Tyler was born Liv Rundgren[2] on July 1, 1977, in New York City at Mount Sinai Hospital.[3] She is the only daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.[4] Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977, issue of TV Guide.[3][5] Her ancestry includes Italian (from her great-grandfather), Polish, German, English[6][7] and African-American (from her paternal 4th great-grandfather).[8] Tyler has three half-siblings: Mia Tyler (born 1978),[9] Chelsea Anna Tyler Foster (née Tallarico; born 1989), and Taj Monroe Tallarico (born 1991).[10] Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.[11]
From 1972 to 1979, Buell lived with rock musician Todd Rundgren. In 1976, Buell became pregnant from a brief relationship with Steven Tyler. She gave birth on July 1, 1977, naming the daughter Liv Rundgren and claiming that Todd Rundgren was the biological father because Tyler was in the middle of his well-documented drug excesses. Liv told People Magazine in 1992 that "Todd's my spiritual father. I love him".[2] At the time of Liv's birth, Rundgren and Buell had ended their romantic relationship. Nevertheless, Rundgren signed Liv's birth certificate and acted as a father figure to her, including paying for her education.[12]
At age 10 or 11, Liv met Steven Tyler and suspected he was her father when she observed the resemblance between him and herself.[5][13] When she asked her mother, the secret was revealed.[13] The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until 1991, when Liv changed her surname from Rundgren to Tyler; she kept Rundgren as a middle name.[4][14] Buell's stated reason for claiming that Rundgren was Liv's father was that Steven Tyler was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of Liv's birth.[4] However, Liv has developed a close relationship with Steven. They have worked together professionally, once when Liv appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy" in 1993, and again when Aerosmith performed songs for the film Armageddon (1998), in which Liv starred. She also maintains a close relationship with Rundgren. "I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him," she told Wonderland Magazine. "When he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he's very protective and strong."[15]
Tyler attended the Congressional School of Virginia, Breakwater School, and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine,[16][17][18] before returning to New York City with her mother at age 12.[2][5] She went to York Preparatory in New York City for junior high and high school after her mother researched the school to accommodate Tyler's ADHD.[19] She also attended the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, California.[20] She graduated from York in 1995 and left to continue her acting career.[2][5] When asked about her youth, Tyler said: "For me, I didn't get much of a childhood in my teen years because I've been working since I was 14. But that also kept me out of trouble. When everybody was doing acid and partying like crazy, I was at work on a movie in Tuscany... having my own fun, of course, but it was a different kind of thing. I have no regrets. I love the way my life has gone."[21]
Career
1991–1997: Early work
Tyler received her first modeling job at 14 with the assistance of Paulina Porizkova, who took pictures of her that ended up in Interview magazine.[2][5] She later starred in television commercials.[2][5] She became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started and decided to go into acting, although[5] she never took acting lessons.[4] Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's 1993 song "Crazy".[2]
Tyler made her feature film debut in Silent Fall in 1994, where she played the elder sister of a boy with autism.[22] In 1995, she starred in the comedy-drama Empire Records.[23] Tyler has described Empire Records as "one of the best experiences" she has ever had.[24] Soon after, she landed a supporting role in James Mangold's 1995 drama Heavy as Callie, a naive young waitress. The film received favorable reviews;[25] critic Janet Maslin noted: "Ms. Tyler... gives a charmingly ingenuous performance, betraying no self-consciousness about her lush good looks."[26]
Tyler's breakthrough role was in the arthouse film Stealing Beauty (1996), in which she played Lucy Harmon, an innocent, romantic teenager who travels to Tuscany, Italy, intent on losing her virginity. The film received generally mixed reviews,[27] but Tyler's performance was regarded favorably by critics. Variety wrote: "Tyler is the perfect accomplice. At times sweetly awkward, at others composed and serene, the actress appears to respond effortlessly and intuitively to the camera, creating a rich sense of what Lucy is about that often is not explicit in the dialogue."[28]Empire noted, "Liv Tyler (here radiantly resembling a ganglier young Ava Gardner) with a rare opportunity to enamour, a break she capitalizes on with composure."[29] The film was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who chose Tyler for the role after meeting with a number of young girls in Los Angeles, including Tyler's music video co-star Alicia Silverstone. Bertolucci said "there was something missing in all of them".[30] He later said that what he saw in Tyler was a gravitas he described as "a New York aura".[30] During promotion of the film, Tyler said she wanted to separate herself from the character during production: "I tried my damnedest not to think of my own situation. But at one point, after a take, I just started to cry and cry. I remembered when I found out about my dad and how we just stared at each other from head to toe taking in every nook and cranny."[30]
