book actress

Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress, film director, and producer. She gained worldwide recognition in the 1990s for portraying Rachel Green in the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Jennifer Aniston and boyfriend Justin Theroux hit up Christie's Artists for Haiti auction in New York on Friday night and they didn’t go home empty-handed. The couple stepped up for the cause and won a spendy painting for a whopping $450,000. 

Theroux did the bidding on the 6-foot Glenn Ligon abstract titled “Stranger #44,” while Aniston clapped enthusiastically after the win, reports US magazine. With the painting valued at just $150,000 to $200,000, the purchase was also a hefty donation.

Ben Stiller’s Stiller Foundation, in partnership with Zwirner, organized the fundraiser to help the people of Haiti. Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and others joined Stiller and friends at Almond restaurant for the benefit dinner, raising $14 million for the cause, according to Reuters.

Artists Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns and Chuck Close teamed up for the Artists for Haiti event, many creating pieces specifically for the auction. Marlene Dumas’ “My mother before she became my mother” was the top seller at $2 million.

Charlie Sheen met up with Ashton Kutcher last night backstage at the Emmys and tweeted photos of the two.

At first he tweeted: "Giving the new kid a little advice..."

Then he added: "Seriously... @aplusk great talking to you! We'll all be watching! Make us proud!!"

Sheen was a surprise presenter and wasn't met with huge applause.

From the stage, he said, "Good evening. Before I present Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, my old category, I want to take a moment to get something off my chest and say a few words to everyone here from Two and a Half Men," he said. "From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best from this upcoming season. We spent eight wonderful years together, and I know you will continue to make great television."

Sheen says he'll be doing a live, interactive tweet party during tonight's Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen

Celeb sites including Perez Hilton and Media Takeouthave posted photos this morning of a nude Scarlett Johansson.

UPDATE: The actress' lawyer has sent out cease-and-desist letters, threatening sites with legal action if the shots are not taken down.

E! News and TMZ say that actress, who is filming The Avengers right now in New York, may be the victim of a cellphone hacker. The two photos that have popped up appear to be taken by the actress. In one, she's on a bed, topless. And in another she's doing the popular bathroom mirror shot.

In March, Johansson's name popped up on a list of celebritieswhose cellphones, computers and e-mail accounts were hacked. Now, sources are saying that ScarJo has contacted the FBI to get involved, as they were in March when Vanessa Hudgens was targeted.

Heather Bormann, 29, of Cleveland, a charter bus driver who got into ascuffle with Matthew Fox early Sunday morning, is giving her side of the story.

She told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a Monday interview that she was attacked by Fox, 45, who is in Cleveland to film I, Alex Cross, when she refused to let him on a bus that was reserved for a private party.

The mother of three said she did not realize it was Fox until after he was in police custody.

"He smelled like a liquor cabinet, like a bar," Bormann explained to the Plain Dealer. "I told him, 'Sorry, buddy, this is a private party. You have to get off my vehicle.' I told him three times. He never said a word. He just looked at me."

She said Fox starting "swinging on her," which left bruises on her arms, right leg, thighs and chest. Bormann said when he would not stop, she punched him in the mouth, sending him stumbling back. An off-duty police officer then got involved. Bormann says she is pressing charges against the actor, who has not commented on the incident.

Vanity Fair gets up close and personal with Angelina Jolie, who talks about her new film, but also squelches reports that she and Brad Pitt are planning to get married.

In the mag's October issue, the actress assures that there is "no secret wedding" in the works with her sweetie. She also denounces a few other rumors: "I'm not pregnant. I'm not adopting at the moment."

And she chats about directing her new movie, In the Land of Blood and Honey, and how it has changed the way she approaches acting.

"Brad thinks I'm going to be a nightmare," Jolie jokes. "I had such a good experience he thinks I'm going to be impatient with directors, which I already am. I get impatient with people working on a film that have their head in their hands like it's the most complicated thing in the world."

The film, which marks her screenwriting debut as well as her directorial debut, came to fruition quickly.

"I had the flu," Jolie says. "I had to be quarantined from the children for two days. I was in the attic of a house in France. I was isolated, pacing. I don't watch TV and I wasn't reading anything. So I started writing. I went from the beginning to the end. I didn't know any other way."

She says she then let Brad take the script to read on a trip: "He called and said, 'You know, honey, it's not that bad.'"

Jolie says he was supportive throughout the project. "He'd come in and say what he liked or what he didn't understand. Like any woman, I would listen to most of it and fight a few things. He's been so supportive. But it's hard to separate the person that loves you from the critic, so I don't think he's a fair judge."

Jolie admits she did not initially intend to direct the film. "It was something I didn't trust out of my hands," she explains. "So by default I ended up putting myself in as director."

And now she's feeling the pressure. "I've never felt more exposed. My whole career, I've hidden behind other people's words."

The October issue of Vanity Fairwill be on newsstands in New York and L.A. on Sept. 1, and nationally and on the iPad Sept. 6.

Last night he chatted with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and this morning his taped interview with Matt Lauer airs onToday.

And he's not the raging, winning warlock we saw earlier this year. He says in both interviews that he's calmer now.

"It was like a runaway train that I was the reluctant conductor of," he told Leno. "I didn't really believe I had tiger blood. Or Adonis DNA."

And to Lauer: "I don't know, the tiger blood… it was so silly and people took it so seriously and I figured, alright, I'll continue to give the people what they want, you know?"

