Lindsay Lohan (born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11. Lohan gained further fame between 2003 and 2005 with leading roles in the films Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Herbie: Fully Loaded, subsequently appearing in independent films including Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and Emilio Estevez's Bobby.Her career was interrupted in 2007 as two driving under the influence (DUI) incidents and three visits to drug rehabilitation facilities led to several lost movie deals. Resuming her career, she guest starred in the TV series Ugly Betty in 2008, starred in the 2009 comedy Labor Pains, and appeared in Robert Rodriguez's Machete in 2010. Lohan launched a second career in pop music in 2004 with the album Speak and followed up with A Little More Personal (Raw) in 2005. She has attracted significant publicity, particularly surrounding her personal life.
Life and career
Early life and education
Lohan was born on July 2, 1986, in New York City and grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. She is the eldest child of Donata "Dina" (née Sullivan) and Michael Lohan. Lindsay has three younger siblings, all of whom have been models or actors: Michael Jr. (who appeared with Lindsay in The Parent Trap), Aliana ("Ali"), and Dakota ("Cody"), the youngest Lohan child. Lohan is of Irish and Italian heritage and was raised as a Catholic. Her maternal family were "well known Irish Catholic stalwarts" and her great-grandfather, John L. Sullivan, was a co-founder of the Pro-life Party in Long Island. Lohan attended Cold Spring Harbor High School, where she did well in science and mathematics until grade 11 when she started homeschooling.
Lohan's parents have a turbulent history. They married in 1985, separated when she was three, and later reunited. They separated again in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2007. Her father, Michael, is a former Wall Street trader and businessman who inherited his father's pasta business and has been in trouble with the law on several occasions, while her mother, Dina, is a former singer and dancer.
1989–2002: Early career and The Parent Trap
Lohan began her career as a child model with Ford Models at the age of three. She modeled for Calvin Klein Kids and Abercrombie kids, and appeared in over 100 television commercials, including those for Pizza Hut and Wendy's, as well as a Jell-O spot with Bill Cosby. By the age of 10, when Lohan played Alexandra "Alli" Fowler in the series Another World, Soap Opera Magazine said she was already considered a show-business veteran.
Lohan remained in the role for a year, before leaving to star in Disney's 1998 family comedy The Parent Trap, a remake of the 1961 movie. She played dual roles of estranged twin sisters who try to reunite their long-divorced parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The film earned $92 million worldwide, and critic Kenneth Turan called Lohan "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original", going on to say that "she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities". The film won Lohan a Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film as well as a three-film contract with Disney.
At the age of 14, Lohan played Bette Midler's daughter in the pilot episode of the short-lived series, Bette, but resigned her role when the production moved from New York to Los Angeles. She also starred in two Disney television movies: Life-Size opposite Tyra Banks in 2000, and Get a Clue in 2002. Also in 2002, Lohan dated singer Aaron Carter. There were reports of a feud between her and Hilary Duff, who had also dated Carter, though Lohan later commented that "people just started selling stories ... it was easy to write about."
2003–2004: Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Speak
Lohan starred as Anna Coleman alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in the 2003 family comedy Freaky Friday. At Lohan's own initiative, her character was rewritten and changed from a Goth style to be more relatable. Critic Roger Ebert wrote that Lohan "has that Jodie Foster sort of seriousness and intent focus beneath her teenage persona". Freaky Friday earned Lohan the award for Breakthrough Performance at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards and, as of 2010, it remains her most commercially successful film, earning $160 million worldwide as well as an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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.
In 2004, Lohan starred in two lead roles. The first, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen—Lohan's first role in a film that was not a remake—earned a domestic box office total of $29 million, with Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo commenting that it was "well above expectations as it was strictly for young girls". The film overall, however, did not meet with critical acclaim. Robert K. Elder of Metromix wrote that, "though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions".
The teen comedy Mean Girls was Lohan's first movie independent of Disney. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $129 million worldwide and, according to Brandon Gray, "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen", while Steve Rhodes wrote that "Lohan dazzles us once more. The smartly written script is a perfect match for her intelligent brand of comedy." 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. Lohan cowrote six of the twelve songs on the album. The album was praised by Linda McGee of RTÉ, who awarded it 4 out of 5 stars and commented that "Speak opens with all the raw emotion and teenage angst that you'd expect from an artist of Lohan's age" and that, "while her vocals are not sensational, their gritty edge keeps Lohan more than afloat throughout this album" as well as comparing the album to the early music of Avril Lavigne. Allmusic, however, awarded it 2 out of 5 stars and claimed the album "feels more like a byproduct of an overdriven, overamplified celebrity culture than an actual album". Though primarily a pop album, 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.
While shooting Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2004, Lohan was hospitalized with a kidney infection brought on by stress in her personal life and of recording her first album while the film was in production, prompting Vanity Fair to label it Lohan's "first disastrous shoot". The magazine also described how Lohan terminated the promotional tour and was de-emphasized on the movie poster due to "un-Disney-like behavior". Lohan began dating actor Wilmer Valderrama in 2004, guest-starring in an episode of That '70s Show, of which Valderrama was a regular. According to Vanity Fair, the breakup with Valderrama contributed to Lohan's issues during the shooting of Herbie: Fully Loaded.
