Top Celebrities and Sports Talent

Harrelson was born in Midland, Texas to Charles Voyde Harrelson and Diane Lou Oswald, who divorced in 1964; he has two brothers, Jordan and Brett, who is a professional motorcycle racer. His father, a professional hitman, was twice convicted for murder for hire, and was jailed for most of Harrelson’s childhood for performing a hired killing. Harrelson grew up in Lebanon, Ohio with his deeply religious mother, and has frequently said that his father’s past has colored his own present.

Harrelson attended Lebanon High School and later Hanover College in Indiana, where he studied drama and received a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and English in 1983.

After graduation, Harrelson moved to New York City, and became an understudy in Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues. In 1985, he was cast as the naive but genial Midwestern bartender Woody Boyd on the television series Cheers, and won the "Funniest Newcomer" American Comedy Award and an Emmy for the role. His first film was 1986’s Wildcats with Goldie Hawn. He appeared in mostly minor roles until he played Michael J. Fox’s romantic rival in 1991’s Doc Hollywood. Subsequently, Harrelson has appeared in such films as Money Train, White Men Can’t Jump, The Cowboy Way, Indecent Proposal, The Hi-Lo Country, Natural Born Killers and Kingpin. In 1996, he starred in the title role of the controversial film The People vs. Larry Flynt, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. More recently, he had a fairly long run on the NBC sitcom Will and Grace as Grace’s love interest Nathan. He also played a transvestite prostitute in Anger Management, and FBI agent Stan in 2004’s After the Sunset. His most recent film is A Prairie Home Companion, which was released in June of 2006.

In 1985, Harrelson married Nancy Simon, daughter of playwright Neil Simon, in Tijuana. The two intended to divorce the following day, but the storefront marriage/divorce parlor was closed when they had returned to it, and the two remained married for ten months. On January 11, 1998, Harrelson married Laura Louie, his former assistant and a co-founder of Yoganics, an organic food delivery service. The couple, who have been together since 1990, have three daughters, Deni Montana (born March 5, 1993), Zoe Giordano (born September 22, 1996), and Makani Ravello (born June 3, 2006). When announcing Makani’s birth, the couple referred to the three as their "goddess trilogy."

Harrelson is an outspoken supporter for the legalization of marijuana and hemp in the USA. On June 1, 1996, he was intentionally arrested in Kentucky after symbolically planting four hemp seeds to challenge state law that failed to distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana; he won the case. An environmental activist, he once climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to unfurl a banner that said, "Hurwitz. Aren’t ancient redwoods more precious than gold?" in protest of MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, "He who has the gold, rules". Harrelson, an ethical vegan and raw foodist, has also denounced animal experiments in the cosmetics industry. He has travelled the American West Coast on a bike in caravan with a hemp oil-fueled biodiesel bus (the subject of the independent documentary, Go Further) and has narrated the documentary Grass (1999). He is also an antiwar activist and has often spoken publicly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

SANTA FE, N.M. - Kevin Costner and his rockabilly band drew a crowd of more than 1,000 at a free concert for a scene in his upcoming film "Swing Vote."

  The Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds was transformed Friday night into the site of a presidential debate, complete with red, white and blue bunting, fake news vans and a sign reading "you.net presents The Final Debate."

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, the seventh of eight children, he acquired the nickname "Willem" in childhood. After graduating from Appleton East High School, he studied drama at UW-Milwaukee, but left before graduation in order to join the newly formed avant-garde group Theatre X. After touring with Theatre X for four years in the United States and Europe, he moved to New York City and joined the Performance Group, where he met director Elizabeth LeCompte. LeCompte and Dafoe left the Performance Group together became professional collaborators, and began a relationship. Their son, Jack, was born in 1982. Dafoe married Italian actress Giada Colagrande on March 25, 2005.

Dafoe’s film career began in 1981, when he was cast in Heaven’s Gate, but his role was removed from the film during editing. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless, but his first breakthrough film role was as the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Platoon (1986). He has since become a popular character actor; due to his harsh facial features, he is often typecast as unstable or villainous characters, most recently the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man movies. Before that, he was briefly considered for the role of The Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for the Batman film in 1989. Hamm recalls "We thought, ‘Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker.’" The role ended up going to Jack Nicholson [1] He also played Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which moved Sergio Leone to exclaim, "This is the face of a murderer, not of Our Lord!" He once remarked "To this day, I can’t believe I was so brazen to think I could pull off the Jesus role," though Dafoe received acclaim despite the controversy surrounding the film.

Twice he has played peculiar detectives, once in The Boondock Saints (1999), and again in American Psycho (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1986 for Platoon and 2000 for Shadow of the Vampire. After Spider-Man, Dafoe had a rare opportunity to play a heroic film role when he provided the voice of Gill in the animated movie Finding Nemo.

He worked briefly as a model in a 1990 Prada campaign.

