Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Two and a Half Men's" Jon Cryer has big plans for this year's hiatus, but they don't involve work. "I'm going to get married!" reports the actor, who's been the man in the life of beautiful TV reporter Lisa Joyner for close to two years now.

He reveals they'll tie the knot in Mexico in June. "It'll be a small ceremony … There'll be fireworks. I'm excited about it. I'm going to be busy," he notes happily.

Cryer, who just directed the "Two and a Half Men" episode that will air April 30, first noticed Joyner standing in front of her house — which was a block away from his — chatting with her gardener. He left her a note asking her to call him. She did, and, obviously, it went very well.

TOGETHER AGAIN: Joe Mantegna and Mary Steenburgen reunite in the indie film "Elvis and Anabelle," but don't expect anything like the married couple they played on "Joan of Arcadia" for two years. In fact, says Joe, don't expect anything like anything he's ever done before.

"I play a Texas undertaker who is a hunchback. It's a complete departure for me," notes the actor. "It was just a wonderful script. It's a very bizarre movie about two young people from different worlds who collide … almost a modern-day 'Edward Scissorhands' meets 'Romeo and Juliet.'"

The star-crossed lovers and title characters are played by Max Minghella and Blake Lively, and Keith Carradine also costars in the feature, which was unveiled at the recent South by Southwest Festival.

Mantegna's pulled a particularly eclectic string of assignments lately — even for the Tony-winning actor known to "The Simpsons" fans as mob boss Fat Tony (yes, he does the voice in the July release "The Simpsons Movie.") He'll be seen on the small screen with Debra Messing, Judy Davis and Miranda Otto in the USA Network six-hour miniseries "The Starter Wife," debuting May 31. He also has the feature "Childless" with Barbara Hershey, Diane Venora and James Naughton upcoming.

"That's another interesting, different kind of movie," he says of the film about a group of people gathered for a teenager's funeral. "We're almost doing it all in monologues to the camera, and I thought, 'All these actors are either going to be boring and it'll be a disaster, or it's going to work well.'" He adds, "I just saw a screening of it, and wow, did it work."

THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGIN: Former "Barbershop" actor Sunkrish Bala says the fact that his interracial marriage on ABC's new mid-season sitcom "Notes from the Underbelly" is played as completely incidental could be a sign of welcome change in Hollywood.

"I don't think they knew the character was going to be Indian until they cast me, and my wife (played by Melanie Paxson) is as blue-blooded American as they come," says Bala, who plays half of an eager young couple expecting their first child in the series based on Risa Greene's best-selling novel of the same name. "The interracial thing is addressed as far as they don't pretend I'm just another white guy, but it's not central to our relationship, which is really great. When you're an actor of color, especially if you're not black or Hispanic or something they're used to, it's a rare thing that you don't have to play ethnicity as a big deal. It is such a shift."

Bala says he and his sitcom wife, Paxson, were thrown right into each other's arms with no chance to bond in the April 12-debuting sitcom about pregnancy and parenthood from director/producer Barry Sonnenfeld and "Two and a Half Men" producers Kim and Eric Tannenbaum. "It was a real fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants situation because I was the last one cast for the pilot," he says. "I literally got cast on a Friday, we all met for a table read that afternoon, and we were shooting the next Monday."

THE INSIDE TRACK: Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Darlene Koldenhoven says she went way out on a limb for her new CD, "Infinite Voice." "I feel like I'm taking a big chance with the album," says the four-time Grammy nominee known worldwide as the unforgettable vocal soloist in the PBS special "Yanni, Live at the Acropolis." "There are lyrics, but most of the album is done with vocalize, where I use my voice as an instrument and it's a mixture of classical, world music, New Age and smooth jazz."

The classically trained artist says she laid down the musical tracks for the album, but after that "a lot of it was just very inspired. I open myself to God and the universe, and I'm the conduit and allow it to flow through. When I was in the studio, every day was a different energy. There were a lot of spontaneous musical happenings and wonderful moments." She adds, "It was my intention to create an album that was healing. I just want to make people aware of this infinite voice of love that permeates through their lives. I'm hoping audiences and critics will love what they hear and be open to this new way of doing music. Nowadays it just seems like so many artists are marketing packages. Where is the soul of the true artist who stays home doing their craft as opposed to making the scene and being crazy? I'm just constantly trying to get at the heart of the artist in me." Koldenhoven needn't worry. Her "Infinite Voice" is already receiving high critical acclaim.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily 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.

COPYRIGHT 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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