Issue Date: December 22, 2002
How old is Dakota Fanning, who stole last year's movie "l Am Sam" from Sean Penn? She's the most charismatic child actor I've seen in a long time.
Mary Connolly, Detroit
Indeed. A very precocious 8, Dakota, who was in Steven Spielberg's alien miniseries, "Taken", this month on SciFi, already has the respect of her acting peers; last spring, she was the youngest performer ever nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award. She's smart (she was reading at 2), polite and can act (to make herself cry, she thinks of her goldfish that died), so it's no surprise directors see her as a true peach (she is Georgia-born and -bred). She's now filming next Thanksgiving's guaranteed hit "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat", starring Mike Myers as the cat. She also has another comedy due in 2003: "Molly Gunn", with Brittany Murphy.
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"Gangs of New York" star Cameron Diaz is sharing her life philosophy. "I don't believe in making mistakes," says the 30-year-old model-turned-actress, who has had a career of highs ("The Mask", "There's Something About Mary", "Charlie's Angels") and lows ("The Sweetest Thing"). By that, she means: "Everything you do is for a reason. You get something out of it. You have to take advantage of all opportunities in life. When you're old, they say, your regrets aren't what you did, but what you didn't do." Here's one thing she won't do -- talk about her potential for an Oscar nomination for "Gangs". "It doesn't enter into my thinking," she claims. "It's weird."
Does "Wheel of Fortune" letter-turner Vanna White take her children on the show's road trips? Is there a new man in her life since her recent divorce from her restaurateur husband?
Marge Vignoni, St. Augustine, Fla.
"There's not much to say" about men, White, 45, tells us. She's busy doing the same things many of her fans do: "car pooling, [going] to my kids' ball games and art classes." She won't take Nicholas, 8, and Giovanna, 5, out of school to travel, so they come along only if "Wheel" hits the road during a vacation or other break. At home in L.A., she takes the kids to school, then spends about an hour on a treadmill or spinning. "I'm addicted to my workout routine," she says, accounting for her still-svelte figure 20 years after "Wheel" began.
To whom is the great actor Christopher Walken married?
Kathleen O'Neal, Chicago
Walken, 59, and Emmy-winning casting director Georgianne Walken ("The Sopranos") have an unusual showbiz marriage: It's still strong after 33 years. They met in a touring production of "West Side Story" and have made a life together in New York, where Christopher studied at the Professional Children's School. Onscreen now in "Catch Me If You Can", he still loves to dance -- watch him in Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" video.
Does "Saturday Night Live"'s Jimmy Fallon have a significant other? How much longer will he stay with "SNL"?
Renee Kirkpatrick, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
He has been linked on and off to Winona Ryder, but they insist they're just friends, and he was nowhere in sight during her shoplifting trial. Plus, he took fashion designer Tara Subkoff to fall's Emmy ceremony. And you aren't the only one raising questions about how much longer the sexy goofball, who has had quite a year -- what with hosting the MTV Video Music Awards and releasing his own music-and-stand-up CD, "The Bathroom Wall" -- will stay with the show. It may not be long. Now in his fifth season, Fallon's rising star power has landed him a lead in 2003's Woody Allen movie, "Anything Else", and in the film version of Steve Martin's novella "Shopgirl" with Claire Danes.
Who was Reese Witherspoon's husband in "Sweet Home Alabama"? They had great chemistry.
Shea Kelly, Camp Hill, Ala.
He's very hot up-and-comer Josh Lucas, 30, a Matthew McConaughey look-alike who reacquainted himself with his Southern roots (he was born in Arkansas) while making the movie. That chemistry, he told reporters, was just the result of two "extremely driven professionals" whose job it was "to create atmosphere." Witherspoon, you'll recall, is married to actor Ryan Phillippe.
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BIRTHDAYS
December 22: Ralph Fiennes, 40; Diane Sawyer, 57
December 23: Susan Lucci, 56
December 24: Ricky Martin, 31; Mary Higgins Clark, 75
December 25: Annie Lennox, 48; Sissy Spacek, 53; Barbara Mandrell, 54; Jimmy Buffett, 56
December 26: Jared Leto, 31; John Walsh, 57
December 27: Joanie Laurer, 33; Cokie Roberts, 59
December 28: Denzel Washington, 48
With: Frappa Stout. Contributing: Bridget Byrne, Nancy Mills, Evelyn Poitevent.
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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