Liv Tyler

Liv Tyler biography

Daughter of Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith and Bebe Buell, former model (and Playboy Playmate of the Month) and stalwart of the backstage rock scene of the 1970s, Liv grew up thinking that rock star Todd Rundgren was her father. But as she was growing up Tyler began dropping by to visit, and Liv noticed that his daughter Mia looked enough like her to be her twin. She confronted her mother, and was told the truth; by the time she was 12 she had taken her father's name. At 14 she and her mother left Portland, Maine for New York, where she got her start as a model. A year was enough of the modeling grind, and she decided to become an actress. She was offered the part of Callie in Heavy (1995) after a single reading, and only three weeks later was cast in Silent Fall (1994) - James Mangold, director of Heavy (1995), decided to delay shooting until Liv was available. With seven films in the 1993-96 period her career took off.

Trivia

Liv's mother named her after Liv Ullmann because she was on the cover of TV Guide the week Liv was born.

Quote

"I have these slumber parties with my father and when we can't sleep we stay up all night trading beauty tips. He knows all about the good creams and masks."
{About her favorite smell] "Those smells that remind me of home. I can smell my dad [ Steven Tyler] from a mile away. I can smell it whenever he's worn my clothes. He has this ambery smell that just melts into him."
[on playing Arwen in Lord of the Rings:] "It wasn't until I came back home after such a long time away that I realized how much hype there was about this. I get to play someone 3,000 years old. I'm 23, so that's quite an acting challenge."

"I've been told that if I'd lose weight I'd have more work, but I refuse to submit myself to those standards. To the rest of the world, I'm slim, and I like the way I am."
When I did Stealing Beauty I was just a kid. I'd done a couple of movies, but I'd never been to an acting class in my life. But what I took away from it more than anything was the sense that, even though I was the central character, it was my job to get completely lost in the film. I had a real awareness of Bernardo as a filmmaker, not just a director, painting a canvas in which I was just one element.Subtlety is my favourite thing in cinema. It lets you dream. When everything is on the nail and on show, it leaves no questions in your mind. I find that so boring.Clothes have become too important and films are saturated with fashion. So you find yourself wearing designer clothes that aren't relevant to your character. I'm always so intrigued by Christopher Guest and his movies, like Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. He hires the actors and they all come up with the story and the concept, improvise. And they are all responsible for their own hair and make-up. They buy their own clothes, are in control of creating their characters. I would love to do that.