Awards / Awards Shows

Captain Jack Sparrow himself was bestowed the highest honor of achievement by the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe. Depp was presented the Grand Medaille de Vermeil last night, an award given to those who demonstrate devotion to the city.

"The country itself, the city itself has been very kind to me. It introduced me to my beautiful girl Vanessa, gave me two beautiful kids - doesn't get better than that," said a proud Depp, who came to the premiere with girlfriend Vanessa Paradis.

The presentation was made at the French premiere of his new film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and co-star Orlando Bloom had only good things to say about his co-star.

"Johnny is a guy who sort of has a lot of integrity, he's an actor who's doing his work and he's focused on the work and developing characters and he's courageous with it. It's as simple as that."

Thursday's Emmy nominations issued Tom Cruise a big slap in the face and simultaneously re-ignited the Cruise vs. "South Park" grudge match.

"South Park'"s infamous "Trapped in the Closet" episode - which mocked Tom Cruise and Scientology - received praise from the Television Academy via a nod for Outstanding Animated Program.

Ironically, when the episode originally aired in November 2005 the credits listed each contributor's name as 'John Smith' or 'Jane Smith' - an evident reference to the possibility of being sued.

"Trapped in the Closet" eventually led Isaac Hayes - who is a Scientologist - to leave his role as the voice of Chef over what he called the show's "intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs." Further controversy ensued when Comedy Central planned to re-air the episode in March 2006 but replaced it at the last minute with another episode.

Rumors circulated that Tom Cruise was behind the cancellation. Cruise denied any involvement and Comedy Central insisted the episode was changed as a tribute to Hayes who had just announced his departure.

Today's Emmy nominations announcement was supposed to mark a turning point in Emmy history. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences revised the nomination process to ensure, in part, that some new faces got nods. Did they succeed? There certainly a was a lot of turnover this year, but the new nominees still leave a lot to be desired.

The list of those that didn't get recognized is surprising, for both good and bad reasons. Here are the five things that stood out most to us:

Forget last year...
"Lost," James Spader, Felicity Huffman and Patricia Arquette were all major winners last year - and not nominated this year. Kiefer Sutherland is the only lead actor nominated from last year in the drama category. Tony Shalhoub is the only lead actor nominated from last year in the comedy category.

Oscar-winning actor Charlize Theron was feted for the diversity of roles which have seen the former model play a disturbed serial killer, a coal miner and a punch packing assassin .

She received the L.A. Film Festival's Spirit of Independence Award Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Theron's filmography runs the gamut from her award-winning portrayal of real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the low-budget "Monster" to playing video-game heroine Aeon Flux in last fall's big-studio flop.

The Shrine Auditorium played host to the celebrity filled 2006 BET Awards Tuesday night in LA. The annual event never ceases to please with appearances by megastars and memorable performances.

This year's jaw dropping and outstanding performance was the super group of legends: Chaka Khan singing, Prince on guitar and Stevie Wonder on keyboard. The performance left the audience on their feet.

Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, T.I., Missy Elliott and Kanye West were some of the big winners of the night.

The Beverly Hilton was filled with star power Monday evening as hundreds of entertainment and music luminaries gathered for the 19th Annual ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music Awards. The event celebrates songwriters and publishers.

The event was co-hosted by multi-platinum sensation Ciara and ASCAP President Marilyn Bergman.

One of the highlights of the night was LL Cool J picking up the ASCAP Golden Note Award for his contributions to hip-hop music as a writer and artist.

TMZ talked with Hollywood's heavy hitters Thursday night at The Recording Academy Honors to find out when was the moment they knew -- without a doubt -- they had officially made it to the big time. Randy Jackson, Bow Wow and 'X-Men: The Last Stand' director Brett Ratner revealed their defining moments.

The ceremony is considered to be the Oscars of the fashion industry, honoring the best in the biz, and was hosted by 'Entourage' star Jeremy Piven. Piven joked that the reason they asked him was because "they couldn't find Vince Vaughn this morning."

Other stars dressed to the nines included Jessica Simpson, a brunette Scarlett Johansson, P. Diddy and a radiant in red Janet Jackson.

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The Oscars of Fashion

And when the hip-hop mogul throws a party the stars come out to shine. Mariah Carey, John Legend, Terrence Howard, Jeremy Piven and even his former assistant Farnsworth Bentley were all strutting their stuff on the action-packed red carpet.

Sexy Jessica Alba is hosting this year's MTV Movie Awards and with such a hot host, every seat will definitely be filled.

It was the sort of event that you just can't repeat - 2005's Legends Ball, conceived and thrown by Oprah Winfrey to honor who she considers to be 25 of the most exceptional, ground-breaking, African-American women. Instead of trying to do it all again, Oprah celebrated the celebration with an Legends Ball anniversary party.

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• Oprah in awe

Us Weekly hosted the Hollywood arrival of the most recognized trophy in all of sports -- the Stanley Cup.

Ken Baker, Us Weekly's West Coast Editor and a former professional hockey player, won the cup -- but just for a day -- to promote the sport.

Us Weekly threw a big bash Wednesday night at the Republic Restaurant and Lounge. Krista Allen, Beverly Mitchell, D.B. Sweeney (star of the ice hockey/ice skating film, 'The Cutting Edge') and other celebs all took turns posing with the cup.

The stars showed up Monday night in New York to honor Time magazine's 100 most influential people.

Will Smith was flying solo after being recognized along with hip-hop mogul Diddy, who said he feels like "a big old kid that came home with a good report card."

Related links

• The Time 100
  

'Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria took a break from her hit show to host and produce last night's 2006 ALMA Awards.

The Alma Awards, which stands for American Latino Media Arts and also means "soul" in Spanish, honor outstanding achievements by Hispanic artists from the worlds of music, television and film.

Hip-shaking sensation Shakira has a new lucky number, six.

The tiny songbird scooped up six Billboard Latin Music Awards and stopped the show with a sizzling performance.

Jessica Alba's near nip-slip (sorry fellas) was the highlight of the red carpet last night at the Us Weekly Hot Hollywood Awards. Alba took home the Style Icon of the Year Award.