ugly betty (9 posts)

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Darn all this summer casting news! (Stop reading if you believe that blissful ignorance is best when watching TV.)

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Naomi Campbell as an advocate for political correctness? At least if you're an international beauty icon.

Naomi is standing up for beautiful women everywhere and trying to put a stop to the term supermodel, according to an appearance on this Ugly Betty podcast (promoting the show's season finale this Thursday).

"It's a term we don't particularly like," says Campbell, pointing out that the preferred nomenclature among good-looking women who are paid to promote stuff is "working model."

Too bad no one asked her what she thinks of the term diva.

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Getting an education never looked so good.

School was back in session one final time for Vanessa Williams on Saturday, when the Ugly Betty star was awarded a bachelor of fine arts degree from Syracuse University. Williams attended but never graduated from the school, dropping out in 1983 after just two years at the university in order to become Miss America.

Donning a cap and gown with orange trim for the occasion, the star, whose daughter just completed her freshman year at Syracuse, also delivered the convocation address to the graduating class of the school's College of Visual and Performing Arts.

"These days are irreplaceable and are the beginning of the rest of your life," she said in her speech, per the Syracuse Post-Standard. "Treasure the moment."

And when in doubt, just ask yourself: What would Wilhelmina do?

Jesus Jimenez/WireImage.com, Jordan Struass/WIreImage.com

Life just got a whole lot uglier for Lindsay Lohan.

The trouble-prone actress began work Saturday on an extended guest spot for ABC's hit series Ugly Betty, according to Daily Variety.

Everybody's favorite mean girl is playing a former classmate of America Ferrera's Betty Suarez character, who, natch, wasn't that nice to Betty back in their school days. However, when the two bump into each other again, Lohan's character is down on her luck.

LiLo makes her debut on the show's May 22 season finale and will appear in five episodes next season.

Jesus Jimenez/WireImage.com, Jordan Struass/WIreImage.com

Art, life and Ugly Betty. Bear with us as we try to distinguish the difference.

America Ferrera's on-set wardrobe this week (specifically a honking-big diamond ring) sparked real-life engagement rumors between the 24-year-old actress and her longtime boyfriend, Ryan Piers Williams.

"Not true," her rep tells E! News about the report. But no word on which TV boyfriend might have popped the question. (We're still pulling for you, Henry!)

Meanwhile, producers are reportedly considering stunt-casting Lindsay Lohan for the show's finale May 22 and bringing her back for an even bigger arc next season.

To which we say—Naomi Campbell, Christian Siriano, Nina Garcia, Victoria Beckham—just how many divas can Mode absorb? Apparently, the answer is, never enough.

Matt Symons/Max Butterworth/PacificCoastNews.com

Naomi Campbell just flung a baseball bat and is sprinting directly toward us...Run for your lives!

OK, time-out: The combative supermodel is actually filming a scene for the season finale of Ugly Betty, a softball game between Elle and Mode magazine staffers. From the looks of it, Naomi hit it out of the park—unprovoked by assistants, housekeepers or British Airways personnel.

And while no telephones or BlackBerrys were reportedly harmed during the making of this show, if any castmembers are injured, at least they have an enthusiastic blood donor on the field.

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America Ferrera's next project is shaping up to be a simple numbers game.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Ugly Betty star has signed on to topline the feature adaptation of Aimee Bender's quirky novel An Invisible Sign of My Own, revolving around Mona Gray, a twentysomething loner who found solace in math and geometry as an obsessive-compulsive child after her father fell ill.

Later in life, the loner becomes a math teacher to a group of young children and uses the subject to help her students through crises of their own.

Mad Hot Ballroom helmer Marilyn Adrelo directs the coming-of-age flick.