Jamie-Lynn Sigler with Zoe Saldana, who hosted an event at Manhattan's G-spa on Wednesday. (photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage.com)

A Gentleman and a Scholar

Sacha 'Nice' Baron Cohen

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has managed to offend just about everyone in his guises as hip-hopster Ali G, the anti-Semitic Kazak reporter (and movie sensation) Borat and fashionista Bruno. But back in 2004, he told Jimmy Kimmel that fans of 'Da Ali G Show' had no idea who he was. "When the first DVD came out in England, I'd be at the stands, and the people would be buying them and have no idea that I was standing next (to them)."

So just what is Baron Cohen all about?

Well, says old friend Ricky Gervais, "He's not like what you'd expect. He's very scholarly and quiet, and serious." Molly Shannon adds that her 'Talladega Nights' co-star is "such an original talent. I was so star-struck. But he seems very normal. He's funny but kind of quiet. And he's pretty religious."

'40 Year 0ld Virgin' star Paul Rudd labels him "the greatest comedic performer on earth. There's really funny people, there's incredibly funny people, and there's him. He's got more guts and is more inventive than anyone except Peter Sellers. I think he might actually be better, because he's a very nice guy, too."

And comedian Tina Fey sums up this generation's great chameleon as simply, "Just a lovely, genteel, educated British gentleman." (photo: Richard Lewis/WireImage.com)

[The London Free Press]

Rocking the Vote

When grandmother and writer Bev Harris was curious about why the U.S. was switching to electronic voting, she started looking into the security of touch-screen voting systems. The answers she found disturbed her and are now the subject of a new HBO documentary 'Hacking Democracy,' which tracks her investigation.

TV Guide spoke to the muckraking grandmother (pictured here with doc's supervising producer John Hoffman) about what she found, and what voting reforms she'd like to see, as the founder of the watchdog group BlackBoxVoting.org. One thing she's interested in is going back to hand counting. "Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill into the U.S. Congress to have the entire presidential race counted by hand in 2008," Harris tells TV Guide. "Canada counts their federal elections by hand, and they have the results generally in about four hours, and with little controversy."

Ultimately, she wants a system that voters can trust. "The missing ingredient has been the citizens. Any system that we end up with has to be one that citizens can oversee. Anything that says, 'You don't get to look at how it works' or 'You have to trust the vendor,' doesn't really cut it. In a communist country, you have to trust the government. In a democracy, you get to check. (photo: Jason Kempin/FilmMagic.com)

[TV Guide]

[HBO.com]

Keeping up with Hines & Piven

Cheryl Hines has lost it. She plays a deranged party planner in the just released DVD, 'Keeping Up With the Steins.' Of course, you'd lose it to if your client was the alter ego of Jeremy Piven, who plays — what else — a Hollywood agent driven to outdo his rival through his son's bar mitzvah (he's booked Dodger Stadium). As the Sydney Herald calls it, Hines "fizzes with just the right degree of madness," and Piven's "barely suppressed hysteria is so at odds with his clean-cut, phlegmatic looks that you feel anything might happen." (photo: Paul Redmond/WireImage.com)

[Sydney Herald]

Freddy Rodriguez, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at The Weinstein Company's Opening Night Gala and US Premiere of Emilio Estevez's 'Bobby.' (photo: Eric Charbonneau/WireImage.com)

Big and Aidan Together Again?

It looks like Carrie's suitors have buried the hatchet. 'Sex and the City' 's John Corbett took the stage at Chris Noth's Manhattan bar The Cutting Room last night and will play there again tonight. Corbett and his eponymous John Corbett Band will play tunes from his latest CD, 'John Corbett.'

