Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Born in Louisiana and raised in Florida, Paxton Ingram won over viewers with his magnetic personality and gorgeous vocals during his stint on “The Voice.” He says everyone expected him to pick Pharrell to be his on-air coach. Instead, he selected country superstar Blake Shelton. Ingram, 21, recently released the single “Bad Luck.” He will be performing a showcase at this year’s SXSW.
Actress Molly Bernard (“Sully”) likes staying busy, which is a good thing given her work schedule. The star of TV Land’s “Younger” — where she portrays publicist Lauren Heller — also has a recurring role on the Emmy Award-winning series, “Transparent” (Amazon Prime Video). Bernard, 29, resides in Brooklyn, and is a fan of New York in general: “In the summer, I love Fire Island. It’s my main destination and I spend a lot of time dreaming about it during the cold winter months.”
Moviegoers have watched Christina Ricci grow up on screen. After earning rave reviews for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams in 1991’s “The Addams Family,” she transitioned into more mature parts in films such as “Sleepy Hollow,” “Prozac Nation” and “Monster.” Her latest role is portraying Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald in Amazon Prime Video’s “Z: The Beginning of Everything.”
Joan Benedict Steiger lived a glamorous life during Hollywood’s golden era. The resilient actress has survived the deaths of two husbands, including Academy Award-winning actor Rod Steiger. Still, she has fond memories of her life that she reflects upon in her memoir, “Brooklyn Baby: A Hollywood Star’s Amazing Journey through Love, Loss and Laughter” (BearManor Media, $24.95).
Richard Schiff says that until “West Wing,” most people couldn’t pinpoint who he was or why they recognized him. Those days have changed. In the past year alone, the Emmy Award-winning actor has worked on multiple films and television series. Schiff just ended a run as an attorney on DIRECTV’s “Rogue” and can be seen in BBC America’s “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.”
The son of a nuclear engineer and a nurse, swimming champion Nathan Adrian grew up in the Seattle area. At five, he began swimming to keep up with his older siblings. Rio marks the third Olympic Games for the 27-year-old champ. Having already won four Olympic medals (three gold and a silver), he is looking forward to helping the United States win a few more.
Becky Sauerbrunn is the co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, which will be competing next month at the Olympics. Asked if she would squeeze in any sightseeing, she said, “There won’t be a lot of time! We play in stadiums all around Brazil and won’t be in Rio until the end of the tournament, if all goes well. If I have some time, however, I would like to see the National Library of Brazil. It’s one of the largest libraries in the world.”
Born in Lake Forest, Ill., to Dutch parents, 6-foot-8 inch Matt Grevers swam for Northwestern University and went on to win gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).
Singer Sam Smith got skewered on social media for a series of tweets. After witnessing his friend being abused due to his race, Smith said he was astounded that something like this could happen in London. His tweets clearly were well intentioned. But some folks wondered how he could be so naive as to not know that these things happened on a somewhat regular basis to people of color — especially since the anti-Muslim, anti-Pakastani, anti-Syrian sentiment in the U.K. has been covered extensively in the media there.
“Pretty Girls” author Karin Slaughter has a zest from travel. She says, “I do find that when I’ve done something unusual on a trip, like swim with the sharks in Australia or sit in a sauna in Finland, then jump naked into the iced-over Baltic, that it has given me an appreciation for the comforts of home. Nothing makes you love fried chicken and a warm biscuit even more than eating limp meat from a roadside stand in Croatia.”