![]() It was a delight.Leave it all on the floor! Before they became household names, Julia Stiles, Kerry Washington and more stars danced for their lives in 2001’s Save the Last Dance. We were teenagers out in Seattle on our own for a summer in a movie where you didn’t have to cry all the time. I’d never seen a role like that for girls in movies, especially pop teen movies. It spoke to me as an angsty teenager and a feminist. “That was my first big role in a movie, so I was thrilled beyond belief. Sometimes I think, ‘If I could do it again, I’d know so much more.’ ” “10 Things I Hate About You,” Katarina Stratford (1999) People play her on stage and perfect it night after night. In many ways, I look back at that and want a do-over because you’ll never get Ophelia right. It was fun in the context of a contemporary version because you have more freedom. I haven’t taken a dance class since, but I dance in my living room all the time.” “Hamlet,” Ophelia (2000) It was cool to see that a pop culture movie could be a little more than just entertainment. But I remember thinking, ‘The idea of an interracial couple is not that controversial, right?’ And surprisingly when it came out it was. “I was excited to be in that movie particularly for the dance training because it was an opportunity to have one-on-one private dance lessons for a month before we started shooting. I think it’s a really intelligent franchise with political undertones, but also really entertaining.” “Save the Last Dance,” Sara (2001) I’m really proud to be part of those movies. I was a teenager - I was 19 - but it was the first movie I was in that was geared towards adults. “I felt like that was my first grown-up role. It was interesting to watch her handling her life and her recognition and her fame with such grace at a time when all of us in that movie were becoming more well known.” “The Bourne Identity,” Nicky Parsons (2002) And then Julia Roberts obviously was really great to us. It was a nice to be surrounded by girls my own ages. ![]() Often as a woman you’re the one woman in the movie. “It was nice to work with so many ladies. It made me less afraid of the idea that when you sign up for a TV show you don’t really know what the scripts are going to be like each season.” “Mona Lisa Smile,” Joan Brandwyn (2003) It was already a well-established show, so I felt like I got to come in and ride that wave. I really enjoyed what they wrote for me, and I really enjoyed playing the character for that amount of time. “That opened my eyes to how great TV can be. We didn’t know if we were going to make more than 30 minutes of content, but it ended up going again the next year.” So in some ways it was a leap of faith to think people would watch YouTube for things other than cat videos. Watching TV shows on the Internet was not the norm at that time. That proved to be a really fruitful relationship – and it still is. “I was drawn to it because of Rodrigo Garcia’s writing. A lot of people will stop me on the street and tell me they were upset that Nicky got killed in this one, but to me it was the obvious next step. ![]() I had so many great memories, but I never thought 14 years later I’d be revisiting the character. I got to travel to amazing parts of the world and work with Matt. My character was killed in an original version of the first one, and then they reshot it and had her survive. “I had never expected to play that role for four movies. ![]()
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