Barack Obama

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"Obama" redirects here. For other uses, see Obama (disambiguation).
For his father, see Barack Obama, Sr.

Barack Obama

44th President of the United States

Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden
Preceded by George W. Bush
United States Senator
from Illinois
In office
January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 13th District
In office
January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded by Alice Palmer
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul
Personal details
Born Barack Hussein Obama II
 August 4, 1961 (age 51)[1]
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[2]
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Michelle Robinson (1992–present)
Malia (born 1998)
Children
Sasha (born 2001)
White House (official)
Residence
Chicago, Illinois (private)
Occidental College
Alma mater Columbia University (B.A.)
Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Community organizer
Lawyer
Profession
Constitutional law professor
Author
Religion Christian[3]
Awards Nobel Peace Prize
Signature
Website barackobama.com
This article is part of a series on
Barack Obama

 Background
 Illinois Senate
 U.S. Senate

 Political positions
 Public image
 Family

 2008 primaries
 Obama–Biden campaign

 Transition
 1st inauguration
 Electoral history
 Presidency
o Timeline '09
o '10
o '11
o '12
o '13
 First 100 days
  Nobel Peace Prize
 Re-election campaign
 2nd inauguration

Barack Hussein Obama II ( i/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the
44th and current President of the United States, the first African American to hold the
office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and
Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a
community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights
attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School
from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois
Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of
Representatives in 2000.

In 2004, Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the
United States Senate with his victory in the March Democratic Party primary, his keynote
address at the Democratic National Convention in July, and his election to the Senate in
November. He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008, after a close primary
campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic
Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican
nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January
20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He
was re-elected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney,
and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013.[4]

Early in his first term in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation in
response to the Great Recession in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job
Creation Act of 2010. Other major domestic initiatives in his presidency include the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare"; the Dodd–Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of
2010; the Budget Control Act of 2011; and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. In
May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage
and in 2013 his administration filed briefs which urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor
of same-sex couples in two high-profile cases. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S.
military involvement in the Iraq War, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the
New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya,
and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

Contents
 1 Early life and career
o 1.1 Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School
o 1.2 University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney
 2 Legislative career: 1997–2008
 o 2.1 State Senator: 1997–2004
o 2.2 U.S. Senate campaign
o 2.3 U.S. Senator: 2005–2008
 2.3.1 Legislation
 2.3.2 Committees
 3 Presidential campaigns
o 3.1 2008 presidential campaign
o 3.2 2012 presidential campaign
 4 Presidency
o 4.1 First days
o 4.2 Domestic policy
 4.2.1 Economic policy
 4.2.2 Health care reform
 4.2.3 Gulf of Mexico oil spill
 4.2.4 Gun control
o 4.3 2010 midterm election
o 4.4 Foreign policy
 4.4.1 Iraq War
 4.4.2 War in Afghanistan
 4.4.3 Israel
 4.4.4 War in Libya
 4.4.5 Osama bin Laden
 5 Cultural and political image
 6 Family and personal life
o 6.1 Religious views
 7 Notes
 8 References
 9 Further reading
 10 External links

Early life and career

Main articles: Family of Barack Obama and Early life and career of Barack Obama

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital
(now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii,[2][5][6] and
is the first President to have been born in Hawaii.[7] His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was
born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry.[8] His father, Barack Obama,
Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian
class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on
scholarship.[9][10] The couple married in Wailuku on Maui on February 2, 1961,[11][12] and
separated when Obama's mother moved with her newborn son to Seattle, Washington, in
late August 1961, to attend the University of Washington for one year. In the meantime,
Obama, Sr. completed his undergraduate economics degree in Hawaii in June 1962, then
left to attend graduate school at Harvard University on a scholarship. Obama's parents
divorced in March 1964.[13] Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964 where he remarried; he
visited Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971.[14] He died in an automobile accident in 1982.
[15]

In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian East–West Center graduate student in
geography at the University of Hawaii, and the couple were married on Molokai on March
15, 1965.[16] After two one-year extensions of his J-1 visa, Lolo returned to Indonesia in
1966, followed sixteen months later by his wife and stepson in 1967, with the family
initially living in a Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the Tebet subdistrict of south Jakarta,
then from 1970 in a wealthier neighborhood in the Menteng subdistrict of central Jakarta.[17]
From ages six to ten, Obama attended local Indonesian-language schools: St. Francis of
Assisi Catholic School for two years and Besuki Public School for one and a half years,
supplemented by English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother.[18]

Obama with his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, mother Ann Dunham and grandfather Stanley
Dunham, in Honolulu, Hawaii

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and
Stanley Dunham, and with the aid of a scholarship attended Punahou School, a private
college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979.
[19]
Obama lived with his mother and sister in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975
while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii.[20]
Obama chose to stay in Hawaii with his grandparents for high school at Punahou when his
mother and sister returned to Indonesia in 1975 to begin anthropology field work.[21] His
mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and
earning a PhD in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following treatment for ovarian
cancer and uterine cancer.[22]

Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people
around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my
mind."[10] He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his
multiracial heritage.[23] Reflecting later on his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The
opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual
respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold
most dear."[24] Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and
cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".[25]
Obama was also a member of the "choom gang", a self-named group of friends that spent
time together and occasionally smoked marijuana.[26][27] At the 2008 Civil Forum on the
Presidency, Obama expressed regret for his high-school drug use.[28]

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental
College. In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to divest
from South Africa in response to its policy of apartheid.[29] In mid-1981, Obama traveled to
Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in
Pakistan and India for three weeks.[29] Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University
in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international
relations[30] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the
Business International Corporation,[31] then at the New York Public Interest Research
Group.[32][33]

Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School

Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing
Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising
eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side.
He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.[33][34] He helped
set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights
organization in Altgeld Gardens.[35] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for
the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[36] In mid-1988, he traveled for
the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met
many of his paternal relatives for the first time.[37][38] He returned to Kenya in 1992 with his
fiancée Michelle and his sister Auma.[37][39] He returned to Kenya in August 2006 for a visit
to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.[40]

In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the
Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[41] and president of the journal in his
second year.[35][42] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an
associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[43] After
graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude[44] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.
[41]
Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national
media attention[35][42] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race
relations,[45] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-
1995 as Dreams from My Father.[45]

University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney

In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at
the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.[45][46] He then taught at the
University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and
as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.[47]

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration
campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of
registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's
Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[48]

In 1993, he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in
civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate
for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. His law license
became inactive in 2007.[49][50]

From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of
Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities
Project; and of the Joyce Foundation.[33] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago
Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board
of directors from 1995 to 1999.[33]

Legislative career: 1997–2008

State Senator: 1997–2004

Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as
Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side
neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago
Lawn.[51] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics
and health care laws.[52] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income
workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[53] In
2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama
supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage
lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.[54]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah
in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002.[55] In 2000, he lost a Democratic
primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of
Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[56]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human
Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[57]
He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial
profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation
making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[53][58]
During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited
Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty
reforms.[59] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his
election to the U.S. Senate.[60]

U.S. Senate campaign

Main article: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004

County results of the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Counties in blue were won by
Obama.

In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate
race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media
consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in
January 2003.[61]

Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of
Iraq.[62] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint
resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[63] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-
Iraq War rally,[64] and spoke out against the war.[65] He addressed another anti-war rally in
March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.[66]

Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol
Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and
Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.[67] In the March 2004 primary
election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star
within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and
led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father.[68] In July 2004, Obama delivered
the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,[69] seen by 9.1 million
viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.
[70]

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan,
withdrew from the race in June 2004.[71] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the
Republican nomination to replace Ryan.[72] In the November 2004 general election, Obama
won with 70 percent of the vote.[73]
U.S. Senator: 2005–2008

Main article: United States Senate career of Barack Obama

Obama in his official portrait as a member of the United States Senate

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,[74] becoming the only Senate member
of the Congressional Black Caucus.[75] CQ Weekly characterized him as a "loyal Democrat"
based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13,
2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the
lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.[76]

Legislation

See also: List of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States Senate

Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.[77] He introduced
two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar
cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons;[78] and the Federal Funding
Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of
USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.[79] On June 3, 2008, Senator
Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced
follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending
Act of 2008.[80]

Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state
and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after
being heavily modified in committee.[81] Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class
Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants
immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA
warrantless wiretapping operations.[82]
Obama and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) visit a Russian facility for dismantling mobile
missiles (August 2005).[83]

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be
enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.[84] In January 2007, Obama and Senator
Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open
Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.[85] Obama also introduced
Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive
practices in federal elections,[86] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007,[87] neither of
which was signed into law.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add
safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.[88] This amendment passed the full
Senate in the spring of 2008.[89] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting
divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed
committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.[90] Obama also
sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing
one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related
injuries.[91]

Committees

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment
and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.[92] In January 2007, he
left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
[93]
He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.[94] As a
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before
Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the
University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government.[95]

Presidential campaigns
2008 presidential campaign
Main articles: United States presidential election, 2008, Barack Obama presidential primary
campaign, 2008, and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008

Obama stands on stage with his wife and daughters just before announcing his presidential
candidacy in Springfield, Illinois, February 10, 2007

President George W. Bush meets with President-elect Obama in the Oval Office on
November 10, 2008

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States
in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.[96][97] The choice of the
announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln
delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.[96][98] Obama emphasized issues of
rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal
health care,[99] in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change".[100]

A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The
field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early
contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama
gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior
fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate
allocation rules.[101] On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.[102]

On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice
presidential running mate.[103] Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include
former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.[104] At
the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her
supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his
support.[105] Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic
National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000;
the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.[106][107]

During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous
fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.[108] On June 19, 2008,
Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in
the general election since the system was created in 1976.[109]

John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three
presidential debates in September and October 2008.[110] On November 4, Obama won the
presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain.[111] Obama won 52.9% of
the popular vote to McCain's 45.7%.[112] He became the first African American to be elected
president.[113] Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of
supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.[114]

2012 presidential campaign

Main articles: United States presidential election, 2012 and Barack Obama presidential
campaign, 2012

Following the typical TV news voter map color scheme, the Empire State Building lit blue
when CNN projected Obama as the winner of the 2012 election; had Romney won it would
have been lit red.[115]

On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It
Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal
Election Commission.[116][117][118] As the incumbent president he ran virtually unopposed in
the Democratic Party presidential primaries,[119] and on April 3, 2012, Obama had secured
the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.[120]
Mitt Romney and President Obama shake hands in the Oval Office on November 29, 2012,
following their first meeting since President Obama's re-election.

At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, former President Bill
Clinton formally nominated Obama and Joe Biden as the Democratic Party candidates for
president and vice president in the general election, in which their main opponents were
Republicans Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul
Ryan of Wisconsin.[121]

On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him
to be re-elected as president.[122][123][124] With 51% of the popular vote, Obama became the
first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to twice win the majority of the
popular vote.[125][126] President Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's
McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics
as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and
months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties."[127]

Presidency
Main article: Presidency of Barack Obama
See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet and List of presidential trips made by
Barack Obama

First days
Barack Obama takes the oath of office administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. at
the Capitol, January 20, 2009

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President took place on January 20, 2009. In
his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda
directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.[128] He ordered
the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[129] but Congress prevented the closure
by refusing to appropriate the required funds[130][131][132] and preventing moving any
Guantanamo detainee into the U.S. or to other countries.[133] Obama reduced the secrecy
given to presidential records.[134] He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of
President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy prohibiting federal aid to international
family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.[135]

Domestic policy

Main article: Barack Obama social policy

The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009,
relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits.[136] Five days later, he signed the
reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an
additional 4 million uninsured children.[137] In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era
policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop
"strict guidelines" on the research.[138]

Obama delivering a speech at joint session of Congress with Vice President Joe Biden and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on February 24, 2009

Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his
Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring
Associate Justice David Souter, was confirmed on August 6, 2009,[139] becoming the first
Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.[140] Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010,
to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, was confirmed on August 5, 2010,
bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first
time in American history.[141]

On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power
plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to
curb global warming.[142][143]
On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act, a measure that expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to
include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, or disability.[144][145]

On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, a
reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to
private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship
award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[146][147]

In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in
direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human
spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and
Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth science projects, a new rocket type, and
research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars, and ongoing missions
to the International Space Station.[148]

Obama meets with the Cabinet, November 23, 2009.

On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010,
fulfilling a key promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign[149][150] to end the Don't ask,
don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in
the United States Armed Forces.[151]

President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address focused on themes of education and
innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics to make the United States
more competitive globally. He spoke of a five-year freeze in domestic spending,
eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and reversing tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. He promised
that the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and
would be 80% reliant on "clean" electricity.[152][153]

As a candidate for the Illinois state senate Obama had said in 1996 that he favored
legalizing same-sex marriage;[154] but by the time of his run for the U.S. senate in 2004, he
said that while he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners,
for strategic reasons he opposed same-sex marriages.[155] On May 9, 2012, shortly after the
official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had
evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex
marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.[156][157]

During his second inaugural address on January 21, 2013, Obama called for full equality
for gay Americans: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are
treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the
love we commit to one another must be equal as well." This was a historic moment, being
the first time that a president mentioned gay rights or the word "gay" in an inaugural
address.[158][159] In 2013 the Obama administration filed briefs which urged the Supreme
Court to rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases of Hollingsworth v. Perry[160] and
United States v. Windsor.[161]

Economic policy

Main article: Economic policy of Barack Obama

Obama presents his first weekly address as President of the United States on January 24,
2009, discussing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover
from the deepening worldwide recession.[162] The act includes increased federal spending
for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct
assistance to individuals,[163] which is being distributed over the course of several years.

In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the
financial crisis, including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy
Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to two trillion dollars in depreciated real
estate assets.[164] Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry[165] in March 2009,
renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing.
Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies,
including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat[166] and a reorganization of GM
giving the U.S. government a temporary 60% equity stake in the company, with the
Canadian government taking a 12% stake.[167] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of
economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.[168] He signed
into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers",
that temporarily boosted the economy.[169][170][171]

Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury
Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion,
only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.[172] However, Obama and the
Congressional Budget Office predicted that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or
10.6% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of
$1.4 trillion or 9.9% of GDP.[173][174] For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will
slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or
90% of GDP.[175] The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $16.4 trillion was
signed into law on January 26, 2012.[176] On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional
debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget
Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021,
establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select
Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of
achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic
procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with
the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.[177] By passing the legislation,
Congress was able to prevent a U.S. government default on its obligations.[178]

Employment statistics (changes in unemployment rate and net jobs per month) during
Obama's tenure as U.S. President[179][180]

As it did throughout 2008, the unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October
at 10.0% and averaging 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7% in the
first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it
remained for the rest of the year.[181] Between February and December 2010, employment
rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable
periods in the past four employment recoveries.[182] By November 2012, the unemployment
rate fell to 7.7%.[183] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate
of 1.6%, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter.[184] Growth continued in 2010,
posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the
year.[184] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity
continued to increase, its pace had slowed, and Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the
economic outlook was "unusually uncertain."[185] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate
of 2.9% in 2010.[186]

The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus
plan for economic growth.[187][188] The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill
increased employment by 1–2.1 million,[188][189][190][191] while conceding that "It is impossible
to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the
stimulus package."[187] Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National
Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar
January survey) for the first time in two years, 73% of 68 respondents believed that the
stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.[192]

Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with
the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of
the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of
unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes.[193] The
compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion
Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on
December 17, 2010.[194]

Health care reform

Main article: Health care reform in the United States

Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House, March 23,
2010

Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a
key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.[195] He proposed an expansion of health
insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people
to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend
$900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the
public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to
lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for
insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require
every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and
taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.[196][197]

On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling
the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.
[195]
After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama
delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed
concerns over the proposals.[198] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds
for stem cell research.[199]
Maximum Out-of-Pocket Premium as Percentage of Family Income and federal poverty
level, under Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, starting in 2014. (Source: CRS)

On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the
House.[200][201] On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public
option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.[202] On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote
of 219 to 212.[203] Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.[204]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health-related provisions to take
effect over four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to
133% of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014,[205] subsidizing insurance
premiums for people making up to 400% of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010)
so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 to 9.5% of
income,[206][207] providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits,
prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions,
establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for
medical research. According to White House and Congressional Budget Office figures, the
maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their
income relative to the federal poverty level.[206][208]

The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as
new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the
Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices
and pharmaceutical companies;[209] there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain
health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.[210] In March
2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a
reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.[211]

The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual
mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28,
2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote in National Federation of Independent
Business v. Sebelius that the Commerce Clause does not allow the government to require
people to buy health insurance, but the mandate was constitutional under the US Congress's
taxing authority.[212]

Gulf of Mexico oil spill

On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect
in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP, initiated
a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the
flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again
on May 28 and June 4. On May 22, he announced a federal investigation and formed a
bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of
the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced
a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory
review.[213] As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed
confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more
involvement by Obama and the federal government.[214]

Gun control

President Obama visiting shooting victims at University of Colorado Hospital on July 22,
2012

On January 16, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting,
President Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals
regarding gun control.[215] He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on "military-
style" assault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits
on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass
a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-
traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the
appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives for the first time since 2006.[216]

2010 midterm election

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2010

Obama called the November 2, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in,
and control of, the House of Representatives,[217] "humbling" and a "shellacking".[218] He
said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the
economic recovery.[219]

Foreign policy

Main articles: Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration and Barack Obama
foreign policy

Obama speaking on "A New Beginning" at Cairo University on June 4, 2009

In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign
relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major
changes from the policies of the preceding administration.[220] Obama attempted to reach out
to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.[221]

On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's
video message to the people and government of Iran.[222] This attempt was rebuffed by the
Iranian leadership.[223] In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well
received by many Arab governments.[224] On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at
Cairo University in Egypt calling for "a new beginning" in relations between the Islamic
world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.[225]

On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters
following Iran's 2009 presidential election, Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against
them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it."[226] On July 7, while in Moscow, he
responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran
by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in
an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East."[227]
On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a
meeting of the United Nations Security Council.[228]

Meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron during the 2010 G-20 Toronto
summit

In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in
predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.[229][230] During the same month, an
agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to
replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of
long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third.[231] Obama
and Medvedev signed the New START treaty in April 2010, and the U.S. Senate ratified it
in December 2010.[232]

On December 6, 2011, he instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing

financial aid to foreign countries.[233]

Iraq War

Main article: Iraq War

On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within
18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to
Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our
combat mission in Iraq will end."[234] The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal
of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000
while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August
19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from
combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi
security forces.[235][236] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States
combat mission in Iraq was over.[237] On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that
all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be "home for the holidays".[238]

War in Afghanistan

Main article: War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.[239] He
announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a
deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic
attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".[240] He replaced the military
commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces
commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's
Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.
[241]
On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000
military personnel to Afghanistan.[242] He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18
months from that date.[243][needs update] David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June 2010, after
McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.[244]

Israel

Obama meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, 2009

Obama referred to the bond between the United States and Israel as "unbreakable."[245]
During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military
cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of the U.S.-
Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an
increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.[246] The Obama
administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding the Iron Dome program in
response to the waves of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.[247]

In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli
settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.[248] Obama supports the
two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.
[249]

In 2013, one journalist reported that, in Obama's view, "with each new settlement
announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total
isolation."[250]

War in Libya

Main article: 2011 military intervention in Libya

In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls
for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a
resolution[251] passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.[252] In response to the unanimous
passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi—who
had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the rebels of Benghazi[253]—announced an
immediate cessation of military activities,[254] yet reports came in that his forces continued
shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took part in air strikes
to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce
a no-fly-zone,[255] including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.[256]
[257][258]
Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO
took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector.[259] Some
Representatives[260] questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order
military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.[261][262]

Osama bin Laden

Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden

President Obama on Osama bin Laden's Death

President Obama's address (Full Text) 

President Obama on Osama bin Laden's Death

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audio only version

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President Barack Obama along with members of the national security team, receive an
update on Operation Neptune's Spear, in the White House Situation Room, May 1, 2011.
See also: The Situation Room (photograph)

Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the
next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden
in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.[263]
CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.[263]
Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama
rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by
United States Navy SEALs.[263] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the
death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from the
compound.[264][265] DNA testing identified Bin Laden's body,[266] and buried at sea several
hours later.[267] Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late
in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds
gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.
[264][268]
Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,[269] and from many countries around the
world.[270]

Cultural and political image

Main article: Public image of Barack Obama
See also: International media reaction to the United States presidential election, 2008 and
International reactions to the United States presidential election, 2012

Obama's first term presidential portrait (2009)

Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those
of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through
participation in the civil rights movement.[271] Expressing puzzlement over questions about
whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National
Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to
white folks then there must be something wrong".[272] Obama acknowledged his youthful
image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again,
the torch had not been passed to a new generation."[273]

Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator.[274] During his pre-inauguration

transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of
weekly Internet video addresses.[275]
Obama conducting the first completely virtual interview from the White House in 2012[276]

According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68% approval
rating[277] before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at
41% in August 2010,[278] a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in
office.[279] He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden,
which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where
they were prior to the operation.[280][281][282] His approval ratings rebounded around the same
time as his re-election in 2012, with polls showing an average job approval of 52% shortly
after his second inauguration.[283] Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries,
[284]
and before being elected President he met with prominent foreign figures including
former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,[285] Italy's Democratic Party leader and Mayor of
Rome Walter Veltroni,[286] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.[287]

In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. by Harris Interactive for
France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected
world leader, as well as the most powerful.[288] In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May
2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most
people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.[289][290]

Obama and G8 leaders watching Bayern Munich against Chelsea F.C. in the 2012 UEFA
Champions League Final in May 2012

Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions
of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February
2008.[291] His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by
independent artists as the music video "Yes We Can", which was viewed 10 million times
on YouTube in its first month[292] and received a Daytime Emmy Award.[293] In December
2008, Time magazine named Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and
election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible
accomplishments".[294] He was again named Person of the Year in 2012.[295]

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the
2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between peoples".[296] Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on
December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility."[297] The award drew a mixture
of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.[298][299] Obama is the fourth
U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel
laureate while in office.[300]

Family and personal life

Main article: Family of Barack Obama

Obama posing in the Green Room of the White House with wife Michelle and daughters
Sasha and Malia in 2009

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a
little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've
got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[301] Obama has a half-sister with whom he
was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second
husband) and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living.[302]
Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,[303] until her
death on November 2, 2008,[304] two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also
has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.[305] In Dreams
from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American
ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of
America during the American Civil War.[306]

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name
during his college years.[307] Besides his native English, Obama speaks some basic
Indonesian, having learned the language during his four childhood years in Jakarta.[308][309]
He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity
team;[310] he is left-handed.[311]
Obama taking a shot during a game on the White House basketball court, 2009

Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005
ALCS when he was still a senator.[312] In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the
all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket.[313] He is also primarily a Chicago Bears
football fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh
Steelers, and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he
took office as President.[314] In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White
House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to
the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.[315]

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer
associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[316] Assigned for three months as
Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined
his initial requests to date.[317] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in
1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[318] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was
born on July 4, 1998,[319] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10,
2001.[320] The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory
Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the
private Sidwell Friends School.[321] The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a
gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.[322]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park,
Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.[323] The
purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer,
campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's
subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to
Obama.[324]

In December 2007, Money estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.[325]
Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about
$4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.[326][327] On
his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14% to non-profit organizations, including
$131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families,
allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.[328][329] As
per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.[330]

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy,
and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking.[331][332]

Religious views

Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The
Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his
mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-
practicing Methodists and Baptists"), as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways
the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as a
"confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw
religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black
churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power
of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".[333]

In an interview with the evangelical periodical Christianity Today, Obama stated: "I am a
Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal
life."[334] On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious
views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who
went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew,
but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was
because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would
want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat
me."[335][336]

Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright in October 1987,
and became a member of Trinity in 1992.[337] He resigned from Trinity in May 2008 during
his first presidential campaign after controversial statements by Wright were publicized.[338]
After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama
announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel
at Camp David.[339]

Notes

Fernando Alonso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the Formula One driver. For other people with the same name, see
Fernando Alonso (disambiguation).

