People and Celebs

Is Washington, D.C., the new New York?
That's the word from the cultural temperature-takers -- Vogue magazine and The Daily Beast's Tina Brown, for starters. Yes, the nation's capital seems a different place -- hipper, happier, more energized -- than it did 100 days ago when Barack Obama moved into the White House.
At least its mayor thinks so.

In the past year, Robert Downey Jr. earned a reputation as one of Hollywood's most versatile stars, playing alcoholic, egocentric superhero Tony Stark in "Iron Man" and half-mad method actor Kirk Lazarus in "Tropic Thunder."

Emma Roberts just turned 18. She's no longer the adorable kid audiences remember from her Nickelodeon TV show "Unfabulous" and as the eagle-eyed sleuth in "Nancy Drew."

When Jessica Lange walks down the busy streets of Manhattan, she keeps an eye out for the more colorful characters shuffling by.
"You never know when you might need them," says the 59-year-old Oscar-winning actress. "It's good to keep a mental notebook of the people you see. You can draw on them sometimes for roles."

In his seventh season on "Saturday Night Live," comic-writer-actor Will Forte is branching out once again in the new Fox animated comedy about teachers and students called "Sit Down, Shut Up." He does the voice for the assistant principal. Forte grew up in California and earned his comedy chops with the Groundlings, an improvisational comedy troupe in Los Angeles.

Occasionally, sweet-looking Amber Tamblyn is packing heat and blowing away targets.
"I just like to remind myself of the power I can have," she says, "and how dangerous it can be."

Being best friends forever with his daughter is not a problem for Billy Ray Cyrus.

A hypothetical question from filmmaker Monty Miranda: What happens when you follow your dream and work hard every day to make it come true -- but then find out you actually stink at what you do?

After nearly 50 years of studying chimpanzees, it makes perfect sense that Jane Goodall, 75, would begin many of her appearances with a universal chimp greeting by hooting and panting. In 1977, she started the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation and got her Ph.D. without having a bachelor's degree.

Sean Maguire could be the first actor in history to read a script, hoping it would be awful.