Fox news reports "The last time Corbett played, Chris Noth's club was wall-to-wall with 'Sex' fans." Tonight's show starts at 10pm. (photo: Frank Mullen/WireImage.com)

[Fox News]

[The Cutting Room]

Absolute Wilson

His work can be found across the disciplines of theater, fine art, opera, and dance, so it was not surprising that the premiere for the HBO documentary about Robert Wilson attracted an eclectic mix. Rufus Wainwright, Winona Ryder (both pictured with Wilson here), Donna Karan, composer Philip Glass, choreographer Merce Cunningham, painter David Salle, Kelly Klein and architect Richard Meier and were among the guests who caught 'Absolute Wilson.' Katharina Otto-Bernstein's doc gets inside the works of the man behind 'The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud' and 'Einstein on the Beach,' with commentary by admirers such as Susan Sontag and Tom Waits. (photo: Mychal Watts/WireImage.com)

[Hollywood Reporter]

[NY Daily News]

Backstory

'Wounded Knee' 's Adam Beach has a lot to draw from

When his pregnant mother died after being hit by a car and his father drowned two months later, an eight-year-old Adam Beach and his four younger brothers found themselves orphaned. Then growing up in a small Canadian town the Native American from the Ojibwa Nation endured vicious racism. "I have been in situations where I could not go into a gathering of people at a wedding in my home town because there were no Indians allowed. Back then I was really aggressive and I ended up fighting that person."

So to say that the star of Clint Eastwood's 'Flags of our Fathers' and the upcoming HBO Films' 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' knows something about hardship would seem obvious. But Beach, whose performance as Ira Hayes in 'Flags' has Hollywood abuzz with Oscar® fever, says his hardships were minor compared to the burdens of the real-life Hayes. "I couldn't imagine watching all those people die, close friends disappearing each step you take on that battlefield."

Tormented by his war-time experiences, Hayes' returned home to a heroic fame he couldn't handle. Falling on hard times and drinking heavily, Hayes died of exposure at 32. Beach adds, "I may carry my own horror stories, but not with the depth of what Ira went through." (photo: Albert L. Ortega/WireImage.com)

[The Daily Telegraph]

[Canadian Press]

Kyle MacLachlan and Minnie Driver at Heidi Klum's 7th Annual Halloween Party. (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

Queen Leads By Example

On Monday, Queen Latifah's 'Chicago' co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones presented her with the Role Model award at Glamour magazine's annual 'Women of the Year' awards in Hollywood.

During the event, the Oscar®-nominated actress/rapper was so moved after hearing of Cambodian activist Somaly Mam's efforts to rescue girls from brothels in Southeast Asia that she pledged $150,000 on the spot to Mam's organization Acting For Women In Distressing Situations. According to the New York Daily News, with Latifah leading the way, Barbara Walters jumped in to match the pledge.

In 2007, Latifah will star in HBO Films' 'Life Support' which looks at the African-American community's HIV crisis through the eyes of a survivor who is a mother, an ex-crack addict and an AIDS activist. The story is based on the life of director Nelson George's sister and their family with a screenplay written by the 'Angel Rodriguez' writing team Jim McKay and Hannah Weyer. (photo: Jon Furniss/WireImage.com)

[New York Daily News]

[Hollywood.com]

Investigating 'The Wire'

The troubles faced by Baltimore's students

ABC News' Nightline paid a visit to Baltimore city schools to see how they compared to the schools depicted in 'The Wire.' Although they found the students more well behaved and the classrooms more orderly than the corner kids Prez and Colvin have been trying to keep in line, the ABC reporters did find that the scores at the college prep school they visited showed barely half the children were "proficient" at reading and only 25 percent in math.

Show creators David Simon (a journalist) and Ed Burns (a former cop and teacher) are writing from their years of experience in Baltimore. The character of Prez (Jim True-Frost) is based on Burns' experience and ABC reports "neither his experiences as a cop or in the infantry during Vietnam prepared him for teaching in Baltimore's city schools."

The writer/producers explain that 'The Wire' examines all of the influences that make a standard education difficult for inner city kids. Says Burns: "Unfortunately, the major pull is the drug dealer. He's the man in the neighborhood that has what nobody else has, which is standing, money and power. And the kids naturally want to go in that direction."

