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Before this playful pipsqueak was slaying it on television and the big screen, she was just another silly sweetie jumping into ball pits in Washington, D.C.

This funny female gained recognition for her reoccurring role as the best friend to the main character on a wildly popular vampire teen series. On set, she met her future husband who she has shared 17 years of marriage and two children with. After her success, she became more of a movie buff, starring in the feature film franchise 'American Pie.'

Now, you can find this red-headed runt hosting a magical show!

Jake Paul's after-party following his knockout of Nate Robinson had a beat-down of it's own ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

The YouTube star and undefeated boxer is being sued by a man who claims he got the crap beaten out of him at Jake's post-fight bash. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Gabriel Dos Santos claims Jake's crew beat the snot out of him while kicking people out of the party.

In the suit, filed by attorney Simon P. Etehad, Dos Santos claims Jake's crew repeatedly kicked and punched him in the face, body, arms and legs ... and he claims the violent attack left him bruised and battered.

According to the docs, Dos Santos claims he suffered a fractured cheek, dislocated shoulder, cuts to his face and bruises to his forehead and eyes.

Jake's not being accused of throwing any punches, but Dos Santos claims Jake's still on the hook for negligently hiring and supervising of the guys who allegedly beat him up.

Dionne Warwick's musings on Chance The Rapper and The Weeknd are turning into tangible benefits -- they're getting together to help feed the hungry.

Here's the deal ... Dionne and Chance are working together on an initiative to feed homeless people, after starting a friendship on Twitter. Chance announced Tuesday on Windy City LIVE in Chicago they'll be raising money with a new song -- and TMZ's learned The Weeknd will be joining them for the collab.

Dionne's son, Dionne Damon Elliott, tells TMZ ... he's writing and producing the track, which is called "Nothing's Impossible." DDE says The Weeknd decided to get in on the action after a phone call with Dionne, where he expressed how food insecurity is personal for him. The Weeknd was once homeless himself.

We're told money from song streams will benefit Hunger Not Impossible ... an org connecting folks in need with prepaid, nutritious to-go meals from local restaurants all over the country.

DDE says the track will drop early next year ... they haven't nailed down a release date because production is in the early stages. We're told Dionne's sent some of her vocals over to Chance and The Weeknd.

If you're looking for a Christmas miracle, look no further than this German Shepherd ... which survived an horrific incident of animal cruelty at a Florida motel.

The pooch has, appropriately, been named "Miracle" by the Volusia County Sheriff's deputies who showed up Monday at a Daytona Beach motel ... responding to calls about a suicidal woman.

The deputies went to her 2nd floor room and knocked on the door, but got no reply from the woman for a few minutes. When she finally opened the door she quickly stepped out with the dog, immediately picked it up and threw it over the railing as deputies yelled and tried to stop her.

Cops pounced on Allison Murphy and arrested her on the spot. During the arrest, you hear them asking other deputies outside the room if the dog is okay.

Amazingly, she is! Miracle didn't even break anything, and cops were able to recover her as she tried to run away after the fall.

Miracle is now in the custody of Animal Services.

As for Murphy ... she was booked for felony animal cruelty and resisting an officer without violence. She's still in custody.

University of Florida basketball star Keyontae Johnson is in critical condition after collapsing on the court in the middle of a game.

It's terrifying to watch. The game -- Gators vs. Seminoles -- was in timeout. Just before that, Keyontae successfully finished an alley-oop and was celebrating the move from the sidelines.  The team broke its huddle, and as Keyontae walked onto the court he collapsed hard.

His teammates screamed for help and Keyontae was taken off the court by stretcher and was rushed by ambulance to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.

Keyontae had tested positive for COVID this past summer. It appears one of the side effects was myocarditis ... inflammation of the heart muscle.

He's in critical but stable condition. We wish him well.

