Singer, songwriter, actress. Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. Madonna won a scholarship in high school to study dance at the University of Michigan. She left in the late 1970s and moved to New York City where she studied and danced with Alvin Ailey and Pearl Lang, acted in underground films, and performed with rock bands. Her albums Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984) sold over a million copies each and included several hit singles. Her movie performances, except for Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) and Evita (1996), were less well-received. Known for her provocative stage and video performances, a somewhat ambiguous symbol of a new feminism in her combination of vulgarity and shrewdness, she was arguably the best-known woman in the world at the height of her popularity. In 1992, her book Sex was published, featuring provocative photographs of her and others accompanied with text of her erotic musings. Much of the controversy stirred by this publication carried over into the casting of her in the feature film version of the musical Evita (1996) critics believed her morally unfit for the role of the beloved Argentinian Eva Peron. But she performed the role earnestly and effectively, demonstrating her versatility once again. She became a proud single mother in 1997, and got in touch with her spiritual side on the Ray of Light (1998) release, a musical and thematic departure from her earlier works. In early 2000, she starred in The Next Best Thing, as a yoga instructor who becomes pregnant after a drunken one-night-stand with her homosexual best friend, played by Madonna's real-life close friend Rupert Everett. The soundtrack featured Madonna's remake of the Don McLean's classic anthem, "American Pie."

Madonna released her album Music in the fall of 2000. Driven by the success of the title track, Music received several Grammmy Award nominations, including Record of the Year and Best Vocal Pop Album. In the summer of 2001, she kicked off her first world tour in eight years, the Drowned World Tour.

In 2002, Madonna appeared on the London stage as the star of Up for Grabs, a comedy by Australian playwright David Williamson. Later that same year, she teamed up with husband Guy Ritchie for Swept Away, where she played a repressed upper-class woman who falls for a sailor when caught stranded on an island. The movie was panned so badly in the U.S. that it never reached British theaters. She and Ritchie also announced plans to collaborate on a spiritual book for children.

Madonna was married to actor Sean Penn from 1985 to 1989. She has a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, by former companion Carlos Leon. In 2000, she married British film director Guy Ritchie, best known for the 1998 hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The couple had a son, Rocco Ritchie, on August 11, 2000.