Raquel Houghton and Dane Cook at the premiere for 'Employee of the Month.' (photo: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com)

The Outsider

Chloe opens up about life on the wrong side of the tracks

She might be from wealthy Darien, CT, but Chloe Sevigny was no rich kid. Her father was a painter, and "we never had as much money as everybody else, so we were never members of any of the clubs or anything like that," she tells Paper magazine. She relates to her 'Big Love' character's sense of isolation. "I didn't have many girlfriends...In elementary school the girls were really nasty. They would say, 'Your mom shops at Stop & Shop because you're poor,' or 'Your dad drives a Volkswagen, you're poor.' I remember from day one not buying that and not being part of the clique." Instead she took to her brother's punk rock friends. "All his friends and girlfriends had blue hair. They were different than the field hockey girls." (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

[Paper Magazine]

Andre 3000 Seeks Women with Attitude

Outkast's Andre Benjamin tells Cosmopolitan magazine he prefers women with a good attitude. "Being attractive is cool but you've gotta have a sexy personality. I like all shapes and sizes, it's more in the attitude." So it makes sense that the star of 'Idlewild' recently blew a scene on the set of 'Revolver' when director Guy Ritchie's wife, Madonna, dropped in for a visit. "Guy said, 'Action' and she walked in. I had to say, 'Stop, its Madonna!' She was really cool." Hard to get more 'tude then that, Andre. (photo: Rick Diamond/WireImage.com)

[PR Inside]

Emmanuelle Chriqui and Jenna Dewan at the New York premiere of 'A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints.' (photo: WireImage.com)

Well Versed

What do Cole Porter and Shakespeare have in common? Both will be having their works performed by Lauren Ambrose, Richard Benjamin, Kate Burton, and Paula Prentiss in a four-part gala for Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts on October 7.

The evening begins with cocktails and a performance of 'Love & Will,' a mixture of the Bard's poetry and prose and Cole Porter songs. Parts 3 and 4? A live auction and privately hosted dinner parties in the Berkshires. (photo: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com)

[Theater Mania]

Def Money Rap

Simmons Promotes Financial Empowerment

Last weekend at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons spoke of his concern for the financial future of today's youth. Noting the misconception that industry artists squander their money on material goods, Simmons stressed the importance of financial planning and credit stability. "They don't need to just pay attention to the bling. Rappers spending countless money are on television. But in real life, these artists are very responsible with their money." The event was a part of Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Network tour and drew some 1500 attendees. (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

[AP via Chicago Defender]

Essman's 'Better Half'

Let the games begin. Susie Essman will host a six-part reality competition for Bravo, 'Better Half,' in which the spouses or partners of two professionals compete against each other in their spouses' field of expertise. In other words, the wives of two chefs have to take over at their restaurants, say, after being trained for two days by their husband/chefs — all while being egged on by Essman. Other professions they may take on: comedian, hairstylist, party planner. Essman, who has experience playing a no-nonsense wife to Jeff Greene on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' will also tap her stand-up experience to heckle her charges. (photo: Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com)

[The Futon Critic]

Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo and Kate Winslet at the New Orleans premiere of 'All the King's Men.' (photo: Eric Charbonneau/WireImage.com)

Fear Factor

He may be simulating masturbation before 18,000 on a theater in the round, but Dane Cook used to have trouble speaking up in class. "I had a lot of phobias, I guess, when it came to looking at someone in the eye or talking at school," he told Scripps Howard news service. Sometimes he'd even break out in a sweat and couldn't find the words.

Stand-up comedy and stardom have helped the 34-year-old conquer his demons. "Fear is where the good stuff is now," he says. Still, there are some things that can stir fear in the actor's heart today. "Nothing new happening," he says. "That scares me a lot." With his first big feature film opening October 6th ('Employee of the Month' with Jessica Simpson) and six more in the pipeline, looks like Cook has nothing to fear but fear itself. (photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com)

[NorthJersey.com]

Keeping His Pants On

Acting kept Wahlberg from the clink

He's about to play a cop in Martin Scorcese's new thriller, 'The Departed,' but Mark Wahlberg was headed for the other side of the bars. "I went to jail. Three of my brothers went to jail. My sister went to jail about 50 times," he tells Scotland's Daily Record. Mr. Invincible (his football flick topped the box office for several weeks) credits his acting career with saving him from a life of crime. "Making movies is a highly regimented responsibility - never believe any of the stories about actors who are irresponsible. Just to get a film made requires a real discipline." Occasionally the father of two still longs for the days when he can let loose. "I miss being able to wake up when I want and go on stage when I want and pull down my pants when I want." (photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com)

[Monsters and Critics]

