Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Broadway star Megan Hilty won rave reviews for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in “Wicked” and was nominated for a Tony Award for her characterization of Brooke Ashton in “Noises Off.” Her latest projects include a holiday CD, “A Merry Little Christmas,” and a co-starring role in the Warren Beatty film, “Rules Don’t Apply.”
Blogger Karen Alpert details the day-to-day humor (and struggles) of raising young children on her Baby Sideburns website. For instance, her son got a painful ear infection during a recent family getaway, “because when you pay thousands and thousands of dollars for a vacation, it’s mandatory that one of your rugrats gets sick.”
“Impastor” actor Michael Rosenbaum says, “I always remember going to New York for the holidays with the family. It was always hell, but there were a lot of good times. Just waking up at my grandmother Ruthy’s house in Long Island on Christmas morning and driving into a rarely empty Manhattan was pretty memorable. There’s nothing like New York during Christmastime — ice-skating, Central Park, hot chocolate, Macy’s, FAO Schwarz. I bought a fake Rolex on the street. It didn’t work then and it doesn’t now.”
Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Dontari Poe loves football almost as much as he enjoys helping children. His Poe Man’s Dream Foundation started off with an annual free football camp for kids in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. It has since grown into a program for children in Memphis and Kansas City, Mo., where they are given support with tech events and a three-month program called Dream Big Build Strong. “That program teaches them about healthy living and eating, and provides additional educational support,” says Poe.
Richard Schiff says that until “West Wing,” most people couldn’t pinpoint who he was or why they recognized him. Those days have changed. In the past year alone, the Emmy Award-winning actor has worked on multiple films and television series. Schiff just ended a run as an attorney on DIRECTV’s “Rogue” and can be seen in BBC America’s “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.”
“After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a TV station in Japan raised funds to send over cherry blossom trees to Berlin,” says “Berlin Station” actress Tamlyn Tomita. “I was lucky enough to witness the first pink-and-white blossoms in Berlin and to see so many Berliners underneath the beauty of these flowers. It made me proud to view this sight as an American whose father’s parents were from Japan, a former axis country, extending a grand gesture of peace toward another former axis country and showing the world how true progress and partnership can be nurtured and sustained.”
When Randall Park was a student at UCLA, he thought about pursuing a career in academia. Thanks partially to some creative writing classes — in which he wrote a part for himself in a student production — he decided to try acting instead. After playing a governor on “Veep” and North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Un in the controversial film, “The Interview,” Park landed the role of family patriarch Louis Huang on the ABC sitcom, “Fresh Off the Boat.” The third season premiere will air on Oct. 11.
Best known as one of the most famous supermodels of the ’90s, Christy Turlington Burns is the founder of the nonprofit organization Every Mother Counts, which is dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for mothers. After experiencing childbirth complications herself, she directed the documentary, “No Woman, No Cry.”
An avid traveler, Piper Perabo credits her trips for getting her involved with the International Rescue Committee. “I was working in Istanbul and there were so many Syrian refugees there,” she says. “Until then, it hadn’t hit me how far many of them had walked with their families to try to find safety and work. That was an awakening for me.”
Though Sterling K. Brown has been acting for 15 years, he earned “overnight sensation” status with his Emmy-winning performance as Chris Darden in the FX miniseries, “The People v. O.J. Simpson.” He returns to television in the new NBC series “This Is Us,” which premieres on Sept. 20. The actor also will appear in the films “Marshall” later this year, and, in 2017, M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split.”
Traveling the world is an incredible experience, but San Francisco-based musician Frances England says that there’s also adventure to be found in your own backyard. On her latest CD “Explorer of the World,” the songwriter features songs that include snippets of sounds she recorded when she took walks around her local neighborhoods.
After playing a lycanthrope on “True Blood,” Kelly Overton gets to hunt vampires in the title role of the new Syfy series, “Van Helsing” (which premiers on September 23). Based out of Pasadena, Calif., the actress has also started a jewelry brand called Benevolence LA, where the proceeds go toward charitable causes worldwide.
After spending much of her teenage years working on radio, La La Anthony, in her early 20s, became one of MTV’s veejays, interviewing celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie. She would go on to write a best-selling book (“The Power Playbook”) and have roles in films (“Two Can Play That Game,” “Baggage Claim,” “You Got Served”). Her latest role is on the Starz series, “Power.”
George Foreman has many impressive achievements on his resume — world heavyweight boxing champion, gold medalist at the 1968 Olympic Games and entrepreneur (more than 100 million units of his George Foreman grills have sold worldwide). Now the fan favorite is starring in NBC’s new reality series, “Better Late Than Never,” which is a remake of the Korean series, “Grandpas Over Flowers.” Along with Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and Jeff Dye, Foreman travels the world in the fish-out-of-water concept.
After college, “The Devil Wears Prada” author Lauren Weisberger backpacked around various parts of the world, including Europe, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Thailand, India, Nepal and Hong Kong.
Actor, writer and comedian Marc Maron loves to travel, which is fortunate since he is on the road so much for work. “I don’t get to clubs to hear music as much as I’d like,” says Maron, 52. “But if I have time, I go, because I really do enjoy it. I once got to Ireland a day early and Richard Thompson was playing. I had just had him on my podcast, so it was a fun coincidence. It was pretty exciting to watch him perform, even though I was getting just through my jet-lag.”
The son of a nuclear engineer and a nurse, swimming champion Nathan Adrian grew up in the Seattle area. At five, he began swimming to keep up with his older siblings. Rio marks the third Olympic Games for the 27-year-old champ. Having already won four Olympic medals (three gold and a silver), he is looking forward to helping the United States win a few more.
Becky Sauerbrunn is the co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, which will be competing next month at the Olympics. Asked if she would squeeze in any sightseeing, she said, “There won’t be a lot of time! We play in stadiums all around Brazil and won’t be in Rio until the end of the tournament, if all goes well. If I have some time, however, I would like to see the National Library of Brazil. It’s one of the largest libraries in the world.”
Tyler Hoechlin has played a lycanthrope (“Teen Wolf”) and will portray an author in the upcoming “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequels (“Fifty Shades Darker,” “Fifty Shades Freed”). And later this year, he will appear as Superman in the series, “Supergirl.” But in his latest film, “Everybody Wants Some!!” (now available on DVD and Blu-ray), Hoechlin played a part he knows well: a college baseball player. He played infield at the University of California at Irvine.
Born in Lake Forest, Ill., to Dutch parents, 6-foot-8 inch Matt Grevers swam for Northwestern University and went on to win gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).