Sela Ward has written a book titled "Homesick", about life growing up in Meridian and her career. She came home for a book signing at Wal-Mart.

Ward also sat for an interview with a film crew from the syndicated television show, Extra. She told them about her hometown and Hope Village for Children, a shelter for abused and neglected children, that she was instrumental in creating.

Ward told the producers about her love for being home.

"Take a deep breath of that Southern air, smell how sweet the earth smells," said Ward. "You can't smell that in Los Angeles. It's very relaxing."

Later she explained to us why she wrote the book.

"We're so fragmented today," said Ward. "A lot of us moving off to pursue our dreams and careers, leaving our community and our families. And I kept thinking I can't be the only one who feels this yearning to go back to my roots. And the second reason was I thought well, maybe this would be a great fundraising opportunity for Hope Village because it's hard to raise money, as you know."

A large portion of the proceeds of her book will be going to Hope Village for Children and it will be to help open two other cottages so that they can increase capacity of children there. She signed over 800 copies of the book in Birmingham Monday.

"I hope people will get pleasure out of reading the book and also know now at the same time that they're helping Hope Village kids," Ward said. "It's a slow process. It's a very daunting thing to pull together. It's a slow process and then it's hard to get the funding to have it to full capacity. We have 30 something kids now in the shelter. We could have 60 something."

Later Sela took the visiting camera crew on a tour of her hometown, including the Grand Opera House, another project that has been close to her heart.

wtok.com: Extended Web Coverage

Biography of Sela Ward

• She was born July 11, 1956 in Meridian, Mississippi.

• Her parents are Granberry Holland and Annie Kate Ward.

• Sela has three siblings, Jenna, Berry, and Brock.

• She graduated from University of Alabama with a B.F.A., art and advertising major in 1977.

• While at University of Alabama, Sela was a cheerleader. She was also Homecoming Queen, and a member of Chi Omega sorority.

• Sela married Howard Elliot Sherman on May 23, 1992.

• She has two children, Austin Ward, and Annabelle Raye.

• Sela is a two-time Emmy Award winner, and is best known for her role as Teddy Reed on the television show "Sisters".

• Sela's first job was in the advertising department at Pepsi.

• She got her show business break as a model. Her first commercial was for Maybaline Makeup.

• Sela is now on "Once and Again", but Sela was also in some other TV show and movies:
  
  • Runaway Bride (1999)
    
  • My Fellow Americans (1996)
    
  • Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story (1995) (TV)
    
  • The Fugitive (1993)
    
  • Double Jeopardy (1992) (TV)
    
  • Steele Justice (1987)
    
  • The Man Who Loved Women (1983)

• Sela also made some guest appearances on some famous television shows,
  
  • "Frasier"
    
  • "New Batman/Superman Adventures"
    
  • "Night Court"
    
  • "L.A. Law"

  Source: http://www.geocities.com/selafan/bio.html (The Sela Ward Biography Web page)