Cover

Actor Michael Peña is consistent. Consistent, that is with his realistic portrayal of characters in film and television and in his eating routine at Sisley Italian Kitchen in the Valencia Town Center Mall.  A waitress reports that the actor who appeared as Daniel in the 2004 Best Picture of the Year Oscar winning film, Crash is predictable when it comes to his culinary tastes.  Peña is a regular at the Italian eatery; his routine is to always order three glasses of Chardonnay and the Sisley chicken for himself.

 

The food and atmosphere must be just right for his 9-year-old daughter too as she always, without fail, falls asleep in Daddy’s lap after her meal.  Peña has appeared in a series of winning projects including Million Dollar Baby, Babel, World Trade Center and recurring episodes of the T.V. series The Shield.

The quote from Crash, “You think you know who you are.  You have no idea,” apparently doesn’t hold true when it comes to Peña’s eating and acting as it’s obvious he knows his profession inside-out as a powerful actor.

Make that at least two powerful actor sightings in the Santa Clarita Valley recently as theatre-goers at College of the Canyons were entertained by the highly-acclaimed long-running play, Mark Twain performed by Hal Holbrook.  The one-man show explores the rhetoric of the philosopher, humorist and author whose work has truly stood the test of time with classics  like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.  Holbrook has performed the show more than 2000 times and as he always does, the 81-year-old New York Theatre Hall of Fame recipient arrived four hours before show time to prepare for his role.  That included hours of make-up transformation and stage prep time tracking where the smoke from his cigar trailed so it wouldn’t be a nuisance to the audience yet, still be effective.

“Cigars are as much a part of Twain’s persona as they were to Winston Churchill,” said Holbrook at a meet-and-greet backstage after the show.

On stage, his stories make you yearn to know the  people he talks about because his descriptions and passion for his relationships with them are so alive.

Holbrook makes the words of Mark Twain still sound fresh and witty even after performing the work for more than 50 years.  Holbrook shared his own philosophy with The Magazine of Santa Clarita saying simply, “Don’t be too sure,”  a bit vague, but, very thought-provoking coming from the man who has performed for former President Eisenhower as well as on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Another performer, this time in the musical vein, Jackie Jackson of Jackson 5 fame who also guest starred on The Ed  Sullivan Show years ago was recently sighted in Valencia.  The singer was dusting off some gold records in a storage locker nearby the I Sold It store.  He, for obvious reasons, had trouble parting with the Jackson 5 albums, so he didn’t.  But, other albums and tour jerseys were among the memorabilia he posted with the local internet virtual Valencia store.

Just as Twain’s musings have lingered for decades, I’d imagine so shall those of the legendary Jackson 5, even without the physical trappings of the moments in musical history.

If you have a celebrity sighting, e-mail me any time with the latest scoop at lisa@santaclaritamagazine.com.

Santa Clarita Magazine

Santa Clarita Magazine