I'll present a short-cut and simplified overview of current knowledge aboutbirth, evolution and end of stars.

This will span various phases from the initial fragmentation of molecular clouds in the interstellar medium, to core hydrogen fusion in normal stars followed by expansion to giants.

The last phases of the stellar existence are either violent (supernovae explosions) or quieter (planetary nebulae ejections followed by a slow thermal death): the differences between these will be illustrated.

The scope is to give an easy access even for people not familiar to astrophysics concepts.