Masi Oka did not win an Emmy Award Sunday night. But he did take the stage during the ceremony:
Similarly, Ali Larter wasn't even nominated for Best Looking Actress with Dual Personalities. Still, she presented an award alongside 24 star Kiefer Sutherland:
A few minutes before the start of the Emmy Awards, a pair of Heroes actors took time for the cameras:
Ali Larter waves to her fans. Hey, don't we know that guy over her shoulder from somewhere?
Zachary Quinto looks a tad less scary here than he does as Sylar.
Ali Larter graces the cover of the latest Cosmopolitan magazine.
In the issue, the Heroes star gives a personal interview. Pick up a copy to read more, but check out excerpts of it below:
Until recently, we only got teases of 31-year-old actress Ali Larter. (She played the brave girl who sported a whipped-cream bikini in 1999's Varsity Blues and Reese Witherspoon's jailed sorority sister in 2001's Legally Blonde.)
But those small roles had one big thing in common: They left audiences wanting more. That craving was finally satisfied this past TV season, when Ali rocketed to stardom thanks to the success of Heroes, the Emmy-nominated show in which she brilliantly plays good-and-evil dual personalities Niki and Jessica Sanders.
"It's been a dream," Ali says. "Now I'm kind of in a sweet spot in my life and career."
Arriving in that happy place certainly wasn't a cakewalk.
"The rejection you deal with in Hollywood is hard," Ali admits. "But you have to try to take some of the emotion out of it. Even though it's a creative endeavor, it's a job."
That levelheaded perspective could be attributed to a decision Ali made in 2002, when she returned to the East Coast to assess her career objectives. (She's originally from New Jersey.)
"That was a turning point," Ali says. "I moved to New York to define what kind of actress I wanted to be. When I tried to get back into the industry, I couldn't get a job...but it made me dig deeper."
Summoning the focus and tenacity to survive in eat-you-up-spit-you-out Hollywood has paid off in a major way. In addition to season two of Heroes, Ali has three movies out this year: the sci-fi flick Resident Evil: Extinction, an indie film called Marigold, and the National Lampoon caveman comedy Homo Erectus.
It's a diverse array of characters that capitalizes on the range of Ali's own personality.
"I'm a bit of a contradiction," she says. "I like tomboy stuff, but I also love girlie, girlie lingerie because I feel sexy when I'm in it."
British newspaper The Daily Mail recently sat down with Ali Larter. Here are a handful of quotes, all from the mouth of this Heroes star, and all interesting to read:
You never know when you're going to have to fight or take your clothes off. So my research for Heroes has been invaluable.
I worked with a few different martial arts trainers to make myself completely believable in the fight sequences and I was amazed how gruelling it was.
The stripping was even more demanding, if anything. In one of the episodes of Heroes, I end up stripping in a bar. I thought, "If I'm going to do this I'm going to be the best goddamn stripper the world has ever seen." So I really threw myself into it. Four hours a day for a whole week I was up and down this lap-dancer's pole. By the end of it I had a new-found respect for women who do that for a living.
For my first-ever movie scene I was completely naked except for a bikini made of whipped cream (pictured). That was my first scene in Varsity Blues and I had no clue what I was supposed to do. I knew if I started crying it would be hard to stop so I cried for seven hours solid before filming started. The scene must have worked OK because so many people remember it.
If I could have a special power in real life I'd love to fly. I seem to spend more and more time on planes these days. It would be just wonderful to be able to flap my arms and take off to wherever I needed to be.
When a door closes I always find another one to kick open. I was brought up to believe that there is no such thing as failure as long as I'm trying my best. So I've had a 'blood, guts and glory' approach through my whole life. It's enabled me to live the kind of life I want to live. No one's going to tell me no and if you do tell me no it only gets me more fired up to prove you wrong
The Heroes world tour touched down in Singapore over the weekend.
Two of the actors on the trip - Greg Grunberg and Ali Larter - conferred at a microphone before answering questions from reporters.
But our spies overheard their conversation. And it was focused on an unfortunate incident from early in the season...
Ali: Hey, sorry about throwing you out a window and everything.
Greg: That's okay. We all go a little crazy sometimes.
The Heroes world tour is in full effect. Earlier today, a quarter of our favorite actors greeted fans on Tokyo:
Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ali Larter, Masi Oka and Greg Grunberg smile for the camera during a stop in Japan.
Weeks before season two of Heroes, a pair of of its bigger stars sat down for an interview.
Here's what Ali Larter and Sendhil Ramamurthy had to say about the past and future of their characters - and our favorite show...
IGN TV: How far into production are you on Season 2?
Sendhil Ramamurthy: We're in the middle of the third episode.
IGN TV: A year ago you were here with the show before it premiered, having no idea how it would go over. What's it been like in the past 12 months seeing it explode the way it has?
Ali Larter: I'm always anxious to hear what everyone else says to these things. It has been an absolutely amazing year. What I think is so incredible is that I feel stimulated creatively, and we took a lot of risks on the show in the first season. And to be able to feel fulfilled on that side of it is for me the most important thing as an actor. But to also have this appeal, on this global level, is extraordinary. It's extraordinary that we really touched a cord.
