Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Motherhood may not be cramping Nia Vardalos' writing style — but it's certainly changed the way she works.

The actress-screenwriter-producer, who rose to fame with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," is at least as busy as ever. She has an untitled Tom Hanks movie in preproduction and tells us she is currently scripting another project "for another actor — I can't tell you who yet — I'm going to star in with him." And there's yet another film "for a bunch of women" that Vardalos has on the way.

And she's doing it while being the hands-on mom of a 4-year-old.

"I used to do these screenwriting workshops where I would tell people, 'You can't force creativity,'" she recounts with a laugh. "'Just make yourself sit down every day at your computer, and if it doesn't come, walk away.' And now, my time is so limited! I drop my daughter at school at 8:30. I run back and do the treadmill and some Pilates. I run to the desk and I write until I pick her up. I just sit down and go 'Write! Write! Write!' and then she goes to bed about 7:15 and I write in the evenings as well."

As far as motherhood and creativity, "If anything, it's opened up my mind to the world of silliness. Her imagination is so huge. And also little things, like I'll be telling her something and she'll say, 'Listen, listen. Do you hear it?' And the whole time, a bird has been chirping. That's the magical world of a 4-year-old," says Vardalos. "Everything is magic in her world — and why not?"

Vardalos' other major activity is advocating on behalf of foster care adoption. She and husband Ian Gomez adopted their daughter through foster care, with the help of a foster family agency, last year. She served as the celebrity spokesperson for National Adoption Day a few weeks ago, and will be among the stars seen on CBS' Dec. 23 special, "The 11th Annual A Home for the Holidays With Faith Hill."

MAKING THE YULETIDE BRIGHT: Michael McDonald, who has a PBS "Soundstage" holiday special this month, is also taking to the road for a string of "Evening of Holidays and Hits" concerts. "We're doing about 10 or 15 dates, half of them on the East Coast and the other half on the West Coast — just long enough to be fun, not too arduous. It's nice to get out during the holidays and play a few shows like this," he says.

The dreamy-voiced Doobie Brothers vocalist has his "This Christmas" album newly in release this fall, a compilation of past recordings from his Hallmark Christmas album and his "In The Spirit" gospel-inflected record — plus four new songs.

There are some bold choices among the Yuletide fare. It's not all soft and fuzzy. But as McDonald explains, "We have to go out and play this stuff, and we wanted to make the arrangements interesting. We didn't want to drag a dead horse across the stage."

The new record also gave him the opportunity "to sing with my daughter again, which was a lot of fun. She was 8 years old the last time we recorded together. She's 18 now." The "Soundstage" special begins airing Dec. 10 (check local listings).

GIVING PROPS: James Tupper has a sweet gig on NBC's "Mercy," but the Canadian actor also had time to appear in the film "Me and Orson Welles," which is currently in theaters. He tells us he was impressed with the movie's young star Zac Efron, whose star continues to be on the rise. "Oh, that was fun. We actually shot some of it in London and there were always girls screaming with that really high screech. It was like working with the Beatles," says Tupper of being around Efron. "He's a great guy — super talented. He reminds me of a young Gene Kelly. He has this ability to move his body and he can act, too." Tupper just hopes the former "High School Musical" star can find a way to keep some balance in his life in spite of his huge amount of fame. "I don't think it's possible for it to not get into your head somewhat."

VOICING HER OPINION: Nicole Sullivan, who stars in "Rita Rocks," is having a blast on her Lifetime sitcom, but she tells us it's her voiceover work that has been the most consistent part of her career so far. "I love it. Sitcom jobs are pretty great, but the only job that is better is voiceover work. If you've got a pimple, who cares? No one there cares," notes Sullivan, who is also known for her work on "Mad TV." "I'm really lucky, too, because I've gotten to work on really good shows. It's not one of these dumb, insipid things you see on TV. I worked on 'Kim Possible' for eight years and now I'm working on 'The Penguins of Madagascar' with those same producers, so it's really quality writing. I'm also doing a show called 'The Secret Saturdays' for the Cartoon Network so it's keeping me busy and it's a lot of fun."

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

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.

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