For the past three years CNN has honored heroes, and this year Anderson Cooper hosted the event at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood Saturday night. Efren Peñaflorida, who started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership, was named the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.

Peñaflorida, who will receive $100,000 to continue his work with the Dynamic Teen Company, was selected after seven weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 2.75 million votes were cast.

Among those celebrities attending the event were Anderson Cooper, Dwayne Johnson, Masi Oka, Eva Mendes, Nicole Kidman Kate Flannery, Jenna Fischer, Carrie Ann Inaba, Leona Lewis, Greg Kinnear, Debi Mezar, Rainn Wilson, Ricki Lake, Randy Jackson, Louis Gossett Jr, Neil Patrick Harris, Laila Ali, Terrance Howard, AnnaLynnne McCord, Cat Cora and Carrie Underwood.

The gala event will be broadcast on Thanksgiving, November 26, at 9pm ET/PT on CNN.

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Actress Jessica Biel, sans boyfriend Justin Timberlake, hit the red carpet with co-star Dwayne Johnson for the premiere of their animated sci-fi adventure film Planet 51.

The film is about American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker [Johnson] lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders...like Chuck!

As for starring in the animated film Dwayne said, "For me it was the first time I had done animation and had to try to bring a character to life with my voice -- just with pitch."

Biel had a few struggles with her voice. She had to work on the pitch of her voice to make Neela sound less adult. "They wanted it higher. I was going ... " (pouring on the come-hither huskiness) ... " 'Yeah well.' And they were like, 'We're not trying to make THAT movie,' " she says, laughing.

"I was more like up here, in this pitch, which was hard for me at first, because I want to be ... " (lowering her voice again) ... "down here."

I just want to see the movie along to hear what Jessica ended up sounding like.

Gallery Info: Jessica Biel, Dwayne Johnson, Boo Boo Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Justin Chambers, Stephanie Pratt and Kayla Ewell at the Los Angeles premiere of Planet 51.

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Back on the set of The Other Guys, Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson look to be having a good old time. Johnson and Jackson play the most envied team Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell's precinct. They who embody everything they want and more.

Launch the gallery to check out Dwayne's pooch and medals.

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Dwayne Johnson formerly known as The Rock has made a nice little movie career for himself. The hunk can float between kid friendly fair, like his forthcoming The Tooth Fairy, and action films like Faster which he recently signed on for.

I love Dwayne. He seems like the nicest guy on earth, and that smile. It melts me. Plus, I love the fact that he always takes time out for his fans.

Will you marry me Dwayne Johnson.

Gallery Info: Dwayne Johnson has his hands full while returning to his Manhattan hotel on October 21, 2009

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I'm just going to profess my love for Dwayne Johnson right now in a pun, Dwayne Johnson rocks!

What's to love about Dwayne? Other than the hotness that is Mr. Johnson, he has a fantastic relationship with his ex-wife. So much so that Dwayne brought along his ex-wife Dany Garcia and daughter Simone Johnson to the I Have A Dream Foundation Spring Gala in New York City.

The I Have A Dream Foundation empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education by providing them with tuition support and equipping them with the skills, knowledge and habits they need to gain entry to higher education and helping them succeed in college and beyond.

Gallery Info: Dwayne Johnson at the 2009 I Have A Dream Foundation Spring Gala

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The comedian took to the pulpit in front of the crowd of famous faces. Sykes teased President Barack Obama about the numerous shirtless pictures of him in the media, his basketball games and managed to touch upon issues of race and politics with an edge that only Wanda can deliver.

Girlfriend did not pull any punches and I'm not doing them justice here in this blog post. You'll have to watch them for yourselves.

It was an impressive array of celebrities in the audience, but none whose smiles were bigger than the President and First Lady Michelle Obama.



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Gallery Info: Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Wanda Sykes, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Chace Crawford, Matthew Settle, Tyra Banks, Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Miranda Cosgrove, Glenn Close, Matthew Modine, Brad Hall, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt, Bradley Cooper, Eva Longoria, Gordon Ramsey, Ludacris, Kal Penn, Kyle MacLachlan, Mariska Hargitay, Al Sharpton, Richard Belzer, Kristi Yamaguchi, Amber Tamblyn, Whoopi Goldberg, Alicia Keys, Dwayne Johnson, Donatella Versace, Jon Bon Jovi, Katie Couric, Dule Hill, Elizabeth Banks, BJ Novak, Meghan McClain, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Christian Slater, Rashida Jones, Ed Westwick, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Jason Wu, Barbara Walters, Sting, Trudie Styler, Natalie Portman, Samuel L Jackson, Biz Markie, Connie Britton, Padma Lakshmi and Forest Whitaker at the 2009 White House Correpondents Dinner.

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For the London premiere of their family film Race to Witch Mountain, unlikely costars Dwayne Johnson and actress Carla Gugino converged on the red carpet. I say unlikely because Gugino is known for her sultry vixen roles and Dwayne has carved himself a niche in more family-friendly fare.

In fact, after this film, The Rock is heading off to start filming for his next PG endeavor in Tooth Fairy. Meanwhile, Carla will be sinking her teeth into racier fare as a pregnant porn star in Elektra Luxx.

Gugino was dressed in a strapless, flesh-toned dress that looked eerily similar. In fact, the Watchmen actress pinpointed where we had seen the look before. "It's funny because I was realizing that at Watchmen and this, the dresses are sort of sisters to each other!" Carla confessed. It's OK, girl. Still looks good the second time around.

Gallery Info: Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino at the London Race to Witch Mountain premiere.

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Race to Witch Mountain brought Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino to Madrid, Spain for the film's Spanish premiere. Gugino looked stunning with an upswept hairdo and a strapless red dress. While Johnson went casual (no formal dress for this event) with a brown leather jacket, black v-neck t-shirt and dark blue jeans.

The film is less cheesy than might have be expected, Race to Witch Mountain is a solid, briskly told, if somewhat blandly executed time-passer, making up in speed and slick production values what it lacks in character. The original Witch Mountain kids, Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards turn up in extended cameo roles as a small town sheriff and his sympathetic pal, reflecting Finkman's attention to the original concept's detail which should please kids and nostalgic parents alike.

Gallery Info: Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino at the Madrid premiere of Race To Witch Mountain

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There was lots of slime and lots of celebrities at the 2009 Kids' Choice Awards. What it all comes down to is the fans, and they got shout-outs during musical performances by the Pussycat Dolls and the winner of Favorite Music Group, the Jonas Brothers.

Not only did children get to vote online -- the show set a record with 90 million votes -- for their favorites in movies, music, television and sports, but they also got to choose which stunt Dwayne Johnson would do at the end of the show. The Rock end up dressing up like Miley Cyrus!



Here's All Of Our Coverage:

- 2009 Kids' Choice Awards: Winners
- The Men: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- The Ladies: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Have You Seen These Children? (The Kids on the Red Carpet)
- Vanessa Hudgens & Zac Efron: Kids' Choice Awards
- Taylor Lautner: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Megan Fox: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Miley Cyrus: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Pete Wentz: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Jonas Brothers: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Cameron Diaz: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- America Ferrera: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards
- Ashley Tisdale: 2009 Kids' Choice Awards

(Right click with your mouse to open all links in a new window.)

All of our 2009 Kids Choice Awards coverage here!