In this article: Jennifer Esposito Amy Carlson Birthdays Also: Lindsay Lohan Interview and Photo Gallery Last week's Who's News Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!

Would it be fair to call Nicole Kidman the hardest-working woman in Hollywood?
Steven Hall, Asheville, N.C.

Totally fair. She's made 11 movies in the four years since "Moulin Rouge," including "The Interpreter," out now, and "Bewitched," due June 24. She has another six films in various states of production.

Was that Melissa Etheridge's girlfriend playing the nanny in the short-lived NBC comedy "Committed?"
Peggy Taylor, Frankfort, Ind.

Yes, that was Tammy Lynn Michaels, who was a real-life nanny when she landed in New York from Lafayette, Ind., years ago. Now 30, she has two stepkids with partner Etheridge; she hopes to have a baby of her own, too. Michaels tells us her career is "about priority No. 4," but she will keep working so Etheridge, 44, who is doing well after breast cancer treatment, can stay home: "She's been [working and] supporting people since she was 12. Nobody has given her a break."

Will Joss Whedon, who created the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" TV series, write a reunion show? Is he writing something new?
Diane Wright, Taylor, Mich.

Whedon, 40, says if he goes back to "Angel" or "Buffy" it will be through "Willow or Faith, or another character that has great resonance with fans." He's now getting "Serenity," his first movie as a director, ready for fall release. It's based on his former series "Firefly:" "I refused to let it die." Plus, he is percolating ideas for "about 30 things -- TV series, books, comic books. That's why I take pills to sleep."

Jennifer Esposito wants to make films that make people think, like her latest, "Crash." She also wants to get back to TV like "Spin City," the sitcom she unwisely left before the end of its run. "You never know what you have until you don't have it anymore," says Esposito, 32. Luckily for her, the WB bought her new show, "Related," a comedic drama about four Italian sisters living in New York. Esposito, who's Italian, says: "I make a great sauce. I know how Italian stereotype that sounds, but it's true."

As "Deadwood's" E.B. Farnum, William Sanderson plays lackey to Ian McShane's archvillain, or as Sanderson puts it: "I'm the Fool to his King Lear." He calls the HBO western "Shakespearean" but sees his own character as "just terribly misunderstood. They tell me he's a weasel, a water boy, a toady. ... But how many people see themselves as other people see them? He's a survivor." Sanderson, 57, who played Larry on "Newhart," begins work on "Deadwood's" third season in August. He lives in Burbank, Calif., with wife Sharon Wix. "She's everything to me," he says. And son Andy, 24, is "my life's blessing."

Don't make me wait all summer to find out what's going to happen on NBC's "The West Wing." Are they planning a new president? Is Martin Sheen out?
S. Simpson, Acton, Calif.

Here's the scoop from exec producer John Wells: Sheen will be back. So will the rest of the cast, if negotiations go as Wells expects. There will be a November election and January inaugural. If he were to go further, Wells says, "I'd be lying."

Where else have I seen Ron Eldard, the handsome cop on ABC's "Blind Justice?"
Po Ahnen, Glenn, Mich.

Maybe you know him from the second season of "ER," when he was Julianna Margulies' love interest, paramedic Ray "Shep" Shepherd. (He was her beau offscreen then, too.) Unfortunately, you won't see him on "Blind Justice" again: ABC canceled the show last month. Eldard, 40, who has been acting for 20 years, has a movie up next: "Freedomland" (from Richard Price's novel), due next year.

Actress Amy Carlson, formerly of NBC's "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" and "Third Watch," is a woman who knows how to take advantage of the city she inhabits. In NYC, she and fiancé Syd Butler, bassist in the indie rock band Les Savy Fav and owner of Frenchkiss Records, go see all kinds of theater. In Chicago, her hometown, she tells us, "I love to go to the beach in the summer. I love to go see the Cubs play." Carlson, 35, says she plans to visit Vietnam and Cambodia this summer. "It's a lifelong dream. I was an East Asian history major in college."

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BIRTHDAYS

June 12: George H.W. Bush, 81
June 13: Ashley Olsen, 19; Mary-Kate Olsen, 19; Jack Black, 36
June 14: Donald Trump, 59
June 15: Courteney Cox, 41; Jim Belushi, 51
June 16: Phil Mickelson, 35
June 17: Venus Williams, 25
June 18: Paul McCartney, 63

Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Kevin Maynard, Brian Truitt

Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!