Lindsay Dee Lohan was born on July 2, 1986, in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx in New York City. (She would later change her middle name to Morgan because it sounded more professional.) Her parents are Dina Sullivan, a former Radio City Rockette, and Michael Lohan, a onetime actor. She has three siblings, all of who are actor-models – Michael Jr., Aliana, and Dakota. They grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor in Long Island in the Irish-Catholic tradition.
Lindsay attended public schools on Long Island, including Sanford H. Calhoun High School, but she finished her studies at home through, through the Ojai, California Laurel Springs School.
Lindsay’s father was a futures trader (after he had sold his family’s pasta business), while her mother worked as a Wall Street analyst. So all in all, Lindsay and her family were financially comfortable, although her father spent much of late 80s in prison for securities fraud.
Lindsay though, began her career early, joining Ford Models at age three. She appeared in more than 100 print ads for Toys “R” Us, as well as modelling for Calvin Klein Kids and Abercrombie Kids. She also starred in over 60 television commercials, including a Jell-O spot with Bill Cosby. This led to roles in soap operas, and in 1996 she landed the part of Ali Fowler on “Another World”, which was a big role for a child on the soap.
She gave that up though, when Oscar-nominated writer Nancy Meyers handpicked her to be in the 1997 remake of the Disney movie “The Parent Trap”, where she played the role of twin girls trying to get their long-divorced parents back together. The movie was a big success for a family film, and Lindsay got especially good reviews for her performance in it.
Disney had signed her to a three-picture contract, and she next appeared in two made-for-TV movies for the network, “Life Size” in 2000 with Tyra Banks, and “Get A Clue” in 2002. She was also cast as Bette Midler’s daughter in the first episode of the short-lived “Bette” series during this time, but had to quit when the production left New York for Los Angeles. It was also in 2002 that she was signed by Estefan Enterprises to a five-album production deal, and then she got a recording contract with Casablanca records.
The following year though, saw her return to the big screen in another Disney remake of one of their past hits – “Freaky Friday”, with Jamie Lee Curtis. The film was a hit, grossing $160 million worldwide, and helping net Lohan a 2004 MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female, among other nominations. Jamie Lee Curtis even got a nod for her role in the movie at the Golden Globes.
So Lindsay finally made them move to Los Angeles and continued her movie career with “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” in 2004. The film didn’t do as well as her last one, though it grossed enough to make it a modest success, and Lindsay was still charming the critics with her role as Lola.
Her next film would be the breakout lead performance that would cement her current standing as one of the bright young (tabloid-tarnished) stars of her generation – the Tina Fey scripted “Mean Girls”. It was her first non-Disney film, and her first PG-13 film too, and it went on to make almost $130 million worldwide. But even better than the box-office were the reviews she would get for her performance in this intelligent comedy. With Tina Fey and other” Saturday Night Live” alumni involved, she also earned herself several hosting gigs on the show, in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
And as a valuable Hollywood commodity after that film, she was able to choose what to do next, and her choice was “Herbie: Fully Loaded” in 2005. It was another popular Disney hit, earning $144 million worldwide, and was Lohan’s last hit movie.
By this time, her music career was also on the rise, with the debut of “Speak” at the end of 2004. By early 2005 it was certified platinum, and the first single off the album – “Rumors” – had reached number one on MTV’s hit show “Total Request Live” because of its sexy video. That single eventually went gold, and two more singles were also released from the album.
At the end of 2005, she released her second album, “A Little More Personal (Raw)”, which debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 charts. With her tight schedule, she wasn’t able to promote the album’s singles much, and the songs didn’t get much airplay, resulting in sales that only reached gold status by early 2006. Reviews from music critics were also unfavourable, and the album became just another sophomore slump tale.
“Just My Luck” was initial her big screen appearance for 2006, and it was received poorly, aside from only making around $40 million. Robert Altman’s final project before his death, the ensemble film “A Prairie Home Companion” followed, and opened to limited release. Then she did some indie films, to mixed reviews.
Lindsay was still hot property though, constantly making it to “100 Sexiest Women” lists in magazines like FHM and Maxim. She was on the top of Maxim’s list in 2007, and she was also regular tabloid fare by this time, which kept her in the spotlight a lot. Nights out with party girls like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and a string of car accidents from 2004-2006 were widely reported, with Lindsay being involved in 3 crashes in 2005 alone.
The following year saw a string of hospitalizations instead, with one happening during the filming of “Georgia Rule” with Jane Fonda. A letter from the CEO of the film’s production company to Lohan became public, calling her out for her unprofessionalism. The letter goes, “You and your representatives have told us that your various late arrivals and absences from the set have been the result of illness; today we were told it was ‘heat exhaustion’. We are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called ‘exhaustion’.”
The bad publicity from this contributed to the film’s dismal showing at the box office, making it a big flop. Her other film for the year 2007, “I Know Who Killed Me”, was also panned, and won her an award as “Worst Actress” from the Razzies, where she tied with herself for playing twins.
Lindsay continues to be a high-profile celebrity for her tabloid hijinx up ‘til now, with jail terms, stints in rehab, and DUI violations becoming just another day at the office for this actress. She did find time in February 2008 to star in a pictorial for New York magazine, though. The session recreated Marilyn Monroe’s final photo shoot, which included nudity, and which was big news concerning Lohan that didn’t involve alcohol, for once.