Wahlberg hasn’t forgotten the fans.

Blue Bloods star Donnie Wahlberg, a divorced dad of two sons, appreciates that his cast “understands the fan connection” to his recently reunited New Kids on the Block. “They were feeding my kids before I got here, so I got to take pictures with them,” says Wahlberg, 42. “Tom (Selleck) will always stop by and talk to the fans — who tell him ‘My mom loves you.’ ”

LL Cool J

“Going home with a Grammy and giving it to your grandmother is a wonderful thing,” says LL Cool J, 44 — that’s what the first-time host of this Sunday’s awards show (8 p.m. ET, CBS) did with his two Grammys. “It was the best feeling in the world.” The nine-time nominee is “excited” for the opportunity. So are Cool J’s four kids going to get to come with Dad? “I’ll definitely bring my wife, but (with) my kids running around — it might be a bit much,” he says with a laugh. “They may have to sit this one out.

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt

Duncan is “busting my butt” to slim down.

Hulking movie star Michael Clarke Duncan has slimmed down a bit for his first regular TV gig on the new Fox series The Finder. To stay in shape, he lifts weights and does reps on a dip machine daily on set. “Every week, you’re in somebody’s living room or dorm room or bedroom,” says the 6-foot-5 Duncan, 54. “It’s very important for me that my fans understand I’m busting my butt every day in the gym trying to make The Finder look excellent and trying to make myself look excellent.”

Dasher has designs on fashion.

Although she’s in her early 20s and just out of college, Erica Dasher revisits her high school days to play a student who winds up with an accidental fashion career in her new ABC Family series, Jane by Design. While it’s “surreal” to roam those halls again, “I’m much better dressed this time, but still awkward with boys, so that has not changed,” says the Texas native and burgeoning fashionista. “I’ve always admired fashion from afar, but it’s been fun to immerse myself in this world.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

McIntyre’s No. 1 fan: his mom.

The new season of Starz’s Spartacus: Vengeance just premiered, and newcomer Liam McIntyre— who replaced the late Andy Whitfield — says the show already has its biggest fan: his mother. “You have no idea. She’s just that kind of mom,” says the Australian actor, 29, an only child. “That picture of me as Spartacus on the Internet — she’s learned how to use the Internet because of it — she’s sending it to all her friends.” His next dream gig? “All my friends used to say, ‘I’ll bet you’ll play James Bond one day.’ I guess I’m another step closer.”

Holden-Ried

Kris Holden-Ried, 38, is playing two notable, werewolf-y characters in the new Syfy series Lost Girl and opposite Kate Beckinsale in the film Underworld: Awakening. A former member of the Canadian national pentathlon team, he says he trained hard as an athlete, “but I really didn’t know my body.” His secret to playing action-packed supernatural roles in later years has been “energy work” with disciplines like tai chi and yoga. “I was all of a sudden able to bring those different energy levels to the characters. That’s been a fantastic tool.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt

Nate Parker stars in Red Tails (in theaters now), a story about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. A generation looked up to those heroes, and in Parker’s own life, he looked up to his four uncles. They were the only men in his life after his father died when Parker was very young, and they shared a three-bedroom apartment with him, his mom, his aunt and his grandmother in Norfolk, Va. “We didn’t have many material things, but we loved each other unconditionally,” says Parker, 32, who was an All-American wrestler at the University of Oklahoma. “My uncles and a couple of my coaches really, really set a high standard for me and pushed me further than I believed I could go.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Channing Tatum, 31, can’t stop working. He has made more than two dozen films since he switched from modeling to acting seven years ago, and five of them are coming out in 2012, including Haywire (in theaters next weekend) and the summer sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation. He attributes his versatility to his genes: “I’m 35% to 40% Native American. If you put hair on me, I look white. Without hair, I look ethnic.”

Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern (who begins a new season on Travel Channel Jan. 23) has passed on his love of grub to 7-year-old Noah. His son loves pizza and macaroni and cheese (so does the elder Zimmern), but he’s equally enthused about crispy pig ears. “I just want him to know that the food in his life needs to be varied,” says Zimmern, 50. “Ever since he’s been young, my wife and I decided we would talk about food at the table, and by that I mean the politics of food.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Gayle Jo Carter, Nancy Mills, Brian Truit

Leclerc trades tips on hearing problems.