Was he out of control? "Absolutely," admitted Sheen to Leno. "I don't know so much that I was winning."

What made him change? "I realized I was pretty much losing!"

When asked by Leno if he's still "angry" at CBS and the producers of Two and a Half Men, he said "no," adding, "I would have fired my (self). Well, maybe not like they did."

Sheen was fired in March after his string of public rants and public craziness. "I thought I could come back," said Sheen to Leno, "like you did."

Asked why he thought he should have been fired, Sheen explained, "I should have been a little more responsible about the condition I was showing up in."

Sheen also told Leno that his relationship with his father, Martin Sheen, is "totally repaired. We're buddies again. He's a great guy."

The biggest surprise of the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen was seeing actress Kate Walsh walk onstage. The next biggest surprise was listening to thePrivate Practice star throw out off-color jokes from the podium.

Could Walsh be unleashing her raunchy side?

"I do have a little bit of raunch," Walsh told USA TODAY. "I'm half-Irish after all. So come on."

Walsh admitted it might be a big shock for fans of her show to see her R-rated roast session (which will be broadcast Sept. 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). When asked what they should know before tuning in, she replied with a laugh: "Viewer discretion advised. I'd say, take it easy everybody, it's a little bit of a bumpy ride," Walsh said, before using words like "filthy," "naughty" and "dirty" to describe the evening dedicated to bashing Sheen. These are words not normally associated with Walsh.

Throughout the Saturday night roast, roastmaster Seth MacFarlane continually asked Walsh, "What are you doing here?" from the stage. Onstage she explained that she was using her television medical expertise to analyze the outrageous personalities on the stage -- from Sheen to William Shatner to Mike Tyson.

But afterwards Walsh said it was all about comedy, adding that she started her career in improv.

"And it was a good exercise in masochism to come up here," Walsh said. Though she added that she came out "relatively unscathed" by the other comics -- and Sheen -- despite some of the comedy bombs thrown at her during the roast.

Walsh admitted that when she agreed to do the gig she had at least one sleepless night. "I was like, 'Oh my God, what am I doing," she said. "I have never done a roast before."

But at the end, she was all smiles backstage. "No regrets," said Walsh. "You never want to rest on your laurels. You want to keep doing things that terrify you."

Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1983 and still a widely taught and talked about novel, is finally coming out as an e-book.

But not through a traditional publisher.

Open Road Integrated Media, the digital company co-founded two years ago by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, has reached an agreement with Walker to release the electronic version of "The Color Purple" and most of her other work.

New editions of "The Color Purple" and the novels "The Temple of My Familiar" and "Possessing the Secret of Joy" were released Tuesday. On Nov. 22, eight more books will be published. The e-books will include author interviews, photographs and personal documents.

"I love reading a good book while flying through the air," Walker said in a statement. "I've traveled all my life and have visited many of the faraway places I dreamed of as a child: India, Australia, Bali, South Africa, Iceland, etc. On each journey I've carried books. Books that taught me a lot, while engaging my sense of wonder, but that got heavier and heavier! Open Road promises to be a way for my books to accompany travelers on their own journeys of exploration and learning."

Open Road has previously acquired e-rights to such best-sellers as Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides" and William Styron's "Darkness Visible" by offering royalty rates of 50 percent, double what traditional publishers usually offer, and by promising aggressive promotion.

"Open Road has the best technical know-how and best forward-moving energy. I love the way all the people I've worked with express and carry themselves: with confidence and enthusiasm but also with a sense of experience. They have a track record," Walker said.

"If this were not enough, there is a sense, lacking often in publishing, of connectedness with the author, of all of us being in this adventure together, wanting it to be the best."

Walker's agent, Wendy Weil, wrote in an email that "with e-book publishing bursting into popularity during the last two years, this seemed to be the perfect time and e-publisher to market her backlist successfully." Walker is best known for "The Color Purple," set in rural Georgia in the 1930s. It was adapted into a 1985 Steven Spielberg film of the same name and more recently into a Broadway musical.

As the digital market rapidly grows, agents and publishers have disagreed over older books, with agents saying that the contracts did not cover e-books because the format didn't yet exist and publishers saying such rights were implicit.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which originally published "The Color Purple" and the other works being issued electronically by Open Road, did not immediately return phone and email requests for comment Monday.

Let's see, leading Hispanic actors on mainstream TV: There's Sofia Vergara's wacky, chess-playing trophy wife on "Modern Family"; the conniving Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives"; and supporting actors such as Adam Rodriguez who plays a fingerprint and underwater recovery expert on "CSI Miami."

After that, the list thins considerably.

Stepping into that space is "The Latino List." The new documentary by Vanity Fair contributing photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders airs Sept. 28-29 on HBO and HBO Latino and features interviews by award-winning broadcast journalist Maria Hinojosa with some of the nation's most successful Latinos. Hinojosa has worked at CNN, NPR and PBS, and elsewhere.

Longoria, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, rapper Armando Christian Perez, aka Pitbull, astronaut Jose Hernandez and actress America Ferrera are just a few of the 15 who made the list. The interviews are compelling, funny and raw.

Ferrera, the former star of TV's "Ugly Betty," talks about the discrimination she faced both because she is Hispanic and because others felt she isn't Hispanic enough. Hernandez recalls picking cucumbers as a kid with his migrant worker parents. John Leguizamo remembers the teacher who inspired him to become an actor by telling him he had the "attention span of a sperm."