She later appeared in That Thing You Do! (1996), a movie about a fictional one-hit wonder rock band called The Oneders (renamed The Wonders), following their whirlwind rise to the top of the pop charts and, just as quickly, their plunge back to obscurity.[31] The film was written and directed by Tom Hanks.[32] It grossed over $25million worldwide,[33] and received favorable reviews.[34] In 1997, she appeared in Inventing the Abbotts as the daughter of Will Patton and Barbara Williams' characters.[35] The movie is based on a short story by Sue Miller.[36]Entertainment Weekly declared Tyler's performance as "lovely and pliant".[37] That same year, Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People.[38]
Tyler next appeared in Armageddon (1998), where she played the daughter of Bruce Willis's character and love interest of Ben Affleck's character. The film generated mixed reviews,[39] but it was a box office blockbuster, earning $553million worldwide.[33] The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by Aerosmith.[40] In a 2001 interview with The Guardian, she said that she initially turned down the role in Armageddon: "I really didn't want to do it at first and I turned it down a couple of times, but the biggest reason I changed my mind was because I was scared of it. I wanted to try it for that very reason. I mean, I'm not really in this to do amazing things in my career – I just want it to be special when I make a movie."[17]
She later appeared in two films directed by Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000).[2][41] In Cookie's Fortune, she was part of an ensemble cast that included Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Chris O'Donnell, and Patricia Neal.[46] Her performance was well received among critics; Salon.com wrote: "This is the first time in which Tyler's acting is a match for her beauty (she's always been a bit forlorn). Altman helps her find some snap, but a relaxed, silly snap, as in the cartoon sound she makes when she takes a midday swig of bourbon. The lazy geniality of the movie is summed up by the way Emma [Tyler's character] saunters off to take a swim with her cowboy hat and pint of Wild Turkey."[47]Entertainment Weekly also wrote that Tyler was "sweetly gruff as the tomboy troublemaker".[48] In Dr. T & the Women, a romantic comedy, she played Marilyn, a gynecological patient of Richard Gere's character and the lesbian lover of his daughter, played by Kate Hudson.[49]
2001–2007: The Lord of the Rings and international success
In 2001, Tyler played the object of infatuation for three men (Matt Dillon, John Goodman, and Paul Reiser) in the comedy One Night at McCool's.[50] She said the role was "definitely the first part where I had to be so physically aware and have people so aware of me physically. Maybe it's not hard for anybody else, but it is a bit for me. I mean I love my body and I feel very comfortable in my skin but this was tough."[51]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Tyler, a true beauty, gives the role a valiant try, but her range is too limited to play this amalgam of female perfection."[52]
A year later, Tyler again starred as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second installment of the series. The film received favorable reviews.[57] She spent months learning sword fighting for the concluding battle scenes in the film, but her scenes were removed after the script was changed.[58] The film was an enormous box office success, earning over $926million worldwide[59] and out-grossing its predecessor, which earned over $871million.[33] In 2003, Tyler featured in the third and last installment of the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.[60]
Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, she appeared opposite her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck in writer-director Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Jersey Girl (2004), playing a woman who meets a widowed father, played by Affleck, and re-opens his heart to love.[61] In an interview with MTV News, Tyler confessed that she felt "scared and vulnerable" while filming Jersey Girl, adding "I was so used to those other elements of the character [Arwen]. On The Lord of the Rings, a lot of things were done in post-production, whereas this was really just about me and Ben sitting there, just shooting off dialogue."[62]
In 2003, she became the spokesperson for Givenchy perfume and cosmetics,[63][64] and in 2005 the brand named a rose after her, which was used in one of its fragrances.[65] In 2009, she signed on for two more years as Givenchy spokesperson.[66] On December 8, 2011, Givenchy announced a collaboration between Givenchy perfumes and Sony Music.[67] In the video released on February 7, 2012, Tyler covered the INXS song "Need You Tonight".[68]
In 2005, she appeared in Steve Buscemi's independent drama Lonesome Jim, where she was cast alongside Casey Affleck as a single mother and nurse who reconnects with an old fling who has returned to their small Indiana town after a failed run as a novelist in New York.[62] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.[69] Her next appearance was in a supporting role as an insightful therapist who tries to help a once-successful dentist (Adam Sandler) cope with the loss of his family in the September 11 attacks in Reign Over Me (2007).[70][71]
2008–present: Box office hits and The Leftovers
Tyler at the premiere for The Incredible Hulk in June 2008Tyler at the premiere of Super, 2010
