Ask American Profile

Roy Firestone, George Jones, Jacque Kessler, Lt. Michael Scott

My husband and I are having a big dispute about a great sports interviewer, journalist, commentator and stage performer, Roy Firestone. I say he is Caucasian and my husband thinks he's African-American. Please help settle this dispute.
—J. and J. Donaldson, Auburn, Ind.

The multi-talented Firestone, 50, is Caucasian and of Jewish ethnicity, and is commonly asked about his background. "People think I'm Hispanic or black, but I'm not. I've always gotten that," he says. When he's not in front of the TV cameras hosting ESPN's Up Close Prime Time or HDNet's Face 2 Face With Roy Firestone, he's on the road up to 70 times a year performing his one-man show of impressions, humor and music, which he began in the mid-1980s. Firestone is single and lives in the Los Angeles area.

My favorite singer is George Jones. Where was he born, and how many children does he have?
—Aloha Voyles, Cumming, Ga.

Jones, considered by many to be country music's greatest all-time singer, was born in Beaumont, Texas, on Sept. 12, 1931. He has four children—two boys and two girls, one of whom came from his 1969-1975 marriage to singer Tammy Wynette. He also has two stepdaughters from his fourth and current wife, Nancy, whom he wed in 1983. Jones, who recently passed the 50-year milestone as a recording artist, continues to perform about 90 shows a year and promote his own line of sausage, barbecue sauce, marinade . . . and bottled water named after one of his biggest hits, "White Lightning."

What can you tell me about Jacque Kessler, the court reporter on Judge Joe Brown?
—Jim Williams, Lubbock, Texas

Kessler, who summarizes each upcoming case on Judge Joe Brown for the TV audience and interviews the litigants after the verdict, was born in New Jersey and earned a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast journalism from New Mexico State University. She worked as a TV reporter in El Paso, Texas, then anchored the weekend news for a station in Albuquerque, N.M. She is single and lives in Los Angeles, but enjoys spending her free time with her family in Austin, Texas.

I'm a regular Animal Cops viewer. Can you please tell me a little about Lt. Michael Scott?
—Y. Metcalf, El Centro, Calif.

Lt. Scott was born and raised in San Francisco, where he attended college and worked in retail sales before joining the city's Department of Animal Care and Control. The Animal Planet series Animal Cops: San Francisco follows ACC investigators and police officers on some of the 10,000 calls they receive each year, including animal-related emergencies, dog-fighting reports and animals in distress. "It's my goal to educate people and to prevent animal suffering," says Scott, who comes home to shower affection on his own pet, an adopted Maltese poodle mix named Mango.

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