Many of the stories touch on the immigrant experience, but themes of family, education and determination will likely resonate far beyond the nation's Latino community.

The film follows Greenfield-Sanders' acclaimed 2008 "The Black List," a series of three documentaries featuring African-American leaders interviewed by journalist Elvis Mitchell. Like "The Black List," ''The Latino List" is accompanied by a larger photography exhibit now on display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Greenfield-Sanders' portraits have graced the walls of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The National Portrait Gallery in Washington. His style is refreshingly simple — the list-makers sit or stand alone before a gray background, their faces lit by soft light.

But the film's minimalism is deceptive. Greenfield-Sanders wanted viewers to feel like the list-makers were speaking directly to them, so he used a special camera rig with a mirror that enabled his subjects to look directly into the camera and see a projected image of Hinojosa — who was sitting on the other side of the studio. She had a similar camera and microphone.

The result enabled the list-makers to have "face-to-face" conversations with her while allowing viewers to feel they are part of the conversation.

"It was like nothing I've ever done before, and I've done hundreds and hundreds of interviews from gang members to skinheads to CEOs," Hinojosa said. She believes the camera technique helped create both a safe distance and an intimacy with the list-makers.

"We understand that the Latino experience in this country is profoundly beautiful and deeply moving, and sometimes painful. ... I really wanted to create a space for them to remember and touch back to these core memories and values," she said.

In an exchange not in the film, Hinojosa even found herself asking Sotomayor parenting advice: Should she allow her then 11-year-old daughter to pluck her thick, Frida Kahlo-style eyebrows?

Sotomayor's advice: Yes, but help the girl develop a strong sense of self in other more fundamental ways.

"Maria Hinojosa is an amazing interviewer and got me to go places I might not have gone on my own," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who is in the film. "I think it will give non-Latinos a way to better understand who we are, and hopefully give Latinos a sense of pride."

In his interview, the Cuban-born politician recalled an incident early in his career as mayor of Union City, N.J., when he spoke Spanish at a city council meeting to a woman struggling with English.

When members of the audience complained, Menendez adjourned the meeting and brought the entire room to the city archives to see official ledgers from before the city's official 1925 incorporation. They were handwritten in German, the language of the area's large immigrant community at that time.

Hinojosa said the experience was particularly powerful because the filming coincided with the passage of Arizona's tough immigration laws, although the current political debate over immigration is barely touched upon in the film.

That will likely generate controversy. And while Mexican-Americans make up nearly two-thirds of U.S. Hispanics, the film features a rough balance of Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans and Puerto Ricans. Ferrera, whose family is Honduran, is the sole representative of Latinos of Central American heritage. Colombian native John Leguizamo is the only South American.

Greenfield-Sanders is aware of the potential criticism but makes no apologies.

He worked with Ingrid Duran, the former CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Institute, to reach an array of political and cultural leaders. He says narrowing the list proved even more challenging than "The Black List."

"Like 'The Black List,' we had to choose a kind of a balance of men and women, and a balance of professions, and then with 'The Latino List' we had to find a balance of nationalities, too," he said.

He hopes the film will spawn sequels.

Added Greenfield-Sanders: "There are thousands of people who deserve to be in the film."

Chaz Bono is dancing right past the controversy surrounding his casting on "Dancing With the Stars" — and he's not even the dancing type.

"I like it, but I'm kind of an introvert," he said from the nondescript dance studio where he has been rehearsing for the hit ABC show for up to five hours a day. "My natural tendency is to go in, not show off. I get embarrassed really easily, which is something you have to get over on this show."

Bono will be over it by Monday night, when he and 11 other celebrities, including actors, TV personalities, and sports stars, will make their ballroom debut on the season premiere of "Dancing With the Stars."

Of the 11, Bono may be the most controversial: As the show's first transgender contestant, the 42-year-old author and activist has been the subject of hateful blog posts by some viewers and conservative media groups. Some have even called for a "Dancing" boycott.

But other groups, such as the Transgender Law Center and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, have lauded his casting and urged their members to support Bono's appearance on the show.

Meanwhile, he and professional partner Lacey Schwimmer are too focused on their cha-cha to listen to all the chatter and they're confident that once the show begins, the controversy will fade as quickly as its requisite spray tans.

"I feel like if people who are on the fence just watch the show, I think they're going to feel comfortable with me pretty soon," said Bono, wearing double knee braces under his long basketball shorts. "I'm a really kind of regular guy. I think I'm a pretty nice guy. My heart is in the right place and I think if people just watch, they'll see that."

The last contestant to perform Monday night, Bono earned 17 points out of 30 for their routine, which judges praised as "joyous."

"You light up this room!" judge Carrie Ann Inaba said after Bono's performance on the season-premiere episode.

Though his casting on "Dancing" makes him the most visible transgender person in America, he doesn't feel pressure to make any kind of statement.

"No, other than to do my best dancing," he said. "That's the statement that I'd like to make: that I'm an OK dancer. That's about it."

"I just hope people understand that he's just like everybody else and he's here on a dancing show to shake his groove thing," said Schwimmer, Bono's instructor and partner.

Coaxing out Bono's inner groove thing, however, isn't always easy, she said. Despite his legendary showbiz roots, Bono is pretty reserved. Though he opened up to the world about his transition from female to male in the Emmy-nominated documentary "Becoming Chaz," dancing in front of millions almost feels more intimate.

