Friday, September 19, 2008

Champagne Dinner And Emmy Dreams

While the city bustled below, six Emmy-nominated actresses gathered high in Beverly Hills to drink, dish and celebrate their success at a special women's dinner, hosted by Chandra Wilson, to toast this year's nominees.

"It's so sweet to get the female performers together, sit down, no pressure and have some cute food and some champagne or wine that you never tried," said Wilson, nominated three consecutive years for her work on "Grey's Anatomy." "You come away feeling educated and tipsy."

Alfre Woodard, Sandra Oh, Holland Taylor, Kathryn Joosten, Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad gathered poolside on the patio of a private home in the hills with sparkling views of the city for a four-course meal.

"This is very special," said Rashad, who was last nominated for an Emmy in 1986. "It's ladies night — the ladies getting together just being the ladies. It's very, very nice."

The no-pressure event stands in stark contrast to Emmy night, when all will be competing for awards and navigating the hoopla that comes with them.

"The Emmys, it's crazy," said Oh, who brought her mother to the dinner. "You're in your own world, you're stressed out about a lot of things. It's very exciting and it's difficult to have more than maybe 10 seconds to actually connect with someone. I love that this is only the women in a very camaraderie kind of feeling and getting to know women. I just really appreciate it."

Woodard echoed that sentiment.

"These are your homies," she said. "We are the people who work together. We are the people who've walked the same walk and we're the lucky ones who get to work. Once you're thrown into something like the Emmys ... you never see any of your people that night. It's you walking amongst the jugglers and the fire eaters and you're cast in a different role. So it's really great to be together because these are our people."

The ladies mixed and mingled with champagne in hand. Wilson introduced herself to Allen and Taylor befriended Oh's mother. They dined on lobster salad, roasted pork tenderloin, striped bass and creme brulee.

Source: The Associated Press

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