Biography

Lindsay Dee Lohan was born on 2 July 1986, in New York City and grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. Lohan’s father, Michael Lohan, ran his family’s pasta business and worked as an investment banker. Her mother, Donata “Dina” Sullivan, was a Wall Street analyst.

Lindsay began her career at age three as a Ford model, and also made appearances in over sixty television commercials, including spots for The Gap, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, and Jell-O (opposite Bill Cosby). Lohan made her acting debut in 1996 as the third actress to play Ali Fowler in the television drama “Another World” (1964). Shortly afterward, she was hand-picked by Oscar-nominated writer Nancy Meyers as estranged twin sisters in an adaptation by Walt Disney Pictures of a novel by Erich Kästner, which marked Meyers’ directorial debut. Lohan’s first feature film, “The Parent Trap” (1998), a remake of “The Parent Trap” (1961), was a modest commercial success, earning her widespread critical acclaim, and a Young Artist award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, as well as Blockbuster Entertainment and YoungStar award nominations.

After signing a three-movie contract with Disney, she returned to the small screen to star in the made-for-TV movies “Life-Size” (2000) (TV) (opposite Tyra Banks) and “Get a Clue” (2002) (TV) (opposite Bug Hall). She also appeared as Rose in the pilot episode of the short-lived comedy series “Bette” (2000), which starred Bette Midler.

In June 2001, Lohan took a brief hiatus from acting. Her music career was launched over a year later, when Estefan Enterprises made a five-album production deal with her in September 2002, and she signed a recording contract with the reactivated Casablanca Records.

But Lohan was not turning her back on her blossoming acting career. Just over a month previously, she had been cast opposite Jamie Lee Curtis for another Disney adaptation of a novel, this time of a fantasy comedy by Mary Rodgers. “Freaky Friday” (2003), a remake of “Freaky Friday” (1976), was a huge hit (generating over US$160 million in worldwide box office receipts), and critics were spellbound by delightful performances from Lohan and Curtis (who went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for her work). At Lohan’s own initiative, her character was rewritten and changed from a Goth style to be more relatable. In addition, Lohan won the 2004 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Female, as well as a Saturn award nomination and another Young Artist award nomination.

Lohan relocated permanently to Los Angeles, California, between projects, and moved into an apartment with fellow actress Raven-Symoné. She also dated pop star Aaron Carter for a short time.

Lohan’s next acting role was the title character in the comedy “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” (2004), a Disney adaptation of the novel by Dyan Sheldon. The film received scathing reviews upon its release and died a quick death at the box office, but even the harshest of critics were impressed by Lohan’s charming turn as aspiring actress Lola.

Aiming to become a triple threat – actor, singer and dancer, similar to Ann-Margret and Marilyn Monroe – Lohan began showcasing her singing through her acting. For the “Freaky Friday” soundtrack, she sang the closing theme, “Ultimate”, as well as recording four songs for the “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” soundtrack. Producer Emilio Estefan, Jr. signed Lohan to a five-album production deal in 2002. Two years later, Lohan signed a recording contract with Casablanca Records, headed by Tommy Mottola.

Lohan’s next project, “Mean Girls” (2004) saw her reunite with “Freaky Friday” (2003) director Mark Waters. Inspired by a non-fiction book by Rosalind Wiseman and written by “Saturday Night Live” (1975) scribe Tina Fey, the high-school comedy-drama opened to glowing reviews, and grossed $86 million in the US. Lohan received four awards at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards for “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls”, including Breakout Movie Star. “Mean Girls” also earned her two awards at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, Best Female Performance and Best On-Screen Team along with several other cast members.

Lohan, then 17, became the youngest-ever host of the MTV Movie Awards in 2004. Following “Mean Girls”, which was scripted by Tina Fey and featured several alumni of “Saturday Night Live”, Lohan hosted the show three times between 2004 and 2006, as well as hosting the 2006 World Music Awards.

“Speak”, Lohan’s debut album, was released in December 2004, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 and earning Platinum certification by early 2005. “Speak” was introduced with the single “Rumors”. Described by Rolling Stone as “a bass-heavy, angry club anthem”, “Rumors” details Lohan’s complaints with the paparazzi and eventually earned a Gold certification in the United States.