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Alonso and
the second or maternal family name is Díaz.
Fernando Alonso

Alonso at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.

29 July 1981 (age 31)
Born
Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality  Spanish
2013 team Ferrari
2013 car # 3
Races 202 (201 starts)
Championships 2 (2005, 2006)
Wins 31
Podiums 88
Career points 1,411
Pole positions 22
Fastest laps 19
First race 2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last win 2013 Chinese Grand Prix
Last race 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix
2012 position 2nd (278 pts)
Fernando Alonso Díaz (born 29 July 1981[1]) is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a
two-time World Champion who is currently racing for Scuderia Ferrari.

Alonso started in karting from the age of 3. He won three consecutive karting
championships in Spain from 1994 to 1997, and he became world karting champion in
1996. He made his Formula One debut in the 2001 season with Minardi, and then moved to
the Renault as a test driver the next year. Starting in 2003 Alonso then became one of the
main drivers of the team. On 25 September 2005, he won the Formula One World Driver's
Championship title at the age of 24 years and 58 days, at the time making him the youngest
Formula One World Drivers' Champion. After retaining the title the following year, Alonso
also became the youngest double Champion at the time. He joined McLaren in 2007, before
returning to Renault for two seasons in 2008 and 2009, and in 2010, he joined Scuderia
Ferrari.[2][3]

Nicknamed El Nano, a typical pseudonym for Fernando in Asturias, his place of birth,
Alonso acts as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.[4] Alonso also had become the
youngest driver to win a pole position and Grand Prix respectively in the 2003 Malaysian
Grand Prix and the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.,[5][6] before both records were broken by
Sebastian Vettel in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.[7]

Contents
 1 Personal and early life
 2 Early career
 3 Formula One career
o 3.1 Minardi (2001)
o 3.2 Renault (2003–2006)
o 3.3 McLaren (2007)
o 3.4 Renault (2008–2009)
o 3.5 Ferrari (2010–present)
o 3.6 Controversies
 4 Fan phenomenon: Alonsomanía
 5 Helmet
 6 Racing record
o 6.1 Career summary
o 6.2 Complete Euro Open by Nissan results
o 6.3 Complete International Formula 3000 results
 o 6.4 Complete Formula One results
 7 See also
 8 Books
 9 References
 10 External links

Personal and early life

Fernando Alonso was born in Oviedo, Asturias in northern Spain. His mother worked in a
department store and his father was employed as a mechanic in an explosives factory near
Oviedo.[8] Alonso has an older sister, Lorena. Alonso's father José Luis, an amateur kart
racer, wanted to pass on his passion to his children. He built a kart, originally meant for
eight-year-old Lorena, but unlike her three-year-old brother, she showed no interest in the
sport.[8]

Alonso attended the Holy Guardian Angel Primary School in Oviedo until he was 14 when
he later attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarín of San Lazaro. He dropped out in 2000
as his commitment to motor racing prevented him from further studying.[9]

In 1998, he moved to England near the area to the University of Oxford. With friends from
his native Spain, Alonso often spent time on a computer or socialising with others.[10]

Since winning his first world championship in 2005, Alonso became an ambassor of the
University of Oxford, to promote the new field of study of Motorsport of Business for
Social Science financing 12 students from all parts of the world.[10]

Alonso and his former wife, Raquel del Rosario.

Alonso married Raquel del Rosario, lead singer of Spanish pop band El Sueño de Morfeo,
[11]
on 17 November 2006.[12] They announced their intention to divorce in December 2011.
[13]
They lived in Oxford, England until they moved their residence to Switzerland in 2006.
Alonso owned a house in Mont-sur-Rolle, near Lake Geneva from 2006 to 2010, and in
February 2010 he moved house to Lugano in order to be closer to his new Formula One
employer Ferrari. It is highly common for Formula One stars to take up residence in
Switzerland to reduce their tax bills. In the winter of 2010–11, Alonso moved back to
Oviedo in order to be closer to friends and family, costing him an estimated £50 million in
tax.[14]

He is an avid card tricks fan and usually demonstrates various tricks during the race
weekend.[15] He is also interested in other sports, like cycling, football and tennis. Alonso
hinted at running a cycling team in the 2011 edition of the Tour de France with Alberto
Contador leading the team.[16] Alonso is a supporter of Real Madrid and Real Oviedo.[10][17]

In terms of food, Alonso does not like food that contains salt. His hobbies include cycling,
tennis and football. Alonso is a fan of the James Bond film series. His favourite music band
is Red Hot Chili Peppers and his favourite single is their hit song By the Way. Alonso is the
owner of Alonso-Kart, a business he founded, which sells various types of chassis for karts
and spare parts.[10]

In addition to Spanish, he speaks English and Italian.[18]

Alonso has a tattoo of an ancient samurai on his back. He revealed that the tattoo showed
strength in his muscles, intelligence and force of will with inspiration from the Hagaware,
the spiritual guide written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the 18th century.[19][20]

Early career

Alonso's first kart

As a child, Alonso participated in karting competitions around Spain, supported by his

father, who also doubled as his mechanic. His family lacked the financial resources needed
to develop a career in motorsport, but his victories attracted sponsorship and the required
funds. Alonso won four Spanish championships back-to-back in the junior category,
between 1993 and 1996 and the Junior World Cup in 1996. He won the Spanish and Italian
Inter-A titles in 1997 and in 1998 won the Spanish Inter-A title again as well as finishing
second in the European Championship.[21]
Former Minardi F1 driver Adrián Campos gave Alonso his first test in a race car in October
1998. After three days of testing at the Albacete circuit, Alonso had matched the lap times
of Campos' previous driver Marc Gené.[22] Campos signed Alonso to race for him in the
1999 Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan series.[23] In his second race, again at
Albacete, Alonso won for the first time. He took the championship by one point from
championship rival Manuel Giao by winning and setting fastest lap at the last race of the
season. Alonso also tested for the Minardi Formula One team, lapping 1.5 seconds faster
than the other drivers at the test.[23]

The following season Alonso moved up to Formula 3000, which was often the final step for
drivers before ascending to Formula One. Alonso joined Team Astromega and was the
youngest driver in the series that year by eleven months.[23] Alonso did not score a point
until the seventh race of the year, but in the final two rounds he took a second place and a
victory, enough for him to end the season fourth overall behind Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas
Minassian and Mark Webber.[23]

Formula One career

Minardi (2001)

Alonso made his Formula One début with Minardi in 2001.

Alonso was the third-youngest driver ever to start a Formula One race when he made his
debut with Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix. The team was in its first season under the
control of new owner Paul Stoddart and their new car, the PS01, was neither fast nor
reliable. However Alonso's qualifying performance was good, outqualifying team-mate
Tarso Marques by 2.6 seconds on début. At the fourth round at Imola he outqualified both
Benettons, a feat he repeated later in the season.[23]

Notable performances over the season earned him some attention from the faster teams. It
was reported in September 2001 by some of the European press that Sauber were looking to
replace outgoing Kimi Räikkönen with Alonso although he was facing competition for the
seat from Felipe Massa and then Jaguar test driver André Lotterer.[24] A month later it was
confirmed that Massa was going to take the vacant Sauber seat for 2002.[25]

In September, his manager Flavio Briatore had begun planning to place Alonso at Benetton.
Briatore considered promoting Alonso for 2002, in place of his race driver Jenson Button,
but instead chose to take Alonso on as Renault test driver for 2002.[23] At the final round of
the season at Suzuka he finished eleventh—five places outside the points but ahead of
Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Prost, the BAR of Olivier Panis, the two Arrows and his team-
mate Alex Yoong.[23] Four years later, his team boss from the Minardi days, Paul Stoddart,
described his race as "53 laps of qualifying".[26] He scored no points in the season and
finished below his team-mate Tarso Marques in the standings; his best finish being tenth at
the German Grand Prix.

Renault (2003–2006)

2003

Alonso became test driver for Renault in 2002 (Renault having taken over the Benetton
team) and did 1,642 laps of testing that year. In 2003 Briatore dropped Button and put
Alonso in the second seat alongside Jarno Trulli.[23] Briatore was criticised by the British
media for the decision, but technical director Mike Gascoyne later insisted to F1 Racing
that the decision was correct, since the team had been impressed with Alonso's work rate
and talent during his season as test driver.

The Spaniard became the youngest driver to achieve a Formula One pole position at the
Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso had a 180 mph crash at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the result
of missing the double yellow flags and Safety Car boards brought out by Mark Webber's
earlier crash and colliding with the debris.[27] The race was red-flagged. He finished second
at his home grand prix two races later, and at the time became the youngest driver to win a
Formula One race at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He finished the year sixth in the
championship, with 55 points and four podiums.

2004

Alonso driving for Renault at the 2004 United States Grand Prix

Alonso remained with Renault for the 2004 season, scoring podiums in Australia, France,
Germany and Hungary. At Indianapolis he suffered a high-speed accident while running in
third place after a tyre deflated. In France he took pole position and finished second,
running Michael Schumacher close for victory. Towards the end of the year teammate
Jarno Trulli's performances deteriorated and he dropped Renault boss Flavio Briatore as his
manager. Trulli's relationship with the team deteriorated to the extent that he signed for
Toyota from 2005 onwards, and he was replaced for the final three races of the season by
former world champion Jacques Villeneuve. Alonso ended the year fourth in the
championship standings with 59 points.

2005
Alonso at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

Alonso rounded off 2005 with victory at the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix.

For the 2005 season, Alonso was joined at Renault by Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella. At
the first race in Australia Alonso started near the back due to rain in qualifying but fought
his way to third.[28] He won the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain from pole position,
and took a third win in the San Marino Grand Prix after a 13-lap battle with Michael
Schumacher.[29]

McLaren's improving form saw Räikkönen win in Spain and Monaco while Alonso
finished second and fourth, respectively. Räikkönen was on course to win the European
Grand Prix at the Nürburgring when his car's front-right suspension failed (due to a flat spot
on the tyre caused by Räikkönen locking his wheels under braking while passing Jacques
Villeneuve) on the last lap, giving victory to Alonso.

Alonso failed to score in the Canadian and United States Grands Prix. He crashed out of the
former, and in the latter all the Michelin runners withdrew due to safety concerns over their
tyres. Alonso took his third pole position and fifth win at the French Grand Prix. He
followed this with pole position a week later at the British Grand Prix, where he finished
second behind Montoya. McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen led the German Grand Prix until his
car's hydraulics failed. Alonso went on to win the race.

Alonso qualified sixth in the Hungarian Grand Prix but finished 11th after a collision with
the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher. As the season entered its final stages Alonso finished
second in three consecutive races, collecting vital championship points. Räikkönen won in
Turkey and Belgium, but was fourth at Monza after engine trouble in qualifying, meaning
Alonso's lead had been reduced by only one point.

Alonso sealed the title by finishing third in Brazil while Montoya won from Räikkönen.
The Spaniard became the youngest Drivers' Champion at the age of 24 years and 59 days
old, breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record. He also ended the five-year dominance of
Michael Schumacher.[30]

Commenting on his victory, he said: "I just want to dedicate this championship to my
family, and all my close friends who have supported me through my career. Spain is not a
country with an F1 culture, and we had to fight alone, every step of the way, to make this
happen. A huge thank-you should also go to the team as well – they are the best in Formula
One, and we have done this together. It will say that I am world champion, but we are all
champions – and they deserve this." In the May 2007 issue of F1 Racing, Alonso said that
the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix was his greatest race. He said, "It was a dream come true and
a very emotional day. In the last few laps I leaped, thinking I could hear noises from the
engine- from everywhere! But all was okay and I can remember my relief when I crossed
the finish line."

The Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix saw Alonso and Renault abandon the conservative
style evident in Brazil when he was still chasing the drivers' title. Starting from 16th on the
grid, he eventually finished third behind Räikkönen and Fisichella. The Chinese Grand Prix
saw Renault and Alonso win to claim the first Constructors' Championship for the Renault
F1 team.

In 2005, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award.[31]

2006

Alonso took pole position and victory at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix.

At the Canadian Grand Prix, Alonso took his 6th victory of the year.

Alonso won the first race of the 2006 season in Bahrain, overtaking Michael Schumacher
after coming out of the pit lane with 18 laps left, after starting fourth. He qualified seventh
at the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fuelling error[32][33] but finished second to team mate
Giancarlo Fisichella. He won the Australian Grand Prix after overtaking leader Jenson
Button's Honda.

After poor qualifying at San Marino, Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher in an
encounter that echoed their battle the previous year. Schumacher beat Alonso again in the
European Grand Prix after the Spaniard started on pole, but Alonso hit back, becoming the
first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix. Alonso took pole position for the Monaco
Grand Prix after Schumacher was penalised by the stewards for "deliberately [stopping] his
car on the circuit in the last few minutes of qualifying", denying his rivals, Alonso
included, the opportunity of recording fastest qualifying lap.[34] Alonso won the race.

He extended his winning streak to four races with victories in Britain and Canada. Both
wins came from pole position, and the British round was his first win, pole and fastest lap
hat trick. He also became the first driver in history to finish first or second in the first nine
races of the season, a record equalled by Sebastian Vettel in 2011.[citation needed] Schumacher's
fight back began at Indianapolis where the German won and Alonso was fifth. Schumacher
won the French Grand Prix, with Alonso in second, and the Spaniard was fifth in the
German Grand Prix.[35] That cut Alonso's championship lead to 11 points.

Alonso incurred a penalty for an infraction in practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix which
left him 15th on the grid.[36] Schumacher started 11th after receiving a similar penalty.[37]
Alonso looked set for an unlikely win as he overtook most of the field, including
Schumacher around the outside of turn five, as he showed prowess in the wet conditions,
but he crashed out of the race when a wheel nut fell off his car following a pit stop.
Schumacher scored one point after Robert Kubica was disqualified.[38]

Alonso finished second in Turkey, holding back third-placed Schumacher to claim two vital
points, but he lost a lot of ground after a controversial Italian Grand Prix. He suffered a
puncture during qualifying that damaged bodywork at the back of his car. He qualified fifth
but was later punished[39] by the stewards for impeding Felipe Massa's Ferrari,[40] and he
started the race from tenth. In the race he rose to third place before an engine failure forced
him to retire. Schumacher won the Grand Prix and cut Alonso's Championship lead to two
points.

At the following round in China, Alonso took pole position during a wet qualifying session
but finished second to Schumacher in the race. The result tied Alonso and Schumacher on
points in the drivers championship. At the Japanese Grand Prix, the Ferraris of Schumacher
and Massa qualified first and second, more than half a second faster than the Renaults in
fifth and sixth. But during the race Alonso rose to second and took the win after
Schumacher's engine failed. It gave him a ten-point advantage over Schumacher, needing
only one point from the final round to retain the title. Second place in the Brazilian Grand
Prix on 22 October gave Alonso the championship. With Schumacher finishing fourth, the
final difference was 13 points. Alonso thus became the youngest double champion in the
sport's history. Renault also clinched the Constructors' Championship with a 5-point gap
over Ferrari.
McLaren (2007)

Alonso at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix, his first victory for McLaren

Alonso finished second in the 2007 British Grand Prix behind race winner Kimi Räikkönen.

On 19 December 2005, Alonso announced that he would be moving to McLaren for 2007.
[41]
His contract with Renault was set to expire on 31 December 2006. However, on 15
December 2006, Alonso was allowed by Flavio Briatore and the Renault F1 Team to test
for one day for McLaren at Jerez, as a result of his successes with Renault. Driving an
unbranded MP4-21 and wearing a plain white helmet and overalls, Alonso completed 95
laps.[42] Lewis Hamilton was chosen as his partner for the season. McLaren were reported to
be paying Alonso £ 20 million (approx $ 39 million c. 2007) in 2007. Alonso debuted with
the new McLaren car on 15 January 2007, in the streets of Valencia.

On 8 April 2007 in his second race for the team, Alonso secured his first win for McLaren,
and the team's first since 2005, by leading the majority of the Malaysian Grand Prix. A
difficult drive at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit a week later, saw him finishing fifth behind his
rookie team mate who took a podium finish. In the fourth race of the year in Spain, his
home grand prix, he qualified second, but suffered a first lap collision with Felipe Massa
which caused some damage to his car and dropped him to fourth, before finishing third. On
27 May, Alonso secured his second victory for McLaren at Monaco, scoring pole position,
fastest lap and the race win and in the process lapping the entire field up to 3rd position. At
the Nürburgring he took his third win of the year in a dramatic race affected by intermittent
rain showers, overtaking Massa for the lead with just four laps remaining. After the
controversy at the Hungarian Grand Prix (see below), however, relations between Alonso
and his team declined. It was reported in the media that he was no longer on speaking terms
with Hamilton,[43] and it was speculated that he might leave McLaren at the end of the
season.[44] On 7 August 2007 The Times reported that McLaren would let Alonso leave the
team at the end of the season if he wished, two years earlier than his contract allowed.[45]
Alonso went on to finish third in the driver's championship, level on points with team-mate
Hamilton and just one point behind World Champion Kimi Räikkönen (the closest 1–2–3 in
WDC history).

As part of the espionage controversy between McLaren and Ferrari, the former were found
guilty of breaching the Article 151c of the FIA's sporting regulations but went unpunished
due to a lack of evidence. However, following the acquisition of new evidence by the FIA,
a new hearing was held on 13 September. The new evidence consisted largely of email
traffic between Alonso and test driver Pedro de la Rosa.[46] The FIA's World Motor Sport
Council report following the hearing stated that Alonso and de la Rosa had obtained and
used confidential Ferrari technical data and sporting strategy information from senior
McLaren engineer Mike Coughlan via Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney, including during
test sessions. Both drivers were spared sanctions in exchange for providing evidence.

On 2 November 2007, after a turbulent year with McLaren, it was announced that McLaren
and Alonso had mutually agreed to terminate his contract and that he would be free to join
any team for 2008 without paying McLaren any compensation.[47]

Renault (2008–2009)

2008

Alonso testing for Renault in January 2008

Alonso driving for Renault at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix

Alonso took a surprise victory at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Alonso was linked with several teams for the 2008 season after his split with McLaren.
Renault, Red Bull, Toyota and Honda were all suggested in the media. Renault's Flavio
Briatore stated that he would welcome Alonso's return to the French team. On 10 December
2007, Alonso signed a two-year contract to drive for Renault alongside Brazilian driver
Nelson Piquet, Jr. for around £25 million.[48][49]

In the first two rounds of the 2008 season, the Renault was not as competitive as it had
previously been. Alonso finished fourth and eighth in Australia and Malaysia respectively,
fuelling rumours that Alonso would leave the team because he was disappointed with his
Renault and was either moving to BMW Sauber, Honda or Toyota. BMW boss Mario
Theissen was keen to get Alonso to replace Nick Heidfeld in order to get the team their first
win. Honda rumours started when Alonso said in an interview that he felt there was
something about Honda and he wanted to drive for them in 2009 and switching to Ferrari in
2010. Toyota said they were eager to give a top driver their seat. But the most likely place
that Alonso would go was to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari in 2009, especially in light of
the general belief that there was an "out clause" in Fernando Alonso's contract with Renault
which would give him the freedom to move to another team for the next season should he
be able to secure a deal. However Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo stated
that Massa's seat in the team was secure and would stay that way until the end of his
contract in 2010.[50] Räikkönen was also given a two-year contract extension to partner
Massa until the end of 2010,[51] essentially closing the door on Alonso for a possible move
to Ferrari. In 2008, Alonso denied the "out clause" rumour.

In the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton ran into the back of Alonso's Renault, heavily
damaging the rear wing of the Spaniard's car, as well as his own nosecone. Stewards did
not seek to investigate the incident but critics alleged he braked (or did not accelerate as
expected) in front of Hamilton causing Hamilton to crash into him.[52] The telemetry data
from Alonso's car proved these accusations to be wrong.[53] Hamilton himself stated "I was
behind him, and I moved to the right, and he moved to the right and that was it – a racing
incident I guess".[54] It was later revealed by McLaren that Hamilton's front wing, which
was damaged when he hit Alonso earlier in the race, had broken seconds before the impact
and has been identified as the cause of the crash. Alonso started the Spanish Grand Prix
with promising pace, qualifying on the front row in second place behind Kimi Räikkönen
even though he had a light fuel load. He was running in fifth place when his engine blew on
lap 35. He praised his team after finishing sixth in the Turkish Grand Prix, as he was behind
the more competitive BMW cars at the end, and said that the result "confirms the progress
we have made, and is thanks to the hard work of everyone in the team".[citation needed]

Alonso failed to score in the next two races, finishing tenth at the Monaco Grand Prix, after
puncturing a tyre against the barrier and a collision with Nick Heidfeld and retiring from
the Canadian Grand Prix after crashing into the wall on lap 45, having qualified fourth.
Alonso had been keeping pace with the BMW Saubers, who would eventually go on to
record their maiden win with Robert Kubica after pitlane dramas plagued both Ferrari and
McLaren. In France, Alonso qualified behind the two Ferraris in third, aided by Lewis
Hamilton's grid penalty for the pit-lane accident in Canada. However, he was on a light fuel
load, and his task was made much harder by being beaten by the slower Toyota of Jarno
Trulli at the start. He then faded back to seventh and towards the end of the race while
catching Mark Webber's Red Bull he ran wide at the Adelaide hairpin and slipped behind
team-mate Piquet, Jr. to finish eighth.

Alonso finished sixth at Silverstone, saying that he had used up all of his available tyres for
the unpredictable wet conditions, and that by using practically slick tyres towards the end,
he lost a lot of time in certain places on the track. Despite qualifying fifth at the German
Grand Prix, he finished in eleventh after spinning off whilst battling with the Williams of
Nico Rosberg. In the Hungarian Grand Prix, he finished in fourth place having started
seventh, aided by Lewis Hamilton's early puncture and Felipe Massa's engine failing in the
closing stages.

In the European Grand Prix, Alonso performed strongly in all three practice sessions and
the first round of qualifying. However, he failed to make it through the second round of
qualifying, starting 12th. During the opening lap of the race, Alonso was hit by Kazuki
Nakajima in the rear wing of his car and sustained unrepairable damage to his gearbox, and
was forced to retire from the race. In Belgium, Alonso ran in the top five for most of the
race, but when heavy rain fell towards the end of the race, he gambled on pitting for wet
tyres with one lap to go. He dropped four places, but a fast final lap saw him reclaim the
lost spots, passing Kubica and Sebastian Vettel at the final corner. In the Italian Grand Prix,
Alonso achieved his second consecutive fourth place, and allowed Renault to equal Toyota
for fourth in the constructors standings.

