People: Jan. 16, 2006

WHAT’S IN: GENDER BENDERS

Newcomer DANIELA SEA plays Moira/Max, who is debating a female-to-male sex-change operation on Showtime’s The L Word. Pop culture is rife with transsexual story lines lately. Finally, characters who really evolve.

FELICITY HUFFMAN seems in line to snare an Oscar nomination for her role as a male-to-female transsexual who discovers she fathered a son in Transamerica. Plus Desperate Housewives’ plain-Jane mom finally got to smear on the rouge.

Appearing on Oprah and Larry King touting her autobiography, She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders, novelist JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN told how she stayed married to her wife after her sex change. It’s a transsexual tale even pro-family groups might love.

With an A&E documentary under way on her impending sex-change operation and a role on VH1’s The Surreal Life, ALEXIS ARQUETTE, sibling of actors David, Rosanna and Patricia, will rival her sibs’ fame—and give their kids a brand new aunt.

HEATHER’S HOW-TO

In her new ABC sitcom, Emily’s Reasons Why Not, HEATHER GRAHAM plays a self-help book editor who fails to absorb the soundest relationship advice. Unlike her character, Graham has picked up a few nuggets after dating actors like Ed Burns and Heath Ledger. “If he says, ‘I’m not emotionally available right now,'” says the Boogie Nights star, “listen.” Somehow we think men are a bit more available when you’re Rollergirl.

COMING UP ROSES

Apparently, VINCE YOUNG was sick of the number two. Quarterback of the No.2—ranked Texas Longhorns, Young came in second to University of Southern California tailback Reggie Bush in Heisman Trophy votes in December. But when Young upset Bush’s top-ranked team in an electrifying Rose Bowl game last week, he became sport’s No. 1 underdog hero. “I’m just a real blessed guy,” says Young, who must decide by Jan. 15 whether to return senior year or enter the NFL If Young picks the pros, he’ll face Bush again—for the No.1 draft pick.

Q & A | JAMIE FOXX

Defying most predictions for an actor-singer’s recording effort, Jamie Foxx’s new album, Unpredictable, hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart.

Eddie Murphy’s, Don Johnson’s—the trail of albums left by actors isn’t pretty. Were you worried that yours wouldn’t be taken seriously? A lot of people didn’t know what to expect. Friends of mine called and said, “Yo, that record is actually good.” Ludacris called. Snoop. I wanted to do real music. It’s to get you romantic. It’s to tell my gangsters, my players, my hustlers to take an intermission. It’s about love. It’s time to sing about some different things.

Well, the songs actually sound like they’re about sex. Anything can be romantic. Me, I like to get poppin’ with the romance. I’m not ashamed. I’m not afraid of it.

Almost a year after your Oscar, are you handling the situation? Oh, yeah. We’re definitely handling the situation. We parlayed the Oscar into the music. There’s a few things where I have been tested and I could have gone the Terrell Owens route. But we decided to handle things internally and be as humble as you can.

Who’s we? Oh, I know that sounds weird. My management. I don’t like to be by myself. Growing up as an only child, now I always like to have people around me.

What’s your karaoke song? Do Mel, by Bell Biv DeVoe, because we kill it. We are the karaoke kings. We kill at that, and then we come right back with Y.M.C.A.