A Latin Hottie Extols the American Dream

How did Wilmer Valderrama become the tabloids' favorite club-hopping Hollywood heartbreaker? The American Dream, baby!

The 27-year-old actor, best known as Fez on "That 70's Show," was the keynoter at yesterday's Latino Leaders Network luncheon at the Capital Hilton, one of the many events surrounding last night's Hispanic Heritage Awards. "As a fellow Latino and a fellow citizen of the U.S., it is an incredible pleasure to have a platform to tell you . . . you are entitled to reinvent the wheel," he said.

Valderrama was born in Miami but spent 10 years in Venezuela before moving to California at 13. He was a poor kid ("we ate dinner every other night") and started acting as a way to learn English; it forced him to read and forced other people to pay attention to him. Fast forward 14 years: hot job, hot girlfriends like Lindsay Lohan and Mandy Moore.

Speaking of hot: Valderrama was joined by actress Rosario Dawson, founder of Voto Latino, a get-out-the-vote organization. Much hugging and cheek-kissing, then the two posed for photos with students and seemed genuinely excited to be there.

"We live in the best country in the world," he told the crowd. "If you can dream it, it can become true."

Ford's Future In-Law Had a Change of Heart (Whew!)

Always a relief when families can agree on politics! Harold Ford Jr.'s future stepfather-in-law turns out to be Anson Beard Jr. -- a former top executive at Morgan Stanley, who for years was a registered Republican donating to GOP candidates.

But Beard seems to have had a change of heart sometime after the 2000 elections: According to campaign finance records, he started sending the bulk of his generous contributions to Democrats, including a $25K check to the DNC in 2004. Good thing, too, because not long afterward, Emily Threlkeld, the daughter of Beard's wife-to-be Debbie, met and started dating Ford, at the time the super-eligible young Democratic congressman. And when Ford launched his unsuccessful U.S. Senate race in Tennessee, the Beards contributed $18,500 to his race and $10,000 to the Democratic Party of Tennessee. Should clear them for a wedding present, don't you think?

Jane Goodall and Company Go Ape Over 'Fellow Primates'

So, who was that gorgeous blonde next to Ted Turner at Wednesday's Jane Goodall Global Leadership Awards? Novelist Elizabeth Dewberry, who was thrust into the spotlight when her Pulitzer-winning author ex-husband wrote a sensational, widely circulated e-mail disclosing that she had left him to become one of the 68-year-old, thrice-married Turner's many girlfriends. We asked for a picture of the lovebirds at the party, but organizers declined. (Figures -- he can write huge checks and we can't.)

Elizabeth Dewberry

Dewberry, 45, wore a short black dress and mingled with VIPs at the Mellon Auditorium for the 30th anniversary of Goodall's Institute for Wildlife Research Education and Conservation, reports The Post's Juliet Eilperin. Turner was one of the recipients of the first-ever awards, along with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa and Chase Pickering, a 20-year-old conservationist from North Carolina.

Goodall -- resplendent in a blood-orange Chinese silk pantsuit -- welcomed her "fellow primates" with a chimpanzee greeting call and told Turner he deserved the award because he cares about the environment. "Life's been so good to me, and I just want to be good to life," he said.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

Cyndi Lauper eating at the Bombay Club on Wednesday night. The singer, in town for PFLAG's (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) news conference yesterday, shared fresh fish, kebabs, salads and wine with three friends.

Isaac Hayes and Chuck Brown in the private dining room at Cafe Milano on Wednesday. The music legends had salad, veal and sea scallops before Brown -- in his trademark black clothes, long hair, dark glasses -- emerged to sign autographs. The duo appeared on Capitol Hill yesterday to discuss copyrights.