Category: Go Away With…

Go Away With … Jason Lezak

Jae-Ha Kim

The 2012 London Olympics is the fourth Olympics in which American swimmer Jason Lezak, has competed. He swam in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay preliminaries, which helped the United States reach the finals, where they won a silver medal. While this race wasn’t quite as exciting as the same race at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 — where Lezak swam the crucial anchor leg that helped propel the U.S. to a gold medal — the California-based athlete says every competition at the Games has been memorable in its own way. Lezak, 36, spoke from London, about how swimming has given him an opportunity to see the world.

Go Away With … Candace Bushnell

Jae-Ha Kim

Candace Bushnell has a new contingent of fans, thanks to a pair of young adult novels that are prequels to her best seller “Sex and the City.” “The Carrie Diaries” and “Summer and the City” introduce readers to a teenage Carrie Bradshaw years before she became a famous Manhattan sex columnist. The CW is creating a series based on “The Carrie Diaries” that will air later this year.

Go Away With … Bruce Jenner

Jae-Ha Kim

After winning the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Bruce Jenner figured he’d be recognizable for a few years before fading out of the public’s eyes. Little did he know that three decades later, he would be instantly recognizable to a new generation of fans who knew of him not only as an Olympian, but as Kim Kardashian’s stepfather.

Go Away With … Daniel Gillies

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Canada, raised in New Zealand and now living in the United States, Daniel Gillies has roles on two current series. He co-stars as Dr. Joel Goran on “Saving Hope” and as Elijah — a character who has been killed and resurrected no less than four times — on “The Vampire Diaries.” The 36-year-old actor and his wife, actress Rachael Leigh Cook, reside in Los Angeles.

Go Away With … Kendra Wilkinson

Jae-Ha Kim

When television audiences met Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett, she was presented as one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends on “Girls Next Door.” Now married to wide receiver Hank Baskett, the 27-year-old California native is a mom, author (“Sliding into Home,” “Being Kendra”) and star of her own reality series, WE tv’s “Kendra On Top.” An avid traveler who enjoys active vacations, the TV personality says one city stands out: Seattle. “Hank proposed to me there,” she says.”Seattle will always be special to me.”

Go Away With … Craig Hurley

Jae-Ha Kim

When Craig Hurley was in his early 20s, he seemed headed for stardom. Handsome, talented and one of the stars of a heavily hyped network series, films seemed like the next natural progression. But as detailed in his no-holds-barred book “27 And All Washed Up” (available at www.craighurley.tv), that’s not how Hurley’s career turned out.

Go Away With … Chris Matthews

Jae-Ha Kim

Newsman Chris Matthews is a proponent of young folks studying overseas or taking a year off to travel before settling down in their careers. “I wanted to bop off to Europe, but I had to save money for graduate school,” says Matthews, 66. “I remember talking to the head of admissions at school about it, but he advised me to stay home and work. And that’s what I did. Taking time off seemed like such a luxury back then.”

Go Away With … Marcus Samuelsson

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden by his adoptive family, Chef Marcus Samuelsson currently resides in the United States with his wife, model Gate Maya Haile. Samuelsson, a TV personality and “Top Chef Masters” champion, runs his restaurants Red Rooster Harlem and Ginny’s Supper Club in New York and Norda in Gothenburg, Sweden. His latest project is his memoir, “Yes, Chef” (Random House, $27).

Go Away With … Chris Rock

Jae-Ha Kim

Comedian Chris Rock returns to the big screen as one of the voiceover stars of “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.” Though he’s been to Europe many times already, the 47-year-old actor has yet to visit Madagascar. “I’d love to go,” says Rock, who lives in New York with his wife and children. “Jeffrey Katzenberg (founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation) always invites me to go, but I can’t because of work or other things I have going on. One day, though. One day.”

Go Away With … Evan Morgenstein

Jae-Ha Kim

Sports agent Evan Morgenstein is used to the comparisons to Tom Cruise’s character in “Jerry Maguire.” But he says that Jeremy Pivens’ portrayal of uber-agent Ari Gold in “Entourage” was more true to life, because Gold ticked more people off. “I’m a little bit like them,” says Morgenstein, 46. “But I’m taller and have more clients.”

