Gary Sinise is prioritizing family following the heartbreaking loss of his son.
In an recent interview with People, the actor, known for his roles in Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, The Green Mile, and CSI: NY, opened up about life after the death of his son Mac Sinise, who died in January 2024 at age 33 from chordoma, a rare form of cancer.
“It looked like a monster grabbing my son’s spine,” Sinise raid, describing the MRI scan that revealed his son had chordoma. “It was a one-two punch.”
Chordoma is a slow-growing cancer of tissue found inside the spine, according to the National Cancer Institute, which states that 1 in 1 million people worldwide are diagnosed with the disease each year.
Sinise shared that he first stepped away from acting in 2020, when Mac spent six of the first eight months of the year in the hospital.
“I started putting everything I had into trying to find a miracle for Mac,” he said. “I didn’t want Mac to be thinking of the next treatment or to worry. So I thought about cancer all the time. You’re trying to take the pain away. A few times I felt like I couldn’t do enough, or I didn’t know what to do. Then you say a little prayer, get back up and go back into the fight.”
Now, in the aftermath of Mac’s death, Sinise said he finds comfort in being close to home and is unsure whether he’ll return to acting.
“Something may come along and it’ll be right, but it’s harder to leave home now,” he explained. “I just want to be around family. Since losing Mac, I hold my daughters a lot tighter. You think about the things that are really important.”
The Chi is back for season 7, and so is Jason Weaver. He joined the show as Rashaad, an ex-con looking to find his way after being released from prison. Now that he’s employed, his character is challenged to continue on the right path amid a budding relationship with matriarch/businesswoman Alicia, played by Lynn Whitfield.
“We’ve seen [Shaad] go through a number of different changes and chapters since being released from prison. He’s had his fair share of ups and downs. And for the first time, it seems like, Shaad is finally firmly planting his feet on some solid ground. But at the same time, Shaad also has the tendency to kind of like sabotage himself at times,” Jason tells ABC Audio.
“I think what’s going to be interesting for the audience to see is how he continues to stay on this straight and narrow path … staying employed and out of prison,” he continues, noting viewers will see his character “struggle with insecurities … past trauma and things that he is just dealing with internally that he hasn’t come to grips with.”
“You’ll see him have a moment where he has to really look in the mirror and begin to pinpoint what the actual issue is with him internally,” he adds.
Having joined the cast of The Chi in season 4, Jason says he feels “a very deep sense of gratitude” that Shaad made it this far in the show. He describes it as “one of the more rewarding experiences” of his 40-year career.
Asked what he hopes fans will take away from the new season, he says, “I want the audience to always feel like they’re never going to know what’s coming around the corner.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
The Chi will air Fridays on Showtime and stream for subscribers with the Paramount+ with Showtime plan.
Actress KelliGiddish, known for her role as Amanda Rollins on Law & Order: SVU, is returning to the long-running show as a series regular for the upcoming 27th season, according to Deadline. The comeback will mark Giddish’s 15th year portraying Rollins. She appeared as a guest star throughout the last couple of seasons, after leaving the show in December 2022. Giddish confirmed the news of her return to Law & Order by sharing the Deadline article on Instagram.
Ben Wang is the latest star to join the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, an adaptation of the bestselling book.He’ll be playing Wyatt Callow, a tribute from District 12. He joins a previously announced roster including MckennaGrace, JessePlemons, MayaHawke and Lili Taylor. Wang is best known for his role as Jin Wang in Disney+’s American Born Chinese and will be next seen on the big screen in the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends, out in theaters on May 30.
Comedian Kountry Wayne is working on his second comedy special for Prime Video. Deadline reports the event will tape at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 4. The new special follows his 2023 debut, A Woman’s Prayer, which reached number one on Netflix upon its release and garnered upward of 5 million viewing hours.
A tearful Ryan Kiera Armstrong let out an emotional “yes” to Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s offer to join the Buffy universe as the newest slayer.
The sweet exchange was shared to Gellar, Armstrong and Hulu’s Instagram accounts Thursday, amid the news Armstrong had been cast in the lead role in the upcoming, untitled Buffy reboot.
“From the moment I saw Ryan’s audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side,” Gellar, who played Buffy Summers in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, captioned the social post. “To have that kind of emotional intelligence and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room.”
Project executive producers NoraZuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman added of the star, “We are so overjoyed to have found this generation’s slayer in Ryan Kiera Armstrong, she absolutely blew us away — there is no question in our mind that she is the chosen one.”
Armstrong’s credits include Disney+’s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and Firestarter, the sci-fi horror film based on Stephen King‘s 1980 novel of the same name. Armstrong can also be seen in Netflix’s Anne with an E and American Horror Story.
While not many other details have been shared about Armstrong’s role in Buffy, she took to social media with a post expressing how she is “beyond thankful,” “excited for this journey” and “in awe” of her co-star Gellar.
“I’m still in so much shock and disbelief,” she wrote.
MarkRuffalo is determined to take down the bad guys in his latest project.
In the recently released trailer for the new HBO Max crime drama series Task, viewers are given a glimpse of Ruffalo as an FBI agent in Philadelphia who heads up a task force that is working to put an end to a string of violent robberies.
He stars alongside Ozark‘sTom Pelphrey, the unsuspecting family man at the center of the violent crimes. He’s seen in the trailer navigating the duties of caring for his family and keeping off law enforcement’s radar.
The cast also includes EmiliaJones, JamieMcShane, SamKeeley and ThusoMbedu.
Blake Lively‘s friendship with music superstar Taylor Swift is now at the center of her legal battle with her former It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
In a new court filing Wednesday, attorneys for Baldoni claim Lively pressured Swift to get involved in the legal back and forth, which first began in December.