For further information on the investigation, see Renault Formula One crash
controversy.

Alonso claimed his first victory and podium of the season by winning the Singapore Grand
Prix. After performing strongly in practice, a fuel pressure problem in the second part of
qualifying forced him to park the car, causing him to qualify 15th. In the race he started
with a light fuel load on soft tyres, and pitted early when he realised that this would not be
successful. However, team-mate Piquet crashed bringing out the safety car, which
eliminated the lead of the frontrunners. When they pitted after the pit lane was reopened,
they rejoined behind those who had already stopped. This moved Alonso up among top six,
and he ultimately won the race, earning the 20th win and 50th podium of his career. In
September 2009, after being dropped by Renault, Piquet said that the crash had been
intentional and had been requested by Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds. Alonso was
declared to be innocent by the subsequent FIA investigation.

Alonso carried his good form into the Japanese Grand Prix, for which he qualified fourth.[55]
Running on a two stop strategy Alonso won his second successive race, finishing ahead of
Kubica and Räikkönen. In the last 2 races in China and Brazil, Alonso scored a fourth and a
second place respectively. In the last eight races of the season Alonso scored 48 points,
which was more than any other driver (over the same period Massa scored 43 points and
Hamilton scored 40 points). He finished the season fifth overall with 61 points, while also
enabling Renault to finish fourth in the constructors standings with 80 points, ahead of
fifth-placed Toyota.

On 5 November, Flavio Briatore confirmed that Renault had agreed a two-year extension
on Alonso's original contract, ending speculation about a supposed move to Ferrari, and a
Renault contract "out-clause".

2009

Alonso at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

The new Renault R29 car did not meet up to Alonso's expectations at the start of the year,
after it performed poorly in winter testing, despite the fact that there were no major
reliability issues. For the second consecutive year, Nelson Piquet, Jr. would be his team-
mate.

In the Australian Grand Prix he avoided a first lap accident and benefited from the late
safety car in the closing stages, deployed for Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel's
collision, to finish fifth. Although pleased to score points, he was "disappointed" at how his
KERS system worked during the race. He did not score points in Malaysia (eleventh) or
China (ninth, after he qualified in second), finishing over a minute behind the race winner
on both occasions.
Alonso finished seventh in Germany

He finished eighth in the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite struggling with a broken drinks bottle
during the race, which resulted in him collapsing with dehydration during a post-race TV
interview. In Spain he spent most of the race in sixth despite an exciting battle with Mark
Webber early on, before capitalising on Felipe Massa backing off with fuel conservation
worries on the last lap, and going on to finish fifth. In Monaco, he benefited from the
retirements of Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastian Vettel to score two points for seventh after
a steady performance from ninth on the grid.

Alonso on his way to fifth place at the 2009 Italian Grand Prix

He failed to score any points in Turkey, as he was unable to keep pace with the
frontrunners, and struggled on to finish tenth, while in Britain, he lost places at the start,
and got stuck behind Nick Heidfeld early on. Despite some good fights, especially with
former teammate Lewis Hamilton, the poor pace of his car meant he was always likely to
struggle for points and finished in 14th, two places behind team-mate Piquet. At the
Nurburgring, Alonso lost places at the first corner, before getting stuck in traffic. However,
he went on to finish seventh, and was catching the two Brawn cars of Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello towards the end. For the last stint, he was the fastest man on the track,
half a second quicker than the leaders, which resulted in the fastest lap of the race.

Alonso took his only podium of 2009 at Singapore

In Hungary, he took his only pole position of the season (on a short fuel load), and led for
the first stint of the race until his retirement, when his pit-crew fitted a wheel incorrectly.
After replacing the wheel, Alonso retired with a fuel pump problem. In Valencia, he
finished in sixth place, describing it was the best he could do, after his team appealed
successfully over a one-race ban suspended for the race after the pit-stop incident in
Hungary. However, his fastest race lap was slower than new team-mate Romain Grosjean,
replacing the sacked Piquet, despite Grosjean spending most of the race towards the back.

Alonso was forced to retire in Belgium in a near repeat of the front tyre incident in
Hungary, although this time the tyre was damaged after contact with Adrian Sutil's Force
India on the first lap. This led to a chaotic pit stop when a replacement tyre could not be
fitted properly and his team chose to retire him on safety grounds to avoid a further
sanction following the Hungarian incident. At Monza he finished fifth, passing McLaren's
Heikki Kovalainen during the race, despite again complaining about the car's KERS
system, particularly after getting away from the grid poorly.

He finished in a strong third place in Singapore, admitting that it was a great result,
"allowing to put behind us the past few weeks". However, this was his and Renault's only
podium of 2009, a year after the Crashgate saga. Alonso controversially dedicated his
podium afterwards to recently departed team boss Flavio Briatore, saying "he is part of the
success we had today".[56]

In Japan, he was penalised five grid places for failing to slow down for yellow flags after
Sébastien Buemi crashed, scattering debris onto the track. The R29's pace was again
disappointing, when he could only manage to climb up to 10th from 16th place on the grid,
despite a late safety car period after Jaime Alguersuari crashed heavily. Alonso said that his
race was pretty much decided in qualifying, although he admitted that his car seemed to be
fairly competitive. In Brazil however, he retired on the first lap when Adrian Sutil and
Jarno Trulli collided, and Alonso was unable to avoid the out-of-control Force India, which
had spun onto the wet grass, terminally damaging a sidepod on the Spaniard's car, forcing
him to retire.

He admitted that he had wanted to end his successful period at Renault on a high at the final
race of the year in Abu Dhabi. However, he spent the whole race towards the back of the
grid, and finished 14th after qualifying in 16th. After the race, he paid tribute to Renault,
saying that he wanted "to thank the entire team for everything that we have achieved
together",[citation needed] and wanted to concentrate on the positives during his time with
Renault, which had included winning the 2005 and 2006 world championship titles. He
finished ninth in the drivers standings overall, scoring all of Renault's 26 points during the
season. As a result, Renault only finished eighth in the constructors ahead of two other
teams, Force India and Toro Rosso.

Ferrari (2010–present)

2010
Alonso in his first race for Ferrari at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, where he won the race

Alonso finished third at the Canadian Grand Prix

Alonso won the German Grand Prix in controversial circumstances

Alonso finished third at the Japanese Grand Prix

Alonso led the championship heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi, but he was unable to
pass Vitaly Petrov, as Sebastian Vettel took victory in the race to win the title

After much speculation,[57] on 30 September 2009, Alonso was confirmed to be replacing

Kimi Räikkönen at the Ferrari team, partnering Felipe Massa,[58] a move known as "the
worst-kept secret in F1".[59] His contract covers three seasons (2010–2012),[60] with
speculated options until the end of 2014. Though his contract is said to have been signed as
early as July 2008,[59] Alonso confirmed only having a Summer-2009 agreement with
Ferrari for a 2011 start, which was later changed to 2010.[61] Ferrari and Räikkönen, whom
Alonso would replace, had agreed to end their contract one year early.[60][62] Though it was
reported that Alonso's contract was worth €25-million per season,[63] Ferrari released a
statement that cast doubts over the salary offered, stating that "the numbers talked about
have absolutely nothing to do with reality."[64] Ferrari also cast doubt on "the arrival of
technicians" with Alonso.[64]

At the first race in Bahrain, Alonso qualified third behind team mate Massa and pole sitter
Sebastian Vettel. At the start, Alonso got ahead of Massa to move up to second and later on
in the race, leader Vettel had an engine problem and dropped to fourth and Alonso won the
race, becoming the fifth man to win on his debut for Ferrari after Juan Manuel Fangio in
1956, Mario Andretti in 1971, Nigel Mansell in 1989, and Kimi Räikkönen in 2007. Team
mate Massa came second taking a 1–2 for Ferrari and Alonso's former McLaren team mate
Lewis Hamilton came through to finish third.[65]

In the Australian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified third behind the two Red Bull cars of
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. At the start, on a damp track, Alonso was tipped into a
spin by eventual race winner Jenson Button, and rejoined last. Alonso charged back to
fourth and then held off late race attacks from Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber to finish
fourth, only two seconds behind teammate Felipe Massa.

In China, Alonso qualified third again, behind Vettel and Webber. Alonso jumped the start,
for which he was later given a drive-through penalty, which dropped him down to 15th,
over a minute behind race leader Nico Rosberg. With the help of a safety car which
bunched the field together, and due to a series of overtaking manoeuvres, Alonso finished
fourth.

The first European round was in Spain where Alonso qualified fourth behind the Red Bulls
and former McLaren team mate Hamilton. Alonso ran fourth until the final 15 laps of the
race, when he first was elevated to third after Vettel suffered brake problems which forced
him to go for an extra pit stop, and then gained another place when Hamilton's tyre failed
on the penultimate lap. He finished second, thus getting his first podium after the win in
Bahrain. In Monaco, Alonso crashed his car in practice and was unable to take part in
qualifying. He started 24th and last but charged up to sixth. On the last lap, Michael
Schumacher passed him under the safety car to take the place, but was then penalized for
the overtaking, giving sixth back to Alonso.
For the Canadian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified fourth and was promoted to third after Mark
Webber's penalty for a gearbox change. He finished third after a racelong battle with the
McLarens and Red Bulls, getting only his second podium after his win in Bahrain. In the
next round in Valencia, Alonso secured fourth on the grid in qualifying. Alonso finished
the race in eighth position after getting caught behind the safety car which was deployed
after Mark Webber's somersault over Heikki Kovalainen.

At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Alonso lined up third on the grid. However, clutch
problems at the start caused his Ferrari to bog down and Alonso had dropped several
positions by the time the pack reached the first corner. Alonso was then given a drive-
through penalty for an illegal pass on Kubica and suffered a late puncture to finish in
fourteenth place, a minute behind race winner Mark Webber.

For the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Alonso missed pole position by 0.002 seconds
to Vettel, with Massa qualifying third. In the race, Vettel made a poor start and attempted to
compensate by squeezing Alonso towards the pitwall. Seizing this opportunity, Massa
overtook both of them, and entered the first corner with Alonso and Vettel in second and
third places. Alonso then controversially overtook Massa and they crossed the line in that
order to give Ferrari a 1–2 finish. For the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified in third
place, behind the two Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber. As the lights went out, he passed
Webber into second place, and then drew alongside Vettel on the outside going into the first
corner. Alonso lost out to Webber at the pitstops, but got ahead of Vettel when the latter
was given a drive-through penalty. He was able to hold off Vettel and finish the race in
second place. After a promising start in Belgium, qualifying yielded a disappointing grid
position of tenth place. When the race started, things went from bad to worse as Alonso was
torpedoed from behind by Rubens Barrichello's sliding Williams. Alonso recovered to
eighth before spinning out of the race in the closing stages.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Alonso claimed pole position ahead of Jenson Button, but trailed
Button by the first corner. Alonso and Massa pursued the McLaren until it pitted. Alonso
pitted the next lap, with a quicker stop allowing Alonso to return to the track wheel to
wheel with Button, and narrowly edged him out into the first corner. He pulled clear to
claim his 24th career win, his third of the season, and Ferrari's first win at Monza since
2006. As an added bonus, Alonso also claimed the fastest lap of the race, resulting in a hat-
trick (pole, win and fastest lap). At the Singapore Grand Prix, Alonso took pole position
ahead of Vettel, the McLarens of Hamilton and Button and the second Red Bull of
championship leader Webber. When the lights went out, Alonso made a solid start and led
Vettel into the first corner. Alonso soaked up pressure from Vettel for the entire race and
crossed the line less than 0.3 seconds ahead of the Red Bull. Once more, Alonso set the
fastest lap of the race in the closing stages. In Japan, Alonso finished third, behind Vettel
and Webber, then won in Korea after Vettel retired with engine failure. He also scored his
fifth fastest lap of the year, enough to give him the 2010 DHL Fastest Lap Award after a
countback with Lewis Hamilton.[66]

In Abu Dhabi, Alonso entered the event with an eight-point lead, and qualified third. At the
start of the race he lost a place to Button and then a strategic error by his team meant that
Alonso spent the rest of the race stuck behind Vitaly Petrov, and lost out on world
championship honours to Sebastian Vettel.[67]

2011

Alonso battles with Hamilton in Malaysia

Alonso's only victory of 2011 came at the British Grand Prix

Alonso started the season with a fourth place in Australia, finishing half a minute behind
race-winner Sebastian Vettel. He followed that up with sixth and seventh places in
Malaysia and China, being outperformed by team-mate Massa in both races. He took his
first podium of the season with third at the Turkish Grand Prix, having run second for a
time and was only passed by Mark Webber on lap 51 of 58. Prior to his home race in Spain,
he extended his contract with Ferrari for a further four years, until the end of 2016.[68] In
Spain, Alonso qualified third, and took the race lead into the first turn. However, he was
overtaken by the Red Bulls in the first set of pit stops, and eventually finished fifth, one lap
down. In Monaco, after qualifying fourth, Alonso was running strongly in third place
behind Vettel – who was on heavily worn tyres – and Button, and was promoted to second
when Button pitted after being unable to pass Vettel. A multi car crash then resulted in a
red flag situation, allowing Vettel and Alonso to change to fresh tyres for the restart, with
Alonso finishing the race in second.

Alonso was forced to retire in Canada after contact with Button left his car beached on a
kerb. He bounced back to finish second in Valencia. At the British Grand Prix,
controversial blown diffuser systems were temporarily banned, which was perceived to
give Ferrari an advantage over its rivals. Alonso was running second to Vettel in the race,
until a mistake from the Red Bull mechanics in a pit stop gave Alonso the lead, which he
maintained until the end of the race to take his first victory of the season. Alonso finished
second in Germany after a race-long battle with eventual winner Lewis Hamilton, and Mark
Webber. He took his fourth successive podium by finishing third in Hungary, before
finishing fourth in Belgium, after being overtaken by Webber and Button in the closing
stages. Alonso took the lead of the Italian Grand Prix in the first corner, but was later
passed by Vettel and Button. He was able to defend third place from Hamilton at the end of
the race to take another podium. Alonso finished second to Button in Japan, and added a
third place in India and second in Abu Dhabi. Alonso closed the season with fourth in
Brazil to finish fourth in the Drivers' Championship, losing third place to Webber by one
point, after Webber won the race.

2012

Alonso celebrates victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix

Having signed a contract extension during the 2011 season, Alonso remained with Ferrari
for the 2012 season.[68] Ferrari appeared to be struggling for pace in pre-season testing; in
qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified 12th after spinning into the
gravel during the second part of qualifying. He recovered in the race to finish 5th. At the
next race in Malaysia, the Ferrari's lack of pace was again demonstrated with Alonso
qualifying ninth. However, in the race, which started in wet conditions, Alonso rose
through the field to take the lead on lap 16. Sauber's Sergio Pérez began to catch Alonso,
despite a slow pit stop, and looked to be close to passing Alonso, until he ran wide, giving
Alonso an unexpected first win of the season. Alonso finished third in the Monaco Grand
Prix putting him into the lead of the Drivers' Championship this season ahead of Sebastian
Vettel, the 2011 champion, and Vettel's team-mate at Red Bull, Mark Webber, who won at
Monaco. However, a fifth place in the Canadian Grand Prix behind Lewis Hamilton's first
and Sebastian Vettel's fourth put him behind Hamilton in the championship table.

Alonso at the 2012 US Grand Prix

Alonso regained the championship lead at the European Grand Prix, starting 11th on the
grid and climbing his way up to win the race after Vettel and Hamilton both retired. At the
next round at Silverstone, Alonso took Ferrari's first pole since 2010, edging out Red Bull
driver Mark Webber in a rain-hit session. He finished the race three seconds adrift of
Webber in second place. He again started from pole position after a wet qualifying session
at the German Grand Prix, and won the race to extend his championship lead.[69] At the
Belgian Grand Prix, he was involved in a first-corner incident with four other drivers, and
retired on the spot. At the Japanese Grand Prix Alonso was hit from behind at the first
corner and retired. Alonso again lost the championship to Sebastian Vettel on the final day,
finishing 3 points behind in the standings.

2013

Alonso at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

Alonso started the season by qualifying fifth in Australia; by the end of the first lap he had
moved up to third. He eventually managed to use the pit stops to his advantage by pitting
early and jumping Vettel. Alonso held onto second until the end of the race. In Malaysia,
Alonso qualified on the second row of the grid in third. Going into the second corner he
tapped the back of Vettel and damaged his front wing, the team told him to stay out instead
of pitting, hoping that the wing would not break, so that Alonso would be able to pit for
slick tyres at the right time. However while going down the main straight at the start of the
second lap, his front wing broke off and went underneath his car sending it into the gravel
trap and into retirement.

Controversies

 At the 2003 European Grand Prix, David Coulthard and McLaren managing
director Martin Whitmarsh accused Alonso of giving Coulthard a brake test. This
was in relation to a passage of racing towards the end of the race when Coulthard
was trying to overtake Alonso, who was holding him up. Coulthard swerved off the
track and into retirement during an attempted overtake. After talking to the drivers
and viewing telemetry and video data, the FIA stewards decided that the incident
did not warrant any "further judicial action".[70]
 At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso was involved in an incident in which he
brake tested Red Bull Racing test driver Robert Doornbos in the second free
practice session. The stewards decided that Alonso's actions were "unnecessary,
unacceptable and dangerous", and awarded him a one second time penalty to be
applied to his fastest lap time in each of the qualifying sessions.[36]
 After a separate incident from the same race, when Michael Schumacher was asked
whether he thought Alonso deliberately slowed down so that Schumacher had to
pass him under red flags in practice, Schumacher replied, "You said that, I
didn't."[71]
Alonso was involved in controversial incidents with then-team mate Lewis Hamilton at
McLaren in 2007

 In the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, after stewards ruled Alonso had potentially blocked
Felipe Massa in Saturday qualifying and relegated him five places on the starting
grid, Alonso stated "I love the sport, love the fans coming here – a lot of them from
Spain but I don't consider Formula One like a sport any more".[39]
 In the qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, while both McLarens were in
the pits, Alonso remained stationary in the McLaren pit for a few seconds. This
delayed the then provisional pole sitter and team-mate Lewis Hamilton long enough
to prevent him from getting another 'hot lap' in. Alonso then went on to claim pole.
[72]
McLaren boss Ron Dennis later said the team had got "out of sequence" when
Hamilton did not as agreed allow Alonso past earlier in the qualifying session. He
added that Alonso was "under the control of his engineer" when he was waiting in
the pit lane.[73] However, Alonso was subsequently given a five-place grid penalty[74]
and his McLaren team were docked the 15 constructors' World Championship
points they would have earned in the race.[75]
 As a result of this investigation, it emerged that some team members within
McLaren, among them Alonso, were aware of confidential information belonging to
the Ferrari team. This information was commented on to Alonso by McLaren test
driver Pedro de la Rosa who had also received information from McLaren chief
designer Mike Coughlan. The email contained text suggesting that Alonso was
surprised by the data and doubted its authenticity. According to the "spygate"
related email exchanges between Alonso and de la Rosa, it was clear that Alonso
knew about Ferrari's pit strategies in the Australian Grand Prix and Bahrain Grand
Prix. Alonso finished 2nd and 5th respectively in those races.[76] Ron Dennis told the
FIA about the case during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Amid media allegations that
Alonso threatened Dennis with reporting the team to FIA himself if he was not
given number one driver status, Ron Dennis stated in a televised interview that there
had been an argument, and that Alonso had said something in the heat of the
moment but immediately apologised. This was when Dennis found out about Ferrari
data and immediately informed the FIA. Pitlane sources have suggested, from
published FIA stewards data, that an argument involving reporting the McLaren
team to the FIA was prompted by the fact that there was no stewards' investigation
regarding the qualifying pitlane incident until Anthony and Lewis Hamilton made a
formal complaint on the Saturday evening; costing Alonso a five-place grid penalty
 and loss of Constructors' Points for the team. FIA then revealed that it had had
knowledge of the Spygate case thanks to a slip made by Coughlan.[77]
 In what became known in the media as "Crashgate", Renault allegedly ordered
Alonso's teammate Nelson Piquet, Jr. to crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,
causing a safety-car incident at a moment where Alonso would get tremendous
benefit from his race strategy, putting him towards the front of the field, and giving
him a fighting chance to win the race, after a number of opponents (Felipe Massa,
Robert Kubica and Kimi Räikkönen to name a few) suffered. However, the FIA
confirmed that no evidence had shown that Alonso had knowledge of the plan, and
neither did many of the personal mechanics of both drivers.[78]
 In the 2010 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Alonso became involved in a
controversy with team-mate Massa, as Ferrari were accused of using team orders
during the race. The incident started when Massa was leading the race and Ferrari
engineer Rob Smedley said "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you
understood that message?".[79] Shortly after this, Massa slowed down and was
overtaken by Alonso in what appeared to be team orders. Shortly after the race
notable people of the senior personnel in Ferrari, Massa and Alonso were
summoned to the stewards. The matter was then referred to the FIA World Motor
Sport Council. and Ferrari were given a $100,000 fine but the result of the race was
unchanged.[80][81]
 In the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso was seen gesticulating furiously at
Vitaly Petrov on the slowing down lap in front of TV cameras, and initially it
seemed that he had blamed the young Russian for costing him the world crown as
he ended up being unable to find a way past the Renault driver while race winner
Sebastian Vettel was crowned world champion. However, Alonso denied
accusations that he had accused Petrov of denying him the title.[82]

Fan phenomenon: Alonsomanía

Fans at the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix

Alonsomanía is the fan phenomenon about Alonso. In 2005 his success fuelled an increase
in interest in Formula One in Spain.[83][84] On 25 September 2005, a huge party began in
Alonso's home town of Oviedo when he became the country's first Formula One World
Champion and the youngest in the sport's history at the time. Alonso's fans are recognized
by the light blue and yellow Asturias flags[83] which are coincidentally the same livery used
by the Mild Seven Renault team between 2002 and 2006. After his championship win, a
widely-visited exhibition of Alonso's racing gear was held in Oviedo.[85]

Helmet
Alonso's helmet design has the flag of Spain surrounding the helmet and shades of blue
which are adapted from Asturias flags. This design is an original design helmet from when
Alonso joined Minardi in the 2001 season, with the difference that he wore a blue color
with dark blue shades, and then gradually changed to light blue and finally blue typical
Asturias in 2004.

Starting the 2006 season, Alonso changed the style of color design on his helmet. It added a
background color of yellow as the main color of the helmet together with the bright blue
color. The design is then turned upside down again when he moved to McLaren in 2007.
This time, Alonso helmet was with the black and red colors, along with customized color
schemes for the McLaren team. He also added a silver part in the back of the helmet.[86]

For 2008, Alonso switched back to one of his previous helmet designs, the yellow-blue
coupled with a slight outward surrounding white helmet. Besides the rear helmet, Alonso
also attached two pictures of a spade, ace and heart symbol signifying his status as a double
world champion.[87] Alonso's return to the style of an old-fashioned helmet was because he
re-joined the team Renault at that time. The design he used in the 2009 season was
replacing the blue to a bright red helmet at the top and the bottom. The design was based on
Michael Schumacher's helmet.