"It's completely different because I've never done this before," he said. "I can sit down and talk to Oprah about myself or subjects that I'm really comfortable with and that I really know and have information to put across, but I'm not a dancer. All I know about dancing is what I've learned in less than (three) weeks!"

And the process has literally been painful.

"I have aching everything," Bono said.

"He's using muscles he never even knew he had," Schwimmer added.

The two, who never met before they were cast together on "Dancing" and now call themselves Team Schwaz, have developed an easy chemistry, sometimes finishing each other's sentences.

They talk about the tattoos they'll get to commemorate the show, crack jokes about their age difference and laugh about Schwimmer's love of legwarmers. She's 23 and thinks the fashions of the "Flashdance" era are the coolest. She has promised she won't force Bono to wear "a hot pink catsuit with legwarmers," but one gets the idea she'd really like to.

Bono has been too busy with the intricacies of ballroom dancing — "posture, the head in the right place, arm movement, fingers" — to think about the sequins that may await him. He said he's left the design of his costume completely up to Schwimmer.

He joined the show to challenge himself, he said, and wasn't really a "Dancing" fan until after he signed on and watched a bunch of past seasons to prepare.

"It's so positive, it's very wholesome, and though I know some people think that I'm not, I actually am," he said. "I appreciate that there's stuff on this (show) that the whole family can sit and watch. It's positive and it's people trying to do their best and having breakthroughs. There's nothing salacious about this show, and I appreciate that."

He has devoted himself full time to dancing, and when it came time to film a freestyle segment for the show, Bono made his partner proud.

"He was kicking and turning and jumping and shimmying," she said. "He mixed a little bit of disco, '80s and Fred Astaire."

"I guess it is in me," Bono said, "but I have to dig deep to get it."

"Dancing With the Stars" unveiled its new ballroom and new cast Monday, and when all the dancing was done, singer Chynna Phillips and actor J.R. Martinez were tied at the top.

Phillips and Martinez each earned 22 points out of 30 for their Viennese waltzes. Basketball star Ron Artest landed in last place with 14 points. Head judge Len Goodman said the Lakers forward's footwork was "atrocious" and his cha-cha was "all sizzle and no sausage."

Artest, who recently changed his name to Metta World Peace, had the Hebrew words for "world peace" shaved into his hair for his "Dancing" debut. Despite his low score, he said after the show that he "came to entertain" and felt the judges were fair.

Scoring one point better than Artest was Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, who is better known in the United States for being George Clooney's ex-girlfriend. She said her nerves got the better of her in the ballroom and she left the episode worried about Tuesday's results show, when the season's first celebrity contestant will be dismissed.

Judges' scores are combined with viewer votes to determine who is ousted each week.

Also making their dancing debut on the hit ABC show were World Cup soccer player Hope Solo; reality stars Robert Kardashian and Kristin Cavallari; TV personalities Nancy Grace, Carson Kressley and Ricki Lake; actor David Arquette; and author and activist Chaz Bono.

Kardashian brought his famous family along: Sisters Kim and Khloe, mom Kris Jenner and brother-in-law Lamar Odom sat in the ballroom. The reality star scored 16 points, as did Grace. She said after the show that she hopes to make it through Tuesday's elimination episode, but Kardashian said he needs to stay on the show for at least four weeks.

"It's obvious I need to beat my sister," he said of former contestant Kim. "She was only on it three weeks."

Bono and Kressley each earned 17 points for their cha-chas. Bono, this season's most talked-about cast member, did the night's final dance, which Goodman said showed "good footwork and a great attitude."

Kressley turned in the episode's most entertaining performance, smiling and making faces throughout his high-energy routine. Goodman said the dance had "elements of Jagger, swagger and stagger." Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said it was her favorite of the night.

"I cannot get over all the sparkle that's happening around you," she said of Kressley's bedazzled blazer.

"This is not even a costume," the celebrity stylist quipped. "I had it in my closet."

Arquette, who said that he has been sober for eight months, impressed the judges with his elegant Viennese waltz, scoring 18 points. The actor said after the show that dancing helps support his sobriety.

"A lot of the themes that are in dancing are in living just a clean life and an honest life: Just being balanced, living life gracefully, staying focused, being connected to something, letting yourself step into the light," he said. "It's all connected, and it's really great for the body and the soul."

His estranged wife Courteney Cox and the couple's daughter, Coco, sat in the audience Monday.

Cavallari collected 19 points for her cha-cha. Judges rewarded Lake's romantic waltz with 20 points and Solo's with 21.

A special meet-the-cast episode of "Dancing With the Stars" is set to air Tuesday before the live results show.

The statues have been handed out. "Modern Family" swept. "Mad Men" dominated. But backstage, it wasn't all bravado from the stars of those shows, or any of the other Emmy winning programs. Below, check out how Julie Bowen, Kate Winslet, Melissa McCarthy, Martin Scorsese and more reflected on their victories backstage

Ty Burrell, winner, best supporting actor in a comedy, "Modern Family," on the show's pro-gay stance: "It feels very, very good to be on a show that seems like it's changing a lot of minds."


