Marianne Jean Baptiste

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is tired of too much sweetness and light. Ever since her memorable Oscar-nominated debut performance in 1996 as Hortense Cumberbatch, the wise-beyond-her-years adopted daughter in Mike Leigh's "Secrets & Lies," what roles she has been offered have been for kind and sympathetic characters--not much of a stretch from Hortense. "Come on, please!"

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is tired of too much sweetness and light. Ever since her memorable Oscar-nominated debut performance in 1996 as Hortense Cumberbatch, the wise-beyond-her-years adopted daughter in Mike Leigh's "Secrets & Lies," what roles she has been offered have been for kind and sympathetic characters--not much of a stretch from Hortense. "Come on, please!"

Mike Leigh's accalaimed 1996 film is a piercingly honest, completely accessible piece of work that goes directly to the heart. At the center of "Secrets & Lies" is Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), one of those needy, sentimental, good-hearted people whose desperation puts off those they depend on for support and love.

For her latest film, a comedy about working mothers in the '90s, Nancy Savoca must have chosen the title "The 24 Hour Woman" because "Scream" was already taken. This is a movie of ear-busting, wall-to-wall, rock-concert-level screaming. Married couples scream, their children scream, and on the set of the New York morning television show where the two wives work, screaming is an occupational necessity practiced as high-decibel art.

In the United Kingdom, Stephen Lawrence's name is seared into the national consciousness in much the way that Rodney King's or James Byrd's names are here in the United States. Lawrence, an 18-year-old black man, was stabbed to death by a gang of white teenagers while he waited for a bus in their southeast London neighborhood. The April 1993 attack fanned racial tensions, and the police were taken to task when the suspects walked free.

Best Picture "The English Patient" "Fargo" "Jerry Maguire" "Secrets & Lies" "Shine" Best Actor Tom Cruise, "Jerry Maguire" Ralph Fiennes, "The English Patient" Woody Harrelson, "The People vs.

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Best Actress, "The English Patient" Christian Dior Haute Couture lame bustier ball gown over silk tulle and organza ruffled petticoat, to order at Christian Dior, Beverly Hills. MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE Best Supporting Actress, "Secrets & Lies" Richard Tyler iridescent silk chiffon gown with spaghetti straps and side slit, $1,895, at Tyler Trafficante, Los Angeles.

The third annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, which opens tonight and continues through Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre, includes seven features, seven documentaries and eight shorts -- with 15 of the films making their U.S. premieres. The festival kicks off this evening with Christos Georgiou's "Small Crime."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson did not stage a repeat performance of last year's protest against the Academy Awards. But he was still there in spirit. Jackson, who last year organized nationwide protests to complain about the almost total absence of black and minority Oscar nominees, was conspicuously absent from Hollywood on Monday. But he still registered his dissatisfaction with this year's ceremony, saying that the entertainment industry's doors remain largely closed.

THANK YOU for the excellent article on the way, way too thin actresses and the ubiquitous tank tops ["They're Showing a Lot of Skinny," by Mary McNamara, Sept. 18]. One of my pet peeves is also how the characters on some shows dress even when not in tank tops -- in particular, the fact that every female character in every lawyer and police investigation show wears a top cut to show her cleavage (even Marianne Jean-Baptiste on "Without a Trace"). I have practiced law for 31 years, mostly representing cities.

Director Spike Lee said the near total absence of African Americans among this year's list of Oscar nominees again raises questions about the extent of racial diversity within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "Until the academy actually starts to recruit younger members and there is more diversity in it, I don't see a change happening," said Lee, whose feature-length documentary, "4 Little Girls," received an Oscar nomination Tuesday. Unlike last year, when Cuba Gooding Jr.