Actress Lindsay Lohan, working to rebuild her acting career after a year of personal turmoil, will appear as a guest star on the ABC television comedy “Ugly Betty,” the network said on Monday. Lohan, who has not starred in a feature film since last year’s flop “I Know Who Killed Me,” will join the popular sitcom’s cast for six episodes, playing a mean former classmate of title character Betty, who suddenly resurfaces in her life.

The 21-year-old actress, who won critical praise and international stardom before lurid stories in the tabloid press began to overshadow her career, will make her first appearance on “Ugly Betty” on the May 22 season finale.

She will return to the Emmy-winning show, which stars America Ferrera as a smart and sweet but not-so-glamorous fashion magazine employee, for five episodes next season.

Lohan’s turn on the small screen closely follows a similar move by another troubled young performer, Britney Spears, who surprised critics and delighted fans with a sassy guest appearance on the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

Spears’ well-received acting role was taken as a sign that she had begun to recover from the personal problems that have dogged her in recent years, and Lohan’s could be seen in the same light.

Lohan began her acting career at a young age and first won attention playing twins — one of them with a dead-on British accent — in the 1998 remake “The Parent Trap.”

She became a Hollywood “it-girl” and major international presence after starring in such films as “Freaky Friday,” “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” and “Mean Girls” before giving way to struggles with alcohol and drug abuse.

Hollywood’s stars paid tribute to Tom Cruise on Monday’s Oprah Winfrey television show, with the actor saying he hoped for more challenging roles and to work with the likes of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro.In the second of two interviews with Cruise, Winfrey aired highlights since the actor’s breakthrough role 25 years in 1983’s “Risky Business,” including a seemingly death-defying stunt from “Mission: Impossible 2″ in which a bare-chested Cruise leaps across a rocky cliff.

Cruise said he dangled from a thin wire during four days of shooting the scene.

The movie clips were interspersed with videotaped congratulations from a long lineup of celebrity friends and co-stars, including actors Will Smith, Dustin Hoffman, and Renee Zellweger, director Steven Spielberg, soccer player David Beckham and his wife, Victoria.

Cruise repaid the compliments in full, saying he hoped to work with “so many” other actors, among them Pacino and De Niro.

“I’m actually surprised how much I’ve accomplished,” the 45-year-old actor said, responding to an audience member’s question about whether he had done everything he set out to do.

“I feel really privileged to do what I do, and I thank you for allowing me to entertain you,” he said. “As you go along, you think, ‘how can I keep challenging myself even more?’

“I feel at home on that movie set. A lot of times I show up before the crew. And I feel this is what I’m supposed to do.”

A New York jury began deliberations on Monday in the case of a man accused of stalking actress Uma Thurman and harassing her family.Jack Jordan, 37, is accused of sending harassing e-mails to Thurman’s father and brother, loitering for hours on the steps of Thurman’s Manhattan apartment and visiting her trailer on the set of the 2006 film, “My Super Ex-Girlfriend.”

He is charged with misdemeanor counts of stalking and harassment of the “Kill Bill” and “Pulp Fiction” actress and faces up to one year in prison if convicted.

Thurman testified during the five-day trial that Jordan’s actions caused her to fear for her life and the safety of her two children.

“I was completely freaked out. It was like a nightmare,” Thurman said.

Jordan’s lawyer, George Vomvolakis, portrayed him as a desperate man trying to endear himself to the woman he loved.

“Will you see obsession? Yes,” Vomvolakis told jurors during his closing argument. “What you will not see is the intention to scare … In his own mind, he thinks that he had a chance.”

Jordan’s parents had him committed to a mental institution after his visit to Thurman’s movie set. He now lives with his parents in Maryland and is training to be a teacher.

Mother and baby social network Gurgle is to release a series of books through HarperCollins.

The Mothercare-backed network will release three paperbacks on parenting next spring.

Nifa McLaughlin, site editor for Gurgle, said of the five-figure deal, “It’s a real testament to all who work on the site that Gurgle has become such an influential voice within the parenting marketplace within a short space of time.”

Denise Bates publishing director of HarperCollins,

User-generated online community Facebook views itself as a utility rather than a social network, the co-founder and editor of Social Media Portal has said.

The web 2.0 resource’s Rachel Hawkes highlighted a distinction between websites that are based on making new friends and those focused on communication between existing acquaintances - with Facebook viewing itself as the latter.

“Facebook likes to be seen as a social utility, rather than a network - what this means is that their aim is to help people connect and communicate more efficiently with the people they already know, as opposed to locating new friends and social groups based around a particular interest area,” she said.

The recent introduction of Facebook Chat is merely a “natural progression” for the site, the expert added.

Rather than representing Facebook’s attempt to move into areas of the web beyond social media, the application is characterised as just another way in which friends can communicate online.

Nielsen Online has named Facebook as the second-fastest growing website in the UK in 2007.