Julie Bowen, winner, best supporting actress in a comedy, "Modern Family," on how having children of her own influences her role as Claire Dunphy: "I think if I wasn't a mom, it would be harder to look at a child and understand how you can hate and love them all at once … There are times when I really wouldn't mind if there was a giant hook pulled [my kids] off the stage of my life." Jim Parsons, winner, best actor in a comedy, "The Big Bang Theory," on former "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen presenting his award: "He just congratulated me and said, 'That's awesome.' He was that sweet and that banal, I'm sorry to say."

Kate Winslet, winner, best actress in a miniseries or movie, "Mildred Pierce," on playing Elizabeth Taylor in a bio pic if asked to take on the role: "I would be honored. In the same breath I would say yes."

Melissa McCarthy, winner, best actress in a comedy, "Mike & Molly," on the beauty pageant inspired presentation of her award: "It was all Amy's idea. If Amy Poehler thinks something's funny, I'll do it. I don't want to piss her off."

Peter Dinklage, winner, best supporting actor in a drama, "Game of Thrones," on exuding a super cool persona and thanking his dog sitter: "It comes from being terrified on the inside. It's all a show. … I mentioned [my dog walker named Kitty] but not my manager or my lawyer or anyone who's actually responsible for me having this job. … It comes at a price, I think. My mom will be really happy about that."

Martin Scorsese, winner , best drama direction, on television being a more creative medium than film: "I think you really have an opportunity here now and I see it even maybe more so than what's possible with independent cinema. You have the opportunity here now. It depends on the vision … but you can do something extraordinary."

He is one of the greatest American film directors working, but on Sunday night it was the world of U.S. television that Martin Scorsese ruled over, winning an Emmy for directing drama "Boardwalk Empire."

The pilot episode of the series, which is set in 1930s Prohibition-era Atlantic City at a time when mob bosses ruled that seaside town, was directed by Scorsese, and if he had his way, the maker of "GoodFellas" and "Raging Bull" said he'd like to direct more.

""I've always dreamed of working on a project where the characters can develop over a period of time," Scorsese told reporters backstage at the Emmys. "You can develop plot, characters ... and get more done over a longer period of time. It gives you more license and much more freedom."

Scorsese, 68, had been nominated for Oscars, the film industry's top honors, seven times before finally winning for directing his 2006 hit "The Departed."

Yet even though he plays at the top of his game in film, he said it was nerve-racking sitting in the Emmy audience and waiting to see if his name would be called.

"I was extremely nervous," he said. "I must say it is something I never dreamed of. It's a different medium, although we approach 'Boardwalk Empire' as a film, a very long film. It's just as exciting."

He told reporters that the type of television dramas being made now on cable TV networks such as HBO, where "Boardwalk Empires" airs, were of a quality that directors like Scorsese had longed for back in the 1960s but failed to materialize on broadcast networks looking for the widest possible audiences.

"You have the opportunity here now. You can do something really extraordinary now. This is the time," he said.

Other Scorsese films include "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "The Color of Money," "Casino," "The Aviator" and "Gangs of New York." He also has directed documentary films. His new nonfiction feature, "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," will premiere on HBO in October.

Perched atop 5-inch heels, Julianna Margulies stood sipping a glass of blush wine while accepting a wave of congratulations and hugs from well-wishers. She soon plucked her Emmy statuette from the table and handed it to her hubby to carry.

Margulies' cream dress fit right in with the theme for the official after-party of the 63rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards — black and white with a touch of gold. She earned her golden trophy as best actress in a drama series for "The Good Wife." Celebrating with Margulies was co-star Christine Baranski.

Partygoers at the Governors Ball craned their heads to watch a woman perform an aerial act in the upper reaches of the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday night. Living art performers dressed in black-and-white were perched on pedestals. Black-and-white carpet lined the path to the sprawling party space decorated in the theme of mod illusions.

About 1,200 servers wearing temporary facial tattoos bobbed and weaved among the crowded tables carrying drinks and dinner. The stars dined on an heirloom tomato salad sandwiched between grilled asparagus and fried gold potatoes, filet mignon accompanied by baby carrots, cipollini onions and white-cheddar macaroni gratin. Dessert was a milk chocolate brownie, chocolate blackberry cream, blackberry macarons and chocolate rice crisps with honey sauce.

They washed everything down with wine, champagne and specialty vodka cocktails, including one dubbed The Emmy with orange-flavored vodka, grapefruit juice, agave syrup and ginger ale.

Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory," who won as lead actor in a comedy series, posed for photos with all comers. Nominee Laura Linney of "The Big C" leaned in to hear the conversation at her table as the Impulse Orchestra kept the music hopping and the Motown Quartet sang.

Christina Hendricks and John Slattery of "Mad Men" celebrated their show's fourth consecutive victory as best drama series, while former "Friends" Matt LeBlanc chatted nearby. A bespectacled Andy Samberg of "Saturday Night Live" held court across the room, while all over people texted madly on their phones oblivious to the party in full swing around them.

Judah Friedlander of "30 Rock," whose character Frank wears trucker hats, sported a black hat reading "World Champion" in sparkly letters.

Some partygoers helped themselves to multiple boxes of truffle pops featuring raspberry red velvet, triple chocolate orange liqueur and chocolate almond almond to take home.

Charlie Sheen turned a surprise appearance on the Emmys into a platform to offer his blessing to his old series.

He was on hand Sunday night as presenter of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, which he wryly described as "my old category."

But the actor, who had a rancorous parting last season from "Two and a Half Men," took a moment before reading the nominees to wish his former series well.