[ABC News]

Ricky Gervais - Unauthorized!

It may sound like one of his parodies, 'The Ricky Gervais Story,' but the epic tale of the 45-year-old's 'Life So Far' is now an actual biography, just released in the UK. Though mostly a clip job of tidbits about the comedic actor's long road to stardom, the book includes a few gems about his modest upbringing, including holidays in two-berth fishing boats with his family. ("You have not known pleasure until you have woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of your nan peeing in a tin bucket.")

Those unfamiliar with Gervais's checkered 'Office'-like career will learn about how he briefly managed a pop band, ever so briefly became a pop star, then landed a gig as "head of speech" for radio station XFM, where he met Stephen Merchant. The two came up with a comedy pilot about a manager facing a mid-life crisis who goes on a show called 'Stars in Your Eyes' as David Bowie, a hero of Gervais's. The show ultimately launched Ricky's TV career...eventually allowing him to cast his idol as his "co-star": Bowie guest stars in an episode of the upcoming season of 'Extras' - as himself. (photo: Jon Furniss/WireImage.com)

[Chortle]

Liz Goldwyn and Chloë Sevigny celebrate the launch of the Viktor & Rolf Collection for H&M. (photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com)

If It's Tuesday It Must Be 'Big Love'

Majorino & castmates juggle TV roles

When she's not playing the daughter of a Mormon state trooper on 'Big Love,' Tina Majorino is busy doing detective work for Veronica Mars. She plays the teen P.I.'s tech-savvy friend Mac on the series, while also juggling her role as Sarah Henrickson's straight-laced friend on 'Big Love,' which has begun shooting its second season. "It's a little tough" shooting both shows, Majorino tells TVGuide.com, "but Big Love and Veronica Mars have both been really great about juggling the schedule."

Her buddy, Sarah, played by Amanda Seyfried, was also on the CW series, though the two haven't overlapped. Seyfried's character, Lilly Kane, died early on and appears only in flashbacks. And in a strange bit of symmetry, the actor who plays Ben Henrickson's more conservative friend, Jason Embry, also appears in Veronica Mars. Actor Kyle Gallner plays Beaver Casablanca in the series.

As for Majorino, the actress has a bit of a cult following after playing Deb in 'Napoleon Dynamite.' But despite her nerdy roles, the girl has some street cred: she teaches hip-hop dance, sings lead vocals for LA-band The AM Project, and can be seen in the upcoming film, 'What We Do Is Secret,' the true-life story of Darby Crash and the LA punk scene in the 1970's. (photo: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com)

[TV Guide.com]

[HBO.com]

Hallow's Eve Flashbacks

Now that all the nearly naked school girl and scantily clad pirate costumes have been laid to rest, you'll be surprised to hear what a few of HBO's sexiest stars remember as their favorite Halloween alter egos. Former underwear model and current football hero Mark Wahlberg confessed that he and his brother Donnie once "dressed in my sister's ballet outfits." 'Sex' icon Chris Noth received a lot of compliments for last year's "trout fisherman" get-up, except "they were just my regular clothes. I hadn't the heart to tell them, so I just said thank you, and that they had nice costumes, as well." And just try to picture the smart and cynical Miranda hamming it up as Mary Poppins. "My arts and craftsy mother made me a papier-mâché Mary Poppins costume with a parrot handle umbrella," recalls Cynthia Nixon. "I still have it." As for Alan Ball's favorite temptress, Mena Suvari, she fondly remembers trick or treating as a gender-appropriate Crayola crayon. "I was pink, and my brother was red." (photo: Michael Bezjian/WireImage.com)

[NY Post]

Living on the Wire

West Baltimore just said no to Carmelo Anthony

According the Rocky Mountain News, years before basketball superstar Carmelo Anthony started TiVoing his favorite show 'The Wire,' he and his friends, Kenny Minor and Tyler Smith, were living the reality. "That's real right there," says the Denver Nugget and co-captain of the USA Basketball squad. He adds of the show's depiction of life in west Baltimore, "They're a little bit more in depth, but that goes on every day." Anthony, nick-named Melo, should know because he and his childhood friends grew up there. "From drugs to killings to anything you can name that goes on in the roughest parts of town, we've seen and witnessed hands on," Minor said.