Gunns and Roses

Anna Gunn (Martha Bullock on 'Deadwood') and her husband Alastair Duncan had their second baby girl, Eila Rose, on Tuesday September 12th in Los Angeles. Eila Rose joins her older sister, Emma, age 5. Mother and baby are reportedly doing well. (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[People]

Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Longo at Fashion Week in NY. (photo: Djamilla Rosa Cochran/WireImage.com)

The Singing Detective

Clarke Peters will be trading Baltimore's Westside for London's West End this fall when he appears in the Trevor Nunn-directed production of 'Porgy and Bess.' Peters will play Porgy to Nicola Hughes' Bess. No newcomer to the stage, Peters has starred on Broadway and in the West End numerous times ('Chicago,' 'Five Guys Named Mo,' 'The Iceman Cometh,' to name a few). Catch him singing "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin," at the Savoy Theater starting October 25 on November 9. (photo: Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage.com)

[Theater Mania]

Pullo Earns His Stripes

Ray Stevenson gets roughed up on the set of Rome

Life on the set of 'Rome' isn't always a roll in the hay for Ray Stevenson, the actor who plays the "whoring and drinking" plebeian soldier, Titus Pullo. So far this year, he's fallen off his horse twice, dislocated a shoulder and burned his arm during a fight scene, he tells Australia's Moviehole from the set of season two (the first season premieres Down Under this week). "It's quite sexy, actually," he says of his burn marks. "Very Pullo. The burns actually look like sword marks. I'm telling everyone I was attacked by a tiger!" But no matter how "bruised or battered" the actor seems to get, he's still "having the time of my life." (photo: Avik Gilboa/WireImage.com)

[Moviehole]

Yo, Tony! Happy B-Day!

Gandolfini turns 45

September has kept the Sopranos star busy, busy, busy. Last week, he was at the Toronto International Film Festival for the world premiere of 'All the King's Men' with fellow stars Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson and Anthony Hopkins. The film, directed by Steven Zaillian, is adapted from Robert Penn Warren's 1946 classic novel based on the rise and fall of Louisiana's infamous political boss Huey Long.

Today, of course, is Gandolfini's birthday and we hope he's having a good one.

Then next Monday, September 25, the New York Times reports, he will attend The Metropolitan Opera's opening night gala for Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly' — presumably not in his role as lead Soprano. (photo: George Pimentel/WireImage.com)

[ITV News]

[The AP via Yahoo! News]

[The New York Times]

Petra Nemcova, Russell Simmons and Carmen Electra celebrate the launch of the Gap's "Individual" portrait collection. (photo: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com)

Mystery Dad

Grenier's search for the father he never knew

Growing up, Adrian Grenier had a big question to solve: he didn't know who his father was. At 23, he set out to find him, and made a documentary about it along the way. His emotional journey, 'Shot in the Dark,' unspooled over the weekend at the Toronto film festival and Grenier hopes it will help others on similar quests. "I'm sort of a vehicle for a story...I allowed myself to be vulnerable so that people might feel more comfortable or might discover things about their own history and family," he told Reuters. In the doc, Grenier interviews family members who provide differing accounts as to how his mother and father broke up. (They had met at a commune in the seventies, but never married.)

The film captures his awkward first meeting with his dad, as well as some of their time spent getting to know each other — playing guitar, shooting pool, boating. And while the pair haven't "suddenly closed the gap of so many lost years," they do see each other once or twice a year. (photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com)

[Reuters]

Fashion Weak

Why Sarah Jessica Parker is skipping the fall shows

It may be fashion week in New York, where Sarah Jessica Parker was once a regular (and Carrie Bradshaw made a most memorable debut), but this year the actress has no time for the runways. "My son starts school this week and I have to take him every day," Parker told Reuters in an interview. Plus, hubby Matthew Broderick broke his collarbone during a recent family vacation in Ireland and he's down to one arm, leaving one less helping hand to get their son dressed and out the door in the morning. "So I have a great excuse not to attend any fashion shows," she says. (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[Reuters via Washington Post]

Two Stand-Up Guys

Jeff Garlin shoots John Waters

"This Filthy World," the 90-minute performance documentary directed by Jeff Garlin premiered to positive reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film showcases John Waters' standup/nightclub act in which he weaves zany autobiographical tales and observations. As Rotten Tomatoes reports, "Waters indeed runs through his entire filmic career (from 1964's 'Hag in a Black Leather Jacket' on), shares his early influences (vaudeville, B-movie gimmick king William Castle, the Wicked Witch of the West), and touches on the politics of drugs, censorship, and sexuality."

Of his 40 + years making films, Waters told the London Free Press, "It's lasted because I never make movies about things I hate. I learned long ago from the yuppies that you can use humour as terrorism." (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

[London Free Press]

[Rotten Tomatoes]