Who's in

Huang Xiaoming on a high note

The Chinese A-list actor Huang Xiaoming gave a gig at the Star Live in downtown Beijing to celebrate the launch of his debut album It's Ming on Saturday.

Dressed in a black Kappa sports top and wearing dark sunglasses, Huang was like a cool motorcycle driver. He performed I'm Coming, I Can Do Anything for You and a few other songs from the new album and performed some impressive dance numbers with hot dancing girls.

Produced by Music Nation Group, Huang's album comprises 10 songs written by established songwriters Lee Weisong, Zhong Xingmin, Lu Shaochun and Hu Yanbin. The tracks feature a variety of styles from pop, electronic, jazz to R&B. Among them, I Can Do Anything for You has been selected as the Italian sportswear brand Kappa's advertising song of the year. Huang directs and acts in the video.

In less than one month since it was released, the album has topped many charts and the songs have been popular among the actor's fans.

Full metal packet

African-born, award-winning actor Djimon Hounsou, whose muscular physique stood out in such films as Amistad, Gladiator, and Blood Diamond, for which he was nominated for a supporting role at the Academy Awards, was recently featured barefoot in the new ads for Calvin Klein underwear. Shot by Peter Lindbergh in the Palm Springs desert, the campaign is called Steel because Hounsou's body looks as if it's made from the metal.

Hounsou is the ninth man to be featured in a Calvin Klein underwear campaign and the first actor in over a decade. This is also the first time the brand, launched in 1982, has used a model of African descent for a significant series of ads. The global print and outdoor campaign was launched in more than 20 countries, including China.

Nicole Richie welcomes baby girl

The Simple Life just got more complicated for Nicole Richie: She's a first-time mom.

Richie, 26, gave birth on Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to a daughter named Harlow Winter Kate Madden, People magazine reported on its website.

The father is Richie's 28-year-old boyfriend, Joel Madden, of the rock group Good Charlotte.

"We are very blessed she's healthy and beautiful and so good already," Madden told People on Saturday. "We are very happy."

Calls to the couple's representative at Handprint Entertainment, Richie's publicist and the hospital were not immediately returned Saturday.

Richie, the socialite daughter of singer Lionel Richie, is perhaps best known for costarring with Paris Hilton in the reality show The Simple Life.

Last year, she spent 82 minutes in jail after being convicted of driving under the influence of drugs. She was arrested in December 2006 after witnesses reported seeing her Mercedes-Benz SUV headed the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 01/15/2008 page18)