In 2008, she starred in the home invasionhorror filmThe Strangers with Scott Speedman, a film about a young couple who are terrorized one night by three masked assailants in their remote country house.[72][73] Although the film garnered a mixed reception among critics,[74] it was a major box office success, earning more than $80 million over its $9 million budget.[33] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she said The Strangers was the most challenging role of her career. "It was as far as I could push myself in every way: physically, emotionally, mentally."[24]
She appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which she played Dr. Betty Ross, the love interest of the title character, played by Edward Norton.[75] Tyler was a fan of the television show,[76] and was attracted to the love story in the script. She said filming the part was "very physical, which was fun",[77] and compared her performance to "a deer caught in the headlights".[78]The Incredible Hulk was a moderate box office success, earning over $262million worldwide against a $150 million budget.[33]The Washington Post, in review of the film, wrote: "Tyler gives Betty an appropriately angelic nimbus of ethereal gentleness as the one Beauty who can tame the Beast... during their most pivotal encounters."[79]
Tyler appeared in two films released in 2011: Super and The Ledge. In April 2011, publishing house Rodale announced that Tyler and her grandmother Dorothea Johnson, an etiquette expert, had written a book called Modern Manners. It was released October 29, 2013.[80]
In June 2014, Tyler began appearing as a regular in the HBO television series The Leftovers. The series ended after three seasons in 2017.[82]
In 2016, Tyler took on a role opposite Bel Powley in the fantasy/horror drama film Wildling, directed by Fritz Böhm. The film also marked her debut as a producer. It was released in 2018.[83]
In 2017, Tyler landed a role as Anne Vaux in the BBC/HBO miniseries Gunpowder, co-starring Kit Harington.[84] She later joined the second season of the ITV/Hulu period drama series Harlots, starring in the second and third series in a regular role as Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam.[85]
Tyler dated her Inventing the Abbotts co-star Joaquin Phoenix from 1995 to 1998. During her relationship with Phoenix, she became a vegan; however, when the relationship ended, she went back to eating meat.[89] In 1998, she began dating British musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog.[2] They became engaged in February 2001,[90] and married in Barbados on March 25, 2003.[91] In December 2004, she gave birth to a son.[92][93] On May 8, 2008, they confirmed through representatives that they would be separating.[94]
In June 2010, Tyler stated she was "far too sensitive" for casual dates, adding "I fall in love once in a blue moon."[95]
In 2014, Tyler met David Gardner, a British sports and entertainment manager. They became engaged in July 2015, but the couple ended their engagement in March 2021.[96] They have two children together: a son born in February 2015,[97] and a daughter born in July 2016.[98] Tyler temporarily moved to London shortly after her daughter's birth.[84][99]
Tyler learned transcendental meditation in New York City.[100] In December 2012, she participated in a charity gala for the David Lynch Foundation to provide transcendental meditation to disadvantaged sections of society. At the event, she said, "It helps me make better decisions and be a better mother, and just deal with the daily stress of the modern world that we live in. It helps with everything."[100]
Tyler bought a townhouse on West 11th Street in Greenwich Village, New York City for $2.53 million in 2001.[101] In 2019 she sold it for $17.45 million[102] in favor of London, where she has resided with her family since 2018.[103] She also owns a house in Malibu, California.
Activism
Tyler is an active supporter of the charitable United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States in 2003.[104] In November 2004, she hosted the lighting of the UNICEF Snowflake in New York City. She was also a spokesperson for the 2004 Givenchy Mother's Day promotion in support of UNICEF's Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus campaign.[105]
Since 2004, she has donated to the Women's Cancer Research Fund to support innovative research, education, and outreach directed at the development of more effective approaches to the early diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of all women's cancers.[106] In October 2007, Tyler, with her mother Bebe Buell and her grandmother Dorothea Johnson, helped launch the Emergen-C Pink energy drink, in an event in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.[107]
Liv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She acted in many of his films, including Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), The Passion of Anna (1969), and Autumn Sonata (1978).
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive art. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn was a British actress. Hepburn had a successful career in Hollywood and was recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.
Arwen Undómiel is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in the novel The Lord of the Rings. Arwen is one of the half-elven who lived during the Third Age; her father was Elrond half-elven, lord of the Elvish sanctuary of Rivendell, while her mother was the Elf Celebrian, daughter of the Elf-queen Galadriel, ruler of Lothlórien. She marries the Man Aragorn, who becomes King of Arnor and Gondor.
Catherine Élise Blanchett is an Australian actor and film producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognized for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. is an American actor, musician, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for three Academy Awards for Best Actor, three BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and an Independent Spirit Award.