For 2010, Alonso returned to the traditional color scheme which is a combination of blue
shades of the Asturias and Spanish flag. He also put a Ferrari logo on the back of the
helmet, just above the drawing two aces. Alonso's helmet design scheme he used in the
2011 season. Alonso also introduced a special helmet during the 2011 season with a
background gold helmet that was used in the Monaco Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand
Prix. The golden helmet he designed was to raise money for a charity auction for UNICEF.
[88]

Racing record

Mona Lisa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the painting. For other uses, see Mona Lisa (disambiguation).

Mona Lisa
Italian: La Gioconda, French: La Joconde
 Artist Leonardo da Vinci
Year c. 1503–1519
Type Oil on poplar
Dimensions 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in)
Location Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda or La Joconde) is a half-length portrait of a woman by the
Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most
visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the
world."[1]

La Mona Lisa (La Gioconda o La Joconde) es un retrato de medio-longitud de una mujer por el artista italiano
Leonardo el da Vinci que se ha aclamado como "los el mejor conocidos el la mayoría visitó, el más escrito sobre, el
más más cantado sobre, el la mayoría parodió la obra de arte en el mundo". [1]

La pintura, pensada ser un retrato de Lisa Gherardini, la esposa de del de Francesco

Giocondo, está en el aceite en un tablero del álamo, y se cree que ha sido pintado entre
1503 y 1506.[2] era adquirido por el Rey Francis yo de Francia y es ahora la propiedad de
la República francesa, en el despliegue permanente a la Musée du Persiana en París desde
1797.[2] La ambigüedad de la expresión del asunto que frecuentemente se describe como el
enigmatic,[3] el monumentality de la composición, los planear sutiles de formularios y los
illusionism atmosféricos eran nuevas calidades que han contribuido a la fascinación
continua y estudio del trabajo. [2]

The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del
Giocondo, is in oil on a poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503
and 1506.[2] It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the
French Republic, on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris since 1797.[2] The
ambiguity of the subject's expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic,[3] the
monumentality of the composition, the subtle modeling of forms and the atmospheric
illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and
study of the work.[2]

Contents
 1 Title and subject
 2 History
o 2.1 Theft and vandalism
 3 Aesthetics
 4 Conservation
o 4.1 Poplar panel
o 4.2 Frame
o 4.3 Cleaning and touch-up
o 4.4 Display
 5 Fame
 6 Speculation
 7 Legacy
 8 See also
 9 Notes
 10 References
 11 External links

Title and subject

Main article: Lisa del Giocondo

The title of the painting that is known in English as Mona Lisa stems from a description by
Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, who wrote "Leonardo undertook to paint, for
Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife."[4][5] Mona in Italian is a polite
form of address originating as ma donna —similar to Ma’am, Madam, or my lady in
English. This became madonna, and its contraction mona. The title of the painting, though
traditionally spelled "Mona" (as used by Vasari[4]), is also commonly spelled in modern
Italian as Monna Lisa, but this is rare in English.
Vasari's account of the Mona Lisa comes from his biography of Leonardo published in
1550, 31 years after the artist's death, and which has long been the best known source of
information on the provenance of the work and identity of the sitter. Leonardo's assistant
Salai, at his death in 1525, owned a portrait which in his personal papers was named la
Gioconda, a painting bequeathed to him by Leonardo. That Leonardo painted such a work,
and its date, were confirmed in 2005 when a scholar at Heidelberg University discovered a
margin note in a volume written by Roman philosopher Cicero printed in 1477. The margin
note had been written by Leonardo's contemporary Agostino Vespucci, and likened
Leonardo to renowned Greek painter Apelles, who is mentioned in the text. The note states
that Leonardo was at that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo, and is dated
October, 1503.[6]

A margin note by Agostino Vespucci (visible at right) discovered in a book at Heidelberg

University, dating to 1503, states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del
Giocondo.

The sitter, Lisa del Giocondo,[7][8] was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and
Tuscany, and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.[9] The
painting is thought to have been commissioned for their new home, and to celebrate the
birth of their second son, Andrea.[10] The Italian name for the painting, La Gioconda, means
"jocund" ("happy" or "jovial"), or literally "the jocund one", a pun on the feminine form of
the sitter's married name Giocondo.[9][11] In French, the title La Joconde has the same
meaning.

Over the years there have been several alternative views among scholars as to the subject of
the painting. Some have argued that Lisa del Giocondo was the subject of a different
portrait, identifying at least four other paintings as the Mona Lisa referred to by Vasari.[12]
[13]
Several other individuals have been proposed as the subject of the painting.[14] Isabella of
Naples,[15] Cecilia Gallerani,[16] Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla,[14] Isabella
d'Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina Sforza, —even Salai and
Leonardo himself— are all among the list of posited models portrayed in the painting.[17][18]
Currently, the consensus of art historians is that the painting depicts Lisa del Giocondo,
which has always been the traditional view.[6]

History
Main article: Leonardo da Vinci
Self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, executed in red chalk sometime between 1512 and 1515

Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy.[19]
According to Leonardo's contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, "after he had lingered over it four
years, left it unfinished".[5] Leonardo, later in his life, is said to have regretted "never having
completed a single work".[20]

In 1516 Leonardo was invited by King François I to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's
castle in Amboise. It is believed that he took the Mona Lisa with him and continued to
work after he moved to France.[17] On his death the painting was inherited, among other
works, by his pupil and assistant Salaì.[9] The king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and
kept it at Palace of Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV
moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved
to the Louvre, but spent a brief period in the bedroom of Napoleon in the Tuileries Palace.

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) it was moved from the Louvre to the Brest
Arsenal.[21] During World War II, the painting was again removed from the Louvre and
taken safely, first to Château d'Amboise, then to the Loc-Dieu Abbey and Château de
Chambord, then finally to the Ingres Museum in Montauban.

Theft and vandalism

Vacant wall in the Salon Carré, Louvre

The painting's fame was emphasized when it was stolen on 21 August 1911.[22] The next
day, Louis Béroud, a painter, walked into the Louvre and went to the Salon Carré where the
Mona Lisa had been on display for five years. However, where the Mona Lisa should have
stood, he found four iron pegs. Béroud contacted the section head of the guards, who
thought the painting was being photographed for marketing purposes. A few hours later,
Béroud checked back with the section head of the museum, and it was confirmed that the
Mona Lisa was not with the photographers. The Louvre was closed for an entire week to
aid in investigation of the theft.

French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be "burnt
down," came under suspicion; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire tried to implicate
his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later
exonerated.[23]

At the time, the painting was believed to be lost forever, and it was two years before the
real thief was discovered. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia had stolen it by entering the
building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet and walking out with it hidden
under his coat after the museum had closed.[11] Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed
Leonardo's painting should be returned to Italy for display in an Italian museum. Peruggia
may have also been motivated by a friend whose copies of the original would significantly
rise in value after the painting's theft. After having kept the Mona Lisa in his apartment for
two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to
the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; it was exhibited all over Italy and returned to
the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia was hailed for his patriotism in Italy and served six months in
jail for the crime.[23]

In 1956, the lower part of the painting was severely damaged when a vandal threw acid at
the painting.[24] On 30 December of that same year, a young Bolivian named Ugo Ungaza
Villegas damaged the painting by throwing a rock at it. This resulted in the loss of a speck
of pigment near the left elbow, which was later painted over.[25]
The use of bulletproof glass has shielded the Mona Lisa from more recent attacks. In April
1974 a "lame woman", upset by the museum's policy for disabled people, sprayed red paint
at the painting while it was on display at the Tokyo National Museum.[26] On 2 August
2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a terra cotta
mug or teacup, purchased at the museum, at the painting in the Louvre; the vessel shattered
against the glass enclosure.[27][28] In both cases, the painting was undamaged.

Aesthetics

Detail of the background (right side)

Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the
painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face
glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces
an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo referred to a seemingly simple
formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at
the time. He effectively modified this formula in order to create the visual impression of
distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a
dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer.

The woman sits markedly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved
posture. Only her gaze is fixed on the observer and seems to welcome him to this silent
communication. Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various much darker
elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer's attraction to it is brought to even greater
extent. The woman appears alive to an unusual measure, which Leonardo achieved by his
new method not to draw the outlines, "mainly in two features: the corners of the mouth, and
the corners of the eyes" (Gombrich), as firmly as that had been the use, before (sfumato).[29]
There is no indication of an intimate dialogue between the woman and the observer as is the
case in the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) painted by Raphael about ten years
later, and undoubtedly influenced by the work.
Detail of Lisa's hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture rather
than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife.[30]

The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape
and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective.[31] The enigmatic
woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on
either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a
distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of
the woman's hair and clothing are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers
behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and
overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style. Owing to the expressive
synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona
Lisa should be considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a
real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially apparent in
the sitter's faint smile—reflects the idea of a link connecting humanity and nature.

Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was
common at this time for genteel women to pluck these hairs, as they were considered
unsightly.[32][33] In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high
resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted
with eyelashes and with better visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared
over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning.[34] For modern viewers the nearly missing
eyebrows add to the slightly abstract quality of the face.

There has been much speculation regarding the painting's model and landscape. For
example, that Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen
as being among the best, "even when measured by late quattrocento (15th century) or even
twenty-first century standards."[35] Some art historians in Eastern art, such as Yukio
Yashiro, also argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by
Chinese paintings;[36] however, this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence.[36]

Conservation
The Mona Lisa has survived for more than 500 years, and an international commission
convened in 1952 noted that "the picture is in a remarkable state of preservation."[37] This is
partly due to the result of a variety of conservation treatments the painting has undergone.
A detailed analysis in 1933 by Madame de Gironde revealed that earlier restorers had
"acted with a great deal of restraint."[37] Nevertheless, applications of varnish made to the
painting had darkened even by the end of the 16th century, and an aggressive 1809 cleaning
and revarnishing removed some of the uppermost portion of the paint layer, resulting in a
washed-out appearance to the face of the figure. Despite the treatments, the Mona Lisa has
been well cared for throughout its history, and although the panel's warping caused the
curators "some worry",[38] the 2004–05 conservation team was optimistic about the future of
the work.[37]

Poplar panel

At some point in its history, the Mona Lisa was removed from its original frame. The
unconstrained poplar panel warped freely with changes in humidity, and as a result, a crack
developed near the top of the panel, extending down to the hairline of the figure. In the
mid-18th century to early 19th century, two butterfly-shaped walnut braces were inserted
into the back of the panel to a depth of about 1/3 the thickness of the panel. This
intervention was skillfully executed, and successfully stabilized the crack. Sometime
between 1888 and 1905, or perhaps during the picture's theft, the upper brace fell out. A
later restorer glued and lined the resulting socket and crack with cloth. The flexible oak
frame (added 1951) and cross braces (1970) help to keep the panel from warping further.
[citation needed]

The picture is currently kept under strict, climate-controlled conditions in its bulletproof
glass case. The humidity is maintained at 50% ±10%, and the temperature is maintained
between 18 and 21 °C. To compensate for fluctuations in relative humidity, the case is
supplemented with a bed of silica gel treated to provide 55% relative humidity.[37]

Frame

Because the Mona Lisa's poplar support expands and contracts with changes in humidity,
the picture has experienced some warping. In response to warping and swelling
experienced during its storage during World War II, and to prepare the picture for an
exhibit to honor the anniversary of Leonardo's 500th birthday, the Mona Lisa was fitted in
1951 with a flexible oak frame with beech crosspieces. This flexible frame, which is used
in addition to the decorative frame described below, exerts pressure on the panel to keep it
from warping further. In 1970, the beech crosspieces were switched to maple after it was
found that the beechwood had been infested with insects. In 2004–2005, a conservation and
study team replaced the maple crosspieces with sycamore ones, and an additional metal
crosspiece was added for scientific measurement of the panel's warp.

The Mona Lisa has had many different decorative frames in its history, owing to changes in
taste over the centuries. In 1909, the Comtesse de Béhague gave the portrait its current
frame,[39] a Renaissance-era work consistent with the historical period of the Mona Lisa.
The edges of the painting have been trimmed at least once in its history to fit the picture
into various frames, but no part of the original paint layer has been trimmed.[37]
Cleaning and touch-up

The first and most extensive recorded cleaning, revarnishing, and touch-up of the Mona
Lisa was an 1809 wash and revarnishing undertaken by Jean-Marie Hooghstoel, who was
responsible for restoration of paintings for the galleries of the Musée Napoléon. The work
involved cleaning with spirits, touch-up of colour, and revarnishing the painting. In 1906,
Louvre restorer Eugène Denizard performed watercolour retouches on areas of the paint
layer disturbed by the crack in the panel. Denizard also retouched the edges of the picture
with varnish, to mask areas that had been covered initially by an older frame. In 1913,
when the painting was recovered after its theft, Denizard was again called upon to work on
the Mona Lisa. Denizard was directed to clean the picture without solvent, and to lightly
touch up several scratches to the painting with watercolour. In 1952, the varnish layer over
the background in the painting was evened out. After the second 1956 attack, restorer Jean-
Gabriel Goulinat was directed to touch up the damage to Mona Lisa's left elbow with
watercolour.[37]

In 1977, a new insect infestation was discovered in the back of the panel as a result of
crosspieces installed to keep the painting from warping. This was treated on the spot with
carbon tetrachloride, and later with an ethylene oxide treatment. In 1985, the spot was again
treated with carbon tetrachloride as a preventive measure.[37]

Display

On 6 April 2005—following a period of curatorial maintenance, recording, and analysis—

the painting was moved to a new location within the museum's Salle des États. It is
displayed in a purpose-built, climate-controlled enclosure behind bulletproof glass.[40] The
renovation of the gallery where the painting now resides was financed by the Japanese
broadcaster Nippon Television.[41] About 6 million people view the painting at the Louvre
each year.[17] A charcoal and graphite study of the Mona Lisa attributed to Leonardo is in
The Hyde Collection, in Glens Falls, New York.[42]

Fame

2010: Mona Lisa is among the greatest attractions in the Louvre

Historian Donald Sassoon catalogued the growth of the painting's fame. During the mid-
19th century, Théophile Gautier and the Romantic poets were able to write about Mona
Lisa as a femme fatale because Lisa was an ordinary person. Mona Lisa "...was an open text
into which one could read what one wanted; probably because she was not a religious
image; and, probably, because the literary gazers were mainly men who subjected her to an
endless stream of male fantasies." During the 20th century, the painting was stolen, an
object for mass reproduction, merchandising, lampooning and speculation, and was
reproduced in "300 paintings and 2,000 advertisements".[43] The subject was described as
deaf, in mourning,[13] toothless, a "highly-paid tart", various people's lover, a reflection of
the artist's neuroses, and a victim of syphilis, infection, paralysis, palsy, cholesterol or a
toothache.[43] Scholarly as well as amateur speculation assigned Lisa's name to at least four
different paintings[12][13][14] and the sitter's identity to at least ten different people.[15][16][18][44]

US President John F. Kennedy, Madeleine Malraux, André Malraux, Jacqueline Kennedy

and Lyndon B. Johnson at the unveiling the Mona Lisa at the National Gallery of Art
during its visit to Washington D.C., 8 January 1963.

Visitors generally spend about 15 seconds viewing the Mona Lisa.[45] Until the 20th
century, Mona Lisa was one among many and certainly not the "most famous painting"[46]
in the world as it is termed today. Among works in the Louvre, in 1852 its market value
was 90,000 francs compared to works by Raphael valued at up to 600,000 francs. In 1878,
the Baedeker guide called it "the most celebrated work of Leonardo in the Louvre".
Between 1851 and 1880, artists who visited the Louvre copied Mona Lisa roughly half as
many times as certain works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Antonio da Correggio, Paolo
Veronese, Titian, Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon.[43]

From December 1962 to March 1963, the French government lent it to the United States to
be displayed in New York City and Washington, D.C.[47] In 1974, the painting was
exhibited in Tokyo and Moscow.[48]

Before the 1962–1963 tour, the painting was assessed, for insurance purposes, as valued at
$100 million; the insurance was not bought. Instead more money was spent on security.[49]
As an expensive painting, it has only recently been surpassed, in terms of actual price, by
four other paintings: the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt, which was sold
for $135 million, the Woman III by Willem de Kooning sold for $138 million in November
2006, and No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock sold for $140 million in November 2006 and one
painting from The Card Players series by Paul Cezanne sold for a record of more than
$250 million.[50] Although these figures are greater than the 1962 figure at which the Mona
Lisa was valued, the comparison does not account for the change in prices due to inflation –
$100 million in 1962 is approximately $720 million in 2010 when adjusted for inflation
using the US Consumer Price Index.[51]

Speculation
Main article: Speculation about Mona Lisa

Although the sitter has traditionally been identified as Lisa del Giocondo, a lack of
definitive evidence has long fueled alternative theories, including Leonardo's mother
Caterina in a distant memory and the possibility that Leonardo used his own likeness. Other
aspects of the painting that have been subject to speculation are the original size of the
painting, whether it is the original, why it was painted, and various explanations for how
the effect of an enigmatic smile was achieved.

Legacy
See also: Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations

Le rire (The L.H.O.O.Q. by

laugh) by Marcel
Eugène Duchamp
Bataille, or (1919)
Sapeck (1883)

The avant-garde art world has made note of the undeniable fact of the Mona Lisa's
popularity. Because of the painting's overwhelming stature, Dadaists and Surrealists often
produce modifications and caricatures. Already in 1883, Le rire, an image of a Mona Lisa
smoking a pipe, by Sapeck (Eugène Bataille), was shown at the "Incoherents" show in
Paris. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential modern artists, created
L.H.O.O.Q., a Mona Lisa parody made by adorning a cheap reproduction with a moustache
and a goatee. Duchamp added an inscription, which when read out loud in French sounds
like "Elle a chaud au cul" literally translated: "she has a hot ass", implying the woman in
the painting is in a state of sexual excitement and intended as a Freudian joke.[52] According
to Rhonda R. Shearer, the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on
Duchamp's own face.[53]

Salvador Dalí, famous for his surrealist work, painted Self portrait as Mona Lisa in 1954.[54]
In 1963 following the painting's visit to the United States, Andy Warhol created serigraph
prints of multiple Mona Lisas called Thirty are Better than One, like his works of Marilyn
Monroe (Twenty-five Coloured Marilyns, 1962), Elvis Presley (1964) and Campbell's soup
(1961–1962).[55]

Mona Lisa also inspired the children's book Katie and the Mona Lisa by James Mayhew,
adapted as a stage musical (2013).

Cleopatra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Cleopatra (disambiguation).

Cleopatra VII Philopator

Bust of Cleopatra VII, Altes Museum, Berlin

Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
Reign 51–30 BC
Predecessor Ptolemy XII Auletes
Ptolemy XII Auletes
Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator
Co-rulers
Ptolemy XIV
Ptolemy XV Caesarion
Spouse Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator
Ptolemy XIV
 Mark Antony
Issue
Caesarion, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar
Alexander Helios
Cleopatra Selene, Queen of Mauretania
Ptolemy XVI Philadelphus
Full name
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator
Father Ptolemy XII Auletes
Mother Cleopatra V of Egypt (presumably)
69 BC
Born
Alexandria, Egypt
12 August 30 BC (aged 38–39)
Died
Alexandria, Egypt
Burial Unknown

These articles cover Ancient Rome and the fall of the

Republic
Mark Antony, Cleopatra VII, Assassination of
Julius Caesar, Pompey, Theatre of Pompey,
Cicero, First Triumvirate, Roman Forum,
Comitium, Rostra, Curia Julia, Curia Hostilia
Cleopatra VII in hieroglyphs

Cleopatra
Qlwpdrt

Horus name (1): Wer(et)-neb(et)-neferu-

achet-seh
Wr(.t)-nb(.t)-nfrw-3ḫ(t)-sḥ
The great Lady of perfection, excellent in
counsel
 Horus name (2): Weret-tut-en-it-es
Wr.t-twt-n-jt=s
The great one, sacred image of her father

Cleopatra netjeret mer(et) ites

Qlwpdrt nṯrt mr(t) jts
The goddess Cleopatra who is beloved of
her father

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; Late 69 BC[1] –

August 12, 30 BC), known to history as Cleopatra,[2][3] was the last pharaoh of Ancient
Egypt.

Cleopatra VII Philopator (griego Antiguo: ??????????????????; Tarde 69 BC[1] - el 12 de

agosto de 30 A.C.), conocido a la historia como Cleopatra,[2][3] el último pharaoh de
Egipto Antiguo era.

She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek[4][5][6][7][8][9] origin that ruled
Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies,
throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek[10] and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason
that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the
Rosetta Stone.[11] By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself
as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.

Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, and later with her
brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom, but
eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh, she consummated a liaison with Julius
Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated her son with Caesar,
Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.

After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to
Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus). With
Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son,
Ptolemy Philadelphus (her unions with her brothers had produced no children.) After losing
the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed
suit, according to tradition killing herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BC.[12]
She was briefly outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, but
soon killed on Octavian's orders. Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus.

To this day, Cleopatra remains a popular figure in Western culture. Her legacy survives in
numerous works of art and the many dramatizations of her story in literature and other
media, including William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet's
opera Cléopâtre and the 1963 film Cleopatra. In most depictions, Cleopatra is portrayed as
a great beauty, and her successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken as
proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal.

Contents
 1 Biography
o 1.1 Accession to the throne
o 1.2 Relations with Rome
 1.2.1 Assassination of Pompey
 1.2.2 Relationship with Julius Caesar
 1.2.3 Cleopatra in the Roman Civil War
 1.2.4 Cleopatra and Mark Antony
o 1.3 Death
 2 Character and cultural depictions
 3 Ancestry
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 Further reading
o 6.1 Primary sources
o 6.2 Modern sources
 7 External links
o 7.1 General
o 7.2 Paintings

Biography
Accession to the throne

The identity of Cleopatra's mother is unknown, but she is generally believed to be

Cleopatra V Tryphaena of Egypt, the sister or cousin and wife of Ptolemy XII, or possibly
another Ptolemaic family member who was the daughter of Ptolemy X and Cleopatra
Berenice III Philopator if Cleopatra V was not the daughter of Ptolemy X and Berenice III.
[13]
Cleopatra's father Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's general,
Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lagus, both of Macedon.
Centralization of power and corruption led to uprisings in and the losses of Cyprus and
Cyrenaica, making Ptolemy XII's reign one of the most calamitous of the dynasty. When
Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena seized the crown but died
shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances. It is believed, though not proven by
historical sources, that Berenice IV poisoned her so she could assume sole rulership.
Regardless of the cause, she did until Ptolemy Auletes returned in 55 BC, with Roman
support, capturing Alexandria aided by Roman general Aulus Gabinius. Berenice was
imprisoned and executed shortly afterwards, her head allegedly being sent to the royal court
on the decree of her father, the king. Cleopatra was now, at age 14, put as joint regent and
deputy of her father, although her power was likely to have been severely limited.

Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC, thus by his will making the 18-year-old Cleopatra and
her brother, the 10-year-old Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs. The first three years of their reign
were difficult, due to economic difficulties, famine, deficient floods of the Nile, and
political conflicts. Although Cleopatra was married to her young brother, she quickly made
it clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him.

