Issue Date: October 7, 2007
Celeb gossip on your cellphone
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Q: Wentworth Miller is so handsome. Is it true that he is of African heritage?
Mary Ann Morris, Las Cruces, N.M.
Yes. Miller, 35, says his black-white racial heritage is as much a non-issue in his life as it is in the life of his "Prison Break" character: "For me, being a mixture has always been a normal thing." Miller is perfect casting as the cerebral Michael Scofield: He wrote a senior thesis at Princeton on doubling and gender identity in Jane Eyre. He worries that Michael may be "going over to the dark side" this season. During his hiatus from the show, Miller didn't have any commitments. "I had two months off, and I kept busy changing the oil in my car and keeping doctor's appointments."
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Q: I enjoy the Geico cave man commercials. What do you think of the new TV series?
Joan Wessman, Durango, Colo.
I think it's terrible. If ABC's "Cavemen" (which at press time was to premiere Oct. 2) gets a second outing, I'll be surprised. The idea works for 30-second commercials but not for 30-minute sitcoms. Don't waste your time.
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He got a personal party invitation from Fergie, opened for Beyonce (who's also a fan) and had arguably the song of the summer. It has been a year to remember for 17-year-old, baby-faced Jamaican pop star Sean Kingston. Too bad he hasn't actually had the time to celebrate it. "When I do have fun, I'm gonna do it big," Kingston says. His track "Beautiful Girls" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks straight. Its appeal? A sample from Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and a definite old-school flavor. "I was a huge fan of the song, and I was a huge fan of Ben E. King, so I had to do that," says the teen, who joins Gwen Stefani on tour later this month in Las Vegas. "But what really does doo-wop for me is the beat and the vibe. It's feel-good, and that's the type of music that I make: feel-good music."
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Evan Rachel Wood, who played daughter Jessie in the ABC series "Once and Again," has played other anguished teens so believably that she is the go-to actress for, as she puts it, "all troubled girl scripts." And she says yes because "most girls are troubled. I wouldn't want to play someone not troubled. I like doing things nobody has seen before -- pushing boundaries." Wood, 20, lightens up a little in two new films. She is Michael Douglas' daughter in "King of California." "We're like father/daughter goonies. He has a mental illness, and I have to take care of him." In the musical "Across the Universe," she sings nine Beatles songs -- four solo. "This was the part I said I'd fight to the death for," Wood says. "I never sweat, and I had a layer of sweat on my back by the time I was done auditioning."
Q: When "The Price Is Right" returns, will "Barker's Beauties" be on deck, or will there be a new cast with host Drew Carey?
Walter M. Gilday, Stoughton, Mass.
The "Beauties" will be back. When "The Price Is Right" returns for the start of its 36th season, the only fresh face you'll see is that of the affable new host, Carey. Fans of the game show always have referred to the models as "Barker's Beauties," but they're officially called "The Price Is Right Models." Fans will have to come up with a new nickname for them. "Carey's Cuties," perhaps?
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To Paul Vogt, playing "Hairspray" hausfrau Edna Turnblad on Broadway was just a matter of time. "I always tell people that when you're a big guy in comedy, you're going to wear a dress," he says, laughing. But the "Mad TV" alum is no stranger to his feminine side. He has played a stepsister in "Cinderella" and perfected Mrs. Garrett, a character from "The Facts of Life," for NBC's "The Rerun Show." Off stage, Vogt, 42, gets to be a guy again in the comedy "Blonde Ambition," with Jessica Simpson. "I did do a couple of scenes with her, and they wanted me to improvise a lot, and she was just game for whatever," he says. "I had to literally, like, pull her up off the couch and do all this goofy stuff with her, and she let me do whatever I needed to. So she was very cool about that."
Q: What happened to first twins Jenna and Barbara Bush? We don't hear much about them.
Barbara Donaldson, Tallahassee, Fla.
Jenna, 25, has a book out now, "Ana's Story," based on her experience as a UNICEF intern in Latin America. She also is engaged to longtime boyfriend Henry Hager (yes, he's from good Republican stock). Because Jenna's engagement was announced by the White House, there's speculation that she will marry there. Barbara lives in NYC and works at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Q: What has Mikhail Baryshnikov been doing? Where does he live?
Ann Bayner, Aurora, Colo.
He lives outside New York City, but he runs his dance foundation and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in the city. Last summer, he toured with a dance ensemble. In spring, he released a children's book, "Because," about an eccentric grandmother who's light on her toes. This winter, Baryshnikov, 59, returns to the stage in four one-act plays. Alas, there's still no word on whether he'll be in the "Sex and the City" movie.
BIRTHDAYS
October 7 Simon Cowell 48; John Mellencamp 56.
October 8 Matt Damon 37; Emily Procter 39; Sigourney Weaver 58; Jesse Jackson 66.
October 9 Sean Lennon 32; Tony Shalhoub 54.
October 10 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 33; Mario Lopez 34; Brett Favre 38.
October 11 Joan Cusack 45; David Morse 54.
October 12 Marion Jones, 32; Kirk Cameron, 37;
Hugh Jackman, 39.
October 13 Ashanti, 27; Kate Walsh, 40; Kelly Preston, 45.
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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