Tristan Thompson was recently seen breaking bread with a lady who isn't Khloe Kardashian -- but there was no funny business, just real estate business ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us the mystery blonde Tristan was seen having dinner with in Boston on Sunday is simply his estate manager, who handles his housing affairs ... which she's doing in Beantown, because he's moving there for his new team, the Celtics. They were photographed during their meal, and the Daily Mail pics kicked the rumor mill into high gear.

We're told the estate manager's name is Julia, and we're told she also set up Tristan at his pad in CA. She's looking to do the same for him in Boston.

Our sources say there was nothing romantic about the dinner, and everything about it looked super casual. Julia's wearing a sweater and her hair's up in a bun -- not exactly a date look.

As for Khloe -- who was in California over the weekend while Tristan was away -- we're told she and their daughter, True, are now in Boston with Tristan as he gets established. Mind you, Khloe isn't making a permanent move, as we've previously reported. She plans to make extended visits to Boston, but won't leave L.A. -- so this seems to be one of those trips.

Prue Leith the "Great British Bake Off" star is now happily vaccinated against the novel coronavirus ... and she's wondering why some people are balking at the shot.

Prue, who of course lives in the UK, is the first celebrity to publicize getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The star of the Netflix show announced Tuesday she got it, and described it as nothing more than a "painless jab."

The UK approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine 2 weeks ago, becoming the first country to do so, and started the rollout last week ... prioritizing healthcare workers and the elderly. Just in case you're thinking Prue got some kinda celeb preference, she didn't ... she's 80 years old.

As you know ... the first vaccinations in the U.S. started Monday, with intensive-care nurse Sandra Lindsay becoming the first person to get the shot in New York.

Sandra, who is Black, was hailed for her bravery for getting the shot in public ... especially due to the fact a majority of African-Americans say they don't trust the vaccine, and won't get it.

For instance ... Offset told us, point blank, he's not lining up for the shot, and explained why.

Prue doesn't get that hesitation and says, "Who wouldn't want immunity from #Covid19 with a painless jab??"

The Fleetwood Mac "Dreams" skateboarder -- who's had some life-changing positive moments this year -- is now battling the coronavirus.

Our sources tell us Nathan and his fiancée, Estela Chavez, recently tested positive for COVID-19. He's been doing a lot of traveling ever since he gained worldwide fame from his video going viral.

After Nathan got engaged in Las Vegas in November, he headed to Los Angeles. We're told he spent a week here earlier this month working on several projects and believes that's when he caught the virus.

Our sources say Nathan, who lives in Idaho, flew to and from L.A. because he didn't want to make the long drive and put miles on his brand new truck from Ocean Spray.

It was his first time traveling by plane.

Nathan and Estela started feeling COVID symptoms 4 days after returning home from L.A. ... including headaches, fever, coughing, congestion and difficulty breathing. Our sources say the couple took a COVID test Monday and just got back their results.

He's had to cancel a gig scheduled for Wednesday due to the positive test -- and he's also pumping the brakes on a family vacation he was planning for the holidays.

Dave Chappelle's flex on the entertainment industry is paying off again -- HBO Max says it will follow Netflix's lead and stop streaming "Chappelle's Show."

Casey Bloys, chief content officer of HBO and HBO Max, made the announcement Tuesday during a Q&A at Variety's Virtual FYCFest saying the network spoke with Dave, and that conversation led to the decision to remove the show at the end of the year.

She said, "We had a conversation with Dave. I won't get into it, but it's very clear that it's a very unique and specific and emotional issue he's got." She added, "So, at the end of the year, December 31st, we're going to honor his request and take the show down."

It was just last month when Chappelle revealed in a stand-up segment that he called Netflix honchos and told them about his displeasure with them streaming his show.

Dave was pissed because he says he has no say in where the show airs, or rights to any revenue from it airing ... because it belongs to Comedy Central and its parent company, Viacom. He admits he signed a deal years ago -- before his current success and power -- allowing Viacom to do what it wants, but he's now asking ... is that right?