With “Mean Girls”, Lohan’s public profile was raised significantly and paparazzi began following her. She spent several years living out of hotels in Los Angeles, of which two years were spent at Chateau Marmont. In late 2007, after settling down in more permanent residence, she explained that she spent so much time in hotels because she “didn’t want to be alone” but that “it wasn’t a way of life … not very consistent”. Lohan has had a series of car accidents that have been widely reported, with minor crashes in August 2004, October 2005 and November 2006, when Lohan suffered minor injuries because a paparazzo who was following her for a photograph hit her car. Police called the crash intentional, but prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to file criminal charges.

Lohan returned to Disney in 2005 for “Herbie: Fully Loaded”, the fifth film in the series with the anthropomorphic car Herbie. “Herbie: Fully Loaded” earned $144 million worldwide and received mixed reviews. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Lohan “a genuine star who … seems completely at home on the screen”, while James Berardinelli wrote that, “as bright a starlet as she may be, Lohan ends up playing second fiddle to the car”.

In 2005, Lohan became the first person to have a My Scene celebrity doll released by Mattel. She also voiced herself in the animated direct-to-DVD film My Scene Goes Hollywood, based on the series of dolls.

Lohan’s second album, “A Little More Personal (Raw)”, was released in December 2005, debuting at number 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, falling under the top 100 within six weeks. The album was certified Gold in early 2006. The music video for the album’s first single, “Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)”, was directed by Lohan and featured the acting debut of her sister, Ali. The video was a dramatization of the pain Lohan says her family has suffered at the hands of her father. It was Lohan’s first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 57.

Lohan’s parents legally separated in December 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2007. Lohan spoke in 2007 about her childhood: “I feel like a second parent in the sense that I helped raise my family”. … “I was put between my mother and father a lot. Well, I would put myself between them to try and keep the peace, and I felt good doing that”. Despite the conflicts, Lohan calls herself “a family girl” and has spoken very fondly of her family, including her father. However, in 2007 and again in 2008 she stated that she was no longer in contact with him, describing his unpredictable behavior as hard to deal with. In November 2009, her father released recordings of private phone calls with and about Lohan to the media. She commented on Twitter: “I haven’t had a real relationship w/Michael Sr. in years”.

Lohan’s next widely released film, the romantic comedy “Just My Luck”, opened in May 2006 and, according to Variety, earned Lohan over $7 million.

Following “Just My Luck”, Lohan focused on smaller roles in more mature, independent movies. Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy “A Prairie Home Companion”, in which Lohan co-stars with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, had a limited release in June 2006. Peter Travers wrote for Rolling Stone that “Lohan rises to the occasion, delivering a rock-the-house version of ‘Frankie and Johnny’”. Co-star Streep said of Lohan’s acting: “She’s in command of the art form” and “completely, visibly living in front of the camera”.

The Emilio Estevez drama “Bobby” was released in theaters in November 2006. Lohan received favorable comments for her performance, particularly a scene opposite Sharon Stone. As part of the “Bobby” ensemble cast, Lohan was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and won an award for Ensemble Acting at the Hollywood Film Festival where she also won a Breakout Award for her work in 2006.

Lohan’s next appearance was in “Chapter 27” as a John Lennon fan who befriends Mark David Chapman (Jared Leto) on the day he murders Lennon. Filming finished in early 2006, but was not released until March 2008 due to difficulties in finding a distributor.

In May 2007, the drama “Georgia Rule”, in which Lohan stars alongside Felicity Huffman and Jane Fonda, was released. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that “Lohan hits a true note of spiteful princess narcissism”. During filming in 2006, Lohan was hospitalized, her representative saying “she was overheated and dehydrated”. At the time Lohan was going through a breakup with restaurant owner Harry Morton. This contributed to her problems on the set according to Allure. In a letter that was made public, studio executive James G. Robinson called Lohan “irresponsible and unprofessional”. He mentioned “various late arrivals and absences from the set” and that “we are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called ‘exhaustion’”. Co-star Fonda later commented that “when she showed up on the set, she was always great”.

In 2006, Lohan attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In early January 2007, production on the film “I Know Who Killed Me” was put on hold when Lohan underwent appendix surgery. Later in the month, Lohan admitted herself to the Wonderland Center rehabilitation facility. Lohan checked out on February 16, 2007 after completing a 30-day stay. During the stay she continued shooting the film, returning to the facility at night. Shortly thereafter, Lohan withdrew from a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance, her publicist stating that Lohan needed to “focus on getting better”. Lohan was replaced in “The Edge of Love” in April 2007, shortly before filming was to begin, with the director citing “insurance reasons” and Lohan later explaining that she “was going through a really bad time then”.

