andPOP » jenna dewan

Miley Cyrus vs. ‘Step Up’ Crew: It’s a Dance-Off!

andPOP Staff — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:42:05 +0000

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It all started with two girls and a web cam.

Miley Cyrus and her best friend Many have been keeping regular video blogs on YouTube since February. In their videos, the girls generally just fool around and sometimes dance.

So what else was there to do but battle? “Step Up 2: The Streets” director John M. Chu and star Adam Sevani posted their own video blog on April 10, challenging Miley and Mandy to a YouTube dance battle. Their video continued with a montage of Sevani and his crew break dancing and krumping.

Sevani and Chu explained that there were no rules, and that the young girls could recruit anyone for their response – if they were brave enough to take the challenge.

Just three days later, the girls proved they were man enough. With help from their friends, Miley and Mandy made a complete music video to Madonna’s new single, “4 Minutes.”

They even recruited “Step Up” alumni Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan to perform in their video – surely a slap in the face for Sevani and Chu.

Chu, Sevani and their crew, “ACDC,” have not retaliated yet, but keep watching the blogs – and the streets.

Jenna Dewan To Star In Revenge of Nerds Remake

andPOP Staff — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:02:17 +0000

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A couple of rising young stars are putting away the hairspray in exchange for glasses and pocket protectors.

Jenna Dewan, star of the summer dance blockbuster “Step Up,” and Nick Zano, who plays Amanda Bynes’ love interest on the WB sitcom “What I Like About You,” are set to star in a remake of the 1984 comedy “Revenge of the Nerds.” Christopher Marquette, who starred in the TV drama “Joan of Arcadia,” will be playing nerd Max, who finds himself drawn to an 18-year-old college freshman played by Dewan on the first day of school.

Meanwhile, Zano has been cast as the one who will make life tough for Max, as the frat boy with a long list of attractive qualities: not only does he play guitar, and surf, he’s also quarterback of the football team – and a sophomore.

Also starring in the movie is Ryan Pinkston, best known for his work on season 1 of Ashton Kutcher’s “Punk’d.” The movie, directed by Kyle Newman, began shooting this week in Atlanta.

Jenna Dewan Breaks Out in Tamara

Adam Gonshor — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:11:11 +0000

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Skipping school to go to the mall is the worst thing Jenna Dewan has ever done?or at least admitted to.

So playing the title role in the upcoming thriller Tamara (opening February 3) meant she would be portraying a seductive killer, a role utterly unfamiliar with Dewan.

“Everyone is a dichotomy of light and dark. As a person, I would say I’m more on the light side,” Dewan tells andPOP.

Dewan plays Tamara, an outcast at school who tries desperately to fit in. Some fellow students accidentally kill her in a failed prank. But Tamara returns from the dead seeking revenge.

“It’s ironic that I play a witch because I’m a very spiritual person. I don?t believe in manipulating people and using dark arts in that way,” she says. “At times it was fun to play the resurrected Tamara because I got to play a sexy, manipulative seductress that really isn?t me.”

And though the seductress may not be an accurate description of the real Jenna Dewan, she says she was comfortable acting in the sexually provocative scenes.

“It really came naturally once I figured out her motivation and my intention with that side of Tamara. I got to play her in a manipulative way, so it wasn?t like I just wanted to throw this sexy stuff on all these guys,” she explains.

Tamara is not only Dewan’s first lead role in a movie; it’s her first movie. The 25-year-old has spent most of her life dancing. She toured with Janet Jackson and P. Diddy and appeared in music videos for Ricky Martin and Justin Timberlake. (The tabloids linked her to Timberlake, right after his split with Britney Spears, a situation she laughs at now because she says they were never dating.)

Though she’s somewhat of an acting rookie, Dewan carefully examines each role she is offered to see if it is “creatively exciting.”

“As you get some experience, you look at choices differently,” says Dewan. “I never look at things like what’s going to make me a better star. I would rather do things that are true to me that sound exciting and fun and if it happens to lead to fame, it happens to lead to fame.”

After Tamara, Dewan will be seen in theatres again in a few months. She has a role in the Antonio Banderas film, Take the Lead, scheduled for an April release. Dewan will also be seen alongside Mario and Channing Tatum in Disney’s Music High, expected for a release this year.

And should Tamara lead her to bigger films, she insists she will always stay grounded. Unlike P. Diddy, who employs a man to comb down his hair every few minutes, Dewan will never have a comb girl.

“I’m not a diva at all!”

Quick thoughts
Worst pickup line you ever heard- “Does grabbing my ass count?”
First time you saw yourself on TV- “When I danced with Pink on the AMAs. It didn’t feel real.”
Biggest regret- “Not staying with yoga.”
An item you can’t leave home without- “My crystals because I’m a spiritual freak.”
Something we should all know about you- “That I’m not like the manipulative, crazy Tamara that everyone will see. I’m very sweet and down to earth.”