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Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler, December 2003
Born	Liv Rundgren July 1, 1977 (1977-07-01) (age 31) New York City, New York, U.S.
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Royston Langdon (2003–2008)
Awards won Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture 2003 LOTR: The Return of the King

Liv Rundgren Tyler^[1] (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's frontman, Steven Tyler and model, singer Bebe Buell. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of fourteen, but quickly decided to focus on acting. Her first notable role was appearing alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's song "Crazy" in 1993.

At age seventeen she made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. Following her performance in Silent Fall, Tyler starred in her breakthrough performance in 1996's Stealing Beauty. In 1998, she starred opposite Ben Affleck in Armageddon, which became a summer blockbuster. Tyler then went on to portray elf princess Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. After a brief hiatus she returned to acting, starring in the horror-thriller The Strangers and portraying Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk.

Early life

Tyler was born Liv Rundgren^[1] at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.^[2] She is the first born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.^[3] Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.^[4] Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5th 1977 issue of TV Guide.^[2][5] At birth, Buell claimed that rock star Todd Rundgren was Tyler's biological father.^[1] Tyler discovered her true parentage at age nine.^[1][5] She discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia.^[1] When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed.^[1] The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name.^[1] Buell's alleged reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth. Since learning the truth about her paternity, Tyler and Steven have developed a close relationship.^[1] They have also worked together professionally, once when she performed in Aerosmith's video for "Crazy" and again when Aerosmith wrote and performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon, in which Tyler starred.^[1]

Tyler attended the Congressional School of Virginia, Breakwater Elementary and Waynflete schools in Portland, Maine, before returning to New York City with her mother at the age of twelve.^[1][5] She went to York Prep in New York City for Junior High and High School, graduating in 1995. One month later Tyler set off for Italy to star in Stealing Beauty.^[1][5]

Career

Starting a career as a model at the age of fifteen, Tyler appeared on the covers of magazines and starred in commercials.^[1][5] However, she became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started, and moved into acting.^[5] She never took acting lessons.^[6] Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's song "Crazy" in 1993.^[1] Between the period of 1993 and 1996, she starred in seven films.

Tyler made her film debut in Silent Fall in 1994. Following the release of the film, she starred in Heavy in 1995; the filming of which was delayed until she became available.^[1][5] By the age of nineteen, she had already starred in several successful films, including her breakthrough role in 1996's Stealing Beauty directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the cult classic Empire Records, That Thing You Do! which was written and directed by Tom Hanks, and Inventing the Abbotts in 1997.^[7]

In 1998, she co-starred with Ben Affleck in Michael Bay's Armageddon, which raised her profile amongst cinemagoers and was coincidentally released on her twenty first birthday.^[1][5] The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by her father's band, Aerosmith.^[8] Tyler has also starred in Onegin in 1999, a film based on the 19th century Russian novel by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed Tatyana Larina and co-starred with Ralph Fiennes.^[7] She later appeared in two films by legendary director Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000).^[1][7]

Tyler's most notable role was in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), in which she played the immortal half elf princess Arwen Undómiel,^[9] she recorded a song entitled "Arwen's Song", which was used in the extended DVD cut of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.^[10][11] Along with learning to speak the fictitious Elvish language created by Tolkien, Tyler spent months before the shoot learning swordfighting, to be used during the concluding battle scenes in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,^[12] though her scenes from the battle were cut after the script was changed.^[12] The trilogy was nominated for 30 Academy Awards and won the coveted Best Picture Award for its final installment.^[13]

After a brief hiatus from acting, she starred in the horror-thriller The Strangers with Scott Speedman,^[7][9] and in the comic book adaptation The Incredible Hulk alongside Edward Norton, as scientist Betty Ross.^[14] Both films were released in 2008. Tyler, alongside Diane Keaton and Dax Shepard, will appear in the film Smother, which is set to be released on September 26, 2008.

In 2003, Tyler became the spokesperson for Givenchy Perfume and Cosmetics, in 2005 Givenchy named a rose after her, which was used in one of its fragrances.^[15][16]

Personal life

Tyler's father, Steven, is of Italian descent.^[17] She has three half-siblings: Chelsea Anna Tallarico, Taj Monroe Tallarico and Mia Tyler.^[1] Tyler has stated that she "grew up obsessed with horror movies".^[18] She says among her favorite horror movies are Night of the Living Dead, The Shining and Rosemary's Baby.^[19] Tyler is a vegan.^[20]

Tyler dated actor Joaquin Phoenix from 1995 to November 1998;^[21] The couple met on the set of Inventing the Abbotts.^[1] On March 25, 2003, Tyler married British musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog in Barbados.^[22] On December 14, 2004, she gave birth to a son, Milo William Langdon, in a New York hospital.^[23] On May 8, 2008, Tyler and Langdon confirmed through representatives that they would be separating but remain friends.^[24] She lives in New York City.^[25]

She is good friends with designer Stella McCartney,^[26] model Helena Christensen and actresses Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow.^[6][27][28] She is signed to IMG Models in New York City.^[29][30]

Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997.^[31] She was also voted the 6th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine in September 2002, and #2 in TheAge.com's "Top 100: Natural Beauties of all time" in 2004.^[32] The Lemonheads' song "C'mon Daddy" is written about the relationship between Tyler and her father.^[33] Lemonheads singer Evan Dando played a major supporting role in James Mangold's film Heavy, in which Tyler starred.^[7]

Filmography

References

Further reading

• Boulais, Sue. Liv Tyler. M. Lane, 2000. ISBN 1584150416
• Buell, Bebe. Rebel Heart: An American Rock 'n Roll Journey. St. Martin's Griffin, 2002. ISBN 978-031230155-2
• Christie, Thomas A. Liv Tyler: Star in Ascendance: Her First Decade in Film. Crescent Moon Publishing, 2007. ISBN 186171131X
• Fingeroth, Danny. Liv Tyler. Scholastic Library Pub, 2003. ISBN 0516243357

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Liv Tyler

• Liv Tyler at the Internet Movie Database
• Lovely Liv Tyler, a website endorsed by Liv Tyler
• Liv Tyler at Yahoo! Movies
• Liv Tyler at People.com