CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

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Ellen DeGeneres is so excited to be Down Under, she’s even tweeting that way.

The talk show host’s Twitter account had an upside-down message Friday saying, “I made it to Australia!”

She’s visiting Sydney and Melbourne on her six-day trip to the country for segments being filmed for her popular U.S. television show.

DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi greeted fans at the Sydney airport upon arrival. Photos posted on the show’s website and social media accounts showed the couple in front of the Sydney Opera House and DeGeneres looking at kaolas and a giraffe at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is in its 10th season. DeGeneres was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last year.

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Former “Gilmore Girl” Alexis Bledel and “Mad Men” star Vincent Kartheiser are engaged.

Bledel’s publicist, Meghan Prophet, confirms the news, which was first reported by Us Weekly. She says the couple have been dating about a year.

The 33-year-old Kartheiser plays ad man Pete Campbell on the hit AMC network drama, where, last season, Pete had an extramarital affair with the wife of a commuting friend. She was played by Bledel in a guest-starring role.

The 31-year-old Bledel is best known for her role as the teenage daughter in the long-running series “Gilmore Girls,” and for her performances in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and that hit movie’s sequel.

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Writer Neil Gaiman is returning to Marvel Comics this summer, and he’s bringing the red-haired heavenly bounty hunter Angela with him.

The publisher announced last week that Gaiman’s angel will return first in the pages of “Age of Ultron” No. 10 in June. She’ll appear again in Marvel Entertainment’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” No. 5 in July that Gaiman will co-write with Brian Michael Bendis.

Gaiman’s previous comic outings include revered runs on “The Sandman” and “Marvel 1602.”

He created Angela in “Spawn” No. 9, and she was one of three characters who formed a long copyright dispute between Gaiman and Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane. The pair reached a confidential settlement in early 2012.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Movie critic Gene Shalit is 87. Singer Anita Bryant is 73. Singer Aretha Franklin is 71. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 70. Musician Elton John is 66. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 65. Actress-comedian Mary Gross is 60. Actor James McDaniel (“NYPD Blue”) is 55. Saxophonist Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet is 53. Actress Brenda Strong is 53. Actress Marcia Cross is 51. Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton is 49. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 48. Singer Melanie Blatt of All Saints is 38. Actor Lee Pace (“Pushing Daisies”) is 34. Singer Katharine McPhee is 29. Singer-actress Aly Michalka of Aly and AJ (“Hellcats”) is 24. Actor Kiowa Gordon (“Twilight”) is 23. ASSOCIATED PRESS