Terry Gross

Her father was Louis Armstrong's music director and a noted bandleader in his own right; her mother was a member of the iconic International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Critic Nat Hentoff says that pedigree — and her own unmistakable chops — make Cat Russell "the real thing" in a crowd of jazz wannabes "who couldn't lasted through a chorus in a contest with Ella Fitzgerald or Betty Carter."

Novelist Ron Hansen is best known for his tales of Western bandits and whiskey runners, but he claims his inspiration for these unsavory characters is divine. The author of Exiles discusses writing, faith and his status as a Catholic deacon in a secular literary world.

Before Boogie Nights, before Far From Heaven, before Short Cuts, she appeared as identical half-sisters — one of them evil — on the soap opera As the World Turns. She won a Daytime Emmy in 1988; for her film work, she's earned four Oscar nominations.