Category Articles & Interviews

In a night full of celebrities and New Yorkers alike, the Brooklyn Black Tie Ball near Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 2 basketball courts, raised a record $1.35 million for the park Thursday night.

The event, organized by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, was hosted by television and film star Jon Hamm with a musical performance from Grammy-winner Norah Jones.

The fifth annual event of its kind raised money to support over 600 activities and events at the park, which include kayaking, waterfront workouts and environmental education, according to a statement.

The park’s international acclaim brought 170,000 visitors to Conservancy events in 2017 so far, with a total of 1.6 million people taking advantage of the programs.

The Conservancy honored Douglas Durst, chairman of The Durst Organization, for his longstanding commitment to sustainability and the environment. The Conservancy also honored Hank Gutman, chairman of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, who has been deeply involved in the effort to build Brooklyn Bridge Park since his appointment to the board of the original Brooklyn Waterfront Local Development Corporation in 1998.

Other guests at the gala included, Mayor Bill de Blasio, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” Jim Cramer, NBA star Mike Dunleavy, actress Keri Russell and her boyfriend actor Matthew Rhys.

Source: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/

Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell’s relationship is en pointe. That much was clear during their Thursday, September 28, date night at the New York City Ballet’s fall fashion gala.

“Keri is an enormous ballet fan, so through her my eyes have opened to the intricacies of dance a lot more,” Rhys exclusively told Us Weekly. “I used to think, ‘This is ridiculous!’ but she explained to me how athletic they are, how strong they are.”

Rhys, 42, and Russell, 41, who costar on the FX spy drama The Americans, began dating in 2013. Us Weekly broke the news that they had welcomed their son Sam, now 16 months old. Russell is also mom of River, 9, and Willa, 5, with ex-husband Shane Dreary.

“Sam is growing up trilingual because he’s got Welsh, English and there’s Spanish in the house,” Rhys told Us. “He’s walking, he’s talking, shouting— not talking — shouting.”

Russell, who was standing next to Rhys, echoed the sentiment. “He’s a noisy baby. Oh my god, he’s so noisy,” she said, to which Rhys replied, “Just like mum!”

Rhys recently revealed that he asked the Felicity alum out 16 years ago when he was intoxicated after a kickball party. “I very drunkenly asked her for her number when she was a young, single, slip of a thing,” he recalled on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in April.

According to Rhys he left her a “drunken voicemail,” adding that he was “that buffoon that wouldn’t stop calling.”

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/

Phew! Keri Russell was totally fine with not winning the Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series during the star-studded event in L.A. on Sunday, September 17.

“It’s such a cool thing to be nominated and I’m always very secretly thankful I don’t have to speak publicly,” The Americans actress, 41, exclusively told Us Weekly after the show.

“Always secretly relieved. Always,” she added. “I just go, ‘Oh my God. Thank God.’”

The win eventually went to Elisabeth Moss for her gritty role in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The two were also up against Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder), Claire Foy (The Crown), Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) and Robin Wright (House of Cards).

Russell, now happy that the categories were all announced, let her hair down for the rest of the night. She and her longtime partner, costar Matthew Rhys, hit up the Governors Ball together.

“Now you can have fun!” she told Us, holding up a beer. She was later spotted dancing with a group of friends to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.’”

The couple met on set of FX’s The Americans in 2013 and are parents of son Sam, 15 months.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/

Sharing a sweet moment on Sunday, Matthew Rhys lent a helping hand to Keri Russell’s hair.

At the Vanity Fair and FX’s pre-Emmys celebration at the Century City eatery Craft in Los Angeles, Rhys was photographed standing in front of Russell, giving her hair-do a final adjustment.

Rhys, 42, wore a navy blue jacket and dark jeans while Russell, 41, wore a long, tiered red dress with spaghetti straps.

Both Rhys and Russell have received Emmy nominations for the final season of their hit Cold War spy drama, The Americans.

Back in June, Rhys told PEOPLE that one of they keys to making his real-life relationship with Russell work while they are also spending almost every day together on set together at The Americans was making sure they both got alone time.

He also expressed his gratitude for Russell’s positive attitude. “She has the patience of a saint, so that helps,” he said. “That is basically it.”

Well, Rhys admitted there was one other tool that really helped.

“And alcohol,” Rhys added with a laugh. “The great leveled, the great equalizer. Everything is so much better after a good, solid half bottle of red wine!”

Source: http://people.com

When Keri Russell started on The Americans in 2013, she had no idea how much it would change her entire life.

“It’s all been good change, and I’m very, very grateful for it,” the actress, 41, says in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. Of course, she’s referring not only to her success in the Emmy-nominated role but also to gaining a partner in costar Matthew Rhys, 42, with whom she has a son, Sam, 1. (She’s also mom to River, 10, and Willa, 5, from her previous marriage.) “It’s been a wild, crazy run of a show.”

And the show that brought her a new love, a new child and a new outlook on life — “this summer feels like the Summer of Yes!” she says of her overall optimistic attitude — is wrapping up soon. She will start shooting the sixth and final season in October.

“It will be sad, but it feels kind of right too,” says Russell of The Americans ending after next season. “The hardest thing would be watching something that is so creative and well thought out to become played out. It feels like the right time to get out while it’s good, and I feel like they have a real solid last season of storylines. I feel like it’s the right time.”

She’ll also miss working alongside Rhys. “That brings its own complications — as anyone who works with a partner experiences — but I think I’ll miss it, too. There’s something so great about having someone so close for funny moments or really hard moments or really mundane moments, like ‘Can you pick up laundry soap on your way home because we’re out?’ or ‘We’re out of milk.’ ”

So, before returning to film the show’s final season this fall, Russell is taking the summer to “rest and be with my kids, so I can go back and be awake and present for the last few episodes of the show,” she says. “It’s been life-changing to me in many, many ways that show, and I just want to enjoy it. I want to really relish those last few moments of it.”

That means her summer is filled with date nights with Rhys, which “usually involve riding our bikes and cold beer,” short trips upstate and to the Hamptons (she recently journeyed to the summer enclave to host a dinner with Saks Fifth Avenue), as well as a two-week trip to Wales to visit Rhys’ family “and introduce the baby around.” Especially because he’s growing so quickly: “He’s like a no-neck rugby player,” says Russell (Rhys is a notorious fan of the sport). “He’s like a tank!”

Other than that, “we’re just hanging around, enjoying summer in the city,” she says. “We’re mellow. We really love our home in Brooklyn, even when it’s hot and sweaty.”

Source: http://ew.com/

Though she’s mostly well known for Felicity and the critical darling The Americans, Keri Russell has a long list of credits that stretches back to the Mickey Mouse Club. When she was 17, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera were just coming on the show as cast members. That Disney show was her first big break before the series that has cemented her status in the pop culture firmament, and arguably shaped her career. Russell played Felicity Porter, an idealistic high school student as she’s making her way to college. When she cut her hair, it caused a national uproar. But Russell says she’s got no regrets. “I did not expect all the hysteria,” she says. “I feel like it was so the right move and I’m really glad they did it.” Russell won her first Golden Globe for the show—which was created by Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams, who would later cast the actress in Mission Impossible III—and was nominated earlier this year for her acclaimed spy series The Americans, which is coming to a close next year, a conclusion she’s slowly coming to terms with.”It will have been six years and I just feel like they have a really good ending,” she says.
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