Famous Figures

Monroe's documented construction of her public persona - the deliberate performance of guileless vulnerability masking a sharp intelligence - and her documented study of the gap between Norma Jean Baker and Marilyn Monroe reflect an Identity orientation in which the public self is a sustained creative act with its own integrity.

Hepburn's documented construction of a public presence characterised by a specific kind of grace and restraint, and her post-career investment as a UNICEF ambassador in giving her public identity a moral weight it had not previously carried, reflect an Identity orientation in which the public self is continuously revised toward greater authenticity.

Ledger's documented practice of building characters from the outside in - finding the voice, the physicality, the walk before the psychology - and his stated belief that the performance was complete when the character existed independently of him, reflect an Identity orientation applied to the actor's craft as identity construction.