Lohan was then cast in the film adaptation of the novel “Poor Things”. On May 26, four days before production was set to start, she was arrested for DUI and subsequently re-entered rehab. The film’s producers initially voiced support and production was put on hold.

Lohan was involved in a traffic accident on May 26, 2007 when she lost control of her car and ran the vehicle up a curb. Beverly Hills police also found what they preliminarily identified as a “usable” amount of cocaine in her car. After receiving treatment for minor injuries, Lohan was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. She subsequently entered the Promises Treatment Center rehabilitation facility, where she stayed for 45 days. Upon her release to outpatient care, Lohan was voluntarily fitted with a SCRAM bracelet to monitor her sobriety.

On July 24, three weeks before filming was scheduled to resume, Lohan was arrested for a second DUI and again returned to rehabilitation. Ultimately she fell out of the project.

On July 24, less than two weeks after leaving Promises, Lohan refused a field sobriety test in Santa Monica and was taken to a police station where her blood alcohol level was found to be above the legal limit. While conducting a search, the police found a small amount of cocaine in her pocket. Lohan was booked on a felony charge of possession of cocaine and misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. In August 2007, Lohan entered Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Sundance, Utah for a third stint at rehabilitation, staying until discharge on October 5, 2007. In 2007 Lohan first dated British TV personality Calum Best and then snowboarder Riley Giles, who she met during her third stay in rehab.

In the wake of her second DUI arrest, Lohan withdrew from a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which she had been due to promote “I Know Who Killed Me”, a low-budget thriller-mystery in which she stars as a stripper with a dual personality. The film premiered to what Entertainment Weekly called “an abysmal $3.5 million”. It earned Lohan a dual Razzie nomination for Worst Actress, with Lohan coming first and second, tying with herself.

Hollywood executives and industry insiders commented that it would be difficult for Lohan to find employment until she could prove that she was sober and reliable, citing possible issues with securing insurance. Robinson, the producer who previously criticized Lohan’s work ethic on Georgia Rule, said that he would work with her again if she got the proper medical care, and went on to describe her as “one of the most talented young women in the movie business today”.

On August 23, 2007, Lohan pleaded guilty to cocaine use and driving under the influence and was sentenced to one day imprisonment and 10 days community service. She was also ordered to pay fines and complete an alcohol education program, and was given three years probation. Lohan released a statement in which she said “it is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs”. On November 15, 2007, Lohan served 84 minutes in jail. A sheriff spokesman cited overcrowding and the nonviolent nature of the crime as reasons for the reduced sentence. The probation was extended by an additional year in October 2009, following several instances in which Lohan failed to attend the court-ordered substance abuse treatment classes.

Following a switch to Universal Motown, Lohan began working on a third album, tentatively titled “Spirit in the Dark”, in late 2007 and released “Bossy” in May 2008. In November 2008, Lohan stated that work on the album had stalled and that she wanted to avoid the stress of working on movies and music at the same time.

In May 2008, Lohan made her first screen appearance since “I Know Who Killed Me”, on ABC’s television series “Ugly Betty”. She guest starred in four episodes, spanning seasons two and three in 2008, as Kimmie Keegan, an old schoolmate of the protagonist Betty Suarez. Lohan made a cameo appearance in the drug themed music video for the May 2008 N*E*R*D song “Everyone Nose”.

Lohan has been the face of Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, and Dooney and Bourke, as well as the 2008 Visa Swap British fashion campaign as well as being the face of Italian clothing company Fornarina for its Spring/Summer 2009 campaign.

Lohan dated DJ Samantha Ronson in 2008 and 2009. Lohan co-hosted club events with Ronson and accompanied her when she was DJ-ing. Speaking about her sexual orientation, Lohan has said she is not a lesbian. When asked if she is bisexual, she responded “Maybe. Yeah”, adding “I don’t want to classify myself”. In April 2009, following her break up with Ronson, Lohan appeared in a skit on the comedy website Funny or Die. The self-deprecating video is a spoof of the personal ads on dating website eHarmony. It was viewed 2.7 million times in the first week and received favorable comments from the media.

In the 2009 comedy “Labor Pains”, Lohan plays a woman who pretends to be pregnant. During the shoot, Lohan’s manager worked with the paparazzi to encourage the media to show her working, as opposed to partying. It was originally planned for a theatrical release, but instead appeared as a TV movie on the ABC Family cable channel in July 2009, “a setback for the star” according to Variety. The premiere received 2.1 million viewers, “better-than-average” for the channel according to E! Online. Joanna Weiss of The Boston Globe commented that Lohan “looks to be coasting through a part that requires little effort, anyway”. Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times said “this is not a triumphant return of a prodigal child star. … [Labor Pains] never shakes free of the heavy baggage Ms. Lohan brings to the role”.

