Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton and Husband Place Third in The Amazing Race

After being in first place for much of the season, Bethany Hamilton and her husband ended in third place.

She speaks about her future plans including a Kickstarter-funded "Surfs Like a Girl" film.

Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton and Husband To Join The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race’s Season 25 cast will have two familiar names –Bethany Hamilton and her husband Adam Dirks. Hamilton, a professional surfer and author whose story of surviving a shark attack was the subject of a hit 2011 movie.

She and Dirks, a youth minister, married last summer and now are among the 11 teams racing around the world for a million dollars. The teams kicked off the race in New York City's Times Square Saturday. Photos featured on CBS.com show Hamiliton and Dirks wearing blue shirts. Hamilton appears to be wearing floral surfing shorts.

Other famous faces in the race include actress and celebrity trainer Kym Perfetto and Survivor Season 23 stars Whitney Duncan and Keith Tollefson.

The 25th edition of The Amazing Race will premiere this fall on a new day and time, Fridays (8:00 PM), on  CBS.

Last month Hamilton released a new book entitled "Body and Soul" encouraging girls to live physically and spiritually healthy lives.

Bethany Hamilton Joins "Dolphin Tale 2"

Inspirational professional surfer Bethany Hamilton (“Soul Surfer”) will join the cast of “Dolphin Tale 2.”

Hamilton will join the original film’s returning cast, including Harry Connick, Jr., Morgan Freeman, Kris Kristofferson, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble and Cozi Zuehlsdorff, among others. Charles Martin Smith, who wrote “Dolphin Tale,” has written the screenplay for the sequel and is again directing.

“Dolphin Tale 2” tells another true story inspired by the life of the rescued bottle nose dolphin, Winter – the star of “Dolphin Tale” – this time involving the real-life, new baby dolphin Hope, who was also saved and rehabilitated by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Hamilton, who will play herself in “Dolphin Tale 2,” has become a source of inspiration to millions through her story of faith, determination and hope. At age 13, Hamilton was bitten by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing off Kauai’s North Shore, leaving her with a severed left arm. Miraculously, just one month after the attack, Hamilton returned to the water. She went on to win a national title, and eventually realized her dream of becoming a professional surfer.

Hamilton’s autobiography, Soul Surfer, was made into a major motion picture starring AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid. She has written eight additional books (with another coming soon) and continues to surf professionally today.

“Dolphin Tale 2” is currently filming in Clearwater, Florida. Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute the film and has slated the film for a September 19, 2014 release.

‘Soul Surfer’ Bethany Hamilton Delivers Powerful Message of Faith and Perseverance

The woman known as the “soul surfer” who lost her arm in a shark attack but went on to become a professional surfer said her faith in Jesus Christ carried her through the emotional pain and uncertainty she felt after her accident.

Bethany Hamilton told her story at the annual National Prayer Breakfast Thursday in Washington, D.C., for an audience that included President Barack Obama and members of Congress.

“I thought for a time I had lost more than just my arm,” said Hamilton, who was attacked by a 14-foot shark when she was 13 years old in 2003. “I [felt] as though my hopes and dreams to become a pro surfer and venture the world were stripped away.”

Hamilton, whose story was featured in the 2011 film “Soul Surfer,” said the experience has helped her grow spiritually.

“I have no regrets for the adversity that God has allowed me to go through,” she told the audience. “I am now honored to be a role model and inspiration to many young girls throughout America and the world — ultimately, to share the hope and salvation there is in Jesus Christ.”

Hamilton said that while some might be tempted to pity her, she views the 2003 attack and its resulting impact on her life as “something beautiful.”

Read full article

Carrie Underwood: My Faith Is the Reason for My Success

Carrie Underwood is one of the world’s most successful country music artists, but she tells us that it isn’t only a result of talent and luck. Instead, she credits her strong faith and Christian upbringing for all her life’s charms.

“I grew up in church and have a wonderful family that always supported that,” Underwood told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I grew up going to church camp and reading my bible and having different faith books and movies in my life.”

The 28-year-old “American Idol” winner makes her film debut in a supporting role in the heartfelt drama “Soul Surfer." And Underwood hopes that the film will enable American audiences to see the power that faith has in the healing process.

“I hope that it is very clear that the faith in this movie is more than an undertone, and that the reason Bethany got through everything was because of her faith in God," she said.

“It’s easy to have faith when things are going great and you’re on top of the world – I’m winning, I’m selling, I’m on tour and this is all great! But this story is about having faith when the chips are down and how to deal with that. We can all learn something from Bethany’s story, even when the little things in our lives don’t go so well, we can take a lesson from her and realize how small that problem really is.”

And although the Oklahoma native embraced the new experience of working on a movie set, joining her co-stars between the waves on a surfboard was not an option.

“I enjoy being by the water, but being on the water is scary. I’m a horrible swimmer, I’m a fear of drowning kind of girl,” she explained. “But (acting) was a totally new animal for me, it was so different but everyone on the set really helped me along. They were patient and understood I had never been in a movie before and helped me through it.”

So it’s pretty safe to say this down-home girl has come a long way – but she hasn’t forgotten what started it all, and tells us she is greatly immersed in the current season of “Idol.”

‘American Idol’ is the only reason I'm in the music business, period. I had no idea how to get in any other way,” she told us.

Read more

Carrie Underwood Makes Acting Debut in 'Soul Surfer'

Carrie Underwood says she's happy with her first acting performance on the big screen. The country music star plays a small but pivotal role in the film "Soul Surfer," the inspirational tale of shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.

"I'm happy with myself for the role and for the movie," Underwood said. "Am I going to win an Oscar? No. It was so much fun and the important thing is getting the story out there."

Underwood plays youth pastor Sarah Hill, a key figure in Hamilton's life and recovery after the attack. Hamilton, then 13, lost her left arm when a 14-foot tiger shark ripped it off while she was surfing with friends in Hawaii.

Read more here.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Surfer’s Tale of Strength and Faith Portrayed in ‘Soul Surfer’

Bethany Hamilton was little known outside the competitive surfing community until a tiger shark took her arm off along the coast of Kauai when she was 13 years old.

That moment and that loss do not define Bethany Hamilton. They merely galvanize who she already was. And she doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her, because she certainly doesn’t.

“Ultimately, I hope that my struggles and what I went though can hopefully be encouraging,” says Hamilton, now 21. She’s out promoting the film Soul Surfer, based on her autobiography and starring Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany.

The movie, which opens today, captures not only that fateful shark encounter, but also her return to the ocean and the family and faith that ground her.

READ MORE.

Bible Edited Out of Film 'Soul Surfer' to Appeal to Non-Christians, Added Back In

The upcoming film “Soul Surfer,” slated for release in April, is based on the true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a 2003 shark attack, but courageously returned to her board and become a champion again months later.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the real-life Hamilton family – all devout Christians – were upset to learn that the words 'Holy Bible' were digitally removed from the cover of a Bible in a scene featuring Bethany Hamilton's father Tom reading by his ailing daughter’s hospital bedside.

An executive at Mandalay Pictures pushed to soften the Christian element of the film, presumably in an effort to appeal to non-Christian audiences. However, after the upset family complained, they were pleased to discover that the 'Holy Bible' had been reinstated in the final cut, THR reported.

“I could see the words bright and clear. I looked at my wife and whispered, ‘Thank you God, they put it back,” Tom Hamilton told THR.

Read the rest of the article.