In August 51 BC, relations between Cleopatra and Ptolemy completely broke down.
Cleopatra dropped Ptolemy's name from official documents and her face appeared alone on
coins, which went against Ptolemaic tradition of female rulers being subordinate to male
co-rulers. In 50 BC Cleopatra came into a serious conflict with the Gabiniani, powerful
Roman troops of Aulus Gabinius who had left them in Egypt to protect Ptolemy XII after
his restoration to the throne in 55 BC. The Gabiniani killed the sons of the Roman governor
of Syria, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, when they came to ask for the assistance of the
Gabiniani for their father against the Parthians. Cleopatra handed the murderers over in
chains to Bibulus, whereupon the Gabiniani turned into bitter enemies of the queen.[14] This
conflict was one of the main causes of Cleopatra's fall from power shortly afterward. The
sole reign of Cleopatra was finally ended by a cabal of courtiers, led by the eunuch
Pothinus, in connection with a half-Greek general, Achillas, and Theodotus of Chios. Circa
48 BC, Cleopatra's younger brother Ptolemy XIII became sole ruler.[15]

She tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium, but she was soon forced to flee with her only
remaining sister, Arsinoë.[16]

Relations with Rome

Assassination of Pompey

While Cleopatra was in exile, Pompey became embroiled in the Roman civil war. After his
defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus, in the autumn of 48 BC, Pompey fled from the forces of
Caesar to Alexandria, seeking sanctuary. Ptolemy, only thirteen years old at that time, had
set up a throne for himself on the harbour, from where he watched as on September 28, 48
BC, Pompey was murdered by one of his former officers, now in Ptolemaic service. He was
beheaded in front of his wife and children, who were on the ship from which he had just
disembarked. Ptolemy is thought to have ordered the death to ingratiate himself with
Caesar, thus becoming an ally of Rome, to which Egypt was in debt at the time, though this
act proved a miscalculation on Ptolemy's part. When Caesar arrived in Egypt two days
later, Ptolemy presented him with Pompey's severed head; Caesar was enraged. Although
he was Caesar's political enemy, Pompey was a Roman consul and the widower of Caesar's
only legitimate daughter, Julia (who died in childbirth with Pompey's son). Caesar seized
the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy
and Cleopatra.

Relationship with Julius Caesar

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Eager to take advantage of Julius Caesar's anger toward Ptolemy, Cleopatra had herself
smuggled secretly into the palace to meet with Caesar. Plutarch in his "Life of Julius
Caesar"[17] gives a vivid description of how she entered past Ptolemy’s guards rolled up in a
carpet that Apollodorus the Sicilian was carrying.[18] She became Caesar’s mistress, and
nine months after their first meeting, in 47 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to their son, Ptolemy
Caesar, nicknamed Caesarion, which means "little Caesar."

At this point, Caesar abandoned his plans to annex Egypt, instead backing Cleopatra's claim
to the throne. After Mithridates raised the siege of Alexandria, Caesar defeated Ptolemy's
army at the Battle of the Nile; Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile[19][20] and Caesar restored
Cleopatra to her throne, with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV as her new co-ruler.[21]
[22][23]
When Caesar left Egypt he stationed there a Roman occupying army of three legions
under the command of Rufio.[24]
Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera

Although Cleopatra was 21 years old when they met and Caesar was 52, they became
lovers during Caesar’s stay in Egypt between 48 BC and 47 BC. Cleopatra claimed Caesar
was the father of her son and wished him to name the boy his heir, but Caesar refused,
choosing his grandnephew Octavian instead. During this relationship, it was also rumored
that Cleopatra introduced Caesar to her astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who first
proposed the idea of leap days and leap years.

Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion visited Rome in the summer of 46 BC. The
Egyptian queen resided in one of Caesar's country houses.[25][26] The relationship between
Cleopatra and Caesar was obvious to the Roman people and it was a scandal because the
Roman dictator was already married to Calpurnia Pisonis. But Caesar even erected a golden
statue of Cleopatra represented as Isis in the temple of Venus Genetrix (the mythical
ancestress of Caesar's family), which was situated at the Forum Julium.[27][28] The Roman
orator Cicero said in his preserved letters that he hated the foreign queen.[26] Cleopatra and
her entourage were in Rome when Caesar was assassinated on 15 March 44 BC.[29] She
returned with her relatives to Egypt. When Ptolemy XIV died – allegedly poisoned by his
older sister – Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-regent and successor and gave him the
epithets Theos Philopator Philometor (= Father- and motherloving God).[30][31][32]

Cleopatra in the Roman Civil War

In the Roman civil war between the Caesarian faction, led by Mark Antony and Octavian,
and the faction including the assassins of Caesar, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius
Cassius Longinus, Cleopatra sided with the Caesarian party because of her past. Brutus and
Cassius left Italy and sailed to the east of the Roman Empire, where they conquered large
areas and established military bases. At the beginning of 43 BC, Cleopatra formed an
alliance with the leader of the Caesarian party in the east, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, who
also recognized Caesarion as her co-ruler.[33][34] But soon, Dolabella was encircled in
Laodicea and committed suicide (July 43 BC).
Cassius wanted to invade Egypt to seize the treasures of that country and for her support for
Dolabella. Egypt seemed an easy target because it did not have strong land forces and there
was famine and an epidemic. Cassius also wanted to prevent Cleopatra from bringing
reinforcements for Antony and Octavian. But he could not execute an invasion of Egypt
because at the end of 43 BC, Brutus summoned him back to Smyrna. Cassius tried to
blockade Cleopatra’s route to the Caesarians. For this purpose Lucius Staius Murcus moved
with 60 ships and a legion of elite troops into position at Cape Matapan in the south of the
Peloponnese. Nevertheless, Cleopatra sailed with her fleet from Alexandria to the west
along the Libyan coast to join the Caesarian leaders, but she was forced to return to Egypt
because her ships were damaged by a violent storm and she became ill. Staius Murcus
learned of the queen's misfortune and saw wreckage from her ships on the coast of Greece.
He then sailed with his ships into the Adriatic Sea.[35]

Cleopatra and Mark Antony

Antony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

In 41 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum
following Caesar's death, sent his intimate friend Quintus Dellius to Egypt to summon
Cleopatra to Tarsus to meet Antony and answer questions about her loyalty. During the
Roman civil war she allegedly had paid much money to Cassius. It seems that in reality
Antony wanted Cleopatra’s promise to support his intended war against the Parthians.
Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony that he chose to spend the winter of
41 BC–40 BC with her in Alexandria.[36]

To safeguard herself and Caesarion, she had Antony order the death of her sister Arsinoe,
who had been banished to the Temple of Artemis in Roman-controlled Ephesus for her role
in leading the Siege of Alexandria. The execution was carried out in 41 BC on the steps of
the temple, and this violation of temple sanctuary scandalised Rome.[37] Cleopatra had also
executed her strategos of Cyprus, Serapion, who had supported Cassius against her wishes.
[38]

On 25 December 40 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to twins fathered by Antony, Alexander

Helios and Cleopatra Selene II. Four years later, Antony visited Alexandria again en route
to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this
point on, Alexandria was his home. He married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a
letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia
Minor, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy
Philadelphus.

A tetradrachm of Cleopatra VII, Syria mint

At the Donations of Alexandria in late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia,

Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus; Alexander Helios
was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media, and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler
of Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria,
and Cilicia. Cleopatra was also given the title of "Queen of Kings" by Antonius.[39] Her
enemies in Rome feared that Cleopatra, "...was planning a war of revenge that was to array
all the East against Rome, establish herself as empress of the world at Rome, cast justice
from Capitolium, and inaugurate a new universal kingdom."[40] Caesarion was not only
elevated having coregency with Cleopatra, but also proclaimed with many titles, including
god,son of god and king of kings, and was depicted as Horus.[41] Egyptians thought
Cleopatra was a reincarnation of the goddess Isis, as she called herself Nea Isis.[42]

Relations between Antony and Octavian, disintegrating for several years, finally broke
down in 33 BC, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war against Egypt. In 31 BC
Antony's forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was
present with a fleet of her own. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra took flight with her ships
at the height of the battle and Antony followed her.[43] Following the Battle of Actium,
Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to
Octavian on August 1, 30 BC.

There are a number of unverifiable stories about Cleopatra, of which one of the best known
is that, at one of the lavish dinners she shared with Antony, she playfully bet him that she
could spend ten million sestertii on a dinner. He accepted the bet. The next night, she had a
conventional, unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when she ordered the
second course — only a cup of strong vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl
earrings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve, and drank the mixture. The
earliest report of this story comes from Pliny the Elder and dates to about 100 years after
the banquet described would have happened. The calcium carbonate in pearls does dissolve
in vinegar, but slowly unless the pearl is first crushed.[44]

Death

The Death of Cleopatra by Guido Cagnacci, 1658

The ancient sources, particularly the Roman ones, are in general agreement that Cleopatra
killed herself by inducing an Egyptian cobra to bite her. The oldest source is Strabo, who
was alive at the time of the event, and might even have been in Alexandria. He says that
there are two stories: that she applied a toxic ointment, or that she was bitten by an asp on
her breast.[45] Several Roman poets, writing within ten years of the event, all mention bites
by two asps,[46][47][48] as does Florus, a historian, some 150 years later.[49] Velleius, sixty
years after the event, also refers to an asp.[50][51] Other authors have questioned these
historical accounts, stating that it is possible that Augustus had her killed.[52] In 2010, the
German historian Christoph Schaefer challenged all other theories, declaring that the queen
had actually been poisoned and died from drinking a mixture of poisons. After studying
historical texts and consulting with toxicologists, the historian concluded that the asp could
not have caused a slow and pain-free death, since the asp (Egyptian cobra) venom paralyses
parts of the body, starting with the eyes, before causing death. Schaefer and his toxicologist
Dietrich Mebs decided Cleopatra used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium.[53]
The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur, 1892

Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event, reports that Octavian succeeded in
capturing Cleopatra in her mausoleum after the death of Antony. He ordered his freedman
Epaphroditus to guard her to prevent her from committing suicide, because he allegedly
wanted to present her in his triumph. But Cleopatra was able to deceive Epaphroditus and
kill herself nevertheless.[54] Plutarch states that she was found dead, her handmaiden Iras
dying at her feet, and another handmaiden, Charmion, adjusting her crown before she
herself fell.[55] He then goes on to state that an asp was concealed in a basket of figs that
was brought to her by a rustic, and, finding it after eating a few figs, she held out her arm
for it to bite. Other stories state that it was hidden in a vase, and that she poked it with a
spindle until it got angry enough to bite her on the arm. Finally, he indicates that in
Octavian's triumphal march back in Rome, an effigy of Cleopatra that had an asp clinging
to it was part of the parade.[56]

Suetonius, writing about the same time as Plutarch, also says Cleopatra died from an asp
bite.[57]

Shakespeare re-introduced part of the image, Cleopatra clutching the snake to her breast.[58]
Before him, it was generally agreed that she was bitten on the arm.[59][60][61]

Ang kamatayan ni Cleopatra (The Death of Cleopatra) by Juan Luna, 1881.

Cleopatra is depicted taking her own life with the bite of a poisonous serpent. Adam
Lenckhardt (Ivory).[62] The Walters Art Museum.

Plutarch tells us of the death of Antony. When his armies deserted him and joined with
Octavian, he cried out that Cleopatra had betrayed him. She, fearing his wrath, locked
herself in her monument with only her two handmaidens and sent messengers to tell
Antony that she was dead. Believing them, Antony stabbed himself in the stomach with his
sword, and lay on his couch to die. Instead, the blood flow stopped, and he begged any and
all to finish him off. Another messenger came from Cleopatra with instructions to bring
him to her, and he, rejoicing that Cleopatra was still alive, consented. She wouldn't open the
door, but tossed ropes out of a window. After Antony was securely trussed up, she and her
handmaidens hauled him up into the monument. This nearly finished him off. After
dragging him in through the window, they laid him on a couch. Cleopatra tore off her
clothes and covered him with them. She raved and cried, beat her breasts and engaged in
self-mutilation. Antony told her to calm down, asked for a glass of wine, and died upon
finishing it.[63]

The site of their mausoleum is uncertain, though the Egyptian Antiquities Service believes
it is in or near the temple of Taposiris Magna, southwest of Alexandria.[64]

Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was proclaimed pharaoh by the Egyptians, after
Alexandria fell to Octavian. Caesarion was captured and killed, his fate reportedly sealed
when one of Octavian's advisers paraphrased Homer: "It is bad to have too many
Caesars."[65] This ended not just the Hellenistic line of Egyptian pharaohs, but the line of all
Egyptian pharaohs. The three children of Cleopatra and Antony were spared and taken back
to Rome where they were taken care of by Antony's wife, Octavia Minor. The daughter,
Cleopatra Selene, was married through arrangements of Octavian to Juba II of Mauretania.
[66]
Character and cultural depictions

Statue of Cleopatra as Egyptian goddess; Basalt, second half of the 1st century BC.
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Main article: Cultural depictions of Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra was regarded as a great beauty, even in the ancient world. In his Life of Antony,
Plutarch remarks that "judging by the proofs which she had had before this of the effect of
her beauty upon Caius Caesar and Gnaeus the son of Pompey, she had hopes that she would
more easily bring Antony to her feet. For Caesar and Pompey had known her when she was
still a girl and inexperienced in affairs, but she was going to visit Antony at the very time
when women have the most brilliant beauty."[67] Later in the work, however, Plutarch
indicates that "her beauty, as we are told, was in itself neither altogether incomparable, nor
such as to strike those who saw her."[67] Rather, what ultimately made Cleopatra attractive
were her wit, charm and "sweetness in the tones of her voice."[67]

Cassius Dio also spoke of Cleopatra's allure: "For she was a woman of surpassing beauty,
and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking; she also
possessed a most charming voice and knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to
everyone. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate
everyone, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in
keeping with her role to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the
throne."[67]

These accounts influenced later cultural depictions of Cleopatra, which typically present
her using her charms to influence the most powerful men in the Western world.

Ancestry
The high degree of inbreeding amongst the Ptolemies is also evident when one considers
Cleopatra's immediate family. Her father was likely the uncle of Cleopatra's mother. There
were three uncle/niece and three brother/sister relationships in her ancestry going back to a
single set of either great grandparents or great great grandparents, depending on how the
ancestry is traced.[68] The relatively small number of ancestors can be seen from the possible
ancestry of Cleopatra VII as shown below.[69]

Ptolemy V
Cleopatra I of Egypt
Epiphanes

Ptolemy VIII Ptolemy VI Cleopatra II of

Physcon Philometor Egypt

Cleopatra
III of Egypt
 Cleopatra
Ptolemy X Cleopatra Ptolemy IX
IV of Egypt
Alexander I Selene I Lathyros

Ptolemy
Berenice III of
XII
Egypt
Auletes

Cleopatra V
of Egypt
Cleopatra
VII

Felipe Massa
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Felipe Massa

Massa en el Gran Premio de Canadá de 2011

Datos personales
Competición Fórmula 1
Nacionalidad Brasileño
Carrera deportiva
Palmarés general
Carreras
161
comenzadas
Gran Premio de Australia de
Primera carrera
2002
Gran Premio de Turquía de
Primera victoria
2006
Temporada actual
N.º vehículo 6
Fórmula 1
Equipo Scuderia Ferrari
Victorias 11 (8,8%)
Podios 35 (24%)
Poles 15 (12%)
Vueltas rápidas 14 (9,6%)

Felipe Massa (São Paulo, Brasil 25 de abril de 1981) es un piloto de automovilismo de

velocidad brasileño. Es piloto de la Scuderia Ferrari de Fórmula 1 desde la temporada 2006,
con el que ha obtenido 11 victorias y 35 podios. Resultó subcampeón en 2008, tercero en
2006, cuarto en 2007 y sexto en 2010 y 2011.

Índice
 1 Inicios
 2 Carrera en la Fórmula 1
o 2.1 Sauber (2002, 2004 - 2005)
o 2.2 Ferrari (2006 - presente)
 2.2.1 2007
 2.2.2 2008
 2.2.3 2009
 2.2.4 2010
 2.2.5 2011
 2.2.6 2012
  2.2.7 2013
 3 Resultados completos en la Fórmula 1
 4 Desafio Internacional das Estrelas
 5 Referencias
 6 Enlaces externos

Inicios
Massa empezó a participar en los karts cuando tenía 9 años de edad, finalizando cuarto en
su primera temporada. Su experiencia en esa categoría prosiguió durante 7 años en
campeonatos nacionales e internacionales, hasta que en 1998 partió hacia la Fórmula
Chevrolet. En su primer temporada en la categoría finalizó quinto y, al año siguiente, ganó
3 de las 10 carreras y obtuvo el título.

En 2000 partió hacia Europa para competir en la Fórmula Renault italiana, obteniendo ese
título y el de la Fórmula Renault Europea en el mismo año. A pesar de tener una
oportunidad de pasar a la Fórmula 3, optó por competir en la Fórmula 3000 Europea, en
donde mostró un dominio abrumador al ganar 6 de las 8 carreras para llevarse el
campeonato con el equipo Draco Racing. Tras ello, le fue ofrecida una butaca como piloto
de pruebas en la escudería Sauber.

Carrera en la Fórmula 1
Sauber (2002, 2004 - 2005)

Massa pilotando para Sauber durante el Gran Premio del Reino Unido de 2005.

Tras mostrar buenas sensaciones en los ensayos con Sauber, la escudería le contrató como
piloto titular para la temporada 2002, junto a Nick Heidfeld.1 A pesar de demostrar
condiciones para competir en la máxima categoría, Massa cometió varios errores y se fue
fuera de pista en más de una ocasión. No obstante, logró obtener 4 puntos en el
campeonato, incluyendo un quinto puesto en el Gran Premio de España en el Circuito de
Cataluña.
Tras ser reemplazado por Heinz-Harald Frentzen, partió hacia Ferrari como piloto de
pruebas. Una vez más, sus buenos resultados en los ensayos hicieron que Peter Sauber
volviera a requerir sus servicios en 2004, esta vez junto al italiano Giancarlo Fisichella.2
Massa, pese a tener una temporada irregular al principio, con algunos errores, tuvo una
buena segunda mitad de campeonato, obteniendo 12 de los 34 puntos del equipo en todo el
año, y alcanzando un cuarto puesto en el Gran Premio de Bélgica. Felipe permaneció en la
escudería suiza en 2005, compartiendo la titularidad del equipo con el ex-campeón Jacques
Villeneuve, y logrando sumar más puntos en la temporada. Su mejor resultado fue un
cuarto puesto en Canadá.

Ferrari (2006 - presente)

Ferrari confirmó el fichaje de Massa para 2006 en sustitución del también brasileño Rubens
Barrichello,3 pero tuvo un inicio complicado en el que le costó adaptarse al monoplaza y
además se mostró limitado en su papel de escudero de Michael Schumacher. Pese a ello,
Massa consiguió varios podios y dos victorias en el Gran Premio de Turquía de 2006 y en
el Gran Premio de Brasil de 2006 (convirtiéndose en el primer piloto brasileño tras Ayrton
Senna en vencer en su propio país), además de tres 'poles' (Turquía, Japón y Brasil).
Finalizó tercero el Mundial de F1 con 80 puntos, por delante del que fue compañero suyo
en Sauber, Giancarlo Fisichella, y de Kimi Räikkönen.

2007

Massa con su F2007 el Gran Premio de Malasia de 2007.

En la temporada 2007, Massa tiene como compañero en Ferrari al piloto finlandés Kimi
Räikkönen, con el que intentarán recuperar el título para la mítica marca italiana.

Tras un inicio titubeante por parte de Felipe (un problema técnico el sábado y un error de
pilotaje le impidieron subir al podio en las primeras carreras), en el Gran Premio de Bahréin
de 2007 y el Gran Premio de España de 2007, Massa logra dos victorias consecutivas de
forma clara que le reenganchan a la pelea por el título. Posteriormente, consiguió buenos
resultados, con la salvedad de una descalificación en Canadá y una carrera para olvidar en
Hungría. Felipe ganó su tercera carrera en el Gran Premio de Turquía de 2007. Pero tras
abandonar en Italia y no poder vencer en Bélgica, un sexto puesto en una caótica carrera en
Fuji le dejó sin posibilidades de ser campeón. Al final, en la última carrera en Interlagos, y
tras renovar con Ferrari,4 Massa permite que su compañero Räikkönen le adelante, gane la
carrera y se lleve también el Mundial. No obstante, Felipe mostró ser un rival a la altura de
Räikkönen en muchas carreras, como quedaría claro al año siguiente.

2008

Massa debuta en 2008 con una mala carrera en Australia, saliendo desde la cuarta plaza. En
la primera curva, el brasileño cometió un trompo que le hizo colisionar con el muro; aunque
pudo continuar la carrera, el trompo le obligó a pasar por boxes, perdiendo toda opción de
podio. Más tarde, colisionaría con el RB4 de David Coulthard. El escocés abandonó, pero
Massa pudo continuar la carrera; sin embargo, unas cuantas vueltas más tarde, sufrió una
rotura de motor que provocó su abandono. En el Gran Premio de Malasia Massa continuó
con su nefasto inicio de año. Tras marcar la pole position por delante de su compañero de
equipo Kimi Räikkönen, comandó la carrera hasta la primera parada en boxes, donde fue
superado por el campeón finlandés. Finalmente, en la vuelta 30, cometió un error de
conducción y se salió de la pista quedando atrapado en la grava, y así sumó otra carrera sin
lograr puntos. En el Gran Premio de Bahréin, a Massa se le escapó la pole por un error en
los segundos finales, siendo el polaco Robert Kubica quien consiguiera la primera pole de
su carrera deportiva. En carrera Kubica hizo una mala salida y Massa le pasó, llevándose la
victoria con autoridad.

Massa durante el Gran Premio de Brasil de 2008, donde ganó la carrera pero no pudo
coronarse campeón.

En el Gran Premio de España de 2008, partió en la tercera posición de la parrilla, por detrás
de Räikkönen y de Fernando Alonso. Finalizó la carrera en segunda posición, sin poder dar
caza a su compañero en toda la prueba, pero situándose cuarto en la clasificación general de
pilotos. En Turquía, Felipe consigue la victoria, en una carrera en la que Ferrari pudo
conseguir otro doblete, pero Räikkönen lo "impidió" al ser superado por Lewis Hamilton,
cosa que hizo que el británico se intercalase entre ambos. En Mónaco, Massa no logra
rentablizar la pole y acaba tercero en una complicada carrera bajo la lluvia. En el Gran
Premio de Canadá, Felipe acaba quinto, tras protagonizar una gran remontada desde las
últimas posiciones cuando la carrera ya estaba avanzada. Posteriormente, en Magny-Cours,
ganó la carrera y se aupó al liderato, siendo el primer brasileño en hacerlo desde Ayrton
Senna en Mónaco 1993. Luego, en Silverstone, bajo la lluvia, Massa no logra puntos
porque dio 5 trompos, y es alcanzado en el liderato por Lewis Hamilton y Kimi Räikkönen.

