Issue Date: September 15, 2002
I'm curious about Kristin Kreuk, the beautiful star of the WB's "Smallville". How did she get her start in showbiz?
Matt Harrison, Celeste, Texas
The 19-year-old Canadian, who loves hip-hop, swears she's never been drunk and until recently lived with her parents, was filling out college applications just two years ago. The half-Chinese, half-Dutch beauty planned to study environmental science until a drama teacher urged her to audition for a Canadian TV drama and she walked out with a part. Soon Kreuk (rhymes with "Luke") landed the lead in ABC's "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All", which aired in March, plus the part of Lana Lang -- the teen Superman's love interest -- on "Smallville", back for a second season Sept. 24.
Go to top
Documentarian Rory Kennedy is a lot like her dad, Robert F. Kennedy. Choosing to focus her cameras on social issues such as AIDS (her "Pandemic: Facing AIDS" is to air on HBO next spring), Kennedy, the youngest of RFK's 11 children, says her work is her way of comprehending and helping to change the world. One would expect no less lofty ambition from a young Kennedy. Born six months after her father's assassination in 1968, the 33-year-old filmmaker, whose cousin John Kennedy Jr. was killed while flying to her wedding in 1999, is expecting her first child, a girl, in October. She leaves political office to her eldest sister and cousins but sees similarities in her film work. "When you're making social-issue documentaries, what you're really doing is trying to understand what's going on. Then you can communicate."
Doesn't Monaco's ailing Prince Rainier have a sister who might be in line to reign over the principality when he dies?
Gale Fuentes, San Rafael, Calif.
Rainier, 79 and on the throne for 53 years, has a sister, Antoinette, 81, but she's 10th in the line of succession. First, of course, is Prince Albert, 44, Rainier's only son with Princess Grace. Monaco's constitution, which had restricted ascension to a monarch's children, was amended last April to allow a reigning prince who has no children to pass power to his siblings. Albert is single and childless, so the law means Rainier may give the throne to Albert without worries about an heir. Princess Caroline would succeed Albert if he remained childless, followed by her four kids, then Princess Stephanie and her children.
Go to top
When a high school counselor doubted Penny Johnson Jerald's chances of getting into Juilliard, she decided to prove him wrong. The classical training she got at the prestigious arts college and the determination it took to get it may be why 24's Jerald has a long list of TV and film credits. Called magnificent and forceful by reviewers as a guest player on the Fox drama, Jerald's a regular this fall -- and married (still?) to the president at that. (The show fast-forwards a year to a new 24 hours, with fictional candidate David Palmer now in the White House.) Jerald tells us she enjoys comparisons to Lady Macbeth or Hillary Clinton, who "stood by her man [and now] is a senator. She got what she wanted." Offscreen, Jerald, in her 40s, runs a production company with her husband, teaches acting workshops and directs a Christian theater company she founded.
What's next for actress Gillian Anderson now that "The X-Files" is over?
J.C. Gessert, Denver
She might be expected to take some well-deserved time off, but instead she'll be seen in London's West End theater district come November in a drama by Michael Weller, "What the Night Is For". Anderson, 34, reportedly purchased a four-bedroom flat in the city and has moved in with her 7-year-old daughter, Piper.
I'm impressed with BET's terrific interviewer Ed Gordon and would like to know more about him.
Evelyn Riddick, Hartford, Conn.
The 6-foot-2, 42-year-old newsman was once the hottest guy on TV, wooed by the big networks after his exclusive post-acquittal interview with O.J. Simpson in 1996. He signed up with NBC, which failed to make him a star, then two years ago returned to BET, where he does the stories he wants. A Detroit native and an avid music collector, Gordon lives in New Jersey with wife Karen Haney and their daughter, Taylor, 8, with whom he spends as much time as possible. "She's my boss," he quips.
Go to top
Thanks to the many who passionately took issue with my assertion, in our Aug. 9-11 issue, that Sarah Hughes' Olympic gold medal-winning performance in Salt Lake City was not a fluke. My e-mail box was flooded with opinions like these:
Michelle Kwan [right] is by far the better-loved skater, and her receptions at "Champions on Ice" events proves that.
Betty Gatlin, Estero, Fla.
Yes, it was a fluke that [Hughes] won the gold medal. She is nowhere near the caliber of Michelle Kwan.
Lorraine Riddell, Alexandria, Va.
[You] insinuated Sarah has replaced Michelle as the new queen of the ice. That's hardly the case. I adore Sarah and thinks she's a great skater. However, she's not the best. Michelle is.
Frederick Tse, Vancouver, British Columbia
You were right on. Don't pay any attention to [Kwan fans], as they are not in any kind of reality.
Lynn Ferrell, Philadelphia
Go to top
BIRTHDAYS
September 15: Prince Harry, 18; Tommy Lee Jones, 56; Oliver Stone, 56
September 16: Marc Anthony, 33; David Copperfield, 46; B.B. King, 77; Lauren Bacall, 78
September 17: John Ritter, 54
September 18: Lance Armstrong, 31; Jada Pinkett Smith, 31; James Gandolfini, 41
September 19: Jimmy Fallon, 28; Trisha Yearwood, 38; Adam West, 73
September 20: Sophia Loren, 68
September 21: Ricki Lake, 34; Faith Hill, 35; David James Elliott, 42; Bill Murray, 52; Stephen King, 55
With Frappa Stout. Contributing: Tameka Hicks, Bart Mills, Evelyn Poitevent, Patty Rhule
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
|
