Eva Longoria Parker and many of their celebrity friends—including George Lopez and Desperate Housewives castmates Ricardo Chavira and Nicollette Sheridan--helped to raise over $830,000 for Padres Contra El Cancer at its 7th annual El Sueño de Esperanza gala, where bidders paid big bucks for a golf game with Lopez, tickets to see Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony in concert, and a dance lesson with Mario Lopez—George’s wife Ann paid $6000 for that privilege, and joked that her hubby would have saved six grand if he took her dancing more often!

Parker, whose Nannette Lepore dress from the previous year was auctioned off (and won by hairstylist Ken Paves), sported a chic Gustavo Cadile this year, but she wasn’t the only fashion star. Eva LaRue and Constance Marie dazzled too, ditto Daisy Fuentes, who brought her mom, Maria, now cancer-free for 21 years, to a Lifetime TV event for the movie Life & Dating honoring breast cancer survivors two nights before.

Fuentes talked up her new Style Network show Ultimate Style—“It’ll give you a real insider’s scoop on everything”—and her latest designs for Kohl’s including “amazing sweaters, a lot of amazing plums and deep purples for holiday. Things you can wear with a great pair of boots.”                 

“We all have done something crazy for love. That’s what love’s all about,” Javier Bardem said at the AFI Fest Hollywood premiere of Love in the Time of Cholera, in which he plays a man who waits for his first love for 50 years. “It’s difficult to imagine someone like Florentino living these days,” he added, noting that he has “had a crush” on the Gabriel Maria Marquez novel since he read it at age 14.

For co-star Benjamin Bratt, the highlight was filming on location in Cartagena, Colombia, “an amazing city,” and the friendships he made on set. “Everyone was truly overjoyed to be there,” says the actor, who’ll be seen in a remake of The Andromeda Strain on A&E next year and has a series in the works for that cable network.

Also on hand were Jesse Garcia, Shakira, whose songs are on the movie’s soundtrack, and Cane’s Hector Elizondo and Paola Turbay, both of whom are in the film. “Marquez and Anton Chekhov are my favorite authors,” said Elizondo, who admitted to doing some crazy things for love. “I never stalked anybody. But I pined a lot. I’ve written very bad poetry when I was young. Now I avoid the bad poetry.” 

Turbay, wearing a dress by designer Amelia Toro in honor of their mutual Colombian heritage, also confessed to youthful romantic obsession. As a teen, “I did stupid things like not accepting invitations in case this guy was going to call me, and it didn’t happen.” While you might miss her in Cholera if you blink, her juicy Cane role gives her “a great opportunity to show my work and have people appreciate it.”

Turbay and Elizondo joined castmates Jimmy Smits, Rita Moreno, Eddie Matos, Nestor Carbonell, Lina Esco and Michael Trevino for a Q&A session at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, talking about the show and its impact as a groundbreaking showcase for Latinos. “I never dreamed that a show like this would be on the air,” said Carbonell, who’s relishing his role as bad boy Frank. “I’ve played a lot of nice guys, which is great, but there’s nothing like being hated,” he grinned.

Smits, whose character Alex is a darker sort than we’ve seen him play in the past, is “thrilled at the prospect of doing somebody who’s multi-layered,” and TV wife Turbay loves playing a woman who’s  “so interesting, so strong, she’s a very good person and she’s been having to deal with such difficult situations.”  She and Moreno were both chic in slim pants, by BCBG and (leather!) vintage Yves. St. Laurent, respectively.                  

Moreno, also wearing a necklace designed by her daughter, praised Cane’s director of photography for making “everyone look even more beautiful than they actually are. We feel very special and honored to play these roles. I hope the [Writers Guild] strike isn’t going to ruin it. I’m keeping everything crossed.”

Eddie Matos is enjoying the perks that come with the job, like hanging out with guest star Alicia Keys and getting the VIP treatment at a Miami Dolphins game in his hometown. “I got a jersey with my name on the back of it and I got to bring my friends and family,” he raved.

Carbonell was on a panel of actors and execs who gathered to discuss Hispanics in TV at another event, held at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We need participation behind the scenes. We need Latino writers and directors and show runners,” said Without a Trace’s Roselyn Sanchez, who hopes to produce her own projects. She talked about the dilemma of finding good, challenging and non-stereotypical roles vs. being a positive role model for young Latins. “You don’t want to disappoint anybody,” she said.

Cold Case’s Danny Pino is similarly aware of being a good role model off screen, but in roles, “I’m much more comfortable with a character who has a dark side, a character who is multi-faceted and fails sometimes and isn’t perfect. I think the ultimate disrespect is to play a Latino that isn’t real.”

Mario Lopez, who stars with Melissa Joan Hart in the romantic comedy Holiday in Handcuffs on ABC Family Dec. 9 (8 and 10 PM ET/PT, repeating Dec. 11 at 8), said he welcomes “being the good guy. “I want there to be positive stuff out there.”  On Nov. 10 he hosted the Larry King Cardiac Foundation’s King of Hearts Gala, where pal George Lopez presented him with the Corazon de Oro award for his involvement in the Smart Spot Dance campaign to promote exercise to inner city moms and kids. He pledged $2500 to cover the cost of an eco-cardiogram for a needy patient.

The busy Extra weekend host is also working on two books, a fitness guide and children’s book called Mud Tacos that he’s writing with his sister, and he’ll star in the future CW series Eight Days a Week. Then there’s the  Oxygen TV movie Husband For Hire with Mark Consuelos and Nadine Velazquez, who turned up at the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s Wish Night Gala with the My Name is Earl cast, honored at the event.

Casually chic in a Tory Burch sweater coat and bag and Miss Sixty boots, Velazquez was looking forward to a holiday cruise to the Bahamas and Jamaica with her husband and a tour to India in January. She’s also writing on a one-woman stage show based on her personal experiences.

Finally, Marc Anthony, Fergie and the increasingly pregnant Jennifer Lopez are among the performers in Movies Rock, a CBS two-hour special airing Dec. 7 at 9 PM ET/PT.