Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Christopher Gorham has a good theory about stardom: “When people ask me, ‘Are you famous?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I guess, no.” The 36-year-old California-based actor is shooting the second season of the spy series “Covert Affairs,” which airs on the USA Network. He portrays a former CIA operative named Auggie, who was blinded during a mission.
Diana Nyad is back in the news. In the next few weeks, the swimming legend is going to attempt a 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida — a feat she failed to accomplish in 1978 when she was in her late 20s. When Nyad turned 60, she began thinking about the swim that eluded her.
Landon Donovan is the face of American soccer. An all-time leader in scoring and assists for the U.S. National Soccer team, which currently is competing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the 29 year old is also a star player for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Donovan, who is based out of Southern California, is a four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year.
People know who Bobby Flay is because he is everywhere. The celebrity restaurateur (Mesa Grill) is the Food Network’s face of grilling, an Iron Chef and host of the network’s biggest show “Food Network Star,” which premieres this season on Sunday, June 5. Though Flay loves traveling overseas, the 46-year-old culinary artist says if he were forced to pick between visiting domestic or international locales, he’d pick the United States.
“Some people are surprised that I speak English and assume that I must be a foreigner,” says Gbenga Akinnagbe, 32, a Brooklyn resident. “When I was younger, my mother wanted me to change it because she worried that I wouldn’t be able to find employment. There was a time I wanted to change my name and I was ashamed of it and I’d have people call me DJ. But I do love it now.”
Eden Sher does such a good job portraying Patricia Heaton’s awkward teenage daughter Sue Heck on the ABC series “The Middle” that people often don’t recognize her in public. “That’s good, right?” says the 19-year-old actress. “On a good day, I probably look about 16, but when the makeup and wardrobe folks are done with me, I probably look about 13.”
On his latest project “Sinbad: It’s Just Family,” the comedian takes a stab at reality television. The 54-year-old actor let the WE tv cameras into his home to tape the reality of life in his household. The stars of the show also include his wife Meredith Fuller (whom he divorced and remarried) and their two grown children.
I feel a surge of gratitude when I look in on my children fast asleep. Penny, with her arms splayed, as if to embrace the universe … William, curled on his side and cuddling his giraffes … Marilee, swaddled tight with only her round face in view … And yet learning how to care for them comes when they are not nearly so adorable. It comes when I am willing to offer myself as a calming presence, willing to sing one more lullaby or change one more diaper or kiss a forehead one more time. Love is not an emotion so much as it is a series of actions.
With multiple best-selling books under the belt, Kyung-sook Shin has rock star status in her native South Korea. Now the 48-year-old author is ready to enter the international market with her latest book, “Please Look After Mom” (Knopf, $24.95). The touching novel — about a family that doesn’t appreciate their mother until after she has mysteriously disappeared — sold more than a million copies in Korea. It has since been released in more than 20 countries and debuted May 1 at number 14 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Every now and then, I get an e-mail that I like to share with my readers. This is actually a letter from a reader who doesn’t like my work. And who said as much in an e-mail to one of the travel editors who runs my syndicated column. I’ve changed the names because it seems the right thing to do.
The customer is always right, especially on eBay. Thanks to eBay’s desire to attract more buyers, it’s become a perfect way for dishonest buyers to order an item, claim they never received it, complain to eBay and have the online company mediate between the buyer and the seller. And guess what? The buyer almost always wins.
Raymond J. Barry has one of those faces that people recognize. It’s the name that sometimes draws a blank. “I was shooting a movie in Spokane, Wash., and a woman came up to me and asked if I was her favorite father from ‘Justified,’” says the 72-year-old actor, laughing. “That’s not atypical. I was doing theater in my 20s and 30s and didn’t start making movies or acting on TV until I was 44. And I’m a character actor. But I’m very grateful. It’s a nice way to make a living and I don’t have to deal with some of the craziness that the younger actors do.”
When author Dan Brown visited Rosslyn Chapel four years ago, the small working church wasn’t on any tourist maps. Though located just seven miles south of Edinburgh, Rosslyn didn’t have the same cachet, as say, the more famous and majestic Edinburgh Castle. But thanks to Brown’s international bestseller, “The Da Vinci Code” — in which Rosslyn is prominently featured — the little chapel that no one expected to become a tourist attraction has become one of the country’s most coveted sites.
Claire Forlani played Sean Connery’s daughter in “The Rock,” was Brad Pitt’s love interest in “Meet Joe Black” and starred opposite Gary Sinise in “CSI: New York.” On the new Starz series “Camelot,” the 38-year-old actress reigns supreme as the beautiful and complicated Queen Igraine.
Born in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, to Chinese parents, Harry Shum Jr. was once best known for his dancing in films such as “You Got Served,” “Stomp the Yard” and the “Step Up” films. But, today, “gleeks” worldwide know him as dreamy high school student Mike Chang on Fox TV’s hit show “Glee.”
When Tony Hawk started skateboarding, he never dreamed that the sport would grow to what it is today — or that his name would become synonymous with skateboarding to so many people around the world. “I just always loved it and still have such a passion for it,” says the laid-back 42-year-old champ.
Many people know that Natalie Coughlin is a world champion swimmer. She has won 11 Olympic medals, three of them gold, and made history in the 2008 Summer Olympics when she became the first American female athlete in Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics.
Our room at the Muse was small, but chic, and incredibly comfortable. There was one king-sized bed and a leopard-print divan, where our pint-sized two-year-old took naps.
Way back before I was married and had a baby, a New York friend asked me why anyone would want to go to the Wisconsin Dells. Oh, I don’t know, because it’s awesome? Say what you will about the Dells being a cliché or a haven for the overfed. I don’t care. When it’s cold and rainy out everywhere else, nothing beats spending the weekend at a warm waterpark.
Best known for his role as coroner Dr. Albert Robbins on CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” actor Robert David Hall is also a musician. Hall’s current CD, “Things They Don’t Teach You in School,” showcases his bluegrass and rockabilly sensibilities. Hall — who had to have both his legs amputated after a car accident — has a wicked sense of humor and delights in the fact that Dr. Robbins was designated as being one of the Top 5 Cool Nerds on television.