‘Chuck’ star calls Nicole Richie ‘down to earth’

The season premiere of “Chuck” is weeks away, but the show’s star, Zachary Levi, has been hitting the red carpet promoting his highly anticipated return as a computer geek who has government secrets inside his head.

The second season of “Chuck” will feature the return of Yvonne Strahovski as his handler of sorts, Sarah Walker, but as previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, another lovely lady is joining the cast, for one episode at least — Nicole Richie.

“It was very cool,” Levi told Access Hollywood of Richie’s time on set, as he ventured out to the post MTV VMAs House of Hype party earlier this week. “She was very grounded and down to earth.”

Though Richie is a regular tabloid fixture, Levi said he went into work without holding any preconceived notions about Paris Hilton’s buddy.

“I think that it’s really easy to fall into that trap of judging a book by its cover, or the cover of In Touch for that matter. But I think you allow somebody to present themselves for who they are,” he said. “She came in and was very professional and very cool.”

While Richie filmed her part as Heather Chandler, an evil cheerleader in an episode reportedly entitled “Chuck vs. the Cougars,” the actress had her daughter, Harlow, nearby.

“(She’s) a great mom,” Levi said. “She had her baby with her the whole time.”

Levi did move in for a peek of Richie’s daughter with partner Joel Madden of Good Charlotte while she was on set.

“I did not play with the baby but I got to shake its little baby hand and kind of giggle at it,” he laughed.

Richie’s appearance on the show won’t occur until “Chuck’s” fourth episode. The season premiere, however, will air on NBC, Sept. 29, a special day for Levi.

“My birthday is the same day we premiere so we’re going to be in Vegas,” he explained. “My best friend Joel Moore — he and I are having a joint birthday party at LAX. The PURE group who’ve got PURE and LAX and all that, they’ve really taken care of us this year… So we’re gonna have a ‘Chuck’ premiere party at Caesars at the pool.”

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