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor and producer. He rose to international fame in the early 2000s as the hobbit Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003).
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film is the first installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis.
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's Slavs! and took the lead in James Lapine's Twelve Dreams at New York City's Lincoln Center. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the American soap opera All My Children (1995), and voicing Betty Ann Bongo on the Nickelodeon cartoon series KaBlam! (1996–97). Her first major film role was as the protagonist of Lawn Dogs (1997), a drama co-starring Sam Rockwell. She appeared in major pictures such as the romantic comedy Notting Hill (1999) and M. Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller The Sixth Sense (1999). She also starred in the indie crime drama Pups (1999).
Steven Victor Tallarico, known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, harmonica and percussion. He has been called the "Demon of Screamin'" due to his high screams and his powerful wide vocal range. He is also known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his performances, Tyler usually dresses in colorful, sometimes androgynous outfits and makeup with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.
Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. She is the daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the paternal half-sister of actress Gracie Otto. Otto began her acting career in 1986 at age 18 and appeared in a variety of independent and major studio films in Australia. She made her major film debut in Emma's War in 1987 in which she played a teenager who moves to Australia's bush country during World War II.
Beverle Lorence "Bebe" Buell is an American singer and former model. She was Playboy magazine's November 1974 Playmate of the Month. Buell moved to New York in 1972 after signing a modeling contract with Eileen Ford, and garnered notability after her publicized relationship with musician Todd Rundgren from 1972 until 1978, as well as her liaisons with several rock musicians during that time and over the following four decades. She is the mother of actress Liv Tyler, whose biological father is Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Todd Rundgren is Liv's legally adoptive father.
Amanda Michelle Seyfried is an American actress. She began acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1999–2001) and Joni Stafford in the ABC soap opera All My Children (2003). She came to prominence for her feature film debut in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004), and for her roles as Lilly Kane in the UPN mystery drama series Veronica Mars (2004–2006) and Sarah Henrickson in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011).
Mia Abagale Tallarico, better known as Mia Tyler, is an American actress, model, media personality and socialite.
Stealing Beauty is a 1996 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Liv Tyler, Joseph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, and Rachel Weisz. Written by Bertolucci and Susan Minot, the film is about a young American woman who travels to a lush Tuscan villa near Siena to stay with family friends of her poet mother, who recently died. The film was an international co-production between France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
The Strangers is a 2008 American psychological horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The film follows a couple whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked intruders who infiltrate the home one night. It is the first installment in The Strangers film series. The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child. Some journalists noted similarities between the film and the Keddie cabin murders that occurred in Keddie, California, in 1981, though Bertino did not cite this as a reference.
Isobel Dorothy Powley Booth is an English actress. Born and raised in London, Powley was educated at Holland Park School. She began acting as a teenager on television, starring on the CBBC action television series M.I. High (2007–2008).
Charis Elisa Michelsen is an American actress, a writer, an inventor, a former model and a make-up artist. Michelsen worked as a model in New York City in her early adulthood before becoming an actress. She appeared in supporting roles in the films High Art (1998), Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), and Wonder Boys (2000). Michelsen invented the first Universal Beauty Standard System which was used to create an artificial intelligence personal stylist.
References
↑ "Liv Tyler". People. Vol.37, no.18. May 12, 1997. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
↑ Brealey, Louise (February–March 2009). "Liv Tyler interview". Wonderland Magazine. London, England. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2012. Todd Rundgren was my father. Todd basically decided when I was born that I needed a father so he signed my birth certificate. He knew that there was a chance that I might not be his but... I sort of stopped calling him dad but, you know, when he... He's the most, I mean, I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he's very protective and strong.
↑ "Liv Tyler". Biography. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
↑ Brealey, Louise (February–March 2009). "Liv Tyler interview". Wonderland Magazine. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2012. Todd Rundgren was my father. Todd basically decided when I was born that I needed a father so he signed my birth certificate. He knew that there was a chance that I might not be his but... I sort of stopped calling him dad but, you know, when he... He's the most, I mean, I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he's very protective and strong.
1 2 3 Bellafante, Ginia; Georgia Harbison; Jeffrey Ressner (June 17, 1996). "Living it Up!". Time. p.2. Archived from the original on September 14, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
↑ Bradshaw, Peter (August 29, 2008). "The Strangers". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
↑ Callebs, Sean (November 29, 2003). "Interview with Alyssa Milano". CNN. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2009. What do Angela Bassett, Isabella Rossellini, Liv Tyler, and Alyssa Milano all have in common... They are all national ambassadors for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