That month, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us, which he also directed. Lively and Baldoni subsequently launched dueling lawsuits against each other, with Lively alleging that Baldoni and key stakeholders of the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company and crisis PR company, The Agency Group PR, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni denied the allegations via a statement from his attorney, who called Lively’s actions “shameful” for making “serious and categorically false accusations” against Baldoni.
Baldoni later sued Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, the couple’s publicist, LeslieSloane, and Sloane’s public relations company, Vision PR, for extortion and defamation, among other things.
Lively’s lawyers called Baldoni’s lawsuit “another chapter in the abuser playbook” and accused Baldoni of “trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni.”
Earlier this month, Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s lawyer, BryanFreedman.
Lawyers for Lively and Reynolds responded by trying to block the subpoena, which Baldoni’s attorneys argued was necessary.
Citing “a source,” Baldoni’s legal team claims in Wednesday’s court filing that Lively’s attorney “demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively” amid the legal scuffle, alleging that “if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively’s possession would be released.”
Baldoni’s attorneys allege in the new filing that, “Lively requested that Taylor Swift delete their text messages.” The court filing also claims that “a representative of Ms. Swift addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication.”
In response, Lively’s lawyer, MikeGottlieb, asked the court to strike the documents as “unnecessary, improper and abusive.”
Gottlieb said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday that the allegations made in Baldoni’s court filing are “categorically false.”
“This is categorically false. We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality,” Gottlieb said. “This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties’ lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.”
Baldoni’s initial complaint against Lively, filed in January, detailed a text message he allegedly received from Lively in which Baldoni claims Lively referred to Swift and Reynolds as her “dragons.” The complaint claimed Lively leveraged her relationships with high-profile individuals like Swift and Reynolds to exert her influence over the film.
Swift has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment about the latest court filing.
In response to being subpoenaed, a spokesperson for Swift said she was only involved in licensing her song “My Tears Ricochet” for the film and was never on set.
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,” the spokesperson said. “The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, ‘My Tears Ricochet.'”
The spokesperson added, “Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”
Lively and Baldoni are due to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2026.
Saturday Night Live alum Taran Killam got candid recently about a “very important relationship” on one of his first-ever TV gigs, which he says helped launched his career.
In a recent appearance on Fly on the Wall with DanaCarvey and DavidSpade, Killam credited his early days on The Amanda Show as a stepping stone to the acting jobs that came after. He also reminisced about his close-knit relationship with the show’s star, AmandaBynes.
“It was my first job — literally the last week of high school I got cast on her show,” Killam said. “We worked together for three weeks then. I went away to college, I didn’t have an agent anymore, I was focused on school. They called me back to do more and they helped me get an agent.”
He added, “Being on The Amanda Show started my grown-up acting career.”
The 43-year-old opened up about their relationship at the time, saying that he and Bynes “were friends.”
“We did a movie together: Big Fat Liar. She was the best,” he said. “It was a very important relationship to me in my life.”
He praised Bynes as “one of the most talented people I’ve ever met,” comparing the star to iconic actors LucilleBall and CarolBurnett.
The Amanda Show aired on Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2002.
Sydney Sweeney and Paul Walter Hauser are on a mission to steal a Native American artifact from the guys who stole it first in the trailer for the new movie Americana.
Sweeney plays a waitress who dreams of going to Nashville to become a country singer, if she only had the money. After Hauser’s character, a military veteran, overhears a conversation about how much an antiquities dealer would pay a criminal to steal the priceless artifact, he and Sweeney’s character hatch a plan to rob the robbers and get the money for themselves.
In the mix are singer/actress Halsey, playing a “desperate woman fleeing her mysterious past”; a little kid who believes he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull; and the leader of an Indigenous group who also wants the artifact.
The film, which also stars Eric Dane and Simon Rex, arrives in theaters Aug. 22.
AlPacino is showing no signs of hitting the brakes on his acting career, as he’s just been announced as the latest actor to join the upcoming biographical film Maserati: The Brothers.
The 85-year-old movie legend joins fellow industry big names AnthonyHopkins, AndyGarcia and JessicaAlba to star in the biopic centered around the Maserati family and their legacy in the automotive world, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Pacino will take on the role of Vincenzo Vaccaro, an auto investor and supporter of the Maserati family.
Directing the film is award winner BobbyMoresco, whose credits include Crash, 10th & Wolf and Million Dollar Baby.
In a statement to THR, producer AndreaIervolino said the team is thrilled to have Pacino join the cast. “His unparalleled talent and iconic presence bring a profound depth to our portrayal of this inspiring and emotional story. Having such a legendary figure join our already incredible cast is truly an honor,” he said.
Producers also say the final phase of shooting Maserati: The Brothers will begin in Rome in June.
For anyone with a special talent who’s ever dreamed of showcasing it to the world — the chance to do so could be yours.
Netflix confirms a reboot of the legendary talent show Star Search is in the works and the streamer is calling on folks to apply.
The competition show, which originally ran from 1983 to 1995, and featured some of today’s entertainment icons like Beyoncé, BritneySpears and AdamSandler, is returning to TV as a live show that’ll air each week.
Episodes will include emerging performers in music, dance, comedy and kids’ categories as hopeful artists take the stage to compete against one another. The competition will include eliminations and “plenty of surprises along the way.”
Star Search also helped launch the careers of DaveChappelle, JustinTimberlake and ChristinaAguilera.
While the host, judges and premiere date is yet to be announced, Netflix has confirmed the new, live Star Search will be produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment (Rhythm + Flow,Super Bowl Halftime Show).