In 2004, Dafoe lent his likeness and voice for the highly successful James Bond video game Everything or Nothing as villain Nikolai Diavolo.

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson was released from jail Wednesday after posting $125,000 bail in connection with the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel.

Simpson, wearing a light blue sport coat and dark blue pants, carried a black bag as he strolled to a gray sedan with his lawyer and drove away from the Clark County Detention Center.

He did not speak to reporters or to at least one bystander who cheered.

Another spectator shouted, "Justice for Nichole, justice for Ron," as Simpson walked to the car.

Simpson’s lawyer has said he expected the former football star to return to his Florida home.

Simpson, who spent three nights in the Las Vegas jail, was freed about two hours after appearing in court, where he told a justice of the peace that he understood the charges against him, including first-degree kidnapping, which carries the possibility of life in prison with parole.

Simpson did not enter a plea but answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Unlike his arraignment over a decade ago in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, when Simpson declared he was "absolutely 100 percent not guilty," he was subdued throughout the proceeding Wednesday.

"Mr. Simpson do you understand the charges against you?" the judge asked.

"Yes, sir," said Simpson, wearing a blue jail uniform and handcuffs.

Attorney Yale Galanter said Simpson would plead not guilty.

Security at the courthouse was tight for the arraignment hearing. People entering the courtroom were screened by security officers and Las Vegas police with bomb-sniffing dogs.

The case has attracted a swarm of media, including Marcia Clark, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Simpson for the 1994 murders and was reporting for "Entertainment Tonight."

Simpson, 60, was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room at the Palace Station casino and took several items that Simpson claimed belonged to him. He has been held since then in protective custody in a 7-foot-by-14-foot cell.

The Heisman Trophy winner was charged with kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

"These are very serious charges," Galanter said. "He is taking it very seriously."

Authorities allege that the men went to the room on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. According to police reports, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over several items valued at as much as $100,000.

Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer, and that another man pointed a gun at Fromong.

"I’m a cop and you’re lucky this ain’t LA or you’d be dead," the man said, according to the report.

"One of the thugs — that’s the best thing I can call them — somebody blurted out ‘police!’ and they came in military style," Beardsley said Wednesday on NBC’s "Today" show. "I thought it might have been law enforcement or the FBI or something because I was ordered to stand up, and I was frisked for weapons."

"At no time did Mr. Simpson hold any type of firearm at all," he said.

Beardsley also cast doubt on the authenticity of a recording of the confrontation made by Tom Riccio, the man who arranged the meeting between Simpson and the two collectors. Riccio reportedly sold that tape to celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com.

"I do not believe that these tapes are accurate," Beardsley said. He said information was missing and the recordings should be professionally analyzed.

"Simpson confronted me, saying ‘Man what’s wrong with you, you have a turn-over order, you have a turn-over order for this stuff, man,’" Beardsley said, but he said that part wasn’t on the tapes.

The Los Angeles Times reported that court records show Riccio has an extensive criminal history from the 1980s and ’90s, including grand larceny in Florida, possession of stolen goods in Connecticut and receiving stolen property in California. According to the newspaper, Riccio acknowledged his past in a telephone interview late Tuesday.

Riccio said he was not concerned with how his past might affect his credibility "because everything’s on tape. That’s why it’s on tape."

He also said he had been promised some form of immunity by prosecutors.

The memorabilia taken from the hotel room included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques, together valued at as much as $100,000.

Although Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman, a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit and ordered him to pay a $33.5 million judgment. On Tuesday, a California judge gave a lawyer for Goldman’s father a week to deliver a list of items Simpson was accused of taking from the hotel room, raising the possibility that they could be sold to pay off the judgment.

"He’s ordered to pay us millions of dollars," Goldman’s sister, Kim Goldman, said Wednesday on NBC. "If he went to Vegas to go collect on those things so we wouldn’t, there’s some irony in that."

She also said she felt some satisfaction with Simpson’s arrest.

"I’m not going to lie to you, I do feel a little bit of elation to see him in handcuffs," she said. "I hope that in some way the pressure that we put on him for the last 13 years drove him to this."

Two other defendants, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, were arrested and released pending court appearances. Stewart turned in some of the missing goods and Alexander agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said. A fourth suspect, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday.

Police were seeking two other suspects, whom they had not identified.

Jay Leno began his comedy career appearing in nightclubs and on tour.  He tried his luck at acting on a few films; however after several repeat appearances on late-night TV, he had found his niche. 

Jay, who was an occasional replacement for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show", soon became the show’s permanent guest host in 1988.  In 1992, he was chosen to be Carson’s successor.

On Jay Leno’s few days off he usually performs stand up in clubs and concert halls.  He also appeared as himself in many feature films over the years.  These films include the popular blockbuster hits, "Dave", "Mad City", "Space Cowboys", "Juwanna Man" and "Mr. 3000".

