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What can you tell me about Lucy Lawless from Xena: Warrior Princess, and what she is doing now?
—Geri Brija, Maniso, Ill.

Lawless grew up in New Zealand, where childhood friends good-naturedly called her Unco—for "uncoordinated." She admits her first starring role, as TV's swashbuckling Xena in 1995, was an extreme physical challenge. "I was bruised for two years," she says. She's currently appearing (as a beautiful humanoid robot masquerading as a TV reporter) on the Sci Fi network series Battlestar Galactica, and she'll play the lead in a new movie musical called Welcome to the Pleasure Dome. Around home in Los Angeles, her friends these days call her Dot, a nickname she chose "because it's easier to spell."

Please tell me about Vincent D'Onofrio from Law and Order: Criminal Intent. He seems so intelligent and funny.
—Joan Norman, Bloomfield, Iowa

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., D'Onofrio (pronounced duh-NOFF-ree-o) got his start on Broadway in 1984 and gained 70 pounds for the role of an overweight, bullied and ultimately suicidal Vietnam-era Marine in the movie Full Metal Jacket in 1987. His film resume is extensive, including roles in Mystic Pizza, The Cell, Ed Wood and, most recently, The Break Up. Regarded as an intense, hands-on workhorse of an actor, he was hospitalized for exhaustion last year during on-location filming of TV's Criminal Intent in New York.

Are Marshall Seese and Heather Tesch on The Weather Channel related? They always seem to be wearing coordinated colors. We feel they must be married to dress like that every day!
—Dot and Jerry Autry, Burgaw, N.C.

The Your Weather Today co-hosts are not married to each other, but they joke about being "work spouses" after spending so much on-air time together since 1999. Tesch picks out her outfits in advance and tells Seese, who then wears a tie to match the next day. "I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out what might match (Tesch's) color descriptions like 'Pepto Bismol pink,' 'rust,' 'cooked salmon,' 'pumpkin' or 'robin's egg blue,'" he says with a laugh.

Country legends join Billy Ray Cyrus on new CD

Billy Ray Cyrus captures the lives and loves of the average guy on Wanna Be Your Joe, a new CD of 12 songs all co-written by the singing Hannah Montana TV star. Country legends George Jones and Loretta Lynn make guest appearances on "Country Music Has The Blues," "The Man" pays tribute to racing legend Dale Earnhardt and the multi-million selling Cyrus playfully serenades his once-signature hairstyle with "I Want My Mullet Back."

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