Pound for pound, tiny Kristin Chenoweth is hands-down the most talented woman in showbiz.
The Broadway star with near-perfect pitch headlined the original production of “Wicked,” and won a Tony Award for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
Now she’s juggling television and film roles as one of the main characters in the new ABC hit “Pushing Daisies” while co-starring with Reese Witherspoon in “Four Christmases,” now in production.
“I’m a very lucky actress right now,” she said. “Not a lot of people are working and I just hope there can be a quick resolution (to the writers strike).”
I caught up with Kristin at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night and told her how blown away I was by her performance during last month’s Kennedy Center Honors.
“(Gasp) Thank you! That’s when I had pneumonia!” she said. “That’s so very sweet.”
“Daisies” was considered to be a hard sell initially but it quickly caught on with audiences when it premiered in the fall: “I have people coming up to me at the Coffee Bean (and Tea Leaf) saying, `Good luck with the pie maker!”‘ Kristin said. “They love the show and I’m really proud that we have something that people can sit down as a family and watch and both the kids and the adults can enjoy it. I like to be included in classy things and I think this is a very classy show.”
Prior to “Daisies,” Kristin was in another classy show, “The West Wing,” as Annabeth Schott during the final two seasons and briefly had her own NBC sitcom called “Kristin.”
But she still craves the stage and told me she will be appearing in June at the English National Opera in London singing an opera.
“Come on over and see me do it!” she said.
Very tempting!
Amy Ryan starts getting into flow of awards season
Amy Ryan, Oscar-nominated for her performance in “Gone Baby Gone,” was also one of the presenters at the DGA’s and I asked her how she was coping with the awards season hoopla.
“I’m hanging in there, a lot of Airborne, a lot of vitamins,” she said. “I’m really enjoying it. It was surreal in the beginning but I’m more in the moment now. The nice thing is, you get used to it out there from show to show. It’s a great party to be at.”
So, how badly does she want to win that Oscar?
“I thought about it in the beginning and then it just dawned on me that it doesn’t really matter because everyone’s a winner. If you don’t win, look at the company you’re with who also didn’t win. That’s really good company to be in. It’s not like you get demoted back to the end of the line. You get to stay arms-length with four amazing actresses and I’d be proud to be there.”
Sean Young goes into rehab after making scene at DGA’s
Speaking of the DGA’s, actress Sean Young was there and no one will ever forget it.
This once A-list actress, whose credits include “Blade Runner,” “No Way Out” and “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” has burned many a Hollywood bridge over the past few decades but has kept working in television and in smaller films because of her still immense talent and beauty.
Sean, seated near the stage of the Century Plaza Hotel, drunkenly heckled “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” director Julian Schnabel during his acceptance speech. This caused Schnabel to stop and snap: “Who said that to me?” Then he said, “Have another drink, darling.”
Schnabel almost walked off in disgust but collected himself enough to finish his remarks - but he was clearly rattled. Sean was escorted out by security.
On Tuesday, the actress voluntarily checked herself into rehab.
Good luck to her.
