Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

To-die-for handsome Boris Kodjoe, who's been steaming up the small screen with his "Undercovers" leading lady Gugu Mbatha-Raw, insists his real-life wife has no problem with all that passionate "sexpionage" on their lighthearted spy show.

"My wife is gorgeous," he reminds. In case you didn't know, he's married to his one-time "Soul Food" cast mate Nicole Ari Parker. "She's very confident in what we have. We're in this business together. She's an actress. She's done love scenes with everyone from Denzel to Eddie Murphy. We have techniques we apply. When I watch a movie with her love scene coming up, I conveniently get up and make a sandwich. That's what I do."

What does Parker do? "Well, sometimes she wears a t-shirt that says 'No tongue, no trouble,'" Kodjoe reports.

Tonight (11/1), he will be on hand for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' "Primetime TV Crimefighters" panel presentation in North Hollywood — along with names including Nathan Fillion, Angie Harmon, Thomas Gibson, Matthew Bomer, Marg Helgenberger and Mary McCormack. He's looking forward to seeing Fillion — an old pal — and the others, and says, "Maybe we'll exchange advice."

Meanwhile, Kodjoe says he handles the exceptional physical exertion and long hours that come with the job of starring in an hour action show because "I love my job. I'm so blessed to be doing this, I wake up every morning with a smile on my face." And because "I'm very motivated to make the utmost of this opportunity."

He and Parker are using their fame to further their work with their Sophie's Voice Foundation. It's named for their 5-year-old daughter, who has spina bifida. Meaning "open spine," it's the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States — and preventable in some 70 percent of cases with the right prenatal care, he wants to stress.

Of the foundation, he says, "That's not work; it's a mission. It's a purpose. It's helped us to get over the initial shock and pain and despair you first feel when (you) get a diagnosis like that. We feel it's something like, it must be our calling, you know? There's a reason things happen, a reason God placed Sophie in our hands."

Response to their two-year-old organization "is huge," says Kodjoe. "We get letters and phone calls from all over the world — Asia, Africa, everywhere. We're the first sort of interactive foundation for spina bifida that's actually communicated with families about their individual issues. When you're in the same boat, you can not only lend a hand, but also give different perspectives.

Every child is different, and parents have to navigate and find ways to instill confidence in what's going on. Sometimes it's best to speak to other families that can relate to each other more than doctors who give generic advice."

LIKE MOTHER: Morena Baccarin and Laura Vandervoort play mother and daughter aliens — a relationship that's often stressed, to say the least — on ABC's "V," which returns to the lineup in January. But off-camera, "We're buddies," Baccarin reveals. "It's funny. Our relationship on the show is very different from our personal relationship. A lot of the other people on the show are married. Laura and I are kind of the ones who aren't, so we hang out," says the actress, who is 31 years old, while her "daughter," is 26. "We get together every couple of weeks and do dinner or we're two gals out shopping."

Then, of course, there's Baccarin's mother on the show — Jane Badler from the original "V" series of the '80s. "She's the sweetest lady in the world," says Baccarin. "Seeing her on the set the first time was totally surreal — remembering how scary she was. It gave me goosebumps."

THE INSIDE TRACK: When Rob Keiter's 23-year marriage ended "abruptly and unexpectedly," the last thing he expected was that his grief over the breakup would turn into something positive and change his life. His "The Glory of Love" debut album, a collection of contemporary tunes, jazz standards and an original, "Grateful for a Pleasant Trip," contains one cut during which Keiter breaks down.

"That was a strange thing that happened. I thought I had cried all my tears, but it's like grief, you don't know when it's going to hit," says the former pastor from Charleston, N.C. "I was fine with this song, but when I started recording it, the line 'One girl for my dreams, one partner in paradise ... This nearly was mine' — without any heads up at all, tears came rushing down my face. I thought there was no way I'd make it to the end of the song, and when it came to the end, what I wanted to do vocally, I was just losing it. When I was done, I just sat down in the corner of the booth and wept. The people in the control room said, 'What just happened? That was a powerful moment — we're never going to redo that song.'"

In fact, Keiter and his collaborators, producers Rob and Amber Whitlock (she also sings on the album) ended up rerecording other songs instead, feeling he'd attained a new level of singing from the heart. The album is meant to be a journey from the thrill of early love through its different stages, including loss and then new hope.

In the three years it's taken to find a home for "Glory of Love," Keiter's followed his own path of new love and has remarried. He credits the experience of making the record for helping him "not to stay stuck in that pain. I hope it can do the same for other people and help them move on with their lives."

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 2010 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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