people and celebrities

LAS VEGAS -- Somewhere between his life as an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and his career as one of the most recognizable comedians in the country, the world became complicated for David Brenner."I have spent 19 of the last 21 years of my life in family court or dealing with family-court matters," Brenner says.

Motorcycle-maker-turned-reality-show star Jesse James is returning to series television.The former centerpiece of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage" will be starring in "Jesse James Is A Dead Man" for Spike TV, set to premiere in February 2009. Each week, he'll perform death-defying stunts.

For Divine Brown, the future began in front of a TV set, where as a child she danced and sang along with the performers on "Soul Train." The way ahead was what she saw when she gazed at the cover of Donna Summer's "I Remember Yesterday" album, and wanted to be that singer, with that dress and that hair.

Carlos Mencia isn't sure his Comedy Central series, "Mind of Mencia," will return for a fifth season.When asked if he'll do another season, Mencia said recently, "I don't know. We'll see.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Many folks working in Hollywood excel at playing nice. But Bonnie Hunt has always seemed like the real deal: An entertainer who's as genuine as she is funny.

Mickey Rooney got heartburn when he learned why his 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" had been pulled for "Ratatouille" at a Sacramento, Calif., free film series recently."'Ratatouille'? Never heard of it!" Rooney, 87, said in his classic Brooklyn accent in a spirited phone interview from his Southern California home.

On the phone Don Cheadle seems just as silk-smooth and easygoing as the characters he plays, but he gets annoyed if you call "Traitor" a movie about the war on terror.

He started out as a soap-opera stud on "All My Children," but actor Mark Consuelos thinks of himself as anything but. He eloped with former co-star Kelly Ripa, who now co-hosts the morning show "Live With Regis and Kelly." The couple live in New York City with their three children. Born in Spain, he spent a lot of time in Italy because of his mother's Italian heritage.

In high school, actor Rainn Wilson was a geek. In fact, he says, "I was every kind of geek, and one of the geeks that I was, was a band geek."

Keke Palmer turns 15 next Tuesday, and she's psyched."I'm so excited, I don't know what to do," says Palmer.She says she's changed a lot during her first two years as a teen-ager.