"From the bottom of my heart," he said, "I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season. We spent eight wonderful years together and I know you will continue to make great television."

On Monday, the new season begins with Ashton Kutcher replacing Sheen in the CBS hit.

This year's Emmys are driving some nominees to drink.

Several celebrities teased on the red carpet Friday night at the Emmy performers nominee reception that they would start imbibing early in order to prepare for Sunday's Primetime Emmys, the three-hour ceremony honoring all things television at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

"Friday Night Lights" actress Connie Britton hoped to enjoy "some caviar and champagne" with her best girlfriends as she primps for the show, while "So You Think You Can Dance" host Cat Deeley revealed that she would partake in a "margarita and a swim" before the ceremony.

The plan for "Mildred Pierce" actress Melissa Leo was decidedly more dry.

"Everything is all picked out," said Leo. "There is no last-minute decisions for me, so I'll probably hop in the lovely little sauna over there at my hotel, and have a nice little sit in there, probably have a little something to eat early in the day — better than later on in the day. Eventually, the team will come over and start fluffing and primping."

Leo, who won a supporting actress Oscar for her role in "The Fighter" earlier this year, is nominated in the outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie category. Deeley is a first-time nominee in the outstanding reality TV host category, while Britton is up for her second time as outstanding lead actress in a drama series.

Dozens of this year's celebrity nominees were feted during an annual pre-Emmy soiree at Wolfgang Puck's Spectra inside the Pacific Design Center. On a stage out on the event space's balcony, nominees were presented with certificates by Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chairman John Schaffner, who individually posed for photos with each nominee.

Schaffner and "Modern Family" actress Sofia Vergara, who is nominated in the supporting comedy actress category, are in for a surprise when they peep their picture: Vergara's co-star and fellow Emmy nominee Eric Stonestreet jokingly stuck his head in the background. Stonestreet is up for the supporting comedy actor trophy, which he took home last year.

Inside, attendees feasted on a summer-inspired buffet created by Puck that included such savory dishes as sweet corn tortellini, heirloom tomato salad, roasted chicken, striped sea bass and slow braised short ribs. For dessert, partygoers plucked heavenly cupcakes and brownies from pedestals that were positioned underneath a display of large, fluffy clouds.

"I will probably just pace in the hotel room," said "Downton Abbey" actress Elizabeth McGovern, who is nominated for a miniseries or movie lead actress trophy, of her Emmy morning plans. "It starts pretty early, doesn't it? I don't think I will do too much. I will go probably get a coffee, come back, pace some more, probably read my book to calm down."

Heard at the 63rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards:

"Modern Family was this close to being animated. That's how much we didn't want to work with kids." — "Modern Family" co-creator Steve Levitan acknowledging the child actors on the show as he accepts the award for outstanding comedy series.

South African artist William Kentridge is perhaps best known for his charcoal drawings and videos in which those drawings seem to dance.

But he works in a wide variety of media — putting his drawings on stage amid a polyphony of keyboards and brass curious instruments salvaged from antique shops, and text from Shakespeare to Gogol. Dancers, puppets and singers thread their way through the maelstrom of his pieces.

Over the past month, hometown audiences have had a chance to immerse themselves in the collages of image, sound and movement that have made Kentridge a major international figure.

"Refuse the Hour," a two-week festival of his work at Johannesburg's renowned Market Theatre, culminates this weekend with "Dancing with Dada," a new piece of dance, spoken word, live music and video.

Kentridge, 56, is so prolific it sometimes seems he is everywhere: directing opera in New York, mounting a mixed-media retrospective in Paris, projecting a video onto a curtain at Venice's main opera house.

In an interview Saturday in the studio behind his hilltop Johannesburg home, Kentridge said that his charcoals remain central even as his work has branched out in many directions.

Drawing is "a way of thinking aloud," he says.

Kentridge, though, calls himself a bad drawer — but says that's an advantage because it forces him to use his imagination to fill in the gaps between what he sees and what he draws.

The ideas he turns into international projects start in his Johannesburg studio, so the two-week festival here has been a sort of coming home.

The series grew from requests to give a local public performance of "I am not me, the horse is not mine." The quirky lecture has been seen around the world, but in Johannesburg it's only been viewed only by friends in his studio. Soon, other work was added to the program.

The Johannesburg festival culminates in "Dancing with Dada," a piece featuring dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo. Kentridge recruited the 26-year-old after seeing a solo performance she choreographed two years ago.

Kentridge paces the stage for much of the piece, a Prospero in dark pants and white shirt, shadowed by Masilo. Masilo based dance movements on Kentridge's walk and gestures, transforming them into something rich, strange and graceful.

On one level, the piece is named for its choreographer. On another level, the title references the whimsy and sarcasm of Dada art.

In 2012, another version of the show will become part of Documenta, a German contemporary art exhibition that takes place every five years. He plans to expand the piece and rename it "The Refusal of Time."

"The whole question of time and wanting to take it back" began to resonate more and more as the project evolved, said Masilo, who worked through a hamstring injury to perform.

Kentridge's two-week festival opened with that requested performance of "I am not me, the horse is not mine." During the monologue, he takes the audience through the ideas and images that informed his production of the Dmitri Shostakovich opera "The Nose" at New York's Metropolitan Opera House last year.

