Celebrity Interviews

Fast chat: Vanessa Williams

Madonna isn't the only master when it comes to reinvention.

FAST CHAT

Shoreh Aghdashloo of 'The Stoning of Soraya M.'

Shoreh Aghdashloo is in a category all by herself: she's the only Iranian-American Oscar nominee. Aghdashloo's searing performance as the wife of a former Iranian army officer in the 2003 film "House of Sand and Fog" earned her a nomination in the best supporting actress category, and since then she's become a familiar face on TV ("24," "ER") and film ("The Lake House," "X-Men: The Last Stand").

FAST CHAT

'Surveillance' star Bill Pullman

There's always been a current of crazy running beneath the surface in Bill Pullman. He could have made a movie career just playing the upright guy, as he did in "Sleepless in Seattle," "The Accidental Tourist" and, most famously, "Independence Day," where he was the speechifying president who saved the planet. But for every decent boyfriend and heroic chief executive there is the nuanced nut job, the conflicted film producer, the sad schizophrenic and the sleazy fixer. (See "Mr. Wrong," "The End of Violence," "Igby Goes Down" and "You Kill Me").

Fast chat: Michael Pollan of 'Food Inc.'

Author of the foodie manifesto "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and, more recently, "In Defense of Food," Michael Pollan grew up in Woodbury when farms still dotted Long Island. Growing up next to a pumpkin field may have influenced Pollan's work as a food evangelist - not so much for a fruits-and-nuts regimen, but against the corporatization and general unhealthiness of American foodstuffs.

Fast chat: Taylor Swift

Now that Taylor Swift has entered the realm of superstardom, life is changing around her.

Fast chat: Ed Helms of 'The Office'

On "The Office," Andy Bernard is no Saint Bernard - he's the obnoxious braggart we love to laugh at, as long as we're not actually working with him. Happily, Ed Helms, who plays him, seems one of the nicest guys around. Born and raised in Atlanta, he exhibits what he's called Southern good manners. Yet both as Andy and, before that, one of the satirical correspondents on " The Daily Show," Helms has made bullying pomposity a high art.

Fact chat: Steve Zahn, star of 'Management'

When Mike, a lonely motel worker, first makes a play for Sue, a bored businesswoman staying the night, you almost expect to hear creepy Hitchcock music. A motel. A woman alone. A kinda weird guy. But, no, the guy is played by Steve Zahn, who shows up at her door with a bottle of wine, wide eyes and a disarming smile that Sue ( Jennifer Aniston) slowly - sloooowly - can't resist.

Fast chat: David Hyde Pierce in Broadway's 'Accent on Youth'

If clothes make the man, then David Hyde Pierce seems tailor-made for three-piece suits and velvet smoking jackets. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything but Armani during his 11 seasons as Niles Crane on "Frasier," a role that earned him four Emmy Awards.

Fast chat: Faith Prince of 'The Little Mermaid'

When Ursula, the evil Sea Witch in Broadway's "The Little Mermaid," makes her entrance at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, well - you can't miss her. From the shimmery stage that somehow feels underwater, a large pod arises bearing this curvaceous . . . creature . . . with inky lips, a fan of tentacles - she's a squid, after all - and a "Super-Size Me" hairstyle only boxing promoter Don King could love.

FAST CHAT

Michael Caine talks about "Is Anybody There?"

When Maurice Micklewhite, an aspiring actor from South London, chose a stage name, he came up with Michael, then . . . Caine, after glancing at a movie marquee for "The Caine Mutiny." Still, he never relinquished Maurice - it remains his legal name, and it's what friends and family call him.

FAST CHAT

Charles S. Dutton talks about his new movie 'American Violet'

Charles S. Dutton must have the most unique resumé in show business. A felon who was jailed for manslaughter and then possession of a deadly weapon, he also was found guilty of assaulting a guard while in prison. But Dutton turned to theater while reading a book of plays in solitary confinement, founded a drama group in the slammer, and eventually wound up obtaining a master's in acting from the Yale School of Drama.

FAST CHAT

Taylor Hicks starts over with new CD

It's OK - you can call it a comeback.

Fast chat: Craig Bierko of 'Guys and Dolls'

That Craig Bierko is one slick character. More precisely, he's playing one, in the Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls," where he oozes charm and sex appeal as Sky Masterson, the womanizing gambler who's out to win a high-stakes bet and the heart of Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown (Kate Jennings Grant). Bierko has a knack for playing smooth talkers, from con man Harold Hill in "The Music Man," his first Broadway show in 2000, to crafty attorney Jeffrey Coho during the 2006-07 season of TV's "Boston Legal." And Web surfers have gotten to know him quite intimately, thanks to his Internet smash, "Bathing With Bierko," in which he interviewed and soaped up with John Malkovich.