Katie Leclerc plays a deaf girl in the ABC  Family drama Switched at Birth, and while she’s not deaf  in real life, she does have Meniere’s disease, a genetic disorder that makes her hard of hearing and sometimes causes vertigo. Her older sister also has Meniere’s and deals with it almost every day. “I’ll contact my sister and  say: ‘Hey, this thing happened. What are your tricks?’” says Leclerc, 25, who also trades tips and advice with fans on Twitter. “It’s nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off.”

Nelson

As he has been doing for more than 50 years, legendary musician Willie Nelson is starting out the year on the road again. Over that time, the singer has made a conscious effort to curb the smoking and drinking that marked his early years. “I started running again, biking, and I got into martial arts,” says Nelson, 78. “I don’t wake up with hangovers anymore.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt

Bell’s back with Steven Spielberg and Tintin.

Jones

Georgette Jones, the only  child  of  country  music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette, writes about her parents in The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George. Jones,  40, didn’t pursue music herself until a few  years ago, partly because she wanted  kids someday and didn’t want them to grow up as she did with a parent who lived life on the road. “I didn’t want that crazy ‘I’m here, I’m not here’ lifestyle for my children,” says the mother of 18-year-old twin sons.

Thanks to the magic of performance-capture animation, Jamie Bell, 25,  plays  the title  reporter/adventurer in  The Adventures of Tintin, which  teams him with director  Steven Spielberg. Bell’s first  Spielberg  film: Jurassic Park. “For an 8-year-old, I was completely blown away,” he says. “I genuinely believed that dinosaurs existed and Mr. Spielberg was a magician.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter and Brian Truitt

Mark Salling is passionate about his causes.

During this holiday  season, Glee star Mark Salling has been teaming with ConAgra Foods for its Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, getting the word out  on feeding  kids  who  don’t get  enough to lead  healthy lives. “My home state of Texas ranks second in the nation when it comes to child hunger. That was a big shock to me,” says Salling, 29, who also works with Wildlife Care of Ventura County. “When you are so blessed to be able to reach as many people as I can reach through the show, or even Twitter, you have a choice: to do good, to do bad, or do nothing at all.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Elizabeth Reaser says she has ‘good baby mojo.'

In the Twilight movies, Elizabeth Reaser plays matriarch to a family of perpetually teenage vampires. In Young Adult, she’s a rocking new mom.  She may not be a mother herself in real life, but the Michigan native has had plenty of experience around youngsters as an actress and aunt to four nephews. “When I first started, I was very precious with them, and now I just feel very comfortable when I’m holding  a baby,” says Reaser, 36. “I’ve been lucky in that they don’t cry.  I’ve had some good baby mojo.”

Mitchell

Former Lost and V star Elizabeth Mitchell has an emotional role in the indie film Answers to Nothing, but her home life with 6-year-old son C.J. offers endless laughs. So she leaves her role’s negative energy on the  set.  “As  a mom, because it is my job to be the adult in the situation, to get to go to work and be a kid is kind of fun,” says Mitchell, 41. “I can throw a temper tantrum and people will pay me  for it — on camera.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Modern Family’s Ariel Winter: Smart girl on-screen and off.

Marx

Ariel Winter values education just like her super-smart character, Alex, on the hit ABC comedy Modern Family, so much so that her parents call her “Walking Brain.” This year was big for her in that she just started eighth grade and also turned 13. “There’s all this hype and you turn 13 and you’re not  taller,  you’re not able to drive,” Winter quips. “I was like, ‘Wow, I really don’t feel any different.’ ”

Richard Marx is joining fellow singers Scott Weiland, American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo and others for the Hollywood Christmas Parade, airing  on Hallmark  Channel.  It’s a family  tradition for his three boys to record a song for the season. “That’s sort of our greeting card,” says Marx,  48, who has a new holiday song out, Christmas Spirit.

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Niemann

Up-and-coming  country  star Jerrod Niemann is out touring the Midwest these days. The Kansas-raised singer of the hit Lover, Lover takes inspiration from the likes of Gary Stewart and David Allan Coe when it comes to embracing his own personality and not putting on an act to people. “You do have to be somebody at the end of the day,  so why not be yourself?” says  Niemann,  32.  “No  matter what  anybody says, just go with  your beer gut.”

