To support herself she took a number of random jobs, but no matter how bad her day-job was, Wiig would always end the day blowing off steam at the comedy club. Unusually, given how actresses seem to be getting younger with each passing year, Wiig was 30 before she landed her first acting gig, appearing on the little-known The Joe Schmo Show on Spike TV. Her talent was immediately obvious and by 2005 she... But you might be forgiven for wondering who, exactly, she is. The 37-year-old, whose first film role was in 2007's Knocked Up, has seemingly sneaked up on audiences over the past few years. One of the advantages of having success later in life is that Wiig had to graduate from the school of hard knocks. She lived in many cities, growing up in Pennsylvania before moving to Arizona where she took her first acting classes. The phenomenal success of Bridesmaids has made Kristen Wiig hot property in Hollywood.

"It arrived in a white box with a big, red ribbon on it, and it had a note from Zach saying, 'I want to make a movie that's as dear to kids as apple juice and boxed raisins and roller coasters. "I received the script from (writer-director) Zach (Helm) while I was doing 'V for Vendetta' in Berlin," Portman says. Natalie Portman's starring role in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" came neatly wrapped to her doorstep. " "Magorium" is his first project as a writer-director, and Portman says he was wonderful to work with. Helm started his career by writing plays, and broke into the movie industry with the screenplay for the 2006 Will Farrell flick "Stranger Than Fiction. "He's studied acting, so he's actually really great with actors and giving notes and giving me new ways to think about things," she says.