Screen People | Hollywood – Uma Thurman looks different

After stepping out for the premiere of NBC’s “The Slap,” Uma Thurman has become the talk of the Internet. The actress arrived on the carpet looking almost unrecognizable, The Hollywood Reporter said.
The 44-year-old star traded her trademark bangs and dark eyeliner for slicked-back tresses, minimal makeup and a bold red lip. But those weren’t the most noticeable changes. Instead, her smoothed, once-angular features suggested that it might have been more than makeup that enhanced her latest look.
Back in October, Renee Zellweger also had everyone talking about her appearance after she debuted a new face at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards. “I’m glad folks think I look different! I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life,” explained Zellweger at the time.

Celebrities – How Whitney Houston’s death led Gabrielle Union to TV role

Gabrielle Union says she learned an important lesson after the death of Whitney Houston.
“It just kind of made everyone say, ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’” Union said in a recent interview. “And I really doubled down on ‘I only want to do things that I care about, that mean something.’
“So, no, I don’t want to play perfect characters that are wholesome role models … and have all the right answers.”
Union stars on BET’s “Being Mary Jane,” which airs on Tuesdays in the USA. She plays broadcaster Mary Jane Paul, whose professional life is on fire, but her private life is not. She can’t find Mr. Right and essentially supports members of her family because she’s the one with money.
Union said she loves playing the character because she’s so messy.
“Within one scene I could be, you know, showing a bunch of different colors, and I’ve never been challenged like this. I’ve never been this gratified with my work,” she said. “Ever.”
She recalls meeting with “Being Mary Jane” executive producer Salim Akil and his team on the day Houston died. Akil directed Houston’s final film, “Sparkle.”
“They had just done ‘Sparkle’ with her. … and there were so many people in that room and we were having this great conversation about basically my career going this great direction with this great character. … and you see this other light just literally go out and you see … everyone’s looking at their phones, you hear people gasp and run out of the room, and it was one of those really life-affirming and life-questioning times.”

TV – Oprah Winfrey selects Cynthia Bond’s ‘Ruby’ for book club

From the very first sentence, Oprah Winfrey loved what became her latest book club pick.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is so good I have to wait until I actually have the time to absorb the language,’” said Winfrey, during a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press, of Cynthia Bond’s novel “Ruby.”
“I put it down and waited until I was in bed with the flu to start reading it. I found the language and descriptions so vividly compelling that sometimes I would have to take a breath and repeat the sentences out loud.”
Winfrey’s choice, coming out in paperback last week and announced to the AP, is a debut novel published last year to positive reviews and moderate sales. Bond’s publisher, Hogarth, understandably expects that to change and has commissioned a paperback printing of 250,000 copies. The hardcover currently has 20,000 copies in print, according to Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and is available as an e-book. As with Winfrey’s three previous picks since relaunching her club as “Oprah’s Book Club 2.0” in 2012, she will focus on online promotion, through her own website (www.oprah.com) and through Twitter, Instagram and other social media.

New York – Eddie Huang rings in Chinese New Year with a tasty feast

The Year of the Goat won’t arrive until Feb. 19, but Eddie Huang, 32, celebrated early.
Last week he hosted a Chinese New Year bash for 30 or so lucky invitees at a favorite Brooklyn restaurant, where in full view in the open kitchen he set to work to prepare a six-course feast.
Huang, of course, is an author, chef, restaurateur and Vice media personality as well as the inspiration for the new ABC comedy, “Fresh Off the Boat.”
What does he put as his profession on his IRS form? “Human panda,” he said. “I look like a panda and I look like a human. So far the IRS isn’t questioning it.”
His menu included lion’s head chicken soup (accompanied by a traditional Chinese lion dance), Hainan lobster salad and, eventually, a dual main course: chili miso braised fish and Szechuan roasted black garlic chicken, all washed down by copious pours of a cocktail called the Red Ram, whose prime ingredient, Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilege cognac, was sponsoring the event. The night concluded with egg tarts.
Good eats! But don’t pin down Huang as a celebrity chef.
“The thing I love most is writing. I started out as a kid telling jokes. Then I realized the really great writers use humor to say something. I’ve been trying to get better and better at it ever since. MDT/Agencies