FAST CHAT

Jason Segel talks about his new film 'I Love You, Man'

Bleary-eyed and bedraggled, Jason Segel entered a room in Manhattan's Parker Meridien hotel last Sunday for the final interview of a five-day, six-city media blitz in support of his new buddy comedy, "I Love You, Man," opening Friday. In the film, directed and co-written by John Hamburg, Segel plays a freewheeling layabout who teaches a wimpy metrosexual (Paul Rudd) how to become a bona fide dude.

Fast chat: Colin Hanks

Certain online entries about actor Colin Hanks will tell you he has tried to pursue his career outside the shadow of his famous father. "That's a total lie," said the son of Tom Hanks. "I don't know how this stuff gets started. I knew early on it was going to be something that would follow me for all of my life, so I had to make sure that (a) I was OK with that and (b) not to run from it." The actor, 31, makes his Broadway debut Monday with Jane Fonda in "33 Variations" and stars on the big screen in "The Great Buck Howard," hitting theaters March 20.

Cher talks about her Vegas gig

Cher's concert stand in Las Vegas may be the ultimate representation of Sin City: it's decadent, glitzy, oversized, over-the-top and a thrill-a-minute experience.

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Dakota Fanning talks about her new movie 'Push'

If a Hollywood movie has needed a young female actress, one who can actually act, the default response for the past few years has been " Dakota Fanning."

Fast chat: Lisa Kudrow

So no one told her life was gonna be this way: leaving a post-Vassar career track following in her physician father's research footsteps; entering acting by studying with the famed L.A. improvisation troupe The Groundlings; becoming a recurring player on the hit sitcom "Mad About You" (1992-93), as spacey waitress Ursula Buffay; starring in the ensemble cast of the pop-culture phenom "Friends" (1994-2004), as twin sister Phoebe Buffay; and segueing into a career as a movie character actress equally adept at comedy and drama.

Q & A with Gym Class Heroes' Matt McGinley

The big tabloid news with Gym Class Heroes, the hit Geneva, N.Y., quartet that mixes hip-hop and rock into a melodic pop sound, is that frontman Travis McCoy broke up with "I Kissed a Girl" chanteuse Katy Perry. But none of that matters to drummer Matt McGinley, who formed the band with McCoy in, yes, gym class. "Even though we're both as vitally involved in the band, it's obvious that [with] him being the frontman, he receives a large amount of attention," says McGinley, 25, from a tour stop in Kansas City. Here's more:

Fast Chat: Benicio Del Toro in 'Che'

You've seen the T-shirts. Everywhere. With that face - the beard, beret, eyes burning with revolution. Yet, few people know much about the man behind the tee.

FAST CHAT

Frank Miller talks about 'The Spirit'

One of the few comics creators who has become his own brand, writer-artist Frank Miller first made his mark with a gritty, film-noir take on Marvel Comics' "Daredevil." He went on to pop-culture stardom with DC Comics' " The Dark Knight Returns," a 1986 miniseries envisioning a bitter, reactionary Batman a few decades from now, fighting against a corrupt world as seen through Miller's Ayn Rand-devotee eyes. His vision helped inspire the similarly dark Batman movies, and the less successful "Daredevil" film (2003).

FAST CHAT: John Patrick Shanley

John Patrick Shanley is one of the fortunate few who has won the entertainment industry's equivalent of a trifecta: the Oscar for his 1987 "Moonstruck" screenplay, an Emmy for co-writing the 2002 HBO movie "Live From Baghdad" and a Tony for his 2004 play "Doubt: A Parable" (which also won a Pulitzer). The 58-year-old Bronx native and Marine Corps veteran also has directed several plays and one feature film, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in "Joe vs. the Volcano" (1990). That experience proved so contentious, Shanley didn't direct another film until this year, when he decided to undertake the screen version of "Doubt," starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams, about a nun who is convinced, on little evidence, that a priest is guilty of child molestation. Freelance writer Lewis Beale interviewed Shanley about his latest challenge.

FAST CHAT: MICHAEL SHEEN

Movie-star math: Michael Sheen is to the Martin Sheen acting family as Adam Baldwin is to the Alec Baldwin acting family - no relation. The Welsh actor may soon be as well-known as any of them in America, however, with

Fast chat with Vera Farmiga

She played the pathetic junkie mother Irene in Debra Granik's "Down to the Bone" (2004) and then won best actress awards from both the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Since then, Vera Farmiga has been considered one the finer actresses on the American screen - if not one of its bigger self-promoters. When she's not working, she's on her farm in upstate Ulster County, planting, pruning and growing things - including the baby she'll be having in about three months.