In that same segment ... Chappelle recounted a story about pitching his show to HBO years ago, and they essentially laughed him out of the room.

Chappelle recalled, "They said, literally, 'What do we need you for? That's what they told me as they kicked me out of the office, What do we need you for?' And here we are all these years later and they're streaming the very show I was pitching to them. So I'm asking them, what do you need me for?"

President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration is getting scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic ... with safety protocols aiming to prevent a superspreader scenario.

Biden's own Presidential Inaugural Committee just announced some of the changes for January's ceremony, which will have an "extremely limited" footprint. The PIC also says the parade following the swearing-in will be "reimagined."

Some traditions are still soldiering on ... the PIC says Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths outside the Capitol.

The stage construction is chugging along, but most folks won't be there in person to soak in the historic ceremony when the stage is set ... Biden's PIC is urging the public not to travel to the National Mall for a huge gathering. Instead, folks are being encouraged to participate in inauguration activities from the comforts of their own homes.

So don't anticipate a gathering like the one we saw 4 years ago for Donald Trump ... and it definitely won't look like the first Barack Obama inauguration.

Carjacking is a dangerous proposition ... just ask these 2 men who nearly got trampled by a pissed off driver, and it's all on video.

The attempted carjacking went down this month, and you see 2 men on a scooter trying to stop a car as it pulls out of a driveway. One guy pulls something from his waistband and points it at the driver's window and tries to open the door, but the car peels off.

The would-be car jackers give up, and hop on the scooter to try to make a quick getaway, but not before the driver of the car hits the brakes and comes flying down the street in reverse, and smashes into them.

The moment of impact did some heavy damage to the scooter, but the men survived and started running down the street. The car driver must've been seriously pissed off ... because they continued racing after the suspects as they tried to flee.

Kirk Cameron stuck it to Gov. Gavin Newsom and his COVID guidelines by getting hundreds of people together in public to sing Christmas carols ... something he does not regret.

The "Growing Pains" star helped organize a massive outdoor gathering Sunday in the parking lot of the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks -- where literally swarms of people were huddled up, not wearing masks and singing their hearts and lungs out ... breathing up a storm.

Looks like a good time, sure, but it comes mid-pandemic, and in an area where infection rates are already high. Kirk wasn't concerned ... he partnered with an org named Sing It Louder USA, and specifically says it was a protest against Newsom's stay-at-home orders.

BTW, this mall caroling was the second such event Kirk and co. organized over the past couple weeks -- apparently, they did another one on Dec. 6, where Kirk says upwards of 500 people came out to sing. He wanted the mall event to be even bigger than that, and it looks like he might've succeeded -- the place was absolutely packed.

Law enforcement sources in the area tell us ... mall security did call police, and officers from the Thousand Oaks PD that responded simply educated folks on the importance of mask-wearing and left.

The fight club that got raided in NYC last month reportedly has a new home in the Sunshine State -- with a similar name and a lot of the same players brawlers.

A new Instagram account has recently popped up, which seems to be an offshoot of the 'Rumble in the Bronx' moniker that the underground club took on while it was illegally operating in the Big Apple in November. The name now ... 'Rumble in Orlando.'

The Daily Beast notes a lot of the organizers, participants and fans from that initial group also follow the new IG account ... so the dots seem to connect. Plus, RIO has a lot of the same type of content featured on its page -- namely, dudes going at it in a makeshift ring, with people packed in all around cheering them on (and also not wearing masks).

They're not trying to be too discreet either -- the RIO IG bio literally reads, "RUMBLE IN ORLANDO IS AN UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB TO SHOW AND PROVE A MESSAGE WE CAN ALL RELATE TOO. RESPECTFULLY GUNS DOWN,GLOVES UP."

So ... yeah, definitely not as underground as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton's on-screen version.

