Star assets: celebs who boast beauty, brains and talent

Jet, Jan 5, 2004

All doubts were laid to rest when Survivor, the group's third CD, dropped in 2001.

The single of the same-title became the anthem of Beyonce and the group and Destiny's Child claimed a 2002 Grammy for Best R&B Performance for the song.

Buoyed by the success, Beyonce launched into acting, making her film debut in the musical drama Carmen: A Hip Hopera. Her seductive portrayal of Carmen Brown, an aspiring actress who causes trouble wherever she goes, caught the attention of film director Jay Roach and Mike Myers, who cast Beyonce as the sassy and sexy Foxxy Cleopatra in the Bond movie spoof, Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). Beyonce seems destined to succeed in every avenue she pursues. Which is really no surprise. After all, Beyonce is a survivor.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams has come a long way from that little girl with the beaded braids practicing backhands with her big sister Venus on the public tennis courts of Compton, CA, to the beautiful young woman who rules the tennis world.

And when the queen steps onto her court, it truly is the Serena Show. Her lethal serves, lightning reflexes and powerful 5-foot-10 knockout body--hugged by those sexy spandex suits she personally designs--have brought excitement, athleticism and glamour to the game. And her killer curves are rivaled only by her killer Instinct. She deftly defeats those who dare challenge her with a relentless intensity.

The 22-year-old already has won four major singles tournaments in a row (the coveted Grand Slam), becoming one of only five women in tennis history to accomplish the feat, and has been the top-ranked tennis player in the world.

Born in Saginaw, MI, and raised in Compton. Williams won her first tournaments at age 10 under the tutelage of her father, Richard Williams, a self-taught tennis player. Yet Serena spent the early days of her professional career mostly in the orbit of famous Venus, who won the 2000 end 2001 Wimbledon singles championships.

At 17, Serena won the U.S. Open finals to become the first Black woman since Althea Gibson to capture a Grand Slam singles title, and showed the world that she was a force to be reckoned with. But it wasn't until Serena defeated Venus in three sister-to-sister showdowns in the 2002 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals and another victory against Venus at Wimbledon in July 2003 that Serena finally stepped out of her big sister's shadow into the spotlight of her own bright success.

Yet for all her athletic prowess, Serena Williams is not content to remain just a tennis star. In 1999, she studied fashion design at the Art Institute of Florida and readily sports her handiwork on and off the court. Williams also enjoys flexing her acting muscles. She made her television debut as a teacher on e 2001 episode of "My Wife and Kids," recently played a reformed gang member on the cable series "Street Time" and will appear in the upcoming films Beauty Shop and The Parkers.

The sports phenom also has racked up multimillion-dollar contracts to endorse products from athletic gear and hamburgers to lipstick, leather goods and chewing gum. Although Williams ended the 2003 tennis season after she had knee surgery in August, don't expect the queen to stay away from her throne for too long.