Go Away With … Helio Castroneves

Jae-Ha Kim

I recently did a fun interview with Helio Castroneves. I asked if he was a backseat driver, and he said, “I’m OK with being in the backseat but, yes, I can be. I’m mostly concerned when people try to show off. That’s when I get a little uncomfortable. People don’t realize that with ordinary cars, you can’t go fast like you can in a racecar and still be safe.”

Go Away With … Noah Bean

Jae-Ha Kim

Actor Noah Bean advises travelers to always know the route they’re traveling. Case in point: “When I was in college, a friend and I were bumming around Europe on a Eurorail pass. We were traveling overnight by train from Budapest to Venice. The conductor looked at our tickets, then looked at us and said, “Problem.” What happened was that we had left the European Union and gone into a place where our pass wasn’t valid … and they were ready to dump us off the train.”

Go Away With … Masaharu Morimoto

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Masaharu Morimoto is recognizable to “Iron Chef” fans as the serious chef who consistently creates artistic and delicious Asian fusion dishes. A star of the Japanese cooking competition that spawned “Iron Chef America,” Morimoto has been a dominant presence on both shows. The 56-year-old chef and restaurateur opened his first restaurant in Japan in 1980, before moving to the United States five years later. He owns restaurants in New York, Tokyo and Mumbai, has a line of sake and beer and is the author of “Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking.”

Go Away With … Shelina Moreda

Jae-Ha Kim

Professional motorcycle racer Shelina Moreda has always liked moving fast. She was just a toddler when she rode ATVs. She fell in love with dirt bikes at the age of 12. Her mother and father — who raced cars and dirt bikes himself — were supportive when she announced her career choice. Moreda, now 27, lives in Petaluma, Calif., one of just three women to race in the AMA Pro Road Racing National Series.

Go Away With … Chynna Phillips

Jae-Ha Kim

A resident of Santa Barbara, Calif., Chynna Phillips competed last year on “Dancing with the Stars.” She has also released music as part of the Christian pop duo Chynna and Vaughan and does charitable work for organizations such as the Los Angelitos Orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. An accomplished cook who enjoys preparing meals for her children and her husband William Baldwin — even when they’re traveling — Phillips says she doesn’t like to admit she’s 44 years old because “I’m still 21 at heart.”

Go Away With … Billy Campbell

Jae-Ha Kim

Billy Campbell stars as Darren Richmond on the AMC series “The Killing.” Born in Charlottesville, Va., the actor resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, and says he loves exploring Canada. “I go out to Vancouver Island, rent a cabin in Ucluelet, surf all day, then have dinner and a glass of wine by the fireplace in the big room at the Long Beach Lodge,” he says. “Vancouver is the city of my dreams. And at 52, I’m young enough to enjoy the outdoors, but old enough to enjoy me.” Campbell also has roles in the upcoming films “Fat Kid Rules the World” and “The Disappeared.”

Go Away With … Megalyn Echikunwoke

Jae-Ha Kim

Megalyn Echikunwoke lives in Venice Beach, Calif. — a long way from the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Ariz., where she grew up. “There really is nothing like it,” says the actress, whose resume includes TV roles on “House of Lies,” “24” and “CSI: Miami.” She’ll appear next in the feature film “Damsels in Distress.” One of the things she loves about her job is getting to explore the world. “I’ve been lucky to usually have downtime whenever I travel for work,” says Echikunwoke, whose father is Nigerian. “I make it my job to find the best, most interesting locals only-type things the city has to offer.”

Go Away With … Katie Barberi

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Mexico and raised in the United States, actress-singer Katie Barberi fondly recalls a childhood where her family moved to dozens of cities in both countries to accommodate her parents’ careers. “I loved it,” says Barberi, 40. “I’m sure my love of travel is tied to all the different places we lived.”

Go Away With … Samuel Park

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Sao Paulo to Korean parents, author Samuel Park is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. “I left Brazil at age 14 (for Los Angeles), so my Portuguese is pretty fluent, even though I don’t have any Portuguese-speaking friends,” says Park, 36. “But I watch Brazilian soaps obsessively every day! So I can understand the language as well as I did 20 years ago. My Korean, incidentally, is quite weak, and much worse than my Portuguese.”