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.
2005: Herbie: Fully Loaded and A Little More Personal (Raw)
Lohan returned to Disney in 2005 for Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film in the series with the anthropomorphic car 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. Lohan cowrote six of the twelve songs on the album. Slant Magazine called the album "contrived ... for all the so-called weighty subject matter, there's not much meat on these bones." 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 Lohan. 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. The opening weekend box office takings of $5.7 million "broke lead actress Lindsay Lohan's winning streak" according to Brandon Gray. The film received poor reviews and earned Lohan her first Golden Raspberry nomination for worst actress.
2006–2007: Independent movies and career interruptions
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. Lohan, who has suffered from asthma since the age of two, is also a smoker. 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 Poor Things 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 new album had stalled and that she wanted to avoid the stress of working on movies and music at the same time. In February 2010, Ne-Yo, with whom Lohan had been collaborating, stated in an interview, "We were doing some stuff and then it just fell off and hasn't got back on. I'm not gonna hold my breath."
2008–2009: Television appearances and fashion
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 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". Lohan has been the face of Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, and Dooney & 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 has a long-lasting fascination with Marilyn Monroe going back to when she saw Niagara during 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, saying that the photo shoot was "an honor". The New York Times critic Ginia Bellafante found it disturbing, saying "the pictures ask viewers to engage in a kind of mock necrophilia. ... At 21 Lohan seems even older than Monroe, who was 36 in the originals ... and the photographs bear none of Monroe's fragility".
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.
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. Lohan had previously expressed an interest in going to Iraq, during the Iraq War in 2006, 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 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.[165] 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 appearred in Robert Rodriguez's Machete, for which she was filming in August and September 2009 and which was released on September 3, 2010.
In August 2009, Lohan's home was burglarized by The Bling Ring, a group of fashion-motivated burglars whose ringleader considered Lohan to be their ultimate conquest. Video surveillance of the burglary recorded at Lohan's home played a large role in breaking the case, which ultimately led to the arrests of the group's members.
2010–present
In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Lohan gave fund-raising assistance to the British Red Cross in March 2010 to provide aid for the country. The 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. On September 21, 2010, the parties announced they had reached a settlement in the case, the terms of which are confidential. 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.
In April 2010, producers announced that Lohan was cast as adult-film performer Linda Lovelace, star of Deep Throat, in the film Inferno, scheduled to be directed by Matthew Wilder and produced by Chris Hanley. Filming is scheduled to start 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."
In May 2010, Lohan did not appear for a scheduled DUI progress report hearing. The judge issued a bench warrant for Lohan's arrest, but rescinded the warrant after Lohan's representatives posted bail. Lohan's lawyer said her passport was stolen while she attended the Cannes Film Festival in France. At a rescheduled hearing on May 24, 2010 Lohan was ordered 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. The judge scheduled a hearing for July 6, 2010 to determine whether Lohan had violated probation by not having attended the required number of classes to date.
In June 2010, Lohan made an appearance on the Bravo television series Double Exposure. She also gave an interview to The Sydney Morning Herald that month, telling the paper "I'm still young and I'm still learning but that doesn't mean that what they say is true, that I'm getting messed up and all this crazy stuff and that I'm constantly partying or whatever."
At Lohan's July 6 probation revocation hearing, the judge determined that Lohan had indeed violated the terms of her probation and sentenced her to 90 days in jail, starting July 20; in addition, the judge ordered Lohan to check into an inpatient rehab program for three months after her release from jail. On July 20, Lohan appeared in court and was taken into custody to begin her jail term. She was released on August 2 after serving 14 days of the sentence. The short term served was due to a policy of early release of non-violent offenders to reduce jail overcrowding. She was immediately taken to an inpatient rehabilitation facility where she was expected to stay another 90 days. However, on August 24 Lohan was released after only 23 days. Her lawyer stated that "the treating doctors at UCLA felt she had done everything required of her there." Lohan continued with mandatory outpatient therapy but was able to resume work. She was ordered to submit to random drug and alcohol screenings and attend psychotherapy and behavior therapy twice a week, as well as five 12-step sessions a week. The judge said that any failure to attend the sessions or to pass the drug tests could result in a 30-day jail sentence. A new hearing was scheduled for November 1, until which time Lohan was required to remain in Los Angeles. Following media reports on September 17, Lohan confirmed via Twitter that she failed a drug test. She said she was "prepared to face the consequences". After a hearing on September 24, where the judge ordered a preliminary revocation of Lohan's probation, she was denied bail and sent back to jail. Later the same day, after Lohan's lawyer filed an appeal, another judge granted her bail on the grounds that she had only committed misdemeanors. Lohan was released from jail after posting $300,000 bail. She was required to wear a SCRAM bracelet and "stay away from establishments that primarily sell alcohol." A few days later she voluntarily entered the Betty Ford Center, a drug and alcohol treatment center. At a hearing on October 22 a judge ordered Lohan to remain in rehab until January 3, 2011. The next court hearing is scheduled for February 25, 2011.