Celebrity Profiles

Alison Williams may be the daughter of NBC news anchor Brian Williams, but with her classic movie star looks and considerable talent it's hard to imagine she wouldn't have made it in the industry even without her familial connections.

Alison plays Lena Dunham's ambitious and unsatisfied best friend, Marnie, on the hit HBO series Girls. With it's awkward and occasionally graphic sex scenes, the role would be challenging for any actress, but it poses unique problems for Alison, the daughter of the trusted, fatherly face of the evening news. Fortunately, Brian's a modern dad. "It's incredibly great," he recently said of his daughter's potentially scandalous role. Brian added that he feels noting but "unmitigated joy" with the more risque aspects of the show, which last week had Alison ducking into a public bathroom to masturbate.

So how did a recent college grad with an almost non-existent resume land a leading role on one of TV's most talked-about new shows? The right mix of talent, timing, and creative use of the Mad Men theme song. After graduating from college Allison made a hit YouTube video in which she added lyrics to the show's beloved theme music. Within days, the video was noticed by Girls producer Judd Apatow who decided Allison had the "vibe" he was looking for, and the rest is history. Jump in to watch Allison's star-making clip and check out Girls on HBO Sundays at 10:30.

(Photos: WENN)

Lena Dunham is not only the star of the critically-acclaimed new HBO series Girls, she also directs and receives primary writing credit for every episode of the show's first season. An impressive feat, made astonishing by the fact that Dunham is all of 25 years old.

What may be more surprising than Dunham's youth and talent, however, is her willingness to expose herself for her art - both emotionally and physically. She plays Hannah on the show, an unemployed, directionless recent college grad who finds herself drifting into a life she never imagined for herself after being cut off by her parents. The character seems to be Dunham's parallel universe version of herself - her vision of what life would be like if good fortune and success hadn't come knocking at such a young age.

Hannah is the new face of struggling 20-something America. Armed only with a useless liberal arts degree and a penchant for inappropriate jokes, she struggles to find her place in the world and maybe, as a bonus, a guy who's interested in her for more than just sex. It may sound like a familiar formula, but if Sex and the City provided a fantasy for millions of American women, Girls depicts the often nightmarish reality of single life in NYC.

While this may be new territory for television, it's terrain Dunham has explored before. She wrote, directed and starred in the award-winning 2010 film Tiny Furniture in which she cast her real-life sister and mother (renowned photographer Laurie Simmons) as her family. Like Girls, the film featured Dunham as a young, terminally confused New Yorker with a bad habit of falling for the wrong guy. Needless to say, it's safe to assume Dunham may have some experience with these issues and insecurities.

If you haven't heard of her yet, you will. Mezhgan Hussainy, 36, is engaged to none other than Simon Cowell. Mezhgan's family, the Hussainys, were among Afghanistan's elite.

Her father was an IT expert and her family had their own driver, a nanny, a cook and a housekeeper. But things changed 30 years ago when Mezhgan's family was forced to flee war-torn Afghanistan, embarking on a 10-day hike "on foot through the mountains and the Khyper Pass." Mezghan says that she and her family were "so hungry and tired."

Mezhgan Hussainy, her parents and three brothers spent nine months in a refugee camp in Afghanistan before being permitted to move to the States. 

In the States, Mezhganworked as a model and became a professional makeup artist much later. She turned down the offer to do makeup on American Idol during its first season, but accepted the job for season two. Great move! What an amazing success story.

Simon's picky as hell, so I like this chick already. You know she must be a winner.

Brittany Binger is the 22 year-old model girlfriend of Cleveland Indians baseball player, Grady Sizemore.

Grady is better looking than Brittany, but she has a great body. Brittany was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the year in June 2007. She's also close friends with Kendra Wilkinson and has a supporting role on her show, Kendra.

Grady sent sexy pictures of himself to Brittany Binger and the pictures were "stolen" and leaked. And when I say "stolen" I mean Brittany sent them out to her girlfriends and the pictures got out to the media. Did Brittany even care if the pictures went public? I know I wouldn't. It's not like Grady is completely nude and the woman has plenty of bragging rights.

I'm a huge fan of Fox's new hit show Glee because it is one of the most entertaining, feel good shows on television today. Each week the Glee cast members sing some of the most popular songs, past and present, and their renditions (and occasional dance routines) are on point.

Matthew Morrison plays Will Schuester, a Spanish teacher and the leader of the Glee club. Matthew also has a long history of performing in many theater productions and he's a talented actor, singer and dancer.

Although I love Glee, I can not look at Matthew without seeing Justin Timberlake's face. No DNA test needs to be given, IMO, Matthew Morrison has got to be the love child of Justin Timberlake's parents! Matthew also looks much older than 31 years old, which freaks me out too.

But anyway, Matthew is embarking on a solo music career and he says that his album will “... be different. I would consider it a classier Justin Timberlake album. It’s going to be me and a big orchestra, but also with beats.” Doesn't that description sound homosexual? Many wonder if Matthew is straight, but I don't. I think he is as gay as they come although he denies it.

Matthew said:

• "Some people are calling this the gayest show on TV — it's gayer than Ellen Degeneres. Yeah, I definitely have a ton of gay fans, which I'm happy with."

• "Honestly, I went into theater because I enjoyed dance, and I looked at all the women dancers and I was like, "I gotta be in that! That’s' what I need to be doing!" ...You can only throw a football for so long. You can always sing. You can always dance. It's an amazing gift and I'm just so proud to be a part of it."

Sounds queer to me! And I want him to be cause that makes it easier to accept our unrequited love.

Here's two of my favorite Matthew video performances from Glee. "Bust a Move" is good, but "Thong Song" melted my heart.

IS MATTHEW MORRISON GAY?

Michael Jackson's documentary This Is It arguably has two stars: Michael Jackson and Orianthi Panagaris.

Orianthi is the 24 year-old guitar hero from Australia. She has had a steady rise to fame, playing on stage at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, playing for Santana and Carrie Underwood. She was also featured in "Now or Never," a song on the Bratz movie soundtrack. But the hot blonde had yet to receive her time in the spotlight, until MJ changed that. In This Is It, Michael tells Orianthi "This is your time to shine," encouraging the young musician to remain confident during her solo. It's one of the most touching scenes in the captivating film.

Orianthi said that she had to fight her butterflies to audition in front of MJ's musical director.

"I didn't think I was gonna get it. I was blown away that he liked my playing. It was a dream come true."

This woman oozes with raw talent and she's a hot chick who can play with the rest of the boys. Orianthi's new album is called According to You, and its release was pushed up to coincide with the release of This Is It. My friend really liked that the young guitarist can multi-task. Orianthi chews gum while she's playing some riffs that make you go 'WTF?' I like that she graces the stage in boots with heels. She's great!

More greatness at http://www.myspace.com/orianthi