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By: Paul Fischer

A talented young singer/songwriter whose initial rise to fame came in the wake of collaborations with JA RULE'S and JENNIFER LOPEZ, Christina Milian has -- much like her more famous musical partners -- opted to pursue a career not only on-stage, but onscreen as well. A native of New Jersey, Milian was raised by Cuban immigrant parents.

An early role in the popular play Annie seemed the idea vehicle to fuse the youngster's singing talent and acting ambitions, and before she had even reached her teens, Milian had also served as a junior journalist on the Disney Channel's Movie Surfers. Numerous television guest roles were quick to follow, and in 1998, the young actress voiced characters in the popular animated feature A Bug's Life.

Subsequent roles in American Pie and The Wood found Milian gaining face time in front of the camera, and in 2001 she landed a prime role as hostess of the popular television series Wannabe -- which was soon followed by the release of her self-titled solo debut album. As her presence on the big screen gained momentum, her musical career exploded when the young songstress teamed with rapper Ja Rule for the breakthrough hit "Between Me and You." Of course, with that kind of exposure it doesn't take long for the phones to start ringing, and soon thereafter Milian was teaming with none other than Jennifer Lopez to pen the hit single "Play."

As Milian began production on her second full-length album, she could be seen on the big screen in such high-profile releases as Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003) and Torque (2004). Now Milian co-stars in Be Cool, as the idealistic but brash performer taken under the wing of John Travolta's Chilli Palmer. PAUL FISCHER reports.

Christina: I auditioned for the movie. I wasn't offered it; nothing like that. I heard hundreds of girls auditioned, some of the usual, your R&B girls and your rock girls, everybody, it didn't matter. They all auditioned. And my agent called me and told me they were doing the sequel to "Get Shorty" and John Travolta was doing it and they were looking for an R&B singer and I was like 'oh, that's cool'. Then she said F. Gary Gray is doing it also. He's directing it. And I was like 'F. Gary Gray? I've been wanting meet him my entire life'. Well, not my entire life, for a long time because I really enjoy his work and I wanted to work with him as a director so I decided to go in anyway not thinking I was going to get it and I had to sing. I sang a gospel song and I sang "I Will Always Love You" and I had to act out like four different scenes. I think, the moment that I sang the gospel song, was the one moment I think Gary and the casting director really got it because the casting director cried and I was like 'yes'! Next thing I know I'm going in for a screen test. Had to do the same exact thing but F. Gary Gray I think really took a liking to me. He really helped mould me into this character and really helped me in my audition to do a good job and push me and just to be normal because, at the end of the day, when you reading Linda, Linda Moon and I are very similar. We're kind of the same person so it doesn't require acting.

So, I got the film, which I was really excited about and acting and singing one movie, this has been the most amazing opportunity for me because, I've gotten a lot of scripts where it's a singer in a movie but I always turned them down because I really want to me known as a real actress. When I'm acting in a movie, that's what I want to do mainly. So, this was the one opportunity, with this cast, John Travolta, you're gonna win. People know me as an artist more as a performer. When I found out about the role, the type of person that she is, I really wanted t push myself to become a better singer.

Vocally, I practiced a lot. I worked really hard. I had to learn to play piano for about three weeks which I had learned a long time ago so that helped. As well as acting around all this cast, I had to stay calm because that was hard. I had to act as Linda and act like I wasn't nervous. It was a lot of work for me. But I think this has been one of the best opportunities for me because I get to showcase so many talents in one film and so many different fans are going to get to know me in so many different ways. Alicia Keys wrote one of the songs, this song called "Ain't No Reason". Then Will I Am from the Black-Eyed Peas and John Legend wrote another song that's in the movie. And I really pushed myself in the studio to do a really good job so I can try and impress the audience as much as I could as Linda Moon.

Do you see parallels between Linda's music experience, her ups and downs and your own. Also, was it amazing to sing with Steve Tyler?
Christina: First, the way that I connected with Linda, her personality and where comes from, she's a very humble girl. She's very sweet. She has a dream. She has a passion for music and she's just like a lot of us that move to Hollywood for music. It's like 'where does it come from? What do I do?' She's willing to do anything. Unfortunately, she ends up stuck in a really bad record deal and eventually she meets Chilli. For me, I moved here for a dream. I moved from Maryland to California to pursue my acting and music career. I met a lot of the Nick Carrs, the Rajis, the Sin LaSalles, all the way until I got over her. Each character in this movie, Elmore Leonard did a great job writing. He did his homework because I have met each of these characters.

And, I've been offered the bad record deals that basically sign away my life, sign away my publishing but, luckily, I didn't sign them. My Chilli Palmer was my mother. Her name is Carmen Milian and she's my manager. Before getting into music we actually educated ourselves and I went to college for music as a business and learned the business side and she read a lot of books. I think my climb right now is similar to the climb of stardom that Linda Moon is having. Linda Moon already reached it. I'm trying to get where she's getting. Steven Tyler, I love him. I don't know if you guys have gotten to meet him yet but he is so cool, so humble, the sweetest guy ever. He's another person, besides John, that I was so nervous about meeting and he was so cool. He had these great stories to tell and when I found out we were going to be performing live in Boston in front of an Aerosmith crowd, it was 30 thousand people at a real Aerosmith concert, I was really nervous. So, singing the song "Crying", that's another situation because that's one of my favourite songs and I didn't want to screw it up.

When it came time, we didn't rehearse it too much because if you overdo it, it's really wack and I'm used to performing anyway. But, by the time I got out on that stage, my confidence could reach the sky and I think having him up there, he really has got this energy about him that really pushes you and the chemistry was like that (snaps fingers). It was automatic. We shot it three times live and Joe Perry's the bomb too, playing right next to me. I felt like a rock star and I'm officially an Aerosmith groupie now. It was great.

More of the interview coming soon

END OF INTERVIEW

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