IT REBOUND Chi McBride
AGE 40 WHY HIM? As no-nonsense principal Steven Harper in Fox's freshman hit Boston Public, Chi (short for his hometown of Chicago) has begun to live down his stint as Abraham Lincoln's butler in the much-maligned (and quickly canceled) 1998 sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. CAREER LOW The Pfeiffer backlash (the show drew protests from the NAACP): ''It was completely misunderstood. There's a short list of people whose opinions I care about and Spike Lee and Jesse Jackson are not on it.'' CAREER HIGHS ''Having the opportunity to work with and learn from three people: Laurence Fishburne [What's Love Got to Do With It], Bruce Willis [Disney's The Kid], and Robert Duvall [Gone in 60 Seconds].'' BEST ADVICE ''It was from my father--how and when to keep my mouth shut.'' DREAM COLLABORATOR Morgan Freeman. INFLUENCE ''Jackie Gleason. I'm big and light on my feet, like him.'' CAREER HE'D MOST LIKE TO HAVE ''Chi McBride's. I'm famous enough to say nice things to me about my work but not so famous to be a pain in the ass.'' KNEW HE'D MADE IT WHEN I met Dr. J and he knew who I was.'' NEXT The upcoming features Paid in Full, opposite Mekhi Phifer, and Narc, costarring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric.
IT RAT WRANGLER Brian Gibbs
AGE 37 WHY HIM? For 11 weeks, handling and training 400 rats for Fox's upcoming vermin horror telepic, The Colony. Additional credits: both Dr. Dolittle films. LIKES WORKING WITH RATS BECAUSE... ''They tend to be, for the most part, pretty easygoing animals.... They're similar to dogs in what you can get them to do.'' NOW THAT'S INCREDIBLE ''We practiced on me before shots, to warm the rats up. I'd put on dress coveralls smeared with peanut butter and let 200 rats swarm up my body.'' PET PEEVE ''Any time you see a rat, the first thing people think is the plague, which wasn't the rats' fault. It was the fleas!'' INFLUENCE Monster movies: ''I've probably seen the original King Kong 100 times.'' NEXT The animal trainer graduated to chimps for Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.
IT REUNION Jennifer Saunders' 'Ab Fab'
AGE 42 WHY HER? Absolutely Fabulous' creator realized three seasons with booze-swilling, designer-name-dropping, liposuction-loving pals Edina and Patsy were not enough. Break out the Lacroix, sweeties: Six new episodes arrive on Comedy Central this fall. CAREER HIGH ''I was in a double act [with Dawn French in 1980] at the Comic Strip in London. For six months we never got listed. The first time we got a tiny little mention it suddenly seemed [comedy] might be a job, not just a pastime.'' DREAM COLLABORATOR ''Steve Martin. I would love to do something with him. I haven't asked because people always say 'I'd love to,' then their agents call and you [find out] how expensive they are.'' CAREER SHE'D MOST LIKE TO HAVE Joel and Ethan Coen's. ''They have the ability to be prolific and funny and have it turn out artistically great.'' BEST ADVICE ''I was in the state I'm normally in, which is, 'I just can't write. I can't think of anything!' Someone said, 'Just write that.' And I realized it's true. The second you start writing about anything, you can write.''
