Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Rap sensations D. J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince are famous for hits such as “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson.” But fans will see another side of them when the duo sings an unusual version of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” on a Disney special.
“I’ve had people tell me I’ve got to be more focused with my career,” says Billy Wirth. “But that’s bull. I don’t want to be just one thing. I do what I want to do because I like it. And as long as I’ve got food on the table, my rent paid and a little spending money, that’s all I need right now.”
Actor Stephen Caffrey was born in Cleveland, attended high school in five different states and now divides his time between Los Angeles and New York. But ask him where home is, and he’ll say Chicago. “My father was in a business that moved him around a lot, and as a result I was often uprooted,” Caffrey said. “The longest I’ve ever been in one place was the eight years I spent in Chicago. It’s hard to describe what bouncing around from place to place is like to people who haven’t experienced it. But eventually you end up just grabbing hold of home, and for me that’s Chicago.”
Being the young, blond, beautiful daughter of the executive producer for “The Young and the Restless” isn’t enough when an actress wants a job on the CBS soap opera. It pays to beg, said former Chicagoan Lauralee Bell. The 19-year-old TV star portrays high-fashion model Cricket Blair on the daytime drama.
While many would-be actresses would jump at the chance of nabbing a three-year contract on a television soap opera, Rebecca Schaeffer passed it up. “If I give you the real reason why I didn’t take it, I’m going to sound so cocky,” Schaeffer said during a break from working on her role in “My Sister Sam,” a CBS sitcom that airs at 7:30 p.m. Mondays on
WBBM-Channel 2. “But I got offered a role on `Loving’ within a couple of months after I had moved to New York. So I thought, if I got this so quickly, I might want to hold out for something that I really wanted to do.”
A lot of people are fooled by his name. Patrick Francis Bishop sounds about as American as you can get. But the Eurasian star of “General Hospital” considers himself more Asian than Caucasian. “I think it’s the same for most kids of mixed marriages,” Bishop said. “If a person’s half black and half white, society tends to think of him or her as black.”
Alyssa Milano has been acting for about half of her life. When you’re 13 years old, that’s not a long time. But the young actress already has starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Gielgud. Television viewers may know her as the tomboy daughter on ABC’s popular “Who’s the Boss?” series. The sitcom, starring Tony Danza, airs at 7 p.m. Tuesdays on WLS-Channel 7.
People who recognize Courteney Cox remember her as the girl who danced with Bruce Springsteen in the “Dancing in the Dark” video. Although Cox did little more than look enthused and dance with “The Boss,” her 20 seconds of video exposure opened the door for her in Hollywood.