Sparks, 17, of Glendale, Ariz., prevailed over beatboxer Blake Lewis, 25, of Bothell, Wash., after a triumphant performance Tuesday that wowed the show's judges and the viewers who gave her a majority of the record 74 million votes cast.
"Mom, Dad, I love you," Sparks, the daughter of retired NFL player Phillippi Sparks, said tearfully after a bearhug from Lewis.
The contest came down to either the stronger singer, Sparks, or the better entertainer, Lewis. Sparks delivered her songs simply and powerfully; Lewis' flourishes included his sound effects and sharp dance moves.
Even the famous were gushing over Sparks.
"She is an awesome singer," finale performer Smokey Robinson said backstage. "She sings so good, it's hard to believe she's 17.
To sing like that you would have to have lived for a long time. She's an old soul."
The finale pulled out the stops and the stars, with Gwen Stefani, Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, Green Day and more singing.
Angelina Jolie says she's entered a new stage in her life since losing her mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, to cancer earlier this year.
"You know, I want to be a great mom like my mom was and I want to also do the things that I love," the 31-year-old actress said in an interview that aired Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show.
"So I'm at a strange, I suppose, place in my life.
I think that that happens when you lose a parent, where you drop and do a different kind of serious, and yet, at the same time, you want to enjoy and laugh as much as possible every day."
Tearing up, Jolie added: "But I'm holding on to my family really tight at this moment because of that and trying to be -- to be as good a woman as I can be in my life."
Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, 43, have four children: 5-year-old Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia; Pax Thien, 3, from Vietnam; 2-year-old Zahara, from Ethiopia; and daughter Shiloh, who will be 1 on May 27.
Jolie, who has been shooting the thriller "Wanted" in Prague, Czech Republic, has said she plans to take a year off from filmmaking to spend more time with her family. "I have a very solid, very warm home. I'm very fortunate," she said.
Her new film, "A Mighty Heart," had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this week. Jolie stars as Mariane Pearl, the wife of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered by Islamic extremists while reporting for the Wall Street Journal in Pakistan in 2002.
Mel Gibson was back in Mexico, the country where he filmed the Mayan epic "Apocalypto," to attend a Roman Catholic confirmation ceremony.
Archbishop Emeritus Carlos Quintero Arce told reporters he performed Tuesday's ceremony for Gibson's grandchildren and for several adults in the chapel of the archbishop's residence in Hermosillo, the capital of northern Sonora state. He did not identify the adults.
Gibson and his wife, Robyn, have seven children, but his representative, Alan Nierob, said the actor does not have any grandchildren.
Nierob did not immediately know what Gibson's relationship was to the children who were confirmed.
Hugh Laurie, who stars in the hit TV medical drama "House," was made a member of the Order of the British Empire on Wednesday.
Queen Elizabeth II presented the honor to Laurie at Buckingham Palace.
The 47-year-old actor has been part of the comedy establishment in Britain for more than 20 years. He was a member of the Cambridge Footlights comedy group along with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry.
A disorderly intoxication charge against David Faustino was dropped, but the man who played Bud Bundy on "Married with Children" still faces a drug charge.
The charge was dropped Tuesday because Faustino's arrest May 12 was sufficient punishment for the disorderly intoxication charge, Linda Pruitt, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office said.
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