But in their life, Smith clarifies, "Everything was around sports because we didn't want to get into the street life. That's the alternative. You only got two things: street life or sports."

Melo credits a team of guardian angels that included two brothers, Wilford Anthony Jr. and Robert "Justice" Anthony, and sister Michelle with keeping him out of trouble. "Anything involved with the streets, we weren't going to allow to go down," Justice Anthony said. And apparently neither would the bling-ed out drug dealers with their fancy rides. "Even people who (are) probably selling the most drugs in America, they wouldn't let me go that route," Anthony said. "I guess they saw something in me." (photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage.com)

[Rocky Mountain News]

Kristin Davis at the 17th Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills. (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

Roseanne Sings It Her Way

She's endured death threats and a blacklisting, was called "disgraceful" by President Bush the 1st, and essentially went into hiding for more than a decade — all stemming from what was perceived as an unpatriotic rendition of the national anthem at a baseball game in 1990.

"I feel like I'm leaving a real period of struggle," she tells the AP on the brink of her first standup special in 10 years, airing this Saturday. Barr credits her re-emergence to a solid relationship with musician-writer Johnny Argent, as well as to recent political events. "After 9/11, I was not going to hide out or let fear stop me. That's kind of what the (HBO) special is about, don't let fear stop you," Barr said. Doors are starting to open again — she's appearing in this Thursday's 'My Name is Earl' and is producing DVDs for kids. "I'm interested in the middle way. I think that's what this country is about," Barr says. "I like taking extremes and making it middle."

At the end of her special, Roseanne takes a swing at singing again, this time to the tune of Sinatra's 'My Way': "And as the baseball fans all watched, butchered that song and grabbed my crotch. Yes, I was loud, but I was proud, and did it my way." (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[MSNBC.com]

Kirk at Work

What he learned from 'Angels in America'

Justin Kirk ('Angels in America') is winning over audiences with his portrayal as Mary Louise Parker's brother on 'Weeds,' and now he has a new movie coming out, 'Flannel Pajamas.' He talked to Backstage about how his experience on 'Angels' helped him with his future work. Kirk had felt pressured by the caliber of his co-stars and the script: "There was no way I could be good enough for what I wanted, for that material."

Kirk explains, "By the time 'Flannel Pajamas' rolled around, I sort of learned how to give myself a break and do the day's work and then let it go, because there's some more work to do the next day....In hindsight, it changed very much, I think, my daily outlook at the process as an actor. And ever since then, I love going to work."

'Flannel Pajamas' bows Nov. 15 in New York and Nov. 24 in Los Angeles. (photo: Eugene Gologursky/WireImage.com)

[Backstage]

Sleeping Beauty

Debi Mazar and sleep expert Dr. Suzanne Griffin have started an educational campaign called Sleepless Moms, highlighting the importance of establishing a healthy sleep routine for mothers with their ever-increasing responsibilities.

Coming from the city that never sleeps, the 'Entourage' star was no stranger to insomnia. Then she got the acting bug... "When I started out, we'd shoot nights, then switch to days," Said Mazar. "That's really tough on sleep, but I knew that was 'the business.' So I just rolled with it."

And now at 42, the married mom of two girls (4 year-old Evelyn and new baby, Giulia) says getting her 40 winks is that much more difficult and important. "It affects everything," Mazar said. "I find myself getting more easily irritated with my kids, forgetting things, having trouble remembering dialogue."

So what steps has Mazar taken to help her slumber? "I get more exercise, less caffeine, a little more sex, a little less Chianti," and "I took the TV out of the bedroom, and I found more time to wind down." (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[Austin American-Statesman]

[sleeplessmoms.com]