New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini lauded the way Kentridge "unleashed his imagination on Shostakovich's bitterly satirical and breathless opera."

Kentridge is known for confronting dark themes in his work, including the oppression and brutality of apartheid.

His father, Sydney Kentridge, was a prominent anti-apartheid lawyer in South Africa who represented Steve Biko's family at an inquest into the activist's death. Biko, a symbol of black resistance, was killed by apartheid police 34 years ago this month and remains an icon.

Westerners often remark on the freshness of Kentridge's work. He says that might be a result of the isolation of apartheid, which ended in 1994. Until that time, cultural boycotts meant he was working without much idea of what was happening in the major art centers around the world.

"I developed great confidence in not knowing what I was doing, and discovering it later on," he said.

Long term collaborators also took part in the festival featuring Kentridge's work, among them composer Philip Miller, who first wrote for Kentridge films in 1994. He and Kentridge have worked together so long, they barely need words to communicate.

During a rehearsal of "Dada," that sense of deep creative cooperation was evident among all the musicians, singers, dancer and cast of production managers, movement coaches and multimedia wizards.

"One of the skills I do claim is the skill of working with good collaborators, people whose language I understand," Kentridge says.

This year's Emmys are driving some nominees to drink.

Several celebrities teased on the red carpet Friday night at the Emmy performers nominee reception that they would start imbibing early in order to prepare for Sunday's Primetime Emmys, the three-hour ceremony honoring all things television at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

"Friday Night Lights" actress Connie Britton hoped to enjoy "some caviar and champagne" with her best girlfriends as she primps for the show, while "So You Think You Can Dance" host Cat Deeley revealed that she would partake in a "margarita and a swim" before the ceremony.

The plan for "Mildred Pierce" actress Melissa Leo was decidedly more dry.

"Everything is all picked out," said Leo. "There is no last-minute decisions for me, so I'll probably hop in the lovely little sauna over there at my hotel, and have a nice little sit in there, probably have a little something to eat early in the day — better than later on in the day. Eventually, the team will come over and start fluffing and primping."

Leo, who won a supporting actress Oscar for her role in "The Fighter" earlier this year, is nominated in the outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie category. Deeley is a first-time nominee in the outstanding reality TV host category, while Britton is up for her second time as outstanding lead actress in a drama series.

Dozens of this year's celebrity nominees were feted during an annual pre-Emmy soiree at Wolfgang Puck's Spectra inside the Pacific Design Center. On a stage out on the event space's balcony, nominees were presented with certificates by Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chairman John Schaffner, who individually posed for photos with each nominee.

Schaffner and "Modern Family" actress Sofia Vergara, who is nominated in the supporting comedy actress category, are in for a surprise when they peep their picture: Vergara's co-star and fellow Emmy nominee Eric Stonestreet jokingly stuck his head in the background. Stonestreet is up for the supporting comedy actor trophy, which he took home last year.

Inside, attendees feasted on a summer-inspired buffet created by Puck that included such savory dishes as sweet corn tortellini, heirloom tomato salad, roasted chicken, striped sea bass and slow braised short ribs. For dessert, partygoers plucked heavenly cupcakes and brownies from pedestals that were positioned underneath a display of large, fluffy clouds.

"I will probably just pace in the hotel room," said "Downton Abbey" actress Elizabeth McGovern, who is nominated for a miniseries or movie lead actress trophy, of her Emmy morning plans. "It starts pretty early, doesn't it? I don't think I will do too much. I will go probably get a coffee, come back, pace some more, probably read my book to calm down.

South African artist William Kentridge is perhaps best known for his charcoal drawings and videos in which those drawings seem to dance.

But he works in a wide variety of media — putting his drawings on stage amid a polyphony of keyboards and brass curious instruments salvaged from antique shops, and text from Shakespeare to Gogol. Dancers, puppets and singers thread their way through the maelstrom of his pieces.

Over the past month, hometown audiences have had a chance to immerse themselves in the collages of image, sound and movement that have made Kentridge a major international figure.

"Refuse the Hour," a two-week festival of his work at Johannesburg's renowned Market Theatre, culminates this weekend with "Dancing with Dada," a new piece of dance, spoken word, live music and video.

Kentridge, 56, is so prolific it sometimes seems he is everywhere: directing opera in New York, mounting a mixed-media retrospective in Paris, projecting a video onto a curtain at Venice's main opera house.

In an interview Saturday in the studio behind his hilltop Johannesburg home, Kentridge said that his charcoals remain central even as his work has branched out in many directions.

Drawing is "a way of thinking aloud," he says.

Kentridge, though, calls himself a bad drawer — but says that's an advantage because it forces him to use his imagination to fill in the gaps between what he sees and what he draws.

The ideas he turns into international projects start in his Johannesburg studio, so the two-week festival here has been a sort of coming home.

The series grew from requests to give a local public performance of "I am not me, the horse is not mine." The quirky lecture has been seen around the world, but in Johannesburg it's only been viewed only by friends in his studio. Soon, other work was added to the program.

The Johannesburg festival culminates in "Dancing with Dada," a piece featuring dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo. Kentridge recruited the 26-year-old after seeing a solo performance she choreographed two years ago.

Kentridge paces the stage for much of the piece, a Prospero in dark pants and white shirt, shadowed by Masilo. Masilo based dance movements on Kentridge's walk and gestures, transforming them into something rich, strange and graceful.

