Name Gwyneth Paltrow

Birth name Gwyneth Kate Paltrow

Date of birth 27 September 1972

Star sign Libra

Birthplace Los Angeles, California, USA

Height 5ft 9½in

Eye colour Blue

Marriages Chris Martin, 5 December 2003

Children Apple Blythe Alison Martin, born 14 May 2004; Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, born 8 April 2006

Biography

Born in LA into a theatrical family, award-winning actress Gwyneth is the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and the late director/producer Bruce Paltrow.

After 18-year-old Gwyneth appeared alongside her mother in 1991 play Picnic, her father was impressed enough to encourage her to give up her university studies to pursue acting. She made her breakthrough opposite Brad Pitt in Se7en (1995) and was catapulted into the headlines when the pair started dating. But despite accepting Brad’s proposal, the couple split in June 1997 and Gwyneth began a brief relationship with actor Ben Affleck.

Gwyneth’s star shot even higher when she picked up an Oscar for her performance as Lady Viola in Shakespeare In Love, although it was her long – and teary – acceptance speech that made most of the headlines.

Following her appearance as Jude Law’s girlfriend in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), Gwyneth has taken on roles in smaller, critically-acclaimed films such as The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) as well as the odd commercial smash like Shallow Hal (2001) in which she starred as an obese woman. Gwyneth donned a fat suit for the part and admitted her own body insecurities, revealing she followed a strict, macrobiotic diet.

Despite heartbreak in 2002 when her father died suddenly in his sleep, Gwyneth found romance with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The pair married a year later and welcomed their first child, daughter Apple, in March 2004, and then son Moses in 2006.

Although she has admitted to suffering from postnatal depression after Moses’ birth, Gwyneth has returned to the spotlight with roles in Infamous and Iron Man.

Quotes

‘I think it’s sort of funny how you have to be doing coke off the ass of a stripper to be perceived as not boring these days.’ (The Guardian, 27 January 2006)

‘If you date a guy who’s famous, that wears off in about a second. Then you’re left with a regular guy.’ (USA Weekend, 23 December 2001)

‘I think it’s incredibly embarrassing when people are drunk. It just looks so ridiculous. I find it very degrading. I think, “Ooh, you’re really degrading yourself right now, to be this pissed out in public.”’ (The Guardian, 27 January 2006)

(On Chris Martin)
‘It was heaven sent I met him because he really saved me.’ (Daily Telegraph, 12 January 2004)

(On her self-image)
‘I’m like, “Who is that wrinkling, cellulite-ridden loser?”’ (USA Today, 13 October 2003)