Lohan Acting career

1996-2003

Lohan's debut as an actress on Another World.Lohan began her career with Ford Models at age three and, at a time when blue-eyed blondes were in highest demand, the freckle-faced, auburn-haired child found little work as a fashion model.[16] She persisted and eventually appeared in more than 100 print ads for Toys "R" Us.[17] She also modeled for Calvin Klein Kids (usually with siblings Michael and Ali) and Abercrombie Kids. Through young adulthood, Lohan was featured in such diverse magazines as Vogue, Elle, Bliss (UK), Хай Клуб (High Club, Bulgaria), and Blenda (Japan).

Lohan's first auditions for television work did not go well; by the time she tried out for a Duncan Hines commercial, she told her mother that she would give up if she did not get the job.[16] She was hired, and Lohan went on to appear in over 60 commercials, including a Jell-O gelatin spot with Bill Cosby. Her ad work led to roles in soap operas, and she was already considered a show-business veteran[17] in 1996 when she landed the role of Alexandra "Alli" Fowler on Another World, "where she delivered more dialogue than any other ten-year-old in daytime serials" of the time.[18]


Lohan in dual roles in The Parent Trap (1998), her first feature film.Lohan gave up Another World for the big screen when director Nancy Meyers cast her to play the dual roles of the estranged twin sisters who try to reunite their long-divorced parents (Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson) in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Hired in 1997 at age 10, Lohan was 11 when filming began in England and California (in Los Angeles and the Napa Valley). "I left school for eight months," she said. "When I came back, my friends [asked], 'Where'd you go?' I said, 'My family and I went on a long vacation.' Then the movie came out, and they were, like, 'Um, Lindsay? That's you in Parent Trap,' and I said, 'Oh, yeah. I also did this movie while we were gone.'"[9] Trap was well-received for a family comedy, bringing in US$92 million worldwide.[19] Film critic Janet Maslin found Lohan's dual performances so forceful "that she seems to have been taking shy violet lessons from Sharon Stone."[20] Critic Kenneth Turan called Lohan "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original, and … she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities".[21]

Signed by Disney to a three-film contract, Lohan was offered the role of Penny in Inspector Gadget but, after seven months' work on The Parent Trap, she turned it down.[5] Later, she starred in two original television movies, Life-Size (2000) (with Tyra Banks) and Get a Clue (2002). She also played Bette Midler's daughter in the first episode of the short-lived series, Bette (2000), but Lohan, then 14, quit when the production moved from New York to Los Angeles. In 2001, she hosted the ABC-TV commercial series commemorating Walt Disney's 100th birthday during a rebroadcast of The Parent Trap.

Following a brief hiatus, Lohan won a lead role in another Disney remake: Freaky Friday (2003), starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Through 2005, Friday was Lohan's biggest commercial film success, earning US$160 million worldwide.[22]


2004-2006
In 2004, Lohan was given the lead in two films, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (her first feature that was not a remake) and Paramount's Mean Girls, both released in 2004. Drama Queen was a modest success at the box office, grossing about US$30 million, but was a failure with critics. "Though still a promising star," Robert K. Elder wrote, "Lohan will have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions."[23]

That "penance" came with Mean Girls, her first PG-13 (and first non-Disney) film. Her breakout lead performance[24] pushed the critical and commercial hit to gross US$128 million worldwide, "cementing her status as the new teen movie queen," wrote Brandon Gray.[25] "Lohan dazzles us once more," said Steve Rhodes. "The smartly written script is a perfect match for her intelligent brand of comedy."[26] Mean Girls was scripted by Tina Fey and featured several alumni of Saturday Night Live; Lohan was asked to host the show three times, in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

In 2005, Lohan became the first living person to have a "My Scene Goes Hollywood" doll released by Mattel. She also voiced herself in the direct-to-DVD feature film based on the dolls.[27]

Lohan returned to Disney for Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), the fifth film in the long-dormant Herbie series. Her rising popularity allowed her to choose from a wider variety of projects and, at age 19, Lohan felt Herbie would help her make the transition into more grown-up roles.[3] "In most of my other films, I was in high school," she said. "Here, [my character is] just out of college. It's nice to be able to do something that I think will be acceptable to the fan base I've accumulated from my Disney movies, but subconsciously they'll see me getting older and maturing."[28] Fully Loaded earned $144,146,816 worldwide.[29]

Her next film in wide release, Just My Luck, opened in May 2006 to poor reviews and earned only $38 million worldwide.[30] The following month, A Prairie Home Companion, in limited release ended its run with $25,648,948 globally.[31] "Lohan rises to the occasion," wrote Peter Travers, "delivering a rock-the-house version of 'Frankie and Johnny'."[32] Lohan completed filming the independent Emilio Estevez film, Bobby, opposite Elijah Wood, in December 2005; the film débuted at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2006, and was released in theaters on November 23, 2006, though it earned a weak $19,560,892 worldwide with mixed reviews. Chapter 27 with Jared Leto began filming in New York on January 9, 2006, and had wrapped by March. No release date has been announced.

Lohan was voted #10 on the list of "100 Sexiest Women" by readers of FHM.[33] Maxim placed her at #3 on its 2006 Hot 100 list.[34] In 2007, Lohan placed at #1 on the Maxim "Hot 100".[35][36]


2007-present
In February 2007, shortly after admitting herself to a medical rehabilitation facility, Lohan relinquished the role of Hester Worsley in a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance to focus on her health. The role then passed to Jessica Biel.[37]

On May 11, 2007, Georgia Rule was released in which Lohan starred alongside Felicity Huffman and Jane Fonda. The film — whose production received adverse publicity when a letter from a studio executive to Lohan criticizing her professionalism was made public — received mostly negative reviews. It grossed US$6.7 million at the box office in its opening weekend and to date has grossed over US$22 million worldwide.

On July 24, 2007, Lohan - in the wake of her arrest withdrew from a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote her starring role as a stripper in the film I Know Who Killed Me. On its opening weekend, the film was #9 at the box office — grossing $3.5 million.[38]

She also withdrew from the independent film Poor Things.[39]

Entertainment Weekly quoted the head of a major film studio as saying, "Her career was over long before she had these troubles... Right now, she'd have to pay a studio to get herself into a movie."[40] The article continues, "There's the L.A. bar scene that serves underage stars and Hollywood's compulsion to turn child actors into products, plus a frenzied 21st-century media culture that has made Lohan and other celebs into exotic prey in flashbulb cages." James Robinson, the producer of Georgia Rule, has stated he would still like to work with her. "She's a good person who's making some bad choices. She needs time to get the proper medical care, but when she's in the right emotional state, I'd put her in a movie right away.... She's probably one of the most talented young women in the movie business today."

Returning to Hollywood could mean potential relapse for her addictions, so Lohan will travel and study in Europe after leaving rehab. Lohan is keen to venture away from America for her education, according to her mother Dina, telling Us Weekly: "She wants to go abroad and study in school. We'll see what happens." [41]