On one level, the piece is named for its choreographer. On another level, the title references the whimsy and sarcasm of Dada art.

In 2012, another version of the show will become part of Documenta, a German contemporary art exhibition that takes place every five years. He plans to expand the piece and rename it "The Refusal of Time."

"The whole question of time and wanting to take it back" began to resonate more and more as the project evolved, said Masilo, who worked through a hamstring injury to perform.

Kentridge's two-week festival opened with that requested performance of "I am not me, the horse is not mine." During the monologue, he takes the audience through the ideas and images that informed his production of the Dmitri Shostakovich opera "The Nose" at New York's Metropolitan Opera House last year.

New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini lauded the way Kentridge "unleashed his imagination on Shostakovich's bitterly satirical and breathless opera."

Kentridge is known for confronting dark themes in his work, including the oppression and brutality of apartheid.

His father, Sydney Kentridge, was a prominent anti-apartheid lawyer in South Africa who represented Steve Biko's family at an inquest into the activist's death. Biko, a symbol of black resistance, was killed by apartheid police 34 years ago this month and remains an icon.

Westerners often remark on the freshness of Kentridge's work. He says that might be a result of the isolation of apartheid, which ended in 1994. Until that time, cultural boycotts meant he was working without much idea of what was happening in the major art centers around the world.

"I developed great confidence in not knowing what I was doing, and discovering it later on," he said.

Long term collaborators also took part in the festival featuring Kentridge's work, among them composer Philip Miller, who first wrote for Kentridge films in 1994. He and Kentridge have worked together so long, they barely need words to communicate.

During a rehearsal of "Dada," that sense of deep creative cooperation was evident among all the musicians, singers, dancer and cast of production managers, movement coaches and multimedia wizards.

"One of the skills I do claim is the skill of working with good collaborators, people whose language I understand," Kentridge says.

The Emmy Awards were still a day away, but the Nokia Theatre was already abuzz Saturday as celebrities popped in to rehearse their lines for Sunday's ceremony.

TV stars such as Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Zooey Deschanel practiced presenting awards on the swooping Emmy stage inside the mostly empty theater.

Seat-saving placards sat where real stars will be Sunday. Laura Linney, nominated for her lead role on "The Big C," and multiple nominee (and repeat winner) Jon Stewart both have aisle seats for easy stage access.

Poehler, a double nominee for producing and starring in "Parks and Recreation," went makeup free for Saturday's rehearsal. Dressed casually in jeans, a button-down blouse, nude pumps and a ponytail, the actress jokingly presented an Emmy to Barack Obama, "for this rehearsal only."

When producers asked her to practice accepting an award for an absent winner, Poehler playfully admonished the fake winner: "(He) thought he was too special to come tonight," she said. "Bad move."

Poehler's husband Arnett, a fellow Emmy nominee for his guest-starring role on "30 Rock," carried a coffee cup on stage before running through his lines with co-presenter Deschanel. He wore jeans, a T-shirt and a black jacket; she rocked a red sweater with a horse on it over skinny jeans and pumps. Together they retooled their presentation of the comedy series writing award.

"I was on a plane switching stuff around," she told him.

Once they got their lines down, Deschanel was afraid to open the winner's envelope.

"It says it. Can we say it?" she asked an off-stage director. She got the OK, presented a fake trophy to fake winners, and she, Arnett and two stand-ins disappeared beneath the stage.

Also rehearsing Saturday were the Tenors, who will perform during the show's "In Memoriam" segment.

A federal agency has cited Disney with three safety citations totaling $69,000 related to the death of a mechanic who died in March while doing work on a ride at its Animal Kingdom park.

Each of the violations, which were officially issued last week, is deemed serious by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A probe was opened after a 52-year-old park worker was struck and killed by one of the Primeval Whirl ride's four-person vehicles while doing maintenance on the small roller coaster.

Investigators say in the citation that gate sensors were not maintained and that guardrails weren't installed properly.

A Disney spokesman says they have thoroughly reviewed the findings and have implemented several safety enhancements to Primeval Whirl to address the concerns raised by OSHA.

Singer Demi Lovato thanked her fans at a concert for supporting her after she entered rehab last year and encouraged young girls to seek help if they are dealing with similar problems.

"A year ago today ... I was not in a good place," the 19-year-old said at her concert Saturday night. "I needed help and I want anybody in this audience to know that if you're struggling with one of the issues that I dealt with or a different issue, that you can get help, that you can recover and it's possible if you just tell someone."

Lovato entered a treatment facility for three months last year to deal with "emotional and physical issues." The singer-actress said as an 8-year-old who faced bullying she had an eating disorder and later started cutting her wrists to vent her despair.

She performed a show at New York's Hammerstein ballroom, just days ahead of the release of third album, "Unbroken."

Lovato was beginning to play her latest song, "Skyscraper," when she stopped to address the crowd.

"There are so many beautiful girls in this audience that don't know that they're beautiful, but they just are," she said. "So I want to thank you guys for being there for me every single day I was away. I wouldn't be here without you guys today."

Concertgoers screamed "I love you" while Lovato spoke and one girl held a sign that read: "Demi makes me strong!"

After performing "Skyscraper," she sang a cover of Lil Wayne's recent hit "How to Love," a song about women's insecurities and their struggles to find love.

Lovato was the star of the Disney Channel series "Sonny With a Chance" before she announced she was leaving the show in April.