Luego, en Hockenheim, finaliza tercero y supera a su compañero en la tabla, aunque se

aleja del inglés. En Hungría, Massa estaba haciendo un carrerón y rompía su particular gafe
en Hungaroring, pero su motor le dejó tirado a falta de sólo tres vueltas. Sin embargo, el
brasileño reaccionó y realizó una impecable actuación en el Gran Premio de Europa
consiguiendo su tercer clean sweep en la Fórmula 1: la pole position, la vuelta rápida y la
victoria. Posteriormente, en el mítico circuito de Spa, consiguió hacerse con la 2ª posición
después del abandono de Kimi Räikkönen; y horas más tarde la FIA decidió sancionar a
Lewis Hamilton (ganador en pista) añadiendo 25 segundos a su tiempo final por maniobras
antideportivas, lo que hizo que Massa pasara a ser el ganador de la carrera, otorgándole los
10 puntos y quedándose a tan sólo 2 puntos del líder. Tras el Gran Premio de Italia, la
diferencia se reduciría a un punto. Sin embargo, tras el Gran Premio de Singapur, con un
fallo calamitoso del equipo en el repostaje, el margen se ensanchó hasta los siete. En Fuji,
Massa redujo la diferencia en dos unidades, las mismas que le recuperó Lewis Hamilton en
China. En el Gran Premio de Brasil, Massa gana la carrera, pero sólo duró 15 segundos
siendo campeón mundial, ya que Hamilton finalizó en 5º lugar, tras adelantar en la última
curva al piloto de la escudería Toyota, Timo Glock. Sin embargo, el gran año de Massa le
hizo ganarse el respeto de la gente.5

2009

Felipe en el GP de Turquía de 2009.

Felipe tenía ciertas esperanzas de que 2009 fuese su año tras haber estado tan cerca del
título. Sin embargo, Felipe realizó uno de los peores arranques de campeonato, sin poder
puntuar en Melbourne (problema hidraúlico), Sepang (suspensión de la carrera), Shanghai
(problema eléctrico) y Sakhir (por varios toques). Además, la suerte no acompañaba a
Massa, a quien un error de repostaje en Cataluña le dejó sin podio, aunque no sin puntos
(fue sexto). Eso sí, en las siguientes carreras comenzó a encontrar el rumbo, 4º en Mónaco,
6º en Estambul y 4º en Silverstone. Sin embargo, justo cuando ya había encontrado el punto
al F60 (después de quedar tercero en Alemania, su mejor resultado de la temporada), la
mala suerte se volvió a cruzar en su camino. Durante la segunda ronda de clasificación del
Gran Premio de Hungría de 2009, Massa sufrió un fuerte accidente al ser golpeado en la
cabeza por un resorte del amortiguador trasero izquierdo del coche de su compatriota de
Brawn GP, Rubens Barrichello; mientras Felipe transitaba por la zona más rápida de
Hungaroring, lo que ocasionó que quedara inconsciente y siguiera recto estrellándose
contra las protecciones.6 Posteriormente, fue trasladado en helicóptero al hospital AEK de
Budapest, en donde se reveló que Massa tenía un corte en la frente, una lesión en la parte
izquierda de su cráneo y una conmoción cerebral, motivo por el cual tuvo que ser sometido
a una operación que fue calificada de exitosa.7 8 Por este motivo, Massa no disputó el Gran
Premio de Hungría. Massa no tardaría en progresar positivamente en lo que a su estado
físico se refiere, en cuanto a sus habilidades, es obvio si nos basamos en los resultados que
no es el mismo después del accidente. Su ex compañero en Ferrari en 2006, Michael
Schumacher, fue designado encargado de sustituir a Felipe Massa durante su baja desde el
Gran Premio de Europa. Sin embargo, por lesiones en el cuello sufridas en una caída en la
categoría de Superbikes, Schumacher no pudo sustituir finalmente a Massa, quedando Luca
Badoer, piloto probador del equipo Ferrari, y posteriormente el piloto italiano de Force
India Giancarlo Fisichella (tras el Gran Premio de Bélgica de 2009) como sustitutos de
Felipe. Massa no volvió a competir en la Fórmula 1 hasta la temporada 2010.9 En
septiembre, Felipe anunció que quería regresar en el Gran Premio de Brasil, en el final de la
temporada 2009, pero finalmente Felipe regresó a las pistas en la primera carrera de la
temporada 2010.

2010

Massa volvió a la competición con un segundo puesto en Bahréin.

Massa conduciendo su F10 en Canadá.

Massa inicia el 2010 y su regreso a la competición con buen pie, al quedar 2° en Sakhir, por
detrás de su compañero Fernando Alonso haciendo el primer doblete de la temporada para
el equipo. En Melbourne, Massa logra otro podio, acabando en tercera posición. En
Malasia, acaba 7° tras empezar en las últimas posiciones debido a un error de la escudería
el sábado, y consigue el liderazgo del mundial. Sin embargo, en China, en una complicada
carrera, queda 9° después de que Alonso entrase en boxes por delante del brasileño,
perdiendo con esta posición el liderazgo del mundial.

En el GP de España, en el inicio de la temporada europea, Massa sólo puede acabar 6°. En

Mónaco mejora y finaliza 4°. En GP de Turquía, Felipe vuelve a tener problemas con el
coche y es 7°. En Canadá, Massa se clasificó sexto después de que Mark Webber fuera
penalizado 5 puestos por cambiar la caja de cambios. Sin embargo, la carrera no fue
positiva para Felipe: en la primera curva se toca con Vitantonio Liuzzi perdiendo el alerón
y regresando a la carrera último. Felipe remonta posiciones hasta las últimas vueltas,
aunque finalmente, tratando de pasar a Michael Schumacher, el alemán lo cierra contra el
muro, y vuelve a romper el alerón, perdiendo sus opciones de puntuar tras una remontada
desde el 23° puesto hasta el 10°. Finalmente, Massa acaba la carrera en el puesto 15°. En
Valencia, rodando en posiciones delanteras y con opciones de podio, la salida del coche de
seguridad arruina su tarde y le hace acabar 11°. En Silverstone, un mal comienzo (contacto
con Alonso) y un posterior trompo le llevan a acabar 15° después de entrar en boxes dos
veces por 2 pinchazos.

En Alemania, Massa vuelve a brillar y obtiene el 2° puesto después de ser adelantado por
su compañero de equipo ante unas supuestas órdenes de equipo.10 La FIA sancionó por esta
maniobra a la escudería Ferrari con 100.000$. En Hungaroring y Spa, el brasileño consigue
acabar 4°. En Monza, Felipe sale 3° y acaba en la misma posición. En Marina Bay, Massa
sale último por una avería en su coche, pero consigue remontar y llega 10°. Sin embargo,
debido a las sanciones de Adrian Sutil y Nico Hülkenberg, acaba la carrera 8°. En Suzuka,
Massa sufre su primer abandono de la temporada al colisionar con Vitantonio Liuzzi. En
Corea vuelve al buen nivel y acaba 3°. En Brasil se clasifica en el 9° puesto. En carrera, un
error en su primera parada y un toque con Sébastien Buemi le llevan a acabar 15°. En Abu
Dhabi, en su primer pit stop, sale por detrás de Jaime Alguersuari, pero no consigue
adelantarle y acaba 10°, por detrás de él.

Massa cerró el 2010 sin victorias, sin pole position y con 5 podios en uno año difícil. El
piloto expresó que su bajo rendimiento durante la temporada se debió en parte al
comportamiento de sus neumáticos.11

2011

Felipe Massa al volante del Ferrari 150º Italia.

Pese a estar lejos de las prestaciones de su compañero Fernando Alonso, Massa sigue con
Ferrari en 2011.12

En las primeras carreras, tanto Felipe como su monoplaza no dan el rendimiento esperado,
siendo su mejor resultado un 5º puesto en Malasia. Posteriormente, al llegar a Europa, el
piloto encadena tres carreras consecutivas sin puntuar, con 2 abandonos. Pero Massa volvió
a la buena forma y encadenó diez GGPP seguidos acabando en el top ten, aunque
nuevamente por detrás de Fernando Alonso. En el debut del GP de la India, Massa
abandona otra vez por romper la suspensión delantera. Felipe acabó el año con otros dos
quintos puestos, sin poder subir al podio en toda una temporada por primera vez desde
2005, cuando aún pilotaba para Sauber.
2012

Alessandra Ambrosio
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Alessandra Ambrosio

Alessandra Ambrosio en 2009

Nombre real Alessandra Corine Ambrosio

11 de abril de 1981 (32 años)

Nacimiento
Erexim, Río Grande del Sur, Brasil

Características físicas

Medidas 86-58-86 cm (34B-23-34 in)

Estatura 1,78 m (5 pies 10 pulg)

Peso 51 kg (112 lb)

Color de cabello Castaño

Color de ojos Castaños

Talla de vestido 30 (EU), 1 (US)

Talla de zapatos 38(EU), 7 (US)

Sitio oficial
Ficha en IMDb

Alessandra Ambrosio (Erexim - Brasil, 11 de abril de 1981) es una supermodelo brasileña

y uno de los ángeles de Victoria's Secret.

Biografía
Ambrosio nació en Erechim, Brasil, el 11 de abril de 1981. Sus padres, que son de
ascendencia italiana y polaca-brasileña, poseían una estación petrolífera. Ambrosio sólo
tenía 8 años cuando decidió que quería ser modelo, después de ver una fotografía de la
portada de la top Karen Mulder en una revista. Quise ser como ella, recuerda. Se inscribió
en clases de modelaje a la edad de 12 años y con 14 fue una de las 20 finalistas de la
competición Elite Modelling en Brasil. Ambrosio siempre se sentía insegura debido a sus
largas orejas y con 11 años se enfrentó a una operación de cirugía estética para recolocarlas
hacia atrás, aunque dos años después sufrió complicaciones. En 2006 apareció en El Show
de Tyra Banks y dijo que la cirugía fue una mala experiencia que le ha desalentado de
hacerse una operación de nuevo.

Carrera

Ambrosio en la pasarela, 2011

Cuando Ambrosio tenía 12 años, se inscribió en clases de modelaje y con ello, comenzó a
desfilar para Dixon Stein a la edad de 15 años. Ganando el concurso Brasil's Elite Model
Look consiguió empezar su carrera de modelo. Su primer trabajo notable fue la portada de
la revista Elle Brasil. Elite hizo llegar alguna de sus Polaroids a Guess,lo que le llevó a
protagonizar la campaña The Millenium GUESS? con su amiga y compañera Ana Beatriz
Barros. A partir de ahí, ha aparecido en anuncios para marcas como Revlon, Christian Dior,
Giorgio Armani o Ralph Lauren, así como en el calendario Pirelli. Ha desfilado para
diseñadores como Prada, Chanel y Oscar de la Renta, ha aparecido en numerosas portadas
de revistas internacionales, incluyendo Cosmopolitan, Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Marie
Claire, Ocean Drive y Vogue, y fue la única modelo en aparecer en la portada de la revista
Glamour en los Estados Unidos en 2006. En 2000 , se convirtió en modelo de Victoria's
Secret. En 2004, Ambrosio puso en marcha su línea de trajes de baño llamada Alessandra
Ambrosio by Sais, una sección de Rosa Chá. Se vendieron 10000 unidades con sólo un mes
en el mercado.

Ambrosio fue imagen de la compañía británica Next y protagonizó su primera campaña

televisiva durante 12 años. También firmó en la agencia Storm Model Management en
Londres.

En la portada de julio de 2009 de la revista Marie Claire, apareció en una extensión con
Sacha Baron Cohen para promocionar su película Brüno, en 2009.

Ambrosio se convirtió en la imagen de la marca brasileña de ropa deportiva Colcci, que

coprotagoniza en un anuncio con Ashton Kutcher. Fue número 5 en el ranking ' The
World's Top-Earning Models' de la revista Forbes, con unas ganancias estimadas en 5
millones de dólares durante los pasado 12 meses.(2010-2011)

En octubre de 2011 se convirtió en bloguera de la revista Vogue donde hablaba sobre su

vestimenta publicando una fotografía de ella misma todos los días durante un mes.

En 2012 Participó en la clausura de los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres también fue la

encargada de portar el lujoso sostén, conocido como Fantasy Bra, que la prestigiosa marca
de lencería Victoria's Secret crea cada año para su Fashion Show. Este año fue llamado
Floral Fantasy Bra, valorado en más de 2,5 millones de dólares. Su sujetador «Fantasy»,
concretamente, incluye nada más y nada menos que zafiros, rubíes y diamantes, además de
un cinturón a juego adornado con más de 5.200 piedras preciosas. Diseñado por la firma
London Jewelers.

En el año 2013, incursionó como la imagen de la empresa mexicana KIO Networks,

empresa con 13 centros de datos que brinda servicios de TI de misión crítica, la campaña de
mercadotecnia en la que aparece está publicada en http://weloveit.com.mx/

Gisele Bündchen
Saltar a: navegación, búsqueda
Gisele Bündchen
 Gisele Caroline Nonnenmacher
Nombre real
Bündchen
20 de julio de 1980 (32 años)
Nacimiento Horizontina, Río Grande del Sur,
Brasil
Cónyuge Tom Brady
Características físicas
Medidas 86-61-86
Estatura 1,80 m (5 pies 11 pulg)
Peso 56 kg (123 lb)
Color de
Castaño Claro
cabello
Color de ojos Verdes
Talla de vestido 34
Talla de
39
zapatos

Gisele Caroline Nonnenmacher Bündchen1 (Horizontina, Brasil, 20 de julio de 1980) es

una supermodelo, reconocida como la mejor pagada del mundo,2 y actriz de cine brasileña.

Índice
  1 Biografía
 2 Véase también
 3 Referencias
 4 Enlaces externos

Biografía
Nació en el estado de Río Grande del Sur. Es hija de Valdir Bündchen y Vânia
Nonnenmacher, los cuales son la cuarta generación de alemanes en Brasil. Gisele tiene
cinco hermanas: Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela y Patricia, quien es su gemela.

A los trece años de edad, Gisele fue descubierta por un agente de modelos de Dilson Stein
cuando ella estaba comiendo una hamburguesa en un restaurante de McDonalds. Cuando la
entrevistaron, ella aclaró que no conocía nada del modelaje y le tenía un mal concepto.

En agosto de ese mismo año, una agente persuadió a Gisele para que abandonara un partido
de voleibol para llevársela a un concurso de desfile. Gisele logró ser una de las cinco
finalistas que fueron invitadas por Dilson Stein, junto con otras chicas, a otro importante
concurso en São Paulo, organizado por Elite de Brasil y que se celebraría en mayo de 1994,
para presentarlas a los agentes. Obtuvo el segundo lugar de ese concurso, perdiendo ante
Claudia Menezes. Gisele participó en el concurso mundial de Elite y quedó en el cuarto
lugar, y en otra versión el sexto. A pesar de su belleza, los agentes le criticaban su nariz.

Siendo adolescente, Gisele se mudó a Nueva York para debutar en la New York Fashion
Week, fue un éxito y la aceptaron inmediatamente en el mundo del desfile de pasarela.

Gisele ha desfilado para las siguientes firmas: Valentino, Zara, Yves Saint Laurent, Bvlgari,
Tommy Hilfiger, Chloé, Celine, Versace, Dior, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Victoria's
Secret, y Dolce & Gabbana. También ha realizado apareciones en las revistas: Allure,
Marie Claire, Vogue de Estados Unidos, Vogue Italia, Harper's Bazaar, Arena, y Rolling
Stone.

A pesar de estar por debajo de su peso normal, la figura Gisele se considera voluptuosa. Su
busto es perfecto (fichado por Us Weekly) como el mejor busto por encima de Heidi Klum
y Adriana Lima. La revista Vogue hizo el comentario de que su cuerpo marca el retorno de
la modelo sensual, y el final de las modelos muy flacas parecidas a Kate Moss. En el 2000,
sus ingresos anuales fueron de ocho millones de dólares y ganaba entre 7.000 y 15.000
dólares por hora para cualquier presentación.

La revista Rolling Stone le otorgó el premio a La Modelo del Año y la ha nombrado La

chica más bella del mundo,como así tambien algunos la catalogaron como la nueva Valeria
Mazza.3 Gisele ha sido anfitriona de los premios de moda VH1 y ha aparecido en el
programa nocturno Late Night con Conan O'Brien.
Mantuvo una relación con Leonardo DiCaprio entre 2001 y 2005 y los medios establecen
que se separaron porque el actor se negaba a las constantes propuestas de Gisele de contraer
matrimonio. Actualmente está casada con el jugador de fútbol americano Tom Brady. El 26
de febrero de 2009, varias agencias noticiarías, reportaron que Brady y Bündchen
intercambiaron votos en una ceremonia íntima en los Los Ángeles.4

Gisele tiene el apoyo económico de diversas marcas brasileñas como la compañía de

telefonía celular brasileña Vivo y C&A. Además, la modelo ha lanzado su propia marca de
sandalias.

En el 2006 participa en la película The devil wears prada. En junio de 2009 confirmó que
estaba embarazada de su marido Tom Brady. Según el libro de Record Guiness y la revista
Forbes, es la supermodelo más rica del mundo.5

Avril Lavigne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne during a performance in Italy,

September 2011.
Background information
Birth name Avril Ramona Lavigne
 27 September 1984 (age 28)
Born
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Genres Pop punk, pop rock
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, drums
Years active 1999–present
Labels Arista, RCA, Epic
Associated Evan Taubenfeld, Deryck Whibley,
acts Chad Kroeger
Website www.avrillavigne.com
Notable instruments
Squier Signature Telecaster model guitar

Avril Ramona Lavigne (pronunciation: /ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; AV-ril LƏ-VEEN; born 27

September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but
spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared
on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with
Arista Records worth more than $2 million. In 2002, when she was 17 years old, Lavigne
broke onto the music scene with her debut album Let Go. Since her professional debut, she
has become one of the most successful artists in the world, selling more than 30 million
albums and over 50 million singles worldwide.[1]

Let Go made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to reach number 1 in the UK. As of 2013,
it has sold nearly 7 million copies in the United States[2] and over 17 million copies
worldwide.[3] Her breakthrough single, "Complicated", peaked at number 1 in many
countries around the world, as did the album Let Go. Her second album, Under My Skin,
was released in 2004 and was her first album to peak at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard
200, eventually selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. The Best Damn Thing,
Lavigne’s third album, was released in 2007, becoming her third number 1 album in the
UK Albums Chart and featuring her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number 1 single,
"Girlfriend". Lavigne has scored six number-one singles worldwide, including
"Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home", and
"Girlfriend". Lavigne is one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over
11 million copies certified by the RIAA. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, was
released in March 2011. Goodbye Lullaby gave Lavigne her fourth top 10 album on the
U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart and her third number 1 album in both Japan
and Australia. Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne began work on
her fifth album, which will be released on Epic Records following her departure from RCA
Records.

Lavigne branched out from recording music, pursuing careers in feature film acting and
designing clothes and perfumes. She voiced a character in the animated film Over the
Hedge in 2006. That same year, she made her on-screen feature film debut in Fast Food
Nation. In 2008, Lavigne introduced her clothing line, Abbey Dawn, and in 2009, she
released her first perfume, Black Star, which was followed by her second perfume,
Forbidden Rose, in 2010 and her third perfume, Wild Rose, in 2011. In July 2006, Lavigne
married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for Sum 41.
The marriage lasted a little over three years, and in October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce.
Whibley and Lavigne continued to work together, with Whibley producing her fourth
album, as well as Lavigne's single, "Alice", written for Tim Burton's film Alice in
Wonderland.

Contents
 1 Early life
 2 Music career
o 2.1 2000–03: Let Go
o 2.2 2004–05: Under My Skin
o 2.3 2006–08: The Best Damn Thing
o 2.4 2009–11: Goodbye Lullaby
o 2.5 2011–present: Fifth studio album
 3 Musical style and songwriting
 4 Other work
o 4.1 Film career
o 4.2 Fashion design
o 4.3 Philanthropy
 5 Personal life
o 5.1 Public image
o 5.2 Tattoos
o 5.3 Relationships
 5.3.1 Marriage to Deryck Whibley
 5.3.2 Engagement to Chad Kroeger
 6 Backing band
 7 Filmography
 8 Discography
 9 See also
 10 References
 11 External links

Early life
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario. Her father, Jean-Claude Joseph
Lavigne,[4] named her "Avril" after the French word for the month of April. At the age of
two, she began singing church songs with her mother,[5] Judith-Rosanne "Judy" (née
Loshaw). Judy recognized her two-year-old daughter's talents after hearing her sing "Jesus
Loves Me" in church.[6] Lavigne has an older brother, Matthew, and a younger sister,
Michelle,[7] both of whom teased her when she sang. "My brother used to knock on the wall
because I used to sing myself to sleep and he thought it was really annoying."[6]
When Lavigne was five years old, the family moved to Napanee, Ontario,[5] a town with a
population of approximately 5,000.[8][9][10] Although she struggles with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)[11][12] and was sometimes being kicked out of class for
misbehaving as a child, her parents supported her singing. Her father bought her a
microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, and several guitars, and converted their basement into
a studio. When Lavigne was 14, her parents would take her to karaoke sessions.[13] Lavigne
also performed at country fairs, singing songs by Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, and
Shania Twain. She also began writing her own songs. Her first song was called "Can't Stop
Thinking About You", about a teenage crush, which she described as "cheesy cute".[14]

I’ve known all

“ my life that this

is what I was
supposed to do....
Visualizing like
what it would be
like to be famous
with my music.

”
And always just
dreaming, always
daydreaming.

—Avril Lavigne, NBC News[13]

In 1999,[15] Lavigne won a radio contest to perform with fellow Canadian singer Shania
Twain at the Corel Centre (now Scotiabank Place) in Ottawa, before an audience of 20,000
people.[5][8] Twain and Lavigne sang "What Made You Say That",[5] and Lavigne told Twain
that she was going to be "a famous singer".[8] During a performance with the Lennox
Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folksinger Stephen Medd. He invited her
to contribute vocals on his song, "Touch the Sky", for his 1999 album, Quinte Spirit. She
later sang on "Temple of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his follow-up album, My Window to
You, in 2000. In December 1999, Lavigne was discovered by her first professional
manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston,
Ontario.[5][8] Fabri sent out VHS tapes of Lavigne's home performances to several industry
prospects, and Lavigne was visited by several executives.[16] Mark Jowett, co-founder of the
Canadian management firm Nettwerk, received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances
recorded in her parents' basement.[17] Jowett arranged for Lavigne to work with Peter Zizzo
during the summer of 2000 in New York, where she wrote the song "Why". Lavigne was
noticed by Arista Records on a subsequent trip to New York.[16]

By 2013, Lavigne would go on to sell more than 50 million singles and 30 million copies of
her albums worldwide,[1] becoming one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the
U.S., with over 10.25 million copies certified by the RIAA.[18] In 2009, Billboard named
Lavigne the number 10 pop artist in the "Best of the 2000s" chart.[19] She was listed as the
28th overall best act of the decade based on album and single chart performance in the U.S.
[20]
Music career
2000–03: Let Go

Main article: Let Go (Avril Lavigne album)

In November 2000,[9] Ken Krongard, an A&R representative, invited Antonio "L.A." Reid,
then head of Arista Records, to producer Peter Zizzo's Manhattan studio to hear Lavigne
sing. Her 15-minute audition "so impressed" Reid that he immediately signed her to Arista
with a deal worth $1.25 million for two albums and an extra $900,000 for a publishing
advance.[10][5] By this time, Lavigne had found that she fit in naturally with her hometown
high school's skater clique, an image that carried through to her first album, but although
she enjoyed skateboarding, school left her feeling insecure. Armed with a record deal, she
dropped out to focus on her music career,[9] but she still had to inform her parents of her
decision. "I wasn't going to turn [the record deal] down. It's been my dream all my life.
They knew how much I wanted this and how much I've put into it."[21][14]

Reid gave A&R Joshua Sarubin the responsibility for overseeing Lavigne's development
and the recording of her debut album.[22] They spent several months in New York working
with different co-writers trying to forge an individual sound for her. Sarubin told
HitQuarters that for while they struggled finding her sound and although early
collaborations with songwriter-producers including Sabelle Breer, Curt Frasca and Peter
Zizzo resulted in some good songs, they didn't match her and her voice.[22] It was only when
Lavigne then went to Los Angeles in May 2001 and created two songs with The Matrix
production team – including "Complicated" – that the record company felt she had made a
major breakthrough.[22] Lavigne then worked further with The Matrix and also with singer-
songwriter Cliff Magness. Recording finished in January 2002.[22]

Lavigne released her debut album, Let Go, on 4 June 2002 in the U.S., where it reached
number 2 on the Billboard 200. It peaked at number 1 on the Australian, Canadian, and UK
charts. This made Lavigne, at 17 years old, the youngest female soloist to have a number 1
album in the UK until that time.[23] By the end of 2002, the album was certified four-times
platinum by the RIAA, making her the bestselling female artist of 2002 and Let Go the top-
selling debut of the year.[24] By May 2003, Let Go had accumulated over 1,000,000 sales in
Canada, receiving a diamond certification from the Canadian Recording Industry
Association.[25] As of 2009, the album has sold over 16 million units worldwide,[26] and the
RIAA has certified the album six-times platinum, denoting shipments of over six million
units in the U.S.[27]

I don't get

“ overwhelmed,
just because I
feel like I've kind
”
of prepared
myself for it. All
 my life this is
what I've wanted,
what I've
dreamed about,
and I knew this
would happen.
I've been singing
ever since I was
really young and
I've wanted this
so bad, and I told
myself I would
do it.

