Between the vintage seriousness of Mad Men and sitcom goofiness of Community, TV's Alison Brie feels as if she's putting feelers in all genres. "Every next thing seems to be different," says Brie, 26, who has a role in the upcoming movie Scream 4. "Some of my favorite movies are horror movies like The Shining and Rosemary's Baby." And how does the Hollywood native let loose? "Just snuggle in my bed."
A stroke in 2004 left playwright, poet and novelist Ntozake Shange, 63, unable to read and write, but she was determined to get back to the book she had started 15 years ago. "I couldn't recognize words," she says. "Maya Angelou was kind enough to send me children's books." That novel, Some Sing, Some Cry, hit shelves this fall, and this weekend a big-screen version of her 1975 play For Colored Girls, directed by Tyler Perry, hits theaters.