Even Whiplash Won't Stop Sheryl Lee Ralph from Oscar Chores by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith on Creators.com

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Even Whiplash Won't Stop Sheryl Lee Ralph from Oscar Chores

Sheryl Lee Ralph admits her first reaction to being asked to host pre- and post-Oscar coverage for CNN and HLN wasn't what one might expect.

"I was so scared I cried," says the actress/singer/fledgling broadcast personality. That's because she had just been in an automobile accident, "and I had the worst whiplash ever. I was sitting there in my brand-new, no-license-plates Prius at Sunset and Highland, and I got hit from behind. It was awful."

But she didn't want to turn down the choice assignment. "It's like, God puts these things in your path, and I just thought, 'I know you didn't bring me this for me not to make it work out.' The next day, I found the therapist who could help me, Dr. Craig Liebenson" of LA Sports and Spine, a chiropractor who's worked with dozens of elite athletes. "I thought, if he could get Kobe through a championship, he can get me through the Oscars."

Over the past couple of weeks, she's since been through a battery of tests and adhered to a recovery regime including hot packs, cold packs, breathing exercises, lots of rest — she's been sitting out Academy Awards parties — and more. What it hasn't included is "prescribed pain medication. Another doctor prescribed some, but I said, 'Look, I can't think with pain medication. I have to be sharp. I have to be clear. My brain has to take in information about quite a few people.'"

Learning about all the nominees is, as she notes, "like a college course. You have to be able to recognize people, know what they're wearing, what their process was."

We caught up with Ralph aka the tireless AIDS-HIV advocate aka the wife of Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent Hughes, while she was getting some Oscar-time pampering. That included a massage, a pedicure and application of Longmi eyelashes — at Beverly Hills' L'Ermitage Hotel. The hotel also is hosting Academy Awards gifting suites, so there is certainly no shortage of stars on hand to collect everything from designer clothing and jewelry, to trips, to "fabulous barbeque sauce" to "crushed ruby lipstick from Holland." That's Ralph's favorite item at the gifting suites so far.

"I love it. I've always loved red lipstick. And this has real rubies in it. I'll have a million-dollar smile for real."

She tells us that Steven Tyler was "coming out just as I was going in. I'm sure he was collecting some things for his daughters." Of course.

Ralph, who shares hosting duties with HLN anchor A.J. Hammer, will definitely be on the lookout for 14-year-old "True Grit" nominee Hailee Steinfeld come Sunday (2/27) night. The Best Supporting Actress hopeful has one of Ralph's favorite stories.

"'True Grit' is such a young woman's movie; it's about a little girl's true grit. How does a little girl overcome what was expected of women in the 1800s — which was nothing. And if they dared fight, it was OK to beat them. But this film wasn't marketed to young women at all. They left Hailee out of all those ads, even though she was so deserving of attention," the performer points out.

But Steinfeld is getting plenty of attention now. Says Ralph, "Whatever is for you can't not be for you."

THE MALE FACTOR: With the Maria Bello U.S. version of "Prime Suspect" primed for a pilot production start the first week of April in New York, casting is under way for the men in her life, including her squad commander, fellow homicide detectives, her father and her boyfriend. It's been more than 18 years now since Helen Mirren first scored a hit playing the tenacious, difficult and brilliant Jane Tennison. The British "Prime Suspect" lasted till 2006. That's a difficult act to follow, to say the least, but protean actress Bello is a good bet.

INSIDE ASIDE: Sixteen-year-old Australian actor Callan McAuliffe has been racking up a lot of frequent flier miles in recent months, with his own series back home in Sydney and his work in the newly launched "I Am Number Four" thriller. He tells us, "It's getting pretty hectic, but that's all right. I got a good piece of advice from Rob Reiner when we made 'Flipped.' He said, 'Get as much sleep as you possibly can when you're not working.' So when I'm not working, I'm just sleeping, and that gives me the energy I need to go from event to event." The up-and-comer clearly enjoyed being directed by Reiner, of whom he says, "He's really jolly. He's like Santa Claus." Ho, ho.

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