INVASION AMERICA' HELPS MCNICHOL BATTLE PROBLEMS : THE WAS REPORT.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Kristy McNichol is returning to acting - but don't expect to see her on screen any time soon.

The actress, who left her co-starring role on ``Empty Nest'' in 1992 to get her manic-depressive illness under control, will be handling the voice of one of the lead characters in DreamWorks' animated ``Invasion America'' series that debuts on the WB network Jan. 11. However, she says she's still continuing her ``big hiatus'' from acting in front of the cameras.

McNichol, who began her career at age 6 and earned two Emmys for her teen-age role of Buddy in ``Family,'' has worked at a variety of jobs, including hairdresser and camp counselor, since leaving show business. She says of ``Invasion America'' that, ``I feel this is a great place for me to be right now.''

Leonard Nimoy, Edward Albert and Tate Donovan (who voices Disney's ``Hercules'') are also providing voices for the series about a 16-year-old Earthling who discovers he is half alien and destined to lead the defense of the planet against hostile conquerors from the planet Tyrus. McNichol says, ``It's not like a comedy thing just for kids. It's geared toward teens and adults.''

Don Was has to put plans to tour for his new Verve Records' ``Orquestra Was'' album on a back burner for the next few months. The megaproducer has his hands full. He's finishing up the new Rolling Stones album, which is due out the last week of July or the first week of August. He's working on an album for rocker Richie Sambora. And he has to finish the music for Francis Ford Coppola's ``Rainmaker'' by the end of the summer.

Was' busy music schedule has also delayed his plans to make his directorial feature debut this summer with the adaptation of Harry Crews' ``The Knockout Artist'' novel. The first draft of the story - about a boxer with a glass jaw who discovers he can knock himself unconscious and proceeds to make a living doing so at parties - is done, reports Was' rep. It's now in rewrites.

With a song in his heart

Kenny Rogers and Wanda Miller, who tied the knot in June, will honeymoon in Africa in October, ``during the migration of the animals,'' he says. Rogers had chartered a yacht to cruise the waters around the Bahamas with Wanda immediately after the wedding, but found out, ``That was hurricane season there.'' The 58-year-old singer, who notes that he and 30-year-old Miller ``have been together for over four years,'' says he's been more creative since Wanda entered his life than he was for the 30 years preceding that time. He has an album, ``Cross My Heart,'' coming out this month. And he's written a short story called ``The Gift'' (no connection with his same-titled disc of last year), which foreign filmmakers want to make into a feature film, and which Rogers hopes to have on the small screen here during the coming holiday season. He would star as a widower who helps an impoverished man. Says Rogers, ``It's about giving - and getting so much more back in return.''

Matchmaker, matchmaker

Credit U2's Bono for being instrumental in getting ``The End of Violence'' to the big screen - in a way. The forthcoming MGM/UA feature (which stars Andie MacDowell, Bill Pullman and Gabriel Byrne) is scripted by Nicholas Klein and directed by Wim Wenders - who initially met through their mutual buddy, the ubiquitous rock star.

The bare facts

``Party of Five's'' Jennifer Love Hewitt will be going topless this fall - though you'll only be able to see her from the rear. The hot young actress will be donning nothing more than a pair of khakis for JanSport's new national advertising campaign. The backpack ads, which show nothing but ``packs and backs,'' will plaster Hewitt's posterior on billboards and transit displays across the United States. Hewitt will also be featured in two-page spreads set to run in more than 30 U.S. publications, including Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan and Entertainment Weekly. The backs of Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Jenny Thompson and musician Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band will be part of the ad campaign, too.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Kristy McNichol

Heard, but not seen

(2) Don Was

Tour on hold

(3) Kenny Rogers

Love stirs creative juices