Night (2008) .... Brita
• Garden Party (2008).... Sally
• Two Lovers (2008).... Sandra

References

External links

• Vinessa Shaw at the Internet Movie Database