Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

DEAR STACY: Please give some information about Mark Dacascos from "Dancing With the Stars." Where is he from? Ancestry? Is he married? We started watching "Iron Chef" because of him. — Sarah J., Cedar Rapids, Iowa

DEAR SARAH: Handsome actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos hails from Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents are well-known instructors in the art of Wun Hop Quen Do and began teaching him when he was 4 years old. He's trained in martial arts styles including capoeira, wu-shu, muay thai and Northern Shaolin kung fu. Dacascos began competing in martial arts championships at age 7, winning many over the next 11 years. His life took a turn toward acting when, while walking down the street in San Francisco's Chinatown, he was "discovered' by a couple of guys working for filmmaker Wayne Wang. According to his website, he's been in some 40 films (including 1993's "Only the Strong," and 2002's "Brotherhood of the Wolf"), and more than 100 TV episodes, and has studied acting and improv extensively. He's also appeared in video games. He's 45, married (to actress Julie Condra), has three children and lists his ancestry as Japanese, Filipino, Spanish, Irish and Chinese.

DEAR STACY: Whatever happened to horror queen Barbara Steele? Is she still making movies? — Ray M., Bronx, NY

DEAR RAY: Steele, 72, hasn't done much acting in recent years, but did appear in a little-seen 2008 wacky horror-comedy, "Her Morbid Desires," part of an anthology called "The Boneyard Collection," with Ronn Moss and Tippi Hedren. The bewitchingly beautiful British actress, hailed as one of the greatest scream queens of all time, with a string of credits in gothic Italian horror pictures of the 1960s — beginning with Mario Bava's "Black Sunday" — got famously fed up with the genre, announcing that she didn't want to climb out of another coffin again. That stance led to a five-year absence from the screen, till she returned as the wheelchair-bound warden in 1974's "Caged Heat." Roles in "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and other films followed. Later, Steele established herself behind the scenes, with producing credits on the TV miniseries "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance," for which she won an Emmy. She showed up in the 1991 primetime revival of the supernatural soap "Dark Shadows." She served as an associate producer on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Steele is the mother of a grown son from her marriage to the late screenwriter James Poe, which ended in divorce.

DEAR STACY: We're wondering, how did Spike Jonze, who directed "Where the Wild Things Are," come up with a name like the 1940s wacky music-making band leader Spike Jones? — Kellie A., Pensacola, Fla.

DEAR KELLIE: Born Adam Spiegel (as in the catalogue company family), Jonze was given the name by co-workers at a BMX bike shop where he worked as a teen.

He was quite the BMX hot dogger back in the '80s. His BMX photography for Freestylin' magazine showed off his innate talent with a camera.

DEAR STACY: What can you tell me about Jeff Sutphen, the host of Nickelodeon's kids' game show, "BrainSurge"? — S.S., Hurley, N.Y.

DEAR S.S.: I can tell you that the high-energy host is a native New Yorker and that he's soon to become a father — he and his wife, actress Stacy Asencio-Sutphen, are expecting their first child next month. They live in Valencia, Calif., outside Los Angeles. I can tell you that he and his pals created funny home videos when he was a child, and they went on to do their own local public access TV sketch show. I can tell you he earned his B.A. in communications from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and got his start in television at MTV Networks, where he landed a gig as segment producer on Nickelodeon's "U-Pick Live." He co-produced more than 400 episodes and appeared on camera as superhero Pick Boy. Sutphen also produced other Nick shows and numerous TeenNick spots. He has producing credits on MTV, E!, VH1, CBS and the Game Show Network. He says he loves doing "BrainSurge" because it reminds him of the game shows he grew up watching on Nickelodeon, like "Double Dare." He's of Irish and Italian ancestry and he's a triathlete.

DEAR STACY: Who is the actress in the Pine-Sol commercials? She looks familiar. Has she done TV shows/films? — Carl N., Austin, TX

DEAR CARL: That's San Francisco-based actress and comedienne Diane Amos, who's been serving as the brand's pitchwoman since 1993. Great gig! She's had roles in films including "Angels in the Outfield" and "Nine Months," and has been quite a successful game show contestant, with wins on "Wheel of Fortune," "The $25,000 Pyramid" and "Super Password." Married to a musician/voice actor, she's the mother of a son and a daughter.

DEAR STACY: The actress who played Laura, the girl Steve Urkel had a crush on, on "Family Matters" — I'd like to know what she's up to these days. — S.R., Bronx, N.Y.

DEAR S.R.: Kellie Shanygne Williams, 33, is settling into married life with her groom of three months, businessman Hannibal Jackson. She hasn't had a regular series role since the 2001-2002 "What About Joan," but did appear in this year's "Steppin': The Movie" feature, and served as guest hostess on six episodes of the Style Network program "Clean House" this year as well.

DEAR STACY: What is Tom Selleck of "Magnum: P.I." doing these days? — L.D., Queens, N.Y.

DEAR L.D.: Selleck has a movie on the way for 2010, the comedy/thriller "Five Killers" with Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. He also has a seventh "Jesse Stone" TV film in the making for next year: "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost." Steve Guttenberg recently disclosed that Disney has a "Three Men and a Bride" movie in development — a much-later follow-up to the "Three Men and a Baby" hits he and Selleck did with Ted Danson in the '80s. But when — and if — that actually gets made remains to be seen. On the home front, Selleck's daughter Hannah turns 21 this month. He and wife Jillie Mack celebrated their 22nd anniversary earlier this year.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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