American Horror Story actress Alexandra Breckenridge,  29, developed an interest in acting as a teen, around the same time she fostered a love for photography. “I built my own darkroom in my bedroom, which is not a good idea because you’re sleeping with chemicals.” She still takes photos — and has a website of her works — but instead uses a digital camera  these days. “It’s quicker, and you don’t have to do the development process,” she says. “I don’t have a house, so I can’t build a darkroom in my apartment.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Katic

Playing action-packed scenes with shootouts and explosions as Detective Kate Beckett in the ABC series Castle is nothing new for actress Stana Katic, who grew up with four brothers. “That was just part of daily life,” Katic, 33, jokes. She maintains an active life in her free time, too, going hiking, running and traveling when she can. “I try to go and see and soak up as much as I can on the planet.”

Kristen Johnston plays “a hot mess” of a district attorney in her new sitcom, The Exes (premiering Wednesday on TV Land), who takes care of basically everyone else but herself, she says:  “Not that I know anything about that.” Johnston, 44, is writing a book — out in  2012 — that delves into her own travails, including a health scare: “I was one of those girls that the party just went on too long.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter and Brian Truitt

Dot-Marie Jones

Before she was  the kindhearted  football  coach on  the Fox hit Glee, Dot-Marie Jones was a success in athletics, especially in arm wrestling, where she was a 15-time world champ. In fact, the 47-year-old Emmy nominee’s first acting gig combined with a little bit of sport when she starred  in  the American Gladiators-type medieval show Knights and Warriors. “I was Lady Battleaxe. It was the best!” says Jones, who won a number of young fans with  the role.  “Some of  the kids  would  call  me Lady Cadillac.”

Alan Tudyk is the senior Suburgatory member, at 40.

Working with his pal Jeremy Sisto on the first season of the ABC sitcom Suburgatory is one of the highlights for TV veteran Alan Tudyk. A downside: being a senior member of the mostly young cast at age 40. “I’ve got stories,” he says. “It’s all ‘Sit down around my feet and I’ll  tell you a story about acting in  the ’90s.’ It’s different, but I am having a great time.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Davi

Actor Robert Davi, 58, ventured from the screen to the studio with his album Davi Sings Sinatra. The native New Yorker has been a lifelong fan of Ol’ Blue Eyes and the Great American Songbook. “For an Italian-American family, there were two figures in the household: the pope and Frank Sinatra, and not necessarily in that  order.  And you knew Sinatra’s  name,” Davi says. His first film? Sinatra’s 1977 TV movie Contract on Cherry Street.

Dekker

Thomas Dekker began acting at age 6 on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, and while he has seen much of  his “childhood competition” leave show business, he has instead thrived, and he’s now starring  in the CW series The Secret Circle. “Deep  down,  it’s part of  me.  It’s my  blood,” says Dekker, 23. “Growing up in it, it’s always been good to me, and that’s not true for everybody. Just getting to meet the people I’ve met and work with, the people I’ve worked with so closely, has really shaped the way I live my life, not just how I do my job.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Hyland has a quirky side.

Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland stars with real-life boyfriend Matt Prokop in Geek Charming, airing Friday on the Disney Channel. For her, being a geek is “when you have a passion for something that’s quirky.” The actress, 20, says she  geeks out for Golden Age movie  musicals. Her faves:  Singin’ in the Rain and Gigi.

Kimberly Perry and her brothers have a referee: their mom.

Kimberly Perry was 15 when she  started a band with  her brothers — 10-year-old  Reid and 8-year-old Neil — as roadies. Now, 13 years later as The Band Perry, they’re still together and up for five Country Music Association Awards Wednesday.  Their mother is  a roadie of sorts  these days, making sure everyone stays civil: “We’re all in our 20s now, so we try to be mature and call it ‘discussions,’ not disagreements,” Kimberly Perry quips. “Our mother plays referee and we have boxing gloves stored in the bays of our bus, so we get along just fine. Sometimes after a few punches.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt

Kissin’ couple: Keifer and Shawn

Henstridge’s sons are part of her inner Circle

Married country duo Thompson Square are up for two awards at the Country Music Association Awards Nov. 9, primarily off their breakthrough hit Are  You  Gonna  Kiss Me or  Not —  a  phrase that went through Shawna Thompson’s mind soon after they began dating back  in  1996.  “I  did  the ol’  gooseneck thing  where  I  was  stretching  up,  hoping  he would get the hint and go in  for the kiss. He eventually  did.” Her husband  Keifer’s response? “I’m a little old-fashioned, OK?”

