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My favorite celebrity is Russell Crowe. What can you tell me about him and his band? Do they have CDs available for purchase?
—Margaret C., Washington, D.C.

Though he’s primarily known for his acting, Russell Crowe’s band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, is no vanity project created to cash in on his fame. The New Zealand native has been singing and writing songs for nearly 20 years. The band’s music has been described as folksy pub rock. Their latest video, Sail Those Same Oceans, has had some airplay on the CMT channel. You should be able to find their CDs in music stores and online. Crowe has said that he has no desire to be a rock star, but he also insists that the band is not a mere hobby. He calls it a creative outlet. Critics have praised the band’s live performances and their albums. Crowe, of course, brings a great deal of attention to the band as a highly respected, Oscar-winning actor. He got interested in both acting and music as a child and plugged away at both of them into adulthood. It just so happened that his acting career took off into the stratosphere after roles in L.A. Confidential, The Insider, and, of course, his Oscar-winning turn in Gladiator.

What has Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming been doing?
—W. Shrum, Arkansas

If you watched the women’s skating competition at this year’s Olympics, you may have spotted former champion Peggy Fleming in the audience, cheering on the American team. Or, if you tune in to skating events on ABC, you can find her offering commentary as a figure skating announcer, a position she’s held since 1981. Fleming began figure skating at age 9. She competed at the 1964 Olympics, taking sixth place in the women’s figure skating competition. ABC named her “Athlete of the Year” in 1967, an honor she lived up to at the 1968 Olympics when she took home a gold medal. In addition, Fleming has won five U.S. National Championships and three World Championships. Following her Olympics win, Fleming was America’s Sweetheart. She starred in five television specials soon after her win, and her popularity remained strong over the years. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, she went public, encouraging women to get checked and to allay their fears about the disease. She remains involved in health and sports issues. She and her husband, Dr. Greg Jenkins, a dermatologist, live in the San Francisco Bay area. They have two sons and one grandson.

A series titled The Comish was on a few years ago. What is the actor’s name who played the comish, and what has he been doing since the show ended?
—Evelyn C., Kansas

The actor is Michael Chiklis, 38, who was born in Lowell, Mass., and stars in the FX series The Shield. He knew he wanted to act by age 5. At 13, he got his first professional theater job, which was at the Town and Country Playhouse in Salem, N.H. In high school, Chiklis was involved in high school productions and lettered in three sports. After graduating from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts, he headed to New York. His big break came with the 1989 movie Wired, in which he portrayed late comedian John Belushi. Starting in 1991, he starred for five seasons in The Comish. Since then, Chiklis has starred in a one-man show on Broadway called Defending the Caveman, appeared in several feature films, and starred in the short-lived NBC comedy Daddio. In 2000, he appeared as Curley in the television movie The Three Stooges. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.

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