Christina Milian (born Christine Flores on September 26, 1981) is a two time
Grammy Award-nominated American singer and actress. She has had four solo top
ten singles (and also a top ten featuring credit single) in the UK as well as
hits in the rest of Europe and the U.S. She has starred in the 2003 film Love
Don't Cost a Thing opposite Nick Cannon and Be Cool, the sequel to Get
Shorty.
Date of Birth: September 26, 1981
Birthplace: New Jersey
USA
Early life
Milian was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to
Afro-Cuban immigrant parents, Carmen and Don, and has two younger sisters,
Danielle and Elizabeth. Her family moved to Waldorf, Maryland soon after her
birth and she set her heart on an entertainment career at the age of four.
Milian did commercials (Wendy's, Honeycombs) and played the lead role in the
musical Annie before moving to Los Angeles, California at 13 to pursue an acting
career; Her father didn't move with the rest her family and divorced her mother
soon after. Her mother is now her manager.
Acting career
Milian's
first significant role was as a reporter on the Disney Channel's Movie Surfers
show in 1998 billed as Tina Flores. While in this role, she also appeared in
minor roles in the movies A Bug's Life and American Pie and in guest appearances
on the television series Charmed, Clueless, Get Real, and The Amanda
Show.
In 2002, Milian was appointed to host of the television show
Wannabes on MTV. She met director Joseph Kahn on an episode of Wannabes who
suggested she audition for a lead role in the film Torque opposite Ice Cube. Her
audition was successful leading in turn to a lead role in Love Don't Cost a
Thing in 2003. In 2005, she had roles in the films Man of the House opposite
Tommy Lee Jones and Be Cool with John Travolta and Uma Thurman
Music
career
It's About Time (2004) In 2000, Milian performed vocals on Ja Rule's
song Between Me and You from his album Rule. The song became a hit building her
reputation as a singer. She also co-wrote and provided extensive backing vocals
for the track "Play" for Jennifer Lopez's 2001 album J. Lo which became another
big hit, and co-wrote "Same Ol' Same Ol", the first single from girl group PYT's
album Down With Me.
In 2001, Milian released her first solo single, "AM
To PM", off her self-titled debut album. It became a worldwide hit reaching the
top 5 in the UK and Denmark, top 10 in the Netherlands, and top 40 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 and in Australia. The success of "AM To PM" sparked the
international release of the Christina Milian album, although not in the U.S.
The second single "When You Look At Me" was another international hit reaching
the top 5 in the UK, Netherlands, and Ireland and making the top 40 in Denmark,
Australia, and France. She was also featured on the track "It's All Gravy", a
duet with Romeo of the garage group So Solid Crew. It was another UK top ten hit
single in 2002. She also wrote and sang the theme song for the Disney series Kim
Possible, "Call Me Beep Me" later that year.
So Amazin (2006) In 2003,
Milian recorded songs for her first U.S. album, It's About Time, which is a
reference to how long it had taken for one of her albums to be released in the
U.S. The first single, "Dip It Low", was written by Polli Paul, who has also
written songs for the Black Eyed Peas. The first single reached #1 on a world
composite dance chart (compiled on data from the U.S., UK, Germany, Japan,
Italy, and Australia), #2 in the UK, #5 in the U.S., and the top 40 in
Australia. The second single, "Whatever U Want", features Joe Budden and once
again reached the top 10 in the UK as well as charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
Controversy occurred when Milian changed her look when the album was released.
Many people saw it as her trying to look more like Beyoncé Knowles who had a
similar look. All of this has been looked at as a coincedence by
Milian.
Her third album So Amazin' is scheduled for a May release. The
entire production was done by Cool & Dre, with additional help from Rich
Harrison. The record's first single Say I has been released in March as a single
and video; it features Young Jeezy. The single currently is on his latest
mixtape, "Can't Ban the Snowman, and is having success within the mixtape scene
causing many DJ's to place it on their compilations too ("Southern Smoke"). Two
confirmed tracks,Gonna Tell Everybody and Who's Gonna Ride featuring Three 6
Mafiaand Lil Wayne will appear on her third album So Amazin'. According to MTV,
Christina recored a track dissing her ex-boyfriend. It was due to the reason
they broke up. Nick says even though the track was recorded, he still considers
being her friend.
Personal life
In the summer of 2005, Milian broke up
with actor Nick Cannon after being together for nearly two & a half years.
In an interview with Angie Martinez, she spoke about how she found out about
Cannon cheating on her. Apparently while she was away filming a movie in
Romania, she attempted to log in to his T-Mobile.com account by entering in
random passwords. After lucking out with one of the passwords, she was able to
read all of the messages he sent out and received to and from other women. When
she returned back to the states, she decided to play it cool before hitting him
with the news that she knew he was cheating.
Weeks after their break up,
Milian was spotted with actor Eric West during New York's Olympus Fashion Week
leading to many claims that the two are dating. Eric confirmed on American radio
station Y100 that the two are just friends. The New York Daily News claims she
is now dating hip-hop producer Dre.