Ramamurthy: Bouncing off her and what she said about a global level, it really is like a global thing. I was traveling around over the hiatus and I was in France and England and Mexico, and everybody knew the show; everybody knew who we were. I mean it really is nuts. You can hope to be on a hit show, but to be on a show that's kind of like branched out, like this has, I don't even know
IGN TV: Sendhil, I remember talking to you on the set before the show had debuted, and you were telling me how you and Milo Ventimiglia were so excited just to see the big billboard painting on the side of NBC, and were going there to take pictures of it.
Ramamurthy: I still have that picture on my phone!
IGN TV: I know you guys have to be very secretive, but can you talk at all about where Season 2 picks up?
Ramamurthy: Season 2
I can tell you this. Season 2 picks up four months after Season 1 ended.
[At this point Larter taps Ramamurthy on his shoulder and nods towards some nearby girls]
Larter: These girls just looked over and went "Oh my god! Oh my god, there he is!" I swear!
Ramamurthy: [Laughs] The best thing about the show is standing next to her.
Larter: [Miming fans] "Ahhh!" Sendhil, do the girls come up to you and fawn? Because as a girl, you know guys aren't like "Oh, you're so lovely." They're like "How you doing?" or they hit on you.
IGN TV: But the girls get into more of the shrieking thing, right?
Ramamurthy: Listen, they pretty much leave me alone, because I'm mostly out and about with my wife. But a few come up
Larter: And she's got a big ol' ring on her finger.
Ramamurthy: Yeah, exactly.
We reported previously on the campaign for real beauty that Ali Larter has signed up for. She's the latest celebrity to promote this great cause with Dove Hair Care.
Here's a video of the Heroes actress talking about the experience and the decision:
This makes us even more excited for the Emmy Awards.
Ali Larter announced today that, in collaboration with Dove Hair Care, she's taking a stand for real beauty by "going real" on the red carpet.
The Heroes star will be forgoing the usual pre-awards show professional hairstyling routine by creating her own hairstyle, without a team of stylists. Her mission is to inspire women to start loving the hair they have, while not comparing it to the unattainable images they see in the media and Hollywood.
"There is a lot of work that goes into Hollywood hair and I want women to know that it is unrealistic for every day," said Larter. "I am going to go out on a limb by doing my own hair for the Emmys without any stylists. I am going to use Dove Hair Care products for five days, get my hair in great shape and I am going to rock the red carpet. I am doing all of this to help women realize the potential of their own hair and feel more confident every day."
We love it. We've been big fans of this Dove campaign for months now.
While working with Larter, Dove Hair Care uncovered that it often takes a team of stylists - two hours or more in a styling chair with curling irons, hot rollers, flat irons, foam wedges and products - to create celebrity camera-ready "Hollywood" hairstyles.
The company believes that such styling processes are unrealistic for women to achieve every day. However, according to a recent survey, nearly 60 percent of women believe that these images in the media set the standard for beautiful hair.
Pre-teen and teenage girls can be particularly affected by unrealistic beauty images in the media. Girls need to start embracing the hair they have at a young age, which is why Larter joined Dove Hair Care today in New York at a session designed to help build self-esteem in pre-teen/teen members of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Serving as a positive role model, the Niki Sanders-portrayer inspired attendees to love the hair they have by sharing her personal experiences.
"I believe in the Dove Hair Care message and I am excited to take a stand for real beauty," said Larter. "I have learned to love my hair and I hope girls and women of all ages do the same."
We've already heard Ali Larter talk about her upcoming movie, Resident Evil: Extinction.
But TV Guide recently sat down with the Heroes actress to talk about another film she's in, the Bollywood flick Marigold...
TVGuide.com: Let's be a bit introspective: Is this the same Ali Larter I spoke to a year ago? Following all this Heroes hoopla?
Ali Larter: Absolutely, absolutely. I love our show, and it has been such an amazing opportunity for me. In this industry we go through so many ebbs and flows, and right now I'm at this great place where I love working on the show and people are responding to it, I have movies coming out that were amazing journeys for me.... It's a fun time.
TVGuide.com: I saw Marigold last night, and it's different, fun, a sort of primer for Bollywood movies.
Larter: It is, it's a sweet little romantic comedy, and I think it gives people a taste of India. This movie stands on its own in its uniqueness. It's about this little bitter actress who gets [a part] in this Bollywood film; it's a fish-out-of-water story and a comedy of errors when you see the cultures collide.
TVGuide.com: As a career choice, did you figure the rewards outweighed the risk?
Larter: I don't ever worry about risks. The more risk, for me, the better. It was such a fun movie to do. We were working six days a week, 12 hours a day, it was so hot, but I was there and I got a chance to really experience this country. I was blown away by the generosity of the people and the women dressed in these blues and greens and oranges and reds, coming over the desert.... It was extraordinary.
TVGuide.com: My favorite part is when it almost turns into a Bollywood film, in a sort of fantasy sequence.
Larter: Right! It's just so fun. It's a Princess Diaries kind of movie. You can go with a date, or you can grab a bunch of girls and go and have fun.
TVGuide.com: One of Marigold's big obstacles is that she doesn't have particularly great dancing skills for a Bollywood production. Be honest your own dancing skills going into this movie...?
Larter: [Sheepishly] Terrible. I'm not good. Put me in a club and I can dance till dawn. If you put me in a situation where I have to land on a mark? That presents a bit of a challenge. [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: I told myself that that works, though, since Marigold shouldn't evolve into a perfect dancer.
Larter: That's how I thought about it, also! In a Hollywood movie, you usually have six weeks to kind of rehearse. I had three days and did the best I could.
