40-year-old Vietnam born beauty claiming the site ruined her career reveals herself in court
via IMDB
Publicity photo of actress Junie Hoang, dated June 5, 2011, from her IMDb page.
Botox can't erase this line.
A B-list movie actress who anonymously filed suit against IMDb last fall, claiming it ruined her career when it revealed her real age on her profile, has revealed herself in federal court Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Junie Hoang, 40, is suing the site for more than $1 million, accusing it of costing her lucrative gigs when it published her real birth date — July 16, 1971 — and her “real Asian name,” Huang Hoang.
Last month a judge dismissed the anonymous suit, but Hoang refiled under her real name on Jan. 6, 2012.
Hoang used the stage name Junie to avoid the potential "cultural disadvantage" of her ethnic name, according to the lawsuit filed in Seattle court. She also claims she kept her birthday private to keep her in the running for young roles, like those she had in "Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver" and "Hoodrats 2: Hoodrat Warriors."
"Lesser-known 40-year-old actresses are not in demand in the movie business," she states in the lawsuit.
Hoang accuses IMDb, owned by Amazon, of gleaning her private info by intercepting the credit card she used to register for its "industry insider update" in 2008. Since then the popular entertainment site refuses to remove her birthdate from her professional profile, the lawsuit says.
She seeks $75,000 plus $1 million in punitive damages for what she alleges is fraud and breach of contract in light of privacy and consumer protection laws, and Amazon's own agreement to handle personal information “carefully and sensibly.”
Amazon hasn’t commented on the suit. But it previously settled a case with Los Angeles actress Eriko Tamuro "who was once a Britney Spears-like teen idol in Tokyo" for revealing her age and real name, reports PaidContent.org.
