Gary Sinise Time Off From CSI Means More Time With US Troops

Gary Sinise calls his latest time off from shooting "CSI: New York," a "very good hiatus." But he certainly didn't spend his time relaxing.

Gary Sinise Spends More Time With US Troops

The actor visited Afghanistan, where "the morale was very good, I found. But it's a dangerous place with a lot of bad guys doing bad things over there. I spent time at the hospital in Bagram Air Base, and got to meet these amazing doctors. You know, the Russians left about a million land mines, and a lot of them are designed to look like toys. So the kids pick them up -- and then they end up in our hospital. The doctors there are always working on kids … Incredible people, I've got to tell you."
 
Sinise is helping by way of the charitable organization he co-founded with "Seabiscuit" author Laura Hillenbrand, Operation Iraqi Children, which provides school-supply kits that are given out by the troops. OIC is now expanding into Afghanistan. After Hurricane Katrina, it also got school-supply kits into the hands of children in need along the Gulf Coast.
 
"We've sent hundreds of thousands of these little kits that have pencils and paper, erasers and that kind of thing, to the troops, and they take them out and give them to the kids," he reports. He also says that donations to the charity have been "pretty consistent," whatever the shifting public views about the United States in Iraq. "People go to our Web site -- operationiraqichildren.org -- and just follow the directions. There are a lot of people out there who just want to pitch in and do something positive."
 
When Sinise came back from Afghanistan, he did a concert on behalf of Americasupportsyou.mil (which has links to various military support organizations) with his Lt. Dan Band in Washington, D.C. Then he and the band "went on a USO tour around the states, playing at military bases" -- 'til "CSI:NY" resumed production this month.
 
THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE:

Rap star-cum-actor DMX reports the sequel to "Belly" -- the 1999 box-office hit in which he starred with rapper Nas for director Hype Williams -- could be before the cameras by year's end.
 
"Me and Nas are working on that now," says the prolific talent, born Earl Simmons. "We've already got the story. I think we got Hype involved. Other than that, it's just like 'All right, let's get the script written.'"
 
The rapper's trouble-plagued life -- rap feuds, a gangster reputation and legal woes that included a 70-day stint in jail last year for parole violation -- is currently being played out in BET's six-episode docudrama "DMX: Soul of A Man." He says, "Just seeing who I am and how I move the way other people see me, I learned a few things. I also didn't realize how much I talk, you know? I was like 'Damn, I ain't gotta talk that much!'" he admits.
 
DMX was attached to do the film "Marble City" for director Bill Duke, but says he's not sure now when that will be. He has upcoming the psychological thriller "Last Hour" that he shot in China last summer with David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Paul Sorvino. The plot has to do with the offspring of five mobsters who receive letters instructing them to meet at a certain place. The mobsters turn out to be dead, but the offspring proceed nonetheless. "We meet at this one spot and things happen," says DMX. "That's pretty much all I can say about it."
 
CELEBRITY SCENE:

Oh, no. Nicole Richie is designing a Mercedes Benz pedal car to be driven around by little kids -- well-heeled little kids, that is. But it's for a good cause -- philanthropist Barbara Davis' 17th annual Carousel of Hope Ball benefiting childhood diabetes. It hasn't been announced, but we can tell you that this year's event, Oct. 28 at the Beverly Hilton, will star Barry Manilow and Quincy Jones. Jay Leno will return to emcee the show. And lots of stars are already employing their creativity in making one-of-a-kind items for the ball's multi million-dollar auction. Susan Sarandon just finished monogramming a "handbag for Hope." Antonio Banderas, Anjelica Huston, John Mellencamp, Dolly Parton, Keith Richards, Ben Stiller and Oprah Winfrey are among the A-listers applying their brushes to celebrity designer plates.
 
AND TAKING NAMES:

"I kick some butt," says 7-year-old actress Ryan Newman, proud of her role as the littlest superhero in Tim Allen's upcoming "Zoom." "I kick everything and everybody." In the Aug. 11 comedy premiere, which also stars Courteney Cox and Chevy Chase, Newman plays "a superhero named Cindy. She has superhuman strength and lifts five tons in each arm." The youngster, who's also featured in "Monster House," says for her "Zoom" role, "I trained for two weeks in karate. I feel strong now and I would love to do more."
 
She adds that Tim Allen proved to be the highlight of the shoot. "He was great to work with. He was always on the set making people laugh and he played with me."