Ask American Profile

Sharon Stone, Jane French, Ben Curtis

Did Sharon Stone co-star in the movie Above the Law with Steven Seagal? If so, how old was she? Where did she grow up? Is she currently working on any movies?
—Alan V., Missouri

Yes, that is, indeed, Sharon Stone in Above the Law. The actress was 30 years old at the time the movie came out in 1988. Now 44, the Oscar-nominated actress (for Casino) is married to San Francisco newspaperman Phil Bronstein, and they have a 2-year-old son named Roan. A native of Meadville, Pa., Stone is one of four children. At 17, she graduated from Pennsylvania’s Edinboro University. She went on to win some local beauty pageants and became a model in New York, with plans to get into acting. Growing up, she loved the old films with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, and has consistently presented herself with the same type of class and glamour in her public appearances. Her first role was in the Woody Allen film Stardust Memories, but it took 10 years of minor parts before her breakthrough role—playing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife in Total Recall. At press time, she was set to star in A Different Loyalty, due out next year.

Does Jane French sing the theme song to the NBC soap opera Passions? Is she coming out with a new CD? Also, is there a CD on the market of her theme song to Passions?
—Glenda S., Virginia

Since co-writing and performing Breathe, the Emmy-nominated main title theme to NBC’s daytime drama Passions, singer and songwriter Jane French has signed with NBC Records and hopes to release a Passions soundtrack soon. She also is working on a solo album slated for release early next year. The Cincinnati native began singing professionally at age 8, working on toy company jingles—she was the voice of Play-Doh—and in musical theater. She studied piano, ballet, tap and jazz dance, performing in weekend musical reviews by age 12. French wrote songs and performed with bands while at the University of Cincinnati. Her co-writer on the Passions theme song was John Henry, composer for the series. French lives with husband Jimmy, son Tyler, and her Jack Russell Terrier, Boo, in Cincinnati.

I’d like to know more about the young man called Steven on the Dell computer commercials. He’s informative and hilarious.
—Patricia P., New York

Chattanooga, Tenn., native Ben Curtis plays “Steven” in Dell’s national advertising campaign. The 21-year-old lives in New York, where he’s a third-year student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He recently portrayed the lead character, Vince, in an NYU production of Sam Shepherd’s Buried Child and spent the summer in a theater program in Amsterdam. Curtis hopes to parlay his commercial success into bigger things. He screen-tested for a number of upcoming projects in Los Angeles this spring. The ads seem to be getting the attention of the public. Dell’s shipments of computers to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2002 were 153 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2001, according to the company.

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