—Avril Lavigne on her success,

MTV[9]

Lavigne's debut single and the album's lead single, "Complicated", peaked at number 1 in
Australia and number 2 in the U.S. "Complicated" was one of the bestselling Canadian
singles of 2002, and it was also featured on the teen television show, Dawson's Creek.
"Complicated" later ranked on the Hot 100 Singles of the Decade list at number 83.[28]

Subsequent singles, "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm With You" reached the top ten in the U.S.[29]
Thanks to the success of her first three singles, Lavigne was the second artist in history to
have three number 1 songs from a debut album on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40.[30] For
the music video to "Complicated", Lavigne was named Best New Artist at the 2002 MTV
Video Music Awards.[31] She won four Juno Awards in 2003 out of six nominations,[32]
received a World Music Award for "World's Bestselling Canadian Singer", and was
nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for
"Complicated" (2003).[33]

In 2002, Lavigne made a cameo appearance in the music video to "Hundred Million" by the
pop punk band Treble Charger.[34] In March 2003, Lavigne posed for the cover of Rolling
Stone magazine[35] and, later in May,[36] performed "Fuel" during MTV's Icon tribute to
Metallica.[37] During her first headlining tour, the Try To Shut Me Up Tour, Lavigne
covered Green Day's "Basket Case".[38]

Lavigne was featured in the 2003 game, The Sims: Superstar, as a non-playable celebrity.
[39]

2004–05: Under My Skin

Main article: Under My Skin (Avril Lavigne album)

Lavigne in Vancouver, Canada during the Live and By Surprise mall tour

Lavigne co-wrote "Breakaway" with Matthew Gerard, which was recorded by Kelly
Clarkson for the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.[40]
"Breakaway" would later be included on Clarkson's second album and released as the
album's lead single. Lavigne covered the Goo Goo Dolls song "Iris", performed with the
band's lead singer John Rzeznik at Fashion Rocks,[41] and she posed for the cover of Maxim
in October 2004.[42] She also recorded the theme song for The SpongeBob SquarePants
Movie. "I made the song a little more edgy", Lavigne said. "There are a lot of loud guitars,
and we picked the tempo up a little and sang it with a little more attitude." Lavigne
rearranged the song with the help of producer Butch Walker.[43]

Lavigne's second studio album, Under My Skin, was released on 25 May 2004, debuting at
number 1 in several countries, including Australia, Mexico, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the
U.S.[44] The album has sold more than 10 million copies. Lavigne wrote most of the album's
tracks with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. Kreviazuk's husband, Our Lady
Peace front man Raine Maida, co-produced the album, along with Butch Walker and Don
Gilmore. Lavigne went on the Live and By Surprise twenty-one-city mall tour in the US
and Canada to promote the album, accompanied by her guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld. Each
performance consisted of a short live acoustic set of songs from the new album. At the end
of 2004, Lavigne embarked on her first world tour, the Bonez Tour, which had stopovers in
almost every continent and lasted for the entire 2005 year.

This record

“ definitely proves
that I'm a writer
and people can't
”
knock that,
because each
song comes from
a personal
 experience of
mine, and there
are so much
emotions in those
songs.

—Avril Lavigne, The Ledger[45]

"Don't Tell Me", the lead single of the album, went to number 1 in Argentina and Mexico
and reached the top five in the UK and Canada and the top ten in Australia and Brazil. "My
Happy Ending", the album's second single, went to number 1 in Mexico and the top five in
the UK and Australia. In the US, it reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and went to
number 1 in the Mainstream Top 40, making it her fourth-biggest hit there. The third single,
"Nobody's Home", did not make the top 40 in the US, reaching number 1 only in Mexico
and Argentina. The fourth single from the album, "He Wasn't", reached top 40 positions in
the UK and Australia and was not released in the U.S.[46]

Lavigne won two World Music Awards in 2004 for "World's Best Pop/Rock Artist" and
"World's Bestselling Canadian Artist". She received five Juno Award nominations in 2005,
and picked up three, including "Artist of the Year". She won the award for "Favorite
Female Singer" at the eighteenth annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards[47] and was
nominated in every MTV Award show shown around the world.

2006–08: The Best Damn Thing

Main article: The Best Damn Thing

On 26 February 2006, Lavigne represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the Torino
Olympics, performing her song "Who Knows" during the eight-minute Vancouver 2010
portion.[48]

While Lavigne was in the studio for her third studio album, Fox Entertainment Group
approached her to write a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 fantasy-adventure film
Eragon. She wrote and recorded two "ballad-type" songs, but only one, "Keep Holding
On", was used for the film.[49] Lavigne admitted that writing the song was challenging,
making sure it flowed with the film. She emphasized that "Keep Holding On", which later
appeared on the album, was not indicative of what the next album would be like.[50][51]
Lavigne in 2008 performing in the Netherlands

Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing, was released on 17 April 2007, which
Lavigne immediately promoted with a small tour. Its lead single, "Girlfriend", topped the
Billboard Hot 100 the same week The Best Damn Thing debuted at number 1 on the
Billboard 200 chart. "Girlfriend" was Lavigne's first single to reach this number 1 position.
[52]
The single was a worldwide hit; it also peaked at number 1 in Australia, Canada, Japan,
and Italy and reached number 2 in the UK and France. "Girlfriend" was recorded in
Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Mandarin. The International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry ranked "Girlfriend" as the most-downloaded track
worldwide in 2007, selling 7.3 million copies, including the versions recorded in eight
different languages.[53][54] "Girlfriend" ranked on the Hot 100 Singles of the Decade list at
number 94.[55]

"When You're Gone", the second single, went to number 3 in the UK, the top five in
Australia and Italy, the top ten in Canada, and was close to reaching the top twenty in the
U.S. In December 2007, Lavigne, with annual earnings of $12 million, was ranked number
eight in the Forbes "Top 20 Earners Under 25".[56] "Hot" was the third single and has been
Lavigne's least successful single in the U.S., charting only at number 95. In Canada, "Hot"
made the top ten, and in Australia, the top 20. The Best Damn Thing has sold over 6 million
copies worldwide.

During this era, Lavigne won nearly every award she was nominated for, including two
World Music Awards for "World's Bestselling Canadian Artist" and "World's Best
Pop/Rock Female Artist". She took her first two MTV Europe Music Awards, received one
Teen Choice Awards for "Summer Single", and was nominated for five Juno awards.
In mid-2007, Lavigne was featured in a two-volume graphic novel, Avril Lavigne's Make 5
Wishes. She collaborated with artist Camilla D’Errico and writer Joshua Dysart on the
manga, which was about a shy girl named Hana who, upon meeting her hero Avril Lavigne,
learned to overcome her fears. Lavigne said, "I know that many of my fans read manga, and
I'm really excited to be involved in creating stories that I know they will enjoy." The
volumes were released on 10 April (one week prior to the release of The Best Damn Thing)
and in July, respectively. The publication Young Adult Library Services nominated the
series for "Great Graphic Novels for Teens".[57]

In March 2008, Lavigne undertook a world tour named The Best Damn Tour to support the
album. In that same month, she also appeared on the cover of Maxim for the second time of
her career.[58] In mid-August, Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian
Islamic Party, attempted to ban Lavigne's show in Kuala Lumpur, judging her stage moves
"too sexy". Her concert on 29 August was considered as promoting wrong values ahead of
Malaysia's independence day on 31 August.[59] On 21 August 2008, MTV reported that the
concert had been approved by the Malaysian government.[60]

2009–11: Goodbye Lullaby

Main article: Goodbye Lullaby

Lavigne singing in Florida during her Black Star Tour, May 2011.

Only a month after completing The Best Damn Tour, Lavigne began recording in her home
studio in November 2008 with the song "Black Star",[61] written to help promote her first
fragrance of the same name.[62] By July 2009, nine tracks had been recorded for the new
album,[61] including the songs "Fine", "Everybody Hurts" and "Darlin". Several of the tracks
were written in Lavigne's youth. "Darlin" was the second song Lavigne wrote as a 15-year-
old while living in Napanee, Ontario. Lavigne described the album as being about "life".
She stated, "It's so easy for me to do a boy-bashing pop song, but to sit down and write
honestly about something that's really close to me, something I've been through, it's a
totally different thing."[62] With the exception of the album's lead single, "What the Hell",
Lavigne described the songs on the album as different from her earlier material: "I'm older
now, so I think that comes across in my music, it's not as pop-rock".[63]
In January 2010, while simultaneously writing and recording for her new album, Lavigne
worked with Disney clothing designs inspired by Tim Burton's feature film, Alice in
Wonderland. She asked the executives if she could write a song for the film. The result was
the song "Alice",[64] which was played over the end credits[65] and included on the
soundtrack, Almost Alice.[66]

On 28 February, Lavigne gave a performance at the concert portion of the Vancouver 2010
Winter Olympics closing ceremony, performing "My Happy Ending" and "Girlfriend".[67]
Lavigne was honoured to perform at the ceremonies, but she regretted not being able to
attend the U.S. vs. Canada hockey match. "They had us on lockdown. We weren't allowed
to leave our trailers, for security purposes."[68]

In September 2010, Lavigne's third single from her debut album, "I'm With You", was
sampled by Rihanna on the track "Cheers (Drink to That)", which is featured on Rihanna's
fifth studio album, Loud.[69][70] In August 2011, she was featured in the music video for
Cheers (Drink To That). "It's exciting to me because that was always one of my favorite
songs, and for it to come out 10 years ago and so now to have it sampled and back out on
the radio is pretty dope."[71] In December 2010, American singer Miranda Cosgrove
released "Dancing Crazy", a song written by Lavigne, Max Martin and Shellback. It was
also produced by Martin.[72] On 23 September 2011, Lavigne appeared in the Hub network
show Majors & Minors as a guest mentor, alongside other singers including Adam Lambert
and Leona Lewis. About the show, Lavigne stated, "I sang for them, and they performed for
me. I was just blown away. I got to talk to them about music and the music industry, and
they were all just so excited."[71]

The release dates for Goodbye Lullaby and its lead single were pushed back several times.
In response to these delays, Lavigne said, "I write my own music and, therefore, it takes me
longer to put out records 'cause I have to live my life to get inspiration."[73] She also said
that she had enough material for two records.[73] In November, Lavigne was featured in
Maxim, where she revealed that Goodbye Lullaby took two and a half years to complete,[74]
but she cited her record company as the reason for the album's delays, stating that the
album had been completed for a year.[75] Goodbye Lullaby was released on 8 March.[76][63]
The lead single, "What the Hell", premiered on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on 31
December.[76]

2011–present: Fifth studio album

Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne announced that work on her
fifth studio album had already begun, with eight songs written so far. The new album will
musically be the opposite of Goodbye Lullaby, with a release date rumored for sometime in
2012. [77] Lavigne explained, "Goodbye Lullaby was more mellow, [but] the next one will
be pop and more fun again. I already have a song that I know is going to be a single, I just
need to re-record it!"[78][79][80] In late 2011, Lavigne confirmed that she had moved to Epic
Records, which is now headed by L.A. Reid.[81][82]
In November 2011, Lavigne stated that she entered the studio to start recording new songs
for the album.[71] In April 2012, Lavigne confirmed that she had "finally" finished work on
her fifth album and that she would be taking a short hiatus before releasing it and
embarking on "[her] next artistic journey". On 17 August 2012 Lavigne began finalizing
work on her fifth album by starting the mixing process and laying down last minute ad-libs
and backing vocals, before completely wrapping up production two days later on 19
August.

Lavigne confirmed in October 2012 that she will be contributing two cover songs to the
upcoming Japanese film One Piece Film: Z; "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback and
"Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett.[83] The first single off the untitled album is "Here's to Never
Growing Up". An official lyric video for the song was released in April 2013.[84][85] The
song was produced by Martin Johnson of the band Boys Like Girls.[86]

Confirmed tracks for the fifth album include the single "Here's to Never Growing Up",
which was co-written with Chad Kroeger; a duet with Kroeger; a duet with Marilyn
Manson titled "Bad Girl"; an "aggressive" song about Hello Kitty;[87] and "Seventeen",
which was debuted at a surprise performance at The Viper Room in Los Angeles.[88][89] As
of April 2013, the album is still being worked on. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest,
Lavigne said, "I'm actually still in the studio, I'm still making my record. I still have one
more song left to write that I'm going to do by myself, because I love to do that, it's
important for me."[90] The fifth album's release date is expected to be September 2013.[91][92]

Musical style and songwriting

Avril Lavigne in February 2011

Themes in Lavigne's music include messages of self-empowerment from a female or an

adolescent view.[93] Lavigne believes her "songs are about being yourself no matter what
and going after your dreams even if your dreams are crazy and even if people tell you
they're never going to come true."[94] On her debut album, Let Go, Lavigne preferred the
less mainstream songs, such as "Losing Grip", instead of her more radio-friendly singles,
such as "Complicated", saying that "the songs I did with the Matrix... were good for my
first record, but I don't want to be that pop anymore."[95] Lavigne's second album, Under My
Skin, had deeper personal themes underlying each song. Lavigne explained, "I've gone
through so much, so that's what I talk about.... Like boys, like dating or relationships".[96] In
contrast, her third album, The Best Damn Thing, was not personal to her. "Some of the
songs I wrote didn't even mean that much to me. It's not like some personal thing I'm going
through."[97] Her objective in writing the album was simply to "make it fun".[98] Goodbye
Lullaby, Lavigne's fourth album, was much more personal than her earlier records,[61] with
Lavigne describing the album as "more stripped down, deeper. All the songs are very
emotional".[99] Ian McKellen defined her as "... a punk chanteuse, a post-grunge valkyrie,
with the wounded soul of a poet and the explosive pugnacity of a Canadian." on The Late
Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2007. [100][101]

Growing up, Lavigne listened to Blink-182, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty and Shania
Twain,[95] and her influences include Courtney Love and Janis Joplin.[96] Because of these
influences, musical genres, and her personal style, the media often defined her as punk,
something she denied being. Lavigne’s close friend and guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld, said,
"It's a very touchy subject to a lot of people, but the point is that Avril isn't punk, but she
never really pretended to claim to come from that scene. She had pop punk music and the
media ended up doing the rest".[102] Lavigne also commented on the matter: "I have been
labeled like I'm this angry girl, [a] rebel... punk, and I am so not any of them."[45] Although
she stated to have punk influences on her music: "I like to listen a lot to punk rock music,
you can notice a certain influence of punk in my music. I like an aggressive music, but
pretty enough pop-rock, which is what I really do."[103]

I know my fans

“ look up to me
and that's why I
make my songs
so personal; it's
all about things
I've experienced
and things I like
or hate. I write
for myself and

”
hope that my
fans like what I
have to say.

—Avril Lavigne, Girl.com.au[94]

Most of critics identify Lavigne as some form between teen pop and pop-punk:
Publications such as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NME, MusicMight, IGN and
PopMatters have identified Avril Lavigne as a mix of rock, teen pop and pop-punk,[104][105]
[106][107][108][109]
influenced by a grungey pop-rock sound.[110][111][112][104][113]
While Lavigne denied being angry, her interviews were still passionate about the media's
lack of respect for her songwriting. "I am a writer, and I won't accept people trying to take
that away from me", adding that she had been writing "full-structured songs" since she was
14.[45] Despite this, Lavigne’s songwriting has been questioned throughout her career. The
songwriting trio, the Matrix, with whom Lavigne wrote songs for her debut album, claimed
that they were the main songwriters of Lavigne’s singles, "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi" and
"I'm with You". Lavigne denied this, asserting that she was the primary songwriter for
every song on the album. "[N]one of those songs aren't from me".[95] In 2007, Chantal
Kreviazuk, who wrote with Lavigne on her second album, accused Lavigne of
plagiarism[114] and criticized her songwriting. "Avril doesn't really sit and write songs by
herself or anything".[115] Lavigne also disclaimed this, and considered taking legal action
against Kreviazuk for "clear defamation" against her character.[115] Kreviazuk later
apologized: "Avril is an accomplished songwriter and it has been my privilege to work with
her".[114] Shortly after that, Tommy Dunbar, founder of the 1970s band, the Rubinoos, sued
Lavigne, her publishing company, and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald for allegedly stealing
parts of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" for her song "Girlfriend".[116] Gottwald defended
Lavigne, stating, "me and Avril wrote the song together.... It has the same chord
progressions as ten different Blink-182 songs, the standard changes you'd find in a Sum 41
song. It's the Sex Pistols, not the Rubinoos."[115] In January 2008, the lawsuit was closed
after a confidential settlement had been reached.[117]

Other work
Film career

Lavigne became interested in appearing on television and in feature films. The decision,
she said, was her own. Although her years of experience in making music videos would be
to her advantage, Lavigne admitted her experience in singing removed any fear of
performing on camera. She specifically mentioned that the video "Nobody's Home"
involved the most "acting".[94] Her first television appearance was in a 2002 episode of
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,[118] performing "Sk8er Boi"[119] with her band in a nightclub.[120]
She later made a cameo appearance in the 2004 film Going the Distance. The main
characters bump into her backstage at the MuchMusic Video Awards[121] after her
performance of "Losing Grip".[122]
Lavigne at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

She moved into feature film acting cautiously, choosing deliberately small roles to begin
with. In November 2005, after going through an audition to land the role, Lavigne travelled
to New Mexico[123] to film a single scene in the 2007 film, The Flock.[124] She played
Beatrice Bell, the girlfriend of a crime suspect, appearing alongside Claire Danes and
Richard Gere. Gere gave Lavigne acting tips between takes.[124] On her role in The Flock,
Lavigne said, "I did that just to see how it was and to not jump into [mainstream acting] too
fast".[94] The Flock would not be released in American theatres, and because it would not be
released in foreign markets until late 2007, it would not be considered Lavigne's debut. The
film made $7 million in the foreign box office.[125]

Lavigne's feature film debut was voicing an animated character in the 2006 film Over the
Hedge, based on the comic strip of the same name. She voiced the character Heather, a
Virginia Opossum. Recording the characters' voices was devoid of interaction with other
actors. Lavigne stated, "All the actors went in individually, and [director] Tim and
[screenwriter Karey] and directors were there with me every time I went in, and they made
it go so smoothly; they made me feel comfortable.... That was the interesting part, going in
by yourself, with no one else to kind of feed off of."[126] Lavigne found the recording
process to be "easy" and "natural", but she kept hitting the microphone as she gestured
while acting. "I'd use my hands constantly and, like, hit the microphone stand and make
noises, so Tim and Karey had to tell me to hold still.... It's hard to be running or falling
down the stairs and have to make those sounds come out of your mouth but keep your body
still." Lavigne believed she was hired to perform Heather because of her rock-star status.
"[The director] thought I'd give my character... a bit of attitude".[94] The film opened on 19
May 2006, making $38 million over its opening weekend. It went on to gross $336 million
worldwide.[127]

In December 2005, Lavigne signed on to appear in Fast Food Nation, based on the book
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.[128] The fictionalized
adaptation, directed by Richard Linklater, traces fast-food hamburgers contaminated with
cow feces back to the slaughterhouses.[129] Lavigne played Alice, a high school student
intent on freeing the cows.[130][131] The film opened on 17 November 2006 and remained in
theatres for 11 weeks, grossing $2 million worldwide.[132]

Both Over the Hedge and Fast Food Nation opened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival,
which Lavigne attended. Lavigne felt honoured to be able to attend and was proud of her
work. When asked if she would pursue her film career, she stated that she wanted to take
her time and wait for the "right parts and the right movies." Lavigne was aware of the roles
she had chosen. "I wanted to start off small and to learn [that] I wouldn't just want to throw
myself into a big part."[94] In August 2006, Canadian Business magazine ranked her as the
seventh top Canadian actor in Hollywood in their second-annual ranking Celebrity Power
List. The results were determined by comparing salary, Internet hits, TV mentions, and
press hits.[133]

Fashion design

Avril Lavigne sporting clothes from her Abbey Dawn line in 2011.

In July 2008, Lavigne launched the clothing line Abbey Dawn, featuring a back-to-school
collection.[54] It is produced by Kohl's, which is the brand's exclusive U.S. retailer. Named
after Lavigne's childhood nickname, Abbey Dawn is designed by Lavigne herself.[134][135]
Kohl's describes Abbey Dawn as a "juniors lifestyle brand",[54] which incorporates skull,
zebra, and star patterns, purples and "hot pinks and blacks". Lavigne, who wore some of the
clothes and jewellery from her line at various concerts before its official launch, pointed out
that she was not merely licensing her name to the collection. "I actually am the designer.
What's really important to me is that everything fits well and is well-made, so I try
everything on and approve it all."[136] The clothing line incorporates Lavigne's musical style
and lyrics, "after the release of my first album, I realized how much fashion was involved
in my musical career".[71]

I just love clothes

“ and colors and

”
patterns. I'm very
visual and very
hands-on.

