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Wendie Malick, Andrea Bocelli, Colin Firth

Wendie Malick of Just Shoot Me is my favorite actress. What else has she done? What about family? How tall is she?
—Linda S., Texas

As a former model at 5-foot-10, Wendie Malick brings firsthand experience to her role as fashion editor Nina Van Horn on the NBC comedy. The 52-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native worked as a fashion model in New York and Paris for five years and also briefly worked for then-Congressman Jack Kemp in Washington, D.C., before beginning her acting career on the stage. Her many television credits include the series NYPD Blue, Dream On, and Seinfeld. Movies include On Edge, The American President, and Bugsy. She portrayed the dual roles of advice columnists Abigail Van Buren and Ann Landers in the Lifetime TV movie Take My Advice: The Ann and Abby Story. Malick also does much charity work. She lives with her husband, two horses, three dogs, and a cat in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli is a remarkable man and singer. Will he release a new CD soon? How can I find out about his public appearances?
—Rosemary N., Indiana

Bocelli’s latest album, Sentimento, re-creates the classical tenor and violin duets of the early 20th century. It was released in November 2002. You can find out about his public appearances by checking his official website, www.andreabocelli.com. The 44-year-old tenor has delighted audiences with his singing since he was a child. Growing up on a farm in Lajatico, Italy, he grew interested in classical music and opera at a young age. He learned to play the piano, flute, and saxophone, and he loved opera. “I don’t think one really decides to be a singer—other people decide it for you by their reactions,” he says. In fact, he graduated from law school and intended to make that his career. While in school he performed at piano bars, singing pop standards and throwing in the occasional aria. A meeting with his childhood idol, Franco Corelli, changed his career track to music when the legendary tenor took him on as a student. Born with poor eyesight, Bocelli lost his vision completely at age 12 after a soccer accident, but his blindness has never been an obstacle and he never discusses it, saying it is irrelevant. He and his wife, Enrica, have two sons.

Can you give me some information on Colin Firth, who starred in A&E’s Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary?
—Frances M., New Jersey

Colin Firth is a classically trained British theater actor but is probably best known to American audiences for his roles in the cable miniseries Pride and Prejudice and the film Bridget Jones’s Diary. He played a Mr. Darcy in both. Firth, the actor, even appeared as a character in the novel upon which Bridget Jones’s Diary is based. “And now the actor that appeared in the novel was playing the guy called Darcy from the novel, who is based on the guy I played on television,” Firth tried explaining in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last year. Firth made his film debut in 1984 opposite Rupert Everett in Another Country, which was adapted from a play in which he also starred. Firth was born in England and spent the early years of his life in Nigeria. His parents are teachers and his grandparents were missionaries. He and his family moved around quite a lot. Firth even spent a year attending junior high school in St. Louis. He lives in London with his wife and son. You can catch Firth next in Hope Springs and What a Girl Wants, scheduled to be released this spring.

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