The question now, of course, is ... do they risk getting shut down in Florida like they were in New York??? Remember, the New York City Sheriff's Office barged in on the place and busted a lot of the fighters, and also the shot-callers.

Now, Florida is a lot looser than NY with its COVID restrictions. They allow gatherings of up to a couple hundred people at least, and this crowd doesn't look bigger than that.

J Lo claims love don't cost a thing, but Cardi B's proving otherwise by handing Offset keys to a very rare Lamborghini for his 29th birthday.

The "WAP" rapper blindfolded her hubby Monday night and slowly walked him over to his birthday gift ... a Lambo Aventador SVJ 63 Roadster. The sticker price is a whopping $600k. Keep in mind, Offset just gifted Cardi a new Rolls-Royce for her bday -- so, sorry J Lo.

One look at the bronze-ish Lambo and Offset was stunned -- and even speechless for a sec -- but it didn't take long for him to erupt in celebration once he got a closer look at the SVJ.

The initials stand for Super Veloce Jota -- Italian for super-fast, and the 63 is for the number of them Lambo made. Cool car facts that Offset definitely knew.

Anyway ... the birthday celebration continued in what appears to be a nightclub, presumably in the Atlanta area, and the joint was packed. There seemed to be very few people wearing masks, and social distancing was non-existent.

A source close to the couple tells us COVID tests were taken and the party followed CDC guidelines in place for Atlanta.

Prior to kicking off the festivities ... Cardi B took to Instagram to honor her hubby saying, "Happy birthday Hubs ❤️ I wish you many more."

She added, "Thank you soo much for helping me these past months getting my business in line (somebbody gotta be the mean 1 😅 ) I ❤️ u. Let's turn it up tonight!!"

Well, that they did, as you can see in the video.

It's unclear if any testing went down prior to Offset's shindig, but it's interesting coming on the heels of the convo we had with him over the weekend about COVID-19 and the vaccine.

The Cleveland Indians changing their name will prevent Native Americans from taking their own lives -- this according to leaders in the community, who insist there's a connection.

Suicide is an enormous problem among Native Americans -- it's the 2nd leading cause of death, and is especially dire among the young.

As for why the name of a baseball team affects the suicide rate -- when Native Americans see non-Natives wearing sacred headdresses and mocking their people with mascots, names, antics, etc. -- it screws with their heads in a big way ... so says Prairie Bighorn-Blount, Executive Director of the American Indigenous Business Leaders. This, we're told, profoundly diminishes self-esteem as well as pride, and can create a severe identity crisis.

There's actual, hard proof to back this up ... namely a study of 600 Native Americans, the overwhelming majority saying they were highly offended by pro sports teams using nicknames related to Native Americans.

The groups we spoke with are thrilled Cleveland's changing its name, but they won't be satisfied until other teams follow. They're talkin' to you, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Blackhawks.

Tom Brady license plates are about to be a real thing in Florida -- and it's all for a great cause!!!

Florida officials have confirmed ... a license plate featuring Tom's image will go into production in the next few days/weeks as soon as 3,000 people commit to driving with it on their rides.

So, why??

State officials say it's part of an awesome idea by Tom's favorite charity organization, Best Buddies -- a nonprofit that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Best Buddies reps say purchases of the specialty plate will lead to cash for the org ... explaining out of the $35 that it costs drivers to buy the plate ... $25 will go straight to the foundation.

And, because Tom has had such lengthy ties to the cause ... they say it's all the perfect win-win-win for all parties now that he's Tampa Bay's starting QB!

"With his recent move to Florida, we are incredibly excited to team up with long-time Global Ambassador Tom Brady for the new Best Buddies specialty license plate," the founder and CEO of Best Buddies International, Anthony K. Shriver, said.

"Since 2003, Tom has proven himself to be a committed advocate for individuals with disabilities, and we’re grateful that his commitment to our mission-driven initiatives will continue to create friendships, jobs, leadership development training, and inclusive living opportunities for people with special abilities here in the sunshine state."