Lohan was a guest judge on US TV style contest Project Runway sixth season premiere episode, which aired in August 2009. In December 2009, she spent a week in India working on a BBC Three documentary on trafficking of women and children. She is due to appear in Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete”, for which she was filming in August and September 2009 and which is scheduled for release on September 3, 2010.

In May 2009, producers announced Lohan was cast in the film “The Other Side”. Filming was scheduled to begin October 2009 on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Lohan was fired, however, in April 2010, with the film’s writer-director saying, “Our team simply chose to move on from Lindsay and we’ll soon be announcing a replacement”.

In April 2010, producers announced that Lohan was cast as adult-film performer Linda Lovelace, star of “Deep Throat”, in the biopic film “Inferno”, scheduled to be directed by Matthew Wilder and produced by Chris Hanley and due to commence filming in late 2010. Lohan has defended herself against criticism of the role, saying that the film will not be pornographic. She gave an interview to the Sydney Morning Herald in which she said “the way that Matthew [Wilder] wants to shoot it is not vulgar. It’s not about the raw sex and the shots of her fully nude. It’s more about getting into her psyche and seeing how scared she was. That’s what I want to show most in the film. She went on to tell the interviewer that she had “never played someone’s true-life story before. A lot of the other movies I did were just brainless for me. So it’s nice to play something where I’m able to experience all these different emotions”.

On May 20, 2010, Lohan was scheduled to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Beverly Hills, California, for her DUI progress report hearing. She did not appear, and attorney Shawn Chapman Holley told Judge Marsha Revel that Lohan said her passport was stolen while she attended the Cannes Film Festival in France. The judge issued a bench warrant for Lohan’s arrest, but rescinded it after Lohan’s representatives posted bail. Lohan attended the rescheduled hearing on May 24, 2010. There, Revel ordered Lohan to attend weekly alcohol education classes, wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, refrain from drinking alcohol, and undergo random weekly drug tests to remain free on bail. Revel scheduled a July 6, 2010, hearing to determine whether Lohan had violated probation by not having attended the required number of classes to date.

During the 2008 US presidential campaign, Lohan offered her services to Barack Obama’s election effort, including hosting events aimed at young voters; but her offer was declined. An unnamed source within the Obama campaign told the Chicago Sun-Times that Lohan was “not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us”. She nonetheless posted MySpace blogs with her opinions on the election, urging voters to support Obama, criticizing media coverage of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and describing Palin as homophobic, anti-abortion and anti-environmentalist. During the Iraq War in 2006, Lohan expressed an interest in going to Iraq on a USO tour with Hillary Clinton. Back in 2004, Lohan stated that she did not like to talk about politics in order to avoid alienating any part of her fanbase.

Lohan has a long-lasting obsession with Marilyn Monroe going back to when she saw “Niagara” during the The Parent Trap shoot. In the 2008 Spring Fashion edition of New York magazine, Lohan re-created Monroe’s final photo shoot, known as The Last Sitting, including nudity.

In 2008, Lohan launched a clothes line, whose name “6126” was designed to represent Monroe’s birth date (June 1, 1926). The line started with leggings, before expanding to a full collection, covering 280 pieces as of April 2010. In April 2009, Lohan released a self-tanning spray under the brand name Sevin Nyne in collaboration with Sephora. In September 2009, Lohan became an artistic adviser for the French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro; a collection by designer Estrella Archs with Lohan as adviser was presented in October, receiving a “disastrous” reception, according to Entertainment Weekly and New York. Lohan left the company in March 2010.

In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in March 2010, Lohan gave fund-raising assistance to the British Red Cross to provide aid for the country. That same month, Lohan commenced legal proceedings in which she sought $100 million from financial services company E*Trade for a television advertisement that Lohan claimed invoked her likeness without her permission. She appeared on British comedy chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man on March 11, 2010, during which she spoke about her fashion work and her fascination with Marilyn Monroe, and refused to answer questions from host Alan Carr about her sexuality.

Lohan has featured in various men’s magazines. She was voted tenth on the list of “100 Sexiest Women” by readers of FHM in 2005, while Maxim placed her third on its “Hot 100” list in 2006 and first in 2007. In a poll by The Daily Mirror in February 2010, Lohan was voted tenth on a list of ‘sexiest redheads ever”.

Credit: imdb.com; en.wikipedia.org