In this article: Birthdays Last week's Who's News

Scott Goodwin, Fremont, Calif.

No, but today's hottest stars don't have an Oscar on their mantel yet. Davis does, for her supporting role in 1988's The Accidental Tourist. Producer Gil Gates wanted a star with elegance and cachet to host this new part of ABC's Oscar night coverage, and he considered Davis, 43, an obvious choice. Because the Academy Awards show is on Sunday this year (for most of its 70 years it was Monday), everything starts earlier. Davis goes on at 8 p.m. ET, with exclusive rights to the biggest stars' arrivals; the awards ceremony starts at 8:30. Of course, it wouldn't be Oscar night without Barbara Walters. Her hour-long special airs at 7.

New baseball legend Mark McGwire may be the most eligible bachelor in all sports today. That is, if he's still single. I know he's divorced but have read that he may have a girlfriend.

Vivian Brown, New York City

The handsome home-run hitter, 35, now in Jupiter, Fla., for spring training, remains unattached, which he takes in good humor. At a recent St. Louis banquet, a male fan shouted to the hometown hero, "We love you, Mark!" McGwire, who has an 11-year-old son and is friends with his ex-wife, quipped, "Too bad you're not a woman!" Not that he doesn't get enough flowers, pictures and mash notes from women who see his mix of confidence and vulnerability as sexy. It's just that he's most likely to dismiss them all as too good to be true.

What ever happened to the talented young man who was so powerful in Steven Spielberg's little-seen "Amistad"?

Bill Carr, Goldsboro, N.C.

Djimon Hounsou, 34, a native of Benin, has had a recurring role on ER as a maintenance worker who's been the victim of political torture. The last show he appears in airs April 29; he taped it in February and then went to London to work on the drama Gladiators. There aren't many stories like Hounsou's: Little more than a decade ago, he was homeless on the streets of Paris. "He's charming and smart and attractive and appealing," onscreen and off, says ER casting director John Levey. When he's in the room, "you just can't look at anyone else."

During "Ally McBeal"'s first season, I tuned in to see Courtney Thorne-Smith, who plays Georgia. This year, newcomer Portia de Rossi (Nelle) is riveting. Where have I seen her before?

Grey McGlasson, Alta Loma, Calif.

You can't tell it by her character's velvety voice and American accent, but de Rossi, 24, is Australian. She's plenty qualified to play a lawyer on TV; oddly enough, she was enrolled in law school in her homeland when a local film producer asked her to audition for Sirens, the 1994 movie also starring fellow Aussie Elle McPherson. Or maybe you caught her in Scream 2. She lives in Los Angeles now but misses friends and family at home and gets Down Under when she can.

British actor Colin Firth was delicious as Gwyneth Paltrow's dastardly fiancé in "Shakespeare in Love." Is he married in real life?

Betty Stough, Cincinnati

Firth, 38, first won hearts in the TV miniseries Pride and Prejudice. He married actress Livia Guiggioli, 28, in Tuscany in 1997. Marriage, he says, is a "stable point of reference from which you can face a lot of other things more courageously." Their time is split between London and Rome, with many visits to L.A. to see Firth's son, Will, 7, who lives with his mother, Firth's ex-companion Meg Tilly.

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