SCOTT BAKULA
Q: What is one of my favorite singers, Demi Lovato, doing these days? —Chad H., Omaha, Neb.
A: Lovato, 23, is on a roll. The title track from her fifth album, Confident, shot to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. She guest-starred on two episodes of the El Rey network’s TV series From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, which stars her boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama (of That ‘70s Show fame). And the former Disney pop princess recently shocked fans with a nude, unretouched
Vanity Fair shoot “to show the side of me that’s real, liberated, free.” Q: Will The Whispers be returning to ABC? I’m a big fan of Barry Sloane, who played Wes Lawrence.
—Heather M., Jacksonville, Fla. A: The Whispers will not be back, but you can catch Sloane, 34, also the former star of Revenge, in National Geographic Channel’s
Saints & Strangers, about the first settlers at Plymouth, Mass. The two-night miniseries premieres Nov. 22. He plays colonist Edward Winslow. “I hope his descendants feel I captured his soul, exuberance and his want for something different,” the actor says.
The five-time Emmy nominee, 61, known for his roles as Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap and Capt. Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise, came back to a starring TV role in 2014 for
NCIS: New Orleans, airing Tuesday nights on CBS. The show about a naval criminal investigative service became the mostwatched new series of its premiere season and continues to be hugely popular.
Does it make you proud that your series has a military hook?
“My dad spent a couple of years in the Navy, and I had one uncle in the Army and the other one was in submarines in World War II. I’m so proud to be putting out stories about the military.” A big part of the culture of New Orleans, where you film, is the food.
Your character, Special Agent Dwayne Pride, cooks. Can you? “I love to cook. I’m not a let’s-go-in-and-whip-somethingup-out-of-the-refrigerator cook, but I’m like a good soldier in the kitchen: I follow instructions well. We make homemade pies at Thanksgiving, and I barbecue a lot.” What does it mean to have been a Star Trek captain?
“I was a huge fan of the franchise when I was little. People say, ‘Did you always dream that you would be . . .?’ I say, ‘No, it never crossed my mind in a million years that I would one day pretend to be an
Enterprise captain.’ I had a blast being part of that world. You feel embraced. Everywhere you go, people know you.” What’s the most useful piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
“My dad always said, ‘You’re only as good as your last impression’—which became oddly prophetic, given the business that I’m in, which really is pretty fickle.”