A fast chat with Guy Ritchie

Probably better known as Madonna's husband than as a director of high-style, high-attitude, comic-book-type thrillers ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"), Guy Ritchie recently took the Toronto Film Festival by storm: "Rocknrolla," his latest Brit gangster saga starring Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton and Tom Wilkinson, seemed to be everything the crowd wanted, and more. After an evening of bellowing, "Yes! I love Madonna," at paparazzi curious about his reportedly troubled marriage, Ritchie took a few minutes to sit with Newsday contributor John Anderson in Toronto and actually talk about his film, which opens Wednesday.

Keira Knightley, an 18th century Lady Di

Best known as the willowy Elizabeth Swann in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, Keira Knightley takes on a different role as the real-life 18th century aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish in "The Duchess." In an interview last week at the Waldorf- Astoria, Knightley, 23, discussed her role in this historical costume drama, which opens Friday.

Fast chat with Kim Kardashian

Well-known for being well-known, the beautiful and bodacious Kim Kardashian - scion of the late attorney Robert Kardashian, one of the defense counsels in the O.J. Simpson murder trial - has gone in one short year from L.A. socialite, co-owner of the boutiques Dash and Smooch in suburban Calabasas, and star of a leaked sex tape to star of one of E!'s most popular shows, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." The reality series chronicles the daily lives of the "Brady Bunch"-like full, half- and step-siblings under parents Bruce Jenner, the former Olympics star, and Kris Kardashian, who divorced Robert in 1989.

Fast Chat: Terri Garr

Teri Garr had a solid career in the 1970s and '80s playing ditsy blondes, housewives and the girlfriend of the leading man. Along the way she was Oscar-nominated (supporting actress for "Tootsie"), and appeared in a slew of high-profile pictures, including "Young Frankenstein," "One From the Heart," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Black Stallion."

FAST CHAT: Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore is wearing little to no makeup and killer platform boots. And her laugh - she laughs a lot - is infectious. The whole casually sexy vibe is a far cry from Barbara Baekeland, the eccentric, socialite wife of a Bakelite plastics heir whose tragic life unfurls in Moore's latest feature film, "Savage Grace," which opened Wednesday.

Fast Chat: Uma Thurman on "The Life Before Her Eyes"

Uma Thurman has always been a standout. Her name, the whole 6-foot-tall thing, those arresting, angular features, all guaranteed she'd get noticed. And she was - first by agents at age 15, then by director Terry Gilliam, who cast her as Venus, her first splashy film role, in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." Other films followed, some acclaimed ("Les Liaisons Dangereuses"), some not ("Mad Dog and Glory"). Then came Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" - she played a sexy mob wife doing that dance with John Travolta, and earned herself an Oscar nomination. Since then she's done her share of action flicks ("Batman & Robin," "The Avengers," "Kill Bill Vols. I and II").

Fast Chat: Linda Lavin

'Massapequa? That sounds like a wonderful old Indian name. What does it mean in English?" a character asks Linda Lavin partway through "The New Century," a new comedy at Lincoln Center. Comes Lavin's deadpan reply: "It means 'Don't touch my hair.'" Lavin's 'do is blond in the story from Paul Rudnick ("In & Out"), which finds her as an affluent Long Island matron with three radically gay children. Lavin's segment, "Pride and Joy," is the first of three pieces that intertwine in a final act. Lavin sat down with Newsday's Robert Kahn to talk about the ways wealthy Jewish women dress, geographic panaceas and the advantages of running a mom-and-pop business.

Fast Chat: David Schwimmer

SCHWIMMMAHHH.

Fast Chat: Sam Rockwell

Another film, another whack-job character role for Sam Rockwell. In "Snow Angels," which opened recently, the gifted, 39-year-old character actor plays a suicidal, born-again Christian trying to reconnect with his estranged wife. So what else is new? Rockwell has made a career of indelible, often bizarre screen portrayals, from game show host/CIA hit man Chuck Barris in "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," to two-headed galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Fast Chat: James Earl Jones

When James Earl Jones takes the stage as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the Broadhurst Theatre fairly trembles. For all the fussin' and flitterin' of Maggie (Anika Noni Rose), Mae (Lisa Arrindell Anderson), Big Mama ( Phylicia Rashad), Gooper ( Giancarlo Esposito) and the liquored-up Brick (Terrence Howard), it's the old lion Big Daddy who's large and in charge.

Fast chat with Patricia Clarkson

The next time anyone mentions the alleged lack of roles for actresses of a certain age, say this name like a mantra: Patricia Clarkson.

Fast Chat: Frank Oz

Filmmaker and onetime Muppet-master Frank Oz wants everyone to know that his new comedy, "Death at a Funeral," is rated R. So was "The Score" (2001), his most recent film other than the PG-13 misfire "The Stepford Wives" (2004), so it's odd that he tells you this twice. But, hey, this is Cookie Monster! Miss Piggy! Grover! Bert! YODA!! He helped get you, me and our kids through childhood - and someday their kids, too. If he wants us to tell people about the rating, well, what can we say but, "Rated R this new film is."