Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
A former home economics teacher, Kanae Minato rocked Japan’s literary world with her 2008 debut novel, “Confessions.” A movie adaptation of the psychological thriller was selected as Japan’s entry for the best foreign language film at the 2010 Academy Awards. This past summer, the book was released in English.
Though Dan Lauria has traveled to numerous destinations, the actor said he has never taken a proper holiday. “I’ve never taken a vacation,” says Lauria, who is best known for playing Fred Savage’s father on “The Wonder Years.” “I’ve never been to Europe. Every time I planned to do something big, I got a job and I could never pass that up.”
Lara Spencer has a lot on her plate these days. A co-anchor for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” she’s also the host of “Flea Market Flip” on Great American Country. She also has a new book out, “Flea Market Fabulous: Designing Gorgeous Rooms with Vintage Treasures” (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, $25.95). A resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, Spencer says that even though she travels constantly for her work, if the opportunity arises, she will never pass up the opportunity to head out for a few days with her family.
Best known for her roles on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “What I Like About You,” Jennie Garth is showing fans another side of herself in “The Jennie Garth Project,” a new reality series in which the 42-year-old actress works with a contractor to remodel an outdated California house. Based out of Los Angeles, where she resides with her three children, Garth released her memoir, “Deep Thoughts from a Hollywood Blonde” earlier this year.
Actress Caitriona Balfe says she can relate to her time-traveling character, Claire Randall, in the Starz series “Outlander.” “I’ve lived in Los Angeles and New York for long periods of time,” she says. “And now I’m in Glasgow. It’s not like having different lives in each place, but each is unique. The country is a key character in the series. The Scottish Highlands are incredible. There seems to be magic and poetry everywhere.”
More famous than many of the celebrities with whom he is paired on “Dancing with the Stars,” professional dancer Derek Hough is a star in his own right. Hough, 29, has won an Emmy Award for his choreography on the series, as well as an unprecedented five Mirror Ball Trophies for his work on the show.
In her new book, “The Beat of My Own Drum: A Memoir,” musician Sheila E. talks candidly about her rise to fame, her engagement to Prince and the backstory to how Lionel Richie ended up adopting her niece, Nicole.
When former San Francisco Giant J.T. Snow retired from baseball, he knew what he wanted to do in the next phase of his life. The six-time Golden Glove recipient and his sister, Stephanie Snow Gebel, started the Jack and J.T. Snow Scientific Research Foundation, which supports diabetes research. (Former wide receiver, Jack Snow, is J.T.’s father.) Snow, 46, lives 30 minutes outside of San Francisco in Emerald Hills.
Before becoming known as a “Girl Hunter” (also the name of one of her books), Georgia Pellegrini trained as a chef at the French Culinary Institute and worked at the Gramercy Tavern and La Chassagnette in the South of France. The chef, hunter and author — her latest book is “Modern Pioneering” (Clarkson Potter, $24) — lived in France, Tennessee and California before settling in her current home of Austin, Texas.
I love Carl Reiner’s idea about teaching foreign languages to children when they’re young: “One of the things we should be doing is speaking to our children in at least two languages so that they are exposed to a foreign language and can grow up bilingual. If you expose a child to another language when they’re very young, they will pick it up much quicker than if you try to teach them in high school.”