Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California September 27, 1972 and is the daughter of Blythe Danner, an actress, and Bruce Paltrow, a late film and television director, writer, and producer. She is the mother of Apple Blythe Alison Martin born May 14, 2004 in London and Moses Bruce Anthony Martin born April 8, 2006 in New Tork. The proud father of both children is Chris Martin from Coldplay. Paltrow's father was of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent and her mother was raised a Quaker. Paltrow follows Judaism and proudly acknowledges her Jewish roots. Raised in Santa Monica, she attended Crossroads School before moving and attending Spence School, a private girls' school in New York City. Later she briefly studied art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before discontinuing her degree and committing herself to acting. Paltrow has a younger brother, Jake Paltrow, and is a cousin of actress Katherine Moennig. She is an "adopted daughter" of Talavera de la Reina (Spain), where she lived as an exchange student and learned Spanish. She made her professional stage debut in 1990. Her most recent stage appearance was in Proof at London's Donmar Warehouse. Her debut film was Shout (1991). Later that year, she had a small role as the young Wendy in family friend Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991). She also appeared in Malice and Flesh and Bone. She starred in Se7en (1995), opposite Brad Pitt, and Morgan Freeman. The film was hugely successful commercially and critically. Then in 1996 she starred in Emma, where she received strongly positive critical acclaim, particularly in the UK for her impressive English accent, as well as in Europe and Asia. Two years later, she starred in Shakespeare in Love, a fantasy of how William Shakespeare might have written Romeo and Juliet. The film received critical acclaim, earned more than $100 million in domestic box office receipts, and received numerous awards.
Shakespeare in Love won the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay, as well as the Academy Award for Best Picture. Paltrow also won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role from the Screen Actors Guild. Later that year, she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
After her Oscar win she starred in other movie roles such as A Perfect Murder. In 2000 she starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley which earned over $80 million domestically, and received positive reviews. She then starred in Bounce with Shakespeare in Love costar Ben Affleck, which was moderately successful, both critically and commercially. Since then, she has had a relatively low-profile, yet steady, film career with a few critically acclaimed film roles, including Proof (2005) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Audiences got their first taste of Paltrow's singing ability with the 2000 release of Duets, in which she co-starred with singer Huey Lewis, who played her karaoke-hustling estranged father, and directed by her father, Bruce Paltrow. Towards the end of the film, their characters resolve their differences and perform a cover version of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'.In an interview with The Guardian, Paltrow admitted that she divided her career into those movies she did for love and those films she did for money. The Royal Tenenbaums, Proof, and Sylvia fell into the former category, whilst View From the Top and Shallow Hal were in the latter. In interviews for Shallow Hal, she told how did some research for the role by wearing the fat suit she used during filming, and going to a local bar to gauge the public perception of obese people. She said that people refused to make eye contact with her, and she was treated quite rudely on multiple occasions, and the experience saddened her greatly, with regards to how people treat those who are overweight. Her experience was filmed, and is available on the Shallow Hal DVD, in the Special Features section. Since winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love, Paltrow's film success has been less noteworthy. She said she was unequipped to cope with the pressure, leading her to make several bad choices, agreeing with peers who believe the win is a curse.In May of 2005, Paltrow became the new face of Estée Lauder's Pleasures perfume. She appeared in Chicago on Aug. 17, 2007 to sign bottles of the perfume. Estée Lauder donates a minimum of $500,000 of sales of items from the 'Pleasures Gwyneth Paltrow' collection to breast cancer research. Paltrow serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to allieviate problems caused by poverty in New York City. In 2006 she became the new face for Bean Pole International, a Korean fashion brand. She starred along with actor Daniel Henney in several Commercial Films. In October 2007, Paltrow signed up for a US television series Spain... On The Road Again that showcases food and culture of Spain. She had a much-publicized romance and engagement to Brad Pitt. She once stated that she regretted breaking up with Pitt, saying in an interview with Diane Sawyer that she wished Pitt well and could not believe he was with her when she was "such a mess." They were together for over three years. She has been linked romantically with Ben Affleck and Luke Wilson. She also been romantically linked with other actors and famous people viz: Chris Heinz (2000-01), and Robert Sean Leonard (2001). Paltrow had a stalker in 1999 and 2000, who allegedly sent five to ten packages a week: everything from love notes, flowers and candy to religious tracts, pornography, dozens of letters a week, and over 1,200 emails. He also made a threat of a sexual nature and showed up repeatedly at her house, even after her mother, Blythe Danner warned him not to return. He persisted despite being warned by the FBI and was sentenced to several years in a mental institution. The decision has since been overturned after jurists said that the stalker’s request to be placed in conditional release program should have been considered.

Gwyneth Paltrow has stopped being a fussy eater after conceiving daughter Apple. "I was seriously macrobiotic for 4 years. When I got pregnant, it changed. I couldn't go near anything healthy. I'm a big fan of British grub. I love anything fried – fish and chips – Branston pickle, red wine. I also enjoy a pint of my favourite stout, Guinness. I adore living in London! I love it here, I'm really happy!"

"I'm back - and I just love it!"

The Paltrow of today is very different from the actress of a few years ago who, driven by ambition and with the heft of a best-actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, worked virtually non-stop in a series of movies of wildly varying quality.

After The Talented Mr Ripley came Duets, Bounce, The Anniversary Party, A Perfect Murder, The Royal Tenenbaums, Shallow Hal, Possession, A View From the Top and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

"I just had a lot of life in 10 years," she says. "I got to about 29, and I was absolutely exhausted and I decided to take some time off."

She spent 10 weeks on the London stage in Proof, which gave her an insight into another world and a taste for London life. She had acquired an impeccable English accent through roles in Emma, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors and Possession, and she was already an Anglophile when she met Coldplay's Chris Martin backstage at a concert.

When she and Martin are not working, they spend most of their time in London, where they have a house in Belsize Park that they bought from Kate Winslet.

"I think London's a wonderful city," she says. "I can't get over how green it is. It's so civilised to have a city where there are so many gardens and squares. I don't feel swallowed up by it the way I sometimes do in other cities."

She is, she says, a Telegraph reader and is following the London mayoral contest with interest. "I don't think Ken Livingstone has done such a bad job. I mean, he's very green, and I think that's essential in this day and age."

When in London, she shares a personal trainer with her friend Madonna, a fellow Anglophile and gym devotee. "The trainer is amazing. She has designed a machine that's kind of like a Pilates reformer, but it's much bigger. We also do dance aerobics."

Having won her Oscar when she was only 27 and enjoyed the glory and Hollywood adulation that went with it, she now chooses projects that she wants to do rather than those that will pay the most or advance her career.

"I am very lucky that my mother and father raised me to be optimistic and open-minded. I am not driven by fame or trying to prove myself," she says. Judging by the acres of newspaper space devoted to her in the past week, she already has proved herself.