In this shamelessly money-grubbing, consumerist age of ours, what's needed is a little reminder that even the A-listers don't always do it for a money - it really can be about the art of acting... sometimes.

To renew our faith in celebrity motives, turns out we need look no further than Anne Hathaway.

She's starred in some pretty terrible tripe in her time — plenty of vapid, at-least-it's-work, acting-free stuff.

But recently she's been doing the old-school thing; getting her teeth into some actual thespian-ing with New York's famous summer Shakespeare in the Park. Hathaway plays Viola in this year's production: 'Twelfth Night'.

And, not only has she been trying her hand at some classical theatre, she's even been brushing off her philanthropy.

Fans had to spend all night queuing for the last round of first-come, first-served tickets being handed out. Then, at 3am, who should come by but the actress herself, to lend some moral support, thank them for waiting so long for tickets, and — better yet — give them a slice from the boxes and boxes of hot pizza she'd brought with her.

You know what they say: Give a fan an autograph and they'll forget you soon enough, but give them food and they'll remember you for a lifetime. (What do you mean? It's totally, uh, a well-know saying.)

And then there's 'Harry Potter' star Daniel Radcliffe — another celeb doing things for reasons other than cold, hard cash.

Far from seeing just how much money he can squeeze out of this fame thing, doing stuff like marketing his own signature clothing line, cologne, or worse (you can put your name on anything nowadays!), Radcliffe is pursuing things he enjoys and finds challenging, for very little money at all.

Wondering how anything he does could fail to turn into instant cash, what with zillions of HP fans who'd very likely buy whatever he produced, no matter how terrible... Well, that's because (heresy!) he's actually taken his name off his latest project!

Yup, it seems Daniel has been publishing some of his own writing, but not under his real, world-famous name.

"I write verse. I'm not sure if it's any good. I don't write under my own name — that would be a bit scary — but I have had a private book published, and it's appeared in some magazines," says the modest teen to the US's Star mag.

"I don't think that I could ever in a million years write a novel or a play, but a poem or a short story, they are... within my bounds." I'm assuming he means a good novel or play, rather than a popular one. I think we all know some very financially successful stuff that makes your very eyes water to read it.

But some actors don't think people should step out of the confines of their chosen professions.

Nia Long, for instance, has recently smacked down people who dare to stick a toe outside of singing to venture into the acting world.

"I didn’t see 'Obsessed', so I can’t comment," says Long, when asked by UK mag Pride about Beyoncé's acting skills. "But," she continues, "it's just not about how talented you are any more. It's about ‘How much box office revenue will this person generate?’"

"When you see certain people — we won't name names — they just don't have the skill, and no one in their team has said: ‘You need acting classes'."

"If you're a singer not an actress, you should sing. If you're a rapper, you should rap. If you take time to develop your craft, God bless you. Jamie Foxx is an example of both."

Okay, fair enough — there have been some awful, awful movie outings by singers trying the acting thing. Jessica Simpson, I'm looking at you. But have there really been that many of them who're worse than the average actor?

I mean, let's not forget that David Hasselhoff only became a singer after hamming his way to fame as an actor.

And, as much as I think Hilary Duff's movies are less appealing than a sharp blow to the head, I have to point out that she's a singer-turned-actress who's way better at this Disney-fied drivel than the acting-only Olsen twins.

There are also any number of people like J.Lo and Madona who, whatever lack of adoration I may have for them, can hardly be said to be any less talented actors than the no-singing-career-first ones.

Plus, let's not lose sight of the fact that what are arguably the two biggest movie roles in Nia Long's acting career are those she took in 'Big Momma's House' and 'Big Momma's House 2'. I'm thinking that that Big Momma's House looks very much as if it's made of glass, Nia, and that you're throwing stones from it...

Zipping back to David Hasselhoff — I have the exciting, horrifying, and lucrative news that David is planning to return those tight red swimsuits to the small screen, with a UK version of his crowning achievement — 'Baywatch'.

That iconic bouncy, slow-mo intro may rise again, with the illustrious Katie 'Jordan' Price as its star — taking over the role that's made Pamela Anderson into the graceful celeb that she is today.

"I've been thinking about basing a new show [in the UK]. It would be called 'UK-Watch'. And Jordan is certainly feisty and has curves in all the right places," says the genius behind it all.

'UK-Watch'! That's creativity at a level so way above me that I can hardly comprehend it. I wait with baited breath to see whether Dave gets this project off the ground.

Speaking of launching things: Despite the staggering popularity in the US of their version of 'Idols' — 'American Idol' — the show's only ever seen one of its winners really get her career off the ground — namely, Kelly Clarkson.

But that's not to say that the rest of them don't have their devoted fans — or equally devoted enemies.

Believe it or not, the poor loss souls of Westboro Baptist Church have just now taken to protesting concerts by former 'American Idol' finalists.

They were specifically going after runner-up Adam Lambert, because he's (wait for it!)... gay! A shocking thought, indeed. Especially since he's like, what, the umpeenth 'Idol' to come/be out.