Hollywood leading ladies on Star Movies

MANILA, Philippines - Actors and actresses become official celebrities only when their hit-to-stardom movie or project registers on the Hollywood radar. While there are a lucky few who get to star status on their first try, most celebrities start their careers way before they become a mainstream favorite.

Here are some of Hollywood’s leading ladies who have stolen the limelight in the latter years of their careers.

Reese Witherspoon. Who doesn’t recognize that pink outfit amid the corporate black and gray of Harvard? Or Bruiser, the Chihuahua? Or the supposed dumb blond who pursues her boyfriend to law school and graduates with honors and a better fiancé? Indeed, the name Reese Witherspoon has immortalized Elle Woods of Legally Blonde.

But even before she landed the role that put her on the Hollywood map, Reese had already been acting since she was 14 with a major role in The Man in the Moon. In 1999, she starred as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions, a film where she met ex-husband Ryan Philippe. Her most notable role to date is in Walk the Line, where she won an Oscar playing the girlfriend of Johnny Cash.

Diane Lane. She’s been in show business for 30 years and won several awards, yet Diane retains the humility of a rising star. After debuting in A Little Romance as 13-year-old Lauren King, she had a dozen movies more before landing a role in the multi-nominated movie Unfaithful opposite Richard Gere. Since then, she has held major roles in movies like Under the Tuscan Sun and Killshot.

Jenna Elfman. She is one of the few ladies who move from TV series to movies flawlessly. You saw her as the eccentric flower child Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery in the five-year series Dharma & Greg in 1997, then the next year you found her as an angel in the romantic comedy Can’t Hardly Wait. In early 2000, she was the romantic interest of Rabbi Jake and Father Brian, played by Ben Stiller and Edward Norton respectively, in Keeping the Faith.

Ashley Judd. When you’ve earned your break in Hollywood, you usually don’t want to pursue anything else. But not for Ashley Judd, who has more than acting going for her. After she first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation, she has had a string of acclaimed movies including Heat, Smoke and Double Jeopardy. But away from the limelight, Ashley, who has a background in public administration, anthropology and art history, is also active in humanitarian and political causes.

Kate Hudson. Everyone knows those blond ringlets, the fresh face reminiscent of Goldie Hawn, and the string of romantic comedies. But before she broke through the Hollywood scene as Penny Lane in Almost Famous, Hudson’s career began with the teen drama Party of Five.

She also landed several roles in light comedies. She starred in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Matthew McConaughey and in My Best Friend’s Girl with Jason Biggs. Her latest film The Killer Inside Me shows us her darker side, where she is the girlfriend of a deranged sociopath.

See more of these lovely ladies on Star Movies every Friday night at 9. And if you’re up for the longest movie marathon with unlimited food, no bathroom breaks, and P100, 000 on the line, then watch Star Movies daily and catch the brand bug logo on selected movies.

Send your details along with the movie and the time you saw the brand bug logo onscreen. Weekly raffles will pick the lucky 100 on-air promo winners of the Star Movies Movie Marathon Activity to be held on Nov. 9.