When they return to work in a couple of weeks, the
Enterprise actors won't likely have to write an essay called "How I Spent My Summer Hiatus," but if they did, they'd have a lot to tell.
The very charity-minded Anthony Montgomery ("Travis Mayweather") has spent a great deal of his time reaching out to young people in the Los Angeles area. Through the Stop The Abuse Against Families Foundation (STAAFF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating family violence, he regularly lectures at schools to bring messages of hope and empowerment to the children. He has also been playing on the Hollywood Knights Celebrity Basketball Team, a group of TV, movie and music stars who shoot hoops against school faculties, a popular way to raise money for the schools.
This Saturday, June 15, Montgomery will host STAAFF's second annual "Kids Safe Day 2002" in Hawthorne, California, in conjunction with the local police department to help teach parents and children about child safety. Police officers will be on hand to fingerprint and take photographs of children for parents and police to keep on record. The event will start at 11:00 a.m. at the Hawthorne Police Substation in Jim Thorpe Park.
Amidst all his charity work, Montgomery found time to return home to Indianapolis, Indiana, to visit family and friends, but while there he made the rounds with local media to talk about Enterprise and promote a local contest. In one day he visited three different radio stations to do interviews, one in which he played a fast round of Star Trek trivia. At a country music station, a DJ surprised Montgomery with a song he wrote about the town's favorite Hoosier helmsman. He then taped an interview at the local UPN affiliate, WNDY-TV, which will air later this year, and joined "The Ultimate Enterprise Dinner Party," where he mingled with the contest winners, signed autographs and posed for pictures. Audio clips from his interviews will soon be available on UPN23.com, and video clips will soon be shown on AnthonyMontgomery.com. (Photo courtesy of Dave Loncaric, WNDY-TV)
As previously reported, John Billingsley ("Dr. Phlox") now has a Web presence and he's using his new site, JohnBillingsley.net, to bring people together in an online book club. The "JB Book Club" has just completed its first book review and live chat with Billingsley, and members are now starting on their second, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon. For information on how to participate in the JB Book Club, see this page.
Billingsley also spent part of his vacation to do an episode of another science fiction TV show, "Stargate SG-1." The episode will air on the Sci-Fi Channel probably in August.
Linda Park ("Hoshi Sato") has taken her time away from TV land to do some film and theatre. She recently produced and acted in her first short film, titled "My Prince, My Angel." She and her fellow filmmakers plan to enter the short into various film festivals over the next year. In addition, she has started a new theatre company in Los Angeles called Underground Asylum, and that group is currently staging a production called "Snowing at Delphi," which Park is both producing and acting in. (No further online information is available at this time.)
Dominic Keating ("Malcolm Reed") went back to his homeland of England to see his mum and other friends and relatives, and while in Europe he made a detour to Germany to visit Fed-Con 10 in Bonn. He said the fans were very enthusiastic — "It was incredible, like being in *NSYNC," he said — which is ironic since Enterprise hadn't aired in Germany yet. So...he told the convention crowd that he was the captain of the ship. (He doesn't think they bought it.)
In related news, Daily Variety reported today that Jeri Ryan ("Seven of Nine" in Star Trek: Voyager) is keeping busy during her hiatus from Boston Public with a new film called "Down With Love." Described as an homage to the old Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedies, the movie also stars Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
