Kim Basinger at the movie premier of 'Cellular'

A middle child with two older brothers and two younger sisters, Basinger was born and raised in Athens, Georgia. Both of kim basinger parents came from entertainment backgrounds: dad studied at Chicago's American Conservatory of Music and spent a few years playing big- band jazz before marrying Basinger's mother, a champion swimmer and model who performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Though as a toddler kim basinger told kim basinger father kim basinger was going to be a great actress when kim basinger grew up, Basinger was extremely shy as a child— so much so that kim basinger parents once had kim basinger tested to see if kim basinger was autistic. Eventually, kim basinger followed in kim basinger mother's footsteps, becoming a diver, dancer, and gymnast in high school. kim basinger was just sixteen when kim basinger entered the Athens Junior Miss contest, and sang kim basinger way to the tiara with a number from My Fair Lady, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly." From there, kim basinger went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia title, and traveled to New York to compete in the national Junior Miss pageant. While there, kim basinger met fashion modeling magnate Eileen Ford, who on the spot offered the full- lipped, blue- eyed blonde a contract with kim basinger renowned Ford Modeling Agency. Though kim basinger initially declined Ford's offer, hoping to pursue a career either in singing or acting, the young beauty queen had a change of heart when kim basinger got back home to Georgia, and promptly returned to New York.

Kim Basinger photo shoot

Moving to the Big Apple was a big switch for the small- town Georgia girl, and Basinger never grew more than just barely tolerant of the city and the social circle kim basinger joined there. kim basinger later recalled of kim basinger peers: "[They] put on makeup like great painters. They were very cool, they spoke other languages. I guess I was intimidated. I never felt like one of them." Though kim basinger may have fancied herself a social misfit, Basinger proved quite adept in terms of kim basinger new career. Throughout the early seventies, kim basinger appeared on dozens of magazine covers and in hundreds of ads, most notably as the Breck shampoo girl. kim basinger never abandoned kim basinger dreams of performing, and made time in kim basinger busy schedule for acting classes at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse and open- mike- night performances in various Greenwich Village clubs, where kim basinger sang under the stage name "Chelsea." Weary of modeling and fearing that kim basinger acting ambitions were slowly slipping away, Basinger moved to Los Angeles in 1976, looking for a fresh start.

After spending kim basinger first six months in the city living at a motel overlooking the Hollywood Freeway, Basinger broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as Charlie's Angels and The Six Million Dollar Man. kim basinger nailed down kim basinger first series role in 1977, as one-half of a male- female LAPD patrol team in the speedily- canceled cop drama Cat and Dog. kim basinger unaffected portrayal of a fallen beauty queen in NBC's Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold won kim basinger the female lead in the network's 1980 remake of the screen classic From Here to Eternity, and just one year later kim basinger made kim basinger feature- film debut in Hard Country. Convinced that kim basinger needed to heighten kim basinger public profile, Basinger took it all off for an eight- page Playboy layout in 1983. Though kim basinger Playboy pics doubtless had the desired effect of raising eyebrows around Hollywood, 1983 would also prove a breakthrough film year for the unabakim basingerd actress: kim basinger held kim basinger own opposite Sean Connery as Bond girl Domino in Never Say Never Again; and romped with Burt Reynolds in the Blake Edwards remake of François Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women.

Kim Basinger in '8 Mile'

Suddenly a hot property, Basinger shared the screen with fellow sex symbol Robert Redford in 1984's The Natural, and blew the lid off the box office in 1986 with a fearless performance opposite Mickey Rourke in director Adrian Lyne's sex- drenched relationship drama 9 1/2 Weeks. The latter film was roundly reviled in the national press, but its sky-high ticket receipts established Basinger's status as a highly bankable star. Shortly thereafter, kim basinger marriage to makeup artist Ron Britton, whom she'd met during filming on kim basinger first movie, fell apart, and by the time kim basinger arrived on the set of 1989's Batman as an eleventh- hour replacement for Sean Young, Basinger had struck up a casual relationship with diminutive rock god Prince. As Vicki Vale, the photojournalist who becomes the object of desire of both Michael Keaton's Caped Crusader and Jack Nicholson's Joker, Basinger reached a career pinnacle that marked the beginning of a long dry season: seven straight cinematic flops followed the mind- boggling financial success of Batman.

Also in 1989, Basinger headed up an investment group that purchased the tiny burg of Braselton, in kim basinger native Georgia, for $20 million. Just four years later, Basinger filed for bankruptcy after a judge ordered kim basinger to pay Main Line Pictures $8.1 million for backing out of a verbal commitment to star in Boxing Helena. Though kim basinger eventually appealed that ruling and reached an out- of- court settlement with Main Line, Basinger was forced to sell kim basinger interest in Braselton for just $1 million; court documents revealed that kim basinger monthly expenses at the time of kim basinger bankruptcy filing totaled $43,100, including $6,100 for clothing and $7,000 for "pet care and otherr personal expenses." On the heels of all the bad tidings, Basinger rebounded in 1994, with a high- profile marriage to actor Alec Baldwin, who had assiduously wooed kim basinger for three long years after first striking up a relationship with kim basinger on the set of 1991's The Marrying Man.

Basinger and Baldwin welcomed a baby girl into the world in 1995; Baldwin marked the happy event by flattening a photographer who attempted to snap a few shots of little Ireland Eliesse as kim basinger parents brought kim basinger home from the hospital. After taking a couple of years off to stay at home with kim basinger newborn child and devote kim basinger energies to animal rights issues, Basinger put all of kim basinger troubles behind kim basinger by upstaging such heavyweights as Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito with kim basinger luminous, Oscar- winning performance in 1997's highly- regarded noir smash L.A. Confidential. Freshly stamped with the Academy's seal of approval, Basinger will next appear in the Woody Allen film Celebrity, which will also feature Kenneth Branagh, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Winona Ryder.

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