Jay also put his well recognized voice to work in a few animated movies.  He had a small voice role in "Robots" and also gave voice to Fast Tony, a con artist armadillo, in "Ice Age: The Meltdown".  Also appearing in this film, giving their voices to animated characters, were John Leguizamo, Ray Romano, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge.

Jay plans to retire from the "The Tonight Show" and pass down his hosting duties to NBC late night host Conan O’Brien in 2009.

Andy Roddick is ranked as the best male US tennis player and currently ranked 6th in the world.  Roddick is known for his explosive serves, powerful forehands, and off-court charm and personality. He also holds the fastest serve record in professional tennis clocked at 155 mph.

Roddick turned professional in 2000 at the age of 18 and in 2001, he became the youngest player to end the year in the ATP Top 20.  Andy won his first Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open.

Roddick’s success has not been limited to just the tennis court.  In 2005, Andy won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award of the Year for his work with UNICEF, creating the Andy Roddick Foundation, and helping the victims of the 2004 Tsunami.  He also won the ESPY award for Best Male Tennis Player in 2004. 

Currently, Roddick resides in Austin, Texas.  Some of Andy’s sponsors throughout his career include Reebok, Lacoste, and Babolat.  In Andy’s 6 year caeer, his prize money is nearly $12 million.

Bo Jackson is one of the greatest modern athletes in history.

Jackson won the Heisman Trophy in 1985 for the Auburn Tigers and went on to become an All Pro running back for the Los Angeles Raiders and an All Star outfielder with the Kansas City Royals in Major League Baseball. He is the first athlete to be an All Star in both sports.

Jackson was drafted as the first pick of the 1986 NFL Draft, but he opted to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals instead. Following the 1987 baseball season, Jackson decided to play football and joined the Los Angeles Raiders.

What may have been one of the greatest careers in sports history was drastically altered during a playoff game in 1991. Jackson suffered a serious hip injury on a tackle, ending his football career and threatening his baseball career. Jackson had to have hip replacement surgery. Following his surgery, Jackson made a comeback with the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and incredibly, with his first swing, hit a home run in his first at-bat.
 

By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES - Jon Stewart is getting a do-over as Oscar host. America’s favorite faux newscaster, who drew mixed reviews for his first stint in 2006, has been picked for a return engagement in February, the film academy announced Wednesday.

"I’m thrilled to be asked to host the Academy Awards for the second time because, as they say, the third time’s a charm," Stewart said Wednesday in a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

"He did a great job two years ago," Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates told The Associated Press Wednesday. "You need a host who is not afraid of the unexpected, who can stand out and really work a room and deal with a live show. Jon, of course, does that on his show every night."

Stewart, 44, is also "a very, very nice guy and very easy to work with," Cates said.

The 2007 show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, drew 40.1 million viewers, compared to the 38.9 million who watched when Stewart hosted the previous year. But bringing back Stewart is "not a bad choice," said longtime TV critic David Bianculli of the New York Daily News.

"Stewart has such good will, and the worst mistake people have made — in the Oscars especially — is trying to be a little bit too cold to the room rather than cool enough for the room," he said.

Besides, people don’t tune into the Oscars for the host, Bianculli said: "It’s up to the films in contention more than anything else."

AP television critic Frazier Moore called Stewart a "TV veteran" who "did a good job last time and will be even more comfortable this time in the role."

"He always brings some needed irreverence and smarts to pretty much anything he does," Moore said. "The Oscars are an often very pretentious, self-important institution, and somebody like Jon Stewart is very useful to help deflate a little of that pomposity."

In his first Oscar gig, the star of Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" made jokes about the Iraq war and ribbed Hollywood’s elite about their ties to the Democratic Party.

"His usually impeccable blend of puckishness and self-effacement fell flat," an AP review said, adding he was "too deferential, too nice and too obvious in his targets."

Stewart, who also hosted the Grammys in 2001 and 2002, noted the split decision on his own cable TV show the night after the Oscars, saying he had a great time but didn’t know how he fared until he saw the reviews.

"I sucked and was great!" he joked.

The 2008 Oscars will take place Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Who hosts the Oscars each year is up to the telecast producer. Cates also produced in 2006, and chose Stewart then. Previous Cates-selected hosts include Steve Martin, Chris Rock and Billy Crystal. Laura Ziskin selected DeGeneres.

"We love them both," Academy president Sid Ganis said of the two most recent Oscar emcees.

So is it because 2008 is an election year that Stewart was chosen?

"The choice was not impacted by political issues," Ganis said. "The choice was impacted by funny issues and he’s funny funny. That’s the main criteria."

Stewart is "able to communicate with the live, hot-shot audience in the theater," Ganis added, "and of course we know he’s great on television."

Cates said he hadn’t thought about the election connection in selecting Stewart.

