It is safe to say that when it comes to Hollywood, the stars of movies and television come from widely diverse backgrounds. Their ethnicity and personalities vary like the Southern California landscape.

Take Cheech Marin, for instance. His emergence into fame derived from South Los Angeles, not Beverly Hills. His mom was a secretary, his dad an LAPD cop. At birth in July 1946, he had his cleft lip surgically repaired. And despite his Mexican American heritage and the fact that he calls himself a Chicano, he is not fluent in Spanish.
However, the story of his name identifies Richard Anthony (Cheech) Marin in a most unique way. “Cheech” is short for “chicharron,” the Spanish word for fried pork rind, a popular snack and ingredient in Latin American cuisine. “I came home from the hospital, I was like a couple of days old or something, my uncle Cheech Marin came over and he looked in the crib and he said [in Spanish],‘Ay, parece un chicharrón.’ Looks like a little chicharrón, you know?’”

Fast approaching 89, actress Rita Moreno – the queen of the original “West Side Story” continues to shine her light off and on the entertainment stage.
Last year alone, she appeared on six different TV shows while producing and appearing in Steven Spielberg’s new film adaptation of the iconic Broadway play that was scheduled to premiere on Dec. 20.

Moreno will be playing Valentina, a re-conceived and expanded version of the character of Doc, the owner of the corner store in which Tony, played by Ansel Elgort, works. She’s also currently portraying the role of the matriarch Lydia Margarita del Carmen Inclan Maribona Leyte-Vidal de Riera in the remake of “One Day At a Time.”

To most of us, we associate Alan Alda to one thing and one thing only: his acting role as Hawkeye Pierce in “MASH” one of the most popular TV series ever produced.

The last episode in 1983 remains the most watched episode in American broadcast history. However, Alda’s role in the famous TV production – and his entire career – goes much deeper into the story of this 84-year-old American actor, director, screenwriter, comedian, author, and philanthropist.

At 66, Marisa Tomei belies her age with her cutsie girl-nextdoor looks and impish personality. But here she is, still dazzling audiences as one of the premier female actresses of our generation.

Her recent appearances in the movie “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and the TV special “All in the Family: Live in Front of a Studio Audience,”
in which she played Edith, attest to her everlasting attraction to her adoring fans.

If your family is like my family, watching “Jeopardy” on TV every evening is as routine as waking up in the morning and going to sleep at night. You could always count on the host Alex Trebek to visit your living room or wherever you may be with your TV or mobile devices to educate and entertain with a barrage of encyclopedic questions for very smart contestants.

Lately, however, our routine faces the possibility of an abrupt change as Trebek faces a major health challenge that threatens to take him off the air for good.

There are so many things we may not know about one of the most familiar faces in Hollywood – Michael J. Fox. For instance, did you know that Fox, who was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to William and Phyllis Fox in 1961, adopted the “J” as his
middle name (his real middle name is Andrew) in honor of his favorite character actor, Michael J. Pollard?

In an interview, he said he tried to register with the Screen Actors Guild as “Michael Fox” but the name was already taken. So, he replaced the “A” with a “J” because he “didn’t want the teen magazines to use headlines such as “Michael A. Fox!”

If you are reading this, you are most likely old enough to remember watching “I Dream of Jeannie” on TV, starring the effervescent Barbara Eden, one of Hollywood’s busiest actresses since the early 60s.

The “Jeannie” show became an instant hit, ran for five seasons and has been airing continuously on cable and in syndication worldwide for more than 50 years. Since then, her career has amassed more than 25 feature films, five network TV series, 19 made-for-TV movies and hundreds of guest appearances on film, TV, stage and concert halls throughout the world.