Playing  the villain on CW’s The Secret Circle has garnered  Natasha Henstridge, 37, two new  fans: sons Tristan, 13, and Asher, 10.  “There’s very few things my kids have seen that I’ve done. And  the few  things I’ve shown,  they couldn’t really care less,” she says. “I might be cool in their eyes for the first time.”

Who’s News Column Contributor: Brian Truitt

Amy Lee is at home on the stage with her band, Evanescence, and at home in the kitchen.

When she’s not  rocking out with her band,  Evanescence, Amy Lee is rocking out in the kitchen and trying out new recipes for her and her husband, New York therapist Josh Hartzler. Unfortunately for  him,  now that  she’s touring  in  support of  the band’s new  self-titled album, Lee, 29, won’t be around to cook  her famous Thai  dumplings.  “I remember I made those for him when we were dating to try to win him over,” she says. “He’s probably forgotten it!”

Porter

Even when Hart of Dixie’s Scott Porter played high school football in Omaha, he didn’t let anyone forget that he was a nerd before he was a jock. “It’s an intricate balance,” says Porter, 32, who is one of the lead voices in the game X-Men Destiny. “I  am in  five fantasy  football leagues, I play video games in my trailer, and I go to work as an actor every day.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Brian Truitt

Hahn

For Henson, son Marcel is the top priority.

Kathryn Hahn, 37, traded in her quirky movie roles to co-star with Hank Azaria on the NBC comedy Free Agents. A mother to two children — son Leonard, who turns 5 this month, and daughter Mae, 2 — Hahn was pleased to learn that her new job was only 10 minutes from home. Her trailer, though, now looks like a playroom, she says. “It’s like, ‘Kathryn has a lot of plastic toys.’ Maybe I’ll stick a candle in there somewhere so it can look a little grown-up.”

Fellow mom Taraji P. Henson is back on TV, too, on the CBS drama Person of Interest. As important as work is, Henson, 41, always makes sure her 17-year-old son, Marcel, is priority No. 1. “We’re looking at colleges. We have SATs. As he grew, my career grew.”

Who’s News Column Contributors: Nancy Mills, Brian Truitt

Her husband is the neat one, "New Girl" Deschanel says.

Zooey Deschanel, 31, stars in the Fox sitcom New Girl, and though her character lives with three guys, she bunks with just  one:  husband  and Death Cab  for  Cutie  singer Ben Gibbard. “He’s much more neat and clean than I am,” says the actress, who co-wrote and sings New Girl’s theme song. “He’s really  tidy.  I’m  just  a  little  chaotic  and  artistic.”

Buckingham

Fleetwood  Mac  singer/guitarist  Lindsey Buckingham, 62,  says  being  a  father late in life has allowed him to relax and enjoy his musical pursuits more  —  he recently  released a solo album, Seeds We Sow. “It does infuse  your entire  life  with  a  calm  and  a sense of purpose you didn’t have before, a sense of love for something else,” says the father of  son William,  13,  and daughters Leelee, 11, and Stella, 7.

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt

In her new movie, Faris gets an eyeful of her real-life husband — in a fat suit.

Anna Faris, 34, jokes that she’s “only had like two relationships in my life,” but her character in the romantic comedy What’s Your Number? revisits many  exes — including  one played by Faris’ real-life husband, Chris Pratt. “He wears a huge fat suit. His  lack  of  vanity  is impressive,” Faris jokes.  She was not giggling, however, during Pratt’s scenes with his character’s gorgeous  fiancée:  “They  kept  having make  out,  so that was a little painful.”

Bilson

Rachel Bilson, 30, is working long hours on her new TV series Hart of Dixie (Mondays on The CW),  so she’s thankful to have her mother around to help take care of her two dogs: Thurman, a little rescue mutt, and Lambert, an Old English sheepdog crossed with a poodle.  “I’m not  kidding — I could ride him like a horse,” she says. Lambert, also known as “The Goofball,” weighs at least 100 pounds.

Who’s News Column Contributors: Gayle Jo Carter, Brian Truitt