"I’m sure some of that might make its way into the show," Cates said, "although the show is totally nonpartisan."

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On the Net:

http://www.oscars.org

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer
Today at 3:55 am
 
As in most train wrecks, it was hard to focus on just one thing as the Britney Spears disaster unfolded. There was just so much that went wrong.

Out-of-synch lip-synching. Lethargic movements that seemed choreographed by a dance instructor for a nursing home. The paunch in place of Spears’ once-taut belly. At times she just stopped singing altogether, as if even she knew nothing could save her performance.

Designed to drum up excitement for her upcoming album, Spears’ kickoff to the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night became another example of how far she has fallen. It would have been understandable if MTV’s show had been crushed under the weight of the opening fiasco — yet somehow it rebounded, and even flourished.

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The show banked heavily on its own reinvention. After poor reviews and a decline in ratings over the last few years, MTV moved the show to Vegas, shortened it from three hours to two, went to a hostless format and focused more on performances than awards.

Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy and the Foo Fighters hosted separate suite parties where most of the performances took place.

But the performance most people will be talking about was Spears’. And unlike her last VMAs appearance, when she locked lips with Madonna in 2003, this time it will be for all the wrong reasons.

"It definitely could have been a lot better," the hitmaking singer and producer Akon commented afterward. "She seemed nervous … you could tell by the expression on her face. Instead of just blocking everybody out and doing her thing, you could tell she was thinking about it."

After that, though, the changes to the show worked, leading to several exciting performances and some watercooler drama. An off-camera fight between Pamela Anderson exes Kid Rock and Tommy Lee led Jamie Foxx to quip: "Stop all this white-on-white violence."

Timberlake’s suite was flooded with revelers, alcohol and eight lingerie-clad stripper types on raised platforms. Before Timberlake accepted the Quadruple Threat of the Year award at his suite, the DJ summoned the partygoers to watch the monitor and go crazy if Timberlake won. He did, they did, and Timberlake said: "I want to challenge MTV to play more videos!" Then he was whisked away by bodyguards and disappeared.

Timberlake was the night’s big winner, with four trophies. After accepting the award for Male Artist of the Year, he jabbed at the video issue again: "We don’t want to see the Simpsons on reality television." Apparently he’s not a fan of either Jessica or Ashlee’s MTV shows.

Rihanna won the coveted Video of the Year award, plus Monster Single of the Year for "Umbrella." The Best Group was Fallout Boy, and Gym Class Heroes won Best New Artist.

Beyonce and Shakira won Most Earthshattering Collaboration for "Beautiful Liar." Beyonce’s shimmering gold dress barely contained her top; immediately after she picked up her trophy she asked an assistant backstage to help fix her dress, apparently to prevent a wardrobe malfunction.

Other performers appeared on the show’s main stage, in front of an industry-only audience seated at tables, like at the Golden Globes. Chris Brown gave one of the evening’s most extravagant performances — hopping from table to table in a dance spectacle that channeled Michael Jackson, right down to a brief "Billie Jean" imitation.

Alicia Keys had the evening’s most rousing performance, debuting her new song "No One" and then an inspired, choir-backed cover of George Michael’s "Freedom."

While performances like Keys’ and Spears’ were delivered on the main stage, others came in snippets: Akon crooned a bit of his "Smack That" before an award was announced, while the cameras zoomed in on Fall Out Boy and the Foo Fighters mid-performance in their suites, giving viewers the sense that they had happened upon an intimate concert.

Cee-Lo delivered a rocking version of Prince’s naughty classic "Darling Nikki" in the smoky Foo Fighters suite (where a beer bong was in operation as Dave Grohl danced, sang Cure songs, played air drums and posed for snapshots); Soulja Boy was showing Kanye West his "Crank That" dance in West’s suite.

Though the suites appeared to be chaotic parties, the MTV-cast revelers were carefully organized, strategically placed and encouraged to imbibe for the cameras.

Choreographed or not, Timberlake and Timbaland’s suite looked the most exciting — T.I., buffeted by pole dancers, delivered a rousing version of "Big Things Poppin’" while 50 Cent stopped by to perform "Ayo Technology" with Timberlake and Timbaland.

Not to be outdone, T-Pain and West danced high atop Las Vegas in a balcony suite as they celebrated "The Good Life." And Lil Wayne, doing double duty in the Fall Out Boy suite after opening the pre-show with Nicole Scherzinger, was particularly animated.

TV viewers never got full views of those shows, though MTV promised more via its Web site and other "remixed" versions of the show. That might have been the purpose: to whet appetites for repeat viewings by promising glimpses of what they missed during the traditional broadcast.

Unlike in recent years, there was plenty reason to come back for more.

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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen and Associated Press Writers Kathleen Hennessey and Ryan Nakashima contributed to this report.

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On The Net:

http://www.mtv.com

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