Celebrity Parade With Jeanne Wolf

July 7, 2008 — -- CHARLIZE THERON

Charlize Theron won an Academy award suffering on the big screen, but she's going for some laughs in the blockbuster action dramedy "Hancock." She couldn't say no to co- starring with Will Smith who plays an alcoholic superhero that everybody hates. I had to find out if Charlize had a favorite superhero when she was a kid. She told me::

"Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Do you remember her? She had this power and she would call animals. I liked her. And she was like in skimpy little clothes. And she rode a zebra. And I liked her. She was cool. Many times I would run around in my backyard. My mom was so concerned about me because I actually thought that I could call all the animals on our farm."

In "Hancock," Charlize and Will get one memorable kiss. I can't give away what happens afterwards, but it's a show stopper. Off-screen Theron and Smith have something in common --they can tease about their stardom. Charlize credits her mother. She says, "Even today Mom is always ready to kick my butt if I get out of line."

LAILA ALI

Laila Ali was a toughie in the ring as a boxer. And she took her father, the champ's, words to heart and danced like a butterfly on last year's "Dancing with the Stars."Now everyone's rubbing Laila 's tummy and wondering if the son she's expecting will have the fighting genes of his grandpa, Muhammad Ali. She says that she hopes her first child will inherit the good stuff and also be himself.She says::

I'm just like my father. I think highly of myself. I'm very confident. And everybody was caught up in who my dad was, but that had nothing to do with me. And I don't want to be my dad, I want to be me."

Now Laila is co-host of "American Gladiators" and she's gotten used to competitors with odd names like Titan, Justice and The Wall, not to mention her co-host Hulk. Laila says her own name is so unusual that someone named their pet boxer dog after her.