So, you're a 15-year-old girl who's starring in a critically acclaimed TV show and a critically acclaimed movie - at the same time. Might be pretty much impossible to impress you with a compliment, right?
Not if you're Claire Danes ("My So-Called Life," "Little Women"). And not if the the compliment is coming from none other than Steven Spielberg himself.Spielberg, appearing before television critics with one of his two DreamWorks partners, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said that finding new talent is a "wonderfully exciting thing."
And Spielberg referred to "the explosive excitement of someone like Claire Danes, who is one of the most exciting actresses to debut in 10 years."
When Danes had a turn before the critics later in the day, she was almost giddy.
"Wow! It's so flattering. It really is," Danes said. "I'm just flab-ber-gasted. It's really amazing. I'm so honored that he thinks that of me."
Asked if she thought her agent might be calling Spielberg sometime soon, Danes promptly came back down to earth.
"Oh, I guess so," she said. "We'll have stuff to talk about."
ODD JOBS: A classic story about actors is the unusual, unrelated-to-acting jobs they had before they achieved success.
And, from the experiences of the cast of the upcoming CBS sitcom "The Office," those stories seem less than apocryphal.
"I was a hat-check girl for Lutece, which is a fabulous French restaurant," said Valerie Harper ("Mary Tyler Moore," "Rhoda"). "But there were no hats to check, but there were about six chin-chil-las.
"I think Pete Townshend came that night. I'm dating myself."
Gary Dourdon spent some time "working as a security guard at the World, some decrepit club in New York, dealing with people who had orange hair and stuff like that. Skinheads and all kinds of weird stuff."
"I sold little miniature Christmas trees - live Christmas trees - and shipped them across the country and then handled the complaints when they were dead," said Debra Jo Rupp.
Andrea Abbate said she worked for a time as a travel agent who was paid by commission.
"I would go to Ma Maison," she said. "And just sit and have Perrier. And whoever came up to ask me out, I would try to interest them in a barge down the English Channel. Or going to Switzerland.
"And then I would take them over to the travel agent and book them."
"I used to entertain children at parties as Big Bird," said Kristin Datillo-Hayward. "I can't believe I'm saying this.
"And clown and play with them - play different games. That was very odd. It lasted about two weeks."
Lisa Darr's most unusual job wasn't that unusual at all, but she felt that she suffered for it.
"While working through college, the worst was scooping ice cream," she said. "Yes, I did it. I, of course, ate more than I scooped.
"And I wore polyester."
OUT OF THE LOOP: Apparently, Teri Garr was one of the few people in America who missed the news a couple of years ago about the "Designing Women" feud - the story about how star Delta Burke and creator/producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason couldn't get along, which only ended when Burke left the show.
So Garr, who's now working with both Burke and Bloodworth-Thomason on the new sitcom "Women of the House," had no trepi-da-tion at all about accepting the co-starring role.
"No, I wasn't aware," she said. "I don't follow my television feuds."
CHANGE IN CASTING: Speaking of "Women of the House," there'll be a change in the cast after next week's episode.
Valerie Mahaffey will be replaced by Julie Haggerty, who will assume the role of receptionist/
displaced housewife Jennifer Malone.
It's not that creator/executive producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is unhappy with Mahaffey. The actress made it clear early on that she didn't want to commit to the series in the long term.
"We knew she was going to leave, it was just a question of when," Bloodworth-Thomason said.
But Mahaffey agreed to come aboard when Bloodworth-Thoma-son had casting difficulties - difficulties that ended when Haggerty (best known for co-starring the movie "Airplane!") became available. She had been appearing in a Broadway play. But don't expect to see any mention of the change in personnel.
"They look very much alike. They sound very much alike," Bloodworth-Thomason said. "And I'm thinking the public is not going to know the difference."