Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
After Wonho completed his 21-month mandatory military duty in South Korea this past September, the pop star had intended on taking some time off before making his “comeback” – K-pop parlance for releasing new music. But when the opportunity came up to be a part of the iHeart Jingle Ball lineup – which includes a Dec. 9 concert at the Allstate Arena outside of Chicago – he got to work, quickly.
“Chiang Mai is in the northern part of Thailand and it is one of my favorite places I’ve ever been,” said “The Lake” actress Madison Shamoun. “It’s a really affordable travel destination, but more than that some of the best street food can be found there.”
“We were able to enjoy our two-week honeymoon in Thailand without any complications,” says “Never Have I Ever” actress Richa Moorjani. “I don’t know when we’ll be able to travel again and I’m just so thankful we had the ability to go and witness some of the beauty of Thailand before coming home to a different reality (with the pandemic).”
“From the age of 12, I was on tour all across North America in a 35-foot motor home with my family’s band The Neilsons,” says Tami Neilson, “I met and married a Kiwi and moved across the world to New Zealand 15 years ago. I am lucky enough to be a dual citizen of both countries.”
Dr. Jen Gunter has two New York Times columns dedicated to women’s health, a Canadian docuseries called “Jensplaining” and a very active social media presence where she disseminates medical fallacies in a way that the general public can understand. Her latest project is the book “The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine” (Citadel, $18.95) — a Publishers Weekly and New York Times bestseller.
Trained at the School of Alberta Ballet, Tate McRae finished third on “So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation” in 2016. She was a voice actress for the “Lalaloopsy” series. And her YouTube channel, “Create with Tate,” has more than 1.7 million subscribers. Recently signed to RCA Records, the 16-year-old Canadian entertainer is following up her debut single, “tear myself apart,” with “all my friends are fake.”
Once best known as MC Mystic in his group Bass is Base, Roger Mooking is recognized by foodies worldwide for his work on television (“Man Fire Food,” “Heat Seekers,” “Everyday Exotic”) and cookbooks. Born in Trinidad and raised in Canada, Mooking is based out of Toronto. The chef and restaurateur says that one of the small pleasures of life is finding ice cream and gelato spots wherever he travels. “I would eat ice cream every single day and after every single meal if I could get away with it, says Mooking, whose latest album is “Eat Your Words.”
Canadian musician Scott Helman says that touring has taught him to be patient and to go with the flow. “I know it’s corny, but whatever happens will happen. Be on time, pack well, stay hydrated. These are things we can control. Everything else is for the world to decide. My most memorable experiences are when things go wrong while traveling. It’s when you find the kind ones and when whatever is wrong becomes resolved, you can count on them to bring your life more meaning and joy knowing they’re in the world.”
Born in Paris, New York-based author Anka Muhlstein has written biographies of James Mayer de Rothschild, Robert Chevalier de la Salle and Queen Victoria. Winner of the Academie Francaise and the Goncourt Prize for Biography, she and her husband, Louis Begley, co-authored “Venice for Lovers.” In her latest book — “The Pen and the Brush: How Passion for Art Shaped Nineteenth-Century French Novels” (Other Press, $18.95) — Muhlstein take readers into the world of an elite artistic community that included Proust, Cezanne and Balzac.
Kim Coates is known to “Sons of Anarchy” fans for his portrayal of Alex “Tig” Trager. The prolific actor has been busy. Besides “The Land,” which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, he has five other projects set to release this year, including “The True Memoirs of an International Assassin” (with Andy Garcia) and “Goon: Last of the Enforcers” (with Liev Schreiber).
Born in Calgary, Alberta, sisters Tegan Rain and Sara Keirsten Quin are better known as the musical duo of Tegan and Sara. The twins, 33, won three Juno Awards earlier this year in Canada for their work on their seventh studio album, “Heartthrob.” But the song that has helped earn them a new (and young!) fan base is “Everything is Awesome.” They recorded the infectiously catchy song for “The LEGO Movie.”
I asked “Survivorman” Les Stroud if he ever felt he wouldn’t make it out of a situation. He said, “No. There are areas like in the middle of the Amazon jungle that have more than their fair share of dangerous moments. But I’ve done this a long time. I’m careful. I’m prepared and know how to survive.”
“Travel has always been such an important part of my life,” says Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield. “It has been wonderful to have been around the world multiple times and to have seen the whole thing. It has been one long whirlwind vacation.” Well versed in social media, Hadfield, 54, had a strong following of science fans before he went up in space. But he garnered the attention of millions of music fans when he released his rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on YouTube, which was recorded from the International Space Station during his last mission earlier this year. The video went viral and earned kudos from no less than Bowie himself.
Born in Canada, raised in New Zealand and now living in the United States, Daniel Gillies has roles on two current series. He co-stars as Dr. Joel Goran on “Saving Hope” and as Elijah — a character who has been killed and resurrected no less than four times — on “The Vampire Diaries.” The 36-year-old actor and his wife, actress Rachael Leigh Cook, reside in Los Angeles.
When Craig Hurley was in his early 20s, he seemed headed for stardom. Handsome, talented and one of the stars of a heavily hyped network series, films seemed like the next natural progression. But as detailed in his no-holds-barred book “27 And All Washed Up” (available at www.craighurley.tv), that’s not how Hurley’s career turned out.
Actor Noah Bean advises travelers to always know the route they’re traveling. Case in point: “When I was in college, a friend and I were bumming around Europe on a Eurorail pass. We were traveling overnight by train from Budapest to Venice. The conductor looked at our tickets, then looked at us and said, “Problem.” What happened was that we had left the European Union and gone into a place where our pass wasn’t valid … and they were ready to dump us off the train.”
Ultimate Fighting fans know Chuck Liddell as The Iceman. But since retiring last year, the 41-year-old mixed marital artist is now known as The EVP—the executive vice president of business development for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He’s also featured in the new DVD and Blu-ray release, “UFC: Bad Blood — Liddell vs. Ortiz,” which documents Liddell’s longstanding rivalry with fellow MMA superstar Tito Ortiz.
Matt Czuchry played the ideal boyfriend on shows such as “Friday Night Lights” and “The Gilmore Girls.” But it’s his role as conflicted attorney Cary Agos on the critically acclaimed series “The Good Wife” that is a showcase for the boyishly handsome actor, who looks much younger than his 33 years. Czuchry currently splits his time between both coasts.
It’s not easy to travel incognito when every tween and teenage girl in the world knows what you look like. But Justin Bieber gave it a good shot during a recent trip to the Bahamas. When the 16-year-old pop star wanted to try out the waterslides at the Atlantis resort in Paradise Island, he wrapped a beach towel over his trademark mane of floppy blond hair.
When John Grogan wrote Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog, he knew he had written a good book. But he didn’t realize he had written a book that would become a phenomenon. The tale of Grogan’s naughty, but lovable dog, not only has spawned a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, but also a series of children’s books starring the irrepressible Labrador Retriever.