Famous Teens: News
Young & Famous
Bleu’s a model; Conrad’s a novelist; and Cera and Yi are in love
Beautiful Bleu
You loved him as Zac Efron’s basketball-playing best friend in the High School Musical movies, but will you fall for him as an aspiring model with a drug problem in A Beautiful Life? Corbin Bleu will star in the new Ashton Kutcher-produced TV series about a group of models sharing a co-ed residence in New York City. Bleu plays Isaac, a model with a taste for illegal substances, while Sara Paxton stars as up-and-coming runway babe Reina, Mischa Barton is the very bitchy Sonya and Canadian actor Ben Hollingsworth plays cute catalogue model Chris. Look for A Beautiful Life to hit the airwaves this fall.
—Ingrid Randoja
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Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi
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Young love?
No doubt about it, our favourite celeb couple right now is Michael
Cera and Charlyne Yi. Unconventional? Maybe. Adorable. We think so. You
may remember Yi as Jodi, Martin’s stoner girlfriend in Knocked Up.
She’s also a stand-up comedian, performance artist and musician, so
it’s no wonder Cera was drawn to her, despite what may be a rather
large age gap. Cera is just 21, while Yi claims to be 37 on her MySpace
page. We have trouble believing that, though, and at least one article
in Variety magazine claims she’s in her early 20s. Maybe lying about her age is part of Yi’s performance art.
Anyway, this August you can catch both halves of the happy couple in Paper Heart,
an indie pic in which Yi (playing a sort-of version of herself) meets,
and falls for, Cera (playing a sort-of version of himself) while
working on a documentary about the meaning of love.
—Marni Weisz
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Candy is Dandy
If there’s one girl who knows what it’s like to move to L.A., land a part in a reality TV show and learn that fame doesn’t necessarily bring happiness, it’s Lauren Conrad.
The Hills star put her experience to good use penning her debut novel, L.A. Candy, the first book in a planned trilogy. The story focuses on 19-year-old Jane Roberts and her BFF Scarlett, who’ve moved to L.A. to party hard and hang out with hot guys. They land roles in a reality TV version of Sex and the City and become VIPs. Sounds great, right? Think again. Everybody wants a piece of them and they’re not sure who they can trust. L.A. Candy hits shelves on June 20th.
—Ingrid Randoja
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Christopher Mintz-Plasse in Year One
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Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s big sacrifice
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who played what may be the most memorable high school dork of the decade in Superbad, appears in Year One as the most troubled kid in religious history.
“It has Jack Black, and I got to work again with Michael Cera, which
was hilarious,” says Mintz-Plasse. “I play Isaac from the Bible; it’s a
spoof with Michael and Jack’s characters pretty much just wandering
through Isaac’s and other Biblical stories.”
It required research, though. Despite growing up in a Jewish family
in a land of many congregations — L.A.’s San Fernando Valley — Chris
knew nothing about Isaac, whose dad Abraham famously agreed to
sacrifice him upon God’s request. (In the end, the Almighty let father
and son off the hook and Isaac lived to the ripe old age of 180.)
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“I had to read it for the part, never heard the story before in my life,” he says. “I’ve never done anything Jewish in my life; never read the Bible, never had a Bar Mitzvah.”
Mintz-Plasse was apparently too busy for Hebrew school, attending acting and improv classes and playing sports with his buddies. Yes, it’s true; this master of on-screen dweebery was a jock growing up.
“Yeah. I still am,” he confirms. “I don’t do it as much as I used to, but when I’m free, and get the chance, I play basketball all the time. I know the movies I’ve been in make me look like a nerd, but I was never like that.”
Perhaps Chris, who’ll turn 20 on June 20th, will get a chance to play someone macho now that he’s almost all grown up. But that isn’t what he’s most concerned about as he gets closer to being legal.
“When you’re over 18 you become an adult, right?” he says, frustration in his voice. “Except for drinking, which is a bummer. You can go to war but you can’t drink a beer.”
—Bob Strauss
7 Random Facts About Christopher Mintz-Plasse
• Because he was only 17 when he did Superbad, his mom had to be there when he shot his sex scene. They haven’t spoken about it since.
• He still lives with his parents in Woodland Hills, California, the L.A. suburb where he was born and raised.
• He was on the improv comedy team at El Camino Real High School.
• His mom is a school counsellor, his dad is a mailman.
• Led Zeppelin is one of his favourite bands.
• His next movie is the indie superhero film Kick-Ass starring Nicolas Cage. Mintz-Plasse plays Red Mist.
• He often shows up to big movie premieres wearing a plaid, flannel shirt.