Dear Ken: What can you tell us about Frieda Pinto, who stars in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”?
Pinto, 26, was born in Bombay, India, and her father is a banker and her mother a high school principal. Her last name means “chick” or “little bird” in Portuguese. Pinto earned a degree in English lit from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai and anchored a travel show which aired in Asian-Pacific markets. She made TV commercials and also was a model for two years before she auditioned and won the female lead of Latika in 2008’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” She also starred in “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” and next appears in the 3D-action film “Immortals.“ In prepping to play the primatologist in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” she said, “Like most people I only knew what I’d been taught in school about chimps, and that’s not enough. So I watched a ton of videos about Jane Goodall, who I’d love to meet. All her research was fascinating and so useful, especially in how she studied human behavior in comparison to chimp behavior.”

Dear Ken: What has happened to Rick Moranis? He was in comedies all over the place back in the 1990s?
Moranis, 58, a native of Toronto, Canada, was fabulously funny in such flick as “Ghostbusters,” “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “Spaceballs,” “Little Giants,” “Big Bully” and other projects. He is also especially memorable as Bob of the fictional Great White North hosts Bob and Doug McKenzie that appeared on SCTV in the early 1980s. The funny guy basically retired from acting in 1997, six years after his wife died of liver cancer. Of his change from movie star to a widowed stay-at-home dad, he told a British newspaper in 2006: “For the first couple of years I was able to make it work, doing 1½ pictures a year for three months with no problem, But I started to really miss them. It got to the point where I was doing a lot of pictures with kids, really nice kids, but not my kids. So, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m tired of talking to my kids from a hotel room. I’m going home.’ So I turned down the next pictures that came along and the break just got longer and longer. . . . I didn’t miss the work, I didn’t miss the travel, I didn’t miss the people. I didn’t miss any of it.” At this point it appears that he will not appear in “Ghostbusters III,” which will reunite Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver and others from the original spooky comedy.

Dear Ken: Where are bluegrass music stars Dailey & Vincent from? How long have they been performing together?
Jamie Dailey hails from tiny Gainesboro, Tenn., while Darrin Vincent is from Kirksville, Mo. The two met at the International Bluegrass Music Association awards show in Louisville, Ky., in 2002, joined forces in 2007 and released their debut album, “Dailey & Vincent,” on Rounder Records in early 2008. 

Dear Ken: Who was the voice of Jonny Quest from the original cartoon series of the 1960s?
Tim Matheson, who went on to become a leading man in TV and film, was the voice of boy adventurer Quest. The actor, 63, most recently appeared in “Burn Notice” and played Sen. John Hoynes on “The West Wing.” Among his movie credits are “Animal House,” “Fletch” and “Magnum Force.” 
 
If you have a trivia question about actors, singers, movies, TV shows or pop culture, e-mail your query to Ken Beck at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it