—Avril Lavigne, Billboard[137]

The designs were also featured on the Internet game Stardoll, where figures can be dressed
up as Avril Lavigne.[138] On 14 September 2009, Lavigne took her then latest collection for
her clothing line to be a part of the New York Fashion Week,[139] returning in 2011.[71] In
December 2010, the clothing line was made available to over 50 countries through the line's
official website.[140][99] "It's fun to be a chick and design clothes and things I'd like for
myself. I design things I [can't] find."[68] At the end of 2008, Lavigne signed a contract with
Canon Canada to appear in advertising campaigns and commercials to promote the latest
line of cameras and a full range of other accessories.[141]

Lavigne released her first fragrance, Black Star, created by Procter & Gamble Prestige
Products. The fragrance was announced on Lavigne's official website on 7 March 2009.
Black Star, which features notes of pink hibiscus, black plum and dark chocolate, was
released in summer 2009 in Europe, and later in the US and Canada.[142] When asked what
the name meant, Lavigne replied, "I wanted [the bottle] to be a star, and my colors are pink
and black, and Black Star resembles being different, and standing out in the crowd, and
reaching for the stars; the whole message is just about following your dreams, and it's okay
to be unique and be who you are."[143] Black Star won the 2010 Best "Women's Scent Mass"
by Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW).[144] Black Star was followed by a second fragrance
in July 2010,[145] Forbidden Rose, which took two years to develop.[146] It features notes of
red apple, winepeach, black pepper, lotusflower, heliotrope, shellflower, praline agreement,
sandalwood, and vanilla.[145] Its message is an extension of Black Star's "follow your
dreams",[147] though the tagline for the new perfume is "Dare to Discover".[148] The
commercial takes place in a gothic garden setting,[147] where Lavigne, upon entering the
garden, finds a single, purple rose.[148] Lavigne launched a third fragrance, Wild Rose, in
August 2011 and filmed the commercial for it in late 2010.[99] The tagline for the fragrance
is "Dare to discover more".[149] It features notes of mandarin, pink grapefruit, plum, orange
blossom, frangipani, blue orchid, musk, sandalwood and crème brûlée.[150]

In January 2010, Lavigne began working with Disney to incorporate Alice in Wonderland-
inspired designs into her Abbey Dawn line of clothing.[64] Her designs were exhibited at the
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in California beginning in May through
September, alongside Colleen Atwood's costumes from the 2010 film.[151]

Philanthropy
Lavigne singing in Amsterdam, 2008.

Lavigne has been involved with many charities, including Make Some Noise, Amnesty
International, Erase MS, AmericanCPR.org, Camp Will-a-Way, Music Clearing
Minefields, U.S. Campaign for Burma, Make-a-Wish Foundation and War Child. She has
also appeared in ALDO ads with YouthAIDS to raise money to educate people worldwide
about HIV/AIDS. Lavigne took part in the Unite Against AIDS concert presented by
ALDO in support of UNICEF on 28 November 2007 at the Bell Centre in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada.[152] In November 2010, Lavigne attended the Clinton Global Initiative.[153]

Lavigne worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2005 east
coast tour.[154] She covered "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" for War Child's Peace Songs
compilation, and she recorded a cover of the John Lennon song "Imagine" as her
contribution to the compilation album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International
Campaign to Save Darfur. Released on 12 June 2007, the album was produced to benefit
Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur.[155]

On 5 December 2009, Lavigne returned to the stage in Mexico City during the biggest
charity event in Latin America, "Teleton". She performed acoustic versions of her hits
"Complicated" and "Girlfriend" with Evan Taubenfeld and band member, Jim McGorman.
[156]
In 2010, Lavigne was one of several artists who contributed their voices to a cover of
K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" as a benefit single to help raise money for several charity
organizations related to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[157]

On 14 September 2010, Lavigne introduced her charity, "The Avril Lavigne Foundation",
which aims to help young people with serious illnesses and disabilities[153][158] and works
with leading charitable organizations;[140] The foundation partners with the Easter Seals,
Make-A-Wish foundation and Erase MS,[159] the latter two being charities Lavigne has
previously worked with. Her work with the Make-A-Wish foundation was the inspiration
behind her own charity, with Lavigne stating, "I just really wanted to do more".[158] Lavigne
said on the foundation's website, "I have always looked for ways to give back because I
think it’s a responsibility we all share".[160] Philanthropist Trevor Neilson's 12-person firm,
"Global Philanthropy Group", advises Lavigne with her foundation as well as several other
celebrities, including musician John Legend.[153]

Personal life
Public image

When Lavigne first gained publicity, she was known for her tomboyish style,[161] in
particular her necktie-and-tank-top combinations.[162][163] She preferred baggy clothes, skater
shoes or Converses,[68] wristbands, and sometimes shoelaces wrapped around her fingers.[13]
During photo shoots, instead of wearing "glittery get-ups", she preferred wearing "old,
crumpled T's".[9] In response to her fashion and musical influences, the media would call
her the "pop punk princess".[164][165] Press and fans regarded her as the "anti-Britney", in part
because of her less commercial and "real" image, but also because she was noticeably
headstrong. "I’m not made up and I’m not being told what to say and how to act, so they
have to call me the anti-Britney, which I’m not."[13] By November 2002, however, Lavigne
stopped wearing ties, claiming she felt she was "wearing a costume".[10] Lavigne made a
conscious effort to keep her music, and not her image, at the forefront of her career. "I'm
just saying, I don't want to sell sex. I feel that's sort of lame and low. I've got so much more
to say."[166]

I have to fight to

“ keep my image
really me.... I
rejected some
gorgeous
publicity shots
because they just
didn't look like
me. I won't wear
skanky clothes
that show my
booty, my belly

”
or my boobs. I
have a great
body.

—Avril Lavigne, MTV[9]

Lavigne eventually took on a more gothic style as she began her second album, Under My
Skin, trading her skating outfits for black tutus[165] and earning an image marked by angst.
[167]
During The Best Damn Thing years, Lavigne changed directions. She dyed her hair
blonde with a pink streak, wore feminine outfits,[168] including "tight jeans and heels",[68]
and modelled for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar.[161] Lavigne defended her new style:
"I don't really regret anything. You know, the ties and the wife-beaters and all... It had its
time and place. And now I'm all grown up, and I've moved on".[168] She now tries to eat
healthy foods and practises yoga, soccer, surfing, rollerblading, and street hockey.[68]

Tattoos

Lavigne's XXV and star tattoos on her right forearm, and 30, lightning bolt, and star tattoos
on her left wrist.

Only a few of Lavigne's tattoos are unique to her; the rest are matched with those of her
friends.[68] Lavigne had a star tattooed on the inside of her left wrist that was created at the
same time as friend and musical associate Ben Moody's identical tattoo.[169] In late 2004,
she had a small pink heart around the letter "D" applied to her right wrist, which
represented her then-boyfriend, Deryck Whibley.[68][170] Lavigne and then-husband Whibley
got matching tattoos in March 2010, in celebration of his 30th birthday.[68] In April, Lavigne
added another tattoo on her wrist: that of a lightning bolt and the number 30.[171]

Everything is

“ always spur-of-
the-moment. All

”
of my tattoos, I
decide that
second and do it.

—Avril Lavigne, Inked[68]

Her love of tattoos, however, gained media attention in May 2010, after Lavigne and Brody
Jenner each got matching tattoos of the word "fuck" on their ribs.[172][173] Lavigne appeared
in the June/July cover story for Inked magazine, where she discussed and showed off her
tattoos, including an "Abbey Dawn" on her left forearm and an "XXV" and star on her
right. Although she confirmed the "fuck" tattoo verbally in the article (calling it her
"favorite word"[68]) she had it applied after the magazine's photo shoot.[174] She added that
she eventually wanted to get a "big-ass heart with a flag through it with a name.... I'm going
to wait a few years and make sure I still want it then. I have to wait for that special
someone to come back into my life."[68] In July 2010, Lavigne had her boyfriend's name,
"Brody", tattooed beneath her right breast.[175] The couple announced that they broke up in
January 2012.[176]
Relationships

Marriage to Deryck Whibley

Lavigne's ex-husband, Deryck Whibley

Lavigne and Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for the band Sum 41, began dating
when Lavigne was 19 years old, after being friends since she was 17.[177] Only a few weeks
before they met, Lavigne admitted that she was not meeting boys because her bodyguards
were frightening them away. In June 2005, Whibley surprised Lavigne with a trip to
Venice, including a gondola ride and a romantic picnic, and on 27 June, he proposed to her.
[178]

She at first wanted to have a "rock n' roll, goth wedding", but she admitted to having doubts
about going against tradition. "I've been dreaming about my wedding day since I was a
little girl. I have to wear the white dress.... People thought that I would [wear a] black
wedding dress, and I would have. But at the same time, I was thinking about the wedding
pictures, and I wanted to be in style. I didn't want to be thinking, 20 years later, 'Oh, why
did I wear my hair like that?'"[179]

The wedding was held on 15 July 2006. About 110 guests attended the wedding, which was
held at a private estate in Montecito, California.[180] Lavigne, wearing a gown designed by
Vera Wang walked down the aisle with her father, Jean-Claude, to Mendelssohn's
"Wedding March". Lavigne chose a colour theme of red and white, including red rose
petals and centrepieces of distinctly coloured flowers. The wedding included cocktails for
an hour before the reception and a sit-down dinner. The song "Iris", by the Goo Goo Dolls,
was played during Lavigne and Whibley's first dance.[181]

Seven months into their marriage, Lavigne stated that she was "the best thing that's ever
happened to him", and suggested that she helped Whibley stay off drugs since they had
begun dating. "He doesn't do drugs. Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I
wouldn't be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started
dating. I've never done cocaine in my life, and I'm proud of that. I am 100 percent against
drugs."[179] The marriage lasted a little more than three years. It was announced on 17
September 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon
follow.[182] On 9 October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce, releasing the statement, "I am
grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining
friendship."[177] The divorce was finalized on 16 November 2010, officially ending the
marriage.[183]

Engagement to Chad Kroeger

In the spring of 2010, Lavigne began dating reality TV personality Brody Jenner. In
January 2012, the same month as her separation from Jenner,[184] Lavigne's house in Bel-
Air, on the market since May 2011,[185] sold,[186] and Lavigne moved to Paris, France to
study the French language. She rented an apartment and attended a Berlitz school.[187][188]

She subsequently quietly began dating fellow Canadian rocker Chad Kroeger, frontman of
the band Nickelback, in July 2012.[189][190][191] The relationship blossomed when they got
together to co-write a song for Lavigne's upcoming fifth album.[190][192] After one month of
dating, Lavigne announced her engagement to Kroeger in August 2012.[192][189]

Backing band
Hershey bar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Hershey's Milk Chocolate
Product type Chocolate Bar
Owner The Hershey Company
Country United States
Introduced 1900
Markets Worldwide
Tagline The Great American Chocolate Bar

An unwrapped bar.

The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar (most commonly called simply the "Hershey Bar") is
the flagship chocolate bar manufactured by the Hershey Company. It is often referred to by
Hershey as "The Great American Chocolate Bar". The Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar was
first sold in 1900 with the Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds variety beginning
produced in 1908. A circular version of the milk chocolate bar called Hershey's Drops was
released in 2010.

Contents
 1 Hershey's Milk Chocolate
 2 Other Varieties & Details
 3 References
  4 External links

Hershey's Milk Chocolate

The Hershey Process milk chocolate used in these bars is cheaper to make than other types
of chocolate as it is less sensitive to the freshness of the milk. The process was developed
by Milton Hershey and was the first mass-produced chocolate in the United States. As a
result, the Hershey flavor is widely recognized in the United States and Canada, but less so
internationally, in particular in areas where European chocolates are more widely available.
The process is a trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed,
producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation. This compound
gives the product a particular sour, "tangy" taste, to which the US public has become
accustomed, to the point that other manufacturers often add butyric acid to their milk
chocolates.[1] The American bar's taste profile was not as popular with the Canadian public,
leading Hershey to introduce a reformulated Canadian bar in 1983.[2] The company
describes the revised Canadian formulation as a "creamier, smoother, lighter coloured and
milder flavoured product more suitable to Canadian taste".

Other Varieties & Details

In addition to the standard Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Almonds varieties
Hershey's also produces several other chocolate bars in various flavors: Special Dark
chocolate, Cookies 'N' Creme, Symphony (both Milk Chocolate and Almond Toffee), Mr.
Goodbar (with peanuts), and Krackel (with crisped rice). There were also six limited
flavors: Double Chocolate, Nut Lovers, Twosomes Reese's Pieces, Cookies 'N' Chocolate,
Twosomes Heath, and Twosomes Whoppers. All flavors have between 210 and 230
calories per standard-sized bar.

All flavors are approved by the Kashruth Division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America for consumption by observant Jews, with OU Kosher status.

As of October 2012, the largest Hershey's bar commercially available weighs five pounds
(80oz)[3] and costs US $44.99[3] on Hershey's website.[3]

References

Location:
New York, New York 10014
Trans:
Manual
Condition:
Excellent
Exterior:
Red
Interior:
Grey
Description:

This 1953 Porsche 356 Pre A Coupe is Red with a Gray Interior with Corduroy Inserts. A
Porsche Certificate of Authenticity is included with the sale verifying the matching
numbers engine, transmission, and body parts/panels. The car underwent a full,
professional, and period correct restoration that was completed in 2012. During restoration
a total disassembly of the car to bare metal revealed that the original undercarriage showed
no rust and was in need of no repairs. Extensive documentation of the restoration including
photos accompany the car as well as photos from the former owner in 1955. Repair
invoices from the factory in Stuttgart and CA DMV registrations are also included.

Overall the car is represented to be in excellent condition both cosmetically and

mechanically due to its recently completed full restoration. There are break in miles on the
engine and transmission and the car is reported to perform flawlessly. Many more details
regarding the history, restoration, and condition can be made available to interested parties.

Ashton Kutcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Ashton Kutcher
 Kutcher at the premiere of New Year's Eve in 2011
Christopher Ashton Kutcher
Born February 7, 1978 (age 35)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation Actor, producer, fashion model
Years active 1998–present
Demi Moore (m. 2005– )
Spouse(s)
(2012 filed for divorce)

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (/ˈkʊtʃər/; born February 7, 1978),[1][2] known professionally

as Ashton Kutcher, is an American actor, producer, former fashion model and human
trafficking abolitionist. He is known for his portrayal of Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom
That '70s Show. He also created, produced and hosted Punk'd, and played lead roles in the
Hollywood films Dude, Where's My Car?, Just Married, The Butterfly Effect, The
Guardian, and What Happens in Vegas. He is the producer and co-creator of the
supernatural TV show Room 401 and the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek. Since
2011, Kutcher has co-starred in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, playing Walden
Schmidt.

Contents
 1 Early life
 2 Career
o 2.1 Modeling career
o 2.2 Television and film career
o 2.3 Other work
 3 Personal life
o 3.1 Relationships
o 3.2 Interests and beliefs
o 3.3 Twitter presence
 o 3.4 Controversy
 4 Filmography
o 4.1 Producer
 5 Awards
 6 References
 7 External links

Early life
Kutcher was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is the son of Diane (née Finnegan), a Procter
& Gamble employee, and Larry M. Kutcher, a factory worker.[3][4] His father is of
Bohemian descent and his mother is of Irish, German, and Bohemian ancestry.[5][6] Kutcher
was raised in a conservative Roman Catholic family,[7] with an older sister, Tausha, and a
fraternal twin, Michael, who had a heart transplant when the brothers were young children.
Kutcher's twin brother also has cerebral palsy and is a spokesperson for the advocacy
organization Reaching for the Stars.[8]

Kutcher's brother's cardiomyopathy caused his home life to become increasingly stressful.
He stated that "I didn't want to come home and find more bad news about my brother" and
"kept myself so busy that I didn't allow myself to feel".[9] Kutcher stated that during
adolescence, he contemplated committing suicide; at thirteen, he attempted to jump from a
Cedar Rapids hospital balcony, with his father intervening in the incident.[10] Kutcher
attended Washington High School in Cedar Rapids for his freshman year, before his family
moved to Homestead, Iowa, where he attended Clear Creek Amana High School. During
high school, he developed a passion for acting and appeared in school plays.[11] However,
Kutcher's home life worsened as his parents divorced when he was 16. During his senior
year, he broke into his high school at midnight with his cousin in an attempt to steal money;
he was arrested leaving the scene. Kutcher was convicted of third-degree burglary and
sentenced to three years' probation and 180 hours of community service. Kutcher stated that
although the experience "straightened him out", he lost his girlfriend and anticipated
college scholarships, and he was ostracized at school and in his community.[11]

He enrolled at the University of Iowa in August 1996, where his planned major was
biochemical engineering, motivated by the desire to find a cure for his brother's heart
ailment.[4] At college, Kutcher was kicked out of his apartment for being too "noisy" and
"wild".[12] Kutcher stated, "I thought I knew everything but I didn't have a clue. I was
partying, and I woke up many mornings not knowing what I had done the night before.
I played way too hard. I am amazed I am not dead."[13] To earn money for his tuition,
Kutcher worked as a college summer hire in the cereal department for the General Mills
plant in Cedar Rapids, and sometimes donated blood for money.[14] During his time at UI he
was approached by a scout at a bar called "The Airliner" in Iowa City and was recruited to
enter the "Fresh Faces of Iowa" modeling competition. After placing first, he dropped out
of college and won a trip to New York City to the International Modeling and Talent
Association (IMTA) Convention. Following his stay in New York City, Kutcher returned to
Cedar Rapids before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.[12]
Career
Modeling career

After participating as a modeling contestant in an IMTA competition (losing to Josh

Duhamel) in 1998, Kutcher signed with Next modeling agency in New York, appeared in
ads for Calvin Klein, and modeled in Paris and Milan.[15]

Television and film career

Kutcher with Two and a Half Men co-star Jon Cryer in September 2011

After some success in modeling, Kutcher moved to Los Angeles and, after his first
audition,[16] was cast as Michael Kelso in the television series That '70s Show, which
debuted in 1998 and ended in 2006. Kutcher was cast in a series of film roles; although he
auditioned but was not cast for the role of Danny Walker in Pearl Harbor (2001) (the role
went to Josh Hartnett), he starred in several comedy films, including Dude, Where's My
Car? (2000), Just Married (2003), and Guess Who (2005). He appeared in the 2003 family
film, Cheaper By The Dozen, playing a self-obsessed actor. His 2004 film The Butterfly
Effect was a dramatic role for Kutcher, playing a conflicted young man who time travels;
the film received mixed to negative reviews, but was a box office success.[11]

In 2003, Kutcher produced and starred in his own series, MTV's Punk'd, as the host. The
series involved hidden camera tricks performed on celebrities. Kutcher is also an executive
producer of the reality television shows Beauty and the Geek, Adventures in Hollyhood
(based around the rap group Three 6 Mafia), The Real Wedding Crashers, and the game
show Opportunity Knocks. Many of his production credits, including Punk'd, come through
Katalyst Films, a production company he runs with partner Jason Goldberg.[17] In 2006,
People magazine ranked him third in its annual list of "The Sexiest Men Alive".[18]

Because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of The Guardian, Kutcher was forced not
to renew his contract for the eighth and final season of That '70s Show, although he did
appear in the first four episodes of it (credited as a special guest star) and returned for the
series finale.[11]
Kutcher produced and starred in the 2010 action comedy, Killers, in which he played a
hitman.[19]

In May 2011, Kutcher was announced as Charlie Sheen's replacement on the series Two
and a Half Men.[20] Kutcher's contract was for one year and was believed to be worth nearly
$20 million.[21] His debut as the character Walden Schmidt, entitled "Nice to Meet You,
Walden Schmidt", was seen by 28.7 million people on September 19, 2011. The Nielsen
ratings company reported that figure was more than any episode in the show's first eight
seasons, when Sheen starred in it.[22][23]

Other work

Ashton Kutcher speaking at Y Combinator's Startup School in October 2011

Kutcher was part of the management team for Ooma, a tech start-up launched in September
2007. Ooma is in the Voice over Internet Protocol business and Kutcher's role was as
Creative Director. He spearheaded a marketing campaign and produced viral videos to
promote this service. Kutcher also created an interactive arm of Katalyst called Katalyst
Media, with his partner from Katalyst Films, Jason Goldberg. Their first site was the
animated cartoon Blah Girls. Ooma revamped its sales and marketing strategy with a new
management team in the summer of 2008, replacing Kutcher as their creative director. Rich
Buchanan, from Sling Media, became Ooma's Chief Marketing Officer.

In 2009, Kutcher established an international human rights organization with his then wife,
Demi Moore. DNA Foundation, later known as Thorn, works to address the sexual
exploitation of children and the proliferation of child pornography on a global scale.[24]

He also appears in advertisements for Nikon cameras.

On March 23, 2011, Kutcher launched his own Twitter client with UberMedia, called
A.plus. While the app was initially available exclusively for desktop computers with Adobe
Air installed, it eventually became available on mobile platforms, for iPhone, Android, and
BlackBerry. In order to download on one of the 3 mobile platforms, users must first have
the UberSocial client installed on their device, and then proceed to the device's browser to
download A.plus.[25][26]
In July 2011, Brazilian fashion label Colcci hired Kutcher and Alessandra Ambrosio to
feature in a denim advertisement.[27]

Kutcher has also successfully invested in several technology startups.[28][29] Some of his
investments include Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb, Path and Fab.com.[30] He is a co-founder of
the venture capital fund A-Grade Investments.[31]

Personal life
Relationships

Kutcher and Moore, September 2008

In 2003, Kutcher began dating actress Demi Moore. Moore and Kutcher married on
September 24, 2005,[32] in a private ceremony conducted by a Rabbi of the Kabbalah
Center. The wedding was attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple,
including Bruce Willis, Moore's ex-husband.[33] Kutcher and Moore met with co-director of
the Kabbalah Center Rabbi Yehuda Berg in Israel in October 2010.[34] On November 17,
2011, Moore released a statement announcing her intention to end her marriage to Kutcher.
[35]
The announcement followed weeks of media speculation about the state of the couple's
marriage.[36] After over a year of separation, Kutcher filed for divorce from Moore on
December 21, 2012, in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.[37]
Moore filed her response papers in March 2013, requesting spousal support and payment of
legal fees from Kutcher.[38]

Kutcher began dating his former That '70s Show co-star Mila Kunis in early 2012.[39][40][41]

Interests and beliefs

Kutcher is a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal.[42] He is a student of

Kabbalah; his No Strings Attached co-star, Natalie Portman, stated in 2011 that Kutcher
"has taught me more about Judaism than I think I have ever learned from anyone else".[43]
Kutcher has invested in an Italian restaurant, Dolce[11] (other owners include Danny
Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama) and a Japanese-themed restaurant named Geisha
House located in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City. On September 17, 2008,
Kutcher was named the assistant coach for the freshman football team at Harvard-Westlake
School in Los Angeles. However, he was unable to return in 2009 because he was filming
Spread.[44][45] In February 2011, Kutcher sold his Hollywood Hills home, which he
originally bought in 2004.[46] In April 2012, Ashton Kutcher became the 500th paying
customer to sign up to ride Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.[47]

Twitter presence

On April 16, 2009, Kutcher became the first user of Twitter to have more than 1,000,000
followers,[48] beating CNN in the "Million followers contest".[49][50][51] Kutcher announced
via Twitter that he would be donating $100,000 to a charity to fight malaria. However,
there have been several reports that Twitter manipulated the contest's results by preventing
users from "unfollowing" Kutcher or CNN.[52]

Controversy

In April 2011, Kutcher and wife Demi Moore began a public service announcement
campaign claiming that "Real Men" do not engage the services of child prostitutes who are
the victims of human trafficking.[53] Kutcher's claims that 100,000 to 300,000 American
children were sold into sexual slavery were criticized by newspaper the Village Voice,
which gave evidence refuting the claims. Kutcher represented a study referring to minors
"at risk" for sexual exploitation as referring to children actually being prostituted. Experts
estimate the true numbers to be in the hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands.[54] Kutcher
reacted to the criticism by accusing the Village Voice of promoting child prostitution and
using Twitter to request that Village Voice advertisers including American Airlines, Disney,
the City of Seattle, and Domino's Pizza withdraw their advertising from publications owned
by the Voice's parent company.[55][56]